An ordinary profession creates the world's strongest

"I blocked the direct hit for her, so she should be fine. But please help me check the situation, Kaori."

"Of course! Leave it to me!"

Kaori, who had been frozen in place, came to her senses upon seeing her best friend and hurried to Shizuku's side.

Kaori's actions seemed to finally alert Guanghui to Yue and the others' presence. While keeping his distance from Hajime, he cast his gaze upon the others, his eyes widening. Then, as if his mind were snapping, he smiled a twisted smile.

"Everyone's here! Wait a moment. I'll defeat this guy right now and free everyone."

Light, Shia, and Tio's words moved beyond their displeasure, and they looked at him with pity. Meanwhile, Ryuutarou and Suzu desperately screamed for Light to regain his sanity.

"What are you talking about, Kouki! What's wrong with you? Wake up!"

"Koki-san, cheer up! The one who should be defeated isn't Nagumo-san, but you!"

After hearing the two people's heartfelt shouts, Kouki not only did not feel happy, but even turned to anger. And as expected, he directed this anger at Hajime.

"...Nagumo, I can't believe you've even brainwashed Ryuutarou and Suzu. Just how corrupt are you? How much more do you want to take from me!? Oh, I finally understand now. You were behind that Eri incident, right? I've always found her sudden change in personality strange. But if I explain that she's been brainwashed by you, everything makes sense."

"That's not working, you idiot."

"It would be too embarrassing to make excuses at this point. I must make you pay for this sin."

"Your stupidity is already a serious crime..."

Guanghui roared passionately and raised his two swords high. The torrent of magic power formed a fierce vortex, and the aftermath alone blew the surrounding ground to the ceiling, and then turned it into ash. He was about to use his ultimate move, which was proud of his enormous magic power—the highest-level light-attribute attack magic "Divine Power".

"I won't always wait for you, okay?"

With a helpless look on his face, Hajime took out a rope with an ore hammer tied to both ends from the treasure chest—the spatial restraint device "Flying Stone Rope" and threw it out.

Guanghui, who was chanting "Divine Power," was unable to dodge and was pinned and confined in space. Unable to bring down the two swords raised high in the air, Guanghui could not help but curse.

"Damn it, you despicable person!"

Apparently, he considered villains who didn't understand the atmosphere to be despicable. Kouki cursed Hajime while further increasing his magic power, attempting to escape the stone ropes. However, not being an 'Apostle of God,' he couldn't break free in a matter of seconds, and Hajime had already used that time to recharge.

That's right, before he knew it, Hajime was holding a large weapon in his hand.

The weapon, with a jet-black base and red lines, had an outline very similar to the Shurajan, but its caliber was unusual, large enough to fit a whole basketball.

The magic energy radiated a brilliant crimson light, gradually converging at the massive launch port. The compressed energy, as if reaching critical mass, ignited sparks, resembling a fiery star. Feeling its immense power, not only Guanghui but also Yue and the others felt their hair stand on end.

"Even if you deny what you said, you should at least listen to Yaegashi's advice."

The words spoken by Hajime were like flowers offered to the dead.

"Wait! Nagumo!"

"Nagumo, stop it!"

"Nagumo-kun!"

Shizuku, who had regained consciousness under Kaori's care, as well as Ryutaro and Suzu, tried to stop him—but Hajime still pulled the trigger.

The atmosphere roared, and the aurora painted the trial hall a bright red. It looked like the main gun of a space battleship depicted in science fiction.

Looking at the crimson wall looming before him, Guanghui's eyes, stained with hatred, widened...

"If it weren't for you...if it weren't for you, I—"

The light was swallowed up.

Shizuku, Kaori, Ryuutarou, and Ling could only stare blankly at what was happening before their eyes.

There was silence.

It was unimaginable that the bombardment came from a weapon that looked so ferocious.

The attack made no noise, nor did it cause any damage. It simply dyed the trial hall a brilliant crimson, making the ice walls gleam like garnets. The dreamy, mysterious scene was so beautiful it was hard to imagine—just moments before, one of their childhood friends had been reduced to ashes.

But this is natural.

“Ugh, ah…”

A groaning sound reached my ears. It was the same voice that had just been spitting uncontrollably like a child.

