Chapter 245 – Awakening

“Again and again. Do you plan on standing in my way until the very end!?” (Itsuki)

Itsuki rubs his eyes as he shouts at Rishia.

“I definitely won’t forgive you! For you to mess with me! For you to mess with Justice! You are but the opening act, and I will have you get off the stage!” (Itsuki)

Itsuki’s bow starts warping again.

It loses its pure white ornaments and takes on a darker, bat-like design.

(TL: Itsuki is now randomly switching between Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji)

(ED: 4 U tO mEs5 w1th M3! fOr yU 2 mE55 w/jUst1cE!)

“Die… Those who rise against me… deserve death!” (Itsuki)

“Itsuki-sama, I’ll say it as many times as you want. Please abandon that power and return to normal. That dark power isn’t something you need to rely on.” (Rishia)

… Rishia is crying.

Is she weeping at seeing her beloved falling into darkness?

But I believe the current Rishia has enough power to stop him. She once again swings her sword.

Itsuki can only see Rishia with eyes of Hatred.

“For Justice! Die! You are. This World’s. EVIL!” (Itsuki)

He desperately draws back his bow again and again.

All of his arrows fly directly at Rishia.

And she is able to knock all of them down. But I hear an undesirable sound as she hits them.

“Master!” (Firo)

“Yeah…” (Naofumi)

That was the sound of Rishia’s weapon, the Speckle Rapier, breaking.

Rishia… Reinforces the broken parts with Chi as she continues swinging it.

But, it’s probably quite hard to send Chi into an object without a definite shape.

Her face is getting paler and paler.

And while she seems to be getting weaker, Itsuki is diving deeper and deeper into madness.

“Why are you laughing? Itsuki-sama, I have not lost yet.” (Rishia)

“What are you saying? You have already been defeated.” (Itsuki)

“No… Itsuki-sama said it before, didn’t he? Justice never gives up until the end.” (Rishia)

“Kukuku… How foolish. From the start, you were nothing but evil.” (Itsuki)

“… Itsuki-sama, no matter how much pain you put me through, no matter how much despair you make me experience, I will not give up. That’s what Itsuki-sama taught me when he saved me from despair.” (Rishia)

Her breathing settles down, and she assumes a stance to cast magic.

Since her sword is gone, she’ll resort to magic, I guess.

A will to never give up.

I… somehow feel kind of proud of her right now.

For that no-good girl to grow up this much is shocking.

Rishia was a fallen noble who even had to sell herself into slavery for the sake of money.

And the one who saved her from such despair was Itsuki. He became her goal. Her aspiration.

That’s why she can overcome the despair before her right now.

Though she did lose to it once and jumped into the ocean, you could also say that she had enough willpower to do such a thing.

There are plenty of things that humans can do only if they have the resolve to die.

“I’ll say it again, Itsuki-sama. Please release that power. And once more, in order to regain your lost trust, fight for the people of this world.” (Rishia)

“This power is something I will never let go of. I. I. I will use this power to Save the World!” (Itsuki)

“Itsuki-sama! I declare that your justice is wrong! I saw what became of the Spear and the Sword, so I can say as such.” (Rishia)

“Evil should shut up!” (Itsuki)

At the same time, Itsuki builds up his power again.

It was enough power to shock everyone watching.

It was nothing human like Rishia’s growth, or Hengen Musou, or anything like that. It was nothing of such a low level.

Itsuki’s bow begins shining brightly. Itsuki himself has to close his eyes.

I can only see it because I am watching from afar.

… The light flies out of his bow and flies right at Rishia.

Rishia has no time to dodge. She meets the light head on.

But she comes out without a single injury.

The light from the bow quietly settles down in her hand.

And I see Rishia’s Slave Seal crumble and disappear into nothingness.

“Too bright…” (Firo)

“Kyuaa…” (Gaelion)

“My eyes hurt.” (Taniko)

Firo, Gaelion, and the others squint their eyes as they observe the mysterious phenomenon.

“W-what was that?” (Naofumi)

“Naofumi-sama.” (Atlas)

Atlas approaches me and begins speaking.

