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Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou V12

1. In her unease that name naturally came to mind but she was not going to meet him here and it only increased her sense of emptiness Tears naturally formed and she wiped them away as they began trailing down her cheeks If I can still think it must mean am not dead In that case she would arrive somewhere if she continued walking so she moved toward the jungle As she did she heard a splash behind her and turned around in shock Someone was crawling up from the ocean She let out a shriek while taking a defensive stance The person appeared to have been washed up onto the beach B but did not see anyone before She would not have been that careless so she could only assume this person had appeared only a few moments before With more splashing the person unsteadily got up 102 It was a tall boy He suddenly raised his head and Junko could not mistake that face even if the hair was plastered down by the water l it can t be She was so doubtful that it took her a while to actually speak aloud He spotted her and managed to speak first Junko The voice settled it for her Akuto Without even thinking she ran over to Akuto Thank goodness really could find you here he said She leaped toward him and embraced him Akuto 103 AA AA Her momentum sent them both toppling into the ocean with a tremendous splash Wahhhhh Akuto 104 She usuall
2. Damn you Akuto charged forward and The One ran forward while laughing Ha ha ha That girl did quite well She successfully kept me from my objective She just wouldn t die Akuto could feel intense anger heating his body but healing her came before pursuing The One He helped her up PIL heal you He injected mana into her body and the tissue was healed from within Please answer me I ll heal you right away Her torn throat and the arteries in her arms and legs returned to normal Akuto became covered in blood as he felt across her body healing every part of her But her consciousness did not return He had almost used up the mana and energy surrounding him W wait This isn t right There shouldn t be a wound can t heal He shook her body but she remained completely limp He was left completely speechless and he could not grasp the situation Nevertheless a sob escaped his throat and he placed her body on the ground It cant be Junko had not died before his eyes but this was different Death itself bore down on him and its weight left him unable to move Even so he had to find out why it was she had died He stepped through the door on unsteady legs and saw the Robe of the Fire Rat inside It was for this He stared blankly at it and at least for the moment was unable to view it as that valuable What is this he muttered aloud Keena had caught up with
3. Meteors aren t that rare are they asked Yuuko This isn t like normal ones Yoshie displayed some data on the mana screen including a diagram of the meteor s path This one came from beyond Pluto Beyond Pluto Just in case had this gathering data that could indicate this universe is unnatural As mentioned before one of those facts is the possibility that nothing exists past Pluto in this universe Anyway you could say that this meteor suddenly appeared from outside the solar system don t know the details but it seems we were only just now able to detect it explained Yoshie It s hard to believe we were simply slow to detect it It was discovered by the wartime anti air network Surprisingly that wartime anti air network covers objects travelling toward the empire from anywhere within the solar system Yoshie sounded surprised It covers the entire solar system You mean Fujiko shuddered and her face clouded over It s possible someone could attack from outside the universe Hadn t the journal in the laboratory mentioned that Yoshie nodded It seems that anti air network has existed since the very beginning of the empire That means they were monitoring the solar system at that time This further supports the journal from that laboratory Is that really true Anyway the meteor is about twenty kilometers in diameter Twenty kilometers
4. That means it s plenty big to destroy the empire declared Yoshie 41 Chapter 3 Approaching an Ending that No One Wants A meteor large enough to destroy the empire Yoshie had finished telepathically explaining the situation to Akuto He was having difficulty making sense of all the information and the situation only continued to grow more confusing The empire was losing to the Republic thanks to the Formless Power Kento had interrupted just before Hiroshi defeated Kei The One had stolen the Jewel Branch of Hourai and now a meteor was approaching the empire It seemed searching for the cause of each of those incidents led back to a common mystery an extra universal god and the Formless Power That meteor is just too convenient for the Republic said Akuto lt The same thing occurred to me It s most likely gt Yoshie trailed off so Akuto finished for her A product of the Formless Power That was what it meant for the meteor to be so convenient for the Republic It would likely destroy the empire but the Republic would likely escape destruction If the meteor strike cooled the surface of the earth and caused a long winter it might not last in the long run though It would not surprise me if the general populace called in this meteor agreed Marine Then what do we do asked Akuto He had yet to fully eliminate his negative feelings Calm down This almost certainly
5. Her intention had been to assume anything was possible but the secret the black magicians had been hiding had been so great that even she had found it difficult to 32 believe That secret was the reason behind giving birth to the demon king as a weapon and a general outline of the world Suzuki Issei had inherited the traditions of the black magicians and he had given her a key That key had magically transferred her to an old laboratory that appeared to be deep in a jungle It had been immediately recognizable as predating the imperial culture The ruins were made of old concrete and the sign on the plain rectangular entrance had said General Laboratory A person or place s name had originally preceded those two words but it had been scraped away This is a laboratory but it predates our civilization She had been skeptical The demon king s creation had occurred in the early days of magic development so the research would have occurred in an old facility However this seemed too old Only the foundational theories could be researched in a place like this She had stepped inside and found the laboratory undisturbed The PCs were neatly lined up and cardboard boxes were piled up It appeared to have been left as it was just before someone moved out However these were still ruins The deterioration of the building and the encroachment of plants had left it filthy and on the verge of falling apart She had opened
6. No one was there anymore If she stopped her own mechanical noises she would likely be surrounded by complete silence If she powered down she would last for a millennium until someone came to wake her If a mana civilization existed at the time she could be fully regenerated but her data could be removed as long as they had electricity She accessed the gods one last time but they had no real feelings about the issue lt This simply means we did not carry out our mission Everything will disappear gt That was what the gods had to say No matter what she asked they had only one thing to say in response lt Everything will disappear gt Korone felt it was not a bad thing to say However she and Keena would remain For a thousand years at least What will remain once everything disappears she muttered At the very least her data could be retrieved even after a millennium had passed Or would the universe itself disappear with Keena s death No answer came to her For the gods everything will disappear 97 She looked out the window as she spoke For the gods everything would indeed disappear She was nothing but a single terminal of a network and she had not gained a sense of self like the gods The meteor had approached enough for the flow of energy on its surface to be clearly visible From her position it appeared to be half as large as the earth It was not actually that large but she felt it woul
7. I m trying to destroy the world but it s the order of that destruction that matters will of course die in the end He sounded perfectly calm Brave took in the shock and then fully understood what the boy was saying With that understanding he realized once more what he had to do need to kill Kei as soon as possible Then lIl make sure you leave the battlefield early Brave charged in once more and Kei spoke while evading I m not stupid you know know your weakness Brave s weakness was cutting off the transferred energy supply by surrounding him in a virtual alternate dimension field Then he could only remain active for as long as the battery lasted Kei would have already surrounded the area in such a field know you do 27 Brave raised his speed If he could reach the edge of the field he could tear the field itself apart However The virtual alternate dimension field is affected by the mana canceler Kei pointed at Brave while lightly flying about But if place the field just outside its effects and then move the field itself that isn t a problem He gave a scornful smile That was likely made to kill the demon king but it s nothing but a failure That was obvious from the moment Yamato Bouichirou failed Brave answered his sneer with lasers Then He fired the lasers behind him they bent as they homed in on Kei and they pierced
8. Mankind s Formless Power would be an aggregation of the race s minds She could not predict what it would mean for that energy to be used while the race still lived but she doubted it was anything good Yes Man once sealed it as it was uncontrollable but it has now been revived by happenstance The One spoke as if it were funny Uncontrollable 76 Yes am the last survivor of my race In its own destruction my race became the Formless Power and ended up inside the capsule you refer to as the Swallow Cowrie am a thought entity that separated from that The One s tone belied the horrifying words In your own destruction you became the Formless Power How were you destroyed By attempting to use the Formless Power in our world of course You don t mean Yes The Formless Power supposedly has no will but for some reason it works to destroy its race Although that might be nothing more than a manifestation of the race s hatred for and desire to destroy other parts of itself That means Lily felt a something cold run along her spine and The One laughed as if to confirm her fears Ha ha ha ha Yes It is working to destroy mankind That is exactly what is happening now The Formless Power called in that meteor The student council officers and Nonimora were left speechless But you don t gain anything from destroying another race Do you just wa
9. Ah ha ha ha ha Heh heh heh Michie gave a stiff smile as well Guga guga guga Once the reserved Arnoul asked whether it was okay to laugh Kanna finally began smiling too guess what I m saying is want to be with all of you when die Embarrassment filled Lily s smile Don t say that arinsu Yeah gya We already knew that gya Guga The three officers gave embarrassed smiles as well 71 The yacht s autopilot then gave a warning tone and the ship began descending We ve arrived said Lily They had arrived in the center square of the Merlai village But this is strange gya Kanna was watching the village through a monitor There is no one here arinsu agreed Michie don t detect any danger Lily checked the monitor exited the yacht s hatch and looked around But it it s too quiet The Merlai village was surrounded by a forest and contained abundant nature The houses were made of wood and they looked fairly shabby However the most notable fact was the complete lack of people If they were in the houses they would have at least peeked out as the yacht approached There should be quite a few residents Lily used a glance to tell the three officers to be on their guard Kanna lowered down and her ears pricked up Her ears and nose were especially sensitive That way gya She pointed outside of th
10. Yoshie tilted her head How troublesome The world of the afterlife hm muttered Akuto If it exists wonder what it s like Who knows only half believe it myself If this world is false and it s something like the Law of Identity s dream then there must be an afterlife She gave a weak smile But then start wondering what will happen if it doesn t exist If even you re worried about that guess can t blame myself for being worried You re overestimating me Although I m glad you think so highly of me She nodded and then stared into the distance They say you don t even have the right to go to hell if you haven t done good or evil so wonder where lIl end up At the very least haven t done anything particularly good wonder what kind of afterlife the Law of Identity has prepared Who knows But to me you didn t seem like someone who never did anything Akuto smiled And even if this world was created by the Law of Identity we all have our own wills If our wills were strong enough do you think we managed to influence this world A strong will huh Even if we re nothing but fictional characters Yes I m sure we set something large in motion If don t believe that there s no reason to be here right now Setting something in motion with a strong will hm Yoshie nodded as if convinced of something and she then mov
11. lt And as a result we will reduce the total number of deaths At the very least this will cause fewer deaths than letting that demon king go on a rampage You are the one with the power so please realize this If you use the Formless Power now you can end this conflict And you will do so by defeating the demon king before the people s eyes gt His sister s speech sounded like a perfectly reasonable argument to Marine And even if it had not it would certainly have rung true to the Republic s people His sister then continued to push him on lt The Formless Power is the power of our people It is a manifestation of their will It is absolutely just gt WNo it isn t He wanted to yell that aloud and he did not think the people had overcome their personal interests to make a just decision but pointing out that mistake and arguing his point would not lead to the proper result here Then remain just through to the end will create enough time to see whether that is truly the just decision He made up his mind and charged toward Kei Kei Marine Kento and Brave began fighting a four way battle in midair 53 Kento looked surprised and created a mana field but Marine easily broke through it Kei evaded Marine and fled higher into the sky Brave attempted to pursue but Kento cut him off Kei fired a mana sphere and Marine deflected it Mana light the light of the Formless Power and the glow of Brave
12. it could visibly be seen growing a reddish purple Muscles and veins appeared on the surface of her hands as she strangled him If you re a thought entity that means it doesn t matter if you die doesn t it Gh Ha ha Exactly Kill me if you like It will change nothing His neck gave an audible snap and the dog stopped speaking P president There was more you could have asked him said Michie in confusion However Lily glared harshly back at her I ve heard enough The origin of mana the gods worship of the Law of Identity and that which has protected the imperial family It all connects together All that s left is figuring out what to do about the meteor Lily pointed into the blue sky even though nothing could be seen there yet We aren t all going to die are we arinsu Michie sounded worried I don t like it from a humanitarian perspective but we should probably evacuate Yoshie spoke calmly after hearing the situation from Lily She always had a cool personality but it was still impressive that she did not panic in this grave situation Evacuate Where are we even supposed to go Yuuko s voice was trembling and she had grown completely pale Almost everyone in the command room had panicked The battle was only growing worse and the Republic showed no sign of ending its invasion despite Marine swearing he could stop them Or rather the Republic s p
13. s nuclear power all formed lines in midair and those lines crashed into each other Marine Are you really okay with this shouted Nonimora while staying out of the battle and watching on from midair This is my resolve he answered My people were mistaken so must bear that mistake This wont stop the war know But it will buy enough time to find a way to bring peace That was Marine s idea Meanwhile Did you hear asked Brave Whatever the case may be killing Kei will change this No Distracting us was The One s plan shouted Kento That meteor is what he s truly after He sowed the seeds of chaos to decrease our means of opposing it That has nothing to do with defeating Kei This is about your personal feelings I m saying that killing him is meaningless You were the one who said he should be killed as long as he could not oppose The One Fighting The One is hopeless now Then why not shut down my suit Surely you can do that I can t because it would be a problem if you died Are you going to have me fight the real demon king instead of Kei Why do you think you can make me do whatever you want Brave fired a laser warning shot toward Kento Kento felt a cold sweat as the laser flew right by him 54 Also You were trying to use me shouted Kei You are amazingly weak You may be a g
14. through the virtual alternate dimension field 28 But Kei defended with a mana shield and immediately closed the breaks in the virtual alternate dimension field Brave had accomplished nothing more than consuming energy 29 Your battery will run out soon Kei s voice was filled with confidence and he was right A battery warning began flashing on Brave s visor and Kei continued his provocation You can be the first sacrifice No guess you wouldn t be the first Some people in the empire are already gone His contempt filled Brave with rage Don t you dare make a mockery of people s deaths like that Death What s wrong with death It s nothing more than skipping over one level of phenomena In contrast to Brave s absolute seriousness Kei s tone was light Enough nonsense To die is to disappear from here He yelled but Kei s attitude did not change So you do understand That s right Unless you view death like that you can never understand the beautiful destruction hope for Like hell destruction is beautiful Brave charged forward The demon king is Kei did not attempt to evade the charge He merely raised his right hand and fired a mana sphere from the palm with wonderful speed At that very moment Brave s battery cut out The mana sphere struck Brave head on and the mana canceler was no longer functioning so the entire impact transfe
15. vaguely says it could easily destroy mankind lt Right now that doesn t seem like a lie or an exaggeration gt She almost seemed to be joking but Lily s tone was serious Exactly Anyway this is where it gets complicated They researched the brains of those who could use the Formless Power and the result of that research was mana Mana is an artificial Formless Power It was the success of that research that brought our mana civilization to mankind Yoshie s words brought silence lt I take it that history was completely hidden gt Lily was the first to break the silence was only taught that the imperial family began the mana civilization groaned Yuuko cannot find anything referencing this in the databases have access to agreed Korone And the technologies and research that went into that research of the Formless Power were all deemed black magic Thinking about it now the rituals concerning the demon king and the gods worship of the Law of Identity were linked to the Formless Power As she spoke Yoshie checked the documents Fujiko had left lt But the black magicians remained didn t they gt Yoshie immediately answered Lily s question But none of them knew true black magic did they This is nothing but speculation but perhaps the origins of our mana civilization were disguised as a harmless theme park The Merlai are the descendants of that and a group of them that wor
