Once a NEET always a NEET 20
Disclaimers… do I really have to do this for every chapter? Can we just skip it just this once so I can jump right into the story cause seriously I've been hyping this chapter up for a while now.
Well whatever, onto the story.
The fated morning had came where Tanya's forces and Yuri's army had came to their promised destination, where everyone was eager to fight for the well being of Kazuma.
"Tanya, how are you doing this wonderful morning" called Yuri as standing next to her were Naofumi and Aqua, "I'm doing great, though it could get better if you were to submit defeat now with your unconditional surrender" said Tanya as standing next to her were the now zombified Subaru and Ainz.
"Funny, I was gonna say the same thing, though with that being said I think you and I both share the same sentiment right now" said Yuri as she saw the men she had last to Tanya on her side.
"You know, something could be said right now if we were to instead be mature about it and talk things out… but that would be boring" said Tanya as her army began to grip their weapons even tighter.
"Agreed" said Yuri as both stared each other down for a solid minute before someone had decided to give a battle cry to wake everyone up to charge into battle and fight their friends to the finish.
Having God Requiem ready, Aqua ran head first towards Ainz and to the shocking amazement of everyone, she had knocked him all the way to the back of Tanya's forces, leaving her speechless.
"What the fuck" said the still hypnotized Subaru as he was distracted long enough for Naofumi to sucker punch him into the ground as he tried to rush towards Raphtalia and Filo but was intercepted by, not any of the other heroes, but rather Rem when she tossed her giant mace of death towards him.
"Your shield will stand no chance towards the might of my Morningstar" said Rem, "That's what everyone thought" said Naofumi as his shield began to transform into nue before letting out a large shriek to not only frighten Rem, but use his shield to bash her into the ground.
"And stay down" said Naofumi, before he lifted his shield up in time, just as Cocytus swung at him with his Halberd.
"Your shield will be an excellent trophy amongst my collection" said Cocytus as he continued to bat Naofumi away, clearing the battlefield for Albedo to start dancing with Tachibana and Otonashi.
"Otonashi, stay back, she's very dangerous" said Tachibana as she used Hand Sonic on both hands, before running towards Albedo head on as she readied to punch Tachibana in the ground.
With the help of Delay, Tachibana was able to get past Albedo ready to shove her blade into her sides, however the Succubus was quick to maneuver and was able to lock in her arm in place, before punching Tachibana in the face repeatedly.
"Tachibana" yelled Otonashi in horror as he pulled out his handgun and started shooting at Albedo blindly before she turned her eyes on him.
"Stay out of this you false immortal" said Albedo whilst using Counter Arrow to send the bullets back towards Otonashi's direction, which was part of his plan to allow Tachibana to get herself free and leave a large gashing cut alongside Albedo's back as she screamed in pain.
Before Tachibana could deliver the killing blow, she was deterred away in large thanks to Matheus and Koenig as they began to fire at her.
"This doesn't feel right" said Matheus, "We got our orders, less you want to be thrown into the stockade like Viktoriya" said Koenig as he himself had his share of regrets towards this disagreement.
"Rhiner, how are things holding on your end" asked Koenig as he got no answer before he and Matheus turned to see him laying on the ground defeated, thanks to Linze and Elze.
"And this is why you never send in red shirts to any battle" said Linze before she ran her way towards Matheus as Linze stood behind ready to cast a water spell on Koenig.
While Matheus and Koenig tried to deter Linze, it left Koenig open to get hit by a large blast of water sending him flying back into Matsushita, who easily knocked him back as he stood ready to face Noda.
"You have no idea how much I dreamed for this day to come as we will see who is the strongest under Yuri's command" said Noda smugly as he began to twirl his Halberd, ready to fight Matsushita to the death, but before he could get anywhere close to finally confront him, he got caught amid Megumin's explosion when she was attempting to send Demiruge and Emilia to kingdom come.
"Did I get them" asked Megumin as she laid her face on the floor as she had Darkness and Yae guard over her body.
"Nope, but you did send Noda flying into the opposite direction" said Yae as she can see him being sent flying and landing hard on top of be of Beatrice and Mare to the point that they were now all out for the count.
"We got bigger issues to deal with" said Darkness as she stood in front of Yae to get hit instead by Demiruge's sharp claws.
"Darkness!" exclaimed Yae in horror as she saw her friend having sharp claws buried deep in her chest as the archdemon began to lift her up.
"Your attempts of victory are futile and pointless" said Demiruge as he tried to remove Darkness, but found her to not only be well, but holding a very strong grip on his wrist.
"So long as breathe, I will not fall and allow you to hurt my friends anymore" said Darkness as she looked down at Demiruge, leaving Yae a chance to strike her attack on the man.
Unfortunately she was knocked back when she hit a wall of water, courtesy of Emilia, "Did you forget about me" asked Emilia before she began to chase down the samurai, past Tanya, who was in her fight against Yuri.
"We could have been powerful allies you know" said Tanya, "Come on, 2 strong woman with egos bigger than Japan, I don't think so" said Yuri as she began to toss aside her handgun and knife as Tanya ascended towards the ground and began to remove her equipment as well.
"Word of free warning, I'm more dangerous than my age and stature gives off" said Tanya as she began to crack her knuckles, "I would hope so, otherwise this would be to easy" said Yuri as she cracked her neck.
Charging towards one another, Tanya used her stature to advantage to slide under Yuri's legs as she punched the back of her legs, getting her to her knee's before attempting to hold her in a choke hold.
Still it was not enough for Yuri to grab Tanya and toss her over as she landed on her back, before Yuri used her forearms to punch Tanya in the face a few times, before lifting her arms up to block further assault.
Waiting for a break in the beat, Tanya rolled out of the way, before getting back on her feet, were she charged and drop kicked Yuri in the knee, causing her to fall to the ground, where Tanya had crawled her way towards Yuri's legs and kept in lock, and was attempting to twist them out of place, had Hinata not intervened and pulled Tanya off Yuri.
"Hinata" exclaimed Yuri, "Hey, looks like you could use a hand" said Hinata as Tanya took the chance to plant her legs on Hinata's lap and launched herself out of his grip as she rolled her way past one of Yuri's handguns and had it pointed at the pair.