“From the midst of the sinister aura… a single, pure power flew towards Rishia-san.” (Atlas)

“… Pure? Do the legendary weapons have even more hidden functions?” (Naofumi)

So Itsuki’s bow sent power to Rishia?

Is it lending its power to her… Is that how I should rationalize it?

“Rishia?” (Ren)

Ren calls out to Rishia.

“This is…” (Naofumi)

I was also surprised.

Within Rishia’s hand was a single knife.

Its blade seemed normal in every way, but the hilt had a strange gem embedded into it.

The entire item is semi-transparent. Its existence itself seems to hang in the balance.

Is it an item made with magic?

What exactly is it supposed to be?

Rishia clenches her hand, and it changes to a Kunai used by Ninjas.

And then it turned into a boomerang.

Does it have the power to change shape like the legendary weapons?

What does this mean?

“Wha- What the hell is happening!?” (Itsuki)

Even (TL: Speedwagon) Itsuki is afraid.

At the very least, it doesn’t seem that he’s scheming something.

“Is that so?… I understand.” (Rishia)

Rishia speaks quietly. Eventually she holds the boomerang out towards Itsuki and shouts.

“Itsuki-sama, even the Bow of Heroes refuses to accept your justice. In order to put a stop to your madness, it has lent me some power!” (Rishia)

“That’s a lie! Like I’d let that happen! There’s no way my bow would betray me!” (Itsuki)

“Now I will use this power to stop you!” (Rishia)

“Shut the hell up!” (Itsuki)

More black miasma pours out of his bow.

It’s gathered so thickly that I doubt Itsuki himself can see through it. And with such a demonic form, Itsuki rushes at Rishia.

『Let this foolish sinner experience god’s wrath for the sake of never ending peace! With my heart as the sacrifice, let the executioner send you to eternal sleep!』

「Heldenkaiser Reich」

(TL: ヘルトカイザーライヒ)

(ED: literal – heroeemperor realm/empire; sounds a bit stupid and in german it would probably be one word as the german language allows to combine several nouns into one long word.)

Itsuki pulls back his bow with all of his strength.

The bow multiplies and sprouts many wings imitating those of angels and devils, and all the bows fire at Rishia.

The shots come together and form the shape of a bear-like beast as they fly at Rishia.

“Hengen Musou Throwing style, 「Rolling Spin」!” (Rishia)

After pouring Chi into it, Rishia throws her weapon at Itsuki.

The shining boomerang beheads the bear, and its body falls to pieces.

“Wha… You bitch! Just how much more do you plan to resist my absolute justice!?” (Itsuki)

“You’re wrong. Because you stepped on the wrong path, your bow is merely trying to correct you.” (Rishia)

Rishia raises her right hand, and the boomerang returns to it.

And Rishia changes it to a Chakram.

Her eyes flicker for a moment. They seem to change color in my eyes.

She’s concentrating chi on her eyes.

“Right now, I can see everything. I can see the flow of the energy tying Itsuki-sama down. I can see the power taking over your bow… with this…” (Rishia)

Rishia faces Itsuki and tosses her weapon

「Erst Throw」! 「Zweit Throw」! 「Dritt Throw」!

(ED: I deletetd the “e” from “Dritte” ’cause it would follow after “erst” and “zweit”)

Erst?

I thought that naming convention only existed with the legendary weapons.

Is that a legendary weapon?

One of the Seven Star ones?

The three weapons Rishia threw each take on different shapes.

A knife, a hatchet, and a short spear.

What sort of weapon is that?

Even if it is a Seven Star Weapon, I can’t tell what sort of weapon it is. The Spear is supposed to be Motoyasu.

And each of the three weapons thrown seems to fall into a different category.

「Tornado Throw」!

The weapons circle Itsuki at a high speed, starting up a whirlwind. It blows away the black aura.

“GUAAAAAAAaAA!” (Itsuki)

A Chakram appears in her hand again, and she tosses it at Itsuki’s bow.

