It was a beautiful way of saying it, but his current condition was very bad. Yumeji, with a slightly pale face, began to inhale and exhale to fill his lungs with air to compensate for the shortness of breath he had just lost.
He tried to stand up, but his trembling calves made it extremely difficult. It was only natural, losing a lot of blood, enduring mental torture from the pain, forcing himself to fight fiercely without any rest, it was no wonder that his body was exhausted now, Yumeji himself understood that.
He knew, it was his stubbornness and desire to live that allowed him to hold on until now.
Yumeji knew, he had long surpassed the limits of a rookie who had only been practicing fighting for a few months.
However, he could not collapse now.
It was not because he wanted to protect someone.
It was also not because he wanted to rush forward to wipe away someone's tears and then forcefully fight like some shounen main characters.
It's just that he's annoyed.
He's so annoyed with the situation he's in that he just wants to make a mess and destroy everything.
Yumeji Satsuki isn't a good person, nor does he have sky-high self-esteem. Lazy, cowardly, pragmatic, deceitful, hateful, unlikable, boastful, that's who 'Yumeji Satsuki' is, the model someone is trying to become.
But even that 'Yumeji Satsuki' has limits that he doesn't allow himself to cross, there are challenges that he doesn't want to retreat from, and there are things that he doesn't want to give up.
For example, responding to someone's trust.
He just wants to make the trust and wishes of someone who cares about him come true.
It sounds absurd, right, but that's what Yumeji Satsuki is like.
Not talented, not too smart, not kind, not strong.
He is not evil, not mean, not perverted, not crazy.
There is nothing about him that stands out, nothing that makes him special.
Yumeji Satsuki is the type of person who will never be able to become a protagonist, that is what everyone thinks and Yumeji Satsuki herself believes so.
But there is another point, a ridiculously silly point that makes him superior to everyone.
That is, he wants to become a god.
Isn't it absurd? Isn't it silly? Isn't it greedy?
But that's Yumeji Satsuki. A pathetic person who only knows how to live a fake life with meticulously constructed lies, with no dreams, no ambitions, but Yumeji Satsuki has such a wish.
He wanted to become a God, not to save the world, not to be worshiped by others, not to have everything go his way, to have everything he wanted.
His reason, yes, that reason was the reason why 'Yumeji Satsuki' continued until now. A reason that he had forgotten, but he knew it would originate from a lie, there was a lie that he wanted to make come true.
That was all.With that in mind, 'Yumeji Satsuki' grabbed Kiana's outstretched hand and continued to fight.
Placing a hand on his chest, steadying his heartbeat, he gathered the last of his mental strength to activate the skill.
"Boost x2"
A red light flashed once more in the pitch-black space to make sure that the battle was not over yet.
Just before they were about to engage in fierce combat again....
-Swoosh!
With a swing of her sword, Mei created an ice wave that separated the battlefield into Senpai.
The coldness from the wave caused the fighting spirit burning within Yumeji and Kiana to calm down a bit and Kiana exclaimed.
"Eh? Sister Mei, what are you doing? I'm really fired up, you know!?"
"Cool your head, Kiana. We'll start with plan B from now on."
Ah, that's right. There's also this? The battle was so intense that Yumeji forgot about it, causing him to awkwardly scratch his head and look away because Yumeji was the one who came up with this plan but he was the one who forgot it first.
"Huh? Plan B? What the hell are you talking about, Mei-senpai?"
And of course, it wasn't just Yumeji who forgot about the plan, but Kiana too, which made Mei's veins pop out a bit, but she eventually just let out a sigh and explained it to Kiana as briefly as possible.
In short, plan A was a plan to drain energy, each taking turns forcing Chiyou to unleash all of her trump cards while still conserving her strength for their strongest firepower, Bronya.
Bronya's shots at the beginning of each round were just decoys to keep Chiyou from being wary of her while she saved her strength.
The ones who played the role of the drainer were Kiana, Mei, Himeko, and Yumeji herself. According to the plan, the drainer battle would mainly rely on Kiana, who had the most stamina in the group, and depending on the situation, Yumeji would support and pressure Chiyou with her high adaptability and flexibility, along with her strange moves.
Although the plan went a bit astray because Yumeji had participated in the battle more than necessary, the goal of forcing Chiyou to use all her trump cards was still successful, so the plan could still proceed.
As for Plan B, the main attacker was Bronya, who had both a full stamina bar and an energy bar, plus she had been observing and analyzing Chiyou's fighting style throughout the match.
*****
Thinking back, I did plan it like that.
That was before we faced Chiyou, everyone in the group knew that we would have to face a powerful enemy who had turned dozens of robots into scrap and left them scattered all over the roads we passed.
And of course, before fighting the Boss, we had to make a plan. And with the information in the Game, I cleverly set up a hypothetical enemy that was closest to reality to make a plan without anyone suspecting it.
Although, I forgot about the plan right after that.
...
Putting aside that small matter, we were now ready to deploy Plan B after gathering everyone.
Bronya stood behind the other 4 people: Me, Kiana, Mei, and Himeko-Sensei so that we could fire the cannon at any time there was a signal.
We stood straight like 5 superheroes waiting for Xi You to melt the ice wall separating the battlefield.
As soon as the ice wall collapsed and I saw Chi You slowly walking towards me as a black knight, I loudly declared.
