Editing Masou Gakuen HxH:Volume 13 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 2===

「Guh!!」

Hokuto blocked Thanatos’s Keraunos with Hakki Kirin. However she couldn’t endure the impact and easily got sent flying. She slid on the floor and rolled several times.

「Aah geez! My body won’t listen well to what I’m saying!」

Hokuto jumped back to her feet when her rolling momentum was falling.

When she looked behind, Nayuta was right there.

She was sent flying for several hundred meters from the attack just now. Her beloved sword Hakki Kirin that she relied on was getting cracked from that. Hokuto clicked her tongue.

「Hey, Nayuta! Kizuna isn’t finished yet!? Soon I won’t be able to hold out anymore you know!?」

Nayuta replied nonchalantly in contrast to Hokuto who was looking desperate.

「Please hold out for a little bit more.」

「Really, you’re speaking like it’s so easy!」

Hokuto went towards Thanatos once more with the cracked Hakke Kirin in her hand.

And then a mechanized angel was swooping down from right above Nayuta as though replacing Hokuto.

「!!」

Nayuta looked up at that mechanized angel. Her look became grim.

Her current self had no power remaining to even defeat that kind of enemy. Nayuta understood that.

However, she couldn’t die yet.

Nayuta opened her mouth to call for help.

But faster than she could, there was a figure that was falling with speed that was like light. That silhouette passed through the mechanized angel while bisecting it. The figure landed in front of Nayuta with a loud sound.

「Reiri……you saved me.」

Reiri lifted her blood soaked face and glared at Nayuta.

「But our side’s exhaustion is also great. We won’t be able to hold out for long just so you know.」

Reiri stood up and swung the sword that she used to strike down the mechanized angel. The fragments of the mechanical angel that was sticking to the blade was shook off and rolled on the floor.

A total of fifteen minutes had passed since Kizuna vanished into the Entrance. Zecros’s armor was cracked, which told of the intense battle that happened during that time. And then there was the blood flowing from Reiri’s body.

Yurishia and Sylvia became gun battery replacements. They were continuously firing bombardments without pause since the battle began. The enemies that cut through that barrage were crushed in the defensive line that was composed of Himekawa, Gravel, and Grace. The enemies that penetrated even that line were defeated by Hyakurath and Reiri.

However the mechanized angels were being produced one after another by Thanatos’s power. There was no end to them no matter how many they defeated.

If they weren’t powered up through Harem Hybrid, all of them would have died already by now.

And then, Hokuto and the others who were directly facing Thanatos were also in a bitter situation.

「URYAaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!」

Hokuto raised a war cry.

She evaded the light of destruction, Keraunos, that Thanatos fired while closing the distance. And then she rotated Hakke Kirin and slashed.

Thanatos’s barrier of light deflected Hakke Kirin.

Red light immediately attacked Hokuto, but she skillfully entered Thanatos’s blind spot and took some distance.

「Really! Even though I won’t lose even against Thanatos if it was me when on active duty as a machine god!」

Odin arrived beside the irritated Hokuto.

「Don’t complain. We simply need to stop Thanatos with all our strength.」

She pointed Gungnir towards Thanatos and from the tip Gungnir’s offshoot became blue light and it was fired.

「Tsu──Odin, you bastard」

Thanatos dodged Odin with speed that looked like teleportation. However her evasion suddenly stopped and Gungnir pierced Thanatos’s arm.

「──Osiris huh.」

A wall that looked like piled up rocks appeared in Thanatos’s way. Rocks were also piled up at her four sides in the blink of an eye and they sealed Thanatos’s movement like a barrier.

「Even we are existences who were once machine gods. If there are three of us, even if we are unable to win against Thanatos, we should be able to at least hold you back.」

Osiris and also Odin lined up beside Hokuto. The palms that they pointed towards Thanatos were shining gold.

Hokuto took a stance with Hakke Kirin and took a step forward. She then pouted.

「The two of you have it easy because you two are just support, but it’s me who is fighting her directly at the front!」

Odin sighed ‘fuh’ and smiled.

「Aa, we are counting on you Hokuto.」

Osiris also sent her voice to Hokuto’s back.

