#366
Final Chapter
At the moment Olivia nodded at my words,
Crash!
The balcony door swung open.
“Look! Your Highness! Master is kissing someone!”
The first to rush in was Eri.
She pointed at Olivia and me, shouting loudly.
As Eri’s cry echoed, other heroines began crowding onto the balcony.
With the narrow space filled with heroines, Olivia’s face turned even redder.
Stuttering, she said, “K-k-k-kissing? Wh-what are you talking about? I-I-I would never engage in such scou-s-could-…”
“Eri Ling, I’ve been watching since the start. It’s unfair for you to be kissed by Master. I want a kiss too!”
Eri puffed out her cheeks.
“Milord. Can I k-k-kiss you, too, after Eri-chan?”
From behind Eri, Makoto peeked her face out.
“Dek-sung. I-I-I want to… get a kiss from you too…”
Next, Rin blushed and looked down.
Her navy ponytail swayed with her movement.
“Nishishishi! Dek-sung, you wouldn’t miss a chance to kiss your cute JK little sister Haru, would you?”
Haru waved her hands excitedly.
“The junior is a bad guy. He only loves the princess and roughly kisses like a pervert…”
Kasumi, standing next to Haru, puffed her cheeks.
“Dek-sung… I-I also want to kiss you… I’m embarrassed, but I want to…”
Aris blushed.
Her silver hair danced in the winter breeze.
“Hawawawawa, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung! I too… want to have a promised kiss with you!”
“I’m not really interested in human kisses, but if it’s with you, my partner… it might be okay…”
Voices from Evangeline and Beatrice chimed in.
“Mr. Kim. The teacher also… wants a kiss… You wouldn’t dislike kissing a woman of a certain age, would you? Teacher, I might get hurt… uhuh.”
“…I want in, too…”
“Haha. Little one. You wouldn’t want to exclude me from this kiss, right?”
Finally, the gazes of the Chairman, Mayuzumi-sensei, and Undertaker turned towards me.
I thought maybe they’d let it slide.
Didn’t I expect this?
I let out a sigh internally.
[Partner. You chose this. Time to tough it out, huh?]
The Black Prince’s cheerful voice echoed in my head.
I heard a voice.
I’m not sure about evil or tough-guy antics, but it can’t be helped.
“Line up. I’ll take one at a time.”
It’s not an amusement park attraction.
I don’t know why I have to do this.
After a brief commotion following my words, the heroines played rock-paper-scissors and started lining up according to the results.
“Master! Eri-ring got first place! You’re going to kiss me, right? Right?”
The heroine who won first place in the kissing rock-paper-scissors game was Eri.
She touched her collar as she spoke to me.
Without saying a word, I pulled her waist closer and kissed her on the lips.
“Mmph?!”
Eri’s eyes widened.
Her face turned bright red.
After a brief kiss, I released Eri, rubbing my lips slightly as I said, “Next.”
Thus began the kissing relay, which didn’t end until late into the night.
With that, the eve of the showdown also came to a close.
*
The day of the showdown.
February 15, 8 AM.
Siren blared in the metropolitan city of Tokyo with a population of ten million.
Wah-oooh!
[This is an emergency disaster evacuation drill conducted by the Japan Hero Association. Civilians please move to designated shelters.]
Along with that, broadcasts flowed from monitors and radios all over Tokyo.
Before the showdown erupted, it was a measure to evacuate civilians under the guise of an emergency disaster drill.
As sirens rang and the disaster drill broadcast covered the city, civilians began moving to the shelters.
“Why is there a drill all of a sudden?”
“Didn’t they announce it a month ago?”
“Is there really a need for such a large-scale drill…”
“Let’s move quickly.”
Though some had questions, the evacuation took place rapidly under the Japan Hero Association’s supervision.
Japan Hero Association Combat Situation Room.
In this room where a map of Tokyo was displayed, operators wearing headphones were busy typing on their keyboards while looking at the screens.
“Tokyo civilian evacuation rate 99%, just hit 100%!”
“Hero forces from the association fully assembled!”
“Deployment of heroes from defense companies and Self-Defense Force troops completed! Air defense network checks completed!”
The voices of operators simultaneously reporting their preparations reached Ichiro, sitting back in the exclusive chair of the association president in the last row of the combat situation room.
All of Japan’s forces had been mobilized.
According to the US-Japan security treaty, should Tokyo be attacked, US military and American hero forces would be deployed in real-time.
Adding the villains from the Cult, who unofficially joined in…
“At this moment, Tokyo is concentrated with the highest and strongest forces in history since the great disaster. Even if Soviet troops were to launch a full-scale invasion post-nuclear strike, Tokyo would not fall.”
Ichiro heard the operator’s voice in his ears.
There was nothing wrong with what the operator said.
After acquiring the information on the Messiah’s declaration of attack on Tokyo from Kim Deok-Sung, Ichiro used his power as the Hero Association president and the strength of the New Crowns to concentrate all available official and unofficial forces in Tokyo.
Additionally, through Kim Deok-Sung’s introduction, forces from France, Britain, and even the villain organization known as the Cult also unofficially joined in to defend Tokyo.
With this level of power, they could withstand the nuclear strike of a superpower like the Soviet Union.
“President, with this, can’t we breathe easy? Those New World League terrorists are just that—terrorists. They’re just a villain organization. They can’t possibly take on all of Japan, can they?”
“Isn’t that right? Those terrorists from the New World League, no matter how strong they might think they are, are still just a bunch of terrorists. They can’t possibly take on all of Japan as a mere villain organization, can they?”
Nakayama Sojiro, the vice president, said this to Ichiro while leaning casually next to him.
Looking at it normally, he was right.
Japan is strong.
