Ishura - Volume 6 - Chapter 16

Chapter 16 - A New Chapter

Cheers could be heard in the city of rubble.

From the direction where Alus the Star Runner had fallen, on the opposite bank of the river.

“…If you’ve got something to say, make it quick.”

Shouldering his white spear, Shalk spoke with a fed-up tone.

He spoke to the figure who had appeared behind him.

“I don’t have time to hang around until Star Runner is finished off, see.”

“Alus has already been killed. You know that, don’t you? Aureatia…probably used Kuze the Passing Disaster to do him in.”

It was man with a camera dangling from his neck. Yukiharu the Twilight Diver.

He was probably right, Shalk thought. Soujirou the Willow-Sword and Kuze the Passing Disaster were there on the scene.

To Shalk, it was a horribly bad joke. Now fighting on a combined front with them, Shalk wanted to avoid seeing them as much as possible.

“Coming out to a place like this must mean you’ve got something to talk about that you really don’t want anyone else to hear.”

“Oh, no, no. In fact, quickly arriving on a scene like this is, if anything, because of my main occupation. Aureatia cooperated with me, so I thought I’d try getting some interesting reporting done.”

“Don’t decide on what you cover based just on whether you find it interesting or not.”

“Well, I can’t help it if the truth ends up being interesting, now can I? Putting that aside, have you reconsidered the commission I spoke of before, Shalk?”

“Nope. Why don’t you tell me how I stand to benefit from it.”

The Gray-Haired Child was trying to utilize Shalk the Sound Slicer to undergo an investigation into the vampires that had infiltrated Aureatia. They were likely contriving a way that would ensure Shalk went down in the process, too, in case their enemy possessed fighting strength of their own.

Getting wrapped up in this sort of conflict between major players basically never ended well.

Moreover, Yukiharu had said he would provide information on the True Hero as collateral, but—

“The Hero is Uhak the Silent.”

“What?”

Even Shalk couldn’t help being taken aback by the unexpected statement.

Was that really the sort of information that should be blurted out like it was relaxed chitchat between friends?

“…No, seriously, what?”

“We’ve learned the identity of the True Hero. As you are aware, Shalk, in the eighth match, Zigita Zogi was killed, and Uhak the Silent advanced. In other words…”

Yukiharu’s eyes narrowed behind his round glasses when he spoke.

Shalk knew the times when an information broker readily gave away their information for free.

It was when, by learning something, their client would then seek even more information.

“In your next match, you’re going to be fighting against the Hero.”

In front of the castle garden theater.

It was a vast empty space. The plaza that was always overflowing with people during the day, with all manner of street stalls lined up, was now, with all the citizens evacuated, controlled by a deathly silence.

There was a group going through the middle of it. Goblins.

The minia walking near the center looked like a child, but his almost-white gray hair left a mature impression at odds with his facial features.

“Zigita Zogi definitely doesn’t do anything useless or unproductive,” Hiroto the Paradox said to the bald man walking next to him.

Aureatia’s Twenty-Fourth General, Dant the Heath Furrow. He had been the sponsor for the defeated Zigita Zogi.

“He must have thought that using the eighth match to bring awareness to the spread of corpses in Aureatia was an indispensable move to claim victory over Obsidian Eyes, and he enacted a plan. While I’m sure he didn’t fight with the intention of losing, it would be reasonable to believe he thought, in the worst-case scenario…even if he lost and died, that itself would prove the vampire’s existence.”

“…That’s true. From here on out, Okafu and Aureatia will now be able to cooperate in dealing with Obsidian Eyes. But what about after that? There isn’t anyone in our camp with a mind that can equal Zigita Zogi’s. No one who understood the operation he was advancing and can take it over, nor is there anyone capable of making new deals that will overturn the current power relationships. Now that my candidate’s been defeated, I’ll be in a difficult position politically, too.”

“We’ll deploy Morio the Sentinel.”

