17 7

Haru!”
Merry. That’s Merry, right?
She yanked out the shadow that had been pushing itself down his throat and tore the one covering his eyes off too.
“Kimura, you help too!” Merry ordered, not bothering with an honorific.
“Yes’m!” Kimura shouted, oddly quick to comply.
Merry put Haruhiro in a pinion hold, pulling him backward while Kimura tossed his mace and buckler aside to tear the shadows off Mimorin with his bare hands.
“Looks like we’ve got more incoming!” Tokimune wooshed through the air, slashing specters with his longsword, pushing them away with his shield, and making them self-destruct.
“Fwoo!” Yume fired off a rapid barrage, hitting two more specters, which exploded with a boom-boom. “Arrows’re all gone now!”
“But I’m still here!” Ranta ran in even deeper than Tokimune, moving instantly from the right wall to the left.
Boom went a specter. Ranta had apparently cut it down.
“Ha ha ha!” Ranta cackled. “There’s nothing to it, now that I try! Damn, I’m good!”
“Oooh. That was cool, just now.” Yume said.
“Y-Y’think? I-I-It was cool? Well, duh, of course it was. I mean, I’m the guy who did it...”
“Yeah! But we’re making no progress!” Kuzaku complained.
Kuzaku’s right, thought Haruhiro. We’re not moving forward at all.
Thanks to Merry, and maybe Kimura too, the majority of the shadows wrapped around Haruhiro and Mimorin had been driven off, stomped, or cut to pieces. But they kept pressing in from the floor, walls, and ceiling, and the specters periodically came in for a suicide bomber attack too. The group had hardly progressed since entering the burial chamber’s corridor. They’d been stuck in the same spot this whole time.
The way things were now, they weren’t too exhausted yet. Not physically, at least. But just as Yume’s arrows had run out, their options to keep the fight up were guaranteed to run out eventually.
They could fall back and regroup, but the question was how far back. The enemy was sure to pursue. Besides, Orion’s information told them that as long as the Lich King, who was somewhere in the burial chamber, was still around, the enemies in the Graveyard could regenerate themselves indefinitely. If they pulled back, it was entirely possible that enemies they had already defeated would be lying in wait.
This was not a good situation. If they were going to withdraw, it needed to be after they joined up with Shinohara and the others. For now, the only way to go was forward. They had no other choice.
“Tokimune-san! Let’s push up little by little! We need to join up with the others as fast as possible!”
“Yeah, leave it to me!”
Haruhiro wished he could be the kind of person who was able to smile and say that without hesitation in a situation like this. He felt like it’d be tough for him, though.
Tokimune suddenly made two specters blow up, advancing five or six meters forward in the process. The key to the method he’d come up with was to slash them, push them back, and then move away. If you took a step forward, you had to retreat the same distance. Yet Tokimune had blown up a pair of specters and still managed to make that much progress forward. However, mimicking him was easier said than done. And Tokimune had cut up a good number of shadows too while doing it.
“Everyone, follow me! We don’t need to take a single step back!”
Tokimune didn’t tell them not to retreat, he told them they didn’t have to. Haruhiro didn’t have the sense to choose his wording like that. And though he might eventually be able to emulate the way Tokimune spoke, if he couldn’t back it up with actions, it wouldn’t do him any good.
“Hah!” Tokimune made another specter blow up. Incredibly, this time, after slashing it and pushing it away, he didn’t back off. It looked like he’d defended himself with his shield, but that still took guts.
“We can do this! Onward!”
“Yay! Me too! Me too!” Kikkawa slashed a specter and shoved it with his shield.
“Whoa...?!” When the specter exploded, Kikkawa landed flat on his butt. He got up in no time, though, so it was probably no big deal.
“Nice one, Kikkawa!” It was so like Tokimune to encourage him rather than telling him, Don’t be crazy. You can’t pull off the same stunts as me.
“Cheers!” It looked like the praise had Kikkawa eager for more.
