2.8 Vera and Sora

Sora turns towards the center of the arena while saying, “What the!?”  A cloud of dust from a sudden impact floats about and obstructs the view.

Sora focuses his vision and sees someone’s silhouette.  He’s curious about it, but is more concerned with finding Jin and the vice president.  “Ugh!”

Jin, having been struck by the impact, writhes in pain upon having been flung against the wall.  Kuro-chan remains unconscious on the battle field.  The vice president, Jin’s opponent, had been retrieving Kuro-chan, but was also sent flying against the wall.

“Are you al— !”  Sora’s call gets cut short as a more pressing matter develops.

The dust settles and unveils the truth about silhouette hidden inside.  Scarlet, gradient, bob cut hair, the crimson wings of an akuma, and – “Vera?”

Why’s that guy here for?

Vera looks around and grins, niyari, upon crossing eyes with Sora.  “There you are, Sora=Basard.”

—Kyaaa

Many students scream upon seeing Vera’s akuma wings and hurry to escape the arena.  The place is emptied in an instant save for a few students in the spectator seats.  Among them is Yami and their classmates.

Asia and the others probably wanted to escape, but stayed when Yami refused to leave.[1]

Sora says, “What do you want?”

“Ah?  Didn’t Dai Maou-sama tell you?”

Elias told me?  …Thinking about it, I get the feeling we talked about something in a dream…   Ah! 

Sora says, “That’s right!  I remember.  It was something about you coming to see my usage of this left arm, right?  …Looks like I’m troubling you, sorry about that.”

“I can’t believe you carelessly forgot like that…  Well, it’s fine.  I’ll examine you immedi—”

—Dokon!

Vera explodes as various spells target his body.  Sora follows the direction of the magic to find Lydia and members of the faculty.

One of the teachers says, “What are you doing!?  Run!!”

No, that’s impossible.  I can move and Jin… can somewhat manage… but those guys are completely out cold.  You teachers should get away from us—

Vera says, “You inferior life forms are in the way.”

Sora says, “Ah, wait!”  But his plea is too slow.

Magic fires from Vera’s right arm as he lifts it.  The dazzling, red light that streaks out like a gale gathers in one point and explodes.

Sora is unable to endure the intense shockwave that follows and is sent flying towards the wall near Jin.  The wind gets knocked out of him, leaving him temporarily unable to breath.  “—geh!”

He looks towards the faculty once the pain settles.  He’s left speechless, “Wha…”  Blood is everywhere.  Teachers are collapsed on the ground with large, gaping holes in their bodies.  Lydia is the only one standing, but is notably exhausted.

What was that spell!  Shit, the teachers are going to die at this rate.  Well, it’s their fault for attacking first.  Wait, isn’t this my fault?

Sora doubts he can defeat Vera, but there’s no choice.  He says, “Hey, Jin, can you move?”

“Ah… yeah, what’s up?”

“Leave that guy to me.  You take the unconscious and the teachers to some place safe.”

“Haa?  You’ll die!?”

Sora says, “I’ll be fine,” and springs straight for Vera while activating Reinforcement Body all throughout himself.  Only an idiot would attack Maou Vera without a plan. 

Sora shouts out as he stops in front of Vera.  “All of you, get back!  This guy wants me.  Lydia, get the injured to safety!”

To Sora’s surprise, the board chairman doesn’t argue and cooperates with Jin on carry everyone out.

Vera laughs through his nose as he watches the faculty and students.  He turns towards Sora and says, “You’re helping those inferior beings?”

In other words, he means humans, elves, dark elves, dwarves, and beasts?

Sora says, “Yeah, but aren’t I more or less the same as those inferior beings?”

Vera says, “Is there anything human about you?”

“Uwah, how terrible.”

Vera makes a creepy smile by raising the corners of his mouth once Jin and the rest are evacuated from arena.  He turns from them towards Sora with eyes resembling those of a fierce beast stalking its prey.  He clutches something black in his hand to manifest a giant, long, sword.  The situation is the same from when he created Sora’s left arm.

Sora crouches and reaches for the short swords at his waist.  I won’t be able to take that no matter how many times I strengthen myself with Reinforcement Body. 

“Ah.”  I left them in the weapons storage.  Not good, now what do I do?

Vera’s expression returns to normal as he says, “Ah?  What’s wrong?  Oh, I see, you don’t have a weapon.  Wait just a sec.”

What’s with this good will!?  Vera-sama is a super angel!!  Even though he’s an akuma.

Vera says, “Hora, use this.”  He tosses Sora a pair of black daggers.

The two daggers make a grinding sound, saku, as he pulls them from the ground.  He readies himself once they’re in hand.

Vera’s expression hardens into that of a beast’s once more.  “Now then, the obstructions are gone.  Show me what you can do Sora=Basard!”

Like a gale—  No, he’s even faster.  Vera swings his sword overhead and Sora lifts his right arm.

