Rika suddenly dropped to her knees causing all her summons to disappear. She began to breathe heavily in fatigue and sweat non stop as the Lich grew in power.
"Fuyunami-senpai!..", called Mariya as she ran towards her senior's aid. "What's wrong? I'll heal you.."
"I.. I'm being overwhelmed by that Necromancer's magical presence..", answered Rika while gasping for air. "What ugly magic.. a Lich of all things! Dreadful really.."
"Try not to speak.. save your strength..", insisted Mariya with a worrisome tone.
"It cannot be helped. You all need to know what that thing is to defeat it.. Shinsuke, can everyone hear me?"
Shinsuke shot a chain lightning spell towards the undying as he spoke through projection. "Yes, Rika.. the thought projection is still in effect, but I don't know for how long.. soon I'm going to have to deal with these things with everything I've got. They seem to get right back up all the time."
"Same problem here no matter what I do..", answered Natsuo while hopelessly slashing an undying creature.
Gouro shot an arrow towards one undead walker, but it stood right back up. "That's right.. I'm pretty useless here myself."
Meanwhile, Hayama and Yoshiki were fighting with backs against each other and effectively incapacitating the enemy "zombie mob". Limbs and heads were flying all over the place as the two sliced and diced through the moving corpses.
"Disgusting..", Yoshiki sneered as she dismembered one enemy with her whip. "They don't die.. but at least we can stop them from moving."
Hayama snapped while doing a double bladed decapitation. "There's no end to this though! Does anyone have a better plan?"
"Listen up, mina-san..", addressed Rika. "That thing up there is a Lich, a Necromancer's immortal form."
"I knew your obsession with those things'll come up to something.. you sure you're not one of them, Rika-chan?..", teased Gouro while almost getting bitten by one of the undead.
"Oh shut up, Harukaze-senpai!..", blasted Mariya as she continued to heal Rika.
"As you can see, the rest of the cultists are gathered below it.. exchanging magic..", continued Rika as the chaos around her pressed on. "Those are thralls exchanging life forces with the Lich. A single life expires into death in time, which everyone knows already. But when a group of Necromancers trade lives with each other, the life force is renewed and cultivated.. resulting in a continuous exponential increase of the said life force and eventually, magic power as the cycle keeps going. Not only that, these thralls are reanimating dead souls from the relics buried in this very hill, and these reanimations can also turn a living soul into a thrall with a bite, increasing the number of cycles causing an infinite loop of power towards its center.. the Lich."
A grim look enveloped Aya's face as she hid behind the trees, waiting for a moment to strike. "Wait.. this place used to be a cemetery?"
"Why didn't you tell us earlier, Rika ojou-san?..", asked Shouya, who was gathering some animals nearby to help them.
"No one would've believed me.. I knew from the very beginning it was odd to choose a hideout where the actual 'Battle of Shizuoka' took place..", answered Rika while her comrades hopelessly tried to subdue the undead army. "This is not a cemetery.. it was once a bloody battle field where the townsfolk fought an army of Necromancers and undead thralls with fire, the origin of the towns' fireworks festival.. the only way to make that thing weaker is to destroy those life force loops with fire."
Shinsuke frowned skeptically as he just fired off an ineffective fire storm. "You sure, Rika? I've been shooting fire for quite a while now.. and none of it seems to get the job done."
"Haven't you been listening, baka-Shinsuke? The townsfolk fought with fire. They weren't mages.. meaning they fought with real fire.. not elemental magic."
Yoshiki smirked the moment she heard Rika's proposition. As she continued to dismantle the ever increasing number of undead, she reached out to Aya through the Helm's projection. "I sure am glad I marked that thing just in case.. Nishida! Do you still remember my summoning incantation text from our mission before?"
"Hai, Taichou-sama! What of it?..", asked Aya while she pulverized an "undead troll" with a "blood hammer".
"Write the text as many times as you can throughout the entire battlefield with your 'Blood Art'..", commanded Yoshiki while decapitating two undead mages at once.
Thinking of the magnitude of the implications of using her unique art made Aya blush madly but gleefully. She could only manipulate blood other than hers, and her only access of that currently was her blood suit. With a devilish smile, she flushed as red as her suit and responded. "Gladly.. Yoshiki taichou-sama!"
