Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume4 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 5===

It was time to think.

The first day of the Catastrophe covered the 8 matches of the first round. That meant the tournament had 16 contestants in all. In a straightforward tournament with no seeding, the winner had to fight in four matches. Trying to win them all fair and square was exactly what the unseen string-pullers wanted. Because they had set things up so Karuta would die in the attempt.

But he didn’t need to do things their way. As long as he demonstrated that the Four Living Gods were in fact the world’s strongest, they could eliminate the social unrest around the world. For example, if something even more powerful than the tournament opponents – like the Decoy Threat that turned out to be simple machines – were to attack Second Grimnoah and those four protected the other contestants and the audience in front of all the cameras.

“No, that wouldn’t work.”

A chair bolted to the floor creaked.

A trick like that could turn into a long-lasting Achilles heel. The instant the truth came out, the social unrest would be back with a vengeance, so it wasn’t a real solution.

He had to win this.

Karuta smiled in self-deprecation after reaching that conclusion all alone in the contestant waiting room.

And the person on his mind now…''was not'' one of the people he held dear.

(Warrior Doll.)

That armored warrior had towered over Karuta and fought with a plasma jet sword. That Threat had sought human goodness more than anyone and occupied Second Grimnoah to learn about crystal magic. His many companions had been mercilessly slaughtered while trying to learn, but he had still sought a fair duel, so what would he think if he saw Karuta still trying to come up with some kind of trick here?

(Sorry. I can’t resign myself to my fate like you. I’m an ugly person deep down, so I can’t help but cling to life. And that’s what makes me want to protect the people I hold dear and the world as a whole.)

So.

No matter how much he was spat on or how many stones were thrown at him, Utagai Karuta would still seek victory.

A female voice left the speaker in the tiny space.

“Round 1 Match 7 will begin shortly. Mr. Utagai Karuta, please step out into the ring.”

He sighed and pulled the modified military flashlight from the side of his purple slacks. He slowly rose from the bolted-down chair and walked to the metal double doors.

He pushed them open.

A thick wall of cheering voices slammed into his face.

Evening had fallen.

The powerful film lights were more for the TV broadcasts than for the contestants, so they were already hurting his eyes, forcing him to squint.

The next thing happened before he could hold his hand up and let his eyes adjust.

“Hello, hello, hello! I’m Cinderella Queen Delane, the shining new child star with an edge, and I will be providing commentary for this match. But I will be sharing that duty with a special guest! If you want to know about crystal magic, look no further than Student Council President Omotesandou Kyouka!! …I get the feeling we’ll need an expert’s commentary to even hope to follow along here.”

“Thank you for having me. I will remind you that I am still a student, though.”

The concert band’s music and the deluge of cheers were like a booming explosion, but the large concert speakers played the commentary at an even greater volume.

The vortex of noise gave Karuta a pounding headache as he noticed a gondola supported from above by a crane. Was that the commentator’s booth? Kyouka had been invited in as a guest, but she wouldn’t be able to help him while in the public mode she used when addressing the world. She couldn’t help him even if she wanted to. If anyone thought they were cheating, the public wouldn’t accept their display of superiority and definitive cracks would form in the people’s already-shaken faith in the world’s strongest. Then the social unrest would spread like wildfire.

He had to protect this world, so he had to fight.

(They’re somewhere out there.)

So many eyes were focused on him.

The tension of standing up on stage clutched at his heart.

(Some of the eyes out there carry malice. Someone forced these new conditions on us in order to have me killed while the world watches on.)

The tiered stands surrounded him in all 360 degrees, but only so many people could fit. The horizontal safety bars in front of the seats on each level were covered with webcams and aerial drones buzzed around overhead. They were like a flock of starlings blotting out the sky. They were generally manually controlled, but they used invisible IR sensors to measure the distance between each other and automatically adjusted their positions accordingly. Still, he could hardly believe they managed to avoid colliding while packed together so tightly.

(They sold more than a million viewing tickets, right? And those aren’t just to watch the livestream on the official site. That only covers the people who wanted to control their own swiveling camera to enjoy the live event as much as possible. Thanks to that, this empty area of ocean has an EM density as high as New York.)

Remote viewers would buy the usage rights for a swiveling webcam and watch the matches that way.

