Chapter 21 — Why Is She Talking like That?!
The sky was as red as blood, rumbling with thunder. At first, Yogiri was taken aback, but after thinking about it for a moment, he realized it didn’t change much.
“Ah. Okay. It’s not really a problem, but it’s kind of scary, isn’t it?”
“Anyway, that’s the capital over there, yeah?” Hiruko said. “Let’s go find what’s-her-face.”
Luu took them over to the capital. They arrived in the sky above the city in no time, but Yogiri couldn’t help questioning the scene below them. They had seen a monster attacking and destroying the city with their own eyes. Despite that, there were no signs of damage. The streets were overflowing with people going about their business, as if nothing had happened here.
“The city was destroyed, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, this is strange. I wonder what happened?” Tomochika replied.
“Sounds good if we’re looking for someone,” Hiruko said. “Searching empty ruins wouldn’t get us very far.”
“I guess that’s true—uhh, Luu?”
Luu was staring into space, frozen. It seemed like she was thinking hard about something. After a while, she pointed towards the center of the capital, where an especially large building stood, likely the emperor’s palace.
“There’s more of me over there.”
“You mean another Philosopher’s Stone?”
“Yeah. My body.”
“What’s going on? Is there another Sage here after all?”
“It just appeared suddenly,” Luu said, tilting her head in confusion. It seemed she had felt it appear out of nowhere.
“Either way, won’t know ’til we check, will we? We can’t just leave Ma hanging while looking for someone!”
That was Hiruko and Luu’s primary objective. Yogiri didn’t have any particular objections.
“Okay, let’s go grab the stone, then.” They started floating towards the castle, reaching it quickly. “In here?”
“Yeah, near the top.”
“Where’s the entrance?” Yogiri asked.
“Who cares?!”
Yogiri let out a short cry as they suddenly swung through the air, Hiruko taking over holding them up. They rushed towards the castle, ramming into the side. Luckily, they didn’t feel much of an impact. Whatever telekinesis was being used to hold them in the air also protected them. After a while, the dust caused by them crashing through the wall settled.
“Oh, look, it’s Hanakawa. See? I told you he’d be fine.”
They saw Hanakawa inside a gaudy, gold-encrusted room. He was on the floor on his hands and knees, staring up at them in shock.
“Sir Takatou?! Did you perchance come to rescue me?!”
“No, we just thought there was a Philosopher’s Stone here.”
“Of course...”
“So, what’s going on?”
There was another guy in the room, dressed entirely in gold. Two women lay prostrate on the ground, bowing to him, while another smaller girl stood at his side like some sort of attendant. Hanakawa was on his hands and knees. There was also the Sage girl from earlier, holding a loudly crying baby. Yogiri had no idea how any of these people were related, so he asked Hanakawa.
“Miss Alice brought me to the capital, where we thought we found Sir Yoshifumi, but it actually ended up being Sir Shigeto, who had acquired the Omega Blade and become omnipotent. As Miss Alice was unable to use her powers, Sir Shigeto provided her with some Philosopher’s Stones, which then transformed into a baby!”
“Okay, I have no idea what you’re talking about. So wait, that’s Shigeto?” Yogiri pointed at the arrogant-looking, gold-clad guy. He appeared to be Japanese and about the same age as Yogiri. Shigeto was a Japanese name as well, so it was hard to think of any other possibility.
“Takatou...do you not remember Mitadera?” Tomochika asked with a sigh.
“Oh, is he one of our classmates?”
“We were on the bus together.”
“Oh, I see. Anyway, first things first.” Yogiri stepped over to the girl Hanakawa had called Alice. “I bet you were surprised when it suddenly became a baby. You can’t use them as Philosopher’s Stones that way, so do you mind if I take her?”
“Huh? Uh. Sure.” Alice hesitantly handed the baby to Yogiri. At a complete loss, she simply did as she was told.
Yogiri stepped back over to Luu. “I can just give this to you, right?”
“Yeah.”
At Luu’s nod, he handed the baby over. It melted into something like a jelly before being absorbed into Luu’s hand, prompting another transformation. The six-year-old Luu grew, reaching a size appropriate for a twelve-year-old.
“Clothes! She needs clothes!” Tomochika shouted. “Takatou, I don’t know what’s going on, but you deal with it!”
Luu had only been wearing a large shirt before, so after growing so much, her underwear was in plain view. Tomochika hurriedly pulled the girl to the edge of the room, Hiruko following them for protection. That left Yogiri alone with Mokomoko.
“What is going on? What are you doing here, Takatou?” Shigeto must have been shocked to see them appear but finally called out to them.
“We’re collecting Philosopher’s Stones. You don’t need them, so you don’t mind if we take them, do you?”
“No, I do mind. Those stones were for that girl so that I could make her fight back.”
“Make her fight back? You’ve got some sick hobbies.”
Shigeto’s face was the picture of cruelty, making Yogiri feel a bit irritated.
