4 - Akuto’s Imperial City War

Now that she was outside, Eiko Teruya looked back at the school building and shivered.

“There’s no way I could join in a fight between monsters,” Eiko said to herself. She was alone. “Everybody I think is interesting turns out to be crazy. But I guess that’s over. Only the winner will get me as a prize.”

She took out her communicator and called the Teruya household. It was the middle of the night, but a servant responded immediately.

“Mistress, what is it?”

“Father’s been killed.”

“Understood. Is it possible to confirm this?”

The servant was calm. They had no idea that Eiko had done the killing, and it was just the Teruya way to show no reaction, no matter who died.

“Just check the mission he was on. It should be classified, but I’ll transfer the encrypted code.”

Eiko took out the symbol that marked the high priest of Suhara and scanned the code on the back. It was in letters that only the high priest could see.

“An assassination mission. With this girl?”

“It’s the Demon King’s pet at the Academy. The Demon King got him. I’m there now. I’ll let you see what I’m seeing.”

She used the communicator’s video transfer function to show the school behind her. This was enough to shock the servant.

“Oh my. This must be dealt with, yes?”

“I’ve taken over the role of Suhara’s high priest. This is a special exception that only Suhara can grant. We are currently at war, and I’ve been entrusted with emergency command powers by my father. I will take the lead in this war. Contact all the relevant organizations. Let the media in on it, if you have to. I’m going to attack the Academy and bring an end to this, so that the seat of High Priest will be ours officially,” Eiko ordered. The servant must have understood the situation, because they hung up and promised to call back later.

Of course, the servant knew what she meant. The high priest was chosen by election from the other priests. In a normal election, there was no way Eiko would be chosen. But if she could win a victory here, it could be possible.

“My family’s motto of ‘win no matter what’ is a good one, isn’t it? It’s overflowing with dreams and possibilities.”

Eiko smiled, and started to think about where to place her troops on the Academy grounds.

○

Junko cried for a long time. She only noticed that anything was wrong after she saw her tear-swollen eyes in the mirror, realized how stupid she looked, and forced herself to smile.

It was then that she heard a knock on the bathroom door. It sounded urgent, so she answered.

“What is it?”

“An emergency summons,” one of the ninjas said.

“For the whole Hattori clan?”

“Yes.”

Emergency summons were only used in times of war, so this could only mean that war had begun. Junko instantly thought of Akuto.

“I’ll be right there.”

Junko violently rubbed down her face with the towel. She was ashamed that her eyes were still red, but there was nothing she could do about it. As she walked down the hallway, the servants were running around frantically. It was 3:00 am, but the mansion reminded her of the school dorm in the morning.

“Where’s father?” she asked, grabbing one of them. He spoke quickly as he answered, like he was in a terrible hurry.

“The master fought that monster and succeeded in driving him away, but he was unfortunately unable to finish him. Now he’s gone to the storehouse to get the clan’s treasure sword, in order to slay the monster once and for all.”

“What did you say?”

Junko was shocked. She’d only known that there had been some kind of fuss over her, but evidently something strange had happened.

“Don’t worry. The Iga ninja army will slay the man who deceived you even if it costs us our lives!”

The ninja’s eyes were shining as he spoke. He wasn’t in a hurry — he was burning with loyalty towards her and the clan. When she noticed this, Junko didn’t know what to think.

—Oh no... What did he do?

Junko headed for the storehouse. The ninjas raised their spears and katanas high when they saw her, screaming things like “For Mistress Junko!” “Defeat the wicked Demon King!” and “Show them the power of the Iga ninjas!”

—They’re all fired up... Is this all because I screwed up...?

“Father!” She cut across the yard to reach the storehouse. The door was open, so she yelled inside.

“Is that you, Junko?” Yozo answered.

Junko hadn’t been told not to go inside, so she entered. This was the perfect place to talk, since no one would interrupt them.

“Father, what happened?” she asked.

Yozo was holding a katana level in both hands.

“It seems there was some misunderstanding. It was partially my fault, but he had no intention of joining the Hattori clan from the start.”

“That’s because I didn’t tell him what was going on. The responsibility is mine.”

