Chapter 82: Breakdown

"Nope."

I turned Takeda Tetsuo down flatly.

"Honestly, I can't agree with your ideals at all. You might think I'm naïve, but the moment you give up on a few lives to save the supposedly greater number of lives, I think that's when you stop being a hero."

"Ideals are fine and all, but can you achieve them in reality? That's the real question here."

Takeda merely stared me down determinedly. I shrugged and glanced at the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher.

"But what's the point of sacrificing those ideals just to kill your enemy? If you sacrifice your ideals for a victory, that victory becomes meaningless. In the end, just what are you fighting for? And wouldn't you end up making more enemies as a result?"

"I'm well prepared for that."

Takeda smirked as he placed a hand on the gigantic missile launcher.

"And besides, once the world knows that we possess a weapon of apocalyptic power, there's no way any of them would dare to become our enemy."

"You're just becoming another tyrant like Kobayashi," I replied gloomily. "Which renders the whole point of resisting him meaningless. We can't hold the higher moral ground if we resort to the same sort of ruthless and brutal methods as him."

"What use is a higer moral ground if it can't save anybody?" Takeda countered.

"How can you be sure that nuking a city will be saving people?" I glared at him. "You haven't even considered the environmental impact or social impact that the existence of nukes will have on this world. Havia City will become a radioactive wasteland, unfit for people to live in for generations. It can't be rebuilt. The radiation will cause immense suffering to victims, as much as the torment Chaos will bring. What's the point of avoiding one horrific outcome if you're going to mete out a horrific measure of your own? Have you considered nuclear winter and other radioactive catastrophes that will result through the use of nukes?"

"…I have. And you're right. There's no way we can prevent those."

"Yet you still want to go ahead with it?"

"…we'll minimize the environmental damage by using only one nuke. And obviously we'll deny the residents of Restia access to such destructive weapons."

"Can you guarantee you'll be able to keep such an apocalyptic arsenal safe forever? That it'll always be beyond the reach of the people of Restia…of the survivors of Kobayashi's group forever? That it won't fall into the wrong hands?"

"I can't."

At least he was honest about that.

"Can you tell me if there's anything else Kobayashi is planning? Something else that will allow me to analyze the situation and evaluate your suggestion…"

I trailed off when an alternative possibility surfaced.

"Or do you not know what else he and his group have planned?"

"Of course I know." Takeda raised a hand flippantly. "It's just that I don't wish to tell you more about Kobayashi and his gang right now."

Uh huh. Sure.

"It means I don't need to tell you."

"At least you're being honest and frank with your replies," I acknowledged grudgingly. "But aren't you afraid that I'll reject your proposal?"

Takeda closed his eyes with a smirk.

"I hate telling lies," he declared. "Telling lies will only hurt others. Not just others, but also to onself. It creates delusions for the self, which are pretty worthless." He shrugged and then raised his head to gaze down on me arrogantly. "To put it simply, the strong do not need to lie. As I said it before, you'll follow my suggestion."

I snorted. "I already turned you down. And besides, you already knew I'll turn you down. Otherwise, why would you activate your ability the moment you opened the box and reveal the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher to me?"

I could see an eerily glowing purple skeletal claw extending from his hand.

It had been shrouding his left hand ever since earlier, from the moment he pressed his right hand to release the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher from its gigantic case. As confident as he was, he was already prepared for the worst outcome.

That was fine by me. I had already resolved to face Takeda Tetsuo head-on. If we couldn't reconcile our ideals, then we would clash.

It was inevitable.

"Again, I reject your suggestion, Takeda Tetsuo-kun."

"Oh?"

Takeda raised an eyebrow. I smiled and shrugged.

"You made an interesting statement earlier. Something about the strong not needing to lie. In the same vein, I'm suspecting you're of the ideal that the weak obeys the strong. In other words…if I prove that I'm stronger than you, you'll listen to me instead."

"Such confidence," Takeda mocked. "But remember, you've only been here for a month or so at most. I've been here much longer than you…at least six months more than you. Do you think you can defeat me?"

"Can't hurt to try."

Takeda burst out laughing, his head thrown back as he guffawed loudly.

"I like it! I really like your attitude, Tanaka-kun. You've earned my respect, if nothing else. It's just that…it's such a pity…"

"Like I said, we don't know unless we try."

"Hmm." Takeda closed his eyes and thought for a bit. "Still, I am curious as to why you would go so far for the people of Havia City. It's not just your ideals, is it? The thing you're determined to protect is Havia City itself."

"Maybe I'm just tired of you guys treating Restia like a game. Angry at how you seem to be treating the residents of Havia City as NPCs. They aren't NPCs, you know. They're real, living people, with their individual dreams, ambitions and wishes. They deserve as much a right to live as we do. They're not AI-run programs."