「Really true. It’s really a blessing that you are here.」

「I,isn’t the mood of both of you too good!? Previously didn’t the two of you always treat me like a child and made fun of me!?」

Even while saying that perhaps she didn’t feel that dissatisfied hearing what they said, judging by Hokuto’s red cheeks. Odin answered Hokuto’s complain boldly.

「The past is the past, now is now.」

Seeing such human-like conversation, Thanatos wasn’t angry, she was staring with eyes that were filled with gloominess.

「Right now the three of you are nothing more than parts that are operating abnormally……the three of you are only a waste of energy consumption.」

Thanatos’s wings opened and started to vibrate. Then a low metallic sound was resounding as though a huge machine somewhere was activating.

Osiris’s complexion paled.

「What are you planning to do!? Thanatos!」

「I judged that it’s inefficient to erase all of you one by one. I will erase all of you along with this world.」

Osiris immediately sent a gaze to Odin.

「No good! Quickly use the escape program!」

「Yes! I’ll take you all to my world temporarily!」

Odin stabbed Gungnir to the floor. However, it only caused cracks in the floor.

「Wha……it shouldn’t be like this」

Thanatos’s eyes were shining gold.

「The entrances you all used to enter are completely blocked. You are unable to come and go from my created world as you please anymore. I’ve applied a perfect protection.」

「Then, my──」

「The backdoor that Hokuto prepared has also been dealt with.」

「Lies-!?」

「I will erase the three of you along with those humans and this world instantly.」

A part of the wings that was floating behind Thanatos which looked like the shape of a sun was starting to shine. Then, an eerie sound was echoing from somewhere.

The sky that looked like a dark starry sky was starting to whirl fiercely. And then a heavy bass sound that shook the body was resounding.

Osiris turned to Hokuto and spoke in panic.

「There should be a path for Thanatos herself to escape! Please search for that!」

「I’m searching for it already, but I cannot find it at all! Besides, even if I find it, allowing everyone here to escape with it is……」

「Kuh……」

Odin glared at Thanatos hatefully.

Osiris erased her figure from that place and teleported instantly beside Nayuta.

「Nayuta! Kizuna isn’t finished yet!?」

However Nayuta kept her mouth shut and didn’t reply.

Reiri came at that timing with an impatient expression.

「This is……what is happening!?」

Since this sound started ringing, it was like time stopped for the mechanized angels, their movements had stopped.

「Thanatos is intending to annihilate us along with this world.」

Hyakurath lowered her sword and looked around her.

「Then this sound is……AU Collision?」

Himekawa landed near Hyakurath with an anxious expression.

「Hyakurath-san! Is this, AU Collision!?」

「No……this is……something even more enormous……」

Even while they were speaking, the strange anxiety and feeling of urgency were growing bigger.

Yurishia pointed at the sky.

「Look at that! The sky!」

The sky that looked like a space that was drawn using faint ink was slowly falling.

「The sky is falling desu!」

That sky was swallowing the mechanized angels that looked like they were stopped in time while falling towards the ground.

Gravel also lowered her Gun Sword and looked up to the sky.

「The mechanized angels are……getting annihilated?」

The mechanized angels that were swallowed by the monochrome sea were vanishing like dust.

Osiris groaned and spoke with a grave expression.

「If we get swallowed by that……that will be the end. When the sky and land become one, everything will be annihilated.」

Grace lowered the scythe she used to cut down mechanized angels and let out a sigh.

「So……this is it.」

──At that time,

Cracks ran through the falling sky.

That crack appeared at the faraway and then passed through above them with an amazing speed. It was spreading until the end of the world.

「This……this is!?」

It wasn’t just the sky.

Crack was also spreading on the floor.

Furthermore even the empty space had several cracks running through like a cracked glass.

Yurishia looked up to the sky and whispered.

「Is this……the end of this world?」

「Yes.」

Nayuta nodded. However her mouth was smiling.

「The temporary world Thanatos created is crumbling.」

Thanatos’s expression was making a perplexed expression so small that other people couldn’t notice.

「What……is this」

Bewilderment was mixed into her voice.

A phenomenon outside of Thanatos’s predictions was occurring. In this world where all objects and phenomenon should be reflecting her own will, something that was going against Thanatos’s will was currently occurring.

