Chapter 14: Completely Synchronized

The trigger was pulled.

The dry crack of a gunshot rang out across the impossibly blue sky.

As though that had been the starting signal, the girl in hakama sprinted forward.

In her hand was an unrefined, brutally simple Japanese sword.

Without the slightest hesitation, the girl charged straight at the enemy that mimicked a god.

"Phantom Style—Shower."

The moment she closed the distance, Hazuki's sword unleashed a fierce flurry of strikes. A sweeping horizontal slash, followed by an upward cut from below. Then, from there, a devastating thrust.

Her movements were smooth, almost like a choreographed sword demonstration. Yet every single blow was packed with tremendous destructive force.

Perhaps "like a demon god" was the perfect way to describe her now.

The body of the amorphous god took all of those attacks head-on and violently flickered. Its hologram-like body did not bleed, but its movements had clearly become sluggish.

The amorphous god took a step backward, seemingly shaken.

A desperate defensive measure unbefitting of a being worthy of the name "god."

But waiting at the spot where it retreated was the protagonist, already holding his sword at the ready.

As though Hazuki had known this would happen, she immediately rushed forward and raised her sword.

A perfectly synchronized, flawless combination.

""Phantom Style—Waterfall!""

Unable to defend against the pincer attack, the amorphous god took the full force of two swords descending upon it like mirror images.

"Gh, gaaahhhhh! Blasphemy... atone... for your sins!"

"Shut up."

Another bullet followed up against the weakened amorphous god. The 9mm round fired from the muzzle struck its head with pinpoint accuracy.

"AAAAAAAAH! Divine punishment! Divine punishment! Divine punishment!"

The amorphous god went berserk with rage after taking the bullet.

Dark clouds suddenly rolled in, followed by bolts of lightning.

However, their accuracy was far worse than before. The three of us—me, Hazuki, and the protagonist—easily dodged them.

"Tch. As I thought, we don't have enough firepower for the finishing blow. That pseudo-immortality attribute is keeping the bastard from going down."

I clicked my tongue as I swapped out the magazine of my handgun.

Hazuki and the protagonist, who had been fighting alongside me, also fell back for the moment to catch their breath.

"I'll keep holding that thing back. Could the two of you think of a way to defeat it?"

"What!? Hey, Hazuki!"

After throwing those words at us without waiting for a response, she immediately tightened her grip on her sword and charged toward the amorphous god.

"...Seriously. Does she actually think I'll solve everything if she leaves me to figure it out...?"

It was an almost painfully awkward kind of trust. Or maybe an unbearably heavy one.

But right now, I had to live up to it.

I'd already decided to stop running away and looking for an easy way out.

"Raika, do you have any ideas?"

"I've got one. First, let's establish the obvious: with the way I am now, there's no way I can defeat that thing."

I'm not the protagonist or anything. Just because I'd managed to swallow down a little of my past trauma didn't mean I'd suddenly become stronger.

Hazuki was doing a good job keeping it restrained, but I still couldn't land the finishing blow. Personally, I'd rather take her and retreat for the moment.

"What if we call everyone else over?"

"...Probably not. The angels surrounding this bastard are strong. Everyone's probably already worn down. That's why I was supposed to weaken it by becoming a pseudo-sacrifice."

"I won't let you. Absolutely not."

The way he stared at me made me uncomfortable, so I looked away.

"Fine. If there's any possibility, it's 'Perfect Synchronization.' It's an upgraded version of Bluffer Wearing. But like I explained before, it's a risky technique. Even with you and Hazuki, there's no guarantee it'll succeed..."

In the original story, the protagonist succeeded in achieving Perfect Synchronization with Hazuki because he had been pushed into an extreme situation after losing Salvation Kanon.

Hazuki's awakening after being driven to the brink. The protagonist beginning to realize his mission. Those things overlapped, resulting in a miraculous attack that succeeded.

There was no way we could recreate that in the current situation.

With me, an impurity in the equation, having survived, that possibility had disappeared.

