Chapter 156

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-- Chapter 156
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Summary by borisdrakoni (Spoiler):

Lies or Truth? Part 2

Picking up from last time, Hajime threatens to turn Deinrid into minced meat.

With his bad mood at maximum, Hajime continues to pull the trigger, shooting through his arms and legs.  While he takes out the bola from the treasure warehouse to tie him up, Hajime also whips out Orkan and starts firing it at the fallen apostles.  Every missile finds its mark, setting off grand explosions as the apostles are blown away.  Finally putting Orkan away, Hajime turns Donner and Schlag on Freed and Eri.

Finally everyone seems to have come to their senses.  Suzu raises a scream while jumping onto Hajime's arm, terrified that Eri will be torn to pieces.  With teary eyes she desperately tells him to remember his promise.

Shia also jumps at his other arm while shouting at him to stop.

Shia, Kaori, and Shizuku raise a commotion about using Reproduction magic fix Yue's uncle(even though he seems to have been shot through the head and insta-killed)  Ryuutaro says something impolite while dripping a cold sweat.  Tio has a hand on her face, where her initial surprise seems to have turned into an idea of something.  Kouki, who had acted first and stood in front of Eri had whatever he wanted to say interrupted by Hajime pointing his gun in that direction.

Finally, Yue, whose uncle was shot by her lover, turns to Hajime with wide eyes staring in blank surprise.

Hajime while glancing at Yue pulls Shia and Suzu off of him and also stops Kaori from going to revive and heal Deinrid.  In that moment he shoots Freed through the head without even looking at him and uses a bola to restrain Eri.  Suzu and Ryuutaro let out a short scream and shout respectively, but Hajime doesn't pay any attention to them.  Hajime opens his mouth with an irritated expression while still warily watching and pointing his guns at Deinrid and the apostles.

He says that he had thought to keep silent while Yue ended it herself, but seeing her shaken and start to buy into that nonsense he had ended it compulsorily.

Yue asks him, “Nonsense...What?”, the shock of seeing an important relative gunned down by her beloved causing her eyes to wander.  Hajime, seeing how badly she is shaken, quickly explains with a bit of regret.

Had Yue been calm she should have noticed that her uncle's explanation was full of holes, but since someone appeared with the same form as her relative showed up it couldn't be helped.

Hajime points out that even if Yue's existence needs to be concealed, if Deinrid was alive then he should have been able to come and meet Yue.  If she was a beloved niece, there was no way he would leave her alone for as many as 300 years in the dark.

Also, the sealing treatment done to Yue is something that can be considered what was taken into consideration after his own death.  Without a sign of Yue, her concealment is also made perfect by his death.  The intention behind such an action is transparent.  An existing person could not sense the least amount of affection with that method.

Also, if he is talking about collecting war potential, it is strange that the Liberator's story did not come out.  Even if Alv doesn't know, Deinrid who conquered the Ice Cave and Orcus should be informed.  If that was the case, then it is unnatural that there are no other Age of Gods magic users besides Freed.

In other words, it doesn't appear as if war potential was collected at all.

With memories matching up with Yue, at a glance it could certainly appear that Deinrid was genuine, however because Hajime and the others have faced similar existences using memories before, this does not become evidence that he was the person in question.

However, even if the Maou is not Deinrid, if he has his memories, it is doubtful as to why he did not go down into hell to secure Yue who was marked by the gods as an existence with power.

Therefore, Hajime did not obstruct them while searching repeatedly for critical evidence whether the Maou's words were true or not.

The method he used was to confirm whether Deinrid's soul still existed within his body.  Usuing Sublime magic, Hajime had been able to upgrade his magic eye and added a function to be able to see a person's spirit within their body.  The result:  only a dirty, invasive spirit was seen.  Had they harmonized and truly merged, then her uncle's spirit should have shined brilliantly in the center of his body.

With this, Hajime concluded that aside from the body, the person in question was not Deinrid.  He aimed for the moment that Alv left the protective barrier at the altar and launched a preemptive attack.  Since the story of sealing off the apostles had no credibility, he went ahead and attacked them too.

Of course, because this is a case of a god being in possession of the body, the possibility that Deinrid's soul is sealed away is not 0.  However, since Deinrid's soul can be confirmed by searching with Spirit magic while the body can be healed with Reproduction magic, there was no further need to confirm his identity.

Following Hajime's short explanation, all the members are staring at him blankly.  Progressing by leaps and bounds, their minds calmed down with Hajime pointing out the contradictions and unnatural parts.

It was as though the impact of the appearance of Yue's uncle, Maou, and rebellious god was forcefully trying to draw her in momentarily.

To the members who began to have looks of agreement on their faces, Hajime stated his conclusion while looking around warily.

Due to these things there was no reason to believe the Maou's words.  Above all...

He cut off his words as irritation begins to creep into his voice.  He continues letting his real intention show.

“What, 'my adorable Aretia', dumbass!  This person is 'my adorable Yue'!  Mostly it's repeatedly calling out Aretia, Aretia, shit.  'Let's go together' and embracing her closely, who would permit that?  Huh?  Taking her for your own convenience is impossible.  I'll cut off your limbs and sink you in a tank of manure!!”

“““Isn't that just jealousy!!!?”””

In a word, it was something like that.  90% was due to envy.  Floating a large amount of veins, waving the gun around while spouting abusive language, the image of a hoodlum was complete.

