“Give us ten minutes. If nobody comes, we’ll accept defeat.”
“What?! Who the hell would show up on a running Magic Train?! You know that’s impossible. You’re just wasting everyone’s time!” protested the Demon Lord.
A water bucket near the ring swayed unnaturally, then fell over.
“Oh, is it the vibration? For crying out loud...” complained Adela.
As she was about to climb the dohyō, broom in hand, a face appeared out of the water puddle.
“My! What a strange place this is.”
Inside the puddle was the face of a beautiful woman whose age I couldn’t estimate. Who was this?
“Up we get...” mumbled the woman as she climbed right out of the puddle. She was voluptuous and wore Japanese-looking clothes.
“Well, well, who do we have here? Why, it’s the Demon Lord’s brats. And what in the world is this place?”
“Gah, the mizuchi granny! Why did you come?” asked the Demon Lord.
“Why, I sensed some curious clashing of magic near my abode and came to take a closer look. What might you be up to, may I ask?”
“We’re doing sumo, O wise mizuchi,” I explained.
“Oh, that martial art the boy spoke of? I see... So you engage in it on top of a moving machine?”
“Ah, no, we normally do it inside buildings. This is a special occasion.”
Who was this boy she’d mentioned?
“Either way, we’re gonna win in five minutes and take you prisoner!”
“Hey, if we have Lady Floortje imprisoned, does that mean she can train us in sumo?!” asked Uta.
“Th-That’s a good idea. She’s incredibly strong,” replied Kukuri.
“We’ll be...hospitable...”
The Demon Lord frowned at the inappropriate excitement of his subordinates.
“Why are you so excited to learn from a woman who would lose because she didn’t think to bring enough wrestlers?”
“Eh? Come on, sir, you know this is just underhanded,” said Uta.
“I-I agree...” added Kukuri.
“That’s one way of winning team competitions! What is wrong with you two?!”
The mizuchi, who had come over to our side, cocked her head in puzzlement.
“Does the Aryakan side not have enough wrestlers?”
“Yes. We’re in the middle of an escape from the Elven Forest Republic.”
“I see. ’Tis good timing, then, for the boy should be coming to see me today. Shall I call him here?”
“Who is ‘the boy’?”
“Boy... Come here...”
Closing her eyes, the mizuchi started mumbling to herself. Just who was she? Since she and the Demon Lord were acquainted, was she related to monsters? The two didn’t seem to get along very well, though. Perhaps she was a hermit, given that she lived in the mountains.
Suddenly, my sumo senses directed my attention to the western sky.
“Ten minutes have almost passed. If nobody is coming...”
“He’s here,” I said, interrupting the referee.
A red dot appeared in the western sky, growing ever larger. He’s here. After circling around the dohyō car, the enormous red dragon descended directly upon the ring. He wrapped himself in smoke before landing, and by the time his feet smashed into the ground, he was in the form of a young boy.
“Hey, Floortje, Richie. What’s going on over here?”
“Phalaris!” exclaimed the two of us.
It was Phalaris, a holder of the ōzeki rank in Aryakan Sumo. As a dragon who could assume human form, he was the perfect opponent for Arima.
“We’re doing team sumo with the Demon Lord’s army.”
“Whoa, that sounds fun! You winning?”
“We’re losing, currently down two to one. We were about to lose due to not having a rikishi to field.”
“Huh. I came because granny called me over. Looks like I made it just in time.”
Phalaris took off his student uniform, leaving only the scarlet mawashi he had on underneath.
“Am I going up against that flashy guy?” asked Phalaris, pointing his finger at the Demon Lord.
“No, you’ll be fighting that red man,” I explained.
“Oh! Is he strong?”
“He’s a frightening wrestler who holds the rank of ōzeki in Demonic Sumo and has both magic-imbued techniques and his own spirit of sumo.”
“Just the way I like it! Man, this is gonna be great, ah ha ha!”
The mizuchi came to our side and smiled at Phalaris.
“Show me this ‘sumo’ of yours, boy.”
For a moment, Phalaris was speechless.
“G-Granny! Why’d you make yourself look so young?! I was wondering who this woman was!”