But her father’s response was the opposite of what she’d expected.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. He’s made a terrible choice. He’s defied the gods. Now we have all the excuse we need to fight him.”

“What do you mean?”

Yozo explained to a shocked Junko what had happened in the forest. This was the first she’d heard about the Teruyas’ assassinations.

“Father!”

“I know what you’re going to say, but that’s just what society is. You’ve been a class rep at the Academy, so you must understand a little. And if you want to change things for the better, you need power. And power often looks ugly from the outside.”

“...I understand.”

She knew what he was getting at. All she could do was nod.

And then he showed her a video on the communicator.

“He’s sealed himself within the Academy. This is what’s happened to your school.”

Junko was astonished to see the demon castle.

“Then father, this battle is...”

“To defeat him. Eiko Teruya is in command.”

“Not the leader of their clan?”

“Akuto Sai slew Keizo.”

“...Impossible!”

Junko knew Akuto’s personality, so she instantly denied it, but Yozo just shook his head.

“He was strong. I don’t know how he did it, but he somehow was able to kill Keizo.”

“That’s not what I meant, he...”

“Your personal feelings don’t matter. I’m sure that part of this is hard to accept, but we are followers of Suhara, and we must obey. Whether you dislike the Teruyas, or whether you’re enraptured with Akuto, you must think of only one thing: fighting to protect our family.”

There was nothing Junko could say to that.

“And if we fight, we must rejoice in our foe’s strength. Akuto was strong. Before, I couldn’t beat him. That’s why I’m drawing this.” Yozo showed her the blade he’d been carrying.

“That’s our treasure sword, the Sohaya no Tsurugi...” Junko whispered.

It was held in a sharply curved and undecorated sheath.

“It’s said that we were given this when the clan converted to worship of Suhara. But...”

But... Junko knew what followed after those words. But no one had ever been able to draw it from its sheath.

“And you’re going to do it?”

“It’s the only way to fight him. It amplifies the mana in one’s body, and makes the wielder vastly more powerful.”

The Sohaya no Tsurugi was made at the same time as the gods. The rumors said it was created to test the limits of what could be done with mana. It was said that each god’s worshippers had a similar item, but most were concealed, or unusable like this sword.

Yozo gripped the hilt hard, trying to draw out the blade. But the blade seemed to have fused with the sheath, and wouldn’t come out.

“Well then, why do you suppose it won’t come out?”

Suddenly there was a voice at the entrance. Yozo and Junko turned around.

“Mother.”

“Grandmother...”

It was Yozo’s mother and Junko’s grandmother. She was a small woman with a gentle look on her face, but she’d managed to get behind them without making any sounds — she was no ordinary woman at all.

“It must be because I am not experienced enough, or that I lack the right to do so,” Yozo said, and his mother softly laughed.

“You’ve always been a little odd. You’re a good person, but only interested in bettering yourself. That narrow view has kept you from noticing a simple truth.”

Her words were harsh, but Yozo couldn’t deny them.

“A truth...?”

“That’s right. Even if mana is a reflection of the mind, and something that comes from the gods as they watch the deeds of man, there are some things that it cannot see. You cannot draw the sword because you aren’t acting in the way for which it was built. How could there be any deeper meaning than that?”

She took the sword out of Yozo’s hands.

“Anyway, all you ever want to do when you see someone strong is fight them, and you keep killing them. It’s a bad habit. You seem to think your job is to fight people, and you’re wrong. You can’t be allowed to have a sword like this. I’m giving it to Junko.”

Her grandmother handed Junko the Sohaya no Tsurugi. Junko was surprised, and tried to give it back, but her grandmother ignored her and continued to lecture Yozo.

“And another thing, Yozo. You let the Teruya girl have command of this battle, didn’t you? If you get stronger, it will only help the Teruya consolidate their rule. Of course, I understand that you have to fight for the clan and for our god, but you’re only doing this because you get to fight a foe that might kill you. Even as a grown-up, you still don’t understand this...”

“I have preparations to make,” Yozo said. With that, he escaped before he could listen to any more lectures.

Junko’s grandmother watched him go, and when he was gone, she gave Junko a charming smile.

