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Chapter 19 — It Seems Pretty Similar to the Last Time 

The battle between the Gunslinger Kiyoko Takekura and the artificial human Ayaka Shinozaki continued. Moving through the wall, they threw attacks at each other without rest. 

Ayaka’s Dragon Claw gouged through the walls, but Kiyoko was already gone, raining down bullets from her blind spot. The bullets exploded on impact, the repeated strikes to the same spot managing to penetrate Ayaka’s invisible barrier, Dragon Scale, to inflict some actual damage. 

“Would you settle down?!” Ayaka shouted, turning to unleash her Dragon Breath at Kiyoko. But before she could, the Gunslinger was already gone. 

Dragon Breath was able to destroy anything, but it wasn’t a perfect attack. There was a small delay between its activation and firing, and once activated, the direction couldn’t be changed. In short, no matter how strong the ability itself was, it didn’t mean anything if the opponent moved out of the way while it was still charging. On top of that, it consumed a considerable amount of energy, making it ill-suited to repeated use. 

So Ayaka couldn’t use it. Firing it off uselessly was the shortest path to failure. The big techniques don’t seem very useful here. We’ll have to whittle away at her bit by bit with our Claw, Fang, and Tail. 

She had ended up using Dragon Claw as her main method of fighting, considering its minimal energy expenditure. It could be activated instantly, so her plan was to use it again and again in quick succession, not giving Kiyoko a moment’s rest. She accepted the plan, but found the fight vexing even so. 

“Can’t we use Dragon Wing to keep up with her?!” 

While that would provide us with a measure of speed, it isn’t very agile. Its main purpose is to cover large distances. 

“How is she able to hit the exact same spot every time?!” 

Despite Kiyoko’s constant movement, her shots always struck Ayaka in the exact same place. At first the Gunslinger had sprayed the bullets wildly, but now every single one was hitting its mark. 

It looks like she’s using a Smart Gun. I’ve seen the like before. It was built in the same place we were. 

“What?” 

The gun contains numerous sensors and an AI, so even the worst marksman will hit their target with it. The fact that she is able to keep track of our position is due to the same function. The longer we fight, the more the AI learns about our movements and the environment around us, and its accuracy increases. 

Ayaka threw her Dragon Claw every time she could get in range. The attack reached about ten meters, but it was most effective point blank. As the range increased, the strength decreased, until it lost all power after ten meters. Having figured that out, Kiyoko was keeping Ayaka at range. As such, most of Ayaka’s attacks weren’t landing, and those that did inflicted little damage. But she could still limit Kiyoko’s movements, and even if her attacks were unsuccessful, she was chipping away at the other’s stamina. 

They moved into a smaller room; from there, into a corridor, then outside, and back inside. They punched holes in the walls, destroyed the furnishings, brought down the ceilings, and blew away any obstacles in their path as their battle raged on. 

As they grew used to the flow of the exchange, Kiyoko tried something new: a missile. The slow, guided projectile struck Ayaka dead on. The ensuing explosion obliterated everything around her, and Ayaka felt the full force and heat of the impact. Her Dragon Scale had been shattered, failing to protect her. An ordinary explosion would have been of no concern to her, but Kiyoko’s attack had punched straight through her defenses, successfully injuring her. 

“What happened to the twin handguns?! Where did she suddenly get that from?!” 

Kiyoko was holding a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher. It was a single-shot device, which became useless after firing. As she discarded the expended weapon, it vanished into thin air, and she pulled an assault rifle out instead. 

Her power obviously lets her summon any type of firearm. 

Fighting indoors puts us at a disadvantage. Why not move outside and open up the distance between us? If we can do that, we should be able to finish this with a single Dragon Breath. 

No, a long-range fight isn’t only an advantage to us. How do you know she won’t have weapons that are extremely effective at long distances? 

Luckily for Ayaka, the damage she had taken so far was still bearable. If that was the limit of her adversary’s close-range weapons, staying where they were would be the best option. 

Our Dragon Sense is being blocked here as well. If we get too far away, we might lose track of her. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you plan on disengaging entirely. 

Ayaka’s ability to track enemies by way of mana was being jammed somehow. She had no idea why, but Sion must have been blocking her ability to do so. 

“Very well. That means the best option is to tear her apart with my bare hands, then?” 

Retreating was not an option. Ayaka resumed her attack on Kiyoko. 

 ? ? 

The battle between the two girls was nearing its end. Although it had had its ups and downs, the scales were slowly tipping in Ayaka’s favor. 

