Chapter 89

(author: This is unacceptable.)

(I caught a cold that lasted way too long.)

In fan works, stories that depict an original protagonist going up against the original work’s protagonist aren’t unusual.

Especially in ones where the theme includes an antithesis toward the original work’s protagonist’s party, there are many works where the original protagonist's end goal is "to defeat or surpass the original work’s protagonist."

In fact, this development is thematically very interesting.

Whether it’s early on or toward the endgame, through SEKKYOU to the original work’s inexperienced protagonist, the amazingness of the original protagonist can be portrayed, distinguishing them from the other characters, and in the end, you can portray the power-upped original work’s protagonist, who is more mature than them in the original work, having received the original protagonist’s SEKKYOU, in a natural flow. Bringing out some small changes not only in the story but also to the original work’s protagonist is the true charm of fanfiction.

If this kind of portrayal is well depicted, the development of the original protagonist vs original work’s protagonist can become a major event that drives the story forward in a very satisfying way.

Of course, that makes it an extremely difficult subject to handle.

You see, the original protagonist’s opponent is the original work’s protagonist──the character who symbolizes the original work, so they’re also popular with the readers who came to read that fanfiction. Inevitably, that places them in a position where they’re more prone to having misinterpretations than anyone else.

For that reason, readers end up guessing the direction of the story based on how the original protagonist is handled, and if that handling isn’t satisfying, in the worst-case scenario, the impression section becomes a storm of criticism.

This phenomenon was pretty common especially in crossover fanfiction, where the power balance for each character was troublesome.

That’s why any development where the original protagonist fights the original work’s protagonist needs to be done with extra caution.

────Because of all that, while I might be superficially calm right just after challenging him to a duel, I’m actually kind of freaking out inside.

If it goes well, then this would be a hyper original protagonist chance to be able to ultimately do an original protagonist thing, but these kinds of high-risk, high-return gambles aren’t really my style.

Of course, an original protagonist always puts their life on the line. Since I was the one who brought this up, I’m not going to back down here. Everything has to go smoothly. After all, I’m a cheat original protagonist.

I mean, I’ve been thinking about “the scenario where the strongest original protagonist I came up with fights the original work’s protagonist” since my previous life. The original protagonists of yesterday and today have completely different proficiencies!

『Eight… So you’ve been troubled too…』

? Y-yeah… Don’t look at me with that serious face, Charon-sama.

It’s fine, it’s fine, I’ve mostly grasped the situation. I prepared plenty by watching the anime with Daat.

Basically, it’s fine if I break open En’s shell in just the right way, right? Adding a little spice to the original work’s protagonist is a specialty of an original protagonist. Now then, let’s get the real show started.

『…Is my trial no good?』

It’s no good.

I saw a glimpse in the anime too, but Charon-sama, the trials you give are a bit too clumsy, or rather, too spartan… Suddenly dropping someone into a place with an enemy he absolutely can’t win against──probably from some world line where the Abyss totally won or something──without any explanation… No matter how you put it, that’s just too cruel to En-kun.

The concept of awakening someone by driving them into a crisis is actually very shounen manga-like and not bad in itself, but asking him to display his real ability in that situation is just unreasonable.

To use fanfiction as an example, it’s like a scene you wanted to write was pushed ahead so much, it ended up overwhelmingly lacking in explanations and everything else. I remember that too.

That’s why, Charon-sama. In these cases, consideration in properly motivating the other person is important. It’s a feeling of sympathy from their point of view.

『Sympathy, huh…』

Yeah, exactly. For example, you say something like, “You can’t leave here unless you fight me.”

“...!”

As I said that, Akatsuki En stared at my face with a look of disorientation.

Him not being able to leave here forever is an actual problem, and that should be troubling for him. He must want to get out of here right away and go to Mea-chan and the others.

There’s no need to forcefully skip steps and reveal the deepest parts of the situation. First, I need to start with the immediate problem and show him a simple-to-understand obstacle.

And that obstacle was me, standing in his way.

Well? You have no choice but to fight, original work’s protagonist!

“…Do we really have to fight?”

…

…Hm? He’s not as into it as I thought. Well, En’s a kind guy, so I guess that’s the reaction he should have.

