5 - A Little Miracle

Demon beasts filled the sky above the capital. It was an army summoned by Fujiko. If you included the smaller ones, there was a considerable number. The skies were turning black around the city, like there were thunderclouds above.

“So we’ve fallen to the point where we have to use these, huh?” Lily chuckled to herself as she looked up at the sky.

“If you don’t understand the beauty of beasts, you lack a sense of aesthetics,” Fujiko responded.

The two were standing on an otherwise empty main street. The Liradans had made barricades to keep the humans out of the city center. The only ones there were the priests and a few soldiers — that is, Lily’s forces. Past the main street was the knight’s garrison where Kazuko’s royal guards and her Liradans were holed up. In other words, they’d been set up. Kazuko had used herself as bait to lure Lily’s forces into a trap.

“We’re going to have to break through either way,” Lily said as she rubbed her nose.

Fujiko grinned. “Our job hasn’t changed at all. If we take down Kazuko, we win.”

“That Issei guy wasn’t lying, was he? I hope what he said about Kazuko’s weakness is true.”

“You’re the one who found him and interrogated him. The only reason we fell for the trap is that Kazuko is better at this than we are. If anything, given how much they outnumber us, this is less a trap and more a completely normal situation.”

“You’re right. Now we just have to hope the guys in the moon manage to miraculously seal Zero at just the right time,” Lily whispered. Then she raised her hand high and shouted, “Charge!”

At her signal, the priests who’d been hiding in the gaps between the capital’s buildings rushed out and charged the garrison. Fujiko raised a hand as well, and the demon beasts started to stir. The operation had always called for a small number of people, and had only been intended to take place on the grounds of the garrison. When the priests arrived, they stuck to the plan and headed for the inside from the courtyard. Using the demon beasts hadn’t been part of the plan, though. They were summoned to deal with the Liradans outside.

“It’s like the perfect example of a losing battle,” Lily said, but still she followed after the priests as they broke down the sealed entrances to the building.

“You need to have more faith in Akuto. Now let’s go.” Fujiko took her place next to Lily.

The battle in the front courtyard of the garrison had turned into the particular strain of melee fights you see between skilled magic-users. Against an opponent of equal magical strength, mana balls and bullets were mostly useless. There were shouts and the sound of clanging swords, but the scene itself seemed to resemble some ancient battle, as the soldiers on the very front lines got right in each other’s faces and began to shove at one another.

“If we don’t hurry, they’ll shoot us from above!” Lily yelled. Indeed, a rain of rifle shots and mana balls was coming down on them from above.

The priests were relying on foreign body armor and helmets for their defense instead of mana. Both the helmets and the armor were meant for rifle bullets, and couldn’t do much more than partially deflect a direct hit. They’d have to use their own mana to create barriers, which meant they couldn’t use it on the battle in front of them.

The priests began to be pushed out of the gate they’d just broken through.

“Gah! Get out of the way!” Lily screamed, as she jumped up high from the rear and stuck out her fists. Instantly, they stretched out and struck at the knights at a speed faster than a bullet.

The knights put up mana barriers of their own, but Lily’s punches were direct attacks, and thus easily pierced their barriers and slammed into their abdomens and faces. The knights wore armor on their heads and chests, too, but Lily’s fists didn’t care. The knights were blown back as if they’d been hit by a truck.

“This is how you fight the knights,” Lily said, as she slowly walked down the path the priests made for her to walk. The knights began to back away in fear.

“Don’t let her scare you!” They heard the voice of somebody that was probably a commander, and the knights began to form into ranks. They attacked Lily from all directions, but she dealt with it without even breaking stride.

“Secret technique: Knight Slayer!” she shouted as she stretched out an arm to grab a knight and used him like a club to beat the others. The knights’ bodies violently shook within their heavy armor with each strike, knocking them out one after another.

“I said, don’t let her scare you!” the commander screamed again, but the knights were too shaken.

“But Sir, she’s taking us all down!” one of them yelled.

Lily laughed. “You didn’t know? I hate knights. Especially the ones who go around questioning people in town. They really piss me off. I got so sick of seeing them that I started punching them every time I saw one. And eventually they started calling me ‘The Long-Handed Demon.’ Having such a lame nickname just ticked me off more, so now I go around punching any knight who uses it, lately.”

The knights began to falter after seeing how she looked and hearing her speech.

“S-So that’s the one they talk about...”

“The one who attacked a knight garrison and wiped it out just because she was in a bad mood. ‘The long-handed demon’... Agah!”

“I just said I’d punch you if you said that!” Lily said as she punched the gossiping knight, and then kept walking forward. “Just make way. I’m off to find this self-proclaimed empress and punch her in the face.”

“How dare you mock the Empress!”

When they heard the Empress’s name, the color returned to the knights’ faces and they took on serious expressions.

“Good. You’re taking this seriously now. But my job here hasn’t changed. Get in here!” Lily began to charge and the battle became a brawl.

Her power and brawling experience were overwhelming. The knights couldn’t even get near her as she approached the garrison door. Since there was nothing for her to help with, Fujiko called up a mana screen to see how her demon beasts were doing. What she saw frightened her. “Hurry. The enemy’s changed their plan!”

“What?”

“They’ve started to let citizens inside!”

“Huh?!” Even Lily didn’t know what to make of that.

