4 - The Rage of the Student Council President

After Akuto’s wounds were healed, everyone gathered in a corner of the forest, unsure of what to do next. Nobody had any idea about what was going on. According to Korone and Hiroshi, Eiko had come back, put on her clothes, and ran off somewhere angrily. Now there was no one left who knew the real story, and so their discussions were getting them nowhere.

Akuto wanted to go back to the school, and Fujiko was insistent that they activate the keys right there. The others couldn’t decide which of them was right. However, Keena seemed to behave like she was on a picnic.

Fujiko’s behavior seemed especially unusual to Akuto.

“...And so that’s what happened there. Next...”

Midway through his explanation of the events so far, Fujiko had begun to fidget and bite at her nails repeatedly. When he was done talking, Fujiko spoke up.

“Can I see these ‘key’ things?”

Akuto was a little worried about her activating them on her own, but then he remembered something.

—Come to think of it, her brother’s supposed to be involved in this, right?

More out of pity than any logical reason, Akuto handed her the three keys.

The doll-shaped keychain with a recording function.

The notebook-sized tablet, where you could take photographs and scribble on them.

And an object shaped just like the key to a door.

Fujiko gathered the three of them in front of her, lifting each one to her face and carefully examining it.

Both of her identities, the “perfect student” and the “evil queen,” had vanished. She was just a young girl trying her hardest to search her memories.

“So these really do belong to you?” Akuto asked. But Fujiko didn’t answer.

The way she held the keychain and plate in her hands, as if she knew them well, told him all he needed to know however.

“You said your brother was an awful man. What did he do wrong?”

He tried another question, but Fujiko shook her head.

“I don’t know. But I feel like I have to find out...”

Fujiko began to play with the key in her hand. When she twisted it, there was a loud click.

The key began to tremble and glow.

“Look!”

Everyone stared at the key.

It began to draw a magical circle, five meters in diameter, around it in the air.

“This is teleportation magic,” Korone said.

Keena looked confused.

“So what does that mean?”

“If the person who goes inside the circle wants to go, it will teleport them to a pre-determined point. It twists open a hole in space and drops them through it. Since it doesn’t disassemble the subject and transfer them electronically, it’s one of the safer forms of teleportation,” Korone explained.

“If they want to? Does that mean...”

Akuto realized something, and started to speak. A second later he found out that he was right.

Fujiko had disappeared. She had all the keys.

“W-Wait! What happens if the keys disappear?!” Akuto asked.

“There’s no need to be concerned. For safety reasons, the magic circle does not immediately disappear. It will disappear after a minute or so, but before it does it’s still possible to use it.”

“Then we have to decide if we want to follow her in the next minute?”

“That’s correct. But if you’re inside the circle when it disappears, it won’t hurt you. You’ll simply be left behind.”

—Fine.

Akuto made his choice. He looked around and the others, and it seemed they’d made the same decision as well. He mentally assented to the teleportation, and his body suddenly became lighter. A moment later there was a falling sensation. In fact, he really did seem like he was falling. It felt like stepping off a chair onto a stone floor. When he landed, he was in a place he didn’t recognize.

Akuto looked around. It was a wider space than the underground mausoleum. He wasn’t sure that he was underground, but the ceiling above him was very high, so it seemed a safe assumption. It was tall enough to fit a whole building down here, and there was a ton of space around him, too. He thought that you might be able to fit an entire small city in this one room.

The location they’d appeared at was the front of a gate.

—A palace...?

Akuto couldn’t believe it. The others had fallen silent in surprise as well. The gate in front of him was studded with elaborate gold decorations. Past the gate was a stone path that continued for a hundred meters or so, and then an altar.

“There’s an altar over there...” Akuto began to say, when suddenly someone appeared in front of the gate.

He couldn’t tell who it was yet, but they were standing with their hands on their hips as if to block him from entering. The person wasn’t that big, but they seemed strangely imposing.

“Hey there, everybody.”

The person lifted up the brim of their hat a little as they spoke.

“The student council president...”

Everyone gasped.

“This is the goal. Fun game, huh?”

The student council president laughed, and the three other members of the council appeared from behind her. A thin girl in black. A tall girl, no longer wearing her three-meter high armor. A muscle-bound girl, still looking sleepy, with her limbs transformed into those of a beast.

—These three... The thought had crossed my mind, but...

Akuto looked at each of them. That was definitely them. They had been the three monsters who’d been protecting the treasure all along.

“Did you say this was a game?” Junko said, annoyed.

The student council president laughed.

“That’s right. A little event the student council put on. A treasure-hunting game. Did you enjoy it? The prize is... hmm... I’ll give you a kiss on the cheek,” she said, and laughed again.

