Chapter 50

Shuten Doji stands in front of the three teachers. Okubo stands a bit away. She still cannot move. The poor girl.

Mister Kazuki barely avoided the previous hit of the club. Shuten Doji starts laughing once more and flames spew out of his mouth, filling the entire room. The three teachers start sweating. At this moment, each of them has a different line of thought:

Mister Kazuki believes they can win. He truly believes that, through clever coordination and wise attacks, they stand a chance.

Mister Hideo regrets ever becoming a teacher. He did not ever want to die as soon as this, but now that he is in such a situation, he will fight until the end. Even if the chances are this close to zero, he will not give in.

Miss Hanebana is content. She does know that she will die in a few moments. Yet, even if only for those few moments, she will buy time. She wants at least some of her children to survive. She wants to leave the world behind in a better state than it would be without her.

They cannot attack Shuten Doji with their blessings, no matter how often they try. Mister Kazuki can keep up with Shuten Doji’s speed, however that is all he can do.

Thumb.

The club came crashing down. Mister Kazuki dodges yet again, however-

The club comes crashing down not once, but thrice. Three clubs come down at the same time. Mister Kazuki is crushed, not predicting this.

“Sorry, Hideo… Sorry for dragging you into this.” Miss Hanebana looks at the Lord of all Evil and starts letting her last tears flow. This will most certainly not be a happy ending, but it will be an ending that shall help the world. And if not the world, then at least those two sons of hers which have fled. If even for a single second longer, even if the chance for them to survive this hell is slim… It shall happen.

The club comes crashing down thrice again.

Only Okubo remains. She sits there, on the ground, despairing. The club itself is painted red by the blood of her three teachers. Their bodies slowly drop onto the ground and the demon lord comes creeping closer. She starts praying. She closes her eyes and starts crying.

“Please… Iwata… Save m-”

The club crashes down at lightspeed and the girl gets crushed.

Sherlock and I run through the hallway. I do remember the room in which Itoh and Nagano died. In there, there is a small hole in the wall. Leaving through the main entrance is impossible, thus we will leave through there.

We hear the sound of the club bashing again and again.

We arrive in the hallway that features the door to our freedom.

We hear something creeping closer.

We run.

We hear something being right behind us.

I want to run, but Sherlock grabs me and pushes me to the ground.

The club of Shuten Doji crashes into the wall above me.

He caught up to us in one second. One singular second.

4 people have died. They died so that we can flee - at least partially.

Yet, there was only a single second.

We look up at the muscular being, more mighty and stronger than we could ever hope to defeat. As soon as the next second starts, we will be dead. That much I understand.

No, I do not understand it.

I will die.

Right here, right now… I will die.

Everything I have done up until this point will vanish.

My life. My memories. Everything I have. Myself. Me. I.

It will all vanish.

Everything will end.

And there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.

“Every single thing must end.

Memento Mori - Remember that you must die.”

Those words echo in my ears.

Yes. My fate has been decided from the very start.

I will meet Lady Death again.

I slowly close my eyes.

And I see her, right in front of me.

I approach the Lady who has sent me onto this journey.

And when I stand right in front of her, I see it.

Her face, hidden by darkness, portrays only a single thing:

A wide, crescent grin.

The world turns black. Sherlock is black, aside from his heart. The walls are black. Blood is black. Everything is black. Aside from Shuten Doji.

Shuten Doji is red. He is growing brightly. At first I do not understand… But then I do.

As soon as he kills someone, he absorbs their power. In the same way, Shuten Doji has more than a single heart.

My blade moves.

Time itself is stopped. No, it isn’t stopped. Just for this moment, just for me to fulfill my wish… Time itself has died.

My blade slices into Shuten-Doji’s skin. Once. Twice. Thrice.

I can’t count. Soon enough it is stabbing into him again and again without mercy.

The blood is spilling each time, though this only makes me more hungry for blood.

It does not stop. As long as I am this close to dying, the blackness shall not vanish. Unless I am not about to live, I will continue to kill Shuten Doji.

Soon, only one heart remains. And in this moment, the world regains color.

Shuten Doji falls onto his back. Hundreds of liters of blood spill out of him and fill the entire hallway.

Soon enough we are thrown into the main entrance hall by the flood of blood. It is filled by blood as well, though the blood has distributed more. We can safely stand now.

Shuten Doji is about to die.

At this very moment, a person jumps down from the very top of the mountain.

The person is holding another person: The person held is none other than Miss Cho.

The person holding it is none other than Uyeno.

She grins.

“Do it. Now.”

Miss Cho is crying. Her face has been beaten up multiple times. Her fingernails are missing. It seems as though she was tortured.

Without hesitating, Miss Cho uses her blessing. And - since I killed the hearts containing his powers to suppress getting affected by blessings - it works.

Shuten Doji gets turned into a long red spear, showing off colorful feathers.