Chapter 143: Light in the Dark (1)

The delinquent students’ loud laughter rings.

Metal bats, iron pipes, square lumber. With multiple long objects, again and again and again and again and again and again he is beaten.

In the middle of pain and wounds piling up he directs his gaze at Alter.

Is there no opening to take advantage of, is there no chance for a counterattack, with that kind of expectation.

"..."

But Alter is staring at me without letting his guard down, and does not seem about to let a counterattack happen.

Shit, I am the lower rank so it would be fine if you let your guard down.

I understand. Precisely because he is a man unrelated to that kind of carelessness, even while being the worst compatibility he could fight the Sacred.

"Gu. ga."

Some number of beating.

From that I collapsed to the ground.

While hearing vulgar voices ringing overhead I reach a conclusion with a somehow vague head.

Ah, no good, this.

Without being allowed at all something like a counterattack watching an opening, a one move to revive from death, I am defeated. Killed.

If the one here were not me, if it were someone more excellent, would it not have become this kind of thing?

Could they have brilliantly counterattacked and escaped the predicament? No, in the first place. Before it became this kind of situation could they have struck countermeasures and won against the original protagonist.

I do not understand, I do not understand, I do not understand.

From the gaps of tentacles covering the head blood mixed with mucus drips. But even so as if saying it is not enough a hard stick is slammed onto the top of the head.

"Weak weak weak, this guy is seriously small fry."

"Even though he was putting on champion-of-justice play looking important, this? Lame."

Ah, truly. There is no room for rebuttal.

I worked hard in my own way and kept up appearances on the surface, but when the plating peeled this is it.

But well, maybe this is fine.

That I could be active was because I had original knowledge.

But that started greatly going wrong at last month’s point, and now I was overrun as if natural.

There is no winning chance, and no eye for reversal, I am properly defeated.

But there was me a little relieved at that fact.

Because. If I lose here, if I die here, there is no need to keep up appearances more.

I called myself ally of justice Sacred and got desperate, but the more I worked hard the more I diverged from the original, the next obstacle got bigger, and that was hard.

When I think it ends here, the feeling of relief was stronger than frustration.

Ah, but.

What passes through my mind is school life these past few months.

Those days when guys who get involved increased and I could do it amusingly.

When I think that is the last, it is lonely, I think.

"About time."

Alter quietly muttering and footsteps ringing were simultaneous.

Footsteps of someone running up. Amateurish sounds ringing bata-bata, yet far faster than a clumsy athlete.

"Someone! Are you fighting here?"

And she appeared.

A girl with a blonde ponytail wrapped in China-clothes-like costume. Sacred with iron gauntlets on both hands. Sacred Knuckle.

Ah, certainly. Alter said he isolated Saber and Knight, but he had not mentioned this guy.

A miss? Did he leave her because she is weak compared to the two, or did he simply forget.

"What is this."

She jumped in vigorously, but looking at the ground, no, at my figure, she puts on an astonished expression.

What, it is not particularly that surprising, I am weak so getting beaten up is normally there.

"Yaa. It is not that we wanted to do it either."

"Yeah yeah, ordered by a Magician Diabolic, no choice, no choice."

The delinquents grin.

Still gripping long objects with mucus and blood attached, toward Knuckle.

You believe it, right? You cannot harm us anyway, right? They sneer.

"So, Sacred-san. Help us from that guy?"

You came to fight a Magician Diabolic, right?

This place becomes a battlefield, right?

I do not want to get involved then, so properly shelter us. Saying that the men laugh, laugh, laugh.

Surely they intend to watch the combat while being sheltered and enjoy the instant costumes tear and such.

They twist their expressions looking truly enjoyable, and like doing so to a roadside stone kick my head away. There is no particular meaning, they just happened to kick because it was nearby. That light vibe.

"This much."

That was surely the last trigger I think.

An illusion that the string of the patience bag snapped.

Knuckle’s right hand grabs a man’s neck.

"This much, toying with my precious person... and on top of that help...?"

Slowly, slowly, she clenches.

What was sealed first was breath. The expression of the man gasping in pain twists more painfully. Meki-meki, the sound of bone creaking rang unpleasantly loud.

"Ka. hi."

"With that grinning face, well you said it was no choice, shameless!"

The man writhing in pain grabs Knuckle’s arm. Let go, let go, let go of that hand.

But however much he puts in power her arm does not move a bit. Of course. Even trained Niekawa loses not only to Sacred but even to combatants? Bunch walking around playing cannot possibly surpass Sacred physical ability.

"Hi. The talk is different!? These guys absolutely will not hurt us...!"

"O, oi, is this not bad...?"

The surrounding men fluster.

Leaving the man currently having his neck squeezed as is, they direct gazes seeking salvation at Alter.

"Kuku. As I thought you are the easiest to drop, Knuckle."

While playing with a phone that guy laughs. With this all conditions are cleared.

That kind of thing!

That Knuckle could come here is not Alter’s miss.

Leaving Knuckle was to show the figure of delinquents tormenting me and make Knuckle herself kill a human. To record that situation and spread it.

As a result if he can drop her to darkness and make her a piece, good.

Even if he cannot drop her, the fact that a Sacred killed a human remains. Innocent people become unable to trust them from the heart.

That is no good.

Even if a small fry like me rots in this kind of place it cannot be helped, but a guy who can properly do it should not do that kind of thing.

I put life into my body. I whip the painful body and stretch this tentacle hand.

The body still moves. It is not the end yet.

Then keep up appearances, Atel Octo.

◇

(Ah, truly, why do I have to protect this kind of bunch?)

Sacred Knuckle, Haga Reiko, is a good human.

Of course she does not perfectly embody justice, she loses to desire reasonably, yet she was that kind of girl who wishes people in the range her hand reaches become happy.

She does not think she can save many people like anime or tokusatsu heroes, but she wants at least that much.

That thinking is certainly good, but compared to other Sacred her resolve toward justice was thin.

No matter what happens she saves, she wants to protect exchanging her own life, this body is all for someone, that kind of lofty ideal is nil. What there is is only a vague sense of justice.

Therefore she is free compared to other Sacred, and precisely because of that easy to fall to darkness. Precisely to a degree not difficult even for a first-loop player.

Precisely because of that, seeing the situation before her eyes, and on top of that before a man directing a vulgar smile convinced Sacred will not harm this side, thinking of protecting or justice or that kind of thing all evaporated.

Power is put into the right hand.

Reason that thinks no good keeps getting shaved, and the feeling of wanting to crush the neck of the man twisting his face in fear as if too late swells strong, strong, strong strong strong.

(Ah, truly. Why.)