Volume 1 Chapter 1 Part9 (1/2)
VOLUME 1
Season 1, Episode 9
Episode 9:
Minutes later, Shun arrived at the train station. Hurrying along the dimly lit platform, he felt an insurmountable dread build in the pits of his stomach.
d.a.m.n it! Why won't they pick up?
He'd called his parents at least ten times since that last message, and yet, each time he was directed towards that annoying voicemail. Nor had they texted him to tell him about their whereabouts.
Oh G.o.d…
If Rosalie had somehow deliberately misconstrued the television news anchor and thus mistaken the prime minister as some sort of Demon Overlord…?
Unbidden, the desolate image of his previously slandered living room flashed in Shun's mind. All that destruction, and Rosalie had only just waved her sword once over.
Please, please, let this simply be me overreacting this time!
Thoughts of horror and devastation were threatening to overrun his mind.
Imagine what would happen if -
Once again, Shun found himself facing a blank. Clearly, what would have happened should Rosalie actually attack the a.s.sembly Hall was cla.s.sified as 'unreal', hence his handicap acted up again, wiping his slate clean and preventing him from imagining.
Regardless, Shun hurried up the steps, eager to find Rosalie.
Just then, his phone sounded.
A mail! At last!
In his excitement, Shun overlooked the fact that he was currently speeding full force up the stairs.
As such, predictably, he tripped and fell.
”Ouch!”
His arm had been twisted in the fall.
d.a.m.n it all!
This had better be worth it.
–
Cutting through the haze of pain, Shun reached for his phone - only to find out that the mail he had been excitedly antic.i.p.ating was a complete sham.
Yes, there was a mail. But it wasn't from his parents. Oh no. It was, yet again, from his annoying no-good friend, Uehara.”
… The h.e.l.l?!
Shun debated between just ignoring the mail, or reading it and then ignoring the mail. Deciding to give his friend the benefit of the doubt one last time, he clicked it open.
In black and white, his friend's excitement screamed at him from beyond caps lock of the digital screen.
CHECK OUT THE TELLY!!! TERRORISTS ARE FINALLY HERE!!!
Terrorists?!
Thinking that it must have been something that Rosalie did, Shun pressed a few b.u.t.tons on his telephone, changing it to television mode.
Immediately, an emergency news panel popped up on the screen. Out of breath, looking as if she too had just arrived on scene, the main news anchor of the TV station turned to face the camera.
”… I repeat, about 20 minutes ago, six F-IV fighter jets, which are as yet, still under maintenance, were forcefully taken from Aoi Heavy Industries plane hangar. The fighter jets took off earlier today, eye witnesses stating they were headed towards Tokyo. Our country's Self Defence Forces will be working together with the American military -”
Switching to another channel, Shun watched as the official of some country or the other declared their stance on the situation.
”Our government's cooperation in international affairs: Opposition forces against the liberalisation of the country were seen heading towards j.a.pan. Again, we wish to stress the fact that our government has nothing to do with this turn of events -”
Okay, this wasn't much use. Moving on.
”Please hold on as we try to connect to -”
Shun slammed his phone shut.
Well, that rumour on the internet about terrorist movements seems to have come true.
Resuming his stance, Shun clambered up the remaining steps and finally came out into the open.
What he saw then, really surprised him.
Why's there n.o.body here?!
–
This was Shun's first ever visit to the National a.s.sembly Hall, hence his serious lack of comparison material.
However, he was pretty sure that it had never ever been as quiet as it was right then.
This was, after all, the heart of j.a.pan.
So, why was it that there was nary a soul around and the roads were mostly empty and deserted?
Come to think of it, even back then, down at the train station, he did notice some people with very odd looks on their face, almost as if they were -
The terrorist attack!
That must be it! The National a.s.sembly Hall, important as it was to the government of j.a.pan, was likely a high priority target on the terrorists' list of places to attack.
Great, so now what?!
Shun was at a complete loss. Stopping dead in his tracks, he stood and pondered as he weighed his options on a balance scale.
Should he go on and continue his search for Rosalie? Or should he run away and high tail it out with his life intact? Worry and self-preservation were warring within himself until finally -
Worry for Rosalie won out.
He would go search for her.
Up until that bend over there, that is.
Once he had pa.s.sed that bend he just needed to turn up and then he'd be able to see the front gate of the National a.s.sembly Hall.
For the time being, that was going to have to do.
Maybe Rosalie had even gone over to some place safe with his parents, to hide from the danger! Maybe, he needn't even worry at all!
Clutching to his positive thoughts, Shun took a deep breathe, and in small, measured steps, he moved up to the corner and turned.
There she was!
”Rosalie!”
–
Heaving a huge sigh of relief, Shun raced up to her. As he came into sight, Rosalie greeted him with a surprised blink.
”Rosalie, these people…?”
Ten or so burly men dressed in guard uniforms were lying unconscious on the ground.
