Somewhere in the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre building—
“Fill me in with the situation, Momoka-kun.”
Asked a man with brownish skin and black hair.
“As of now, the entire EXP zone is engulfed by some kind of barrier. Both of our kuroko are expelled, so we don’t know who’s exactly inside. We’ve confirmed Kurogane Takumi, Tada Jun, and Daniel Mitchell, but I suspect he is in there somewhere as well. There’s a 6-meter-deep space under the stage, maybe he’s hiding there.”
“…No, if it’s him, he’d want to be in a place where he can see everything.”
The half-Arabic man mused something, then asked another question.
“What about the barrier?”
“Possibly, an application of Zeno’s Dichotomy Paradox. Instead of a solid wall, it’s an endlessly repeating sequence of compressed spaces within compressed spaces.”
“As long as there’s at least a millimeter of gap, that’s enough.”
The man looked down from the glass pane.
“I’ll step in the moment there’s visual confirmation. Otherwise, I’ll keep being under cover.”
♤♠♤♠♤
“My Excalibur! Give me my Excalibur back!”
Daniel tried to chase after Jun, but Takumi held him back. The American man had much more power than he initially thought.
“This isn’t fair! It’s cheating!”
Daniel protested, but this time, Takumi didn’t comply. He had neither obligation nor necessity to.
Meanwhile, Jun, who was holding onto the katana that Daniel called Excalibur, was hitting the katana unto the barrier that trapped him and Takumi. However, not a single time the katana glowed, and the barrier remained intact regardless of how many times he tried.
“It’s no good! This is just a dull nihontou, it can’t cut open the barrier!”
Jun spoke out of frustration.
Takumi, however, had predicted that. The golden flying slash that Daniel unleashed had touched the barrier many times, but even it didn’t cut the barrier open.
Even more so, the performer who used the sword in the play was outside the EXP zone. Meaning, for some reason, the Excalibur only worked in Daniel’s hand, and it wasn’t with the help of another esper or the hidden power of the sword itself.
Daniel’s power is projection. Even if he changed weapons, it should’ve been impossible for him to create a slash that could cut everything.
It contradicted everything that Takumi knew about ESP.
“You’re too narrow-minded and too fixated on what you already know.”
Suddenly, Momo’s words flashed in Takumi’s mind.
“What’s our next move, Takumi?”
Jun’s question snapped Takumi back to reality.
“Jun, you try to break the sword. I’ll make Daniel speak.”
“Got it!”
Saying so, Jun took a look at the katana in his hand. Daniel, who overheard the plan, rampaged even more wildly.
Takumi threw Daniel to the floor, his large body made a loud thump sound.
“Agh!”
Once Daniel was lying on the floor, Takumi pinned down both of his arms under his knees as he sat on top of his chest.
It doesn’t matter how Daniel unleashed that golden flying slash, the key is that he uses the katana to do it. Without the katana, Daniel is basically powerless. It also doesn’t change the fact that this whole situation started when Daniel suddenly showed up on the stage. One way or another, Daniel is the key to get out of this EXP zone.
Even if Daniel refused to talk, hopefully, the barrier would disappear if he lost consciousness.
“How do we get out of here?”
Asked Takumi as he looked down at Daniel.
“My Excalibur!”
Daniel, instead, focused on his katana that Jun was trying to snap with his knee. Seeing that, Takumi raised his right hand to the air and—
PAH!
A strong slap landed squarely on Daniel’s face.
Receiving the slap, Daniel looked shocked. His eyes opened wide and his mouth agape. It was as if, out of everything, this was what hurt him the most.
Even for Takumi who slapped him, the sight of Daniel looked a bit pitiful.
“…Zero. Tell us how to get out of here.”
Takumi asked again, with a gentler tone this time.
However, Daniel directed a gaze full of anger at him. His eyes were red and tears swelled up.
“Unforgivable! Koh, you’re unforgivable!!”
From the looks of it, it would be impossible to get anything out of Daniel.
Preferably, Takumi didn’t want to resort to this. However, he didn’t know any other way. Takumi raised his hand again, and swung it down towards Daniel’s face—
—but, his hand stopped mid-air.
No, his hand was being stopped mid-air. And not just his hand, every muscle in his body was stiff and he couldn’t move his body at all. The same with Jun. Right when he was about to bend the katana with his feet, suddenly, he stopped moving altogether.
However there was something even weirder happening under Takumi.
—A hand was reaching out from Daniel’s chest.
“—!!”