Acting quick, both ducked and covered out of harms way behind a wall, where Yuri promptly punched Hinata in the face.
"Thanks for the rescue you idiot" said Yuri as Hinata held his face, "You bitch, is this the thanks I get from stopping her from breaking your legs" said Hinata before Yuri offered her hand to him.
"Your right, I'm sorry, but now she has no qualms of using weapons when she knows she's not only outnumbered, but outmatched" said Yuri as Hinata slipped a gun in her hand.
"She's all yours, I gotta go wake up some friends of ours" said Hinata as he looked at the other end of the alley way to see that TK was dancing solo against Ooyama and Noda and was kicking their asses.
"Damn it, they had to take control of our 2 best fighters" jeered Yuri, "Assuming your referring to Matsushita and TK here, you sure you want to underestimate Takamatsu now" asked Hinata.
"Come on, he's a fey genius with a well-toned body, what can he honestly do to harm us" said Yuri as being thrown on the other side of the wall landing in front of them was Yui.
"Yui, are you alright" asked Hinata as he helped her back on her feet, "I'm fine, just never expected Takamatsu to be this strong" said Yui as Yuri began to feel guilty for snubbing the guy.
"Ok, point taken" said Yuri as she peaked her head back out to see that Tanya had gone to reequipped herself with her gear and was ready to continue her fight.
"More on this later, right now we've got a fight to finish" said Yuri as she began to lead Tanya away from the happy couple.
"You know, we maybe greater in numbers, but it sucks that a good number of us aren't known for being fighters" said Yui, "Yeah, honestly some back up would be nice about now" said Hinata as he thought about Iwasawa and the rest of Girls DeMo.
"No point in arguing about, let's hurry up and see what we can do about our brain washed friends" said Yui, "What you know how to snap them awake" said Hinata.
"Well duh, they do have obvious mind control gear on them that doesn't look like it's grafted onto their skin or anything" said Yui as Hinata couldn't disagree.
While these 2 were making a plan of their own, Aqua was kicking some serious ass for once as she had both Ainz and Shalltear on the ropes.
"Ain't so tough now huh" said Aqua mocking the might and power Ainz was known for as he was being healed by Shalltear, who was looking worse for wear.
"Stand back master Ainz, I will defeat her" huffed Shalltear as she looked like she was on the brink of collapse.
"Stand down, I can't allow you to die on me or any of us, not while we need you to heal us" said Ainz as he began to ready a large ice ball at Aqua, but the goddess of water stood her ground as she used her fans to direct a mass body of water to counter Ainz attack.
As the water began to rain on them, Aqua continued to gather the water and send the undead duo flying, if not for Ainz coming in to pick up and rescue Shalltear from being drown in water.
"Master Ainz" cooed Shalltear as he held her bridal style in her arms, while Ainz looked down on Aqua.
"Get down here so we can continue our fight!" shouted Aqua, before out of nowhere she got knocked to the ground by Ram.
"Remember me you blue haired bitch" said Ram smugly as she put her fist up as Aqua began to get back on her feet.
"Don't call me a bitch you dumbass" said Aqua she too put her fist up as Ram didn't think much of her since her wind style enhanced martial arts gave her a major advantage against most people.
Stepping forward to deliver a side kick to Aqua's head, the goddess manage to block the attack, but still felt the pain from Ram's attack as she continued to look at Aqua very smugly.
"I'm gonna wipe that smug look on your face this minute" said Aqua as she readied to deliver god blow on Ram as she too readied to counter Aqua's attack, but we intervened when Yumina, Sushie, and Leen stepped in.
"We got this, you should focus your attention on those 2 behind us, if not getting towards you man and let him be aware what's going on" said Yumina as she had her arrows drawn on Ram who was a bit hesitant to advance now.
"Thank you I will" said Aqua as she turned her way towards their home were Kazuma was at alone and sad about how all this was there fault and that their failure to communicate properly like adults has lead to them fighting to the death.
Running her way towards the house, she ignored Ainz and Shalltear recovering, and stepped over Matheus and Koenig as they had been defeated by Linze and Elze as they were now fighting against Aura and Puck in his 20 ft tall beast mode, while Touya had to protect her halfway when both Julius and Reinhard from attempting to attack her.
"You 2 should be ashamed to call yourselves heroes" said Touya as he glared at the pair with his Katana drawn as Reinhard looked like he really got his ass kicked into the dirt and dragged across the way for the next 100 yards.
"I don't get it… I am protected and blessed by the gods from any attack, how the hell are you able to do this to me" said Reinhard angrily as no one has ever dared to beat him into this weaken state before in a long time.
"Reinhard, please calm down, losing your cool and thinking about it isn't going to help us win" said Julius as he remained composed in spite of dealing with an enemy that has brought him a challenge in recent.
"You should really listen to your friend, he does make a good point" said Touya, "Shut up, I don't know how or why this is happening, but it ends now, don't you know who I am, I'm fucking Reinhard blessed with the Divine Protection Boon and the Sword Saint, I am a god amongst men and then you showed up, what kind of BS is this" said Reinhard.
"Funny, I've been given something of Boon by a god already and am already more than on my way to become a god from what he's told me, so I guess that makes us very much alike" said Touya.
"And what exactly did this god has blessed you with" asked Reinhard as Touya decided to humor the man as he pulled out his smartphone.
"Just this and that's all I ever asked for" said Touya as this triggered Reinhard to wrong way.
"What the hell kind of bullshit is this, you mean to tell me I've been getting my ass kicked by some hipster" said Reinhard as he began to toss away his coat.
"Reinhard you need to calm down" said Julius, before Reinhard turned to shoved the hilt of his sword very hard into Julius' stomach as he heaved over threw up.
"You listen to me, we're nothing alike and I will prove it to you, by ending this once and for all" said Reinhard as he began to charge up to deliver the killing blow, but Touya remain calmed as he stood his ground.
"Slip" said Touya as Reinhard had lost the friction in his footing at the very last minute, before he slammed his hilt into Reinhard face, knocking him out for good.
