Chapter 5: The Hero Embattled

Chapter 5:
The Hero Embattled

 

The next day, in a house not far from the academy, Okegawa Kuon sat in his room, staring at his desk.

“This is really embarrassing…” Kuon muttered. More specifically, he was staring at a beautifully bound book on his desk.

The title on the cover read Portrait of the Hero.

I never dreamed I’d have a book written about me.

Trying to recover the memories of his previous life, he’d borrowed Suzuka Hachishiki’s biography from Hanabi. It wasn’t like he’d forgotten or anything, but it had been thirteen years ago. It couldn’t hurt to have some documentation.

Hanabi must have read this book so much. The cover was worn but had clearly been well-looked after. Having a total stranger write about his life, and having that special female senpai read it was…well, really embarrassing.

But this was for the ultimate arts. He had to do it.

Gritting his teeth, Kuon opened the book.

“Oh. Yeah, that’s right.”

Okegawa Kuon’s memories came flooding back to him.

 

***

 

These are the final memories of the Cavalleria who killed more Jave than any other human.

 

Once, there was a man named Suzuka Hachishiki, a.k.a. the Hero.

He was a Maneuver Cavalleria, Squad Leader of the Imperial Air Force, City Defense Force, First Mobile Division, Suzuka Squad.

He’d been deployed to mop up the Gate that had suddenly appeared over the imperial capital, as well as any Jave coming through it. He and his companions flew out to the battlefield, but along the way he’d lost all his companions in combat with monsters from another world. He alone reached the airspace over the capital.

“Let’s go, Getsuei (8-Phase)!” Calling the name of his beloved frame, the Hero flew alone into the thick of battle.

Falling to the surface, Hachishiki looked down at the black shadows writhing everywhere. It was an entire swarm of the human race’s natural predator.

The dark purple swarm filled his vision. Monsters that looked like defective disks covered in writhing tentacles waited to swallow Hachishiki as he fell. Just one of these would be a tough target for three normal Maneuver Cavalleria.

But Hachishiki showed no fear. He merely readied the large rifle in his right hand. His visor showed his altitude and speed, radar information like enemy and ally positions, and everything else he needed to know to fight effectively. In the center were his sights, showing “Locked On” and “Charge Ready.”

There was no reason to hesitate. There was nothing on his radar but enemies.

The instant he pulled the trigger, a Jave several meters long was swallowed by blinding light. Hachishiki had fired his Scout Nova Rifle, a weapon that was more powerful the stronger the wielder’s magic was. The “Nova” it fired was magic transformed to an ultra-heated beam of light, which traveled at the speed of light. It vaporized the tentacle monster, striking the surface below.

A shock wave spread out from the impact center. The ground shook. The dark purple swarm pulsed outward like a crowd doing the wave at a soccer match.

An instant later, there was a massive explosion.

Hachishiki was at 800 meters now, and the pillar of fire just barely missed hitting him. This was followed by a rush of noise, a billow of black smoke, and the distinctive scent of a magical beam explosion. The 265 Jave on the surface were vaporized instantly…along with the town below them.

To be clear, there were no signs of any non-Jave biological response—no humans were left alive.

The DM detection ability was never wrong. While Hachishiki was on his way there, the citizenry had been squashed under buildings, burned to death, or eaten by the monsters, along with their dogs and cats.

Despite unleashing a blast that would have put anyone else in a week-long magic depletion coma, Hachishiki was still fighting. His nozzles fired, slowing his descent, and he hovered above the surface, looking around.

There was a swarm of flying Jave headed his way. There wasn’t much difference between them and the ones he’d just vaporized. While the surface Jave were disk-like, the flying ones were like opened fans or hideous, malformed manta rays swimming through the air. He had only one thing for them:

Extermination.

He pointed his Scout Nova Rifle at the center of the swarm and they responded. They split into two groups, swinging to the left and right to try attacking from both sides. Were they actually strategizing? Or was that just instinct?

