Chapter 14: With the Moon Shining Down on Us

Chapter 14:
With the Moon Shining Down on Us

 

INSIDE THE WALL of raging winds, Javagiir and I faced each other alone. Javagiir casually scratched his head with a bony hand. “You split up, eh? Seems like the toughest one among you is that elf girl of yours. Filia.”

“Maybe so. She can do anything. She’s my invaluable partner. Honestly, she’s too good for me. All I can do for her is beat your sorry hide.”

“Ha, all right. If you think you can handle me, then bring it.”

Javagiir’s aura was incredibly intense; I could feel it from where I was standing. It was almost hard to breathe. My blood rushed through my body, my fighting spirit roused. Come on—if I wasn’t thrilled by this, would I even be a man?!

I put up my fists and looked straight at Javagiir. “Hey. I gotta request. Make sure this is fun for me!”

I rushed in.

Right as I did, Javagiir cast earth magic to raise a prison of earth around me. In an instant, every speck of light vanished, and my field of vision went totally dark.

“Kids these days, eh? So many of you greenhorns out there are forgetting your place. Three years ago, I single-handedly stopped a monster outbreak on the frontier. Really, saying something so foolish to Javagiir Garyundur, the Hollow Soldier? Look, I got no clue what your rank is, but I’ve been an adventurer for ten years now. Don’t you think it’s polite to show respect to your elders?”

I heard Javagiir’s voice coming from outside the earthen walls, all smug—and all wrong. C’mon, he had to be super naïve if he thought he’d trapped me in such a crappy prison.

“Hooah!”

Paying no to the walls surrounding me, I just charged straight ahead. The walls shattered against my body. Keeping my momentum going, I got up close to Javagiir and struck—just once.

My fist slammed into his slender abdomen, knocking the wind from his lungs. He flew through the air. I tried to perform a follow-up attack, but the ground beneath my feet was too unstable—he’d been ready with more earth magic, and I couldn’t get in close enough.

“Ugh, hey, come on, be considerate, will ya? I am your senior, right? How old are you anyway? I’m twenty-seven.” Javagiir stood up, wobbling a bit, while spitting out some blood that had pooled inside his mouth.

And he still had his hands in his coat pockets, as usual. How in the world was he still conscious, even though he was so thin? He had to be using magic to strengthen himself.

“Don’t give me that dumb age crap, ‘senior’!”

“Dumb? That’s upsetting. Very upsetting. Why, it’s the most upsetting thing I’ve ever heard.” As he spoke, Javagiir took something out of both of his pockets. Something brown and round…something…

Donut-y.

Clutched in his hands were your average donuts, both of which had holes right in their centers. I watched Javagir’s movements carefully. Taking out donuts in the middle of a battle? Not a move I’d expected, not at all.

“This donut shop is too…upsetting. ‘Donuts Sans Holes’? Are you kidding me? That’s not a thing. They’re not donuts! I’m fine with you people exposing your ignorance, but spreading it around? That is an act that screams for a purge. Have I said something wrong? Huh?”

He stuck his long, slender tongue in and out of the donut hole at such a speed that it would’ve been invisible to the normal human eye.

“Ahhh, I just can’t get enough of this feeling of emptiness…the meaningless penetration of a donut! It’s sublime! You think so too, don’t you? An untongueable donut isn’t a donut at all, right?”

“I don’t understand a word you’re saying.” I could never in a million years have imagined doing something like this right in the middle of a life-or-death battle. This was wild.

“Too many people in our world search for a meaning that simply is not there. Donuts teach us that there is no such thing as the true meaning of life. Ah, how sacred…ugh, I can’t believe I’m crying now. You bastard.” Just as Javagiir said, tears were streaming down his sunken cheeks. He continued monologuing without even wiping them away. “And now, this shop! ‘Donuts Sans Holes’? That’s just unacceptable! Completely unacceptable! A store that sells fake donuts, completely unashamedly in broad daylight? I could never allow that! This shop should be met with scorn! It’s a betrayal of all things donut!”