“We’ll have to pull the demon beasts back. The Liradans are pulling closer and using civilians as shields!” Fujiko bit her lip.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t mind letting the civilians die, but Akuto Sai wouldn’t like that, I bet,” Lily said. “Which means you’re not going to just kill the civilians. Of course, if you did, I would’ve kicked your ass. It doesn’t matter either way, though. We just need to punch their boss’s lights out!”

The resistance after that was incredibly fierce. The remaining knights tried their hardest to keep Lily from making it inside, but Fujiko pulled back her demon beasts to battle them. Demon beasts swarmed the garrison, suffering tremendous casualties. But when the smaller ones made it inside by the sewer ducts, they were able to collapse the knight’s defenses.

“Using insects is so vulgar,” Lily said as she stepped over a fallen knight to get inside.

The knights had formed their shields into a tight wall that had blocked her punches, but the tiny insect-like demon beasts had gotten inside their armor and made the wall collapse.

“How dare you call something created by Akuto’s mana waves vulgar...” Fujiko said, and then reconsidered. “Actually, I don’t really like them myself...” She made shooing motions with her hands as she sent them further inside. The knights had no way to stop the bugs from getting inside their armor, and their resistance quickly collapsed.

“They certainly are making our lives easier, though. The power Akuto is lending us is spreading fear and despair to everyone around us.”

“...But it looks like it’s usefulness is about to end.”

The bugs were trying to go inside a certain door, only to run out from below the gap between it and the floor a moment later. There was a terrifying presence inside.

“We’ve already lost once. To be honest, I’m pretty scared,” Lily whispered.

“If it were me, I would run away. Or would you like to run away together?” Fujiko said jokingly, but her voice was shaking.

“Shaddup. I’ll go alone if I have to. Come on, let’s go!” Lily shouted, as if shaking off something, and slammed her fist into the door. “I came to say hello!” Lily knew that she was faking it, but still, she walked into the room with exaggerated motions.

“You came to have me crush you again?” said a voice from inside.

The room turned out to be the Knight Commander’s office. The furniture was imposing, but not elegant. It was clearly a place of work. Kazuko was sitting there on the sofa alone, quietly drinking tea and eating dried plums. But the sense of tension in the room wasn’t just Lily’s imagination.

“They just failed to seal Zero on the moon,” Kazuko said.

At first, she thought it was just a bluff, but when Fujiko looked at the information her demon beasts were sending in, she saw that the Liradans were still active. Zero was still alive.

“...She’s right. It’s long past the original mission completion time,” Fujiko whispered. According to the plan Akuto had given them before he left, they should’ve been long done by now.

“Who cares if that’s true? I’m here to kick your ass, and you’re right here,” Lily clenched her fists.

Kazuko didn’t even stand up. “Correct. But if I defeat you, there will be no one left to oppose my rule. The Demon King’s still on the moon, and he’s not coming back.”

“What...?” Lily’s face showed her confusion. Fujiko was too shocked to speak as well.

“Now, I’d rather not waste my time, but I’ll fight you. Otherwise, you’ll start destroying everything in frustration again.” Kazuko stayed seated as she began to summon her mana balls, the Yasakani-no-magatama, around her.

“We don’t have time to screw around. Let’s follow the plan,” Lily said to Fujiko.

Fujiko gave a start, and then nodded. “Akuto isn’t dead yet, of course. The demon beasts are still just fine...”

“Which means the two of them must still be fighting on the moon. Now it’s time to ring the gong,” Lily said as she jumped left.

In that instant, an evil light had appeared in Fujiko’s eyes as she flung several mana balls at Lily. “I’m afraid I’ll have to make the first move. I’m the type who gets upset if she doesn’t have the initiative.”

“I don’t like that self-righteousness!” Lily shouted as she slammed a fist into one of the mana balls. The balls were slow, but she needed to use her full power to knock them away.

“Tch...! This is the exact same thing that happened last time...” Lily muttered as she glanced at Fujiko, who nodded, then leapt to the other side and fired a mana ball at Kazuko.

Kazuko stood up to dodge, and then smiled at both of them. “You think it will go better for you if you attack me two on one? The whole point of the Yasakani-no-magatama is that they can fight multiple foes,” she said as she began to make the mana balls around her rapidly spin.

“Don’t be in such a rush. I’ll show you what’s changed,” Lily said as she finally knocked down the first mana balls and then got around to Kazuko’s left side.

Kazuko was watching with interest. There was a smile on her face as if she was curious to see what would come next.

—Kazuko was genetically altered in the womb, but was born a twin. That’s what’s ruined her mind. And that’s her weak spot.

Lily remembered the information she’d been given.

—When she sees someone who looks like her, she’ll focus her entire attention on it, and cease to pay attention to anything else...

Fujiko mentally repeated the same information to herself. There was a reason she’d been so cruel and bizarre when she killed 2V.

Lily and Fujiko gave each other the signal and moved at once. Lily ran to get behind Kazuko, and Fujiko ran towards her front.

“...I told you, I can deal with two people attacking me at once.” Kazuko’s mana balls began to move around as if they were living creatures with wills of their own. But...

“Bring out the images in the depths of memory...!”

Fujiko focused her concentration and used her black magic. It was a spell forbidden by law, that caused its target to see whatever you wanted them to see. What Fujiko showed her was an image of Kazuko herself. More specifically, she created a copy of Kazuko next to her, that matched every move Fujiko made.