All of a sudden, blood rained everywhere. FSG's Seven were confused at first, but it all made sense when they saw multiple incantation texts all over the place.
"Yoshiki-taichou.. you really are the genius of your generation..", praised Shinsuke as he retreated like all his teammates.
"What do you mean by our generation?! I'm not that old!..", shot Yoshiki back as she prepared her hands in a Download gesture.
Shinsuke scratched his head and awkwardly chuckled with a droplet of sweat. "I never meant anything like that, taichou.."
"Gekitai Suru no Jumon (Ward Spell)..", recited Yoshiki without setting an amplitude and a download chant, indicating her mastery. "Shoukan (Summon)!"
The entire battle field suddenly flooded with a dense black liquid, slippery enough to make some of the undead to lose their balance. A familiar pungent smell got Hayama to a realization that he should begin reloading his buccaneer guns. He inquired to confirm what the substance was. "On what mission did you need a large amount of grease for, Yoshiki-taichou?"
"That's classified.. Your turn, Hayama!..", ordered Yoshiki with a smug look.
"With pleasure..", replied Hayama as he fired his shots toward the black substance.
Right after the moment of impact, the entire hilltop went ablaze, burning the undead reanimations with it. It had significantly cut the enemies' numbers, but some were still left fighting with small flames on them.
"We just have to burn 'em, right?..", asked Natsuo as he dipped his claymore in the excess oil. He then rubbed his blade against his armor, causing enough friction to spark and catch fire. "Let's go!"
Rika shook her head as she clumsily helped
Herself up. "Coming into contact with natural fire doesn't kill the undead instantly. Their bodies have to be burned to a crisp before they turn back into ash."
Since his animal minions did not have any innate ability to manipulate flames, Shouya just played a calmer tune with his lute to make them dismember the enemy and throw the parts toward the blaze. "What an undesirably ugly tune.. Shinsuke-kaichou, surely you have a way to redirect the fire towards their ranks, right?"
"Great idea, Shouya..", replied Shinsuke as he placed his hands in a Download Gesture. "All it takes is to fan the flames..
"Kaze no Jumon (Wind Spell)..", recited Yanagi incompletely, giving off an impression of his high proficiency with magic. "Tatsumaki (Tornado).."
A massive whirlwind suddenly went down from the cloudy sky. As soon as the twister made a touch down, it absorbed the furiously burning grease on the ground. It resulted in the tornado funneling the violent blaze as Shinsuke controlled its movements to burn many of their undying enemies.
"Very impressive, young Battlemage, as expected..", a loud but wickedly low voice boomed throughout the battle field, causing FSG's Seven's attention to focus on the thing floating over the cultists' circular formation. It was the Lich. "However.. you are all still too naive."
Shinsuke directed his fire engulfed twister towards the ever rising enemy undead army as he answered. "I don't know what you're talking about, Lich-ossan.. but we'll take you down and force you to undo the 'Black Hole' in the middle of town."
"Oh? That's quite a proclamation from a brat like you..", taunted the Lich while more sinisterly black energy swirled around him. "But can you save those brats in Shizuoka in time?"
Dropping to a knee once more, Rika broke down in cold sweat and gritted her teeth. She began to squint her eyes in discomfort and breath heavily. "It's gathering more power from its thralls.. we need to hurry, Shinsuke.. before it's too late for the townsfolk."
Gouro dipped an arrow into a puddle of oil before lighting it up with fire. He shot the flaming arrow towards a reanimated Orc as he asked in slight confusion. "What are you going on about, Rika-chan? I thought Shizuoka was already under control.."
"Although the 'Black Hole Spell' will manifest on its own gradually once casted..", stuttered Rika as she helplessly watched the malevolent creature gather more life forces from its thralls. ".. the process can be accelerated by feeding more 'Void Magic' into it.. that is what that thing is doing now."
A uniformly wide eyed expression covered the faces of both the FSG Seven and their two commanders. They were flabbergasted. The threat of losing thousands of innocent lives was suddenly looming over them. There was nothing they could do, but neutralize the center of this evil scheme and force it to dispel the incoming catastrophe. However, there was still much to do with them being heavily outnumbered by the undying army.
