Published at 23rd of August 2019 12:09 am

Volume 25, Chapter 6: The Blue Knight Part 2

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Boooooooom!

Something exploded right next to her. Though damage was minor since it wasn’t a direct hit and she had a sturdy mechanical body, Maya was still knocked back by the shockwave and temporarily blinded by the smoke and the dust it kicked up. By the time the cloud of dust cleared, there were five mobile weapons standing before Maya. It was clear that they belonged to Kiriha and the others.

“So you were only pretending like you didn’t have a plan...”

Tch...

Maya gritted her teeth in frustration. She realized that they were on an escape route Koutarou and the others had chosen themselves, and they’d been considering the possibility of coming this way since this morning. Of course they would have planned measures to intercept enemies along the way. The explosives and mobile weapons were prepared in advance and they’d had them at the ready this whole time. When Maya saw the girls arguing, she simply overlooked the possibility that this was all intentional. She’d been tricked and paid the price. While she hadn’t taken any critical damage, she could feel the motors for her limbs grinding some.

“Right now you must feel both anxious from the desperation of being backed into a corner, and the relief of having caught us. So let me congratulate you the same way... Chasing after us was the right choice. But just because you made the right choice doesn’t mean you’ll be getting the outcome you hoped for!” Kiriha declared with a fearless smile. She radiated strength and composure, and her eyes reflected absolute confidence.

Now we actually have a chance to win, but the hard part is just about to

start...

The truth, however, was that Kiriha’s confidence was just another part of her gamble. She had an accurate grasp of the current situation. Even if they used all the traps and weapons they had prepared, their chances of victory weren’t all that high. At best, all instilling a seed of doubt in the hearts of her enemies really did was give them a fighting chance of not being defeated instantly. That’s why behind her confident facade, Kiriha was desperately racking her brain in an attempt to come up with a plan to outsmart Darkness Rainbow.

When comparing the two weapons on their own, Saguratin was in no way inferior to Signaltin. In fact, when dealing with Warlord, a piece of state- of-the-art technology from Forthorthe, Saguratin was a better option. It used spiritual energy attacks, which Forthorthian barrier technology wasn’t equipped to deal with.

Clank!

“Too shallow?!”

Koutarou’s attack hit the leg of Elexis’s Warlord. Sadly, it was only enough to scratch the surface of its plated armor. In the past it would have been enough to cut clean through, but it seemed its defenses had been dramatically increased. His attack barely had any effect at all.

“For the third version, the armor’s been greatly improved. Not only has it been enhanced with magic, but it also utilizes a hybrid mix of microvibration armor and liquid armor. The moment your sword hits, the impact is dispersed.”

The giant mech of a mobile weapon that Elexis was using was officially named Warlord III. The machine had been improved each time it got more data on Koutarou and the others, and now it had been upgraded to the point that it had strength—or defense as the case may be—to match Koutarou’s attacks. That’s why all he could do now was scratch it.

“Honestly though, I expect that this still isn’t enough to defeat you. And that’s why I’ve arranged for some assistance as you can see.”

“Oh, you mean to say you’re actually counting on me?”

Booooom!

Just after Koutarou’s sword was deflected, another of Crimson’s cannonball assaulted him.

Crack!

The cannonball grazed Koutarou’s armor, leaving a long fissure in its wake. Crimson’s cannon was a major threat that couldn’t be fully avoided even though he knew it was coming.

“I’m always counting on you.”

“Now I understand why Maya calls you a fraud...”

If Koutarou went after Elexis, it gave Crimson a chance to take aim at him, and since he had to focus on being able to pull back, his attacks had less power behind them. Combined with Elexis’s improved armor, Koutarou just wasn’t able to deal the damage he needed to. Elexis and Crimson’s teamwork was a growing threat too.

“Don’t say that! I really am counting on you, Crimson.”

“Sure, sure. Just make sure to leave some fun for me.”

Crimson readied her staff again, but she took aim a little differently this time.

“Another scattershot?!”

Ba-bang!

The moment Koutarou dove to the side, Crimson fired her cannon. Just as Koutarou expected, it was a scattershot. It was a wide area attack to begin with, but with the power of Crimson’s cannon, the range she got in the attack was incredible. It was practically a scattershot wall.

“Urgh!”

“Critical alert: Left arm control circuit damaged. Bypass is unprocessable. Power cut. Currently attempting to detach the process.”

Crimson had Koutarou on the run. Evading a scattershot wall was difficult enough as it was, but a second and third followed. She was driving him into a corner so Elexis could finish him off. Really, she was pinning him in with suppressing fire so Elexis could attack with his axe, beams, and guided missiles. Avoiding all of those attacks at once was practically impossible, and Koutarou’s barrier had already given out on him. His armor was only functioning at half power too.

“I’m amazed you chose to come for me in this situation, Koutarou-kun!”

“It’s not like I can win by running!”

Chink!

Koutarou’s Saguratin and Elexis’s axe clashed. The fierce impact knocked the wind out of Koutarou, but he didn’t let it stop him. His left hand on the hilt of his sword began glowing.

“How about this?!”

Zzzzzt!

Koutarou was wearing the blue gauntlet he’d gotten from Kiriha on his left hand. It had the power to convert spiritual energy into electricity and fire. Koutarou had used it to generate an electric shock powerful enough to travel through his sword, through the axe, and into Elexis’s Warlord.

“A clever idea, but not clever enough! I’ve already taken precautions against that attack!”

Pow!

Warlord kicked Koutarou without even flinching from the shock. Warlord

IIIwas designed with Koutarou and the others’ abilities in mind, and that included the electricity and fire attacks Koutarou and the haniwas could use. It was perfectly insulated, meaning the electricity traveled through the exterior of the armor and into the ground.

“Agh...”

While Koutarou’s electric attack was ineffective, the kick from Elexis’s Warlord hit him straight on. It knocked him back and put a big dent in his armor. As he rolled along the ground, blood flew out of his mouth. The blow had damaged Koutarou’s internal organs.

“Isn’t it about time you stop being so stubborn and just use Signaltin already?”

Crimson was right. If he could use Signaltin, now would be the time. Illusions. Blinding attacks. Anything would be fine. If he could just break up Elexis and Crimson’s teamwork, he still might be able to turn the tables. Crimson was actually giving him a chance because that’s what she was waiting for. She wanted to fight the Blue Knight at his strongest, and until then, she was willing to acquiesce to playing support for Elexis.

“Urgh... N-No can do. I’m a knight after all.”

Clang!

Koutarou thrust his sword into the ground and used it as support to get back up on his feet. Once standing, he pulled the sword up with one hand and wiped the blood away from his mouth with the other.

“I don’t get it... but you’re really going to die soon.”

“You never know until you try! I’ve been through dangers like this several times before!”

Sching!

Koutarou readied Saguratin once more. There wasn’t even a shred of hesitation in his eyes. His determination to win using just Saguratin was unwavering.

“I don’t know what’s driving you to do this... but you seem devoted to this idea of being a knight. Splendid, Koutarou-kun! But I won’t hold back because of that. We have our own reasons for not stepping down.”

“Come and get it, Elexis. I’ll show you just what makes me the Blue Knight.”

“Just the way I want it! Here I come, Koutarou-kun!”

Koutarou and Elexis advanced towards each other at the same time. Koutarou had accumulated a lot of damage, but his appearance as he rushed forward was anything but weak. Despite his wounds, his charge was powerful. Even if a perfect stranger had seen him in that moment, they probably would have been convinced that Koutarou was the Blue Knight.

