Chapter 157
Alright, with many people's displeasure from the last chapter, I decided to write this. It is intended as a humorous alternative ending to the series for those who can't take the NTR, even though we all know this is a wish-fulfillment fantasy novel anyway and everything will turn out in Hajime's favor by the end. If you can't handle the 10-20 chapters until this final story arc is resolved, here is everything you wished for!
This is done for fun. I did not go back and make sure I used the proper voices, or pronunciations for everyone. I might call some magics wrong or whatever. Just roll with it.
Please note I have NOT read past chapter 157, so if I happen to get some things right, don't suddenly say "hey, that's a spoiler!" It's not, and by saying it is, you're spoiling things.
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Alternative Chapter 157
Silence resounded through the hall after Hajime's last shout. He hung his head down, his facial features completely obscured while the angels continued to hold him down.
Ehito, who now inhabited Yue, gloated overhead as the welcomed apostles flooded through the gate with him.
"See, this all turned out so splendidly." Aruvheit gloated while moving up to stand over Hajime.
Hajime said something that was lost to everyone else in the room, mumbled through gritted teeth.
"What was that?" Aruvheit leaned in to listen.
Hajime raised his head. There wasn't a single light of despair in his eyes. Just pure and unadulterated power.
"I said… my turn!"
A massive explosion of energy burst forth from Hajime's form. Aruvheit and the apostles holding Hajime down were knocked away, slamming into the closest obstructions nearby, whether they be other apostles or monsters, or the walls. Those that struck walls struck with enough force to cause cracks to form around the room.
As Hajime stood up, overwhelming bursts of power flowed through him. The hole in his abdomen seemed to shrink at alarming rate, quickly filling in with the blink of an eye, leaving behind perfectly healed skin.
"Wh-what is this?" Aruvheit shouted.
Holes began to open in space, similar to the holes that had brought in the ambush, but not quite. Seconds later, warriors began to burst through. Without a second's respite, they leapt into battle, attacking the apostles and the monsters still residing in the room. Each warrior was dressed in black, wielding a variety of swords, staves, and other weapons. Each warrior had a pair of rabbit ear's on their head as well.
"Dad?" Shia said out reflexively.
Kam was among those that had jumped through the gates. In fact, the entire Haulia clan was there. Hajime's group of trained rabbitman swarmed the area. Although it wasn't just rabbitman. Others could be seen, cat ears, dog ears, even a tiger, it was as if all of Fair Bergen had suddenly exploded into the room. Furthermore, their weapons seemed to match the apostles strike for strike. It was clear that these had all been produced by Hajime at some point. Not a single weapon held by this group was less than Shizuku's former black sword, prior to his updating it with supplementation magic. Their weapon's strength equaled that of anything the apostle's wielded.
"Ah, it's about time…" In a single movement, Shia stood and shoved the wolf monster holding her to the ground away.
Having expected her to be under the influence of the Divine Statement, the monster was completely unprepared for her to suddenly react with such strength. Tio returned to her dragon form as well, once again filling the room and flinging monsters and apostles alike to the side. Kaori stood up next, immediately casting healing magic on everyone. With renewed vigor, they all flooded forward.
"Here!" Kam shouted as he tossed Shia her Doryukken, the real one.
The others were returned their weapons as well, and in an instant, the tide of the battle switched.
Aruvheit gaped, his mouth flapping in complete and utter horror. "Wh-wha-what is this? Bu-but the Divine decree… you shouldn't have the strength…"
Hajime snorted. "I've had the knowledge of all seven of the liberators that fought against your god shoved into my brain. Did you never think for a second that they would have at least been aware of your god's abilities? They spent a millennia preparing various tests to prepare someone strong enough to fight god, but you never consider that they didn't spend a second thinking about the challenges of that fight? Are you stupid or something?"
Aruvheit didn't know how to respond. He had been functioning under the impression that they would never have suspected Ehito's return. Ehito who was rejoicing over his success only now started to realize that something might be amiss. Breaking the image he was trying to portray, he flew back down through the hole in the roof. He was joined by Eri who still had Kouki in her arms, and Freed. Eri seemed more concerned with her new boy toy than the events going on, but she did show a mild amount of curiosity.
Ehito's eyes widened at the scene before him. With half the forces having already fled to the Holy Precincts, and Hajime's sudden and unexpected reinforcement, the remaining Apostles and monsters were being overwhelmed.
"What are you doing?" Ehito demanded, glaring at Aruv.
"Of course, I created an artifact that protects from your compelling nature? I can create concept magic, and given your track record I was already certain you'd try to take control of my friends, you know? I got the idea during my trip through the latest labyrinth. I wouldn't want anyone being brainwashed." Hajime explained calmly with a predatory look.
"No matter, I will destroy it and your new weapons just like I destroyed your previous weapons."