A vein in Javagiir’s forehead bulged. He angrily spat his words, as if expressing total disgust and loathing with the world. The color of the tears flowing from his eyes changed from clear to red. While I couldn’t understand a word he was saying, Javagiir’s face was tinged with delight as he darted his tongue in and out of the donut hole again. “Bleehh, Bleehh! Ah, this is just tooooooooooo much fun!”

“So, like…are you high?” I asked.

“High?! The only thing I’m high on is donuts! They’re all I need! And donuts only need me! We’re madly in love with one another! We’re comrades in arms who have committed to each other’s futures!” Javagiir brought the donut to his lips and kissed it.

Ohhh—now I understood. This guy was just like me: Donuts to him were like muscles are to me. That made this a battle of pride. A battle over the uncompromising dignity we had carved into our souls!

“All right, then. Let’s see whose bonds are stronger: The bond you have with donuts, or the bond I have with muscle. How ’bout it?”

All this was the wrong way for him to express his feelings, but those feelings were still real. Then again, my muscles… My muscles and I, we couldn’t lose. I swung my fist down. The pressure from my fist split the ground open, and the fissure continued splitting toward Javagiir.

“Hooah!”

He moved to avoid it, and that created an opening. I fired off a Pistol Punch. Javagiir didn’t protect himself, instead putting his life on the line to fire off earth magic bullets with reckless abandon. But my body was harder than iron. The bullets that struck me lost all their momentum the second they hit my skin, and they clattered to the ground.

“Your body… So, you’ve got a physical enhancement ability after all, huh?” he spat. “Ugh. This is why I hate muscle-brained meatheads. Can’t even have a proper conversation with ’em!”

“It’s not an ability. It’s muscle.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. See, I can’t have a conversation with you!”

“I don’t wanna hear that from the likes of you. Ready to go?”

Get in close and punch—that was the strategy I was best at, and it was my most powerful to boot. Brushing aside his earth magic counterattack, I rushed in toward Javagiir.

“Guh!”

“Too late.” Without giving Javagiir time to react, I punched him in the torso as hard as I could. Then, without even taking a breath, I rushed in for a follow-up. “HOOOOOAAAAAHHHH!”

I delivered each and every punch with full force. I put my body and soul into every hit. And with every hit Javagiir took, more blood spilled from his mouth. He might’ve already gone unconscious. If he were a normal opponent, he would’ve been knocked out cold for sure.

But I knew battle, and my instincts told me that it wasn’t going to end like this.

Javagiir’s arms, legs, and torso—his body was so slender, but he started to emit an energy that didn’t match his physique. The sensation was different from anything I’d felt before, and I put some distance between us.

“Heh, not bad. Never thought you’d drive me into a corner like this.”

Javagiir stood, his body covered in blood. But from the way he was moving, he looked like a puppet being controlled by strings. It was as if his limbs were already broken. He clearly wasn’t standing up on his own power. Something else had taken over.

“Even I can’t control him. I had him sealed inside my body. But when my power weakens, he possesses me as he likes,” Javagiir lamented, almost self-deprecating.

It seemed he was only able to use his mouth; the spirit had already taken control of the rest of his body. And this spirit…it was strong. The energy his body radiated now was clearly different from that of the other black shadows. Even at this distance, I could feel it. It was like electricity shooting through me.

The intense air of intimidation penetrated me down to my very bones. It had to be a truly fiendish spirit, if even a master necromancer couldn’t tame it. “So that’s your trump card, huh?”

“I’m not sure I’d call it a trump card, honestly. I suppose if it was one…it’d be like drawing the Joker, baby. I can’t say that I’ve won now that it’s come to this, but—he he—you’re sure as hell not gonna win either. Nothing to say but ‘my condolences.’ You’re gonna die.”