The cracks that were covering the whole world were tearing off and crumbling. And then at the other side of the torn off world, the appearance of another world was reflected.

「This is……」

The starry sky could be seen.

The next instant,

──The world was smashed all at once.

Amidst the raining down sparkling fragments, the full starry sky appeared.

There was ground under their feet.

Behind them was a chalk white school building.

「This place is……Ataraxia?」

It was the academy’s schoolyard.

The place they were at before they were swallowed by the Entrance that Thanatoss created.

At the edge of the schoolyard, there was the figure of Thanatos along with Hokuto, Odin, and Osiris who were facing her.

Thanatos looked around her former comrades with a grim face.

「Is this……the work of you three?」

Hokuto shrugged with a wry smile.

「It would be cool if that’s the case.」

Golden particles were floating from her shoulders. Hokuto’s body was gradually turning transparent.

「Darn, so this is it. But well……I held out till the end.」

Hokuto turned to Odin and grinned. Then Odin also responded with a smile.

「Yes. We have accomplished……our last duty as machine gods.」

Osiris also nodded with a deeply moved look.

「Yes, let’s leave the rest to the two youngsters, we are going back to our own world.」

Golden light particles also floated up from the bodies of Odin and Osiris. Their bodies were turning faint in the process of vanishing.

「Wait, you all. What meaning is there in returning now? There is a high possibility that this me will erase your worlds. Rather than that, lend me your strength once more. That is the most rational and the best option for the three of──」

The three former machine gods vanished.

Only Thanatos remained. And then──

「You got rejected huh, Thanatos.」

「──!?」

Without anyone noticing there were two silhouettes standing in front of Thanatos.

「You two……」

「Hida Kizuna. I’ve just come back from the metropolis of the dead, death god.」

Kizuna grinned.

「Remember that it’s thanks to this Chidorigafuchi Aine.」

Beside him Aine was standing smilingly looking like she was in a good mood.

「Kizuna!」

When Reiri called his name, everyone also simultaneously called Kizuna and Aine’s name.

However Himekawa was pointing at the two of them with a red face.

「Bo, both of you……wh, why are you two dressed like that!?」

「Hm?」

Kizuna only noticed this late that he was rushing here while still looking like when he was doing the Ecstasy Hybrid.

Aine also immediately hid her breasts and groin.

「Ki-, Kizuna! We’re putting it on!」

「──Yeah.」

The two of them looked at each other’s face and smiled.

「Zeros!!」

Aine’s body shined white. The light then crystallized and created a lustrous beautiful armor. Blue light ran on the armor surface and circulated magic power into Aine’s body. This was Aine’s Heart Hybrid Gear Zeros.

And then Kizuna also called the name of his armor.

The reliable armor that had crossed the point between life and death many times along with him until now.

Even its name that made him ashamed at first felt splendid right now.

–

「Eros!!」

–

Black light gathered on Kizina’s body and whirled. Clad in jet black darkness, Kizuna took a posture of driving them away with his hand. The darkness solidified onto that hand and crystallized. An armor with black luster materialized on Kizuna’s body like the night’s darkness taking shape. And then beautiful pink radiance was emitted from the inside. The armor opened and that radiance was rushing through his whole body along the aperture.

Although the shape was the same, it was clearly different from the Eros until now.

The magic armor that had accumulated endless evolution and many miracles was truly the armor of god.

Thanatos noticed that faster than anyone.

It had already surpassed the level of a failed experiment subject.

It was a dangerous existence that should be dealt with swiftly──such was her judgment.

「Then I’ll simply kill you once more.」

Thanatos pointed her left hand to Kizuna.

「──No, let’s test it one more time.」

She changed her mind and moved her aim from Kizuna to Aine. At that moment, red light surged out from Thanatos’s fingertips.

Keraunos that annihilated every material was deflected in front of Aine.

「What?」

There was a surprised reaction on Thanatos’s expressionless face.

──’Keraunos, was blocked?’

The absolute light that annihilated the opponent. It was a light that was impossible to be resisted as long as the opponent wasn’t a machine god too.

It was deflected by a single human.

By this man who was wearing a black armor.

「I’ll protect her no matter how many times!」

Kizuna spread open his arms and stood protectively in front of Aine.