But the only ones laughing were her and Keena, who was jumping up and down and shouting “Yay! Yay! Kiss!” The three other student council members were looking at Akuto angrily. The president realized they weren’t laughing and turned around.

“Come on, guys! I’m forcing myself to laugh! You can too! Let’s make this more fun!”

“Ahahahaha!”

“Dondon-pafupafu!”

“So fun-gyah! You’re so smart-gyah! You’ve got the best taste in games-gyah!”

The three forced themselves to laugh as well. But the only one who was truly enjoying herself, of course, was Keena.

“You know that’s impossible. You’re going to tell us what’s going on here, right?” Junko asked.

“Like I said, it’s a game. I made you find that treasure map, set the three of them around to stop you, and then the first person who gets would get a prize.”

The smile was gone from the president’s face now, too.

“That’s not possible...” Junko refused to give up, but Akuto motioned for her to be quiet.

“Who cares? It was a fun game. Right?” he said.

The false smile returned to the president’s face.

“Right? Right? Right? It was so much fun! Ahahaha!”

“Ahahaha,” Akuto laughed back just as insincerely.

But even his fake laugh vanished a moment later. Fujiko, who’d been standing silently and holding the keys, started to run.

“You’re letting me through!” she yelled as she threw a vial of some drug at the president’s feet. Instantly there was a puff of smoke, and everyone was blinded.

“No...!” the president yelled.

Fujiko leapt into the smoke. The three tried to stop her, but she slid through the gate before they could.

The next thing everyone saw was her running down the stone path towards the altar.

“Fujiko!”

Akuto went to follow her, but a sharp yell from the president stopped him.

“Don’t! It’s dangerous!”

There was something abnormal in her voice that made him stop. He stared at her face.

“This is no game, is it?”

“Everybody knew that. I do appreciate the fact that you played along, though. That’s right. This isn’t a game.”

She shook her head, as if giving up.

“Everything past this point belonged to the last Demon King?”

“That’s right. This is the lowest level of the labyrinth underneath the school. The last battle was held underground. This was the Demon King’s base.”

“Why’s it still here?”

“You’ll know soon. But I will say one thing. Don’t go through this gate.”

She stared at him, her eyes were filled with a strange intensity.

But Akuto refused to give up.

“Why?”

He stared back at her. Hiroshi backed away, of course, and even Junko followed suit.

“Because I tell you to. No matter what happens, don’t move. It won’t do anyone any good.”

Her words were soft, but heavy.

○

Fujiko was the only one to notice that the faint light from the keys pointed towards the altar. And she was sure that this light would illuminate her past. It was what would resolve all the contradictions she felt.

She ran down the stone path. Nobody followed her. When she got close to the altar, she slowed her pace and looked down at the keychain and the tablet.

—I’m supposed to put my hand on the tablet and then replay the recording on the keychain... That means there must be some kind of magical system here, and this is what I need to do to open it.

She searched the altar. It was metallic, and the size of a double bed. It looked like a table you would use to sacrifice someone, and there were words carved on it.

“Sealed until one who can save all humanity appears. Death to those without that power.”

Next to the words was a keyhole that would probably match the key.

“This is it...”

She put the key inside.

There was a low roar. She knew instantly that the altar itself had activated.

The tablet she was holding began to glow. The toy had the ability to detect mana-based transmissions. She received the transmission and saw that it said, “Confirm handprint.” She put her hand against it, photographed it, and sent it off.

The response was immediate.

《Verbally input encoded password.》

She pressed the button on the keychain. Her brother’s voice played back, and then the audio password.

When she heard the sound of his voice, she started to cry. The tears landed on the altar just as it began to rise up.

“Password confirmed. Restarting system.”

Fujiko stepped away from the altar.

The altar rose up more, then split open like a box made from wooden logs, and a hole opened into the underground. The hole spread until it encompassed the whole dais the altar was on.

Then a silver cylinder rose up from the hole.

It must have been ten meters in diameter. It rose up to five meters above the ground and came to a stop.

Then a crack opened up in the side of the cylinder. It began to open to the left and right.

○

“What’s going to happen now?” Akuto asked. He could see the silver cylinder rising up beyond the student council president.

“That’s right. One could say that you’ve sinned, and need to be punished.”

The president shook her head sadly.

“Sinned?”

“You dug this up, even though we tried to stop you. You know that, right?”

“I’m aware. You were trying to make sure nobody found this place. I can tell that now.”

“What I wanted was to maintain the status quo. No, maybe ‘protect’ would be a better word. If nothing else, the government wanted to pretend this never happened.”

“Because this place belonged to the Demon King?”