As Koutarou was fighting his hardest against Elexis, Kiriha and the others were also being gradually cornered. Despite mobile weapons and armaments being prepared beforehand, taking on Maya and five magical girls at the same time was a bit too much for them.

“It’s not like you guys are weak. You’re just outnumbered. Come on, it’s not like you’re Nana...”

Maya held Kiriha and the others in high regard. She was surprised that they were able to put up a fight despite being at such a disadvantage. While they weren’t on the same level as Nana who could fight all of Darkness Rainbow herself, this gave Nana a run for her money. The proof could be seen on Maya and the magical girls. Each and every one of them was wounded.

“But this is as far as you get. You’re almost at your limits, don’t you think? Both the mobile weapons and Maki’s illusions.”

Kiriha, Clan, and Maki were fighting alongside the five mobile weapons and under the cover of Maki’s illusions. That made two of each of them, and Kiriha had Maki recast the illusions as necessary. But that wasn’t all. They changed appearances, turned into each other, and appeared from nowhere. It was a clever way to make Green’s predictions as confusing as possible. With their appearances shifting at random, it became difficult to tell who’s future was who’s. It gave them just enough of an edge to fight back.

“This is nothing. We still have more plans,” Kiriha boldly declared.

Though she flashed a confident smile, she was disappointed.

If only we had been able to do a little more damage to them while we were

able to throw off their readings...

All five mobile weapons were slowed from the damage they’d taken, and a couple were on the verge of shutting down. After continuously creating and refreshing illusions, Maki was starting to run out of mana. They wouldn’t be able to fight for much longer like this. If they’d been able to hit Darkness Rainbow a little harder earlier, they still might have had a chance, but sadly that wasn’t how things had panned out. Kiriha was still running all kinds of plans in her head, but she couldn’t think of anything that might realistically work in this situation.

“If you have something up your sleeve, you should hurry it up. It looks like they’re about to finish things up over there,” Maya said with a casual nod over her shoulder.

“Satomi-kun?!”

“It can’t be!”

Kiriha had already realized the trouble Koutarou was in, but Maki and Clan didn’t notice until Maya said something. Koutarou was battered and bruised. He was covered in blood, and his armor barely looked functional. He was still standing, but it was obvious even from a distance that he was in dire straits.

“That’s good, Crimson! Now just kill him!” Green shouted excitedly when she saw it too.

She normally came off as quiet and intelligent, but her blood boiled when it came to Maki. She knew that the loss of Koutarou would grieve Maki deeply, and it was the hope of being able to revel in that dark joy that drove her spitefully forward.

“I won’t let you!” Maki cried as she made a sudden move for Koutarou.

“Hey now, Maki. I’m your opponent, remember?”

“Maya-sama...”

Of course, Maya and the others weren’t naive enough to let her do that. They all moved to block her way and began to attack again with Maya in the lead. The combat blade sticking out of her hand glimmered in the light of the cemetery.

“We’re going to make it come true, Maki!”

Chink!

Maya’s blade met Maki’s sword, her transformed staff. The attack spells cast on both weapons cancelled each other out and dissipated in a bright flash.

“Make what come true?!”

Whump!

Maki kicked at Maya, but she easily caught the blow. While she might have given up the title of Navy, her skills hadn’t lessened any. If anything, her mechanical body made her even more dangerous.

“Die and return to your homeland! This will be your final resting place!”

Maya was referencing a commonly used phrase Folsaria. It didn’t mean much more than drop dead, but it embodied certain feelings for Forthorthe. Especially here in Rushstock Cemetery, where soldiers who died fighting for Forthorthe were laid to rest. There was no better place than this for a Folsarian to die. Maya was planning on finishing things once and for all with her disciple here.

“Pull back for now, Maki!” Kiriha called to her.

“But Satomi-kun is...!”

“You couldn’t get to him even if you charged in! You were Maya’s disciple, so you should know that better than anyone!”

“Tch...”

The situation was bad enough as it was, but it looked like Koutarou was about to go down. Maya and the other girls were intentionally keeping Maki, Clan, and Kiriha from getting to him to help. The future they had all feared was rapidly drawing near. Knowing death was upon the boy they all loved, all they could do now was pray.

How many times had Koutarou fallen to the ground now? Elexis and Crimson had attacked him repeatedly with the intent to kill. They could feel their hits connect. They thought they’d killed him for sure. Yet he stood back up each time.

“What drives you to go so far, Koutarou-kun?”

His armor had long since stopped functioning, and it was now worth no more protection than the metal it was made out of. Even then, the holes and dents in it compromised its integrity. It was plain to see it was pretty worthless. There was no way he should be able to stand, but he somehow managed every time. Elexis couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“...Wh-Who knows? I just keep getting back up...”

Koutarou’s voice was weak and hard to hear. He barely had the strength left to speak.

“Just stay down. Then it’ll all be over.”

“...I can’t do that... I’m the Blue Knight after all...”

Drip, drop...

As Koutarou raised himself up again, more and more blood trickled through his armor onto the ground.

“...Hahaha... Yeah... That might be the reason. It’s because I-I’m the Blue Knight, Elexis...”

“Koutarou-kun...”

“I’m... the Blue Knight that led the men resting here to the battlefield. There’s no way I can stay down...”

The dead resting in Rushstock Cemetery were soldiers from long ago, and some of them were the very same men Koutarou had fought alongside. They had laid down their lives with absolute faith in Koutarou. Faith that he would save Forthorthe.

“If I fall here... what did they all die for? I would never be able to face them again...”

That was what drove Koutarou to get up every time. It wasn’t a question of whether he could or couldn’t do it; he simply had to. He wasn’t going to give up on this fight. Not until it killed him.

“I can’t afford to rest!”

Koutarou tried to ready the sword he was dragging, but his arms could barely move. After putting all of his strength into it, he was finally able to lift the sword. His arms were badly wounded like the rest of his body, so that act alone caused him acute pain. But that changed nothing. He held Saguratin with an adamantine will.

“I suppose I can see why the people of the past followed you. You really are splendid, Koutarou-kun, so I’ll stay with you until the end too.”

Sching!

Elexis had Warlord ready its axe. He no longer needed Crimson’s support. He was going to settle this one on one.

“Here I come, Koutarou-kun.”

“Come and get it, Elexis.”

Whoosh!

Warlord kicked off the ground with its powerful legs, sending its hulking body flying forward. Accelerating so smoothly it was hard to believe that it was a five meter tall giant, Warlord rapidly approached Koutarou.

I’m sorry, everyone... It looks like this is as far as I go...

In stark contrast, Koutarou wasn’t moving at all. It was all he could do to hold his sword over his head, but Warlord’s massive axe closed in on him in the blink of an eye.

But I am the Blue Knight! And I will never give up!

Koutarou put the last of his strength into bringing his sword down. By now, however, his consciousness was already starting to fade, so she wasn’t even sure if his arms were actually moving or not. But he chose to believe, and poured everything he had into that swing. His vision went white and everything went numb, but he was intent on that final swing even as his consciousness dissolved into nothingness.

When he came to, Koutarou was standing alone on a small hill in a meadow that spread as far as the eye could see. The meadow grasses swaying in the breeze shone gold as the gentle evening sun poured light down on them. It looked almost like a golden sea.

“...This is...”

The scene was familiar to Koutarou. This was where he’d said his final farewell to Alaia and Charl.

“So I died... and came here.”

Koutarou could remember what happened. His last memories before ending up on this hill were of the rapidly approaching Warlord and its giant axe. He was quite sure that was what had sent him here.

“I guess I’m surprisingly romantic.”