Hachishiki didn’t care. He just fired, starting with the group on the right.

There was another explosion like a sun being born upon the surface. The clouds being blown away showed the progress of the shockwave. One of the two groups was completely gone. Meanwhile, the other doubled its speed, coming closer. Ah ha, the first had been bait. They planned to end this before his rifle could recharge. Not a bad plan for a pack of monsters.

The tips of every manta began glowing. It was an incredible number of lights, like looking at the stars in the sky. His visor sounded an alert as the enemy attacked with their invisible bullets—132 of them.

Shichisei Kenbu: Tensetsu.

Saying the name of the technique aloud helped focus the mind. The effect took hold. In that instant, Hachishiki’s senses crossed the dimensional barrier, and it felt like time around him had stopped. In a negative-image world, the bullets appeared frozen in the air.

He could see how to evade them. If any of this rain of bullets hit him, he’d die instantly, but he saw several lines that would allow him to escape unharmed.

Time moved again.

His body moved faster than thought. It felt less like he was dodging than the bullets just missed on their own. He simply flew forward, following the line. Passing through their attack, he found the Jave swarm right in front of him, almost moving at the speed of sound.

By this point, the back of Hachishiki’s frame already had eight symmetrical armaments deployed. He grabbed the one to the upper right; the hilt bore the old kanji for “one,” ichi. He drew the pitch-black Blade that was charged with his magic.

Shichisei Kenbu: Ryusui.

The first wave of Jave flew by. The eight mantas in the first formation let out a horrible scream, their bodies falling to pieces. Black Jave blood turned to mist, scattering everywhere. As they’d passed Hachishiki, he’d cut them apart.

He grabbed the “nana” Blade from his upper left and breathed out. “That all you got?”

Enemies rushed at him from the front, left and right, above and below. He stopped time with Tensetsu, found a path, and used his two swords to turn the monsters into sashimi.

On a battlefield with no other survivors, a single Cavalleria was dominating the monsters from another world.

Hachishiki’s Blades stopped only when he’d dismembered the last of the fliers. The sky around him was dark, like it was covered in storm clouds. Jave blood filled the air like mist, corrupting the atmosphere.

The radar showed a second and third wave of enemies approaching. He had seventy-five seconds before they were in range. He could normally handle them, but not this time. He’d exterminated the enemies here, and there were no humans left alive, so there was no harm in abandoning this place to the Jave.

But he wasn’t retreating. He ignored the approaching waves and headed for the Gate.

Forty-five percent magic remaining. He took a small box from the item pack on his frame, removed a pill, and popped it in his mouth. His vision narrowed, turning red, his heart racing. These were hardly good for him, but they effectively restored his magic instantaneously. By the time his breathing recovered, he was fully charged. He’d likely carved three years off his life span, but who cared? He was dying today.

“But before I do, I’ve got to crush this Gate.”

No one had succeeded in taking out a Gate yet. If it went well, it would aid the generation to come.

With one glance back at the approaching mantas, Hachishiki’s Getsuei (8-Phase) flew off toward the heart of the capital.

 

***

 

Hachishiki’s final destination was the Gate over the imperial capital, Tokyo. His final goal was to destroy the Gate, dying in the process.

Suzuka Hachishiki wanted to die, to go out in a blaze of glory.

He didn’t want to be alone anymore. He didn’t want to be left behind anymore. That’s why he wanted to die while taking as many Jave as possible with him.

Then, he met the little girl.

“They… They’re all dead! Please! I want to die with them! I want to go where they are!”

He’d saved her, but Hachishiki couldn’t grant her request.

He was genuinely sorry; he felt it was selfish of him. But he wanted this child he’d only just met and barely knew to live, if only to lend that much more meaning to his own death. Even though she felt the same way he did.

Her eyes looked just like his had when he was young, and he couldn’t bear it.

