Chapter 17 — Quickly, While I Can Keep It Suppressed! Flee!
After leaving Another Kingdom, Hanakawa had returned to searching for an opponent in round two of the tournament. The Demon Lord’s army had defeated Hanakawa’s party and moved on to round three, but there was still a chance the three of them could find another opponent to defeat. However, with so much time having passed since the beginning of the round, there weren’t very many parties that hadn’t concluded their battles. As Hanakawa had started to panic, unable to find any opposing parties, he found himself suddenly standing among Sora Akino’s fans, facing Yogiri.
“Sorry, Hanakawa,” Yogiri said, looking almost apologetic.
“Wait, wait, wait! You sound like the protagonist reluctantly about to strike down a friend who is being manipulated! Wait... Reluctantly?”
“A little bit.”
“I see,” Sora said. “I thought that perhaps you could kill someone you had no knowledge of, but you might hesitate to kill a classmate.” Sora’s ability wasn’t one she could activate or control, but it appeared to serve her desires, even if unconsciously.
“Would killing Sora not be enough to resolve this situation?!” Hanakawa pleaded.
“Even if I kill Akino, the fans will still be here and will try to get revenge on me. I’ll have to kill them anyway,” Yogiri replied.
“Of course, but...but... Ah! I am not doing this of my own free will!” At some point, Hanakawa had begun charging. Deep inside he had the feeling that he needed to kill Yogiri, so his body was acting of its own volition. Unlike the rest of the fans, Hanakawa understood the threat Yogiri posed well enough to know it was better not to attack him. Even if the Fanatic Fans skill was urging him to attack, he knew how outmatched he was.
“I guess I can’t let this go on forever. Let’s get it over with,” Yogiri muttered.
Hanakawa paled. It seemed he had finally resolved himself to killing Sora and all of her fans.
“Noooooo! Save meeeeeee!!!”
“Got it. I just gotta kill her, right?”
Turning around, Hanakawa saw Sora’s head drop to the ground.
“Huh?”
Behind him stood what looked like a common thug—a lanky man wearing leather pants and a studded jacket. With the shock of the new arrival, Hanakawa barely registered the other fans around him collapsing to the ground.
“If it isn’t Sir Yoshifumi!” he exclaimed.
The Sage Yoshifumi. For a time, Hanakawa had served as his jester. It seemed that was enough of a relationship for Friendship Counter to establish a bond between them.
“I can’t do nothin’ about that guy, so figure the rest out on your own,” the Sage warned him.
Whether this was too much of a bother for him, or he simply resented being summoned against his will, Yoshifumi immediately vanished.
“What just happened?” Yogiri asked, clearly shocked.
“I felt like I saw a guy there for a second. He seemed...a little familiar.” Tomochika was similarly perplexed. The death of Sora hadn’t fazed them much, reinforcing in Hanakawa’s mind that there was definitely something wrong with those two.
“Guh! My power is going out of control! Quickly, while I can keep it suppressed! Flee!”
The energy gathering in Hanakawa’s right hand was starting to overflow. Using his left hand, he desperately tried to restrain it.
“Back to middle school, huh?” Tomochika commented with a cringe.
“This is not the time for that! I am worried about myself here! I am worried about what happens if Sir Takatou retaliates!”
Yogiri Takatou Wins!
The announcement played in the air, confirming Yogiri’s victory. A few moments later, he and Tomochika vanished, no doubt sent back to the Antechamber Area to await round three.
Hanakawa fired his charged energy blast up into the sky. With Yogiri gone, his innate desire to attack had vanished.
“So...umm...have I just been left alone here?”
Looking around, he finally saw that he was standing in a park. He had been removed from the battle channel, but his companions were nowhere to be found. Hanakawa was totally lost.
◇ ◇ ◇
As the start of the second round was announced, Lynel and the goddess Vahanato stepped out of the Antechamber Area and appeared in a corridor. Walking down it, they emerged into an open space surrounded by rings of seats for spectators. It gave Lynel the distinct impression of an arena.
“Perfect!” Vahanato exclaimed.
“It certainly does look like a place designed for fighting...”
In the first round, Vahanato’s Goddess Beam had instantly annihilated their opponent. She now stepped boldly into the middle of the arena, Lynel following reluctantly behind her.
