Naw, See? I Totally Won! – Part 04
Naw, See? I Totally Won! – Part 04
Naw, See? I Totally Won! – Part 04
“Behold it with your own eyes!”
The chainsaw blade spun up with a high-pitched whine, glowing with a ruby-red light.
Why…
“Haruna, why…”
“You’re wondering how I could transform again?”
“Why the fuck did you drag me all the way out here?! If you can transform, just handle it yourself!”
“Uh… j-just be happy, ‘kay?! What’s with all the whining?!”
So, that was it. The reason she didn’t give me the chainsaw, the reason she was so hyped up—she’d recovered her mana. She’d called me here just so she could watch from her high horse. Not exactly something to be thrilled about.
“You just wanted me to see your genius at work, didn’t you?”
Haruna scowled. I realized there was no point in arguing any further, so before she could fire back, I went on.
“Fine, then. Show me. Show me your genius.”
Haruna gave me a smile as sweet as any girl’s.
“Healing wind, grant him your blessing! Earth Grave!”[1]
Reciting an incantation, she swung the chainsaw at the gorillas. A fireball a tad bigger than a basketball shot out of the glowing blade and slammed into one of them, reducing it to ashes in an instant.
Watching the gorilla dissolve into white particles, I tried to move my useless legs, sucked in a deep breath, and shouted from the top of my lungs, “Where the hell was the fire element in that spell?!”
I couldn’t stop myself. I couldn’t just let it go. It was clearly weird. Healing? Wind? Earth? Where the hell were those?
Hold on. What happened to the barrier?
“Listen up, Ayumu! A barrier has its limits. You just gotta hit it with enough force to overpower its defense.”
Yeah, right. Was she saying her attack was stronger than a zombie’s punch? Just by transforming, Haruna was already stronger than me, a zombie? That was… kinda depressing.
She turned to the next gorilla. “I cast… the Sword of Light!”[2]
A fucking ripoff! She didn’t even bother sending an email or something asking for permission, and just outright ripped it off.
Another fireball shot from the chainsaw toward the gorilla.
The gorilla managed to dodge, but before I could follow what happened, Haruna vanished from sight. A flash of skirt, and the raccoon went flying from a jump kick.
Even with my zombie eyes—eyes that had trained under the powerful Big Teach, had tracked the insane power of the King of the Night, had lived with the lightning-fast ponytailed Vampire Ninja, and chatted daily with the star of the track team—I couldn’t see her move.
I only guessed it was a jump kick because I saw her skirt flutter as she landed softly, like dandelion fluff drifting down.
What did she even do? I had no idea. The next thing I knew, Haruna had already taken down the raccoon.
“Naw, see? I totally won!”
The raccoon’s face said it never should’ve lost, but it dissolved into white particles anyway. Damn it, I wanted to keep it as a pet.
“Needing defense just proves your defense is weak!”
Full of herself, Haruna smashed the gorilla with her chainsaw. It went skidding across the asphalt the same way I had earlier.
“If there is evil in this world, it lurks in the hearts of mankind.[3]Holy Wrath!”[4]
Haruna, that’s not an incantation, that’s just a quote.
Another gorilla lunged, trying to grab her. For a little girl, that should’ve been terrifying. But the gorilla burst into flames and crumbled to ash in seconds.
The last gorilla just stared, completely lost. They were being destroyed by someone way smaller, and all it could do was stumble back.
“Heed me now that art darker than dusk. Heed me thou redder than blood. In the name of thou buried in the passing of the time, I make this vow to the abyss. Mark all ye fools that standeth in our way. Let thine strength merge with mine, sho that…”[5]
She messed up! Just a little more and she would’ve nailed it. A little more!
“Hiyaaah!”
A fireball shot out from the chainsaw. I guess she didn’t even need the spell after all.
After the last gorilla disintegrated into white particles, Haruna came over to me triumphantly.
“How was that? Incredible, huh?” She was beaming from ear to ear.
I shivered. There wasn’t any need for me to protect her at all.
With her powers as a Magiclad Girl restored, Haruna was far stronger than me, a zombie.