“It’s the child you met at the station when you forgot your luggage, right? A lot’s happened, I assume, but do as you like. Yozo will take responsibility, at any rate.”

“But Grandmother...”

“Don’t worry about it. Your first impression was the right one.”

Junko didn’t know how to respond. But for some reason, she felt her face turning red.

“R-Right...” Junko nodded and stared down at the Sohaya no Tsurugi, but she had no idea how to use it. “This can’t be drawn, can it?”

“That’s right. It’s up to you whether you believe in the gods or not, but they can’t actually sense people’s feelings. It’s the same with this sword. There’s no point in yanking at it. You can probably only draw it when you’re doing what Suhara wants done.”

“I-Is it that simple?”

“That’s right. And once you’ve drawn it, you may do what you like. You need to have faith, not in yourself or in your god, but in the living people who care about you.”

“Grandmother...”

“So no matter what decision you make, it won’t bother me.” Her grandmother smiled.

“I understand.”

Junko nodded and tied the sword to her waist.

○

It was the Teruya’s ninja army that first arrived on the grounds of Constant Magical Academy. They were called “ninjas,” but except for the special forces they were ordinary soldiers. Their primary weapons were assault rifles and katanas. There were 500 of them in all.

In most magical battles, firearms were essentially useless, so many of the more powerful soldiers didn’t carry guns. The normal soldiers carried rifles, since they weren’t very good with magic. The assault troops, however, were armored warriors carrying spears, halberds, and war axes — a variety of weapons that each reflected their wielders’ tastes. There were 100 of these strong warriors.

This was almost all the firepower that the ninja army had, and it was the size of a battalion. Eiko Teruya, the commander, had gathered the leaders together and was ordering them to make camp.

There were cameras watching her. The media had arrived before the Hattori, the other armies, and the knights, and they had permission to broadcast. It was the middle of the night, but the whole capital city was watching as the school turned into the Demon King’s castle.

Of course, the Demon King was being depicted as an enemy of all humanity. And there was also the fact that most of the enemies here were probably going to be demon beasts. Unlike wars between humans, there were unlikely to be any ethical problems with showing it. Everyone was surely watching it for the entertainment.

Eiko’s biggest goal, to gain popularity for herself, was proceeding nicely. If you didn’t know what she was really like, she would appear to be a brave, gallant girl. Fortune was on her side, as well. Three members of the Hattori arrived just when the cameras were watching her.

Yozo, Junko, and Yuko made for a perfect camera shot as they arrived in her tent. The strong, bold Yozo, and the two beautiful girls — not to mention the fact that one of them was a famous idol.

Yozo hadn’t expected the cameras to be here. At this rate, he’d be contributing to Eiko’s quest to gain popularity. But even so, he had no choice but to obey her.

Junko and Yuko didn’t like it either, but they too had no choice. Junko kept a serious expression on her face at all times, but Yuko was able to smile and wave to the cameras as she usually did.

Yuko’s health had recovered after Akuto left. The influence of the demon beasts wasn’t gone, however. She was hiding it with her combat uniform, but the black blood vessels on her neck were still growing. But even so, she’d recovered her good cheer when she’d heard they were fighting the Demon King. In fact, she was even more cheerful than before.

Yozo gave Eiko a polite greeting.

“The Iga Ninjas, under the command of the Hattori clan, have arrived.”

Eiko nodded with a relaxed expression on her face.

“I hope you’ll work hard under my command,” she said, and then her eyes settled on Junko’s sword. It was the divine vessel of the god Suhara, and she’d always been unhappy with the fact that the Teruyas didn’t control it. Eiko smiled to herself; maybe this would be her chance to get it.

“Junko and Yuko, your unit can lead the charge.”

The Hattori had brought a battalion of 600 as well, but most of them were ninjas in the true sense, not trained for open combat. It would be very dangerous for them to lead the charge. But since the whole world was watching the broadcast, they couldn’t refuse. Eiko might be able to get the entire Hattori clan killed. That was her plan.

Both Yozo and Junko realized her intent. Yozo tried to speak anyway, hoping he could resist this somehow. He could come up with any number of reasons, probably. But Yuko cut him off.

