There Was No Secret Evil-Fighting Organization (srsly?!), So I Made One MYSELF!
世界の闇と戦う秘密結社が無いから作った（半ギレ）

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Chapter 12: Ultimate Final Battle on the Peak of Shichijou-jima

Volume 3: Tsukuyomi, the Dark Secret Organization

However, thanks to him delivering his whole monologue, I had enough time to do a little thinking after recovering from the sudden development. Upon determining that battle was unavoidable based on how gung-ho Oyabun seemed, I deployed the strongest barrier I was capable of in a 10 km radius around Shichijou-jima to contain any aftershocks that would be generated. I had practiced deploying barriers so much during my university days that I could do it even in my sleep. In spite of the size of what I was casting this time, I still managed it within 0.2 s. I was an old hand at it.

Next, I threw an uppercut bolstered by every single drop of telekinetic energy I could muster in order to punch Oyabun’s telekinetic attack upwards.

Instantly, a giant explosion went off, generating a light so intense that it turned the still dark early dawn sky as bright as noon. Entire trees were uprooted, and flames engulfed every inch of the island’s surface.

Cold sweat ran down my back as I clutched my numb arm and used telekinesis to anchor myself. At the point of impact between our two telekinetic attacks, air had been compressed so quickly and at such astronomical numbers that nuclear fusion had occurred, generating plasma. I had previously simulated in my mind what would happen if telekinesis was to collide with telekinesis. Never had I imagined, though, that I would be witnessing it firsthand in this manner. This is definitely NOT a phenomenon that should be induced on Earth!

When I telekinetically cleared away the fire and the smoke, I spotted Oyabun over the ocean surface far, far away, charging towards me so quickly that he was leaving sonic booms in his wake. Apparently, he had not managed to anchor himself like I did and consequently gotten blown far away. Wait, no, secondary abilities cannot be used with superpowers gained through blood transfusion. In other words, he couldn’t erect a barrier to protect himself… I see, so he must have used telekinesis to blow himself away before the shockwave reached him. In any case, he’s way too full of energy.

When one esper receives a blood transfusion from another esper, he or she attains the basic abilities of the other’s superpower for a certain period of time. Having taken in my blood, Oyabun was now in possession of the two basic abilities of telekinesis: pushing and pulling, but at a level that could pulverize entire stars. How long this lasts depends on how much blood was injected. Judging by what I saw, my estimate was that Oyabun had roughly 8 to 9 minutes in this “super mode.” As this effect would grow weaker with time, I just had to hold on until —

“ORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

“Ogeh?!”

As I was leisurely wasting my time thinking, my body was suddenly pulled by an incredibly powerful force. It almost seemed like my eyes were working in fast forward as I saw Oyabun right in front of me and punching me straight up into the air. Yet again, light flashed and an explosive wind burst out. I had managed to cross my palms and use telekinesis to offset the attack in the nick of time, but I felt several of my fingers breaking from the exchange.

So fast! So strong! So precise! What the fuck is this?! I’ve watched plenty of battles through my telekinetic senses so far, but to think that it’s this intense actually participating in person! I can predict his moves, but I can’t react in time! Shit, come to think of it, this is my first time in a serious supernatural battle! Oyabun has an overwhelming advantage in fighting experience.

It was only a beat after being punched that I realized I had just been hit with a telekinetic pull → telekinetic push combo. It was simple yet effective.

Oyabun continued throwing telekinetic punches at me, pushing me higher and higher into the air. Being able to use only the fundamentals of telekinesis, Oyabun had to move his hands to activate the power. Therefore, he had his feet planted firmly on the scorched surface of Shichijou-jima as he was chain punching straight up.

As for me, it was taking me everything I had to block those punches. Just like Oyabun, I was also using my hands. If I didn’t, my output would drop to a third of my maximum power. Suppressing Oyabun with a third of that was outright impossible.

I couldn’t see jack shit with my field of view filled with the white flashes of plasma being generated and the white and red bands of explosive wind whipping about. Even though I had both hands thrust forward and was fully focusing on defense so that my body wouldn’t get blown up into a bajillion little pieces, I was slowly yet surely being pushed higher and higher up.

When comparing raw strength, Oyabun had a slight advantage over me.

I was diverting some of my strength into maintaining the barrier.

Oyabun had my telekinesis on top of his own self-strengthening.

Even though he was probably using a large part of his self-strengthening towards suppressing the havoc that telekinesis was wrecking on his body, the leftover was still enough to give him an edge over me. No matter how hard I tried to offset the force of his blows, there would be some left over that got through to me.

That was just so frustrating and maddening.

You’ve only trained for six months, but I’ve been doing for this twelve whole fucking years! Like I’ll let some stupid doping thing overturn the eleven years of difference!

What the fuck do you even think you’re doing in the first place? You think just by wrecking your body, you can catch up to eleven years of steady effort? Hah? Don’t you fuck with me, you motherfucker.

Guys who “have talent”?

Guys who “have resolve”?

Guys who “bear the risk”?

Guys who get a sudden power-up without even working for it and then go trample and piss over someone else’s years of effort?

I!

HATE THEM!

LIKE!

“FFFUUUUCCCKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!”

The telekinesis that I had spent the longest time diligently training and building up responded to my rage.

By which I mean, I managed the same output I always did. Being angry did nothing to increase nor decrease it.

Humans do not get sudden power-ups when angry. If you’ve already been drawing out your full strength, you don’t get to draw out more strength than that. Mere adrenaline rushes don’t turn normal people into Superman, and your full strength is your full strength because that’s literally all you can manage.

I roared with rage and slammed my full strength downwards in an effort to crush Oyabun. However, my strength was slightly short of Oyabun’s, just like it had been before I got mad.

AHHHHHHHHH!!!

