Chapter 151: The Grand Alliance

There was a boy I hated… No. That's enough of that.

Few weeks have passed since Mari-chan introduced me to a good martial arts teacher. Under his teachings, I was able to improve my martial arts skills. Also I never realize how strong Mari-chan is until I sparred with her in Goro-sensei's dojo. Guess her image of a magical girl makes everyone (even me) underestimate her. But even she said that's not enough to gain an edge against the Occult Killer… not enough at all.

Since her martial arts skills, although adequate enough, is still not enough to gain an edge against him, Mari-chan now trains with one of Goro-sensei's friends, a Buddhist monk named Aragaki, one of the senior monks from the Buddhist occultist faction. Like Mari-chan he recently faced the Occult Killer himself and was… toyed with.

So the Occult Killer… Tetsuya-kun… is not only a powerful martial artist but his magical ability is also very terrifying… powerful enough to cause a nuclear level explosion with his magic power alone. How… How did he get so strong…? I can hardly believe it when I heard the news but there was video footage… and a living witness…

Feeling his own magic inadequate, Aragaki and some of the monks from his faction accepted the procedure to turn them into awakeners in order to infuse their bodies with magic, something they previously were unable to do due to harnessing only external magic in the air to cast their spells, something that even our scientists have been unable to replicate for a long time. Other occultist factions followed suit, feeling the need to grow stronger. In exchange for turning them into awakeners, the Akihabara and Messiah faction would receive their knowledge of spellcasting. Mari-chan asked Aragaki to teach her spellcasting and he happily obliged as someone who fought the Occult Killer and lived to tell the tale. Kind of fitting since she is a magical girl.

It is good that the relationship between the occultist factions and other factions that rely on science to harness magic have been mended. Now we can share knowledge in order to improve our combat prowess.

I would like to receive training in spellcasting myself but I'm still busy with martial arts training, which is a great enlightenment to me because all this time I've only fought mindless monsters and untrained super powered thugs, which didn't require much martial arts skills, relying purely on my strength and instincts alone. With this martial arts training… can I get an edge against him…? Well… considering how Mari-chan fared, I guess not. I should train in spellcasting too later.

There's also surprising news. The Original Knight… decided to join us… although we can't communicate well with her because according to Mari-chan she spoke different language entirely when speaking with the Occult Killer. That… and the elf ears she has… led some to suspect that she came from another world, which makes her not the Original Knight. She certainly fit the image of an elf down to a T.

My brother tried to obtain a sample of her blood by putting sleeping drugs on her meal, expecting not to get caught due to the language barrier, which didn't work as she not only resisted the drug, she noticed it! And it made her wary of us. It was quite the luck that she didn't outright turn hostile on us but she stayed away from Messiah faction ever since. Typical Akira… Always ruining everything with your reckless ambition, cruelty and stupidity.

Anyway… we have gathered many factions together to form another alliance just like when we fought the Doomsday Cult… only this time the alliance is bigger than before because many factions that previously didn't answer the call, including the occultist faction, have now joined us.

Even the Kamen Rider faction, previously merely thugs who travel from city to city demanding protection money, joined us, saying someone showed them the way, whatever that meant.

Officially, this grand alliance, like the previous alliance, was formed due to us responding to the prime minister's call… but no matter the danger that the Doomsday Cult poses at the time, the prime minister's influence shouldn't be enough to make so many factions, driven by self interest, to join forces like that. Why did we answer the prime minister's call at the time? Well… the answer is due to the influence of the Imperial Family. Many of the Zaibatsu that funded the various factions, including my family, still has connections to the imperial family and the noble clans.

Remember when Akira wants to marry me to the imperial prince so bad? It's because our family knows that the imperial family still holds some power even after World War 2 and has been growing their influence from the shadows ever since the monster apocalypse began. All this time we thought the emperor was merely a figurehead and that the prime minister is the one who governs Japan… turns out it's the contrary. The prime minister (the current one at least) is merely the emperor's pawn.

And the reason why the imperial prince wants to marry me? Because he simply fancied me. He even made the same offer to Mari-chan, who was able to reject him due to lacking in family members who would push her to it. I wish I was that lucky.

