Chapter 13

“Oof, that was nasty.” I said as I wiped the sludgy dirt off my face.

I had used up the last of my Ego during my final attack, leaving me completely drained of all energy. As a result, I had fallen face first into the ground after my finishing move.

“That thing popped like a pimple.” Roku laughed at the result of his handiwork.

“Eugh! You just made this even nastier!” I responded as I frantically wiped off the slimy dirt that coated my face.

“Lee! Roku! Are you guys okay?” A voice said.

I turned and searched for the source. It was Shai, she was running from the house towards us, unaccompanied by her so-called guard.

“Isn’t Useless supposed to be guarding you?” Roku asked.

“She’s using the bathro-, uh, the restroom.” Shai stuttered.

“That useless, carefree, cowardly witch.” While we were out here risking life and limb, she was cowering away from the one job she had.

“I-It’s alright, and don’t say things like that! I'm here to heal you two.” Shai finished her sentence with a nervous smile.

“Well, she isn’t much of a guard anyways.” I smirked. We’d taken out everyone but the so-called generals. Shai doesn’t even need a guard now, it's all smooth sailing from here.

I was in high spirits; I had succeeded in a life-threatening battle. I didn’t cower, I didn’t complain…...too much, and I even saved Roku. If I didn’t fight, there was no way I could win, so I fought, and I won.

“We do call her Useless for a reason.” Roku sat down.

“Y-You guys shouldn’t tease her like that, it's mean.” Shai said, but the sound of her voice was eclipsed by the sound of Roku and I’s high five.

Roku and I weren’t really hurt, but we both used a great deal of energy, so it would be good for Shai to heal us and restore said energy. Mack was still holding down the generals all on his own, once our energy was restored, we’d go to help him.

Hell, now that they are outnumbered and without their army, they might even retreat, we might not even need to help. We’ve taken out all their backup, and I don’t even think they have a healer with them. This victory is in the bag, that’s it for volume one, time for the epilogue and authors notes.

“Wait!” Shai’s healing was interrupted by Roku.

“What happened to whoever was controlling that monster!?” Roku stood up with a panic.

That monster we fought wasn’t a natural occurrence, someone had summoned and controlled it

using their ability.

“Oh no, y-you mean you haven't beaten them yet!? Are they going to make another one of those monsters!?” Shai began panicking.

“Don’t worry, destroying a monster of that magnitude most likely killed or at least severely incapacitated the summoners. I don’t think they’d be able to summon another one anyways.” I reassured them.

Creating that monster required all those lives, and since they used all the corpses of their allies to make that one, they’d need a whole lot of dead people to show up out of nowhere to make another.

“See, look towards the middle of the hill, those two must have been the summoners.” I pointed to the hill, where two people laid with pools of blood out of their ears and nose.

“I was right, I guess the damage reflected back onto them after all that, no need to worry.” I said, confident in my words.

“Wait, why are they disappearing too?” Roku curiously asked.

I gazed up at the hill, and sure enough, they were vanishing in the same manner in which the others had.

“Find the user!” I tried to stand but fell back, my body still running on empty.

“Wait, where’s the cloud!?” Shai asked in fear.

When the last beast was summoned, a cloud of all the energy gathered in one spot where the monster was formed. Now, there was no such cloud in sight.

“Ack!” Mack suddenly shrieked out in pain.

“There!” Roku yelled, pointing to where Mack was stationed.

Mack was being strangled by the newly summoned monster. The monster had the same purple sludgy exterior as the last one, but did not have a full body. Instead, it was nothing but an arm.

The arm was gripped firmly around Mack's throat, hoisting him into the air. The arm had only two eyes, opposed to the 40 that the last monster had, but the eyes were both located in the palm of the sludgy beast. With where we were now, there would be no way

to kill it.

“There must have been a third person controlling

it!” I yelled out.

If the other two are dead, the third must have sustained considerable damage, they wouldn’t be hard to find, but they already threw a wrench in our plans. Roku and I failed in our job to protect Mack.

The generals were no longer being pinned down by Mack’s constant sniper fire. It was only a matter of time before they reached the house. So much for it being smooth sailing from here, Roku and I would have to face off against all three of them alone if we couldn’t save Mack. I really wish Toshi would hurry up and finish with Diran.