Shizuku and the others exclaimed, "Huh?" in confusion.

Just like the clouds dispersing, the aurora disappeared.

What appeared before my eyes was Guanghui, who was completely unharmed.

He looked exhausted. If he hadn't been restrained by the flying stone rope, he would probably have collapsed to the ground. The torrent of magic power just now had now disappeared.

"What exactly is going on?"

Ryutaro muttered a question on behalf of Shizuku and the others who were stunned.

the answer is……

──Magic Cannon Red Lotus Cannon

It is a divine weapon that does not contain any live ammunition and attacks purely with magical power.

In the past, in the Melkinen Undersea Ruins, Hajime had fought a phantom of his past that was immune to all attacks except magical ones. After that experience, he crafted this weapon as a precaution. However, he had never had the opportunity to use it, so he put it away.

It contains soul magic and sublimation magic, which can destroy the magic power in other people's bodies and force the opponent into a state of magic exhaustion.

In other words, the magic power in Guanghui's body has now disappeared along with the phantoms it absorbed.

Although she didn't know the details, Suzu sighed in relief after realizing that Hajime's attack had been intended to spare Kouki's life, merely incapacitating him. Ryuutarou gave her a grateful look, and Kaori smiled with joy. Shizuku's eyes moistened, and a warm feeling for Hajime blossomed deep within her heart.

At this moment, Guanghui's hoarse voice sounded quietly.

“My power is gone… How could that be? I haven’t regained anything yet!”

Two metallic sounds were heard.

That was the sound of the holy sword and the demonic sword slipping from Guanghui's hands. From his trembling hands, it was clear that he no longer had the strength to hold the sword.

The magic sword disappeared silently and vaguely, proving that the phantom had been destroyed.

The bright two-colored eyes and white hair returned to their original color.

After seeing this, he finally released the flying stone rope.

Kouki collapsed to the ground, muttering, "I will restore everything to its original state," while waving his hands aimlessly. He was probably searching for the holy sword.

He tried desperately to keep his consciousness from escaping, but his vision was unable to focus.

Yet the hatred that resided in those eyes remained undiminished. Jealousy, humiliation, and the obsession with having everything go smoothly before being summoned entangled Kouki, giving him the look of a demonic Rakshasa.

Hajime put the Red Lotus Cannon into the treasure chest and walked towards the other party.

Seeing the shoes approaching, Guanghui stopped moving. With a wretched, ghostly expression on his face, he raised his head and cursed.

"Please, Nagumo. Give me everything back. Please, just die."

His childhood friends in the distance looked at Guanghui with mixed expressions of sadness and anger, but he didn't notice at all.

"No, that's not the case, Kouki. Why did it become like this?"

Blood dripped from Ryuutarou's clenched hands. The words he whispered revealed the feelings of all of them.

Without a word, Hajime grabbed the hem of Guanghui's shirt.

He ignored Guanghui's weak struggle and turned his attention to Kaori and Shizuku who were cuddling each other.

Shizuku lowered her eyes calmly, conveying her willingness to trust Hajime and leave the matter to him. Her eyebrows drooped in guilt, as was her wont, perhaps believing she had finally troubled Hajime. Kaori simply stared at Hajime, her eyes betraying her complete trust in him.

Hajime sighed and gave a wry smile, as if to say, "I really can't do anything with you guys."

He turned his gaze to the light again.

Then he clenched his right hand—the hand that still belonged to his human body.

"Live your life over again, you idiot!"

Hajime punched Kouki's face with all his might.

It was a pure, ordinary right straight punch without any enhancement.

But this blow might dig deeper into Guanghui's heart than the bullet did.

After being knocked away and crashing to the ground, Guanghui's eyes revealed a hollow expression of a broken heart before he fainted, and then he lost consciousness.

Hajime glanced at the fallen Guanghui and scratched his head.

At the same time, he sighed, thinking that perhaps the thought that popped into his head, "In order to prevent a lot of Noin from appearing, let's increase the flesh wall and fight☆," caused him to suffer retribution.

After that, Yue and the others hurried forward, seeing that the battle had already been decided.

It should be said that Yue flew directly towards him. Seeing her flying horizontally with gravity magic, Hajime's eyes widened instantly, and then he caught her with a gentle expression that was completely different from before.

