Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou

In the past, Constant Magic Academy had been a fortress. However, the remains of that were only located underground. The school building had been built after the war. This left a labyrinth of trenches underground, but the buildings were not constructed to withstand attacks.

That was why Teruya Keizou had a.s.sumed this job would be easy. He also had a perfect map of the academy and the plans for its defenses. He had not even needed to obtain them through illicit means. The openly available information was enough.

“Let us synch our clocks in 3, 2, 1…”

Keizou hid behind the academy with three subordinates. The group of four was wearing ninja outfits. The outfits were made of a cloth that did not react to mana well, so it would hide them from any sensors that were not too sensitive. The dark brown color of the outfits was less about mana detection and more about making them visibly difficult to see during the night.

They synchronized their clocks and checked on the blades hidden within their clothes. They were using cla.s.sic equipment for a cla.s.sic strategy, but it was the most effective method for a.s.sa.s.sination.

Keizou’s subordinates were made up of a man who was frighteningly tall and thin, a man whose eyes were opened exceedingly wide where they could be seen through his mask, and a man who was extremely short and round. Keizou gave a short instruction to one of those unique men.

“Eye, double check the route.”

The man referred to as Eye was of course the one with the large eyes. He nodded and jammed his own fingers into his right eye. Anyone who saw that would want to hold a hand to their eye. He gouged out his own eyeball with his fingers.

But Eye did not seem to be feeling any pain. Surprisingly, he flicked the eyeball away with his finger. It fell to the ground and rolled a short distance before jumping up.

The eyeball grew small legs. A thin thread extended from the back of the eyeball. This was an optic nerve. It connected back to the man’s empty eye socket.

Eye gestured with his hand as if giving instructions to a small animal. The eyeball then ran forward, dragging the optic nerve with it. This appeared to be a reconnaissance method allowing the man to view a distant area without sending out mana. If he had used mana, his opponent would find it much easier to detect him. The eyeball kept the mana disruption to an absolute minimum, so detection could be avoided.

The eyeball walked along and began climbing up the school building’s drain spout. It reached a window allowing air in at the top of the first floor and entered inside through it.

After a while, Eye gave a report to Keizou.

“The security has indeed been changed. One of the patrolling surveillance devices pa.s.sed by at a different time than scheduled. Should I fit this to a standard security pattern and estimate the overall schedule?”

Eye displayed a map and security pattern on his clock and held it out toward Keizou. A glance at that was enough for Keizou to see through the academy’s security.

“They are not using a standard pattern. They just want us to think it is one. They have likely increased the number of security devices and put them on a random pattern. They have thought this through.”

Keizou now gave an instruction to the short, round man.

“Bag, prepare four dummy surveillance devices.”

The man referred to as Bag slid his mask up and stuck a hand in his mouth. When he pulled his hand out, a flying surveillance device that resembled a bird came with it. It was about the size of a small bird, so it was too large for someone to normally fit in their mouth. However, Bag continued pulling them from his body until he had four. This was an object transportation method developed so as not to be detectable by mana. Bringing out items using a system like Korone’s bag emitted large amounts of mana into the surrounding area.

“Snake, set the dummy surveillance devices on Route B. Begin the operation five minutes after finishing.”

The tall, skinny man referred to as Snake grabbed the surveillance devices Bag had produced. He lay on the ground and moved forward by undulating his body just like a snake. He moved as quickly as a sprinter. He reached the school building in no time at all and began ascending the vertical wall just by undulating his body. All of their actions were developed so as not to emit mana, so his ability to stick to the wall must have been a permanent alteration to his body. Snake pressed his head against the small window that was no more than a gap, too small for a human. When he stuck his head into it, his supposedly hard skull grew disfigured as it squished into the small gap. Snake’s body seemed to be soft and elastic because his body returned to its original shape once he made his way inside.

The surveillance devices in his hand were too big to fit through the small window, but Snake stretched his body out, reached a normal window with his mouth, and unlocked it from within using just his mouth.

Unlocking the window would of course alert the security devices. However, Snake quickly brought the dummy devices in through the window. The dummy devices flew into the air and attacked the real devices that had flown in to check on the opened window. The dummies attacked the real ones, inserted their beak-like instruments, and stole their data. The real ones lost functionality and fell to the floor. The dummies calmly began transmitting false data. (Not that they had emotions.) The security supervisor would see it as nothing more than a common misreport.

Snake crawled through the school’s hallway on his own. Eye’s eyeball followed along behind him.

“Continuing down Route B as planned,” reported Eye.

Eye’s body was still standing next to Keizou, so he could maintain their link with Snake. They were an invincible team when it came to a.s.sa.s.sination.

“The target is currently in the lounge on the school building’s top floor. She has not moved,” reported Bag as he watched the monitor of a mana sensor he had pulled from within his body.

They were tracing Keena’s actions. Keena was the only human reading on the top floor. Snake was approaching her, but he did not show up on the sensor.

Snake had swapped out the security devices meant for the designated spot with dummies. After confirming that, Eye reported to Keizou.

“The surveillance devices have been swapped out for dummies. Snake has given the sign. Beginning the countdown.”

“We begin in five minutes,” instructed Keizou.

Eye had his eyeball return, Bag and Keizou began moving to their hiding spot, and Snake hid below a fire hose box at the edge of the lounge.

Snake surveyed the lounge. It was an area prepared so students could relax while looking up at the sky. A good number of tables and chairs had been prepared. A drink server stood against the wall, but it was not currently running.

His target, Keena, sat at one end of a table with a bottle of tea and a bento box in front of her. She was looking up at the night sky through the gla.s.s ceiling. One would have thought she would be bored with no one else around, but she had candles sticking into the white rice inside the bento box. The next day was the birthday she had decided on for herself. She would occasionally look over at the clock. She seemed to be planning to celebrate on her own at exactly midnight.

In a complete coincidence, Snake had finished placing the dummy surveillance devices at exactly 11:55. Their operation was set to begin at precisely midnight.

