Chapter 68: Traitors are bitter.
The helmet slowly fell off his face. His eyes were crossed. His cheeks bloodied.
I got a full view of something I couldn't quite understand for a second. Until I did understand it-
"Ha.. HAH… HAHAAHAHHA!"
Then I couldn't help but laugh. But my laugh seized with disgust. I wanted to barf. Emotions were mostly foreign to me when I was the demon lord. I never let anyone get close to me. But this life was different- It was peaceful. It felt nice to have people next to me. It felt nice to lean on them.
So when I saw the smashed face of someone I admired for his kindness since the first day… I was shattered.
They lived in Akita. Akita was to the east. They knew about the school. They probably picked up how to get into the town after travelling around for 9 years. They knew how strong Yuuno was. They knew that it would be hard to beat her. So they attacked months after she left. The didn't know the gym was the bunker, we never used it. So the terrorists didn't block it. They knew the server room was in the junior high building. Hell, they studied there. They knew where we lived. Because it was the place where they spent the most time after school and their house.
As the fat boy fell to the ground… I stumbled back and looked the skinny boy.
"Pepe…" I called.
"That was one way of figuring everything out. So much for keeping him safe. Mom will be so pissed." He took his helmet off. Not even phased by his brother's death. They were inseparable from the time that I spent with them. But from the looks of it, that brutal death didn't affect him whatsoever.
"Why do this? We spent so much ti-" I started to talk.
"Shut up. I'm not here to hear a lecture from you- whose parents crossed bloods. Filthy bitch."
Not so nice under the fake skin I see. He wrapped a napkin around his palm.
"Filthy blood, huh? So you consider yourself pure? What's so good about you?"
"THE GOD CHOSE ME! I AM REVERED BY MY PARENTS! DON'T YOU EVEN TRY TO COMPARE YOURSELF TO ME!" He huffed.
Yep, he was insane. He was insane and because of his insanity he- he killed Clintarou.
I expected it to be a noble who tried to befriend me in the past for my status. A noble who gave up. Fat nobles weren't uncommon. Nor were skinny ones. Needless to say, with a personality like mine, enemies came in hordes. But I never expect it to be them.
But no matter who they were I couldn't forgive them.
Every negative feeling in me grew exponentially as I came to terms with the facts. Rage from the death, pain from the betrayal. It all resulted in one emotion- Resentment.
The rain started to fall. The lampposts flickered. Blood falling down my sleeves trickled into the mud.
Like I did for internal communication with Yuuno, I conducted mana into the spear. It grew in length.
He came at me before I went to him. His steps were sharp. But I was all to familiar with his moves.
A kick directly aimed towards me? He might have gotten a skill but he never learned any new martial arts. It didn't matter how whacky the punches were if I knew exactly how they would land. The doubt in my head I had when I got hit by him the last time was all clear.
Now that I knew what came next, with my superior senses, this was just a game of whack a mole.
Pepe used his momentum manipulation and punched me. But the spear blocked its path.
Useless.
"You are pathetic. Getting manipulated. How gullible can anyone be?" I said.
"SHUT UP!" I followed through with his punch and slid the rod under his arm. I turned to his other side and yanked, dislocating his shoulder. "ARRRGHHH!!!"
I pulled on the side and flipped him over my back and onto the ground.
Driving the rod away, I pulled it up and threw it right into his-
"I am a C class Mana User! Don't underestimate me!" He did something I was familiar with again. Incorrigible.
Year 3 Middle School. The kick-up JiiJii taught us. I pulled the spear back like a bat and used his own momentum acceleration to break his legs. They bent forwards.
"GRAAAHHH!!!"
"If you wanted to fight me, then why did you not learn any other martial arts? You knew I was scary, right?" His hands needed to go next. I kneeled on top of his left arm and pulled the bulletproof sleeve up. He bit me. But the pain didn't bother me. "If you wanted to fight me, why did you reveal your identity. Your attacks would have been a surprise had I not known."
With his forearm exposed I shot the two bones.
Using his other hand, Pepe punched my pelvis, launching me into the open force field, right next to the elderly couple. From the distance, I saw lights burn through the rain. The rest of the terrorists were here. Only a couple of minutes away.
I saw Clintarou's corpse next to me. And I saw JiiJii and Obaa-chan taking care of it.
