My toy is amazing right

Tess ran over and hugged me, and rubbed her face against my chest.

Honestly it hurt a lot but I couldn’t say it. I had been searching for her all over the city and there were red eyed crazies and black cloth wearing terrorists about. I even saw a demonic beast that seemed like both human and beast, and only observed him from afar as I did not dare to confront him. In these 2 days, I had killed a lot of people, and was nearly killed many times as well, and thus my body was on the brink of collapse.

“The thing on your neck… Did that pervert do anything to you!?”

What the fuck, a collar! What a high level toy! Fucking hell I swear I’ll castrate that fellow!!!

Tess did not reply.

She had slipped into unconsciousness, and slid down against me onto the ground.

The long haired boy dusted his knees as he stood up.

“I used the collar to make her sleep. Don’t get too excited, I didn’t do anything to her.”

His smiling face enraged me.

“You have a black cloth, are you a terrorist.”

“Yes, I am the boss of the ‘Demon Lineage Sect’, you can call me Maruko.” He said, giving a proper greeting, “I’ve heard a lot about you, Molan Faburando, and you are even dumber than I imagined.”

He clicked his tongue.

“You aren’t that much taller than me.”

“Why did you capture Tess.”

“I wanted her blood for reviving the demon king.”

“Didn’t you all thought of a plan already, I heard it from your subordinate when I was kidnapped.”

“We did, but it failed and she happened to be around. So she’s called Tess? It suits her.”

“Revive the demon king, then proclaim yourselves to be gods?” I scoffed, “Such a late stage chuunibyou.”

(TL: There really isn’t a translation for this…)

“Huh?”

“A disease of the mind, refers to the kind of people like you who just think of nonsensical situations all day instead of studying.”

“Well of course you wouldn’t understand… You mundane commoner.”

“I don’t want to either, I don’t care whether you want to be god or demon king and cause riots or revolutions. It has nothing to do with me, just don’t hurt Tess.”

“I didn’t hurt her, I even let her sleep on my bed while I slept on the sofa.”

“Need me to commend you on being gentlemanly?”

I carried Tess and began to withdraw while being cautious of Maruko.

“You continue doing your thing, bye.”

“You can leave, Tess stays.” He said with displeasure.

I hugged her tighter, “On what grounds, she is mine.”

“No… What I want, is mine!”

Maruko’s eyes changed instantly into a blazing red which lit up the entire shop.

The streets suddenly began shaking and faint sounds of footsteps came from outside the district. The sound grew louder and louder, and the shaking got more serious.

Who was rushing over!

What sort of giant was rushing over!

Just then a broadsword came at my fringe, and I dodged on instinct. I didn’t see anything at all! 1 second ago, there was no 4th person in my field of vision!

It was the demonic beast, and our distance between each other was less than a meter. His attack missed by a hair’s breadth and I was sent flying by the air current from the follow through.

I used the sword to support my body, but the demonic beast had begun attacking again. This time, he used his shoulder and charged at me like a large artillery shell. I blocked it with my blade and was sent flying out more than 100m while behind him was mere wreckage, as the streets were severed from his charge.

“*Keh*!”

I vomited out clumps of fresh blood which dirtied Tess’s white cheeks.

“Bastard!! You could have hurt her!!”

“Then put her down.” Maruko said, as he walked over slowly while holding an umbrella.

“My toy is amazing right.”

“*Keh*, *Keh*…”

Can’t win.

Time to escape.

I turned and ran. While holding a sword, I can reach speeds of up to 30 meters per second.

But the demonic beast chased me down quickly and grabbed on my leg and pulled back, while Tess slipped out of my grasp.

“Damn it!!!”

The demonic beast threw me into a building and ran up to catch Tess. By the time I climbed out of the wreckage, Tess was already in Maruko’s arms while the demonic beast was kneeling by his side, like a guard waiting for his orders.

“Eee, disgusting.”

Maruko took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the bloodstains from Tess’s face.

Don’t touch her!

I couldn’t speak a word as my organs were a total mess which Shuoxue was healing as quickly as she could.

“Master… Master…” She kept calling out to me, with a hoarse voice.