Though… you're carrying your own burdens, aren't you?

"Good day, my dear Akane." Speak of the devil, here he is, the imperial prince Satoshi the womanizer, a man who is a decade older than me but behaves like a spoiled brat. I had hoped I don't have to deal with him again but he is too persistent… and during a huge gathering of the factions like this, I suppose this is unavoidable.

"Please do not speak to me so familiarly." Stop calling me by my first name.

"Don't be so cold, my lovely wife. I know you are absolutely happy to see me." Treating me as if I belong to him already. This is why I hate this man so much.

"I'm not your wife."

"How cold. You and I are practically married already. Both of our families have already approved of it and it's only a matter of time before we perform the wedding ceremony, which is only a formality considering you are already mine. Let's go to my room to consummate our marriage, shall we?"

"I refuse. I have better things to do." I say as I walk away… only for him to step in front of me, blocking my path.

"Follow me to my room. This is an imperial order… and an order from your husband." He spoke with a lecherous grin while eyeing my chest, which is accentuated by my body suit.

"I refuse. Now please step out of the way."

"You think you can defy me forever? How foolish, my dear Akane." He reaches out to me with his filthy hands, intending on grabbing my breasts. But as an awakener, I'm faster, giving him a kick in the balls before his hands could touch me.

"Aghh…..!" He can barely let out a squeal as he drops to the floor, allowing me to walk past him.

"Your… father will hear about this…!" He gave his last threat, which I ignored. Whatever threats he could make pales in comparison to what the Occult Killer, Tetsuya-kun, could do. After all, we are gathered here because of him and him alone.

Oh wait. No… Don't think about him… Don't think about him, Akane! It'll give you flashbacks!

"Haah… hahh… hahh…" Great… Just thinking about him makes me have a panic attack now. How am I supposed to face him if I get scared just from the thought of him?

Breathe… breathe… Don't think of how he's capable of nuking an entire city…

Oh no… I failed and I'm panicking again….

Minoru-kun…. Please help me…

No… I can't keep begging for him to help me. I must… I must fight! Even if I have to die…! I have to stop that villain… like Minoru-kun did to many villains, including my kidnappers! That's why I resolved to become stronger in the first place… even if it turned me into a political pawn of my family, a fate that I now deny.

Watch over me, Minoru-kun! I'll become a hero for you!

The Red Ranger is not happy. He is not happy at all.

The entire faction of Kyoto led by his rangers bowed before the Occult Killer under the threat of death and… expectations of gaining benefits from serving him. The project of building their own Zord proceeding smoothly due to the Occult Killer's contributions is prime example of that.

But they had to betray a long time ally and even lost so many soldiers because of him. He wanted nothing but to kill the Occult Killer himself but if he knew he cannot do that back when he first pledged his allegiance to that monster, he now absolutely knows he absolutely has no chance of accomplishing that after witnessing the huge destruction he brought to Kyoto.

To be fair, the destroyed part of Kyoto was the ruined parts, not within the walled settlement they live in, but the destruction took the lives of not only the invaders but their own people. Yes, the Occult Killer killed his men and didn't even show any remorse for it. It's almost as if he did it intentionally.

The Red Ranger became so depressed that he refused to talk to anyone, even his comrades the Green and Blue Rangers, and holed up in his room for days, sometimes refusing meals.

As he contemplates on his fate in the solitude of his own room, he eventually come to the conclusion that he will still lose everything even if he stayed loyal to the Occult Killer… and thus, why not betray him? Even if he may lose everything he has… well… he's going to lose everything anyway so… might as well deal a bit of damage to the Occult Killer while he's at it, right?

That's why he secretly sent a message to the prime minister, asking to join the alliance against the Occult Killer. He didn't expect a reply but he did… in fact the one who replied was not the prime minister's faction but the imperial family. Even in the chaotic world they live in, no one would use the Chrysanthemum Flower Seal besides the imperial family and thus it is proof that it's the real deal. And thus he secretly worked behind the scenes against the Occult Killer, finally doing something right in for once in his life ever since he took on the mantle of the Super Sentai. Even if he could never fulfil his dreams of being a hero, he still felt satisfied when he found a way to work against such a villain.