It was certainly true that this spirit was incredible. Having such deep-seated anger that you lingered on after death, all that sinister power… But that was all the credit I was gonna give him.

“I knew you had some kind of hidden power. I felt a different presence down in the depths of your heart…but I hid something from you too.”

“Hid something? What?” asked Javagiir suspiciously.

I smiled, overjoyed to be fighting such a strong opponent. “Ain’t it obvious? A trump card. Super Yuri Mode. Activate.”

An evil spirit that couldn’t be controlled, even with necromancy? Oh, yeah. That was perfect for punching. Time to see who was stronger: his Joker or my trump card! I activated Super Yuri Mode.

A feeling of total elation, a sensation that I could do anything, surged throughout my body. I felt light, as if I had grown wings. With the limiter removed from my brain, my body could move more freely than usual. There was nothing stopping me now.

In the time it took Javagiir to step forward, I swooped around behind him.

“To free someone from possession, you gotta hit the back of the neck. That’s what Filia said.”

I swung my hand down on the back of Javagiir’s neck, hitting him with a karate chop. He let out a cough and collapsed on the ground. His face was as pale as ever, but despite how he looked, he seemed pretty sturdy. He probably wasn’t dead. Then—maybe because the evil spirit was so shocked from having been thwacked out of Javagiir’s body—it plunged toward Filia’s ranging wind wall.

Whoa—wouldn’t that tear it to shreds? What in the heck was it doing?!

At that moment, the evil spirit broke through the wall of wind.

“It went through?! Crap, not good!”

I’d known it was a powerful spirit, but I hadn’t thought it was that powerful! Filia and Ashley were already fighting a great host of spirits outside the wall. If that mega-bad spirit joined up with them, the scales were definitely gonna tip the wrong way!

“Can’t let that happen!”

I rushed into the furious wind wall. It hurt, but not so much that I couldn’t bear it, thanks to my well-trained muscles. After bursting through, I scanned the area to assess the situation. Filia, Ashley, and Loli Loli were all covered in sweat, completely exhausted—and in front of the three of them loomed a black shadow the size of a mountain.

It seemed Ashley had managed to help Loli Loli regain consciousness with Filia’s help. But the situation was still highly unpredictable.

“I only took my eyes off it for a second, but…that spirit’s pretty gnarly, huh?”

“Yuri! You’re okay?!” shouted Filia, noticing me.

I ran over to the three of them, keeping my eye on the giant spirit. “Yeah. So, what’s the deal with that?”

“That spirit suddenly jumped out from the wind wall, absorbed all the other spirits in the area, and grew into a titan.”

It could absorb other spirits? That was a thing?!

Wait. Wait, this was bad. Because I’d failed to defeat it, now it was a downright beast…

“Oh, yeah, is Loli Loli okay?”

“A-okay, I would say! But I’m sorry, everyone. I dragged you all down…” Loli Loli sounded heartbroken.

“There’s nothin’ to be down about.”

We’d been completely blindsided by that attack. It would be totally unfair to expect her to just brush it off. And besides, if anyone was dragging the group down in this situation, it was me. I’d gotten us into this mess because I couldn’t cleanly defeat Javagiir.

“Grooaaah!”

The merged shadow, whose legs alone were taller than I was, took a step forward. Even though its body didn’t have any actual mass, it still gave off this powerfully oppressive presence. As I looked up at the spirit, Filia explained the situation.

“Ashley, Loli Loli, and I are out of magical energy. Frankly, Yuri, this battle…if it goes on much longer, we’re going to have real problems.”

Right, then. Maybe the reason that spirit had been able to get through Filia’s wind wall was because her magical energy was almost exhausted. I frowned, but an impatient voice derailed my train of thought.

“This isn’t the time to be talking about that!” said Ashley. “Now that our magical energy is used up, we should focus all of our efforts on getting everyone out of the village! If the old folks get attacked by that thing, they won’t be able to protect themselves at all! We should leave a decoy and the others will help the rest of the villagers escape!”