“That’s right. Of course, we’re on the government’s side. We’re studying to be important officials one day. And when you’re the student council president, you already work for the government. But the government isn’t a monolith. We, the majority, wanted this place to just remain down here untouched. There was no telling what would happen if it was destroyed, and if somebody found out how to use it, there could be terrible destruction once more. Even the Black Mages don’t want to touch the things the Demon King left behind. In many cases, there’s some kind of requirement for their use. And nobody knows what that is. If you don’t know what you’re doing around them, you’ll die.”

Her words were cold and calm, but Akuto gasped at what she was saying.

“Die...?!”

“That’s right. It might be too late for Fujiko Eto. And your punishment will be that you have to watch and let it happen. I don’t know how close you were to her, but you will remember that it is your fault she died.”

“It was Eiko Teruya who led me to...”

Halfway through his sentence Akuto realized how dumb he sounded, and stopped talking. But the president heard him.

“You’re pathetic. She’s working for one of the government’s extremists. They want to wipe out all the black mages, and they’re willing to start another war to do it. She was either helping to prepare for that war, or maybe she realized that you don’t have whatever it takes to use these things, and brought you here to kill you. There’s no way to know what those people are up to. They’re an eerie bunch all around. They’re always getting ahead of the majority.”

“I see. So you’re telling me to stay here and watch, right?”

“That’s right. Don’t even think about going to save her. The Demon King’s possessions only kill those who don’t have the right to use them, and they never leave their territory,” she explained.

But something didn’t seem right to Akuto.

“How did you learn this?”

“It was a century ago when the Demon King lost the war, and the black mages sealed his possessions all around the land. They were later found, and both the black mages and the government tried to activate them. Several of the more talented ones found ways to do it. And after their deaths, they left us with the knowledge. This place was the last that anyone found.”

“Then Fujiko’s older brother...”

“Supposedly, yes. We don’t know the details, though,” she said. “We just wanted this thing to stay down here, asleep. We found this place right after you received the map. We’d succeeded in the treasure hunt far before you did. But when we asked the government if we should destroy it, they told us to maintain the status quo. Thinking back, there were probably some backroom dealings between the majority and the extremists. But whatever the case is, I’m going to obey my orders.”

The president raised a finger and drew an imaginary line in front of the gate.

“If you cross this line, I’ll show you no mercy.”

○

The silver cylinder began to open in front of Fujiko. White smoke was pouring out from inside. Whatever the contents were, they must have been frozen.

When the cylinder opened all the way, and she could see what was inside, Fujiko gasped.

“That’s...!”

A huge black beast was curled up inside.

—A dragon!

Its body was covered in black iron scales. Its horns were huge steel screws. On its back was a shining silver saddle. It was the legendary dragon that the Demon King had ridden into battle.

It was curled in a ball, with its tail pressed against its head. It began to stir and reawaken. It slid out of the cylinder with a speed that belied its huge size. All in all, it was fifteen meters long. Its folded wings began to open as if it was stretching. It seemed to command far much more of the space than it actually took up.

“So it’s been a century... since I went to sleep?”

The dragon spoke. The voice was a wise one, despite its reptilian face. It looked at Fujiko with opened golden eyes.

“But I do remember. Once, I was almost awakened, but was not. That would have been ten years ago. But if I was activated for no reason, this is not necessarily a cause to rejoice.”

He was speaking to himself, but that was enough to terrify Fujiko.

“Y-You’re the legendary...”

“I’m a legend? Please don’t make me feel old. I was made to serve mankind, and treat all equally, but I was given a personality. And adhering to that personality has precedence over my mission.”

The dragon’s voice was low, and it echoed.

“I-I’m sorry. Wh-What do you mean?”

Fujiko’s voice was shaking.

“I mean, I am a selfish creature.”

It stuck out its head at her as if to threaten her. Fujiko screamed and fell backwards. The dragon laughed a little.

“It pains me to see your fear, but there’s nothing to be afraid of. If you were the one who activated me, then you lack the right to use me. None who lack the right can ever be my master. And using my power without such a master would cause harm to mankind,” it said.

“Wh-What does that mean?” Fujiko said in a shaking voice.

“When I am activated by those who lack the right to use me, I must instead grant them a swift death,” the dragon said quietly.

And then it opened its mouth wide at her.

○

“Student Council President!” Akuto roared. Everyone there could hear what the dragon had said.

The student council president’s voice was bitter.

“I don’t want to repeat myself.”

The air became heavy, like lead. Nobody spoke, except Keena.

“Ackie! Go save her!”

“I know, but...”

Akuto was infuriated at himself, and the fact that he couldn’t move. He wasn’t frozen out of fear, laziness, or ill will. It was because he knew that politically speaking, letting her die was the right thing to do.

—Nothing good will come of showing the world that the Demon King still lives!