"That'll be kind of hard, since we swallowed them." Hajime shrugged.
He looked down at the stump where his arm had been shattered. A second later the stump grew. The ends split into five phalanges, and a moment later his arm, his real arm, was returned.
"I could have done that ages ago, but I grew attached to that arm. Oh well…"
"What are we going to do?" Aruv asked Ehito cautiously.
Ehito shook his head in complete disbelief. However, a moment later, a cruel look started to twist on his face.
"Worry not, my underling… even if he can ignore my divine statement, he is still but a bug compared to my magical power."
If Ehito had noticed the look Hajime's face… a look that held an unparalleled amount of pity, then he probably wouldn't have looked so smug as he raised his hand.
"Five Heavenly Dragons…"
He attempted to cast once again the powerful spell, except this time, every dragon targerted Hajime. Perhaps Ehito had felt if he had concentrated all of his actions on one person, Yue wouldn't be able to interfere with the result.
However, the result was not that from which Yue interrupted. Instead, Hajime casually raised his fingers, and gave a snap. The dragons disappeared, and like a cord was being cut, all of Ehito's magical power dissipated.
"Eh?"
Ehito let out a stupid noise before suddenly falling from the air. He was no longer afloat. In that instead, it was as if all of his abilities evaporated into a mist. However, a second before striking the ground, Hajime was there. He caught Ehito in his arms, holding him in a princess carry. Although he hated the god who would take the body of his beloved lover, he also wouldn't let harm come to her body if he could help it.
Ehito kicked and thrashed until he fell from Hajime's arms. However, without his abilities, it looked more like a youthful girl throwing a temper tantrum, than an omnipotent god trying to assert himself.
At about this point, the rest of the party had finished subduing the remaining monsters and apostles. With the last one collapsing to Shizuku's sword, a new black sword that one of the Haulia tribe had tossed to her during the ensuing battle.
"Yue and I also reasoned the possibility that her or I be put under someone else's control. After falling in love with cockroaches and hating each other enough to want to kill each other, we figured there may be a time where our minds were manipulated again. Thus, we created a failsafe to temporarily lock our powers. It seems that your godly powers are now inseparable from Yue's… so for the next twenty four hours, you will not be able to even cast a fireball.
Ehito's eyes turned dark with hatred in a look that Yue would never make, especially directed at Hajime. A moment later, she turned to Aruv.
"Well, what are you doing! Kill them. You're a god, aren't you?"
"Oh, yes!"
Aruv lunged forward, casting a spell. Instantly, a new and revised Donner and Schlag from his second treasure warehouse. It really wasn't that the ones Ehito had destroyed were weak. They were actually the originally, taken to their most powerful using supplementation magic. However, you could only improve an already created product by so much. At some point, he realized that with the magic he contained now, he could create far better weapons starting from scratch.
Those were the weapons the Haulia tribe had returned to the rest of his party. They were the same weapons they had before, but imbued with supplementation magic from the very beginning, weapons built by their very concept. Compared to coming up with an item that would take them home, concepting a more powerful weapon was easy.
Thus, Donner and Schlag Mark II were his weapons of choice. Red flashes spread across the room. Aruv quickly put up a barrier.
DOPAN! DOPAN! DOPAN!
The bullets struck the barrier with a ringing sound. The barrier was that of a god. It was indeed incredibly strong. However, the way Hajime shot the bullets was with pinpoint accuracy. Each bullet struck in the exact same spot as the preceding bullet. Within only three shots, a crack began to form.
Freed lunged forward, but immediately encountered Tio, who striked him with her tail hard enough that he went flying into a wall. At this point, Eri realized for the first time that they may actually lose the fight. With merely a blink of her eyes, Kouki lunged forward at Hajime, intending to strike him in the back, a very un-heroic thing that she must have made in convenient mind to interpret as righteous.
Seeing this, Shia lunged forward with her Doryukken. However, she didn't target Kouki at all. Instead, she launched herself at Eri. She figured that with Eri out, Kouki would be neutralized. Kouki had received the same artifact that preventing his mind being altered as everyone else, but it was clear that he had not swallowed his, maybe tossing it aside some time earlier. But if they could take her out, then he would be less of a threat.
"Wait!" Suzu shouted, worrying about her friend.
Eri realized that she was in trouble, and it seemed that she had sent a new order to Kouki. Instead, he changed his flow, almost stumbling to leap in front of Eri. Kouki managed to make it just in time, leaping over head to block Shia's blow. However, he hadn't been able to spin the entire way, nor bring his holy sword to block.
The result…
Shia's Doryukken landed in full force directly in between Kouki's legs. More specifically, the Doryukken Mark II, a device wielded with gravity magic and the power of Shia's mighty throw, enhanced with supplication magic, slammed into Kouki's balls with the force of a thousand suns.
