I don't own anything. All characters and all rights belong to Natsume Akatsuki*

M for mature topics. No children allowed. *

Konosuba (Not): Thanatos Blessing Upon This Broken World

By Try Another Time

Countdown before the next wave: 1 day.

"Sense their presence and let it guide you."

His body seemed to react to the objects before him before he started to dash forward as he cut everything in his path. His scythe glides across the field of ice sculptures while delivering lethal slashes that split everything in half.

As he opens his eyes, Kazuma witnesses the results of his training.

"84 out of 85. Almost perfect. You're doing better." Yunyun said as she descended.

Kazuma shakes his head. "Almost won't be enough. We're about to face the last waves in less than 24 hours, and one mistake could mean our doom."

"We know, but you need to relax a bit, Kazuma," Megumin says as she approaches and examines the ice statues. "He's getting better at this. Kazuma might become an A-Rank adventurer if he continues like this."

"Megumin is right. Stressing out won't help us. Remain calm; you're already doing your best for someone with little experience. It takes years for an adventurer to reach such a skill level. Be proud of your achievement." Darkness adds as she joins the rest.

"We'll be fine, Kazuma. We can do this if we stand together as a team." Aqua cheerfully says as she pats his back. "Mr. Strong Reaper has nothing to fear as long as he has us."

"I hope it is. Yunyun, remember what I said?" Kazuma asks as he faces the Elemental Lord.

"If you shout to escape, we use the teleport spell. We also use the teleport spell if things seem to take a turn for the worse. No matter what, we use the teleport spell to escape while…. Leaving you behind…. Are you sure about this?" Yunyun asks with a concerned expression.

Kazuma sights. "I'm the only one who should take this risk. If any of you were to fall before I did. I wouldn't forgive myself. Let me take the responsibility as the leader."

Nobody seemed very happy about the whole affair of leaving him behind, but they understood the situation.

Darkness places a hand on his shoulder. "If we do this, promise us one thing."

"What?" Kazuma asks.

"Fight. Never stop fighting, even if you're all alone." Darkness's hand glides towards his chin. "I don't want to leave you behind, nor does anyone else, but we know it is the most rational choice with the kind of circumstances we're facing, but even with that, you need to fight until the very end. Fight as long as this heart of yours is beating within your chest." Her hand reaches out to the spot where his heart is located.

His heart beats twice as fast as if there were two instead of one.

"Fight until the very end, Kazuma." Darkness said with a confident expression.

The rest of the team seemed to agree as their eyes implored him to fight on with everything he had. The reaper couldn't object, so he promised to fight until his body couldn't move an inch.

Later that same night.

The reaper sat in front of the wall, counting the hours until the next wave started. His mind reflected upon the fights ahead. His fears didn't lie in his death; he was already dancing within the palm of a god who governs death itself. His only worries lie solely on the others dying due to his mistakes.

One wrong move, and Megumin could be swallowed whole by the jaws of a giant monster.

A single attack could incinerate Yunyun before he had time to react.

One mistake could lead to Darkness getting pinned from all sides by sharp blades that could pierce through her defenses.

One single sidestep could put Aqua in a dangerous position despite her immortality.

Fear plagued his mind because he wanted to evade a situation in which any of them came out injured or dead.

"You shouldn't be awake at this hour. We have at least six more hours." A voice called out to him.

"It is weird for you to be awake at this hour, Aqua," Kazuma said without even looking at her.

Aqua shrugs before she approaches him and sits by his side. "I… felt your absence within the room. Somehow, I escaped Darkness's ropes, and my body went to lay by your side, but you weren't there."

Kazuma shakes his head. "You need to stop doing that. We have enough beds."

Aqua punches his shoulder with an annoyed expression. "I feel at ease when we share a bed. Maybe it is the warmth, or perhaps it is this damn vessel that feels scared on its own. Maybe Thanatos did something to it to prevent me from being far away from you."

Kazuma raises an eyebrow with an incredulous expression. "You're making that up, perverted goddess."

"I'm not. Gods and goddesses do not need sleep. Only specific deities sleep, and I'm not one of those. This vessel forces many mortal demands on me. Blame Thanatos for creating it this way." Aqua drops into his lap. "I feel so confined and weak within this vessel. My powers have been limited by several bindings likely to prevent accidents."

