Surviving a Shounen Manga

The Explosive Conclusion

This was a rather fortuitous turn of events.

That was my honest opinion.

The princess had already grabbed all the limelight throughout this chapter. Summoning a black horse from the sky, changing her costume, and even blowing away a giant in one shot.

And me? Although I was the leading point of view of this chapter, and a fan favourite character to boot, there was no way my trick with the ghosts would stay etched in the readers’ memory.

That was a pretty terrible situation for me, all told.

This was an extended chapter, which started without giving me the rewards from the previous one. At this rate, what’d happen if I lost all the attention from the readers, and the chapter ended?

Yeah.

Just imagining it gave me the shivers.

‘Indeed, it might be better to just have one big match to finish things off.’

Of course, it was a dangerous gamble. The princess was strong, sure, but the bigger risk was the plot forcefully trampling on me.

What if I lost in a contest of pure ability?

Whether the princess successfully became the emperor was not my problem, my problem was that all the things I’d done here in Eastland would essentially lose their meaning. And a character has no future once he disappoints the readers.

To be honest, there was a biting chill running down my spine right now.

But even so,

‘Sorry, but you aren’t at that level.’

I wasn’t without confidence. Just how long and how far had I been building myself up?

The story would’ve definitely been different if she’d awakened during the first power balance adjustment period, that is, the ‘period of upheaval’, instead of now.

Then I would’ve lost. Unconditionally. Without any suspense.

For a simple reason. At that time, not only the new characters coming on stage would be powerful, but the strength of the existing characters would also be downgraded to a certain extent.

This was the usual way to adjust the power balance in shounen manga. Since it’s not easy to keep creating stronger and stronger characters, you keep making slight adjustments to the existing characters and make them a bit weaker.

Of course, you never explicitly spell this out on paper or in story. Because the readers would notice and complain about plausibility.

Instead, you reveal it indirectly by appropriately directing the scenes. For example, during the Ramirez Scramble in the original, Kiriko couldn’t even lift a rock the size of an elephant properly.

Well, anyway, this fight here and now was definitely worth the effort.

The princess was a munchkin, sure, but honestly, I wasn’t any different in that aspect.

“Whoo…”

While I was just calmly watching the princess stalk towards me –

– Hey!

– Hey! Squatjaw!

“Huh?”

A voice suddenly tickled my ears.

It was Bayar Khan.

– What should I do?

‘Huh? What do you mean?’

– No, what should I do here? Should I go to that kid? Or stay here with you?

‘… Eh?’

– How does it look like to you?

He seemed to be genuinely asking.

‘No, what do you…’

– I was originally going to stick to the side I wanted to prop up a little bit, you know? But to be honest, I have no idea who’s the stronger one right now. This is the first time this has happened to me. Usually, for me, it just takes one look…

‘Oh, so what are you going to do once you stick to somebody?’

– You even have to ask? I’ll add some strength!

‘… Haah.’

This crazy asshole…

‘Fine, just go over there. Why are you even suddenly sticking to me?’

– You sure?

‘What, are you afraid I’m going to lose? This time, the two of you should get together and properly taste my strength.’

Bayar Khan chuckled. He apparently thought that I was boasting.

– Remember you chose this, kid. Don’t come crying to me later.

‘Oh, and! When you go to the princess, take physical shape one more time, just like the tug-of-war. Got it?’

– Why that again?

‘Now we have such a big audience watching. It’d be a grand sight, wouldn’t it?’

– Hey, you bastard… is that really what you should be worried about?

I shrugged.

Even if a fight was imminent, what had to be taken care of, had to be taken care of.

Of course, now, even if I didn’t arrange this, it didn’t look like the princess would be treated any worse.

– Alright, then. I’m going. Good luck.

Bayar Khan quickly left my side.

And then,

‘… Looks like they’ve met up.’

The princess looked at me and gave me a curious grin. Bayar Khan was probably tattling about me. That cheeky bastard told me to fight 2vs1, let’s give it a shot and show him! Something like that.

It was kind of a strange feeling.

Coocoo was on the other side, and so was Bayar Khan.

No, even fighting the princess was quite strange.

Weren’t we colleagues just a few minutes ago?