He’d come to the Academy to work with the government in the first place. He knew that the Student Council President’s decision was the right one.

“I have to make the right decision!” Akuto yelled.

But Keena cut him off, screaming even louder.

“Ackie, you dummy! You don’t even know how she feels!”

Akuto’s whole body went numb when he heard her words. He didn’t know what was going on, but when he looked around, he saw that everybody but Keena was looking confused. They must have felt the same sensation.

—Huh?

Suddenly he felt something flooding into his brain. It was like a waking dream, or perhaps seeing into someone else’s memories.

He was running.

Someone was chasing him.

He felt fear, and a terrible sense of urgency.

This was someone’s nightmare... No, it was something they’d really experienced.

He’d hide the key at the hot springs shrine. Then he’d write the words on the toy tablet, and photograph the entrance to the cave. He’d promised to take a photo and show it to his little sister. He’d never thought he’d end up using it this way.

He changed the geography of the forest in order to evade his pursuers — it was a higher-class spell given to him by the god Mureet. He’d been given more of Mureet’s power than anyone. He wouldn’t be able to escape entirely, but he could buy time.

Next he went into the abandoned Knight Equipment Laboratory. He hid the tablet on a shelf in the back. The reason was simple: it was the knights who were chasing him. He hoped this was enough to serve as a condemnation, but he wasn’t sure.

He continued to run. He would denounce them. That’s right. That’s what he had to do. He realized where his last hiding place would be. And he ran.

Somebody had to know... Somebody had to be told about the man who had deceived him.

When the seal on the Demon King’s final fortress had been broken, he had been sent along with the research team, despite only being a student. And that’s when that man had approached him.

“Can you find a way to break the seal on the dragon? All I need you to do is find the method. I’ll ask you to keep this a secret, but the next Demon King has awakened. The government’s decided to reseal this place after the investigation, but I want to destroy it completely.”

He hadn’t even had a clue that the man was lying to him! Part of the reason he’d said yes was the fact that he knew he was the only one who could crack the difficult passwords on the Demon King’s relic. And since he only needed to break the passwords, not the seal itself, there was no risk. He’d even looked into the man’s background. He wasn’t a black mage. He was a high-ranking member of the public safety committee. There was no reason not to trust him.

But then one day he’d learned that he was now involved in a truly terrifying plan...

Who would’ve ever imagined that...

He went inside the mausoleum. Once he’d learned about the plot, he’d done another check on the man’s background. And he’d learned that what he was being told was impossible. The man was supposed to have died during the great war that took place 90 years ago. Who was this man? He opened the box and looked for bones. Of course, there were none.

Boichiro Yamato.

He hid the toy keychain with the recorded password in the grave.

It made him sad to erase the recording that Fujiko had made. He didn’t want to face death without being able to hear her voice...

But the best thing he could do right now was leave behind a way for someone else to break the dragon’s seal.

He listened to Fujiko’s voice one last time, letting it soak into his brain, before overwriting it with the password and closing the box.

Then he made the map.

《A message to the courageous one who reads this map...》

If possible, he wanted the black mages to find it. They were the only ones he could trust now. It was ironic — until now, he’d hated them, but now it was the government that he couldn’t trust.

The most likely place for a black mage at the Academy to be was the Mental Monastery. He was the only one, besides the black mages themselves, that knew they used it as a dead drop. He’d hated them so much he’d spent his personal time tracking them down.

He put the map up there.

And then he left a hint that this was meant to denounce the government. He hid the map on the spot in the constitution that dealt with the establishment of the public safety committee.

It would take several decades for someone else to appear who was capable of breaking the dragon’s seal. The government had no one left who could break the seal on their own. And if things worked out, the black mages would find his message in secret. Even if they didn’t, if the map became public knowledge, the civilians and government majority would see it before the extremists did. If that happened, it would be impossible for them to control the dragon on their own.

All his work was done, except for one last thing.

He had to erase his memories of the password, and of the hidden map. He would be caught soon, and once he was, they would kill him and subject him to necromantic magic. He had to delete the memories, or rather records, from Mureet while he was still alive.

He used his rank of assistant priest to summon the god. He found the records that matched his search parameters and deleted them. He would have to delete almost everything that had happened during his life at the academy. After his death, his family would probably suffer.

The job was done.

The man was standing in front of him, so beautiful that it made him feel hatred. The man seemed bright, easygoing, and cheerful, but on the inside, he was none of those things... or perhaps he was. Maybe his easygoing, cheerful nature was what let him proceed towards his goal.

“Oh dear. You erased your memories? So now we can’t get the dragon?” the man asked. “Splendidly done! This will cause a huge delay in the plan. I suppose I’ll just have to come up with a new method.”

The man shrugged. It felt good to see his disappointment.