"You're right, we're nothing alike" said Touya as he made his way towards the winded Julius.
"Sorry your friend is such a hot head and a bad loser, he had no right for inflicting such pain onto you" said Touya as he stood over Julius.
"What your gonna give me a fair chance to recover and let us fight fairly" asked Julius, "I'm sorry but this is civil war and hardly there's no such thing of anyone coming out unscathed or prisoners being taken in the midst of battle" said Touya as Julius let out a pain laughed.
"Whatever you're gonna do, make it quick and painless" said Julius, "I promise" said Touya as he chopped him in the back of the neck, knocking him out for good.
"Now let's see who could use my assistance" said Touya as he found his katana hand being wrapped by a whip, before turning his head to see it was Subaru wielding the weapon.
"It's you" said Touya as Subaru manage to disarm his katana with one yank, as Touya began to regain his bearings just as Subaru had continued to whip him from afar.
Rushing to grab his katana, Touya slid to grab it, but stopped mere inches when Raphtalia stepped on his wrist and looked down at him as she began to raise her sword.
Ready to end Touya, Raphtalia was not expecting for Garius to step in and block the attack.
"Forgive me Raphtalia, but none of this is personal" said Garius as he pushed Raphtalia back as he slid Touya's sword back in his hands.
"You alright" asked Garius, "I'll be fine, but aren't you suppose to be on guard duty or something" asked Touya as he recalled Garius along with Myucel and Elbia volunteering to keep Petralka, Shinichi, Shiro, Sora, and Stephanie safe, not battling against Raphtalia and Filo.
"All part of the plan friend, we figured by now no one was guarding Kazuma, so we figured we let him in as to what's going on and maybe getting him to safety" said Garius.
"I hope you're right" said Touya as he focused his gaze back on Subaru as Garius went to take on Raphtalia head on and cleared the way for Shina and Fujimaki's fight against Takamatsu.
"Jesus Christ, who'd have thought a guy who was normally part of the red shirt category was actually a badass" said Fujimaki in disbelief.
"This is so stupid, no way he or any of these people who were all idiots could be this strong" said Shina as this was really starting to hurt her pride as this badass edgy ninja.
"I agree, now let's kill this S.O.B. already" said Fujimaki as he decided to toss his sword towards Shina and whip out his submachine gun and started firing at Takamatsu as he was effortlessly dodging the bullets coming at him.
Using this as he chance to get the jump at Takamatsu, Shina began to rush him, only for him to whip out his Desert Eagle and started firing rounds at her.
While Shina was able to evade the attack, Fujimaki wasn't as lucky as he took the shots to the chest before falling back.
Shina decided to try and surprised jump attack Takamatsu, but had foresaw this as he was able to catch her in a bear hug as he squeezed her tight.
"God, you actually smell good" said Takamatsu as he did manage to bury his face in Shina's breast in the midst of hugging her to death.
Feeling embarrassed and violated, Shina acted accordingly and kicked him in his unborn children as Takamatsu screamed in pain as he let go of her.
"You pervert!" exclaimed Shina as she used her swords to blindly cut at Takamatsu's head, destroying the device that had him under Tanya's control, before spin kicking him to the ground.
"Ow, what did I do wrong" whined Takamatsu as Shina flipped him over, to see her beet red face and a sword ready to be plunged in his heart.
"Any last words you pervert" asked Shina, "Shina calm down, I'm sorry for whatever I dead" said Takamatsu sounding like how he normally does.
"What did I miss" asked Fujimaki as he finally got back on his feet, "Takamatsu seemed to finally regain his senses" said Shina as she stepped off of him so he could get up.
"You alright man" asked Fujimaki, "Yeah, I think so, last thing I remembered was doing look out at Kazuma's then the next thing I know I'm here waking up on the middle of this civil war" said Takamatsu as he began to remove the remaining contents that were associated with his mind control.
"Glad to know that we don't have to kill each other, just gotta get those stupid devices off of you guys" said Fujimaki, "I could have told you idiots that a long time ago" said Yui as everyone, including TK and Matsushita, and sans Noda were present and well.
"Good to see we're all together again" said Takamatsu, "Yeah, but we should really be kicking ass and saving our friends who are still fighting" said Hinata.
"Not so fast" said Melty as she stood with her 'heroes' behind her ready to fight.
"Just cause you manage to save some of the expendable assets, doesn't mean we won't let you continue on this crusade of yours" said Melty, "Fear not milady, I will see to it these blackguards are either dead or imprisoned before the nights end" said Motoyasu as he tried to act heroic after really proving himself to be nothing more than a self-righteous womanizer who's as bright as an obsidian stone buried under cement.
"Ok, now I see why Naofumi seems to hate this son of a bitch so much" said Hinata as he instantly felt annoyed by him.
"Only thing he's missing is a damn bipedal bull to serve his as his closet lover, and literally the hero of hell to take him on to paint this pretty picture for us" said Yui.
"Excuse me, but are you insinuating that I be in a gay relationship with the damn minotaur" said Motoyasu angrily, "Hey, we don't judge who your partners are or how you swing, but know that after this pretty picture my wife had made for me, I can only imagine you accepting to ever being the glazed donut hole to the minotaur because you have a thing for his swol body if you know what I mean" said Hinata as everyone let out a roaring 'oh' for that sick burn.
"I am not guy, nor do I fantasize being the bottom bitch to the minotaur or to any man for that matter" said Motoyasu as he was losing his cool by the second.
"From what I heard, Naofumi has owned your ass and probably got tired of doing it that he chose us to take his sloppy seconds, which by all means not my first choice, but I know it burns worst for you, dude" said Fujimaki as another roar of 'oh' was erupted.
"Enough of this, prepare to die" shouted Motoyasu as he was ready to spear them to the wall, but Yui stepped up and ran towards Motoyasu and with one good kick in the huevos, the spear hero was out for the count as he laid on the floor cradling his balls.
"You're my bitch now for the rest of your life, and nothing is ever going to change that" said Yui in a victoriously smug tone as her group and some of the other combatants who saw this couldn't help but let out a massive roar of 'oh' on Yui dominating this fight.
