CH 1.4

A tremendous torrent of energy rushed past the two of them, Yui and Serika. Even though it hadn’t reached them, the heat made their skin crawl. A flash of white light tinged their vision and the landscape flickered.

“…Haa!”

A raspy voice filtered from Serika’s throat. The two looked to their side with narrowed eyes.

…There, as if it had always been, was a wide wasteland of bare brown earth. There was no trace of the meadows or the trees that had been there only seconds before. The immense energy had uprooted all that.

“Aah, did I miss?” The one who said that playfully was one of the last bandits Yui and Serika were to defeat. Particles of light danced in his palm like sparks.

He removed the hood he wore and shrugged his shoulders. The man, whose hair color was somewhere between brown and black, was a boy the same age as Yui and Serika.

“Well, you’re pretty quick, aren’t you? If you had reacted a tenth of a second later, you would have been blown to bits.”

Serika felt a shiver run down her spine when he said that so brutally and nonchalantly. He was right. Serika approached at the last moment at high speed, but when she saw him raise his arm opposite to where his sword was, she felt it was a warning and backed away immediately. And as she lifted Yui in her arms, a fierce heat ray burst from the guy’s arm.

“You are…!”

She gritted her teeth and glared at him. He raised his sword to his shoulder and said to the girls with a generous smile.

“…I’m Ken, the strongest of the Heroes who reigns in this world.”

“…A Hero.”

In this world where the demon king had been defeated, those currently reigning were the strongest.

Moreover, they were the people who betrayed Marielle and could be called the source of all evil.

And although they were the enemies that Yui and Serika should defeat, they were too strong, for they had a power that could blow up a forest.

“Why are you here…!?”

“Hahaha, yeah! I wanted to see that face! Making stupid people who think they have the upper hand make that face is the best!”

When Ken saw the desperation on Yui’s and Serika’s faces, he let out a big, raucous laugh. The two managed to pull themselves together and stood up.

“I’ll tell you what, go back to your world. After all, you don’t belong here, do you?”

“This is our world now.” Without even listening to Serika’s words, Ken said without hesitation. “It was us, the Heroes, who saved this world that was originally destined to be destroyed by the Demon King. It’s as if we reused the trash that was about to be thrown away. So, what’s wrong with that?”

The two were puzzled by Ken, who was spouting his convenient interpretation.

“And that other world is not where I’m supposed to be. In that world I’m just an ordinary high school student who can be found anywhere. I have no identity, so to speak. …But in this world, I can do what I really want. I can live here for the rest of my life as Ken the Hero. This ‘Ken’ is the real me.”

“…The real you?”

Yui asked in a deadpan tone. Ken answered immediately.

“I’m a predator…”

“What?”

“Everyone is afraid of me, and because of that fear, they obey everything I say. The top of the food chain, the strongest. That’s a feeling you would never experience in our original world, right?”

His thoughts were not those of a Hero, his words were cruel and inhuman. …No, he was a Hero, but now he wasn’t. He was only a tyrant with the power of a Hero. A traitor who rebelled against the empire. An incarnation of evil, mired in greed. The word ‘Hero’ in this world had fallen into such a synonym.

“…I see, now I get it….”

“I’m glad you understand.”

“Yes, perfect.”

Serika made an ‘OK’ sign with one hand, and then… her gaze intensified.

“You’re crazy, you know that? Yui!”

After saying this, Serika disappeared from the scene. At the same time, Yui silently raised her two pistols and fired them in quick succession. The bullets she fired made a straight trajectory towards Ken’s legs, arms and other parts of his body. However, the bullets were aimed precisely at disparate places.

“Haa!”

Ken raised his voice and quickly drew his sword. As soon as several metallic noises were heard, the bullets Yui had fired fell to the ground in a burst of gunpowder. Each of them was cut in half.

“…!?”

“Take this!”