“Wha—?!”

Dant was at a loss for words.

Morio the Sentinel. The visitor leading the Free City of Okafu who had long been in an adversarial relationship with Aureatia.

Deploying this man carried a far greater meaning behind it than getting Aureatia to allow goblins from the new continent and a selection of Okafu mercenaries into their borders.

…No. He can’t possibly be planning on starting an open war with Aureatia, can he?

Not only that, but all of this while in their current situation, having just lost the world’s strongest tactician.

Hiroto wouldn’t do something that reckless. While it was certainly impossible to get a read on Hiroto the Paradox’s real intentions, he was a levelheaded man who operated logically.

“It’s okay. I’ve lost comrades before, but I’ve never broken a public promise,” Hiroto said, a faint smile coming to his face. “I’m sure things will get better.”

Eastern Outer Ward, fifth borough.

In this area, submerged in a sea of mud after the conflagration, there were sixteen bodies pulled up from this hopeless state of affairs, yet unbelievably, ten of them had managed to escape death.

“…W-wow.” Looking at the wounded’s perfectly stitched-up scars, Qwell the Wax Flower muttered quietly.

Ozonezma the Capricious, rushing over to this area together with her and Flinsuda’s medical squad, had pulled up individuals needing rescue one after another without any hesitation whatsoever. Establishing the treatment priority, in addition to his brilliant and precise surgical methods, he worked with a mercilessness to immediately adapt the skin and organs of the dead for the survivors and transfer them over, to save as many lives on the scene as he could.

His countless arms, which had concurrently dealt with processes numbering in the hundreds, were now all shut away inside the beast’s body.

“THERE WILL BE AFTEREFFECTS IN THEIR RIGHT ARM. HOWEVER, I HAVE RECONSTRUCTED THE AREA WHERE THE BURNS REACHED THE TENDONS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. WHEN INCLUDING THE OTHER PATIENTS, I WILL NEED A LARGE SUPPLY OF ANTIBIOTICS. WE CANNOT LET OUR GUARD DOWN.”

“Wh-when…when this person was raised up, I thought, for sure that…that they couldn’t be saved. Why did you know WHERE in the mud people were submerged?”

“I DO NOT HAVE ANY SUPERNATURAL ABILITIES OF PERCEPTION LIKE WILLOW-SWORD. I SIMPLY LISTENED FOR THE ECHOES INSIDE THE MUD—WITH TRAINING, THERE ARE EVEN MINIA WHO CAN DO THE SAME.”

As he answered, Ozonezma was stepping into the deepest part of the mud sea, in the heart of the town around it.

It must have already been too deep for his legs to reach the bottom.

“Wh-where are you going? Um… They said this was the last person who needed rescue…”

“I KNOW. THERE IS ONE OTHER PERSON I PUT OFF SAVING FOR LATER.”

“What…?! U-um! Th-there’s no way anyone would survive in there! Wh-why…why couldn’t you treat them immediately?!”

“YOU’LL UNDERSTAND SOON.”

With his short reply, his wolflike head submerged down below the mud’s surface.

The almost imperceptibly small air bubbles floated up in longer intervals. It was an operation they had repeated many times since they had arrived in the district. Freely swimming through the sea of mud, far more resistant than regular water, and with his sights obscured, Ozonezma had accurately reached where survivors were located and rescued them.

Ozonezma was a medic with not only atypical medical techniques but also first-rate search and rescue abilities.

At long last, Ozonezma’s face surfaced.

He carried a young woman’s naked body in his mouth. A beautiful and clean body, completely unlike the casualties Qwell had seen up until that point.

Ozonezma tossed the young girl a bit roughly on dry land before saying, “ESCAPE ON YOUR OWN NEXT TIME.”

She was a beautiful girl. She had a long chestnut braid and lifted her eyelids to reveal green eyes beneath.

“Tee-hee-hee. It sorta took me a while to chat with this thing.”

