Last Boss Quest, Final Stage, Round Two: Start!
As they waited in their room, an announcement appeared in the air above Hanakawa’s group. Stepping out the door, they found themselves on the bank of a lake. In the distance was what appeared to be a castle, but it was hard to tell where they were in relation to the forest from earlier.
Hanakawa took a ready stance. “I guess the participants were all sent to random locations once again,” he said.
“Surely Takatou made it to the second round, right?” Ryouko said. Yogiri had clearly been facing off with someone, so he should have killed them more or less immediately.
“I see. But what are we to do? If they are intending to keep to the same plan, we should hear a certain someone’s voice...”
But before Tomochika’s yell could reach them, something fell from the sky. The ground shook, sending shock waves past them. Hanakawa somehow managed to keep his footing thanks to his enhanced physical abilities. He couldn’t let himself be sent flying by such a small impact.
“I-It’s them!”
“Yo!”
A boy in a T-shirt and jeans greeted them. He was the one leading a party of nonhumans at the top of the pyramid. Apparently he had landed within ten meters of them, as they had already shifted channels and been locked into a fight.
“W-Wait! Please hold on! We do not have to fight immediately, do we? Let us take some time to discuss the rules!”
“Sure,” the boy replied, making no show of attacking.
“I suppose we should begin with introductions! I am Daimon Hanakawa! These two are Ryouko Ninomiya and Carol!”
“If your plan was to buy time for us, why did you introduce us all yourself?” Ryouko sighed as she gave Hanakawa a disappointed look.
“Ah! It seems I panicked a bit!”
“I’m Gorbagion. I’m a Demon Lord at the moment. These guys are my Four Heavenly Kings.” One by one, Gorbagion introduced his minions: a huge man with skin like stone, Breia the Solid; a slender man with three eyes, Graze the Enlightened; a woman with long hair, spilling over her face and reaching the ground, Haruka the Hollow Claw; and a young man in a lab coat, wearing glasses, Shirou the Weakest.
“Aha. How very conventional for you to have Four Heavenly Kings as a Demon Lord... But wait, is the construction of your party not a bit different from when we last saw you?”
“Good eye. Yeah, we swapped someone out.” There should have been a boy with horns accompanying them. The other members Hanakawa remembered were all present, so Shirou must have taken his place. “What will we do about the rules?” Gorbagion asked. “If you don’t have any ideas, I’m fine with a death match.”
Hanakawa stared intently at the Demon Lord’s army. Despite his Discernment skill, he couldn’t learn much about them. It seemed they weren’t using the Battlesong system. The only one who returned any results was Shirou. His class was Sage, and his level was over one hundred million.
“Huh? Why is a Sage here?” It seemed odd for a Sage to be in the Demon Lord’s army. Shirou alone would have no problems wiping the floor with Hanakawa’s whole party.
“I recruited him,” Gorbagion replied.
“Recruiting a Sage is that easy?!” Hanakawa exclaimed.
“So, what’re we doing?”
“Uhh...how about...rock paper scissors?” Hanakawa tried, desperate for anything.
“Fine by me.”
“Of course, such a resolution would be too simple... Wait, that is okay?!”
“If we fought normally, it would hardly be a fight at all. I could tell that from the start.”
“So you are okay with leaving it all to chance?!” Hanakawa cried.
“You’re the one that suggested it,” Gorbagion said.
“Yes, I am aware! Then let us settle it with rock paper scissors!”
“Okay then, we’ll go one-on-one, winner goes on, loser dies.”
“Why do they have to die?! I had just found relief in finding a contest which would not cost us our lives!”
“Yeah, but then there’d be no tension,” Gorbagion replied. “If you disagree, we’ll just have a normal fight.”
“Okay,” Ryouko stepped in, recognizing Hanakawa was only going to cause more problems for them. “Those rules are fine.”
“Ryouko!” Hanakawa protested. “Death Rock Paper Scissors is going too far!”
“You realize if we don’t, we’re just going to die anyway, right?”
“Grr...I suppose...this improves our chances slightly...”
Ryouko Ninomiya vs. Demon Lord Gorbagion: FIGHT!!!
The announcement played in the air above them now that the rules had been decided.
“I’ll go first,” Gorbagion said, stepping forward.
“Then our first will be Daimon Hanakawa.”
“Excuse me?” Hanakawa said, shocked to hear his name out of nowhere. “Why should I be the first to go? Should we not discuss this and come to an agreement?”
“I’m the leader, so I decide the order,” Ryouko said, leaving no room for argument. Carol pushed him from behind, forcing him forward.
“All right, let’s go. You look like you’re panicking, but if you’re too slow, you lose, got it?”
“What? Ah, wait!”
“Rock, paper, scissors!”
If he stood around doing nothing, he would be disqualified. Hanakawa hurriedly threw out rock, but Gorbagion had thrown paper.
“Uh, it appears I have lost,” Hanakawa said.
“Looks that way.”
“How about best three out of five?”
“We didn’t talk about any rules like that, so it’s gotta be best of one, right?”
“I-I figured...”
“Hanakawa!” As Carol called out to him, Hanakawa turned to find a kunai planted at his feet. “You can kill yourself now!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be your second,” Ryouko declared, unsheathing her sword.
“Huh? What? How did things move so smoothly towards my own suicide? Why do you two show absolutely no hesitation?”
“Come on, as a Japanese man, you have to be a good sportsman!” Carol said.
“If you fail to follow the rules, the rock paper scissors match will be void,” Ryouko explained. “If that happens, we have no chance.”
“I said whoever loses dies, but I guess we never talked about how,” Gorbagion added. “If you’ll do it yourself, I have no problem with that.”
Hanakawa felt like he was sitting on a bed of nails. Everyone here was wishing for his death. None of them showed the least bit of hesitation.
Am I...in trouble?
Obviously, their opponents were happy to see him die, but even his supposed allies showed no sign of trying to save him.
Wait, wait, wait! Even so! I know they have acted from time to time as if they truly hate me, but they wouldn’t seriously abandon one of their own classmates, would they?
Hanakawa glanced back at Ryouko and Carol. There was no humor in their faces. It seemed the two of them had come to the conclusion that their only out in this situation was to abandon him.
“S-Someone! Please, help me! Ah, right! Friendship Counter! Sir Lute! This is a terrible predicament! Please rescue me!”
“Rescue you from what? You agreed to the rules, and you lost. You made this situation yourself,” Gorbagion said, entirely serious.
“Well, that is true, but...” Normally he would attempt to blabber something or other just to temporize, but in this case he’d be arguing against himself. This time he had really been backed into a corner.
And that was exactly what was needed to activate Friendship Counter. Hearing a click, Hanakawa found himself floating in the air. The ground below him had vanished, and now he was falling. At least, that was the impression he got, but he had no idea what was happening. In his confusion, he hit the ground hard. Although he must have fallen from quite a height, he was entirely unhurt thanks to the resilience granted to him by the Gift.
Looking up, he found a lavishly decorated ceiling above him. It seemed he was now indoors. Hanakawa looked around. He was in a large room, ornately decorated in white and gold.
“It is just one after another with these developments! What is happening?!”
“I just saved your life. You could be a bit more thankful, you know.”
Hanakawa looked for the source of the voice. Sitting on an extravagantly decorated throne was a girl in a pink dress.
“Alice! Ah! Is this Another Kingdom?!”
It seemed they were in Alice’s audience chamber, within the castle created by her Another Kingdom ability.
“I really don’t like it...but it looks like we have a little bit of a bond after all.”
Sage Alice. Hanakawa had once saved her from a fatal injury, and it seemed that was enough to create a bond between them.