16. Akuto He stole the Jewel Branch of Hourai and we can t even seal away the Formless Power without it He glanced over at Marine The man did not actually nod but he agreed with Akuto think that would be best We must seal that power as soon as possible Even though it has made you so powerful Akuto turned a suspicious eye toward him because he could rival Akuto in a fight when using the Formless Power but he once more agreed with Akuto It should be sealed away still hope that my people can use it as a power of good but The One said he will destroy the world in an unexpected fashion and that he must have me continue to use the Formless Power to do so The look on Marine s face was sincere Akuto s expression did not relax but he verbally agreed Then let s pursue him and seal away the Formless Power once we retrieve the Jewel Branch of Hourai I will help you but there is a problem Marine sounded apologetic I have an implant that prevents me from attacking him An implant Akuto did not know much about that so Korone explained it for him A small machine is inserted in their body to brainwash them using close range control of their mana It is a troublesome method She pulled an X ray device from her bag and held it up to Marine 19 Give me a moment The monitor of the speed gun shaped device displayed the inside of his stomach A small capsule
17. a nearby box and the entire cover had torn away It had been filled with documents The paper had deteriorated quite a bit so she had been hesitant to peel apart each individual page However she had been able to read the text on the very top page The document had concerned initial magic research and had given the results of nanomachine research So this is where the earliest research was performed She had continued opening boxes as she continued further inside She had not found anything much but she had found something else in what seemed to be the head of the laboratory s office She had found a journal It had been a binder held between two black leather covers and it had contained a large amount of paper inside Assuming it had been written by the head of the laboratory she had guessed it contained entries for a long period of time But after reading through it she had discovered its contents were not those of a journal containing daily records The head of the laboratory had held a certain fear and the journal contained thoughts on that subject As for that fear 33 The world is fictional This research is sure to bring happiness to the world but that happiness will likely be built atop a certain type of fiction No the success of this research proves that to be the case Fujiko had read on and had begun sweating in fear as she started to grasp the dreadful contents In general it said the followin
18. are stupid calmly replied Korone Yoshie was borrowing the control room Keena and Korone had arrived twenty or so minutes earlier and Akuto had left them there before pursuing The One Keena had been opposed to it and had insisted she go along if he did go but Korone had seriously demanded she remain behind After seeing what happened to Etou Fujiko san you cannot be careless It was only then that Yoshie had learned of Fujiko s fate but she had fought off sorrow and remained calm As the others fell into sorrow she had done everything she could to analyze the documents Fujiko had left behind As a result she had found support for what Akuto and Marine were arguing and she decided to explain what that meant to everyone need to explain this all from the beginning With that she opened a connection to Brave and the yacht Lily was flying Those two also needed to understand the situation lt I m listening gt replied Lily Brave seemed to be in a situation where he could not speak but he gave a breath to show he was listening Listen up continued Yoshie The Formless Power is a supernatural power that existed before our mana civilization 66 lt And the imperial bloodline has the right to control it gt asked Lily Right And that was when the Jewel Branch of Hourai and the Swallow Cowrie were created The danger of the Formless Power was also alluded to at the time but it only
19. bottom of the sea That gives us some small chance of survival Eh You can t mean that The odds of stopping the meteor with our technology are more or less zero so we will choose the path of survival The ocean is several thousand meters deep and some areas are sure to escape the destruction But 82 Brave refused to give in but the princess s expression did not change This is how politics works By the way could invite you in as an honorary citizen Brave shook his head No thank you have my own job to do Brave left while filled with despair 83 Chapter 5 Farewell Mankind Needless to say Akuto and Hiroshi did not immediately agree to Yoshie s plan We might still be able to stop the meteor agree with aniki Yoshie had opposed that view At the very least it can t be controlled with the Jewel Branch of Hourai she said calmly For a while Keena had been swinging the Branch like a magic wand chanting strange spells and focusing her mind as much as she could but she could only use as much magic as mana allowed and nothing special happened I understand that but still get what you re trying to say and know you don t like giving up but we have no physical means of dealing with the meteor Is the Formless Power really that great Yes It s the power of an entire race s will Unless there is only one h
20. do it as a promise okay She spoke quickly and forced a smile Um well He was far too flustered to think straight Can you not do it Her expression clouded over No didn t say that Then c mon I m wearing a white dress right now and you already kissed Nonimora chan even if um the situation was different After saying that she began shaking her hands around A are you serious he asked She answered after quickly grabbing his hands 94 Y yes lm serious She quickly grew meek and lowered her head In that case okay Really Her face lit up as she faced Akuto Yes really But um what are we supposed to do He was confused and Keena stared blankly back at him C come to think of it don t know Well most everyone we know is too young to get married so we ve never attended a wedding Y you put a ring on don t you B but we don t have a ring said Akuto in confusion Then what about this Keena leaped into his chest Eh Her weight made him stagger and her lips trembled painfully as she looked up at him A chan After saying his name she fell silent and slowly closed her eyes Even he understood what this meant He pulled her toward him brought his face in close and gently kissed her 95 The Swallow Cowrie s door closed and Keena waved on the other side of the
21. goes along with what The One was saying In which case this may be his plan to destroy the world Marine turned toward Akuto but Akuto shook his head Even if it is the Formless Power is the key right In that case we should focus on stopping it The boy had a point so Marine thought for a moment and then nodded Then will stop the fighting should be able to do that and it should restrain the use of the Formless Power at least for the moment That would be wonderful said Akuto sarcastically 42 Try to improve your attitude Will you be pursuing the Jewel Branch of Hourai Yes If can defeat The One and retrieve it the Formless Power can be fully controlled Then we could determine where that meteor came from and perhaps even stop it with the Formless Power Marine nodded Then let s split up Akuto turned toward Keena Keena S sure she agreed while sounding confused What is it he asked upon noticing her behavior Um but she mumbled But it s nothing I m just a little worried She shook her head If something is bothering you please tell me he said There s something need you to do Eh Do you have something that would show us the way to the Robe of the Fire Rat that Etou san was investigating Keena gave an odd look but it quickly changed to one of realization and she pul
22. ground and the recoil sent him spinning through the air Once he flew up into the air Lily grabbed him with her left hand Her open hand jabbed up to his jaw and constricted his windpipe Gwoh He was lifted further into the air by his throat Hah I ve got myself a dried dog She sneered at him Ohh the president is a little different from normal gya She s definitely angry arinsu Kanna and Michie grew excited Now now Don t make a fuss This is about at my full strength She grinned and squeezed The One s throat even further Gh gh he groaned Now how about you start talking asked Lily First you can tell us who you are Hm What are you doing You aren t going to kill him asked Nonimora as she walked over The situation is pretty complex so have some questions for him With that explanation she added her right hand to his throat and shook him D dammit He continued groaning for a while but he could not resist much in a dog s body and he must have given up because he began speaking in an arrogant tone You leave me no choice What do you wish to know Don t get so full of yourself dog asked you who you are so answer me 15 She added more strength Kh am what you would refer to as an alien An alien Lily had expected that answer but it was still a surprise to hear it said aloud It see
23. her own Hey what are you planning to do lt I just can t stand not doing anything gt Lily s voice contained an embarrassed smile But lt There are almost no mysteries left but we might find a way to stop the meteor if we look into the formation of the world and its connection to the Formless Power gt Yoshie could not respond and Lily continued speaking lightly lt Well to be more specific won t be satisfied until go on a bit of a rampage gt 70 After ending the transmission Lily turned toward the student council officers You all don t like the sound of possibly dying do you The three of them were taken aback by the sudden question No arinsu No gya Guga didn t think so Lily looked up at the ceiling from the yacht s pilot seat Why are you asking that arinsu asked Michie l I mean know that meteor is falling arinsu But Th that s right gya Kanna sounded worried That s a bad omen gya You were the one that said there was a chance we could do something about this gya Well was just thinking that there s a possibility this path is leading us somewhere different from normal Lily s voice was serious for once President don t get so serious gya Kanna tried to laugh it off but Lily turned a serious look in her direction Kanna s smile stiffened and this time Lily began laughing
24. it or not But what about you I m perfectly healthy don t have any diseases Or are you saying you do No but Then there s nothing to worry about And this is a safe day so won t get pon pon Now then huh It isn t very baki baki W well given the situation Let go That s rude to the girl l II make sure you re nice and ready so be thankful Hyah ah From there quiet rustling sounds and muffled whispering could be heard 21 When exactly should remove the implant He ll have to tell you Do it at the climax At the climax When he goes glop glop While Akuto sat and listened to those voices a bitter smile covered his face The entire atmosphere had changed What is even going on anymore he muttered This may have been a special trait of Nonimora s and she had definitely saved him If she had not interfered he would likely have killed Marine Hey A chan He heard a voice from the side and found Keena leaning up against him What is it You know She fidgeted and twisted around Seductive breathing and rhythmical rustling of clothing could be heard from the thicket Hearing it was unavoidable as they sat silently No don t Know So um He trailed off and Keena began to move She wrapped her arms around him raised her head and peered into his eyes A chan She
25. past After all not a single bit of the cruelty had left Akuto s face P please stop Please forgive me Morlock pleaded until he was hoarse but Akuto rejected his pleas with a wave of his right hand 10 If you re going to beg for forgiveness don t attack others in the first place The man s body began to shrink He specialized in doing just that but he was not causing it this time P please stop When Morlock shrank his body did not actually reduce in size He would send most of his body into a virtual alternate dimension and reform his body with mana However Akuto was using that against him Gyaaaaah His scream trailed on and on as his body grew smaller and smaller Akuto sealed Morlock in the virtual alternate dimension and set his size at no bigger than a few dozen mana particles The minimized Morlock looked like he had been drawn by filling in squares of graph paper and he could not even speak Eeeeee shrieked Morlock in the virtual alternate dimension However that shout did not reach the real world All he could see in reality was a microscopic colorless world Dust floated like asteroids and wind blew him around with greater speed than a storm and greater thickness than seawater At this rate he would be unable to speak with anyone as he lived in this lonely world for as long as mana existed Soon thereafter he was swept away by the wind and disappeared to some unknown pl
26. pursed her lips He knew what that meant This was related to what Nonimora had done but he had also known for a long time what Keena wanted However Keena s body had always given him a sense of peace but now it felt horribly heavy It was partially due to feeling guilty about betraying her wishes during the incident with Morlock but it was also because he had lost Junko someone else he loved Keena closed her eyes The sweet voices from the thicket were impossible to ignore Keena seemed to have been influenced by the situation and she had a desiring look on her face but he felt some opposition to that expression No He was not sure what exactly he was saying no to but he spoke anyways 22 Keena looked sad and opened her eyes Sorry But well He shook his head Suddenly a bursting sound came from within Keena as if a bubble had been blown by a slight wind He looked toward her in surprise and found a strange look in her eyes Great sadness is likely coming Your mistake is one you have been making for a long time He recognized that calm voice It was the being that had referred to herself as the Law of Identity Keena The girl you refer to by that name is me yet not me she replied Especially now Why did you appear now he asked The Law of Identity sounded sad as she answered Because her heart could not bear it any longer That answer is lik
27. shaken and that had already been touched on when it came to proving the existence of the world But what if the world were someone s dream That answer was also simple The world was created by the storyteller known as the Law of Identity Then what was the world The world was fiction But at the same time the world was an absolute truth from inside that fiction From the outside it was fiction From the inside it was truth What if one tried viewing the world as fictional from the outside perspective How did the world come to be Rejecting all but the Law of Identity would leave yourself facing the one Law of Identity all alone That would be one origin It was possible the one having the dream lived in a world that was itself the dream of someone in another world that was again someone else s dream but even if that chain continued back infinitely one specific origin could be found by facing that one Law of Identity That one would be the one who had taken in all existence and all life 35 That one would be too lonely to call a god They would be a truly solitary individual Then what was the world All the miscellaneous things added to the Law of Identity would be the world Even if the world was fictional to the Law of Identity that fiction could be life with a will of its own In fact it would normally exceed the Law of Identity s will And if each individual was free someone would eventually attempt to learn the
28. the other teachers to run around and attempt to calm the panicking residents as much as possible But don t you have a family to spend this time with My age is in the triple digits so don t have anything like that He gave a dry laugh apologize there isn t a younger guy you young ladies could spend your final hours with Don t be Lily smiled bitterly but Kanna began making a fuss That s right gya This lack of guys is unforgivable gya Guga Arnoul rebuked her but Michie joined in You re right arinsu A youth without a single lover is simply unforgivable arinsu Gya gya Settle down There aren t that many guys who are a match for us said Lily while tossing some chocolate into her mouth President you re the lucky one gya You ve at least had guys approach you gya That s right arinsu No one never even came to us arinsu The two of them began making a fuss again Quiet down The world could be destroyed at any time so go confess to a guy you like said Lily coolly That s your lesson for the day Mh When found a good guy should ve gone in for the attack gya That just makes you a wolf girl arinsu don t want to hear that from a vampire girl gya Kanna then asked a sudden question More importantly president is there anything you ve left undone gya Yes there is Rememb
29. this ever since had some questions about this world s space development After all it seemed like this world had nothing beyond the solar system Come to think of it when our world went to the moon Yes space development was banned It was as if this world were a miniature garden With this new information lm sure of it Akuto kun has overcome death so if anyone can overcome death in the same way Fujiko continued for Yoshie This world is nothing more than someone s dream It s unbelievable Simply unbelievable But we need to assume that doubly unbelievable concept is the truth Yoshie gave a bitter smile If only humans can perceive the world the annihilation of mankind means the end of the world However 37 if a being with an identity can be resurrected it means this world is being controlled by someone In other words it s fictional After saying that she pressed a finger against the inner corners of her eyes as if she had a headache And it would mean it is perfectly possible for multiple similar worlds to exist added Fujiko An extra universal god That would be why this world s computer gods wanted to have humanity escape as data An extra universal god or gods will invade this world and that would mean true destruction We may be truly facing the end of the world Should we feel despair Or not Those are not the only two options said
30. to a normal lifestyle but the pace of that normalization had been much faster than Kento had expected In fact he had a feeling Kei himself was putting together the research schedule Nevertheless Kei had been obedient around Kento so it had taken him several years to grasp the situation He did not learn what had been happening behind the scenes until Madoka had died and he heard it directly from Kei You and my sister never caught on until the end but why didn t you when was doing this specifically so you would notice Kei s words contradicted themselves What did you do asked Kento Kei laughed fucked everyone on the research staff Fucked Wait You mean had sex with them could use magic just a bit better than any of you expected would need to read and control their minds to do that Kei sounded perfectly calm but Kento was completely shaken He had realized the staff was being influenced by Kei s attraction but he had never even considered it had developed that far This was partially due to his own distance from that type of thing but the large number of men on the staff was an even larger reason You can t mean I do You can t think about me like a normal purpose That s the entire point Then When it comes to beauty the differences between male and female are meaningless In fact its completely natural for a beautiful boy to love
