NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 9: Rolls-Royce Assault! Shinra Tensei! Ninjas & Guns
At around 8 a.m., Haru groggily opened his eyes.
"Morning already?" Haru muttered lazily, gently nudging Kasugano Sora, who was nestled against his arm.
"Come on, Sora, we need to get up and head to Hozumi Academy to handle the transfer paperwork today," Haru said softly, still feeling the weight of sleep pulling him back into the futon. Even as he tried to wake her, it was clear that Haru himself wasn't quite ready to leave the warm cocoon of blankets.
"Just a little longer..." Sora mumbled, clinging to him.
The warmth of her embrace made Haru sigh in contentment. School could wait; sleep was much more appealing. He surrendered to the temptation, snuggling back into the futon and relishing the moment.
Time slipped away unnoticed.
By 10 a.m., the bright sunlight streaming through the window stirred Haru awake. He slowly sat up, carefully tucking Sora in with the air conditioner blanket, setting the temperature to a comfortable 27 degrees before quietly slipping out of the room.
As soon as Haru left, Sora's eyes fluttered open, her cheeks tinged with a rosy blush. She pulled the blanket up to her nose, muttering to herself, "How embarrassing..."
After freshening up, Haru stepped out of the house, determined to start the day.
A sleek, black Rolls-Royce Phantom pulled up to the Kasugano residence.
Haru opened the car door and lounged on the plush back seat.
"Hozumi Academy," Haru ordered lazily, still stretched out on the seat. The middle-aged driver, always on standby, responded immediately.
"Yes, sir!" The Rolls-Royce glided smoothly down the road.
As the scenery outside the window blurred past, Haru's thoughts raced.
"Am I really a Campione now?" Just two days ago, Haru had been an ordinary person. Now, it felt like he was living in a dream. Shaking his head to dispel the surreal feeling, he thought, "Whether it's real or not, my peaceful life is over. Might as well embrace the chaos!" A wild gleam of excitement flashed in Haru's eyes. Ever since he had survived a near-death encounter with Tsukuyomi, something inside him had awakened, driving him to embrace the insanity of his new life.
The worldview he had held for over twenty years in his previous life as a pacifist had been shattered by Tsukuyomi's brutal attack.
In the face of certain death, Haru had chosen mutual destruction without hesitation, summoning a meteorite from outer space to strike both him and Tsukuyomi. In what should have been a fatal situation, Haru had survived by forcefully activating his Authority, Power of Life, in a desperate bid to stay alive.
Haru wasn't one to forget a debt. Even though the mysterious "egg" had brought him to this time against his will, it had saved his life.
Now, it was time to start gathering the information that the "egg" required.
Glancing at the rearview mirror, Haru's face flickered with a mix of emotions, excitement, bloodlust, and anticipation. The middle-aged driver swallowed nervously, thinking to himself, "Maybe I should consider a career change."
The Rolls-Royce drove past the familiar landscape, eventually arriving at the outskirts of a shrine.
Observing the ongoing reconstruction of the shrine from the window, Haru turned to the driver.
"How did you manage to cover that up?" Haru asked, reclining on the seat with a relaxed demeanor.
"Well, sir, we used the government's connections to control the narrative. When we detected the gathering of divine power, we issued an earthquake warning. The shrine's destruction was attributed to a small meteorite impact, and the residents' memories were altered by the local shrine maidens using spiritual power," the driver explained, his voice trembling slightly.
"Impressive," Haru remarked, a smirk playing on his lips. "It's amazing you handled all that so quickly. Maybe we should stir things up a bit more." Meanwhile, back in Yamato, the heads of the four great families shivered with unease.
On a distant, desolate mountain.
"The target has entered the trap," a soldier whispered into his earpiece. His uniform bore the insignia of Yamato's special forces.
"Roger that," came the response through the headset.
"10 meters to the designated location... 5 meters... 1 meter..."
"Fire!"
From the surrounding mountains, a squad of soldiers armed with camouflaged Gatling guns emerged.
With grim determination, they aimed at the speeding Rolls-Royce and unleashed a barrage of bullets.
"Hmm?" Haru, seated in the back, felt a sudden sense of danger, a Campione's instinct kicking in.
The Gatling guns spun faster, unleashing a crimson rain of death.
The deafening sound of gunfire echoed through the mountains as bullets, carrying terrifying kinetic energy, tore into the Rolls-Royce.
The front windshield shattered instantly, and the front wheels were blown out, sending the car skidding wildly. The once-pristine vehicle was quickly reduced to a bullet-riddled wreck.
With a low whistle, a soldier hoisted a rocket launcher onto his shoulder. It was a high-powered model, designed for anti-tank warfare. The soldiers fired simultaneously, sending rockets streaking toward the car.
Boom! The Rolls-Royce exploded in a fiery burst, flames engulfing the wreckage.
As the fire raged, a figure emerged from the flames, glowing with a golden light. It was Haru, unharmed and standing tall amidst the destruction!