“What...?” Kazuko eyes narrowed. Her smile disappeared and a look like madness came into her eyes. “Haaah!” she screamed and summoned a sword of light. It was the wrong spell to use here, as it was too destructive. The sword was pointed right towards the fake Kazuko.

“That’s all the opening I need!” Lily relaxed her right hand and let it fall open. Normally, she always balled her hands into fists. But now she let the fingers straighten out as she hardened them with mana. They began to shine with a piercing light.

“This isn’t a punch. This is a killing blow!” she screamed as her arm shot out.

Normally her arm shot out straight, but this time it was bending. The arm itself twisted like a screw, sending the fingers at its end rotating rapidly. They were moving at a deadly speed — if they hit, it would be fatal. This was a technique that wasn’t appropriate for a brawler like Lily.

The rapidly spinning arm slipped past the balls defending Kazuko, and headed right for her exposed back. Kazuko’s full attention was on her target in front of her, and she wasn’t focusing on her back at all.

“We’ve won...!” Fujiko jumped back to avoid the overwhelming power of the sword of light, and grinned.

“Woooryaaah!” Lily spun the arm faster, and put enough magical power into it to turn an ordinary person into mincemeat.

But just as the fingers were about to touch her back, Kazuko’s expression suddenly changed. “Fooled you.” She smiled and dispelled the mana-intensive sword, then dodged Lily’s attack with a spin and slammed a mana ball into her arm, knocking it aside.

“Impossible...!”

“No...!”

The two of them fell silent.

“Haha... It was a good idea.” Kazuko smiled.

“So that was an act?” Fujiko asked.

Kazuko shook her head. “No. It’s true that I lose control whenever I see my own face. That’s why I always smile. So that even if I happen to see myself in a mirror, I won’t try to destroy it,”

“Then why...?” Lily whispered.

Kazuko still smiled. “Hahahaha! The thing is, once I killed my dirty little sister, I started to calm down a little. Experience is important, no matter what it is you’re doing. If you stay in your room all day you never learn anything.”

“You bitch...” Lily grit her teeth. Meanwhile, Fujiko was getting ready to run.

Kazuko gave a sweet little cough, and then fired her mana balls. Lily blocked with her fists, but one of them moved in front of Fujiko and knocked her back into the room.

“It’s time for your punishment.” Kazuko sat back on the sofa with an elegant flourish, and increased the number of mana balls she used to attack Lily and Kazuko.

“D-Damn it...!”

“I-I can’t die here...”

Lily resisted, but just like before, the mana balls were too powerful. She was struck again and again until she fell to her knees. The strikes continued mercilessly, blasting her again and again until she could barely keep herself up.

Fujiko was already writhing in pain after the first strike. She was motionless except for the occasional twitch as the attacks continued.

“Nobody’s going to bother us now, so I’m going to keep this up until you die,” Kazuko said calmly and coldly.

Kazuko had made her own plan, confident in her overwhelming power. She’d wanted to lure out Lily and Fujiko, and she’d succeeded. But once again, she was interrupted.

Kazuko turned to look at the door. Standing there was Hiroshi, no... Brave, wearing his suit. “Why are you here?”

“Stop it! Let them both go!” Brave shouted.

Kazuko’s smile only deepened. “Oh, you think you can tell me what to do? I can see your suit’s almost out of energy. I have the VPS fields deployed here. You saw them. That’s why you didn’t join the attack, correct?” The mana attacks grew more violent.

Brave walked forward. His energy was gone; he could maintain life support, but he couldn’t fight. “Stop... please.” He lowered his head.

The nature of Kazuko’s smile changed. “So now you’re making requests?” she said contemptuously.

—Idiot... I told you to stay out of this...

Lily’s mind began to fade. She remembered when Hiroshi had come to talk to her before the mission. He’d been upset about the fact that he could only fight with a power he’d borrowed from others.

“Am I going to be kept out of the fight because of the VPS fields again?”

“There’s nothing we can do about it. It’s a weak point of the suit. It’d be great if you could fight without the suit, but you’ve never been in a real battle without it.”

“Then I’m totally useless on my own?”

“That’s not what I said. But you’re used to fighting with a power somebody else gave you. When you’re fighting as Brave, everything you do is only possible because of something you borrowed from someone else. If you don’t become a hero on your own, there’s no point.”

“But I’m not... I can’t... I’m weak. I’m pathetic.”

“Even if you’re weak, or pathetic, if you’re fighting to protect somebody and you’re not doing anything wrong, you’re a hero. Well, just try and think if there’s anything you can do. See if there’s a way you can protect her without your suit.”

—And this is Hiroshi’s answer, huh?

Lily felt her chest tighten up.

Brave had gotten on his knees in front of Kazuko. “Please. Don’t kill them.” He was pressing his head into the floor and begging.

“Oh my... Are you counting on my generosity? The only time you can make a request of an empress without a gift is in fairy tales.” Kazuko laughed.

Brave continued to speak without lifting his head. “Of course, I’ll serve Your Highness the rest of my life. I’ll put an end to what’s going on here. The demon beasts have lost control. I will hunt them and then make a speech to the crowd.”

“And in exchange, you want me to let them live? But you know, they’re still going to jail.”

“I understand that. But I still beg for your mercy.”