“Well, whatever. She had given up anyway. Maybe I should try taking you on instead. You don’t know anything about me yet, so you’ll give me a fresh reaction.”
“Uhh, we don’t have a reason to fight you. You don’t need the Philosopher’s Stones, right?”
“We do have a reason. You made me angry. That’s enough to warrant the death penalty.”
“I feel like you’re losing your temper a bit too easily. Why don’t you try relaxing a little?”
“You seem awfully relaxed yourself. Is that because of your instant death ability?”
“Did Hanakawa tell you about it?” Yogiri asked, looking at their other classmate who was still on the floor.
“I did not speak a word of it! Well, perhaps I did, but I remember no such thing! And you never told me to keep it a secret anyway!”
“Die, Hanakawa.” At Shigeto’s words, Hanakawa fell flat. All strength left his body, dropping him to the floor with an idiotic expression on his face. He was definitely dead. “Instant death, huh? You seem awfully proud of it, but I can do it too with no effort at all.”
Yogiri didn’t remember ever acting proud of his power. He only used it when he had to, and he didn’t appreciate that Shigeto was trying to compete with him like that.
“Don’t kill people who have nothing to do with this. What if you regret it later?”
“Don’t worry. Revive him.” At Shigeto’s order, Hanakawa’s body jerked.
“Gyaaaaaaaah! Wha?! Huh? Wait, did I die? I was dead! I stopped breathing! What happened?!” Hanakawa was in a fluster. Judging by his behavior, it seemed dying and coming back to life was no walk in the park.
“See? Unlike you, I’m omnipotent. Bringing people back to life is easy. So I can decide if I regret it well after they’re dead. I can kill them and bring them back as much as I want. Until they realize just how far above them I am! Until they beg me to let them stay dead!”
“Man...you’ve got an awful personality.” It was hard to believe a guy like this could live an ordinary life. Yogiri couldn’t help but feel Shigeto’s new power had ruined him.
“Die, Takatou,” Shigeto said.
There was certainly power in the words. Yogiri could feel his own power reacting automatically to them. He didn’t fall, which was normal enough. But strangely, neither did Shigeto. After ordering his death, Shigeto just stood there and watched, waiting for Yogiri to collapse.
A fair amount of time passed. Nothing happened to either of them.
“What’s wrong? Omega Blade! I gave you an order!”
Shigeto was alive. It seemed like Yogiri’s power hadn’t been aimed at him.
“Did I say it wrong? Omega Blade! Kill Takatou! Tear him limb from limb! Stop his heart! Make him explode!” Shigeto shouted, his expression turning desperate. But Yogiri didn’t feel anything. There was no power behind the words anymore.
“I suppose the Omega Blade or whatever it is has been killed?” Mokomoko asked. But that seemed a little odd to Yogiri. Up until now, it had been the person who gave the order who would normally die.
“Navi! Where are you?! Explain! What’s going on?! What’s happening?! I’m supposed to be omnipotent! If there’s a limit here, you should have explained it to me!”
Navi must have been the small girl at his side. She had been standing there a short while ago but had vanished at some point.
“Hmm. Perhaps this indicates that Mitadera was only being manipulated by someone else?”
“I see. That would make sense. If his will was being guided by the Omega Blade or whatever, it wouldn’t count as him thinking for himself.” In that case, it was natural that the Omega Blade died.
“What the... What the hell?! I wasn’t being manipulated! I’m the master of the Omega Blade! I am the creator god of a new world!”
“Really? That sounds exactly like what someone who was being manipulated would say.”
“Does this perhaps mean that Sir Shigeto no longer possesses any powers?” Hanakawa had stood up and walked over to Yogiri’s side.
“You truly change your tune at terrifying speeds...” Mokomoko commented.
“I don’t have any particular ill will towards Mitadera,” Yogiri said. “I have my own business to take care of, so you can do whatever you want.” He headed over to Tomochika. He had no intention of killing Shigeto, but there was no way he’d bother trying to get along with him now.
Luu had finished changing, having taken Tomochika’s spare clothes. They were a little big on her, but at her current size it wasn’t so much as to look uncomfortable.
“Looks like these Philosopher’s Stones just keep dropping into our laps.”
“Well, praise be to me!” Hiruko declared proudly.
“Why is she talking like someone from Kansai?!” Tomochika cried out.
“You didn’t even do anything, Hiruko,” Yogiri added.
“So, what do we do now?” asked Hanakawa.
“I guess we head back to the port town? It doesn’t look like there are any clues about Euphemia here,” Yogiri replied.
They had thought the Overlord would be a clue to finding her, but there were no traces of the monster left. They would need to rethink things, which meant it was best to meet up with Carol and the others again.
“Let’s get moving then, yeah?” Everyone floated back up into the air around Hiruko, exiting through the hole in the wall.
Yogiri glanced back at the castle as they left. Alice was walking towards Shigeto. At the same time, the women bowing down in front of him had stood up and surrounded him. As he lost sight of them, he thought he could hear Shigeto screaming.
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