The deciding factors were the differences in their stamina and healing abilities. Kiyoko was far more agile, but although her attacks were working, she wasn’t able to land a decisive blow. And while she could dodge the majority of Ayaka’s attacks, she couldn’t dodge them all. Even the minor scratches were starting to add up to significant damage, and she was running out of stamina from spending so much energy on evading. 

Things were getting progressively worse, but Kiyoko had no way to successfully end the fight. Despair was starting to seep in. No matter how long she fought for, she couldn’t see a way to shift things back in her favor. She considered fleeing, but Ayaka would never allow it. Her opponent must have been aware of her growing advantage. There was no way she would let Kiyoko go given how obsessed she was with getting revenge. 

The end was in sight now. Kiyoko wondered if it was even worth it to keep fighting at this point. If she stopped attacking, stopped running, it would be over in an instant. And if she was going to lose anyway, wouldn’t it be better to just get it over with? At least she could avoid wasting energy. She could die without having to struggle so hard. 

Yet her body kept moving on its own. More than any fear of death, she absolutely hated losing. If she was going to die anyway, she’d rather go down fighting, as much as the realization surprised her. 

So she kept firing. Maneuvering into Ayaka’s blind spot, she fired numerous weapons, slowly chipping away at her classmate’s strength. Dodging the latest shockwave coming for her, she leaped to a more advantageous position based on how she predicted Ayaka would move. How long could she keep this up? 

The end came quickly. Her fatigued legs tripped over themselves, making her just a little too slow to dodge. The shockwave that Ayaka had launched at Kiyoko caught her right hand, slicing off her fingers. The gap in Kiyoko’s own attacks spurred Ayaka on. Realizing that she couldn’t dodge the follow-up, Kiyoko crossed her arms in front of her chest to take the attack head on. The blow sent her careening into and through the wall behind her, throwing her outside. 

She slammed into a tree and fell to the ground, finally coming to a stop. She was alive. But Ayaka’s invisible blades had sliced her apart, delivering fatal injuries. She couldn’t possibly move like she had before. Even so, she glared up at Ayaka as the girl emerged from the hole in the wall. 

“Looks like we’re just about done here,” Ayaka stated, not wanting to finish her off immediately. Slowly raising a hand, she turned her palm towards Kiyoko. It was an attack that she had tried numerous times, but had never managed to successfully use. 

It seemed she was planning on making it her final blow. It was likely the same beam of light that had wiped out a huge chunk of the capital not long before. An attack that had annihilated everything in its path. At this range, there wouldn’t even be ashes left. 

Is there nothing I can do?! Isn’t there some weapon that can beat her?! 

If such a thing existed, she would have used it long ago. Even so, unwilling to give up until the very last moment, she continued to search for anything that could help her. An imaginary warehouse full of weaponry appeared in the back of her mind. She sprinted desperately down the aisles. As she grew stronger, the number of weapons at her disposal increased, so if she could get even a little bit stronger now, there was always the possibility of another door opening. 

Surpassing her limits, heading ever deeper...searching for a stronger weapon, one that couldn’t be dodged. Even now when things looked so hopeless, she continued to look for a way to defeat Ayaka. 

Slamming into the door blocking her progress, she put all her strength into prying it open. A sudden intense pain ran through her head, a warning that it was too early for her to go this far. “Go back... you can’t handle this,” it whispered. But if she didn’t do it now, there would be no later. She would be dead. 

Screaming in pain, feeling her brain roasting from the inside out, she struck the door, pulled at it, punched it. And then something changed. With a thunk, a huge object appeared in her hands. Round, metallic, large enough to weigh multiple tons. 

Ayaka stared at the object in shock. She had no idea what it was, but Kiyoko did. It was the most powerful bomb to ever be used in combat. 

She triggered the detonator. 

 ? ? 


After reuniting, Yogiri and Tomochika returned to the wall with their companions in tow. The area designated for the battle was on the inside of the wall, so if they went beyond it, they would be treated as having run away. 

“Would you perhaps consider giving up on drawing out the Sage? Why don’t we just leave the Underworld now?” Hanakawa begged. 

“Even if we use the elevator, that’s still going out of bounds, right?” 

“Then my fate was sealed as soon as I got here?!” 

Yogiri and Tomochika walked side by side, with Hanakawa carrying David behind them. 

“Oh, you’re still with us?” Tomochika quipped, looking back at Mokomoko, who was still floating nervously behind her. 

Umm, well, I didn’t have any ill intent, so I was hoping you might forgive me soon. 

“Did you really have to take off my clothes when you removed the battle suit?” 