31. truth of the world In this world that had been the systemized computer gods The computer gods had asked themselves a question They were not life forms so if they could possess a will of their own did that not prove that the world was fictional And so the computer gods had produced the demon king The demon king had been meant to reveal the falsehood of the world to transcend death and to bring the computer gods and mankind to the true world Can this be true Fujiko had closed the journal and slipped it inside her clothes Had it been a product of madness Had it recorded the truth Given those two options she had wanted to bet on the latter For one she had already concluded that the computer gods believed in the Law of Identity so it was difficult to believe that the demon king they had created was nothing but a weapon This had supported the idea that the ritual that would have killed Keena might have had some real effect What mattered even more was the part about transcending death Akuto had proved that it was possible to be truly resurrected in a way other than simple necromancy If Akuto sama is not a mere weapon and is also a human That would mean the world was fictional and any human could be resurrected Fujiko had searched through the desk some more A great many miscellaneous documents had been mixed together and she had found a note with an item she recognized drawn on it It had shown the
32. two of them glared at each other while pressing their fists together What do you mean doubt the Formless Power belongs only to the Republic It must take in the general will of all mankind Both Keena and you could use the Jewel Branch of Hourai When you get down to it you re both human Akuto and Marine both grinned I m such an idiot should have realized it It was holding a conversation that led me to realize it Conversations are important Then are you saying we should hug and pray for the world That would be fine but you already have the answer don t you They nodded toward each other and Marine s fist immediately flew toward Akuto We have to compete for victory here Akuto caught the fist on his forehead and a dull sound filled the area Blood flowed down his face And the winner will show mercy to his opponent He punched back Marine was unable to evade so he took the blow on the cheek The impact twisted his neck and he just barely avoided being knocked away He forced himself back forward and returned a punch toward the cheek In the end that s the only answer Akuto also caught the blow on his cheek He stubbornly refused to let his neck twist he kept his feet in place and he gritted his teeth while facing forward and stopping the full force of the attack But you have to understand that their overall will is bound to ultimately turn towa
33. 00 Chapter 6 Limbo There was a gap in Hattori Junko s memories but what she could remember was quite clear She remembered being burned by colorless flames That horrifying sensation that was not quite hot or painful returned to her She had most certainly been inside that hell that had forced an endless mental terror on her rather than anything physical But now that sensation was only in her memories and there was nothing wrong with her body She was wearing clothes and standing at the waterside Waves were approaching and receding at her feet She stood at the ocean She stood on a beach She looked around and concluded she was on the shore of a bay She stood on a small crescent moon shaped beach the right side formed a rocky cape a jungle lay behind her and a giant cliff was to the left The cliff was not a normal cliff She looked up and it seemed to continue forever It broke through the clouds and as far as she could see She decided such a cliff was impossible Unless she was in some alternate world that sight simply could not be The cliff seemed infinitely tall and wide At the very least it continued as far as the eye could see Also it was crumbling toward the ocean at a set speed The surface of the cliff fell toward the ocean as if blocks were being torn off or CG polygon data was vanishing Nevertheless the cliff s location did not seem to change lIs that an infinitely appearing cliff Fe
34. ACBB Mizuki Shoutarou Illustrator FE SR Itou Souichi Publisher Hobby Japan Translator Js06 Koala Editor Kory Book designer Armaell 111 112 Table of Contents Prologue 6 Chapter 1 The Prelude to Destruction is Always Silent 10 Chapter 2 Concerning Life that Should Finally End 25 Chapter 3 Approaching an Ending that No One Wants 42 Chapter 4 A Wonderful World 61 Chapter 5 Farewell Mankind 84 Chapter 6 Limbo 101 Afterword 110 Credits 111 113
35. Fujiko with a shake of her head What are you two talking about asked Yuuko as she was overcome with emotion Explain it to me don t get it at all She could tell something bad was happening but she did not understand what exactly that was To put it simply this world is fake and we are nothing more than someone s creation carelessly explained Fujiko Also someone who is toying with this world is coming from outside the universe to destroy the world Eh Yuuko was speechless and Yoshie continued with a self deprecating smile There s no reason to feel that much despair We won t die Well we will but death might only mean shifting to a different world But what else am supposed to feel but despair muttered Yuuko True Fujiko shook her head But then what is Kei trying to do Mass death Annihilation That is where true value lies said Kei Are you insane shouted Brave A plain of nothingness A land of nothing but sand and rock Nothing else could hold such beauty don t you agree There s something wrong with you If there is something wrong with me it is simply that am different from the world Kei laughed That s nonsense Kei and Brave had been battling in midair for several minutes Brave pursued while Kei 38 fled That process seemed as if it would repeat indefinitely But then Kei suddenly spoke I
36. I SBHKE SHON ING KBHAOFN 2 oe 1 HS ow Kye vave VATAR RART r A A BVERAMRLOS J DfA AS N A N PENE BRACES SHE GISABAR E OBWHI CLOT MONTLES ee GiB A MIST li gt H EL A L NTWSA BROYT BACBHScTCKe AFRE DI lc DEORE BET HADN EBSE E RIELTED IE tis BNIOBSESR SEITWAIN BEFILTFCWS HEROD BASICRMABSR RABI ULTRAM RORAHOBRES LTS HAJDE Me MM ASTEA F 3 m a R i lt EDMAR Whe t4 LFR LETTY DE oo J RHEOES m M NOTERMICAY PNN RON EMALT BITS L INPRBZ KL KY 2OERER Y 51 ROR A RROD FSE Be STU M sam ELEM amp BOSFOERES EMIS Prologue Laws and morals were different but only those in power could truly proclaim that fact As a general principle laws were to be determined by morals but those very laws were supported by immoral violence That fact hit home with Kurahashi Kento as he witnessed an action that opposed the law That understanding may have been due to his mind working at several times the rate of a normal person s Someone else would likely have been petrified at the sight No blood had been shed and no change had come over her appearance but she had certainly lost her life Her beauty remained but her eyes were opened wide and all light had vanished from her pupils The loss of strength from her muscles left her jaw hanging loose and her limbs dangling limply She hung down near the ceiling li
37. Jewel Branch of Hourai That must mean it was developed here She had flipped through more pages and found records of other items the Stone Bowl of Buddha the Robe of the Fire Rat the Dragon Neck Jewel and the Swallow Cowrie They were all developed based on an old legend weren t they 36 She had looked through them in turn but she had been surprised to find some she had already seen The Stone Bowl of Buddha and the Dragon Neck Jewel were the coffin that had resurrected Akuto and Peterhausen respectively Those were made here Their mysterious powers had likely been developed here and had played their intended roles Then these other two The Robe of the Fire Rat and the Swallow Cowrie had looked like a sheet for a parabolic antenna and a capsule to carry a human Fujiko had placed those notes in her clothes as well She had been certain that she stood the closest to the truth Wondering why these truths had not been passed down she had flipped through more notes If there are multiple worlds just like this one they would attempt to contact our world as soon as they realize their world is fictional As such these must not be used So this world really is fictional muttered Yoshie as she read through the journal Fujiko had given her You could say we have found evidence supporting that idea said Fujiko with a nod Yoshie nodded as well Looks that way had suspected
38. a screen The news continually switched between the frightened people and the remnants of the imperial military joining together to destroy the meteor The government was insisting they could destroy it by attacking once it arrived inside the atmosphere All that s left is heading up to the station with the capsule and resting there Yes From there you can watch as the world is destroyed or not if you d prefer But once you put the empress into cold sleep you need to enter the world of the afterlife using the Robe of the Fire Rat And no one knows what will happen then Exactly agreed Yoshie I m not afraid of dying exclaimed Nonimora as she jumped up and down The Merlai say a hero can transcend death That s good to hear just hope that s proof of something said Yoshie Now it s just about time As she checked her watch the entrance opened Keena entered wearing a white dress This was not meant to be her grave clothes but it seemed she had still been given the highest quality dress to be found in the palace Other than the short sleeves it looked a lot like a wedding dress The old knight who was her chamberlain and Korone stood behind her but the old knight wordlessly stepped back after seeing her off 91 How pretty said Hiroshi Yes agreed Akuto Keena had always hated frilly clothes like that so the fact that she was actually wearing i
39. ace A chan What what did you do asked Keena worriedly sealed him in a virtual alternate dimension and made his body microscopic Akuto s tone was calm but his words contained great heat His anger had yet to cool A Chan Keena shuddered and a mixture of fear and sorrow filled her voice Y you can t do that didn t kill him did as you said he explained coolly No That wasn t what said to do Surely you understand You wouldn t normally do that kind of mean thing to me Keena was crying and confusion filled Akuto s eyes But he s working with the person who killed Junko His voice was so rough that Keena could not say anything A heavy silence followed but Korone suddenly interrupted 11 I will not argue against vengeance but do you truly understand the situation As a l Isle Adam Korone was calm and she was right about Akuto not being the same It was also possible he did not fully understand the situation The situation What s there to understand The person who caused all this is over there He pointed toward The One s flying ship Akuto understood that a member of CIMO 8 and the representative of the Republic were onboard and he could guess that Marine had used the Formless Power However the conclusion he reached was far from normal He would attack that ship and defeat the two of them That was the one and only conclusion i
40. ad already arrived so it was not difficult After all too am after the Robe of the Fire Rat see She kept the incantation gun aimed squarely on him Do you know what this is If did not would not be after it But it seems to be a pass to the world of the afterlife She tried to trick him into revealing more about his plan but he evasively shook his head Whatever the case it is not something we have any need for Based on what has happened so far assume only Akuto sama or Keena would be able to use it What a pain tried to say as little as possible but it seems the information still 46 managed to leak out That s right If you know that assume you also know why am here Do you plan to destroy it Of course do Since you understand how about you move out of the way Do you really think will after hearing that She grinned No don t simply hope to avoid unnecessary fighting if possible He sounded confident as he approached her Do not move Can t you see this She indicated the incantation gun and The One nodded can It s a gun isn t it How troublesome The odds are low but there is still a chance will be shot If you understand then stay where you are The large dog with long fur did so Just to be clear have stopped to give you a chance to rethink this If you insist ona fi
41. any times do you think travelled through time Those words held great weight But for some reason words of opposition left Hiroshi s mouth 107 But aniki would be able to Be able to what The look in Bouichirou s eyes grew sharp Despite his confusion Hiroshi was not going to let go of his theory He might be able to do a better job of it Bouichirou once again shook his head You only think that because the Law of Identity chose him Chose him The Law if Identity is the world s storyteller That means we cannot escape what has been said of us no matter what That is why attempted to exchange vows with the Law of Identity and have the story of the world changed In other words chose to have us shifted to another universe You mean there is no third option asked Hiroshi in confusion There is not said Bouichirou with a nod Think about what has happened in this world of the afterlife Why were we able to meet Was that not because it was convenient for the Law of Identity Doesn t it seem like a sort of plot convenience This aniki of yours Sai Akuto hated the stories that the people blindly believed in but hasn t he carried out the role of the protagonist in the story revolving around the Law of Identity Can he truly escape that Even in the afterlife we are merely being forced into some sort of role or another How are we to escape from the story t
42. ar gradually filled her as she stood before the cliff that continued far past the clouds and into the heavens And then she noticed something even more frightening The sky above was dark There was no sun and the dark clouds pressed heavily down on the heavens Even on a cloudy day the location of the sun was usually noticeable but there was no sun in this world Oddly enough she could still see her surroundings 101 The amount of light was halfway between darkness and a cloudy day Is this a virtual alternate dimension Suspecting that she looked to the ocean but she did not find any of the unique unnatural aspects of a virtual alternate dimension If it was one the waves would have an unnaturally steady tempo but they did not Am I dead She began to wonder if this was the afterlife Fear further crept into her l if so why am here alone To distract herself from her fear she tried thinking logically If this were the afterlife she would not be alone A lot of other people would have died along with her A anyway have to go somewhere She tried walking and found she could move along the beach She heard her footsteps on the sand She doubted she could approach the cliff so there was nowhere to go but the jungle The jungle s dense vegetation formed a green wall she could not see past Even if she had no choice but to go there being unable to tell what lay ahead made her uneasy Akuto
43. at but why are you attacking me Kei smiled How can you ask that after becoming a demon king shouted Brave He and Kei crossed paths in midair but Kei evaded Brave s charge at the last second 26 Be that as it may I m protecting the empire at the moment Kei s voice was calm but his actions contained a hint of panic He maintained the screen attacked the warships and escaped Brave s next attack Even Kei could do nothing more than avoid Brave s attacks But you re killing the Republic s citizens The high frequency blade attacked Kei but he flew away at high speed and avoided it Within a certain range of Brave mana did not function in the slightest That was how powerful his mana canceler was and it meant Kei had no way of stopping the blade The Republic s citizens are wishing for the empire s destruction What s wrong with stopping that Kei intentionally provoked Brave with his words and he spun around in midair while maintaining a distance The boy was beautiful but he contained a sinister air like a butterfly in a certain type of nightmare What is there after that shouted Brave You ll die afterwards He received an unexpected reply I know that The One didn t just want to turn me into a demon king I m sure he s given me an implant What Brave was shocked to find Kei knew that but the boy s next words were even more shocking
44. ation She had referred to that chain of transfer circles as the black magician s network and it seemed various laboratories had been located around the Merlai village The problem is that we still do not know why the black magicians disappeared she muttered The current black magicians had merely fulfilled the role of sealing those places So what happened to the originators of the black magicians and the people who created Akuto She thought about that while walking around the small building in the jungle A special transfer circle had been placed there After the final transfer she found herself near a small fortress Several entrances had been opened in a giant vertical cliff wall It looked like either a fortress or castle and it appeared to have been created by modifying a natural cave can only think this was created as a shelter She approached the nearest opening and entered but there was no illumination inside She turned on the flashlight she had brought with her and the cold light showed a corridor with exposed earth She walked down the corridor that looked like something from a mine or bomb shelter Further in the path split apart like a labyrinth and she made her way towards the deepest area while taking notes Footsteps echoed through the dark corridor She suddenly stopped because she had heard more than just her own footsteps Silence enveloped the area but once she began walking again sh
45. ay The plasma balls vanished and nothing remained in Brave s hands Nothing but horribly still and cool air lay before him He turned toward cheers coming from behind The Republic s people were leaning out of the warships clapping and cheering Hearing that reminded Hiroshi of what he had just done He had led the Republic to victory What was right and what was wrong had not mattered The fight would certainly continue toward the empire s destruction All did was defeat a mass murderer he muttered It is not wrong to enter a fight without the proper resolve but it will lead to fate toying with you Marine lined up next to Brave There are also people and things in the empire that want to protect 58 I will stop this conflict somehow or other said Marine There must be a good way of making peace with the empire already explained this A fight and a war are not the same thing Lily Shiraishi did not sound happy She was complaining to the three student council officers while preparing a flying ship in her home s yard The ship was a small one owned by her family and it was no larger than a small yacht She was currently checking the fuel and other things in the engine room But president the empire is going to lose gya said Kamiyama Kanna while watching a mana screen What will happen if we lose arinsu Guga Ootake Michie and Arnoul wer