“Version Three this thing!” Roku suddenly yelled as he ripped one of my swords out of my hand.

“What are you doing? Give it back!” I questioned Roku’s sudden actions.

“You heard me! Lightning!” He yelled as he threw my sword like a javelin, right to where the two dead summoners were seen.

I understood immediately. Since the third guy must be on the verge of death, they wouldn’t be able to have moved far, a Version Three lightning strike without impact probably wouldn't be widespread enough to get them, but one with impact would definitely decimate the entire area around it. They wouldn’t be able to move far enough to avoid it. It would take them out without fail.

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The only problem would be getting my sword back, but with this we could save Mack in time, and that takes priority.

I had barely enough energy left to do this, but thankfully Shai is here, so I won’t be out of the story just yet.

“Banished Blades Version Three! With the thunderclap, begone!” I yelled as the sword struck right into one of the summoner's jackets.

Right on cue a bright flash of lightning split the sky, crashing into the ground with an explosion. The sound of the blast and the victim’s scream was drowned out by the rumble of the thunder.

As the lightning strike subsided, the arm around Mack disintegrated, dropping him to the ground. He laid there gasping and coughing for breath, but thankfully alive.

“Are you okay?” Shai asked Mack with concern as she ran towards him.

“I’m alright.” He said with a smile as he caught his breath.

But judging by the look of pain on his face, and the way he was clutching his neck, that was far from the truth.

“Go back to healing Roku and Lee, it's too late for me to pin down all the generals. I'm out of this battle, but they aren’t. They need to be in tip-top shape for the coming fights.” Mack told Shai.

It was true, if he was as injured as he looked, there wasn’t much he could do. He was down for the count. Healing someone takes a lot more time and Ego than just restoring their energy. The smart move would be to heal Roku and I. Even if I think Mack would do better than me, especially in a three vs. two situation.

“What about you?” Shai asked with concern. With her being a healer, she must not like to see people in pain, especially those she is close to.

“There's still something I can do, I can hold off the last one, that way Lee and Roku will both have one on one fights.” He explained.

Wait, is this……. plot armor? Is it finally coming to my rescue? This still isn’t good, but if he can narrow it down to one-on-one fights, my odds would be much better. Even if it meant I’d have to fight someone on Roku’s level.

“I can heal you while they are fighting!” Shai said, raising her voice for once.

“Please just listen, you have to hurry.” Mack put his hand on hers, which caused her to turn beet red.

He smiled as she ran off to us. I don’t know what Mack has up his sleeve. To be honest, I really know much about him, I mean, I forgot he existed for a while, which was weird, and is still pretty weird. But I do know that his honorable sacrifice is for the best, it was the only way we’d be able to hold them off for long enough.

“God bless you, Mack.” Roku said, wiping a lone tear from his cheek.

He and I recognized and honored Mack’s sacrifice. Mack, Roku, and I had shared a ‘Never talk about this again.’ moment, which is an ancient sacred form of bonding. I had only really known about Mack for a few days, but his actions brought tears to our eyes.

Mack looked towards the advancing generals. He said he would be able to delay one, which undoubtedly would be the strongest one. I had faith that Roku would be able to hold his own against his foe, but could I?

Out of the three generals, it wasn’t hard to peg which one was the leader. He nonchalantly walked behind the other two as if going on a stroll through the park. He had seen Roku and I and judged us as non-threats. He had jet black hair and a bored complexion; Mack’s bullets stuck to the gladiator like gauntlets he wore on his arms. He must have used them to block the shots, which were nothing but inconveniences to him.

“Sneaky Sniper, Slithering Snakes!” Mack shouted, activating his trump card.

With his shout as the cue, snakes emerged from the bullets that were embedded in the general's gauntlets. It seems the Ego he put into the bullets did a lot more than just strengthen the shot's power.

When the general finally noticed the snakes, it was too late. The snakes had curled all around his arms.

Before he could react, they bit deep into his shoulders. The venom they injected seemingly paralyzed him, as the general fell flat on his face.

The others spared him but a passing glance before continuing towards us.

That took care of one, now Roku and I had to deal with the last two. As I had previously thought, it really is a ‘hold them off until Diran arrives arc’. I did get my chance in the spotlight though, all I had to do was not get killed by the general. I doubt I could beat him, but I just had to hold him off until Diran arrived.