“All right! We’ll go in first and defeat all the demon beasts! We won’t leave any for anybody else!”

Yuko had always been a free spirit, but she wasn’t the type to go around saying things like that. Both Yozo and Junko looked at her in surprise, but they couldn’t stop her. She was more used to the eye of the camera than any of them.

Yuko quickly turned to promising viewers that she’d take the lead herself, weeping false tears as she promised to slay the demon beasts. The Hattori’s retreat was cut off, and they were forced to join in the strategy conference without a chance to object.

At the same time, there was a report of an Imperial Army Sky Carrier arriving. It was a mobile fortress carrying an entire brigade of 2,500 soldiers. It had its own energy-generating engine, and it could also disperse mana into the atmosphere. The ability to create an environment around it where mana could be used made it unstoppable in magical combat.

The sun rose just as the carrier, the “Genkaku,” arrived. It made an awesome silhouette against the sunrise. It was the same size as the demon castle that was formerly Constant Magical Academy, and it settled itself about a kilometer away.

Now Eiko had 3700 soldiers at her command. The knights were going to be arriving soon, too. The people watching at home had been expecting a light-hearted spectacle, but now with the arrival of the legions of troops, they felt the full impact of the extraordinary situation.

○

Hiroshi had been watching from above, and was shocked when the Hattoris and the Genkaku arrived. He didn’t know exactly what Akuto was thinking, but as someone who knew how this had all started off, he couldn’t help but laugh at how out of hand things had become.

—What do I do...?

Hiroshi couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something bothering him.

There was a lot of information coming into his suit’s visor, including the television broadcast. He was disturbed to see how Yuko was acting. As a fan, he knew how she normally was on television, and now he knew first-hand how she behaved at home. Seeing how she was acting now, he knew there was something terrible going on with her.

—What can I do for her? Fight all those demon beasts? Fight that huge carrier? No way...

But when he thought of how far things had gotten out of control, Hiroshi felt angry at Akuto for causing all this.

—Sure, I wanted to be strong like him. But this wasn’t what I meant. Did Akuto give up something important for the sake of his own greed?

Hiroshi couldn’t help but wonder.

—Come to think of it, this suit was made for anti-magical combat.

He called up the suit’s capabilities on the visor, and the suit responded by displaying the information. He looked in detail at the mana canceller. He was amazed at what it could do: it was capable of nullifying all mana within a several hundred meter radius.

—If I use this... Could I maybe defeat them both?

Hiroshi looked between the demon beast-covered castle and the carrier.

—If that’s the case, there’s only one thing I can do, and one thing I should do.

Hiroshi made his decision and began to descend. Yuko and Junko’s company was already in position. He landed in the middle of them.

At first, the fully-armored ninjas were cautious, but all of them knew that Brave had saved Yuko. Furthermore, his nickname among the people was “Brave the Demon Beast Slayer.” So when they saw who he was, the tension turned into cheers.

The media’s cameras caught sight of Brave, too. Hiroshi saw himself displayed in his own visor’s video feed. It made him feel a little weird.

But it wasn’t the ninjas or the media who was most happy to see him, it was Yuko. She ran over and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“You came! Of course you did! Let’s wipe out those evil demon beasts together!” she said with a look of joy on her face.

Hiroshi could feel almost painfully how much she had changed.

“I’m not here to kill the demon beasts. I’m here to protect you,” he whispered.

The cameras were watching these two famous people meet, but they shouldn’t have been able to hear his voice.

Yuko whispered back to him.

“I want you to kill them for me. Kill lots and lots. I hate them.”

She smiled innocently. It was the same smile as her idol persona, but for some reason it made Hiroshi feel scared.

He was using the mana canceller to block out the mana around him, so nobody could hear what they said, but he could still feel Junko and the others watching him. Junko was looking at him suspiciously. Did she realize that something was wrong with Yuko?

Hiroshi didn’t answer her request to “kill them.” Fortunately one of the cameramen was approaching, so he took this opportunity to escape to the sky. He waved his hand and just said, “When the battle begins.”

