Final Battle: Part 3

A light breath escaped Anastasia’s mouth. She prepared herself for what she had to do. Anastasia stretched her hands outwards towards King Alucard. They glowed in the darkness lit by ice and flames.

“If you want our mana so bad, then take it!”

Whoosh! King Alucard launched towards Anastasia, leaving a mountain of ice where he had stood. He had made the first move. Natsu and I stood between them. Anastasia could not be hurt during this entire process.

Ting! All three of our swords collided, sending a shockwave to the ground. Spider-web-like cracks formed where we stood, barely able to support our power. King Alucard’s attack weighed a ton. Natsu and I were barely able to hold him back.

Rainbows of light emerged from Anastasia, aiming for King Alucard. Before we could blink, the rays zoomed at his beast-like body. They pierced through his thick skin effortlessly. No, it was more like they phased through his body.

“Graaaahhhhh!”

The beast roared aloud as its strength increased even more. Its scream was not of pain but of power. With Anastasia’s mana transferring to his body, King Alucard was getting stronger and stronger. Everything was going according to plan.

“How much longer, Anastasia?!” Natsu screamed in pain, struggling to hold King Alucard in place.

“I don’t know! Just hold on!”

“Why did I make this plan?!” I shouted, regretting that my strategy was this difficult.

Natsu and I summoned the last bits of our strength to keep King Alucard away from Anastasia. Every fibre in my arms was tearing apart bit by bit. My feet dug into the ground, slowly being pushed back. Only a single thought remained in my brain: hold him back.

“ARGHHHHH!”

The scream of power had turned into pain. I could feel his power waning. The strength in his blade got weaker and weaker. Although he was growing bigger, his muscles became uneven. As I expected, King Alucard’s body was unable to handle all of Anastasia’s mana at once. That was why they had been collecting them bit by bit.

“Aki! Natsu! End him now!” Anastasia screamed with an exhausted breath. She had used up all her mana, falling to the floor.

Natsu and I didn’t wait for a single moment. We parried his blade upwards, leaving his torso unguarded. I placed all my remaining strength into my arms. If this was the last attack I would ever make, then so be it.

Shing! Our swords cleanly sliced through King Alucard’s torso.

The blood from his insides poured from the gap in his torso as his upper body flopped to the ground. His eyes were motionless, devoid of any life in them. We had successfully killed him.

I couldn’t hold my body up any longer. My legs gave up immediately, causing me to fall to the ground face-first. I took painful, deep breaths, trying to give all my muscles oxygen. Every fibre of every muscle was screaming in agony.

My eyes turned to the side. Natsu lay on the ground, her eyes barely able to stay open. She must have been in a simple predicament. Her chest rhythmically moved up and down, signifying that she was alive.

“We actually did it,” I uttered softly, barely able to speak.

“I would be celebrating if every limb of mine wasn’t numb right now…” Natsu cried weakly.

“Same here. I just wanna sleep.”

“The rough rocks feel a little too comfortable right now. Might be better than my bed.”

“Your bed was just a thin futon anyway. I’d take the ground over that any day of the week.”

“Take that back! I’ve slept in that bed for half my life! Owwww, I can’t scream….”

We laughed, trying to ignore the searing pain in our ribs. I had almost forgotten that we killed the king of a country. But I wanted to forget about that right now. I wanted to revel in this short happiness.

“We can’t stay here too long, can’t we?” Natsu asked. At first, I was wondering whether she was talking about going back to our world, but I got the context a second later.

“Right. We can’t let them fight alone.”

I used up the renewed strength in my body to stand, then I grabbed Natsu’s hand. She held on to my shoulder for support. We walked towards Anastasia, then I supported her with my other shoulder. It was difficult since she was unconscious.

“Misao, we’re done. Send us to Ashenfall,” I ordered.

1 minute. 2 minutes. 3 minutes. 5 minutes passed with no reaction from Misao. My heart sank. There was no way that he died. We needed him for the last phase of the operation. He was stronger than all of us. How did he get defeated?

“Misao!” I shouted into the air.

