52 Chapter 52: Shooting Stars

After dispatching Elia and the infantry to escort the prisoners-of-war back to Haemorage, I raced back to the tank company to hitch a ride toward Sakaguchi's position. Over the communicator, I could hear sounds of war as squads repeated requested for backup or reported staggering losses. Without the bulk of her forces, Lilith was launching an attack with what little remained of her castle guard, and they seemed to be struggling.

Then again, after intercepting the reinforcements that Miyazawa intended to bring, Sakaguchi's surviving forces were also being whittled down. All I had to do was show up with my tanks and we would utterly crush them.

The main factor, of course, was Sakaguchi Seiji himself. That guy could turn the tide of battle all by himself.

Will Lilith Scarlet really be able to defeat him?

I wasn't leaving anything to chance. Sakaguchi and his girlfriend, Asakura Akane, had tried to kill me. That meant I was bound to exact my revenge on them both and kill them. I didn't care how they died, only that they did.

The tanks smashed through the forested terrain, uprooting trees and trampling roots as they relentlessly forged a path toward Sakaguchi's camp. I silently urged the tanks to hurry even as I sat in a tank commander's seat. I could only hope that we wouldn't be too late. Fortunately, based on what I heard over the communicators, the vampires were still holding strong.

"Sir!"

The communications officer suddenly twisted toward me, his eyes wide in surprise. I glanced at him, broken out of my thoughts.

"What is it?"

"Reports from ahead! There's a single person…an Evelyn's Chosen standing in our path!"

"Sakaguchi? He's already here? Did he somehow break free of the camp to reinforce Miyazawa and her troops?"

The communications officer, Drax, merely stared at me blankly. Unlike me or the humans, he wasn't very familiar with the names of the heroes. The name Sakaguchi meant nothing to him. Cursing myself for forgetting that, I corrected my statement.

"Is it the paladin we fought yesterday?"

"Uh…no, sir. It's another girl this time. With long blond hair and a petite figure. She looks like a magician type."

"Give me a visual," I ordered as I flicked on holographic displays. I quickly scanned the pictures and saw an image of Hoshizaki Kozue standing right in the path of the lumbering tanks, completely fearless.

"Tanaka-kun, right?"

Even without a communicator, I could somehow hear Hoshizaki's voice clearly. I stiffened, and then proceeded to open the hatch and rise out of the tank.

"Hoshizaki. You're here to reinforce Sakaguchi?"

"Not exactly."

"Fire!"

However, Hoshizaki merely raised a hand.

"No way…!"

The demons gasped as a shimmering forcefield appeared over Hoshizaki, sparkling with what looked like thousands of glittering stars. The plasma beams dissipated harmlessly over the starry barrier, vanishing into nothingness.

"Fire again!"

Hoshizaki frowned and then flicked a single hand. A comet roared from above and slammed into the lead tank, sending it flipping over and exploding. Smoke poured out of its husk as it came to a shuddering stop against several thick trees.

Daniel shouted something, and the armored column roared a second time.

However, just as before, the tanks proved ineffective against Hoshizaki's starry barrier. Another gesture of her hand and a second tank exploded, torn into smithereens as another meteor slammed into it mercilessly.

"We can do this all day, or you can listen to what I have to say."

Even as Hoshizaki calmly stated, a barrage of meteors materialized above her head. I gulped. If she willed it, she would reduce the entire armor column into wreckage.

They were right.

I had thought the rumors an exaggeration, that it would be difficult for the heroes to so easily destroy the tanks. The way Regis Gremory had explained how it was so inefficient and pointless to manufacture such expensive tanks, only for them to be so easily destroyed by a single spell from a hero, I had thought he was being overly dramatic.

But right in front of my eyes, Hoshizaki had proven that the rumors were true. There was nothing my tanks could do against her. With a single snap of her fingers, she could annihilate the entire armored company by herself and there was nothing – absolutely nothing we could do to stop her. We couldn't even put a scratch on her.

Heroes were on a completely different dimension from normal soldiers and weaponry.

"Cease fire," I ordered. Daniel's surprised voice crackled over the communicator.

"Sir…? Are you sure?"

"Sure as sure," I replied. "Pull back. Stop shooting. The Evelyn's Chosen is correct. She can wipe us out if she chooses to. I'm the only one who stands a chance against her."

