Chapter 137 – V8 Chapter 12. Cheering
—I’ll have Izel die here.
With that in mind, I take a look at Avid.
To be more exact, it’s the giant battleship that Avid has merged with.
Its surface is in tatters, and a part of it has exploded after being pierced through.
Inside the cockpit, red alarms are ringing incessantly, telling me that most parts are in a critical state.
They’re being repaired automatically as I speak, but they can’t keep up with the damage.
In other words, they’re in an extremely precarious situation.
“How dare you.”
Does he have any idea how much the maintenance cost is for Avid’s reinforced parts?
One could prepare a fleet with that amount of money.
It’s a huge battleship made of rare metals, not to mention the transformation mechanism that it has.
With how damaged it has become, repairing it would take a few years.
Avid’s engine roars.
At the same time, requests for certain parts to be upgraded start appearing on the monitor.
I raise my eyebrows after going through the content of the requests.
“Is this because of the Machine Heart? —Do whatever you want. I’ll help you.”
It seems Avid is angrier than I am.
It’s probably because Izel is boasting about what a great weapon he has.
Avid appears to be more pissed off than even me.
Having obtained my permission, Avid disconnects from the giant battleship.
The hatch opens, and Avid appears from inside.
There, we see the figure of Izel and his mobile knight still attacking the huge battleship which is meant to be Avid’s add-ons.
The knight is twice as large as Avid, standing at 48 meters tall.
Izel notices Avid as well.
‘So, you’ve finally come out.’
How annoying, he seems to be having a lot of fun.
What does he think he’s doing to someone else’s toy?
Avid’s joints are discharging excessive amounts of energy.
“You’re Izel, right? I was thinking of dealing with you myself, but I’ve decided to make way for Avid today.”
‘Who are you talking about? Your secondary pilot?’
Well, he’s not wrong in calling Avid my secondary pilot.
“Yes. I’ll be acting as Avid’s support this time around.”
‘Are you trying to run away from the battle?’
I laugh at his attempt at provoking me.
“If you were the type of enemy that can make me flee, I would’ve fled at the first notice. Now, why do you think I’m still here and confronting you? —It’s because I’m confident that I’ll win.”
I have been promised victory, and I have everything that’s required to achieve it.
Cracks appear on Avid’s armor the moment I hold the control stick.
Red lights are being emitted from the cracks, and the armor is threatening to blow apart.
A time limit is displayed on the monitor screen.
“Three minutes. I’ll kill you in the next three minutes.”
I have three minutes as my time limit.
One of the weapons held by Izel’s mobile knight is pointed at me.
It’s a spherical weapon, and it shoots out hundreds of lasers with homing abilities.
The lasers land on Avid’s armor, but they only cause the armor to glow red without doing much damage.
That said, it’s impressive that they managed to pass through Avid’s defensive field and reach its armor.
‘So, you can withstand this level of attack? As expected of my prey!’
Izel charges towards me.
Let me correct one misunderstanding though.
“It’s not me who’s being hunted, it’s you.”
A magic circle appears on Avid’s right hand, and a sword handle reveals itself.
Holding the handle, Avid pulls out the special sword that has been prepared for it.
Izel’s mobile knight, which has eight arms attached, points two of its weapons at Avid.
One appears to be a sword, and the other a staff.
‘That’s the spirit! Then I won’t hold back either! This sword can invalidate all force fields while this staff can control the army around us to crush you!”
The blade of Izel’s sword shines, scattering the defensive field around Avid.
Then mobiles knights, from both sides that have been floating about in space, begin to line themselves as if they’re under Izel’s command.
A sword that can cut through everything, and a staff that can force destroyed mobile knights to move.
Without a doubt, they’re both great weapons.
—But it’s all for naught.
Avid swings its sword, blowing apart the mobile knights that have gathered, and surprising Izel who’s watching.
‘You took an instance to slice them to pieces?’
“I thought you weren’t going to hold back. What’s with you using only two of your weapons?”
Izel finally becomes serious and readies all eight of his weapons before heading towards me.
The 48-meter-tall aircraft closes in on Avid in the blink of an eye.
It certainly feels very big—but that’s it.
Avid avoids Izel’s attack by a hair’s breadth.
‘You’re reading my attacks? Unfortunately for you—’
“Your aircraft can predict the future, is it?”
With its advanced computational power, Izel’s mobile knight seems to be predicting Avid’s movements.
It’s either that, or it’s being done through some sort of magical means.
“Have you only fought against enemies that would lose to this kind of trick?”
Predicting how the other party will move.
That’s the basic of the basics for One-Flash.
Avid kicks away Izel’s lance and chops down the other weapons with its sword.
However, the frame of his mobile knight liquifies the next instance and latches on to the parts that have just been cut, restoring them to normal.
“Self-restoration huh.”
‘Indeed, my mobile knight will regenerate no matter how many times it’s cut down. Half-baked attacks can’t even leave a scratch!’
