“A sound strategy against a normal dog. You would let me bite your left hand, while shooting me with the handgun. But it would only work against the intelligence of a normal dog.”
“I can still get a single shot in, though!”
She pulled the trigger.
The sound of the incantation gun echoed loudly throughout the cavern. But nothing happened to The One. He’d started running toward her at an angle.
“Tch!”
Fujiko aimed the gun once more. Her hands were numb from the recoil. She hadn’t realized that aiming a gun was so hard. And then...
“A gunshot? Fujiko? Is that you, Fujiko?”
She could hear Akuto’s voice echoing from far away.
“Akuto!” she shouted.
“Damn it. I’ll need to hurry...”
The One howled, and then jumped. There was another echoing gunshot.
○
Gunshots. Howls. Screams. Akuto heard all of these as he ran. The mana around his body was suffused with energy, and gave him enough power to accelerate. There was no map of the caves, but the mana coursed ahead of him, and there was no risk of getting lost.
He turned a corner. Two more turns and he would be at the source of the gunshots. He turned the first. The screams and howls continued. He turned another. The screams had stopped.
“Fujiko!” he cried.
What he saw filled him with despair. Fujiko was lying on the ground, and The One was standing over her. He could see blood beneath them.
The One turned. His mouth was covered in blood.
“You bastard!”
Akuto charged. The One began to laugh as he fled.
“Hahaha! You should give that girl my compliments! She succeeded in stopping me from reaching my goal. It’s harder to die than I thought!”
Akuto’s body went hot with rage, but for now he needed to focus on healing, not chasing The One. He helped Fujiko up.
“I’ll heal you right now, okay?”
He poured mana into her body, repairing the internal structures from within.
“Say something, please. I’ll be done in just a second...”
He mended the tear in her neck, and the severed arteries in her limbs. As her blood poured over him, he ran his hands down her body, healing every wound he could find. But...
She didn’t wake up. The mana and energy around him were almost completely gone.
“W-Wait... this doesn’t make sense. I’m supposed to be able to cure any wound...”
Akuto shook her. Her body remained limp. He fell silent. He couldn’t understand what was going on. But a groan poured forth from his lips.
He silently lifted her up.
—This can’t be...
When Junko died, she’d been far away. But this time it was different. He could feel the weight of Fujiko’s death, and it paralyzed him. But still, he felt like he needed to see what it was that she’d died for. He staggered through the door behind her, and saw the Robe of the Fire Rat.
—She died... for this?
Akuto was in shock. If nothing else, at the moment it certainly didn’t seem like it was worth it.
“What the hell is this thing?”
The words fell from his lips. Keena had caught up with him, and was standing behind him silently in shock. He turned around to face her, and repeated himself.
“What the hell is this? Where did we go wrong?”
○
“It’s whether you’re prepared to carry the burden of the people’s mistakes,” Marine said. He was flying above the ocean, and had just answered Nonimora’s question.
“Is that what you think it means to be a king?” Nonimora nodded in understanding, but she didn’t seem to agree with him.
“But that way of thinking may not be able to put a stop to this battle, you know?”
“True, perhaps. But if that’s the case, I have my own way of taking responsibility.”
Ahead of them, they could see Brave and Kei fighting. No, it wasn’t just Brave and Kei. The whole scene was one of chaos. Kento was fighting Brave. Kei was fighting Kento. The people of the Republic were fighting Kei. It was bad enough that even the two of them couldn’t immediately comprehend what was going on.
“Why protect Kei, after all this?” Brave screamed.
“Because things have changed! What The One wants is clear now! He’s trying to annihilate humanity!”
Kento was trying desperately to persuade Brave, but also Kei as well.
“That doesn’t get rid of the fact that you tried to betray me once! The fact that you used Brave to try and kill me!” Kei was overcome with emotion.
Brave kept trying to attack Kei, but Kento was blocking him with his own body. Kei kept up his own attacks on Kento, trying to deal non-lethal damage. And the ships of the Republic must’ve sensed their chance, because they were raining attacks down on Kei.
