The Fascinating Silver Red – Chapter 17

This is a fanfiction by Doughnut Gunso.

The world had barely recovered from the shock of losing Hinagiku, when it was stunned again by the appearance of a gigantic King Midas.

“P – please take a look at this, ladies and gentlemen!” exclaimed the TV news reporter on the helicopter hovering around Hakuou Academy. “Not long after Silver Red – no, Katsura Hinagiku-san – disappeared from our sight, we now see this monster appearing out of nowhere! It looks like yet another Ultraman show, but I can confirm this to be real with my very own eyes!”

The camera captured the face of King Midas, which resembled a huge skull. Without any muscle, King Midas was unable to show facial expressions. One couldn’t even tell where he was looking at. The only thing anyone knew was that he was moving – very slowly – away from Hakuou Academy, yet nobody but Mikado knew his next destination.

“Look at the size of this mysterious skeleton!” exclaimed the reporter as the helicopter tried to stay away from King Midas. “This is the monster Katsura-san was fighting against just a while ago, alone. Surely we admire her courage, but we could also understand why she was defeated…”

Hayate’s heart sank as he heard those words. His guilt towards Hinagiku kept on multiplying, and he found his heart so heavy that it became more and more difficult to breathe. “Why didn’t I go and help Hinagiku-san?” he kept asking himself. The fact that he had found out her identity as Silver Red too late was so unbearable…

“Nagi, Hayate-kun,” there came the voice of Maria, who was accompanying Ayumu. “Nishizawa-san has come for a visit. A – at least give her a greeting, please?”

Neither Hayate nor Nagi responded.

“I – it is fine, Maria-san,” whispered Ayumu. “I can understand how they feel. After all…”

Maria turned to Ayumu as she did not finish her sentence, and sighed as she saw Ayumu began to cry. She didn’t need Ayumu to finish her sentence any more.

“After all, we have just lost our best friend.”

*

King Midas looked around. Now that he was at his full power, he could sense where Hayate was from such a long distance. Yet killing Hayate was not the only thing in his mind, because he had yet another – arguably more important – goal: to bring this world under his control. Even he knew that he couldn’t do these two things at the same time when he was alone. Impossible things would remain impossible no matter how powerful he was.

King Midas raised his right hand and pointed at above. A bright beam of light shot into the sky from his index finger, split into thousands and thousands of weaker beams like firework. The beams landed onto the Hakuou campus and materialised into different kinds of monsters of human heights.

“Go, my army,” whispered King Midas, but he spoke louder and louder as he addressed the monsters he just summoned, “conquer every road, every street, every block and every house. Show no mercy to anyone who resists you. Make this areas our territory: our new empire starts here!”

One of the monsters, which looked like a man in dark tight suits with a strange mask, pointed his sword ahead and yelled: “Charge!” All the other monsters let out a loud roar as they began to move in every direction. Soon enough, the army flooded into the district and began their destruction. People were beaten up or driven out of the houses. Buildings were torn apart. The city, starting with a small corner near Hakuou Academy, began to burn. Screams of agony could be heard everywhere.

King Midas watched the chaos he and his army caused with deep satisfaction. “Now,” he thought to himself, “I should go and find that butler boy myself.”

*

Maria frowned as she watched the mass persecution on TV – the news crew were still dutifully broadcasting the events of the night. She knew full well that it was not the time to sit down and do nothing.

“We have to move, Hayate-kun,” she said to Hayate, but her eyes were still on the TV. We need to take Nagi to the bunker!”

Hayate didn’t respond. He had hardly ever moved a muscle ever since Hinagiku disappeared from his sight. His mind was almost empty, but he did not dare filling it up with anything, because as he started using his brain, he would recall the very moment he lost Hinagiku…

“Hayate-kun!” Maria called him again, this time a little more desperately. She didn’t expect Hayate to be so out of touch with reality, but instead sinking so deep into his own emotions. She thought of giving him a slap or two in the face, but as she realised the reason he was so upset, she thought she couldn’t blame him too much either…

Ayumu, though, had another thought. “Please leave it to me, Maria-san,” she whispered to Maria, before approaching Hayate. Then, to Maria’s shock, Ayumu grabbed Hayate by his collar, pulling him towards her. And then, to Maria’s horror, Ayumu slapped Hayate in the face.

“Pull yourself together now, Hayate-kun!” Ayumu shouted in Hayate’s face. “Your duty is to protect Nagi-chan, remember? Now wake up and carry out your duty!”