But Serika seized the opportunity to get behind him. With her lithe legs, she unleashed a high kick with great impact. She aimed for his temple. Ken was not yet in a defensive position, as he had blocked Yui’s attack.

…Serika’s kick smashed into his head. Even though it was a girl’s kick, it was inevitable that his brain would jolt with such a blow.

“What!?”

…Or that must have happened.

“What, did you do something?”

“…No… it can’t be…”

Ken turned his attention back to her, not moving an inch. He quickly headbutted the surprised Serika.

“Gu-Guah…!?”

“Serika!”

Yui fired to push Ken away. However, the bullets were cut off after a flash of sword, which he only wielded lightly.

“Wow, I can’t believe it. I had heard rumors that Princess Marielle had brought some strange allies, but… you’re quite a formidable force, aren’t you? Although the surprising thing is that you don’t use the princess’s powers. Who are you?”

“Uh, guh…! I’m just a high school student… Just like you…!”

Serika groaned and answered him. Ken exhaled mockingly.

Gosu!!!

“¿¡Kah, hah…!?”

He kicked Serika in the stomach. She rolled on the ground and cringed on the spot, writhing in extreme pain. It was no wonder. Her body strength was no different from that of normal high school girls.

“He, so it hurts. So, you really are high school girls, aren’t you? …Then you and I are different. When we became Heroes, we were given not only the abilities of Heroes, but also a strong body that couldn’t be hurt by ordinary things. In addition to that, we also have this kind of thing…”

Ken swung his sword from side to side. What was produced was a vacuum blade that compressed the atmosphere, like a kamaitachi[1]. Serika bit her lips and endured the pain in her abdomen, and moved instantly, holding Yui by the waist.

…But it was still a little late. The slash exploded on the ground at her feet, creating an impact as if an explosion had occurred.

“Kyaah!”

“Kuuh…!”

The explosion caused Yui and Serika to fall to the ground. Ken stared at them and spoke unhurriedly.

“I have also mastered the Hero’s sword skills. This is also the power Princess Marielle has given us.”

“What about that princess, didn’t she give them too good a service…?”

“…I guess that’s how much they were afraid of the Demon King…?”

“Now, I’m going to engrave my name on you too! You’ll tremble with fear just hearing it…”

Ken took a big leap and approached the two girls. Serika jumped up, pushing Yui as fast as she could. With her sword, Serika deflected the swung sword towards them. However, Ken unleashed a series of slashes in a figure eight, a breathless onslaught. As if to cut off her path of retreat, Serika could only move fast enough to avoid the slashes headed her way.

“W-Wait… kuh!”

“…!”

Yui, who was pushed back by Serika, regained her position and readied her pistol. The muzzle of the gun, which was aimed at Ken in profile, burst into a fierce fire. But Ken evaded the shot by throwing his head back, and swung his sword at Yui in a wide arc. But the sword was faster than Yui had imagined. The end of the blade shallowly sliced her upper left arm.

“Aah…!”

Writhing from the intense pain, Yui dropped her guns. Once again, the strength of their bodies was no different from that of mere humans. If they were cut, it would hurt and their lives would be in danger. …Yui, in particular, had sharper senses than most humans. If her body was injured while fighting with her senses at their peak, the pain received would be twice as intense, and even a slight cut would make her sweat from the intense pain. It was not something a high school girl without any training could easily endure.

“Now…!”

Serika didn’t want to miss the opportunity, so she took off ahead of him at high speed. She instantly moved to Ken’s left side. Then she aimed at his hand, which was clutching his sword. She was about to close the distance between her and him at once, but that’s when…

“…!?”

She realized and paled.

…Something like particles of light was converging in his hands.

Serika backed away at high speed. She held Yui, who was unable to move due to the pain, as if she was being kidnapped… at that moment.

Goooooooooo!

A huge beam of light, a destructive beam, shot out from Ken’s palm and shot past Serika and Yui.

“Kyaaah!”