"How limited are we talking about?" Kazuma asks with a curious expression.

Aqua raises a finger before a tiny sphere of water is formed. "My name is Aqua; I'm connected to water and anything related. If I wished, I could sink this world with massive tsunamis."

"Please don't do that. This world doesn't deserve such a fate."

"I won't. This world is mine to protect, after all. I cherish the lives inside it. I watched its progress through many years, far too many to recall each moment. I've seen civilizations rise and fall, but the people have found a way to restart civilization each time. It is our job as deities to watch over them and only interfere when necessary. Mortals are free to choose for themselves, and no god should interfere unless necessary."

"Sounds like an interesting and troublesome job…. Don't you feel mad sometimes when mortals make the wrong choices?"

Aqua sights. "All the time. The demon lords are the biggest examples of that. I offer people gifts and the opportunity to a new life because I want more followers but also because I deem them worthy of a second life. I wouldn't offer a war criminal another chance, nor would I offer that to a sinner who lived a life full of wrong choices. I sent people I deemed worthy; these past 12 were my worst disappointments. This war, the demons, the cataclysm, has been the worst thing ever happening to this planet, and I'm to blame for it."

Kazuma sees the anger and disappointment on her face as she recalls how many lives had been lost since all of it began. The reaper caresses her head. "I hope to end this before any more lives are lost."

"You're my last choice. I doubt that Thanatos will give this world another chance. If we were to fail… I fear the worst."

"... What would happen?" Kazuma asks with a concerned expression.

"... Armageddon, Ragnarok, call it what you want, but higher gods would send their armies to cleanse the entire world. I would be removed from my position, and this world would cease to be. It won't be pretty, and I prefer to avoid such an event. This world is under my jurisdiction. It has been like that for a very long time. I'm its goddess."

Kazuma sees a motherly expression on Aqua's face. An expression that showed genuine care and joy as she remembered the good times before all this. An expression that made him remember his mother. "... I'm sorry for what they have done to this world…. I can't change the past, but I hope my efforts will be enough to change the future. Once it is all over, you'll get to return to your position, and everything will go back to the way it should be."

"... What about you? What will you do once you return to your world? Once you're back in Japan?" Aqua turns to face him.

"... Visit my brother?" Kazuma says with a fake smile.

"Kazuma."

"Thanatos will heal my wounds so that I will rest only a few days."

"Kazuma." Her voice grows louder.

"I doubt my boss will let me take more than two days off."

"Kazuma!"

The reaper stops smiling as Aqua's glaring expression faces him. Her hand touches his right cheek. "You died. You lost your life because you were overworked and too unhealthy. How many years has it been since you took a vacation? How many festivities did you work in that office? Birthdays? Is that kind of life worth the sacrifice? Alone? Underpaid? Overworked? That tiny apartment room? Didn't you do enough?"

"... I….." Kazuma stops himself as the words can't escape his lips. His expression loses its light and turns dark as he recalls the everyday motion. The alarm goes off, the train that he had to take every day, the crappy breakfast he ate while running to take a different breakfast, the unhealthy meal he bought almost every day at a convenience store. A routine that repeats itself in an endless circle of solitude. Messages from his brother asking him to come and visit his hometown. "... Is all I know…. Is all I can do…. I promise her…. I can't stop working….. I need to be a proper adult…"

Aqua feels a warm tear fall on her face. She gets up before putting her arms around Kazuma's head. "... I want you to care more…. I want you to reflect on everything while you're here. Please, think about it very well. This world has wonderful things willing to welcome you with open arms. You did your best in Japan, and this second life should be one you choose to live on for your sake. I deem you worthy of a happy life, Kazuma. I think you deserve better after so long, Kazuma. Think about it and choose a different path."

Kazuma continued to cry in silence as Aqua embraced him and gave her entire attention to him.

For once, she felt the need to show extra care for a single mortal, and she couldn't deny that it felt good.

Next morning.

Time before the next wave: 60 seconds.

The entire team assembled as the timer continued to go down. They had practiced and rested enough for six days. The time for their final waves had come, and neither could deny the tension they felt as they waited for the countdown to reach its end.

"Yunyun, have the sonar on. We know what to expect from this dungeon." Darkness says as she takes the frontline.

"Got it," Yunyun says as she uses the spell.