What if he messed up? Wouldn’t that be dangerous? That was how Haruhiro tended to think, but Tokimune must have trusted his comrades. If it didn’t work out, he and the rest of the party would cover for Kikkawa. That was what the Tokkis had been doing all this time. It seemed reckless, but they hadn’t lost a single person. They must have had a line they recognized as too dangerous, and they didn’t cross it. But after facing difficulty and death so many times on their own whims, the Tokkis had developed their own unique sense for how to manage danger.
“Personal skill!” The masked dread knight ran around. He slashed two, three specters with high-speed cuts, setting them off. “Sudden Cicada Serenade! Damn, I’m so cool!”
Ranta might have been a lot like the Tokkis. That was why he and Haruhiro didn’t mesh.
“I...!” Kuzaku swung his large katana, slicing up shadows over his head, at his feet, and on the walls. “Shouldn’t even bother trying that, right?!”
“Yeah, give it up,” Setora told him on Haruhiro’s behalf.
If he was able to realize that he shouldn’t try something like that,
Kuzaku would never be able to be one of the Tokkis. Then again, Haruhiro wouldn’t want Kuzaku acting like them too. It’d be a real problem.
“Hm?!” Tokimune deflected something with his shield. “Whoa, hold on...”
It wasn’t like Haruhiro had relaxed his guard. But even he had gotten a bit excited about their progress. That was all blown away in an instant. What was it that Tokimune had deflected?
“That was a bullet!”
There were haunts here. The bullets. They came flying. More and more of them.
“Kikkawa, we’re gonna block them! Kimura, you too!” Tokimune shouted while blocking the bullets with his shield.
“Yessir!” Kikkawa, who also carried a shield, did likewise.
“Umph!” Kimura smacked down a bullet with his buckler. He was even knocking them out of the air with his mace too.
“Anna-san, time to split up!”
“If we have to, yeah!” Anna-san hopped down from Tada’s shoulders.
Had they even needed to hook up like that in the first place? With that weight off his shoulders, Tada swung his warhammer, knocking down three or four bullets in one swing.
“Mrrgh!” Kuzaku narrowly blocked a bullet with the flat of his large katana.
“Tch...!” Ranta nimbly jumped about, dodging the projectiles. “If you go around hitting them with your sword, it’ll break in no time!” “Ah!” Haruhiro reflexively crouched to avoid a bullet.
The haunts’ bullets hit a certain sweet spot in size, weight, and hardness. Tokimune’s shield could defend against them without issue. There was no risk of it being broken. But knocking them away with a sword was difficult. Not impossible, no, but unless the weapon had a pretty sturdy blade, it might chip or bend.
“Rah!” Tokimune deflected a bullet, then immediately slashed a specter and used his shield to knock it back. A specter. There were specters too. The pair of legs blew up, and it looked like Tokimune might back away, but he held his ground. “Urgh...!” Without a moment of leeway, he managed to block the next bullet with his shield. And the next specter was already coming.
“Marc em Parc!” Mimorin unleashed a Magic Missile at that specter and made it blow up, but Tokimune might have been in danger there. “Marc em Parc! Marc em Parc!” More Magic Missiles intercepted and detonated a few more targets before they could get close.
“Keep it up! Do your best, yeah!” Anna-san was doing what she could to cheer Mimorin on.
“Bwuh!” Kikkawa failed to block a bullet with his shield and took it in the gut.
“You’re still good to go, right?!” Tokimune wasted no time encouraging him. It was just bluster, though.
“Damn right I am! Yay!”
If Kikkawa could reply that quickly, he was probably fine. Unlike a thief like Haruhiro, as a warrior, Kikkawa wore armor, so as long as the shot didn’t hit him in a particularly bad spot, no single bullet was likely to kill him outright.
“Heh!” Inui was crawling forward. Fast.
It was disturbing how fast.
“Finally, my time has come!”
As low to the ground as he was, the bullets didn’t even graze him. Was Inui planning to close in on the haunts with his creepy speedcrawling and finish them off?
“Augh!”
“Uh, hey, there’s shadows, remember?”
