The Raven Dark Hero 71

Chapter 71 : A Gentle Hand

TL:SummerPeanut

Fuuka, Yellow, and Hiro's all-out attack had actually brought Bright within a hair's breadth to his defeat.

(That was a close one... a few more seconds like that and I would have frozen to death!)

However he didn’t show a hint of his real feeling. He bluffed.

“…Now, do you still have what it takes to fight? Protagonists.”

In fact, he had taken quite a bit of damage himself, and since the moment he killed Yellow, the tension that he had been feeling earlier had calmed down, his physical strength had dropped to the lowest, and he was already disarmed from his equipment thanks to his Lonsdaleite usage.

Even so, Bright asked in a relaxed manner.

“Kuh……Not yet, I can do this… BUHOH!”

Hiro tried to stand up with all his strength but he ended up throwing up blood due to the excessive use of his abilities.

“Can’t do it, huh. That was close... But I didn't expect you to awaken.”

The awakened Hiro would undoubtedly become a threat to him in the future. Bright felt that way and wondered if he should put the finishing touches on Hiro here, but…

(Hmm? Dammit… Lonsdaleite won’t activate!?)

Bright had already reached his limit.

Fuuka...was sitting on the ground with her head down.

(If that lass can still move, it’ll be bad but with her looking like that, I think I’ll be fine.)

“What's up? Lass. If you thought you'd beaten me with an attack like that, you're a damned fool.”

He tried to provoke her by using the word ‘fool’ which the Major General had always hated, but she just sat slumped there, powerless.

(Phew~. Did my bluffing work?)

“Good work, Bright. Anyway, you're amazing, aren't you? Well, as for me, I was more surprised by how that guy(Hiro) changed compared to you.”

“Hmm? Ah! Oh, you’re here Taka--Evil!”

“I just knew it. You hadn’t noticed me at all... So does that mean you're calmed down now?”

“...well, the tension's certainly calmed down.”

“……Is that so…. All right, then, let's get this over with.”

Hiro was already at his limit.

Yellow was killed by Bright.

White was stunned by Yellow's death.

And…Fuuka was sitting down powerlessly as if she had lost her confidence.

“…HAHAHA, you can still do this… didn’t you say something like that?”

Even as he said it, Hiro was already unable to even stand up.

“Anyway... what the hell is going on with that guy? Did he just awakened?”

“Yeah... He has completely become like a main character.”

Bright's resentment and anger towards Hiro had disappeared. When he thinks about the world they live in today, he can't help but think that the problems they had during their childhood and also as students were insignificant. One of the reasons was that he had already stopped caring, but more importantly, Hiro now showed signs that he would definitely be a threat to him as long as he had a little more time.

...that there were some parts where he felt envious of.

“Now then...let’s put an end to them~. Will you kill them?”

“………”

This was a battle with their lives at stake. Both Hiro and Fuuka would be stronger in the future. The future threats should be reaped now and dealt with. Bright understood that reasoning.

Just a moment ago, the joy of fighting had taken over Bright's body. It was linked to his desire to kill, and he felt more elated than ever.

What made him feel that way was the presence of two strong foes(rivals), Hiro and Fuuka, who were currently kneeling in front of him. They were defeated by him. Normally, it would be natural for him to take their lives right here. But…

At that moment, Evil shot an Evil Laser that pierced the listless White's chest...

“Wha…”

Evil gave Bright, who was surprised by the sudden attack, a stern look.

“The last time I saw you, you were relentless and uncompromising, but it seems you've gone back to being a spoiled brat. How long are you going to be that naive? The world you're in now is not a world where you can live with such naive thinking.”

“Evil…”

“We are the evil in this world, no matter how hard we try. No matter how many good things we do, people won't accept us. That's because we're filths. No matter how much you long to be a hero, no matter how much you act like one, no one will ever think of you as one!

If that's the case, then we have no choice but to follow through our beliefs and create a world where we can be called heroes! Isn't that why you joined Kuroyume!? How many times do you have to die before you understand that!?”