“Are you okay? Seems like you are dying eh~”

I had finally used the sword for support and got up but my legs turned to jelly and I fell to the ground again. Shuoxue could heal any injury but at the cost of my stamina, both mental and physical.

My physical condition was way too poor. Before transferring, I was subhealthy exam preparatory student; after transferring I became a subhealthy delinquent. Though I gained somehow gained a strange talent, I lacked a strong physical body to match it. In this world, many strong warriors existed while I was weak as an ant.

(TL: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suboptimal_health)

It’s like this again. It’s like this again. It’s like this again!

I’ll put everything I have left into 1 last charge! Maruko stood unmoving as the demonic beast stood in front of him and waved his fist, sending me flying like a sand bag.

The broadsword was thrown out and stabbed my right leg, pinning me to the wall.

“I could kill you, but Tess will be angry at me, so forget it.”

The demonic beast reached out and put Maruko on his left shoulder and stood up straight slowly.

“Bye bye~ Don’t bother us again.”

Blood flowed into my eyes from my forehead, making my vision blurry, and as the demonic beast’s figure grew smaller, Tess was getting further from me. I couldn’t do anything, not even pull out the broadsword on my leg.

A suffocating sense of powerlessness again.

I had had enough, but what could I do.

The leopard can only watch and lick its wounds as the lion takes its prey.

The Qing Dynasty troops could only watch as the Caucasians crashed in with their battleships and burn their lands, rape their women and slaughter their parents.

(TL: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-Nation_Alliance. Just a historical reference, I doubt the author actually has anything against Westerners/Caucasians given that almost all the characters apart from Molan and Maruko have English names.)

And you can only see your girl in the arms of someone else, have her hair messed by someone else, have her face caressed by someone else; and disappear amongst the ruins.

Because you are too weak, you lose anything and everything.

The cold rain poured down from a bleak sky with no end on a ruined desolate city.

The world seemed to have ended.

After a very long while, I cried.

“Molan Faburando.”

Someone called out my name all of a sudden in a very familiar voice.

I raised my head.

And saw.

Another me.

Standing. In. Front. Of. Me.

“Want some coffee?”

William brought 2 cups of freshly brewed coffee into the room and set them on the table.

Every time he went out to battle, he would brew coffee. He loved it, and would take it black. He is a premier example of the saying that mature men have a taste for bitter things. William got tired easily, as he was the type to squeeze out any time he had for state affairs and war, like now as the grand marshal of the Txarango reinforcements sent to Jacquedini. In a role where sleep is scarce and work is plentiful, having a cup of hot coffee to boost the tired nerves is much needed.

(TL: Coffee is good but I drink litres of water when I need to work till the wee hours, which make my colleagues think that I’m a monster)

His overuse of stoneform magic, which slowed the functioning of his organs, was also one reason for his constant fatigue.

“Okay.”

Shuoxue took 1 cup and drank it down without hesitating.

“So bitter.”

“Isn’t it too hot?”

“Not at all.”

“I just made it.”

William tried the coffee in his cup, but it was still at a temperature that could not be swallowed.

Shuoxue looked stunned for a bit, “Oh, it got cold when I touched it. My body is ice after all.”

“Your looks do give one an icy feeling…”

William looked at the bed.

“He hasn’t woken up yet?”

“No.” Shuoxue shook her head with a worried look, “Master has been unconscious since the demonic beast left. No matter how much I try, he won’t wake up.”

The one lying on the bed was Molan. 4 hours ago, William brought troops to launch the 3rd wave of attacks on Kama which failed yet again. During his retreat, a soldier had reported finding unaffected civilians who were trapped. Rushing to the site, William saw Molan pinned to the wall by a broadsword, his body limp like a rag and did not seem alive. The red eyed hordes had surrounded the area and were eager to consume him but a little girl with snow coloured long hair was defending him with a sword sheath.

After saving the 2 of them and bringing them back to his base camp, the little girl claimed to be Molan’s friend and when William asked why she called Molan master, she said she was actually Molan’s maid. The little girl’s name was Shuoxue, and seemed familiar but William paid it no heed, and instead questioned the little girl on what happened to understand the situation.