Inui was caught by a swarm of the flat monsters, turning into a mass of darkness in mere moments. How could one man fail so much? If no one was calling him out for it, it was only because they couldn’t afford to take the time right now. Honestly, Haruhiro was busy dodging the occasional bullet and slicing up the shadows coming from every angle. If he lowered his situational awareness, maybe he’d have some spare energy to work with. But could he do anything decisive with it? That was questionable. He couldn’t think of what he might do. Was there any way for the group to get out of this situation?
It’s looking pretty bad...isn’t it?
Tokimune was up on the front line, putting himself at risk. Kimura too. Could either of them see the full picture of what was going on? Despite his shortcomings, Kimura was one of the leaders of Orion, and Tokimune was, well, Tokimune. Even so, Haruhiro felt that he shouldn’t just blindly believe in them and let them make all the decisions. He was back here, paying attention to everyone. Even if he might be overstepping his bounds, shouldn’t he be the one to make a decision?
It didn’t look like they could progress. The enemies were too strong.
If they stayed where they were, they’d eventually reach their limit.
In that case, retreat was the only option. They couldn’t, mustn’t retreat, so they had tried to proceed anyway. But they still hadn’t managed to make headway and would only be whittled down if they stayed, so there was nothing to do but retreat.
If they could fall back to the inner courtyard, they would no longer be forced to face these waves of enemies in a narrow three-meterby-three-meter space. But even if they escaped temporarily, then what? Well? What would they do? Did he have some idea? No, not really. In that case, he was just flailing around. But if he didn’t make some decision now, in a moment someone might die. Yeah. It was possible his comrades could lose their lives here. But if Haruhiro just called for a retreat out of nowhere, that could cause chaos too. They were all managing to hold out somehow. But the slightest change might make that balance collapse. Was Haruhiro about to create that slight change? He wasn’t trying to, obviously, but what if that was what he ended up doing?
Honestly, Haruhiro was thinking they had no choice but to retreat.
If his comrades were the only ones here, he’d probably have already ordered a withdrawal a long time ago.
But the Tokkis were here. Tokimune was here, and so was Kimura. Could he make that call without them? Tokimune and Kimura might have been waiting for the right moment too. When it came, wouldn’t one of them say something?
Though he thought they needed to retreat, he wasn’t certain. It wasn’t like he was thinking that if they could pull back then they might find some way to handle this. There didn’t seem to be anything they could do regardless, so Haruhiro believed they had no choice but to flee. He had a completely pessimistic assessment of the situation.
Thanks to that, Haruhiro couldn’t do anything. He was in no position to laugh at Inui. Inui was at least trying in some way to do something.
It was a good thing he didn’t end up having to regret it. While Haruhiro was wasting time, there could have been a tragedy he would never have been able to regret enough.
“Rahhhhhhhh!”
Far up ahead—uh, well, not that far, but still up ahead, purple lightning tore through the darkness.
That was someone’s voice. Human. Probably male. And familiar. In fact, Haruhiro knew who it was.
“Hahhhhhh!”
Were those his swords, trailing arcs of electricity behind them as they swung?
“Renji!” Ranta shouted. “He’s here! The bastard made it!”
 
 
9. Simply Painful
“Thaaat’s...!” Purple lightning danced madly as Kimura shouted. “The terrifying poweeer...! Of a reliiic...!”
“Is that the demon sword and armor, Aragarfald?!” Ranta jumped, slashed a specter, then raced past it. The specter burst. “It’s the power of the relic Renji found on the Red Continent!”
The number of incoming bullets had dropped massively. Actually, there were hardly any at this point.
“Tokimune-san!” Haruhiro prompted. I didn’t need to say that, he thought as soon as the name left his mouth. But Tokimune wasn’t the type to take an “I don’t need you to tell me that” kind of attitude.
“Yeah!” With a flash of his pearly whites, Tokimune began advancing once more. “Now’s our chance! Let’s go, people!”
Had Tokimune anticipated this? Anticipated that Shinohara, Renji, and the others taking route B would come to their aid?