"I love that woman" said Hinata as he ran up to kiss her in the middle of the battle field.
"What the hell kind of shit is this, you 2 idiots take on these idiots already" ordered Melty not realizing that both Ren Itsuki had long left her stag, as they chose to instead catch up to stop Aqua from awakening Kazuma.
"Bummer, getting stood up by 2 guys after your main man wasn't even man enough to take on a little girl" said Naoi as the group slowly approached her.
"Baby are you down, down, down, down, down" said TK, "Guys, I kinda feel bad for ganging up on her" said Ooyama.
"That's fine, stay behind buddy along with anyone else who feels morally wrong, but I'm gonna take a piece of her and rip it apart" said Fujimaki, "This is so stupid" said Shina as she unironically began to join the group in performing the biggest beat down that if Naofumi could take a 5 in order to watch this, he would.
Speaking of, he somehow against all odds managed to beat Cocytus as he stood there breathing heavily.
"You are pretty good" asked Cocytus as he was puffing cold air like a locomotive, "You're not bad yourself" said Naofumi as he had his Dog Bite Shield active.
"Then let's end this already" said Cocytus as he stepped towards Naofumi as he stood his ground and waited for him to attack, where he side stepped and used his shield to bite and hold Cocytus down.
"Hold still and don't move" said Naofumi as he to move quick to break the device that was controlling Cocytus before he finally shook Naofumi off.
After taking a minute to get his act together, Cocytus now stood before Naofumi realizing that they were in a battle field and remembering what they had done to him and his friends.
"Thank you for saving me, now if you don't mind I must save my master and the other floor guardians" said Cocytus, "Then take this with you and take care" said Naofumi as he tossed the man a healing potion before eyeing the fight between Raphtalia and Garius.
Wait, wasn't he supposed to be on guard duty, thought Naofumi as he knew this wasn't part of the plan, meaning this could potentially backfire on them if what the others are doing isn't being careful.
Putting his thoughts on worried on hold for now, he rushed over towards where Raphtalia was at, only to bump into Yuri as she was fleeing from Tanya.
"What the hell" said Yuri, "You watch where you're going" said Naofumi before pulling Yuri in and raising his shield to protect them from being rained on by bullets as Tanya had the high ground.
"You can't escape from any of this, so you should just accept defeat already" said Tanya as she began to reload one of the weapons that Yuri's friends had dropped.
"You may want to reevaluate your plans and look at the battlefield, cause where I'm standing I say we're winning" said Yuri as Tanya did scan the battlefield briefly to see that her army had been all but defeated as those not brainwashed were knocked out, while many more were breaking from her control.
"Face it Tanya, you lost, as expected since we're the good guys here" said Naofumi.
"Don't be getting self-righteous on me, the war hasn't ended yet and victory shall decide who is wrong or right" said Tanya, "You're not wrong, however you're not in the right" said Yuri.
Losing her patient, Tanya continued to rain death from above as she ignored the fact that not far from where they're fighting, Aqua had made some great length and distance in trying to reach Kazuma.
Also reaching Kazuma disguised as either cardboard boxes and garbage cans were the remaining set of heroes.
"Alright guys, we're not that far from Kazuma's house" said Shinichi, "That's great man, you hear that Shiro, we're almost there at Kazuma's meaning you can finally relax" said Sora as Shiro was trying hard to keep her cool by remaining outdoors.
"Alright everyone, let's start moving again" said Stephanie as she began to lead them closer and closer towards the house, but stopped when they were just a mere few feet away from it.
"Why are we stopping" asked Petralka, "Shh, keep quiet, someone is coming" said Stephanie as they all patiently waited to see who it was before they saw it was Aqua at long last.
"Guys it's Aqua" said Shinichi, "And that's not all" said Sora as he saw that both Itsuki and Ren had caught up, with Itsuki shooting a warning arrow at Aqua who was a few feet from reaching the door.
"No" said Shinichi in horror as the group had tensed up and could only watch for whatever was to unfold before them.
"I'm sorry, but we can't let you disturb Kazuma, now please step away or we will be forced to kill you" said Ren as Aqua stood there looking at the heroes with tensed eyes.
"Why are you doing this, what do you gain by doing this, by not letting me see him, and from ending the pain and suffering we're all guilty of inflicting on him" asked Aqua.
"That's none of your business, now please, let's end this peacefully with you just stepping forward and away from the house" said Itsuki, "Not until you tell" said Aqua.
"All Itsuki has to do is shoot his arrow at you" said Ren, "And all I need to do is scream for Kazuma's name, now tell me" said Aqua as she refused to back down at this moment.
"You want the answer, fine, truth of the matter is we don't know, in fact none of us personally know except for Tanya, so if you have any questions, you will come with us and you can ask her that personally" said Ren.
"I'm not going away, not after I've gotten this far to reaching Kazuma" said Aqua as Ren and Itsuki began to draw their weapons as they approached Aqua.
"We can't let them take her, what do we do Shinichi" asked Petralka as Shinichi remained silent and exhaled a shaky breath before looking at Petralka.
"Whatever you guys do, don't expose yourself, I'm going to step in and help Aqua" said Shinichi as he pulled a can of mace from his pocket before emerging from his garbage can while carrying the lid with him.
"Shinichi, wait" said Stephanie as she nor anyone else had the nerve to step in and act as Shinichi didn't stop.
"Hey leave her alone!" shouted Shinichi as he tossed the garbage lid at them, missing entirely as it didn't even reach them.
"I'll go deal with him" said Ren as he began to march towards Shinichi thinking it was going to be an easy capture, but he pulled out his can of mace and sprayed Ren in the eyes as he screamed in pain.
"You little shit" said Itsuki as he fired an arrow to disarm and cut Shinichi's hand as he gripped while it began to bleed.
"You shouldn't have done that" said Itsuki ready to kill him, "God Blow!" yelled Aqua as she manage to knock him on the ground with one punch.
"Thank you" Aqua said gratefully, "You son of a bitch, I'm gonna get you for that" said Ren as his eyes were red and in pain as he began to raise his sword ready to kill Shinichi but got dazed when a pebble was sent flying and his him square in the face.
