The Last Fight to Death

“Ryou...” Kirihime poked Ryou’s cheek, grabbing his attention. “We have to defeat him.”
“Huh?! Are you kidding me?!” Ryou shot a questioning look at her. “How am I supposed to defeat that thing?! Besides, how did mankind win against that thing in their everlasting war?!”
“But...” Kirihime frowned.
“Hanzoku can no longer fight, and Kushu had drained himself fighting those zombies, while you can’t even stand up. We’re retreating.” Ryou decided.
“Where to?!” Kirihime snapped. “Ryou, he can literally annihilate a third of this world in one attack!! Sure, he only could use it once in half a year, but this time, no matter where we run, we’re still in his range of attack! Running away or not, we’re going to die! Then why don’t we fight?!”
Ryou was taken aback by her outburst. “Even so...there’s no chance to...”
“Say your prayer!” Maou finished charging his most deadly attack and reached out his hands.
“Satomi Ryou!!!” Kirihime clutched Ryou’s wrist tightly. “Defeat Kojou Maou and protect all of us—no, this world!!”
Ryou shook his head frantically. “I can’t—I’m not a hero...!”
“You can!” Kirihime cut him. “You’re not a hero—you’re my knight! Believe in yourself and transform! Do it!” She ordered.
“Trans...form...?” Ryou’s eyes widened. Kirihime had never asked him to transform before, meaning this situation is highly dangerous. “But how do you defeat the strongest demon king who ruled over the darkness...?”
Kirihime started to smile as she saw an idea popped out in Ryou’s mind.
“Go and protect me, my knight.” Kirihime whispered.
Ryou nodded without further hesitation. He dashed at Kushu and left Kirihime to him.
“What are you—?!” Kushu shouted.
“Saving the world, duh!” Ryou replied confidently.
Kushu shook his head as Ryou lunged at Maou. “He’s just as crazy as you, [Princess].” He complained.
“I wouldn’t get this far if he wasn’t.” Kirihime smiled wryly.
Meanwhile, Ryou concentrated with all he got to imagine the creature he desired. He only had one shot and if he messed up, everything’s going to over.
“No!!” Ryou shook his head. “Don’t think about failure! Think of something else! Like...Like...dang, I’m getting nervous!”
Suddenly a memory of Kirihime’s smile flashed in his mind.
“That’s right...I’ll defeat Maou, save the world, and see her cute smile once again!” Ryou determined and transformed.
The next instant, everyone—including Maou—held their breath at the creature that was Ryou.
Landing gracefully on the floor was a giant dragon as big as Maou in his true form. That dragon had mist-white scales that made anyone who see him wondered whether the dragon was really there or not. As if that dragon could disappear just in a blink of an eye.
In the first glance, the dragon looked just like any typical dragon with deadly claws, a pair of horn, and giant dragon wings. But upon closer look, Kirihime noticed some kind of vortex on the tip of his thorn-covered tails. Then she realized what it was and held back her smile.
“I see...the only thing that could possibly go up against that immense darkness...Ryou’s imagination never failed to impress me.” She thought to herself.
“He-Hey, princess...this time what did he do?”
“I-I’ve never seen a creature like that before...”
Both Kushu and Hanzoku’s jaws slackened.
“Void Dragon.” Kirihime smiled proudly. “The creature that ruled over nothingness.”
Ryou roared and suddenly vanished. Everyone, including Maou, quickly looked around in alert. But the next second, Maou barely dodged a slash from behind. Maou quickly distanced himself from Ryou, who instantly reappeared behind Maou.
“H-How did he get there...?!” Maou muttered frantically.
Then Maou noticed the air around Ryou kept pulsing, and he understood.
“You...You covered yourself in nothingness so you could sneak up on me?!” Maou snapped.
Ryou didn’t answer and lunged again at Maou, once again erasing his presence. But this time Maou stood motionless until he felt an attack coming and he barely dodged in time. After his attacks being evaded several times, Ryou grew impatient and took off his cover, heading straight for Maou.
