I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 2 Read online

  “Ggyaaah!”

  Lea dodged an attack from the tusks of the raging elephant. Then she slid beneath Bahamut and wrapped herself around him, effectively locking him in place.

  “Rekka!”

  “Right!”

  I stood up and ran across Lea’s head. The top of her head alone was bigger than the track and field area at school. I was completely out of breath by the time I arrived at the edge.

  “Doryaaah!”

  I slid down it, then jumped the remaining distance to land on Bahamut’s forehead. Next, I retrieved Iris’s space-age medical gun from her bag that I borrowed.

  It wasn’t just the dark matter that I’d multiplied in the temple coffin. I’d had all the villagers donate a little blood, and then multiplied that, too.

  That’s right. This oversized syringe was filled with the blood of the guardians—Bahamut’s one weakness. All I had to do was inject him, and it would be over!

  I wrapped my arms around the medical gun, which was almost as big as I was, and used both arms to pull the trigger... But the needle snapped when it hit Bahamut’s tough hide.

  “What?!” I screamed in shock at how naïve I’d been.

  I’d assumed that even if Lea couldn’t beat Bahamut, the blood of the guardians would still be enough. But hadn’t we just witnessed his ultimate defenses firsthand? Even if it was the latest in space technology, a tiny little needle wasn’t going to cut it.

  I’d screwed up. Big time.

  And then Bahamut’s gargantuan trunk came flying at me from the side.

  “Aaah!”

  From my perspective, it was like a wall rushing at me at high speed. There was nothing I could do as it smacked me into the air and I fell toward the earth.

  “Rekka?!” I could hear the girls scream.

  But I couldn’t answer. Not only was the damage nearly enough to rip my body to pieces, but I was falling from the equivalent of Earth’s stratosphere.

  “......!”

  It’s hard to describe the terror of skydiving without a parachute. The pressure alone keeps you from screaming.

  I did my best to stop the pain and fear from shutting down my mind.

  Something kept hitting my back, and it hurt. I looked to see what it was, and saw Iris’s bag slamming into my back as it flailed in the rushing wind... Of course! I carefully pulled it closer so that the wind wouldn’t blow it away.

  The surface had seemed so far away, but now it was close enough that I could see the fake temple.

  Hurry, hurry, hurry! Each time I tried to undo the fastener on the bag, the wind pushed it back into place. It was starting to piss me off. The lost time and the quickly approaching ground were bad enough, but my biggest fear was that the wind would rip the bag out of my hands. But carefully... carefully...

  I passed by Bahamut’s knees. How much longer before I hit the ground?

  Finally, I was able to open the bag. I reached my hand into the wormhole inside. The ground was almost—

  “Found it!”

  I pulled the flight unit out of the bag. From there I tried gunning the throttle, pulling the levers, and kicking the pedals—whatever I could think of to get it to start.

  I was still falling. I couldn’t see anything but dirt. I kicked even harder on the pedal, fighting the urge to cry.

  Suddenly there was the unmistakable sound of the engine sucking in air, and the flight unit fought back against gravity to stop my descent.

  “Uwah-wah!”

  The recoil yanked my hands from the grips and threw my body upward.

  “Gweh!”

  My back slammed hard against the ground, forcing the air from my lungs.

  But I was alive.

  “Hahh... Hahh... Hahh...”

  Call me a coward if you want. I’m never going bungee jumping.

  I looked around, and the flight unit was right next to me. I tried it again. Thankfully it still worked.

  My whole body hurt. I felt something slick running down my face. I licked the corner of my mouth and tasted blood. I must’ve split open my cheek.

  “Rekka? Rekka?! Are you alive?” I could hear Iris crying. The telepathy was still working, too.

  “I’m okay... somehow. What about you?”

  “Lea’s grappling him so he can’t crush you. Can you come back up here?”

  “...”

  I could use the flight unit to regain the elevation, but after that I’d have to risk my life jumping onto Lea’s body. That didn’t bother me.

  The problem was that once I’d gotten back up there, nothing would be solved.