“I see. Then prove it. First, destroy the demon beasts, and then make the speech that I was going to make for me,” she ordered, and then waved her hand to tell him to leave. The mana balls stopped. When he saw this, Brave stood up.

“You... idiot...” Lily looked up at him with blackened eyes and moaned in pain.

Hiroshi’s actions were indeed courageous. If the rebellion didn’t die here, there was still hope. There was still a chance that Akuto and the others would be able to do something. And even if they failed, if he pretended to be loyal to Kazuko, he’d have more chances to save people in the future.

—So that’s how he’s going to be a hero, huh?

Lily watched him leave the room, and then quickly passed out.

Brave went outside, and using his recharged energy, he began to wipe out the out of control demon beasts who were attacking the citizens. The people began to cheer Brave on as he protected the Empress from the Demon King’s army.

Meanwhile, the helpless priests were arrested by the knights and Liradans. None of the people could imagine what Brave’s face looked like beneath his mask as he hunted the demon beasts to thunderous applause.

“I have captured the rebels who tried to harm our Empress! I will defeat the others, too, eventually. But in her benevolence, the Empress has agreed to forgive them! Everyone, remember to hate the sin but love the sinner!” Brave shouted.

○

It took a day and a half for the shuttle to get back to Earth. They’d originally only planned for it to carry Keisu, so there was no food onboard. Keena, Junko, and Yoshie were forced to subsist on a small amount of water. But given how depressed they were, though, even if there was food, they probably wouldn’t have eaten it.

“The dock’s refused to allow us to dock with them,” Keisu said as she closed to the communication channel.

The shuttle had entered orbit around the other. It was extremely rare for someone to be refused permission to dock, particularly given that it was the same people who’d helped them on their way up.

“Kazuko got to them in the end, I guess.” Even the always cheerful Yoshie was sounding glum.

“Then I guess...” Junko almost said something very dark, but stopped herself. “Let’s get back down to the surface. The shuttle was always capable of reentry on its own. The problem is, planes don’t need runways anymore, so I don’t know where we’ll find one to land on... Oh, there’s that crater in the capital. It’s not exactly even, but it’s better than landing on the ocean or in a forest,” Yoshie ordered.

Keisu nodded. “Understood, master. Everyone, get seated and put on your seatbelts.”

The shuttle descended to Earth, using its wings to glide through the atmosphere and land in the crater. They could see that the shuttle was surrounded by Liradans and knights before they opened the hatch.

“Do we have to fight again?” Junko said with a dry chuckle. But her face tensed up when she saw who was in front of the shuttle.

Hiroshi was floating in the air. “Don’t resist. I won’t hurt you,” he said.

“You...! You betrayed us?” She clenched her fists. But Hiroshi just turned away silently. “Say something, damn it!” Junko yelled, but Hiroshi didn’t turn around.

Yoshie grabbed Junko before she could leap at him. “It means we’ve lost. If we don’t fight, he might not kill us. Look.”

Yoshie beckoned for Junko to look at the town. Past the crater, daily life had returned. But there were Liradans standing everywhere, controlling the people. Nobody was stopping to look at them, because the Liradans had told them to move away.

When she saw that, Junko sensed utter defeat. “So it’s all over?” she lamented.

○

“Don’t blame him,” Lily said, actually bowing her head for once.

“I know what you’re saying, President, but...” Junko looked upset.

Several days had passed since the shuttle had returned. Lily, Fujiko, and the other girls were being kept in the girl’s dorm of Constant Magical Academy. Supposedly it was still being decided what would be done to them.

All of them were legally minors, and all of them except Yoshie were students. The school’s principal, who’d stayed out of the fight, had asked that they’d be kept there until an official warrant was issued by the court. Of course, all of them knew that something was up.

“We’re going to be brainwashed too, right? Are you telling us to forgive him because he was brainwashed first?” Junko asked.

“It’s not that. He isn’t brainwashed,” Lily insisted.

Everybody was limply sitting in the cafeteria. There was nothing else to do. They just kept rehashing the same arguments, over and over.

“It’s hard to be a hero, is all. He’s trying to find his own way of being just.” Lily shook her head. She was looking at a mana screen that was showing Brave’s heroics. He was capturing the few remaining priests that were resisting, and defeating rampaging demon beasts with a single strike.

“...From what you’ve said, I can kind of understand that. He’s trying to do his best for everyone, even if not as much as Akuto. I hate to say it, but if it weren’t for him we would’ve been killed.” Even Fujiko was defending him to an extent.

“I know that, but... I just can’t believe that nobody knows the truth, and everybody’s fine with being ruled by an insane empress. I just can’t... accept that.” Junko slumped in her chair as she watched the news on her mana screen. The announcer was excitedly saying that Kazuko would soon hold a ceremony announcing that order was restored and that she was taking over.

“Everybody thinks something’s wrong. But nobody can do anything, so it just keeps happening. They know the truth is out there, but their desire to know is abused by liars who claim to know the truth, and sometimes they end up believing two incompatible pieces of information. If you asked them, everybody would say the same thing. There’s probably something wrong with the Empress being a dictator, but if it works, then who cares? Even though it’s no different than a world ruled by Zero.” Yoshie sighed.

“That’s because when things go south, they know they can rely on the Liradans. Even if the Empress says she’s in control, Zero and the gods are probably going to end up having the most influence. Humans will just be kept pets, like we saw during that month. Keisu, the only one who can seal Zero, was taken away from us. There’s nothing we can do.” Lily looked up at the ceiling.