The person in question responsible for the attack was Shiro as she had a slingshot on her and another rock ready as the group got out of hiding, with Sora and Stephanie grabbing some discarded 2x4 left on the side of the road.
"Go get Kazuma, we got things from here" Sora said confidentially just as Ren gain his composure again, ready to kill them all, but Stephanie was quick in slamming the set of lumber into his stomach, before Sora followed through by knocking him on the chin as Ren fell to the ground.
Knowing this was her chance, Aqua finally rushed to the house, ready to grab Kazuma so they can run as far as they can out of harms way, but just before she could reach the door knob, the door had already opened.
Standing in front of her fully cloth in his adventurers clothing after a long time was Kazuma as he also had his usual gear on his person as well.
"Kazuma" exclaimed Aqua in surprise, "Aqua, thank god I was worried about you" said Kazuma as he pulled her in for a hug.
"You were going to step out the house and look for me" asked a surprised Aqua, "Well… yeah, you know cause we're dating" said Kazuma bashfully as seeing him squirm made Aqua think he was cute.
"Oh Kazuma" said Aqua as she planted a kiss on his cheek, before Kazuma realized that there were 2 guys on the floor with his lights knocked out and a few of his friends outside looked like they just finished delivering a well deserved beating on these guys.
"What's going on here" asked Kazuma, "The short answer is Civil War over you, the long answer we're in the middle of a civil war over you, because the school wants you for some reason, while all of us who care about you have been planning and preparing for this fight so we can rescue you and get out of dodge" said Sora.
"Speaking of, we should really go, now while we still got a chance to escape" said Stephanie, "Hold on, you said you guys are all currently in Civil War over me right now right" asked Kazuma.
"That is correct good sir" said Petralka, "And all of this ignoring and distancing yourselves from me" said Kazuma, "A cautionary part to our plan, we didn't want to, but once they started hunting and abducting us, just so they could brainwash us into forcibly aiding in bringing you back to school, we had no choice but to end our friendship for now" said Shiro.
Looking over head, Kazuma could see smoke from afar and knew this war was going to go on until either everyone is dead, or the if Kazuma steps forward.
"I'm going to end this" said Kazuma as he began to head towards where the fight was at as Aqua began to pull him back.
"You can't be serious, Kazuma it's dangerous and risky out there" said Aqua, "I know it is, while I don't necessarily forgive a lot of these assholes for turning their backs on me, knowing that they are willing to fight for me and my well being is enough for me to give them all at least another chance" said Kazuma.
"Come, we got some idiot friends to save" said Kazuma with a thumbs up as Aqua returned the gesture before the looked back at their friends who are present.
"You guys are more than welcome to make yourselves at home, just be sure to tie these 2 up" said Kazuma, "Sounds good" said Shinichi as Kazuma and Aqua wasted no time in racing towards the battle field.
Running past the edge and ignoring the stares from the people who did stop to see him, Kazuma and Aqua didn't stop running till they reached the center of the battlefield.
"Stop!" yelled Kazuma as everyone did so to look and recognize Kazuma.
"Kazuma" said Subaru with a pained laugh as Touya was shouldering him to see the event as Subaru and everyone else who was unwilling to capture Kazuma was now free from the mind control devices and were happy to see him out and about again.
"Please just stop, I'm right here where you guys want me at, so please stop your fighting and let's talk this out" said Kazuma.
"Kazuma, you better follow me and start getting your ass back to school mister" shouted Tanya as she had been captured and cuffed by Yuri, as she was the one to jerk her train.
"Shut up" stated Yuri as Kazuma began to approach her, "Not until you tell me why Tanya, cause something tells me you know the reason why all of this had to happened and why out of everyone here, I'm being singled out to go to school" said Kazuma.
"That's not important" said Tanya, "Not important my ass, now either start fessing up, or I'm going to take a nice boat trip to Hawaii with all my friends who care about me" said Kazuma.
"Fine, I'll tell you, for some stupid reason, our principle has been financing for a peculiar student at our school to continue on their project of constantly rebuilding the Destroyer over and over again" said Tanya as everyone remained silent.
"Wait a minute, the principle is financing the Destroyer" asked Kazuma, "He is and when I confronted him as to why since that thing is literally the Atomic Bomb of your world is being financed for repairs, he refused to tell me" said Tanya.
"Do you know as to who is responsible for building that machine and why they do it" asked Kazuma, "I don't know who exactly, all I know is that this girl is fixated on you and would do anything, even destroy this world if it means that you both could be left alone together forever at long last" said Tanya.
Hearing this surprised Kazuma, and I mean really surprised him since he never figured himself to be hot enough to have his own stalker, but hey he's not really complaining.
"Hey Kazuma, exactly what are you thinking, especially when you have a girlfriend right here standing next to you" said Aqua in a serious tone, "And you have to fill us in as to how you both managed to become a happy couple" said Shalltear teasingly as everyone shared a laugh.
"Even if this was all true, the Destroyer was destroyed for good the last time it rebooted itself" said Kazuma before he and everyone felt a loud rumbling.
"Please tell me no one else felt that" asked Kazuma before they all felt it again.
"I felt it" said Subaru, "Definitely felt it" said Touya, "Not gonna lie, I felt that too" said Yuri, before the loud rumbling sound kept on getting louder and louder, before they all saw that the Destroyer was once again active and on the prowl for Kazuma again.
"Damn it, we're too late" jeered Tanya as she and her group were getting uncuffed and had their weapons handed to them.
"Don't think you're off the hook yet" said Naofumi, "Don't need to tell me that we're going to need everyone to give a hand facing off this monstrosity yet again" said Tanya.
While now aware of it's purpose, no one was fully prepared to take on the Destroyer again, as they had been exhausted from their battle amongst themselves as they stood side by side ready to take on this metallic menace once more.
"Any ideas as to how we're gonna stop this large behemoth" asked Subaru, "Yeah, we hit it with everything we got like we've all done many times before" said Tanya.
