Chapter 283: The Sword Stands by Its Own Will
The Master of the Sword's body shatters and vanishes. The thread of my concentration — pulled taut, doused in gasoline, and set on fire — slowly unravels, like a car that's finished accelerating and coasts to a stop over a long distance.
Sunraku: "...Phew."
One thing I've learned: PvP while using Levin Trigger: Hazard is absurdly exhausting. What is this feeling? Like stepping onto a motionless floor after running on a conveyor belt. Or this weird, oppressive sensation of being pressed down harder than everyone else, something like that.
The flames peel away the moment the fight ends. I thump my chest with a fist, scattering the lightning. The cracks eating into my body seal shut, and I'm back to being an ordinary half-naked guy. I crack my neck and start walking over to the Wolfgang spectator seats...
Sunraku: "Just like I promised — I'm trash-talking you losers for the next six months, so brace yourselves."
Oikatzo: "Honestly, after watching you move like that, I really can't complain..."
Pencilgon: "It started getting funny how Sunraku looked like he was being processed at double-speed compared to everyone else."
Sunraku: "That was seriously brutal, you know? Specifically, the moment my concentration broke, I could've face-planted into a wall, or bounced, or slid face-first... Oi, what's with that 'please demonstrate' look?"
Not doing it. Anyway, I'm insanely tired, so I want to log out and sleep. Or just zone out and sunbathe for three hours.
Pencilgon: "Well, putting that aside — you look exhausted, and I'm really sorry to say this, but..."
Sunraku: "Hm?"
Pencilgon: "Sunraku-kun, you do remember that you've got a whole bunch of stuff scheduled after this?"
...
Sunraku: "Tactical retreat!"
Pencilgon: "Strategic capture—!!"
Sunraku: "What the— where'd you come from... Guwaah—?!"
Where the hell were they hiding? Unknown players suddenly rush up and pin me down. Tch, treating a person like a zoo animal on the loose...!
Pencilgon: "Sorry, Sunraku-kun. You've got way too many priors for pulling a runner on this stuff... The Library and the Shining Knights of the Holy Shield were both just so insistent..."
Pencilgon fake-sobs with exaggerated boo-hoos. I thrash around, trying to punch her, but with about six people holding me down, escape is impossible.
Sunraku: "So what's the real reason, just out of curiosity?"
Pencilgon: "You won, and if you got to stand there with a smug face about it, that'd piss me off. So I arranged all this myself."
Sunraku: "Even if I beat the shit out of that bastard, justice is on my side here—!!"
As I thrash and flail, one of the people holding me down mutters.
???: "Fish market..."
Screw you! Who's a freshly-caught fish, dammit! And you, over there — natural-born evil lord! You're thinking, "Ah, this is the kind of villain who promises to release the hostage and then betrays them at the critical moment," aren't you!
Pencilgon: "I mean, Sunraku-kun, you were completely planning to bullshit your way out and log off, right?"
Sunraku: "Nothing could be further from the truth."
Pencilgon: "If you think looking someone straight in the eye will make them believe you, you're sorely mistaken."
A magnificent statement that completely rejects the idea that people are basically good. I'm filing that one away, you total-bottom bastard. Well, I was totally planning to bullshit my way out and log off, but still...
Sunraku: "...Fine, fine. I won't run anymore, so please, let up on the restraining."
If I run now, it feels like I'd genuinely get a wanted poster, so I'll hold back. Dammit, this is no way to treat a guy who just went toe-to-toe with a hardcore freak for the clan's honor...
Pencilgon: "Well, I'll handle all the messy stuff with Schwarz Vulf."
I respond with a sigh to Pencilgon, who's acting like that's the real main event. Then I glance over at Oikatzo.
Sunraku: "...(jerk chin upward)"
Oikatzo: "...(shake shake, nod)"
Sunraku: "I see."
Kyo the Ultimate: "Huh? What's 'I see' supposed to mean?"
Oikatzo: "If I translate: 'Trash-talk him?' 'He looks like he'd flip out, so let's hold off.' 'I see.' Isn't that about right? Rebu-kun's mental state is made of sawdust, so he'd probably catch fire instantly."
Sunraku: "That's a creepy kind of telepathy..."
Yeah, and you over there, Kyotimate-san, pretending to be the normal, sensible one.
Sunraku: "So why are you staring daggers at me while going chakichaki with your katana? Care to state your case?"
Divine punishment? Huh? You want some divine punishment? I'm tired, but my divine punishment hasn't lost its edge, you know.
Kyo the Ultimate: "Hmm, how do I put it... I shoved a bunch of really messy feelings down, and the result is, for now, I wanna fight you in PvP."
Sunraku: "Ha ha ha. Say that again once you can win without relying on sexual harassment."