All eight of his weapons regenerated as well.
No matter how many attacks it’s hit with, it’s all meaningless in the end.
I must admit that the ancient weapon’s performance is exceptional.
No matter how much power Avid puts into kicking and slashing Izel’s aircraft, our opponent would ultimately have the advantage.
Avid hacks at the fuselage, but it gets regenerated immediately afterwards.
The attack definitely tore through the cockpit, which means it should have reached Izel as well.
— So, his body’s been tampered with.
“You were consumed by it.”
Izel’s mobile knight strikes a pose as if it’s some sculpture of a divine being with multiple arms.
‘Wrong, I’m the one who did the consuming. This aircraft has consumed and killed many pilots in the past, but I’ve made it submit to me.’
Apparently, he’ll also regenerate whether he’s slashed or shot at.
He’s basically become a part of the aircraft.
—Not to mention he’s pretty powerful himself.
There’s less than two minutes left until time runs out.
◇
The Guide was cheering with his arms spread out in support of Izel, who was controlling the ancient weapon.
“Go! Right there! Finish him!”
Gudwar, who was next to him, was also cheering while swinging its octopi legs.
Together, they looked like they were old men watching a boxing tournament.
“IZEEEEEL!! PUT MORE STRENGTH INTO IT!!”
Gudwar was lending its power to Izel, allowing his mobile knight to further increase its power output.
Izel’s mobile knight, which was at a disadvantage until just now, suddenly started to overwhelm Avid in terms of both power and speed.
Avid was gradually pushed back, exciting Izel greatly.
‘I’ve never felt stronger before! So, this is what it means to have your heart pumping before a powerful enemy!’
Izel, who was feeling high, demonstrated power that exceeded what he was normally capable of showing.
Nevertheless, it was still a step short of being able to defeat Avid.
The Guide’s hands were getting sweaty.
“Just a little more! Liam’s death is right around the corner! I refuse to give up on this hope!!! I’m counting on you!”
The Guide channeled what little power he had remaining to Izel, bringing about a noticeable change to Izel’s aircraft.
The multi-armed mobile knight was exuding an aura of the divine, and the weapons in its hands became even stronger than before.
The mobile knights that tried to rush in to help Liam were all blown away, and the attacks from nearby battleships got dispersed before they could reach it.
No one was able to interfere in the battle between Avid and Izel. They were only allowed to watch over as they fought.
Izel had taken a step beyond the boundary of humanity.
Gudwar was also thrilled to see this.
“OOHHH! A transcendent is about to be born! And it’s a work of mine no less!”
Delighted to witness such an occasion, the Guide cheered until his throat was sore.
He was fine with anything as long as it could destroy Liam.
“Pleaaaase! End Liam!!”
—However,
‘Avid, there’s less than a minute left. It’s time to switch.’
Liam was about to get serious.
◇
A prompt showed up on the monitor inside the cockpit, refusing to switch and saying that it could still go on.
It probably doesn’t wish to switch places with me, but—
“I saidswitch. Don’t make me repeat myself.”
Avid obediently hands over the command after hearing me speak in a lowered voice.
“Now then, time to deal with them.”
The ancient weapon is giving off light, its appearance was looking truly divine.
‘Save it. It’s too late for you to get serious now. —I have gone beyond the realm of humans.’
He’s brought up some unpleasant memories that I wish to forget, but since he’s got no future left, he can say whatever embarrassing thing he wants.
Heck, he can take his time to bask himself in the moment.
“Are you saying that you, a human, has gone beyond the realm of humans? Are you mental? What do you even want to be after giving up being human?”
Izel’s aircraft vanishes from its spot, to which I jump back and swing Avid’s sword sideways.
The next moment, the sword clashes with a lance, giving off sparks in the process.
Avid’s sword shatters, but it quickly gets regenerated.
The mechanism for the blade is like that of a cutter knife, which can get its blade replaced one after another.
‘Beyond the realm of humans. A War God, that’s what I wish to become.’
I snort at his words.
“A War God?! You? With your skills?! Is the title of War God that cheap in intergalactic nations?”
Angered by my taunt, Izel hurls attack after attack at me.
I avoid them and cut down whatever’s sent my way before I spread Avid’s arms out.
“You can’t call yourself a War God when you can’t even surpass me!”
‘I’ve already surpassed you, both as a pilot and in terms of aircraft performance!’
To correct his misunderstanding, I place Avid’s sword on its shoulder.
Izel becomes confused because of all the openings I’m showing.
‘Are you admitting defeat?’
“You think so? Even after hearing everything I said? —The title of War God doesn’t suit you after all. Your aircraft’s crying.”
The ancient weapon is great, don’t get me wrong.
But—it’s not so great that I would desire it.
‘What are yo—’
The arms attached to his aircraft gets torn to pieces the very next moment, turning into liquid and starting to gather back together.
In the meantime, I have Avid hold its sword.
“It was fun while it lasted, Prince of the Kingdom of Dominion.”
