Chapter 283: The Sword Stands by its Own Will

The Sword Saint's body shattered and vanished. Like a fully accelerated car slowly decelerating over a long distance, the tightly wound thread of my concentration—which had been drenched in gasoline and set ablaze—slowly began to unravel.

"............Hofuu."

I've learned something. Above all else, PvP battles using the Levin Trigger: Hazard are abnormally exhausting.
How should I put it? It's like stepping onto a stationary floor after running on a treadmill. An indescribable sense of heavy pressure, as if I alone was being crushed by a heavier weight than everything else.

The flames dispersed the moment the battle ended, and I scattered the lightning by lightly tapping my chest with my fist. The cracks eating away at my body sealed shut, and having returned to my standard half-naked state, I cracked my neck and walked toward the spectator seats on Wolfgang's side...

"As promised, I'm going to flame you guys for half a year, so be prepared, losers."

"Nah, considering how much you moved out there, I don't think I can even complain..."

"Honestly, it started getting funny halfway through because it looked like only Sunraku was being processed at double speed."

"You know this is actually pretty tough, right? To be specific, the second my concentration breaks, I'm liable to crash face-first into a wall, or face-bounce, or face-slide... Hey, what's with that 'Please recreate that for us' look?"

I'm not doing it, okay? More importantly, I'm super tired, so I want to log out and sleep, or completely empty my mind and sunbathe for about three hours.

"Well, putting that aside, you look pretty tired and I feel terrible for bringing this up, but..."

"Hm?"

"Sunraku-kun, you do remember your schedule is completely packed after this, right?"

.........

"Tactical retreat!"

"Strategic securing!!"

"Wait, where did you—Gwaah!?"

Having hidden who knows where, I was suddenly tackled and pinned down by unknown players. Kuh, treating a person like you're trying to capture an escaped animal...!

"Sorry, Sunraku-kun. You have way too much history of dipping out on these kinds of things, you see... The folks from 'Library' and the 'Shining Knights of the Holy Shield' absolutely insisted on it..."

Yoyoyo, I violently thrashed around trying to punch Pencilgon for her incredibly fake crying act, but escaping was truly impossible while being held down by roughly six people.

"And your actual honest reason?"

"I'd be pissed off if you hit me with a smug face just because you won, so I'm the one who suggested this."

"Uooo, even if I hit this bastard right now, I'm the one in the right here!!"

While I was wildly thrashing around, someone holding me down muttered, "The fish market..." Damn you! Who are you calling a freshly caught fish, huh!?
More importantly, you Natural Born Evil over there! You're currently thinking, "Ah, this looks like one of those situations where the villain promises to release the hostages but totally breaks the promise at the most crucial moment," aren't you!

"I mean, Sunraku-kun, you were fully planning to spout some random nonsense and log out, right?"

"As if I would do that."

"If you think looking someone straight in the eyes is enough to make them believe you, you are sorely mistaken."

What a wonderful statement completely rejecting the innate goodness of humanity. I'll remember this, you total bottom bastard. Well, it's true I was fully planning to spout random nonsense and log out, but still...

"...Alright, alright, I get it. I won't run away anymore, so please stop pinning me down."

If I run away here, I'll probably be legitimately put on a wanted list, so I should probably hold back.
Damn it, this isn't how you treat someone who put their clan's prestige on the line to fight against a hardcore player...

"Well, I'll handle all the bits and pieces regarding 'Black Wolf'."

Sighing in response to Pencilgon—who practically declared that was the main event—I briefly turned my gaze toward OiKatzo.

"......... (jerks chin)"

"......... (shakes head lightly, turns away)"

"I see."

"Eh, what exactly do you 'see'?"

"If I had to translate: 'Should I provoke him?' 'He looks like he's about to snap, so maybe hold off for now.' 'I see'... probably something like that? Ribe-kun's mental fortitude is made of sawdust, so he looks like he'd catch fire instantly."

"What a thoroughly unpleasant form of telepathy..."

Yeah, and you too, Kyo-timate-san, pretending to be a normal person.

"Mind telling me why you're staring a hole into me while continuously clicking your katana open and shut?"

Divine Punishment? Oh? You want a Divine Punishment? I might be exhausted, but my Divine Punishments haven't lost their edge, you know?

"Hmm, how should I put it... By bottling up a whole bunch of really dark, muddy emotions, the end result is that I kinda just want to do a PvP match with you."

"Hahaha, say that again when you can win without relying on sexual harassment."

Piki, I felt like I heard the sound of something cracking. That's strange, I'm not using Shakkotsu Saishin anymore???

"Hey, OiKatzo. I heard there's a certain PKer who joined the match with a super smug face, only to get completely and utterly curbstomped?"