‘Ah, no. She did say we weren’t teammates anymore.’

I’d thought the princess might feel the same way as me. I was probably a little squeamish.

‘But, well, it’s not like I’m going to break down from just this.’

I hurriedly brushed away my useless emotions.

For now, I had to focus on the battle.

Then,

“Are you ready?”

The princess spoke in a voice that was calmer than ever, as if she also had sorted out all her emotions.

“Be careful. If you don’t want to die in one blow.”

I couldn’t help but snort.

“Oh my gosh, this is ridiculous.”

This, was a phenomenon common to characters who experienced power-ups like awakening or evolution.

Their original personality disappears, and they suddenly become the cool and arrogant type.

It’s just an awakening, so why would a character change so fundamentally? But with such a sudden infusion of self-confidence into their veins, they can come up with such a pretentious statement quite naturally.

Time to impart some much-needed education.

“King.”

I quickly recalled the ‘king’ I had summoned last time.

Then, when the gigantic squat-jawed ghost appeared –

“I-, it’s a ghost! A squat-jawed ghost!”

“It’s the ghost that fought with the general earlier!”

“Hey, this guy is a monster, too!”

The soldiers, who’d been silent till now, dissolved into shouts and cries in an instant.

Alright. This was a good atmosphere.

“Ummm… that ugly giant… from earlier?”

As soon as King came out, he looked around, searching for Mong.

“That guy’s gone, we’re switching to a new opponent.”

“… Who?”

“That one ahead.”

I pointed to the princess in front of me.

King glanced at her and tilted his head.

“… Tiny.”

“She doesn’t have much going for her size, true. But she might be as strong as you.”

Then,

“No one… stronger… than King!”

King growled, stomping his feet.

“…”

He was good at everything, but only his poor intelligence was a little disappointing.

“Alright, don’t even think about playing around this time. You have to do your best.”

“King… King never holds back… King! King!”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it.”

I purposefully didn’t summon any ghosts other than King. Because it was clear that they’d all get blown to bits without accomplishing anything.

Yan’s ghosts had egos and memories. Because they could accumulate ‘experience’, it was possible for them to ‘grow’, too.

But that also meant that destruction carried an inherent risk for them. It took a lot of time and effort to grow a new ghost if one got annihilated.

So, when confronted with such a strong enemy, I couldn’t summon them recklessly.

And to be frank, Yan’s unique ability wasn’t very appropriate to deal with a ‘body-enhancing costume type’ like the princess. It wasn’t an ability specialized for adversaries in the first place, and its effectiveness was very low for one-on-one battles.

In fact, if I hadn’t used this ability before and couldn’t switch tracks without looking like a coward, I would’ve chosen another ability instead. But I had no other option.

But nevertheless,

“King, feel free to show off a little bit. Just how strong you are. How about going twice as hard as you did against the giant last time?”

“Go…od!”

I was confident.

Not because of some specific reason or because I had some kind of plan. There was nothing like that. Because King was strong enough to ignore such petty things as reason and rationality.

At that moment,

Booooom–.

King’s fist fell on the princess like lightning from on high.

Bang-!

As if a meteorite had fallen from the heavens, a huge pit was carved into the earth where the princess had just been standing.

“Ugh… missed! Running… away?!”

The king roared in anger.

Although the princess managed to dodge King’s fist, she didn’t counterattack immediately.

Instead, she was now looking at King with her eyes wide open, as if quite surprised by that destructive power.

‘… Unfortunate.’

It would’ve been better if she’d taken a blow while still careless.

In fact, the princess had tried to stand her ground facing King’s attack. She hadn’t even raised her guard, only trying to block that giant fist with a hand. Same as most ‘newborn characters’, she was overconfident in her own strength.

But her horse had felt threatened and escaped without instruction. He’d probably instinctively understood that King’s attack wasn’t that easy to withstand.

‘I never did like that bastard.’

By now I was convinced, that that cheeky horse had also been arranged by the author. A normal horse couldn’t have withstood the princess activating her unique ability so easily. Really, he was much too strong for a horse randomly bought from a street market…

Then,

“… That’s no ordinary ghost, is it?”

The princess spoke with a slight hint of nervousness.