As I racked my brain for an alternative, his words reached my ears.

"Then I'll synchronize with Raika."

"............Huh?"

It took me several seconds to process what he'd said before I managed to respond.

I looked into his eyes, wondering if he'd lost his mind, but his gaze was completely serious.

"Do you even remember what I explained? Perfect Synchronization is the complete version of Bluffer Wearing. More than anything, it requires mutual understanding and a relationship built on trust."

"I remember perfectly. That's why I'm asking you."

"............?"

I couldn't understand why he was speaking with such absolute confidence, and I remained completely bewildered.

"Because you're the person who understands me best, aren't you? You have to, if you can give me advice that accurate. And I also saw your past just now, so I understand you too. Not everything about you, but enough. Of all the Bluffer Wielders I have right now, you're the one I have the greatest mutual understanding with, Raika."

"N-No, no, no! You trained with Hazuki like crazy! Didn't you two talk about all sorts of things!? And what about Mana!? She's practically the definition of an easy-to-understand airhead, and you're choosing me of all people...?"

"I'm just telling you what I think is the optimal solution. Will you lend me your strength?"

I scratched my head vigorously. Had this guy always been this stupid?

Wasn't he supposed to be the kind of guy who simply lacked knowledge, but could still somehow grasp the right answer when it really mattered?

I didn't understand.

My mind was clearer than it had ever been, yet I couldn't comprehend what the person standing in front of me was thinking at all.

But his eyes were the eyes of an honest person—the kind I'd once admired.

The girl who spoke passionately about music. The girl who couldn't lie. Someone I'd yearned for, someone I could never become like no matter how much I wished for it.

"—Ah, fine! Just don't let yourself get swallowed up! Give me your hand!"

"Okay."

To make sure my fantasy was conveyed properly, I grasped his hand firmly.

It was large and calloused, completely different from my small hand as I was now.

I could feel power filling the space around him.

With solemnity, he began the ritual of entering the fantasy.

"That which is the fantasy of girls, the vessel of endless imagination. Entrust that dream to my body, the anchor. Bluffer Wearing—Perfect Synchronization."

I could feel my power flowing into him.

My fantasy—the bravado I had dressed up in lies—was becoming his strength.

Before long, a small handgun appeared in his hand.

A black, utterly ordinary automatic pistol.

The standard weapon I used more than any other.

He stared at it, then slowly raised it in front of his chest and aimed the muzzle at the distant amorphous god.

"Phantasm Bullet loaded. Beginning energy charge. Charge level: 10%."

Power began to swirl.

The utterly ordinary handgun started emitting rainbow-colored light.

There was clearly far more power coursing through it than when I used it myself.

Rainbow light poured from his body and was drawn into the handgun.

It was a sight far more divine than that counterfeit god could ever hope to be.

"In the name of the Anchor, disengage the safety. Raise the bullet's reality-deviation rate to its limit. Mobilize every available resource, with the entirety of it to be poured into this single strike."

The light enveloping the gun grew brighter and brighter.

Even beneath the sky so blue it looked as though someone had painted it with a brush, its beauty was impossible to ignore.

His imposing eyes fixed squarely upon the target.

It had the core strength of Hazuki, the resolute will of Mana, and the kind of charisma you'd expect from the protagonist of a story.

"Ah..."

I couldn't help but catch my breath. The sight before me was a little overwhelming.

But it looked like it would take a little more time before he could unleash that brilliance.

If he fired a bullet with that much power condensed into it, he probably wouldn't be able to move properly for a while afterward.

"Hazuki! I'll buy him time until he's ready!"

"Yeah... Leave it to me!"

Even though she probably didn't fully understand the situation, Hazuki answered forcefully without taking her eyes off the front.

The amorphous god turned its gaze toward us. Perhaps, upon seeing him surrounded by rainbow-colored light, it had realized that he was the one who would destroy it.

I immediately began attacking.

"Switching—Assault Rifle."

