Chapter 84: Lord versus Lord

The skeletal wings sprouting from Takeda's back flared ominously, shrouded by blinding purple mana.

"I'll adjust the properties of these bones of mine…"

Spreading his hands on either side of him, Takeda proclaimed.

The skeletal appendages reared over him and pointed toward me like spears.

"They don't do any damage."

With a swing of his arms, he unleashed a fearsome barrage of bone spikes from his wings, botting out the dark skies with a hail of bones.

"But if you get pierced by them, you'll be robbed of your ability to move."

I narrowed my eyes as I watched the incoming bombardment of bones. Using Absolute Appraisal, I calculated the trajectory of each and every skeletal projectile.

As they homed in and closed on me, I made my move. Blood appendages burst out of the ground and intercepted them, and at the same time I moved under the cover of my bood barrier, dodging the individual bones that easly pierced through the blood appendages.

While I evaded, I noted how the bones easily pierced my Blood Ghouls and caused them to implode, returning to formless droplets of fluid.

Sliding across the sea of blood, while using my blood appendages to deflect further attacks, I raised my head and smirked.

"You were testing to see if your attacks could destroy my Blood Ghouls, right?"

Even as the bony spikes protruded from the ground, with the red sea lapping at the bottom, the Blood Ghouls regenerated and reformed, the blood taking human shapes once again and solidifying. Worse, they crawled and scrambled over the bony spikes and began to devour them, using them as nutrients to strengthen their fluid constitutions.

Takeda watched the gruesome scene grimly.

"Looks like they possess unimaginable regenerative power. There's no way to destroy them completely, and even if I do obliterate them, they will keep coming back…as long as you have that sea of blood."

While I widened the distance between myself and the fearsome lord of the Iron Knights, Takeda smiled, impressed.

"But you aren't too bad yourself, Tanaka-kun. When you evaded my attack, you were also scouting the region near the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher to see if there are any traps."

His smile widened and he spread his arms in a seemingly harmless manner. Behind him, the bony spikes trembled, even as the reforming Blood Ghouls surrounded them, otherwise unharmed. It seemed their presence hadn't set off any traps, even when combined with the onslaught from the bony spines.

"You should know by now…there is no such thing."

I shrugged in response. "Always good to make sure." Straightening myself, I fixed my eyes on the intercontinental ballistic missile laucher. "I guess that means I can charge right in then."

"You're welcome to try," Takeda mocked me. "But do you have the ability to destroy my laucher? Even if you have the powers of the vampire queen of Haemorage…vampires are known more for their regenerative ability than any destructive powers."

With a raise of my hand, I commanded my Blood Ghouls to march forward.

"You're really underestimating vampires if you think regeneration is all we're capable of."

Red mana swirled and raged around the black demonic sword in my right hand. Gathering it to the point of my sword, I aimed the accumulating orb of red and black mana at Takeda. A maelstrom of dark, chaotic energy whipped around my blade, almost turning into a tornado.

"Oh…it seems that it isn't just my blood magic that's enhanced by my Blood Dragon Sword. Even my other dark spells too…"

Such as Doombolt. While I casted the spell and accumulated more of the dark mana, I was shocked by how the current Doombolt was on a completely different level from before. Getting Nishida to reforge Minamoto's sword had been an excellent choice indeed.

"And one more thing…it seems you've forgotten that like you, I'm someone who has been summoned from another world and is on the same level as you heroes."

I aimed the incredibly enhanced Doombolt at Takeda.

"That is true."

Takeda closed his eyes and admitted grudgingly.

"But it isn't your blood magic and vampire skills…it's your other techniques that I'm worried about. The special abilities that you were granted when you were first summoned to this world along with us. Your original, unique ability."

I grinned. "And what ability do you think I originally have?"

"I wonder. At first I thought it might be that Summon ability. But now that I think about it, that ability formerly belonged to Kijima Takeshi, didn't it? You must have taken it from him somehow. Then your unique ability must be something else…something similar to mine that allows you to steal abilities from other heroes."

"I'm afraid you might be mistaken on that."

I chuckled.

My original, unique ability was far too mundane and not as glamorous as Takeda's Plunder or the Devour ability I gained after defeating the cockatrice.

