Chapter 98. Natsuki Subaru: Kazuma, didn't we promise to be losers together!?
The two of them messed around for a while before finally stopping.
Natsuki Subaru stared at the computer screen, which had already shut off, deep in thought. Then he turned to Satou Kazuma, patted him on the shoulder, and smiled somewhat sadly:
"Kazuma, are you going home to sleep tonight or just crashing at the net café?"
"Going home… actually, net café's fine too."
Kazuma originally intended to head home, but seeing the quiet and somewhat lonely expression on Subaru's face, he threw an arm over his friend's shoulder and laughed heartily.
He knew very well about this friend's family situation. The relationship with his parents was extremely strained.
Although he himself was a shut-in loner, Subaru had it far worse.
"Alright then, let's crash at the net café."
A mischievous grin formed at the corner of Natsuki Subaru's lips. His other arm went over Kazuma's shoulder.
BAM!
A loud thud rang out.
With a gripping force of 70kg, the two buddies slammed themselves into the private room of the net café. Under Kazuma's dumbfounded expression, the two climbed onto a small, cramped bed. Natsuki Subaru pulled the blanket up to cover them both.
"Hey hey hey, Subaru what the fuck are you doing!? Go book a double room already!"
Kazuma screamed in panic.
"Scream all you want, scream until your throat tears—no one's gonna notice."
Natsuki Subaru chuckled creepily, "Good brothers share one blanket. Think of how much money we're saving."
"Fuck your mother Natsuki Subaru, you damn mutt, let go of me, I swear I'll—"
Kazuma thrashed around wildly, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break free from that 70kg grip. His eyes turned red with fury, "The first time in my life I share a bed, it has to be with a girl! At the very least let me seduce one before I share a bed with you!"
"Subaru! Yamete! Yamete!"
"Gehehehehe…"
The narrow little room in the net café shook continuously, echoing with bizarre laughter.
Not long after, the net café owner happened to walk by and his eyes went wide.
What the hell? Are kids these days this wild?
The owner trembled, originally planning to ask for the deposit, but gave up.
He decided to talk about it the next morning. If he accidentally ruined someone's good time and got dragged into a threesome, this old man wouldn't survive it.
...
The night passed. Dawn's light shone through the windows, casting into the dark net café.
As morning broke, Kazuma groggily opened his eyes and walked out of the net café with an arm over Natsuki Subaru's shoulder.
Though sharing a bed with your best bro was totally normal, Kazuma still had goosebumps all over and held his head in regret. He shouldn't have agreed to stay at the net café—he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep.
Subaru, that bastard, truly was a dog.
"I'm never going to the net café with you again."
Kazuma grumbled irritably, scowling at the guy beside him.
"Don't be like that, I just bought a magazine, I'll split it with you."
Natsuki Subaru grinned slyly and pulled out several thick photo books from his bag.
At first Kazuma sneered and gave them a dismissive glance, but then his eyes widened in shock and he snatched them immediately.
"This is…"
Kazuma flipped through a few pages, his breathing turned heavy, and a pervy smile spread across his face. "Didn't expect you to have such a taste. Even got a bikini photo set of the teacher."
"Of course!"
Natsuki Subaru's lips curled with pride, as if he was leading the pack. Suddenly, his expression changed, and his eyes turned toward the dark alley in the distance: "Kazuma, do you hear something strange?"
"Sounds like it… maybe just a stray dog eating something?"
Kazuma scratched his head.
From the alley where Subaru was looking, rustling noises could be heard.
He got excited, threw an arm around his bro, and swaggered toward it, laughing gleefully and pointing into the alley, making odd noises: "Chup chup chup, come here, little doggie~"
"Chup chup… hey, something feels off?"
Kazuma trembled, feeling something was off. It had just turned to early autumn—not cold at all—so why was there suddenly a chill creeping through his limbs, making his whole body shiver?
In the next second, he glanced deeper into the alley, and with sharp eyes, spotted something abnormal. It looked like a massive dark mass, swaying with hundreds of revolting tentacles. The ground was soaked with ominous, dark fluid, and within it lay a figure sprawled motionless.
The hell?!
Kazuma's face froze instantly. What the fuck is that?!
"Kazuma?"
