To become a king and a magician

Suddenly, her neck was gripped tightly. With one hand, Ayaka Sajou was lifted into the air, and [Natsukawa Torato] conjured several clusters of flames around her: "Fine, you want me to leave him, and then kill you, is that it?"

"Since you're in such a hurry to die, I'll grant your wish. Anyway, you can kill that trash over there anytime, and so can I. Considering you dared to provoke me, I can let you choose a way to die that you like."

“Choose, you ignorant woman! Do you want to be burned alive like this, turned into a charred corpse that even your own parents wouldn’t recognize? Or do you want to be turned into pieces of meat and thrown to the stray dogs on the roadside?”

110. Don't lose, you vixen!

How long has it been since I last visited this place?

Looking at the world filled with skeletons around him, Natsukawa Tora sighed softly and turned to look at the person on the throne not far away: "So you're finally willing to see me? What have you been up to these past few days, Sajou Aika?"

"It's nothing, just some personal business to take care of."

Saya Aika, who seemed to be in a good mood, replied with a smile, resting her chin on her hand.

"What do you think of the gift I gave you, you vixen?"

"So it really was you who did it... no, it should be said, [it really was you guys who did it]."

Xia Chuanhu scratched his head: "Seriously, what kind of mentality did you have to be so proud of showing off to me with such a low-quality product? How could you even bring out something of that caliber?"

His words were full of contempt.

Sajō Aika smiled and nodded: "Indeed, as you said, it is just an inferior product. Although it is a Servant made based on you, its physical abilities are only two-thirds of yours, and its summoning magic is limited to fairy summoning. It cannot use the power of elves and that princess at all, not to mention the power of the prince."

"Moreover, your most outrageous pair of demonic eyes are something that even we can't replicate. They're truly an inferior product riddled with all sorts of flaws."

"But, at least for now, you can't even beat a mere inferior product, can you?"

Natsukawa Tora was speechless.

Even if it's another version of himself that's lacking in every aspect, it's still himself. As long as he can still use summoning magic, his strength won't be too weak. Natsukawa Tora's only remaining advantage, his physical ability, will be wiped out by the summoning magic.

"Let me ask you this, what do you want to do?" Natsukawa Torato changed the subject. "You're not thinking of using this to get out of my body, are you?"

What if I say "yes"?

boom----!

He suddenly leaped up from the corpses and rushed towards Ayaka Sajou, but before Natsukawa Torato could make a move, a huge skeleton fixed him in mid-air.

Sajō Aika smiled: "Although you sealed me away, I still have some power here, stronger than you are now. If you want to destroy me here, you'd better take that succubus with you too—oh right, you don't know yet, the spell that the succubus left in your body has been erased."

"erase?"

"Well, it's essentially the same as killing her. Even if she was just an individual similar to a mental clone, she must have suffered some kind of mental trauma. She's useless now, so—"

"Hey, what did you just say?"

Natsukawa Toramaru's deep voice suddenly interrupted Sajou Aika. His gaze shifted to him, who was bound by the skeleton. Sajou Aika was about to speak when the aura emanating from Natsukawa Toramaru made her tremble involuntarily.

The image of the calm before the storm—that's what Ayaka Sajou is thinking now.

"Crack!"

Trying to break the bones in his body with all his might, his sky-blue eyes coldly stared at Ayaka Sajou, like a furious tiger. Natsukawa Torama asked again with an extremely gloomy face: "You just said, what happened to Merry?"

The anger was burning quietly, not intensely, but quite purely.

"This is the first time I've seen you so angry." Sajou Aika withdrew her hand. "Does she hold such a heavy place in your heart? If you didn't hear me clearly, I'll repeat it again: the part of her that's inside you is essentially dead."

"Although it's a little troublesome to handle—"

Sajou Aika didn't finish her sentence, because before that, Natsukawa Tora, who had suddenly broken free from the skeleton's restraints and rushed out of the cage, had already punched her hard in the face!

"Boom--!"

With a muffled thud, Ayaka Sajou was punched and sent flying off her throne!

Covering her face as she got up, Sajou Aika looked up at Natsukawa Torato, who was sliding down, and pouted: "That really hurt. Are you that angry? Angry over a clone?"

"Got a problem? If you do, I can give you another punch." Natsukawa Tora said coldly, "Don't misunderstand, I'm not angry because you erased Meryl's magic. With her personality, even I would want to punch her twice and sink her into the cement in Tokyo Bay."

"The reason I'm angry is because what you've done means I won't be able to see her for at least five years. Do you know how much of a loss that is for me? How are you going to compensate me?"

"Isn't that great?" Aika Sajo wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. "Why should I care about you, you vixen? Rather, you've imprisoned me here for so long, and I've finally given you this one chance. It would be too kind of you to only let you suffer this little bit."

That's what they say, but in reality, Ayaka Sajou has already returned to the situation where she can't do anything. Even in her own world, she can't cause Natsukawa Torata much harm.

(It's all that nightmare's fault! It's clearly a consciousness entity, yet it's so troublesome!)

If it weren't for erasing Merry's magic, Ayaka Sajou could have done even more!

"Click—"

The world of corpses trembled slightly, and Ayaka Sajou curled her lip: "Your body is really resilient, isn't it? You recovered so quickly even though you were riddled with bullets. But even so, you still can't defeat your other self; you're too weak right now."

"That's hard to say."