No, it was Adamantium Will. The same Adamantium Will that allowed me to resist Yonebashi's Demonic Fear. While it wasn't a very flashy ability, it was a vital one that contributed largely to allowing me to resist the Iron Knights.

"The truth is often very…boring."

I took another step toward Takeda. He frowned when he saw a blood-red mist shroud around me, and the next thing he knew…

He disappeared?!

I was no longer in front of him.

So fast!

Takeda was astonished by my speed. Even without looking, he could tell that I was making a beeline for the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher, blasting past him without even bothering to attack him.

He summoned a dragon bone dagger that glowed purple around his hand. Spinning around, he slashed with the dragon bone dagger at the spot he estimated I was at.

I can only force myself to sense his location…

Blood spurted into the air as he slashed a Blood Ghoul apart, only to blink in confusion.

I was still standing several meters away, with my arms folded, laughing at him.

"What, you think I'm Lu Shu Yin or Riku Suigin or something? Nah. Of course not. I don't have incredible speed like him. No, no. I'm fighting this battle my way."

Takeda's jaw dropped when he saw the horde of Blood Ghouls surrounding him. He narrowed his eyes and slashed a bloody swathe through the horde, turning them into fine red mist that rained down on his black, purplish armor.

"This is…"

"A diversion."

The moment he smashed a hole through my Blood Ghouls, he exposed himself to the tip of my sword, where I had been gathering a lot of mana for.

Doombolt!

I unleashed the enhanced Doombolt, which slammed into Takeda and exploded. Black flames soared high into the air as they ravaged the rooftop, burning ominously in the night sky. Lowering my sword, I glared at the epicenter.

"Still not good enough, huh…"

Takeda emerged from the flames, totally unscathed. Cinders and sparks danced away from his gleaming armor, which didn't even smolder despite the vicious explosion earlier. With a wave of his hand, Takeda caused the raging mana from the unleashed Doombolt to dissipate.

"Ho…that was powerful. If your opponent was someone other than me, you would have finished him off with that strike."

I felt a bead of perspiration roll down my face.

"That's quite the formidable armor you have."

"Indeed. As you know, Nagano-san forged it for me. And she's quite the excellent swordsmith."

I scratched my cheek as I glanced at the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher. Maybe I should have aimed my Doombolt at that damned thing instead. But it was meaningless to just destroy it. Takeda and Nagano could always just build another.

No, to enforce my will over them, I had to subjugate them through force and defeat them in an actual battle.

Dashing forward, I summoned a bunch of blood appendages from the sea of blood and directed them at Takeda, who wasn't able to dodge because of his cumbersome armor. Relying on sheer, brute strength, I smashed him to the ground with my blood appendages.

"…kuh…!"

Takeda grunted as he found himself pressurized under the bulk of my blood appendages. Clenching his gauntleted fist, he changed the shape of his gauntlet into a purple, skeletal blade and sliced through the blood appendages.

It didn't matter. By then I had reshaped the remaining appendages into a battering ram and slammed the iron-hard weapon into Takeda, throwing him into the air.

"Not bad…"

Takeda dropped back onto the ground, having flipped his body in midair to land on his feet. The tremendous weight of his armor left a crater, and he slowly stood up. The skeletal wings spreading from the back of his armor flared up again.

I dashed at him and slashed him with my sword, but he caught my blade with his gauntlet. The skeletal wings bent and whipped toward me, seeking to pierce me, but blood appendages burst out from the sea of blood that covered the rooftop and deflected them away. Clenching them into a single, thick club-like appendage, I smacked Takeda away.

"Heh, I see…"

Takeda skidded away, still on his feet, and chuckled. I frowned, not sure why he was still feeling so confident.

"!"

I instinctively jumped away, only for several bony spines to lash down at me. Doing my best to evade, I threw up my blood appendages to knock away. Several of them got through my defenses, only for my Redwood jacket to resist them.

"Oh, I forgot all about that. You have quite the troublesome equipment, don't you?"

Takeda studied me…or rather, my Redwood jacket curiously.

"That grants you impenetrable defense. Twelve barriers, which constantly regenerate whenever they're broken. Add that to your innate Regeneration, you're practically immortal."