—---------------

Ashenfall was no longer recognisable. Streets had been reduced to irregular craters left, right and centre. The Victorian structures had been torn down, and pieces of them were thrown all over the land. Dust and rubble covered the land as a smokescreen.

Riku lay on the side of a dilapidated building. Blood poured from his forehead to his torso. He was covered in bruises all over his limbs. The bow in his hand had been shattered into pieces.

Chiyo and Arakawa were face-first on the ground. Their bodies were motionless, littered with scars and bruises all over their bloodied clothes. A pool of blood surrounded their perimeter.

Misao’s ears rang with white noise. His eyes were blurry, unable to comprehend the two shapes jumping at each other in front of him. After the direct impact to his head, his senses were in a complete disarray. In the back of his brain, he felt a soft call. It slowly got louder and louder.

“Can you hear me, Misao?! Answer me!” The voice’s urgency jolted his consciousness awake. He recognised the source of the voice. It was Aki Kurokawa.

“Yeah. Yeah. I’m here,” Misao grumbled. Now that his senses were finally functioning, every inch of his body was screaming in pain and agony.

“Finally! What’s happening there? I’ve been trying to contact you for ages!” Aki’s voice was filled with distress.

“Nobunaga’s too strong. None of us could even lay a finger on him except Yukino. Everyone’s knocked out except her.”

He recalled how everyone was swiftly defeated by Nobunaga. The image of buildings floating in the sky, then raining down on all of them as Nobunaga threw them around the area, was seared into his brain. Even with an overwhelming majority, it was futile against the sheer strength of force magic.

“Send us there now! Yukino can’t beat him alone!” Misao had never heard such fear and desperation from Aki before.

“If I send you here now, that’ll be the last of my magic pool. I won’t be able to teleport you guys in a while. Are you ready?” Misao gave a warning.

“I don’t care! Just do it!”

Misao summoned the last of his magical power.

“Lanuae.”

—-------------------

In the span of a blink, my environment had completely altered. The flatland of ice and fire had transformed into the familiar gothic background of Ashenfall. Next to me was Misao, slumped to the floor. He had used the last of his magical power to bring us here.

I placed Anastasia next to him and looked around the area. My heart sank and my fingers shivered as I noticed Riku, Chiyo and Mr Arakawa’s bodies. I ran to each of them and checked their pulses. All of them were thankfully alive.

“Natsu, stay here and protect them. I’m gonna go help Yukino,” I ordered Natsu. She had already been exhausted. I couldn’t force her to fight again.

But as I turned to leave, I felt a hand grip my wrist tightly.

“I’m fighting with you, whether you like it or not,” her answer was direct. It brought a smile to my face. I could always trust Natsu to have my back.

We rushed towards the centre of the conflict.

The two adversaries were moving at the speed of sound. Yukino, with her blade of light, repelled her father’s sword slashes one by one. Emperor Nobunaga manipulated the debris around him, sending it flying at Yukino. It didn’t stop her momentum. She effortlessly vaporised the rocks around her and launched herself at her father.

Ting! The sound of metal on metal reverberated in the air.

This was our chance.

Natsu and I rushed at Emperor Nobunaga from each side. With his full concentration focused on Yukino, he wouldn’t be able to dodge a sword slash from both sides. Once I was close enough, I soared from the ground, preparing a powerful horizontal slash. Natsu had read my mind and done the same thing.

We were mere centimetres away from cutting Emperor Nobunaga’s torso. My blade could almost feel his skin.

But we were too late.

With a burst of his magical power, Emperor Nobunaga froze us in place. No matter how much we tried to budge, we couldn’t move a muscle.

“You’ve finally arrived, Mr Kurokawa. But as you can see, you’re a little late.” He laughed at my futile attempt. With a snap of his fingers, Natsu and I were sent flying at the buildings on both sides.

“Aki! Natsu!” Yukino shouted with worry. Emperor Nobunaga powered up his slash, sending her flying as well.

My head was splitting. Every bone in my body felt like they were broken into small pieces. Blood was pouring from every wound in my body. The damage I had taken from King Alucard had hurt even more now.

But I couldn’t let Yukino fight alone, no matter what.

I got back up on my feet, ignoring the pool of blood forming below. Even if I were left in pieces, I would never leave her alone.

