Chapter 285: Even Without That Person, the World Moves On

"...'Young buds, head west, head east. Sharpen yourselves, step over the withered leaves, and bloom into a grand flower', huh."

If one were to decipher only the surface, it was words of encouragement from the Sword Saint to those who would walk the path of the sword from now on. However, to Kyogoku, it was undeniably the feelings sent from her grandfather to his granddaughter.

"...'The Fugaku Style is a movement designed to eliminate mistakes from one's own actions. Therefore, it does not look at the opponent's humanity', huh."

It was the true essence of that "sword," taught to her by someone she met in the digital world—someone who, despite not being her grandfather, had perfectly recreated his sword.
Kyogoku finally realized that this was surely the reason her grandfather had told her, "Do not become like me."

It was surely a truth that Kyogoku should have realized on her own. It was surely a truth she would have either realized, or failed to realize, only at the very end of tracing her grandfather's sword.

That is exactly why she could not yet challenge her grandfather's avatar, waiting for her as the true boss of the game he had left behind.
Only when she, his granddaughter, overcame the despair her grandfather had realized in his later years with her own "sword," could she truly consider it an act of filial piety to her late grandfather. Kyogoku reached that conclusion.

"As for my name... well, Kyogoku (Kyo-Ultimate) works fine."

It was a name that carried a high probability of acquaintances telling her, "No, there's no way you read it like that," but Kyogoku was convinced it was an incredibly high-collar (modern and stylish) naming.

───Grandfather complimented it too, after all.

Having created her avatar with a data name that was exactly her real name—at least in spelling—Kyogoku found herself descending into the world of "Crossroads Killing Capriccio: Online"... the game recommended to her with an incredibly suspicious smile by a certain player... Sunraku, who had told her, "If you want to play a PK game that involves so much cutting and slashing, there's a game I'd absolutely love to recommend to you."

"So basically, it's a competitive game divided into two factions?"

Her impression after doing a fair amount of research was that it was a game designed with PK as its fundamental concept.
I see, it certainly sounds like a game suited for me. While the controls might be somewhat inferior when compared to ShanFro, it wasn't to the point where it would hinder her from swinging her sword.
For now, it would serve as quite a good training ground before she challenged the digital copy of her grandfather—someone she swore she would absolutely surpass one day.

............

.........

......

However, Kyogoku did not know.

She did not know that the player known as Sunraku was an omnivorous gamer mocked as a "Trash Game Hunter."
She did not know that the official website and the strategy wikis, as if they had all conspired together, lined their pages with text and screenshots practically screaming, "The players are all getting along harmoniously!"

And more than anything, she did not know the fact that "Bakumatsu"... a game mocked for its setting taking place during the Bakufu's terminal stage (Bakumatsu), was not something so sweet───!

"Hmmm, I guess I'll start with the tutorial—"

"Welcome Divine Punishment!!"

"Eh? Ah───"

Supan, a diagonal slash from her shoulder down to her waist. There was no way Kyogoku, a Ronin (starting gear) who had just started the game, could endure a strike from an intermediate player spawn-killing newbies to earn titles.

"Forgive me, rookie. But this is Bakumatsu..."

"Lingering Divine Punishment!"

"Ugyobe—"

The player who killed her had his head violently split open by a helmet-breaker strike from another player who sneaked up behind him... and with that as the last thing she saw, Kyogoku's vision faded...

"Spawn-killing, huh? You've got some ner..."

"I'm slightly short on EXP, so Make-up Divine Punishment!"

"Wai—"

Shu, her throat was slit, and she died.

"Alright, leveled up. See ya later—"

"What do we do? Kill (Divine Punishment) him?"

"If we surround him and beat him down, we can take him. Gather some numbers."

"Alright, I'll buy some time... Don't use the meat-shield tactic, okay? Uoooo, Divine Punishment!!"

While watching a group of players swarm the player who had tried to take his leave, her vision faded again...

"Ah, I see! So it's that kind of game! Kuh, bring it o—eh?"

Dosu, for some reason, a katana fell from the sky and pierced her chest, completely skewering her as the tip buried itself into the ground, resulting in her death.
Why from the sky? As Kyogoku was dominated by that question, the players in her line of sight fell into a state of panic and began screaming.

"Wait, this is the 'Sword Rain's'... Gweh!"

"Now that I think about it, I heard 'Sword Rain' and 'Go-Kart' got fired up and went hardcore after getting Divine Punished by 'Coin Toss' the other day..."

"Did he run out of Ammo (Swords) and come to resupply!? Run! No, use the guy with the rare sword as bait!"

As she watched the players who had just been beating down another player suddenly gang up to use a completely different player as a scapegoat, her vision went black...