He had no room to poke fun at Theia anymore. He couldn’t help laughing bitterly to himself at this unexpected outcome. And as if responding to his voice, what sounded like the laughter of several people rang out around him. Surprised, Koutarou hurriedly turned around and was met with the sight of people where there had been none before. Before he knew it, there were countless people standing there on the hill with him.

“You’re mistaken, Your Excellence. This is still the same place. It’s just that it looks how it did two thousand years ago... The same as us.”

Koutarou recognized some of the faces in the growing crowd. Some of them were people he knew well.

“I see, so this is where Rushstock Cemetery was built... That must mean you guys came to pick me up?”

They were all people that Koutarou had met two thousand years in the past. They were the knights and soldiers that had died in battle—the very people that should be resting in Rushstock Cemetery. Thinking that he was going to join them, Koutarou didn’t think that his fate was such a bad thing after all. He believed he could take pride in what he’d accomplished, knowing he’d given it his all and done absolutely everything in his humanly power.

“You’re half right, half wrong, Your Excellence.”

A different soldier spoke up in answer to his question. It was a man who’d died in a defensive battle shortly after the Reborn Forthorthian Army rose up. He was one of the soldiers directly under Koutarou’s command.

“Before we pick up our comrade-in-arms, there’s something we’d like to ask you, Layous-sama.”

This time it was a knight who’d fallen during a surprise attack on their march towards Fornorn that spoke up. Koutarou could recall the deaths of each of his comrades. There were many of them, but he had engraved the memory of each one into his heart so that he would never forget. Their deaths fell on his shoulders. He was the one who’d led them all to the battlefield.

“Ask me anything. I have nothing to hide from you,” Koutarou replied without hesitation.

“Then... Layous-sama, why didn’t you use Signaltin even in the very end? Couldn’t you at the very least have used its powers of protection? Just rejecting it like that... I feel sorry for Her Majesty Alaia.”

“Hey now, did you all come here to voice your discontent?”

“That’s not it, but... We just don’t understand the reason.”

“Well... I think Her Majesty Alaia has fought more than enough. She gave everything for this country.”

“So you rejected everything?”

“That’s right. After two thousand years, Her Majesty’s wish was finally granted and she was able to live a peaceful life as a normal girl. That’s why I don’t want her to fight anymore. I can’t let her sacrifice everything again, now can I?”

It wasn’t hard to imagine why Alaia wanted to live an ordinary life. She was a gentle girl that didn’t like fighting after all. And now, finally after all this time, Alaia reincarnated as Harumi was living out that dream.

Koutarou just couldn’t accept dragging her into another battle that would mean sacrificing her life for the sake of Forthorthe. That was why, even in the bitter end, he hadn’t drawn Signaltin. He had even rejected its powers of protection and regeneration all to fulfill his own wish. To allow her to remain an ordinary girl.

“You’re as stubborn as ever, Your Excellence.”

“But that’s just like Layous-sama.”

“I told you, didn’t I? We should have just done what I said from the start.”

“What are you talking about?” Koutarou asked as the others talked amongst themselves.

The crowd gathered around him laughed merrily, but that only confused Koutarou further. He looked around, completely at a loss for how to interpret their reaction.

“We’ve decided that we’re not going to pick you up. We’re going to send you away instead.”

“Send me away? But I’m already dead.”

Koutarou had been cut down by Elexis’s axe. There was nowhere else for him to be sent if he was already dead. He couldn’t understand what they were talking about.

“No, you’re not dead yet, Your Excellence.”

“What?!” Koutarou exclaimed.

“We just wanted to ask you why weren’t using Signaltin before that happened.”

“But you’re the same as you always were, Your Excellence, so we can send you away without reservations.”

“There is still a lot that you have to do, Layous-sama.”

Koutarou couldn’t get his head around what his former comrades were saying.

“Wait a minute, I don’t know what―”

He’d genuinely believed he was dead, but now they were telling him that wasn’t true. Not only that, but they were going to send him away somewhere. And he wasn’t given time to process what was happening. The surrounding area began to fill with a white light, much the same way it had before he ended up on the hill.

“You said that you would protect Her Majesty Alaia. That’s all that matters.”

“Protecting this country and the safety of the people that live here is the reason we’ve remained in this place for two thousand years. And if Her Majesty Alaia is now among those people, we only have one choice.”

“Layous-sama, we will fight too. There’s a limit to what we can do, but it should make all the difference.”

“Please lead us. Just like you did two thousand years ago.”

In the bright white light, they all smiled. One after another, they raised their weapons high. And it wasn’t just the people who’d fought alongside Koutarou in the past either. The gesture was mirrored by all the men and women there, every last soldier resting at Rushstock Cemetery. The proud guardians that had given their lives fighting for Forthorthe and its citizens would take one last stand.

Saguratin began emitting light as Koutarou was in the middle of swinging it down. Though it was white at first, the light turned gold as it grew

stronger. When he saw it, it reminded Koutarou of the meadow in the evening sun and the color of Theia’s hair.

“Hyaaaaaaaah!”

“Hyaaaaaaaah!”

Both Koutarou and Elexis roared as Saguratin’s glowing golden blade clashed with Warlord’s thick, sharp axe. Just a few moments ago, this would have resulted in the blows largely canceling each other out and Koutarou getting pushed back.

Sching!

“Wh-What?!”

But not now. When Saguratin’s glowing blade met Warlord’s axe, it didn’t slow down at all. It kept going and cleaved the axe clean in two.

“What just happened?! And what is that light?!”

Elexis couldn’t hide how shocked he was. This unexpected turn of events was rather unsettling. Up until now, the axe’s durability and the various technologies installed in it had allowed it to completely block all of Saguratin’s attacks without trouble. And yet all of a sudden, it was like that meant nothing. His axe hadn’t just been repelled or blocked either. It had been cut in half. What was left of it revealed that the cut was completely smooth, making it quite clear that it hadn’t broken due to metal fatigue. There was no explanation other than Saguratin’s cutting edge suddenly getting much, much sharper.

“Koutarou-kun, what is that?! What did you do?!”

“I don’t really know either. I didn’t do anything, personally.”

Koutarou moments ago had been so badly injured that he was limping and weak, yet now he was walking like normal. He readied his sword once more as if nothing had happened. The golden light from his sword was still getting stronger, and it now enveloped Koutarou’s body too.

“All I know is that you guys were wrong about something,” Koutarou said as he looked up at Elexis.

“Wrong, you say?”

“You said that you guys would have lost if we hadn’t come here, and that you’ve now overcome your greatest crisis.”

“That’s right. That’s why we were able to catch up to you, after all.”

“See, that’s where you’re wrong. You’ve lost because we did come here.”

With the spirits of the soldiers in the cemetery on his side now, Koutarou was convinced that it would be impossible to defeat him. He didn’t know the exact reason why, but he had every confidence victory would smile on him.

What is this...? What happened with Koutarou-kun?!

Elexis was outright baffled. Koutarou, who was at death’s door moments ago, had all of a sudden cut his axe in half and was now boldly approaching him. And it was hard to blame Elexis for being so confused. This bizarre reversal had sprung up just as he was about to deliver the finishing blow.

The answer to everything came in the form of a message from his companions.

“You can’t fight the Blue Knight straight up, Elexis!”

“Purple! What’s happening here?!”

“Over 99 percent of the spiritual energy in this area is being controlled by the Blue Knight now! He’s even taken control of the spirits I had under my spell! His control is too strong for me to take them back!”

“Impossible! That can’t be true!”

“But it is, Elexis! If you fight him head on like that, you’re going to lose!”