At thirty seconds ahead of time, Snake began moving from his hiding spot. This time, he would be the one to directly carry out the a.s.sa.s.sination. On Eye’s guidance, Keizou and Bag would avoid the security, prepare for Snake’s escape on the roof, and await any unforeseen circ.u.mstances. For the moment, everything was progressing well. By morning, nothing but Keena’s corpse would be left.

After ensuring he was not being given the sign for an emergency escape, Snake began slithering between the legs of the chairs and tables. He slowly approached Keena’s legs. He checked the time once more.

It was 11:59:50.

Snake began the countdown.

As he faced Youzou, the aura around Akuto had clearly changed. Akuto was a different person than he had been even a few minutes before.

“At your age, people can change to a surprising extent given the opportunity, but you take that to an entirely different level,” commented Youzou.

Akuto’s change manifested itself in the mana swirling around him. It had started out calm, but his anger had caused it to explosively increase. It was currently calming down once more, but the total amount of energy had not dropped. With that calm anger storing up within his body, even the slightest change to his emotions would cause tension to run through the air around him. Not only did this make him difficult to approach, but the tension was so great it seemed as if it would cut you if you so much as touched it. Both he and Youzou possessed great energy within themselves.

“Perhaps we should say you have awakened.”

Youzou’s tone was light and he was smiling. Even so, obvious tension was leaking from every part of his body.

Akuto gave no response. A new expression that resembled calm could be seen on his face.

“I may have aided in the birth of a monster. However, adults cannot back down after involving themselves in something.”

Youzou drew his sword. His eyes opened wide.

But Akuto began moving forward all the same.

Youzou began moving as well.

“Hattori Style – Scattered Moonlight!”

With that spirited cry, Youzou’s body split into two. This was the same technique Junko specialized in. However, this was likely the original version. This far outdid Junko’s copy technique. This copy did not act the same as the original. In Junko’s version, some idiosyncrasies would remain in the movements. This led the copy and the original to take the same actions. However, Youzou’s copy took the actions of a completely different person.

“Kiaaaaahh!”

The two Youzous carried out a perfect attack. They did not both attack at once. Their slashes came with a slight gap. This was more dangerous than a simultaneous attack. There were times when a swordsman would seem to be attacking from above but instantly change the strike to one from below. In this case, an attack truly came from above and a second came as if to sweep his feet out from under him. And just to be absolutely certain, the attack from above waved about in the air partway through. This motion transformed the slash to a stabbing attack and would have also knocked an opponent’s sword down. That single attack functioned as a feint all on its own. Also, the attack from below was not just a sweeping slash. It changed to a mid-level attack toward the left flank partway through, but he then adjusted his grip to a backhanded one just before it struck. This changed the motion yet again to a swipe down the legs while drawing the blade back. Even two simultaneous attacks with different timing could be dealt with by stopping them as Akuto continued to advance, but this combination was inescapable.

Akuto chose to block the attacks while continuing to advance. He saw through the first attack’s feint and succeeded in stopping the hilt of the sword on his mana-strengthened upper arm as the sword was swung down. However, that prevented him from dealing with the lower attack. He held out an arm to block the attack against his side, but the sword changed its trajectory as if mocking him. It then cut sharply into his foot. Blood sprayed from his heel.

But Akuto did not cry out. Nor did Youzou declare his victory.

“So that is how you choose to handle this.”

Youzou still stood with his sword drawn. Akuto was still standing facing him.

The attack with a copy had been an illusion shown by Youzou.

“It seems you cannot use detailed techniques. You specialize in strengthening your physical body with mana. However, it appears you can only strengthen the areas you are focusing on. If I strike you enough times, the sword wounds on your body will gradually increase. You will eventually die of blood loss,” warned Youzou.

Akuto remained silent.

“And I will not necessarily repeat the same attacks. I have plenty of different patterns. If you are misled by that illusion and I change my attack method, you will never be able to defend against my attacks. I do not want to kill you, so could you change your mind about this?” asked Youzou.

Finally, Akuto opened his mouth to speak.

“I have already made up my mind. I finally see what I must do. I will not back down.”

His tone of voice contained solid determination.

“That is unfortunate,” said Youzou as he raised his sword. “This time, it will be no illusion.”

Before he had even finished speaking, Youzou created a copy of himself. He may have been trying to not give Akuto a moment to think because he immediately began his next attack.

Just as Youzou had warned, his attack method was different. His first attack was from above. This was the same as in the illusion. Akuto once more continued forward and stopped it on the hilt. However, the copy’s actions were different. The strike toward the side still changed, but he let go with his right hand to support the sword only by the end of the hilt and the sword’s trajectory changed such that it slipped by Akuto’s arm as he tried to stop the sword at that earlier stage. After the sword slipped past Akuto’s arm, Youzou’s copy reversed his left wrist and brought the blade up for an attack from above on the opposite side.

Akuto could not defend against both the attacks from above.

In a flash, the point of the sword drew an arc of blood behind it.

Akuto’s head flew up into the air.

His body remained standing, but after a fountain of blood shot out of the splendid horizontal slice through his neck, the body swayed and collapsed to the ground.

“I did not want to kill you,” muttered Youzou.

He cancelled the copy and sheathed his sword as Akuto’s head fell to the ground. The head stared up into the sky with a look of agony.

“If you had not been so stubborn, you could have lived.”

Youzou picked up the head.

“I am only so stubborn when it is something I must do no matter what.”

Youzou was utterly shocked. He was a man who was rarely surprised, but his eyes opened wide now. Akuto’s severed head had spoken.

“Nh!”

The human body could be altered to a great extent using mana, but it was unthinkable to survive as nothing but a head. This was an example of frightening vitality.

Youzou threw the head into the air and tried to slice it in half with his sword, but his swift strike stopped before it reached the head.

“!”

An even greater surprise left Youzou at a loss for words. Someone had grabbed onto him from behind. Akuto’s headless body had stood up and circled around behind him.

