Chapter 203: Legacy of Justice and the Descent of Despair (Patreon)

She stared blankly at the spot where the monster had vanished, and at the Chunibyo members who had disappeared out of nowhere. Her mind simply couldn't catch up.

Natsuka slowly lowered his battle stance, as if he'd been ready for this all along.

"Take a short break first."

"Wait. There's something you still have to do."

Ryuu finally snapped out of it and couldn't help pressing him.

"What just happened?"

"What about the Amphisbaena?"

"Is it dead?"

Natsuka shook his head.

"No."

"Rikka's only Lv.1 right now. There's no way she could kill a floor boss on her own."

He explained patiently.

"That was Rikka's magic."

"You can think of it as a support-type ability that combines control and weakening."

"You can tell the effect from the incantation alone."

"'Explode, Reality.'"

"That corresponds to creating a virtual space."

In that space, combat power is exaggerated or rewritten at will, depending on how strong your Chunibyo is.

"'Shatter, Spirit.'"

It meant that inside that space, every judgment was settled through the spirit.

Whether it was injury or exhaustion, everything ended up reflected on one's spiritual power. Whoever lost would have their spirit and condition severely weakened, in proportion to the damage taken.

What's more, using real-world magic inside the domain still consumed its usual cost.

"'Banish This World.'"

"That corresponds to dragging enemies, or allies, into that virtual space."

Natsuka spread his hands.

"Simply put, Rikka can create an innate barrier that belongs only to Chunibyo."

"Inside it, all damage, abilities and costs end up being settled against spiritual power in one way or another."

"Whoever loses the Chunibyo-power clash sees their HP bar and MP bar drop together."

Ryuu only half understood and frowned as she tried to digest it. "So… it's something like what Anya did?"

"Basically a Lv Down?"

Natsuka thought about it.

"You could understand it that way, more or less."

"But it's different in essence."

"Monsters are living creatures too. They get tired, they get hungry, and they need rest."

"If it takes a beating in that space and loses too much stamina and spirit, it'll just wither once it comes out."

"That's a lot nastier than simply losing a level."

Ryuu finally seemed to get it.

"Then how long do we wait?"

Natsuka looked up at the pitch-black ceiling high above, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

"Until that man shows up."

"Get yourself ready."

"You won't be joining the floor boss subjugation later."

"Go do what you need to do."

"What I need to do?"

Ryuu was still puzzled when, from somewhere on a suspended corridor overhead, Jura's shrill, grating laughter rang out.

"Gyahahahaha!"

"Gale!"

"Who'd have thought even the floor boss couldn't deal with you!"

"But with so many of your sweet juniors gone, your heart must be aching right now, isn't it?"

Ryuu's head snapped up, and her eyes turned cold. "Jura…"

"So you really are still alive."

"You stupid woman!" Jura bellowed from above, his face twisted. "How could I possibly die easily before I've butchered you!"

The moment Natsuka saw him appear, he knew the time had come.

He raised a hand and patted Ryuu on the back, his tone not heavy but steady.

"Go."

"Settle it."

"Leave this place to me."

Ryuu was silent for a moment.

Then she nodded.

"I'm going."

In a flash, her figure vanished deep into the passage.

Natsuka watched her back as she went, but he didn't idle either.

He followed the script they'd arranged beforehand and pushed forward as well.

Plenty of the small-fry players around him started moving at the same time.

Seeing this, the madness on Jura's face grew even deeper.

He slammed down on the detonator in his hand.

"Die, all of you!!"

But in the instant he pressed it, he seemed to hear a little girl's light, airy whisper beside his ear.

"I predict."

"When Rikka's magic ends, the landing point will return to the coordinates marked with an X."

The next second—

BOOM!!!

A chain of explosions drowned out every other sound.

Jura's expression changed. He spun around at once and fled toward the inner partition floor.

…

Floor 27.

The central lake.

The blast from 25th Floor sent huge swaths of rubble crashing down.

Sharp slabs of rock plunged from on high like a volley of spears.

Ryuu was about to turn back and warn Natsuka when a huge magic circle suddenly opened ahead of her.

The next instant, the two-headed dragon's enormous body was abruptly teleported in, landing right beneath the falling debris.

BOOM—

A jagged boulder drove deep into one of the dragon's heads.

More falling rubble pinned its entire body down into the ruins.

On the cliff edge of 26th Floor, Sora leaned out, a confident smile on his lips.

"The plan's going smoothly!"

"All squads, get ready. Magic cannon barrage!"

Rikka's control over her magic was extremely strong.

And the position swap when the magic ended gave Sora considerable room to work with tactically.

