——It felt as if everything had clicked into place. Yes, it was true that I was a scumbag who held the desire to freely violate women as I pleased. But even so—— I had longed for a transparent, pure heart. I had longed for Leas Lot, for Sacred Saber, who smiled so genuinely happy every time she saved someone. Yes, because that smile was dazzling—— I didn’t want to look at that radiance with "guilty feelings." Therefore—— it was fine if it was beyond my station, fine if it was a pathetic patchwork, desperately embody the ideal hero. Roar that I am an ally of the justice of the Sacred——!"Rather than me——"
But in response to that declaration. A trembling voice said no.
"——I want you to save someone else. It’s not necessary. In the first place, I don’t have that kind of value..." "As if I care, you idiot."
I cut off Saber’s words with a biting tone. What is with this woman, is she kidding me? Just like when I saw the onlookers freely shouting abuse, just like when I understood that only a future of defeat awaited the Sacred, just like when I learned that my friend Niekawa had been assigned the role of dying — I got angry.
"I’m protecting you because I want to. And yet you say it’s not necessary or that I should protect someone else—— stop making so much noise. What are you getting hung up on, flat-chest." "Flat——!? Eh, does that matter right now——!?"
It must have been a type of insult she had never received before, because she turned a face of pure surprise rather than anger toward me. Well, it was true that whether in the form of Sacred Saber or Leas Lot, I couldn’t imagine anyone directly yelling "you flat-chest" at her. Of course not. But it was perfect. If she was flustered, all I had to do was keep throwing words at her.
"I don’t care about other people, it’s none of my business, so you protect that side. That’s your mission or whatever, right? Then don’t just dump it on me and slack off! Work more seriously if you’re going to call yourself a heroine of justice!" "Eh... ah? Ha...!?"
While looking at Saber, who was blinking as if she didn’t know whether she should be confused or angry, I felt a little refreshed. Because, right? Someone who had been continuously saving others was belittling herself by saying she had no value in being saved. Don’t fuck with me. You’re not that worthless of a person.
"I don’t have anything like a mission—— I just do what I want! According to my desires, I will only protect you!"
While shouting strongly, I swung the tentacles. The ones that bent like whips powerfully struck the combatants who had been aiming guns at Saber and slammed them into the ground. Standing firmly on the ground with two tentacles and powerfully swinging the six tentacles, I repelled the combatants. The barrier only covered the school. Leaving Alter aside, the combatants could not do something like going out the school gate and circling around. Therefore I—— only needed to look forward!
"Hah! You idiot, do you think a defense line of this level can stop us!"
But between me, who had far too little real combat experience, and the combatants who, although low in ability, had been tempered by competing to plunder and kill in their world — it was only natural that I would gradually become unable to hold them off. The moment I finished swinging multiple tentacles, several combatants slipped through the gaps and ran past. No matter how many attacks I had and how wide my range was, my attacks were the big swings of an amateur. If they wanted to thrust through, there were probably plenty of openings. Weaving through the intervals of the tentacle attacks, the combatants headed toward the school building——
"Haha, I’ll take th—— huh!?"
——In that instant, schlorp. The combatants who had tried to ignore me and leap into the school building all fell over at once. Luck—— no, I had been aiming for this the whole time...!
"I was only worried about whether the dirt would absorb it—— but it’s lotion made so that even a virgin can take it smoothly! Of course it’s slippery!"
The lotion originally meant for violating a woman who wasn’t even wet had, according to my plan, served as a way to stop the combatants. I raised the tentacles to the highest point and slammed them down on the fallen combatants. Blood-mixed lotion scattered around as spray. I’m doing it, I’m fighting, I’m doing well...! A smile that was not an act appeared on my mouth. If I repeated this, there wouldn’t be much difficulty——
"——Idiot."
——there wouldn’t be, I thought. I had become arrogant. Multiple gunshots rang out. Dull impacts ran through the tentacles several times, and they lost strength and sank into the sea of mucus.
"Kh...!?"
Looking, I saw combatants who had not stepped into the sea of lotion, aiming their guns at me. With expressions that said This Monster Villain doesn’t matter, but he’s in the way, so let’s kill him first. This is bad. A sensation of my spine freezing. The fact that I had just blocked the bullets with tentacles was coincidence. I had been completely occupied with what was in front of me and hadn’t thought about the ones aiming at me from a distance. But while I had been focusing only on the immediate threats, the opponent had apparently learned my range. From a distance where the tentacles could not reach, they fired again. I frantically turned tentacles to defense—— but a bullet I couldn’t block pierced my abdomen.
"Guh, u...!"
It hurts—— but it’s not a fatal wound. Part of it was probably that my body had become tougher after becoming a Monster Villain—— but the thin tentacles covering my entire body like a mummy and the tentacle clothing of the parka I had put on over them had received the combatants’ gunfire.——But there was no way I could say that meant I was safe.
Frankly, I wasn’t someone with a strong mental state or someone used to fighting. I hated pain, and I could feel my mental state being ground down. If possible, I wanted to wave a white flag right now. Of course I had no intention of doing such a thing, and even if I did, there was no way it would be accepted—— but I felt my thoughts switching to "escape." My hips were pulling back. The gun muzzles were aimed at me again. They were aiming to shoot me dead. At that fact, my legs——
"I won’t let you!"