"Su........."

Her face twitching, she let out a scream mixed with anger and a tiny bit of joy directed at the man who almost certainly knew all of this and feigned ignorance.

"Sunrakuuuuuuuuuu!!"

"Shut up! Rookies just need to shut up and die! That's the etiquette around here!!"

As she was shot through the head from behind with a matchlock gun, Kyogoku thought to herself.

───What on earth am I going to do to that bastard?

............

.........

......

A certain company, a certain cafe terrace.
Despite drawing envious gazes from both men and women alike, there was a woman enjoying afternoon tea with a dignified attitude that practically declared it was only natural.

"Your ability to completely relax is certainly something else, I must say..."

"Oh, Momo-chan. Finished with work?"

"More or less... Also, hand over the scone."

"Hey hey hey hey, weren't you taught that taking the last one is a cardinal sin?"

"I received roughly the exact same education as you did to reach this point, but that's the first I'm hearing of it."

"Kuh, you melon-chested woman..."

The woman who newly arrived and took the empty seat... Momo Saiga, snatched the scone left behind by Towa Amane—the woman whose attitude practically declared she was the center of the world—took a bite, and finally relaxed her shoulders.

"Nfufu~. Still, it's great that we managed to neatly chase Ribe-kun and the others away exactly as planned, right, Saiga-san?"

"Don't make it sound so scandalous. We simply divided into the 'New Continent Capture Group' and the 'Lycaon Capture Group', nothing more. I have no interest in Siegwurm. While they are completely captivated by him, we will slay Lycaon."

"You're making it sound all cool, but for a girl who basically pulled the rug out from under the clan's entire executive management, your mouth sure runs..."

"I don't want to hear that from you of all people."

Momo said that with absolute shamelessness, but both of them understood.
Liberios and his group, for better or worse, only knew how to fight. Eventually, they would hit a wall. However, they probably wouldn't rely on Psyger-100. Liberios's pride of "being entrusted with the clan as one of Black Wolf's two giant heads" would get in the way, and he lacked the courage to step down from the pedestal the players following him had placed him on.

"Still, are you sure about this? There's a level cap removal event on the New Continent, it would have been better to go there before challenging Lycaon."

"Hmph. It has already been proven—not just in theory, but in actual practice—that Lycaon can be defeated at exactly Level 99..."

"He's a bit of a special case, honestly... The more you beat him, the more unknown information he spits out. It's like beating a dusty tatami mat."

While watching the crumbs of the scone continuously fall and pile up on Momo's prominently jutting chest with eyes bearing an incredibly dense negative emotion, Towa drained the last remaining bits of her black tea.

"Now then... Momo-chan."

"Hm?"

"How are things looking with that Unique Scenario?"

It wasn't the secret agreement formed between the leaders of the clans "Black Wolf" and "Wolfgang"... It was a conversation between the owners of Hero Weapons. Exactly as Sunraku had suspected, it was a secret agreement hidden one layer deeper.

"Ah. I've already fulfilled the conditions on my end, but... there hasn't been any particular change. It seems clashing multiple times doesn't affect the next condition."

"So thanks to that, I guess I've entered the same phase as you guys now?"

"Most likely."

The Unique Scenario "Trial of the Hero." A scenario where owning a Hero Weapon is the absolute prerequisite, divided into several phases.
One of those phases was "Engaging in combat between Hero Weapons." The moment the clash between Psyger-100 and Arthur Pencilgon was realized, regardless of who won or lost, the objective had already been achieved.

"I've been hearing rumors about it for a while now, but I guess it really does mean that, huh?"

"Most likely... Thinking about it, having weapons but no armor was always rather strange."

A conversation lacking subjects, understood only because they were both owners of the same Unique. A topic that only functioned as common ground because they both stood in the exact same realm. The next stage of the Unique Scenario, unlocked after the clash between Hero Weapons.

"...'O Heroic One, swing your partner and open the crustal door guarded by golden hands. Beyond it lies the armor that overcomes all creation.'"

"Following the naming convention... I suppose it would be called the 'Holy Armor' (Seigai)."

A new power pointed to by the holy weapons. Who was it meant for... and for what purpose was it prepared?

Right now, no one knew.

But that would become clear... when the voices of the dragons finally ceased.

Author's Afterword
When you get spawn-killed, if your reaction isn't "Hah? What a trash game, I'm out," but rather, "I memorized the face of the guy who killed me... I'll hunt you to the ends of hell and make you commit seppuku...!", then your aptitude for Bakumatsu is extremely high.

Next time, the Epilogue.
Eh? What happened to Heroine-chan's serious mode? I haven't forgotten.
Allow me to show you Heroine-chan's serious "──".