Chapter 520: Dead or Alive

A certain amount of time has passed since the battle between Haruna and Akira began. The laboratory, which was filled with the roar of zombies and the sound of Haruna’s throwing magic and Doggan’s Staff, is now dominated by silence. It seems that the hustle and bustle caused by the battle has subsided.

「Haaa….」

In the center of the battlefield, Haruna took a deep breath. Haruna’s Doggan Staff is now coated with the blood of the zombies she fought off, and the black color is mixed with the blood, turning it into an even more ominous color scheme. Around her feet, the remains of those who were once human were scattered. The pieces of flesh were from dozens or hundreds of people, but the amount of blood is worse than that. It’s easy to imagine that she has defeated more.

「That’s everything, I guess?」

「Assemble….」

Responding to the call, Akira’s armor was reassembled at a position some distance away from Haruna. However, something is not right. The parts gathered to make up the armor are very few, and only a little more than half of the full-body armor, excluding the head, could be formed. Other parts didn’t respond to Akira’s words, and no matter how long he waited, they wouldn’t gather. Also, the black mist that appeared on his head after the construction of the armor is not stable, as if reflecting his inner thoughts.

「As I thought, the parts that were swallowed by the black hole don’t come back. It seems that the end is near.」

「You monster…!」

Still, these were natural results. When Haruna fought against the group of zombies in which Akira’s parts were implanted, she used everything she could use. She used her fantasy martial arts that were optimized for the situation, the Doggan Staff that crushed and decapitated everything after neutralizing the opponents’ magic, powerful gravity manipulation, deadly poison that created a sea of rot, throwing black holes, etc. Moreover, they were more powerful than what Akira knew. Along with the zombies, his currently lost parts were crushed, rotted, swallowed by black holes, and so on.

(Damn it! What the hell is this body creaking!? I’ve become an undead, and a Dullahan at that, so I’m not supposed to feel pain! And yet, and yet! Why do the parts that were destroyed by Katsuragi hurt like burning!?)

The reason Akira feels pain probably because of the harmful effect of the evolution. Akira became an undead, but at the same time, he was getting close to a human being. An inorganic Dullahan doesn’t have a sense of pain, but if he were human, it would be a different story. The intense pain that even the zombies wouldn’t have felt ran through his body, eating away at his soul.

(KATSURAGIIIIIIII!)

Akira’s pupil-less cloudy eyes glared at Haruna, burning with the vengeance that seemed to be at its limit. If Akira’s mind was in a normal state, he would have realized that the blood at Haruna’s feet was not only from the zombies, but also from her own blood. His half-destroyed body is near its limit, but his mind is in a dangerous state more than that.

(Toue-kun is at his limit both physically and mentally, and I’m also almost at my limit with these wounds…. We can only do our best one more time. Then, I guess I want to settle it with this.)

Haruna is more concerned about the battle more that herself. But in fact, Haruna is also seriously injured.

Even though had used all her strength to fight off the zombie army, she still had an opening if she was pushed by the sheer number of the zombie army. She was constantly being attacked by the onslaught of zombies. Although her limbs were not missing, she suffered countless deep wounds from the enemy’s magic and weapons, and in the worst cases, she was even pierced by the blades of their swords. The reason why Haruna is able to stand like this is because she immediately responded to attacks and maintained a special breathing technique to forcibly seal the wounds and prevented them from worsening. This also seems to be an application of some kind of fantasy-like martial art, but even so, it didn’t completely prevent the flow of blood. She’s now having wounds all over her body after wiping out the zombies with her all.

「Toue-kun, the battle isn’t over yet. Now, let’s see if your revenge will be fulfilled, or if my challenge will be accomplished!」

「Damn it!」

Haruna started to move forward with her Doggan Staff swinging to the side. Akira reflexively moved his creaking body to intercept, but his movements were awkward, perhaps because he was feeling severe pain. Moreover, because he was glaring at Haruna until just before, he unfortunately saw her eyes.

(――――!?)

He had a sudden flashback. It was probably due to the repeated severe pain and the fact that his eyes met with Haruna’s madness eyes. At this moment, Akira recalled the memory he didn’t want to recall the most in his life.

(E-Eeek!? T-This pain, those eyes are from the hero selection!? I-I give up―― no, I was the one who forbade giving up! Even at that time, I asked for help, but no one was coming to help me! Ah, this isn’t even a mock battle! It’s a real battle to kill each other, different from that time! But, even I tried my best until I died many times! But, the fear is more than that time――)

Akira’s severe pain and the degree of Haruna’s damage are evenly matched. If Akira does his best to fight back, he still has the chance to win. Even the memories he recalled could be used to fuel his fighting spirit if he applies it to his desire for revenge. And yet, Akira’s heart has been completely defeated.

(Ah, aah, aaaaahhh….)

No matter how much he kept up appearances and made effort for his goal, it is meaningless if he’s shaken with just that. It’s as if everything about himself is denied when facing Haruna. And then, Akira’s soul has finally reached its limit.

「………!」

The Doggan Staff, which was about to smash Akira, stopped just before it collided with him.

「………」

Haruna narrowed her eyes and observed Akira again while pointing the blade of the Doggan Staff at him. The unstable mist on his head has completely dissipated, and his arms hang limply as if he lost consciousness.

「…… Aw, I was one second too late, huh? If possible, I wanted to defeat him in his best condition. It was an intense battle, and yet…」

Haruna confirmed the disappearance of Akira’s soul. Her face breaks down in obvious disappointment and she lets out a sigh. It’s not a problem since the death of the emperor is the condition for winning this war, but Haruna seems to be unsatisfied with this development.

「Well, there’s no point in complaining. It’s disappointing, but with this, Vakala-san’s trial is cleared.」

The Doggan Staff started to move again. Then, the jet-black black crushed Akira――

「Yeah, you cleared it. But before that, let me give you a special gift to celebrate it.」

――Or so it was supposed to be.