Chapter 59: One’s Mission is to Defeat the Enemy
Having decided to sortie, Ema made an unreasonable demand of Kazuma, who was currently fighting Masato.
“Crimson Knight! Send me back to Japan! Something urgent has come up!”
Kazuma, while confronting the Masatos who swarmed endlessly like combatants from an enemy organization in a hero show, took in Ema’s words.
“Understood!”
“I won’t let you~”
“Shut up, you idiot! Turn to dust for once!”
Kazuma swept away the horde of Masatos that lunged at him one after another with wide-range magic, then hurried to Ema’s side.
“Kazuma-kun. Take me to that place.”
“That place… Don’t tell me you intend to sortie?”
“We’re short-handed. It can’t be helped.”
“Understood. May fortune be with you in battle.”
Kazuma used Teleportation Magic to send Ema and Tsukimi back to Japan.
Having sent the two back to Japan, Kazuma once again turned to face Masato.
There, the Masatos he was sure he had wiped out were swarming forth in droves.
“You’re really like cockroaches.”
“That’s a terrible thing to say~. Well, you’re not wrong, though. More importantly, you sent the Prime Minister back? I don’t think it matters whether he’s here or not.”
“Hmph… He may look like that, but he’s actually an old man who hides a burning passion within him.”
“Hmm. I don’t really care.”
Masato was only interested in the Crimson Knight.
His lips twisted into a smirk as he imagined how delightful it would be if he could Snatch those numerous Gifts.
Everything else was inconsequential to Masato.
“As long as I can Snatch your Gifts, that’s all that matters to me.”
“Hmm. Now that’s something I don’t care about. By the way, changing the subject, don’t you have Appraisal or something?”
“I do. But if I use it, I’ll lose my motivation, you know?”
“Why?”
“Because if I knew what you had, it wouldn’t be fun anymore. Whether those numerous Gifts are actually a single entity, or if you truly possess multiple… not knowing is what makes it interesting.”
“I get what you’re saying. But you might regret not looking now, you know?”
“That can wait until after it’s over.”
A present’s contents are unknown until it’s opened.
That’s what makes it interesting, fun, and exciting.
That’s precisely why Masato didn’t want to Appraise the unknown Gifted named Kazuma, preferring to save the enjoyment for later.
He was blissfully unaware that this decision would lead to regret, thinking only of Snatching from Kazuma.
◇◇◇◇
Having returned to Japan, Ema had been brought by Kazuma to a certain hangar.
It was the place where a custom-made machine, built for Ema, lay dormant.
While Ema thought that this day had finally come, he couldn’t seem to suppress his excitement, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly upwards.
“Enma… This is your debut battle.”
King Enma, a name synonymous with hell.
His beloved custom machine, bearing that name, was finally about to see the light of day.
Ema closed his eyes, and as he reminisced about the past, he lovingly, gently stroked the machine called Enma, then his eyes snapped wide open.
“Tsukimi-kun. I will sortie against the colossal Ibinom. I’m leaving you in command for a while.”
“Understood. Please, try not to do anything too reckless.”
“I know. Though, I might get carried away, unbecoming of my age.”
“You’ll be seeing hell in a few days, you know? And just so we’re clear, that won’t be an excuse to rest.”
“Hahaha, that’s harsh. But, you’re right. This, at least, can’t be helped.”
“Then, may fortune be with you in battle.”
Tsukimi left the hangar. Ema, now alone, looked up at Enma, then quickly changed into a waiting pilot suit and climbed into the cockpit.
Responding to the biometric signals of its pilot, Ema, a buzzing electronic sound hummed, and Enma began its startup sequence for the first time since its trial run.
“Heh heh heh. I see, you’re happy too, huh?”
Machines don’t have emotions, but that was beside the point.
There was certainly something that could only be understood between a beloved machine and its pilot.
Of course, an invisible bond connected Ema and Enma.
Having confirmed a successful startup, Ema completed the pre-flight checks and readied for sortie.
“Phew… This is its maiden battle. Heh heh, my heart’s pounding more than during an election! Enma, launching!”
The hangar that Kazuma and his perverted companions had built was unnecessarily elaborate, so it was even equipped with a catapult. Enma, with Ema aboard, was launched and soared high into the sky.
“I’m glad I underwent training! The G-force is incredible!”
Ema couldn’t suppress his excitement at the tingling waves of Gravity he felt.
Piloting Enma as it danced and flew through the sky, Ema hurried towards the city where the colossal Ibinom was rampaging.