With the exception of superpowers like the United States and the Soviet Union, Japan could be said to be the top country in terms of hero power, surpassing many prominent European nations.
It was impossible to directly strike the heart of Japan, Tokyo, which has produced countless heroes, including the legendary swordsman.
Logically, that seemed true.
But Ichiro couldn’t relax.
From somewhere deep inside, a wave of anxiety was creeping up on him.
Especially the League Master, that guy was a monster who had directly ambushed and killed the impenetrable wall and the world’s strongest hero, the swordsman Kurosawa Akira, a feat Ichiro could never surpass even in his lifetime.
Messiah could practically be referred to as the world’s strongest at this point.
Would such a monster really attack Tokyo without a second thought?
“No, it’s too early to be complacent, Vice President.”
That wasn’t the case.
Ichiro thought so.
That damn ultimate villain, the one who killed the swordsman, couldn’t have randomly declared an attack on Tokyo.
“Seriously, the president is so narrow-minded······.”
Just as Sojiro sighed and was about to say that.
Weeeeeeeeeee-oo!
The war room was filled with the sound of sirens.
“Magical energy detected over Tokyo! A gate is presumed to be opening. Estimated rank is at least Omega······ or even higher!”
“An amount of energy surpassing common sense has been detected!”
“It has already exceeded the Omega rank threshold set by the World Hero Association!”
“And that’s not all. In addition to the main gate, multiple Omega rank gates have been detected······.”
“The gates······ the gates are covering the sky of Tokyo.”
“The sky of Tokyo is collapsing······.”
The voices of the operators echoed in despair.
The main screen displayed the sky of Tokyo.
The unusually clear February sky of Tokyo, without a single cloud, grotesquely split open, producing countless gates.
There were so many that counting them would be impossible, and magical sparks were bursting forth from the multitude of holes in the sky.
Pat pat pat pat pat!
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
The magical lightning striking down from the torn sky hit Tokyo’s skyscrapers mercilessly.
Windows shattered, concrete cracked, and a dust of cement covered the empty streets of Tokyo.
Ichiro bit his lip.
Sojiro also said nothing.
There had never been so many gates overlapping in a single area since the great disaster.
“Seems like they’ve come. Move all troops to their positions, prepare for battle… no, prepare for war.”
“Understood, President.”
As Ichiro stood and left the war room after hearing the report, the decisive battle was about to begin.
*
Countless gates opened up in the sky over Tokyo, as if the sky itself had been pierced.
From the largest of the holes in the sky, a sleek, streamlined battleship, straight out of a sci-fi movie, started to emerge.
Messiah.
The flagship of the New World League, the aerial battleship named Ark, crafted using lost technologies from another world.
Behind the Ark, numerous military transport planes in camouflage with a red star appeared.
Countless olive-drab transport planes revealed themselves.
It was the Soviet Spetsnaz and Airborne Forces mobilized by Messiah, along with the villain and terrorist troops affiliated with the League.
From the 1st to the 13th squad of the Soviet Spetsnaz, all airborne forces emerged from the gate.
Not to mention the Soviet transport planes and fighter jets.
But that wasn’t all.
[KYAAA!!]
A chilling scream echoed from another gate.
Alongside it, numerous otherworldly beings, including dragon-shaped and flying beast forms, surged through the gate opened in the sky above Tokyo.
Otherworldly beings and humans.
At that moment, two species that could never merge were forcibly combined under Messiah’s charisma.
The entire metropolis of Tokyo was shrouded in a dark shadow of the army and otherworldly beings.
“Master. We’re ready. Tokyo is powerless. You can declare the start of hostilities now.”
Dokta Shinahel whispered in Messiah’s ear as he sat in his chair.
Hearing Dokta’s words, Messiah smiled.
As he stood up, the entire Ark battleship shook.
Flash.
Messiah’s body was enveloped in black lightning.
In an instant, he switched to battle mode, wielding the blazing black sword, Revanth.
[Ark battleship, hatch open.]
The hatch of the Ark opened, granting Messiah his path to the sky.
Through the wide-open passage, Messiah soared into the air, grinning.
The massive army of otherworldly beings and humans he had summoned came into view.
Swish.
Messiah turned his head.
In his sight was a single island floating above the blue Tokyo Bay.
An artificial island in Tokyo Bay.
Seeing the Shuo Hero Academy, Messiah smiled.
He extended his right hand.
Pachutzutzutz!!
Black sparks wrapped around his palm.
“Golden Magic—”
Messiah murmured the skill name softly.
“Reverse… Heaven.”
The moment he flipped his hand over.
Woong!
A wave of magical energy resonated from his body.
Pachutzutzutz!
An overwhelming whirlwind of mana poured out from Messiah’s body.
The sheer magnitude of energy pouring from a human being was inconceivable, like witnessing a solar explosion sweeping through Tokyo Bay.
Swoosh!
The waters of Tokyo Bay churned, creating tsunamis and whirlpools.
The sea breeze of Tokyo Bay whipped up, forming spirals and dragon whirlwinds.
Brrrrrrrrr!
From the sky, black lightning made of mana struck the sea of Tokyo Bay.
Messiah, who created disasters with a human body.
Declared that, solely through his own power, he already surpassed the total strength of the enormous forces he summoned.
“At last, finally… I will now commence the salvation!”
Flash.
Black rays ignited from Messiah’s eyes.
With it, the artificial island in Tokyo Bay throbbed like a heart.
Throb, throb.
Boom-BA-BOOM!!
Like a nuclear explosion, a mushroom cloud erupted as the ground where the academy stood was torn apart, revealing the ruins hidden beneath the earth, lifting like a buoy to the sky.
Broken World.
The Source of the Meridian, the place where ultimate power slumbered.
The moment the key to the New World appeared before Messiah’s eyes.