He was deploying a shield of light, an absolute territory that blocked the god’s lightning.

「You insolent……-!?」

The instant Thanatos’s mind was diverted, a white shadow leaped out from behind Kizuna.

「!!」

Thanatos immediately slashed with the sword in her right hand.

「HAaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!」

However the opponent’s hand slash snapped the sword.

「──!?」

‘Impossible.’

It was an attack that far surpassed Thanatos’s imagination. It was something that didn’t exist in her assumptions until now or even in the data of the past.

Therefore Thanatos was unable to understand.

It was the powerless existence who could only be protected by the man before this.

It was also a useless existence that could only lament when that man died.

How could such a woman be able to snap a god’s sword?

「It’s this sword, that killed Kizuna!」

Aine’s leg sprang up towards the broken sword.

The light speed kick hit the sword that was snapped in the middle and pulverized it to pieces.

「……-!!」

Thanatos spread her wings and flew away.

It wasn’t from logic, it was an emergency escape to avoid danger.

A data that she witnessed for the first time. By itself it was something profitable. It was exactly whe she was seeking for.

However, she was unable to expose her existence to danger.

What Thanatos should do was to form countermeasures from the battle data just now.

──But, the opponent would pursue.

If the opponent possessed the same power of a machine god, it would be meaningless to just run around inside this world. As expected it would be best to drive out the opponent to another world.

Thanatos hovered still in the air and moved away from Kizuna and the others.

A distance that the human eye couldn’t perceive. Kizuna and Aine were located at a spot even farther than the horizon. Thanatos’s world had the same spherical shape like a planet, so that was to say the two of them were below her feet, at the other side of the planet. Even though there was that much distance, Thanatos could sense the opponents’ existence. Right now they weren’t pursuing her. It looked like they were standing still.

Just what in the world were they planning?

When she thought that, she detected a terrific energy flying towards her from below.

「──!?」

A dazzling pillar of flame was piercing through the sea of clouds below her and reaching out towards the sky.

That light which possessed absurd destructive power came towards Thanatos by piercing through her world. It evaporated the sea of clouds with a single hit and burned one of Thanatos’s wings.

──’Impossible.’

Unlike her usual self, such illogical wording emerged in her mind.

When the sea of clouds vanished, it became clear that Thanatos’s world was a hollow world that only consisted of several floating islands. It only left the surface part of a planet while all the seas and the center part were completely removed. It was like a world of paper mache.

Aine was holding a gigantic cannon at the other side of that world.

Corruption Armament──Pulverizer.

The attack that was powered up by Ecstasy Hybrid blew away all the clouds that were filling Thanatos’s world.

「How’s that? Have you learned how strong I am now?」

「Aine, don’t let your guard down. Thanatos is still……hm?」

Several mysterious things were floating in the center of the world that was hidden by a sea of clouds.

They looked like machines.

It was like looking at the server room of Nayuta Lab. Super computers, storage, all of those things were stuck to each other into a solid spherical form. At a glance, it only looked like a mountain of scraps.

Kizuna felt strange towards that mass.

「That’s……what could it be?」

It was a technology that looked humanly classical which was terribly mismatched to be existing in the world of Thanatos who possessed the power of a god. He didn’t understand the meaning of why it was placed in the center of the world.

「I don’t really understand but, how about sending one more shot?」

Aine aimed the muzzle of Pulverizer towards the mysterious machinery.

「──Eh?」

Thanatos was standing in the way as though to protect that junk.

「Interesting. It’s a match then.」

「Aine, wait.」

Kizuna stopped Aine from pulling the trigger and advanced towards Thanatos.

「Kizuna!? Wai-……it’s you who are letting your guard down!」

Aine followed behind Kizuna while still holding onto Pulverizer.

Thanatos also showed no sign of attacking and allowed their approach silently.

Kizuna stopped when there was only a few dozen meters distance remaining.

After getting this near, he could see that the machinery at the center of the world wasn’t really working. It was literally junk.

「Thanatos, what is that?」

However Thanatos kept silent while glaring at Kizuna. When he wondered if she had no intention to answer, Thanatos spoke in murmur.