Purple’s assessment wasn’t quite right. Koutarou wasn’t controlling the spirits. They were moving on their own to support and protect him. A clear sense of purpose had given them the power to resist Purple’s necromancy. As a result, it looked like Koutarou was controlling them, and realistically, it had the same effect.

“So the knights and soldiers resting in the cemetery are lending him their strength? Damn it!”

Elexis now understood the full weight of what Koutarou had said. Regardless of how it worked, Koutarou was being protected by almost all of the spirits at Rushstock Cemetery. Their combined spiritual energy was on a completely different level than Koutarou’s on his own. Challenging him to close combat now would just be asking for defeat.

“Crimson, we’re going in at the same time!”

“Ahahaha, things are finally getting exciting!”

Unlike Elexis, Crimson was ecstatic as this abrupt turn of events. A fight against a strong opponent was exactly what she wanted. She was bored by the idea of fighting Koutarou when he wasn’t using Signaltin, but this made things interesting again. Facing a new, powerful force separate from Signaltin, Crimson’s very soul trembled with joy.

“How about this?!” Elexis shouted.

Warlord threw a metallic globe that had been attached to its waist. It was an anti-Blue Knight grenade, designed to unleash a powerful shockwave that covered several meters when activated. Since the computer would determine exactly when to activate it, it still functioned as a land mine in the case that it missed its target initially.

“This is nothing!”

Clang!

Koutarou made a wide swing with Saguratin. When he did, the golden light from the sword knocked the globe away without activating it. But as he swung his sword, he left himself open for a brief moment. That opportunity was exactly what Crimson was waiting for.

“Greater Explosion!”

Booooom!

Crimson launched a cannonball using a larger explosion than normal. Doing that put more strain on the cannon and could potentially damage the barrel, so it wasn’t an attack that could be used repeatedly. However, her battle instincts told her that she’d need it against Koutarou.

“I don’t think you can dodge this, Koutarou!”

The cannonball moved with blinding speed. It was completely invisible to the naked eye. If it weren’t for the sound it made, there would have been no way to tell it had even been fired. And even though he knew it was coming, Koutarou was still in the follow-through of his sword swing and incapable of moving out of the way in time.

“Yeah. And that’s why I won’t.”

“What?!”

However, the cannonball only grazed Koutarou’s cheek and continued flying. While it had drawn blood, he hadn’t taken any real damage.

“What was that?!” Crimson shouted.

She was sure of her aim, and she had certainly aimed for Koutarou. There was no way she should have missed at this distance. Koutarou hadn’t moved either, yet her attack still didn’t connect. Crimson looked like she had fallen for a scam.

“The area around Koutarou is sacred ground! Bullets won’t fly straight!” Elexis warned her.

If Sanae had been there, she would have seen a knight protecting Koutarou with his shield. Warlord’s spiritual energy sensor, however, interpreted what happened as an indication that the grounds were sacred.

“Sacred ground, huh? Heh heh, that’s more like it!”

Eager to fight a powerful opponent, Crimson held her staff with both hands and charged at Koutarou. She looked excited, if not outright happy.

“Don’t act rashly, Crimson!” Elexis called after her.

Warlord was beginning to detect more and more sacred ground. And it wasn’t just around Koutarou. It was now appearing around Crimson and Elexis too. Elexis realized it in time and had Warlord fall back, but Crimson charged right into it.

“Kyaah!”

Thud!

In the middle of her charge, Crimson suddenly lost strength in her legs and fell forward. She had no idea what had happened, but she knew it wasn’t the end of it. She quickly twisted her body in a roll across the ground to dodge what came next.

Slash!

Golden light from Saguratin burrowed into the ground where Crimson had just been, shearing a few strands of her long hair as she rolled away.

“J-Just what is...”

“Fall back, Crimson! It’s not just Koutarou-kun’s sword that’s gotten stronger! He’s probably being protected by an army of spirits!”

Elexis was essentially guessing, but he was right. Spearmen had attacked Crimson. Their spears coming into contact with her legs drained her spiritual energy, which had temporarily immobilized her.

“So that’s your game, is it? Astral Sight!”

Retreating with the help of covering fire from Elexis, Crimson cast a spell that let her see spirits. While she couldn’t clearly see their forms, she could easily tell that they were trying to surround her and Elexis.

“This is absurd! What do we do, Elexis?”

“There are ways to fight it now that we know what’s going on! And it looks like our reinforcements made it just in time!”

Nyoom!

Two transport planes came in for a landing behind Warlord and Crimson. One of them was carrying the task force DKI used to carry out its more illicit tasks. If they rushed in with spiritual energy weapons, they should be able to deal with the army of spirits.

“What a coincidence. We just got reinforcements too.”

A golden flag passed by above Koutarou and the others. Following behind it were five girls riding a giant dragon.

“Koutarou, we’ve come to save you!”

The one in the lead with the flag was Theia. The dragon was Shizuka transformed, and on her back were Ruth, Sanae, Yurika, Nana, and Harumi—the girls Koutarou had left behind.

“Curses! It’s the princess and the others!”

Elexis gritted his teeth in frustration. With both sides receiving reinforcements, the outcome was uncertain, and having their surefire shot at victory slip out of their grasp was a painful blow.

“I’m fine here! You guys help the others!” Koutarou called to the girls.

“Yeah! I’m enough to help Koutarou! Everyone here is really pumped up!” Sanae shouted.

As the dragon passed by overhead, Sanae jumped off and started falling towards the ground in a tailspin. It looked like a deadly stunt, but her falling speed rapidly slowed as she descended and she landed softly like a feather.

“Alaia-sama herself has come!”

“Even Princess Charl is here...”

“Put your all into this! With Clan-sama, we have three princesses gathered before us!”

“If we lose now, we’ll be shamed for all eternity!”

The arrival of Theia and the others excited the spirits protecting Koutarou. Their already high morale skyrocketed to new heights.

“Get ready for battle, men. We’re going to destroy the enemy’s main forces. Take a crane wing formation. Recruits, move alongside the veterans.”

The spirits clamored in excitement until Koutarou gave his orders. Under his command, they spread out and fell into line. The wing-shaped formation was composed of soldiers from battles spanning over two thousand years, but they all shared the same objective now. Protect the country, its citizens, and the royal families alongside the Blue Knight. Their hearts were united.

“Crimson, group up with Maya and the others!” Elexis shouted to her.

“Are you sure?!”

“I’ve got my own reinforcements! I’ll be fine! But now that the princess and the others have come, the others won’t be able to hold them off!”

“Okay!”

Facing against them were Elexis and DKI’s combat squad. Crimson moving over to assist Maya and the others made it easier for Koutarou, but Elexis wouldn’t let him win that easily. While Koutarou, Sanae, and the spirits had a numerical advantage, the combat squad equipped with spiritual energy weapons was a force to be reckoned with.

“We’re finally at the endgame now, Koutarou-kun.”

“And whoever wins this battle will accomplish their true goal. Let’s settle this, Elexis!”

Would Koutarou and the girls be able to protect the Forthorthe they’d come to know and love? Or would Elexis and his associates destroy it to create a new one? The curtain rose on the final battle between two sides who had both long been awaiting this day.

Even though both of them had given up their titles as magical girls, Maya and Nana were still fated rivals. Being the last two of their generation, there was a special significance to their battle.

“You’re going all out from the start? Your commitment is fantastic as always, Nana!”

“Nothing good will come from taking it slow today!”