Noticing something odd about his friend, Natsuki Subaru called out in confusion, then followed Kazuma's line of sight—and his head felt like it exploded. His entire body began to tremble, a cold wave surging from the base of his spine straight to the crown of his head.
Wasn't this exactly the kind of monster Haruno once mentioned had suddenly appeared in Chiba?!
Fear—true, bone-deep fear—crawled all over their skin, sending icy needles down their spines like being cast into a frozen pit.
The two locked eyes and could feel the tremble in each other's shoulders. They were so scared their legs could barely hold them upright.
In the blink of an eye, the air exploded—an inky black arm, drenched in blood, shot out from the alley. It resembled an infinitely extending tentacle, accompanied by a piercing screech like a train whistle.
It moved at blinding speed, crashing in from 45 meters away with violent force.
Like a massive hand from some nightmare, coming to crush them like snacks before swallowing them whole.
"RUN!!"
Natsuki Subaru shouted in panic, but at that exact moment, Kazuma beside him had already launched himself forward like an arrow. The gust from his movement burned across Subaru's face as he watched his friend grit his teeth and charge ahead—stunned.
Was this still the same Kazuma who always lazed around muttering things like, "I'm a firm believer in gender equality; I can kick a girl's face too"?
Faced with imminent death, he still chose to charge straight in?
Bastard!
"Goddammit, like hell I'm gonna let you play hero alone!"
Natsuki Subaru forced down the fear, eyes wide in fury. He yelled and leapt forward.
And then...
"BAM BAM BAM…!!"
The black arm exploded, splitting into countless smaller hands, each the size of an adult's, raining down like a storm in a frenzied assault. In an instant, they bombarded the teenage boy's entire body.
Natsuki Subaru was blasted backward, pain twisting his face as blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth.
No…
I can't let Kazuma fight alone. He grit his teeth, struggling to rise from the ground.
But when he lifted his head, the sight before him left him dazed—a familiar companion, once lazy and indifferent, now moved like a cat, nimbly slashing away at a demonic titan the size of a building. The monster's entire body writhed with squirming tentacles, like it had a hundred ghostly hands.
The hand demon bellowed in rage, the very air quivering violently. Its roar pierced well over a hundred decibels.
But none of it could stop Kazuma from repeatedly stabbing into its eye—and even jabbing at its asshole.
Gouts of thick, acrid demon blood splattered into the air. The hand demon howled in agony, shrieking and flailing hundreds of arms to crush Kazuma, who danced like a bullet across its massive body. But no matter how many thunderous strikes it launched—
All of them missed—by mere inches.
Like an elephant being toyed with by a mouse crawling up its nose—helpless, going insane with frustration.
Very quickly, Natsuki Subaru understood why.
Even while sprinting like mad, blue energy veins shimmered along Kazuma's limbs.
Reinforcement Magecraft?
Kazuma mastered Reinforcement Magecraft?!
In that moment, Subaru's heart flooded with complex emotions. He even felt a flicker of filthy envy.
But thankfully, he wasn't that kind of person—he quickly brushed the feeling aside.
However, when it realized it couldn't deal with Kazuma right away, the hand demon suddenly broke into a sinister smile.
While Kazuma was still stabbing away at its asshole, a small black arm suddenly extended infinitely from the demon's back—like a venomous snake baring its fangs—roaring toward Natsuki Subaru with blinding speed.
So fast there was no time to react.
Subaru's pupils contracted. He turned to run.
Splat——
A black arm pierced straight through his chest and then withdrew, blood spraying wildly across the ground.
"Subaru!!"
Kazuma—who'd been deftly dodging blows, stabbing eyes, ears, and asshole—suddenly froze, rage flaring to life in his chest.
But in that split second of distraction, the hand demon sneered cruelly. Hundreds of black arms merged together into a massive, muscle-bound hand that seemed to blot out the sky. It smashed downward—tearing through the air with a deafening roar of displaced wind!
BOOM!
Kazuma's small frame was launched by a devastating punch, slammed into a wall, carving out a deep crater as debris exploded outward. His body stuck there like a poster—eyes wide in fury, teeth bared, blood pouring from his mouth, his breathing weak.
Even with his body reinforced by Magecraft, that hit was too much.
If only he'd reached the level of Raku Sou in the early stages of the Holy Grail War—strengthened to the level of a Pseudo-Servant—it might've been different.