The young girl—Tu the Magic—carried a sphere resembling a mass of mud close to her chest.

The name of the magic item previously belonging to Alus the Star Runner was Rotting Soil Sun.

“WAIT, DID YOU REALLY SUCCEED IN GAINING CONTROL OVER THAT MAGIC ITEM?”

“…Yup. It’s fine now.”

Ozonezma wasn’t the only one in this district saving people’s lives.

There was a champion who kept the overflowing mud in check and prevented the damage from spreading any further.

“I thought for sure that you’d come for me, Ozonezma.”

“…I AM YOUR BIG BROTHER, AFTER ALL.”

Far off to the west of Aureatia—Igania Ice Lake.

Naturally, for the inhabitant living here, there was no reason to know anything about the crisis facing Aureatia from Alus the Star Runner’s attack.

However, this being, in a certain sense, was situated at the core of this series of disasters, more than any other.

…Normally, dreams were the only thing I had to enjoy.

There was a colossal mass that seemed to melt into the shining, mirrorlike ice field.

It was no mass of ice. It was a beautiful white dragon.

However, there was a spoiled section of this almost mythical perfection.

Her tail was severed halfway down, and her white dragon scales had been greatly gouged out from her neck area.

But another battle so much more wonderful than any dream is right around the corner.

With the immense fires of war Alus had wrought, there was likely none who would soon forget her name.

In this world remained a being who had battled against Alus the Star Runner on her own and had made him fall from the skies.

And she was anxiously looking forward to an even more tremendous battle.

Lucnoca the Winter.

The war against the enemies of peace, called shura, was not yet over.

Ten days passed.

That day, the Aureatia Assembly had gathered citizens to the castle garden theater to make a public statement regarding Alus the Star Runner’s invasion. Although the atrocity and breadth of the incident were well known among most of Aureatia’s citizens, this would be the first proclamation regarding future policy based on the event.

More than anything else, the focus was on the continuation of the Sixways Exhibition.

Would this great enterprise, with the kingdom’s dignity on the line, actually endure?

Perhaps because of the silence that accompanied this tension, there was a strained, solemn atmosphere across the arena.

On top of the altar set up in the center stood Aureatia’s Third Minister, Jelky the Swift Ink.

“…We have been dealt a heavy blow.”

His voice was clear and distinct, stiff but traveling far.

The castle garden theater was a place that symbolized Aureatia’s history, continuing from its time as the Central Kingdom.

Proclamations made inside it were said to hold power equal to the words of the monarch.

“I express my condolences and sympathies to the citizens who fell victim to this series of disasters. I acknowledge that rebuilding our daily lives and compensating the families of the deceased are the duties of the entire Aureatia Assembly, and I swear that we will put forth every effort to do so.”

A special budget to compensate for losses. As well as substitute homes for the destroyed city.

The various provisions, starting with these, had been already prepared from the opening of the Sixways Exhibition.

From the beginning, this battle wasn’t one that would end without sacrifices. Jel had already established the finances needed for immediate compensation, as long as the sacrifices were within the projected scope.

If any cog in the process had gone awry in the slightest, even these estimations would have easily crumbled away. This time, they had merely managed to avoid it happening by some miracle and nothing more. Jel understood that.

The sixteen hero candidates who had gathered at this place. They were all heroes, and also demon kings.

The power to save Aureatia was simultaneously a power that could annihilate it.

“…Nevertheless, there is something I would like to declare to you all now. Despite suffering the largest-scale attack by a self-proclaimed demon king this country has ever known—we were able to secure victory against Alus the Star Runner. Every single one of us…including you, the people…put forth our best efforts to handle this calamity. You all are here, able to listen to me make this proclamation. That serves as the clearest evidence that we have come out of this triumphant.”

An uncontrolled cheer rose up in the middle of the audience.

As if to send a cold breeze over the signs of wild enthusiasm, Jel spoke.