“Ah, yeah. Can’t you tell just from his size? To be frank, he’s in a completely different league from that old ghost standing next to you.”

The princess smiled, hearing that.

“Haha, are you kidding me?”

“It’s true. Tell him not to laugh.”

Actually, I was being sincere. Even if Bayar Khan came back alive, he wouldn’t be able to handle even one arm of King, in my opinion.

In fact, there was a reason why King’s intelligence was so low.

Simple. Because of ‘balance’.

To share space with that inevitable, inexorable, transcendent might, intelligence had to take a back seat.

The stats of the ghosts created by [Dance with Ghost Killer] were basically based on the physical ability of the owner. If the power of an ordinary ghost was comparable to that of the master, a ‘captain’ was about five times stronger. And when two captains merged to create a ‘king’, the power –

“Even if twenty of me rushed at King at the same time, they won’t be able to win. In fact, I don’t even know the true power of this guy.”

– The power, rose multiplicatively, meaning five squared.

The princess’ complexion stiffened even further at my words. She apparently realized that I wasn’t lying in the least.

“… I have to admit it. I was underestimating you.”

Soon, the princess pulled out her great blade from behind her back, and fixed the reins in place.

“Be careful, because from now on, I’ll get serious.”

It was the same posture she’d had when hitting Mong.

‘Another shockwave?’

By now, I was done analyzing the princess’s unique ability.

Her outfit had three main effects –

1. Raising her overall physical ability.

2. Extra defence from the armour.

3. Shockwave.

If the first and second effects were common for ‘costume’ types, the third was unique to the princess.

And I was more or less familiar with this ‘shockwave’, for a simple reason. Because this was the most common ability in the mid-to-late half part of Adventure King.

Shockwave was a kind of ‘representative of a unique ability with no individuality’, and although it didn’t have much importance, it was an ability that ‘characters who definitely can’t be called weak’ usually had.

It was easy to guess why the princess had such a ‘common ability’. Because she was originally a character whose unique ability didn’t need to be set in detail. Compared to her background, her unique ability wasn’t that important.

In a way, it was natural. Because I hadn’t been there in the original, and Eastland hadn’t even appeared before the readers at this point. Naturally, the princess’ unique abilities also didn’t appear.

Of course, if he’d known in advance that the situation would turn out like this, the author would’ve put in a lot more effort into setting it, but…

Anyway, the fact that the princess used ‘shockwave’ was quite fortuitous for me.

Because unlike other esoteric abilities, powers ‘set as strong’ like shockwave didn’t need specific countermeasures. Even a simple punch could offset it.

But, of course,

“King, don’t let your guard down.”

“Weak… can’t you… see?”

“Listen. Half your power… no, you might have to use about seventy percent.”

That is, if the opponent could stand it.

Then,

“Now try and stop me!”

The princess began to charge.

The wide distance between us quickly narrowed.

When I saw the ball of energy that had started to condense at the tip of the princess’ blade, I couldn’t help but feel stunned.

‘… Huh? She might be stronger than I thought?’

Moreover, as the distance shortened, the pressure prickling on my skin became stronger and stronger.

Was this how it felt to look a rushing subway train in the eye?

“K-, King! Not seventy, use ninety percent!”

Soon,

Bang-!

A huge explosion bloomed at the point of contact.

Even though I’d taken refuge behind King, I could feel a strong shock.

But,

“Weak… weak… too weak! I… am King!”

King was great.

He was so exuberant that I was the one feeling embarrassed.

“Seventy percent… fine… hmph!”

I couldn’t help but agree as I watched King raise his arms in a victor’s pose.

“Huh… isn’t he great?”

I’d been underestimating him all this time, apparently.

In fact, King hadn’t been very eye-catching in the original. Apart from drawing some attention when he’d first appeared.

The reason was simple, because Yan himself was neither an adversary nor a ‘strong man’. Moreover, from a certain point onwards, he’d focused on his role as a guide, so he hadn’t even used King in many situations.

As a result, he’d never fully realized the power King held.

As I was coming to understand, King was truly a cheat entity.

His ability was fixed in ‘proportion’ based on the owner’s body.