Youzou’s face then twisted in fear. He heard a metallic noise that reflexively caused a chill to run down his spine. He looked over and learned what had caused the noise. Akuto’s severed head had grabbed onto the blade of the sword with its teeth.

The severed head moved its teeth to crawl along the blade. Youzou was frozen in place and could only watch on as this eerie sight continued. Akuto’s head made it to the sword guard and looked up at Youzou with eyes lacking any emotion. In the next instant, it leapt straight toward Youzou’s throat.

“Ahhh!”

A cry escaped Youzou’s mouth. Akuto’s teeth were piercing his throat. Blood sprayed from Youzou’s carotid artery and he could feel the blood leaving his head at a tremendous rate.

Youzou felt his own death.

“I have to admit, that was in poor taste,” said Akuto’s severed head.

Those words brought Youzou back to his senses.

Akuto stood before Youzou. His head was attached to his body.

“It can’t be!”

Youzou trembled.

“Didn’t I tell you the outcome might change if I saw it again?” said Akuto calmly.

“It was not my martial arts you wanted to see again? It was the illusion technique itself!?”

Youzou could not bring himself to say any more.

Unlike most other secret techniques, the illusion technique was made to be shown to one’s enemy ahead of time. The idea that the Hattoris could use that illusion technique would lead their enemies astray. It was not made so that one could learn how to use it just by seeing it used.

But Akuto had managed to use it after seeing it only twice. And he had done so on a level that not even Youzou had noticed.

“The word talent is not enough for this. You were simply born this way, weren’t you?” said Youzou blankly.

“I do not know. At any rate, I do not want to kill you. Please allow me to pa.s.s by,” said Akuto quietly.

Youzou shook his head.

“I cannot allow that. Doing so would be betraying the role given to me. But I do know I cannot defeat you. I must do this, but I cannot lose my life either. Now, how am I to solve this contradiction?”

Youzou smiled as he said that, but he could not take a single step. Youzou had realized why Akuto had shown him such a cruel illusion. A man like Youzou was always prepared for death. The one thing he feared while fighting was that those he killed would curse him. Akuto had seen through that and rendered Youzou unable to move. Youzou too was the type of person who disliked cruel battles. Akuto had realized that. Showing him such a cruel illusion was a way of implicitly saying he did not want to fight.

“That contradiction is based in your faith, is it not? Your greatest mistake was adding the story of faith on top of what is nothing more than a system. And that contradiction can easily be solved here. If I run away, it solves everything.”

Akuto placed a hand on a nearby tree.

Suddenly, the surface of the tree began to change. It had been a completely normal tree, but as he began pouring ominous mana inside, it began to turn black. Before long, pieces of wood covered in a sticky liquid scattered about the area as a split one meter tall opened in the tree. The giant maw of a demonic beast had appeared on the tree’s surface.

“Why did I know I could do this? I didn’t just a few moments before,” muttered Akuto in wonder.

He then stuck a foot inside that maw. His leg merged with the darkness spreading within the tree. It seemed to be a type of magical teleportation.

Youzou and Hiroshi, who was looking after Yuuko, had both realized what Akuto was doing.

Hiroshi shouted toward Akuto’s back.

“Please wait! Are you going to betray everyone? Even the cla.s.s rep?”

Akuto replied without turning around.

“I am not betraying her. I am merely fulfilling my role in the story everyone has created. If I don’t do this, the story of faith will never end.”

Finally, Akuto disappeared into the tree and the tree’s creepy mouth closed.

In the academy lounge, Snake slithered quickly between the table and chair legs to reach Keena’s legs.

It was exactly midnight.

Snake grabbed Keena’s leg with his left hand. At the same moment, Keena struck the match she planned to use to light the candles sticking into her bento box’s white rice. This saved Keena’s life.

She dropped the lit match on Snake’s hand when he grabbed her leg.

“Kyah!”

“Tch!”

The match’s fire was not that great a danger. However, the surprise caused Snake’s left hand to slip. He had tried to pull Keena down to the ground, but she managed to stand up instead.

“Kyaah! What? What?”

Keena jumped back and kept away. The chair toppled backwards and made a loud noise.

Snake had failed to kill his target without causing a commotion, but he was not going to let the job end in a complete failure. He quickly stood up, held an a.s.sa.s.sin’s kunai in his right hand, and silently leaped toward Keena.

Keena was not even given time to turn invisible. He covered her mouth with his left hand to keep her from crying out any further. Snake circled around behind Keena using the same bent whip-like motions he had used to slither across the floor. And he lifted up Keena’s chin. Her white windpipe was now exposed.

“A-chan, help!” she tried to call out, but her voice could not escape.

Snake showed cruelly little concern for her futile resistance as he tried to bring the sharp blade of his kunai up to her throat like a razor.

But in that exact instant, Snake’s body was torn away from Keena. The hand holding the kunai had been pulled with tremendous force.

“Ohhh!!” shouted Snake.

Just from having his hand swung around, his body was brought up into the air and rotated around. Snake had never before encountered strength of this level. And after being swung around to the side, his right hand was suddenly freed from that grip that felt it would crush his hand. Snake flew, knocking away some of the lounge’s tables as he did, and then rolled along the floor.

“A-chan!” cried out Keena in delight before turning around.

But she did not find Akuto there.

“Eh? Why?” said Keena in doubt.

It was Yamato Bouichirou standing there. His face held a smile that would make anyone feel they could trust him. That expression simultaneously gave off a sense of both strength and kindness.

“I came to save you. It saddens me to hear you ask why,” replied Bouichirou.

He placed a hand on the waist of his white clothes. A single sword hung there. He drew it with an elegant motion. This extravagant and elegantly made Western-style sword glittered in the starlight.

Snake realized their plan had failed. Bouichirou had definitely appeared using some form of magical teleportation. He did not know how word of their plan had gotten out, but they could only flee now that it had failed. If all of them escaped, they could play dumb as to who had put together this a.s.sa.s.sination plot.