In the meantime, the situation in Shizuoka's town center seemed to be going smoothly even if having a vile looking orb growing steadily in the middle. Thousands of Player Characters, and even NPCs of different races, were being evacuated in an orderly fashion by forming lines that snake through the streets leading to the outskirts of town. Kasumi's sweet and calming voice echoed throughout the town, instructing all to proceed hurriedly but safely to their designated evacuation areas, while it was Satsuki who carefully laid out orders for her classmates regarding the proper procedures for guiding the restless crowd.
"You think I've done enough already, Erida-kun?..", asked Satsuki with a look of worry still painted on her face. She did have much to be concerned about. The lightning clad black orb behind her and Seijurou was gradually growing in size.
"Yes.. and don't worry, Kinjou. Everything will work out just fine..", Seijurou reassured Satsuki with a smile, and she did smirk back but faintly though. Right after that, he turned his attention towards Chizuru, who was currently using her "Serpent's Sense" a few paces in front of him to detect any suspicious activity. "Anything weird in particular, Chizuru?"
"None.. which makes it even stranger..", answered Chizuru in a skeptical tone. "Everything's going too smoothly while we first years are left in the dark about what's happening on that hill to the south."
It was when Seijurou glanced a the burning hill that he suddenly had the urge to dive to the ground for cover. He pulled both Chizuru and Satsuki with him as the "Black Hole" instantly erupted into a more ominous and larger size. And it was still growing but more rapidly.
"Satsuki.. can you hear me?..", the fatigued voice of Rika spoke all of a sudden through Shinsuke's thought projection.
Satsuki shook her head to regain her composure and helped herself up along with Seijurou and Chizuru before she answered. "Hai, senpai.. what's going on?"
"Order everyone to run as fast as they could.. that thing's about to blow."
Satsuki froze in fear after hearing her senior's words. Her eyes widened in horror as she watched the gigantic orb growing fast in front of her. She looked around slowly to see a massive crowd still gathered around and as stunned as her. Placing her hands on her temples and dropping to her knees, she simply lamented on their current situation. "There are still too many of them.. we're too late.."
Seijurou dropped to a knee in front of Satsuki and cupped her face with his hands as he spoke with a confident grin on his face. "Why're you looking pathetic? Where is the Kinjou Satsuki I know? I told you it'll work out fine, didn't I? So, get up!"
Satsuki got up to her feet and nodded at Seijurou with a serious look before speeding off to Kasumi, who was anxiously waiting for orders. As soon as she arrived in front of the stage, she told her classmate what to tell the townspeople.
A disturbed kind of expression engulfed Kasumi's face before she took a deep breath to calm her nerves and address the crowd. "Mina-san.. I ask of you to stay calm with what I'm about to tell you.. please assist those you think who won't be able to run.. but leave the town as fast as you can.."
With Kasumi's announcement, everybody present near the concert grounds started to bolt in panic. Many did not heed her words and just left as fast as they could. Luckily, the Takenori twins' jutsu (art) was still in effect and had their phantom copies aid most of the people to evacuate safely. Nagato, Jax, Keigo and Gin, with their inhuman strength, carried those who were unable to keep up and dashed through the streets. The warriors, Kanae and Renji, ushered the rest to safety with the best of their abilities at the moment. Saiki used his moving earth spells to transport the heavily injured Shoutou and also those who were desperately able to tag along.
However, Seijurou stood still in front of the massive ball of dark energy. His confident front a while back was just a mask to assure Satsuki. But the moment she left him, the smug look on his face crumbled to nothing. He was left without a choice, and fate seemed to get the better of him this time. Time was not on his side, and he was way too close to the "Black Hole". Running away was pointless.
"Come on, Seijurou.. think!..", muttered Seijurou to himself as he glanced at both Satsuki and Chizuru, who were bringing out their best to herd the innocents into safety.
Seijurou, above all, wanted to protect innocent lives. And beyond that, his desire to spare the lives of his friends was so insurmountable that he squeezed his brain dry of all options.
Unlike most of his classmates, thinking of solutions was the only thing Seijurou could offer best. He did not have Jax's battle skill, which can beat even a seasoned senior. Also, the ability to manipulate wards like the Takenori sisters was well beyond his proficiency to tap the arts.