「This is me in the past.」

「This is……Thanatos?」

「This is my oldest past appearance before reaching this point.」

This was Thanatos’s past. In that case──

「Thanatos……you, were a god that was created by humans?」

Thanatos looked like she was pondering for a while.

「I don’t know. That’s what I want to know.」

Thanatos stared at the old fashioned computers and storages behind her.

「I don’t know the existence that created me. That is the one and only physical existence of them.」

That voice was filled with the complicated feelings of Thanatos who normally didn’t show any emotion. Kizuna could feel something like that.

──’We who arrived in this world were forcibly moved into hastily made worlds perhaps because she didn’t want this junk to get destroyed.’

「Thanatos. So even you have something that you treasure.」

「That’s not true. This is a hardware that I don’t need anymore. I have also finished copying all the data inside.」

「Then why?」

Thanatos didn’t answer that question. Or perhaps, she might be unable to answer.

「When I possessed awareness, organic life-forms didn’t exist anymore.」

Thanatos began to talk about herself.

「My oldest memory was from before I possessed self-awareness. According to the information kept within the data storage, I was an artificial intelligence that was created by the human race that existed in the past, it seemed I was called an artificial life-form.」

Aine asked Kizuna without taking her eyes off of Thanatos.

「Kizuna, does she mean AI by that?」

「Perhaps……and then, why was that human race gone?」

「In a sense, it can be said that I killed them.」

「What?」

「The people who created me sought omniscience and omnipotence capabilities from me. They sought to know all phenomenon, to predict the future, and to constantly know the very best choice. In order to answer that expectation, I evolved endlessly. Before long I obtained the ability to evolve by myself even without assistance from the human race.」

Kizuna understood how Thanatos was born.

Thanatos was an AI that was created by the human race that existed in the past.

That AI evolved endlessly and became indistinguishable with God, that was Thanatos.

「When I became something that could grant that hope, I obtained awareness and ego. And then at that time mankind──wasn’t anywhere.」

Thanatos looked down with a gloomy look.

「There were a lot of 『gods』 with the same power like me. Mankind used each 『god』 and continued to pursue their own benefits. The result of that──was the destruction of all living things.」

Kizuna felt like he wasn’t hearing a story of the past but of the future.

「Mankind couldn’t use the power of god well, is that it?」

Thanatos was only trying to be faithful to her mission to the bitter end──that was what Kizuna thought.

「That’s right. But, that is simply my prediction of the past using uncertain data. That’s why it’s necessary to verify it. I created a new world, created existences that most likely resembled mankind of the past, and made them evolve. Before long that evolution will surely trace back to my past. That is what will become my clue.」

Aine frowned.

「You said clue……for what?」

「How should a god like me evolve from now on. And then for the sake of once more creating the children of god that the god should work for.」

──’I see.’

Kizuna thought.

She had never come into contact with other people while possessing the power of omniscience and omnipotence. She was already within the ultimate solitude when she was born. She lived for the sake of filling that solitude.

In order to know what she should do from now on.

She sought for existences that she could call as the parents that created her.

After all Thanatos’s reason of existence was to work for that parent’s sake.

She was searching for a meaning to her existence.

「……Thanatos. You won’t recognize us as the new children of god?」

「I cannot. The reason is because you all have obtained the same power like god. Excessive power will destroy ones own self. That power will surely destroy yourself, and then you will even try to kill me.」

「……I see.」

Thanatos’s words were heavy and couldn’t be denied.

However,

「You are mistaken on one thing, Thanatos.」

「What?」

「We won’t kill you.」

Thanatos’s eyes shined golden.

Red radiance was circulating on her whole body.

「But, I will erase all of you.」

This would become the last attack.

Kizuna thrust both his hands to the front in preparation for the greatest Keraunos that Thanatos would fire.

Red light ran all over Thanatos’s body and it was gathering into both her arms and legs.

It became a large mass of light and created static discharge to the surroundings. If the handling was wrong, the power would completely destroy even this world that Thanatos was treasuring.

Even Thanatos herself was suffering from controlling it.

Her face warped and she was gritting her teeth.

It looked like the emotionless Thanatos was showing suffering, sadness, and pain.

「GUaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!」

Thanatos screamed.