But there was no way he could defeat the man.

He would die soon.

The man’s hands stretched out.

Pain.

And then a sudden darkness.

“What the hell was that?!” Akuto yelled.

Everyone else had the same expression on their face as he did.

Korone’s calm voice gave him the answer.

“These are memories recorded inside the dragon. While it doesn’t seem to be using the official methods, that dragon records all the memories of every imperial citizen.”

“So that’s the black mages’ god?!” Akuto shouted in surprise.

“It seems that even while it slept, its recording function continued to operate. No one was able to use it for a hundred years, though, until now.”

Korone’s explanation mostly made sense, but there was one thing it didn’t clear up.

“Why was it sent into everyone’s brain?”

“Someone probably served as a catalyst. Who that was, I couldn’t say.”

Akuto looked at Keena. She had a look of shock on her face. She didn’t seem to know either.

—But it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’ve seen it. And that changes things, doesn’t it?

Akuto smiled at Keena.

Keena saw him and smiled back.

“Yup!”

The student council president must have noticed the change within him.

“Don’t blame me if you regret this. I’m not going to hold back.”

She waved her hand to shoo Hiroshi and Keena away.

“Korone,” Akuto said.

Korone put on her roller skates (they seemed to be a favorite of hers) and dashed over to Hiroshi and Keena, then carried them off under her arms.

“Hattori,” he called out to Junko as well. She shook her head.

“The followers of Suhara never retreat.”

“Well, do it anyway. There’s no reason for you to take any risks. This is my responsibility.”

“No, I owe Eiko Teruya some payback as well. And I think you’re doing the right thing here, too. And... and...”

Junko fell silent. Then her face turned red as she whispered.

“And if you chose me, I...”

“Huh? Did you say something?”

Akuto couldn’t hear her.

“You idiot! I said...” Junko started to yell.

But once again, Akuto couldn’t hear her. Before she finished her sentence, he was blown back by an incredible force.

—What?

He was smashed into the ground before he even knew what was going on.

The same thing had happened to Junko. She’d seemingly taken more damage than Akuto —she was lying on the ground moaning.

“What the...”

“What did you do?” He tried to ask, before another impact struck.

But this time, as he was knocked backwards, he was able to see what was happening.

The student council president’s arms were stretching out. He wasn’t sure if she was instantaneously generating more arm tissue, or like Junko’s clones, she was dealing damage with only mana, but this much he was sure about: she was standing right where she’d been before, ten meters away from him, and still managing to land punches.

“The fight starts the moment you decide you’re gonna fight, you know,” she said. And then she continued, sounding unhappy. “I saw the same memories you did. I understand how you feel. But the things I believe in tell me that I can’t let you through.”

“If that’s how you want it then...” Akuto stood up. “...Then could you at least let me enjoy the fight, instead of sucker punching me?”

“You enjoy fighting more than you let on, don’t you? Alright, let’s have a fun fight then. You know, we’ve known each other for a while, but I never gave you my name, did I? My name is Lily Shiraishi. Personality-wise, you could say... I’m a little short-tempered.”

Lily extended her right fist out again. Akuto twisted his body to dodge it. And then a blow struck him from the opposite side. He took it square on the chin and was knocked back. Her left fist had come up from below.

“You should’ve seen that feint coming. You like fighting, but you don’t do it very often, do you?”

Akuto shook his head to clear out the groggy feeling.

“You’ve got me all wrong. I hate fighting,” he replied.

“You know, they said the same thing. You had all this power, but you were hesitant to use it.”

Lily jerked her head in the direction of the three other members of the student council.

“I see. They were very gentle, too. They were careful not to deal any fatal blows. Except for the last one, I suppose.”

“She goes feral when she transforms. Now, I think that’s enough talking. I have a reputation for kindness myself, too. I’d like to knock you out quickly.”

Lily pointed behind her.

○

The dragon fired something from its mouth. In legends, dragons are said to breathe fire. But this dragon breathed iron rods carved in the shape of screws.

The rods flew through the air and pieced the ground. One landed between Fujiko’s legs as she lay on the ground, shattering the stone path and drilling into the earth below.

“I created those within my body, and they are a part of me. Ranged weapons are a cowards tool, and so you must pay a price for using them. That’s what the forerunner thought. Now, girl, rise and fight. Those without the right to command me are at least given the chance to fight me. One must prioritize one’s emotions above the mission. That’s what the forerunner said, and so that is what I will do,” the dragon said.

Fujiko stood up on shaking legs.

But the memories she’d just seen were still inside her mind.

—Brother...

She’d learned the truth. The feelings she’d carried with her for a decade were all built on a lie. And now, everything seemed meaningless.

“So you’ve risen to your feet, then. But you can’t hope to fight me on those shaking legs.”