He doesn't care about benefits anymore, whether it's benefits for his faction or his own. He has resolved to die after giving the Occult Killer a massive middle finger. For once in his life he found courage, even if it's fuelled by rage.

How perplexing.

I've managed to stay with the locals and interact with them regularly but the language barrier is limiting what I could do. Still, I did my best to learn their language by interacting with that blue haired girl named Mari and having her teach me the basics of her language, which is called Nihongo (Japanese).

I'm staying in a place called Akihabara, under the accommodation of Mari's faction. A scientist from an allied faction called Messiah visited and tried to drug me with food gifts. The look on his eyes looked to similar to scientists belonging to the Cult of Diablos and thus I don't trust him and his faction at all and stayed away from them.

Despite the language barrier still being an issue, I could still gather much information. For example, the technology and culture of this world… some of them are suspiciously similar to the Shadow Wisdom that Shadow gave us. In fact some of the shops here looked suspiciously similar to the Mitsugoshi shops we've made, which was revolutionary in our world.

Did Shadow steal all the knowledge he gave us from this world? No. That sounds more like what Necromancer would do considering how Necromancer is the one capable of travelling through worlds. Most likely Don Jon did too considering they know each other.

As for Shadow… perhaps Shadow retained some memories of his past life…? Carrying with him knowledge, wisdom and… burdens of the past? Perhaps he once lived in another world? This world?

If only I could ask him… If only I am close enough to him so he would share his burdens and give me straight answers to the many questions I wanted to ask him… I wanted more than just playing guessing games with him. I want to know him better.

Anyway, it's getting hectic lately around Akihabara. I'm assuming they are gathering their forces to oppose Necromancer. Though that may prove futile, it is still worth a try. Better resist than to give up like Princess Rose did… though I cannot completely blame her considering the survival of her people was at stake at the time. Shadow Garden was partially to blame after all. Beta and Zeta's distrust of her… even though Shadow has taught us to trust our subordinates more. Did he foresaw that would happen and tried to warn us?

I can only hope that the people of this world, although weak in terms of magic, could come up with something that could turn the tide to our favour. Once I've learned enough of the language of this world… I shall repay the favour by training Mari and her allies in the ways of Shadow Garden.

Shadow… I hope you return to us soon. And when you do, I hope you'll take advantage of what I did in this world.

And… Beta… Gamma… Delta… Epsilon… Zeta… Eta… and everyone in Shadow Garden… I hope you can all survive until he came back… for I don't expect to survive here.

Author's Note:

Didn't update last week because I wrote a chapter for Overlord Maker and also I'm still thinking of how to proceed with the extended Japan arc, including researching about the Japanese emperor through Wikipedia. I know you guys miss Shadow but please endure for a bit more.

Anyway, the alliance against the Occult Killer is gathering. Will they gather enough power to resist the Occult Killer? Find out in the next episode of The Alliance in Shadow!

DerTrap: Man, we officially reached 150 "actual" Chapters and until now it has been quite the ride. I am interested how this ride will continue.

Also due to current events this week...

Goodbye Jujutsu Kaisen Manga, despite your clear flaws I truly enjoyed you. I definetely had fun. I truly won't forget you for as long as I live.

Answer: Also, don't forget that in this October, the first anniversary of this fanfic is fast approaching! It has been a ride indeed.

As for Jujutsu Kaisen, I plan on watching the anime and reading the manga soon. Can't ignore it when the Shibuya Incident Arc and the SPECIALZ moment inspired me to write the ending of Oriana Arc after all.

capitalist banter (Chapter 1: The New World):

Interested to see where this goes. Cartoonishly villian MC. Like that he is a duke's son. Though poor Charl... doubt it will end well for her.

Answer: Glad you liked the premise. And for Charl… you shall see how her fate ends.

capitalist banter (Chapter 16: Declaration of War):

Hilarious, two roleplayers facing each other off and everyone else thinking they are just heros and villians.

Answer: Their relationship will develop the more they face each other in battle.