  “Gufwah fwah fwah!” Suddenly, unpleasant laughter echoed in my head.

  I knew it.

  “Bahamut? How—”

  “Telepathy is a simple skill for a king of beasts, as you know. It’s child’s play for me to intrude on your conversation. Gwahaha!” Bahamut answered Lea’s angry question with a laugh.

  “Didn’t you go insane?” This time it was my turn to speak.

  “Gyah hyah hyah hyah! Where’d you get that dumb ideaaaaa? If I totally lose my miiiind, how can I enjoy the thrill of destroying thingsssss?”

  “That’s insane enough as it is!”

  “Hah! Probably from a human perspective, yesssss.” Bahamut laughed. “Rekka Namidare, I know what you’re afffffter! You’re trying to get that Tetra girl’s blood inside my bodyyyyy!”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

  “You little insects don’t have any other hooooope! But you caaaaan’t pierce my skinnnn! Keep it up, and I’ll step on yooooouuu!”

  Damn it. He’d guessed my plan.

  “I won’t let that happen,” Lea growled at Bahamut.

  “Feh! Gwahahaha!” But he just laughed again. “Why do you think I’m wasting time talking about this?”

  “—?!”

  A dreadful chill shot up my spine as I finally realized what was around me. It was warm and bright—but we were supposed to be in the artificial world where there was only a dim light. I looked up to the sky.

  There was a fireball above us so big it blocked out the whole sky.

  “This is my ultimate spell, ‘Celestial Sphere of Inferno.’ What do you think, Leviathan? While you slept away all these millennia, I’m now perfect—and the strongest!”

  “What?!”

  I could sense Lea’s panic in her thoughts. Enough to know she couldn’t defend against this spell.

  “It’s almost ready. It’s going to incinerate everything inside the seal, so there’s nowhere to run! Gwahahaha!”

  “GUHYAAAAAOOOU!”

  His mocking telepathic messages overlapped with the roar he let out as the crimson sun grew even brighter. It was like the burning sky was falling to the earth...

  And with Bahamut’s perfect defenses, he’d probably walk away no worse for wear.

  So what about us?!

  “Tetra, run into the back of the temple!”

  It was all I could do to scream telepathically. There was just no hope. Even if we could protect ourselves somehow, the seal wouldn’t withstand something like that. We wouldn’t be able to protect the world outside.

  For a moment, utter despair sank into me.

  But...

  “Wait! Lea?!” Iris yelled as Lea started to move.

  I saw a blue sphere fly from Lea’s head. It was a thin capsule made of water, and I could see Iris inside of it.

  After sending Iris to safety, Lea let out a roar that shook heaven and earth.

  And all the seas of the artificial world answered her call. Hundreds of torrents rose up from the seas and flew toward the Celestial Sphere of Inferno. They were enough to slow it down, but they couldn’t stop it.

  The Celestial Sphere was going to fall.

  “Giyaaah!” Lea roared again.

  She threw herself before the spell, using her body to shield the seal. Her screaming threatened to rip apart the already unstable world as it filled with the smell of burning flesh.


  “Lea!” I knew she couldn’t hear me, but still I screamed her name at the top of my lungs. And then...

  “Don’t... give up...” I heard her voice telepathically. “You showed me the way, Rekka. If we all work together...” Her words resounded in my heart.

  The one thing I couldn’t do was stop thinking. That was the same as giving up!

  My only weapon was a single medical gun filled with the blood of the guardians. If I could get that blood into Bahamut’s body, it would kill him like a poison. But the medical gun was already half-broken after I tried to stab it into his impenetrable skin. One more failure and it would be useless.

  The biggest problem was his perfect defense. Lea’s attacks hadn’t so much as scratched him. The Hero’s Sword and the laser gun wouldn’t help either.

  “Damn it! Isn’t there something...?”

  I racked my brain, but there was no way to hurt him. Especially not with some syringe needle... Wait a second.

  I had already seen how to hurt him. The guardians’ blood had burned away his flesh.