Right when that happened, Takumi’s body was sent flying by some kind of mysterious force.
Takumi was brought as high as 10 meters up by the mysterious force, hitting one of the lights hanging on the steel beams above the stage.
“mff—!!” Seeing Takumi was being suspended in the air, Jun wanted to scream his name, but his mouth refused to move.
While that was happening, the hand that was coming out from Daniel’s chest slowly rose higher and higher, before slowly revealing a head, another arm, and finally — a whole person, climbing out from within Daniel.
He was a tall man, probably at around 190 cm. His hair was striking white, and his face was hidden behind a circular, white cat-themed mask. He was wearing a red jacket zipped all the way up.
“I told you we only needed the weapon. At the very least, you could’ve killed him right out of the gate. See what happened when you didn’t follow what I said.”
The man accused Daniel who was still fallen on his back. Daniel only grit his teeth in frustration, not saying anything back.
The man turned his gaze towards Jun, who was stuck in a weird pose of trying to bend the metal katana under his feet. One second later, Jun was sent flying towards the back end of the stage whilst the katana stayed in its place.
“Aaah!!”
With Jun out of the picture, the katana flew towards the hand of the cat-masked man easily. The man looked at the length of the katana. It had been bent a bit, but when he traced his finger alongside its length, it was straight back up.
Slowly, Daniel rose to his feet. When he was back up standing, the cat-masked man lightly floated the katana towards Daniel, and Daniel easily plucked it out of the air.
As if on cue, the mysterious force that kept Takumi suspended also disappeared right then.
“Gahak!!”
Takumi fell 10 meters from the air and landed on his back. Air violently escaped his lungs, leaving him coughing.
However, before Takumi could properly center himself, the cat-masked man pointed at him with his finger, and when he did, the same force from before grabbed both of Takumi’s hands and lifted him up.
“AAGH!!”
Takumi screamed in pain. He was lifted by the wrists, and so his joints and muscles were pulled violently. However, the cat-masked didn’t seem to care and, as if dragging an app across a touchscreen, he carelessly dragged Takumi around with a single finger.
Takumi was left suspended in the air in the middle of the stage with his arms outstretched and feet dangling.
It was as if he was trying to make a show out of Takumi.
The man turned around and walked towards Daniel as he opened his mouth.
“Look at that, the real identity of Kou is Kurogane Takumi, the legacy that Kurogane Isamu left behind. Fate truly is a funny thing.”
“…how, dad’s name…”
Takumi groaned, but his mouth was held shut by the mysterious force once again when the man pointed at him.
“I must thank you, Kurogane Takumi. While indeed you brought down the empire that I painstakingly built, thanks to you, my Executioner has matured faster than I expected.”
He said as he put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder.
“But now, you’ve outlived your usefulness. From now on, you will die, and there’s nothing you can do about it. —Don’t get mistaken. This is never a Battle, this is an execution.”
“Do it,” the man whispered to Daniel. When he did, the Excalibur in Daniel’s hand began to glow in golden light.
Daniel readied his katana. A single swing, and Takumi would be no more.
The sight of Jun struggling to stand up after being slammed to the wall entered Takumi’s eyes. Just a few moments ago, they were fooling around and tying a tanzaku together.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Takumi’s mind wandered to Saki. The small girl who always gushed about Omega Battle, she no longer wore her favorite bag full of pins in fear of another stalker identifying her from it, all because she was involved with Takumi.
Asa. Perhaps, out of anyone, she was the one Takumi was comfortable to be with. He liked how frank and meddlesome she was.
His mother, Shizuka. Takumi’s image of her was someone who was always exhausted, and yet always trying to provide Takumi with the best she could. However, the strongest memory of her was when she was crying her heart out at the death of his father, Isamu.
Takumi had promised himself he would never let Shizuka make that face again. But now, it seemed like he would break that promise…
As the light of execution grew in intensity, Takumi grit his teeth in frustration. Before he knew it, warm tears fell from his eyes.
‘Dad…’ Isamu’s warm smile came up in Takumi’s mind.
“EX——!!”
“—Quasar!”
BWOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!
A loud explosion, followed by an intense heat from a horizontal pillar of fire that melted steel beams in an instant.
The red hot beam fell from the ceilings towards the position where Daniel was. Immediately, the cat-masked man picked Daniel with his finger and teleported him and himself away from the falling site.
The explosion came from the space above the right wing stage, where there was a platform where people could look down on the stage.
A man jumped down from the hole in the barrier that he had made, and landed right in front of Takumi.