Hayate smiled weakly. “Why do I have to do my job,” he whispered, “when Hinagiku-san is killed?”

Ayumu slapped him again, this time on the other side of his face. “Hina-san did her job!” she shouted, now very close to tears again. “She protected us until the last of her breath! She will get angry if she knows that you have given up this early!”

These words rang in Hayate’s mind like the alarm bell. He became a little more focused, and looked straight at Ayumu with his eyes.

“Hina-san died protecting us,” said Ayumu, now started sobbing, “so please do not give yourself up this easily, Hayate-kun. Do not let Hina-san die in vain…”

Hayate was alarmed. He stood up so quickly that he accidentally knocked Ayumu to the ground. Ayumu was about to retort, but then she saw Hayate’s face shining with determination again. She was so glad to see him regaining senses, that she forgot about the pain of being knocked to the ground.

“Thank you very much, Nishizawa-san,” said Hayate, now smiling. “Now I know what I must do!”

*

As Hayate brought Nagi, Ayumu and Maria to the bunker, other people in the Sanzen’in Mansion were busy as well. Klaus the Head Butler was giving orders to the SPs, who were – in their own words – “going military”. They were indeed given military training just for occasions like this.

“SP Team One, activate the ‘Fortress Mode’!” shouted Klaus.

“Yes, sir!” shouted the corresponding team, which was now in the Central Command Room. They input the necessary commands and passwords, and then weird things (according to Ayumu) happened: think metal walls emerged from the garden, surrounding the main Sanzen’in Mansion building. Near 200 cannons emerged from the walls, pointing outwards in all directions. The Sanzen’in Mansion has indeed turned into a fortress.

“SP Teams Two to Two Hundred, take charge of every single cannon!” shouted Klaus. “SP Teams 201 to 400, reload the cannons and supply all other backups!”

“Yes, sir!” roared all the SPs as they rushed to their positions. They were so efficient and disciplined, that they could well be better than any army on the planet.”

Klaus looked satisfied as the SP Teams acted on his orders. “Well, no doubt the government would find all these illegal and even dangerous,” he thought. “But our first priority is always to protect Nagi our lady. Come to think of it, handling the government could actually be easier than this.”

*

“Unknown creature in sight! Fire!”

“Bang! Bang!”

“Reload! Reload!”

It took no time for the army of King Midas to take control of the district area, so the monsters quickly headed towards the Sanzen’in Mansion. Although King Midas had instructed that the Sanzen’in family members should be left to him, every monster thought that it would never be a bad idea to capture them alive for their king. From far away, King Midas saw his army well, but he had no intention to give any new instructions or restrictions.

As hundreds and hundreds of monsters gathered around the Sanzen’in Mansion, it became harder and harder to fight them off. Some monsters managed to get as close as 10 metres from the walls before finally getting shot down. No one from the SP Teams made a single comment, but everyone understood that it was only a matter of time before some monsters finally broke through the defence.

“This won’t do,” said Hayate, who was watching the battle in the bunker. “I’ll go help with defending!”

Nagi, who had been sitting absent-mindedly, suddenly raised her head. “W – where are you going, Hayate?”

“I have to go to the frontline, milady,” said Hayate. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe.”

As Hayate headed towards the door, Nagi panicked. “N – no, no! Don’t leave me, Hayate! I am begging you…”

Hayate stopped for a moment, but he did not turn his head back. “I’ll keep you safe, milady,” he finally managed to say before leaving.

Nagi watched as the back of Hayate disappeared from her sight. Her heart screamed for him to stay, but she couldn’t make a sound.

*

As Hayate arrived at the frontline, he could feel that the battle had become even more intense than before. The ground was trembling under his feet so fiercely that he was barely able to stand.

Yet it was not the time for him to stand back.

As Hayate made his first step towards the oncoming monsters, he noticed something was flying slowly towards him. The thing finally landed in front of him. Hayate looked down and saw that it was a wooden katana – it was Wooden Masamune.

Hayate picked the sword up and was apparently lost in his own thoughts again. It seemed he didn’t notice that a monster was coming his way.

“I am sorry, Hinagiku-san, for being so ignorant to your identity as Silver Red for so long,” he whispered, and then he moved – so quickly and so suddenly – and sliced the monster into halves.

“From now, I will do what you have been doing until the last of my breath!” he said, this time very loudly as he pointed Wooden Masamune at the monsters. “I will protect the people you loved, with the very sword you have been using. Hopefully, I can meet you proudly in the other world, where you are in now!”

With that, Hayate dashed towards the monsters for what he perceived as the final battle of his life.