Then he wouldn't need to go stabbing into asses or gouging ears.
One strike would've been enough to slice that monster into a thousand chunks.
"Damn it... still too weak."
Kazuma grit his teeth, falling out of the crater left by the punch, glancing toward his unconscious comrade lying nearby.
For the first time, he regretted his recklessness.
Always trying to prove himself, show off his skills—and now it had ended with his only friend gravely wounded.
"Oh? So you two are the 'Masters' mentioned on that sky screen, huh?"
The demon, towering nearly a story tall with hundreds of arms, lifted Natsuki Subaru into the air and grinned wickedly. "Pathetic. Muzan-sama was being overly cautious."
"Still, I bet you taste different from regular humans."
The demon grinned evilly. Its bloody maw gaped wide, rows upon rows of jagged teeth blooming outward like a chrysanthemum. It prepared to toss the helpless, struggling boy into its mouth. Drool dripped from its jaws, stinking of rot and filth.
Is this the end...?
Natsuki Subaru closed his eyes with regret. He had always dreamed of a brilliant, light-novel-protagonist-like adventure life.
Instead, this was how it would end...
"TASTE KAZUMA-SAMA'S FLYING KICK, BITCH!!"
A thunderous yell tore through the sky.
The hand demon flinched, instinctively dropping its "little doll" and raised all its arms to shield its head—but its face immediately flushed red.
"HAHAHA, what a moron! Kazuma-sama says anything and you believe it? Dumbass!!"
Kazuma laughed maniacally, his entire body glowing with streaks of blue mana circuits. Blood poured from his nose and mouth as he teleported behind the hand demon—clearly exhausted—then forced a steel pole as thick as a grown man's thigh over a meter deep into the demon's asshole.
"——GAAAAHHHH!!"
The demon screamed in agony, its body arching in a grotesque spasm, its tortured howl echoing through the skies.
Even demons could feel pain!!
A gigantic steel rod shoved into its ass—fuck, who the hell could bear that?!
"I can't hold out much longer, Subaru! Hurry, use Reinforcement on me!!"
Kazuma screamed, blood continuing to pour from his nose and lips. He twisted the massive steel bar embedded in the demon's ass, causing demon blood to splatter everywhere, trying to force it into spasms.
Crushed on the ground, Natsuki Subaru twitched in pain. He heard the call and muttered with self-loathing:
"I… I can't… I don't even know how to use Reinforcement…"
"Subaru, you can do it! Believe in yourself! I'm putting my life in your hands!!"
Kazuma roared. The hand demon had gone berserk, its black limbs whipping through the air like a raging storm, each impact echoing with thunderous crashes.
"You damn mutt! Die already!!"
Kazuma gritted his teeth, dodging the flurry of black arms. Suddenly, he raised his right leg and stomped down hard on the steel rod — driving it another half-meter deeper.
"GUOOOOOOOOHHHH!!"
A hellish scream tore through the skies, shaking the heavens, as the hand demon convulsed in pure agony.
Writhing on the ground, it flailed and scrambled to gather whatever weapons or debris it could to strike back, all while howling in blind fury:
"A a a... I'll chew you bastards alive and swallow you whole!!"
BOOM BOOM BOOM!!
In an instant, a crimson flash burst out. Countless arms shot from the demon like cannon fire, obliterating the concrete alley walls.
Kazuma couldn't dodge in time. He was hurled over ten meters, tumbling across the ground in a blur, blood spurting from his mouth.
"Kazuma!!"
Finally—unlike that helpless self in the alternate world—Natsuki Subaru's eyes blazed with furious resolve in the face of overwhelming emotion. The keychain hanging from his bundle of keys—a miniature Merlin, a globally recognized icon—suddenly lit up, igniting something deep within his consciousness.
It was as if some higher existence from afar had glanced down… and casually bestowed a shred of grace.
The next moment—
Subaru's pupils contracted sharply, as if he had realized something profound. He raised his hand and fired a translucent beam of energy toward the nearby Kazuma.
The light struck Kazuma's body, not only healing his cells but amplifying his physical strength.
As soon as he finished, Subaru's face turned pale, and his breathing grew visibly faint.
This... was Reinforcement Magecraft of Purge King — the power that burns life itself!
