Aria cried out, elated! “Wow! You’re incredible, Wataru! You’re taking out your Payblade faster than humanly possible and spinning it on the ground to create a tornado-like wall of air to deflect Wolfman!”
“What!? That’s what he’s doing!?” Résistance couldn’t conceal her shock at the ridiculous tactic! And did Aria just suggest that Wataru might not be human...!?
Aria responded! “No idea! I just made it up because I couldn’t see what he did at all!”
“Stop making this more confusing than it already is! I wouldn’t put it past Wataru!”
Allow me to explain what actually happened to some of our Dear Readers who lack the superhuman eyesight necessary to follow Wataru’s tactics!!! Wataru just employed the Supersonic Shoulder Thrust, a legendary karate move that had been passed down for centuries in Osaka, Japan!!!
(*Supersonic Shoulder Thrust — A move invented by a young man studying karate in Osaka. The physical movement is almost identical to that of an ordinary punch, but the user flexes their shoulder muscles to the very limit of the human body at the moment of impact to boost the damage of the attack. In one all-too-famous example, a karate fighter used this move to obliterate a cannonball fired by the Tokugawa army during the Siege of Osaka in the winter of 1614. [10])
Wataru used this move to strike Wolfman with a supersonic punch while keeping his own movement to a minimum! This attack was no less than an invisible punch! That’s why neither Aria, Résistance, nor even Wolfman could observe Wataru’s attack with their naked eyes!
Wataru stood with arms proudly crossed as his crimson hachimaki fluttered in the wind! “You’re out of luck, Wolfman!! You never stood a chance against me!!!”
“H-How could this be...!? I’m defeated...!” Wolfman conceded from the middle of an arc through the air, having been blown away once more by Wataru’s Supersonic Shoulder Thrust! He crashed into the large rock by their campsite!!! The rock promptly exploded!!! One of the pieces stabbed Aria right between the eyes!!!
“Grgrglarghhhgaaaahhhhhhghghghghghghgh!!!!!!!!!!” Aria shouted, blood spewing out of her face!!!
“Are you all right, Aria!?!?!?”
She was A-OK, of course! She could use healing magic!
Résistance came up to Wataru! “You did it, Wataru. Now you’ve defeated all Four Masters of the Demon Lord.” She had suffered minor injuries all over her body from her fight against Wolfman, but Aria could simply heal those too, so they won’t be affecting the story in any way aside from my mentioning it right now!
“Yeah, the only one left to beat up is the Demon Lord!” Wataru untied the hachimaki from around his head and carefully placed it back in his jacket pocket!! He stared into Résistance’s eyes and mildly shouted, “Résistance... Are you still going to come with us!?!?!?”
“...What do you mean?” Résistance felt a little uneasy at how uncharacteristically serious Wataru was being!
“We’re going to face the Demon Lord for real, pretty soon! Even though you’re neutral... You might not make it out unscathed!!”
Wataru’s words lingered heavily in Résistance’s heart! It was true that Wolfman had just tried to kill Résistance! It wasn’t hard for her to imagine that the Demon Lord would try to do the same!!
Résistance stared right back at Wataru and answered without any hesitation!! “I’ll follow you... Until the very end!”
“...All right!!” Wataru said no more than that!
And so, Wataru had defeated all four of the Four Masters! Only the Demon Lord remained! In the span of less than a single volume, for that matter! What other light novel has such a fast-paced plot!? But our protagonist and his party were yet to discover the final and most fearsome adversary standing between them and the Demon Lord!!!
Meanwhile, in the Demon Lord’s castle... The Demon Lord Deus was comfortably enjoying a sugar-sweet éclair on his throne as per usual when his messenger, the blue slime, came jiggling in.
“M-My Demon Lord! There’s a crisis! Even Master Wolfman has been defeated by Wataru and his allies!”
Deus frowned and halted his éclair-munching. “...That means... Could it be...?” He paused as if allowing the realization to bounce around in his head for a few moments. “Every single one of my Four Masters has been defeated...?” Deus reiterated, with deliberate calmness and slowness. His collected tone kindled with quiet fury.
“Th-That is correct...” The slime timidly confirmed, thoroughly uncomfortable.
The Demon Lord’s Four Masters, the previously undefeated, elite warriors, had all been defeated. Much worse, one of them had betrayed her master and turned to the other side. This was an unprecedented humiliation for the Demon Lord.
Deus quietly stood and shoved the rest of the éclair into his mouth in one smooth motion.
“M-Master Deus... It-It might be dangerous to... choke down your sweets like that...” The slime suggested, concerned for its master’s health.
Deus paid his messenger no mind, and continued to chew the éclair in his mouth. “Nom nom... chomp chomp... shlip shlop... Gulp...” After thoroughly chewing and swallowing his sweet pastry, he stared down at the slime and spoke. “Slime. I am feeling some complex emotions right now. Of course, I feel sorrow and anger for the comrades I’ve lost... but more than those emotions... more than anything else...”
“Y-Yes, My Demon Lord... More than anything else...?” the slime timidly urged.
Deus’s fists suddenly began to quiver... Much to the surprise of the slime, Deus cackled. “Kah ha ha... How peculiar... that I feel ‘happy’...!!”
“H-Happy...?” the slime parroted, the question mark practically visible above the area it considered its head.
“That’s right! I am excited! I have not felt this much elation since I fought Résistance... No, much more than that!” His excited voice reverberated throughout the room.
“I am counting the seconds before I get to fight Wataru!!”
The slime gave its blue, translucent, gelatinous body a sharp jiggle. “Master Deus... Your Great Excellence will surely prevail over Wataru! May the odds be in your favor, Master!”
“I know they are!” Deus confidently confirmed.
Encountering and clashing with powerful opponents was the most sublime form of entertainment for the Demon Lord, who lived his days in boredom.
Deus clenched his fists and exhaled deeply, as if he was trying to contain his overwhelming urge to go fight his nemesis this very instant. “Phew... Hurry up and come at me, Wataru Ito...!!!”
To be continued in the next chapter, “Wataru, Confusion! The One and Only Literary Critique Battle!!!”
*Sources:
[9] Know the Facts About the Origin of Hachimaki — Isekai Tensei Publishing
[10] The Real Story that Defied Cannon: The Punch that Defined History — Isekai Tensei Publishing