It hasn’t been that long, but the two of us have traveled together up until now. The wariness he had at the start has weakened, and maybe a feeling of fellowship has begun to sprout.

He might look unsociable, but he’s actually a deeply compassionate man. Even when he’s told “Let’s fight,” he’s not the type to immediately respond.

…Honestly, I’m a little happy about his attitude.

So I unexpectedly built a relationship with him where fighting me makes him perplexed. Man, sorry for being so popular. Sorry for being too much of an original protagonist.

But this is the original protagonist’s duel event, and more than anything, it’s something necessary for your own growth. You understand, don’t you?

So, my resolution was at its highest, and while tightening my cheeks that were about come apart from joy, I softly extended my index finger.

And then fired a Death Beam!

The vaguely dark bullet I shot from my finger zipped past his ear and disappeared into the distance. A so-called warning shot. The key point was barely miss him.

…I’m glad. I didn’t carelessly hit him.

“──!”

“Listen… The one in front of you is the evil Supernatural Ability Phantom Thief who steals people’s supernatural abilities, the sinful archangel who brought chaos into your world, okay? If you can’t fight a villain like that, what’s the point of being a Saver? Stop acting like such a spoiled child.”

“…You…”

Was it fine doing it like that…? Yeah, that was good. Yay, I’m so cool. My villain moves are really starting to fit me. Go me!

Still, finding the right balance for SEKKYOU is trickier than I thought. This is the kind of scene where I have to intimidate as a strong character, but if I overuse really strong words, I’ll look weak, so it’s difficult.

To start a fire under someone in a stylish way, I need to choose my lines carefully.

But with a good-natured guy like him, unless I flash force and moderately throw some strong words at him, I doubt he’ll get serious. Just this once, there was no other way.

──Which means, right now, I’m Demon Eight-chan. Not as unsparing as Charon-sama, but I’m going to be relentless.

The activation of Fairy Burst.

From stillness to movement, he activated it with a natural flow, like water, making it look as though he had perfect control over the power. Compared to when he started, he’s clearly gotten remarkably proficient at it.

──But that’s exactly the problem! …Or so Daat said.

The complete True Fairy Burst──we know he’ll never reach it if he stays like he is now.

…And that’s probably my fault.

So I’ll take responsibility. I’ll take responsibility and make him complete.

“If you’re a savior, then show us your true potential!”

To keep up my strong-character impression stylishly, I spread my ten wings wide while imposingly throwing out my chest.

Setting the excessively revealing outfit aside, having my own wings really is nice… Even someone as slender as me can emit a sense of intimidation by unfolding my wings like a peacock.

Rile up the protagonist and draw out their full power.

Doing both at once is an original protagonist’s opportunity to show their abilities. If I fail, it’s going to cause a massive flame online, but I’ll push on nevertheless.

Because our very existence is proof that we’re the perfect cheat original protagonist… Isn’t that right? Daat.

──Eight is serious.

En could tell from her eyes that she wasn’t joking when she said, “If you want to go back to the real world, you’ll have to fight me.” He could see it from the strength of the determination in those eyes.

Thus, the battle between Akatsuki En and T.P. Eight Olishua began.

Spreading the wings built with blue flames, En soared high above the flower field where he had been standing just moments ago, clashing repeatedly who knows how many times with the ten-winged girl, a heated aerial battle unfolding.

But the sword of flames he swung had yet to reach her body even once.

Facing this dual-wielding combat style she was revealing for the first time, every slash En launched one after another was dodged. Her swordplay fit into none of the existing styles, and it gave him the impression like he was grasping at clouds*. (tl note: japanese idiom. Means hazy/difficult to understand)

“What’s wrong? Your skill with the blade should be much better than mine. In that case, you should be taking the initiative!”

“Ghh…!”

Although he had received instruction in various martial arts from his teacher Mitsui Akihiro, most of En’s swordsmanship was his own style, tempered in actual combat.

It seemed she held his sword of flames in rather high regard.

…Certainly, judging from the feeling of their swords meeting, he didn’t think he was losing in pure swordsmanship skills.

However, the more he tried to engage her in close combat, the more a mysterious chill ran down his spine.

Was some instinctive part of him sounding an alarm about her immeasurable strength? If so, then what a pathetic coward he was, he felt disgust toward himself.

