Chapter 157: Can't Spell Slaughter without Laughter

*BOOM*

Just as everyone cheered for the Godzilla as he retreated, an explosion is heard behind us all. We turn towards the source of the sound and saw green smoke inside the city, a clear indication of an explosion happening inside the city.

"What the…?" Mutters Akane-chan, clearly as bewildered as I am. This is supposed to be our hour of victory and yet…

When I see that green color, I immediately deduced that it's the Occult Killer's doing as I recall his magic, which coated his staff into forming a scythe when I fought him, to be green colored.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

Before we have the chance to react, more explosions happen at various spots in the city, including in the shelter where the people are hiding in.

"No way… Our bases!" A commander of the Japanese Self Defense Force shouts as one of the military bases they operated is engulfed in the green smoke. The fate of the commanders and communications operators residing in the base are now unknown.

Several defenders from various factions are also horrified as they look at the buildings where their comrades and leaders are stationed. Of course the base that we from the Akihabara faction used, which is ironically located in the former Akihabara district of Tokyo before our faction moved out of the city, is among those that are affected, but luckily all of us are on the field instead of remaining there thanks to my orders and so I only have one thing to worry about right now.

"Akane-chan! The shelter!" I shout at Akane-chan, who shares the same feeling because the people from her faction that holed up in Messiah's base are followers of that brute Saejima guy, who refused to fight on the front lines, which makes them not among the people she will miss. She nods and began following me to the shelter, followed by a few fighters from various factions, including both of our factions, soldiers from the Self Defense Force, a few guys from the Kamen Rider faction, and the… Fake Stylish-san.

With our superhuman speed, we reached the entrance to the shelter quickly… but we didn't enter as it is still engulfed in that sickening green smoke.

"What are we waiting for? Let's jump right i-"

"Stop!" Akane-chan stops one of her comrades before said comrade can jump recklessly into the green smoke.

"The green smoke could be poisonous for all we know. Please be more cautious! Does anyone have gas masks?" She asks.

"Uhh… I believe we have some in the Japanese Self Defense Force base but…" The soldier who replies didn't even need to finish that sentence as the look on our faces are as grim as his.

As we are contemplating on how to approach the shelter, we detect movements from inside the shelter. The gate to the shelter opens slowly and we watch with bated breaths as the people who opened the gate reveal themselves.

The sight is not good… not good at all. Because the ones who opened the gate are not survivors.

"Hiiiiii! Th-The people…!" Shouts someone from our group as we instinctively take a few steps backwards as the zombies, who are formerly the people we saved and put inside the shelter, began shambling at our direction slowly and menacingly.

"Mari-tan! Can we fight them?" One member of Akihabara faction calls out to me with a question, knowing I can actually permanently kill the zombies with my magic. But…

"No. There's too many of them and there's not enough spellcasters among our group. We'll run out of magic power before we can finish them all off."

"Then what should we do?"

"Retreat…" I say quietly while trying to suppress my own emotions.

"Wha…?" Apparently I wasn't being clear enough as he actually has to ask… or perhaps he is distracted by the horrifying sight that he failed to listen to what I said.

"RETREAT! NOW!" I shout and at that moment all hell breaks loose. Our group immediately runs away from the advancing horde of zombies, who start running to chase after us like malicious beasts the moment we start running. Some of them are even running on all fours like feral animals.

"Aren't zombies supposed to be slow!? How are they so goddamn fast!?"

"They're gaining on us!?"

"Fuck! I don't wanna dieee!"

"Are those even proper zombies!? How can they keep up with us!?" A good point. We are awakeners with superhuman strength… and yet those zombies… who were ordinary people just few minutes ago…

"There's more of them up front!" Akane shouts as most of us failed to notice another horde of zombies in front of us as we ran.

"We're cornered!"

"What do we do!?"