  “...That’s right.”

  Bahamut was the king of beasts, created by God to be perfect. Nothing of this world could hurt him. It would take something else created by God’s hand. That’s why Bahamut’s bane was the blood of the guardians.

  Not only that, but God himself had struck down Bahamut millions of years ago.

  “There’s a spot on Bahamut’s back where God’s spear pierced his hide, and it’s still bleeding.” That’s what Satsuki had said.

  The light bulb came on. If I could get to that wound, I could inject him with the blood of the guardians, even with a broken needle!

  I grabbed the flight unit off the ground and gunned the engine. As long as I could keep my balance, I could use it to go upwards. Iris was still in mid-air, protected by Lea’s magic. This part was on me.

  I looked up at Bahamut’s hulking body. I’d just have to use the craft to ascend right beside him and jump off when I reached his back. I’d only get one chance.

  But Lea had suffered so much to give me this chance! I couldn’t let it go to waste! I threw open the throttle on the flight unit and took off. I almost toppled over several times, but desperation kept me clinging to the vehicle as it climbed higher and higher.

  Before long, Bahamut’s back stretched out as far as the eye could see. I leaned off the flight unit... and then jumped.

  “Guuuh!”

  Somehow I managed to grab on with both arms and legs. I almost slipped right off, but his rough skin acted like footholds.

  “Lea! Just wait a second! I’ve got this!” I yelled to her telepathically.

  She must’ve been too busy to answer. There was no reply. Instead...

  “Hmm? Rekka Namidare? What are you trying to do?”

  Bahamut heard me.

  “I couldn’t tell you!”

  I mostly ignored him and started to run. He’d already found me out. He’d quickly realized that my target was the wound on his back.

  So I ran as fast as my legs would carry me.

  I could guess about where it would be. While he was in his super-deformed “Bah” form, there was a bandage on his back. I still remembered where it had been.

  Smack in the middle of his back. That was where I was going.

  “You—you bastard! You can’t...!”

  Bahamut was onto me. I continued to ignore him and tried to run faster.

  “Ha! I found you!”

  I could see it out of the corner of my eye. Geysers of blood were shooting out of a gaping stab wound here and there. Just like Satsuki had learned from the Magic of Omniscience, the wound God had inflicted on him still hadn’t healed.

  “Tch! Fine, I’ll shake you off!”

  I quickly dropped down and held on to his coarse skin again. A few moments later, an incredible shockwave raced through my body as he flung himself back and forth. I dug my nails in and held on for everything I was worth.

  “Fall off! Fall off, you stupid insect!”

  “Hah! Yeah, I bet I am just a flea to you, but...” Not even an elephant can shake off a flea!

  From my perspective, Bahamut’s back was so vast that it was almost like being on the ground. Unless he hit me with his trunk like he did before, it would be harder for me to fall off than stay on. And there was no way his trunk could reach me here.

  But still, it wasn’t easy to run across the shaking ground, so I had to crawl to my destination.

  “Damn it! Damn it! I am Bahamut, the Perfect Beast! You humans are tiny and helpless! You only exist to give me something to step onnnnn!”

  “...Yeah, that’s right. You’re perfect.” Maybe Bahamut really was a creature without any flaws, complete unto itself. “That’s why you don’t need other people.”

  He didn’t need anyone. He was perfect on his own. That was the reason he’d be able to destroy everything without hesitation.

  “Everyone probably looks weak to you. Humans, animals, plants, even Lea who’s supposed to be the strongest creature of them all. They all look weak. But...”

  Crawling on my belly along his hard, rock-like skin had ripped open my uniform, and my chest was already covered with blood. It was starting to sting pretty bad.

  But I kept going anyway. Because...

  “...Since we’re weak, we hold on to each other. We work together. Alone, we could never beat a perfect being like you. And that’s why...”

  Without the blood of Tetra and the other guardians, I never would’ve had a way to defeat Bahamut. Without Lea’s sacrifice, I never would’ve been able to confront him. And without Tsumiki’s help, Lea never would’ve gotten her power back. Iris, Satsuki, and Harissa, too... Without them, I would’ve died a long time ago.

