Chapter 85: The Eight Guardians

I stared at the pink chains that restrained my right hand and left leg, bemused. Sighing, I tilted my head sheepishly.

"Whoops…seems like I got caught…didn't think I would actually get chained down. What's next, a chain attack?"

Takeda Tetsuo merely snorted as he crouched over and began to sit down.

"In terms of combat, I am better at killing someone off."

"You say that, but you've failed to kill me."

"That much is true," Takeda admitted as he sat down in a relaxed manner, crossing his legs. "But I can't kill you right now. And I never aimed to kill you to begin with – you're more useful to me alive, and I'm only planning to send you back to Earth. But before I can Plunder your existence, I'll need to capture you. That's why they're better suited against you…"

I followed his gaze and glanced back at Gendou Issei, who was wielding those pink chains that now restrained me.

"The eight Guardians are better at capturing an opponent than I am."

It wasn't just Gendou. All the Eight Guardians of the Iron Knights had arrived, and were assembling in front of me. Evidently, they had all emerged from a portal that shimmered in one of the gigantic bony spines that Takeda fired at me earlier.

"Whoa! Boss, it was really a smart move to coordinate with Kozue-chan earlier to send everyone in!"

Pushing her ruby-lensed sunglasses down, Yonebashi Kyoko sounded impressed. Beside her, Hoshizaki Kozue had a more serious demeanor.

"It seems like we failed to convince Tanaka-kun."

"It appears we must fight." Sanada Hiroyuki held up his ice bell. In an instance, the entire sea of blood across the rooftop froze, nullifying my Blood Ghouls and blood magic. Holy fuck…what the hell did Sanada just use? That was one hell of a powerful spell! Gulping, I glanced at him, but he calmly continued, "It isn't bad, I did want to see how strong Tanaka-kun is."

"In terms of fighting, I'll leave it to you guys."

Domon Daisuke backed away and leaned against an outcrop of bone. Opening a single eye, he sighed wearily.

"Tanaka-kun was my savior…I feel indebted to him. I owe him a great deal, so I honestly don't think I have what it takes to fight him."

"That's fine. As long as we don't let him near the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher…" Aoyama Aoi made that proclamation as he drew his dual scythes. "We don't have to hurt him. Takeda-kun will send him home shortly after we restrain him."

"It won't be that easy," Shidou Makoto warned as he folded his arms, in deep thought. "His Summons won't be that easy to deal with."

"Don't worry…I'll just restrict the number of summons he can use." Nagano Nanaka glanced at the frozen sea of blood. "It seems that he has been conjuring Blood Ghouls from this sea of Blood. So I might as well…"

She raised a hand, conjuring a golden cube.

"Barrier…"

At the same time, Gendou gripped his chains tightly, immobilizing me the moment I sought to evade.

"I won't let you run away!"

"Run away? Why would I run away?"

I smiled and raised my hand. At the same time the golden cube flew toward me to imprison me inside Nagano's impenetrable barrier, I casted a spell of my own.

"Thousand Astral Graves!"

A thousand and eight gravestones burst out of the ground, surrounding me in what looked like a defensive formation.

"It's useless. Even if you summon such a massive spell…"

Nagano's cube homed into me and hit me. A massive yellow explosion expanded and solidified all around me.

"Nagano-san's Barrier…once it hits, it'll form an impenetrable prison around its target."

Still seated calmly, Takeda remarked casually.

"Did you catch him?" Hoshizaki asked. Nagano nodded hesitantly.

"We caught him, but…"

"Eh?"

Gendou staggered back when his chains were slackened. Wielding Blood Dragon Sword, I had severed his chains with a single slash. Turning toward him, I unleashed a Shadow Lunar Fang in his direction.

"…!"

Gendou jumped back, only to find himself trapped.

"Hold still!" Sanada commanded as he lunged forward, his hand outstretched. Ice was expanding from his arm and flowing to the front, to form a frozen barrier between Gendou and me. The black crescent-shaped blast slammed into the glacial wall and exploded, sending countless shards of ice raining down on the two.

That wasn't all.

"Oh…"

I glanced at the meter at the bottom left corner of my lenses, which served as a head's up display. It looked like the meter was completely filled.

"Standby for Titanfall," a mechanical male voice declared. I smiled.

"Bring it, Matsukaze."

An explosion roared at the top of the golden barrier that Nagano had imprisoned me inside, and Matsukaze crashed down heavily, a shimmering blue dome enfolding his titanic frame in a protective cocoon.