“For you to fight me head-to-head...you’re too young several centuries, boy!” Maou effortlessly evaded Ryou.
But to his surprise, Ryou recovered his balance in an instant and launched another attack.
Maou panicked and tried to block him with curtain of darkness, which Ryou easily erased it using the power of void, which concentrated on the tip of his tail. Ryou bit Maou’s right arm and tried to tear it apart, but Maou quickly reacted and slashed Ryou.
Both of them quickly distanced themselves, taking a short break to check their wounds. Ryou only suffered a shallow wound on his shoulder while Maou—who wasn’t as lucky—had to rip his right arm off.
“Tch...that void sure is troublesome. It acted like a poison and my arm is beyond repair. If I didn’t rip it off, the void would reach my heart. But then regenerating an arm would take a lot of power...I guess I could fight single-handedly until I find a way to cut his source of power...his tail.” Maou smirked.
Suddenly Maou charged forward, taking the initiative, and once again covered the whole room with darkness. Ryou erased the darkness with the swipe of his tail, but right at that moment, Maou appeared from the darkness and cut Ryou’s tail off.
Ryou roared in anger and flapped his wings, creating enough gusts of wind to repel Maou away.
“Haha!! Let’s see how you fight without your too-over-powered void!” Maou laughed victoriously.
Instead of being discouraged, the spectators on the ground simply groaned.
“Maou...your lack of common sense is simply too amazing...” Hanzoku sighed.
“Is there no school in demon realm?” Kushu asked.
“More like no biology in demon realm.” Kirihime agreed.
“W-What are you talking about?!” Maou, who heard their reprimands, shouted back.
Then he saw what they were talking about. Ryou simply grew out another tail, completed with its vortex of void.
“Wha—?!” Maou widened his eyes. “Without using any magic as well?!”
“You really should study more. Lizards have amazing regeneration ability, you know? And dragon is also a lizard.” Kirihime shook her head in pity.
“S-Shut up!! That’s unfair!” Maou threw a tantrum.
“I don’t want to hear that from a demon who capable of destroying a third of this world.” Ryou scowled.
“Fair? It doesn’t exist in demon’s dictionary!” Kirihime shouted. “That’s what your traitor subordinate, Kurokage, said!”
“Kurokage, you said?” Maou narrowed his eyes. “Then that explains why he never came back...”
The next second, Ryou once again reappeared behind Maou and slashed his back, trying to rip his wings.
Maou swallowed back his accusation of Ryou being cunning and quickly spun around before he shot the strongest attack he had charged earlier at Ryou.
Fortunately, Ryou was quick enough to shoot back with the power of void from his mouth, but when their attack collided in the air, Ryou was instantly pushed back until he almost hit the wall.
“Wha—?! Even though I had decisive advantage before?! Why is my power decreasing so fast?!” Ryou thought frantically.
“Hah!! Finally! I’ve been waiting for you to run out of energy!” Maou laughed. “How much energy did you think this kind of form take? I’ve spent thousands of years training this form!! Don’t ever think you can defeat me in my own game, boy!!”
“I totally forgot about that!!” Ryou gritted his teeth in frustration. “I can’t lose now!! I was so close to victory...!”
Despite his best efforts, Ryou knew he couldn’t overpower Maou in this contest of strength. Just as Maou said, this was the first time Ryou transformed into Void Dragon. There was no way he could maintain this form for a long time.
“Ryou...!” Kirihime forced herself to stand.
“What are you doing?! You can’t even stand up!” Kushu shouted at her.
“Kushu! I need your help!” Kirihime turned to Kushu.
“Huh?! Why would I...?!”
“I’m begging you!! You can kill me or torture me or anything you want after this battle, but please, just this once, lend your power to me!” Kirihime pleaded.
Kushu was taken aback by the determination in her voice and steel will in her eyes. “...alright. You owe me a favor, okay?”
As Kushu spoke, he remembered Ryou told them about Kirihime’s ability to control others and wondered why she didn’t just control him, but decided that he didn’t need to know the reason.
“Can you help me get to Ryou?” Kirihime asked with all the seriousness in the world.