 

***

 

A black force field, like a black hole, swirled in the sky over the heart of the capital. It was 300 meters across, but only a centimeter thick. This was the Gate connecting the Jave’s world to this one.

There were four giant flesh pillars placed around it. These were believed to be control panels, and Hachishiki destroyed all four as soon as he arrived. The instant the fourth pillar collapsed, the Gate opened.

A chill ran over him. His instincts screamed at him to pull back.

Tensetsu showed all evasion routes leading directly backward. He ignored them all, standing his ground. Suzuka Hachishiki wasn’t retreating today.

A massive Jave appeared from beyond the dimensional barrier, one almost as large as the Gate itself. It was disk-shaped, like the surface Jave, but instead of that dark purple it was a shade of red that reminded him of internal organs. He’d never seen this type before; it was a total unknown. It had mouths all over it, which yawned open, spewing countless flying Jave.

Hachishiki knew then this was the Queen.

His lips twisted into a smile. His Scout Nova Rifle fired instantly.

The mantas served as the Queen’s shield. A massive fireball appeared between the Queen and Hachishiki, but that was all. The rifle that had extinguished hundreds of Jave couldn’t even reach the Queen.

Light gathered in front of the Queen as she prepared to return fire. Jave bullets were normally invisible, but the sheer heat index made this one visible to the naked eye.

A strange sense of elation filled Hachishiki’s heart. He tossed his rifle aside and drew the last of his Blades, Hachi.

He would show her his strongest art.

Shichisei Kenbu: Shijin Reppakuzan.

It felt like his entire body was on fire. The DM amplified his magic several times over, and Getsuei (8-Phase) couldn’t keep up with the shimmer of heat surrounding it. Several mantas came flying in but were evaporated before they reached him. Humanity’s most powerful magic was fully unleashed, and all of it was channeled into a single Blade. Hachishiki raised the Blade far above his head.

The Queen attacked first, firing her beam, but…

“Shijin!” Hachishiki screamed. “Reppakuzan!”

He swung, his sword a blade of red light that seemed to stretch as far as the sky itself.

The Queen’s bullet was every bit as powerful as the Scout Nova Rifle’s Nova, but it was swallowed up by the infinitely long red blade. The sword reached the Queen, attempting to slice that massive mound of flesh in twain.

Skreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The Jave Queen let out a scream that shook the Earth itself. The noise sent a wave of sickness rising from within, scraping away at his very mind. Hachishiki grit his teeth, releasing all the magic he’d put into the sword.

“Break!”

Everything within a kilometer was instantly vaporized by an explosion several times larger than the light. Abandoned office buildings, apartment complexes, hospitals, houses, parks, bridges, the Jave eggs laid in all of those—everything was blown away. The shockwave was like a tornado, followed by a second rush of wind as the atmosphere raced to fill the vacuum created at the heart of the explosion. The black mist, which was all that remained of the Jave, turned into a giant whirlpool at the heart of the crater.

Everything was swept away except for two things: Suzuka Hachishiki, and the Gate itself.

“Still hanging in there, huh?”

He was breathing heavily. He popped another magic recovery pill. He’d been told to wait at least three days between them, but what did it matter? For a moment, his heart stopped beating. His vision went black. All sound drained away. He felt himself falling, but quickly recovered his balance. He’d overdosed on the pills. Sweat poured out of him as less than half his magic came back.

It didn’t matter.

He used Tensetsu and his speed to search his surroundings. Trace magic made it clear the Queen had been blown back through the Gate. The shockwave must have gotten her, throwing her back through the dimensional barrier before she vaporized.

The Hero didn’t hesitate. He sent Getsuei (8-Phase) right through the Gate; he wasn’t letting the Queen get away. While he was at it, if there was no way to destroy the Gate from the outside, he’d take care of it from the inside.

Hachishiki flew through the swirling vortex into another world without noticing how unbalanced his behavior was.