Had it genuinely been Yue's uncle Hajime would have greeted him seriously, introducing himself as her lover.  However, for an obvious fake making her waver, repeatedly calling her old name and trying to embrace her in front of him, he deserved to die 10000 times over.  He was Hajime's enemy.

Being showered by such a heavy love from Hajime, Yue's heart which had continued shaking since entering the audience chamber finally settled.  Her eyes which had wandered too now watched Hajime as if she could see only him.  Her cheeks begin to flush and her eyes moisten.

“Hajime is jealous.  Jealous of me.....Nn.  I'm happy.”

In Yue's innermost thoughts, the appearance of Hajime's jealousy stimulated her woman's heart while she also scolded herself.

Although it was shocking, how much of her unsightliness was exposed?  Moreover, to believe in the unnatural story of a person she was not certain was her uncle, to try to accept the fight with the gods, to forget her promise with Hajime was an inexcusable decision.

Certainly her memories of Deinrid are unforgettable.  Her memory of the betrayal is a trauma.  But now a lot of happy memories are hidden in her heart.  Though it has only been a short period of several months, the density of them exceeds even the years spent in her home country.  Even if he really were her uncle, it is impossible for her hand to be taken.

Yue, appreciating more the warmth of Hajime's hand who supports her, apologized to him, saying she was all right now.  Hajime tells her there is no need to apologize because he understands how much she went through before she was imprisoned.  Yue tells Hajime that she loves him.

Their promise to protect each other was unchanged.  Thinking of Hajime who had supported her, Yue leaked out a hot sigh.

At that time, a snapping sound and applause resounded.

Alv gets up looking as if nothing had happened to him.  He comments with ridicule and contempt that he had misread Hajime for attacking suddenly for such a reason.  He had gone to great pains to try to draw Yue's heart over to his side, but now he'll switch to plan B or be unable to save face.

Yue denies that he is her uncle.  Alv responds that it is her uncle, but just the body.  Yue asks if he was possessed, floating a blue-green flame in her right hand.  Seeing that, Alv's face splits in a sneer.

Alv says that he wouldn't do something so disgraceful.  He was simply recycling a dead body.  To hide Yue, Deinrid had erased his memories of when she was concealed as well as the knowledge of the age of gods magic.

Yue asks him if he killed her uncle.  Alv laughs and dodges the question.  Yue angrily tells her to answer, releasing her killing intent.  The flame in her hand burns more intensely.  It is a fire that will only burn the selected soul and destroy it.  However, Alv only floats an insolent smile, seemingly unafraid.

He continues to play games with her mind, telling her that his previous words were a lie, and that Deinrid was still alive, his soul sealed in his body.

He laughs at her expression, then says he'll tell her Deinrid's final words to her before he died.

Hajime turned his gun at Alv, but hesitated, something he would regret.  There was no reason to hear Alv's words, but because he was thinking of Yue he dulled his hand.

Alv then says, while calling out Yue's name, Deinrid had said, “I want you to die suffering.”

The words struck Yue like an arrow.  Although her spirit wasn't shaken, they still caused her pain.

In that moment, everything occurred at the same time.

Behind Hajime who was facing Alv, Kouki was beside Eri tried to stab him.

A column of silvery white light came down toward Yue from above.

Eri, who appeared in a different place from the Eri lying on the ground, shoots dark magic at Yue.

Freed also appears from a different space, shooting magic at Myuu and Remia.

With a snap of Alv's fingers, fire starts shooting at Hajime.  Multiple apostles also appeared and attacked Hajime together.

It was a perfect surprise attack.  The Freed and Eri lying on the ground crumbled into dust.  They were apparently artifact doubles who had replaced the real ones the moment Alv had released the bright magic before.  The doubles were abnormal since even Hajime's magic eye was fooled.

Hajime activates lightspeed.  Seeing the multiple attacks aimed at himself, Yue, Myuu, Remia, Aiko and the others, he realizes he cannot prevent everything himself.  Moving only his eyes, he locks gazes with Yue for an instant and realizes her intention to protect Myuu and Remia.  Although the column of light is the most abnormal attack and he is loathe to leave her side, he is determined not to betray her trust and takes action.

First, he uses the shotgun in the elbow of his artificial arm to blow Kouki back.  Using that force, he takes off at a speed that doesn't even leave an afterimage and appears in front of Myuu and Remia.  He pulls the large shield from the treasure warehouse and uses that to catch the attack.  Thanks to adding reactive armor to the shield, even though a crack appears on its surface it succeeds in preventing the impact of the attack.

The flames shot by Alv head toward Shia and the others.  Shizuku uses the black sword to draw all the flames to it and is knocked back by the impact.  Shia on the other hand goes to get between Aiko and the apostles.  She shoots a slug bullet from Doryukken toward  the ground.  The impact knocks back both the apostles as well as Aiko and the classmates.  Kaori and Shia face the apostles who regain their balance, while Tio prepares to cast her breath attack on Freed.

However, Kouki who came back before they were aware suddenly attacked Kaori.  Tio gets blown back by a sudden kick from Eri.

Everything happened in that one moment.  Hajime has Donner and Schlag aimed at Alv and Freed.  Shia faces off the apostles in front of Aiko and the classmates.  Tio and Shizuku start to get up painfully.  Kaori has her mouth open demanding an explanation from Kouki.  Ryuutaro and Suzu have finally begun to react.  In that instant.

“Ah.”

The appearance of Yue is swallowed by the pillar of light.

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