—When the battle begins? What do I even mean by that?

Hiroshi found his own words funny, and laughed. He’d decided to protect Yuko, but he still wasn’t sure how he would go about it.

Hiroshi realized a little too late that even a little bit of power meant your actions had an effect on those around you. He realized now that Akuto was in the same difficult situation... But he shook his head. He was planning to sacrifice everything for Keena’s sake. Because of that...

—Even if it wasn’t his fault directly, he’s still done this to Yuko and done nothing to fix it.

○

Eiko had finished positioning her troops and was about to give the attack order when suddenly someone called out to her from behind.

“So what’s the plan here, exactly? It’s hard to see from this position exactly what you’re trying to do. Don’t tell me your plan is to kill every last one of them? That’s impossible. It will ruin the soldiers’ morale.”

Eiko was surprised that someone would talk to her, the commander, like that. Since she was in front of the cameras, she couldn’t let them get away with it.

“Our foes are emotionless demon beasts. There’s no choice but to wipe them out. And the soldiers know exactly what they’re...”

She turned around and saw a man in plain clothes, not a soldier’s uniform. She stopped in surprise. The media was gone, too.

“Who are you?”

“I’m with the Cabinet Magical Investigation Department. I asked the media to leave, so we can talk about things that we wouldn’t want them hearing,” he said, and laughed in an easygoing tone.

Eiko relaxed when she heard him identify himself.

“Did you bring the knights?”

The Cabinet Magical Investigation Department, as the name implied, worked for the Cabinet. They were essentially an intelligence organization. There were eight standing members of it, often known by the acronym C-MID8, but little beyond that was known. They worked for Boichiro — that was all Eiko knew. They had little influence over the army, but great influence over the knights.

“No, they’re keeping civilians out. That’s not really our job, so we’ve come alone.”

“So what? You don’t expect me to let you take over, do you?”

“No, no. You don’t need to worry. We just want to act on our own.”

“Because your leader’s inside?”

“Correct. Don’t worry. We won’t complain if the army accidently shoots us from behind. We just want you to grant us the authority to act on our own.”

Eiko thought for a moment, but in the end, the only thing that mattered was whether they killed the demon beasts. Nothing C-MID8 could do would affect the operation.

“Very well. If that’s what you want...” But before Eiko could finish her sentence, the man was gone.

Eiko was a little worried about the decision she’d just made, but it was time for the operation to begin, so she put it out of her mind. Once she saw that the media was back, she shared with them the name for the mission she’d just come up with.

“Today at 0700, we will begin Operation Destructive Hammer.”

○

“Kill the gods?”

Boichiro was looking at Akuto in astonishment. He wanted to laugh, but couldn’t. He’d felt Akuto’s power grow when he said the words.

“If you do that, everything will end. You yourself won’t survive. Humanity is already completely dependent on the gods. Part of our bodies, of our brains, is already controlled by mana.”

“There are ways around that. It’s better than someone having complete control over humanity’s future,” Akuto said. There was no doubt at all in his eyes.

“Then we have no room whatsoever to negotiate,” Boichiro said. He tried to contact Eiko outside, but there was some kind of mana jam preventing him from doing so. “You shielded the whole school?”

“You can’t use mana to escape, either,” Akuto answered.

It was 2:00 AM. Dawn was still far away.

“I’m sure your plan was to keep me from taking her out of the building, but did you realize that you’ve cut off your own escape?”

“That’s fine. I’m planning on defeating you. It doesn’t matter.”

“I’m not sure how long that self-confidence of yours will last. You’ve gotten a little stronger, it seems, but as long as I have a weapon I can still handle you. In the end, mana is just a microscopic machine. The energy is pumped from generators directly into the earth. You could call it ‘The World System.’”

“I don’t recall signing up for a lecture.”

“You’re using power dependent on this country and its gods. How can you say you’re going to destroy the gods? That’s the point I’m trying to get at. And because of that system, no matter how strong you get, there’s a limit to your power.”

Boichiro sheathed his sword and stretched out a hand. Something that looked like a teleportation circle appeared. With the mana shield from the demon beasts around the school, teleportation via mana should be impossible — which meant that this teleportation wasn’t magical at all.

