Vol-13 Ch 5 – Another Yuuya

My mind was not able to process the situation in front of me.

Because what was standing in front of me now was definitely "me."

It was also the "me" before the level up…

For a moment, I thought it was a dream or some kind of misunderstanding, but then Kuro inside me shouted in surprise.

"Hey, hey, what's this situation? You look different, but… I can see it. It's you. No, why is there another you? …Why do you look different?"

Kuro also did not seem to understand the situation and was puzzled.

When we were at such a loss for words, the "me" in front of me opened his mouth.

"…I don't know why you look like that, but you are… me, right?"

"I-if you say it like that, it's me! Why is there another me?"

But the "me" in front of me does not answer my question.

And then──.

"──Sorry."

"Wha-!?"

The next moment, I thought he had disappeared instantly, and then he suddenly slipped into my bosom, and then he thrust his hand out like he was going to pierce my heart.

And when I looked closely, I saw a purple aura on his hand!

"That's spiritual power!"

The power the "me" was using had to be spiritual power.

Certainly, I am now able to use spiritual power, but unlike the "me" in front of me, I didn't even know that spiritual power existed before I leveled up, so if the person in front of me was the "me" before the level up, there was no way he could use spiritual power.

I was surprised, and in contrast, he was also looking at me with wide eyes.

"Y-you didn't use your spiritual power, yet you were able to avoid me!"

Indeed, I'm not using my powers right now… but if he knows who I am now, he must also know that my physical abilities have improved as I leveled up in the other world.

But from the looks of it, he doesn't seem to know that.

What in the world is this "me" in front of me…?

"W-wait a minute! Who in the world are you…! Why are you attacking me?"

"!"

However, he did not seem to be willing to discuss the matter and resumed his attack.

He spread out his hands, and countless purple spheres floated between them.

"Spiritual Ball!"

"Kuh!"

The attack was none other than the technique Kuuya-san used against monsters in the underworld.

But I don't know how to use this technique.

In other words, he is more skilled than I am in the handling of spiritual power.

The masses of spiritual power poured toward me like machine guns, but I kept dodging them by activating my "Magic Armor" and "Holy King Authority."

"What's with that power…? As I thought, you'll be the biggest obstacle to me!"

"O-obstacle…!"

Seeing my power, he widened his eyes, but he soon increased the number of his attacks.

Not only did he increase his spiritual power, but he also used a lot of other spiritual power techniques.

"Spiritual Chain!"

"Wha-!?"

A purple chain suddenly erupted from under my feet and wrapped around my arms and legs, pinning me tightly in place.

I tried to escape, but it didn't budge.

"It's no use. It is a chain made of spiritual power. No ordinary force can break it."

In other words, this chain is like a kind of sorcery and cannot be destroyed without using spiritual power…

If so, then…!

"Haaaaaaah!"

"What? You can also use spiritual power?"

The "me" in front of me was amazed that I was able to destroy the chain by using my spiritual power, probably because I had been fighting with powers other than spiritual power until now.

And then he charged straight at me.

"For now, I'll just suppress you and let us talk…!"

"If that's the case! The Gate of the Underworld!"

I closed the distance in a split second, but he gathered up the spiritual power in his hands and clapped his hands together.

Then, the shockwave of the spiritual power spread out at once with the sound and attacked me.

I couldn't help but move away from him, but that was not the end of his attack.

When he spread his hands again, a deep vortex of darkness appeared in between them.

And when he slammed the vortex to the ground, a dreadful, rusty gate appeared from the ground, emanating a terrifying atmosphere.

When the gate quietly opened, a large number of demons flooded out from within!

"Wha-!?"

"I… I have to rule this world…!"

"What?"

I was surprised by his unexpected words, but the demons that emerged from the gate attacked me without regard.

"…I'm finding it more and more necessary to listen to what you have to say."

I took out my [Omni-Sword] and held it quietly.

"What in the world is that weapon… and… where did you just take it out from…?"

He was surprised, but I used the Holy King Authority, the Holy Evil Creation, Magic Armor, and my spiritual power to my fullest and slayed the demons one after the other.

…The reason I refrained from using divine authority was because I didn't know what kind of techniques he still had hidden, so I decided to save it as a trump card.

Utilizing all of my other powers, I approached the gate and…

"Haaaaah!"

"W-what?"

I smashed the gate with a single slash.

The slashed gate crumbled away like sand and disappeared.

When the gate disappeared, no more demons appeared.

"Now we can talk."

I told him this with caution, but he didn't seem to have given up yet.

"Not yet… I'm not going to give up!"

He exclaimed and put his hand on his chest.

Then──.

"───Spirit Binding, released!"

"Wha-!?"

Suddenly, a strange aura rose from his body.

The shimmering aura appeared to be white at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it seemed to be a prism shimmering with various lights.

And I recognized that aura.

"That power is… Mystical power?"

Yes, it was the power that Zenovis-san and Archer-san, who had no spiritual power, used when they fought against monsters in the underworld.

Above all, that power is…

"Wait, as I recall, mystical power can only be used by the dead…!"

"──That's right. I'm already dead."

"!"

I was absolutely stunned by his words.

D-dead? Then, who the hell is the one in front of me now…?

Then, he, who had remained silent until then, began to speak quietly.

"…I came from a so-called parallel world… that is different from this world…"

"A parallel world?"

"Yes. There I was living peacefully without any problems until… they came."

His voice was filled with anger, sadness, and frustration.

"He appeared one day out of the blue, ruling and destroying one world after another, with the goal of dominating every dimension. And then our world was spotted by him and… destroyed."