"JUMP!" I shout as me and Akane-chan start jumping to the buildings around us and parkouring to climb higher and higher. Some members of our group follow suit but the ones who failed remain stunned on the street as they witness one of the zombies in front of them began glowing green and its skin cracking… as if it's about to…

"JUMP! NOW!" I shout again but it's too late. The zombie who glows explodes and spreads green smoke all around the street we were in and people below failed to react and are engulfed in the smoke.

With our enhanced eyesight, we could make out the silhouette of the people below as they turn into zombies before they could even fall to the ground. The effect was too horrifyingly quick. Their once healthy and living bodies instantly turn into pale and lifeless husks right before our eyes.

Not giving us the chance to lament the losses of our comrades, the zombies began jumping up the buildings in order to chase us, forcing us to go higher until we reach the rooftops, whereupon we would jump from building to building to avoid the zombies chasing us.

"Nishi… no… Akaaa… neee…!" One of the zombies calls out to Akane-chan and we realize that it's that brute Saejima. Deciphering his identity makes us realize that the zombies who chased us all the way to the rooftops are formerly awakeners. Being awakeners must've enhanced their already formidable physical prowess if even ordinary people can become superhuman after being zombified.

"Get away from meee!" Akane shouts as she slices the zombie Saejima in half with her katana but it prove useless as the zombie Saejima reattaches his body without falling to the ground.

The instant we stop is when we are immediately surrounded by super powered zombies.

"I'm sorry… It's my fault that we…"

"Shut up, Akane-chan! Now's not the time to blame yourself!"

We brace ourselves for a fight to the death right here right now…

"Leave them to me and go." Says the Fake Stylish-san with determination in his eyes.

"But…!" Akane-chan wants to refute but she's unable to find the words for it.

"I need to atone for my sins after all. Just leave me and go!"

"…" A few seconds of silence are broken as the zombies began advancing, forcing us all to fight back.

"I'll be fine! Just like the real Stylish Bandit Slayer, I'm adept at fighting multiple enemies!" Says Fake Stylish-san as he demonstrates his skill by knocking multiple zombies away with his crowbars.

"Go!" He shouts again and reluctantly Akane-chan turns her back on him.

"Before we go… I just want you to know that I… I forgive you." Akane-chan says with a tear flowing down her cheek, knowing he's lying. Fake Stylish-san merely smiles as he continues fending off the zombie with his crowbar, attracting their attention by fighting the fiercest among us, allowing us to slip through the cracks and escape the encirclement of zombies unharmed.

In the end, only me, Akane-chan and less than10 people from our group survived the encirclement as we make our escape with heavy hearts.

We jump from rooftop to rooftop to try and find our allies or anything that still lives… to no avail. As far as the eye can see, the city of Tokyo has been turned into the city of the dead in a matter of minutes.

"Where should we go now…?" Akane-chan asks me while trembling, not from fear but from grief and self blame.

"We need to leave the city. Let's head to Akihabara. It's the closest settlement to Tokyo" I say, pointing at the direction of Akihabara, not the old Akihabara which is a part of Tokyo but to where we the Akihabara faction makes our base after the monster apocalypse.

Akane-chan wordlessly agreed and follows me out of the city by using the trail of destruction left by Godzilla, which allow us to escape the city despite the ongoing siege.

That day humanity received a grim reminder…

"Heh heh heh heh…. Mwa ha ha ha ha ha! HAA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

…of the terror of the Occult Killer who brought doom upon us all.

"Heh heh heh heh…. Mwa ha ha ha ha ha! HAA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" I laugh and laugh and laugh. My laughter echoes throughout the sky. The previously smug emperor beneath me is left speechless as he saw me turning the tide of battle instantly.

My combination of Trojan Horse and Kamikaze strategy succeeded flawlessly.

"Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful! Well done, my minions! Well done!" I say as I kept my eyes peeled towards the sight of the ruined city tinged with green smoke filled with former residents and defenders of the city turned undead.