The hand demon, of course, couldn't understand the miracle that had just occurred. As it barreled forward, screaming—
Shlick!
Kazuma shot to his feet. The pained expression vanished from his face, replaced by a calm, thin smile.
"You fucked..." he said coldly. His aura exploded outward as he clutched a small dagger, and in the blink of an eye, lunged like lightning toward the unguarded neck of the hand demon...
"Bitch!!"
The dagger, now reinforced with Magecraft, had become razor-sharp.
It slid clean through flesh and muscle, cleanly slicing through the demon's neck.
Blood gushed in torrents.
A massive demonic head dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.
"Phew."
Kazuma, gripping the dagger tightly, wiped sweat from his forehead. "Finally tricked it into dropping its guard around its neck... So, do we burn it? Garlic? Crosses? Or maybe drag it into the sunlight?"
"Subaru, go buy a UV lamp."
Uncertain, Kazuma glanced at Subaru, who stood dazed before the spreading pool of blood. Cautiously, he lifted the demon's severed head—only to see its neck still writhing, new tissue budding and regenerating.
He grimaced. "Burn it."
"No need. The sun's up."
Subaru coughed blood, his gaze hazy as he looked toward the clouds breaking apart above.
Sunlight began to pour through.
"You bastards!! Muzan-sama will never forgive you!!"
At the sight of the rising sun, the demon hand's severed head—which had been playing dead—suddenly shrieked in total panic, wailing in fury.
And then—very quickly—
It melted like snow under sunlight.
...
"Phew, Hero Kazuma slays the demon—seriously, someone better put up a statue of me right in the center of the city... Wait, what the hell is this?!"
Kazuma blinked in surprise. Where the demon had melted away, a red stone was left behind.
A boss drop? Really?
Excited, he turned around and called to his comrade. Picking up the crimson gem, he held it high and beamed:
"This thing dropped from the monster, Subaru! We're rich! The government's gonna pay a fortune for this!"
Natsuki Subaru trudged over, shaking his head with a pained expression.
"It's all thanks to you, this has nothing to do with me. You bastard—you said we'd both be losers together, and now you secretly learned Reinforcement Magecraft?"
"Ahaha, I kinda just got caught up in the heat of the moment and... somehow figured it out."
Kazuma gave a sheepish smile. Even he didn't quite understand how he managed to grasp it so fast.
"Your luck… it's always been kinda..."
Subaru muttered, half-complaining. But then, as he glanced over at Kazuma, his expression froze.
The red gem in Kazuma's hand was melting, its liquid form seeping into his body. A faint glow began to shine from his wrist—deepening to a dark, blood-red light. Slowly, it spread and solidified into three ominous crimson marks, mysterious and sacred under the glow.
A... Command Spell...
Subaru stared in disbelief, fists clenching tight. He couldn't stop the surge of jealousy rising in his chest.
He was supposed to be the Master in Celestial Curtain!!
Why...? Why is it always someone else...?
...
Meanwhile, in another world.
A world of sword and sorcery.
In an ancient land long forgotten, a powerful being slumbered deep in the shadows. And now... her eyes slowly opened.
She had felt it.
That fierce envy, that raging unwillingness—it resonated... with the Witch of Envy that lay dormant inside her.
...
"Haha, this symbol looks pretty damn cool. I guess it's that Command Spell from Celestial Curtain, right Subaru..."
Kazuma grinned, eyes glued to the intricate mark on his wrist. He turned to share his joy with his best friend—only to freeze.
"Suba...ru...?"
He stood dumbfounded, staring at the bloody, wrecked alley around him.
Why...
Why is he... gone?
...
At that same moment, in that other world of swords and magic...
A new visitor had arrived from another realm.
The Royal Capital of Lugnica.
Natsuki Subaru stood there, dumbfounded. The scenery was dazzling—an opulent, lively medieval European-style city. Lizardmen shouting as they whipped the reins of horse-drawn carriages, kobolds hawking their wares...
Muscular beastmen brushed past him, paying him no mind.
"Is this… another world?"
A long moment passed before Subaru finally murmured in awe.
And then, a hearty voice called out:
"Yo, kid! Wanna buy an apple?"
...
...
Note: I'm honestly not sure what to say about this chapter… I'm speechless.