“What the hell is going on here?” Nonimora asked.
“I don’t know, but this may be a good chance to stop the battle,” Marine said. He flew upward and began to call out toward the Republic ships.
“Wise citizens of the Republic...!”
The attacks from the ships stopped.
“Our goal was not to conquer the Empire. We have the Faceless Power now. What we need now is to sue for peace!” he continued.
“You’re far too naive, brother,” a voice answered. It came from one of the ships. A mana screen appeared above the sea, showing a beautiful girl with amber skin. She looked a little similar to Marine.
“I know you haven’t forgotten what that demon king did. And you know that our family isn’t allowed to directly lead the people!” The girl was wearing elegant clothes, and waving her hands as she talked.
“But we have to stop the fight anyway, even if it means breaking that rule!” Marine protested, but the girl shook her head.
“No! The will of the people has turned toward war! You saw the miracle that happened when the Faceless Power dwelled within us, right? And that will remains strong even now!” Her cheeks were flush, and her words were slightly slurred.
“Why can’t you realize that what you’re doing is wrong? All you’ve done is bring death to innocent people!”
“In the end, this will mean less deaths. Less deaths than if we let that demon king get what he wanted! Now, if you want to end the fight, end it! You have full access to the Faceless Power, and you can put an end to the fight! All you have to do is defeat the Demon King in front of the people!”
His little sister’s speech, Marine knew, was right. And even if it wasn’t, it must have resonated strongly in the hearts of his people. And she continued:
“The Faceless Power is the people’s power! The Faceless Power is an expression of the general will! Absolute righteousness lies within it!”
—That’s not true! Marine wanted to scream.
It didn’t seem to him like the people had put aside their general interests to make the right choice. But pointing out that mistake now, and getting into a debate, didn’t seem to him like it would lead anywhere.
“Then be righteous until the very end! Now, I will give you the time to see if you’re right!”
Marine said, and charged toward Kei. Now it was a four way battle in the sky, with Kento, Kei, Marine, and Brave all participating. A look of shock appeared on Kento’s face as he deployed a mana shield. But Marine easily ripped it apart.
Kei dodged Marine and tried to flee higher up into the sky. Brave went to follow, but Marine intervened. Kei fired mana balls, which Marine deflected. The light of mana, the light of the Faceless Power, and the shining light from Brave’s nuclear reactor all made beautiful trails in the sky as they collided.
“Marine, are you really okay with this?!” Nonimora said. She was the only one not participating in the battle.
“This is what I have to do! I have to carry the burden of the people’s mistakes!” Marine answered.
“It won’t stop the war!”
“I know that! But it will give them time to think about peace!”
That was Marine’s hope. Meanwhile...
“Did you hear that? Either way, if we kill Kei the situation will change!” Brave said.
“No! What The One wants to do is distract us! His real goal is that asteroid! He’s caused all this chaos in order to reduce the number of ways we can deal with it!” Kento shouted.
“But that’s got nothing to do with defeating Kei, does it? This is all just about your personal feelings for him!”
“What I’m telling you is that there’s no point in killing him!”
“You’re the one who said he needed to die since he was under The One’s control!”
“And now fighting The One is pointless!”
“Then just shut down my suit! You’ve got the power to do it!”
“I’m not, because I don’t want you dying on me.”
“Is that because you want me to fight the real Demon King, not Kei, after this? Don’t think you can get everything you want!”
Brave fired a warning laser at Kento. Kento broke out in a cold sweat as the laser passed right by him. And...
“All you ever wanted to do was use me!” Kei screamed.
“It’s shocking how small-minded you are! You may have the intelligence of a genius, but you’ve got the mind of a child! You’ll never accomplish anything like that! And that’s why you...!”
Kei fired mana balls as he shouted insults. But he wasn’t using his full power. Kento’s arm had been wounded, but he was still able to easily block them.