It was natural that the stronger the summoner, the stronger the summoned being or object would be, but beyond a certain point, that got adjusted for the sake of balance.

However, it was different for guys with fixed formulae like this. Although I, who was the base reference value, might get adjusted for the sake of power balance at any time, the formula itself wouldn’t change.

And I was different from Yan.

I was an existence who power and ability was directly tied to my ‘character rank’ (or ‘class’), and as long as my ‘rank’ rose, my physical ability would also increase endlessly.

This meant my ‘king’ could also become infinitely stronger. And his strength would be twenty-five times my own.

Along with that realization came a feeling that the huge ghost somehow looked adorable.

That was then.

“Not yet.”

The princess who’d taken up her great sword attacked again.

The condensed sphere of energy at the tip of her blade was larger than before.

Then,

Bang-!

Bang-!

Bang bang!!!

Explosions began ringing out one after another.

It was truly a terrifying attack. Trenches were furrowed all over the battlefield in the aftermath, making even a single spot of flat land difficult to find.

But nevertheless,

“You… too weak!”

King wasn’t harmed.

Or rather, instead of being completely untouched, he didn’t show any sign of a wound.

Then,

“Haaaaagh!”

As if the princess couldn’t stand it any longer, she roared with anger.

The ghostly figure of Bayar Khan came into existence behind her.

“Didn’t you say you wanted us fight together? So this isn’t cowardly.”

He’d finally decided to mobilize his power, it seemed.

And Bayar Khan seemed to have fulfilled my request and conveyed my earlier words to her.

Therefore,

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve been waiting. I told you, come at me together from the beginning.”

I also took action.

Of course, I didn’t do anything great. I just came out to the front instead of staying behind King. To set the scene properly, giving the two sides a matching feel.

Then, the conflict resumed again.

Bang-!

How long had it been?

“Why don’t you try some more?”

I looked at the princess, who was breathing heavily.

However, she didn’t answer, only gasping for breath.

In the end, they didn’t manage to completely break through King’s defence.

In fact, if the princess had tried something else other than recklessly trying to attack him head on, the result might’ve been different. The king was strong, but he didn’t have any tactical or strategic acumen to speak of.

The princess’ attacks were fierce, but just as honest as her opposite party. It was a common mistake for ‘newborn characters’ who were drunk on their own power.

“Hahhhhhhhhhhhh.”

“Are you knackered out already? Can’t even attack?”

“…”

In fact, from some point on in the fight, King had stopped attacking the princess first. He’d only counterattacked.

I’d deliberately ordered him to do so, to show the readers his ‘superiority’. That he was holding back quite a bit.

Of course, this didn’t mean that King was completely unharmed.

He had some holes here and there, his speech was a little slower than before, and his overall size had shrunk a jot.

But he was still much better off than the princess. She really looked like it was hard for her to even stand.

And precisely this situation,

‘Isn’t this fine?’

It was the best scenario I could think of.

Now that I’d proven my strength and the princess hadn’t yet been defeated, I could give up on the match.

Now was the right time.

“At this point, I can say you passed.”

I brought out the words I’d prepared earlier.

“… What?”

“I think you’ll be fine from here on out. You’ve grown up well.”

“…?”

“My test ends with this. My purpose from the beginning was not to pass the Warrior’s Path, but to unleash your ability. Bayar Khan asked me, huhu.”

“What are you talking about…?”

“You’ve grown stronger, Princess Thermis. Strong to stand against me. I’ll stop here. I’ll be cheering you on in the future, so let me resign from this battle…”

That was then.

“What are you talking about? Bayar Khan never said anything like that.”

“… Eh?”

“Are you scared? Please don’t run away.”

“…”

What a variable!

“No, that’s not it…”

“Let’s just do it one more time. I’ve rested enough, I think? If this doesn’t work, I’ll give up.”

Then she slowly got up and raised her sword.

“No, wait… wait a minute.”

“Yeah, you really are strong. I admit it. Still, I’ll just have to try.”

…

Everything’s ruined.

For those newly awakened, one cliché always applied unconditionally. When they lost all their strength, they’d pass out.

If the princess fainted, there’d be no way out.

I’d win right away.

It was a disaster!