“We can’t count on Hiroshi?” Yoshie asked.

But Lily just frowned. “He’s probably waiting for his chance. But he’s more concerned about the people than anything, and that’s tying him down. It’s tough, being on the side of order and justice. He’s forced to obey an invisible monster, one called ‘popularity’ and ‘respect’. No matter how rotten somebody is, as long as they’re popular, he’ll have to obey them. Otherwise, he can’t protect the people.”

Yoshie chuckled. “Then we’ll either be brainwashed, or forced to spend the rest of our young lives helpless. Well, I don’t mind spending my life locked up in a room, though.”

“The diet’s probably going to make a house of lords by the next election, right? Not that the place has ever been anything but a way for the different churches to have their power struggles, but it still feels like democracy is getting further away,” said Lily.

“From the people’s perspective, nothing that goes on in the halls of power really matters to them. That’s why we needed to release their magic as soon as possible,” added Fujiko.

“That’s right. Everybody here has a different way of thinking and a different position. It’s really a joke that we’re all here chatting like this.”

“But at some point, we’re going to have to fall silent,” Yoshie said. And then nobody spoke.

The silence went on for a while. But it was Keena, who’d said nothing until then, who broke it.

“No! You can’t say that! We can do more than just shut up!” Keena slammed the table and stood up.

“But what do you want to do?”

“We’ve tried everything we could.”

“We’ll have to just wait and leave it to Hiroshi.”

“I don’t know what Brave can do, but yeah, we’ll have to wait.”

Everyone disagreed with Keena. She shook her head violently. “No! Nobody will do anything if you just sit here! You need to talk to the people who are amazing, the ones who are doing their best! If you don’t, nothing will happen! You need to tell them that you’re watching!” Keena said, and started to take her clothes off.

“Hey, what are you...” Junko reached out a hand, but Keena slipped past it.

“I have to do something!” she called out. A moment later she was naked, and then she disappeared.

“Wait. You can’t just vanish. I mean, you can leave here, but...”

“We’ll be the ones who take the blame... Well, not that it matters now. Why don’t we let her do whatever she wants to do?”

There was no answer from Keena. She’d probably already gone. A few seconds later, a window near the ceiling opened.

“Oh, there she goes.”

“She’ll get hungry and come home. She always does, and she ends up crying and eating a ton of rice, too.”

“The sky’s so blue... On the other side of it, he’s probably still fighting...” Yoshie said to herself.

○

But even after several days passed, Keena didn’t come back. A search party was formed, but it didn’t get anywhere.

The rest of them were kept locked up until the day of Kazuko’s ceremony. They were outfitted with shock bracelets that would electrocute them if they moved a certain distance away, and were forced to attend the ceremony.

“I feel like a prisoner...”

“Well, you are a prisoner.”

“Are we supposed to be an object of ridicule at the ceremony?”

“We’re probably supposed to give a speech to the people about how we’ve changed our minds and want to work with Kazuko. Either that, or we’ll be executed. I can’t imagine them executing us at the ceremony, though. We’re all cute girls,” Yoshie said with a laugh.

The Liradans took the girls to the center of the city. The crater at the palace had been filled in, and was being used as makeshift ceremony grounds. There were seats for the attendees to sit in, and simple decorations. The place had been chosen as a symbol of the city’s reconstruction. There was nobody left to oppose Kazuko, and everything was going exactly as she’d planned.

Just before noon, half the seats were filled with priests. These were the priests who hadn’t participated in the resistance. Half of them had laughed at the resistance and the other half were ashamed at their own failure to participate in it, so there was very little in the way of conversation.

By this time, though, it was well-known that Kazuko had dictatorial control over all the Liradans, so no matter which side they were on, there was very little they could do. A system both huge and logical, but also capable of ignoring the will of the individual due to its efficiency, was controlling every aspect of human’s lives; a system put into practice by people with power.

No one had an answer to this strange situation. The only thing they could do was let the Empress do as she liked as long as she had the people’s backing, and put into place a system where everyone could share their opinions with her. It wasn’t “justice,” but the priests had no choice but to believe that this was the best thing for the people.

Both the primitive political system that relied on the story called the “Empress,” as well as the political system of cold mechanical logic that existed in order to escape from it, were broken. Even if a dystopian society was coming, all they could do was pray.

Soon, the people started to gather too. The only chance they got to see the Empress was her birthday and New Years. This declaration was a rare event, and something they could enjoy. For them, it was also a chance to celebrate the end of the latest Demon King war and the Liradan rebellion. There were food stalls lined up on the streets, and the whole place was in a mood of celebration.

The girls were sat in the front row. The Liradans ordered them not to say a word. As they’d suspected, they were going to be forced to play the role of girls who’d been manipulated by the Demon King, but repented.

The four of them sat in silence until noon, when the ceremony began. When Kazuko appeared, the excitement reached its peak. The people shouted in excitement and waved the imperial flag. Illuminated by mana lights, and surrounded by the people, she appeared.

“Until today, our country has been in a sad state. The first Demon King, who controlled the Liradans, Zero. He awoke by accident and started a rebellion...” Kazuko began to speak, and the people listened to her intently. Despite the huge crowd filling the streets, it was was almost completely silent.