  I certainly wouldn’t have made it here, Bahamut’s open wound, on my own. I took the medical gun out of the bag again.

  “Noooooo!”

  Spindles of flame burst from the Celestial Sphere by the hundreds and spiraled towards me.

  But I didn’t care. There was nothing I could do to stop them anyway. And that’s why...

  “Rekka!”

  Lea would protect me with her walls of water.

  I felt bad for making her work even harder, but instead of apologizing, I would do what I had to do.

  “We weak creatures will work together and defeat you, the ‘perfect’ beast.”

  I jammed the medical gun into one of the blood vessels I could see exposed in the wound, and pulled the trigger.

  The ocean’s worth of guardian blood in the syringe—a fatal poison to Bahamut—immediately began circulating through his body.

  “GYAAAOOOOOOOO!” Bahamut’s yowling cries echoed throughout the fake Earth.

  Damn... It was really loud...

  I supported myself with the medical gun to keep from falling over. Eventually, the beast’s screams went silent. And that was the end of the “Monster Who Defied God.”

  Epilogue

  Several days after defeating the beast from the age of gods, during lunchtime at school...

  “Hmm?”

  “Oh, there you are.” Tsumiki came up to me as I was walking down the hall. She seemed like she had been looking for me. She was holding a boxed lunch, carefully wrapped in a cloth napkin...

  RUN!

  “Why are you running away?!”

  “Humans should never give up hope for survival!”

  “What does that even mean?! You’re talking to the winner of Food Champion, you know.”

  Tsumiki angrily punched me in the head... repeatedly. Punched, not slapped, mind you. It really hurt.

  “S-Stop it!”

  As I tried to protect my head, I remembered what had happened over the last few days...

  ▽

  After Bahamut’s screams had echoed their last through the artificial world, the Celestial Sphere of Inferno disappeared.

  At the same time, his body started to crumble like a sandcastle. Which meant, of course, that what I was standing on
dissolved from underneath me...

  “Ugyaaaah!”

  I ended up plummeting to the ground below before I could even enjoy my victory. And without a flight unit this time! I was going to die!

  But the feeling of falling suddenly faded away. I looked around and saw that I was inside the same kind of bubble Lea had used on Iris.

  “You defeated the king of beasts. Don’t die in such a stupid way.”

  “Yeah... You really saved me.”

  Lea used her magic to land me safely. I wanted to take a break right then and there, but there was more work to be done.

  “Lea, I need a favor.”

  “What is it?”

  “You said you’d be willing to give some of your meat to Tsumiki, right? Can you do that?”

  “Of course.”

  Something small came flying off the forehead of the giant sea snake. I looked up to realize that it was her core—the girl Lea.

  She slowly descended and landed next to us.

  “Whew... That was heavy.”

  “It was heavy?”

  “Yeah. Look how big it is,” Lea said as she patted her own (?) huge body.

  “Um... So can I take that?”

  “Yes. It’s an empty shell now, so do with it what you will. It cost me most of my power, but it’s worth it for you and Tsumiki.” Lea stared at me as she spoke—and then suddenly grabbed me.

  “Huh? Wha—?”

  Iris had been hugging me a lot lately, but still, I was a healthy high school boy, and having an older girl pressing her body up against me was... Um, it was a new experience. And, um... My head was getting all hot and fuzzy.

  “Rekka, thank you.”

  “No, I didn’t really do anything...”

  “Don’t be so humble. You saved my lonely soul.” Lea pulled away a little and looked straight at me. I could see myself, looking a little unsure of what to say, reflected in her purple eyes. “I love the children of man. I’m grateful to Tsumiki. But Rekka... You’re even more special.”

  “Um...” Her words were so straightforward and from the heart that I didn’t know how to respond.

  “Go for it, Rekka. She’s yours.”

  R, just shut up! And go for what, exactly?!

  As I kept fidgeting uneasily...