Nana was keeping the swiftly moving Maya on the run with her sharpshooting. While Maya’s mechanical body had better performance, Nana had comparable power when taking her armaments into account. More importantly, their battle wouldn’t simply be settled by strength alone.

“Haaaaa!”

“Maki?!”

Maki was lying in wait in the spot where Nana had pinned Maya with suppressive fire. She swung her staff—transformed into a greatsword—

horizontally as Maya approached. But just like Nana had Maki, Maya had her own ally.

“Looks like you can still fight, Maki!”

“Crimson!”

Shink!

Crimson blocked Maki’s attack with one of her own. She brought down her staff, which had been transformed into a two-handed battleaxe. And since she’d enchanted it with an attack spell, the impact from her swing was much heavier than Maki’s. Unable to handle the blow, Maki fell backwards. Not missing her chance, Crimson tried to finish Maki off with a thunder spell that had a short incantation.

“Thunder B―”

“Crimson, no! Continue running to the right!”

“Poison Mist!”

Poof!

At Green’s warning, Crimson cut her incantation short and ran to the right, Maki’s left. The very next moment, a green fog appeared where she’d just been standing. If she’d waited a second longer to finish her incantation, she’d likely have been enveloped in that toxic cloud. Worse yet, since the fog was highly conductive, Crimson would have been the victim of her own spell.

“Thanks, Green.”

“Be careful. Rainbow is waiting for openings like that to attack. Apart from poison, I’m having visions of her using acid and rot in the future as well.”

The one that had called forth the poison mist was none other than Yurika, who was currently behind Maki. It was only thanks to Green’s divination that Crimson had been able to escape it.

“Wouldn’t she be better off on our side?” asked Maya a bit warily.

Maya, who had also barely escaped danger, felt threatened by the way Yurika was using her magic. She was truly living up to the title of Nana’s successor.

“Are you okay, Maki-chan?!” Yurika exclaimed.

“Yes, thank you.”

Yurika held her hand out to Maki, who had landed on her rear when she fell backward. Maki took it without hesitation and quickly stood up. Nana stood guard next to the two of them, and after confirming that they were ready to fight again, she broke into a run.

“I see you don’t plan on letting me rest, Nana!”

“I see you still love jokes, Maya. You’re really the one who was waiting for us to let our guard down.”

As little time as possible should be spent standing still. Nana knew better than anyone that defeat would come in an instant if an opening revealed itself.

As the fated confrontation between the others using magic began, Theia, Shizuka, Clan, and Ruth entered the fray on their own terms. They were up against the remaining four from Darkness Rainbow: Purple, Orange, Yellow, and Blue.

Rat tat tat tat!

“Your Highness, you’re shooting too much! You’ll run out of ammunition if you keep that up!”

“Our opponents are a group of magicians! If we lose the initiative, we’ll be defeated immediately!”

Theia’s plan was simple: launch a surprise attack from the air, then continue attacking to keep the pressure on them and keep them from using much magic. Fortunately, it was going well. All the dark magical girls could do was cast defensive spells and fall back. Theia’s firepower was too much for them.

“What are we going to do, Purple?! At this rate, they’re just going to wear us down!”

Orange was usually the one in Darkness Rainbow to play around, but even she understood how bad the situation was now and turned to Purple for advice. After fighting against Kiriha, Clan, and Maki before Theia and the others arrived, they had already burned through about half of their mana. If they continued letting Theia shoot at them, they might end up using all of their remaining mana on defensive spells.

“Calm down, Orange,” Purple urged her.

She could understand why Orange was getting worried. While their defensive spells were stopping the bullets, having them constantly whizzing past was enough to put anyone on edge. However, they had to remain calm.

“But...!”

“No matter how advanced the technology, there’s no weapon that can fire without end. There’s a limit to the bullets she has, and the barrel is already overheated and red. The shooting should stop soon.”

Purple made a very valid point. Because of Theia’s continuous shooting, the rapidly firing machine gun in her hands had less than 10 percent of its ammo remaining and the barrel was starting to distort from the heat. She knew the precious few remaining bullets couldn’t be wasted with careless aim.

“Purple is right, Orange. The more important problem is that girl closing in while we can’t move,” Blue added.

Not even the normally quiet Blue could stay silent in their current predicament. While Theia was spraying them with constant fire, Shizuka was turning around overhead and coming right for them. It was clear what she was trying to do. If left be, she’d fly right into them once the shooting stopped.

“I’ll handle the one coming in. If it’s just one hit, I should be able to hold it off. Orange, you’re the only one who can deal any damage to her, so use that opportunity to hit her!” suggested Yellow.

“O-Okay, I’ll give it a try!” Orange agreed.

Shizuka’s combat potential was exceptional. While she wasn’t good at long distance attacks, her ferocity in close combat and her staggering defenses bolstered by magic were in a league of their own. However, Orange specialized in alteration and could manipulate the properties of objects. It might just be what Darkness Rainbow needed to defeat Shizuka. In order to give Orange an opening to attack with her magic, Yellow, their specialist in defense and enhancement, would serve as the decoy. It was the most practical combination of the powers the four girls had against Shizuka.

Pssshwn...

Theia’s machine gun finally powered down and the firing ceased. The girls didn’t have any more time to think. As Shizuka approached, Yellow put up a defensive barrier. Orange stood behind her, ready to attack. Purple and Blue were casting spells to keep Theia and the others at bay.

“Hraaaaaaaah!”

Shizuka’s right fist crashed into Yellow’s defensive spell as she dove in from above. Now in her half-dragon form, she had tremendous strength. It was more than enough to destroy Yellow’s barrier. But even then, it gave Orange the opening she needed.

“Decrease Iron!”

The moment Yellow’s barrier collapsed, Orange’s spell assaulted Shizuka. She’d chosen one intended to dramatically reduce the iron in a given area, so strictly speaking, it wasn’t an attack spell. However, as all living creatures had iron in their bodies to help carry oxygen through the blood, suddenly losing that meant faintness or loss of consciousness. Even though Shizuka had the power of a dragon, the same still held true for her.

“Wah!”

“Are you okay, Shizuka?!”

“I-I’m okay, somehow...”

Shizuka was just barely able to keep her wits about her thanks to her high magic resistance and exceptional constitution. Though she staggered with a pained look on her face, she didn’t collapse.

“We can do this!” Orange shouted as she decided to launch another attack.

Based on her appearance, she determined that Shizuka would likely collapse if hit by the same spell again. Orange’s uneasiness from earlier was now replaced with courage as she saw a clear glimmer of hope for victory.

“I won’t let that happen!” Theia shouted.

Since she’d taken Orange’s attack before, Theia realized the situation Shizuka was in before anyone else did. She fired four guided missiles from her combat dress and attacked Orange, who was in the middle of her incantation.

“Jeez, you’re never any fun, princess!”

“As if I’d just keep letting you have your way!”

Orange had to stop casting her spell and start running to try and avoid the incoming missiles. She only managed to escape two of them. The other two caught up to her.

“Mirror Image!”

“Instant Invisibility!”

But just before they actually hit, Purple and Blue both cast spells to protect Orange. Purple’s spell created a fake Orange, and Blue’s spell hid the real one. The missiles chasing after the illusory Orange then crashed into the ground and exploded.

“Thank you, everyone!”

Boom!

“Kyaaah!”

Just as Orange was letting out a sigh of relief, Yellow screamed. The missiles that Orange thought she’d escaped had actually taken a sudden turn and hit Yellow from a blind spot.

“These schemes of yours are like works of art, Clan...” Theia commented, somewhat amazed.

“Would you lay off it?!” Clan snapped.