”I put them to sleep with a spell. They might be the Demon Overlord's henchmen, but they're still human. I wouldn't want to hurt them.”
Taking a breather, she followed up her comment with yet another surprising declaration.
”Shun, I will now go on to defeat the Demon Overload, Mr Prime Minister, and return peace to the world. Please, just leave everything to me.”
That dazzling heroine smile that she bestowed him at the end, he very nearly got taken in by that.
Fortunately, Shun stood firm.
”No, you're wrong.”
Grabbing Rosalie by the hand, he turned as if to leave, hurrying her along.
”Come on, let's get out of here, quick!”
”Shun, what are you saying? I'm about to go and defeat -”
”I'll explain later. Let's just get going first!”
The words had barely left his mouth when a dark shadow appeared overhead.
Six bird-like figures were flying by, lined up horizontally in a straight line. Staring up, the sound of a jet engine tearing through the sky reached their ears.
The fighter jets.
”Rosalie!”
Shun tugged hard at her hand, now seriously frightened for his life.
Rosalie didn't move a muscle.
”Hurry! Let's go!”
”Go? Go where? Why are we going anywhere?”
Pointing upwards towards the flying machinery, Shun uttered in despair, ”Rosalie, look, those are fighter jets! You hear me?! Fighter jets!”
–
Almost nonchalantly, Rosalie arched her neck gracefully and took a long hard look at the distant sky.
”…Are those demons as well?”
As if sensing an opening, Shun immediately jumped in with a stuttering reply.
”T-That's right! That's right! Those things are demons! Big, dangerous, ugly demons! Now let's get going before -”
Bang!
The sound of a missile being launched rang out loud and clear.
Shun couldn't help but watch as the unfamiliar figures of the large fighter jets loomed closer. With a showy spray of smoke and fire, the missiles were shot out from the alcoves of the winged fighter jets, two at a time, until a total of twelve missiles had been launched.
Milliseconds, and the missiles were closing in.
It was a literal blinding flash of white light.
So this was what it was like to be hunted.
It dawned on Shun that this gigantic pile of metal, nay, weaponry, was something that normal humans couldn't even hope to withstand.
Coming to a standstill, Shun couldn't even take his eyes of that harbinger of death and destruction.
This is how it's going to end, huh?
–
”Don't worry, Shun. I won't let those things harm a hair on your head.”
Turning around to face him, Rosalie gave a confident little nod and grasped his limp hand.
”I am a heroine, Shun. As am I your bride.”
A beautiful, bedazzling smile lit up her face.
Shun felt something tug at his heartstrings at that charming grin.
Gently, she let go of their intertwined hands and raised an open palm up towards the night sky.
In the face of the missiles honing in on them at supersonic speed, Rosalie parted her lips and sang out in a lilting tone of voice -
”Begoula!”
A wall of fire sprang to life, swallowing up the missiles whole.
Twelve intense bursts of fire bloomed upon collision with the crimson wall of flames.
The subsequent flash of blinding orange lit up the night sky more so than any sun of high noon.
Immediately after came the explosion.
The force of it came at Shun in waves, overwhelming him.
His skin was probably getting peeled at nano levels.
Looking out at the sea of fire and devastation before him, Shun felt a tremor of fear travel up his spine.
Just seconds ago those incredibly powerful missiles were baring their fangs, rus.h.i.+ng towards them.
Now? They were no better than garbage to be discarded.
Shun's gob fell open, bearing an uncanny resemblance to an awestruck troll.
Rosalie on the other hand was standing ramrod straight, hand held out with nary a quiver, looking as proud and dignified as ever. The wind that swept up her hair and mantle, for some strange reason, only served to further highlight her beauty.
–
From his experience in-game, Shun knew that ”Begoula” was a mid-level spell wherein the user would use flames to deal roughly 40 damage points to the enemy group.
In the latter half of the game this spell was completely useless.
Now though, as Shun watched the pillars of flame lick the night skies of Tokyo, he was forced to rea.s.sess his judgement. In real life, roughly 100 metres of flame would form a wall that seemed to stretch almost halfway up to the sky. To add to that, it held enough destructive power to completely decimate twelve high tech homing missiles almost instantly.
If that wasn't enough to change someone's stance on its power, nothing would.
Through the smog and debris, a sharp sound of a jet engine was heard.
Not wanting to give the enemy time to regroup and consider their next step, Rosalie followed up immediately with another spell.
”Ethel!”
Six pillars of light shot down from the sky.
A sound, not unlike that of gla.s.s shattering, resounded.
The pure, holy light had just pierced right through the fighter jets, almost as if they were paper.
Shun could have sworn that time froze then.
In fact, he could even claim to have experienced those bizarre moments when things seemed to slow down infinitely.
One.
Two.
Boom!
Through the thick smoke that clouded the night sky, Shun saw parachutes floating down to the ground.