“Uooh…”  Sora was originally going to block the strike, but a feeling tells him to avoid it at the last second.

Vera’s large sword doesn’t sink very deep into the ground, but still splits open a long ravine.  I was saved thanks to that.

This is just like when I fought Elias.  No, Vera might even be stronger than Dai Maou Elias…  Gokurinko[2].

Vera says, “You have good judgement, but dodging is no good.”

Right, Vera is here to make sure I can properly use this left arm.  In other words, I’m not supposed to avoid his attacks, I need to deflect them. 

“Ooh, I’ll work hard!”

“Next, give me your best shot, you bastard.  You can use body strengthening, but that’s it.”

Yeah, attacking with a skill completely goes against his reason for being here.  Letting me use body strengthening is probably a favor.[3]

Sora says, “Here I come!”  He kicks off the ground and flies straight for Vera.  With body strengthening[4] giving him unworldly strength, he arrives in an instant and slashes both daggers at Vera’s face.

—Kin

A shockwave follows the clash of metal.  Vera’s large sword completely blocks Sora’s attack, but his daggers manage eat into his blade.

Now!

Sora puts more power into his attack with an, “Uooooooh—!”  Yet, Vera mows him down and sends him flying.  Sora adjusts himself and instead of crashing against the wall, lands on it.

Vera says, “Back when I gave you that arm, what did I say?”

“Eh?  Something like…”

Something like… “It becomes stronger with your emotions.”  He’s trying to tell me something…  I’ll have more power if my feelings are stronger…  That completely doesn’t make sense…  I’ll just try it. 

Vera says, “Looks like you remember.”

“Yeah, I’m trying again.”  Sora kicks off the ground and appears before Vera with a dagger held overhead.  This time, however—

I’ll defeat Vera.  No, I’ll at least shatter his sword!  I’ll break it no matter what!  The stronger my feelings, the stronger I am—  “Uooo-kam on!”

Sora swings with all his strength.

—Gin

Vera once more blocks with his large sword.

Damn it!  I can’t break it like this.  I need more.  More!

“!?”  Sora’s left shoulder down to his left hand burns and strength gushes through his body.  “Hou.”

—Bakin!

Shockwaves dance off Vera’s large sword as the sound of crumbling metal fills the air.

Yeah, I destroyed his sword.  Sora continues with his momentum, but uses metastasis before he can slash Vera.  He returns to the wall and crashes into it.  Body strengthening minimizes the pain from the impact, but it’s still enough to make his knees give way.

Vera extends his hand to him while he’s trying to stand back up.  He says, “Magnificent.  You completely overcame me, so why did you stop?  The force behind your blow should have been enough to kill me.”

That’s a lie.  That shouldn’t have been enough to kill him.

Sora says, “Fuu, was your test for me to kill you?  Weren’t you confirming if I could master this arm?  In that case, the test should have ended when I smash through your large sword.”

“Well, you’re a funny bastard…  Mind if I ask you something?”

“Yeah?”

“Why do you want to become strong?”

“Well…”  My purpose hasn’t changed—  “I want payback on a certain queen and god.”

Shock flashes across Vera’s face before hardening again and being replaced with a never before seen smile.  He says, “How thrilling!  I like it!”

Sora says, “Glad to hear it,” while shaking hands with Vera.  He then adds, “You’re cute when you smile.”

“Fuu, what a “Sora” like thing to say.”

Thus the battle between Sora and Vera is curtained.  That’s when Sora remembers his promise to Ai, that he would introduce her to the one who made his arm.  He tells Vera and is surprised by his reply.  From his understanding of Vera’s personality, had assumed Vera would reject instead of saying, “Of course you’d conceal the truth.[5]  I’ll go meet her.”

Yami rushes towards Sora the moment Vera disappears.  She hugs him as tight as she can.  Sora, at the moment, is powerless to do anything about it.  Trailing behind Yami are Asia and the rest of their classmates.

Sora says, “He- hey, Yami?”

What is this?  This strength… it feels more like I’m being squeezed than hugged.

Yami says, “Masta, why didn’t you summon me?  I was waiting.  Reflect on this!”

Sora is taken aback by Yami’s words, “!”  What is she saying?  That guy came here to check if I could master this left arm.  Letting you fight would have been pointless.  Yami, you need to put in more effort in assessing the situation.

But eventually, he says, “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

Yami loosens her grip while saying, “Don’t do it again!”

Shiloh is breathing hard from having run after Yami, but says, “Sora-san…who in the world are you?”

I’m… Actually, I’m pretty sure anyone who saw my fight just now can tell I’m not human.  Still—

“I’m a human.”

Shiloh says, “…I see.  We believe your words, but the other students will probably despise you.”

“Despise me?”  That’s right, Vera called me Sora=Basard.  A lot of students must have heard him.  I don’t give a damn if anyone despises me, but I don’t want Asia, Shiloh, and Ray getting caught up in it……  It was short, but is it time to peace out?