"Speaking of wards.. I still am unable to comprehend Chizuru's 'Serpent's Sense' and her mastery of how she projects her sight..", thought Seijurou while watching his oldest friend usher the townsfolk through the street. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth in frustration. "Why am I so behind?!"
And then, Seijurou shifted his gaze towards Satsuki, who was also helping out the people. His lips began to curl and his eyes started welling up with tears as the feeling of shame and regret fell upon him. His mind has betrayed him. There was no solution.
"I have failed to protect you..", pondered Seijurou while he kept his blankly lonesome stare at his partner. "I really wanted to save you.. I still want to fight alongside you, no.. stay behind you and watch your back.. please.. what else can I do to save you?! I still really want to watch you fight on ahead and touch your shoulder for you to wait up.. I still want to experience those things myself!"
Suddenly, a thought came up to mind making Seijurou realize something. As he recalled himself patting Satsuki's shoulder before when he was left behind, he also remembered his senior touching everyone's shoulder earlier that evening. He was dumbfounded during that time on how Shinsuke placed a "thought projection ward" with a single touch.
"That's it!..", thought Seijurou as his feet dragged him to where Chizuru was. After that, he grabbed his old friend's hand and made a mad dash towards the eastern shore behind the concert stage.
"Oi, Seijurou! What the hell?!..", barked Chizuru while getting dragged. "There are people in need of my help! Where are we going?"
"No time to explain..", replied Seijurou as they sprinted. Then, he gestured towards something by the beach. "See that cliff overlooking the sea over there? Tell Sendou to meet us there."
"Kaguya Usagi-hime (Bunny Princess Kaguya)? What about that rich kid?"
"We need her weapon. Do you have the materials to make your wards?"
"No.. but we can ask Himi-chan, Natsu-chan or Kazuma to remote summon that for us.."
Seijurou's grim look earlier dissipated to that of a relieved one. He continued dragging Chizuru as he spoke again. "I hope this works.."
As the "Black Hole Spell" continued to expand, the thunderclaps coating it became more violent. Many of those who were present at the venue were dangerously close to the lightning strikes and had to move on the double. The black orb was nearing its implosion as the Lich on top of the burning hill continued to inject it with more "Void Magic".
"In truth, I was saving this ritual for the time when I already have thralls all over the land..", announced the Lich while purplish lightning seemed to have crackled around him. "It would have been a marvelous spectacle to see all of Jihon be engulfed by the void.. but I guess the mighty Soul Reaper would have to settle for the souls of Shizuoka for now."
While struggling to stand up, Rika casted "Void Spells" herself to suck in some vile reanimations to help her comrades. "I knew it! That thing was planning to gather souls all along with his Necromancy.."
Mariya rushed in panic to her senior's aid as the battle carried on. "Fuyunami-senpai! You mustn't push yourself!"
Shinsuke fanned more flames toward the undead, but more seemed to replace the fallen and covered for their leader. "Just how many died and left relics on this hill?! This doesn't seem it's going to end.."
"It will, Shinsuke.. when the 'Black Hole' implodes..", answered Rika as she once again fell on her knees. "The Lich is transferring large amounts of magic towards the said spell.. once done, the enthralled reanimations will wither.. but that also means we've failed.."
"You have fine perception, young lady..", pointed the Lich out as the rest of FSG's Seven and their two commanders fought his undying army. Then, he lifted a fist up in front of him and opened his palm as if imitating an explosion. He let off a demonically low toned laugh before speaking again. "It's almost time for the fireworks.."
Right at that moment, the enormous dark orb started to lose its shape and spewed out more lightning. It was shining brighter than before while it violently crumpled and expanded in place. Its instability indicated it was about to erupt and engulf anything with size and shape.
"Oh no..", whimpered Satsuki as she paused to observe the ever brightening ball's activity. A thought suddenly made her restless and caused her to search for someone. "Erida-kun! Wh.. where are you?! We have to go!"
Hopelessly running in circles to look for Seijurou, tears began to flow down Satsuki's cheeks uncontrollably. Busily helping all the townsfolk the whole time, she forgot what truly mattered to her.