The sneak attack was Clan’s doing. She had intercepted control of the missiles mid-flight and targeted Yellow while she was defenseless and distracted. Not even Darkness Rainbow could do anything about that.

“Shizuka-sama, now’s your chance!” Ruth called out.

“Thanks! I let my guard down a little there.”

While the dark magical girls were all focused on Yellow, Ruth’s swarm of unmanned aircrafts retreated with Shizuka. With that, the battle had essentially started over.

“Still, that’s Darkness Rainbow for you. They certainly aren’t going to give us an easy win. We’ll need to keep it together,” said Theia once the other girls reformed the line on their side.

Now that she had spent all the ammunition for it, Theia casually tossed her machine gun aside and took out the rapid fire beam rifle she always used.

“Now then, what to do...?”

While the missiles had done considerable damage to Yellow, Shizuka had taken about as much. Neither side had a decided advantage at this point, and the outcome of the battle rested on a razor’s edge. Really, their fight had only just begun.

The remaining two girls of room 106, Kiriha and Harumi, were distancing themselves from the battle at hand. Still weak, Harumi wasn’t allowed to join in. As Koutarou had ordered Signaltin not to use its powers, it wouldn’t respond to Harumi’s control over it either. That’s why all she could was look on from afar.

“Everyone is fighting, and all I can do is watch...”

Harumi frowned impatiently and intensively stared at the battle unfolding. It was very painful for her to be the only one unable to participate.

“The same is true for me. There’s no need to be ashamed.”

“But that’s your job, Kiriha-san. In comparison, I...”

Kiriha was watching from the rear for the benefit of the whole group. With a decent vantage point, she could monitor how things were going and offer strategy, advice, and backup accordingly. Even now, she was making calculated shots with her rifle and issuing orders to her haniwas. She was in control of the entire battlefield.

“You are without a doubt the biggest contributor to this battle. Because you continued to give Koutarou a salary, we were able to find a way to neutralize DKI and remove Vandarion from power with a minimal amount of sacrifices. No one, not even while you’re here on the rear line, would dare call you powerless.”

Kiriha wasn’t making a distinction between Harumi and Alaia anymore. After what they knew now, Kiriha felt such a thing was no longer necessary when Harumi’s hair shone silver.

“Kiriha-san...”

Harumi felt similarly. Alaia’s actions were ultimately hers in the end, and that’s how she’d come to thing of things.

“Besides, the heroes protecting Koutarou over there are only present because you protected Forthorthe. Your legacy is still protecting Koutarou.”

“...Yes, I think so too.”

Thanks to Kiriha, Harumi was finally able to smile a little. Fighting directly wasn’t everything. Even as she was now, she was of use to Koutarou. Hearing someone tell her that in this moment was a most welcome reassurance.

“But speaking of... There is something else for you to do here.”

“What’s that?”

“Pray for the victory for the people fighting over there. That will become their strength, allowing them to protect Koutarou and the country.”

“That might be true. It’s certainly much better than worrying...”

And so Harumi began praying. She prayed for the people fighting in front of her not to end up as sacrifices, and she made no distinction between friend and foe in that. Harumi, the same as Alaia, had love for all the citizens of Forthorthe.

There were countless heroes resting in Rushstock Cemetery, but it required a great deal of spiritual energy in order for them to have any power in the mortal realm. That’s why only a hundred or so heroes could fight alongside Koutarou at the same time. Those who couldn’t instead lent their strength to Saguratin and their allies, indirectly participating in the battle.

On the opposite side, DKI had forty men in its combat squad. While they were outnumbered by the spirits, they had superior gear. Each one of them was armed with spiritual energy weapons and equipped with spiritual energy armor effective against the spirits. Taking their numbers and equipment into account, the overall power balance was even between the two sides.

“A crane wing formation, how antique! Granted, it was the appropriate strategy to use with superior numbers!” shouted Elexis.

“And the rest is up to us!” Koutarou shouted right back.

In an even fight, strategy would make all the difference. The crane wing formation that Koutarou had chosen arranged his forces in something of a U-shaped configuration, with the objective ultimately being to approach and surround the enemy force. With both sides well matched in strength, using their numerical advantage to surround the enemy was a smart move.

On the other hand, the formation had a weakness. If the connecting point of the U formation was broken, it would divide the troops from each other, inevitably leading to them getting surrounded and defeated rather than the enemy. And it was for that reason that while the formation was often used in the past, it also had a long list of defeats to its name. Of course, Elexis was well aware of that. Accordingly, he now arranged his troops in a

vertical triangle with the intent to hard target the center of the U formation where Koutarou, Sanae, and the veteran spirits were gathered.

Elexis himself would lead the charge so that the fight would be decided in a clash between Koutarou and Elexis directly. If Koutarou fell, that would spell defeat for his side. But if Elexis fell, Koutarou’s strategy would work and he would be able to seize victory. A fight between generals—a rarity in modern Forthorthe—would determine the outcome of the entire battle.

“Regardless of the end result, this will likely be our last battle! The thought honestly saddens me a little, Koutarou-kun!”

While repeatedly firing the beam shotgun on his mech’s left arm, Elexis closed in on Koutarou. With the help of the spirits, normal shots would never hit Koutarou now. And with the beam set to scatter at its maximum range, the most it would do was scorch his armor. The real point of the barrage was to limit Koutarou’s movements.

“Not me, Elexis! I’d rather never have to fight!”

Koutarou’s GoL and armor had both practically stopped functioning, but thanks to the power of the spirits covering his body, he could move even faster than normal. Of course, Saguratin’s power had also greatly increased. He dodged the constant shotgun fire with ease and closed in on Elexis’s Warlord.

“It sounds so meaningful when you say it!”

Clank!

Saguratin was caught by the knife in Warlord’s right hand. Since it had a great deal of spiritual energy concentrated in such a small blade, it was enough to stand up to Saguratin. And with Warlord’s automatic combat reflexes, it was successfully able to block the incoming attack. It was perhaps the only thing that could counter Koutarou now that he was moving far faster than any human had the reaction time to handle.

“Anyone else would say the same thing!”

“I guess that’s just where we see things differently!”

Once their blades met, it was simply a matter of who could overpower the other. And unfortunately in a contest of pure strength, the five meter tall robotic giant certainly had the advantage. Koutarou kept on his feet, but slid along the ground as Warlord pushed him back. Then he moved some of the spiritual energy focused in Saguratin to his left hand.

“Huh?!”

Crackle!

Koutarou’s left gauntlet created a powerful electric shock. With the spiritual assistance he was being granted in the cemetery, it was on a completely different level from anything he could have created on his own. But just before he discharged the shock, Warlord backed off. As a result, the electricity mostly diffused in the air. What did manage to hit Warlord wasn’t powerful enough to overcome its insulation.

“That was close, Koutarou-kun. But thanks for reminding me you had that trick up your sleeve.”

“Damn, I was so close...”

“Koutarou, Koutarou! Be careful!”

Koutarou suddenly heard Sanae’s voice in his head. She was fighting the DKI combat squad alongside the spirits, so she was communicating with him from a distance using her psychic powers.

“He probably knows how you’re going to attack.”

“Really?”

“Your psychic powers are so powerful that the... spiritual energy sensor? He has something that can tell exactly what you’re doing.”

If spiritual energy pooled in Saguratin or the gauntlet on his left hand, it was clear that they were going to be used to attack. But now vast amount of spiritual energy was surging through Koutarou’s entire body, and by monitoring that flow, it was easy to tell when he was going to go on the offensive.

“Ah, so that’s how it is, Elexis.”

“Oh? What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about how you and that machine are reading my movements.”