“That’ll hold him off for a bit! Take care of the others, quickly!” Mack yelled.

“Got it!” Roku and I responded in unison.

After Roku and I defeated that titanic beast, I had believed that to be the part where I died. That in the future Toshi saw I hesitated to jump, and my ability didn’t reach Roku in time, leaving both of us to perish from the fall. But it seems that was short sighted of me, as death seemed to be on the horizon once more.

The remaining two generals continued advancing towards us, unfazed by the fate of the third.

Roku and I stood our ground. We were unwavering, unflinching, at least Roku was. Me, not so much. But I had no time to regret, no time to worry, no time to think, as we came face to face with our foes.

“Where is the old man?” the first general asked.

“Old man? He’s 19 with 50 years of experience.” I quipped back, hiding my fear with my usual sarcastic attitude.

“Oh, come on now. It's obvious, he's inside being guarded by their leader, don’t waste time asking stupid little questions.” The other general responded, his voice and manner of talk made him sound like a high schooler in drama class, extremely overacting.

“What is Diran’s Ego?” The first general was unfazed by what I and his partner had said.

“His power? It's the power of friendship of course.” I responded half-jokingly. In truth, I didn’t know the full extent of Diran’s abilities, but usually the Shonen protagonist has something to do with that.

“Oh, come on! They're obviously not going to tell us, it's so obvious. Stop asking useless questions, we’ll obviously have to beat it out of them or just kill them, depending on what our remaining time is.” The second general said before turning to Roku.

“Now who might you be?” He asked.

“Me? I’m the guy who’s gonna kill you.” Roku responded with that blood-lusted smirk and evil look in his eyes. He may be on our side now, but I sometimes have to remind myself he was once just like these guys, he lived for battle, and still does.

To us, we see him as what he really is. A really strong idiot, like a toddler with a really big knife. He may be able to hold his own against anyone, but he can’t think of a plan or figure out a puzzle to save his life, and he tries way too hard to be cool. We see the side of him that gets drunk and argues with Useless, the part of him that falls for the stupid obvious traps, and the parts of him that aren’t strong, mainly his brain.

But them, our enemies, all they see is the strong part of him. The bad-ass, one-liner making, can kill you in only a few punches, side of him. The remains of his villain side. So, seeing it again can be quite jarring at times. I'm just glad he’s on our side, if he became a recurring villain, I surely would have died a while ago.

“Ooo, scary, you guys are in for it now, if you apologize and give us the location of your boss, we’ll let you off easy. He’ll only half kill you; I saw that in Tokyo Ghoul once.” I said in response to Roku’s one-liner.

“Oh, I see now, we’ve got the bad-ass one-liner strong man, and the funny sidekick.” He said pointing at Roku and then me.

“Took you that long to notice? I had you pegged from the start. You’re the know-it-all narcissist who was definitely bullied in school.”

“That's where you are wrong, the first part may be an apt description, but I was not bullied. I am the bully.” He smirked back.

That....that was the worst comeback I have ever heard. I can’t wait to fight this guy, there’s no way I'd ever lose to a guy like him. Roku, who seemingly caught my train of thought, derailed it.

“I’ll take this walking hemorrhoid; you take that other...guy.” He said. Wow, it seems he was also picking up on insults and not just one-liners, his character development has really been hitting lately.

“No, you should fight him.” I pointed at the other guy.

“He’s the strong silent type, you’re the strong occasionally-silent type. it's a match made in heaven!” The guy had only said two sentences this whole time.

“Well, he's got a sword and you’ve got a sword.” Was Roku’s rebuttal.

Seems Roku really wants to fight the one with the extremely punchable face as well.

“I would have my other sword if you hadn’t thrown it away.” I responded, still peeved he threw my other sword. Even though it was the right move.

“Come on, just let the little wimpy one fight me already! I need an easy kill.” I’ve already had enough of this guy.

“Alright enough arguing, first come, first served!” I yelled as I lunged towards him, attempting to pierce his heart in one thrust.

Before my blade even got close, I was launched back by Roku. The first general had his sword out right in my path. If I had continued, I would have been skewered like a shish kabob.

Roku’s light blow had launched me back towards the river. The hit didn’t cause me any damage, but it did create a lot of distance between us.

The first general ran after me and Roku engaged the second one, our respective showdowns were about to begin.