"Aqua, use the buffs," Kazuma says.

"Got it." Aqua starts chanting as she offers the group several arcane buffs for a limited amount of time. Some affect attack power and defense, while others offer a slight increase in speed.

The group watches as the timer ends, and the entire hallway starts to reshape itself around them—a massive coliseum form around them, which reminds Kazuma of the Roman Coliseum back on his planet.

The group looks around as they examine the area while staying close to each other. Their eyes found nothing wrong until they noticed a large timer floating on top of them.

"Why is there a timer here?" Megumin asks.

"Five minutes? Five minutes for what?" Aqua joins in.

Kazuma remains silent as he analyzes the presence of a timer. "... Oh, no. We're only getting five minutes to defeat the boss."

"What?" The girls shout in unison.

The timer starts to tick down as the entire team senses the presence of a large enemy. Their eyes look around until the spell allows them to find its exact location.

"It's invisible! Darkness is coming from the left!" Yunyun shouts.

"Got it." Darkness raises her shield as she activates her skill. In an instant, a tremendous attack strikes her shield. "Damn, that's a lot of strength."

"Hold it there, I'll try something out." Yunyun raises her weapon. "Come to us and deliver the judgment from the storm, Lighting Judgment."

Several lighting strikes fall around the area until one hits the enemy's body. Its body twitches as its true form is revealed to the group. A dark reddish cloak covers its skeletal body while a black scythe hangs from its left hand. Its eye sockets are filled with raging red flames instead of a hollow void.

"Is a Blazing Reaper! Kazuma, go for its head!" Yunyun shouts as she uses her spell to provide Kazuma with the divine element. "It should still be weak against light damage."

"Got it!" Kazuma spreads its wing and goes on the offensive against the head of the skeletal figure. His scythe delivers a series of devastating attacks that chip down the vitality of the reaper by great percentages as cracks appear all around it.

But the Blazing Reaper is not ready to give up as it releases a devastating scream that shakes the arena. Darkness consumes the room as the reaper disappears from the sight of the team.

The timer continues to count down.

"Where did it go?" Aqua asks as she looks around.

"We don't have time for this. Megumin, make it rain." Kazuma shouts as he sees the timer ticking down. He wasn't willing to waste time around.

Megumin smirks as she raises her magical staff. "I call upon the astral bodies that bring the destruction upon my enemies, Meteor Storm."

Several magical circles appear on top of the Colosseum before astral bodies descend across the battlefield. Their fire illuminates the area, and the team soon discovers the Blazing Reaper's location.

The Blazing Reaper is hit by several meteors, which weaken its body even more until it can no longer hold its scythe.

"Darkness is all yours!" Kazuma shouts as the reaper is closer to her than himself.

"You don't need to say it twice. Yunyun!" Darkness changes her weapon.

"I got you!" Yunyun offers her team members the same elemental infusion.

Darkness grins as she jumps and uses the right hand of the Blazing Reaper as a platform before she charges her skill. "Giant's Cleaver." A holy giant axe cuts right through the head of the Blazing Reaper, whose body falls to the floor.

Its scythe remains buried within the floor.

"One is done. We can-" Aqua stops talking as the timer goes back to five minutes, symbolizing the arrival of a new boss. "We get no time to breath?"

"The Ego is not playing around anymore." Kazuma glares as a giant blade descends from the sky before a black suit of armor of a similar size drops beside it.

"Damn it, you have to be joking. That's a damn Final Guardian. It has too much defense. Magic attacks aren't that effective either." Megumin explains.

"Darkness, I'll focus on attacking, and you'll parry its attacks." Kazuma orders as he glances at the timer for a quick second.

"Ready when you are." Darkness changes weapon forms and draws the aggro away from the rest of the party.

The Final Guardian goes on a rampage as it delivers wide destructive slashes that shake the entire coliseum to the core, but this doesn't disrupt Darkness's concentration.

Each time she sees an optimal chance, she parries the attack and leaves the Final Guardian open for Kazuma to go all out as he delivers as many attacks as possible while praying that his pendant's ability allows him to give the final blow before the timer goes.

Sadly, his prayers aren't met as the timer reaches zero.

"Damn it!" Kazuma grits his teeth as a new presence arrives.

From beneath the floor, a greenish body slithers to the surface as it starts to encircle the team in the ground.