“With such a great place to fight, we can probably just wait for someone to show up!”
“Will they, though?” Lynel asked. “Can’t you use your powers to look for someone?”
“No way. Can’t be bothered.”
In truth, Vahanato wasn’t supposed to have entered this world yet. After everything had been reset, the new timeline was supposed to generally follow the previous one. However, because of her connection to Lynel, the goddess had managed to force her way in early. Due to this unorthodox entry, she wasn’t able to use her full abilities and was using her power rather sparingly.
After waiting for some time, they heard a sound coming from the door opposite them. Someone was approaching. The new arrival was a party of three, one of which Lynel recognized.
“It’s the Hedgehog!”
Back on the top of the pyramid, Lynel had pretended to ignore it, but that wouldn’t work here. The sight of the creature brought back all sorts of terrifying memories. He had been killed by the Hedgehog countless times. Every time he died, his Random Walk ability would bring him back in time to try again, and his repeated trial and error eventually led to him meeting Yogiri and Tomochika in the Garula Canyon.
“Oh, perfect! I’m glad it came to me!” Vahanato declared. “It’s still on my revenge list!”
“But isn’t something strange?” Lynel asked. “I don’t remember it acting like that.”
Lynel’s impression of the Hedgehog was that of a literal killing machine. It attacked anything and everything, with no apparent thought behind its actions. However, it now felt like it possessed some measure of intelligence as it followed obediently behind the two women.
Of course, there was no running away. They had been waiting here specifically for an enemy to appear. The scenery around them flickered as they shifted into another channel for the battle. Their opponent stopped a small distance away.
“So, you’re a god too, huh? I’m Hiruko. This is my ma, Luu. This guy just gave us some model number or whatever, so no way I’m remembering that. I guess I’ll call him Spiky.”
Apparently, the woman in the lead with long hair and in flashy clothes was called Hiruko. The smaller woman behind her, very much cloaked in the aura of a goddess, was Luu. “Spikey” seemed to refer to the blade-covered, armored Hedgehog.
“There were two more people with us, but they died last round. We said they could stick with us if they wanted to, but we had no reason to protect ’em. Anyway, what’re we gonna do for rules?” After talking on her own for quite a while, Hiruko finally turned the conversation over to them.
“Can I ask something before we get to the rules?” Vahanato said.
“What’s up?”
“That, uh, Spikey? He’s not normally that calm, is he? He punched a sword into my head out of nowhere once! It was like he was looking for something, but when he found out it wasn’t me, he just left me for dead!” It seemed she was riling herself up by bringing back the old memories.
“No clue. Ask him yourself.” Hiruko pushed the Hedgehog forward.
“Though I am aware the world has been reset, I have no memories of the time before that happened. As such, I have no knowledge of who you are or what history exists between us, so I am unable to answer any questions you may have. Moreover, I cannot take responsibility for anything that happened in the previous world, in keeping with the principle held by the majority of worlds, which do not hold one responsible for actions they took while not of sound mind. If what you claim is true, however, I can understand your frustration and thus extend my sincere apologies.”
“Whaaaaat?!” Vahanato snapped, no doubt furious.
“Oh, you can totally talk,” Hiruko commented, apparently also surprised by the speech.
“Uh, I’m actually curious about something. Can I ask a question too?” Lynel interrupted.
“Go for it.”
“Is Spikey your friend?”
“Sorta,” Hiruko replied. “Only for now. This rude guy is actually here to kill ma, but she’s in a bit of a weird place right now. He wants to wait for her to be back to normal. So he agreed to help us get the pieces of her body back.”
“Precisely,” the Hedgehog added. “My target is the individual who currently refers to herself as Luu. However, I have confirmed that the materials that make up her being have replicated to an incredible degree. Defeating Luu in this state will not accomplish my goal.”
“The fact you make it sound like you could kill her anytime you please is kind of annoying,” Hiruko commented.
“Detecting the sealed fragments of Luu’s being is beyond my capabilities. As such, the most efficient course of action for me is to utilize Luu’s ability to detect the Philosopher’s Stones herself and wait for her to collect them. Beyond that, assisting her with the collection will accelerate the process, so I have agreed to cooperate.”