Yukino’s eyes brightened up once she saw my face, but once she saw all the blood on me, her expression darkened into a mixture of fear and worry.

“I will kill you, Emperor Nobunaga! Even if it is the last thing I do!” My brain was on autopilot. I only thought of murdering the monster in front of me.

“You truly are a one-of-a-kind being, Aki Kurokawa. A mere human fighting to the death, even though he’s not even involved in this world’s affairs. Tell me why. Why are you pushing yourself so far as an outsider?”

I didn’t even need to think about my answer. It came to my mind immediately.

“Because I wanted to help everyone. The people I love, the common folk I’ve barely talked to. Every one of us needs someone to fall back on for support. And I want to be that backbone for someone.”

Even with barely any energy left in my body, those words came easily. It was my core, the words I stood by for so long.

“An answer that truly suits you: childish and weak. I expected more from my champion. Very well, I’ll let you meet your end the way you want. Consider it a gift.”

Emperor Nobunaga showed me his palm, preparing another force attack. I gripped my katana tightly. I had no plan for how I was going to defeat this monster in front of me. I stood in an attacking stance, readying for at least one more slash.

My eyes caught Yukino getting up from the rubble as well. She was bruised and bloodied from head to toe. Yet, her blade never left her hand. She, too, was putting her life on the line.

It happened in an instant.

The two of us rushed at Emperor Nobunaga at the same time. My body surpassed its limits, moving at the speed of sound. We slashed at him in unison, but he dodged us effortlessly. No matter how many slashes we threw, none of them connected. However, Emperor Nobunaga could barely make a counterattack.

Yukino and I were moving in sync. Our emotions alone carried our blades. But none of our techniques damaged Emperor Nobunaga.

No matter how many times he sent us flying, we got back up, ready to attack him once again. We ignored all the wounds we were suffering from. Adrenaline powered our bodies.

“Why can’t you just die already?!” Emperor Nobunaga was losing his patience. His attempts to kill us failed over and over again.

But I had no idea how much longer we could take this. Every time I stood up, it felt like my last. I was prepared to die at any moment. Judging from Yukino’s condition, she was just the same way.

“This is the end. I don’t want to prolong this any longer,” Emperor Nobunaga said, his final piece.

He pointed a finger at the sky. Broken bricks from the buildings and cobblestone from the roads converged at a single point. A meteor was slowly being formed before our eyes. I was at a loss for words. Was there any way to defeat that?

“Grab Yukino’s hand and follow my lead.” A voice in my head spoke. I immediately recognised its owner.

I grabbed Yukino’s bloodied hand and ran forward. Although she was confused, she placed her trust in me. Emperor Nobunaga sighed at our futile attempt and raised his other hand towards us. Neither of us was willing to back down. I felt his mana strengthening at his fingertips.

Thwip! My position had shifted behind him. But Emperor Nobunaga realised this. He was about to turn his hand towards us when -

“Don’t forget about me!” Misao teleported to where we had been, his scythe nearly at Emperor Nobunaga’s neck.

Emperor Nobunaga was in a deadlock. He could either aim for me and Yukino on one side, or Misao on the other side. His other hand was being used to create the meteor. There was not enough time for him to spread the range of the attack. He had to choose his poison.

And that’s exactly what he did.

A force greater than any other was shot from his palms.

The top half of Misao’s body was vaporised, leaving only his legs.

Yukino and I couldn’t waste this opportunity. We aimed the tip of our blades at Emperor Nobunaga’s heart. He was defenceless.

Shrk! The metal tips of our blades cleanly pierced through his body.

But this wasn’t enough. We had to put an end to this once and for all.

Lux dei mihi lucea!t”

Yukino cried out her spell of light. The golden glow of her sword enveloped Emperor Nobunaga. A beam of pure light shot through his body, vaporising him in the purifying glow.. The two of us pulled the blade up, destroying the meteor above before it could fall on us.

Our energy and mana had been completely depleted. The two of us fell to the ground with a thud. In our vision, small debris was falling from above like snowflakes. My fingers were still intertwined in Yukino’s.

Emperor Nobunaga had been defeated.

We had won.