"Looks like he summoned a mecha," Nagano remarked.

"Takeda-kun is right," Aoyama muttered in disbelief. "It seems that Tanaka really can summon anything."

"Not only that," Domon added, looking a little pale as he glanced at the golden barrier that surrounded not just me but all of them. "We're also stuck inside Nagano-san's barrier along with Tanaka-kun."

"If I'm not wrong, the size of the barrier is determined by the size of the target," I explained, recalling how the barriers that imprisoned Aoyama, Hoshizaki, Makoto, Nishida and Sanada were sized appropriately when Nagano used it on them.

Especially the size of the barrier when she used it on Suzuki Shirou – it was particularly enormous.

"And when I saw how you trapped Suzuki with your Barrier, I noticed how the Barrier turned gigantic so as to accommodate not just him but also his huge array of Thousand Divine Lightning Spears."

Pushing up my glasses, I smirked and gestured to my Thousand Astral Graves.

"So I thought…what if I summon an equally large spell? Your Barrier will surely try to enlarge to accommodate not just me but also my spell."

"So what if you trap us with you?"

Hoshizaki remained defiant, glaring at me.

"It's still an eight versus one battle. The odds are extremely disadvantageous to you."

I closed my eyes and sighed. That much was true, but I held some hope of persuading at least a few of them.

"Iron Knights' true intention is to nuke Havia City along with Kobayashi. Does everyone here know that?"

"Of course."

Nagano stared at me determinedly.

"We agreed with Takeda-kun, and admire him. Our group is like one big family. Whatever our leader wants to do, we will follow him."

Hoshizaki nodded. "Our leader has chosen the best solution possible. Certainly, we will be sacrificing many innocent people, but we will be saving, many, many more in the process. We are saving the majority in favor of the minority."

"But you don't agree with him, Tanaka-kun."

Sanada's voice was calm, reasonable even.

"Of course I don't…"

Before I could explain, Makoto suddenly sprang to life, drawing his wooden knives, which glowed crimson with fire.

"He is trying to buy time! Every second he gets, he'll understand our techniques more! It seems that he has an ability similar to Tsukishima-san's Absolute Appraisal!"

Ah, busted.

Makoto was already summoning a spell, his crimson mana turning into a five-star symbol that reminded me of the Chinese Five Elements.

"Everyone, don't fall for it! Take him down!"

With his spell completed, Makoto summoned a dragon-shaped wooden staff out of his five-star symbol.

"Five Elements Technique: Fire Dragon Wood!'

The jaws of the wooden dragon staff burst into flames, the crimson mana coalescing into a gigantic fireball. They streaked toward me like meteors and slammed into their target, detonating in massive explosions that blossomed in the night, blinding everyone nearby with an impressive display of pyrotechnics.

"That attack was strong!"

Shielding her eyes, Yonebashi staggered back as she was buffeted by the tremendous shockwaves. Along with her, Aoyama was falling back, Domon stood his ground firmly, and Nagano summoned a protective barrier to defend herself. Squinting through her ruby-lensed sunglasses, Yonebashi tried to make out the aftermath.

"Did you get him?"

"Makoto did hit him," Sanada confirmed, having conjured an ice barrier to protect Gendou, Hoshizaki, Makoto and himself from the effects of the blast. Glancing past his frost shield, he scowled. "But…"

I was standing inside the invincible blue dome shield that protected my Titan, completely unscathed by the blast.

"…it appears that he wasn't affected by the explosion at all."

"Not only that, he has completely cut away my chains."

Gendou sounded frustrated as he pulled his severed chains back, staring at the neatly cut ends. None of his metallic restraints could endure a slash from my Blood Dragon Sword, which I had finally sheathed at my side.

"That's quite the troublesome weapon," he remarked, frustrated.

"He also made use of the barrier that's surrounding his mecha," Nagano added, impressed. "I can't believe he also has a barrier that's on par with mine."

"Don't be so impressed," I told her, smiling sheepishly. "My Titan's Dome Shield is pretty limited. It lasts for less than a minute, and will disappear the moment I embark on my Titan…or even before that, if I take too long."

The blue Dome Shield was already flickering away, having reached its expiration time. I jumped back, and Matsukaze stood up, snatching me from midair and tucking me inside the cockpit in his chest cavity. The doors closed, and the darkness was immediately replaced by vivid holograms that streamed from the visual receptors and were converted digitally into clear images.