Yunyun and Megumin see the body of the reptilian body before they raise their weapons together. "Bring for frozen winds of the northern kingdom to stop the beast who threatens us. Boreas Blessing!"

Icy winds blow into the area, which starts to freeze everything in their path, including the beast that hasn't shown its head yet.

"Kill the Final Guardian now. We'll meet our end if The Ouroboros Menace frees itself without you and Darkness. We need the entire team if we want to defeat this thing." Yunyun says as she prays for the spell to hold Ouroboros in place long enough.

Kazuma's eyes are filled with anger as he increases the speed of his attacks even more than before. "Don't fail, don't fail, don't fail," His eyes turn darker with each second as a voice whispers in his ear like a deadly mistress.

"Kill it, or everyone dies. Be the emissary of death and bring an end to everything that faces you."

"Fucking die! Lethal Judgement!" Kazuma's scythe delivers one final attack, splitting the suit of armor in half. His eyes glance back at the frozen Ouroboros, which starts to shake its body as it frees itself from the icy prison.

Two large reptilian heads with golden horns arise from beneath the ground while staring at the entire team.

"We need to be precise with our attacks. We can only hit the heads with specific timed attacks. We need to look at its eyes and determine which element would counter its eyes. The attacks must hit at the same time, or we'll be counter." Megumin says as she glares at the head on her left.

"It will also summon minions while we focus on attacking the heads. Kazuma, Darkness, you need to focus on the minions and leave the heads to us. We can't get distracted, so do your best to keep the minions away." Yunyun adds as she focuses on the other head. "Aqua, support Kazuma and Darkness; they are going to need as much help as they can get."

"Got it," Aqua says as she stands in between the two spell casters.

Kazuma and Darkness rush to join the team at the center of the coliseum while glancing at the timer for a mere second.

"Three minutes and 40 seconds. We might not achieve the time." Kazuma says as he takes position.

"Ignore the timer. We won't achieve anything by focusing on it. The challenge starts now." Megumin says as she examines the eyes of her target. "Red eyes, I need water."

"Green eyes, I need fire," Yunyun shouts back.

Both turn around before they fire matching spells with splendid precision against each head. There was no time for chants or doubt, as both knew what needed to be done.

The spell hit the targets at the same time, which made each snake hiss in anger.

From its scaly body, humanoid creatures arise with sharp fangs and claws, ready to eliminate the team.

"Let's do this, Kazuma." Darkness shouts as she goes on the offensive with her axe in toe.

"Right behind you!" Kazuma does the same, but this time, he decides to start using his other tools.

Several dark scythes appear around the arena before they start to spin and fly toward targets of his choice. The scythes pierced through the skin of their targets with ease, yet the damage was not enough to kill them.

"Damn, but I can finish the job." Kazuma goes off as he starts to claim their heads with swift and lethal slashes.

One by one, the bodies fall to the floor. As one minion falls, more minions are summoned to replace the fallen ones.

Aqua wasted no time as she continued to buff Darkness and Kazuma while keeping an eye on the timer. "2 minutes left. Can we do it?"

Her worries continued to increase as she wondered which boss was coming next.

The timer continued to go down and down as the circle of Magic attacks and magic combos repeated itself while Megumin and Yunyu did their best to bring the two-headed snake down.

Finally, another dual spell finished the job with less than 20 seconds remaining in the timer.

"This is bad. We might run out of energy before we reach the end." Yunyun said as she gasped for air.

"We can't give up yet. I know we can do this." Megumin says as she regains her composure.

*.Hack/ G.U. Ost- Gentle Hands (English Version)*

The timer restarts as a new boss arrives. A humanoid female made out of plants arises from the corpse of the Ouroboros while her tendrils, which are covered in twisted red thorns, stretch out across the Colosseum.

"Devious Alraune, this just keeps getting harder." Darkness glances at Kazuma, whose eyes get darker as the tension rises.

"... We won't fall here. I promise that nobody will die while I'm here!" The reaper declares as his eyes don't lose sight of the goal.

After listening to the voice of their leader, none could back down.

Three bosses had goned down and seven still remained, the end was still within reach.

….

…

…

Or was it? The hardest challenge remained at the end, like a merciless judge who was ready to destroy their dreams and hopes.