“And then the Demon King, who was waiting for a chance to destroy the world, grew angry at Zero’s appearance, and they began to fight. They risked the people’s lives with a blast powerful enough to destroy the imperial palace.”

Kazuko began to change history in a way that was convenient to her. Those who knew the truth had no conclusive evidence, and so couldn’t even speak. And the people became fearful as they listened to this terrible history.

“But we... yes, we... triumphed. I say we, because I had a powerful helper in my struggle. His name is Brave!” Kazuko raised a hand upward. Brave was floating there. He was welcomed with loud cheers from the people.

“He banished both the Demon Kings to the moon. Yes, the one above our heads. Now they are no threat to us. And the Liradans have regained their freedom.” When she said this, the Liradans surrounding the platform she was standing on waved.

“There will be no more Liradan rebellion. But to make sure of this, the Empress must take personal control of them,” Kazuko said. She raised a hand and summoned the Yasukuni-no-Magatama and Ame-no-Murakumo: the mana balls and sword of light.

“These are the Yasukuni-no-magatama and Ame-No-Murakumo, the secret spells of the imperial family. These spells can only be used by a true heir to the imperial family, and to use them, the sacred treasures within our bodies must be passed from one person to the next. And this is the last magic: the Yata-no-kagami.”

Kazuko put her hands together to summon a mana mirror. “This is the power that lets me speak to the gods at the core of the Liradans. As long as I have it, the Liradans will not rebel. And we will no longer leave it to the priests to talk to the gods. As in our ancient, beautiful traditions, I shall help our society by speaking to the gods directly!”

There were cheers when she said this. Even if this was a declaration that she’d become a dictator, if no one raised their voice in protest, it meant that she had the people’s approval. To the girls, it was like torture. Lily was biting her lip so hard it was bleeding. In the middle of the festive mood, they alone were miserable.

“In ancient times, the gods were nature. And the nation was the family. Now, things are much more complicated. The gods control our lives, and everything is artificial. But there are still things that do not change. My responsibility is to speak with the gods, and consider the people my family. And as the head of this nation’s family, I will carry out that responsibility,” Kazuko declared.

Despair weighed on the girls’ hearts. Even if there was hope, it was nothing they’d won for themselves. All they could do was wait for a miracle. Was it over? Was there no hope? Would there be no miracle?

“A question, then. When the head of the family is wrong, what should the family do?”

There was a question. The voice that asked it was loud enough drown out Kazuko’s voice on the mana screens that were being played all across the Empire.

“What...?”

“It can’t be...”

The people recognized the voice. It was the voice of the man who’d terrified them with that gigantic explosion.

“It can’t be...” The girls were saying the same thing as the people. But it meant something different to them; to them, the voice was a miracle.

“No way...”

“Did someone record his voice?”

“Is it a fake?”

The three whispered among one another, and as if in answer, all the mana screens began to show him. There was a man in the sky, looking down at the people, as if to prove the existence of miracles.

“I’ll tell you. A child doesn’t get to choose the head of its family. So when the head of the family does something wrong, it’s time for them to retire,” Akuto said.

The people gathered in the city center were screaming. They were terrified and looking for a way to escape.

Kazuko shouted in an even larger voice than Akuto had used to calm them down. “The head of a household may do something wrong, but the Imperial family is always right! Fret not, everyone! Brave will not lose to that monster!”

She called out to Brave from the dias, pointing to the girls in a way that only he would notice. The girls were fitted with electric shock bracelets, a fact that she’d already shared with Brave.

Brave nodded and flew up into the sky. There was no fear or hesitation within him. He could attack Akuto with everything he had, because he knew that even if he did, Akuto would defeat him.

“You’ve made enough miracles already. You can defeat me easily, right?” he said in a voice only the two of them could hear, grinning under his mask. Then he charged at him.

But Akuto shook his head. “Sorry. I’m not the one who made the miracle. Instead, I want you to fight the person who did,” he said.

“Huh?” Hiroshi gasped in surprise.

A naked girl had suddenly appeared in front of him.

“Uwah!” He came to a sudden stop, but he was moving so fast he slammed into her.

“Oww!” Keena yelled.

“Play with my hostage!” Akuto shouted loud enough for everyone to hear, and then he slipped past Keena and Hiroshi. As he moved by Keena, he threw his cape over her.

“...I get it.” Hiroshi said. He pretended for a moment to be deciding whether to go after Akuto or save the hostage, before flying over to drop Keena in a safe place. It was an act, a way to maintain Brave’s reputation while keeping Kazuko from complaining.

Once Akuto saw what he was doing, he began to descend towards Kazuko.

“Can’t... can’t you see them?” Kazuko said telepathically to Akuto. She was pointing at the girls.

“Shock bracelets? That’s a nasty little trick you thought up, isn’t it? But they won’t work,” Akuto said calmly.

“Impossible...” Kazuko said, and waved her hand. But nothing happened. “...Why?”

“Because I’m controlling the mana,” Akuto said, as if it were nothing.

“But I can do the same thing... I have Zero on my side...” Kazuko said, and then stopped. “...Impossible! Zero! Why... why won’t you respond?”

“He saw a miracle happen. And realized the mistake he’d made.”

“What? You’re lying!” Kazuko looked up at Akuto as she summoned the sword of light in her hand. It was the same blade she’d always used, but its light seemed to be far more feeble than before.

“There’s no use in resisting,” Akuto warned her, as he began to accelerate faster.