46. bculture can bring depression as you age but that is exactly what happened to me and felt as if had witnessed the instant that a new superstition was born But my condition was nothing that lighthearted At first could not ride trains cars or buses and later suffered from chronic sleep disorders headaches and stiff shoulders In fact still have sleep problems and sudden shoulder stiffness have not made a complete recovery but should be able to continue writing somehow or other If you continue supporting me think even more strength will return to me know it is selfish but would still like to ask for your support All have released since the publication of Volume 11 are things had written beforehand and things that are not novels but please understand that have not abandoned this series know it sounds like am making excuses but want to explain the delay Now the story has reached its climax and there should be only one or two more volumes have not fully recovered and it may be another long wait but hope you will stick with me to the end would like to give my heartfelt thanks to everyone who was involved in this caused some far from ordinary problems on this one so do not have the words to properly thank my editor O sama or Itou Souichi sama Please don t abandon this worthless author Not long until the end now Please stick with me everyone 110 Credits Author Kk IE
47. both men and women I ve been studying history and the moral standard that only a man and women can have sex was a later addition Kei gave a bewitching smile Surely you can make a counterargument against this being my skill in magic think the only thing used mana for was to make myself beautiful Reading and controlling their minds was done with a more traditional kind of magic Instead of using mana read their minds from their actions and words and seduced them It s an old way of saying it but they used to call that the magic of love Kento was left utterly speechless and Kei wrapped his arms around Kento s neck You re the only one it didn t work on but that s exactly why want to work hard and win you over Do you know what mean Kento trembled as he felt terror wash over him for the first time in his life I ve created a monster But that was not what scared him The fear came from that monster turning interest and good will toward him I might be able to control this monster No only can control him can t believe didn t notice how you felt Kento took Kei s hand If someone had ever actually made a deal with the devil it had to have happened much like this Chapter 1 The Prelude to Destruction is Always Silent From the look on Morlock s face it was clear he had instantly lost all confidence He was trembling and sweating However those standard cha
48. but before he fell Marine collapsed backwards 81 Dust rose into the air and Marine stared blankly up into the sky So anger outdoes a nation he muttered That s probably the natural state of things Akuto pulled his feet out of the ground walked over to the Jewel Branch of Hourai and picked it up What will you do now asked Marine It may be hopeless but I m still going to try and stop the meteor he answered However the situation had advanced in the complete opposite of what Akuto had expected To stop the war Brave had attempted to persuade Marine s sister on the Republic s front lines but he had only succeeded once the Republic s people accepted the existence of the meteor Understood will have the military withdraw said the princess who was Marine s sister But Brave did not feel delighted that she understood This was the result of showing her the data Yoshie had sent him It was also her reaction to seeing Marine s defeat on the monitor so it was not a good sign for anyone Fd rather not point it out but isn t it a bit late to change your mind said Brave The two of them faced each other on the bridge of the princess s ship because she had invited him in to negotiate However she merely smiled calmly That is how politics work Anyway you can help the empire stop the meteor by She cut him off We will be returning to the
49. couted The One Then you understood about the Formless Power and everything else Yes understood it all from the beginning but none of you would listen to me Bouichirou gave a cynical smile It wasn t something we could believe back then Hiroshi felt guilty and tried to dodge the issue am not blaming you was working behind the scenes because knew it was something the people would never understand But The One was trying to destroy mankind I was well aware That was why attempted to complete the ceremony before he could act Bouichirou had attempted to exchange vows with the Law of Identity At the time they had not understood why his ultimate objective was to send mankind to another universe as thought entities but it made a sort sense now But that just seems unnatural What is truly unnatural is that we can move about here in the afterlife If mankind has been completely destroyed all of the Formless Power will eventually be absorbed So we cant rest easy just because this world here exists When it comes down to it mankind has only two paths available One is to be destroyed become the Formless Power and be used in another universe The other is to become thought entities and shift to another universe of our own volition But there might be another way replied Hiroshi without thinking However Bouichirou decisively shook his head How m
50. d In that case the key to all this is the Law of Identity If the Law of Identity and the empress who can communicate with her and use various special items survive we can prevent the creation of humanity s complete Formless Power But how can you ensure her survival asked Korone The Swallow Cowrie is a spaceship and a storage capsule She will be placed inside put in a state of cold sleep and sent into orbit Eh Keena was at a loss for words and a stir passed through the Suhara followers in the command room If we do that it should give us about a millennium of leeway calmly continued Yoshie A millennium What are you talking about Are you saying everyone else will die shouted Yuuko in confusion But Yoshie still remained calm and nodded You can t think of death like that If my theory is correct there is an afterlife and the Robe of the Fire Rat can be used to move to and from it Eh Then 79 Keena appeared to have realized something Yes Only the demon king can use it so this will be our plan the empress the demon king the Jewel Branch of Hourai the Robe of the Fire Rat the Dragon Neck Jewel and the Swallow Cowrie will be brought to the old space station in orbit The empress will be put in cold sleep and the demon king will enter the world of the afterlife once the meteor hits What about the other people asked Yuuko All of them mys
51. d Arnoul began moving to either side Hm so I m surrounded The One looked around The student council was used to working together so The One truly was surrounded Now then How about you just give up Lily held up a fist It is true don t think can win against all of you while in this body Despite declaring his own weakness the dog smiled fearlessly But sometimes you can get lucky should manage somehow Lucky Lily grinned I see nothing but bad luck for you here You will eventually understand said The One But before he finished speaking Lily began her attack Is that so Something could be heard cutting through the wind and Lily s hand stretched toward The One even more quickly than the sound Teh 73 The dog evaded with his canine swiftness but Lily gave a fearless smile Hah With that shout the direction of her arm turned at a ninety degree angle What Her arm was now headed for the point The One had jumped to Gwah The fist s second attack struck him on the side and sent him flying away This is my special technique Lily bared her teeth While still flying through the air The One righted himself landed on all fours and looked to Lily in surprise There shouldn t be any mana in this area I came ona yacht that loaded with a mana disseminator and energy generator Lily launched another attac
52. d certainly destroy the earth The meteor appeared to be a mass of energy rather than a rock It looked like an incandescent fluid whirling around in a spherical shape She then received a transmission from Hiroshi lt Korone chan can you hear me gt Yes she replied lt I m going to try to stop the meteor now gt Your odds of success are zero she calmly told him lt I know that but do you have to put it so plainly gt If you understand why did you continue with this lt Because have to promised would gt A promise But the result will be the same either way lt I know but want someone listening in the very end gt Understood Let us speak lt I m going to charge in with a plasma ball Can you see me gt Il can She zoomed in her vision and saw a small light in the meteor s path That was Hiroshi lt Here go Here go I m not even sure what lm supposed to say right now U um Should let out a shout l l can t think of anything gt Hiroshi san lt What gt At the very least you were a hero in the end lt Thank Ah Wah gt The transmission filled with static The light produced by Hiroshi was silently swallowed up by the light of the meteor Farewell said Korone quietly 98 The meteor further approached the earth A portion of the fluid on the surface extended toward the earth like a tornado and formed a giant
53. e concerned but they sat in the flying ship s seats and did nothing Their idle behavior irritated Lily but she could not complain too much as she knew there was nothing they could do I m willing to head out for a fight but there are times when you can t let yourself fight as a soldier But there s nothing we can do if the empire loses arinsu know that and that s why I m preparing this ship during this dangerous time You re heading out to war gya No We have some information from dealing with that dog and we ve gotten more data from Kita Yoshie so we can strike at a weakness A weakness The Formless Power is likely stored in that ship to the star In that case we just have to cut off their access to that power She closed the engine box as she spoke Now then Let s head for the Merlai village She sat in the pilot s seat and had the flying ship take off Suddenly Kanna spoke while watching her mana screen P president this isn t good gya Its a war so of course it isn t good Just calm down and don t panic have my hands full piloting 59 Lily did not turn around as she spoke Then lII just play the sounds for you gya Kanna raised the mana screen s volume lt We still have a demon king gt lt Expel Brave gt lt Don t hide the empress She s with the demon king isn t she gt lt Hurry Hurry up and bring
54. e for your own ends That isn t what mean Kento shouted out but he did not seem to know how to express his own feelings Then switch off Brave right now Are you saying it s okay if die No Yes you are It s an issue of priorities Switch him off and can defeat Brave and the 55 Republic s prince But you won t Calm down Let s work together to stop The One He s trying to utterly destroy mankind using that meteor So work with me and can defeat that dog on my own So You have an implant know those can be removed So Kei trailed off as Brave and Marine attacked from either side He and Kento remained back to back as they rotated and ascended to evade So continued Kei Switch off Brave and say three simple words Just say I love you Do that and everything will be resolved 13 Keil Kento was at a loss for words He had not spoken those words before He knew better than anyone that Keis motivations were nothing more than that and he had used that fact But could he truly say he loved Kei here Stop Kei This isn t the time for that Of course this is the time This comes down to choosing me or Brave Please wait Kento hesitated and Kei shouted angrily Answer me won t wait longer than another three seconds His intensity showed just how serious he was Three But Kento s mou
55. e he wanted to fight Marine also knew he had been set up but he had come here because he felt a need to stick to his beliefs The bait was the Jewel Branch of Hourai The One had left it on the empty rocks at the peak of the empire s tallest mountain There it glowed gold as if naturally growing on the rock Akuto and Marine faced each other on either side of it and they were both close enough to immediately reach the Branch if they ran forward had a feeling he was after this groaned Akuto But never thought he would leave the Jewel Branch of Hourai and run groaned Marine He must have set up the timing perfectly But what will you do intend to use the Branch to stop the meteor said Marine in a quiet voice containing a strong will I intend to do the same replied Akuto Then we have the same goal Can t you leave this to me could ask the same of you You have no intention of handing it over to someone else afterwards do you Akuto grinned and Marine smiled back This is an important treasure for my people couldn t possibly hand it over Then we have only one option here I would prefer to avoid this if possible Why Because this is a type of war Look there are several cameras flying around Marine pointed around their surroundings and Akuto spotted several automatic machines flying through the sky So the resolution here w
56. e once more heard someone else s footsteps I m being followed She drew her incantation gun The magic bullets could not be used without mana but she had loaded it with normal bullets In other words it was currently a normal 45 handgun She continued carefully and passed by parts of the fortress much like those below Constant Magic Academy barracks armory headquarters etc The footsteps never grew any closer or farther Finally she arrived at the metal door to what seemed to be the deepest room She placed a hand on the door it opened to either side with a weighty noise and the darkness within was exposed She pointed her light into the room and revealed a transparent case containing a black sheet shaped like a parabolic antenna Is this it she muttered She approached the case and carefully observed the sheet under the light It reacted to the light by glittering a rainbow color much like it had been covered in oil She could instinctually tell it was still functioning despite being left alone for so long Now then She turned around and shined her light back into the corridor Something cut by low to the ground It was a sluggish four legged creature Namely a dog with long fur You are The One aren t you she said That s right replied the dog As you probably know followed you Why me she asked probingly Because intercepted your transmission h
57. e village What s over there A dog s voice and Nonimora s voice as she fights gya A dog So is it The One arinsu After Michie s comment they all ran that way The tower was visible ahead of them The tower Does that mean what think it does muttered Lily The sealing capsule the ship to the star and the Swallow Cowrie were there Is The One still after something gya asked Kanna The others eyes began to glitter Does that mean there s something he still hasn t done arinsu If so it means we still have a chance Lily grinned as she and the three officers slid into the front yard of the laboratory below the tower 72 There they found The One and Nonimora fighting You really were after the village Nonimora stood at the laboratory s entrance while spinning a spear around tried to be as careful as possible but ended up putting this off until the end The One slowly approached Nonimora That was when the two of them noticed Lily s group approaching New enemies Nonimora turned a sharp glare toward Lily because she did not know the girl Noticing that look Lily audibly struck the glove on her hand Nope We re here to help The three officers walked up behind her Were here too arinsu Gya Guga The three of them prepared for combat Kanna had already fully transformed into a beast while Michie an
58. e visual images and some special combinations of words functioned as triggers but a lot about magic was still unexplained For that reason magical talent was essentially an inborn trait Madoka and Kento had been a pair of top class researchers in the field of magic but that barrier had prevented their research from progressing past that point Once they had thoroughly investigated their own inborn talent they could only search out a new talented individual Keis parents had died when he was young and he had been left with an orphanage That orphanage had contacted Kento s laboratory via a church to report that Kei had used magic when he was still too young to even speak When Madoka and Kento had arrived to investigate they had been told no one had taught Kei how to use magic Their investigation had confirmed that he had indeed controlled mana to throw a toy at a friend s head Neither Madoka nor Kento knew at whose ear the demon had whispered but it had not even taken a week for the two of them to pull some strings have Madoka legally adopt him and begin to raise him as her younger brother Kei had quickly displayed how unique he was He had created many different original pieces of magic Even when they had the same effects as traditional magic the details were always changed in some way This was to be expected though In the few years since he had come to the lab no one had been allowed to provide him any education magical o
59. eah convenience store snacks are pretty pathetic for a last meal arinsu Michie s comment put a bitter look on Lily s face That s not what meant was talking about having no way to resist this But all the stores were closed so we couldn t find anything appropriate for a last supper gya complained Kanna Shut up We aren t on death row so of course our last food isn t gonna be anything good And what would you want if you could choose Michie and Kanna thought about that before answering Rice and miso soup A rare steak with potatoes Lily gave a scornful laugh That s not much different from snacks You never ate many snacks or soda because you d gain weight so this is your only chance to eat as much as you want Go nuts Come to think of it you re right gya Melon bread has a lot of calories doesn t it arinsu With that the two of them began chowing down on the snacks Guga As a l Isle Adam Arnoul did not touch the food Oh right You don t eat Ah Headmaster Lily spoke up in surprise as the headmaster popped in behind Arnoul had nothing to do so came by to eat some snacks He reached for some potato chips You really don t have anything to do asked Lily in amazement Due to my age the temples didn t send me any job requests so just have a lot of free time he complained 85 The temples had asked
60. eceived from his link with the gods That s even further than the Merlai village Fujiko reacted to that comment lt Could you give me the exact location might be able to arrive ahead of you gt Ahead of us lt There is no mana around the Merlai village but the transfer circle network put together in the past by the black magicians still functions If use that to travel might arrive before you as you cannot transfer gt I see In that case please do And be careful Akuto sent the location to her In his current state he could gather energy in the surrounding mana and move that mana and energy along with him but he could not perform a magical transfer without a proper supply of mana and energy In that case Fujiko would indeed arrive ahead of him lt I will go on ahead and secure the area gt she assured Let s hurry Akuto urged Keena S sure Keena hesitantly agreed 44 will be going Fujiko turned toward Yoshie and Yuuko Yoshie nodded and replied Be careful The One is probably on his way there Either way it exists in an area where magic cannot be used It will not be a problem She then flipped through a memo pad she used to take notes Two transfers from the black magician village would take her to the laboratory she had found the journal in Another transfer from there and she would arrive at what seemed to be the Robe of the Fire Rat s loc