Since the synchronized unlocking had worked, that had to mean the team on route B had entered the corridor. However, if the route A team ended up struggling, the route B team surely would too. That was the natural assumption. It was entirely within the realm of possibility that both teams would be pushed out of the corridor by the enemy. If Tokimune had been relying on support from the route B team, that was awfully optimistic of him.
But things worked out this way because the route A team had hung in for so long.
Haruhiro had been trapped, thinking, Nope, we’re at our limits, this isn’t going to work. While he might not have been in a state of panic, he’d definitely felt boxed in. If Haruhiro were the one giving commands, the route A team would have pulled back before Renji and the others could reach them.
Under Tokimune’s leadership, the route A team blew up the incoming specters, carved their way through the shadows, and pressed forward.
Suddenly, the purple lightning vanished.
“Ron.”
“Aw, yeahhhh!”
The buzz-cut warrior who came in from the side had a lantern tied to his waist, and wielded a greatsword shaped like a massive meat cleaver. Ron. When Team Renji’s warrior took a swing, a horrifying slicing sound echoed through the corridor.
What had he cut? A pawn? Or was it a haunt? Or maybe a miniature golem?
Whatever it was, there wasn’t much that the meat cleaver he was carrying couldn’t cut. When he finished the swing, Ron’s weapon was buried deep in the floor. How was he planning to free it?
Ron gripped the hilt of the giant weapon with both hands and forcefully twisted it. When he did, it popped free from the floor, and he swung it down again. Slice. This time the arc was diagonal, and the blade tore into the wall instead of the floor.
With a grunt of exertion, Ron yanked the massive meat cleaver out of the wall, scattering shards of stone rubble all over the area.
“He’s mighty powerful!” Yume was impressed. Rightly so, but Haruhiro couldn’t help but question the turn of phrase “mighty powerful.”
“Zeel, mare, gram, tera, kanon.”
There was chanting. A spell? A whitish sphere flew about wildly. No, there were five, ten, maybe more of them, and they weren’t just flying around at random. Each one accurately struck a shadow, a haunt, or something else.
“Geh-boffah! So many Ice Globes, and with such controoool...!” Kimura shouted. When the whitish orbs struck an enemy, their bodies locked up as if frozen. They likely couldn’t move no matter how they tried.
“Jess, yeen, sark, fram, dart.”
More magic. A bolt of lightning.
“Lightning! Yee-hawwww!” Kikkawa cheered. Haruhiro wasn’t about to start dancing jubilantly like Kikkawa, but it was definitely impressive. The magical lightning arced between the enemies frozen by the whitish spheres, as if chaining between them—no, it was definitely chaining between them—and electrocuted them.
Though Haruhiro didn’t know how it worked, there had to be some meaning behind casting Ice Globe and Lightning in rapid succession like that.
Haruhiro couldn’t see him from here, but Team Renji had a mage who wore black-rimmed glasses. Adachi. He must have been the one responsible.
“Rah!” Ron sliced through several more enemies with his meat cleaver sword. And when he was done, with his weapon embedded in the floor again, he didn’t yank it out for another swing. “We’re finished already? Wasn’t even a challenge.”
It seemed Ron was standing at the end of the straight path. There was a turn leading off to the left near him.
When the group went over to him, they were surprised to find Renji sitting against the wall with his legs crossed, greatsword lying in his lap, arms folded, and eyes closed.
“Hey...” Ranta looked like he was going to say something, but Ron shrugged at him.
“After he does that, he needs to rest a bit.”
“After he uses the power of the relic, you mean? I see...” Kimura’s glasses flashed and he nodded.
“What happens if he doesn’t?” Tokimune asked.
Ron groaned and thought a little before responding, “He probably dies, I guess?”
“Huh?” Haruhiro was speechless.
“Di...” Kuzaku stopped midword, then laughed. “You’re kidding, right? I mean, dying sounds a little excessive...”
