Chapter 60

“You have slain his Majesty, the Emperor. Phanes, in the name of Tojiume and the entire kingdom of Japan: You will either be imprisoned or die right here and now.”

Phanes doesn’t look at her. As the city burns down, he begins chuckling. His chuckling quickly turns into a loud and rapid laughter.

“Ah, how truly marvelous. Will this be what I have desired for so long? Will this be the moment in which I will truly start sweating and having to face an actual challenge?

Hahaha… If so, then this plan, whether or not it will succeed, has already been a positive experience.

You must understand, Dear Miss Lunari Sakuramachi: It was you who made me feel at least a little bit excited during a fight. It was never close, do not misunderstand me. But it most certainly was at least a bit enjoyable and the first time I had to actually think about how to make the defeat of my enemy truly exciting for everyone around. I thank you for that, dear little soldier child.”

As he turns around his hair flies through the wind. The colorful feathers of the spear swing just the same and Phanes grins pridefully.

“Are you aware of this spear? Well, of course you are not. This spear is the very essence of Shuten-Doji, the mightiest of all Yokai. It does let me absorb the power of whoever I slay with it. Thus, with every person killed, I grow in strength… But you do believe that I truly need this? Well, of course not! There is no one who comes close to me in strength and that much should be obvious to everyone.

I am merely connecting the last parts that belong to me. As soon as I will have achieved each and every thing there is to achieve, I will truly become the one and only true god. I will surpass the Protogoni and thus existence itself. For that is the fate that was given to me.

I shall reign supreme and be the very reason for creation, for that is my purpose.”

Lunari stares at him, disgusted. She holds her lance tighter.

“Your purpose? You must not be sane anymore: You are mortal, like each and everyone else. You think of yourself as undefeatable and yet you can die. You can bleed. And you will die. I shall kill you, in order to let Tojiume and the dynasty of the Emperor regain all of its sanity as well as glory.”

Phanes laughs loudly. The very sentence, the very statement that he may die… was amusing. Ridiculous even. He could not ever grasp such a fundamentally absurd statement and believe it to be true in any sense.

“Ah, how amusing. Very well: Try to use the spear called Shuten-Doji: If you slay me with it, you shall take all of my power and be able to reign as god. You shall slay those blessed by Death and then reign as the only true God. Thus, you can fulfill every wish you have: Whether it is to take whoever you like as your personal property or if it is to live forever, you will be able to choose whatever you want… That is, of course, if you can defeat me, the person who is almost God.”

Lunari stares at him. “Even if you were such a powerful being, even if you could with confidence call yourself God… You are not. One life is not worth more than another life. Thus you are just as human, just as worthy as we are. So I can only tell you this: Be ready to die.”

Lunari dashes at Phanes and directly attacks with her lance. At the same moment, thousands of blue beams shoot down from the sky. Lunari’s powers have multiplied. Her emotions are directly affecting her powers and thus she gets stronger.

She wasn’t really enraged. Or shocked. Or sad. She cannot think about what the hell is going on with herself. The only thing she can think about is her goal of defeating her enemy, the self-proclaimed God.

Phanes raises his spear and easily parries the strike of the lance. The thousand blue beams try to hit Phanes from behind, however he jumps out of the window and easily dodges each one. Phanes now flies around the skies, smiling with pride.

As the blue beams hit the Tower it begins to shake. Lunari does not care: The only thing that is important is to stop the impending doom and danger.

She throws herself out of the window as well and strikes the tower's wall with her own lance. Thus, she gets launched into the air and jumps right at Phanes. She screams as her body presses against the wind and she approaches the mightiest of all.

Phanes easily parries her strike once more. As even more blue beams strike at him and want to destroy his very body, he easily parries each one of them with his empty hand. Like flies he just swats them away.

“Come on, Lunari Sakuramachi! Show me the pride! Show me the might! Show me how you will slay me!”