Sora adds, “It’s fine, you guys won’t be troubled in the slightest.”

Just, is this really the best choice?  Yami likes being a student here. 

Yami somehow knows what Sora is thinking.  Despite his concerns, says to him in a low murmur, “No matter.  I just want to stay with masta.”

“Sorry.”

–Nobel Diamond ◇ will grow with love and care ♢–

They leave the arena and find a great number of students waiting outside.  Hatred looms in their eyes.  Someone raises a voice, “That guy!  He called the akuma!”

More students bandwagon off the first and shout, “He’s a traitor!”

“Those people behind him must be akuma too!”

The people behind me?  My classmates.

Various words are flung at Asia, Shiloh, and Ray.

During the middle of that, someone says, “Cut it out!  Even if that guy is an akuma, he didn’t run away!”

“Don’t make one-sided assumptions!”

Despite the defenses, most students hurl abusive words towards them.

Sora, out of concern, glances behind himself and finds Asia and Ray comforting Shiloh who’s about to break into tears.

Fine then.  Sora recalls how an akuma acted in a novel he once read and plays the role.  He says, “Fufu fufu fuu, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

The various students quiet down at his sudden burst of laughter.

“That’s right, I’m a traitor!  I was going to slaughter all of you, but then I realized you’re all too pathetic to kill!  It was so much fun, getting them to believe I was their friend!  Just what kind of delicious faces would they make upon learning the truth?”

A student charges forward, swinging a sword while saying, “You!  You really are scum!  You don’t deserve to live, die!”

Sora grabs Asia who’s behind him and uses her as a shield.  He speaks into her ear, “Sorry.”

Asia, despite her surprise, understands his intent and speaks in a soft voice “Thank you, desu no.”

The student stops and says, “You monster!  How big of a scum bag are you?”

Sora says, “Fuu!  What’s wrong?  Weren’t you attacking?  All I did was take a hostage.  Well, whatever.  I’ll just be going now.”

“Wha- hold it!”

—Teleport[6]

Sora and Yami appear in Sora’s dorm room where they gather his belongings and pick up Laila.

Sora says, “Fuu, that performance was completely overkill.”

“Masta, it was horrible.”

“You think?  Hmm?”  Sora then notices Jin is in the room.

Jin says, “Oh, you’re back?  Just like the board chairman-sama said.”

Sora says, “What do you mean?”

“‘Sora will be leaving this academy.  He’s too much of a cheat.’ is what she said.”

She was able to read this far ahead?

Sora says, “I see… Well, that’s the gist of it.  Our time was short, but thanks for looking after me, Jin.”

“…I see, you really are leaving.  Then, have this!”  Jin throws Sora a polished, bluish-white, stone.

“This is?”

No such stone exists in Elias’s memories.

Jin says, “It’s proof of our friendship.  Don’t lose it?  If you do, don’t cry?[7]”

Sora says, “Fuu, I see.  I’ll take care of it… later.”

“Ah, I’ll introduce you to my girlfriend the next time we meet.”

“You have a girlfriend!?”

“I totally do!  Next time we meet, I’ll introduce you!”

“Seriously!?  I did not see that coming.”

“Hahahaha, yeah!  Well… oh yeah, that’s right.”

“What?”

“Leave your classmates to me.  The board chairman-sama also ask me to look after them.”

Asia, Shiloh, and Ray?  The board chairman is incredible.  She even took them into account.

“Alright, I leave them to you.”

Sora then relieves Sura from watching over the still sleeping Laila and places her on his head and picks up his bags.

What did I even come to this academy for anyway…?

A/N: We have completed volume two!!  Great going everyone, a special thanks to my TL, (Gandire), my editor (Gandire), and my poster (Gandire).  Also, super special thanks to everyone who catches those small mistakes and explains the segments I don’t understand.  Your help really improves the reading experience for everyone else.

I’m wondering if we’ll meet the board chairman again.  She can teleport.  Guess we’ll just have to wait for the next volume to find out.

-Gandire

[1] The context suggest that his classmates stayed behind, but I could be wrong.

恐らく、エシア達は逃げようとしていたけど、ヤミが残るとでも言ったのだろう。

[2] I’m not sure what that means

[3] そうだよな、　他のスキルとかを使って攻撃したらあいつの目的は果たせないからな。
だけど、身体強化は良いとか優しいな。

[4] He just suddenly stopped using his name, Reinforcement Body, for no reason.  The author might have forgotten??

[5] 勿論変装してな  That part confused me.  The whole sentence is 私から会いに行こう。勿論変装してな。  Does anyone know if I was correct or not?

[6] Why yes, I do believe this is the first time he’s called it teleport.  This author is so inconsistent!!

[7]友情の証だ。 なくすなよ？　なくされたら泣くぜ？  The third segment has me a bit confused.