Boichiro took out a single sword from the circle. It was huge, almost as tall as him. The hilt was almost hidden by the vast blade, and it even had control boosters and counterweights to maintain its center of gravity.

“This weapon has no name, but I’m not the type to get attached to my weapons.”

Boichiro gave it a light swing to test it.

The air around the weapon exploded. Even at its incredible size, it was still capable of moving faster than the speed of sound.

Even Akuto, he thought, wouldn’t be able to survive a hit from it.

“Now then...” He held the sword level and approached.

Akuto’s expression looked tense.

With no mercy, no hesitation, Boichiro attacked with the sword.

“Ackie!”

“Akuto!”

Keena and Fujiko both screamed.

But their screams were drowned out by clashing metal and a sonic boom.

Akuto was blasted back into a wall. The demon beasts that made up the wall cushioned the impact, but the wounds in his stomach and arms where he’d tried to block the attack were smoking. It was clear that the attack had been incredibly powerful.

“Ackie!” Keena tried to run towards him, but Fujiko grabbed her.

“Don’t.”

“But...!” Keena wept and tried to struggle, but Fujiko shook her head.

“If you go over to him, he’ll be forced to fight. If he can’t win, then what he needs to do is escape and form a plan. Our job is to get Akuto out of here,” she said.

Fujiko took control of one of the demon beasts forming the walls, and used its arms to carry Akuto to her. She loaded him and Keena onto the Cerberus, and it raced down the staircase and out of the lounge.

“But what’s the point of running? Ackie is...” Keena asked, and Fujiko grimaced in annoyance.

“Neither you nor Akuto are nearly cunning enough. If we run, it buys Akuto time to recover, and for another thing, did you forget that he has a weapon?”

“A weapon...?”

“Peterhausen. He’s waiting for Akuto below,” Fujiko said, turning to look behind them.

Her face froze. The Cerberus was fast, but Boichiro was charging at them even faster. He was using his huge sword to fly. It sliced through the air as it came towards them.

“He’s going to catch up...!” Fujiko shouted in fear.

But just when it was about to reach the Cerberus’s tail, a figure suddenly appeared out of the shadows.

“Ah!” Boichiro stopped.

The shadow had come walking out of one of the hallways, the same way a careless old man might walk into the street.

In fact, the shadow actually did belong to an old man. But it was clear from his steps that he intended to cut Boichiro off.

“Well, this has certainly gotten out of control...”

It was the school principal. The old man, with his white hair and beard, didn’t seem to be flustered in the slightest as he spoke to Boichiro.

“Old man... are you going to get in my way?” Boichiro stood in front of the principal.

“I suppose I am, actually. I just remembered something, you see, something that happened a hundred years ago,” the principal said, like he was about to share a particularly interesting piece of gossip. He turned toward Fujiko. “Go. I’ll take care of this.”

“But...!”

Fujiko wasn’t sure what to say. The principal was as old as he looked — there was no way he could fight Boichiro. He must’ve sensed her doubts by the look on her face.

“No, no. There’s no need to worry. It’ll be fine.” He waved his hand to tell her to go. “I plan to live for several more centuries, and I’ve been saving up the power to do it.”

As he spoke, the principal’s body began to transform. The transformation began with his arms: the muscles suddenly bulged up and grew five times in size. Then his shoulders, and his chest, all of the muscles in his body swelled up until they were huge.

“P-Principal...?” Fujiko was shocked. She was now looking at a man with the face of a geezer and the body of a giant.

“The trick to a long life is to save your energy,” he said as he squeezed his muscles. The shirt he’d been wearing was already stretched to the limit, and this was enough to make it burst. He turned back to Boichiro. “Now, let’s think back to what happened a century ago. The sides are a little different now, though.”

Boichiro looked upset.

“You’ve switched sides in the last century?”

“That’s right. Changing with the times instead of being hard-headed is another secret to long life.”

“If that’s the case, then I won’t show any mercy.” Boichiro readied his sword.

The principal laughed. “That part of you hasn’t changed at all. That’s why you don’t age properly.”