Bright was overwhelmed by Evil's tone of voice, which was unimaginably strong compared to his usual tone.

“You've already killed over a hundred soldiers of the NDF! But that's okay! Because the NDFs are our enemies, right? They're the ones that are itching to kill you first. You may be satisfied with your fights, but that doesn't change the fact that they were trying their best to kill you! If that's the case, it's only normal for you to kill them too, right? Isn't that common courtesy? Don't keep on being so fucking naive!!”

Evil’s words were something that Bright understood very well. In fact, there is a part of him that doesn't mind killing others when the Revived Hunter is activated or even just now when he was in the heat of battle with a powerful enemy. That's why he wanted to avoid killing needlessly at least when he was still sane.

“...you don’t want to do it, huh. You are disqualified as my partner. I'll kill those two(Hiro and Fuuka) so bite your thumb and watch me here or something.”

“...wait a minute. I get it, alright? Originally those guys were my enemies. It's true, we both fought with the intention to kill each other. Even if I were killed, I can't complain.”

As he said this, he wondered if that was really the case. Or so he thought. Was he fighting with the intention to kill his opponent? Was he just letting the tension get the better of him and purely enjoying the battle against strong foes?

He looked at the female major general, who was sitting there drooping low. The helmet was cracked, exposing the eyes… That caused Bright to freeze as if he had seen something impossible but yet somehow familiar.

“......Oi, Evil. That female lieutenant general…... ‘Who is she’?”

It was at this point that Evil realized that he had been fighting without knowing that she was Fuuka. He had mistakenly thought that Bright had already known that the female major general was Fuuka and was determined to fight her.

(You're kidding, right? Sure, you couldn't see her real face through the smoke glass but you'd normally recognize her voice and body shape, right? Especially if she was your girlfriend!)

Even considering his high tension previously, he assumed that Bright had found out the female major general was Fuuka and yet still able to fight like he had just done. So he believed that if he gave him a little pep talk, Bright would completely break up with the past. Hence he gave him a sermon, which was something he was not used to.

(Oops~… did I mess up? If that's the case, does that mean he was able to fight like a demon because he didn’t know she was Fuuka? ...as expected, he is still naive… That's why I didn't want him to know…)

This was a complete mistake on Evil's part. He misjudged the difference between himself, someone who already knew Fuuka's true identity and was working against her, and the clueless Kouki. If that was the case, he would not have urged Bright to finish the job here and now.

For some reason, Evil swallowed his words and became silent, and even the dense Bright...Kouki realized the female major general’s identity now.

Fuuka smiled for him when he was at his rock bottom. He doesn't know why, but she took a liking to him. Kouki also held favorable feelings towards such her.

Slowly... he approached the major general.

The bento that Fuuka made for him was really delicious. There were times when he imagined a future with her. He couldn't give her the gift he had bought. In the end, he couldn't even tell her how he felt about her. When Suou Kouki died, his biggest regret was Fuuka.

He came up to the still kneeling Fuuka. Fuuka's body and mind had been pushed to the corner by Bright.... She might have gone insane like when Hiro had just entered this room.

At this point, Kouki noticed an unthinkable object visible through the gap in the destroyed protector on Fuuka's chest. It was the necklace with the wind motif that he was going to give to Fuuka to confess his love to her that day.

“Fuuka…?”

The voice was not that of Bright. It was the barely audible murmur of Suou Kouki, asking questions in a calm, youthful voice of a high school boy without any strange modification.

And that brought back Fuuka's shattered spirit. For her, too, it was the voice of the person she had lost... the person she had loved and thought she would never hear again.

“Kouki...kun?”

With a gentle, unbroken hand, Kouki removed the helmet from the female major general who had attacked him mercilessly earlier. Fuuka, too, did not resist.

And that face was...

It was definitely Mizutani Fuuka...

Author’s Note:

Next time, his revive will get triggered!?

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