"It seems that you're mistaken about something." Takeda looked at me sorrowfully. "I don't consider the people of Restia NPCs. None of the Iron Knights do. We treat them the same as we would any normal person. Unlike Kobayashi and the others, we know that these are real, living people that we are dealing with."

"Then why…?"

"It's precisely because of that…that I have to make such a hard choice. To save the many, I must sacrifice the few. I've said it before, haven't I? That this concept is present, no matter what world we're in. even if this is Earth, and we're back in Tokyo, I would have made the same choice. Sacrificing a small town to save all of Japan – that's something only a hero can do."

"That's no hero," I snapped. "The moment you gave up on a few and wrote them off as sacrifices, you no longer have the right to call yourself a hero."

"How naïve. But are you sure you have the right to criticize us for that? Aren't you trying to save Havia because of personal reasons? Because you have close links and ties to the people living in there? That's why you're so hesitant to sacrifice them?"

It was my turn to shut my eyes. Images appeared in my mind. Hughes's encouraging smile. Alicia's adoring face. Alan's admiring expression. Sophia's calm disposition. Captain Dante Infernius's valiant figure and his closely knitted Knight Order. Miranda's cheerful welcome. Her father's warm food. Princess Merly's grateful demeanor.

And then all those vanishing in a catastrophic mushroom cloud that billowed menacingly across the ravaged remains of the city.

No, I couldn't let that happen. It didn't matter that I had only been in Restia for about a month or so. These people were still important to me. I couldn't let them die.

"I don't care if you call me selfish or short-sighted." I then shrugged and gestured to my glasses. "Well, I was short-sighted, that's why I'm wearing glasses anyway."

Takeda just stared at me. I cleared my throat and continued.

"Anyway, I won't let you destroy Havia City. Not on my watch."

"How?" Takeda sneered.

"By defeating you right now and destroying that intercontinental missile launcher."

Takeda burst out laughing at that.

"Do you really think you're capable of defeating me? Really? Do you think I'll just let you destroy the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher?"

He stood firmly between me and the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher, his eyes narrowed into a ferocious glare.

"If you won't help me, then I'll personally create the nuke myself and launch it at Havia City. But first, I need to Plunder your summoning ability."

His armor glowed purple and violet wisps of light burst out of his back.

SUA!

In a burst of light, the purple mana lengthened and stretched out into spider-shape appendages that folded and curled menacingly. They expanded high into the air, almost resembling skeletal wings and giving the impression that Takeda was some sort of demon or fallen angel with creepy wings. His right hand glowed and a bony blade protruded out of his fist, lengthening into a sword.

Rearing to his full height, Takeda glared at me, his visage now resembling that of a skeletal demon in full armor except the helmet.

"Let me take all of your abilities, especially your Summon ability."

I watched the skeletal appendages warily, suddenly realizing that I was mistaken. These weren't spider-legs, but multiple bony frames of a dragon's wing that acted like spider legs. Each of them were tipped with razor-sharp hooks.

"If those pierce through me, you'll Plunder my existence from this world."

"That's right," Takeda confirmed. The next instant, he unleashed all twelve of his skeletal appendages at me, their sharp, curved hooks seeking to tear into my flesh.

I dodged to the side, just barely managing to evade the first one. Jumping back, I skidded across the ground as I tried to regain my balance, only to watch in horror as the dozen or so skeletal limbs smashed a crater into the reinforced concrete.

Takeda yanked his skeletal appendages roughly out of the crater and slowly turned his head to stare at me, impressed.

"Your reflexes are quite good," he praised me. I snorted.

"Don't play dumb. Your attack earlier wasn't aimed toward me."

Takeda grinned when he realized that I had seen through his aim.

I backed away when I saw purple flames blaze across the crater that Takeda had just created with his attack earlier.

"Looks like some kind of light ability," I mused to myself, watching the ethereal fire carefully. Then my eyes widened.

A lavender pillar of light burst out of the crater and pierced the heavens, breaking apart the clouds above. I watched the gleaming pillar of light in awe, not sure what to make of it.

"It's nothing special," Takeda remarked with a grin.

The next thing I knew, the whole space was enclosed within a titanic skeletal cage that seemed constructed entirely out of bone.

"It's just to make sure you don't try to fly away from Cross Castle by summoning those winged dragons of yours."

In a flash, day turned into night, with the sun completely blocked by the colossal cage. Dark shadows swept across the rooftop, engulfing us in inky blackness. A crescent moon slowly peeked out from between the bone bars, its silvery rays bathing us.

The whole place just turned into night, I realized.