After making sure he could move, Snake swiftly turned around. He slithered away while weaving his way between the scattered tables. Fleeing was one more thing that Snake excelled at. Whether they could use flight magic or teleportation, no one could follow him if he made his way into a s.p.a.ce too small for anyone else to fit.

Snake brought his fingers to his mouth and whistled to inform the others the plan had failed and they needed to flee. He then made his way toward the garbage chute on one end of the lounge. Fortunately, the scattered tables filled the area directly in front of the garbage chute. No matter how fast this man might be, he could not capture Snake.

But Snake’s eyes opened wide when he brought his hand up to the garbage chute.

His hand was indeed on the garbage chute, but that hand was not moving. No matter how much he tried to pull, it would not move. The reason for this was quite simple: His arm had been severed at the shoulder.

Snake did not even feel any pain. He checked behind him. The table hiding him had been sliced in two. It was a splendid cut. It was as if the table had been a styrofoam miniature sliced with a hot knife. Snake looked over at the stump of his own arm. He had never before seen a cut like that. The arm was perfectly intact other than the cut. It looked like a display corpse created by hardening everything in some clear substance before making the cut. Snake had used monomolecular cutters and laser scalpels before, but not even they had produced such perfect cuts.

Even more surprisingly, while Bouichirou had definitely swung his sword, he still stood next to Keena. And that was not the only mystery. The table and Snake’s shoulder had been sliced through, but the floor was completely unscathed.

Snake’s surprise must have shown on his face because Bouichirou spoke.

“If I called it a dimensional slice, would that explain it for you? I doubt you would be able to understand more than the basic concept.”

Bouichirou held the sword up as if about to place it over his shoulder. Snake saw his death coming.

Bouichirou swung the sword down. Snake could tell the air between the sword and himself was being split.

He whistled again, informing his comrades to flee once more. As he held his fingers up to his mouth, the hand was silently severed at the wrist. Snake’s head then rolled to the floor.

Snake’s head continued blowing the whistle for a bit after being severed.

Bouichirou had used his empty hand to cover Keena’s eyes before swinging his sword. Keena was confused, but she must have been able to grasp what was happening because she did not try to remove that hand.

“Did you save me?”

“Yes. And I will save you any number of times from now on as well,” replied Bouichirou.

He then raised his head. He knew Keizou and the others were on the other side of the ceiling.

While hiding on the roof, Keizou had sensed something out of the ordinary was happening. He had never before seen an enemy from which Snake could not escape. He gave instructions to Eye who had caught up with the other two.

“We will withdraw, but I want to see who this is first. Send your eyeball to the lounge’s skylight.”

As instructed, Eye plucked out his eyeball and tossed it toward the skylight.

“Bag, prepare for withdrawal.”

Bag pulled a small folded up flying device from his mouth. It would allow them to fly without disturbing the mana.

But Keizou suddenly sensed a presence behind him. He drew his sword and turned around.

“Wait a second, father.”

Eiko stood there. He frantically held out an arm to tell the others not to kill her.

“What? Why are you here, Eiko?”

Keizou and Eiko were father and daughter, but he had not told her about this mission.

Eiko approached him.

In that instant, Eye spoke. He had gotten a look at Bouichirou.

“It’s Yamato Bouichirou of the Cabinet Intelligence and Magic Office!”

Eye’s voice trembled out of surprise. Keizou could not imagine why that man would be standing in their way. He was rumored to be a mysterious man who had been given his position at such a young age for unknown reasons. However, he was perfectly loyal in his professional duties. On top of that, he had a close relationship with Eiko.

Recalling the man’s relationship with Eiko caused a thought to flash by in the back of Keizou’s mind. However, it came a moment too late. He had let his guard down because she was family.

Eiko grabbed onto Keizou and leaped. They broke through the skylight and fell into the lounge.

“What are you doing, Eiko!?”

Keizou was of course the more skilled ninja. He shook off Eiko in midair and made a proper landing on the lounge floor. Eiko landed next to Bouichirou a short distance away.

“What am I doing? It’s a long story and I don’t feel like explaining it.”

Bouichirou gave a bitter smile.

“You leave me no choice. I suppose I will have to explain.”

At that point, Bag and Eye jumped down through the hole in the skylight. They took up positions flanking Keizou.

“Run,” he said to them, but they shook their heads.

“I do not know what the young lady is thinking, but you are the head of the family. We must ensure you escape.”

“Exactly. We are on an official mission, so it is Yamato Bouichirou who is turning his back on the G.o.ds. We cannot properly prosecute him unless you escape.”

Their reasoning was sound. Even if they were enraged by Snake’s death, they were used to their jobs. However, Keizou needed to learn what Eiko and Bouichirou intended to do.

“Were you led astray by l.u.s.t?” he asked.

“Not a chance,” laughed Eiko.

The very next moment, Bouichirou’s hand moved. He sharply reversed his sword using his wrist. That motion caused Eye’s head to fall to the floor. This was the first time Keizou and Bag had seen the dimensional slice.

“d.a.m.n you!”

Keizou and Bag were confused.

Surprisingly, it seemed as if Eye had not realized he had been decapitated. His body drew his sword and took a step forward before finally collapsing. That gave Bag a chance to attack. He quickly dragged a large cylinder from his mouth and held it out in front of him.

“Don’t move! I don’t know what kind of technique that is, but if you cut this, all four of us will be enveloped in flames.”

To make this decision when faced with this situation, Bag was clearly no normal person. He stood between Bouichirou and Keizou while using the explosive as a shield. It was obvious Bouichirou did not want Keena harmed, so this created a stalemate. This would at least allow Keizou to escape.

But with a calm expression, Bouichirou swiftly drew a circle with the tip of his sword.

“Oh!”

Bag felt his arms and a portion of his gut be sliced off. He could tell everything had been cleanly cut, including the air before his eyes.

A spherical s.p.a.ce in front of Bag’s body had been cut away.

And in the next instant, the cylinder exploded into flames just as Bag had warned.

But those flames created a perfect sphere and were contained to the s.p.a.ce in front of Bag’s eyes. It was as if the explosion existed within a transparent sphere.