"Are you joking? Are we supposed to fight against a hi-tech mecha even though we're supposed to be in a medieval fantasy world!?"

Yonebashi's eyes widened as she tried to grapple with her disbelief.

"You better believe it," I replied as I retrieved the Predator chaingun that was slung on Matsukaze's back, and aimed it at them. The barrels began to whirl rapidly before I unleashed a vicious barrage of armor-piercing rounds on the group.

"Hey!" Sanada snapped at Domon, who sighed and finally made his move.

"You guys still have to rely on me in the end, huh?"

As the armor-piercing rounds burst out of Matsukaze's chaingun, Domon dropped to the ground and pressed his palm against the cool concrete. Green mana rippled out of his hand and flowed through the ground in a vibrant manner before taking the shape of a…potato.

The little potato wriggled for a moment before suddenly growing into a row of gigantic potatoes that towered over the Eight Guardians.

The barrage from Matsukaze's Gatling guns slammed into the row of potatoes, but failed to penetrate any of them.

"That's pretty powerful…as expected of a mecha, huh?"

Hoshizaki frowned as she studied the barrel of the gun, which glowing red-hot from continuous firing.

"Don't worry, we'll have our opportunity soon." Makoto assured them calmly as he watched Matsukaze's Predator Gatling cannon spit out rounds unceasingly.

"That's right…!" Aoyama suddenly understood what Makoto meant. "No matter how powerful that Gatling gun is, he still has to reload eventually! He doesn't have unlimited ammunition!"

"Hmph…" Makoto nodded as he analyzed my barrage. "Even if that mecha is summoned using magic, it's still somehow bound to the physical rules of science fiction and mecha games. Plus even if he doesn't need to reload, those barrels are glowing red-hot. They'll eventually become overheated and he'll be forced to stop firing regardless."

"You're right."

Sanada realized that I had stopped firing. I was already directing Matsukaze to reload the spent Predator cannon, slapping a fresh belt of ammunition into its now empty chamber.

"The firing has stopped."

"In other words, this is our chance…while he's reloading!"

Hoshizaki realized that this was the ideal opportunity for them to make their move, and she was already moving from behind Domon's potato barrier.

"Indeed, that weapon seems slow and clunky – there should be a window of time before he can fire again."

Yonebashi nodded thoughtfully.

"That's right! We had best make our move right now before he finishes reloading and starts firing at us again!"

Sanada had frozen his right arm into an icy blade and was lunging forward.

Aoyama followed suit, his hand glowing with dark blue mana as he prepared a curse. As expected of the Witch Doctor, huh…?

"Be careful…" Aoyama warned. "But let's go!"

Taking the lead, the Eight Guardians followed the Witch Doctor's charge.

There was no way I could fire off another barrage in time, so I dropped the Predator cannon and drew Matsukaze's broadsword instead. Just as Aoyama threw his curse at me, I blocked the spells with my sword.

"Sword block."

"?!"

Sanada had fired off a hail of icicles, but Matsukaze easily parried the frozen onslaught with his broadsword, falling into defensive maneuvers.

"It appears that the mecha is capable of close combat as well," Sanada remarked as he studied the huge sword that Matsukaze was wielding. "Don't get too close or you'll be sliced in half by that huge sword."

"Well, I do know for sure that you guys are going to get a large cut!"

Sliding Matsukaze forward, I swung my broadsword at them, forcing the Eight Guardians to scatter and evade. The sword gouged out a large chunk of concrete from the ground, spraying them with debris.

Spinning around, I adjusted my Titan's movements to close in on them, readying to finish them off with a deadly slash.

"It's useless."

However, Gendou had other plans in mind.

"Iron Maiden Prison."

Suddenly, dozens of pink traps materialized around Matsukaze, taking the form of giant bear traps, spiked coffins, shackles, gloves and manacles. In an instant, the traps, manacles and chains all bound Matsukaze tightly, restricting his movements.

In that moment, I turned into an alien admiral.

"It's a trap!" I hollered.

"My special abilities, Spatial Manipulation and Void Chains, allow me to capture everything within 500 meters of me."

Striking a cool pose, Gendou raised a hand that was crackling with esoteric pink mana, taking the form of keys and restraints.

"Also, do you think you are the only one who has an ability to read others?"

"…huh?"

I had no idea what Gendou was talking about, but he was already turning toward Aoyama, who was standing a few meters away.

"Hey…Aoyama-kun, you can see the mecha's weak points, right?"