And she did not overlook that half-hearted stance.

Against En’s hit-and-run tactics of locking swords and breaking away, Eight generated countless dark spheres around herself then scattered them indiscriminately like Gatling gun bullets.

In contrast to him, her attacks were constantly aggressive.

Confronted with the vast storm of dark bullets, En couldn’t close the distance on his own volition and was forced entirely to be on the defensive.

Unable to bear it, he devoted himself to evasion, and Eight appraised him cool-headedly.

“If you can’t close in directly, you watch for an opening in the barrage until you can… A calm, judgment. Against human supernatural ability users, that’s probably the established tactics. After all, any supernatural ability user will eventually run out of gas if they keep using their power at this rate. But too bad for you, we’re not the sensible opponents you’re imagining!”

“...!?”

Eight dove straight into the storm of her own dark barrage, blending in with the barrage and rushing toward En.

Without even giving him the time to blink, she closed in, kicking his shoulder as they passed and sent him flying.

Looking down at En’s falling figure with a fiery gaze, the girl with the hem of her jet-black dress fluttering shouted,

“Even so… if it’s you, I’m sure you can do it! The power you built up to protect the world you love, the people you love can overcome anything, no matter how unreasonable it is!”

Her words, speaking as if she already knew, seemed to be encouraging En, who was showing such a pathetic struggle.

And looking up at her, En thought──he didn’t want her to look at him like that.

That feeling, strangely enough, stirred the fighting spirit within him. Perhaps even more than not wanting to lose this battle, he didn’t want to disappoint her.

“…I told you before. Now I’ll show you that right now!”

I want you to acknowledge us──he remembered the words he had once thrown at her.

Back when they had just arrived in Fairy World, he never imagined her true identity would be someone so great, but he had vaguely guessed that she was on the side of the holy beasts, and that she was trying to ascertain humanity.

To her, at that time, En had said these words,

“It’s true there are worthless people in the human world, but… I’ll make you understand that it’s not that there are only people like that.”

──Through nothing but our actions.

Surely, now was that moment.

Resolving himself to fight her with everything he had, En changed the look in his eyes and released the light of the blue flames cloaking his body even more strongly.

The sight was like a blue sun floating in the sky, but the dark attacks Eight unleashed had power even greater than that, suppressing his flames.

“…So this is the power of a primordial archangel…!”

The darkness swallowed the blue-flame attacks En unleashed head-on, like a solar eclipse.

Indeed, she wasn’t a sensible opponent. Even when drawing out all of his Fairy Burst, the base potential of a human and an archangel were just too different.

And she was Primordial Archangel Daat, the origin of supernatural abilities. The powers that En and the other supernatural ability users possessed were, in the end, no more than a fragment of the power she had granted them.

Yes… from the start, it was never a match.

Just like that “gigantic darkness” he had seen in that ruined world──

“I…!”

Confronted yet again by the absolute difference in power, En became aware that his heart was beginning to creak under the strain.

He had no intention of giving up. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t think of any way to overcome the absolute gap in power before him.

Yet, T.P. Eight Olishua declared,

“No! Your Fairy Burst is still nowhere near its true potential!”

Casually repelling En’s slash as he leapt at her with his sword of blue flames in hand, Eight shouted.

It was as if, as the origin of supernatural abilities, as a senior… she was pointing out the flaws in how he used his power, instructing him.

──As she overwhelmed him with her own hands, she spoke with sadness-filled eyes,

“Once, there was fear in your heart. You used this mighty power with the will to control it… with the will that you mustn’t be swallowed by it.”

“…”

Those were Akatsuki En’s feelings the first time he had activated Fairy Burst.

In the battle against PSYence, he had confronted his father’s avengee*. (tl note: idk. Japanese means “Someone one wishes to get revenge on”)

In that moment, his heart was stained with intense hatred and rage, and he almost feel into a state of losing control.

But he never crossed that final line. Because he was afraid that by becoming like that, someone else would get hurt.

──When his heart was about to be dominated by intense hatred, the image that arose in his mind was the sorrowful face of Akari Mitsui.

That’s right… it was because there were people who supported someone like me.

“At that time, you overcame that fear. With that noble spirit that wishes to protect someone no matter when or under what circumstances, you were able to control the power of the Burst State.”

