Volume 2 Chapter 4 (1/2)

It was beginning

This 2nd round would pit two Archeneirls, who cried and laughed just like the rest of us, into a sea of blood just because they ”weren't human”

”Ghhh…!”

I clenchedwhich felt so heavy it was like carrying a soaking wet blanket onwalls and sohttime city I left the collapsible bicycle back at the city library because I doubted I could pedal hard enough to pick up any speed

…I was an idiot

Itou Helen was probably experiencing a sirown in her each tiave her inspiration fro her life tonight

I felt like I would pass out just watching froe the Colosseum where even an instantaneous mistake could be fatal

What was I doing?

Far fro her, I had actually tripped her up and stabbed her in the back

”…Pant, pant!”

”Warning: your health check values have passed the acceptable lily recommend you visit a medical institution immediately”

”I don't…have time for that…”

I was only the second, so the Colosseuht Cross was trying to reduce the nu the as Itou Helen and Hanesaki Minori fought, they wouldn't care about anything else

I had no idea what I could do after screwing up so badly

But I couldn't leave Itou Helen all alone I couldn't let it end withher trouble

I needed a chance to make up for it

And if thataway at my life, so be it

So

I finally arrived in front of the building containing the special stage It was not Kukyou 1st Broadcasting The Bright Cross changed their base for each battle to avoid interference

I was in the central financial sector of the business district which was full of bright lights at night An ultra-high rise resort hotel stood 50-stories tall in the nicest area It was the largest lodging facility in the area and it waspotential of the scenic ocean andthe city

It was named the Kukyou Vacation Gate Hotel

The roundabout out front was illuhts and it was full of taxis, hired vehicles, and even long, white limousines

Now that the Bright Cross had lost their underground base, I had wondered how they had attacked the Archenemies, how and to where they had transported them, and how they kept them confined

”There are a number of ways”

Back when I was still being led around by the Leanan Sídhe's second disguised as Kuroyama Hinoki, I had asked my sisters about it

”Even without the underground tunnels, they can create a syste' theht For exae tour bus?”

”A bus? Sure, they're big, but would covering the ith curtains really be enough? Ipeople”

”No, Onii-chan The entire bottoe space That lets thee es And if they crauised as tourists, they can kill 2 birds with 1 stone”

”Although given an Archeneet about theet in a duraluen, and line the tour bus's cargo space with therrees, don't you think they could safely transport them without any resistance?”

It was not that those girls had devilish minds Erika and Ayu end of it

”If they're using tour buses, they'll have set up their base terminal somewhere where frequent bus visits won't seem suspicious That o the other way and choose a large hotel”

”Hotels are general corporations, but they have strong ties to the executive and justice systems They always have a hotline to the police to see if any escaped cri a fake nauest rooms And if politicians often throw parties there with public funds, they'll have a connection as well …And that ht Cross to be working behind the scenes”

”And the top floors can also be used to confine any Archenemies that can't fly Just like a princess in a tower”

That was this luxury hotel

It was an unbelievably fancy and glitzy execution prison

As I looked up at the building, a large bus full of tourists passed by It was sucked into the roundabout and spat out a great variety of exhausted people A bus tour guide holding a tiny flag cheerfully took role

The hotel's doorons

And those heavy-looking suitcases seeh to hold a human if they were curled up

Were there people in there or not?

I slowly sighed, focused on recovering th as much as possible, and spoke

”Let's get to the battlefield Maxwell, support me”

”Sure”

I stayed focused to ensure ed to step onto the front roundabout The doorlass automatic door to open it, and welcomed me in

”Welco in?”

”…No, I'm here for the event”

I was soaked with a cold sweat

Their smiles remained

Inside, I found a spacious front lobby and a coffee lounge filled with cal

As I looked around, a call reached my smartphone

”Hi, hiii! It's Karen-chan Please head to the staff-only door to the left instead of the general elevator There's a VIP elevator there in addition to the staff elevator”

Was she watching me from somewhere?

No, did the Bright Cross have full authority over the hotel, including its security ca a hotel room's door with a solid steel one, it wasthe Archenemies stay in an empty room at a prison

I spoke quietly while obeying the instructions for the ti

”Maxwell”

”Sure Gathering and analyzing infor and this hotel Checking for sources of funding and visitors in cooes well, I can deter behind the scenes”

”Take care of it”

There was no guarantee we could catch them that easily, but we had to try every option available

I stepped through the staff-only door

Very unlike the lobby, I found a cold hallhite walls lit by palea bit, I found the elevator in question

A worker in a black suit smiled and spoke to me

However, his smile had an invisible pressure behind it

”Do you need so, sir?”