——began to tremble. In that instant. Knuckle, wrapped in a flash of light, leaped in and purified the combatants who had been aiming at me all at once. At the fact that multiple people had vanished in a single blow, I found myself thinking the absentminded thought Ah, come to think of it, in the original the combatants were about ten people per unit.
"...Sorry. You saved me." "No, no, we were the ones who got saved first. And look, both heroes and heroines help each other! A certain Rider hero said something similar, so it’s definitely correct!"
Saying that, Knuckle—— Reiko—— smiled at me, then turned back toward the combatants. She tightly clenched her fists and burned determination in her eyes.
"Senpai! We’ll somehow handle the school side with the Vigilante and me! You take Alter!" "Kh—— u, you’re... right..."
Saber showed a moment of hesitation at Knuckle’s declaration, but slowly nodded. I didn’t think she had come to trust me, but even so, there were friends in the school building, and I was eliminating the combatants attacking them. Then even if she was going to defeat me, she should put it off until later. Saber showed an expression that was flustered yet somehow happy—— switched her thoughts, and raced toward Alter. There were combatants along the way as well, but that level could not stop her. She swung her sword as if dancing, cutting down the obstructive combatants with the minimum necessary, and slipped through the gaps with the elegance of flowing water. As long as there were no hostages, there was no reason for Sacred Saber to be defeated. Saber, who had retreated near the entrance, closed the distance to the school gate—— to the place where Alter stood—— in a single breath.
"Tch—— ’Black iron, shatter,’ ’Labyrinth, rise.’"
In response, Alter activated magic that he had apparently prepared in advance. He fired multiple iron balls toward the school building and generated countless metal walls from the ground. Originally, it had probably been a preparation for the case where Saber ignored the school building and the students and moved to eliminate Alter. By slaughtering the people she must protect who had been left behind, and generating a labyrinth of countless walls to hinder approach, it was a plan to make her think "Because I prioritized Alter, the people I must protect are dying one after another" and crush her from the mental side. Since Knuckle alone could not fully stop those iron balls, Saber would have no choice but to retreat and defend, or ignore the sacrifices and fight Alter. If she went on the defensive she would gradually be worn down, and to go on the offensive she would have to allow the sacrifice of innocent people. If the opponents had been Saber and Knuckle, that would have been enough to completely shut them down.
"——I won’t let you."
——But here there existed an irregular. While bracing with all my strength, I extended tentacles and received the iron balls. In terms of number of attacks, I surpassed the two Sacred. But it seemed my specs were overwhelmingly insufficient to withstand Alter’s magic, and the tentacles were torn apart with rip sounds. Preventing them a second time was impossible. But there was no problem.
"——!"
Sacred Saber sliced through the iron walls—— and "liquidized and forcibly broke through" the gaps that were created. Before a sharp blade, walls might as well not exist. She cut and flowed into the gaps, cut and flowed into the gaps, simply advancing forward and forward. The time-buying labyrinth was nothing more than shoji paper. The distance closed. To a range where the blade could reach. Alter’s expression twisted in humiliation.
"Damn it, this is ridiculous——! I have no choice, Moldi!" "Yes, Alter-sama!"
Responding to Alter’s shout, a single girl appeared from the shadows. She was a girl of about twelve to thirteen years old. With glossy golden hair in a ponytail, she appeared in a form that combined a military uniform like the combatants with a miniskirt, and swung twin swords that shone black toward Saber.
"——Kh"
It was an ordinary attack. At least, for Saber it probably was. But although Saber avoided it, she could not counterattack. Seeing the girl’s face, she hesitated to attack. Because she knew that girl. Moldiana Calmate—— the younger sister of her lord Altina Sacred Calmate, and the traitor princess who had betrayed everything and sided with Alter. Originally an opponent who should be cut down. But Saber, seeing the figure of Moldiana who had once been "someone she must protect," suddenly stopped her counterattack. That was a momentary opening. That was the final plan he had prepared. The bodies of Alter and Moldiana wavered. Transfer magic—— magic that connected Earth and the other world of Lemora and allowed movement. He had probably kept her in reserve as a time-buying measure for escape, thinking that a soft champion of justice would create an opening because of this. However, there was no smile of success on Alter’s expression. Only the twisting of his face at the fact that he had suffered a crushing defeat in a battle he should have won."How irritating, but I’ll be taking my leave! I’ve remembered you, tentacle Monster Villain—— no, Vigilante...!"
Holding Moldiana who stood by his side, Alter glared at me with eyes filled with killing intent. Honestly, those eyes were terrifying. I found myself thinking things like If I go over to Alter’s side even now, will he forgive me? or If I take Knuckle as a hostage even now, there might still be a chance.
"——Hah."
While crushing the convenient and scummy escape route that had floated into my mind, I desperately put on a fearless smile. I put on a brave front that said I’m not scared of you at all.
"That’s convenient. From now on I won’t need to introduce myself!"
That was my own declaration. If you commit evil deeds in this world, I will appear before you again. Our gazes crossed. In this moment, a completely ordinary tentacle Monster Villain became the Vigilante who would confront the original protagonist.
"Someday, I will destroy you with my magic——!"
Together with those words, Alter and Moldiana disappeared into the gap between space and time. In that instant, together with the sound of glass shattering, the barrier vanished. The combatants who had been left behind leaked voices of agony and were purified, unable to adapt to Earth’s environment. The opponents who needed to be fought had disappeared.
——No, there was still one here.
The tentacle Monster Villain who called himself the Vigilante.