I could only laugh. I didn’t need to worry about this cocky little girl at all. I felt like a bird watching its fledgling leave the nest. A little sad, and yet joyful.
Haruna stood tall, looking down at me. “I’ve gotta give you props for all your effort until now.” She gave my head a couple of pats.
“Man… what a clown I turned out to be.”
She laughed, arms folded, clearly agreeing. “Well, if a genius like me can use offensive magic, A Class enemies are nothing!”
“When did you get your powers back?”
“Today, obviously. I finally finished it.”
She de-transformed, reached inside her shirt, and showed me a pendant hanging from her neck.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s a mana siphon I built using stuff I found in your school. I just wear it around, and it sucks in ambient magical energy automatically.”
So, that’s how she recovered the mana that Eu had taken from her. Despite her flaws, she really was a genius.
“Did you make it all by yourself?”
“Not entirely. Someone in this world who knows a bit about magic tech helped me.”
There was someone like Big Teach here? Who could it be? Who would be crazy enough to help Haruna? Since she used school supplies… could it be someone at our school?
“Well, either way, that’s great.”
“Yeah, I’m crazy strong now! I’m millions of times stronger than before I ran into your dumb self.”
“Millions of times?”
“Listen up. A Class means hard for a Magiclad Girl to beat. And I took one down in a single hit. That means I have about the same magical power as Big Teach. No, wait. Right now, only I can kill a Megalo using just a fireball. In other words…”
“In other words?”
“I’m basically the strongest! I feel like I can handle not just A Class Megalo that need multiple Magiclad Girls, but even S Class ones that supposedly can’t be beaten by any number of girls, all by myself.”
Watching Haruna toot her own horn like that, I had a feeling that she would either:
1. Get her ass handed to her by a Megalo because of overconfidence.
2. Have her mana siphon break.
3. Lose the chance to fight any Megalo.
4. Have her Magigear break.
There was no way someone who just proclaimed themselves the strongest wouldn’t have a downfall waiting.
At the same time, I felt a little curious about what would happen to Haruna next.
But first things first. I needed to get back to working on that sign.
Anyway, I kept getting tied up with these Megalo hunts, so I barely made any progress on the school festival prep. But with only two days left, I had no choice but to get serious.
When I said I was heading back to school, Haruna suddenly perked up, her cowlick sticking straight like an exclamation mark. “Oh, now that you mention it, I’ve got some stuff to do too!” she said, then disappeared somewhere.
Honestly, I had no idea what went on in her head.
I dashed back to school, stocked up on tea and bread from a convenience store to prepare for a long night, and entered the now-dark campus.
Huh? Only my classroom still had the lights on.
Someone must still be working. In that case, I’d at least drop off this tea. I hurried toward the classroom.
As I reached for the door, a small worry crept up. What if there were people inside, you know, getting all lovey-dovey?
I knocked loudly, waited a beat, then gently opened the door. Outside, night had fallen. The classroom was quiet enough that even the smallest sound carried.
Inside were our homeroom teacher and Hiramatsu, the pretty girl with pigtails hanging down her shoulders.
No shot they were a couple. I got nervous for nothing.
“Ai… kawa?” Hiramatsu said.
“It’s just the two of you?”
“Hiramatsu is helping with the work you bailed on,” the teacher said, each word dripping with venom.
I see. Hiramatsu had stayed behind to make the signboard I was in charge of. Typical honor student. So nice and thoughtful.
“Sorry, I had some stuff to do,” I said. “I’ll handle the rest myself.”
“What? O-Okay.” Hiramatsu looked oddly sad.
The teacher sighed. “Are you stupid? At this stage, there’s no way you can finish this alone.”
Fair enough.
1. Earth Grave is an offensive Sorcerer skill in Ragnarok Online.
2. Sword of Light is a spell from the Japanese light novel series Sorcerous Stabber Orphen.
3. This line is a famous quote from Edward D. Morrison in Tales of Phantasia.
4. Holy Wrath is a powerful spell that has been featured in most games of the Tales series. It is famous as the first spell to be presented in the series, as the spell that Edward D. Morrison casts at the start of Tales of Phantasia.
5. The incantation to cast Dragon Slave, a spell from the Japanese light novel series Slayers.