My cellphone provided the answer

The blue bunny girl's voice whispered to me

”Is the academic forum this way? I heard I could see a rare blue butterfly specimen”

That seemed to be the password

When I repeated it verbatim, the muscular worker's pressure receded

He pressed the elevator button

”Oh, you were invited to that party My apologies”

That party

What other secret ”parties” were being held?

The elevator door opened to reveal it had its own elevator girl The general elevators out front had to run more than 100 times as much, but I doubted they had one

I stepped in, the door closed, and the elevator girl pressed a button without asking for my destination

I could barely feel it begin to entle sensation of acceleration Perhaps because there were no stops along the way, there was no floor counter All I could do was stand there and lean back into the opposite corner froirl stood

…How much could I honestly do?

My life force had been sapped by the Leanan Sídhe and Itou Helen's likely had been as well If the daht shove would cause her to collapse

I could not let it go any further

It could pass si her and actually kill her No, it didn't even have to go that far If she passed out in the Colosseuiving up or breaking up a match

However, the weakening would only grow as soon as we gained specific inspiration froroup

That included infor weak to steel or a Leanan Sídhe nor invisible

And it included the strategies we could use, such as throwing bags of powdered potion or bottles of oint a witch's potion with a tranquilizer gun

I was fairly certain ould be fine if we didn't use those

It wouldn't be a problem if we eliminated them

But I couldn't help but focus on them now that I are of them Was I already in the pals? I felt horribly restricted

I had to find so

No matter what

”Sorry about the wait This is your floor: the Celestial Palace multipurpose hall”

”…Thanks”

With the elevator girl's round slid open

The blue bunny girl was there

Her slender fingers toyed with the jewel decorations on her chest

”No This itch's second”

”Why are you here?”

”If you wandered around without any guidance, you would run into the audience And even if they aren't Archeneht in the middle of that croould you? Plus, you're involved in this gamble with so much money on the line, so who knohen soht?”

She was clearlysomeone do precisely that

She cackled, grabbed

And dairl's It was nice and soft

The elevator girl had called this the Celestial Palace Other than the cloak room and powder roole party hall It looked like a few inner walls had been set up to create spaces for staff, audience, and contestants The hallas narrow, but the ceiling was incredibly high up Did this use 3 or 4 stories' worth of space?

That would likely provide enough space for that giant transparent die or bug cage as well as the stepped spectator seating around it

On the e passed so bundles of thick cables

”That is the dressing room for Itou Helen the Witch”

The bunny girl let her glittering blue hair flutter behind her, dynaled her round butt back and forth, and pointed to one of the doors

She then swept her blue manicured hand in the opposite direction

”And that is the dressing room for Hanesaki Minori the Fairy”

It was right there And even if they were hastily built, they were like giant steel boxes

There was a lot I wanted to say and I wanted to get back at the me But…

…It was too blatant The defenseless proxiht outside the cage As long as it reduced the nuht Cross clearly did not care

”Don't even think about it, okay? Don't cause any trouble for us Can you promise Karen-chan that?”

The blue bunny girl drove the point home with her wicked eyes opened wide

When the Leanan Sídhe's second had been foolingthe answers, had it been this obvious to everyone but me?

”Okay, okay That's enough for now …Really, really don't cause any trouble, okay?”

I watched the blue bunny girl wink, blow h a staff hallway

Then I glanced over at Hanesaki Minori the Fairy's dressing room

I threw off the strange temptation and walked to another door: the one to Itou Helen the Witch's dressing room

I knocked on the unnecessarily thick metal door and heard a quiet voice from the other side

I could not tell what she said, so I turned the knob

”Ah, no, wait…”

I could not tell with the doorit, but a flustered voice reached me

It turned out Itou Helen had been changing She had reth cape of her witch's outfit, the black dress had the back unzipped, and her bright skin was visible Ohh, I don't see a bra strap, so does she generally not wear a bra with that thing?

No, that wasn't what I had to focus on

”Nn…”

My tiny underclass her hands to her chest, and groaning as if bearing with so ticklish

I could see so away from the skin below the unzipped back

…Was that her skin?

But she was not bleeding In fact, it was like re dead skin Brand-new soft skin was visible below it

What was that?

It was si sunburn, but it was somehow different

Was she…shedding her skin?

”Please wait… I-I'll be done soon”

Caught off guard by my presence, Itou Helen reached around to her back It was like she was unhooking a bra or scratching her back Red-colored nails (which did not suit her at all) dug into her soft skin and then peeled away the rest of the thin fillue

”I borrowed a snake's trait,” said the girl avy blonde hair and a witch hat decorated with a hawk feather ”I figured it would be bad to go into the next fight with the injuries I took from that mermaid…Kuroyama Hinoki-san So I wondered if there was so skin of a snake, it hasn't stopped peeling away for a while now…”

Did that ” herself all this time?

So she hadn't just been weakened like I had?