“By the way, the reason we were last to make it to the top of the pyramid was because we were picking up the pieces of ma that were scattered inside it,” Hiruko added. With the destruction of the pyramid, a large number of adventurers had been killed, the Philosopher’s Stones they were carrying left unattended. The group of them had gone around collecting those abandoned stones. “But what a weird pair you guys are. Why are you so interested in Spikey?”
“Well...we have quite a bit of history,” Lynel explained.
“Why are we having such a chill chat anyway? We’re supposed to be fighting here!”
“Maybe, but it’s pretty obvious we have no way of winning,” Vahanato said plainly.
“Huh? We don’t?” Lynel was shocked at her admission. Normally, Vahanato was so arrogant, he had never expected this from her.
“Of course not. I’m not in full form yet, and she’s way above me as a goddess anyway.”
“True enough,” Hiruko agreed. “Battles between gods are all just a numbers game in the end. Not much room for creativity. Still, plenty of people out there are happy to fight regardless.”
“I’ve got no quarrel with you two, so here’s an idea: why don’t you make that guy fight?” Vahanato suggested, pointing at the Hedgehog. “If we beat him, let us join your team.”
“Oh? Doesn’t bother me. I couldn’t care less if he wins or loses.”
“As long as he doesn’t mind, I’m fine with it,” Luu said, speaking for the first time.
“I accept your challenge,” the Hedgehog replied.
“Let’s do it, then,” Hiruko declared.
Goddess Luu vs. Goddess Vahanato: FIGHT!!!
Although they hadn’t come up with any specific rules, the default was a fight to the death. However, since it seemed like Vahanato was after a one-on-one, Lynel stepped back to the edge of the arena. The other team seemed to have the same idea, as Hiruko and Luu floated up into the stands.
“Now, what are you going to try this time?” Vahanato said as an array of weapons materialized in the air behind her. A straight sword, a chakram, an axe, a spear, a lance, a katana, and a shield rose to fixed positions around her, forming a protective barrier and becoming her means of attack.
The weapons shone, unleashing an unrestrained beam of light at the Hedgehog, who responded simply by swinging a bladed arm. The light, the space it occupied, and the weapons it was coming from were all sliced to pieces.
“Come on, let me play a bit...” Vahanato was, similarly, sliced in half, a thin line cutting her in two from the top of her head straight down to the groin. Perhaps that wasn’t enough to immediately kill her, but it was enough to prove she had lost the fight.
Lynel began to panic, lost for words. He had figured things would work out somehow, but the truth wasn’t so kind. This match was a simple measuring contest. They had both unleashed their attacks, and the stronger had won. The Hedgehog was stronger than Vahanato.
The goddess turned and slowly made her way back to where Lynel was standing. “Jeez! Why is this all happening to me?! I just wanted to see my darling again!”
“U-Umm...”
“You can just surrender now. There’s nothing for them to gain by killing you. Here, give me your hands.”
“O-Okay...” Lynel held out his hands as he was told. A number of rainbow stones dropped into his open palms—the all-too-familiar star crystals. So many fell that they started overflowing and pouring onto the ground.
“The game’s shutting down, so I’ll give you a huge amount as a send-off. They’ll work for a little bit after I die, so make sure you use them all in time.”
“U-Urgh... Lady Vahanato...”
“What? Are you that sentimental?”
Lynel had met a terrible fate thanks to Vahanato. He was about to finally be freed from her, something he should have celebrated, but instead it looked like he was on the verge of tears. Maybe his journey through the postreset world had been that meaningful to him.
“But...”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m a god, so I’ll pop up again sooner or later. Maybe we’ll even meet again.”
“No...I’d really rather not,” Lynel replied. “You’d obviously put me through something terrible again.”
“Wow, what kind of a send-off is that?” Leaving behind a pile of star crystals, she vanished.
“Jeez, if you’re going to get all sappy, you’re going to make us look like the bad guys,” Hiruko sighed once the whole display was over.
“I give up...” Lynel muttered.
Goddess Luu Wins!
Lynel’s surrender was accepted, and the fight concluded.
“You want to tag along with us?” Hiruko asked.
“No, I’m okay, thanks.”
“Okay. See ya.” With that, Hiruko and her party disappeared, returning to the Antechamber Area.
“For now...I guess I should find somewhere to hide.”
Lynel began gathering the star crystals together.
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