I shrugged sardonically. "That's a good thing, or I would have died when Kobayashi and his goons tried to murder me long ago."

"Yes, indeed. It's impossible to kill you." Takeda smiled. "But fortunately, the goal isn't to kill you."

"?!"

Several dragon bones burst out of the ground. I was a little slow to react, having mistakenly believed that I held the advantage over the ground now that I had carpeted it in a sea of blood. The bones tore my Blood Ghouls apart instantly, returning them to the red sea.

It didn't matter. I could just regenerate my Blood Ghouls again…

"…!"

Too late. I had underestimated the bones. While I was too focused on regenerating my Blood Ghouls, the bones had slammed into me. I frowned and tried to cut through them – after all, despite their sharpness, they weren't able to penetrate the twelve layers of defense that Redwood jacket provided.

But as Takeda said earlier, his goal wasn't to kill me. Or even to hurt me.

"Whoa!"

The bones wrapped themselves around my limbs, immobilizing me and locking my movements. I struggled, but the flexible bones curled and coiled around me like a serpent, restricting my moves and preventing me from escaping.

"This is…!"

Normally the bones would have crushed and suffocated me, but my Redwood jacket had prevented that, the barriers resisting the tremendous pressure. However, even if I had impenetrable defense, I didn't possess worldbreaking strength. I wasn't able to break free out of the skeletal grasp, no matter how much I struggled.

"Finally caught you."

I glared at Takeda's triumphant expression and defiantly attacked. The Blood Ghouls lunged at him, but with a single swing of his arm, he obliterated all of them, turning them into red mists of droplets that hung in the air, suspended for a brief period before returning to the sea.

"Go ahead, regenerate them." Takeda smiled. "We can keep at this forever."

I closed my eyes and concentrated.

"Hmm? Have you finally given up?"

I replied by creating a gigantic blood lance from the sea of blood and directing it at his smug face. However, Takeda's reflexes were equal to it. He blocked the colossal lance with his right hand, deflecting it away from his face.

"Kuh!"

Even so, I was satisfied to hear him grunt in surprise. The lance wasn't just any lance. Even as the titanic blood lance shattered in the collision, the Blood Dragon Sword within was revealed. With a silent roar, the demonic weapon bit into Takeda's armored arm before exploding in a black and red blast of mana.

"Ugh!"

Takeda staggered, winded from the blow. His once-pristine armor was finally smoldering, having suffered damage from my last-ditch attack. The tremendous impact had shattered his right gauntlet, exposing his hand. Waving it, he shook his head.

"I don't believe it. You actually managed to destroy my gauntlet…the armor that Nagano-san forged for me."

Takeda watched the fallen Blood Dragon Sword warily, the demonic weapon having pierced the ground and just standing there emanating bloodlust.

"That Nishida…I can't believe he was capable of creating a weapon of such immense power."

"You know what the problem is?"

I shook my head, amused. Takeda turned to stare at me with a frown, but he didn't seem worried. After all, I was still locked up and immobilized by his skeletal restraints. At this point, anything I said sounded like the barking of a sore loser.

"You guys always underestimate your opponents. Me, Nishida, Lilith-san…you think you're stronger than us, and that we're all dancing in the palm of your hand."

Takeda smiled wryly.

"But it's true, isn't it?"

"I wonder. Do you really think everything will go according to your plan?"

"Ah, but it already has. You've been defeated. Now all I need to do is wait for my ability to recharge and I can Plunder your abilities."

Takeda glanced around at the sea of blood, looking impressed.

"The way you use your Summon ability has surpassed my imagination. It's a waste to strip you of it, but I'm afraid I will your ability."

"You talk as if you've already won."

"Haven't I?"

Takeda smirked and drew closer, gloating.

"You're trapped here, captured and helpless. There's nothing you can do except wait for me to Plunder your ability."

"Like you're capable of taking my existence."

I chuckled softly. Takeda frowned, but thought that I was bluffing. He sighed and patted my shoulder sympathetically.

"I'm sorry. If it makes it any better, I promise I'll take revenge for you. I'll kill Kobayashi for you."

BITE.

"!"

Takeda quickly withdrew his arm, but it was too late. A trail of blood dripped from his wrist, falling and mingling with the sea of blood he was standing on.