It is unavoidable when you suddenly need the battle suit, but in a place as dangerous as the Underworld, you are better off always having it equipped. Therefore, having extraneous clothing between you and the suit would only interfere with its function. In truth, even wearing underwear with it is a disadvantage, but I assumed you would prefer I left that intact. 

“That’s the only reason?!” 

“You know, Mokomoko, I think you should be a bit more persistent in making her wear a skintight suit...” 

“You stay out of this, Takatou!” 

As they were talking, they reached the gate leading to the outside of the wall. 

“Takatou! It’s Ninomiya and Carol!” a voice called out as two girls jumped down from above: Ryouko Ninomiya and Carol S Lane. 

Ryouko was wearing the traditional attire of a Samurai with a pair of swords at her hip, while Carol wore her signature bright red ninja outfit. The two of them raised their hands in surrender. 

 

“I’m glad you’re both okay,” Tomochika said, relieved. She must have been worried about them since the competition began. 

“We thought running away would be the best option. If we could meet up with you, we figured we’d be able to manage.” As Carol explained, Ryouko stood beside her, looking nervous. 

“What is wrong with you?!” Hanakawa blurted out to Yogiri. “After all that posturing like you have no interest in women, you’ve built up your own harem after all!” 

“I don’t think I ever said I wasn’t interested in women,” Yogiri replied. He just had his own very specific tastes. 

“Oh, it’s the disgusting Japanese otaku, Hanakawa. So, you were alive this whole time.” 

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t make it sound like I was a representative for all of Japan!” 

“So, what do we do now?” 

“We go out of bounds, draw out Sion, and get information from her,” Yogiri answered succinctly. 

“I see. I guess we have to go with you, then.” 

“Of course,” Ryouko agreed quickly. 

If they weren’t planning on participating in the Selection Battle, they had no other choice. It made sense that Yogiri would be the one who’d be able to do something about Sion. 

“But wait, Takatou and Tomochika aren’t participants, are they?” 

“That’s why we brought Hanakawa. We’re going to throw him outside and see what happens.” 

“Wait a second! You’re just planning to send me out as bait?! I thought you were coming with me! Speaking of which, we have Ninomiya and Carol with us now, right?” 

Yogiri patted Hanakawa on the shoulder. “Using girls as bait is going too far. Show us how much of a man you are.” 

“I’d rather not be a man, then!” 

In truth, Yogiri didn’t plan on sending Hanakawa out on his own. He had intended to accompany him from the start. But just as he thought he may have taken the joke too far, he noticed a sudden and intense killing intent. A pitch-black field of certain death covered everything in sight. There was nowhere to run, and absolutely no chance to survive it. 

“Everyone, get behind me.” 

Hearing Yogiri’s tone, far more serious than usual, everyone promptly complied. A moment later, the wall in front of them was blown away. 

“What?” someone’s shocked voice gasped. 

The stonework making up the wall had been violently torn apart. The trees in the forest ignited, were blown away, and thrown into the air with a torrent of dirt and sand. In an instant, the area had become a wide-open space. The explosive gust of air carried the dust and debris upwards, clouding the sky. Although it was hard to tell from so close, it must have been a mushroom cloud. 

Only the area around Yogiri was untouched. The light, sound, heat, and wind should have annihilated everyone, yet somehow the catastrophe didn’t touch them. 

“Uhh...what was that...?” With everyone at a loss for words, Tomochika finally broke the silence. 

“Probably a nuke. It seems similar to the last time I saw one,” Yogiri said. 

“I don’t even know how to respond to that.” 

“Umm, I see the second gate is open...” Ryouko observed in a shaky voice, looking down at her phone. Yogiri remembered that she had a tool she used to observe him. 

“Yeah, I need to do that to deal with invisible threats like radiation.” 

In order to protect his friends, he had rushed through the whole annoying process and gone straight to Phase 2 again. He was now continuously killing everything that currently threatened them. If this really was a nuclear attack, the effects wouldn’t be over for a while. Until they made it out of there, he wouldn’t be able to close the gate again. 

“Uhh, you didn’t, like, erase the laws of physics or anything, did you?” Ryouko asked, still nervous. As a member of the Institute, she was well aware of what “Phase 2” meant. 

“Right now I’m just killing any individual phenomena that pose a direct threat to us, so I think it’s okay. But this is a problem. I can’t tell where the outside of the wall is anymore.” 

“That’s what you’re worried about?!” 

“Wait, did you say you’ve been targeted by a nuclear weapon before?!” 

Tomochika and Hanakawa had finally recovered enough to reply. 



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