"You guys want an idea, here's one, you guys all run around and be awesome, while my team makes a tactical retreat" said Kazuma, "No way are we going to let you bait them away" said Naofumi.
"Well I need some time to sap all the mana energy Darkness has in store, and transfer it into Megumin so we can at least blow that thing down a peg, and repeat this process over and over again till there's nothing left but shrapnel" said Kazuma.
"I'm for the idea of me being able to cast explosions over and over again" said Megumin with her eyes gleaming, "Sounds like a rough draft plan, but it's the only one we got, I'm for it" said Yuri.
"It's incomprehensible and stupid like the rest of us on a good day" said Tanya, "And yet we've all gotten this far and have shown to be successful" said Ainz.
"It's a big gamble, but I've no doubts the odds are in our favor" said Touya, "Guess there's no point in arguing over a sloppy grocery list" said Naofumi as he began to step forward.
"Kazuma, do what you gotta do, and we'll handle the rest from here" said Naofumi as he began to activate his cursed shield.
"Master Naofumi, you mustn't" said Raphtalia, "We're in the middle of war and I refuse to take any chances now" said Naofumi as his body began to erupt in a series of popped blood vessels.
"This is my Cursed Shield of Wrath" said Naofumi as sentient bear traps emerged and proceeded to attack one of the Destroyers legs.
"Guess we should step up too, Kazuma don't screw this up" said Tanya as this was honestly the kindest she's been to him since that night that started it all before Kazuma lead his team away.
Once they were at a safe distance, Kazuma began to work transferring Darkness mana into Megumin as the group had a chance to not only be alone, but together again after a long time.
"Kazuma…" began Darkness as she wanted to say something to prove a sincere apology, but after all this time of thinking of the right words to say, she was honestly at a loss of words.
"Shut up, I don't want to hear it, especially since I think you 2 are the worst for being on your worst behavior" said Kazuma, "And you forgive Aqua" asked Megumin accusingly.
"She earned it by trying hard and saving me from my most darkest of moments, you 2 have a lot of catching up to do" said Kazuma.
"Is there anything we can do to start showing we are sorry and want to earn your trust back" asked Darkness, "Yeah, you can start by getting yourself a boyfriend and finally getting laid, while you can start investing your skill points on mana reserve" said Kazuma.
"But Kazuma" whined Darkness and Megumin, "That's my offer and that's where it'll stand, that is unless you got something better to offer" said Kazuma.
While Darkness and Megumin were ready to concede, Aqua stepped in as she leaned herself onto Kazuma.
"Aqua, now is seriously not the time" said Kazuma, "Yes it is, this is the first time since we've all got together and are talking to each other, and while you have every right to make these demands for us to make ourselves into better people, truth of the matter is that we're not gonna change, since I still expect you to continuing living your NEET life once this Destroyer is destroyed, and I plan to continue to drink every now and again" said Aqua.
"So what if that's all true, what difference does it make" asked Kazuma, "It doesn't, and it's because of that, that I know deep down you don't want Darkness or Megumin to change cause you love us how we are, like how we love you" said Aqua.
"The difference now is that I get to love you unconditionally and I expect the same treatment in return" said Aqua with extra sass as Kazuma pulled one of her cheeks.
"You're lucky we're dating" said Kazuma with a smile just as Megumin was finally powered up again.
"Megumin, prepare to give it a 120%, while I rally the guys to get out of dodge" said Kazuma, "I will Kazuma. O Darkness that's Blacker than Black…." Chanted Megumin as he ran back towards where his friends were at.
Attacking from the rear was Tanya and her team as they kept laying suppressive fire on the hind legs.
"Stand your ground remain in tight formation men, this thing and whoever is operating it can't be focused on all of us at once if we attack it from every which side besides the front" said Tanya as she continued to shoot.
"Major, hind leg backing up from your right" shouted Koenig as Tanya got out of harms way in time.
"Thank you Koenig, now get to shooting" said Tanya as Ainz came floating towards her.
"Ainz, what are you doing here" asked Tanya, "Just wanted to give you a heads up Major, Emilia is about to unleash her ultimate attack, which'll freeze the area and this machine in place" said Ainz.
"Appreciated" said Tanya, before Ainz pulled her in and flew her out of harms way before firing acid arrows at the Destroyer.
"This is getting annoying" said Ainz as he released his hold on Tanya, "Agreed, now let's finish it already" said Tanya as they both went about leading their friends, before they all planned to make their retreat.
"Everyone, it's time to finally retreat" said Kazuma, "You heard the man let's go, Emilia, do your thing and Ainz will save you before this sucker blows" said Subaru.
"Alright Subaru, now everyone, evacuate" said Emilia as the area around them began to get colder by the second.
Once everyone was far from the Destroyer, Emilia had unleashed Absolute Zero as the Destroyer was helpless from continuing on it's destructive rampage.
"Emilia if you'd be inclined" said Ainz as he appeared to pick her up, "You may" said Emilia as Ainz carried her away bridal style just as Megumin dropped an explosion onto the Destroyer as it began to fall over.
"Come on Kazuma, what are you waiting for, you said I could drop as many explosions I want today" said Megumin with her face buried in the ground.
"I know, now stand still" said Kazuma as he began to sap Darkness once more and transfer her mana into Megumin.
"Not to complain, but you should really try sapping someone else after this, I'm kinda feeling light headed here" said Darkness.
"Noted" said Kazuma dismissively as he continued on the process of blowing the Destroyer up again and again till there's nothing but a new crater in their residential area and shrapnel all over.
"Hey Kazuma, we got company" said Aqua as everyone had finally caught up.
"Is everyone alright" asked Kazuma as everyone voiced the answer in their own special way.
"Good, you're all still a bunch of assholes" said Kazuma in a serious tone as he focused back on Megumin and Darkness.
"Kazuma, listen to me, I'm sorry for having to turn our backs on you like that, but know we had good reason, and Tanya here can vouch for us" said Naofumi as all eyes fell on Tanya.
"Hey I've had no choice in the matter, I had my orders" said Tanya defensively as she shot Naofumi a mean mug.