Crack. I could've sworn I heard something splintering. Weird. I'm not even using Shakkotsu Breaker anymore, though???
Oikatzo: "Hey, Sunraku. I heard there's a PKer out there who showed up with a smug face and just got her ass kicked normally."
Sunraku: "You don't say, Oikatzo. Is that true? That's a joke so unfunny you couldn't even salvage it by slathering peanut nougat all over it."
Kyo the Ultimate: "...Nghh—!"
Oikatzo swept all three opponents and still runs the risk of getting roasted if he screws up. So it's self-evident that Kyotimate, who just plain old lost, would get targeted...
Oikatzo: "Speaking of which, Sunraku. You turned into all kinds of indescribable forms back there. What the hell was that about?"
Sunraku: "Hm? Well, for now, the lightning was this thing's effect. The body cracks were this thing's effect. The full-body flames were this thing's effect."
Professor: "Hmm. Go on?"
I shoot the fake magical girl, who inserted herself into the conversation as if it were the most natural thing in the world, a look packed with extremely ambiguous emotions. She ignores it. Has her thick skin been accumulating since the Paleozoic era or something? Still, there's this atmosphere radiating from nearly everyone here — "Huh? You're obviously gonna explain, right? That's how this goes?" — and I'm forced to yield to the uniquely Japanese air pressure.
Sunraku: "This one... well... yeah. Like I said during the fight... I picked a fight with Goldhuneenay the Inexhaustible... and, well, various things happened, and I got it. Yeah."
Pencilgon: "If you want more info on that, please contact Wolfgang's financial manager, Arthur Pencilgon, thanks—"
Sunraku: "This one... haha, hmm... I asked a player with the Jeweler job to make it for me, I guess? Yeah, it's probably not a Unique. Not a Unique, but... it's kind of gacha-like?"
Pencilgon: "Ahh, yeah. For this one too, please direct inquiries to me first, thanks."
Sunraku: "This? Ah... do I really have to say? Ah, fine. Well, it's called a Re-Legacy Weapon. Sort of like a newly-constructed version of a Legacy Weapon, or rather, it's connected to the Ancient Craftsman, so..."
Pencilgon: "Hold on, Sunraku-kun. Let's have a quick information-sharing session, shall we?"
I'm restrained again. Pencilgon gets in my face with dead seriousness. Kyotimate keeps going chakichaki with her katana. Oikatzo radiates a "Uniques, must be nice, must be nice" aura... Dammit! Someone, an ally! Is there no one on my side?!
Psyger-0: "Um, excuse me..."
Rei-shiii!! (Eyes shining with joy.)
As I turn my sparkling dead-fish eyes toward my savior, I see Rei-shi shrinking back apologetically. Psyger-100 stands beside her, looking oddly refreshed. And then there's Rebellius — haha, I've already memorized it, you see — wearing an expression that says, "I don't accept this, but they're technically in the right, and we can't grab the initiative, so I want to scream and rant about it, but my pride gets in the way, so I'm doing my best to project an 'I'm an adult who accepts the results' aura, though to any outside observer, I just look like a kid on the verge of tears."
Psyger-100: "Well, first, allow me to honor the victor as the defeated party."
Sunraku: "There's a guy over there whose face says he has absolutely zero intention of honoring anything?"
Psyger-100: "Let's call it the rebellious spirit of youth. I ask you to overlook it."
Oikatzo, who beat the crap out of Rebellius, is now walking over to him with a wonderful smile to deliver a handshake-taunt, so I'll leave that to him.
Psyger-100: "It was a fine match. I'm now fully convinced that your strength in defeating Lycagon was genuine."
Sunraku: "Ah, yeah. Likewise — let me say good game."
I'm not making fun of her. But even when using someone as a punching bag, you need a certain level of quality to go all-out. In that respect, Psyger-100 gets a perfect score.
Psyger-100: "And besides... Heh heh. It seems my foolish little sister has gotten acquainted with quite an interesting gentleman."
Psyger-0: "Bwuh—?!"
Behind Psyger-100, Rei-shi trembles as if she's about to burst from the inside out. But Rei-shi's movements are always glitching out, so I decide not to worry about it. Far more concerning is whatever Oikatzo is doing, grinning creepily at a quivering Rebellius behind them.
Psyger-100: "Now then... You may take the following words as the stance of the clan Schwarz Vulf."
She clears her throat and, with a small cough, composes herself. Then, with an almost offhand ease, she delivers the announcement that was the root cause of this entire showdown.
Psyger-100: "Our clan, formerly Schwarz Vulf, now renamed Black Blade, wishes to join the alliance proposed by the clan Wolfgang."
The clan that once raised an emblem of a wolf with a sword in its jaws. But now, that emblem was about to split into wolf and sword.