“…Hmm, Hajime~”

"Yeah, Master Hajime is here. What's wrong, Yue? Is the trial difficult?"

Just as Hajime said. The other party saw this instantly, and joy welled up in Yue's heart.

Rather than feeling uncomfortable, she was more accurately described as feeling anxious about the future. Furthermore, she felt ashamed of herself for letting her anxiety waver. Hajime, taking on all of her emotions and hugging her tightly, made Yue smile.

Shia and Kaori, who knew the whole story (they'd heard some of it during the argument and, after mocking her as a joke, had taken a hard hit from Gotenryu), both had expressions of "there's nothing we can do about her." However, Suzu, Ryuutarou, Tio, and Shizuku all opened their eyes wide after witnessing Yue in her aegyo mode.

Hajime looked around at Shia and the others, then nodded.

"Looks like everyone's safe and sound. Okay, let's go."

"Wait, wait! We need to heal Kouki-kun!"

Seeing Hajime nonchalantly ignoring Guanghui, who had fainted on the ground with his eyes rolled back, Kaori quickly spoke up to stop him. Needless to say, Ryuutarou and the others nodded enthusiastically, agreeing with Kaori.

"...Is treatment absolutely necessary?"

"I didn't expect to get this kind of response!"

Kaori complained loudly, and Ryutaro and others nodded again.

Kaori knelt beside Kouki and examined him, and said to Hajime, who looked unhappy and reluctant:

"You just said he absorbed the phantom, right? Perhaps because of this, his soul seems to have suffered great damage. It will take some time to heal."

Guanghui's reckless application of reinforcement beyond the limits of the body will naturally cause the inside of the body to be completely damaged.

While physical injuries could be healed instantly with regeneration magic, the soul was of course not so simple. After all, the soul was the most delicate part of a human being, and even unknown phenomena like phantom fusion occurred.

If the treatment fails and a brilliant explosion of laughter and shouting "Hi! Good morning everyone! What a refreshing morning! HA~HAHAHA!" is born, that would be troublesome. In every sense of the word.

After listening to Kaori's explanation, Hajime's expression became increasingly unhappy, and he even subconsciously tightened his grip on Yue. However, Yue became happy instead.

"...Please spare me. I don't expect him to fully recover. Just enough to keep him from dying, right? At least don't let him regain consciousness."

"Huh? Why...ah, um. That's definitely better."

Kaori tilted her head in confusion for a moment, but then realized what Hajime was thinking. Then, with a troubled brow, she began to perform the gentle treatment.

“Nagumo, I know Kouki has caused you a lot of trouble… but…”

“Nagumo-san…”

Ryuutarou and Suzu, who were unable to realize the reason behind this like Kaori did, protested to Hajime even though they found it difficult to speak up.

They probably thought Hajime was speaking out of dislike for Kouki. That being said, Kouki did in fact cause Hajime trouble, so they couldn't protest forcefully. The two could only utter faint protests and look apologetically indebted.

Shizuku, from the very beginning, had simply gazed at Kouki with sorrow. After all, they were the longest-standing friends, their families also had a deep bond, so she must have been deeply grieving.

Hajime pointed at Kouki, his face showing no hostility at all, just an expression of impatience.

"Think about it, it's going to be really troublesome once this thing is completely cured."

"Trouble? ...Ah."

"It seems Taniguchi has understood. Listen carefully, Amanohe failed this trial. He refused to face himself and ultimately took it out on me. Even after he wakes up, this won't change."

"What just happened will happen again..."

"That's what happened. But just now, it was under the influence of the illusion that his bad habit of talking to himself became worse. So even if he wakes up, he probably won't go berserk right away. But..."

Hajime took out a compass from his bosom and looked down at it before continuing.

"We're almost at the deeper level. This is probably the final test, but there's no guarantee that nothing will happen next. If he were to attack me from behind again, I'd be really annoyed."

"...Alas, is it a good thing for him to be able to save his life?"

After hearing what Hajime said, Ryuutarou sighed and nodded. Then, like Shizuku, he gazed at Kouki with a look filled with sorrow.

In this heavy atmosphere, the only one who didn't care about the mood and was still held in Hajime's arms with an extremely happy expression, Yue murmured softly.