“…And what’s wrong with that!?”

The brilliance of the blue flames surrounding En became just a little stronger.

Because he had remembered once more how this power had come into being.

With his speed and power increased, he followed very closely behind the ten-winged Eight’s movements and once again locked his sword against her blade of darkness.

But in the next moment, her figure as she jumped in blurred right before his eyes, and a heavy impact shot through the back of his head.

He was kicked. The instant he thought they were in a hand guard fight*, she wrapped around him at a speed En couldn’t catch up with, swinging her leg upward. (tl note: locking swords and pushing against each other)

As he revamped his posture, he hastily turned around and readied his sword again. Looking down at him, Eight wore a sorrowful expression once again.

“You… are carrying too much. You try to do everything all by yourself, and that’s why you can’t see what’s around you.”

“What are you talking about…?”

“You’re just like Tsubasa was back then. Because you can’t forgive yourself, you can’t become one with your own power.”

“…!”

Supernatural abilities change their strength depending on the state of one’s heart──based on his experience up to now, En believed he understood that well.

He should’ve faced his own ability with that understanding.

But from her point of view, that was a distorted way of facing it.

That’s right. I…

“Accept the power that’s inside you. Don’t try to roughly make it yield to you… you don’t have to work so hard all on your own, En.”

In the truest sense, he still hadn’t accepted his own power.

Because he had the position of being a member of the Savers, and his emotional strength was thoughtlessly strong, the brake of reason within him strongly kicked in when he was one step away.

As if she saw straight through his heart, Eight spoke,

──Don’t suppress your power to control it, accept it as it is.

But if he did that, he would end up indiscriminately releasing his power like Chouta or Mea once had.

The ghastly incidents caused by the rampaging power of supernatural abilities──the Burst State──were things he had witnessed many times, and En was afraid of falling into that state.

To him, Eight spoke as if gently persuading him,

“Reconcile with your own power within yourself. When you accept all of that power and become one with it in the truest sense… you will become stronger than anyone else. Stronger than me or Keter.”

The clear, green gaze which she declared that with seemed to see something certain in the human named Akatsuki En. It was like she understood him even more deeply than he understood himself.

It was a way of speaking as if she could see the future.

Though if it were her, it wouldn’t be strange if she could see the future… given her strength and unfathomable nature, En thought.

──And before his eyes, she showed him.

“Watch closely, En! This is one of the possibilities of the future you must imagine!”

With determined eyes, T.P. Eight Olishua spread her ten wings wide and ascended in one go, and in an instant, she pierced through the clouds, her figure overlapping with the dazzling light of the sun.

Then, in the next moment, a tremendous mass of darkness tinged with purple lightning shrouded and covered her, as if weaving a gigantic cocoon.

──And then, it burst open.

“!… Guaaaaaaah!?”

Struck by the blast of the large explosion fired off the the cocoon of darkness like a Big Bang, En’s body was blown away

Even so, clenching his teeth so as not to simply crash, he adjusted his posture and turned his gaze back to her.

As the cocoon of darkness burst splendidly burst open, a single girl appeared from within.

What was there was a figure that possessed both darkness──and light──one who stood in a domain beyond that of an archangel.

“…Eight… is that you…?”

There could be no being that is more suited to the word “descent”.

Her great divinity unconsciously captivated him.

High above him, the girl──T.P. Eight Olishua──clad in sacred garments with white as the basic theme, nodded in response to the words En muttered in a daze as she slowly flapped her twelve wings.

Six of the wings on one side were jet-black, and the six on the other side were pure white. Apart from her clothing, the most conspicuous change in her transformation was the twelve wings split in color… In addition to that, above her head now floated an elegant, circular, rainbow-colored halo.

“Yes… this is my, T.P. Eight Olishua’s, full power. ‘Heart’ and ‘Power’… the two overlapping together is my, our Fairy Burst!”

The power she revealed before En was far too distant to be seen as an example──he felt it was a realm that humans can never step into.

…But still, he had no choice but to do it.

He had driven her to go this far.

There was no longer any path of retreat from this trial… and now, facing her full power, En swore to surpass his own limits.

(author: Next episode will be a certain world line episode.)

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