Seeing as how the spirit seemed to be readying itself to go on a rampage—it didn’t seem to possess any kind of intelligence whatsoever—I agreed with Ashley. Anything else would spell our defeat. The ever-talented Filia and Loli Loli agreed with Ashley as well.

“In that case, I’ll be the decoy,” said Filia. “You evacuate all the villagers!”

“No! I’m the one who dragged you all down!” shouted Loli Loli. “I’ll be the decoy!”

“What are you two saying?” Ashley interrupted. “This is my village. The answer is obvious—I’ll be the decoy.”

Wow, they were gonna argue about this? Jeez, normal people would’ve wanted anything but to play bait for a monster shadow. And every second we wasted bickering, that same shadow lumbered closer and closer.

“Calm down, I still have a plan.” I said.

“What are you saying, Yuri?! We have to hurry and get everyone out of here!”

“Yuri…?” Filia asked. My eyes met hers. She read my mind and nodded, not showing a hint of surprise. “Listen, you two. Please, believe in Yuri.”

“Oh, I believe! Yuri is a strong guy!” said Loli Loli.

Ashley gritted her teeth and let out a short sigh. “If you die, I’m going to hold such a grudge, though! I don’t know what you’re gonna do, but you better beat it!”

Thanks for believing in me.

With that, I ran over to the Fire God idol and stood between it and the giant spirit, ready for the face-off. I had a little time left before Super Yuri Mode ran out—enough for one last shot. The spirit monster towered before me.

I smiled. “So, I gotta beat ya with magical energy, huh? Then I’ll give you everythin’ I got.”

If I only had one shot, then I was going to put everything I had into it, and the spirit could bring it.

“Hoooaaahhhh!”

Pushing my strength to the max, I punched the idol. The form of the Fire God, which had been maintained through fire magic, collapsed the moment it met my fist. The flames that formed the idol rumbled and shattered into sharp fragments like arrows—and flew in the direction of the giant spirit.

“Groooooohh?!”

Flames enveloped the evil spirit. It let out screams of agony in its last moments as its body gradually became thinner and thinner. Then, at last, it completely disappeared from this world…

Exactly when my Super Yuri Mode ran out.

“Phew!” Man, it really was exhausting using that technique all the way until the last second of a fight. I still had lots of training to do.

“Um, Yuri,” said Ashley, “could you explain what just happened?”

“What just happened? Well, Filia said my attacks wouldn’t work unless they were filled with magical power, right? So I smacked the Fire God and sent it flying. By doing that, it gave my attack magical energy.”

“That’s amazing, Yuri!” Loli Loli cheered. “Even though you don’t have magical energy, you just smacked a physical body made of magic!”

“I can use magic though. Muscle magic.”

Filia grinned. “Yes, fine, muscle magic is magic.”

“Oh, you’re finally startin’ to get it, Filia!” I beat the spirit and Filia was starting to understand? Talk about a happy ending!

“Whew.” I caught my breath. “I know this is weird for me, but I’d like to rest. Let’s just secure Javagiir first.”

I headed over toward Javagiir’s body, feeling completely drained. Most of his bones were broken and he was unconscious. It seemed like he was still alive, but he looked like he was in a lot of pain. If we just left him like this, he’d probably die.

“Filia, can you still use your recovery magic?”

“I think I can manage to at least keep him alive,” she replied.

Even if Javagiir was the culprit, it would’ve felt wrong to just let him die. Putting aside the fact that I’d killed in the heat of battle before, I didn’t really like the idea of just letting someone die a slow, torturous death. As Filia cast her recovery magic, Javagiir’s body was enveloped in a familiar white light.

 

***

 

Javagiir’s eyelids twitched. Moments later, his eyes opened fully, and he was glaring at me. “Hm?”