“It’s too soon to have your lives flashing before your eyes, Kurogane-kun.”
Spoke the man nonchalantly.
He was a tall man, possibly of Middle Eastern descent, clad in a tight-fitting navy blue sleeveless shirt that showcased his muscular arms. He paired it with loose black pants, allowing for ease of movement.
Takumi hadn’t seen him in a whole month, and yet the moment he saw his back, a huge sense of relief washed over him.
His name was—
“Hajime Adam?! What is Omega’s Strongest Esper doing in Japan?!”
The cat-masked man seemed surprised and distressed when Adam made his appearance.
“This is the end of your charade, Kainan.”
Adam calmly walked towards him — Kainan who had teleported to the back end of the stage. The fire from the stage that was burning from the fallen red hot steel beam gravitated towards Adam, as if being pulled in.
And then, spontaneously, Adam’s whole body was ignited ablaze. It was as if his body was made of fire. The floor was burning under his feet, and the steel beam instantly melted upon contact without hindering him whatsoever.
“Shit shit shit shit!!”
Kainan panicked. He looked around and found Jun lying nearby.
“Gah!”
With a flick of his finger, Jun was lifted to the air and brought before him. Kainan intended to use Jun as a meatshield.
Adam, however, didn't stop. He wound his right arm back, and then unleashed a sharp punch towards Jun’s stomach—
“GAHAAK!!”
—hitting Kainan without harming Jun.
Heat is thermal energy, and by the principles of general theory of relativity, energy bends spacetime. Specifically, it was Gravitational Lensing, a phenomenon where a massive celestial body — such as a galaxy cluster — caused a sufficient curvature in spacetime to make a straight line appear curved, as if by lens.
Obviously, the mass, and therefore, energy needed for this to actually take place was massive. To create a gravitational lensing effect around an object with 50 cm diameter, it would need 2.5 x 10^17 joules of energy. For comparison, the energy of an atomic bomb was 1.5 x 10^13 joules. Meaning, within the small frame of time where Adam threw a punch and his punch hit Kainan, he produced approximately 1.67 x 10^4 more energy, or around 10,000 times more energy than a single atomic bomb.
And this much energy existed in a very, very localized space that it might as well be a parallel universe on its own. To call Hajime Adam a God of his own right wouldn’t be an overestimation.
The title “the Strongest Esper” was not an empty bluff.
Of course, Kainan also had his own defense. Being a Spatial esper, Kainan enveloped himself in a thin layer of non-euclidean space, meaning that attack simply could not reach him. For example, if someone tried to stab him with a spear, the end of the spear would come out from a different part of his body while Kainan himself was safe. He was simply unreachable like that.
And yet, Adam’s punch distorted even that non-euclidean space. Without his layer of defense, Kainan would’ve been absolutely obliterated into atoms.
This was the stage where peak Fighters stood, where the extremes of laws of physics became mere playthings. These people were, quite literally, on a whole different dimension.
“—tsk! Shift!”
Staggered back from Adam’s punch to his gut, Kainan decided to take refuge in another dimension. He teleported himself to a different dimension, thinking that Adam couldn’t chase him there.
“Wormhole.”
Adam, however, produced an energy so massive it punched a hole in spacetime, leading him to the dimension Kainan was in.
From there, the two esper Gods fought. Each blow produced the same energy as the surface of the sun that, had this Battle took place in the original dimension, the entirety of Earth would’ve been decimated.
However, to the onlookers like Takumi, it only looked like both Kainan and Adam just disappeared out of nowhere.
♤♠♤♠♤
The moment Kainan teleported to a different dimension, the mysterious force that shackled Takumi in the air also disappeared.
With a thud, Takumi fell to the floor powerlessly.
Behind him, the bullets the soldiers shot from earlier also fell, indicating that the barrier had disappeared as well. With a sharp inhale, Takumi brought himself back to his feet. Finally, he could leave the EXP zone behind him.
However, Takumi knew. It wouldn’t be that easy.
“Our Battle isn’t over yet, Koh!”
Daniel screamed from beyond the flames that divided the stage. The Excalibur in his hand was already glowing brightly.
Of course, the soldiers who’d been on standby this whole time made their move without regard. With their rifles still trained on Daniel, they slowly walked up the stairs to enter the EXP zone.
But—
VWOOM!
Golden flying slash instantly gouged out the tip of the rifle that had entered the EXP zone. As for the soldier who was carrying it, his comrade was fast enough to pull him back from the EXP zone, resulting in no harm.