Those who wanted to watch in person were required to sign a document waiving the tournament’s liability if they were killed by a stray shot of magic or something. Surprisingly, they had still received tens of thousands of times as many applicants as they had available seats. All ten thousand seats split across three levels were full. Were people just that eager to witness a legend? They had the full surface of the 600m ship to work with, but they had gathered all ten thousand people on the heliport.

Karuta heard a dull metallic thud behind him.

The waiting room he had been in was actually an oblong metal container. It was dangling from a cutting-edge tiltrotor by thick wires and it was swiftly removed from the heliport.

He had nowhere to run or hide now.

An excited little girl’s voice echoed through this hellish evening where murder was allowed.

“Our first contestant in Round 1 Match 7 needs no introduction! He’s the current world’s strongest and the eye of the storm who absorbs all the envy and grudges of the world’s 5.5 billion people!! His victory is assured, so how the hell are we supposed to make any money off your bets this time!? This boy can use cutting-edge crystal magic and he’s protected the world from the Threat. He’s here to represent the whole Four Living Gods – it’s Utagaiii Karutaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!”

On the other side of the 20m square ring, an identical oblong metal container was dangling down for his opponent.

Cheers erupted from all around. The thick wall of noise slammed into him and threatened to crush him.

He was trapped in a deadly cage with the entire world watching.

“And then there’s our challenger hoping for a shortcut to the good life!! If you need a new title, why not just steal it!? She refuses to believe anyone’s stronger than her! And she promises to charm us with a show put on with Egyptian mythology – a mythology so important we’ve all heard of it☆ This priestess is hoping to tear crystal magic down from its throne – it’s Hetepheres Men-Neferrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!”

After shouting her lungs out, the small girl named Delane turned to ask the guest commentator her opinion.

“So what’s your opinion of this matchup, Miss Expert? Who has the upper hand here?”

“Hard to say. But the priests and priestesses of Egyptian mythology are important enough to get quite a few mentions in our crystal magic classes. They are the representative example of someone who could read the occult high and low pressure fronts and determine their effect on crops and sailing in order to support a large populace.”

“I see, I see.”

“You could say this is a showdown between the classic original and the latest update. We should see the oldest form of magic clashing with the newest.”

“Hm, so you’re saying it’s hard to say which way this will go!? That’s a relief. This event won’t be very exciting if Mr. Karuta doesn’t die!!”

He had expected this even if he didn’t like it.

Omotesandou Kyouka was not going to take his side while in public mode. Still, her long explanation was not ''only'' directed at the crowd.

Yes, she was giving Karuta information as well.

(She’s as crafty as ever.)

His opponent had long black hair and brown skin.

She appeared to be around his age and she wore an ethnic white priestess outfit with golden decorations all over her body.

“Utagai Karuta.”

Their gazes collided while the girl lifted the four thick and highly elastic ropes and climbed into the ring situated a level above everything else.

She spoke in Japanese, so she clearly wanted him to understand her.

“''I know you are powerless.''”

“…”

She probably wanted to apply pressure before the match began to throw him off his game.

She hoped to prevent him from fighting at his best so she could crush him with ease. Karuta was impressed because that idea hadn’t occurred to him. It was an unimaginable tactic with the Problem Solvers or the Threat who would kill you if you tried it.

So he did not bat an eye and whispered back so only she could hear him.

“Would you prefer this ends with you unconscious or dead?”

“You can’t trick me. You can’t do anything without that crystal girl of yours.”

No hesitation from her.

Was that a sign of confidence or of nerves? He had never met her before, so he had no way of making that judgment.

Cinderella Queen began an explanation of the rules, probably a formality required for the TV broadcast.

“The match has no time limit, but both contestants will be disqualified if it is determined they are working together to intentionally extend the match. The match continues until one or the other of them loses consciousness. Oh, and dead counts there! That also means the match keeps going no matter how badly they’re hurt as long as they’re still conscious, so they’ll need to keep that in mind☆”

Karuta sighed without letting it show on his face.

Crystal magic provided a regeneration power. Any nonlethal injury would be healed in thirty seconds. That made it incredibly difficult to knock him unconscious with a physical blow. In fact, it was very nearly impossible without using a chokehold like Letnahe had done, a special witch potion, or causing a lightning strike with a weather manipulation power.