‘No, wait, wait, wait. Is this really alright?’

As I watched the princess prepare for a final blow, I fell into utter confusion.

If this was her last ultimate blow, the plot might really develop towards a mutual KO.

But when I thought about it, that didn’t mean I was going to lose. ‘King’ might be defeated by her final blow, but I’d still be standing. It was unlikely that the author would suddenly bestow the princess with power beyond plausibility.

Then I would win.

Until recently, I’d honestly thought that the author might reverse the original development. Binding me, not the princess, to the Skull Empire.

But watching her awaken, I’d changed my mind. I thought the storyline would get back on track.

The reason was simple. Because the princess had taken all the spotlight so far through her beautiful awakening and flashy show of strength.

Wouldn’t it be strange to create such a character and then throw it away?

If I defeated the princess here, her character would become meaningless. A character designed as the final winner, defeated at its first appearance?

And if that happened, all the future developments planned in advance would also become useless.

It was confusing.

Was this really alright?

Would she really lose here like this?

Really?

“Let’s go…!”

“Ugh! Who cares! King, a hundred percent! Let’s just throw some hands and see what happens!”

That was then.

– Wait a moment! Wait a moment!!

A shout sounded from somewhere like a miracle.

A voice echoed in the air as if coming through a megaphone.

– Can I stop you two for a second?

Surprisingly, the one speaking – was Khan.

And Khan was the only person on this battlefield who could stop the princess from acting.

“…”

After I confirmed that the princess’ ball of energy had stopped growing, I also took a step back.

“I think it’s Khan? Let’s see what he wants first.”

“…”

The princess, who’d been lost in thought for a moment, also lowered her sword, although she looked unwilling, like she didn’t have a choice in the matter.

Soon after,

– Did you stop? Oh, did you both stop? I’m glad. I was wondering what to do if I was late.

Khan’s playful voice rang out again.

– Sorry for interrupting. It’s no big deal, it’s just… I had a meeting with the ministers a while ago, you know? This is the first time in the history of the Warrior’s Path that we’ve seen two so powerful contestants… so how about having both camps win? From the empire’s point of view, to be honest, it’s not very pleasant to win one and lose the other. How about you, my people? I think the rules were broken from the point the general was included, anyway. Since this is how things are… shall we pass the both of them?

Then,

“Oooooh!”

“Great idea!”

“Right!”

The cheers of the people could be heard from far away.

– So how about it, you two?

“…”

That’s right.

I’d been thinking this whole time, that something was odd. Two incompatible developments seemed to be progressing at the same time.

‘… He’s got a good head on his shoulders.’

The main plot thread with the princess becoming the emperor would continue, while also tying me down as a bonus.

A well-thought-out scheme, all in all.

I didn’t know if this was the emperor’s own idea or the author’s intention shining through.

And since I’d already mentioned surrendering, I couldn’t possibly refuse.

After the princess and I both agreed, the rest was easy.

At Khan’s command, the test was immediately announced to be over, and for the first time in history, two camps were registered as victors.

In addition, Khan proceeded with the pledging ceremony on the spot. A ritual in which those who passed through the Warrior’s Path decided who they would be loyal to.

For some reason, he didn’t want to delay even a single second.

The first was the princess.

As if she had already thought it through, she spoke immediately.

“I will serve the empire itself, not anybody specific within the empire!”

It might’ve sounded confusing, but no one objected. Rather, everyone nodded, probably because this was exactly the same declaration that Bayar Khan had made in the past.

As everyone had seen with their own eyes, she was the one blessed with Bayar Khan’s protection.

Next was my turn.

In fact, this ‘oath of allegiance’ was what I had to avoid the most. This was the basis of the fetters that would lock me here.

‘Well, it’s already too late for that, but…’

However, fortunately, I’d already devised a plan for this, just in case.

Of course, it wasn’t my best option.

But depending on you looked at it, it might not be all that bad.

“The one I will be loyal to is the woman next to me. A warrior like me, an indomitable woman who has risen to this position through many hardships and life and death. And… who will lead the bright future of the Skull Empire.”

Then, I winked at the princess who was looking at me in shock.

“I’ve done all I could, so now it’s time for me to go.”