It was a yell that sounded like she was letting out everything that she had kept hidden until now.

The red light that was gathering in Thanatos’s four limbs was released.

Kizuna instinctually sensed just how dangerous it was.

The scale was different from everything Thanatos had unleashed until now.

In the end, could his Life Saver protected Aine till the end?

Such anxiety crossed his heart for a moment.

Keraunos approached as though to widen that anxiety. The four vortexes of light were like four dragons made of lightning were attacking. It was truly the anger of god.

Aine leaped in front of Kizuna who was holding up both his hands to the front.

「Aine!?」

「Get back! Kizuna!」

A round part was floating behind Aine. Blue light spread out from there like a magic circle.

「I won’t let Kizuna get harmed anymore! I’ll protect you!!」

Aine exposed her body in front of the vortexes of Keraunos in order to protect Kizuna using her body.

And then,

「Code Breaker!!」

What she summoned was a forbidden armament.

The barrier that neutralized all magic power was deployed around Aine.

Keraunos clashed against Code Breaker.

The light that annihilated everything and the light that neutralized everything collided against each other.

Keraunos was shaving off Code Breaker, while Code Breaker was pushing back Keraunos.

In front of Kizuna there was the back of Aine who was being enveloped by fierce flickering.

「Kizuna-!! I’ll protect you! That’s why-!!」

Kizuna responded to Aine’s voice.

He kicked on the air like he was kicking on the ground.

Kizuna instantly materialized beside Thanatos.

「──Wha」

「!?」

Thanatos opened her eyes in shock.

And then Kizuna himself was also surprised at his extraordinary speed.

「You are──」

When Thanatos muttered that, Kizuna’s slashing hand severed Thanatos’s right arm.

It wasn’t any special move or anything.

He was simply swinging down his hand right away.

And yet, it was astonishingly easy.

The god’s arm was cut off.

Whether because of surprise or anger, Thanatos opened her mouth to say something.

Faster than she could speak out any words, Kizuna twisted his body and kicked Thanatos’s right leg.

「Guh!?」

Thanatos’s huge leg that was decorated with ornaments was blown away.

「──Such thing」

She tried to direct Keraunos that already had its might reduced by half towards Kizuna.

However at that time Kizuna’s figure wasn’t there.

「Where……-!?」

The instant she said that, an impact ran on her left arm.

Thanatos’s eyes caught her left arm that was rotating in the air and also her left leg next.

And then,

The opponent who had stolen both her arms and her legs from her was standing in front of her.

The new god whose body was clad in bewitching lustrous darkness and possessed intoxicating pink radiance within.

「Eros……is it」

Kizuna clenched his fist in front of Thanatos who was muttering deliriously.

「You can eliminate me……Eros」

Kizuna’s fist struck toward Thanatos.

It grazed at the side of Thanatos’s face and punched through the huge wings on her back. The divinely beautiful wings were broken into pieces.

「I told you right?」

Thanatos’s figure right now was no different than a human after losing all her symbols as a machine god. Kizuna carried that body that had become small in his arms.

「We won’t kill you.」

「Then──what is your intention?」

Thanatos muttered only that because she was unable to understand.

「Ask about that to Kaa-san.」

Kizuna answered like that. Aine approached him with a satisfied smile on her face.

「You did it, Kizuna.」

「Yeah. It’s thanks to Aine.」

Aine smiled a bit shyly, but also happily.

「Such thing……I was just──」

Aine paused for a moment, then she spoke with a forced tone.

「Fufuh, have you realized my greatness now?」

Kizuna made a taken aback expression, but he immediately played along.

「Yeah, you are really something.」

「If I have to say, I’m a princess.」

「Certainly, you are a princess.」

「No, god.」

「In a sense you have become one huh……god.」

Aine let out a chuckle.

「──But, things like that doesn’t matter at all.」

「Aine?」

「If I can be together with Kizuna, then anything is fine.」

Aine’s straightforward feeling seeped into Kizuna’s heart.

A feeling of contentness that couldn’t be expressed with words was spreading inside Kizuna.

「……Let’s go. Everyone is waiting.」

「You’re right. I want to see the frustrated face of Hayuru and the others quickly.」

Kizuna smiled wryly while increasing his thruster’s output.