"Obaa-chan, heal my legs and then take JiiJii and head inside."
"I can't! The terrorists are coming, you need to run too!" She protested.
"Just shu- Please… You guys already messed it up the second you decided to go outside to save your villagers. I don't want to hear what you can or can't do. Just do what I say."
"You will die if you stay outside!'
"Everyone will die if I head inside. The field won't hold against a mana user." Especially if that sound one came here.
"But-"
"JUST GO IN! YOU TWO ARE DEAD WEIGHTS!"
That shut her up. I didn't want to speak like this, but hell if I had a choice. There was no one in the world more stubborn than old people.
A familiar warmth enveloped my legs. It felt comforting. Soon it overtook my entire body. I got healed, but not completely.
"I'm sorry, this is the extent of my abilities." Obaa-chan said.
It was fine. My body was usable again.
"Go into the bunker." As soon I said that she sighed exasperatedly. This was against her morals.
I got up like a zombie using the spear and found Pepe trying to crawl away with just one hand.
"NO! NO! NO!" He screamed as I got nearer. But his hand and my legs moved at separate speeds. He was unable to run away from me.
I stomped on his hand as soon as I got there. And smacked it with the rod.
"I WILL LIVE I WILL LIVE I WILL LIVE!" He breathed heavily.
I grabbed his wrist and turned him so that he faced the sky. I mounted him.
And punched him.
"If you wanted to live so bad, you shouldn't have done this in the first place."
I punched him.
"If you wanted to live, you shouldn't have touched who was mine."
I punched him.
"If you wanted to live, you shouldn't have taken of your helmet." I punched him. I punched him. I punched him.
"You lost your right to live."
I punched him again and again and again. Every punch got progressively heavier. And every hit had more pain behind it than the last one. I was just transferring the pain in my heart to him.
I closed my eyes and hit him again and again.
I didn't even want to see his face. Suffer in silence.
He struggled with the only part of him that moved- his torso. But my weight with all the braces on me was too heavy for him.
"MUUGHHH!!" Muffled screams. He held his breath every time I punched. But the duration between my punches began to shorten. "GUUGGHH!"
And with that, he started to suffocate. He reduced my fists momentum every time before it hit. But there was only so much his face could take. His nose kept on getting more flat.
I kept on barraging one his after another.
"I won't forgive you, even if it is you." I said. I saw the lights come closer. There was no way for me to fight the terrorists. But at least everyone who had to be safe was safe in the bunker. Safer than me. I had no means to resist.
I didn't know what to do.
I didn't want to die. This was my do-over at life. But instead of savouring the peace, I was here hitting purely out of violence and revenge.
I kept on punching him.
The lights were only metres away. I should have done something. But every punch made my gut lighter. I couldn't stop- I couldn't be bothered. If I was going to die I would die with the least amount of regrets.
"AARRRRGHHHH!"
I just wanted someone to stop me! Someone to save me from this situation!
Then without a warning, there was a flash of lightning right behind me. Thunder shook the ground. Red currents of plasma circulated circumfering my body.
"Mao, stop." A hand landed on my shoulder. A wind that shook my back, and deep red lightning that surrounded the farm. "He already passed out."
"But he killed Clintarou."
"I know you're sad. But do you think killing him would make up for that? He was just a pawn. If you want revenge then get it from the one who moved him."
I punched his face again. But then fell over to the side.
This was what being weak was like. Enduring pain that you didn't deserve. Inflicting pain that other's around you didn't deserve.
But if being powerful meant that I would have to go through this regularly, I would rather remain a pacifist.
"Why is this place so twisted, Yuuno?" I asked the girl standing walking ahead towards the light. She knew how to be a Hero. I was just a pale imitation of someone who was desperate to save people for his selfish reasons.
Her slim back felt wide.
"Hell if I know." Jet black hair, that shone of every colour in the rainbow. Iridescent reflections like that of petrol. Blood red lightning surrounded her. "I'll be back after I straighten this world out." She disappeared in a flash.
Yuuno reached this place quicker than my parents did even though they were the first to leave.
But it still took her too long.
The next second the lights in front of me disappeared.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
bligboi
bligboi This chapter was slightly moving for me.
The characters I had built from chapter 1 started to take their form. Including her past that I wrote in volume one's extra chapter. So far this one was my favourite.