As I glared back at him, I felt like he and I were bound to clash eventually.
After the meeting, Yukihime had a ton of things to do, so I followed her around. The sun had set before we made it home.
Basically, negotiations had failed. We tried proposing alternatives and compromises for their demand to hand over the Ruinmaker, but they refused everything. Khaos Schwartz was currently stuck in a power struggle between humans and monsters. Originally, the humans had possessed Khaos Schwartz’s Ruinmaker, but when the monsters managed to steal it, the humans had fallen into severe danger. They needed another Ruinmaker in order to turn things around.
Just like Yukihime said yesterday, if they took our Ruinmaker, our world would lose a huge chunk of its strength, and we’d become unable to protect ourselves from otherworld invasions. Even if I ignored how precious Towa was to me, she was still vital to our world’s safety. We couldn’t accept their demand, but they couldn’t back down, either... which meant the only thing left to do was fight.
I’ll never forget the ear-to-ear grin I saw on Grom’s face after the meeting ended and Elemia told him what had happened.
“I knew I’d get to play with you soon.” He slit his eyes and gave me a smile that was as innocent as it was sadistic.
Unlike Earth, Khaos Schwartz was a world that had been split in two. Elemia currently stood in the meeting room in Strahl Castle, which acted as the core of the Granz Empire. It was the most important stronghold the humans possessed.
“It looks like we’ll be proceeding with your plan as scheduled, Lord Redge,” Elemia said, as she finished her report. The silver-haired man she spoke to was the one who ruled the empire and commanded its greatest weapon, the Seven Wicked Knights. His name was Redge Ferimento, also known as the Dark Emperor.
“The other knights are still carrying out their missions, but no problems have arisen so far. May I carry out the plan as-is?” Elemia asked.
“Fine.”
“As you wish, my lord,” Elemia said, then left the room.
Once alone, the man muttered to himself. “...So close now.”
Memories of a certain night ten years ago filled his mind. He saw images of his mentor, the one he had vowed to surpass, crumbling before his eyes. He saw a dark room, a small boy, and a silver arm enveloped by golden light – the Ruinmaker.
His powerful, determined voice slipped softly through the darkness. “...I will not fail again.”
On December 23rd, the day after the meeting, Yukihime, Towa and I stood in the academy’s second arena. Our usual arena had various stages in it, but this place was a huge sphere, and over a hundred meters wide from end to end. We could probably even play baseball inside it.
Khaos Schwartz gave us a day to finalize our answer, but Yukihime said she had already made her decision. “We’re never going to hand Towa over to them, no matter what. Which means we’ve no choice but to fight.”
Luckily our Headmistress wasn’t a coward. Apparently, the other heads of the Seven Houses prioritized their own immediate safety and suggested we hand over Towa as soon as possible.
We had come to Arena #2 so I could practice using Towa’s Ruinmaker powers... although it was more like rehabilitation.
Towa awoke as the Ruinmaker ten years ago. It had been nine years since I last used Towa’s powers, so I was worried about whether or not I’d still be able to use them to their full extent. I needed to use the little time we had to re-learn how to use her properly. Since the Ruinmaker was meant to protect us, I was only allowed to use her in certain situations. We’d never encountered any serious danger in the past nine years, and I had hoped this peace would just continue on forever.
When I last used Towa nine years ago, I had been fighting Yukihime. The Seven Houses had been aiming to seize and arrest the entire Phanatics organization, and Yukihime took part in the assault. Despite the fact that she was still only seven years old, she had pretty much already become the world’s strongest star sorcerer.
At the time, the man who had taken me in said that as long as I stayed with the Phanatics, I would have a chance to find the other murderer and get my revenge, and I believed him... even though I also hoped the Phanatics would get crushed beyond all recognition. I decided that once I completed my goal, I’d just crush ‘em myself. But I knew I had to go on using them until I completed my goal, so when Yukihime came to destroy us, I had no choice but to fight her.
I fought her, and...
“Hey, Kokuya... I’ve beaten you 1,000 times, and...” I knew what she was going to say next. But she was wrong. “You’ve beaten me once, right?”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me. That time doesn’t count.”
I had defeated Yukihime only once before – a long time ago, when we first met, I defeated her using Towa’s power. I only won because I teamed up with Towa, though. It had been the Ruinmaker’s power that won that battle, not mine alone. As far as I was concerned, I had lost to Yukihime a thousand times, and that was it.
“If you insist. It still doesn’t change the truth – you have the potential to become stronger than even the strongest person in the world.”
“It wasn’t me. It was all Towa’s power.”
“Either way, we need that power now. We need to make sure we can do this, for the sake of our world.”
“Yeah... Ready, Towa?”
“Mm... I’m ready, big brother.” Towa extended her right hand.
After removing Braveright, my prosthetic right arm, I grabbed Towa’s right hand with my left. The Ruinmaker didn’t need to be liberated, and was similar to a permanent star armament like Braveright, except that its name needed to be chanted just like Chronoslayer and Snowbloom in order to unleash its power.
Gripping Towa’s hand, I opened my mouth. “Liberation – Ruinmaker.”
Instantly, a mesmerizing golden aura covered Towa’s body. Her contours faded, she disappeared, and her body shifted into the light that formed my new right arm. It looked the same as Braveright, save for one difference: a gold line, the color of Towa’s star power, ran down the center of the silver arm.
Ruinmakers were star armaments that belonged to the humanoid anti-star godment category. They were the only ones in this category, and every world had its own unique Ruinmaker. I had no idea what sort of abilities the other Ruinmakers possessed, but I could transform Towa into any weapon I wanted. She became as strong as I wished her to be, but there was a limitation: I could only transform her into the shape of a weapon that I’d used before.
There had been one exception. When I first used her, I had suddenly wished for a new right arm to replace the one I lost, and Towa had granted that wish. Even though I had no idea how to use her, I still managed to unconsciously activate Towa’s power on the night my parents were murdered.
Transforming into weapons wasn’t all that Towa could do, though – in fact, her other ability was her main strength. Whenever she transformed into a weapon, Towa gained a massive amount of total star power, way more than I could ever hope to generate – and since she never ran out, she could use a lot at once. That allowed her to easily cover for my weaknesses: my lack of power and stamina.
“Looks like I managed to do it.” Unlike when I first used her, I didn’t hear a bloodthirsty voice in my head this time.
“It’s been so long since we’ve done this... It feels kind of strange.” Behind me, Towa appeared in a semi-transparent, ghostly state. With her body transformed into a weapon, she was nothing but pure star power now.