Shaking my head, I stared at Takeda defiantly.

"Preparing to finish me off with the next attack?"

Takeda grinned back, but his expression carried a tinge of bitterness and regret.

"Though I want to steal your existence as quickly as possible…it's a pity."

He made no move to attack me at all.

"The cooldown for my ability to steal existences is long."

The guy was actually revealing his hand. He must either be extremely confident, or an extremely idiotic dude.

"I just used it once. I have to wait 24 hours before I can use it again."

"Then you're planning to keep me here until the next day," I concluded grimly. Takeda sat down in a cross-legged manner and spread his hands to the side in resignation.

"Of couse, during which I won't let you escape. And you won't be able to defeat me either."

"If you're just going to sit there, I'll defeat you and find a way to break out of this cage very soon," I warned.

"Oh?" Takeda was thoroughly amused. "You don't even have your weapon, how do you think you can beat me?"

"Through brute force?"

Takeda chuckled as he remained sitting.

"The best you can do is to just wait until my ability is recharged."

Malevolent amounts of purple mana blasted out from Takeda as he displayed a show of force to impress and intimidate me.

"And let me take everything away from you."

"HA HA HA HA HA!"

I couldn't help but guffaw. There were so many problems with his proclamation that I couldn't help but laugh.

For one thing, the broken sword I had wasn't even my main weapon. All this time I had been using Tsukishima's staff. If Takeda thought he had disarmed me by taking away the sword that formerly belonged to Minamoto Kureha, he was very mistaken.

For another thing…

"Your ability to Plunder another person's existence has its limits. You can't just simply use it to steal my existence."

"Oh?" Takeda narrowed his eyes. "What makes you think so?"

"If you could just use it on anyone, why did you use it on Ooyama Eiji instead of Suzuki Shirou? Suzuki was the greater threat, and eliminating him would be more beneficial to you than eradicating Ooyama's existence. But no…you decide to choose Ooyama instead. Isn't it because you couldn't Plunder Suzuki's existence?"

I wasn't stupid enough to think that he was showing off to Suzuki and letting him off with a warning. After all, why bother warning Suzuki in the first place if he could simply eliminate him? Furthermore, Ooyama was just a small fry. There was no value in choosing him over Suzuki. Not unless Takeda couldn't use his ability on Suzuki.

"Suzuki still has his uses." Takeda replied with a smile. "He has more value to me by remaining in Restia."

I snorted. "Do you really expect me to believe that?"

Takeda shrugged. "You can choose not to believe me if you want." He then smiled ominously. "It's up to you if you want to risk your existence on the belief that I'm unable to steal your existence. In fact…" his grin widened. "You're more than welcome to try and wager on that belief."

Suddenly, I felt a cold premonition. Takeda was right. I wasn't stupid enough to try and bet everything on an uncomfirmed guess.

"Of course," Takeda continued confidently. "I am only interested in your special abilities – especially Summoning. What, it should be a good thing for you too, no? You'll be safely transported back to Earth, free of all the dangers you face here, free from Kobayashi's abuse forever. Don't worry, I'll take revenge on Kobayashi for you. You have my word."

"I don't need you to take revenge for me. I'll take revenge on Kobayashi, Yamada and the others with my very own hands," I replied stiffly.

"So be it."

Takeda lost his smile. Instead, he retrieved his smartphone from his armor and brought it to his ear.

"The Saint Sword is no longer of any use. Destroy it."

I roughly understood what was going on from that exchange.

Takeda is talking with Nagano-san. The Sacred Swordsmith doesn't just possess the ability to forge weapons – she also has the ability to destroy them.

"I'm sorry."

From the other side of the smartphone, Nagano's apologetic voice drifted out. She had a very rueful expression on her pretty face.

At that moment, she was standing alone in the forging room, staring at the table where she used to have tea with Lilith just a few minutes earlier. The table and two benches on either side of it had been neatly sliced in half.

Sighing as she swept her gaze over the destruction, Nagano's shoulders sagged.

"But I can't do that."

"I see…"

Takeda lowered his smartphone as realization dawned upon him. He raised his head to gaze at me intensely.

"You told that vampire queen not to send the sword to Nagano-san, right?"

I smiled, almost in a gloating manner.

"No…"

In my right hand, the newly reforged Saint Sword…no, Blood Dragon Sword materialized. Crimson mana swirled around the black blade, forming a terrifying, blood-red maelstrom that seemed to give the treasure weapon demonic life.

"The former Saint Sword has already been reforged into an entirely new weapon."

Behind me, the visage of a blood-red dragon soared and roared soundlessly as it gazed down contemptuously on Takeda's now relatively tiny figure…