"You…you bit me!"

"Yes, yes. I'm the type to bite the hand that feeds me. Except the only thing you feed me is a bunch of absolute BS."

I glanced up and smiled, Takeda's blood trailing from my mouth. Licking my lips, I savored the taste before swallowing it.

"…you…!"

"I feel better."

With a surge of strength, I smashed free of the skeletal restraints. Empowered by Takeda's blood, I temporarily increased my physical strength and shattered the bones. Falling out of the cage, I rolled on the ground and snatched up my sword right at the same time Takeda threw his glowing skeletal dagger at me. The bones had glowed around his hand, purple mana coalescing over his formerly bare hand and turning into a formidable weapon.

They shattered in an instant.

"Gah!"

Takeda staggered back, his right arm bleeding profusely from the cut I dealt him with my Blood Dragon Sword.

"You cut me!"

"My bad?"

Smiling, I slashed at Takeda again, but he caught my blade with his left gauntlet. With a roar, he summoned his skeletal wings and lanced them at me. I withdrew quickly as the bones thudded into the ground, leaving huge holes in the concrete and large spashes of blood that soared high into the air like geysers.

"I've to revise my opinion of you."

Takeda's armor glowed purple as he reformed his skeletal wings and wrapped them around his body to reinforce his armor. Now, he looked like some sort of monstrous hulk with oversized, bony limbs and claws.

"I'm sorry for not taking you seriously before."

"No…"

I rested my sword against my shoulder and beckoned him with my left hand.

"I should apologize for holding back too."

The monstrous Takeda advanced toward me. His right arm was now encased by bony armor, which ended in a massive white blade that glowed as he suffused it with purple mana.

I pushed my glasses up my nose and lowered my sword to point it at him.

"Tanaka-kun, here I come."

Takeda dropped to a crouch, his claws and blade scratching the ground and causing huge ripples in the sea of blood. The next moment he sprang forward, clearing the vast distance between us in a single bound.

I dodged it.

"Too slow."

I had already anticipated his movements and calculated his trajectory and estimated time of arrival with Absolute Appraisal. I was being fed dozens of information through the lenses of my glasses, so much so that my vision was almost overwhelmed and obscured by data instead of focusing on the figure of my foe.

Takeda swung his bone-sword. I parried the first strike, and then dodged the second, which left a massive crater in the ground. Flipping myself high above Takeda, I countered with a slash, but my sword barely bit into the bone-armor that now encased his body.

At the same time, I conjured a huge blood appendage from the sea of blood and attempted to puncture that hard shell with brute force, but to no avail.

My attacks can't go through…his armor is too hard. And that's just the skeletal dragon armor, never mind his actual armor that Nagano-san forged for him.

"Tanaka!"

Bellowing Takeda spun around and slashed at me with his bone-sword, forcing me to dodge again.

I spun around and slashed his bone-sword with all my might. Black mana gushed into the blade of my Blood Dragon Sword and I unleashed a Shadow Lunar Fang at close range.

BOOM!

How's that?

Jumping away from the black explosion, I watched, satisfied, as a huge chunk of the bone-sword flew off from Takeda's now-exposed hand. But Takeda merely smirked, even as his silhouette remained partially hidden in the black smoke.

The left hand, which was a mass of bony claws, lashed out from the smog and slammed into me. Fortunately, the tips failed to puncture the twelve layers of defense that my Redwood jacket provided, but the tremendous force alone was enough to lift me off my feet and sent me hurtling across the air.

"Too shallow, huh?"

Winded, I flipped myself in midair and landed on my knees and hands. But Takeda didn't give me any time to recover. His gigantic claws slammed into me again just when I was catching my breath.

"Gah!"

I was hurled across the rooftop and sent crashing into the edge of the castle. The concrete shattered and buried me in rubble and dust, causing me to cough.

Slowly rising to my feet, I wiped the blood from my mouth. Even with the Redwood jacket, the impact had done some minor damage. Taking a deep breath, I raised my Blood Dragon Sword again. At the same time, four gigantic blood appendages rose from the sea of blood.

"Bloody hell…"

I shook my head before pointing all my weapons at Takeda.

"I guess in the end, it doesn't matter if we're Kobayashi, Suzuki, the Iron Knights, you, or me."