I'd thought I'd already used up all my strength earlier, yet somehow I still felt like I could keep going.

That feeling of omnipotence, of being capable of doing anything, was something I'd thought I'd gradually lost as I'd gotten older.

"Take this...!"

A steady burst of gunfire rang out.

Semi-automatic fire from a distance.

The large-caliber rounds struck the hologram-like body cleanly, dealing damage.

"I'll join you... Phantom Style—Headlong Charge."

A powerful thrust pierced through the amorphous god, drawing a groan from it.

There wasn't the slightest sign of weakness in Hazuki's swordsmanship.

She should have been the most exhausted of all of us, yet the ferocity of a demon god and the sharpness of her technique showed no sign of fading.

Could it be that what happened today had somehow helped her grow?

"Phantasm Bullet, energy charge level: 50%."

The rainbow-colored light surrounding him grew even brighter.

As though trying to stop him, the amorphous god suddenly made a violent move.

"Go... to hellllllllll!"

The amorphous god manifested a three-pronged spear and began winding up to throw it.

Hazuki was the one who reacted.

"HAaaaaaaaah!"

She leaped like a rocket, her sword flashing through the air.

Without missing its mark, the amorphous god's right arm was severed cleanly in two.

"Ah... AAAAAAH!"

"—Phantasm Bullet, energy charge level: 80%."

The amorphous god didn't even attempt to regenerate its severed right arm before making its next move.

With its remaining left arm, it sent the defenseless Hazuki flying, then raised that arm toward the heavens.

"Judgment... of thunder...!"

Dark clouds instantly gathered overhead, and lightning crashed down upon the amorphous god. A lightning-forged throwing spear materialized in its left hand.

"Switching—Rocket Launcher."

I gathered every last bit of strength I had and manifested a powerful weapon with terrible energy efficiency.

The rocket fired from the launcher struck its left arm directly, blowing it apart along with the lightning spear.

"AAAAAAARGH! Heresy! Heresy! Heresy!"

The amorphous god screamed after losing both arms. It was taking a considerable amount of time to regenerate them.

And while it was occupied with that, his preparations were complete.

"—Phantasm Bullet, energy charge level: 100%. Firing sequence ready."

The rainbow-colored light overflowing from his body reached its critical point.

When the light packed into the handgun became blindingly bright, he finally pulled the trigger.

"Bind fiction together. Deceive reality to the very end. Phantasm Bullet—Fire."

The gunshot thundered through the ruined city center, far louder than any bolt of lightning.

The small-caliber round, wrapped in rainbow-colored light, raced straight toward the amorphous god as though air resistance and gravity didn't exist.

Then it pierced straight through its forehead.

"Ah... ah... AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The humanoid figure that had been flickering unstably began crumbling apart.

The fiction of a "god," forcibly bound together, could no longer maintain its unstable form.

"It's not over yet...! Bring judgment upon this world... Bring judgment upon humanity...!"

It stretched a hand toward the heavens as though begging for salvation, but there was no hand anywhere that would reach down to save the crumbling imitation of a god.

"People can live without clinging to a god."

With a single swing of her sword, Hazuki severed the last remaining head of the god.

"Ah..."

The amorphous god's body vanished completely.

Seeing it, I felt an immense wave of relief as though every ounce of strength had suddenly drained from my body.

"...Ah. We really did defeat it without sacrificing anyone."

As the reality of what we'd accomplished finally sank in, I could feel the strength draining from my body even more.

I'd already been at my limit from overusing my power.

My eyelids were heavy, and my consciousness was beginning to grow hazy.

I relaxed and fell backward toward the ground. Well, I figured it was okay to rest for a little while now.

The protagonist and Hazuki could handle everything from here.

Just before my back hit the ground, I felt someone's hand catch me.

"...Raika, you're honestly pretty cute when you're asleep."

"She's basically a normal girl when she's not trying so hard to keep up that tough act."

Just before my consciousness faded completely, I could have sworn I heard an incredibly irritating conversation.