“My, it looks like I’ve been found out.”

It was true. Warlord was able to automatically stop Saguratin with its knife both by using the cameras it had equipped to monitor Koutarou’s physical moments and the sensors it had installed to monitor the flow of his spiritual energy. That was how, despite the strength of Koutarou’s attacks, Warlord was able to effectively block them.

“And Koutarou, everyone else is in a tight spot right now. They’re going to be in trouble soon. They haven’t lost yet, but at this rate they’re going to get seriously hurt, or even...”

The worst news of all was that the other girls were nearing their limits. In terms of winning or losing, there was still wasn’t a decided advantage on either side. But things were getting dangerous. Both friend and foe were accumulating damage, and the next hit could be fatal for any one of them. If victory over DKI came at the cost of casualties among the girls, it was a victory no one would celebrate.

“Looks like time’s up, Elexis. We’re going to have to finish this.”

Koutarou’s spiritual energy was being read by his enemy and his friends were in danger. There was a single solution to both problems. That was to flare up all of the spiritual energy within his body and keep it at maximum levels so that there would be no discernable increase or decrease regardless of what he did. But considering how much spiritual energy it would consume to do something like that, he knew he’d only get one shot at it.

“I thought you’d say something like that. Normally I wouldn’t play along... but I’m in no position to take things too leisurely either. So we’ll see this through to the end together, Koutarou-kun.”

Warlord’s sensors started to detect that Koutarou’s spiritual energy levels were rapidly increasing. Normally running around and getting him to waste that spiritual energy would be the best option, but Elexis was eager to settle their match for his own reasons. Warlord was the very definition of cutting-edge technology, but the frame of the machine itself was reaching its operational limit.

Besides, Maya and the others are probably tapping themselves out too...

though she would be offended if I suggested that.

Elexis was concerned about his allies too. For their safety and his own, he was ready and willing to bring his fight with Koutarou to a swift end.

“I don’t care if the generator core burns out. We’re going all out, Warlord!”

Koutarou’s spiritual energy blazed, and Warlord’s generator roared. This would be it for both of them. Koutarou and Elexis were going to put everything they had into a single attack and go toe to toe with each other for once and for all.

“Hyaaaaaaaah!”

“Hyaaaaaaaah!”

They came at each other, and since they were both moving at superhuman speeds, the distance between them closed in an instant.

I’ll knock Koutarou-kun’s sword away with the knife and finish him with the energy knuckles!

Apart from what was being used to move, Elexis put all of Warlord’s energy into its arms. His intuition told him that Koutarou was going to use Saguratin. In response, he’d repel it with the knife in his right hand and settle the match with a high energy punch from his left hand. Elexis was convinced that Warlord, strengthened time and time again for this very fight, would be able to defeat Koutarou that way.

“Hyaaaaah!”

And just as Elexis had predicted, Koutarou struck out with Saguratin. Following his movements, Warlord calculated the trajectory of the sword swing and where it would need to hold the knife to block it accordingly.

“You lose, Koutarou-kun! You were too obsessed with being a knight!”

Warlord reacted on its own and stuck out the knife to catch Saguratin. Then it was just a matter of deflecting it to the side and landing a solid

blow to end their showdown. The last of its energy should be enough to crush Koutarou.

“No! You were the one who was too obsessed, Elexis!”

Crack!

The instant the knife touched it, Saguratin’s blade broke in half. In that exact moment, Koutarou wasn’t putting any spiritual energy into it. But once the sword was broken and had gotten past the knife, Koutarou poured as much spiritual energy as he could into the sword again. When he did, a golden glow appeared in place of the blade where it had broken off. It was so powerful that Saguratin now looked like a beam sword.

“Impossible! You’d sacrifice your―”

“It’s over!”

The golden blade born from the prayers and hopes of many slammed into the totally defenseless Warlord. Its fist never even had a chance to strike.

After being hit by Saguratin’s full power, small explosions went off left and right in Warlord’s frame as it fell backwards. The next moment, the safety device activated and the front of the armor was blown off. Now defeated and lying on his back, Elexis looked up into the starry sky gradually fading into the light of the rising sun.

“...So I lost in the end, huh...”

Elexis had no regrets. He truly had given it his all. If that wasn’t enough, there was nothing he could do. Especially not against the Blue Knight.

“Elexis.”

Suddenly part of his view was obscured, hiding a number of the stars overhead. Someone was looking down at Elexis.

“Is that you, Koutarou-kun?”

The person looking down at him was indeed Koutarou. He was covered in wounds and didn’t look too much better off than the injured and collapsed

Elexis, but neither the light of his sword nor the light in his eyes had weakened any. That was the sole difference between them now.

“You lose. Give up.”

“Yeah, I give up. I lost.”

“Good.”

Chink...

With Elexis finally surrendering, Koutarou sheathed Saguratin. The long battle between them was over at last.

“However... I didn’t lose to you. I only lost to the great will of the people trying to protect this country.”

“I think you’re right.”

Both Alaia and the spirits of the cemetery played a major role in this battle. They were all desperate to protect their country, and that meant defeating Elexis. If it had just been Koutarou and the other girls against DKI, the win likely would have gone to Elexis. Even Koutarou knew that.

“Elexis, can I ask you one last thing?”

There was something that had been on Koutarou’s mind ever since Elexis and his associates chased them down at the cemetery. Before leaving, he wanted to ask Elexis about it.

“I don’t mind. What is it?”

“Why didn’t you use any huge weapons or major explosives? You might have won if you’d used those when you first caught up with us.”

At that point, Elexis’s side definitely had them outnumbered. If Elexis had used something like the Type One Revised or a large enough bomb, Koutarou and the others wouldn’t have stood a chance. Koutarou wanted to know why Elexis hadn’t gone that far.

“In the middle of the suburbs? Don’t be ridiculous. The casualties would be too high.”

Evil had its way of blooming. That’s what Elexis believed. Since he was trying to end the imperial government, Elexis was willing to use any means necessary against the current royalty. The way he manipulated Ceilēshu in exchange for treating her father was a good example of that. But since it was all for the sake of creating a better society, needless sacrifice had to be avoided. Elexis was never interested in wanton destruction.

“...It might not have been so bad to lose to you after all.”

Elexis was an unforgivable enemy. As long as he considered it necessary, he was willing to force sacrifice onto others. But that being said, there was a method to his madness and he was not cruel without reason. Once the bloody upheaval and all the fighting was over, there was a chance that he could actually create a good government. That’s why Koutarou thought it was a shame that he and Elexis would never see eye to eye. They were simply walking different paths.

“Vandarion won’t be the same way.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Past Elexis was Vandarion. And unlike Elexis, Vandarion was both mad and evil, through and through. He was the worst kind of enemy imaginable, and he wouldn’t hesitate to leave a path of destruction in his wake whether or not he got what he wanted. If Koutarou treated him like Elexis, he’d easily be defeated. Koutarou knew that, and he heeded Elexis’s warning.

“See you, Elexis.”

Koutarou turned his back to Elexis. There was no longer anything to say. It was time to return to the people who waiting for him. But after taking a few steps, Elexis called out to him again.

“Koutarou-kun, are you sure you shouldn’t kill me?”

“Who do you think I am?”

Koutarou stopped moving as he answered. Since he’d once had a similar conversation with someone, Koutarou felt a sense of nostalgia stir within him.

“Yes... of course. Heh, hahahaha!”

Koutarou began walking once more, and the light of the rising sun illuminated his silhouette. He could still hear Elexis behind him, but he wasn’t planning on stopping again. On his way to the girls, Maya and Darkness Rainbow passed by him, but neither side did anything. Their business with each other had been settled.