“There is one other thing—I want to shed light on a fact that you all may fear.”

There was a considerable problem concerning the continuation of the Sixways Exhibition. Alus the Star Runner was a hero candidate.

Although he had already been defeated, if the perception spread that Alus had attacked Aureatia of his own volition, then there was the possibility that the Aureatia citizenry would start to regard the hero candidates themselves as latent threats.

That was, in fact, the truth. The Sixways Exhibition was to ensure that they were annihilated.

However, it was a truth that couldn’t be allowed to be recognized properly.

“There are perhaps some among you who were examined en masse at the evacuation areas. These examinations were testing for corpse infections—directly following the end of the first round of matches, we were able to secure a large number of corpses in a severe state of infection. Additionally, from our autopsy of the body, we have determined that Alus the Star Runner’s rampage was caused by a vampire. In order to identify and eradicate this vampire threat, I once again ask the citizens to unite together and cooperate. Just as the hero candidates exert themselves to their limits, I would like to ask each and every one of you to provide some of your own effort to this cause.”

Jelky bowed his head low.

Through this series of disasters, a fear had surely been engraved in the hearts and minds of the citizens of Aureatia.

This wasn’t the terror of the now-gone True Demon King. It was a terror right there in front of them.

That a new something could potentially threaten them once again.

That was exactly why they were necessary.

“Right now in Aureatia, there is a hero.”

It may have been nothing more than a vague, undefined premonition.

Yet that was the very deeply felt motivation that made them continue to seek a hero.

The form of madness had been engrained in them by the True Demon King.

At this point, everyone was clearly cognizant of the fact.

Something would arrive next. Something to threaten the future.

And surely the hero was the only one capable of defeating that terror.

“I would like to make this clear. As a result of the hero candidate’s brave struggle, Sixth General Harghent slew Alus the Star Runner. They were gathered here due to the Sixways Exhibition—if they hadn’t been here in this moment, we would not have possessed any means to confront Alus the Star Runner or this vampire menace.”

For that purpose, they would make as many sacrifices as they could.

For the sake of this goal, they would make as many sacrifices as they could afford.

There was enough value in finding them, even if it meant going to such lengths.

“I, Third Minister Jelky, once again make a promise to you here! The combined eight candidates, who won and advanced through the first round of this Sixways Exhibition! I guarantee that the hero exists among them! That they are the necessary light that will dispel the fear of this age and clear away a path into a new world!”

They all needed a hero.

Not only the citizens. The Twenty-Nine Officials leading the people, even Jel himself, wanted one as well.

They wanted to sweep away the terror that never cleared.

Whether it was real or fake, they wanted to believe there was one ultimate strength.

If they didn’t entrust their wish to someone else, things would surely never be able to return to normal.

The path guiding their hearts, the courage to stand up again—

It was all to create a singular symbol.

They did indeed exist.

“Thus, I will declare here and now.”

There existed a Grappler who had mastered the extensive martial arts of another world, reaching the farthest ends of infinity.

There existed a Silencer who embodied death and despair, strongest of all and standing apart.

There existed a Blade who commanded complete control over the destiny of his sword, abnormal in the land of the deviant.

There existed a Knight, perfect and almighty, the blessing and curse of absolute unconquerability focused onto himself.

There existed a Stabber arriving from the realm beyond perception, a singularity given authority over death.

There existed a Scout who laid out a web of unextractable schemes, overturning decided outcomes.

There existed a Spearhead, able to deliver a single attack that surpassed the speed of perception, from any possible location.

There existed an Oracle who eliminated all impossibilities in the realm and projected nihility over the present world.

“It will resume.”

The true duel battle to decide a single winner.

“It will continue! We shall continue with the Sixways Exhibition!”

No matter how cruel and tragic the conclusion that may ultimately arrive…

The fate of all had begun to move, and no one was able to make it stop.

With it, a new battle was beginning.