"Does it matter at this point. Wait scratch that it does, Tanya if you want me and everyone to forgive you, than I'll give you the choice in this after decisive battle, either join or let us take out the principle or flee back and let him know he's on my shit list to be given the axe" said Kazuma.
"You've got some balls on you" said Tanya as she was admittingly impressed with Kazuma for being able to take charge after being gone and still not ready to forgive anyone yet.
"Well what's it gonna be then, answer now cause Megumin is just about ready to destroy the Destroyer once more" said Kazuma.
"Lucky for you I'm tired of taking orders from an incompetent ass who's lost his marbles since we've been here, and I'm not talking about him secretly funding for the Destroyers constant repairs" said Tanya as this not only satisfied Kazuma, but everyone else around.
"Alright Kazuma, I'm raring to go once again" said Megumin as she got to her feat and prepared for her extra long special chant.
"Speed it up Megumin, that thing is starting to move" said Naofumi as she ignored him and anyone else who rushed her as her explosion was a work of art that can only be expressed by words coming from the heart.
"Explosion!" exclaimed Megumin as the final blow was the final nail in the coffin as the Destroyer's head came flying off and landed a few feet away from our heroes.
"Holy shit, we did it" cheered Hinata, "Not yet, we gotta make sure this thing never becomes operational ever again" said Yuri.
"Damn straight, and this time I'm going to personally put a stop to the person who's been obsessing over me once and for all, no matter how smoking hot she is" said Kazuma as everyone face falled on that last part.
As Kazuma was beginning to walk towards the main head of the Destroyer, the doors had already began to open as hissing smoke was released causing everyone to get back on guard as they waited for their tormentor to finally reveal themselves.
"Hello Master" said the perfect golem, "Oh shit" said a terrified Kazuma as he tried to turn tail and retreat, but it was to late as her hair tentacles had already began to pull him as the door permanently shut.
"Kazuma!" shouted Aqua as she ran up and started pounding on the door, "Open this door and let Kazuma go" said Naofumi as he bashed his shield into the metal door as everyone took turns in attempting to pry it open.
"Damn it, nothing seems to work" jeered Tanya as she, Yuri, and Otonashi tried shooting the door open, but got nothing.
"Damn it, Tachibana can you try prying the doors open like the time we got locked up in prison that one time" said Otonashi, "I'll give it my best" said Tachibana as she readied her standard Hand Sonic, but before she could do anything the head of the Destroyer began to shake and rumble.
"Everyone back away" shouted Subaru, "What about Kazuma" cried Aqua as she had to be pulled back by Naofumi and Raphtalia just as the unthinkable happened.
Right before the groups eyes, the head of the Destroyer began to propel itself into the sky as it continued to fly higher and higher before finally it set it's course to fly east.
"Kazuma!" cried Aqua as everyone was left frozen to move or act as to what had just happened.
"I'm not gonna leave you again buddy. Filo, follow Kazuma as fast as you can" said Naofumi, "Yes master" said Filo as she transformed into her bird form.
"Aqua, come with me, we're not losing him" said Naofumi as he reached his hands out to her, which Aqua took as they made their chase to know where Kazuma was going.
"This is fucking bullshit" said Hinata in disbelief, "I agree, and just when we finally all had a chance to talk to him face to face and make amends" said Demiruge.
Not wanting to stand for this any longer than she already has, Tanya began to march away from the group.
"Tanya, where are you going, or did you forget you're not off the ropes yet" said Yuri, "Shove those ropes back up your ass, I made a promise to Kazuma to deal with that principle of ours, and so god help me, I'm going to be that man an inch towards his life if it means I finally get the answers we deserve" said Tanya as no one bothered to stop her.
"We should split up and start acting" said Ainz, "Agreed, first off we need a few people to follow Tanya back, secondly there's some friends of ours we need to check up on and regroup with first to let them know we're alive, and then if things aren't looking so bright from here, we gotta get ready for whatever comes next" said Yuri as everyone was in an agreement and started to act.
Meanwhile, Naofumi, Filo and Aqua continued to chase after Kazuma, no matter how much fainter his trail was becoming.
"Can't this giant chicken nugget run any faster" shouted Aqua, "You heard her Filo, time to kick it into high gear" said Naofumi as Filo did as ordered, but it seems their attempts was for not.
Eventually they lost sight of the Destroyer and instead had to rely on following the smoke trail from the Destroyer, which unfortunately lead them to the edge of the coast as the group had hit a large road block.
"Why are we stopping, we're nowhere closer to reaching Kazuma" said Aqua, "Aqua, I'm sorry but there's really nothing we can do at this point" said Naofumi with a heavy heart.
"That's not true, did you forget I'm the goddess off water, I'll clear us a path, I just need you and this giant feather ball to keep moving forward" said Aqua, "Aqua, there's a limit to how much I can push Filo" said Naofumi.
Not going to take no for an answer, Aqua dismounted from Filo as she began to head towards the coastal waters as she slowly removed her boots.
"What are you doing" asked Naofumi, "Not giving up, that's what" said Aqua as she got her last boot off and was ready to dive into the water, but was held back by Naofumi.
"Let me go" shouted Aqua, "I'm not gonna let you kill yourself by drowning in the water, Kazuma wouldn't want that" shouted Naofumi as Aqua turned to face him with tears in her eyes.
"What makes you think you know what Kazuma wants, I know Kazuma longer than anyone else and I know that right now he needs us, he needs me to save him" cried Aqua.
"Damn it Aqua, just let it go, there's nothing that we can do, we failed to save Kazuma alright! I know you don't want to hear it, but this is the reality, we failed… to save him again" said Naofumi as he began to choke on his words as he too began to cry.
"And I'm sorry, I'm sorry I couldn't do anything to think of a better plan to keep him out of harms way, and if you want to blame and hate me for the rest of your life, that's fine, cause right now you're not the only one hurting" said Naofumi as Aqua began to embrace them as the duo just hugged each other and cried in misery that they failed to save Kazuma and they knew that this might have been their one and only shot left to redeem his faith in life once again.
Back with everyone, the group had finished rounding up the injured and informing Shinichi and his group as to what had happened as Tanya had finished interrogating her former CO and releasing any prisoners the school had kept captive to this point.