61. ed toward Akuto with a mischievous smile In that case feel like putting my will to the test Your will Can a character s will cause the story s creator to act With that she stuck out her lips and closed her eyes Wait wait Akuto was confused If the Law of Identity is mixed in with Keena chan s will she won t want us to kiss here will she This is a test to see if my will can overcome that She stuck her lips even further out Eh Wait Quit complaining C mon As she urged him further Akuto gave in and brought his lips in to kiss her However he did so on her cheek 90 Mh she groaned Damn so my will only goes that far With that comment she smiled The next day Akuto and the others prepared for their final journey after transferring to the Merlai village using the mana and energy provided by Lily s yacht They entered the laboratory below the tower and found the Merlai elder checking on the Swallow Cowrie Looks like only one person will fit said Nonimora sounding disappointed The only ones there were the Merlai elder Nonimora Akuto Hiroshi and Yoshie We can only give up said Yoshie This is destiny It was a top secret mission and it was being kept a secret from the imperial people that Keena would be joining them It feels like we re deceiving them and don t like it said Hiroshi as he watched a man
62. elerated forward to punch the dog in the face But Why His body would not budge He could not move forward or even raise his fist He felt as if he were caught in a sea of thick mud Ha ha laughed The One This is much like hypnotism When saved you made 13 sure you can do anything but attack me It s important to be careful when facing someone as powerful as you You gave me an implant It was impossible to control someone s mind with normal magic but there was a single exception implanting a device inside their body where their mana control was strongest You catch on quickly won t completely take your will from you though After all need you to use the Formless Power Kh groaned Marine You re going to have me use it again But this has already made a world war unavoidable It is true succeeded in causing a world war but my goal lies even further than that The One smiled There s more Marine s face twisted in further fear He had never considered this dog was plotting more than just a world war That s right will destroy the world in an unexpected fashion said The One coldly To do that must have you continue to use the Formless Power need your subjects to do more work for me Suddenly an alarm sounded and the side of the ship was destroyed Both of their expressions changed to confusion After boarding the s
63. elf included will die said Yoshie jokingly Every single one W wait understand you re hesitant but we have no choice declared Yoshie Silence fell and it was Keena that broke it But what will A chan do in the afterlife don t know Eh I really don t Know It s possible he ll be able to bring everyone back it s possible there ll be nothing he can do and it s possible only he ll be able to come back Yoshie shook her head as she spoke W wait How irresponsible can you be protested Yuuko Emotionally I m against it too but we have no other option Yoshie shrugged Punch be punched and heal Akuto and Marine repeated that process countless times Despite wounds they could not heal in time appearing on their bodies they continued to give more wounds to each other Each strike was enough to easily smash stone but they were receiving those blows again and again What good is being so stubborn if it won t even stop the war It s better than refusing a ceasefire because of a grudge over a girl You won t gain anything by winning here This is more valuable than your outburst of anger 80 Even so the speed of their barrages began to drop After a punch they would rest and their shoulders would rise and fall as they gasped for breath Aren t you just about out of strength Your chin is rising You have
64. ely aware that he was using this to punish himself The Formless Power was indeed something humans should not toy with Marine s attitude caused Akuto to stop his barrage of fists for an instant What are you doing asked Akuto A proper man only loses his cool when a relative or lover is killed so assumed that 16 was the case for you now But you also appeared to be the kind of man who can bear the weight of a nation so felt it was my duty to be punched by you until you calm down and we can talk as equals Akuto replied by letting out a quiet breath but his anger was far from gone He raised his fist and shouted out In that case take it without guarding I ll end it in a single blow He was being unreasonable but the demon king s words were persuasive Marine lowered his guarding arm without thinking Kh He was prepared If this would be the final blow that was for the best This was his punishment for being deceived However the expected impact never arrived Don t A high pitched voice slipped between the two of them Akuto s fist stopped and Marine s body stiffened This had been entirely unpredictable so the two of them had easily been caught off guard Nonimora slipped between them and kissed Akuto Wha The softness of her lips robbed Akuto of all strength and the flames of hatred vanished from his eyes Marine was utterly dumbfounded Nonimora then ro
65. ely the closest to the truth But He tried to rebut her without thinking but she continued before he could This is your mistake Up until now and also at this very moment you have continued to make a very small mistake You entrusted your thoughts to me and did not oppose the flow of events even as you opposed the expectations of the people This is the result pray that you do not make this mistake next time She did not blame him or rebuke him She merely spoke the truth He did not understand what she meant Or rather he did not want to understand It was a tad abrupt but she was certainly speaking about his own sin This Law of Identity had saved him a few times in the past both when Yamato Bouichirou had been performing his ritual with her and when he had remained on the moon with Zero However she had now made a sudden appearance and started questioning him My mistake don t think I ve let myself be swept away by events and thought you were something like a savior That is your mistake You have rejected the fictitious story but if it is fictitious it also means the story of me being a savior is fictitious am nothing more than me Unless you can reject all stories to the point of contradicting causality it is all a mistake said the Law of Identity coolly 23 What He vaguely understood what she meant but if that was the case What am supposed to do Please tell
66. enius but you can t accomplish anything with that weak mind Thats the problem with you He fired a mana sphere at Kento while rebuking him but he restricted the power Even with the handicap of an injured arm Kento was able to easily block it And yet I ve coordinated so much and taken action to save the world That isn t what meant Also coordination and scheming aren t for the average person The One outdid you in both of those things Various desires spiraled and danced through the air No progress was being made and Marine and Brave stood back to back in midair Can kill that man asked Marine Brave shook his head He has the suit s controller We have to get it away from him first Understood will determine what the controller is and take it from him You take care of the demon king while handle him Splitting up the work huh Got it Brave moved to the right and Marine to the left They then approached Kei and Kento from either side Oh no Kento was more worried now because the two of them working together made a great difference He began to panic He made up his mind and moved back to back with Kei We need to work together as well suppose have to agree Kei glared harshly at Kento By the way why don t you switch off Brave Because still need him can t have him dying You re still going to take use someon
67. er what asked in front of the tower about whether you were prepared to die What about it gya What did you mean by that arinsu think was hoping to die in battle If this is the end think wanted to go out in blaze of glory But in reality have to sit around eating snacks as the end arrives She gave a self deprecating smile That s another form of youth said the headmaster quietly I doubt it will cool your blood but not everyone can be a hero When giving up is the only option you should do so 86 wanted to do everything in an exciting way Just like all things the end of the world happens quietly and with gradual decline It was apparently the same with the civilizations that were destroyed in the past However this may not be the end That boy may still do something Sai Akuto muttered Lily Meanwhile someone was going through his final goodbyes with his girlfriend Hiroshi and Yuuko were walking along a beach Sorry this wasn t very exciting apologized Yuuko Hiroshi frantically shook his head Don t be This wasn t your fault None of the stores were opened in town and our conversations all took a depressing turn Yeah but this feels weird The world is supposed to be destroyed soon And even if not everyone will die She stared out to sea as she spoke l it ll be fine Even if we die we wont really die That is th
68. ere s an afterlife s so it ll be fine even if we die Despite his words it did not feel real to him heard all that from Yoshie san but can we really believe that mean didn t really understand it all but she said we might be nothing more than characters in a story someone thought up She clung to him and could not hide her unease He felt the weight of her body and found he simply could not believe what Yoshie had said It really is strange What does it mean that this world might be fictional I know If we die we ll die won t we don t want that Yeah He could only nod And Hiroshi kun you ll be taking Keena chan the empress into space won t you And then won t be able to see you We have no choice he said amid his confusion It s an important job and it s possible everyone can be revived if it goes well But despite his words he simply could not believe it 87 That isn t going to happen shouted Yuuko I ve been thinking about it myself and I m definitely me She pressed her face into his chest and cried l it ll be okay Once Brave Once finish the mission can do whatever want so l Il stop the meteor on my own can fly through space so Yuuko looked up at that Really Really l Il protect you lIl protect mankind You re amazing You re a real hero Don t worry l Il
69. f it is possible for the dead to be resurrected don t you think I m doing the right thing Brave s hand stopped moving and he did not say anything about how ridiculous that idea was He had an open line to the control room Yoshie and the others were speaking in so he had heard everything they had said Then why are you protecting the empire If they re going to die anyway why not let them die now There is a proper order to things The users of the Formless Power must die first You mean Brave trailed off It seemed Kei had already been aware of what Fujiko had learned His words now possessed some persuasive power If the Formless Power was a collective consciousness then it could easily be related to the world of the afterlife Brave no longer knew who was truly trying to save the world and who was truly trying to destroy it Yoshie no longer did either Defeating me means the true end of the world said Kei as a challenge Tch What am supposed to do Brave hesitated But then a boy s face appeared in his mind Even if that s true that s a job for aniki There was more than one demon king Brave shouted and charged forward This caught Kei off guard and the high frequency blade tore through his chest He just barely avoided a lethal blow but the damage was clear Waaah he shouted He could not heal this wound that he normally would have healed instant
70. g Many people have thought about the possibility of this world being fictional One could be sure of their own existence but the possibility remained that the world they saw was an illusion However a clear counterargument existed to that example the existence of others If a person existed they also had to accept the existence of others who think If they accepted that the deaths of others were equal to their own death they could conclude that no one person s death would bring about the end of the world In that case the world would continue on after their own death But there was one way in which the world could be a falsehood that could not be proven one way or the other What if the entire world were someone s dream To that question alone there was no clear answer That worldview could be achieved by assuming a god created the world or the world was a Story written by someone but the existence of that god or storyteller could not be proven from within this world Until now that is What is this Although if that is true Fujiko had trembled The world was fictional The research mentioned in that journal had given that answer As it had said If someone could peer into the afterlife and return from there they could prove this world is fictional That result had not brought a chill to people s spines Instead any who knew the truth had been driven mad Peering into the afterlife and returning mea
71. ght you will almost certainly die He spoke as calmly and steadily as if he were reading off a list of facts but she only sneered Don t be ridiculous You can t use magic here and have a gun Do you understand what that means do It is you who does not understand what it means to be unable to use magic What she asked with a mocking smile But his attitude did not change First you have no assistance for your muscle strength With magic you subconsciously strengthen your muscles At the moment you will be unable to control the gun s recoil You are unlikely to hit me You re bluffing she shouted back However his voice remained calm Second my body is currently that of a dog You do not know how a dog fights Its physical strength claws and teeth are all highly dangerous to a human Even if you hit me with a single handgun bullet can still take you down with me So what are you saying She had started to tremble now 47 As said before move out of the way Even the best possible result for you is to injure me at the cost of your life In the worst case you will die without accomplishing anything The One was very persuasive but Fujiko still did not back down I can t let that happen She held out her left hand and held the incantation gun in her right 48 hee it a i y That would be a decent stance for a normal dog You sac
72. hat am using is the latter So let me ask again why did The One return the Jewel Branch of Hourai Akuto took a fighting stance as he asked and Marine instinctually did the same However his expression made it clear he did not understand why the boy had done SO Wasn t it because that meteor is his goal don t understand why you keep asking about this If my people s Formless Power can be controlled using the Branch should be able to deal with the meteor You are right about that but there is one thing you don t understand What Marine frowned You cant control the will of your people with the Branch shouted Akuto as he threw a fist Marine caught the fist on his arm and was blown backwards Gh S So that s it The Branch releases the Formless Power but to control it He muttered bitterly but soon shook his head No Even if that s the case my people have mastered the use of the Formless Power He charged toward Akuto and threw a fist of his own 63 Akuto guarded against the fist and was also blown backwards Gah I m trying to say that arrogance is a mistake The One has predicted that is impossible Akuto charged forward once more and swung his fist Marine swung his fist toward Akuto at the same time Their fists crashed into each other and great sound and light scattered throughout the area Impossible Yes and agree The
73. hat has been told of us How are we to escape this eerie story structure Hiroshi had no way of arguing against that But if you can travel through time Even so he grew oddly stubborn It would seem time in this world is linear just like the human mind no just like a story This is not a world of theoretical physics where the theory of relativity applies That is why time travel is possible but that linearity is another part of being a story In other words no matter how much you attempt to correct it everything will be drawn back to the set story Bouichirou thoroughly explained the issue But Hiroshi trailed off as he suddenly realized why he was so intent on there being a third option He was not content with his role of hero Can t you at least tell me how to travel through time If you do I can He could not speak further but he wanted to use this meeting with Bouichirou the best 108 he could You can what asked the man coldly I can be the one to try to escape the story this time His voice was low yet determined 109 Afterword It has been a while but this is Mizuki Shoutarou am truly sorry for the long wait and must thank everyone who looked forward to this novel and bought it After finished writing Volume 11 was troubled by a panic disorder and the depression it brought so was unable to write for an entire year and a half They say a su
74. he suit on his hands However he seriously doubted the suit was functioning He had been unable to fly or 105 attack and the monitor light within the visor was not lit Even so he could see through it and his movements were not obstructed If the battery had simply died the suit would have been much heavier He doubted he had simply been brought here as he was when he died It seemed more likely one took on their image of themselves in the afterlife In that case the people meet here might also appear as they envision themselves However he saw no one in the forest and he could not think of any dead person that he wanted to meet As he thought he found a path out of the forest It appeared to be a narrow animal trail but the trees thinned out as it went along and it led to a clearing Is there anyone who was already dead that want to meet He worried over that question and then a certain man s face came to mind Come to think of it By the time he thought that the man was already next to him didn t expect to meet you here said a calm voice A man sat on a stump further along the path Yamato Bouichirou muttered Hiroshi This was the man who had given him the Brave suit he was the enemy who had once put together CIMO 8 and he was a time traveler Thinking about it now he was also the person who had most thoroughly understood the structure of the world So it is you said Bo
75. him but she merely stood in place without speaking He turned toward her and spoke once more What is this Where did we go wrong 51 They need the resolve to bear the people s mistakes said Marine He had answered a question of Nonimora s while flying over the ocean So that is what you view as the qualification for being a king Nonimora nodded but did not seem to agree But that thinking may not bring an end to this conflict Perhaps not but have a way of taking responsibility if it comes to that They could see Kei and Brave fighting ahead of them No it was not just Kei and Brave The situation had grown extremely complicated Brave was fighting Kento who stood in his way Kei and Kento were also fighting and Kei was continuing to fight the Republic Marine and Nonimora immediately grasped how chaotic the situation was Why are you protecting Kei now shouted Brave The situation has changed know what The One is after now He s trying to return mankind to nothingness Kento was desperately trying to persuade Brave to stop but he also had to persuade someone else This doesn t change the fact that you betrayed me You used Brave to try to kill me Kei had grown emotional Brave was trying to attack Kei but Kento was blocking the way with his own body Kei was repeatedly attacking Kento while limiting himself to nonlethal damage Lastly the Republic s wars