“HUH??!! With your condition?! With that battle going?! Are you insa—?!”
“Can you?! Or can you not?!” Kirihime interrupted him.
Kushu frowned, but still answered, “Yes, I can.”
“Then please help me get close enough to Ryou. He needs my help to win this battle, but I can’t exactly shout my plan to him from here.” She explained.
Kushu unwillingly nodded. “Just a sec.”
He concentrated for a moment before waving his hand at Kirihime. The next second, a pair of shoe made of something that looked like gold leather with little wings on its heels materialized on Kirihime’s feet, perfectly wrapping her feet.
“There. It can help you move and even fly, and it won’t disappear except I lost consciousness.” Kushu said.
Kirihime stood, then bowed at Kushu. “Thank you very much!”
“No, it’s not—”
“...I’m sorry.” Kirihime whispered before flying straight at Ryou, leaving Kushu stared blankly at her.
“...don’t start saying such thing now, [Princess].” Kushu muttered with bitter face.
Meanwhile, Ryou was holding on with all he got when he heard that voice.
“Ryou!!!”
“Kirihime...?” He quickly took a glance and saw Kirihime flying at him. “Wha—?! Idiot!! What are you doing here?!”
Though he couldn’t speak, his glare got his message across. Despite that, Kirihime casually landed on Ryou’s shoulder, right in Maou’s range of attack.
“Ryou!! Hold on!” Kirihime shouted as if she was acting in some kind of typical romance movie.
She then faced Maou, with one hand leaning on Ryou’s diamond-hard scales as support.
“Father!! Please stop!! Ryou is about to lose!” Kirihime pleaded at him.
“As if I care! I’ll annihilate all of you!” Maou replied harshly.
“At least...At least let Ryou and the others go! You can take my head, but don’t touch them!” Kirihime offered.
“There’s no way I can let a traitor like Hanzoku live! He’ll pay for his treason!” Maou seemed to lose his temper when he talked about Hanzoku. “Besides, can you guarantee they won’t stand in my way when I’m going to conquer their world?!”
“If I’m gone, they won’t fight you anymore!” Kirihime answered bravely. “They were fighting for me! So—!”
“Who’s fighting for you, stupid princess?! I’m fighting for my world here!”
Unexpectedly, Kushu butted in and ruined the moment.
“Tch. How troublesome.” Kirihime muttered to herself. “But I’m finished already, so I guess it’s fine.” She pulled her hand that had leaned on Ryou.
Maou narrowed his eyes. “You see? Killing you won’t change anything. As I thought, I’ll have to kill all of you!”
As if Maou had found new strength from his words, his power started to push Ryou even more, despite Kirihime’s shout to encourage Ryou. In a matter of seconds, Maou’s darkness reached Ryou and he turned back into human.
Ryou fell from the height of a four-story building, along with Kirihime, who tried to catch Ryou in mid-air but instead was getting dragged down.
“How nice of you to die from your fall!” Maou laughed. “It saved me the trouble of killing you both myself!”
“Ryou!! Kirihime!!” Kushu shouted in despair as the two of them fell.
He was about to help them when his gaze met Kirihime’s. Something in her eyes told him to believe in her.
“Now...”
Maou turned his attention to Kushu and Hanzoku, who couldn’t move.
“How should I punish the traitor?” Maou wore an evil smile.
He raised his left hand and darkness started gathering on his palm, making a lump of darkness that kept on getting bigger.
“I guess I’ll just blast you two to pieces. After all, I never want to see you again, traitor.” Maou’s face was filled with bitterness.
Kushu closed his eyes in despair. “We’re doomed...we all gonna die and the world will be destroyed...what kind of hero are we...?”
“Believe in me.”
Suddenly Kushu remembered the look on Kirihime’s face even as they fell from such height.
“See you in hell, traitor!!!” Maou swung his hand down.
“Kojou Maou.”
Right at the moment when Maou was about to release the ball, a voice reverberated inside the shrine. The voice filled with unbreakable will, a voice that could stop even the demon king himself.