“Impossible! Impossible! You shouldn’t be able to do anything! You’re just a weapon! Just a disgusting war machine!” Kazuko’s gentle smile vanished, and was replaced with the expression of a beast. “Impossible! There are no miracles! Die, Demon King!” she howled.

“Repent of your misdeeds, Empress!” Akuto, now a bolt of lightning spreading terror as he passed, headed straight for Kazuko in a straight line.

Kazuko fired off her sword of light directly above her. There was a massive flash of light, but it wasn’t from the sword. Akuto was in complete control of the mana. He erased Kazuko’s sword, creating the flash of light to keep the people from seeing the cruel thing. There was a rumble and a flash of light, spreading out like a wave, but the damage was limited to its center.

The battle was over in an instant. Akuto was standing tall on the dias with, Kazuko staggering at his feet. Beneath her was a tiny crater. She’d been struck by an impact directly from above.

But Kazuko was still alive. She was dazed, and blood was pouring from her forehead, but she turned her face towards Akuto and raised a hand to attack. There was nothing left of her personality now but an impulse to destroy.

“If you retire now, you can survive,” Akuto said.

Kazuko just laughed. “...The Empress does not take orders from others.”

“Hah. I don’t think that’s a good way to live,” Akuto said coldly. He heard someone running towards the dias.

“Demon King...!” It was Lily. She shot one of her extended-arm punches at him, and Akuto was struck in the chest. There was no real damage, but he pretended to be hit so hard that he flew back. Akuto knew exactly what she was doing; if he didn’t pretend to be the Demon King here, the people would just get more confused.

“An unimpressive attack,” Akuto said.

Lily looked up at him. “Shut up... What did you do to the Empress?”

“The Empress and Zero attempted to use the power of the Demon King, and so I eliminated them. Don’t forget. The power of the Demon King belongs to no one,” Akuto said so that everyone could hear.

Lily moved around to Kazuko’s front. The Empress had been standing, motionless. “Is it true that you tried to use the power of the Demon King? That was the same thing that we rebel priests said. We said that you were trying to become a dictator using Zero’s power,” she demanded. She was trying to tell the people the truth about what had happened.

Kazuko neither confirmed nor denied this. She just laughed in a wicked voice. “If the bloodline of the Imperial family ends, nobody will be left who can use the three sacred treasures. There’ll be no one left to prove whether the sacred treasures could control Zero’s power.”

She was right. In her speech, Kazuko had only talked about “the power to communicate with the gods.” That was all the people knew about the Yasukuni-no-kagami. No one would be able to prove that she was lying; that is, if she was dead.

“Wait...” Lily reached out a hand, realizing what Kazuko intended. Akuto didn’t kill her, but now that all her plans had come to naught, she was going to take her own life to protect the story of the Empress and the Demon King.

“Get a doctor! Brave! Take the Empress to a hospital!” Lily screamed as she reached out a hand to Kazuko’s neck. But even though she was still standing, Kazuko was already dead.

“Tch...!” Lily bit her lip. The whole place was in an uproar. The people were murmuring in fear, while the priests were silently overjoyed.

Now the old world would return. The gods would rule over mankind again. It wasn’t a perfect system, but for now, it was the only one they had. But the one who’d brought it back was someone that the system considered a heretic.

When Akuto looked down below and saw what happened, he realized he couldn’t go back to being who he was in that old world. The gods needed to be destroyed, but the time hadn’t come yet. Not as long as people were living according to the best system they knew. And as long as that system functioned, he would continue to be the Demon King.

Akuto prepared himself for one final act. “Don’t forget the terror you felt today! I’ll be watching, no matter where or who you are!” he shouted, and then quickly vanished into the sky.

○

Just then, the second biggest shock in imperial history occurred.

Hiroshi came down from the sky to land next to the deceased, still-standing Empress, carrying Keena in his arms. The only ones who could officially declare the death of an Emperor or Empress were the court doctors. The body needed to be taken to them.

Hiroshi set Keena, who had Akuto’s cape wrapped around her, down, and approached the Empress. Her eyes were silent, and blood was dripping from her mouth, but suddenly, her body shook.

For a moment, his eyes went wide as he thought she’d come back to life, but he was wrong. Balls of solidified mana came out of her body. A small sword from her mouth, a small, round mirror from her chest, and a blue magatama jewel from her right arm. It was immediately obvious that these were the three sacred treasures of the imperial bloodline.

They flew up into the sky as if they had a will of their own, and then headed towards Hiroshi. “Huh? What?” Hiroshi panicked, but then they flew straight past him. And then the three of them slipped straight through Akuto’s cape and into Keena’s body.

“Huh? Huh? HUH?” Keena shouted in surprise.

“Wh-What just happened? Let me see!” Lily said as she reached out a hand try and grab the cape.

“Hey! No! I’m not wearing anything under this!”

“Shut up! This is serious! What did you... do?!” She tried to yank the cape off.

“Noooo!” Keena screamed, and Lily’s body was blown back.

“Gwah!” Lily rolled along the ground and moaned. She shook her head and sat up, only be astonished when she saw what had knocked her back. “That’s...”

Keena’s body was surrounded by the mana balls that Kazuko had used.

“That’s impossible... But then...” Lily fell silent, as did the people around her.