The dragon’s words were cold.

○

“You heard the dragon,” Lily said with a shrug. “So it’s better that you’re out cold. You don’t want to see a girl’s body ripped apart by drills, do you? Once Eto’s dead, the dragon will go back to sleep. And when that happens, I’ll destroy the keychain with the password recording. That will end everything for good. By the time you wake up, it’ll all be done.”

“I don’t want that to happen. That’s why I’m standing here.”

Akuto looked straight into Lily’s eyes.

“So what will you do? Get past me and fight the dragon?” Lily said mockingly. “That would mean you want to be the Demon King, wouldn’t it?”

Akuto started to say something, but then realized she was right.

“I... I’ll work something out. So I don’t become the Demon King.”

Lily burst out laughing.

“Hahaha! I love it! If you’re not ready for what lies past those gates, then I really can’t let you through.”

She launched another punch, and Akuto was knocked back again.

—Maybe she’s right. Maybe I’m not ready...

Akuto realized that his feelings were wavering. He had a bad habit of trying to act cooler than he really was. It was possible that his words just now that been nothing but bravado.

But— “I have the resolve you need! I have it, Akuto Sai!”

He heard a voice. Junko had risen to her feet. Akuto looked up at her as she yelled at Lily and Akuto both.

“Even if you don’t have that resolve, I do! If you become the Demon King, I’ll kill you!”

Her words brought clarity to his mind. Akuto stood up.

“Sheesh... I guess I’ll have to fight then.”

Akuto looked at Junko.

“I know that I’m not the best person.”

Junko’s face turned scarlet as he stared at her.

“W-What are you talking about?” she asked.

“The past, the future — I just want everything to work out. I’m indecisive and unprepared for all these things that are happening, but if you’re willing to kill me... then I’ll just have to get prepared, won’t I?”

Akuto smiled. Junko looked away.

“Y-You loser.”

“So that’s how it is, President.”

Akuto turned back towards Lily. She seemed impressed.

“You’re quite the lady-killer, aren’t you? You’ve got the makings of a leader.”

“Huh? I never thought of it that way...”

“I see. So it’s unconscious, huh?”

Lily stretched out her arms again. But this time it was at Junko, not Akuto.

“Tch!”

Junko managed to block the first round of punches with her katana, but they just kept coming and coming. Eventually her defenses were overwhelmed, and she was knocked away.

“Hattori!” Akuto yelled.

Junko was back on the ground.

“Ugh... Forget about me. You just...”

“I know.”

He could feel Junko’s resolve so well it almost hurt. Akuto turned towards Lily, preparing to fight.

“Here I come.”

Akuto remembered the whirlwind amplifier he’d used in the underground cemetery. If he could only remember that spell, he should be able to recreate the same effect even without a bullet. He tried to recall the magical pulses the spell had created. He moved his fingertips to generate the same signals in his brain, and then used words to give them more power.

“Let the trembling of my heart become wind!”

Akuto amplified the whirlwind that was growing in his hands, turning it into a tornado that bore down on Lily. It was now several dozen meters high, but Lily looked at it without fear.

“In the end, it’s just wind made from mana. And you can stop mana with mana. You should remember that.”

Lily created a ball of wind in her hands. It grew into a tornado as well, and when it collided with Akuto’s, they both disappeared.

“Long-range attacks can be easily canceled out by manipulating the mana. What you did before, using mana pressure to snap a person’s limbs, is normally only possible when you are much stronger than your opponent. Once there’s distance between you, it gets much weaker,” Lily explained.

“That’s good to know. Then I guess the best thing to do is start attacking physically, huh? That way, it’s only important how much mana we each have in our bodies. A tiny person like you should be at a disadvantage,” Akuto said.

He hadn’t really meant anything by it, but for some reason, the rest of the student council stiffened at his words.

—Huh?

Lily was acting strange. She was looking down and shaking, her hand slowly running across the brim of her hat.

The trio started to panic.

“Oh no-gyah!”

“When she touches her hat, it means big trouble!”

“Ugah!”

Lily’s body shook as she spoke.

“Tiny...?”

She looked up, her face filled with anger. And then she grabbed the brim of her hat between her fingers and flipped it backwards.

“Oh no! She’s turned her hat around!”

“Once she does that, there’s no stopping her-gyah!”

The trio held each other tightly, trembling.

“DIE!” Lily roared. Both arms disappeared from her sides.

—Whoa!

Akuto was shocked. No, he didn’t even have time to be shocked. Punches were coming at him from all directions.

“Awah!”

Even as his body was struck over and over, Akuto could see that the whole space around him, stretching out for dozens of meters, was filled with fists. They knocked him up into the air, refusing to let him down. It was like a huge sphere of fists floating in the air, with Akuto at the center.