“Well, I don’t know what would really happen,” Ron said, then added, “It’s not like he’s tried it,” with a weak laugh. “But if Renji’s taking a break like this, it’s gotta be pretty damn serious.” “Kimura. Tokimune.” There was a voice from the left.
Haruhiro looked over to see a tiny priest carrying a lantern and a mage wearing black-rimmed glasses standing there. Chibi-chan and Adachi. Uh, all the volunteer soldiers called her Chibi-chan because she was tiny, but was that okay? Calling her that?
“If there’re no problems, let’s move along.”
Obviously, Haruhiro didn’t remember Adachi. They hadn’t had much occasion to meet, so the two of them had apparently never really interacted. Haruhiro got the impression Adachi was hard to get along with. He was an especially particular mage.
“You can hold on to all your thanks for saving you until this is all over. I don’t want to waste time. Renji, you’re ready to go, right?”
“Yeah.” Renji stood up. He gestured with his chin, signaling something to Haruhiro and the others. Move along, probably.
He could’ve said it out loud. Why can’t he just talk to us?
“Thanks,” Tokimune said, winking as he clapped Renji on the shoulder. His forbearance was incredible. It made Haruhiro feel small and petty for letting such a minor thing get to him.
Having reflected on his behavior, Haruhiro said, “Thanks.” The corners of Renji’s lips turned up ever so slightly. Not enough to describe it as a smile. But enough to make Haruhiro think, Wow! Never thought I’d see that from Renji. Glad I said something.
They went left around the corner and found Shinohara waiting for them with nine members of Orion.
“Hey,” Shinohara said, raising one hand as he gave them his usual smile—the strategic, practical one. That was how his own friend and confidant had described it, so it was basically a fake smile. It was a very convincing fake though. Kimura had also said Shinohara was a really good person. That might mean he was multifaceted, hard to sum up in a few words.
“Looks like we kept you waiting.” For some reason, Tokimune extended his hand for a handshake, and Shinohara immediately reciprocated.
“Yeah. A bit.”
“Oh, listen to this guy,” Tokimune jabbed Shinohara in the ribs with his elbow.
“S-Stop it, would you?”
“That’s the kind of ‘stop’ that really means keep going, right?”
“No, it’s the kind of ‘stop’ that means stop, okay?”
“Are you serious?”
“What could possibly make you think I’m not?”
It was hard to imagine that look of bewilderment was strategic, something he was wearing purely out of pragmatism.
Shinohara was plotting something. But that didn’t necessarily mean it was some horrible conspiracy against everyone else present. At his core, he might well be a good person. Haruhiro wanted that to be true, but he knew to make the distinction between his hopes and reality.
“Anyway...” Shinohara and his people had been waiting for them at the fork in the road. To the right was the path Haruhiro’s group had come from, and to the left was the path Shinohara’s group had taken. If they went straight, they would reach the location that Orion
had named the antechamber. There was apparently an antechamber, central room, and back room, but Orion claimed to have only reached the central room so far.
“First, I’d like to say that I’m happy to see the twenty-six of us have made it this far without losing anyone. How were things along the way, Kimura?”
“They did better than expected, as you expected. Ho-voh...!” Kimura’s glasses flashed. “Even with my guidance, they were relying on second-hand knowledge. It was their first time here. Despite that, they came as far as the antechamber with ease. Mr. Tokimune’s Tokkis and Mr. Haruhiro’s Haru Heroes are not to be underestimated.”
“Haru...Heroes...” If he acknowledged the pun, he’d only be kicking a hornet’s nest, so Haruhiro suppressed his urge to quip.
“We struggled just an eensy weensy bit there at the end, though!” Kikkawa said, sticking out his tongue playfully.
“Even if Renji hadn’t shown up, we could’ve broken through on our own!” The masked dread knight seemed needlessly insistent.
“Obviously.” Tada’s grip on his warhammer, which was resting on his shoulder, tightened. A vein was visible on his forehead. There was no need to tense up like that.
“We didn’t need your help,” he said. “Don’t get full of yourself, Renchin.”