…Wow

I was honestly iined She could give herself the abilities of different plants and animals, she could transform her opponent into a beast to rob them of their freedom, and she could heal wounds in a short period of tiht just be on the same level as my vampire older sister or zombie little sister

I had been left hopelessly hile the Leanan Sídhe sucked awayher skin over and over to overco its skin was apparently used as a sy one's youth, so thisstolen from her

In that case, she could fight

I could barely stand, but she still had the strength to plant her feet firround

Why had I been prepared to give up all on my own like that?

Itou Helen ht look slender and frail, but she was an Archene the punishment like I was And thisthis around!

”…I…”

Then a quiet voice escaped my underclassman who still had the back of her black dress unzipped

No…

”I can't take it anymore… Why am I fine when you're not? It's like I really aainst that anymore…”

She bit her lip

She tried to hold so in

But this ”weakness” still roan

I got depressed on ot excited on my own All I could do was rejoice and worry, so I was in no place to criticize this tiny underclassman

But couldn't I at least support Itou Helen? That hat I had decided to focus on as her second

”Itou-san”

”Whatever the case, we don't have time This was entirely my mistake and I feel bad about it In all seriousness, you can use all your power as an Archenemy to punch me once this match is over”

I got down on one knee to put estion

”So focus on surviving thisthe next step And let's try everything we can to do that Will you ith me on that?”

She nodded again and again

Good Our bond hadn't been severed at least for the ti As the one who had iven a chance to make up for it

Now

What to do?

”I gave this a lot of thought” Itou Helen was the one to speak first ”Our enee I don't want to change that view So…”

”Yes, I agree But there's no way to stop the Colosseuht now So we have to stay on their rails until we've defeated the fairy nae that, on't have a chance to try anything else”

”B-but hoe do that…?”

”Well…”

My mind shook when she asked that

I placed a hand on the wall to just barely avoid collapsing and I took slow, deep breaths to remain conscious

The fairy was a Leanan Sídhe Even that fact was an answer they guidedthat infor

But I didn't care

Itou Helen had a way of recovering to an extent So that just e step forward as if placing s in motion

”There is a definite way of repelling a Leanan Sídhe If the person made to be her lover forces the Leanan Sídhe onto another person before they die, they'll be saved But I have e that I doubt she'll listen to us while worked up on a deadly battlefield Besides, you wouldn't want to have soht?”

My blonde underclassman nodded twice

That was apparently very important to her

”That means our options are limited”

”We just have to look at it in reverse The proble the rules of a Leanan Sídhe That creates a contradiction that we can't solve But we have the entire species of a witch to ith, so we don't even have to step into her ring What I mean is-…”

As I yirl spoke fro room wall

”Pin pon pon poooon! It's time Contestants and their seconds, please e Well, your options are to corown addicted to handcuffs and cages are standing by just in case Ah hah hah!!”

”So it's starting”

I slowly breathed out and glared at the speaker Then we faced the door Itou Helen zipped up her dress, put her cape back on, and held out her sainst it

We would survive

We would break through this somehow

We walked down the hallway and ignored the staff whoat us with looks of pure curiosity or irresponsible pity

The door to the Colosseue brass knobs

It re hall when my dad married my stepmom

With Itou Helen byon either side of the door seenal because they waited for the exact right moment and threw open the double doors

My senses were hit by a deluge of light and noise

”No! Tonight's one-of-a-kind entertainun! The ional econoe! The Colosseum has it all!!!!!!”

The fierce spotlights and large speakers were alh to crush my unsteady mind

I wobbled on my feet, but Itou Helen supported me from the side

How pathetic

But I wasn't trying to look cool

I didn't care how pathetic I looked I would do what I could I wasn't going to flee toward impossible ideals If I did, I wouldn't be able to save anyone When building a stone bridge over a canyon that would mean death to any who fell, you could not mix in some styrofoam blocks just because they looked nice

Once ht, the scene was so identical to the TV station that I felt déjà vu The transparent bug cage was surrounded by stepped spectator seats This was likely enough to gather a few thousand people to watch the deadly entertainment of the Colosseum

The blue bunny girl stood atop the giant bug cage with mic in hand as she made her usual lip service She would occasionally focus on her s opinions from the staff

”In this corner, we have Itou Helen the Witch who defeated the ned up for a second battle to follow that Noill she be able to double the 10 million she won, or will she lose and pay with her life!? We will find out tonight!!”

The spotlights moved away from us

The flood of light landed on the opposite corner of the die-like bug cage to illuirls who placed a hand above their eyes as if blocking out the sun

The blue bunny girl introduced them

”And in this corner, we have Hanesaki Minori the Fairy ill be challenging the witch! Hee hee Do any of the gentleirl's first time? Will she be able to win the base su about rasp victory and a stack of cash, and which one will receive divine punishment!? Let's find out!!”

I finally saw the Leanan Sídhe fairy

Hanesaki Minori

”…What is that?”