“Shush! ’Tis my usual human form! Have you no manners?”
“Who is she, Phalaris?” asked the prince.
“A water dragon I met not long ago. I was gonna pay her a visit today.”
So she was another dragon? That explained how she could just emerge from a puddle as she had earlier.
“I am the guardian of the lake by that mountain over there. Pleased to meet you, Lady Floortje, Your Highness.”
“Likewise.”
“Thank you for always looking after Phalaris.”
“Hwah hwah hwah! Oh, fret yourselves not—we elderly dragons rarely have much to do. ’Tis a blessing to have someone to talk to. Why, the boy told me a great deal about you two as well.”
We had just barely been saved by Phalaris’s friend. At some point, the train had left the mountainous region and entered a plain. Now, let us get back to sumo!
“Hey, you—the old guy. Are you the referee? Where’s the usual one?” asked Phalaris.
“Watch your tongue! For the sake of impartiality, the white Aryakan referee and the black demonic referee fused into one, producing me, the gray referee.”
“You sumo staff really feel like monsters, you know that?”
“Silence!”
In the ring, Phalaris was giving the gray referee a hard time. He was rather flippant.
“Listen, Phalaris. Arima is skilled with the Blinding Head Chop Down. As the name goes, it debuffs you with blindness,” I explained.
“Huh. Yeah, I guess I’ll have to watch out for that one, since he’s so huge.”
“You can avoid it by pushing forward with all you have, or by retreating. Be careful.”
“Thanks, Floortje.”
“Do your best, Phalaris. We’re counting on you.”
“No prob, Richie!”
“Are you ready yet?” asked the gray referee.
“Hold up a minute. Is everything allowed in Demonic Sumo? Can I use fire breath? Is that fair game?”
“Uh... Fire breath is too powerful, so it’s not allowed. It wouldn’t be sumo anymore,” replied the referee.
“Yeah, fair enough. Can’t call it sumo if you’re just hurling fire at each other.”
I certainly wouldn’t want to see such a bout either.
“What about wings?”
“Wings and flight are both allowed. To my knowledge, some wrestlers in Demonic Sumo specialize in aerial combat. When rikishi take flight, a colorful wall appears above the bales at the edges of the ring. Going through that wall will result in your loss.”
“Gotcha. This should be fun!”
As Phalaris crossed his hands in front of his chest, bat-like wings appeared out of his back. I was interested in how the bout would go, with Arima using his own set of wings.
I thought back to what the referee had said: there was aerial combat in Demonic Sumo? There seemed to be a lot of depth to it.
Arima climbed the dohyō and performed shiko. STOMP! STOMP! I liked its sound. As if not to lose to him, Phalaris did it too. Stomp! Stomp! The sound of his feet was a little quieter. He didn’t have any weight to speak of, after all. And if he did sumo in dragon form, his body would stick out of the train.
He and Arima faced each other from across the lines in the ground.
“A dragon... This should be...interesting...”
“I’ve never had a bout with a greater demon before either. Should be fun!” replied Phalaris, a smile on his face.
Arima silently nodded to these words.
“Face each other.”
Phalaris and Arima stared each other down. With both of them having the rank of ōzeki, the menace in the air was so palpable that said air felt thick and sticky. The two wrestlers’ breathing synchronized. Flapping his large red wings, Phalaris charged as if taking flight. Arima, on the other hand, was more solemn in his charge as he met Phalaris head-on. The two smashed into each other, neither securing an advantage. They proceeded to grab each other’s mawashi. Arima struck his opponent with a teppo, but Phalaris paid it no heed as he grabbed the left side of Arima’s mawashi.
“Here I go!!!” he shouted, flapping his wings with all he had in order to push Arima.
Little by little, the demon was losing ground.
“Is he going to push him out just like that...?”
Suddenly, Phalaris’s leg stepped into the black part of the ring. One could easily see his strength leaving him.
“Wow, it has this much effect?! For real?!”
Seeing Arima raise an arm, Phalaris let go of his mawashi and made a retreat, using his wings for extra speed. His naked back was covered in sweat.
“Man, you’re strong! You’re second only to Floortje!”
Arima remained silent.