"AAAEEEEEEEEE-EEEEEEEEE!!!!!"
Kouki's voice turned into a shrill screech as he flew off into a nearby wall.
Somewhere many miles away in human territory, Christabel gave a sneeze as he (she?) put up another piece of clothing. A shiver ran through its body and it gave a dark smile. It seems like another had joined its ranks.
Meanwhile…
DOPAN! DOPAN! DOPAN! DOPAN!
Under the constant barrage of bullets, the barrier he was using shattered into a million pieces.
"W-wait, just wait!" Aruv shouted. "I can…"
"You can die!" Hajime shouted.
He used ground shrink, and a second later appeared immediately before the god inhabiting the former Denreed. Before Aruv could react with a retaliatory magic…
DOPAN! DOPAN! DOPAN! DOPAN! DOPAN! DOPAN! DOPAN! DOPAN!
He didn't let up, shooting a barrage of bullets into the former uncle. However, this time had switched the nature of his bullets. It was a new idea he had come up with on the spot. Spirit bullets. They were bullets that targeted the soul, not the body. In fact, these bullets didn't touch his skin. Instead, they aimed for the wretched thing clinging inside of his body.
Each bullet seemed to strip away at it, until the final bullet struck dead center, causing the remaining spirit to dissipate like smoke. With that, the made formerly know a Aruv collapsed to the floor. Hajime walked up to the man, looking down at the man who had made his Yue cry.
However, his eyes were still open, and he was still breathing a last few rugged breaths. However, the look on his eyes were different. They had a sense of relief and comfort that otherwise couldn't be faked by acting. Hajime new at that moment that he was looking down at the real Danreed.
"T-thank you…" He managed to say in between raspy breaths. "I never meant… for any of this to happen. Tell Yue…. Tell Yue… that I have always loved her… and I have never stopped thinking about her. The cruel words I had told Aruv… where the lies I told to keep her safe… I ju… I just want her to be happy. Pl-please… keep her happy."
Hajime's face didn't seem to hold any particularly emotions as he watched the dying man, but a moment later he responded. "I will."
The man's face went slacked and he seemed to be at ease as his breathing stopped. Hajime turned away and caught a look at Ehito, still in Yue's eyes. He seemed to be completely unaware of it, but tears were falling down his cheeks.
There was a rumble, and the entire place started to shake.
"It would be my guess," Tio spoke up. "That Aruv tied his life thread to this place. Now that he is dead, this place will collapse."
"We need to get out of here,0" Ryuutaro stated the obvious.
Hajime threw out several crystals, causing portals to open. Like that, the residents of Fair Bergen started gathering up the students, Liliana, Myuu, and Remia, bringing them through the portal which lead straight into the Sea of Trees just outside of Fair Bergen.
"What about Yue?" Shia asked worriedly.
"Bring her with us." Hajime stated, "We'll worry about it there."
Shia scooped up Ehito in her arms just like Ehito was a little kid. He tried to kick and bite, but once the resilient Shia had a hold on his (her) body, she wouldn't let go. She dragged Ehito through.
Kaori and Tio followed in tow. At some point, Tio had managed to recover Kouki from the wall and had his form slapped over her shoulder like a sack. Kaori had made no attempt so far to heal him. Suzu, Shizuku, and Ryuutaro followed shortly behind.
Eventually, it was just Hajime left in the crumbling devil king's castle. Then he noticed one more. It was Eri, she was standing there amongst the falling degree without making any attempt to dodge. She already had several scratches on her face.
"Is it soooo roooomantic?" She said. "Althoouugh… it's not like my hero even saved meeee… It is fitting I die here!"
A large piece of rubble collapsed from the ceiling, falling directly towards her. A flash of Suzu begging him to save Eri flashed in his mind and he gave a curse. Activating ground shrink, he grabbed Eri and lept out of the way of the falling debris. Before he could relax, the rest of the roof gave out and began to collapse. He danced around the rubble with Eri in his arms, leaping through the portal just as the remainder of the roof struck the ground.
Through the gate in Fair Bergen, he held Eri in his arms. She looked up at him with dazed eyes.
"Yoouuu… you saved me! What are you stupid or something?"
Hajime made an annoyed sound before dropping her. She landed on the ground hard. A moment later he meant over and began to wrap her in chains and bolo he pulled from his second treasure warehouse. He was not gentle as he made sure she was tied up enough that she couldn't move. Meanwhile, she gave him a look that was almost mocking.
"I don't care a single thing about you. But some people might annoy me if I let you die, so here you are."
The mocking look seemed to melt off of her face. In its place, she began to look on thoughtfully.
"Nagumo!" It was Suzu who happened to run up to him first. "Noticing Eri, her eyes noticeably brightened.