“Huh? Really?” Keena stuck out her right hand as if she wasn’t sure what she’d just seen. With a rumble, a sword of light appeared.

Only someone with royal blood could use the three sacred treasures. Everyone knew that. Kazuko had just said so herself. Which meant...

“E-Empress!” somebody screamed. The knights and servants who’d rushed over to help Kazuko all quickly dropped to one knee.

“Huh... Wh-What do I do?” Keena asked.

Lily stood up and walked back to Keena, then whispered in her ear. “You’re the only one who can calm things down. It will help Akuto Sai, too.”

Keena realized that there wasn’t time for hesitation. She shook her head and assumed a tense expression. “Everyone, it seems... that I have royal blood,” she began.

All the mana screens began showing Keena’s face. The color of her eyes suddenly changed, and her voice became clear and elegant, like a completely different person’s.

“I have inherited the three sacred treasures. And now I know... The last empress used the power of the mirror to revive Zero, and tried to make his power her own. The result was the battle we just saw. So I retract the words my predecessor said!”

○

“What the hell happened?”

“What’s going on? Where is Akuto?”

“We’re rebuilding the palace and the churches. We need the Empress’s approval.”

“Wow, this is getting interesting. The new empress didn’t even know she had royal blood? And she was an orphan, too? Exciting!”

“Everybody stop talking at once!” Keena screamed.

Junko, Fujiko, Lily, and Yoshie were all talking to her at once. After her declaration, Keena had convinced her new servants to let her borrow a room in a nearby building so she could change clothes.

“First, we need to hear what happened,” Junko said.

Keena nodded. “I said this a little before, but I went flying.”

“Flying? Oh, you mean when you disappeared from the girls’ dorm. What about it?”

“I went flying.”

“We know that. You flew off. How did you meet Akuto?”

“No. I went to get him,” Keena said. Nobody said a word.

“Huh?”

“To the moon.”

“You went to get him? To the moon?”

“Yup. I flew, and... I felt like I had to go there... So I was able to fly.”

“Through space?”

“Yes.”

“Naked?”

“Yes. Nobody was there, so I didn’t need to disappear.”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“No, but... I was able to fly,” Keena said, but nobody could believe her.

But that didn’t change things. Akuto was back.

“No, it’s possible that the Akuto we saw was an illusion. Where did he go, anyway?” Lily asked.

Keena looked gloomy. “He said that since he was going to defeat the Empress, he couldn’t show his face in public anymore.”

Junko looked sad too. “Then he’s...”

“He was willing to do it. He said when it was over, he was going to go to the moon.”

“That’s...” Junko paused. “...Not what I want.”

“Yeah. Of course. So it’s perfect that I was able to become the Empress.”

“Perfect?”

“Let’s bring Akuto back to school!” Keena said. It wasn’t going to be that easy, but nobody could tell her no.

“Is it okay to do that...?”

“No. But we need him back.”

“I guess it’s not as selfish as what the last Empress tried to do. But things are going to get complicated now. There were too many victims,” Lily said as she opened the door.

○

The moon. Zero was sleeping peacefully in the lunar city. He’d chosen of his own will to hibernate. Before he went to sleep, he stared at the lunar waste. It was the first time the rocky, empty plains had seemed beautiful to him.

After days of fighting Akuto, when he’d gotten tired of counting how many times they’d punched each other, she’d come. Light had descended on the lunar waste, and red hair and white skin followed.

“There is a truth I have as a human,” the Demon King said.

No, it wasn’t Akuto the human who said that. A living human had flown, by herself, through space. No, if it was possible for her, perhaps she wasn’t human at all, but for now, that didn’t matter.

What had come down to the lunar surface was a truth beyond the truth of living things. It was something great and powerful.

“Is that the miracle you spoke of?”

“It’s a miracle. If it’s not a miracle, what is it?”

“Is that the story you spoke of?”

“Yes. A huge, foolish story, that erases stories themselves.”

And with that, the two of them stopped fighting. In the face of such a reality, it felt stupid to fight. Zero and Akuto shook hands. Even in the airless void, they could talk now without having to strike one another.

“So you’re saying that’s... love.”

“Yes. It’s something huge, and something great. And it loves humanity. That’s the kind of story it is. It’s foolish, but if you don’t believe in it, there are countless tiny, incorrect stories that will hurt mankind.”

“Does it even love someone like me?”

“That’s right. There are some who fall from its hands of loving grace, like grains of rice falling from a bowl, but in the moment you’re born, you are surely loved,” Akuto said.

Zero nodded. “Go home. It’s come for you, right? You must go with it.”

“And you?”

“I will sleep. I will let you control humanity instead of me.”

“That’s your job. Do you not care about it anymore?”

“I won’t say that every part of what I did was meaningless, but I realize that what I did was wrong. My attempting to control humanity will amplify those mistakes. I’ve made the logical decision.”

“Then there’s no need to sleep. You can stay awake.”

“I don’t want the Empress to use me. She makes too many mistakes.”

“I don’t want that either.”

“What I’m trying to say is that I’m tired of dealing with humanity.”

Akuto knew that Zero’s words were a joke. He laughed. “Alright. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye. You and I are similar. If you ever find yourself without a home, come back here.” He gripped Akuto’s hand tighter. And then he started to walk back to his tower.

But a moment later, he stopped, and seemed to say something. Akuto couldn’t hear what it was, but he knew it without hearing.

“My friend.”