“You’re up, huh?” I was watching over Javagiir until the Knight Order arrived. Javagiir seemed to understand the situation right away, as he alternatively looked at me standing beside him, and down at himself, all tied up.

“So you beat him too, huh?” he asked.

“Guess so.”

“Wow, that’s amazing,” he muttered. “Good work, greenhorn.”

In order to reduce the risk of Javagiir escaping, his bones hadn’t been fully healed. His voice was quiet and strained, as if he could feel every bone in his body creaking.

“The Knight Order will be here soon. When they do, they’ll arrest you.”

“Ah, guess there’s no getting around that. Hey, can I ask ya one thing?”

“What?”

“There’s a donut in my pocket. I want you to put it on my mouth. I know full well I’m not in a position to ask you anything, but can ya do that for me?”

“Donuts again?”

“Donuts again.”

Seriously, bringing up donuts now, in this situation? Wasn’t he maybe a little too obsessed? Still, as a sign of respect for his unwavering spirit, I took the donut out of Javagiir’s pocket.

“O-oh, hey, wait a minute!” Just as I was about to put the donut to his mouth, Javagiir cried out, flustered, as if he had just remembered something.

“What is it this time?”

“Before you put it on my mouth, can ya hold it up to my eye? It’s a full moon tonight, isn’t it? There’s nothing quite like looking at the full moon through a donut hole.”

“I don’t get it at all…”

But I didn’t have any choice. I held the donut over his eye, so that his line of sight was aimed through the donut hole.

“Wow…” Javagiir let out a sigh of completely contented admiration. “Huh. Tonight’s full moon looks even bigger.”

“You don’t need a donut hole to tell that.”

“You idiot, don’t ya know anything about elegance? It’s like the folks who hold up umbrellas on rainy days! It’s the same thing.”

What was the same?!

Anyway, he was finished looking at the moon, so I held the donut to his mouth. The moment I did so, Javagiir started darting his tongue in and out of the donut hole at rapid speed. That was close—I pulled my hand away just in time…

“Bleh! Bleeeeeh! Ahhhhhhhhhh, this is the best! I can taste the mooooon!”

(No, he was absolutely not tasting the moon.)

“Whew, now that was a satisfying smoke,” said Javagiir. “Though the taste doesn’t quite suit someone as moderate as me.”

“Okay, first of all, that’s not what smoking is.” I’d never seen such a bizarre “smoke” in my life.

Javagiir chuckled softly. He looked refreshed, somehow. “Thanks, greenhorn. Now I can go to jail without any worries.”

“If only you’d directed those feelings of yours in a different direction. Like toward muscle, you know?”

“You got a long way to go as an adventurer if you’re feeling sorry for criminals, greenhorn.”

“It’s not like I’m feelin’ sorry. It’s just…it’s a little bit disappointing, is all.” I’d wanted to have a fairer match against a guy with such passion in his heart.

At the far end of the road, illuminated by the light of the full moon, I could see the Knight Order had just arrived and were approaching. It would probably only take them a few more minutes to get here.

“Hey, everyone,” I shouted out to Filia, Ashley, and Loli Loli. “They’re here!”

We had decided in advance that all of us would be present for me to hand over Javagiir, just to make sure that everything went well.

Javagiir bowed deeply as I stood him up. “Sorry.”

“I’m not saying I forgive you, but…I do accept your apology,” said Ashley, looking Javagiir straight in the eye.

“I’m grateful just for that. Oh, and tell the owner of the shop I’m sorry as well,” said Javagiir. “My methods were wrong. I should have tried getting him to understand how good real donuts are. I just got so mad that the blood went to my head, and I couldn’t think of anything else but violent retribution.”

Finally, the knights reached us to retrieve the criminal.

“Welp,” said Javagiir, “see ya, greenhorns. Give it your best. Don’t just act big—walk tall.”

With that, the Knight Order took Javagiir away, leaving only those words behind.