Daniel didn't argue against that. He and the armored company had probably witnessed firsthand how I defeated Miyazawa Miyako. They knew better than to question my abilities – especially after getting two of our tanks destroyed in an instance.

"Yes, sir. We'll be in standby, just in case."

"I appreciate it."

Clambering out of the turret, I dropped to the ground and straightened myself to stare at Hoshizaki. Clutching my staff, I approached her, my eyes cold and grim.

"So…you're here to kill me as well?"

I was sick and tired of my former classmates' nonsense. Every single one of them was out to kill me for some stupid, contrived reason. Because they hated me. Because I went against the natural order and refused to accept being a pathetic loser who should just allow myself to get bullied. Because I was apparently weaker than them. Because I would seek revenge and kill them first if they didn't kill me preemptively.

Fucking bullshit.

I had enough. If they wanted a piece of me, I was going to destroy every single person in my class.

However, Hoshizaki's reaction surprised me.

"What? No! Why would I want to kill you?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "You tell me."

"I have no reason to kill you," Hoshizaki replied with a puzzled frown. "I don't know what you've been doing up till now, but surely you can't be worse than Kobayashi-kun."

I blinked at that. Well, this was a surprise. This was the first time a former classmate of mine said that she had no intention of killing me. Having experienced so many attempts on my life over what seemed like the most ridiculous reasons, I couldn't believe I found it absurd that there existed a single former classmate who didn't plan on killing me.

That didn't mean I could trust her, though.

"So? Why are you here then? I'm sure you can tell that I'm fighting on the side of the demons."

"Yes." Hoshizaki nodded. "And that's exactly why we need you."

"'We'?" I stared at her, taken aback.

"Yes," Hoshizaki responded curtly. "The Eight Guardians and our leader, Takeda Tetsuo-kun. We need your help in fighting Kobayashi-kun."

"Wait, what? You guys want me to help you fight against Kobayashi?"

What was going on? Infighting? Were the heroes turning on each other? Was there some sort of power struggle between Takeda and Kobayashi? I remembered Takeda being a strong, enigmatic figure with a huge, muscular frame. We didn't really talk to each other much, and he never interfered whenever I was bullied, so I wasn't familiar with him.

And now he was sending one of his flunkies, the so-called Eight Guardians, to approach me for help? Why should I help him?

"Kobayashi-kun has gone a bit…mad. Most of the class have, to be honest. They've gotten power hungry…none of them want to return to our world. They aren't satisfied with their current statuses. Now that we've defeated the Demon Lord, they want more…they want to take over Restia and rule as its kings. Kobayashi wants to be king of Restia."

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Typical. That sounded exactly like Kobayashi, all right. He had always been this overly ambitious and arrogant bastard who thought that the world belonged to him. Being the grandson of the chairman of the school board, he thought he was entitled to everything.

And now he wanted to become Emperor of Restia. His greed truly knew no bounds.

"It doesn't just end there," Hoshizaki continued ominously. "Kobayashi wants to ascend to godhood, and he doesn't care who he sacrifices or how many. If scouring the entire continent of life is what it takes, he would willingly indulge in countless bloodshed and murders just to ensure his ascension to godhood."

Yeah. Definitely Kobayashi-like.

But…

"Even so, there are nine of you, right? Including Takeda, I mean. Why do you need my help? I'm just a pathetic loser, after all."

"Tanaka-kun, you're not a pathetic loser at all!"

Hoshizaki's vehemence took me by surprise.

"Even Takeda-kun speaks highly of you. He's impressed by the way you stand up to Kobayashi-kun and the other bullies, even when you're alone. He…no, all of us regret not helping you when you were bullied, but he says his memory of you inspired him to act when Kobayashi descended into this madness. That's why…he'll appreciate it a lot if you help. You'll be a symbol…a shining beacon to inspire all those who resist against Kobayashi-kun!"

What was this flattery bullshit? Did Hoshizaki really think I would buy all this? I wasn't that naïve. At least I didn't think so, but…

Absolute Appraisal.

It didn't seem like she was lying. Hoshizaki seemed to really believe what she was saying. On the other hand, I doubted if Takeda was telling her the whole truth. But that was down to Takeda and not Hoshizaki. I wondered why Takeda sent her to meet me instead of approaching me personally. Wouldn't it be more…sincere if he did that?