 

It was quiet.

Hachishiki floated slowly in what looked so much like the space between the Earth and the Moon. It was similar to what he’d experienced doing atmosphere re-entry tests on Fourth Generation DM prototypes, but there was neither a moon nor the Earth here.

His instruments were all out of whack. If he were to blindly trust his radar, speedometer, altimeter, and magic meter, Hachishiki was currently inside a bubble of magic with a value of 7,777,777 while traveling at three times the speed of light at an altitude of -5000 meters. He ignored them. There was something else he needed to look for first.

The Jave Queen was floating at five o’clock. Two-thirds of the Queen had vanished, and there was a glowing purple Core-like thing exposed. She was touching this with her tentacles, as if trying to heal.

He knew instinctively that he had to smash the Core.

He fired up every nozzle on his back, charging forward. His head was screaming in pain. Shut up, he told it. We don’t have long left anyway. There’s no way back to our world, so let’s take as many Jave with us as we can.

This last thought was basically his motto. Once again, it burned a path across his mind. If the Queen recovered and went back through the Gate, there were no humans left who stood a chance against her. This wasn’t over-confidence or bragging—it was the sad and simple truth.

Fortunately, his Blade was intact. He couldn’t use any major arts, but all he had to do was hit home once. As he flew into the enemy’s range, at the back of his mind he thought, I can still move, even here. Then he realized his radar was still active. It was displaying enemy coordinates with precision. The alarms were sounding. A moment later, countless spear-like tentacles shot out of empty space. He activated Tensetsu semi-unconsciously. As time froze, he looked for a way to evade.

There wasn’t one.

“At last…”

His body was run through. He coughed up blood.

His consciousness began fading. His body was on fire. The pain was beating an anvil in his head. The tentacles were still inside him, slowly pulling him apart. He was so close he could almost touch the Queen’s Core…

Then it moved.

Inside the glowing purple light of the Fore, there was a thin, dark fissure, like an eye. A bottomless, murky pupil. The heart of this filthy ball of flesh that thought it had won.

Heh…heheh…heheheh…

He tried laughing out loud, but he couldn’t move his mouth. He laughed in his mind instead as he spat one last clichéd insult at the invader.

You goddamn ugly monster.

He’d always wanted to try it, to go out in a blaze of glory, but the moment had never been right. At last, he thought. Now he could finally use it—the final self-destruct art.

Shichisei Kenbu: Soryu Ranbu.

 

The DM’s alarm fell silent. There was no need to warn him anymore. When he used Soryu Ranbu, he gathered magic, contracting and compressing it within his frame, consciously forcing it past the critical state. Maintaining control over this excessive magic was extremely difficult, but not impossible for anyone trained in Shichisei Kenbu; nor was intentionally setting it off.

Sensing he was up to something, the tentacles tried tearing Hachishiki apart, but it was too late. He surpassed the critical compression threshold and the pent-up magic scattered. This was the art named for and modeled after the ancient dragon that was the source of all magic, and the dance it performed. When Hachishiki unleashed his magic, it pulled in all the magic from around them, scattering it. Magic is the hidden potential of man, the energy of human life. That very life was torn up and scattered.

Once, there was a god who could kill things just by breathing on them. This was that very wind—the blowing breath of death known as Magic Dispersal.

The Jave Queen crumbled, falling apart. She no longer had the magic to maintain physical form.

At the heart of this slaughter, the focal point of it all, Hachishiki did not survive it either. Feeling the last embers of his mind fading, he remembered the words of the little girl…

“Hero, are you gonna die?”

Hachishiki lost consciousness then. It felt the same as his eyelids closing just before falling asleep in a darkened room.

Thus, the Hero perished.

 

***

 

Thirteen years passed. Reborn as Okegawa Kuon, he began his training in the ultimate arts so he could kill the Queen for good.

Yet he still didn’t understand what his master’s words about the Hero’s death had meant.