Naturally I have to make a really loud (magically enhanced) evil laugh. Can't spell slaughter without laughter after all. No doubt those retreating survivors heard it and despair. I'll let them live to tell the tale of their great defeat. Will they fall into despair after their grand alliance failed them? Or will they continue to resist? Only time will tell… though I do hope it's the former. Humanity of this world has no value if they give up after just that.

Just as I continue laughing, a white figure ascends towards Tokyo Tower and lands to my side, stepping on the bloated emperor.

"My lord. I offer you my congratulations after your victory." Says Yukime as she bows her head before me.

"Good work on leading those cultists to smuggle the exploding zombies."

"I thank you for your kindness." Still full of flattery as always… or perhaps she is currently practicing how to use flowery words in Japanese?

"You… The rumoured Tamamo-no-Mae!?" the emperor exclaims as this is his first time meeting Yukime. It's astounding how he can turn his head horizontally 180 degrees like an owl in that state of his, which allowed him to alternate between watching the battle and glare at me. It also allows him to see Yukime's form clearly.

"Good day to you, meatball. You must be the former emperor of this land." Yukime greets him teasingly.

"How… insolent… I am not a meatball… I am... a god…!" Still going on with this nonsense. Didn't you realize that this joke is getting old at this point?

"God of meatball perhaps. Oh ho ho ho ho!" Yukime says while making an Ojou-sama laugh.

"Where did you learn that?" Did she learn that from mangas or animes?

"I learned it from your sister. She was so cute whenever she does that." She replied in the language of the other world in order to prevent a leak of information about me. Smart move, Yukime, or I would probably kill your right here right now… probably. My image as a villain cannot be tainted by this weakness of mine after all.

But yeah… I know my sister does the ojou-sama laugh sometimes, though rarely in front of me. This habit of hers is why I associate her with the role of a Otome Game Villainess sometimes. I have to agree with Yukime though. She is kinda cute whenever she does that.

"Anyway, my lord. It seems that the survivors are retreating by following the black dragon's trail of destruction."

"Let them go. They are allowed to live to tell the tale."

"So they would stop opposing you, my lord?"

"Au contraire, I hope they wouldn't give up so easily. I want them to come up with better resistance on the next target, especially after I allowed the rangers to defect to their side." The next target I'm referring to is obviously the nearest settlement, which is Akihabara, where No. 001 is currently residing. I do hope you can help them make a difference, my lovely guinea pig. It wouldn't be fun otherwise.

"Oh ho ho ho! You're so bad, my lord."

"Indeed I am. Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Our laughter echoes throughout the sky above Tokyo, the city of the dead.

Author's Note:

And so the Battle of Tokyo is over.

Also, did you spot the Attack on Titan reference?

I wrote this chapter while listening to Laughter Slaughter by OxT. In fact, that song's title is the reason for the title of this chapter.

DerTrap: Oh I'm already excited for the "fireworks". I have a perfect chapter title for when Shadow and Necromancer actually fight each other again in the story:

"The strongest chuunibyou in fanfiction vs the strongest chuunibyou in canon"

Canon is Cid and fanfiction obviously Necromancer.

Answer: A bit too long for chapter name… and I prefer the title to be a bit more… poetic? I dunno. Or maybe just "Third Encounter" because the first one is "Fated Encounter" and the second is "Second Encounter". Though at this point the battle between the two of them could take multiple chapters.

Generalliam0529: i wonder if Godzilla will be reoccuring?

Part of me hopes so as a massive godzilla fan, and having shadow just summon the king of monsters to his side makes me giddy, but at the same time I could understand why not.

but yeah, im not expecing Ghidorah as they are the deffiniton of rivals.

So much so that the first time Godzilla was truly pure evil, In Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, King Ghidorah is a guardian spirit of earth. the one time godzilla is actually evil ghidorah is a good. guy.

I also now headcannon that Shadow was a godzilla fan in his old life.

Answer: I currently have no plans for Godzilla to survive past Japan arc but we will see if I change my mind later.

Guest: Will King Kong show up

Answer: Perhaps.