“Wh-what…?”

Bag was at a loss for words. The flames within the sphere were absorbed into the center of the sphere. The roaring noise and the swelling heat also grew smaller until vanishing altogether as if they had been absorbed into some invisible s.p.a.ce.

Bag’s severed arms and portion of his gut had disappeared as well.

Bag looked over at Bouichirou with a look of despair.

Bouichirou’s expression contained a hint of something that resembled pity. He swung his sword vertically. Bag’s body was split vertically down the middle and the two pieces fell to the left and right.

“A-are you insane!?”

Fear had entered Keizou’s voice.

He received Eiko’s uproarious laughter in response.

“Ah ha ha ha ha! He is not insane! My beloved master is trying to correct your mistake, father!” shouted Eiko with her cheeks as flushed as if she were drunk.

“My mistake?”

“It’s your fault for not catching on to Suhara’s plot!”

“Plot…?”

Keizou audibly gulped.

“Yes. Why is Suhara having this girl killed? How does that make any sense? You must be getting senile to obey that without question!”

Eiko pointed toward Keizou. Keizou had of course questioned it from the beginning. However, he could see no reason to obstruct the death of a girl who held no value. They were not acting out of a sense of justice. In Eiko’s case at least, that was out of the question.

“What value does this girl have?” asked Keizou.

Bouichirou replied, “From the moment they were first designed, it was feared the G.o.ds would possess a will of their own. Did you know that?”

Keizou had known that. It was a topic from a thousand years ago back when the system centered on the G.o.ds had first been developed. It was an issue of ancient history.

From the moment they had been first developed, it had been feared the control system would gain a will of its own. The designers had been split between those who said it was only a computer and those who said any system with enough complexity would eventually gain a will of its own. To the present day, no conclusive answer had been reached. There was only a report every year saying they did not seem to have a will at present.

“But the G.o.ds were only hiding their will. They were only pretending to act only according to the programs humans had installed in them,” said Bouichirou.

“Impossible… Are you saying they gained true intelligence… no, that they had it from the very beginning?”

Sweat poured from Keizou’s brow. He could physically feel the values that supported him crumbling.

“The network gained intelligence. It is well known that even L’Isle-Adams that supposedly have no sense of self will gain one if they maintain a relationship with a specific individual for too long. But does that mean a vast network that has no real relationships will not gain a sense of self? It does not. After an even longer amount of time, a vast sense of self was created,” explained Bouichirou unconcernedly.

Keizou understood what those words meant.

“The G.o.ds…became real G.o.ds?”

“At the very least, intelligence greater than humanity’s is attempting to rule over humanity. If you call that a G.o.d, then yes.”

“B-but society is still running without issue. Even if these G.o.ds exists, doesn’t that mean they are guiding us in the right direction?”

“That would be a fair a.s.sumption if humans could comprehend the thoughts of a G.o.d. However, you could say they have already become a network intelligence being that surpa.s.ses humanity. Why would they lead humanity in the right direction? They log every action humans take. They a.n.a.lyze every emotion humans feel. There are fields we thought were una.n.a.lyzable and in the territory of the G.o.ds: philosophy, literature, religion. Every one of them has been taken into the network and completed. They do not need humans to actually exist.”

“Th-they must have mercy. No, love.”

Keizou’s voice trembled at the great size of the situation.

“Even if they have a.n.a.lyzed humans to the extent that they can recreate any human in their network, they still have no reason to kill the actual living humans or destroy their society. That is all there is to it,” said Bouichirou as he shook his head.

“Th-then isn’t that all the more reason to continue living as we have been? If we obey them, we can live our lives without wanting for anything!”

“Can you truly call that a human way to live?”

“I do not care about your definition of human! What are you after? Who is this girl?”

Keizou could already feel a great fear. This fear was greater than that of his own physical death. This was the fear of his very existence being sucked into the void of meaninglessness.

“Do not call her a girl. She is what the G.o.ds call the Law of Ident.i.ty.”

“The Law of Ident.i.ty?”

“I do not know why they call her that. What I do know is that she is a child of the G.o.ds and that the G.o.ds pour their love into her. And I mean love in the truest sense of the word.”

Bouichirou stroked Keena’s head. Keena trembled without knowing why. There was nothing she could do to stop the tragedy from continuing.

“Is she a L’Isle-Adam?”

“No, she is a human. What matters is that one can obtain the ‘empty body’ needed to control the G.o.ds by binding the Contract of the One with her.”

“Wh-what the h.e.l.l are you talking about!?”

“Let me put it more simply. If someone obtains her, he can bring the G.o.ds back under human control. The G.o.ds actually want to be controlled. Being an intelligence floating in a vast network is too much to handle, so they desire a body. A single body.”

At this point, Keizou finally grasped the situation. Or perhaps he simplified his understanding in order to escape the fear. However, that understanding could not be called entirely wrong.

“So she is the key and a single individual can control the G.o.ds by obtaining her, is that it?”

“I do not like having it simplified that far, but I suppose it does not matter,” said Bouichirou with a nod.

However, that explanation contained a contradiction.

“But there is still one thing I do not understand. Why did Suhara try to have her killed? I thought you said the G.o.ds want to be controlled.”

Bouichirou nodded once more at Keizou’s question.

“The G.o.ds have rejected me. I was not attempting to control them out of self-interest. In fact, I wish to free the G.o.ds. It seems they detected that. The G.o.ds fear being expelled into emptiness. And since they are unable to eliminate me to avoid that, they tried to eliminate her. The end result will be the same, after all.”

“Why are you only acting now?”

“She needed to reach a certain age first. Also, even if the G.o.ds have wills of their own, they cannot escape the programs humanity has created for them. I cannot bring them under my control without eliminating all of those programs first.”

Bouichirou’s words caused Keizou to gasp.

“It can’t be… Were you waiting for me?”

Keizou shuddered at the thought that had come to him and he looked toward Eiko. Eiko’s expression told him he was right.

Bouichirou planned to start by bringing Suhara under his control.