"The former hero of the ancient era who has now degenerated into evil. I will let you know this. The world's greatest injustice, leading to the defeat of all villains in the world. The injustice that is hailed as justice in superhero movies! And that injustice is...."
Not letting me finish, Chiyou shot a fireball at my face before it was neutralized by Bronya's artillery.
-Boom!
Amidst the sound of the explosion, I bowed like a magician on stage with a grin and continued.
"That injustice is 5 against 1. Please enjoy, Lady!"
After saying that, I grabbed my sword as soon as the explosion dissipated..
********
With her quick speed, Mei intercepted Xi You with a swing of her sword.
In response, Chiyou also swung her sword above to block the attack and tried to make a hole in her body with the fire attribute with her other hand, but Mei quickly performed a sword sweep and leaned back.
At the same time, Kiana fired two electric shots with her twin electric guns, causing Chiyou to freeze for a short distance, only to be sent flying by Himeko-Sensei with her greatsword in hand.
As if nothing had happened, Chiyou immediately pointed and fired several lightning bolts, but before she could do so, Bronya's artillery shells struck continuously, blowing her 3m tall body into the air.
As if to annoy us, Chiyou, while hanging in the air, threw down powerful wind blades at us, but her attacks were neutralized by me slashing the wind with my sword.
"Guaaaghhhh!!!!"
Roaring angrily, Chiyou created a giant fireball and threw it at us.
It seemed like she was flying using the wind, really dirty.
However, her attack was blocked by Bronya's instantaneous bombardment, causing it to explode in mid-air.
-Booomm!!
The sound of the explosion was a bit jarring, but with the state enhanced by Boost X2, I was still unharmed.
Just before the smoke and ash from the fire and ash could clear, Mei lowered the temperature in the air by creating an ice wave from below.
The tip of the wave slammed into Chiyou's chest and pinned her to the cliff, before we could stop, Kiana and I started running up the ice wave as if we were climbing stairs.
Luckily, Mei created a wave that wasn't too inclined or too steep, so we could easily run up it.
Chiyou, who was pinned to the cliff, angrily released electricity all around.
I quickly threw my sword forward to disperse the electricity, then bent down and used my hands as a platform to lift Kiana up high.
Kiana, who was in the air, fired electric shots to block the incoming electricity before she heard Himeko-san's scream from afar.
"Kiana take it"
Immediately understanding, Kiana let go of the twin guns in her hands, causing them to fall towards me, then caught the greatsword that was thrown towards her and performed a straight slash from above.
-Keenggg!!!
The sword collided strongly with the armor, causing sparks to fly non-stop.
Seeing that the attack was not very effective, she changed her stance and performed a sword thrust.
Then she pressed the blade against Chiyou's body with her foot, using it as a fulcrum to jump into the air once more.
"Neko-Charm!"
Kiana launched an axe kick with her giant cat paw that was materialized with Honkai energy.
-Boom!!
Just when we thought we had a good coordination, Chiyou grabbed Kiana's leg that had just cracked a small piece of her shoulder armor and squeezed it tightly with her hand.
"This is ridiculous!"
"Guaghhh!!"
Chiyou grabbed Kiana's leg and slammed her against the cliff, it seemed that because of the unsuitable position, the impact force from the attack was not too strong.
Seizing the opportunity, I made a jump to Chiyou's right side and performed an electromagnetic shot with the twin guns that Kiana had thrown to me.
-Bang!
Perhaps due to the crack in her armor, the level of paralysis that Chiyou received from the electromagnetic shot was stronger than before, forcing her to let go of her hand that was holding Kiana's leg.
Before falling, Kiana retaliated by kicking a Neko-Charm cat kick to Chiyou's chin while also kicking away Himeko-sensei's sword that was stuck in her chest.
Himeko-sensei caught Kiana who was falling from the sky.
Just as I also left the shooting position after retrieving Himeko-san's sword along with my own sword by kicking it down with my foot and jumping down from the ice wave.
And right after that, Bronya's barrage of artillery fire was fired, forcing Chiyou deep inside the cliff.
Even after a series of attacks, when Chiyou's gloomy and angry voice rang out, we couldn't help but break out in cold sweat.
"Ridiculous"
"Ridiculous"
"Ridiculous!!"
"RIDICULOUS!!!"
With a furious sound that shook the entire space, the ground, no, the entire area around us, began to shake violently.
"Hey, hey...does she still have the strength to do that?"
The countless rocks in the area began to gather around Chiyou, causing her body to grow larger and larger.
At this rate, what we'll be facing won't be a black knight anymore, but a stone golem.
I don't want to! Is the difficulty going to increase again!?
Wait a minute! Golem? Stone? That's right!
Right before the golem could take shape, I quickly grabbed a rock big enough to hold in my palm.
I activated Cloud Flame, then poured Boost energy into the rock and released it, letting it fly towards Chiyou, forming the golem.
5 seconds later, a nearly 8m tall golem faced us.
But I just grinned and started counting.
"...3"
"...2"
"....1"
And then an explosion occurred right at the chest of the golem, causing the physical structure that Chiyou had just formed to collapse instantly.
The characteristic of Boost is to enhance but it also increases the skill's duration, normally it only takes 5 seconds for something affected by the Cloud Flame to explode but with Boost it's x2 so the time taken is up to 8 seconds.
"What!"
Looking at Chiyou's surprised expression when the new form she worked so hard to build with her last bit of energy collapsed, I grinned.
The story of this world is not Fantasy so there won't be any Golems here!!