Even though Eri had turned so rotten, Hajime had still protected Eri. Suzu knew that this wasn't simply an accident. Suzu knew that he had done this specifically for her.
"Nagumo-kun… Suzu wants to say thank you.."
Hajime shrugged as if it was nothing. "She's your problem now. I have others I need to look after."
"Th-that's right! Yue is still…"
Hajime left, heading in the direction of Fair Bergen, leaving Suzu to drag the tussled up Eri Behind. Although Hajime couldn't hear it, Eri was muttering under her breath.
"No… no… not Kouki… Kouki is just boooring… I need something like Hajimeeee. Hajime is the one to love for me! In fact… every girl needs Hajime. I'll need to make sure every girl loves Hajime as much as I do. Right, Suzu?"
"Eh? Eri! Eh? What are you saying?"
"Suzu needs to give Hajime all her appreciation!"
"Suzu! Hajime? Eh? Suzu mustn't that's…" As soon as Suzu realized what Eri was saying, her face exploded in to shades of red, the character who normally acted like an old man suddenly turning shy.
Eri chuckled darkly, beginning to make her plans. Yes… the world would know to love Hajime. They would all love him as much as she did, or they could just die.
Meanwhile…
Hajime had made it back to Fair Bergen where Ehito (Yue) was kneeling, staring defiantly at Shia who was holding her shoulder and keeping her from moving anywhere.
"Hajime!" Shia said, relieved at seeing him now in the relative safety of home.
"Will she be okay, papa?" Myuu asked worriedly.
"Dear, you must be able to do something."
Shizuku, Ryuutaro, Tio, Kaori, and Aiko all waited patiently for his response. After a moment of thought, Hajime gave a nod.
"There is part of Yue still in control. Since Ehito was not able to finish establishing control, it should still be possible. I should be able to devise some concept magic that will be able to extract his soul. The problem will be… where can I put it you know? If we just pull it out, he'll go right back to causing trouble again."
"What method can we use?" Shia asked.
"It'll take some time." Hajime pondered. "I'll need to inject Yue with my vital essence. Using that, I can do something like creating an antibody that will cause her to reject the god invading her body. Kaori…"
"Eh, me?" Kaori suddenly stood to attention.
"I will need you. This may take some time and be very strenuous. With your magic and example, it may help bring Yue back to the surface."
Hajime picked up Ehito (Yue) in princess carry. "I'm going to take Yue now into a private room. I won't stop until I've freed her from the disgusting god."
Ehito no longer seemed to struggle. Instead, he just wore a face of absolute dread. Hajime did exactly as he said he would. Kaori, Hajime, and Ehito entered into the room, and the door shut closed behind him.
The rest of the group waited anxiously as they continued to work. Very little could be heard. There was perhaps an occasional shout or the surge of some power or another, but it quickly drifted off to silence. This continued on for nearly two days.
Shizuku spent some time training, while Tio and Shia lost sleep waiting at the door. The others spend some time resting and recuperating after the face paced events from earlier.
About noon time the following day, the door suddenly opened once again. Kaori came out. Her body looked complete disheveled. She was breathing hard and covered in sweat.
"Did Kaori do it?" Tio asked.
"I-i-it?" Shia suddenly looked worried.
The question was put into her mind. They had been in the room with Yue for some time. Now Kaori looked quite a sight. Perhaps they had… no! Shia shook her head, her rabbit ears flapping as she convinced herself that they were being strictly concerned about Yue's life during this troublesome time.
Kaori didn't seem to realize the implication herself, merely nodding. "We did, we-"
The door opened again, and Yue stepped out. Hajime was right behind her. Although she didn't look unsteady, he was hovering close enough to catch her should she suddenly lose balance.
"What did you end up doing with Ehito?" Tio asked.
Hajime pulled out a little stone which was now glowing gold. Everyone who had seen Hajime's vision when they were using concept magic in the cabin made of ice and snow recognized it. It was the god stone. There very god stone that had saved Hajime's life… and now it contained the soul of Ehito, saving Yue's life in the process.
"So… what should we do with it?" Shia asked nervously, her rabbit ears twitching.
"Return it to the abyss?" Tio asked.
"Nn… Abyss."
And Hajime did, he returned to that spot, the one where he had first died, the spot that turned him into the man he was today. Placing the stone down in the hole in the wall he had once used to desperately survive, he used his transmutation, burying it back in 20 feet of solid rock.
As he stared at the place where he had once resided, struggling to survive, he stared down at his hands. He had two of them now, just like before he started this journey. But as Shia and Yue grabbed each of his hands, and Tio and Kaori pressed up behind his back, he had radically different feelings from how he felt before.
"Is it time to go home?" Kaori asked.
"Nn… Hajime's home."
Hajime nodded, turning away from the abyss and staring at his beloved. "Yes, let's go."
The End
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Don't like my ending? Read the actual story then!