○

Fujiko headed for the basement.

“If he’s that big, we can probably leave it to him, right?” she said.

“I wonder if he eats lots of rice,” Keena replied.

Both Fujiko and Keena were astonished by his transformation, but they were definitely thankful for it. They used the time he bought them to flee to the basement.

But waiting for them at the entrance wasn’t Peterhausen, but Lily Shiraishi, the Student Council President. Her hat was tilted down over her face, and she crossed her arms as she looked up at the Cerberus.

“What do you think you’re doing to our school?” There was rage in her voice, but also interest.

Akuto woke up when he heard her.

“I didn’t want to cause trouble for the school. I’m actually about to leave.”

“Leave?” Lily called up a mana screen for him to see. It was a broadcast of what was going on outside. The military was deployed, and the carrier Genkaku was floating nearby.

“That’s what’s going on outside. There’s about 4,000 soldiers, I think.”

Akuto frowned.

“That’s not good. A few of them might get injured. If there were only a thousand, none of them would’ve had to get hurt.”

“Hey now...” Lily didn’t know what to say to that. She crossed her arms as Akuto got off the Cerberus to come down to her. “I’ve been watching since Keizo Teruya first came here, so I know what’s going on. I heard what the principal had to say too. That’s why I’ve been waiting to see what you’re planning on doing.”

Akuto nodded and softly asked,

“So what about you? I don’t want to cause trouble for you.”

“I’m going to be the one who decides what I do now. And there’s only one option: denounce Eiko Teruya. The rest, I don’t care about. Of course, doing that means fighting 4,000 soldiers. Hahaha,” she laughed happily.

“What do you have on your side?” Fujiko asked.

“The student council. All three are here, so the three of them.”

“Is that all?”

“You should be saying ‘You’ve got so many!’ instead,” Lily said, annoyed, and then waved for Akuto to pass her.

“That dragon is waiting. Go. But I’ll tell you one thing: I don’t think the same way you do. If you want to destroy the whole system we have now, I’ll stop you.”

“I understand.” Akuto walked past her into the darkness.

“Ackie!” Keena yelled, worried.

Akuto looked back at her.

“I’ll be fine. Wait somewhere safe. I’ll be right back,” he said, and turned back into the darkness.

At the bottom of the labyrinth waited a black dragon. When it saw Akuto, it roared with a century’s worth of emotion.

“I’ve been waiting! I’ve been waiting for this moment, my lord!”

“I didn’t mean to keep you waiting.”

“But I waited just the same! Now, take back your true power! Let us fly the skies and destroy our foes!”

“I know. I’ve made my choice. And that choice has given me power.”

Akuto went around to Peterhausen’s side. There was a saddle on the dragon’s back. He smacked his fist against it lightly, and declared this:

“I will say it again: I will kill the gods.”

In that moment, Akuto became the Demon King.

Peterhausen’s howl of joy echoed throughout the Earth. The vibrations shook the whole building.

“Let us go, my lord! Together, none shall ever stop us!”

He raised his head towards the ceiling, opened his jaw, and fired one of the metal stakes he created within his body. This stake, carved with a spiral, spun rapidly and smashed through the rock ceiling, carving a path to the surface with a terrible noise.

○

The soldiers on the surface looked at each other in confusion when they heard the howl from below. But a moment later, they screamed as a massive stake burst through the ground in a shower of dust and rock.

Even after shattering through the rock, the stake maintained its energy, flying high into the sky. And then it started to fall down onto them.

“Evade!”

The soldiers beneath screamed and scattered. The stake fell to the ground with a roar, and the dust it kicked up blinded everyone around it.

The company commanders were forced to yell at their troops to maintain order.

“Get back into formation! Don’t let them scare you! They’re just demon beasts!”

But the commanders’ words were immediately forgotten as they began to scream too.

Something with massive black wings appeared out of the hole that the stake had created. Its shadow covered the soldiers and chilled their hearts.

The legendary dragon was right in front of them. To them, it was like fear itself had been given form.

A man in black riding a black dragon. Everyone who saw it whispered the same thing as they quavered.

“The Demon King... The Demon King is here...”