Once she saw that Akuto had fallen still, Lily finally stopped. The light of sanity had returned to her eyes.

“So you finally passed out, huh?”

As Akuto fell to the ground, Lily turned her hat back.

Fujiko was just barely managing to dodge the dragon’s attacks, but she was an herbalist, not a fighter — close-range combat was beyond her abilities. She was slowly being pushed up against the wall.

“It’s a pity, but this is the end for you,” Lily whispered so that Fujiko couldn’t hear.

But—

“It’s not over yet.”

Akuto’s voice echoed throughout the room.

Lily turned around in shock.

Akuto was covered in bruises, but he was still standing. He was limping towards her unsteadily.

“You haven’t had enough pain?!”

Lily’s arms launched more punches. She wasn’t out of her mind with fury this time, but her punches still had the same force as before. And now they were aiming right for Akuto’s vital spots.

But Akuto didn’t stop going forward.

“Haha... You’re so nice, President. You’re teaching me how to fight, aren’t you? I understand. If you know you’re going to get hit, then it doesn’t hurt! That’s the trick. Interesting,” Akuto mumbled.

“Ahaha... Figured that out, have you?” Lily laughed, half in terror.

Naturally, the student council president was the most powerful person in the school. She’d once used her fists to destroy an entire knight corps after they’d called her tiny. And Akuto was walking right through her attacks.

“You three!” Lily yelled.

“Right!”

The trio stood up straight and instantly readied themselves for combat. Clothes turned into hardened silver, armor appeared, and fur grew from hands and legs.

“Don’t hold back! Get him!”

The trio’s formation worked in perfect harmony as they struck at Akuto from three directions. The silver blade came from above his head, the bestial fangs from his right, and the giant axe, as tall as he was, from the left. Each of these attacks had proven difficult for him before, and there was no way he could dodge them.

But—

Akuto kept moving forward.

He grabbed the silver blade in his teeth. He clutched the beast’s claws with his right hand. And with his left hand he held the blade, ignoring the fact that it was digging into his fingers. He dragged the trio with him as he advanced.

Lily kept attacking. But Akuto didn’t stop.

When he was right in front of her, he shook them off his body. His strength was incredible — the trio flew ten meters, at least.

“Uwah!”

“Gnyah!”

“Aah!”

They screamed as they landed hard on the floor, making a loud clattering noise.

Lily stopped her attacks. There was sweat dripping from her brow.

“You’re kidding me. Why the hell do you have to do all this?” she snapped as she looked up at Akuto towering over her.

“No real reason. I just figured that if there’s a possibility where I can make everything work out, then maybe I should try it. I didn’t really think about the details, so there’s no real reason.”

Akuto looked down at her with a face covered in wounds.

Lily slumped her shoulders with exasperation.

“Are you stupid? If that’s seriously why you’re doing all this, then I just don’t care anymore. I was about to hit you with one last special move, but I’m not even going to bother. I don’t know if it’ll be the dragon or Hattori that kills you, but either way, I hope you just die.”

Akuto gasped when he realized the meaning of what she was saying.

“Then...”

“Shut up. I didn’t lose. I just don’t care anymore.”

Lily pointed behind her.

“Thank you.”

Akuto bowed.

“Thank Hattori. I’m doing this because I believe in her. I still think what you’re doing is wrong.”

Lily jerked her head in Junko’s direction. Akuto turned back towards her too. Junko was just getting back on her feet. She was holding her bruised cheek in shame, and motioning for Akuto to keep going forward.

“I’ll make sure it all works out. Is that wrong?” Akuto asked Lily.

Lily smiled.

“You’re wrong. That’s why we call you the Demon King.”

As Akuto walked past her, she suddenly called out to him as if she’d remembered something.

“Hold it.”

“Huh?”

Akuto stopped.

“Crouch down,” Lily said.

Akuto obeyed, confused. She stood up on her tiptoes.

“I forgot the reward I promised you.”

Lily kissed his cheek.

○

The metal spike that had embedded itself into the wall next to her head terrified Fujiko.

There was nothing else she could do to fight back. She was out of drugs. Of course, she didn’t know if any of the ones she’d used had even had an effect on the dragon.

Even as her back was literally against the wall, Fujiko remembered her older brother.

She had been resenting him for so long. And now she’d found out that he was actually loyal and strong. Her image of him from when she was young had been right.

But it was too late for regrets. Despite her repentance, there was nothing she could do to change the twisted life she had led. She just wanted to be a little girl, spoiled by her brother. But she’d pushed that feeling deep inside herself. She regretted that too. All the time she’d spent trying to craft the perfect public persona was a waste, and all the cowardly things she’d done in secret were just vain attempts to live up to her brother’s potential.