"No way…"

"But he resurrected me and gave me one condition. That condition was to take control of another world where the other me existed and give it to him… If I could do that, he said, he would restore my world to the way it was…!"

Does the guy who destroyed his world have the power to bring dead people back to life or resurrect the world he destroyed? Who in the world is he…?

He turned a determined gaze toward me, despite my surprise.

"Therefore, I am here! Even if the people of this world hate me! I will fight to get back the people I care about in my world!"

He said that he came into this world in order to get back the people he cared about.

But…

"Sure… for you, this world may be nothing more than a place to resurrect your world. But… for me, it's a world that's more important than anything else. So…"

I once again held up the [Omni-Sword] and thrust it at him.

"I will not give up this world."

"…I know that. I'm the enemy of this world… That's why I'm going to take back my world…"

"I will protect this world…"

""I will defeat you!""

And at the same time, we collide.

Despite using all of my power except for my divine authority, he could match me in physical ability, and on top of that, he was using more and more techniques that I had never seen before.

But it was the same for him.

"Hah!"

"Kuh! Even though I'm strengthening it with my spiritual and mystical power…! Spiritual-Mystical Break!"

At that moment, he gathered spiritual power in his right hand and mystical power in his left hand, mixed them together, and released a mass of pure energy toward me.

I managed to dodge the attack, but taking advantage of the opportunity, he activated another sorcery.

"Absolute Binding!"

"Ugh!"

It was the same chain that he had used earlier, and I thought I had dodged it just in time, but my foot was caught in the chain.

Moreover, unlike before, the chain was kneaded with not only spiritual but also mystical power, making it even sturdier and unable to be broken by my spiritual power alone.

He was so much better than me when it came to handling spiritual power.

"If I had only a moment's chance, I could…!"

Then, he unleashed a mass of spiritual and mystical power once again.

In the midst of all this, I calmly looked at it and readied my sword.

Compared to the first time Zenovis-san trained me, my sword skills had improved far more.

That's why…

"Haaaaaaaaaaah!"

I slashed through the Spiritual-Mystical Break and destroyed the restraint at the same time.

As it was, I used Master Usagi's skill, "Three Divine Steps," to close the distance and slipped into his chest.

"Oh no!"

"Ohhhhhhhh!"

I put all my strength into it and slammed my fist into his stomach.

He seemed to quickly strengthen his abdomen with his spiritual and mystical powers, but he was unable to withstand my full force and was blown away.

"Ugh… N-no way…"

"…It's my win."

When I thrust my sword at him and declared that, he bit his lip in frustration and fell to the ground.

"Hey!"

"Hah… hah… After all, just like that time… I remained weak… and couldn't do anything about it…"

I couldn't say anything as I looked at him, who sadly told me so.

"…I knew. I was wrong… and there was no way I could control the people living in this world and offer them up to him… I was doing the same thing as he was… I knew it."

"….."

"Still… I wanted to reclaim my world once again…"

He was desperately trying to hold back his tears.

I guess he was also living a peaceful life like me until this "him" appeared.

Unlike me, he is skilled in the handling of spiritual power and may have been able to use spiritual power from birth.

It is even possible that he was born in a parallel world full of sorcery users, just like Kuuya-san.

He staggered to his feet and bowed his head to me.

"…I'm sorry I got you involved in my selfishness."

"…More importantly, what are you going to do now?"

It seemed that he had been resurrected by someone else, and the reason for this was that someone wanted him to rule this world.

But he was defeated by me, and he was unable to fulfill that condition.

"…I think you know this, but if I fail, I will be erased again. My life is only in his hands. This life will soon be over."

"….."

This was the moment when I was searching for the words to say to him.

"──You will not be alone, though."

"!?"

"W-why are you here…?"

Without any sound or sign, a man suddenly appeared in front of us.

The man was dressed in a suit and a plain mask, and above all, he was completely unrecognizable.

That's why I couldn't take any position.

"Goodbye."

The man's piercing hand was thrust out toward me, who was defenseless.

Just when that hand was about to touch me──.

"Ggh!"

The other me protected me… and was pierced in the chest by that man.

The man looked at him for a moment, and his eyes widened.

"You're stubborn, aren't you…?"

"Get away from heeereeee!"

"Oops."

I immediately drew my [Omni-Sword] and slashed at the man, but he lightly avoided the attack.

"Well, well, well… you have a rather troublesome weapon…"

The man then stares at the weapon in my hand and turns away.

"I've confirmed its existence, at any rate. I think it's time for me to leave."

"Wait!"

In order not to let him escape, I activated my trump card, the divine authority, and closed the distance between me and the man in an instant, but…

"──The next target is this world."

The man told me that much and vanished at a speed faster than the divine authority, again without any sound or sign of his presence.

I approached the other me in a hurry, keeping a wary eye on the surroundings.

"H-hey! Hang in there! R-right, I have the "Complete Recovery Grass' Juice"…!"

I took out the juice and tried to give it to him, but he stopped me with a trembling hand.

"I…I can't be saved anymore…"

"Why the hell did you say that?"

"I-I'm… already dead… That's why…"

As he said, his body was already dead, and when I looked closely, I saw that there was no blood flowing.

And also, his body was gradually beginning to disappear as particles.

I was stunned, but he turned a powerful gaze on me.

"H-hear me out. That thing is… our enemy. Next time, he'll come after… this world… But… don't let him… do what he wants again. "

He laughed softly.

"Don't worry… I'm stronger than you… I'll protect everyone──"

After saying this at the end, his body had all turned into particles and wrapped around my body, and then rose up into the sky and disappeared.