With Shiro's prophecy magic backing it up as a safety net, a lot of the uncertainty had been wiped away.

Now the Amphisbaena was first pinned down by a heap of rubble.

Then, inside the Chunibyo domain, it had been drained of a huge amount of stamina and spirit.

At this point, it was a fat sheep laid out on the chopping block.

Sora pulled out his magic gun and, together with Shiro, picked off the two-headed dragon shot by shot.

This was a golden chance to earn Excelia.

The small-fry players, who had also waited a long time, all had their eyes turned red with excitement.

One after another they unleashed their strongest attacks on the two-headed dragon, which had lost all ability to resist.

For a while, magic of every color lit up the battlefield in a dazzling riot.

As for the main firepower, it was, without question, Dark Flame Master.

His double dragon-slaying magic was frankly absurd when it hit the dragon's body.

Beam after beam of black flame slammed into the two-headed dragon's hide.

It only slowly stopped once Yuuta's spiritual power had run completely dry.

For Yuuta himself, though, it was practically like grinding his own Chunibyo dark history into the dirt.

"Damn it!"

"Why does the incantation have to be such an embarrassing line!!"

"Burn to nothing in the pitch-black flames—!!"

Natsuka didn't join in the attacks for the time being.

Rather than doing the damage himself, he wanted these newcomers in the follow-up ranks to use this huge windfall of Excelia to close the gap with the first-tier players.

It was even for this goal that they'd deliberately sent the Lv.4 Ryuu away.

Under the concentrated fire, the dragon head that had been spewing the red mist was the first to be blasted apart.

Scales shattered, flesh peeled back, and in the end pale-white skull was exposed.

Right after, Yuuki seized the opportunity and drove in a finishing thrust that pierced straight through.

The head was severed from its neck on the spot.

The agony snapped the blue head, which had still been dazed, fully awake.

It struggled desperately to lift its body.

But the boulders pressing on it were too heavy and locked its movements down completely.

All it could do was Roar in resentment and spit one last dragon breath toward the front of the battlefield.

Natsuka didn't try to stop it.

He simply spread a wide-area magic circle and unleashed a group Heal on the spot.

[Rea Vindemia]

Emerald-green healing light lit up one after another over the players.

Recovery and burns alternated across their bodies without pause.

"Keep going!"

"Take down that last head!"

At that moment, Natsuka looked almost like a replica of the Golden Witch Heith's fighting style.

The pressure he gave off as a Lv.4 healer was outrageous.

On 26th Floor, Sora had been watching the Amphisbaena's condition the whole time.

Shiro tugged lightly at her brother's sleeve.

"Nii, that's about enough."

Sora looked down and murmured.

"The stage is set."

"Time to invite the protagonist up."

Just as he finished speaking—

Above the battlefield, a magic circle abruptly lit up.

A boy in a pitch-black cloak, with an arrogant look in his eyes, stepped out onto the circle and slowly strolled down from midair.

"Children's games."

"They end here."

A staggering gale of mana spread out from around him.

The rookie players nearby were pressed down so hard they could barely breathe, and didn't even dare move.

As they watched Shadow draw steadily closer to the two-headed dragon, the same thought rose in every one of their minds.

Have top-tier players already become this strong?

But no one said a word.

All they could do was watch helplessly as Shadow set foot on top of the Amphisbaena's head.

"I thank you for presenting me with this grand performance."

"Your courage, though, is something of a surprise."

"But—"

He took a translucent emerald-green bead from inside his coat and lightly pressed it onto the two-headed dragon's skull.

"This is where it ends."

"True hopelessness begins now."

"Enjoy the feast I've prepared for you, you so-called Familia of Justice."

The instant the bead sank into the dragon's head, a gurgling, strange noise came from within.

Countless vines raced along the two-headed dragon's core, spreading, twisting and growing wildly.

In just three seconds, the whole colossal dragon was completely wrapped in eerie plants.

Seeing this, Natsuka immediately shouted.

"Retreat!"

Not that he needed to say it.

The players had already started running for their lives.

Those who ran a little slower got hurled aside by thick roots lashing out from behind.

The scene instantly descended into chaos.

On the rock wall of 26th Floor, Ein quietly watched the situation unfold.

When it became obvious the plants were rampaging out of control, she already had her answer.

"The compatibility between the two-headed dragon and 'her' is still far too low."

Beside her, another researcher in square-framed glasses was scribbling data into a notebook at breakneck speed, his face full of fervor.

"Still, this experiment wasn't wasted."

"We've gathered quite a lot of data."

Ein said flatly.

"Let's go."

"There's no need to keep watching."