Around the time Ema sortied, the city was overwhelmed dealing with the colossal Ibinom.
Numerous Gifted had gathered and launched an all-out assault against the colossal Ibinom, but its toughness, true to its appearance, prevented them from inflicting even a single scratch.
At this rate, they would just be waiting to be overrun.
Determined to prevent that at all costs, the Gifted continued their attacks, but to no avail, and the city was progressively destroyed.
Furthermore, small to medium-sized Ibinom were spawning, and they had to deal with those as well.
It was only a matter of time before the city fell.
“Damn it! Are reinforcements not here yet?!”
“Every city is barely holding on its own!”
“Damn it all! We’re finished at this rate!”
“Is this… how it ends…?!”
Just as everyone began to despair, it appeared, tearing through the clouds, from beyond the sun.
“Everyone, you’ve held on well! You are the treasures of this nation!”
“Th-this voice is!?”
“M-more importantly, look at the sky!”
“Wh-what is that!”
“Is it a bird!?”
“Is it a man!?”
“No! It’s a robot!!!”
The Gifted in the city and the fleeing people looked up at Enma, which had appeared in the sky, pointed, and screamed at the top of their lungs.
Ema had expected it, but he was writhing in sheer joy inside the cockpit at such an ideal reaction.
“(Wonderful! This is it! This is what I wanted to see! Whoops, no, no. I must fulfill my role.)”
Though Ema had been squirming at the reaction he craved, his true role was the extermination of the colossal Ibinom.
Forgetting that would be putting the cart before the horse, so he steeled himself once more and faced the colossal Ibinom.
“(Hmm… Seeing it on the monitor versus seeing it in person, the impact is different. Enma is also a robot over ten meters tall, but this Ibinom is even bigger. I’d heard it was battleship-class, but the real thing feels even larger…)”
Ema looked up at the colossal Ibinom from the monitor in his cockpit.
He was overwhelmed by the size of the colossal Ibinom, which he had only seen through a monitor until now.
Of course, he wasn’t intimidated.
If anything, Ema was getting carried away, unbecoming of his age, thinking that a foe this size was all the more worth defeating.
“(Heh heh, I wish politics were as simple as just punching the enemy to defeat them and be done with it~)”
Usually, it was all politics, tedious paperwork, and diplomacy – things that were mentally exhausting.
But this time was different.
He was, quite literally, a pilot fighting a monster to save Japan from crisis.
There was no political maneuvering involved.
There was only the simple and concise answer of defeating the enemy.
That said, it was an opponent that couldn’t be defeated so easily, but it was only natural for his heart to race and his chest to burn with excitement.
“(Heh heh heh…! I’m excited, no, at times like this, it’s! I’m fired up~!)”
His grip on the control levers naturally tightened.
Despite it being a crisis for Japan, the situation felt somewhat unreal.
That unreality intensely exhilarated Ema.
However, as expected, he properly remembered what he had to do.
“(Alright! Ibinom subjugation operation, commence!)”
Psyching himself up in the cockpit, Ema maneuvered Enma with the control levers, confronting the colossal Ibinom.
Using thrusters to ascend, he flew up near the Ibinom’s face and deployed its onboard weaponry.
“Missiles, fire!”
Along with Ema’s voice, a massive number of missiles were launched.
Of course, these weren’t ordinary missiles.
They were anti-Ibinom missiles, created using the latest technology.
The launched missiles all scored direct hits on the Ibinom’s face.
Cheers rose from the ground, but when the smoke from the explosions cleared, the Ibinom stood there, unscathed.
Seeing that the missiles had no effect, Ema was dismayed.
“It-it can’t be…”
“L-look out!”
By the time someone shouted, it was too late.
The Ibinom swiped its hand, swatting Ema’s Enma to the ground like a fly.
“Gwaaargh!!!”
With a tremendous crash, Enma was slammed into the ground, and Ema, in the cockpit, took the full brunt of the impact.
Fortunately, he had also undergone training for taking hits, so he didn’t lose consciousness, but he had made a pathetic display of himself.
She’d come to help, but in this state, she looked anything but cool.
“(Ah, that’s right. I’m no hero! It’s fine if I’m pathetic, even miserable! Right now, just focus on defeating the enemy before me!)”
She finally came to her senses.
The heat of her elation rapidly cooled, but at the same time, she remembered her mission.
It didn’t matter if she wasn’t cool like a hero.
As long as she could defeat the enemy before her, that was all that mattered.
Enma rose to her feet once more, her gaze fixed on the colossal Ibinom.