Natsukawa Tora chuckled and tapped his chest. "Even though I can't use magic anymore, I still have this guy... no, I should say, this guy is still with me. If I lose while using his power, I'll never be able to face him again."

Arthur's power is not magic, but pure power. Even now, when summoning magic is unusable, Natsukawa Torato can still use that power. In fact, during the battle with Natsukawa Torato just now, part of Arthur's power had already taken effect.

"Furthermore, I have no intention of losing to myself."

"I can lose to anyone, but I can't lose to myself. I must surpass myself. So I will win and smash that shoddy, inferior product to pieces."

"You really know how to talk big. I'd like to see how you're going to win."

As Ayaka Sajou waved her hand, as if saying goodbye, the skeleton beneath Natsukawa Torata suddenly transformed into a hand, gently lifting him up.

Watching Natsukawa Torato gradually leave and return to his throne, Sajou Aika sighed softly.

(You can't lose, you vixen. You can't lose to yourself, and you can't... lose to me either.)

(You can only fall into my hands)

111. Women? They're in the way!

"Ugh... Uh... That hurts!"

The moment he returned from the space of consciousness, the pain all over his body made Natsukawa Tiger groan unconsciously.

Although Arthur's power had taken effect and the Holy Sword's regenerative ability had indeed healed all his wounds, the pain remained completely.

(This really reminds me of when I first met Ayaka Sajou. Was it this painful every day back then?)

If you want, I can help you recall it more vividly.

(No thanks, I'm not a masochist, and I was just expressing my feelings.)

Staggering to his feet, Natsukawa Tiger began searching for his other self—no, he didn't need to search at all, perhaps because he heard his own awakening, as [Natsukawa Tiger] had already turned to look at him.

[Natsukawa Torato] casually tossed aside the Sajou Ayaka in his hand, staring blankly at Natsukawa Torato, who was almost as if he had been brought back to life. His eyes were filled with intense disbelief, but soon, almost instantly, that disbelief completely disappeared.

Instead, it is—

Hahahahahahahahaha!

A maniacal laugh, which could only be described as madness, echoed through the cemetery at night. [Natsukawa Torato] spread his arms, laughing wildly as if welcoming Natsukawa Torato's return: "Still alive? Still alive! It's better than anything else that you're still alive! The real deal! That's right, once or twice isn't enough! How could once or twice possibly kill you completely! I should have realized this sooner!"

Both being Natsukawa Tora, and both aware of each other's abilities, they should have known that unless one of them was completely annihilated and dealt a fatal blow, the other would never die!

"That's what makes it interesting, that's what makes it valuable! If I could kill you so easily, you wouldn't deserve to be killed by me!"

"Come on! Again! Let me kill you dozens of times! Hundreds of times! Thousands of times! Until one of us can no longer stand up! Until one of us never wakes up again! Until life and death completely separate us!"

(Hmm... Sajō Aika, answer me honestly, how did you create the personality of my other self?)

With a headache, Natsukawa Tora asked Sajou Aika, wondering why this guy had this personality when he himself wasn't like that.

Who knows? I only inserted a portion of the Chaos Tide into his body; perhaps it's a product of your original personality deteriorating to an extreme degree.

In other words, if you soak yourself in black mud, it will turn into this?

(I don't think there's anything wrong with my other self shouting "Great Annihilation," but let's put that topic aside for now...)

Spreading his arms and legs, and giving his other self the middle finger, Xia Chuanhu laughed, "Shouting so fiercely, then come and hit me! All you do is bark and not move, are you a watchdog on a leash? Damn it!"

"Then wouldn't you be a dog too?!"

"It's a wolf!"

Thump—!

Amidst their shouts, the distance between the two instantly shrank to zero! The moment their fists, capable of shattering the earth, collided, the destructive impact swept across the entire cemetery! Large chunks of ground, including those around Ayaka Sajou, were blown away and shattered by their single blow!

Huh? Ayaka Sajou?

It was only then that Natsukawa Tora noticed the third party he had subconsciously ignored.

"What are you looking at, you bastard!"

In that moment of distraction, [Natsukawa Tiger] broke through his arms and kicked him high into the air with all his might!

What are you thinking? Do you have time to care about other women?

(Isn't that your sister?!)

Adjusting his body in mid-air and using the momentum to land where Ayaka Sajo was, he grabbed her waist and scooped her up. Natsukawa Tora didn't even dare to linger on the ground for a moment before leaping up again!

"Boom—!"

[Natsukawa Tiger]'s pursuit followed closely!

As he stepped into the deep pit beneath his feet, two blazing flames suddenly ignited in his palms—

"Use that extra energy you have for taking care of women to fight me with all your might! The real deal!"

The rapidly expanding flames were thrown out by [Natsukawa Tiger]! And the instant they left his hand, the flames, which were originally only the size of a basketball, transformed into two small suns with diameters of tens of meters! They completely blocked all the space in front of Natsukawa Tiger!

"Whispering and babbling—"

With the brakes applied and his body coming to a stop, Xia Chuanhu suddenly turned around and kicked out at the two suns flying towards him!

"I'm sick!"

"Boom—!"

A terrifying storm, formed by the intertwining of fire, flames, and blasting winds, was unleashed from within the small sun the moment Natsukawa Tiger was kicked! It blew him and Ayaka Sajou away to a great distance!

[Don't confront a vixen head-on.]

(I know—and don't talk to me either! I'm already annoying enough with the other one!)