The researcher suddenly grinned, a little manic.

"I've got new ideas, actually."

"The next step in the monster fusion experiments might go even further than before."

"At the very least, those Man-Eater Flowers you provided will definitely get stronger."

Ein stopped and turned her head to look at him.

"Oh?"

"How strong?"

The researcher pushed up his glasses, his smile feverish.

"At the very least, a Lv.5 trying to kill them bare-handed wouldn't find it easy."

…

Elsewhere.

In a long, narrow alley.

Gale had turned into a blue afterimage, giving chase at full speed.

Ahead of her ran Jura, in a desperate scramble.

The cat man gritted his teeth as he ran, hurling Flame Stones behind him to slow Ryuu down.

But such struggling only bought his own death a few extra seconds.

"Jura."

"You have nowhere left to run."

Before the final cave chamber, there were no more connecting passages.

It was a complete dead end.

Jura stood with his back against the wall, trembling violently.

His face was a mix of fear and madness, with a hint of sickly anticipation on top.

"Hee hee hee…"

"Gale."

"You really don't want to go back and check on your sweet juniors?"

"It won't go wrong this time!"

"As soon as that guy makes his move, 'Hopelessness' will surely come!"

"Gale—those juniors of yours will end up exactly like you did back then!"

Ryuu's steps faltered for a moment, it was true.

But Natsuka had told her something.

Believe in the Familia's strength.

Believe they have the courage to overcome it. The Ryuu of the past had never believed in words like that.

Even up to now, she'd always felt Natsuka was only talking pretty.

In the end, she figured, he would probably settle just like Kaguya had, taking whatever method cost the fewest casualties.

But she had already been saved twice by the same boy.

And he was even younger than she was.

That was exactly why she'd finally begun to realize it.

That kid really did seem to have the aptitude Alise once spoke of.

The aptitude to chase an "ideal" with everything he had.

Ryuu suddenly spoke in a low voice.

"The me of the past always thought—"

"That perfection, saving everyone, rescuing one side without sacrificing the other, were all just ideals."

Jura blinked, utterly unable to understand why she was saying this now.

But Ryuu's steps grew steadier and steadier.

Her grip on her blade tightened bit by bit.

"Y-you come here!"

"Until I see that hopeless look on your face, you wretch, I'll never die!!"

Ryuu stopped three meters from him.

Her sharp gaze locked onto his throat.

"What a pity."

"You're destined never to see it."

"I won't make that face ever again."

The moment her words fell, she was gone.

A flash of cold light.

Her short sword drew a precise line across Jura's neck.

His head flew high, traced an arc through the air, and then thudded heavily to the ground.

Blood sprayed out.

Ryuu lightly flicked the blood from her blade and closed her eyes.

"Because someone told me."

"The one who can save everything…"

"…is called a 'hero.'"

"And I have to protect that ideal."

"I'll make the seed of heroes truly sprout."

She drew a deep breath.

"So I can't stay rooted in place any longer."

But just as she turned to head back to Natsuka's side—

The instant she burst out of the passage, a ghastly pale light swept across her vision.

Immediately after, a massive rumble slammed into her ears.

The floor was shaking.

Monsters were roaring.

At the same time, a wail so familiar it chilled her soul came echoing in.

It was the Dungeon's wail!

Shadow.

He had released that thing after all.

"Juggernaut!"

"It's come out after all!!"

Ryuu clapped a hand over her ears, which were ringing from the blast, and ignoring the violent shaking of the floor, charged out with everything she had.

Natsuka had told her they were prepared to deal with the Juggernaut.

But she still couldn't set her mind at ease.

At the very least, she thought, she had to be at that boy's side.

Even if the most dangerous moment truly came, she could stake everything on the future, just as Alise had.

At that thought, she suddenly froze.

That's right.

Alise, Kaguya, Lyra—

Hadn't they all bet the future on her back then, too?

Perhaps only now, having finally become the senior, standing in the position of looking after juniors, did she truly understand what Alise and the others had wanted her to become.

Her old friend Adi's voice seemed to echo in her ear.

"Lion, justice will keep circling on."

The light in Ryuu's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

"That's right."

"Even if Alise is dead, even if Adi is dead, even if everyone is dead…"

"…justice won't simply fall."

"I'm still here."

"And the children who'll inherit the goddess's will are still here!"

"What have I been doing all these years…"

At that thought, she ran faster still.

She even leaped straight off the cliff, dropped from 25th Floor, and plunged into the lake.

She would take the fastest route back to the battlefield where the Familia stood.

And at that very moment—

The ceiling of 25th Floor had already split open, a gaping rift like an abyss.