"What's that, Sunraku? Is that true? That's a joke so unfunny even smearing it in peanut nougat wouldn't help."

"Kuuuh.........!"

Even an OiKatzo who just pulled off a clean 3-0 sweep runs the risk of being relentlessly flamed if he takes a misstep. So it's practically a self-evident truth that Kyo-timate—who suffered a completely normal loss—would be heavily targeted...

"More importantly, Sunraku, what was up with that highly indescribable form you took earlier?"

"Hmm? Well, basically, being clad in lightning is the effect of this, my body cracking is the effect of this, and my entire body bursting into flames is the effect of this."

"Fumu, please continue."

I shot a look filled with incredibly ambiguous emotions at the fake magical girl who casually joined the conversation as if it were the most natural thing in the world, but I was completely ignored. Is the thickness of his skin layered all the way back to the Paleozoic era or something?
That being said, practically everyone here was radiating an aura that screamed, "Eh? You're obviously going to explain it based on how the conversation's flowing, right?" I had no choice but to yield to the uniquely Japanese reading-the-room pressure.

"This is, well... yeah, just like I said during the fight... I picked a fight with that 'Goldunine the Inexhaustible' and... well, obtained it after doing a bunch of different things, yeah."

"If you'd like the rest of this information, please contact Wolfgang's accounting manager, Arthur Pencilgon~."

"As for this one... Hahaha, hmm... I asked a guy with the 'Jeweler' job to make it? Yeah, it's probably not a Unique. Not a Unique... but maybe something like a Gacha?"

"Ah, right. For the rest of the information regarding this one too, please contact me."

"This? Ah... Do I really have to say it? Ah, yes. Well, how should I put it... It's called a Re-Legacy Weapon. Basically, a newly constructed version of a Legacy Weapon, or rather, it involves an 'Ancient Craftsman'..."

"Hold on a second, Sunraku-kun, mind letting me share that information for a bit?"

I was restrained once again. Pencilgon closed in on me with a dead-serious expression, Kyo-timate kept aggressively clicking her katana, and OiKatzo was directing an aura of pure "I want that, I want that" at me... Damn it, is anyone on my side!? Are there no allies!?

"Um, excuse me..."

Rei-shiii!! (A gaze filled with sheer joy)

As I stared at my savior with my dead fish-eyes sparkling, I saw Rei-shi shrinking her shoulders looking somewhat apologetic, Psyger-100 looking rather refreshed, and... 'I'm not satisfied, but since the rules say they're in the right and I can't seize the initiative, I want to scream and complain, but my pride is getting in the way, so I'm trying my absolute best to put out an aura of 'I'm an adult so I'll accept the results,' but from an outside perspective I just look like a kid on the verge of tears'—Riberi... Hehe, I finally remembered it... Liberius, standing there.

"Well, first of all, allow me to praise your victory as the defeated."

"I see someone looking like they have absolutely zero intention of praising me, though?"

"Well, call it a rebellious spirit born of youth. Please overlook it."

OiKatzo, who had just completely wrecked Liberios, went over to shake his hand (taunt him) with an absolutely fantastic expression, so I'll leave that part to him.

"It was a good match. I am fully convinced that your strength to defeat Lycaon was not a lie."

"Ah, yeah. Please allow me to say 'Good Game' as well."

I'm not mocking her, but even if you're treating someone as a punching bag, they need to be of a certain quality for you to unleash your full power. In that regard, Psyger-100 scored a perfect 100 out of 100.

"Besides... Fufu, it seems my foolish younger sister has become acquainted with a rather interesting gentleman."

"Bofu!?"

Behind Psyger-100, Rei-shi trembled as if exploding from the inside, but since Rei-shi's behavior constantly bugs out, I decided not to worry about it.
More importantly, I'm incredibly curious to know what OiKatzo did to make Liberias tremble furiously behind him while he grinned so smugly.

"Now then... You may take everything from here on out as the official words of the clan 'Black Wolf'."

Gohon. Having cleared her throat and adjusted her voice, Psyger-100 declared the matter that had sparked this very confrontation with utmost simplicity.

"We, the clan formerly known as 'Black Wolf', now the clan 'Black Sword', wish to participate in the Alliance proposed by the clan 'Wolfgang'."

A clan that once bore the emblem of a wolf with a sword in its mouth.
However, that very emblem was now on the verge of splitting—separating the wolf from the sword.

Author's Afterword
Yesterday, while doing the Conan collab, I was making creepy laughing sounds while thinking up new species of Crystal Scorpions, and making more creepy laughing sounds while thinking up monsters for the New Continent (Completely neglecting the main story).

There are a few more details I want to pack in before the epilogue, so this will continue for a few more chapters.