“Miss Shuoxue, please continue taking care of him. I must share this information with the other commanding officers.”

William closed the door as he left the room.

The situation was dire. The emissary was in the hands of the “Demon Lineage Sect” and her powers were sealed by some tool. The humans had hoped to borrow her strength but in the end, she had been captured before the riot just like they had guessed.

In the battles thus far, the demonic beast had bested hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands of troops. Because of him, the combined human armies had to retreat with their tail between their legs every time. This one was far more horrific and powerful than the sample copy William had faced off against half a month ago. Troop morale was extremely low. If they could not destroy him, humanity could only watch as Jacquedini falls into ruin city by city.

But there were means to break through this situation. The demonic beast moved under the control of the leader of the “Demonic Lineage Sect”, Maruko. There was no such information on such an individual but Shuoxue had said that he seemed to have no combat strength. If he could be found and dealt with, then the demonic beast could be stopped and the emisssary would be regained.

“I’ve sent out scouts, the target is a 1.7m tall youth about 16 years of age with long black hair. If we find him, the battle can turn in our favour.” William said to the commanding officers at the meeting.

“That’s great!”

“At least we don’t need to die for nothing.”

“What do we do before then?”

“Strengthen the defences of cities around the perimeter of Kama, and hold on till we find the boy!”

“Not just defence,” William said, “We also need an appropriate attack.”

“How can we possibly fight that monster!”

“No, what I mean is to delay them, not to conquer the city.” He took a sip of coffee before continuing, “After issuing the notice that they would invade Pulo in 30 minutes, the controller Maruko was still in Kama. The distance between Kama and Pulo is not a distance that one can cover by walking in 30 minutes. Maybe the demonic beast can do it but Maruko is only a normal human. He is clearly hiding outside the battlefield and if we continually send troops to attack Pulo and bring the frontline there while giving up Kama, he should let his guard down and choose to stay longer at Kama. This way, our scouting operations will have a greater chance of success.”

“… That makes sense.”

“I agree with what William said.”

“I agree as well.”

Everyone else present hurriedly agreed in response.

William nodded with a pleased expression, “That’s good, put the heavy infantry in the surrounding cities for defence, deploy 5,000 men to launch roaming attacks on Pulo and withdraw all troops sent to attack Kama.”

“Now then,” He said, “We can only hope that the scouts bring back optimistic news soon.”

“I don’t agree!”

The meeting room doors were kicked open and William turned his head to look.

“Molan?”

Molan walked in from outside, and rolled his shoulders unhappily.

“Sorry, I used my feet on instinct.”

“You’re finally awake.”

“Un, had a good sleep for once, it was really good and now I’m all energetic again.”

Molan stretched his back. To this unruly guest, the commanding officers were extremely furious.

“Who are you! Do you think you can rudely barge in just like that in this military conference!?”

“I was listening in from outside, and couldn’t take it anymore.” Molan said to William, “No delays, no waiting, I took 2 whole days to find Tess and that sissy, do you think your scouts are faster than me? I don’t have that sort of time!”

He slammed his fist on the table.

Only William was not angry, “What are you thinking?” He probed Molan, “You seem to have a plan.”

“Attack Kama with all forces, use everything and anything, and find Tess.”

“Are you an idiot!”

“You want to go in from the front!?”

“We can’t beat the demonic beast at all, are you asking us to die!”

The commanding officers were hopping mad and were eager to kick Molan out. Molan remained completely calm and said quietly.

“I’ll take care of the demonic beast, you all just need to take care of the small fries.”

“You?”

William was surprised at his sheer confidence, which exuded from his words like that from an arrogant monarch.

Or perhaps an insufferably overestimating retard. William recalled that he was just beaten up by the demonic beast yesterday.

The conference room broke into laughter.

“Just you? Hahahaha!”

“Are you of age yet?”

“Have you graduated from a magic apprenticeship yet?”

“How about warrior training?”

“Get out now! This is not the place for some snotty brat to talk big!”

Molan waited for them to finish laughing, his face placid.

“Whether you believe it or not is up to you, I can defeat that demonic beast.”

He repeated his words, increasing the emphasis.

“The me now, can defeat him.”