“Itsuki-sama, by your word, I have proven that you are not justice… please, won’t you start over?” (Rishia)

The chakram come into contact with Itsuki’s bow and returns to Rishia’s hands.

And… Itsuki’s bow… makes a loud sound and begins crumbling.

“GUAAAAA… My… my new power… my salvation…” (Itsuki)

“I’ll say it once more, but you’re wrong. And Itsuki-sama, please remember this. There are as many forms of justice as there are people in the world. One’s Justice is… always evil in another’s eyes. My justice is the same. Because from the start, the opposite of Justice isn’t evil. It’s justice. Evil is merely the label for the loser’s justice.” (Rishia)

“Wrong… I am… I am… not evil. I’m not bad. I’m not wrong. Everyone is… He is…!?” (Itsuki)

“Even without justice, it is easy to judge and condemn others. But I think that accepting them is important as well. I’d like to believe that any person, no matter how bad, has a chance of rehabilitation.” (Rishia)

“U…uuuu…” (Itsuki)

The bow that had taken on a weird shape crumbles and reverts to the one I first saw when I came to this world.

And as if his plug was pulled out, Itsuki falls to the ground.

From what I can see, it seems that the sinister aura has vanished.

“Atlas, how is it?” (Naofumi)

“Yes. Rishia has completely destroyed the source of the bad aura with her new power.” (Atlas)

“I see. Rishia, what is that weapon?” (Naofumi)

“Um… I have no idea.” (Rishia)

Oy, you swung it around without knowing anything?

You even shouted out skill names!

“Gu… Justice!” (Armor)

Damn. Armor’s waking up.

He sure is tough.

And for him to be screaming out 『Justice』as soon as he wakes up…

The justice cult is amazing.

So even though we beat up Itsuki, the Justice Virus will continue to circulate.

No, but, could the mysterious weapon in Rishia’s hands possibly be…

“Mu… There!” (Rishia)

Rishia throws her chakram.

They twirl around armor in a strange trajectory, cutting off the dark power flowing into him before returning to her hand.

“Ah… This… is!?” (Armor) (TL: SPARTA!?)

Armor’s eyes return to those of a man overcome by desire.

“Hero of the Bow! How could you be defeated!? How pitiful.” (Armor)

“You’re in no place to say that. What sort of king are you supposed to be!?” (Naofumi)

(TL: Watch the Vocaloid song Shinde shimau no wa nasakenai! It’s not really referencing that, but it’s referencing the same line from old RPGs.)

He’s not dead or anything.

He’s not going to be dragged to that annoying save point inside of the castle.

Dammit! You’re making me remember Trash!

“Ah, right! I definitely won’t forgive you for using Itsuki-sama when he was injured!” (Rishia)

Changing her weapon to the boomerang, Rishia throws it at Armor.

It gives a nice sound as it collides.

Torment him more.

“Ugu…” (Armor)

Two more collide with his face and stomach. Armor faints.

Next time, I’ll be the one to beat the living daylights out of you.

“I’ve been wondering for a while, but what did you do?” (Naofumi)

“Eh? It seems that if I throw it, I can cut off the dark power surrounding the controlled people.” (Rishia)

So that means we can undo the Justice Zombie’s brainwashing!?

There’s no need for me to use Shield Prison on each and every one of them.

This situation got quite out of hand, but the result isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

“Good job, Rishia!” (Naofumi)

“Fuee!?” (Rishia)

“And like Atlas, you can now see Chi, right? Though it looks like you have to concentrate to do it.” (Naofumi)

“Ah, yes. I can see it for some reason.” (Rishia)

Rishia, you’ve grown.

Continue doing your part as my convenient pawn.

“Then Rishia, you understand what we have to do now, right?” (Naofumi)

“Fuee… I know. We have to solve the mess Itsuki-sama made, right?” (Rishia)

“Yeah. And for your sake, let’s just say that Itsuki was being used, and that the fault lies with the people who manufactured those daggers.” (Naofumi)

Is it a legendary weapon? Is it one of the Seven Star Weapons? Its abilities seem to be high.

And Rishia owes me quite a few favors.