"This is bad, like… I'm at a loss of words here" said Sora as he and the leaders of each of their friends had gathered inside the now empty Satou residence.
"That's putting it mildly, I mean this whole time we spent fighting amongst ourselves, could've been put to better effort in making amends with Kazuma" said Subaru.
"Instead we got suckered in to be nothing more than pawns to some grand scheme we're nowhere near knowing as to why" said Ainz, "Fingers crossed Tanya can keep her cool in figuring out as to why, why go through all this, why Kazuma, just why" said Shinichi.
"Speak of the devil" said Yuri as Tanya had arrived, looking less bloody than expected.
"So what's going on Tanya, please you gotta let us in the know" said Touya as Tanya remained calm and composed.
"So long as we're in agreement we're friends and that there's no hard feelings among ourselves, I'll tell you" began Tanya.
"It seems our principle and school faculty have all been played as puppets for Being X this whole time and up until now they were under his control, that is until he had that weird girl kidnapped Kazuma" said Tanya.
"Being X, isn't he this God you have a vendetta with" said Ainz, "I refuse to accept someone that cruel to be god, let alone the God the world seems to worship, but especially since I can't accept the fact he plans to take Kazuma away and make him like one of him" said Tanya.
"Wait, you're saying that Being X wants to make Kazuma a god, but why" asked Subaru, "I don't know, he left that detail out from our principle and it took both Darkness and Cocytus here to use all their strength to hold me back from curb stomping his neck on his desk" said Tanya.
Ignoring what Tanya had said, it was a lot of information to take in as there friend was selected to be a god, a god of what and why is up to anyone's guess, but they knew that it definitely wasn't to be the worlds savior and bring peace on earth, that's for sure.
"Then what do we do" asked Subaru out loud to anyone to answer, but honestly know one knew what to do or how to approach their situation.
"Hey guys, Aqua and Naofumi are back" called Linze as everyone exited the house to see the sad looks on their face as it said it all.
"Don't worry Aqua, we will get Kazuma back and we will save him" said Subaru as he rested a hand on Aqua's shoulder before she smacked it away.
"Don't lie to me, cause I won't lie to any of you guys, we failed to rescue Kazuma and he's gone to god knows where" said Aqua as she sounded to sick to cry anymore.
"Maybe not" said Touya as all eyes fell on him, "What are you saying Touya" asked Yuri.
"I didn't mention this before, in case we lost, or if Tanya wasn't true to her word, but in reality I had placed a tracker on Kazuma's phone, so assuming he had it with him when he got kidnap, we can still search for him" said Touya.
"Well why didn't you say something earlier you jackass" said Naofumi angrily, "Sorry, really" said Touya as he felt more bad than he already did.
"Apologize later, just tell me where Kazuma is at right now" asked Aqua, "Right" said Touya as he pulled out his phone and saw on the world map that he was currently somewhere in California.
"He appears to be alongside the American southwest, somewhere north of California" said Touya as Aqua began to let out tears of happiness knowing that there was still hope to save Kazuma.
"Let's hope he stays in California, and pray that he's alright, cause we got a long journey ahead of us" said Yuri, "Count me in, I always wanted to go to America and see New York" said Subaru optimistically.
"That's not even close to our destination, but glad to know you're on board, who's in" said Naofumi as he stuck his hand out.
"I'm not going to stay here and do nothing" said Aqua, "And I just said I always wanted to see Mount Rushmore" said Subaru as he and Aqua put their hands on top of Naofumi.
"Someone responsible should really look out for you nimrods, lucky for you guys I'm in" said Tanya as she put her hand on top, "It be a shame to miss out on this" said Ainz as he put his hands on top next.
"I always wanted to see the Silicon Valley and visit Apple's main headquarters" said Touya as he put his hand on next.
"Even though we're not known for being fighters, I'm not gonna stay behind" said Shinichi, "Sigh, I'd feel like a crappy friend if we decide to be the only one's who stay" said Sora, "So long as we go to the old Atari Headquarters they have in Sunnyvale, I say the trip was worth it" said Shiro as they all put their hands on top of their friends.
"You know, I vaguely recall Iwasawa and some of her friends fallowing someone to California, who knows maybe we're lucky and they already rescued Kazuma" said Yuri as she put her hands on top.
"Another thing to hope for, but we shouldn't rely on slim chances, cause from here one, we're in this together to go rescue Kazuma and nothing is gonna stop us" said Naofumi "YEAH!" shouted everyone in agreement as they wasted no time in preparing for the long trip to travel across the Pacific Ocean.
In California
Laid in the middle of a finished battle field was the head of the destroyer as it had been blown apart from one side some unknown reason.
What is known is that Kazuma was battered and bleeding as he struggled to crawl out of the wreckage, thankful his tormentor had been put to rest in the explosion.
I gotta get back home, I gotta find my friends, thought Kazuma as he pushed himself to make his way back home, but he could only walk a few feet before collapsing on his body weight as he was in dire need of medical attention.
Is this how I'm gonna die, getting raped and barely surviving from a damn jet crash, thought Kazuma as he could barely pick himself up as he lied his head on the cold ground floor.
Hearings some footsteps, Kazuma used the rest of his strength to turn his head and saw someone was approaching him as he had red hair and caried a repeater in his hands.
"Help… please…" Kazuma said weakly as the man turned his head away and started shouting in English, before he knelt down before Kazuma.
"Hang in there buddy, I'm gonna get you some help" said Art as his hand began to glow a red aura before Kazuma passed out from that spot, leaving his faith into this strangers hands.
Ladies, Gentlemen, and my humble nonbinary followers, thank you all for being so patient for awaiting for this chapter to arrive, as I promised to come back and continue on this story, now that my Fate/Hollow Ataraxia fanfic is finally over.
More so I want thank you guys for dealing with my less than humbled attitude as of lately, but honestly I did say I was going to bring down the hammer and well I'm a committed man through and through.
Speaking of commitment, we'll pick off where we left off from Kazuma's experience during his trip to California and his journey there.
This has been your Humble Narrator and official author Tobi Yaza. =3