Seeing this, the soldiers quickly repositioned, each aiming a portable rocket launcher at Haru.
"Fire!" they shouted, unleashing another volley.
Haru moved with lightning speed, dodging the rockets as he charged toward the mountains. Explosions erupted behind him, but he remained focused, his golden armor gleaming as he closed the distance.
The Gatling gunners frantically adjusted their aim, unleashing a relentless hail of bullets.
Haru's heart pounded, driving his magic to new heights. The golden armor surrounding him solidified, deflecting the bullets as he powered through the onslaught.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Bullets clanged against something as hard as steel, flattening like coins before ricocheting away.
"As expected, just as my instincts told me, there's no danger here," Haru thought, his expression calm and composed, tinged with a playful smile as if he were just indulging a child.
Haru charged through the hail of bullets, making his way up the barren mountain. He reached a man armed with a Gatling gun and punched him. The ground shook violently, creating a massive crater 30 meters in diameter and 5 meters deep. The gunner was blown apart, his body reduced to a gory mess.
Witnessing such a terrifying scene, the other Gatling gunners momentarily loosened their grip on the triggers, causing a brief pause in the hail of bullets before they resumed firing, even more frantically than before.
The battle raged on for over a minute. Haru drove his right hand through the chest of the last gunner.
As the gunner fell, suddenly, a dozen Yamato ninjas wielding gleaming katanas emerged. Their swords, glowing with a blood-red curse, slashed toward Haru from all directions.
Clang! Clang! Clang! The sound of metal clashing reverberated through the forest.
"Sorry, but you can't break through my defenses!" Haru smirked, his expression turning into a bloodthirsty grin as he watched the ninjas' katanas shatter upon impact. The sight of their useless weapons made him laugh with unrestrained amusement.
Haru extended his arms, grabbing two of the ninjas and using them as human clubs, wildly swinging them into the crowd.
The ninjas, undeterred, continued slashing with their katanas. Swish! Swish! Swish! Their half-shattered blades left behind countless afterimages as Haru's living weapons were sliced into pieces.
Losing his "weapons," Haru clenched his fists and thrust them forward as if pushing a heavy truck. Boom! A sonic boom echoed, and the space around him seemed to tremble. The powerful shockwave spread out, pulverizing the assassins who couldn't escape in time.
"Looks like I'm pretty strong... ugh." Haru grinned with satisfaction, surveying the carnage. But as he looked at the scattered remains, his stomach churned, and he nearly vomited.
Swish! Taking advantage of the moment, Sayaguu Masaya suddenly emerged from the ground, his body radiating a silver glow. He held a blood-red, one-meter-long wooden sacred sword, the Butsumitsu no Tsurugi, and thrust it toward Haru's back. The blade, incredibly sharp, tore through Haru's clothes, trembling violently as Masaya struggled to push it one millimeter into Haru's body.
Seeing this, Masaya's face darkened. He immediately abandoned the Butsumitsu no Tsurugi and retreated 30 meters in an instant.
Haru pulled out the Butsumitsu no Tsurugi, his expression dark and his eyes blazing with fury.
"Not bad, you actually managed to injure me! Are you happy now?" Haru's eyes flashed with a dangerous light as he spoke calmly. After being subjected to gunfire, rocket attacks, and relentless slashing, anyone else would have lost their cool. With a sudden burst of strength, he crushed the sacred sword in his hand, the Butsumitsu no Tsurugi splintering into pieces.
"So, your Authority must be something related to steel." Masaya speculated silently. This was troublesome! His hands were already numb from exhaustion. He had poured all his strength into that single strike, but it had only caused a tiny wound.
"I have no choice but to try this!" Masaya said, his right hand forming a pentagram-shaped magic circle. He summoned an ancient-looking bamboo scroll and yanked it open. The first line of the scroll bore four ancient Chinese characters:
—"Occupy and Decide Fate!"
"Become my Shikigami!" Masaya's silver aura flared up, transforming into raging silver flames as he burned through his life force to generate an immense amount of cursed energy.
Invisible waves spread out, reaching Haru through the tiny wound and injecting a spell of control into his body.
"What is this?" Haru's face paled as he felt the foreign energy invading his body, robbing him of control.
"Bypassing the defense of a God-slayer's body through this wound to cast a control spell, are you?" Haru's face darkened as he locked his gaze on Masaya, his voice seething with barely-contained rage.
"That's right! Everything was set up for this moment!"
"We used weapons that are ineffective against God-slayers to catch you off guard, then created a wound with the sacred sword Butsumitsu no Tsurugi. Relying on the secret arts created by the great Onmyoji, Abe no Seimei, to control divine beasts! With all these conditions met, the chances of controlling a God-slayer are quite high!"
"You should have used your Authorities from the start!" Masaya maintained the activation of his secret technique while trying to stall for time, hoping to finish the spell.
"Oh! So I should have used my Authorities from the beginning!" Haru exclaimed, feigning realization.
"In that case, take this—Shinra Tensei!"