Daniel then made an ultimatum.
“DON’T YOU DARE ENTER THIS SACRED BATTLE!! THIS IS BETWEEN ME AND KOH!! IF YOU DO I WILL BAN—!!!”
“We got it! These people won’t do anything, so don’t release it!” Screamed Takumi desperately.
If Daniel were to release his Ban, he would become unhinged and swing his arms wildly, unleashing a dense barrage of golden flying slashes that was impossible to dodge.
Of course, Takumi could just jump down from the center stage, exiting the EXP zone. Once he was outside the EXP zone, even those golden flying slashes wouldn’t be able to chase him. After all, psychic powers could only exist within the EXP zone.
However, there was a huge problem — Jun was fallen right in front of Daniel. At his current state, Jun wouldn’t be able to evade Daniel’s attack. He would surely be killed.
“This is a Battle between you and me, Zero. Don’t you involve anyone else.”
“That’s what I want.”
As he walked closer to Daniel, Takumi made a pose as if he was holding a sword in front of him. He was thinking of summoning the Dark Sword — Gelap again in those hands.
In all honesty, Takumi didn’t know what he was doing. He had no plans other than trying to pick Jun up and get him out of this EXP zone somehow. So far, he was thinking of stunning Daniel with an explosive increase of brightness, basically giving him a flashbang. Hopefully, that would give him and Jun enough time to escape.
Daniel also walked closer to Takumi. He walked past Jun who was on the floor without batting an eye on him. Seeing that, Takumi let out a relieved sigh in his mind. Daniel basically never attacked behind him, Jun was safe now.
But then, Daniel’s steps stopped. No, they were stopped. When he looked down, Jun had grabbed on Daniel’s right foot with both hands.
Looking at that, Daniel simply swung his Excalibur at Jun.
It was like a firework, blood splattered everywhere.
Takumi’s mind blanked. Something deep within him snapped, as if a seal was broken. There were screams of pain, of agony, of panic, of worry, of anger, but he couldn’t even tell who was screaming.
It was him.
“JUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNN!!!”
“KOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
Daniel raised his katana up. It quickly grew bigger and bigger, reaching the grid 20 meters above the floor. The sight of the giant sword glowing in golden light was, indeed, reminiscent of the strongest Servant.
Takumi, on the other hand, was materializing the sword in his hands.
It was not Dark Sword — Gelap. It was not Light Sword — Cahya either. It was something that truly shouldn’t have belonged in this reality.
Treasure of the Eight-Headed Heavenly Demon Bradatida, vault number 480. The Formless Sword, the Limitless Sword, the Invincible Sword, the Invisible Sword. It was an Artifact belonging to an existence from dimensions outside human understanding. It was a weapon a mortal should never wield.
But no one here knew of its true nature.
Takumi ran towards Daniel, the invisible sword in his hand was still materializing. He didn’t notice his hair was glowing white.
Seeing that, Daniel swung down his giant sword at him.
“EXCALIBUUUUUUURRRRRR!!!!!!!”
“VOID SWORD — HAMPA!””
For a full second, the sword materialized in Takumi’s hand. It cut through the giant Excalibur and passed through Daniel, as nothing in this world could hinder it.
For it had no form, thus intangible.
For it had no bound, thus limitless.
The fire on the stage was blown away by the shockwave that the Void Sword — Hampa created.
The Excalibur fell from Daniel’s hand with a dry clank, soon followed by Daniel himself who had lost consciousness. There was no entry wound or the exit wound on Daniel’s body, as the intangible sword only cut what was intangible. That day, something precious in Daniel’s psyche was lost.
However, the onlookers were standing still in confusion. They couldn’t remember what they were seeing — until Takumi flickered back to existence 5 seconds later, the world utterly forgot he ever existed.
♤♠♤♠♤
“Tsk! Useless!”
The moment Kainan teleported back to this dimension, he saw Daniel lying down on the floor. Immediately, he flew to the unconscious Daniel and entered his body back.
Adam appeared right after. Seeing what happened, he immediately grabbed Daniel and threw him out of the EXP zone.
“That body will be your prison for the time being.”
Spoke Adam.
The principle was unknown, but if Kainan could possess someone with his Spatial ability, he’d have to be in an EXP zone to exit Daniel’s body. As long as they kept Daniel away from an EXP zone, Kainan would forever be trapped within Daniel’s body.
Once that was settled with, Adam looked around to look for his disciple, Takumi, only to find him and Saki crowding around the limped body of Jun.