“It’s Renji.” Though he had instantly corrected Tada, Renji’s face looked absolutely calm. Still, he might not have liked Tada’s attitude. There was a vein on his forehead that looked a lot thicker than usual.
“Looks like you and I need to settle this. Mano-a-mano. You’re not gonna refuse, right?”
“If it can wait until after this, then fine.”
“Could you please refuse?” Haruhiro quipped, and got ignored too.
“All right.” Tada licked his lips. “Don’t forget it. Because, come hell or high water, I won’t. I’ll BTBS you.”
“BTBS?” Tokimune cocked his head to the side. “Does that stand for something?”
“Beat, thrash, bludgeon, and smash.”
“Ohh! Cool! I like it. BTBS. That’s gonna be a thing.”
“B! T! B! S!” Kikkawa jumped up and struck a weird pose. “B! T! B! S! B! T! B! S! BTBS!”
“Shut up, yeah! Kikkawa! Or I BTBS you! Yeah!”
“Anna-san’s already using it! Yahoo!” Kikkawa cheered.
Mimorin nodded. “Yahoo.”
“Heh!” Suddenly, Inui started running. Toward tomorrow—no, back the way they had come.
“Huh? Inui-san?” Kuzaku looked at Haruhiro as if to say, Uh, should he be doing that?
Hell if I know.
...But Haruhiro couldn’t say that, so he shook his head diagonally, not committing to a yes or a no.
“We’ve brought some real talented people with us, huh?” Adachi muttered, then let out a short laugh. He was being sarcastic, no doubt. His exasperation was obvious. Understandable, really.
“A duel between Renji-kun and Tada-kun. This will be something to see,” Shinohara remarked, sounding like he might genuinely mean it. But, this being Shinohara, it was hard to say for sure. “Once the operation is over, I hope you’ll let me get a front-row view. Now then, how about we move on to the antechamber?”
The twenty-five members of the platoon waited for the priests to recast their support magic, then proceeded to the antechamber.
Unlike the corridor, the antechamber, central, and back rooms were not pitch dark, though they weren’t as bright as the inner courtyard either. Were the rooms reflecting the light of the party’s lanterns? Or maybe they were made or painted with a material that glowed when exposed to light. The patterns on the ceiling and floor, the wall art that seemed to depict the king and his retainers, and the rows of statues all shone faintly. Thanks to that, they could make out the size and structure of the room, at least vaguely, and could see even farther than the light of their lanterns would have otherwise reached.
“In the central room...I can see a passage on each side, heading off to the left and the right.” Haruhiro surveyed the antechamber, central room, and back room while remaining slightly cautious of the statues.
“It’s a T-junction... Are there passages in the front of the back room too? These three rooms are all cylindrical, and maybe...twenty meters across? They seem pretty tall too, but...there’s no second floor, huh? The ceiling’s about five meters high. No, maybe a little more.”
“Those things,” Ranta said, shifting his mask aside, and indicating a statue with his eyes. “They’re not gonna start moving, right? Well? Am I right...?”
“Ryo-goh!” Kimura’s bizarre laughter took on too many implausible forms to count. “Why not find out for yourself, Mr. Ranta?”
“I’m taking that as a challenge. If you think I’m gonna chicken out, you’re dead wrong, okay?”
Though he said that, Ranta tip-toed forward, slowly, carefully inching toward the statue. How was it that despite being so recklessly bold, he could act comically cautious at times like this? Because he was Ranta?
“Damn it! I’m not scared! I’m too awesome to be scared!”
“Mew-ewww!” Yume pounced forward and hugged the statue. “Hmmm? It’s just a statue, huh?”
“Ahh! Yume! Damn iiit! I was just checking that!”
“Well, hey. You were actin’ all jumpy, so Yume got all hot and bothered.”
“That doesn’t mean whatever you think it does! Wh-What are you getting all hot and bothered for?”
“Hey, Yume has times when she gets hot and bothered too, y’know?”
“Don’t just say that in a public place like this! Have some shame.”
“Gettin’ hot and bothered is nothin’ to be ashamed of. Right, Merrychan?”