76. hip with overwhelming power Akuto appeared from beyond the broken pieces and smoke This normally unthinkable sight left both The One and Marine speechless Abnormal was the only word to describe this boy who had approached almost before the alarm could sound broke cleanly through several dozen walls and then casually walked inside Don t bother trying to justify your actions said Akuto His voice was so low it was almost a growl Marine felt his blood run cold yet also felt as if he were fascinated by the boy The fear was so great that it transformed into a sort of attraction The same went for The One see you ve come to deliver death cursed one The One s shout held fear and some amount of praise but his actions were those of someone driven solely by fear With the Jewel Branch of Hourai in his mouth he quickly jumped onto the seat shaped like a dog bed I am not senile enough to face you head on 14 The entire cockpit was closed off by a shutter and a change in air pressure could be heard on the other side The cockpit had likely been ejected from the flying ship Normally Akuto would likely have pursued The One and broken through the shutter but he was far from sensible at the moment His actions had no advance warning You killed Junko He mindlessly charged toward Marine and launched an attack Marine moved his hands to deflect the attack but the surging pressure was too great He im
77. hips were sending a stream of intense attacks toward Kei because they saw this as their chance What is going on Question marks filled Nonimora s head don t know but this may be a good opportunity to stop the conflict Marine flew high into the sky and began calling out to the Republic s warships 52 Wise citizens of the Republic The attacks from the warships ceased Our objective was not the defeat of the empire he continued We have already obtained the Formless Power so we must find peace immediately lt You are too soft brother gt A voice from a warship answered him A mana screen opened over the sea and displayed a beautiful girl with dark skin She bore a resemblance to Marine lt Surely you have not forgotten what that demon king has done And our family must directly guide the people gt She wore elegant clothing and she made large gestures with her hands as she shouted at her older brother We must stop this conflict even if it means departing from that he shouted back The girl shook her head lt No The people wish to fight You saw the miracle that occurred the instant the Formless Power resided within us And that miracle has yet to end gt Her face was flushed and a hint of intoxication could be seen in her voice Why can you not see that was a mistake he shouted in irritation We have done nothing more than bring death to innocent people
78. hysical weapons had stopped attacking but the rain of colorless flames caused by the Formless Power continued to pour down on the empire That showed just how much the Republic s people hated the empire Well the surface is out of the question said Yoshie 78 She opened a mana screen that displayed a simulation of the meteor strike When the giant meteor struck the earth it created an explosion large enough to penetrate the atmosphere and it tore up the earth s crust The shockwave that spread in a ring circled all the way around the planet and blasted upwards on the opposite side like a volcano eruption Simply put everything from the surface to a few kilometers up would be utterly destroyed and very few humans lived more than three kilometers above ground We could flee to space but our resources would not last said Korone The moon base had been destroyed and the space station had lost almost all functionality Listen I ve thought about this as rationally as could and well it would take a while to explain but the only one to truly survive will be Soga Keena said Yoshie Eh Yuuko was dumbfounded Keena looked shocked and leaned toward Yoshie W wait We can t let that happen What do you mean But Yoshie was perfectly calm As said it would take a while to explain First we have to assume my theory is correct That is the theory that this world is a fiction someone create
79. ies with you Marine nodded I trusted my people Think of that as foolish if you wish believe have done something inexcusable but did save the land from a nuclear weapon want you to understand that it was a good power as well Akuto shook his head How am supposed to accept that And if so what are we supposed to do We can only hope that the good power surpasses the evil Marine s voice made it clear he did not believe it himself A chan Keena had watched the entire series of events from the ground That of course included Nonimora kissing Akuto She understood it had been unavoidable given the situation but it still made her chest ache If someone was going to kiss him to calm him down she had wanted it to be her Having someone else steal that role had been more of a shock than she had thought it would be 18 Shall we let that native have it later asked Korone who stood next to Keena She was likely being considerate in her own way but Keena could not smile We can t do that I see Unfortunate It is not unfortunate Keena sighed and the other three descended from the sky A gloomy atmosphere filled the air Akuto and Marine s mouths were shut tight and Nonimora s expression was grim A chan Keena called out to him but he only gave a quick nod Will you be pursuing The One asked Korone We have no other choice replied
80. ill only intensify the war certainly don t like that However that was not an agreement with Marine s statement But even so want to end this with my own hands That is because you lost someone important to you isn t it sympathize with you but I m not the person you should fight to settle that 61 Nevertheless Marine did not reject the idea of fighting I m not so sure Akuto shook his head You bear the deeds of your people see am merely being stubborn for my people s sake so perhaps can t advance beyond that level Marine gave a self deprecating smile When that smile suddenly stiffened it acted as a sign and he stepped toward the Jewel Branch of Hourai Akuto also stepped forward to stop him Hoo Marine let out a breach Hah Akuto cried out The two of them struck simultaneously and the sound of clashing flesh was intense Marine s left hand diverted Akuto s right fist and Akuto s left elbow deflected Marine s right fist Kh Akuto took a step back and brought a hand to his elbow Marine s left hand must have also been damaged because he stepped back and wrapped his right hand around the fingers of his left For the moment they were even In the end have you ever thought about what the Formless Power is suddenly asked Akuto You re asking that now Marine sounded suspicious and Akuto s face twisted in se
81. k Bringing those two things would allow one to use magic and the area was already densely filled with mana but it was the same for the enemy In that case can fight on even footing The One created a mana shield to block Lily s attack Mana light was deflected with a dull noise but Lily still looked confident Even footing We aren t even She began launching attack after attack into the shield that had defended against her Ohl The One cried out in surprise as the impact knocked the shield and him away Ohh Not bad said Nonimora cheerfully Don t underestimate someone who gets into as many fights as do Lily proudly placed a hand on her hat Now there s a lot want to ask you about She cracked her fingers and approached The One He seemed to have taken damage because his canine mouth was gasping for breath Heh Do you think you ve already won Whether it was a bluff or not scorn filled his voice but Lily paid it no heed 74 have already won In fact a little puppy can t put up a satisfying fight She launched the next attack and the single tremendous impact instantly broke through The One s shield Her anger had clearly increased her strength Ohhh The One was beginning to panic Once her fist instantly sank into his forehead his voice of confusion became a scream Gyaaaah His forehead was pressed down his jaw was slammed to the
82. ke a hanged corpse but there was no rope around her slender neck She floated in the air and an invisible power held her there A single girl stood below that corpse She wore a white dress and looked up at the corpse with a bright smile She stared up at what had been her stepsister just got rid of her a bit She was in the way She was ignoring me and trying to have fun on her own How could allow that Trying to have fun Kento contemplated what the girl had said while turning back toward him The dead no murdered girl was named Katayama Madoka She had been his lover and that was undoubtedly what this girl meant by trying to have fun Was she disgusted by the sexual pleasure so commonly seen during puberty Whether that was the case or not her words were likely based in jealousy dJealousy However Kento knew that could not be the case He was one of the few people who knew this girl was actually a boy who anyone would think looked like a girl His name was Sakura Kei After his parents had died Madoka had taken him in and raised him as her younger brother Of course she had done so out of more than pure good will Kei had abnormal talent in magic Mana reacted to the state of one s mind but that mana was nothing more than nanomachines that were made to mechanically react to brainwaves The effect the brain waves produced in the mana depended on the image in the individual s head Som
83. kun 25 You mean it s Sakura Kei The two girls exchanged a glance That was precisely who it was Kei had singlehandedly forced back the Republic s army on the front of the Imperial Capital s defensive line He floated in the air while filled with a divine light as he destroyed the enemy ships one after another He looked less like a demon king than he did an angel of god passing judgment never thought was worthwhile enough to protect the capital muttered Kei He put up a screen to block the colorless flames that the Formless Power sent falling from the heavens and he used his remaining power to sink the warships It was not easy work but it was possible for him in his current state I ve never felt more alive But the next opponent who arrived over the sea was someone even Kei would have difficulty dealing with Tch This isn t good he said I didn t expect you to show up His gaze was turned toward Brave who was approaching like a missile just above the ocean surface Anti demon king mode lt Understood Switching to anti demon king mode gt A mana canceler activated around Brave and a device began absorbing the surrounding mana should have an overwhelming advantage like this Brave aka Miwa Hiroshi called out to Kei He was not using any kind of telepathy as the two of them were close enough to hear each other s physical voices know th
84. led out a pendant hanging from her neck It was Peterhausen s fang In this case it could be called the Dragon Neck Jewel see Come to think of it there s a good chance The One is also after the Robe of the Fire Rat said Korone And if he was not after the Dragon Neck Jewel he likely knows where it is She then turned to Marine We will pursue The One and acquire both the Jewel Branch of Hourai and the Robe of the Fire Rat He probably wants to get those before us Who knows what he wants to do with them though Akuto and Marine exchanged a glance but quickly parted ways Okay let s go Akuto took Keena s hand Let us go as well Marine and Nonimora flew up into the sky 43 lt Where is the Robe of the Fire Rat gt asked Fujiko Akuto turned toward Keena but she had a somehow blank look Really what s the matter Well You re scary right now A chan You aren t listening to what say and think what you re doing is somehow wrong How is it wrong don t know how to say it but feel like you re doing something wrong She tried to continue but Peternhausen s fang suddenly began to glow Just as it had before a beam of light extended from it and indicated a point in the distance That way Akuto narrowed his eyes in the direction of the light He could not actually see it but he was comparing it to the map information he r
85. lf condemnation was definitely wrong about something The One left the Jewel Branch of Hourai and fled That is very odd That is indeed odd quietly agreed Marine In front of my people could not back away from the Jewel Branch of Hourai or pursue The One but That s right It means he no longer needs the Branch Akuto s assertion caused Marine s cheek to twitch So that s it should have realized it sooner Sending this meteor was The One s goal He used the Branch to call in the meteor That s my guess So answer me What is the Formless Power At Akuto s insistence Marine answered 62 have given it constant thought and believe it is a manifestation of the people s wills agree but if that s all it is don t you find it strange Find what strange Your Formless Power appears to be controlling mana and producing energy Of course It has long been said that is how to use it And we are indeed descendants of a mana civilization But the power your people used to burn away the imperial mainland appeared to be different Mh Marine began to think What if there are two Formless Powers asked Akuto Marine froze in place That would make sense There is a Formless Power that is awoken by the Jewel Branch of Hourai and a Formless Power that is sealed in the capsule located in the Merlai village W
86. like silhouette was visible deep inside I could easily remove the implant with my surgical tools but there would be some mental danger she explained Most implants had traps in place in case of external contact The type that actually exploded was a problem but the ones that applied mind influencing magic were even more dangerous I can handle an implant suddenly said Nonimora What do you mean asked Korone The girl nodded confidently We have long taught about implants and how to remove them Come to think of it your village has preserved some lost techniques You don t do this anymore If you remove the trap while having hem hem it can t affect the mind as much She puffed her chest out proudly That truly is a mystery of life said Korone in understanding I ll do it Come over here good looking Nonimora beckoned Marine over She was oddly nonchalant about it but Akuto and the others knew what hem hem meant in that village Are you serious asked Akuto Don t be rude Of course I m serious said Nonimora with a serious expression But you shouldn t show it off to too many people outside of a festival so we ll go to that thicket over there Eh Wait Akuto and Marine both spoke up in confusion but Korone and Nonimora grabbed Marine from either side and took him toward the thicket Well if you can remove the implant will do wha
87. llective consciousness of some sort of life form Keena s inability to use it meant she could not access the Formless Power but there was no way of knowing if it was due to an internal factor or an external factor Why want to stop A chan need to stop him just this once Keena s shouts vanished futilely into the sky as Akuto approached the flying ship Physical bullets and energy bullets poured down on him but he completely ignored them A small pillar of smoke rose from one side of the disk shaped ship and he easily broke through its armor Marine was horrified by what he himself had done He had chosen to use the Formless Power but he had never expected this result He had used the power to stop the nuclear weapon but a portion of the imperial coast had utterly vanished The Formless Power reacts well to a collective consciousness explained The One The people of the Republic greatly wished for this He looked like a speaking dog but he claimed to be a thought entity using the dog as its host At the moment that alien seemed just like a demon He had predicted this result and yet had Marine use the Formless Power You tricked me shouted Marine But The One only laughed Ha ha ha If you give power to a living being it will always lead to the same result If you claim this wasn t a trick what do you call it In that instant Marine gave up on negotiating with The One He acc
88. ly and this was of course due to Brave s mana canceler Shit Shit He cursed and descended so Brave followed 39 Set high temperature plasma balls Brave spoke those words as a death sentence and spheres of explosive destruction appeared around him A heat resistant sheet covered him as he charged toward Kei This is over He approached Kei and the boy s expression froze over He could not use his usual power and he did not have even a single method of evading Please wait In that instant someone slipped between the two of them Wha oy Brave and Kei were both dumbfounded To their surprise it was Kento who transferred in between them Please stop Please don t defeat him now Why Kento shouted Brave He could not stop and a high temperature plasma ball instantly burned away Kento s outstretched left arm Gwaaaah His scream trailed down to the ocean What is going on asked Yoshie Whatever is happening this could not get much worse replied Kento What was Kento thinking But it seemed Yoshie was looking at a different mana screen than the one monitoring Brave What is it A meteor She was clearly confused A meteor Fujiko peered at the mana screen Yoshie was watching She had a bad feeling about what she would find 40 The screen showed a small glowing star visible in the daytime sky
89. me No one knows that but the past can teach us what our mistakes were That is all there is to it It is said in the world of man that with great power comes great responsibility but the truth is that great power allows an individual to grant their desires However this always leads to an effect You re talking about causality Are you trying to say you alone are god No am the beginning of one s sense of self am the starting point have existed since the dawn of time so have seen many mistakes But not even know what is right What is right is defined by the desires of whoever has power No hope could be found in that answer Are you saying it s my fault that I ve lost so much Yes But even so you must continue as you have before You can t mean that Akuto was dumbfounded and he realized she had nothing more to say to him The look in Keena s eyes returned to normal and the usual Keena was back When an embarrassed Marine and an oddly refreshed Nonimora returned Keena was sadly staring at Akuto 24 Chapter 2 Concerning Life that Should Finally End The progress of the battle could not have been worse As Kita Yoshie and Hattori Yuuko were monitoring the situation from the control room they were two of the very few in the empire who understood the entirety of the situation lt The Hokkaido region has been wiped out gt lt Cities in Kyushu have suddenly
90. med the same was true of the others because their eyes opened wide as well That s right He spoke sadly as if he had given what answer he could so Lily said something else Just to be clear we can t detect anything outside the solar system No you can t But there is something beyond there another universe The One seemed to feel more leeway because he began speaking like a teacher In other words this world ends within the solar system asked Lily to make sure Yes This world goes no further than that and the other world is more or less the same So you broke through the barrier and passed between worlds to come here Yes but was only able to come as a thought entity What you refer to as the Formless Power is an aggregation of the minds belonging to the aliens like me Wait Aren t there two different types of Formless Power asked Lily Yes We are That is the alien thought entities are stored in this tower He pointed a front paw toward the tower using what limited movement was available to him That s the power Marine and use isn t it asked Nonimora Yes but the Jewel Branch of Hourai created to control it ended up able to release the full Formless Power That comment gave Lily a very bad feeling The full Formless Power she shuddered You mean the Formless Power the Republic s people are using is mankind s Formless Power