It would put a lot of strain on Avid to reproduce a One-Flash in its current condition, but I trust it’ll endure somehow.
“One-Flash.”
Immediately after I mutter it, Izel’s aircraft experiences a distortion.
The space around it gets slightly distorted. The aircraft which was near it, ends up in a distorted state as well.
Because of that, it fails to go back to its previous state, and ends up all twisted and warped.
That said, Avid’s joints are screaming too.
The Machine Heart is trying to heal them, but its speed couldn’t keep up.
“All this after one swing. No, should I be thankful that it was able to reproduce even a single swing?”
Unable to regenerate properly, Izel’s aircraft begins to collapse.
An error must have occurred somewhere in its body because of the incomplete recovery.
A small window appears on my monitor, and a man who appears to be Izel looks at me while spurting out blood.
‘—A wonderful slash. It is my loss. Let’s have one last talk.’
“Whatever suits you.”
I check our surrounding and notice that the morale of the Kingdom of Dominion has dropped tremendously after General Izel’s defeat.
In fact, they’ve stopped engaging in battle and are backing down.
They’re surprisingly clean about it.
‘The universe sure is wide. To think there’s someone as strong as you.’
“Naturally. My Master’s even stronger.”
‘—Is that so. It would’ve been nice to meet him once.’
From how much blood Izel’s coughing out, it’s clear that his wish won’t come true.
Now that his mobile knight is destroyed, it seems he will share the same fate.
‘Why weren’t you serious from the beginning? Wouldn’t it have been better to fight in that form without having to merge?’
Izel has noticed that Avid is better off without the giant battleship, which is meant to reinforce it.
I’ve got many reasons, but the biggest of them all would be—
“It was for fun.”
‘For fun? Haha—for real, the universe is wide. I didn’t think there’d be anyone that would fight against the Kingdom of Dominion ‘for fun’. Next time, let us fight with our real bodies—’
Izel’s speech gets cut off there, and his mobile knight becomes liquified before being dispersed around us.
Until the very end, he wanted to fight. I wonder, how do people like him view their lives?
But since he was a battle junky, he should have no qualms about dying on the battlefield.
“—What a troublesome person.”
That said, he was determined until the very end and remained honest to his desires.
I don’t know whether he was an evil lord or not, but just for that, he is a man worthy of praise.
Avid’s barely able to move at the moment, and as we’ve reached its time limit, fighting anymore would be impossible.
Nevertheless, despite all the creaking sounds Avid makes in the process, I raise its sword up in the air.
“The enemy general, Izel, has been slain by Liam Sera Banfield!”
With that information quickly spreading within the entire army, the Kingdom of Dominion begins retreating.
I’d love to give chase, but the fleet under me is too small.
The Banfield Family’s guards gather around Avid to protect us.
‘Lord Liam, are you alright?’
“You’re late! Take Avid back quickly, and collect all the liquid from Izel’s mobile knight. I’ll have the Seventh Weapons Factory analyze it.”
‘U-understood!’
It’s all destroyed now, but I’m sure there’s some data to be gained.
◇
Izel had been defeated.
Gudwar, who watched as this happened, fell into a daze.
On the other hand, no one knew when, but the Guide had run out of energy and reverted back to his hat form.
The Guide shook in anger.
“Distorting dimensions? That’s cheating!”
He destroyed an ancient weapon by distorting the dimensions!
The Guide was unwilling to accept such an absurd ending.
Izel was arguably one of the strongest people in the world.
His skill as a pilot was top notched, not to mention that his aircraft had higher performance than Avid.
Gudwar was even more furious than the Guide.
It grabbed the Guide, who was in his hat form, with its octopi legs before giving it a tight squeeze.
“Hey, what the heck was that?”
“W-what do you mean?”
“How did you raise someone like that?!”
“E-even if you ask me, I’d like to know how this is happening myself.”
Gudwar threw the Guide to the side, causing the hat to become all crumpled.
“T-that was mean.”
Wriggling its octopi legs violently, Gudwar didn’t hold back in expressing its anger.
“I’ll kill him. I’ll kill him! Mark my words, for I will take revenge for killing Izel! He was my favorite!”
Gudwar was now serious about having Liam’s life.
The Guide couldn’t physically smile at the moment, but he was smiling in his heart.
(Fufufu, we failed this time, but with this, Gudwar has become serious. Liam’s now bound to die eventually.)
Liam wasn’t aware of Gudwar’s existence, meaning he didn’t feel any gratitude towards it.
Unlike the Guide, Gudwar didn’t have to worry about receiving Liam’s gratitude, making Gudwar a strong enemy for Liam.
——————————————————————————————————
Avid (´・ω・｀): “I got scolded.”
Wakagi-chan (；゜Д゜): “M-must have been tough.”
Wakagi-chan (゜∀゜): “That aside, Volume 6 of ‘The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs’ is now on sale! Chapter 23 and Volume 4 of the manga will be released this week as well, so please check them out!”