Shortly thereafter, what sounded like cheers of victory could be heard coming from afar. Koutarou couldn’t tell if the voices were real or not, but thinking that it would be nice if they were, he raised his fist into the air in a gesture of inexpressible gratitude and camaraderie.

After the battle, Koutarou passed out from his injuries and exhaustion. It caused quite a commotion among the invader girls, but it was nothing compared to the commotion when he came to.

“Owowow, that hurts! I told you I’m injured!”

“I don’t care! You made me worry so much!” Theia shouted.

“I told you that I’d put you in a scorpion lock if you left me behind again!” Sanae shouted too.

“Gyaaaaaaaah!”

What awaited Koutarou when he awoke was a flurry of jeering and unjust violence. To make matters worse, Nana was the only one willing to defend him.

“Everyone, Satomi-san had his reasons, so maybe we shouldn’t be so unreasonable...”

“That just means that Satomi-san doesn’t trust us at all!” Yurika cried.

“I was even prepared to die for Master’s sake,” Ruth declared.

“It’s his fault that I gained weight! Take responsibility, Satomi-kun!” Shizuka fussed.

Out of the six girls who’d been left behind, Theia and Sanae were the only ones using force. Yurika, Ruth, and Shizuka just gave him dirty looks from across the room as they complained. Meanwhile, the three girls he’d actually taken with him showed no signs of taking Koutarou’s side.

“While it’s true that the most tight-lipped members were needed so that DKI wouldn’t realize anything, you still deeply wounded all of their maiden hearts,” Kiriha said admonishingly.

“It would have been an honor to die by your side. I’m glad that I went with you, but the other girls didn’t even have the chance. I think that’s unfair,” Maki said calmly.

“I’m in favor of giving Veltlion a hard time regardless!” Clan sneered.

“Y-You guys!”

Koutarou had only taken Kiriha, Maki, and Clan with him in order to keep their mission top secret. If Elexis and his associates had found out that Koutarou’s goal was to collect on his salary before he was even acknowledged as the Blue Knight, their entire plan would have been ruined. Koutarou had specifically chosen the three girls he’d taken with him because he knew there was no chance of them accidentally tipping off Elexis and his network. They were each skilled in the ways of strategy.

Theia was Elfaria’s daughter, so taking her with him was out of the question. Harumi was recovering, so she too was out of the question. Out of the remaining four—Sanae, Yurika, Shizuka, and Ruth—only the prudent Ruth could be trusted to go with them. However, Koutarou knew that since he was taking Clan and Kiriha, he needed to leave Ruth with the other girls. He also knew that if anything went wrong and they had to escape, the fewer people they had with them, the better.

“If you’d at least given everyone a kiss goodbye, nobody would have complained!” Sanae continued to rail against him.

“She’s right! You should have kissed us all goodbye!” Theia backed her up.

“Don’t be so unreasonable!” Koutarou did his best to defend himself.

“Anyways, Layous-sama, don’t you think you should at least properly apologize to Harumi-san and thank her?” Elfaria piped up.

“Ugh...”

Elfaria hit Koutarou right in his weak spot. It was only thanks to Harumi— thanks to Alaia—that their grand plan had even been possible in the first place. And even though he knew that, Koutarou hadn’t told her anything. He’d also taken Signaltin with him to prove his identity. He was aware that he’d basically used her condition as an excuse to keep her in the dark while he took advantage of what she’d done for him. So the short of it was that Elfaria was right. The least he could do for her now was explain himself.

“Sakuraba-senpai.”

“Y-Yes?”

The memories of Alaia’s that Harumi had inherited were the ones stored in Signaltin, meaning they only went up until she parted ways with Koutarou. The rest was lost when she was reincarnated, which is why she didn’t know anything about what Alaia had done after that day. She herself didn’t know about the salary until someone explained it to her. As such, even though it was evident she’d done something great to help Koutarou, it still didn’t feel real to her. Between that and knowing that Koutarou had chosen to leave her behind, a sense of unease and powerlessness smoldered within her.

“Um, Senpai, I’m sorry for leaving without telling you anything. I was sure that if I explained the salary to you, you’d feel responsible...”

“Am I necessary? Am I a necessary girl to you, Satomi-kun?”

“Well, of course. Even without Signaltin, I want you to be healthy. That’s why, um... I’m really sorry for leaving without saying anything.”

“Then you should have just said that you were leaving me behind because I’m precious to you. If you’d said that, I would have just waited like normal. Jeez...”

Tears began to fall from Harumi’s eyes, but they were happy ones. Finally hearing that she was necessary, that she was important and needed, lifted a dark weight off of her soul. The joy and relief she felt at that escaped her eyes in the form of tears.

“You helped me out a lot, Sakuraba-senpai.”

“Nincompoop. Satomi-kun, you nincompoop...”

Still crying, Harumi frowned and voiced her discontent like a child. It was a rare sight for her, and it made it painfully clear to Koutarou just how badly he’d made her feel.

“Don’t get angry. Please forgive me, Senpai.”

“Nincompoop, nincompoop!”

“Well, are you on our side now, Harumi?” Theia asked.

“Yes, I think so... Satomi-kun, you nincompoop!”

“Gyaaaaaaaah!”

After Harumi joined in and put Koutarou in an arm lock, things turned chaotic. Koutarou was assaulted from all sides with insults and wrestling moves for a good hour or so before anyone was ready to forgive him.

Still acting as regent empress, Ceilēshu put what she had said at the press conference into action. First she formally ordered the Reborn Forthorthian Army and the Imperial Army to cease all hostile actions and stand down. Next she put utmost care into choosing unbiased personnel for Elfaria’s trial so it could be carried out fairly. She also requested that the Imperial Army submit the evidence they were using to denounce Elfaria. The outcome of this war would now be decided in the courtroom rather than on the battlefield. It was an extremely just approach, and most of the citizens were happy with Ceilēshu’s decision.

“Curse you, Blue Knight! To think he’d make a move like this...”

Clatter!

Almost everything atop Vandarion’s desk was knocked to the floor with a violent swing of his arm. Books, pens, bottles, and the like rolled across the carpet, some of which had cracked in the fall.

Vandarion believed that the current situation was Koutarou’s doing. He was sure he’d arranged the royal family meeting from the shadows and set it up to his own advantage. He didn’t suspect DKI’s involvement, and since Koutarou had now taken over DKI, he would never figure it out.

“So what will you do, Vandarion-sama?”

Vandarion was refusing to submit the evidence Ceilēshu asked for. The documents they had were meticulous, but they were still somewhat inconsistent with reality. A thorough investigation would reveal that they were fabricated. Any judge under Vandarion’s thumb, however, still would have found Elfaria guilty. But now with the court reshuffling, submitting the fabricated evidence would be the first step towards his downfall. Once it was exposed, he would be the one arrested and put on trial.

And so Vandarion was left with two choices: accept defeat and submit the evidence, or start a real coup d’etat. That was the ultimatum he was faced with now.

“We’ll fight, Granado! As if I’d give up now! I’ll do whatever it takes to kill the Blue Knight and crush Elfaria! I will stand at the top of Forthorthe! I don’t care what disgrace I may suffer along the way!”

Vandarion was resolute. He was determined to become the ruler of Forthorthe, and he would strive for that until the bitter end. He’d rather become the worst dictator in the history of Forthorthe than submit to the loathsome Blue Knight and Elfaria. He had every intention of clawing his way onto the throne, regardless of the price of doing so.

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