"That's right." Aoyama nodded. "It might seem tough, but this is a light-sized mecha. It lacks the defensive capabilities and endurance of heavier mechas. It has incredible speed, but that will be useless if you restrain it like what you're doing right now."

Okay…seems like someone else had played Titanfall 2…

"Furthermore, there are weak spots at the front and the back of its torso. I'll indicate it in red. Hit those places and the mecha will take critical damage."

"Did you play Titanfall 2 too?!" I shouted as I fought with the controls in an attempt to break free of Gendou's restraints. "Hey! Add me on Origin! We should party together and play Frontier Defense! My group even has a Discord channel!"

Ignoring me, Sanada spoke as if I hadn't said anything frivolous.

"Do you remember trying to block Aoyama-kun's curse?"

"…yeah."

"That curse is created by Aoyama-kun. If you're hit by it, the curse will analyze your ability. Though it can't be compared to Tsukishima-san's Absolute Appraisal, it doesn't matter. Because as long as one drop touches the target, it will obtain all information regarding the target's ability."

Seemed like the only information they gathered was about my Titan, though…

"You feel weak by yourself."

Gendou's voice was full of scorn, even as he tightened the restraints on my Titan, further obstructing Matsukaze's movements.

"You can't even beat the Eight Guards. How can you hope to protect Restia?"

"Next is to strike the weak points of the mecha and destroy it," Hoshizaki remarked as she summoned a comet spell. Meteorites appeared within the barrier, all of them directed toward the hapless Matsukaze.

"No need," Gendou declared. "I can destroy him like this."

"Ah~"

I sighed as I leaned back in my cockpit.

"This is why I rarely summon my Titan against heroes. They can so easily destroy my mechas. Well, I did see Hoshizaki effortlessly wreck a couple of tans right in front of my eyes, so I guess this much is to be expected."

"It's over."

Makoto watched as both Gendou and Hoshizaki launched their attacks simultaneously. Both the traps and the comets slammed into Matsukaze and exploded. The comets shattered the weak points of Matsukaze while the restrained clamped down, bending and distorting the weakening frame of the crumbling mecha.

"Warning…critical damage. Advise pilot to eject."

"I'll do just that then."

I thumbed the ejection button and was launched out of my Titan. A good thing I didn't customize Matsukaze with the Nuclear Eject option, or I would have nuked myself along with everybody within the tight confines of Nagano's barrier.

"We just destroyed Tanaka-kun's mecha," Hoshizaki observed calmly as Matsukaze went out in a blinding explosion. She frowned. "But he is nowhere to be seen."

"What's going on?" Makoto demanded. Sanada clenched his fists as he tried to analyze the situation.

"…"

"Haven't you noticed?"

Nagano smiled as she strode forward. Breaking off a piece of icicle from the many frozen shards that Sanada's attack had left on the ground, she hurled it toward the top of her barrier

"He's nowhere to be seen because he's invisible."

"Whoa!"

I flipped my body in midair to avoid the frozen projectile, and as a result, my cloak blinked out, allowing me to appear visible again.

"Stealth auto-eject," I admitted as I slowly descended toward the ground. "The moment my Titan is doomed, I will automatically be ejected and cloaked."

Landing on the ground, I immediately sprang away from Nagano and skidded several meters toward the edge of the barrier.

"It's amazing what sort of things you can summon with your ability. And here I thought I was revolutionizing the technology of this world with my airship and other inventions. No wonder Takeda-kun prized your Summon ability so highly."

Well, it originally wasn't my ability to begin with…but I wondered, if Kijima was still alive, would he have been able to use his ability to the same extent as I was doing right now?

"As expected of Nagano-san," Hoshizaki marveled. "To think you can spot him even when he was hiding…"

"Looks like great minds think alike…" I shook my head in grudging respect. "We both come up with the craziest tech ever."

"That's true." Nagano giggled. "But your mecha is destroyed. What are you going to summon this time, I wonder?"

"A very good question." I glanced at my Thousand Astral Graves, which were still looming over us in the confined space of Nagano's barrier. "I guess I should stop playing around now. While it is fun to summon mechas and guns, I should really fight according to my class. Like Yonebashi-san pointed out, I should play by the rules of this fantasy world and do something more magic-like."

Pushing my glasses up my nose, I smiled. All around me, zombies began breaking out of the ground and crawling to the surface, moaning and groaning.

"After all, I'm a Gravekeeper."