Chapter 19: It Talks! DX Dynamic Sword!
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Time rewinds just a little, to when Kazuma had stepped outside the store and was watching the four of them fight. He couldn’t move.
“(It’s no good. I want to jump in and help, but there are too many people around. I can’t even transform like this!)”
Kazuma, who wished to live peacefully, was hiding his true identity: that he was the strongest Hero who had saved another world.
If Kazuma moved immediately, he could undoubtedly stop Inoue and Tamura. However, if that happened, Kazuma would definitely be apprehended by the country.
It’s only natural, but people fear the unknown. No matter what kind of existence it is, if there’s even a slight chance it could turn its fangs on them, people will try to eliminate it by any means necessary.
Therefore, if Kazuma were to reveal his identity, not just the country, but the whole world might become his enemy. Of course, it wasn’t a certainty, but the possibility was high.
“(Should I dash back into the store for a moment? But there’s a high chance my image has been caught on a security camera. If so, my identity will definitely be exposed this time. But even so, I can’t just stand by and watch…!)”
In Kazuma’s line of sight, Marin and Shion were fighting desperately, but Inoue and Tamura’s power was overwhelming. The two girls couldn’t do a thing and were being unilaterally trampled.
However, even so, they fought without cowering or fleeing, to protect Akatsuki and the others behind them.
There was no way he could bear to watch that. Kazuma had seen the same sight countless times in the other world: warriors who fell protecting people even when facing enemies with overwhelming power.
They were proud. They were noble warriors. Warriors who wielded their power for others, burned their lives to protect them, and continued to fight until the very end.
Kazuma couldn’t possibly abandon these girls, who reminded him so much of those warriors.
Kazuma racked his less-than-brilliant brain at full throttle, trying to come up with a way to save the two without his identity being exposed.
“(Channel lightning magic underground to destroy the installed security cameras. After destroying the cameras, I’ll duck back into the store for a moment and transform using Illusion Magic! I can’t think of a better plan than this!)”
And so, he immediately put it into practice. Kazuma skillfully channeled lightning magic from the soles of his feet underground, destroying the security cameras installed in the city. Then, while the surrounding people were captivated by the battle, he slipped back into the store.
Then, after looking around the store and confirming no one was there, Kazuma transformed using Illusion Magic. Last time he was the Crimson Knight, so this time he was the Silver Knight. There was no particular reason for it.
Then, as an afterthought, he picked up a toy sword that was lying around in the store. He stored this weapon in his Dimensional Storage (Item Box) and went back outside.
In the meantime, the two girls had been defeated. Marin and Shion lay on the ground, and Inoue and Tamura were about to lay hands on Akatsuki and the others. Just as Kazuma, thinking he had to hurry, was about to put strength into his legs, the fallen Marin and Shion provoked and drew the attention of the two men.
Kazuma was far away, but because he was using Body Enhancement Magic, he had overheard their conversation.
“(Ah… They’re just like the warriors I saw in the other world. That noble spirit of trying to protect others even at the cost of their own lives. To possess that now… just how incredible is that? How long did it take me to gain that kind of resolve?)”
In Kazuma’s case, he had no choice. He was suddenly thrown into another world and forced to fight. So, he had no option but to fight, and to train desperately so he wouldn’t die.
However, these girls had other options. True, they had gained the power to fight, but they also had the option not to fight. And yet, they chose to fight. And they did so with the will to protect someone.
That’s precisely why they faced their enemies bravely, without cowering or fleeing. Because there were people there they had to protect.
“(I won’t let them die! Those noble warriors!)”
Kazuma ran. Like the wind across the battlefield. With a speed that couldn’t be followed by the eye, Kazuma rescued Marin and Shion from Inoue and Tamura’s grasp.
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Time returns to the present, with Kazuma facing Inoue and Tamura. The eyes of Kazuma, whose face was hidden within his helmet by Illusion Magic, burned with the flames of fury. Kazuma was wondering how to unleash the anger he hadn’t felt in a long time.
“Die! You copycat bastard!”
Wondering what “copycat” meant, Kazuma tilted his head as he batted away the fireball Inoue had launched, sending it skyward.
“Then, how about this!”
Seeing Inoue’s fireball deflected, Tamura changed his tactics. He launched an attack at Marin and Shion, who were unconscious behind Kazuma. Judging from the knight’s (Kazuma’s) earlier actions, it was a strike made with the conviction that he would protect the two girls.