“Y-You...!!” Maou, being restrained in place, forced his head to turn. “How dare you...Kirihime!!”
Kushu’s eyes instinctively followed Maou’s line of sight and saw Kirihime floating in mid-air while holding Ryou. Her face was as pale as paper and she bit her lips until it bleed, but she never released her iron grip on Maou’s body.
“Ryou...I leave the rest to you!” She said.
“Yes!” Ryou nodded.
“T-That was an act?!” Kushu widened his eyes. “When did she tell him...?!”
Kirihime swung Ryou with all her might and flung him toward Maou, who still froze in place. The next second, Ryou transformed once again into Void Dragon and shot his strongest breath attack.
“No...! Stop...! I’m...I’m the demon king!! You...You can’t—!” Maou frantically trying to break free, but he was too late.
That attack cleanly hit Maou in the chest and absorbed all of his magical power and strength, leaving him as weak as human. Maou in his usual form fell to the floor and lost consciousness.
But Ryou also lost his dragon form and fell to the ground. He had exhausted every bit of his magic and barely able to keep his consciousness. Right before he hit the ground, Kirihime caught him safely.
“Good work, my knight. You seriously did it.” Kirihime’s face was pure happiness. “You saved the world.”
Ryou smiled weakly. “...and I protected you.”
“Yes.” Kirihime nodded proudly.
They reached the floor and Ryou immediately slumped on the floor. He simply had no more energy to move. Kirihime smiled and gently pulled Ryou until he rested his head on her lap.
“W-W-What are you doing??!!” Ryou immediately panicked and struggled.
“D-Don’t struggle!! I-I’m simply rewarding you, that’s all!” Kirihime stubbornly held Ryou down.
“A-Aren’t you tired from restraining Maou? Don’t force yourself.” Ryou, who somehow had calmed down, said.
Kirihime shook her head. “I’m okay. Hey...Ryou...about what you said...” The girl averted her eyes, while her face blushed cutely. “Did you...mean it?”
“Which one?” Ryou searched through his memories, but all he could recall was the life and death battle.
“A-About...you know...”
“Your feelings to her, duh.”
“Right, right, that one—w-why are you here??!!” Kirihime jolted when she realized Kushu was right beside her.
“Well, definitely because I heard something very interesting.” Kushu smirked.
“S-Shut up!! Go away! You’ve ruined the moment twice, you know?!” Kirihime lashed at him.
“Is that how you speak to someone who helped you?” Kushu’s smirk got widened.
“Help...? Oh, you mean with her shoes?” Ryou glanced at the golden shoes.
“Then? What is your answer to her question, Ryou?” Kushu kept pestering him. “I think I have the right to know, because I practically have a blood tie with this guy.”
“Hell no!!! We’re just coincidentally created by the same person!” Ryou retorted immediately.
“You’re hurting my feelings.” Kushu sulked.
“Ryou! You haven’t answered my question!” Kirihime insisted.
“Like I said, which—?” Ryou quickly shut up when he remembered that conversation.
“If I kept being a human, I could never meet the girl I loved.”
This time it was Ryou’s turn to blush furiously.
“What the heck, even though you’re the one who said it yourself!!” Kushu reprimanded him.
“T-That’s not what I...!”
“So...you didn’t mean it...?”
“No—Kirihime, I never said so...!”
“Then, you choose her?”
“Get off my case, would you?!”
As the three of them kept childishly bickering with happy faces, Hanzoku watched them from a distance. Due to his battle with Maou, he injured half of his lower body and needed some time to recover. Then his eyes caught a movement and Hanzoku quickly opened his mouth to shout.
“—like I said, did you mean it or not?!” Kirihime repeated once again.
Ryou sighed in defeat, though his face still red. “...yes. I seriously meant it.”
Suddenly Kirihime embraced Ryou, so close that Ryou could hear her heartbeat and felt her breath on his neck.
“I love you too.” Kirihime quickly whispered in his ear.
As Ryou still scrambled around for word, Kirihime let him go and straightened herself, wearing that one cute smile that had captivated Ryou.
The next second, Kirihime’s body burned.