In other words…

(They’ve set up the rules so it’s easier to kill me. Who is this asshole who secretly changed the rules Omotesandou-san worked so hard to put together?)

With a deep thrum, the poles in the four corners of the ring glowed red.

“Also, they need to watch out for the ring’s ropes. They’re what we call detonating cords, which means they’re packed full of explosives. Touching one of them will cause more damage than a jammed gun blowing up your hand, if you’re curious. They detonate the instant either contestant touches the ropes and a composite explosive made with everything from smokeless powder to penthrite will blast the offender to smithereens with a burning velocity of 5km/s, so they’re gonna want to be verrrrry careful out there.”

The red glow of the poles signaled that the ropes had been activated. This was worse than an electric deathmatch. Karuta glanced up at Kyouka, but she only winked down at him.

This was just like the introduction in the gym.

She looked calm, but something she didn’t understand was at work here. She must have only been called in as a guest commentator for the match with Crystal Magician Karuta, so she had not seen the other matches. And that was coming back to bite them now.

The unseen person who had changed the rules had altered everything with obvious malicious intent.

“Simply put, if they touch the rope, they’ll have their body torn apart for their trouble!! …Ugh, explaining the same damn thing 7 times in one day is a real pain. You’d better have the basic rules down pat by the next round cause I’m not doing this again tomorrow☆”

Karuta and Hetepheres faced each other in the center of the ring with about 5m between them.

Standing in front of an enemy was always terrifying.

He had nothing to shield him here and he could not escape outside the ring. If she “accidentally” jumped the gun and shot some powerful magic at him, he would have no way to avoid being reduced to ashes.

That was the world he lived in now.

In fact, someone who would actually wait for the bell seemed like an oddity to him.

An accident would be good enough.

Hetepheres might be disqualified for jumping the gun, but she would still hold the title of the person who won a flawless victory over one of the world’s strongests. She didn’t need Second Grimnoah’s help after that. As long as she had that title, she could milk it for all it was worth, like a martial artist known for killing a bear with his bare hands, and live however she liked in the world of magic. Really, she had no reason ''not'' to do it. The loss by technicality would be a temporary blot on her record and a small price to pay for the fame it would bring her. All of the contestants were risking their lives in a major gamble, so why actually wait for the starting bell?

Something worked its way into his ear along with the growing cheers.

He heard some whispered non-Japanese words. This was something Hetepheres would prefer did not reach him. But Egyptian hieroglyphs were a fully decoded language. Karuta had learned the basics in his magic classes.
Translated into Japanese, this is what he heard.

“…ction – Ho…s – 1/1…4…”

Or was he overthinking this?

Utagai Karuta had gotten his start in bloody revenge, so maybe he had a bad habit of viewing everything in as noncharitable a light as possible. It was possible that Hetepheres Men-Nefer had come here carrying the pride of the many generations that had passed down her Egyptian magic and thought this only counted if she fought fair and square. This all came down to what was in her mind. That was not something that could be measured with logic or numbers. Karuta had no way of seeing what was going on inside Hetepheres’s head.

In this tournament, they had to fight one-on-one in accordance with the rules until one side or the other emerged victorious.

If she had agreed to those rules, then she may have viewed the world in a more favorable light than Karuta did.

She grinned and extended her right hand. Almost like she was asking for a handshake.

“I hope my trash talk didn’t offend you.” She switched back to Japanese for his benefit. “Let’s enjoy this, okay? Let’s do this fair and square so we can both accept the result, whatever it might be.”

Karuta smiled a little too. Or he thought he did.

Her gentle expression made him glad he had fought to protect this world. He felt ashamed of himself for assuming an ulterior motive and tensing up instead of shaking her proffered hand. He and the others had gotten rid of that sort of malicious world when they had defeated the Problem Solvers. They had created a pure and just world. He was so glad he had clenched his teeth and fought for this!! This girl here proved to him that he had done the right thing.

He wanted to make this an enjoyable match.

If at all possible.

Cinderella Queen raised her voice with her finger on the button for the bell.

“Now, let’s get this match started! Join me in the countdown, everyone! Threeee, twoooo, o-”

“You’re dead meat, Utagai Karuta.”

Some Ancient Egyptian words proved he had been right the first time.

Humans were trash after all.