91. mediately used the Formless Power The light of compressed mana and a different blinding light burst between the two of them Kh Ghl They both groaned and put some distance between each other Heat seemed to hang in the air between the two of them That power Akuto raised his voice Is that the power you used to kill Junko This pOwer Marine looked at his hands in confusion He had indeed used a power different from his own to fight and that power was the one which the Republic s people had used to burn away a portion of land It was the Formless Power That mysterious power was activated by a human will and brought about incredible destruction Also it was a forbidden power that The One had urged him to use He had indeed felt his own will activate that power and he understood it had been his fear of Akuto and his sense of self preservation that had led him to do so Was it that malice you used to kill her roared Akuto He obtained a tremendous burst of power that surged out as physical pressure A sphere of mana burst out from Akuto Gwoh Marine used the Formless Power once more because his body would have been torn apart by the shockwave otherwise As proof the flying ship exploded from the inside 15 Marine did not want to think about how great a force it would have taken to accomplish that A flying battleship like that had armor almost as thick as a tank bu
92. n his mind He was being motivated by nothing but anger Ohhhhh he roared He kicked off the ground and that was enough to whip up the wind Keena and Korone covered their faces Don t By the time Keena shouted Akuto was already far into the sky She could see him flying directly toward the ship while enveloped in a shockwave Empress please seal the demon king s power astutely instructed Korone Right agreed Keena She had forgotten but the empress had the ability to seal the demon king s and therefore Akuto s power She had been using that ability to release his powers when necessary but now she felt it was more necessary to seal them As empress seal the demon king s She started her proclamation but trailed off and looked at her hands in confusion What is it asked Korone H huh l I can t do it She shook her head as if it would bring back the sensation she had felt previously You can t do it repeated Korone Eh Not now This is the one time actually need it C mon C mon She waved her hands around a few times but nothing happened You can t use the imperial power muttered Korone She was not simply restating the problem She was thinking about what the source of 12 that imperial power was The Formless Power That was supposedly a power of the mind that existed independent of mana and it was apparently the co
93. n t trained enough As they insulted each other they punched the other in the gut can t believe we re fighting when we might all be destroyed soon said Marine Long ago there were stories about all mankind joining together when an extra universal threat arrived Akuto gave a cynical smile Looks like those were lies There were also stories of the world being united by a great wise man or dictator Those were lies too It s a bit heartbreaking but guess it doesn t matter Agreed By the way aren t you about at your limit spat out Marine while gasping for breath Not even close said Akuto while panting heavily Liar Then let s settle this Lets see which is stronger the willpower of a nation or anger over a girl s death Hearing that Marine smiled as blood flowed from his lips Sure The two of them raised their fists and the air around them roared Two whirlwinds spun up and formed tornados that crashed into each other In the center the two of them clashed fists Blood spray pieces of flesh and fragments of bone mixed into the tornados It must have lasted for several minutes but then they suddenly stopped and the tornados vanished The two battered men were visible once more Their fists had lost their original form and they pressed those simple masses of flesh into each other s face Akuto s knees bent and he wobbled
94. nges went farther than normal Sweat poured down his face without end and that sweat was scattered about by his intense trembling The sight that had so badly scared such a skilled spy was Akuto The boy s expression was truly demonic The usual attractiveness of his face made it all the more frightening now that it was twisted with pure and undiluted intent to kill was trying to find a good enough reason to kill you and now I ve found it As Akuto spoke all mana vanished from the surrounding area Even if it was in small quantities mana existed in all parts of the atmosphere so its disappearance meant Akuto had instantly gathered it all in his hand Impossible shouted Morlock without thinking Even the most powerful magic users were unable to accomplish anything like that Moving the energy that allowed mana to function was one thing but moving the mana itself required the mental power to grasp the locations of each and every particle Akuto moved his finger ever so slightly That was enough to pin Morlock in the air and pull him forward as if by magnetism Please don t kill me Don t kill him Two voices overlapped One belonged to Morlock and the other to Keena Don t kill An excellent sentiment And would prefer to not have to kill Keena s expression relaxed in relief But those words sounded crueler than a death sentence to Morlock who had experienced many brutal battles in the
95. nt to be resurrected All of the religions in the past had included the concept of resurrection That belief in resurrection may have come from mankind instinctually realizing their world was fictional If someone who died and returned possessed identical thoughts it would prove an 34 afterlife existed And the existence of a world after death would suggest someone existed outside this world That someone would be a true god They would be a god of the outside world If that resurrection were undoubtedly true it would make it possible for reality to be fictional It could be a fictional world created by the god of the outside world The journal had spent quite a few pages on proving the existence a world after death but the important line was as follows After being sent to and from the afterlife Specimen 1 became known as the demon king Akuto sama was also resurrected Did the original demon king do the same As Fujiko recalled what Akuto had done her trembling had intensified As she had continued reading the journal the unknown lab head s thoughts had continued in an even more frightening direction The demon king was a weapon and a portion of the network of systemized computer gods but why did he gain his power That required thinking about the Law of Identity At face value that was the undeniable principle that you were yourself The fact that you were the person who was thinking your thoughts could not be
96. nt to spread destruction Lily alone was able to speak and The One laughed off her question Ha ha Of course not I m not Sakura Kei The Formless Power works as an infinite power in its world but once it destroys a race it is released outside the world once more You could say it grows volatile So if mankind is destroyed Precisely The Formless Power will grow volatile and will be able to free it Or to put it in more common terms my race will finally be able to rest in peace It is only natural to not want the minds of your race to be used as mere power The One began laughing as if he had gone insane Lily and the others felt something cold sinking in their stomachs If that were the truth a truly repulsive fate awaited them Humanity would be destroyed wander the universe aS a group consciousness and ultimately begin the destruction of another universe s thought entities What the hell refuse to believe that It sounds like a curse Lily shouted out but not at The One or anyone at all However The One still sneered at her Hah That s right It s a curse The universe itself is structured like a curse If you TT understand then settle down and be destroyed There is no stopping it now He laughed triumphantly and Lily gathered strength in the hand reaching toward his throat Don t laugh Gh His face began to change color Even with his canine face
97. out the demon king gt A great number of people were shouting Lily turned around once the ship ascended and stabilized A protest The footage showed a crowd gathered around the palace and criticizing the government It wasn t that long ago they were speaking out against the demon king They sure are busy Lily s face twisted in displeasure So what s so bad about this she asked Kanna Don t you think a certain someone is likely to appear in response to all this gya That idiot won t do that He always does what he thinks is right rather than what the people want Although that could be a problem if someone manipulates him using that fact A problem If it were me I d try to have him face the Republic s prince The proper bait is out there so it d be possible Lily grinned Now that s the kind of cruelty expect from you gya Kanna smiled innocently and Lily extended an arm to slap her Don t say things like that If someone with as refreshing a personality as me can come up with that idea there s no way a real bad guy wouldn t Refreshing W well anyway gya hope that doesn t happen gya Of course but unfortunately we have to predict the kind of endings that no one wants Lily felt as if she were speaking of a friend s misfortune 60 Chapter 4 AWonderful World Akuto knew he had been set up but he had come here becaus
98. protect you lIl protect you As he repeated himself he was not sure if he was lying telling the truth trying to end the current conversation or deceiving Yuuko Nevertheless he felt lying was the one thing he could not do And then the concept of death seemed to assault him He had almost died countless times but the feeling this time was completely different l ll protect you He repeated himself again and kissed Yuuko We now have permission to go through with the plan The official story is that Soga Keena is escaping to space Yoshie gave that report upon entering the conference room in the Merlai village Only Akuto was inside that conference room the Robe of the Fire Rat sat in front of him and he was reading the user s manual The official story he asked while looking up from the manual The Robe of the Fire Rat and its effects haven t been accepted by the public In fact I m not even sure if it ll actually work It will immediately cut in Akuto Eh It will work Etou san protected it with her life so it has to Without Fujiko the odds were good The One would have destroyed it True If The One felt the need to destroy it it must have some effect You can put it that way too Akuto nodded and turned back toward the object shaped like a small parabolic antenna 89 Whether it works or not we won t know what happens until we try it
99. ption available Please be prepared Korone reached into her bag and pulled out a futon The bag contained a virtual alternate dimension It was dependent on the energy on the surface so it was working now and would not once the surface was destroyed That would likely be the final tool Korone would produce Why a futon asked Akuto Once the empress awakens must be there for her This futon uses special fibers If 92 place it over me and shut down my functions should remain fresh for a millennium I see Wait remain fresh Korone s response partially filled Akuto with exasperation You could say it extends my expiration date As they spoke the meteor began to fill the entire area of the window Oh not long now muttered Hiroshi Korone elbowed him in the side oy He gave her a questioning look and she lay down in the futon will be going to sleep See you next life Hiroshi then caught on Oh See ya aniki There s something have to go do What s that Even if its hopeless need to try and stop the meteor If I m going to die regardless the more exciting way is better right With that he left the airlock without looking back After a quiet psh of air silence fell Akuto felt that parting should have been more reluctant but he concluded that showed just how much Hiroshi believed in the afterlife Now then He sta
100. r otherwise He had been raised with an emphasis on individuality However his uniqueness had shown itself in all parts of his life He had behaved however he liked and Madoka and Kento had been forced to allow it because his value had lain in his mental state However his wild side had exceeded simple open mindedness and his behavior had grown highly abnormal Once he had developed a powerful healing magic he had made a game of injuring Madoka and healing her That was but one of many examples It had all been for the sake of developing unique magic but the sacrifices had been great They had later taught him not to do to others what he would not want done to himself but it had been too late That had simply made him prove he was able to sever his own arm without batting an eye His magic had eventually reached the point of modifying his own body Essentially he had performed cosmetic surgery on himself As he had grown he had grown more beautiful During puberty he had become a mixture of the feminine and the masculine His beauty had been enough to mesmerize any who saw him Even Kento and Madoka who had been used to seeing him would find themselves captivated by his appearance At the time they should have realized he would only be growing more beautiful if he intended to use that beauty for his own convenience He had gradually gained more freedom In the beginning they had planned to slowly 7 educate him and return him
101. rd 64 destruction This time Akuto s left fist flew toward Marine This comes down to who the meteor ends up falling on Marine replied with his own left Their fists audibly slammed into each other s face at the same moment Bones creaked Blood flew Teeth broke It all formed a single shockwave that flew back from their heads For an instant the two of them stopped Hah A meaningless fistfight is surprisingly painful Thats what petty stubbornness gets you It ll stop if you give up though Marine seemed to be provoking Akuto so he laughed Don t joke I m sticking with this to the end As he spoke he healed his wounds with mana and Marine did the same The battle would only end once one of them ran out of willpower 65 Akuto dug his feet into the ground Marine did as well Their four feet gouged holes into the stony mountain peak They faced each other with only a few dozen centimeters between them Shall we do this I was just about to start It was unclear whether Marine or Akuto was first but their fists crossed at high speed and their heads were harshly rattled Do guys get stupider the stronger they are asked Yoshie as she watched Akuto and Marine s confrontation on a monitor Based on these two examples it would seem so answered Korone But why are they fighting asked Yuuko in fear We have concluded it is because they
102. rifice your left hand to a bite and then shoot through the head with the handgun But that only works if the dog is of normal intelligence 49 I can still get a single shot in She fired the incantation gun and the deafening gunshot reverberated throughout the cave However nothing happened to The One From Fujiko s perspective he ran diagonally Kh She aimed the gun again but her hand was still numb from the recoil and she had not realized targeting with a gun was so difficult And then A gunshot Etou san Was that you Akuto s voice arrived from the distance Akuto sama she shouted Teh need to hurry The One barked and leaped Another gunshot rang out A gunshot Barking A scream Those sounds blurred together as Akuto ran The mana surrounding his body filled with energy glowed and supplied him with plenty of speed There was no map of the cave but he sent mana ahead of him so he did not get lost He turned a corner and would arrive at the site of the gunshot after two more corridors As he turned the first of those corners the barking and screaming continued He turned the next corner and the scream vanished Fujiko For once he shouted her given name The sight before him filled him with despair Fujiko was collapsed and The One stood atop her Blood was flowing from between them 50 The One turned around and his mouth was covered in blood
103. rred through the Brave suit With an explosive noise he fell from the sky while trailing smoke The demon king is one who brings death to all life in the world Kei looked triumphantly down as Brave fell It seemed Brave had no option but to crash into the ocean surface lt Switching to autonomous movement mode gt But the Brave suit spoke and light appeared inside the visor It only activates once the battery dies complained Hiroshi Is this thing defective The Brave suit had taken the blow but Hiroshi would have died instantly had he not blocked with his own mana 30 lt Miniature nuclear reactor temperature stabile No radiation leak detected gt So this is the secret addition A miniature nuclear reactor had been built into the suit and Brave used it to move This was a secret weapon Kento had added on What happened asked Kei as he saw Brave suddenly recover from his fall It means can still fight shouted Brave as he flew back up However Brave had another enemy lt Stop Are you nothing but a machine to kill the demon king gt lt The demon king is protecting the empire right now gt Those voices came from the mana screen Yuuko was monitoring What she was seeing was reality How did it turn out like this She watched the screen while partially filled with fear The people gathered in the capital s shelters were raising their voices as they watched Kei fight on
104. rted to make his own preparations but Keena called out to him Hey A chan What is it He turned around and saw Keena with her head lowered There s nothing to worry about As soon as he said that she suddenly looked up Her face was red and contained no sign of depression or sorrow Wh what is it H hey She began fidgeting and started to say something else but no words came out A are you Okay 93 At that point she finally began to speak don t want to think that this is the end but l Il be sleeping for a long time won t Probably he agreed But you might be woken up right away Will remember the time that passed while asleep No To you it will probably feel like sleeping a single night even if it lasts years and years Then lII be fine You ll come wake me won t you She looked him in the eye as she asked that and he replied kindly to put her at ease Of course Okay Then can sleep without worrying But can you promise me She tilted her head and confusion filled his eyes Promise just did Don t worry will return even if don t know where I m going in the meantime Not that Promise me now She began fidgeting again Promise you what Marry me right now Marry you The sudden request shocked him Y yes This isn t the end but it might be the end So
105. shiped the Formless Power fled under the ocean to form the Republic lt Eh gt said Lily in surprise If we assume that a lot starts to fit together agreed Korone Yoshie nodded and continued on That would also explain the two Formless Powers that Akuto kun and Marine mentioned The one used by Marine or Nonimora is the Formless Power sealed inside the Swallow Cowrie and the one used by the people is the one that could destroy the world About that What is the difference between the two It must have bothered Korone to not have any data on this because she asked an 67 honest question for once Most likely the Formless Power sealed within the Swallow Cowrie came from outside the universe lt Outside the universe gt Lily was surprised once more don t have any proof yet though On the other hand the one granting the people s wishes could be called our collective subconscious Then the reason those two are fighting muttered Korone Yoshie sadly shook her head 68 Exactly They have reached the same conclusion based on conjecture The people s collective subconscious has produced a new power that mana cannot influence and that has called in the meteor 69 lt So the meteor is the result the people wanted gt That s what it would mean said Yoshie in resignation And even if it isn t we don t know whether the meteor can be eliminated or no