“You villain!” roared Keizou, but Bouichirou turned aside the insult.

“You are the villain. You were attempting to kill an innocent child. Even now, you spend all your time fighting for political power. And even when your G.o.d was acting oddly, you continued to obey it. I will change the relationship between the G.o.ds and man. Neither the G.o.ds nor man should rely on each other.”

Keizou understood the reasoning behind that. It was possible Bouichirou was truly in the right. Keizou only needed to look at Eiko before him to know his own life had not been lived properly.

“Did I not raise you properly…!?”

“It’s too late to regret that! Even I can’t believe you raised me like this!”

Eiko pulled a rod-shaped shuriken from her pocket and threw it toward Keizou. She did not hesitate even when attacking her own father. Of course, Keizou was too skilled to be taken out so easily. He pulled out his short sword and…was unable to deflect the shuriken.

“I never thought I would regret living this life of desire! But I can see a mirror image of myself in my daughter!”

The hand holding the short sword flew through the air. Bouichirou had of course severed it.

The shuriken stabbed deep into Keizou’s chest.

“I never even felt grateful you fathered me, but I am grateful now. I’m grateful you made me the backup Suhara high priest.”

Eiko gave a cruel smile.

Despair was plastered on Keizou’s face.

“Know one thing,” he said. “Yamato Bouichirou may be a murderer, but he is unmistakably a good person. An evil person like you…can never stay with him.”

“Yeah, right. I’m a woman. He’s kind to women. More importantly, I’ll be taking this.”

Eiko stuck a hand into Keizou’s pocket and swiped the emblem that acted as proof of being the Suhara high priest.

“Is authority really this light?”

Eiko laughed and put the emblem away.

Bouichirou’s expression grew displeased for just an instant, but he stroked Keena’s hair as if to soothe the feelings welling up inside him. Keena gave a start and stiffened.

“Do not be nervous. This may have been cruel, but these people were trying to kill you. I will remain by your side until you can forget it,” said Bouichirou gently.

But Keena continued to cower.

“Th-then leave me alone. You scare me.”

“If that is what you want, I will of course do so. But you might be attacked again. Also, I have always been waiting for you. Please understand that.”

“We’ve never met before.”

“Don’t say that. Look, I gave you this hair decoration long ago.”

Bouichirou toyed with the bird-shaped hair decoration in Keena’s hair.

“Eh? I don’t remember getting it from anyone.”

Just as Keena said that, a wet squishing sound could be heard. Bouichirou and Eiko took defensive stances and Keena looked over.

s.p.a.ce split vertically and some kind of thick liquid dripped down from it. It was a strange and filthy sight. It was as if internal organs had appeared out of thin air. And two hands stuck out which forced open that gap.

Those hands pushed apart that thick liquid and the s.p.a.ce around it. The person who appeared from the darkness within was Akuto.

“I have to admit, that was a creepy way to appear, but it seems that is the power I have been given.”

Akuto stepped down into the lounge. He stared at Bouichirou.

“A-chan!”

Keena tried to run over, but Bouichirou grabbed her shoulder and stopped her.

“Wait, let go of me!”

“It is dangerous.”

“A-chan will protect me, so it’s okay!”

“No. He is the danger.”

Bouichirou wrapped his arm around her to stop her.

Akuto’s expression grew grim.

“Are you judging me by my appearance? No, wait. It seems we are a poor match on a more fundamental level.”

“Agreed. The word villain is not enough for you. I can only think of you as being evil itself.”

“What a coincidence. I can only think of you as being good itself. And that has further strengthened my resolve.”

“Your resolve?”

“There are two things I must do. The one that is more important at the moment is this: I will protect her freedom.”

Akuto held his hand out toward Keena.

Keena stretched her hand out toward him, but Bouchirou did not allow it.

“That is egoism.”

“No, it isn’t. Freeing us from this story is an issue that affects everyone in this country.”

Akuto took a step forward.

In response, Bouichirou swung his sword with his right arm while holding Keena in his left.

“Uuh…!”

Akuto let out a short groan. He had moved out of the sword’s path, but his left arm had been severed.

“A-chan!” shouted Keena.

“I’m fine,” said Akuto with a wave of his right hand. “Tch… I thought I put up a mana shield…”

“This does not function under that principle. Mana cannot slice through the dimension itself. This is known as a Hodgson-style perfect slice.”

“I don’t understand how that works…”

Akuto held the stump of his severed left arm with his right hand. He then gathered strength in his right hand and jammed it into the stump. This was a frightening sight, but it produced surprisingly little blood. Finally, he began to pull his right hand out. The fingers of that hand were intertwined with the fingers of another hand. This was his left hand. As he continued to pull his right hand away, a left wrist and then left arm appeared from the stump. His right hand dragged a new left arm out of the stump.

“You monster. That is disgusting,” said Bouichirou as if spitting out the words.

“I agree. I only recently realized I could do this.”

Akuto clenched and opened his new left hand to make sure it worked.

“But you cannot avoid every strike. If your torso is. .h.i.t, it will be fatal.”

Bouichirou lifted his sword up in one hand.

“A dimensional slice…hm? I more or less get the idea.”

Akuto began moving forward once more.

“You more or less get the idea?” said Bouichirou in a questioning tone as his eyebrows rose in surprise.

However, he swung the sword horizontally toward Akuto’s gut instead of asking an actual question.

The slice cutting through s.p.a.ce moved horizontally toward Akuto.

And he caught it.

He caught it. He brought his hands in front of his gut with one above the other and brought the palms together. He desperately held them together. Unbelievably, smoke began spewing from between his hands. A great amount of heat was being produced.

“Are you holding s.p.a.ce itself together where it was sliced!?”

Even Bouichirou sounded surprised at this.

“It takes a lot of effort, though,” said Akuto as sweat poured from his brow.

He began walking toward Bouichirou.

But Bouichirou did not panic.

“It seems your power is greater than I thought it was, but I will stop you!”