I cracked my neck and tilted my head, laughing at my own hypocrisy.

"We all resort to violence, don't we? I may play the victim, but in the end I'm dong the exact same thing as you all. Using violence. Killing the people who tried to kill me. I'm as much as a bully as everyone else."

But at least I was admitting that I was a hypocrite. There was no higher moral ground here. I was doing whatever I wanted, same as Kobayashi and the others. Same as Takeda.

Fuck morals. Fuck the moral high ground. Fuck playing the victim.

The winner was the one who had any right. So if I wanted to enforce my decision, I had to beat Takeshi and prove that my strength was superior.

"Now it's my turn."

The blood appendages responded to my will. Just as Takeda lunged at me, I smacked him away with the four blood appendages, the conjured "weapons" behaving exactly as my own limbs would. Takeda staggered, but managed to right his balance.

"Those things are annoying," he muttered darkly.

"…"

I could say the same thing about him, but I was too busily analyzing his combat capabilities.

His armor is impenetrable. He hits hard too. His physical strength is superior. It seems that he has the overwhelming advantage in close combat.

If that was the case, then…

How do I break his armor?

One way was to imbue my Blood Dragon Sword with Corrupting Darkness and slowly chip away at his armor. But that would take too long, and his armor probably had a high resistance to such spells.

If that was the case…

Right when Takeda charged at me again, I conjured dozens of blood appendages from the sea of blood and slammed them against him.

I'll just have to overpower him with sheer numbers!

This time it was Takeda's turn to be driven back. The dozens of blood appendages that emerged from the sea continued to whack him, mercilessly knocking him away and slapping him down. Even if they weren't able to break through his armor, the sheer numbers alone were overwhelming him and sending shockwaves through his internal organs.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!

I continued battering him with everything I had, forcing Takeda to the edge. Taking one step at a time, I drove Takeda to a corner, hammering him over and over and over again. The leader of the Iron Knights had withdrawn into his shell, relying on his armor to absorb the blows, but the skeletal dragon shell was slowly crumbling under the relentless onslaught.

"Guh…!"

Takeda realized what a pinch he was in, and he threw out a claw to slash me, only for me to dodge it. Almost dancing to the side, I gripped my Blood Dragon Sword with both hands and swung it down in a vertical manner.

"Gaaah!"

Takeda flinched as his claw was severed from his hand, the bony appendage flying high into the air before landing helplessly on a pool of blood several meters away.

Gritting his teeth, he swung his right hand at me, purple mana swirling around it in a destructive manner. Spinning around, I evaded it by a hair's breadth, and then countered with a kick to his solar plexus.

Even with his solid armor, the blow alone was enough to send him stumbling backward. Before he could right himself, I slashed him with my Blood Dragon Sword.

Chink!

The blade bit deeply into his metallic breastplate, but didn't penetrate any more than that. Perspiration dripping down his face, Takeda smirked.

"You're really good, Tanaka, but like you, I've a formidable defense. You're not going to be able to defeat me…"

"Shadow Lunar Fang."

I blasted Takeda with one of my most powerful offensive spells at pointblank range – one that was incredibly enhanced by the improved and reforged Blood Dragon Sword.

A few seconds, Takeda emerged from the smoke, blood dripping from his head and his armor smoldering from the blow. Destructive black mana crackled and jumped about his fuming armor, and the leader of the Iron Knights fell to his knees.

It was time to finish this. Just as I swung my sword to behead him – or at least to place my blade against his neck and forced him to surrender – he smirked.

"Heh."

"!"

I found that I couldn't move. Pink chains had emerged from nowhere and wrapped them around my right arm.

It wasn't just my sword arm. Another roll of pink chains had coiled around my left leg, stopping me from moving.

Turning around calmly, I saw that the pink chains were coming from amidst the row of skeletal spikes that Takeda had launched at me earlier. A single hand stretched out of a portal that appeared from the spines, holding onto the chains that now restrained me.

"Caught you!"

I recognized that voice from anywhere. It belonged to Gendou Issei.

And he wasn't alone.

Emerging from a portal that shimmered around the skeletal dragon spines, the Eight Guardians of the Iron Knights arrived on the rooftop to confront me.