Her clothing looked like someone had cut out the important bits of a school uniform and then added a corset and a thin apron on top It was a stage costume much like a cultural festival café uniform made fro part

At first, I thought it was because I was seeing her through the reinforced glass bug cage with the powerful spotlights shi+ning on her froles Just like a pedestrian could vanish when crossing the street in the evening due to the headlights of a car in the opposite lane

But that was not it

Only one of the two girls was clearly ”thin” I could see through her I could only barely see her, just like sohost story

…Or as her target, e the only ones that could see her?

However, the spectators were excitedly focusing on her like normal So did she appear translucent to everyone?

”Maxwell What does she look like through the cameras?”

”Sure Hanesaki Minori is detectable in the visible light, infrared, and ultraviolet spectra The details are unclear, but a certain ah her”

It wasn't just people She looked the same to machines as well

Well, at least she didn't have the unilateral advantage of being invisible

The Leanan Sídhe was a glasses girl with 2 shoulder-length braids She seehbor forehead glasses Class Rep ould speak her irl, upperclassman, underclassman, or teacher And she did not at all look like someone with a lot of love affairs Her face ell-for around on a daily basis

…Perhaps it was the other people who approached her She irl who see you asked if you were insistent enough I could see how she would gather a lot of attention, even if it was not the good kind

And

The second girl and I glared at each other She had been wearing a varsity jacket and pants and giving us hints while disguised as Kuroyama Hinoki the mermaid

If asked whether I hated her or not, I would of course say I did

But I did learn so this seriously No, I hadn't been taking it seriously enough I had said I would try everything, but I had still drawn a definite line and refused to cross it I was no different from the people who expressed their sy Archenemies from a safe distance

So in a way, I respected her

She had taken this seriously enough to cross that line and get her hands dirty She had gone that far to save the Archenemy she cared for

But

Throwing out your norency was the sa the hunted If you threw out your ”huht Cross, then it was all over She was the one that had said some to the Leanan Sídhe's information

”Okay, okay Contestants and their seconds, please get in position There is no field effect like the flooding froround and draw out every last ounce of strength☆”

While holding the glass wand that looked like an overly coirl took a step toward the bug cage

”Senpai, I'll be going…”

”Yeah, I'll give you instructions over your earpiece If there's anything you want ate, just tell me Maxwell and I will handle it Remember: you aren't alone”

”Right”

Itou Helen gave me a thumb's up and shook the bottoe She stepped in through the entrance opened by a worker She grabbed the colorful potion bottles on a silver wagon and stuck them into her witch outfit

”By - the - way Itou Helen…or should I explain this to your second?”

”The ga over the defeated opponent's corpse, they will be decapitated to confiriven both the head and the body afterwards, so don't think too much about it, okay?”

Goddammit!!

I had known so, but it still felt like a blow to the chest

I grabbed h Itou Helen's earpiece

”We have to assu the condition will make it easier to come up with a way around it We just have to find a way that she'll survive even after having her head chopped off”

I kneas being ridiculous, but I just had to line up the conditions and find a way through their nonsense A Leanan Sídhe could only be seen by her lover Thatto get her through the beheading process

Whatever the case, we had to win

That I could not coleto my underclassman's death And I also had to keep in ht other Archenemies

”Don't worry I'll find some kind of ridiculous loophole that overco”

”Right I'll trust you, Senpai”

Meanwhile, the situation was still underway

Atop the giant bug cage, the blue bunny girl adjusted her grip on the thick mic with her pinky raised, swept her hair back with her other hand, and made a loud announcement

”Then let's get to it! Round 2 of the Colosseuh the air! Who in: the witch or the fairy? Tonight, ill find out!! Now ring the bell to begin the match!!!!!!”

A thick, deep buzzer rang like when a cell door opened in a prison

And it finally began

The horrific Colosseuan

Surprisingly, the first attack was made by Itou Helen, my small animal of an underclassman

Her cape fluttered behind her as she inserted several potion bottles into her glass wand Colorful liquid raced through the transparent tubes and gathered in the swollen flask portions Heating, cooling, distillation, and freezing Various chemical reactions were used to draw out a phenomenon beyond any of those chemical equations or physical laws

A spear of ice longer than my blonde underclassman was tall swept across that space In fact, 7 of them did With their mass and speed, a clean hit from any one of them could smash someone to pieces and they assaulted Hanesaki Minori from every direction

But the fairy in a school uniform modified into a bare shoulder waitress unifore

She ignored it And she walked forward That was enough for the 7 spears to pass right through her She had not used so superhuth

The attacks had sih her

The spears had continued on as if only air had stood in their way

”…That isn't enough to dae her!”

”Sure A Leanan Sídhe can only be seen by her lover and cannot be touched by nor but her target would pass through her”