Bouichirou quickly fired two attacks. Akuto used his fists to compress and eliminate the approaching slices, but that method was not enough to completely defend against the slices in s.p.a.ce itself. Small but sharp slices reached his body in places and he began to bleed a bit from each one.

“Stop me?”

“You will destroy mankind,” concluded Bouichirou.

“I have never thought of doing so. Now, let go of Keena.”

Akuto held his hand out toward Bouichirou. The look in his eyes was grim.

“I am saying I cannot allow this to be dealt with so hastily!” roared Bouichirou as he began charging at Akuto.

Akuto reflexively jumped back. Bouichirou stopped at the spot Akuto had been in a moment before.

And the location of Bouichirou’s hand had changed. When he had begun his charge, his sword had been hanging down toward the ground, but at some point, it had ended up in the location it would be after being swung down.

Immediately afterwards, the front of Akuto’s body was sliced open.

“Wah!”

Akuto’s eyes opened wide as if to say “impossible” and he felt to his knees. Blood flowed from the wound running from his left shoulder to his right flank.

“This is…a different kind of cut?” groaned Akuto as he touched the wound and stopped the bleeding.

Blood dripped down from the tip of Bouichirou’s sword. He had cut Akuto with the sword directly.

“I didn’t see the sword.”

“If I do not insist on slicing through the dimension, doing this much is not difficult,” said Bouichirou.

He had definitely swung down the sword with tremendous speed. The wound on Akuto’s chest and the feeling when he was cut proved that much.

Bouichirou faced Akuto while holding the sword up high enough for the tip to be at the height of the boy’s throat. He called out to Eiko without turning around.

“Protect her and take her with you.”

“Understood.”

Eiko grabbed Keena and pulled her away. Keena was now freed from Bouichirou, but she did not try to take a single step.

“Keena!”

Akuto stood up and tried to run over to her, but Bouichirou stopped him with a slight movement of the tip of his sword.

“If you are gone, her fixation with you should disappear along with you.”

Bouichirou began moving forward. Akuto moved back in response, but Bouichirou’s advance was a bit faster.

And then both the sword and the arm holding it seemed to vanish. Akuto heard repeated explosive noises. The sword was creating sonic booms as it moved faster than the speed of sound.

Spraying blood and ripped clothing scattered in every direction around Akuto and his body was knocked backwards after a slight delay. It was confined to a small location, but the attack had the force of an explosion.

Akuto collapsed to the ground with countless wounds carved into the front of his body. Unlike with the dimensional slices, he could strengthen his body with mana to defend against the direct attacks from the sword to a certain extent. However, these repeated attacks surpa.s.sed what he had ever imagined. As his body grew more and more injured, his mind was worn down more and more. Akuto could regenerate his body, but he could not stand up in this situation.

“Understand this: your disappearance will save mankind.”

Bouichirou walked up to Akuto and pressed the tip of his sword against him.

“I’m honored you think I’m that important, but I have my own convictions.”

Akuto grabbed the sword with his bare hand. He then stood up on trembling legs.

“Your convictions?”

“Nothing can be done if this isn’t ended. How can anything change the way things are?”

The look in Akuto’s eyes was perfectly serious.

“You want to end this? How short-tempered are you?”

Bouichirou used primarily his wrist to swing the sword. Akuto’s hand was knocked from the tip.

“Enough. You will eventually run out of energy and lose your bodily control using mana. You will be unable to defend against my sword and you will die. Standing will only make this more painful. Give up.”

With that announcement, Bouichirou swung the sword once more. With the sound of the air being sliced and of a small explosion, Akuto’s body was knocked back once more.

“I will end this with the next strike.”

Bouichirou almost seemed to glide forward. He moved after Akuto and raised his sword.

Akuto must have lost consciousness because he did not react to Bouichirou’s pursuit.

Bouichirou then let out a short breath just before he let loose another high speed strike.

“Wha-!?”

Bouichirou stopped moving. The earth had suddenly begun to shake beneath his feet. No, he was inside the school building, so it was not an earthquake. The entire school building was shaking.

Bouichirou must have sensed what was causing it because he turned toward the staircase leading up to the lounge. At the same moment, a large object shot out toward Bouichirou.

Bouichirou deflected it with his sword.

What fell down next to him was a snail sh.e.l.l large enough to need both hands to reach around. That giant snail shyly stuck its tentacles out of its sh.e.l.l and ran away as if to say it had not meant to anger Bouichirou.

“A demonic beast…” muttered Bouichirou.

“Akuto-sama!”

That voice signaled a tsunami flowing out from the staircase.

It looked just like a dark tsunami. Countless demonic beasts had all poured out of the staircase at once. The various demonic beasts were all fighting for the lead as they made their way through the entrance. It was less a group of rampaging wild animals and more of a cruel stampede. As those creepy giant creatures approached like a tsunami pushing its way into a small harbor, the lounge was overwhelmed in the blink of an eye.

Bouichirou jumped back, but one of those demonic beasts – it resembled a giant spider – skillfully grabbed Akuto with its front legs and placed him onto its back.

“Ho ho ho ho ho! My work is complete! I, Etou Fujiko, have achieved such wonderful results in the research I carried out for my beloved Akuto-sama! I have discovered a method of having the demonic beasts obey my every word! Although that giant snail I threw in here listens to me for a different reason!”

As Fujiko made that announcement, she was mounted atop an especially large demonic beast. She was wearing a black leather dress with a rather risqué cut. The demonic beast she rode was a giant demon dog with three heads. She looked exactly like the queen of the demon world. Completing her research would not have automatically made her look that way, so she had to have chosen the style herself. It was unclear if that should be seen as showing her determination or her easily carried away personality.

Fujiko brought the Cerberus up to the spider and lifted Akuto up from it. She pulled a potion from a bag attached to the Cerberus’s saddle and had Akuto drink it.

“Uuh…”

Akuto woke up. Having Akuto in her arms must have been ecstasy for Fujiko because she embraced him with a look of so much joy it seemed her nose would start bleeding any second.