“Huh?” Merry said after a moment of surprised silence. “Oh... YYeah... Uh? I guess...? Uh...?”
“As animals that need to reproduce, I think some degree of sexual appetite is appropriate and to be expected, although the amount may vary from individual to individual,” Setora said in a disinterested tone.
“Yeah, that’s right.” Yume nodded. “Animals’ve got appetites too. They eat three meals a day. You’ve gotta remember to eat your greens.”
“Pft...” Hard as it was to believe, that outburst of laughter had come from Renji. But wait, when Haruhiro looked at him, there wasn’t even a hint of a smile. Maybe he had imagined it?
“She’s a natural comedian...”
But it was Renji who muttered that to himself, so maybe it really had been him?
“Hm? Do animals not eat three meals a day?” Yume asked, cocking her head to the side, and Renji snorted again. Yeah, that was definitely him.
“Matsuyagi, help us prepare,” Shinohara ordered.
Matsuyagi, one of Orion’s warriors, stepped forward. The guy was practically a giant. He was taller than Kuzaku’s 190 centimeters, and his broad shoulders and chest were impressively thick. His head was big too, probably twice the size of Merry’s or Setora’s. Maybe three times. Matsuyagi had a white cloth wrapped around his neck, apparently the same cloak that the other members of Orion wore. He was so massive he could wear a cloak like a tie.
But Matsuyagi wasn’t just big, he also carried a lot of stuff. The large backpack he laid down on the ground looked awfully heavy. Inside was a bundle of warhammers. Easily more than ten, probably close to twenty.
Matsuyagi had two warhammers hanging at his waist. It was questionable whether Haruhiro could have swung one of them, even if he’d held it in both hands. They looked sturdy.
The warhammers in the bundle were much smaller.
“Stone guards.” Kimura’s glasses flashed. “That is what we call the enemies that caused us so much trouble, forcing us to retreat not once, but twice. We will have you use these to eliminate them.”
Orion had two more warriors in addition to Matsuyagi. Both were men, and they used swords. They undid the bundle and helped themselves to the warhammers.
“You can’t beat stone guards with ordinary swords,” Shinohara explained, but did not reach for the warhammers himself. He was the master of Orion, after all. Presumably his sword was no ordinary one. “Let’s see. I think Renji and Ron will do just fine with their usual weapons. And Tada as well, of course. Haruhiro, I’ll ask you and your party to use the warhammers Matsuyagi brought. We should have more than enough, so if they break, feel free to help yourself to another.”
Despite being told he could use his own weapon, Renji grabbed a warhammer. No, not just one. Two of them. Ron was apparently good with his massive meat cleaver.
Tokimune and Kikkawa each took one. Mimorin followed suit.
Ranta tried to take two, but after giving them a test swing, apparently decided it wasn’t for him.
“I guess one’s good enough...”
“I’m gonna go with the two-sword style.” Kuzaku bravely took one warhammer in each hand. Ranta snorted.
“They aren’t swords, moron.”
“Fine, two-hammer style.”
“That’s not a thing, you idiot.”
“Fine, what should I call it then, senpai?”
“Senpai? Who’re you calling senpai?”
“You. You’ve got seniority over me, right? Even if you’re scum.”
“Who’re you calling scum?!”
“Yume’s fine with takin’ just one.”
“Uhh, me too...”
Haruhiro and Yume both tried using the warhammers, but it didn’t feel right to Haruhiro. Can I use this thing properly? he wondered. He wasn’t sure, but he was going to have to try. Setora took a warhammer too.
“Um, what about Inui-san?” Haruhiro asked Tokimune, just to be sure.
“Ah.” Tokimune deftly twirled his warhammer around, then flashed his pearly whites at Haruhiro. “No need to worry about him. He’ll come back soon enough. Probably at the best possible moment.” Will he really?
“Now then...” Kimura’s glasses flashed. “They say the third time’s the charm. How about we get down to business?” Shinohara nodded and drew his sword.

Chapter end