"A valiant effort, young ones..", the Lich spoke again as Shinsuke and his comrades continued their battle against the undead. A devilish laugh came out of the undead Necromancer the moment all his thralls and undead warriors dropped to the ground. A blinding light came from the town's center, transforming the night into day, as he spoke. "However, it's over.."
Seeing the opening, Shinsuke cloaked himself in lightning and flew towards the Lich with incomprehensible speed. He grabbed the cult master by the neck and slammed him into the ground, shattering the earth below it.
The Lich coughed a little before looking at the young Battlemage with his eyeless skull face. "What's done is done, young one.. all hope is gone for you.."
However, the thought of his glasses wearing socially awkward junior made Shinsuke smirk smugly at the monster before him. "No.. you lose, Lich-ossan."
In the eyes of the many bystanders at the concert grounds, the ironical white shine coming from some black light was enough to tell them that running away was pointless. A spell of that magnitude was enough to destroy all of Shizuoka and its vicinity. Many of them simply dropped to their knees and prayed to the Almighty for a safe passage to the afterlife, hoping to feel no pain.
As the orb shone as bright as the sun indicating its impending fate, the good townsfolk of Shizuoka blinked. Only a furious blaze resembling a person on one knee was in front of them when they opened their eyes. The "Black Hole" was out of sight.
Seijurou stood up to face all the dumbfounded spectators and undid his "Fire Cloak Spell" before he addressed them. "Best to take cover, mina-san. We'll be having some seriously loud fireworks shortly.."
Just as Seijurou finished up on instructing the bewildered crowd on what to do, a scintillatingly gleaming light exploded a few miles away in the eastern sky. Moments later, a thunderously deafening boom came with a violent gust of wind, wrecking anything in its path.
Some of the citizens got injured, but it was nothing compared to what the explosion may have caused if it happened inside the town's borders. On the eve of the Shinigami Cult's attack on the Shizuoka's fireworks festival, save for the cultists themselves, not a single life was lost.
Translation Notes:
Reanimation – a spell used to raise the dead. The former owners of relics will take shape as a decomposing body when this is done.
Honorifics Guide:
Baka-Shinsuke – a wordplay by Rika to call her leader, "idiot Shinsuke".
Lich-ossan – a wordplay by Shinsuke to taunt his enemy, literally meaning, "old man Lich".
Monogatari Concepts:
The Battle of Shizuoka – a short narrative depicting the fight between the living dead and a group of simple townsfolk. It is said that over a thousand years ago, a group of Necromancers gathered an army of the Undead for the sake of domination. But when a simple farm girl, Shizuoka, discovered that natural fire could kill the undying creatures, she led an army of simple folk to take the battle to the enemy and defeat them. The place where they achieved victory was named after the heroine to commemorate her achievements.
Today, Shizuoka town's world famous fireworks festival is the townspeople's way to celebrate the mortals' victory over the vile immortal beings by fire. Many from all over the country, and even from all over the world, gather near the white sand beaches of this town during the last weekend of summer to witness the grand spectacle prepared by the citizens themselves.
Character Description:
Bakudou Saiki – the magic specialist of the three ninja Trinity of class 2022. If I have to be sincerely honest, the only real purpose I created this character was for the two mains to have a decent opponent in the preliminaries. It never really crossed my mind that he could actually be useful in the future. I mean, that earth dome spell was sick!
Aside from his decent ability to use earth spells, Saiki is also a well trained Shinobi, a male ninja. Like his teammates, he's a proficient user of ninja weapons like kunai, shuriken and their unique sword, ninjato. A very good team player, his ability to work with Shoutou and Eimi is second nature to him. The only downside is he tends to be overwhelmed in combat if his teammates weren't around.
Overall, Saiki is a very likeable character with his sincere personality. Although tedious work like driving carriages easily irritates him, his willingness to blend with everyone reflects his ability to work well with anyone. Most of the class consider him to be very approachable and a friend who anyone can turn to.
As a ninja, Saiki is usually seen in the type of casual clothing where the face is partially hidden, like hoodies, whenever he's not wearing his uniform or shinobi gear. He stands at 170cm and weighs in at 58kg. His favorite food are root crops and even going as far as growing them with his earth magic.