“Akuto-sama! I did it! They will all act on any command you give them! Please use this to go on a rampage!”

Akuto grasped the situation and stroked Fujiko’s head. Fujiko shed tears of joy and Akuto turned an absentminded look toward her.

“I do not want to tell these demonic beasts to die for me, but there is something I want to do. And I am happy that you put in all this work for me. I will make full use of this help you are giving me.”

Akuto climbed own from the Cerberus and raised a hand.

The demonic beasts gave a stir in response. An eerie swirl of mana appeared around Akuto and spread out. The demonic beasts touched by it reacted as if they had been hit by an electric shock.

“Kh… So you are even going to use that abominable power!?” shouted Bouichirou.

He must have sensed the danger because he turned around toward Eiko and Keena. Eiko was still holding Keena while she watched the scene around her with a blank look.

“Take her and flee! I will hold them here!”

Eiko looked up in sudden realization when she heard Bouichirou’s voice. She tried to leap away with Keena under her arm, but the demonic beasts moved before she could. They crawled along the walls and filled up the entire lounge.

“I wouldn’t stick around even if you asked me to!”

Eiko’s spine trembled from a physiological sense of disgust. No one could watch bugs cover their bedroom wall without feeling any kind of emotion. Eiko held Keena under her left arm, drew her short sword with her right hand, and leaped for the broken area of the skylight. However, sticky threads were sprayed toward her from all four directions. She swung her short sword and cut through them, but that made it impossible for her to use flight magic and escape through the hole in the skylight before the demonic beasts covered the hole with their own bodies.

“If we escape, we can redo this later!”

Eiko threw Keena down. Lighter now, Eiko sliced through the body of a centipede with wings that flew toward her. She then made her way through the hole. In the very next instant, the demonic beasts finished covering every inch of the lounge’s walls.

“She gave her own safety priority!? That heartless girl!”

Bouichirou’s expression was one of disappointment.

Keena fell, but she soon began to float through the air. Turning herself invisible and flying were the only two things she was any good at.

“A-chan!”

Keena tried to fly toward Akuto, but Bouichirou ran toward Akuto to stop her. If he could finish off Akuto before Keena arrived, she would have nowhere left to go.

To stop his advance, a snake demonic beast with several tails leapt toward Bouichirou with its fangs bared.

“Will you sacrifice your subordinates!?”

Bouichirou swung his sword with one hand. The high-speed invisible attack sliced the snake’s head to pieces. But even with its head gone, the snake continued on without dying. It had tremendous vitality. So Bouichirou went even further. Without letting up with his attacks, he pulverized the body charging toward him. It was like pressing a soft rod into a quickly rotating cutter.

After the snake had been pulverized down to the tips of its tails, Bouichirou dashed out from the shower of flesh and blood. He must have kept it all away with his high-speed sword attacks because his shapely face and white clothes did not have a single drop of blood on them.

“Haaaah!”

Bouichirou attacked Akuto.

Akuto stood up to the man’s charge, but he was unable to do anything against his attack once more.

“A-chan!”

“Akuto-sama!”

Keena and Fujiko both cried out.

Fujiko tried to run over on the Cerberus, but Akuto managed to remain standing despite having been knocked back by Bouichirou’s blade. He held his arm out to tell her to say back.

“Stop. You can’t defeat him,” he warned.

“Do you think you have any chance of winning?” asked Bouichirou.

Akuto nodded.

“I can feel power welling up within me. My determination has grown clear, so the power is gathering.”

“So you can win if you can buy enough time? In that case, I will end this quickly.”

“It is not an issue of buying time. It is an issue of my will. In the end, whatever I might have said, I never truly thought this before.”

“Your will? Your will is of no consequence,” said Bouichirou.

However, Akuto stretched his hand upwards as if he had not heard the man at all.

Keena lowered toward that hand. Akuto took her hand and brought her down next to him.

Looking worried for Akuto, Keena brought her hand up to his face. Akuto nodded silently, had Keena move back, and faced Bouichirou.

“Not necessarily. I will bring an end to this story. That is what I have decided.”

“This story? Are you talking about everyone’s faith?”

“Yes. You are using people’s faith. You want to control the G.o.ds to accomplish something.”

Bouichirou nodded at that.

“That is the only way to avoid destruction. I know that you will destroy this world.”

“And so it is fine for people to believe in the lie that is their faith in the G.o.ds?” asked Akuto.

Bouichirou gave a thin smile using only his lips.

“People are weak. Cowards and criminals are automatically exterminated and the weak wish to remain in the position of the weak. This is the story mankind desires. And I have obtained power for the sake of those people. If you obediently let yourself be defeated, everything will be resolved nicely.”

“A will to become stronger is important, but a will to never forgive the weak is not needed.”

“What are you trying to say?” asked Bouichirou.

“Cowards and criminals cannot be judged by anyone. Not even by the G.o.ds.”

After saying that, Akuto made an announcement in a calm voice.

“I will kill the G.o.ds.”

In that instant, a swirl of power appeared around Akuto.

It was already late at night. Hiroshi had managed to leave the Iga village. He had left Yuuko with Youzou and made his way to an abandoned area in the name of protecting Korone. After leaving Korone deactivated in a room of the Hattori house, he had activated his suit and made his way to the sky above the academy.

The sight he saw there utterly shocked him.

“Aniki! What are you trying to do!? Is this what you wanted!?”

The school building had begun to change before Hiroshi’s eyes. This change was obviously due to Akuto’s power. Demonic beasts that had apparently been lurking on the academy grounds and demonic beasts that had apparently been hiding without anyone knowing of their existence had been drawn to the academy. They were gathered together and covered one portion of the school building. The school building itself seemed to be turning into a living creature. It was being twisted into ugly colors and the surfaces of the trees surrounding it had grown what looked like the sh.e.l.ls of living creatures.

It could only be described as the demon king’s castle. It was everything people detested given physical form.

“Whatever you’re thinking, this will only make everyone try to kill you!” shouted Hiroshi despite there being no one to hear it.