—But once I’m dead, I’ll be free from all that, won’t I? According to the religion of the common people, I’ll go see my brother if I die. I wonder if that’s true.

It seemed so funny when she thought about it that she actually broke into a smile.

The dragon’s jaws opened right next to her face. She could smell the sharp stench of metal deep within its throat. Fujiko felt herself wanting to throw up.

And then—

“It’s okay now. I’ll find a way to handle this.”

It was Akuto’s voice. Fujiko turned towards the sound.

Akuto was already far past the gate. He was right behind the dragon. It was plain that it was all he could do to stay standing, but his head was still held high.

The dragon turned its head towards him.

“Most humans who talk tough turn out to be weaklings. It angers me when those who lack the right pretend that they have it.”

The dragon opened its mouth at Akuto, firing a metal spiral spike at incredible speed.

The spike roared as it spun towards him. It was easily a meter long.

But Akuto didn’t dodge.

“Oorryaaah!”

He yelled with the last of his strength, and punched the front of the spinning spike with his fist.

His fist and the metal rod collided.

There was an ear-piercing whine, the sound of two pieces of metal wearing away at one another.

“What?!”

The dragon’s voice was shocked.

Akuto’s punch had stopped its momentum in mid air. It hadn’t stopped spinning, but the tip didn’t pierce Akuto’s fist. Sparks flew from the point where they touched, until eventually the rod’s rotation stopped. It fell to the ground with a clunk.

“I’m not good a brawling, so this is the only way I know how to do this.”

Akuto shook his hand as if it were in pain.

The dragon laughed happily.

“I don’t know if you have the right or not, but it’s been a century since I’ve seen a man like you!”

“That’s ‘cause you were asleep for a hundred years. I’m not that special.”

Before Akuto could finish closing his mouth, this time the dragon flailed its tail around at him. It was the size of a tree trunk. But Akuto stopped it with a punch once more.

Sparks flew between his fist and the scales. The dragon pushed harder, hoping to slam him into the dirt.

But he stayed standing and knocked the tail away. Panting and covered in sweat, he motioned for the dragon to try again.

“What are you doing?” the dragon asked, confused.

“I tried to come up with some way where you don’t have to kill Fujiko, and I don’t have to kill you. How about we knock each other around for a while? There’s a bit of a size difference, though.”

Akuto seemed to be serious. The dragon laughed aloud.

“Hahaha! No one’s ever said that to me before! Very well! Try and knock me around!”

Akuto and the dragon faced off, fist against spike and fist against tail. Both of them counted twenty blows, but after that they were too exhausted to continue.

And then—

The dragon brought its head to bear down on Akuto for one final strike. It roared as its face drew closer to him.

Akuto punched it. There was the sound of metal colliding and shattering.

When the sound faded, the man and the dragon both slowly fell to the ground.

Fujiko watched, and couldn’t understand what she’d just seen. But she knew what she had to do.

Fujiko ran to Akuto.

○

“What’s your name?” the dragon asked as it lay sprawled on the ground next to him.

At this point, Akuto didn’t have the energy left to care about anything, but he still felt obligated to answer.

“Akuto Sai.”

“That’s an awful name.”

“It’s the name of an orphan. Leave me alone. What about you?”

“Peterhausen.”

“That’s an awful name.”

“It’s a name given to me by my master before he passed. He had terrible taste in names. But I like it.”

“I guess you had a good relationship with your master, huh?”

“He was a good man. And I hope that my good relationship with him will continue.”

“Isn’t he dead?”

“With my new master.”

“Glad to hear you’ve got a new one. Congratulations.”

“Are there no brains inside your skull, Akuto Sai? I mean you.”

—Huh?

Akuto sat up in shock.

“What do you mean?”

“Once I’ve awakened, I need a master. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have to kill someone every time I awoke.”

“But I need some kind of right, don’t I?”

“And defeating me shows that you have it.”

“No, hold it! Wait, I’ll pass! No thanks!”

“I’m afraid you can’t refuse. If you do, I’ll just have to go back to killing.”

“Wait, wait a minute. If I do become your master, does that mean I have to do anything special?”

“Nothing. But my master is usually known as the Demon King.”

—Crap... I didn’t think this through again...

Akuto cradled his head in his hands.

Then suddenly Fujiko ran up and hugged him.

“Uwah! What the heck is going on here?!” Fujiko was looking at him with dewy eyes.

—This is bad news... Did the shock of what she’s seen change her personality?

“Just calm down...”

“You are my master now, Demon King! As a black mage, I will serve you forever!”

Fujiko knocked him to the ground.

“Wait... hold it!”

—This is just making things worse, isn’t it... My dream was to become a first-rate... what was it again?