However, that was a bad move and utterly meaningless. If anything, it only served to anger Kazuma further.
“Huh?”
Tamura wore a dumbfounded, idiotic expression. In his line of sight, the attack he had launched towards Marin and Shion was deflected by something unseen and vanished.
Seeing Tamura unrepentantly target the two girls again, Kazuma’s anger intensified further. Just how much did they intend to provoke him? Kazuma’s rage continued to build.
“Still targeting them…?! You utterly despicable lowlifes!”
“Ha! All that matters is winning! Besides, it’s your fault for protecting such weaklings!”
“Of all things to say, calling those noble warriors weaklings…!”
“Gyahahahaha! You’ve been going on about ‘noble warriors’ and ‘proud warriors’ for a while now, you got chuunibyou or something?! It’s obvious those ugly bitches are weaklings just by looking at ’em! Are you nuts?”
“Absurd! You have absolutely no right to mock them! Anyone who wields their power for others, who risks their own life to protect them—I will pay them respect and honor them, no matter who they are! There’s no way you should be allowed to ridicule that!”
Kazuma, who was quite genuinely angry, was rather eloquent. Of course, since he was hiding his identity, he had altered his voice and his way of speaking was stiff and formal, but every single word was filled with rage.
“Are you stupid?! In the end, they couldn’t protect anything and lost pathetically!”
“Even so, they protected them to the end! Look! At them!”
Kazuma spread his arms wide and shouted, gesturing for them to look around. Inoue and Tamura paused their movements and obediently did as he said. They glanced around restlessly, then turned their gazes back to Kazuma, staring as if to ask what he was trying to say.
“Don’t you understand?! The fact that they are unharmed is the result of those girls fighting desperately and protecting them with all their might! You boast that you’ve won… but the true victors are them!”
Pointing at the two, Kazuma declared that the true losers were none other than them.
“But if you hadn’t come, they wouldn’t have been able to protect anything and would’ve died!”
“But that didn’t happen, did it? That’s why you will lose here.”
“Gh…! Shut up! You annoying bastard! Die, you bastard!”
The enraged duo unleashed their Gifts repeatedly, continuing to attack Kazuma, but nothing got through. No matter how much their firepower increased, no matter how wide their attack range became, no matter how desperately they struggled, they couldn’t land a single scratch on Kazuma.
“You’ve gone too far. Prepare yourselves.”
“Tch! Don’t screw with us! Tamura!”
“Yeah!”
Kazuma took the toy sword out of his Dimensional Storage. Seeing him draw a weapon, Inoue yelled Tamura’s name. Tamura, understanding what Inoue meant, immediately prepared to flee.
Manipulating the earth to envelop Kazuma and secure their own escape route, the two of them ran at full speed.
However, escape was not to be. Because their opponent was Kazuma.
“I won’t let you escape.”
A single horizontal flash of the toy sword. With just that, he destroyed the earthen cage Tamura had created. The onlookers were dumbfounded by the sight.
“N-No way!? That thing isn’t supposed to break so easily! In fact, even now, the police and the National Defense Force are being held back by it!”
The reason the police and the National Defense Force still hadn’t intervened in this commotion was because of the barricade created by Tamura’s Earth Manipulation. Because of it, many people couldn’t escape, and the police and National Defense Force couldn’t get involved.
Kazuma had destroyed Tamura’s incredibly sturdy Gift with just a single swing of a toy sword. It was no wonder Tamura was shaken.
However, no one knew that what Kazuma held was a toy sword. If they were to find out it was a toy sword, they would be even more astonished, wondering how he could destroy an earthen cage with such a toy.
“Tamura! Just run! If we get caught, it’s over!”
“I-I know! But, that guy—”
And just as the two were talking while running, Kazuma caught up to them in an instant.
“You seem quite relaxed. Do you have time for idle chatter?”
“Wha—?!”
“So fa—”
“Rest assured. I won’t kill you. But I will have you take some fitting pain!”
Kazuma swung the toy sword he clutched in one hand down towards the two of them.
If Kazuma were to swing the sword with his full strength, toy though it was, the two of them would die.
Therefore, Kazuma swung the sword with minimal force, cutting them down on the spot.