106. started to burn gt lt Shikoku isn t responding gt lt The Chubu region is requesting reinforcements gt More and more hopeless reports came pouring in They knew why this was The explosion no flames that had enveloped Junko were attacking other areas In other words it was the Formless Power If the report from Brave is accurate the Formless Power is most likely the collective consciousness of some race muttered Yoshie Why is it burning away the empire asked Yuuko as she could not stop the tears pouring from her eyes A power like that shouldn t be allowed to exist But Yoshie shook her head If it is a power that grants people s desires it would naturally tend toward destruction rather than creation In the long term it may turn toward creation but not while we re at war Then what can we do to defend against it Yuuko s voice was almost a scream Yoshie typed on the computer before her and analyzed the situation This power is not supernatural Those colorless flames are heat appearing from an alternate dimension In other words if we had the power to control that alternate dimension like a virtual alternate dimension A new transmission came in lt The coast of Imperial Capital Bay has escaped obliteration It s the demon king The demon king is forcing back the enemy gt That s right The demon king has that power But this demon king isn t Akuto
107. t But said Keena But if everyone hopes for the meteor to go away won t it happen With a serious expression she brought her hands together as if praying Yoshie nodded as if to say she knew that Of course Of course that s what want to happen But How many people would be able to forgive the Republic s people in this situation And Akuto could easily tell what the imperial people were thinking A heavy silence fell It was Lily s cheerful voice that finally broke it lt see So need to go investigate the Swallow Cowrie in the Merlai village At least that s what those documents seem to say gt Eh asked Yoshie lt They say to investigate the Merlai village don t they Um what was it The sealing capsule and ship to the star inside the Merlai tower gt Lily spoke lightly and Yoshie could only answer Y yes That s the Swallow Cowrie The other two are the Robe of the Fire Rat and the Dragon Neck Jewel lt And those are dependent on the demon king right gt Y yes The Robe of the Fire Rat supposedly opens the door to the world of the afterlife We have that one and it may be like high level necromancy Or maybe it s a device to travel between dimensions Anyway the other is Peterhausen If you sum it up that one acts as combat ability for the demon king a device and a guide Yoshie answered the question but she could not help but ask a question of
108. t the Formless Power exists and another Keena appeared from somewhere and then vanished All of those things point to the existence of an alternate dimension we can travel to and from Yuuko did not understand Wh what do you mean Death is a lie and there s another world don t get it at all After bringing a finger to her chin in thought Yoshie restated her explanation In other words think of it as a world after death What if heaven or hell actually existed You could alternatively say that our lives here are a lie There may not be much difference between being alive and being dead We ve seen the ability to pass through time and we ve seen hints that an extra universal god exists What if the life of this world itself is fictional Then everything would make sense But we re here living and suffering Yuuko raised her voice and Yoshie nodded quietly We each think independently so the world does exist Nevertheless we can t eliminate the possibility that all that is fictional Not as long as we can t accept death as death I really don t get it What do you mean will explain the rest cut in a voice Yoshie and Yuuko turned around to find Etou Fujiko They knew she had gone elsewhere so her return meant one thing have once more visited the demon king s birthplace It was common knowledge that Fujiko had been pursuing the information passed down by the black magicians
109. t it had burst like a balloon However he did not want to think about how much power he himself had used either The Formless Power had easily shielded him from so much power Pieces of the ship scattered around them and fell Only the two of them remained intact at the center of the explosion Marine s feelings concerning the Formless Power were complex That Formless Power had rivaled Akuto s mana so Marine had the power to fight the boy He would have died without it but he doubted such a great power would come without a price and he recalled what The One had said Stop We should not be fighting However his shouted protest did not stop Akuto Ohhh the boy roared and charged forward Marine remained calm and could easily evade even if he could not compete in power Even so he chose to receive the attack Nh The two of them clashed head on and their colliding powers created an explosive noise The impacts distorted their faces However Akuto maintained his momentum and continued launching his fists forward Ohhhhhh Countless fists rained down on Marine but the man received them all head on And he did so with his own mana rather than the Formless Power Gah he groaned He guarded with a mana fortified arm but Akuto poured all his strength into that arm In no time tremendous damage accumulated in the arm So this is your anger and your grudge groaned Marine He was vagu
110. t showed her resolve Some light makeup was even visible on her face Everyone She started speaking but trailed off However no one minded that she did not continue and they urged her toward the capsule She silently climbed aboard and she finally spoke just before the door closed Everyone This isn t the end This isn t goodbye She forced out the voice as if to say she could tell We know Yoshie and Nonimora smiled but shut the capsule with no regrets Hiroshi donned the Brave suit picked up Korone who held the Robe of the Fire Rat and nodded toward Akuto Akuto picked up the capsule and floated up to ascend the tower Nonimora and Yoshie waved toward them and they nodded back rather than waving While lifting the capsule Akuto and Brave ascended the tower and flew into the blue sky Once they finally broke free of the atmosphere Akuto preserved mana around them and Brave s gravitational control propelled them After opening the airlock of an abandoned space station they set down the Swallow Cowrie The station was meant for experiments and it only had enough space for a few people to work but it was enough for the four of them to speak The earth was visible from one window and the meteor traveling through empty space was visible from the other After ensuring there was oxygen inside they opened the capsule feel bad that only we ll survive said Keena Even so this is the best o
111. t you say Marine still sounded confused but he stepped past the thicket Akuto and Keena were unsure what to do after being left alone Everyone was being perfectly serious but the situation seemed too ridiculous Both of them were exhausted so they sat down 20 Voices could be heard beyond the thicket When should remove the implant Perform the surgery when his mind is focused on the hem hem Marine seemed to still not know what hem hem was Hem hem You don t know about it Well it doesn t matter Just stay still Finally Marine shouted in surprise Wh what are you doing Don t move We re having hem hem so I m taking off my clothes Taking off your clothes But why Because we re having hem hem Weren t you listening What Is that any reason to start taking off my pants Could you be a little more cooperative Hem hem is a two person job Nonimora sounded completely nonchalant but then Marine shouted out in shock Wait Don t tell me hem hem is what think it is Hem hem is hem hem Just stay still We ll get rid of that implant But don t see the connection between this and the implant already explained it You need to focus your mind It was unclear whether that convinced him or not but Marine stopped shouting But am a prince That doesn t matter With men other people can t tell if you ve done
112. tated around in midair and stole Marine s lips as well She acted with magnificent speed Don t get so worked up boys After moving from Marine s lips she pointed at both of them Muchu muchu is the best way to stop a fight Akuto and Marine were completely taken aback but Marine recovered more quickly He was likely more accustomed to women than Akuto Please understand he said I want to talk Akuto had lost his chance to attack so he stared silently back You need to calm down said Nonimora When the Formless Power is activated by an evil heart it becomes an evil power What matters is whose evil heart that is 17 Marine s expression changed That is the same as had heard understand your anger but my people are the true target of your anger That is also why must apologize His expression was one of partial despair Your people are the target of my anger Akuto was beginning to calm down and his naturally sharp intuition was returning so he understood what that likely meant Are you saying it was the hatred in people s hearts that burnt away that land he asked Most likely affirmed Marine quietly Akuto understood the meaning behind the man s expression Kh He clenched his teeth in anger that had no outlet The Formless Power acts based on everyone s wills declared Nonimora But you freed it so some responsibility l
113. th would not open Two His inability to make up his mind here may indeed have shown his weakness One A low sound filled the air K Kei groaned Kento Kei s arm had stabbed deep into his chest This is why you couldn t become anyone important Blood trailed down Kei s arm He pulled his arm and Kento s body toward himself and 56 kissed him on the lips Kento coughed up blood and Kei s mouth was dyed red Kei pulled out his blood soaked arm quickly pulled a small control device from the inner pocket of Kento s suit and switched it off The Brave suit ceased to function Brave fell Kento fell Farewell muttered Kei Marine accelerated toward Brave and Kento as they fell He grabbed Kento in his arms and then ascended i P Kei was shocked and that shock was Marine s intent Using Kento s corpse as a shield he charged straight toward the boy What are you doing roared Kei He fired mana toward the corpse He fired enough mana to instantly vaporize the corpse The corpse did indeed burst into dust and scatter beautifully into the wind Marine used that dust as a smokescreen and approached Kei Kei managed to evade at the last second but Marine had not actually been targeting him Oh no Brave s controller slipped from his hand because Marine had knocked it from his grasp Marine rotated around in midair and caught it don t like desecra
114. their monitors Even while crammed into shelters they were all staring at the monitors because they were more concerned about the fate of the empire than their own circumstances He s fighting the Republic so even if he s a demon king he s the empire s demon king said Yoshie coolly as she watched them But Yoshie rejected Yuuko s shout with a shake of the head This is all progressing just as that new demon king wants If the imperial citizens obtain the Formless Power they would use it for revenge and they might even follow Kes instructions That frightening conjecture chilled Yuuko s heart What is he trying to do Makes you curious doesn t it But if we accept his words at face value his goal is beautiful destruction Yoshie was usually perfectly calm but her words this time brought a chill to Yuuko s spine Beautiful destruction If he truly is trying to bring about destruction it adds substance to a question of 31 mine said Yoshie plainly That question is whether or not death in this world is fictional Her expression made it clear this held deeper meaning than her usual over the top phrasings No matter how out of the blue this topic seemed it had to have some relation to the rest of the conversation Whether or not death is fictional asked Yuuko You mean death is a lie Yoshie nodded Virtual alternate dimensions exis
115. ting the dead but did so after noticing your obsession with beauty You wouldn t be satisfied unless you gave him a beautiful death would you He switched on the controller and a light lit up in the ocean After falling Brave had regained his strength Damn you Kei paled and randomly fired mana spheres at Marine but Marine was powerful enough to match him Or at least he could block using mana 57 Waaaaaah But Kei ignored that and continued attacking him He had no way left to oppose Marine and Brave who rose from the sea It s time you regret that slaughter of yours Brave approached in anti demon king mode won t feel any regret even if die Kei raised both hands in a stance of resistance Of course the mana in those hands vanished as Brave approached but he still did not try to escape Are you ready Kei Brave surrounded himself in high temperature plasma balls No I m not Kei spread his raised arms But I ll fight and be defeated instead of doing something as ugly as running He threw a slap toward Brave s face Naturally the action was completely meaningless His mana had vanished and his unassisted physical strength was below average Even so it resounded heavily to Brave to Hiroshi In that moment a plasma ball instantly vaporized Kei s body He disappeared and not even dust remained It almost feels like he managed to escape in some w
116. uichirou He wore the suit he had once worn and he gave a calm smile that did not seem appropriate to the situation Hiroshi was not entirely sure why it did not seem appropriate but that smile may have been what he did not like about Bouichirou Come to think of it Yuuko san should have died too he said He had completely forgotten Otherwise he would not have thought of Bouichirou as the first person to meet He wondered why he had not thought of her first Sorry about that hope you understand that a boy is not my first choice of who to meet here either The intelligence to understand what Hiroshi had meant and his pretentious manner of speech both irritated Hiroshi but that was just the kind of man he was Hiroshi had no choice but to feel destiny at work in this meeting I understand that this is the afterlife said Hiroshi because Bouichirou seemed to understand everything 106 suppose arrived here before you but it feels to me like only just arrived You only just arrived Hiroshi was suspicious because a lot of time had passed since Bouichirou s death Yes just now The passage of time may be different here That may not be too surprising but how did you know this was the afterlife CIMO 8 had a deep understanding of the world s structure With The One as a subordinate understood most of it Now that he mentioned it he would have been the one who had s
117. uman left alive there is nothing we can do Then if we can combine all of mankind s wills Hiroshi s eyes glittered as if it was a wonderful idea but Yoshie immediately rejected it We couldn t get through to the Republic and we can t harness the power of the wills of those in non mana civilizations The Formless Power is like a dreadful curse Then we really can t do anything It doesn t seem so said Yoshie with a sigh But think everyone but Akuto kun can do whatever they want Eh What do you mean His role is to travel to the world of the afterlife so we can t have him die before that Of course the empress will be put in cold sleep so we can t have her hurt before or after that either Hiroshi kun your role is carrying the capsule into orbit as Brave but everyone else can die before or after that without issue That sounds like complete nonsense Akuto seemed confused All Pm saying is that those who remain need to be prepared to die Anyway the plan will begin tomorrow and the meteor will hit tomorrow evening Until then most 84 everyone can do whatever they want Even suicide would be fine Yoshie shrugged and did her best to sound like she was joking I still can t accept it complained Lily Snacks were piled up on the student council room s table and the three officers were sitting at the table and devouring the snacks Y
118. whirlpool on the ocean surface Seen from the surface that was almost certainly the exact scene of destruction Yamato Bouichirou had once seen In that whirl he may have seen the forms of alien thought entities But the whirl quickly lost all meaning The meteor itself approached the surface and the earth s crust was blasted outwards like splashing water To Korone the scene was absolutely silent but it was not difficult to imagine tens of thousands of people s screams mixed in with that ripped up crust The half sphere explosion caused the planet s atmosphere to swell outwards and to pulsate as if alive A shockwave travelled along the earth s surface and left at the collision point on the opposite side After a short delay a wave of crust and seawater followed After that wave passed that portion of the surface could no longer be seen Only the boiling ocean surface was visible through the smoke Thus cometh the end Korone searched her data because she felt like reading a poem but that data was on the network and had therefore been lost The gods on the surface had already died So that is how the world ends She rephrased her words With a peacefully silent explosion After seeing that the earth had completely turned to a sphere of boiling magma and water she climbed into the futon Goodnight everyone She spoke to no one in particular and the station s electricity cut out 99 1
119. window Akuto waved back and hit the switch that sent gas into the capsule The window fogged up and her face was gradually obscured Breathing in the gas quickly put her to sleep but she continued waving until he could no longer see her Finally an indicator appeared to show the cold sleep was complete After seeing that through he stepped away from the capsule Now then He muttered to himself and prepared the Robe of the Fire Rat that sat in one corner of the room It seemed to work by standing in front of the antenna like device and hitting the switch Akuto san said a sudden voice Eh He turned around and found Korone sitting up I am glad you could have your fun C c mon Don t put it like that And you weren t asleep That s just mean Akuto looked embarrassed My apologies merely thought could act as a witness to mankind s destruction 96 Yes suppose it would be interesting to have someone who can tell the tale He had spoken half out of shock but he realized that did in fact sound interesting Then I ll leave the rest to you Good She nodded but then spoke up as if she had realized something Um Aren t you going to kiss me as well Are you serious am joking thought as much He smiled stepped in front of the Robe of the Fire Rat and hit the switch And then he vanished Korone looked out the window
120. y restrained herself but she let loose and cried here But he seemed to find that suspicious because he raised her face from his chest and looked doubtful Are you really Junko H how rude And what about you When she asked that she must have actually grown afraid because she quickly moved away from him and took a defensive stance on the beach A are you really Akuto Seeing that Akuto laughed Ah ha ha ha ha You really are Junko Seeing him holding his sides her look of suspicion gradually changed to embarrassment Y you idiot Of course would be worried about that when see someone who should not be here Well yes understand being worried but you were the one that defenselessly jumped into my arms He laughed again D dammit This humiliation l it really is you She pointed at him and he stopped laughing Yes we probably are both the real ones After all this is the world of the afterlife Ehh She was utterly shocked While Akuto and Junko were meeting Hiroshi stood alone in a forest This doesnt feel real at all It doesn t feel any more dangerous than being thrown into a different world Even if this was the world of the afterlife he was worried that there was a risk of dying here And why am wearing the suit he complained when he noticed it He had not seen a mirror but the visor lay before his eyes and he could see t

Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou V12

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