A tremendous mass of energy struck with a blast, sending the girls flying. The destructive beam burned everything in its path, turning what was left of the forest into another empty clearing.

“Hehe… hahaha! No matter how hard I look at it, it still has tremendous strength! It picks up light and releases it like lightning! Have you seen my strongest ability? This was the one that blew the Demon King’s horns!

Serika clicked her tongue as she set Yui down on the ground. The place where Yui and Serika had been until a moment ago had been transformed into a miserable scene without a single blade of grass. If they had taken even a little longer to escape, they would have been annihilated without leaving a single speck of dust… The faces of both of them distorted just imagining what could have happened to them.

“There’s no way we can win against something like that…!”

The two of them, who had so far won by a landslide against the thugs from before, had been completely outclassed. Even if you simply thought about it, the number of cards in their hands was too different. In contrast to the girls who excelled in a single skill, such as shooting or moving at high speed, what the Hero had was a sturdy body, skillful swordplay, and….

“…Cheats.”

Yui muttered resentfully.

…Cheat skills. The strongest power that could easily distort the balance of power in this world, given to the heroes by Marielle to defeat the Demon King. In the first place, there was no way they could take on such a ridiculous thing.

“Come on, this is ‘hunting’. Talk about the best part of hunting…”

Ken pointed his right hand at the girls, then pointed his fingertips at Serika’s legs.

…A thin beam of heat shot out from his fingertip and shot through Serika’s calf.

“Hi… aaahhhh!”

“Serika!”

The heat ray made a hole in her calf that seemed to have been made as if with a cone, causing blood to pour out of it. Serika screamed, feeling a mixture of heat and pain. Ken let out a squeal of pleasure.

“That’s it, that’s it! The best part of the hunt is the moment when the prey lets out a scream! If I had just stood watching from the side, I wouldn’t have been able to hear you scream.”

It was a very deep wound, deep enough to keep her from moving for quite a while. Yui could only look around. …Meanwhile, Ken approached Serika.

“Wait, no, what are you…?!”

“I’ve had enough of the women of this place… In my previous world, I never found uniforms so arousing…!”

“Serika…!”

Yui gritted her teeth and raised her gun, but Ken pointed his palm at her. Yui was frightened. …Because that palm shot out a beam of light that erased everything.

“Stay where you are. Can’t you see I’m in the middle of a good time? And your bullets won’t hurt me anyway.”

“Kuh…!”

“It would be a shame to make you take it all away. I’ll let you keep at least half of it.”

Ken began to roll up the hem of Serika’s shirt. Her thin white skin, the small dimple in her abdomen that was her navel were exposed. Serika’s voice contained hatred and reluctance.

“No, you are… a criminal!”

“Haha! A criminal? Don’t be silly. A criminal is one who breaks the law. …And in this world, we are the law.”

Ken was taking off Serika’s clothes with a feverish expression on his face. Serika, who was supposed to have superhuman strength, had lost her will to fight and her eyes were contracted with fear. There were even tears at the corners of her eyes. When her underwear was finally exposed, she let out an inarticulate, helpless cry.

“No, stop…!”

…At that moment…

“Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeey…!!”

As the roar shook the air, Ken was punched.

“Gah…?!”

A fist slammed into Ken’s cheek, sending him flying sideways for nearly a hundred meters. The impact erupted in a furious whirlwind, causing Yui and Serika’s bangs and clothes to shake violently.

“Kyaah!”

“W-wha-what’s wrong…!?”

As Yui and Serika asked and covered themselves from the explosion that hit their cheeks…

“…It’s about time, isn’t it?”

A cheerful and optimistic voice reached their ears.

Yui and Serika’s eyes widened.

What they saw in their vision, instead of Ken, was…

“I’m the last one to arrive.”

It was the back of a black-haired boy with a denim jacket flapping in the wind.

[1] The kamaitachi; it is a Youkai from Japanese folklore with a mustelid-like appearance and extraordinary speed.