Jun — didn’t die.
Daniel cut off both of his arms, and he fell unconscious from the shock. However, the fact didn’t change that he no longer had arms and was losing a lot of blood.
Normally, this would’ve been an irreversible incident of despair, as this meant Jun would’ve been handicapped for the rest of his life. Fortunately, however, this was a world where psychic powers were commonplace.
One of the soldiers was a pure Healer esper. He took off his gloves and held onto Jun’s arms near the cut. After a while, Jun’s flesh began to bubble like boiling water.
Honestly, it was a grotesque sight. Saki and Asa couldn’t bear seeing it. However, once the procedure was gone, there was a new pair of hands on Jun’s arms. It was as if his arms had never been cut before.
“Will Jun-kun be okay, Soldier-san?”
“Yeah. I’m replenishing the blood he lost right now, but he’ll soon regain consciousness.”
The soldier answered Saki’s question with a gentle tone.
True to his word, slowly, Jun opened his eyes.
“Jun-kun!’
“Jun!”
Saki and Asa called him by the name. Seeing their worried looks, Jun opened his mouth.
“Hey, Saki-chan, Asa-chan, haven’t seen you in a short while. …I thought my arms were cut off.”
Jun looked at his newly regrown hands, closing and opening them. Saki wiped the tears from her eyes and explained.
“Yup. Soldier-san healed you. If not for him, I don’t know what would happen to you.”
“I see. Thank you very much.”
“No, I’m just doing the obvious.”
Jun lowered his head to the soldier, and the soldier responded to him with a smile.
Next, Jun looked at Takumi. Takumi didn’t say anything, but he made a face as if he just swallowed a swarm of bitter bugs.
If only I could handle it better. If only I didn’t bring Jun along. If only I didn’t antagonize Daniel back then, then this wouldn’t have happened. ‘That must be what he thought,’ thought Jun.
“Takumi,” Jun called his name.
“Hm?” Takumi responded with a hum.
“…quite the memorable event, huh? I think I can go to Inter-High in peace after this.”
For a moment, Takumi made a shocked face as if he couldn’t believe what he just heard. And then, as if every tension in his body left him, Takumi laughed.
It was a refreshing smile that Takumi rarely had in the last few years.
“Well, if he can quip like that, that means he’s okay,” added Asa.
“I guess so!” Saki nodded in relief.
After Jun, it was Takumi’s turn to be healed by the soldier. Takumi said he was fine, but in the end it was adrenaline that dulled his sense of pain. When Saki poked his back, Takumi winched.
In the end, Takumi also received the treatment.
Both Adam and Momo were nowhere to be seen. Hayao appeared after things were settled, and he immediately apologized for not being of help once again. Apparently, he was being held down by some soldiers even though he really wanted to jump onto the scene.
Everyone, including Saki, actually forgot that Hayao was even there.
As Takumi and co. was about to leave the auditorium, Daniel, who had regained his consciousness, called out.
“Koh, wait!”
It was outside the EXP zone, so the words Daniel spoke were heard as English properly.
Takumi stopped on his tracks. Jun, Saki, and Asa looked at him out of worry. They weren’t as good with English, but they understood that Daniel called for Takumi. When Takumi turned around, he saw Daniel was handcuffed and held by the soldiers.
It was such a contrast compared to Takumi who was surrounded by his friends.
“What’s so different between you and I?” Asked Daniel, his eyes looked clear like never before.
Takumi stayed silent for a while, then answered, similarly in English; “You’re cringe.”
And thus, the Tanabata Tokyo Metropolitan Theater incident had come to a close.
Takumi and co. were directed to take a different exit, as apparently the entrance of the building was swarmed with reporters who caught wind of the incident.
Articles regarding this incident hit the news the next day. The safety of EXP zones were once again being questioned, and for some reason, the issue regarding foreigners acting out in Japan also being brought up.
Many Omega fans voiced their worry about the possible cancellation of collaboration between their favorite Fighters and Fighters from overseas, projects that had been built up for months. Once again, the netizen’s hatred towards Daniel Mitchell was rekindled. Their only solace was knowing that Daniel had been apprehended, though the details of it were obscured.
There was, supposedly, a sneak recording of Takumi vs Daniel that was taken from the second floor of the auditorium. However, even if there were such a thing, Omega would have taken the video down and destroyed the hard copy.
In the end, the second Battle between Kou and Kurosaki Zero remained as nothing but rumors amongst die-hard fans.