"Fine. What do you need me to do?"

"Takeda-kun is in hiding right now. Having risen up against Kobayashi-kun, he was targeted for assassination. That's why we Eight Guardians are acting as his arms and legs right now. Kobayashi-kun and the others are hunting him down right now…I don't know what happened, but Kobayashi-kun has turned extremely ruthless of late."

"Kobayashi has always been extremely ruthless," I corrected bluntly. I still remembered the battle against the Demon Lord where the selfish fucker had sacrificed Samejima Hiroki to prevail. No one had said anything…did they not know?

Or was I the only one who saw that?

Still, it explained why Miyazawa didn't know about me…why Sakaguchi and Asakura were the only ones who were bothered to hunt me down. Kobayashi and the rest of the class had their hands full searching for Takeda and his motely group of resistance.

"Indeed." Hoshizaki glanced around and then hardened her eyes. "Takeda-kun wants to meet you in person, but he can't leave his Iron Fortress right now. If possible, we want to bring you there. Since you have connections with the demons, you will be a key figure in our resistance against Kobayashi-kun." She nodded at the tanks. "The demons will be a powerful ally."

"You think they'll ally with you guys?" I scoffed, almost unable to believe their audacity and naivety. "So soon after you invaded their lands and killed the previous Demon Lord? You think they'll just shake hands and befriend you after all that?"

"No. That's where you come in."

I narrowed my eyes and pushed my glasses up. Suddenly, I had an idea of why Takeda was approaching me for help.

It wasn't because he was truly impressed with me standing up to Kobayashi or any sort of bullshit like that.

No. he needed me.

"Um…" Hoshizaki seemed to be faltering when she saw that I wasn't jumping at the chance to make new friends with old acquaintances. She hardened her eyes. "And Takeda-kun also told me to tell you this. I'm not sure what he means, but he says that if you want revenge, you need us even more than we need you."

I almost burst out laughing at that. I knew it. Takeda wasn't offering an alliance out of altruistic or friendship motives. He needed me, and was aware that I also needed him. He also knew that my revenge was primarily targeted at Kobayashi and Yamada, my primary tormenters, and not necessarily at the rest of the class.

Sure, they might not have helped or interfered when I was being bullied, but I didn't blame them for that. Nobody was obligated to help me. The only person who could help me was myself. If they tried to interfere or help, they would be targeted by Kobayashi as well, who would make use of his influence to make their lives hell.

That was why I didn't blame anyone else for not stepping in and turning a blind eye to Kobayashi's abuse of me. As long as Takeda, Hoshizaki or the others didn't try to kill me like Minamoto, Tsukishima, Sakaguchi, Asakura or Miyazawa did, then I had no reason to kill them. It was just that, after so many attempts on my life by so many former classmates that I had grown jaded and half-expected the whole class to be trying to kill me by now.

Still, I should be careful.

I wasn't naïve enough to trust Takeda completely. For all I knew, he might be embroiled in the same insanity that had gripped the rest of the class and was waiting for his chance to stab me in the back and kill me, just like what Kobayashi did to Samejima. Perhaps that was his goal – pitting a tiger and a dragon against each other, and once they had wounded each other, he would swoop in and finished them off to reap the rewards.

I needed to keep an eye on Takeda too.

"All right then. I'll meet Takeda. But I've to take care of stuff right now, so maybe later. Where is this Iron Fortress?"

"Of course, of course." Hoshizaki nodded fervently. "Please take care of whatever matters you have. When you're done, contact me and I'll arrange a meeting place and a time. I'll bring you to the Iron Fortress from there."

"…right."

"Um, make sure we trade numbers."

Hoshizaki took out her communicator, which resembled a smartphone. I raised an eyebrow at that, but stepped forward with my cheap-looking communicator. Using infrared, I recorded her contact details and number.

"I'll be waiting for your call then!"

Spinning around, Hoshizaki, then took off and vanished into the air with a single, ferocious jump. My tankers all stared at her disappearing figure, which soared high into the air, their jaws dropping in awe.

"What was that all about, sir?" Daniel asked, still unable to digest what had happened. I turned to him and smiled.

"We might have just secured new allies that might see us turn this war around."