FUCCCKKKKK!!!

THE FUCK IS THIS!!!!!

THIS IS WHY I HATE GODDAMN FUCKING REALITY!!!!

Arrgg, I so want to crush you! I want to beat you black and blue and make you cry! I’ll have you know, if I only go all out, a split second is — wait, no, I already am going all out.

Uh… hold on…

I really am going all out right now… and I’m losing?

You gotta be shitting me.

My boiling head immediately cooled down.

I was actually losing in a supernatural battle.

I had imagined it before as a “what if,” but had never actually experienced it before.

Of course, if I dispelled the 10 km radius barrier that I had erected to contain all the shockwaves and redirected that strength towards the fight, then I would win. However, the rampant shockwaves would then shatter every single window in Tokyo, the resultant monster tsunamis would absolutely trash the entire coastline, and the columns of air that we were blasting at each other would punch through the atmosphere straight into space and cause severe climate changes with their passing.

I was no genius, but even I could already foresee this much damage that would occur without the barrier. In all likelihood, the real consequences would be even more catastrophic. There would be no point if I won the fight but lost the battle. I was fighting to stop Oyabun from world domination; how could I destroy that world in the process?

With all that said, however, I can’t win against Oyabun while maintaining the barrier.

In actual fact, I am losing to him, present continuous tense.

……Lose?

……Me?

…………

……Fuck that!

I don’t want to lose!

I’m not going to lose, I’m not going to let myself lose!

I will win this!

So what if I’m losing out in output?

Excess power means nothing without brains!

In the space between Oyabun and myself, I generated the membrane that I usually used as World Shadow skin. The instant it materialized, the barrage of punches that was pushing me into the sky stopped.

The range of telekinesis was dependent on field of view. Without having acquired telekinetic clairvoyance, Oyabun could not target what he could not directly see. With your line of vision blocked, you’re now mine. FUHAHAHAHA!

“Hm? Wait, wh-, oh fuck!”

Almost as soon as he saw the black membrane, Oyabun had already forcibly torn it apart using telekinesis. Then he once again locked onto me and “pulled” me down towards the ground.

Wouldn’t a normal person draw back in caution if a gigantic black sheet suddenly appeared out of nowhere?! Dammit, his wealth of experience is allowing him to make really quick judgment calls. Good for him, but bad for me. Very bad.

I tried to resist, but slowly yet surely, I was being sucked down. Hah! If that’s your plan, then I have an idea of my own. I’m now in the stratosphere, having already broken through the troposphere, with all of the clouds in the sky already having been scattered by all the shockwaves. I can make use of this distance.

I first enveloped my own body in a layer of telekinesis in lieu of an anti-G suit, padded my feet with a super powerful barrier, then stopped resisting Oyabun’s pull.

With one leg extended, I plunged downwards in a Comet Kick¹ bolstered with the combined force of Oyabun’s telekinetic pulling and my own acceleration!

The maximum acceleration that I myself could withstand was 10 Gs. Considering that it would take me 30 seconds to reach the ground at the current rate, that meant I would be crash-landing at a speed of 8.6 mach, or 10,620 km/h (6,600 mi/h). My body weight was 60 kg, so the force upon impact would be… I don’t know how much², but definitely more than what Oyabun can deflect! In fact, if he takes it head on, his body would probably just explode. To avoid breaking all the way through to the Earth’s crust, I’m going to have to abruptly apply my brakeAAHHHHHHHHH?!

“The fuck is that?!”

Shichijou-jima itself was flying towards me!

The bastard! He’s gone and thrown the island at me!

Destroying the approaching island was an easy task, but I got distracted during that split second when I had to kick the island to split it in two. Within that brief window of time, Oyabun, who had apparently jumped all the way up here and was hiding in the shadow of the island, grabbed me and directly threw me downwards.

Even after dampening my velocity with telekinesis, I ended up crashing into the sea, which was churning furiously due to all the shockwaves from our fight. Dammit, I’m not getting any hits in. Stop brute forcing through all of my techniques, goddammit! Although he was only using telekinesis in the most fundamental manner, Oyabun’s lack of hesitation to use it was striking. The quickness with which he could make decisions in battle was also huge. Is this sensation of being suppressed from above what everyone I’ve faced so far been feeling? It sucks so bad.

As I crouched while clutching my head at the bottom of the seething sea, my mind whirled at top speed.

Oyabun’s power and my power largely offset each others’. The timer was also running down on Oyabun’s doping state, and his output was starting to decline. On the other hand, my telekimuscle was also growing quite fatigued. It was my first time using telekinesis not for training or for a mock fight, but for actual battle. Due to that, I was growing tired much, much quicker than I normally did. With my telekimuscle quivering the way it was, I could only manage one out of several hundred thousandths of my maximum output.

The situation was basically fifty-fifty.

…Wait, hold on a moment. Right now, I’m at the bottom of the ocean, out of Oyabun’s direct line of sight. Being unable to use telekinetic senses, he shouldn’t be able to find me. If I only wait a few more minutes, Oyabun’s doping will wear off and I will win by default.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I used telekinesis to check on Oyabun. The remaining half of Shichijou-jima was entirely scorched, and the place where the sea met that part of the island was entirely enveloped in white steam. And right there was Oyabun, covered with blood from head to toe, yet still striking an imposing pose³ and glaring all around. What the hell is with this composition. It’s freaking scary. What are you, the Demon Lord on the last island?⁴

After panning his head around a few times, Oyabun lifted his head and shouted towards the sea and the sky.

“Don’t you run away! Stand and fight, Kinemitsu Sago! If you don’t come out by the time I count to five, I’ll level the entirety of Tokyo! Five! Four!”

WTF?! Wait, wait, wait!

I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not. However, with the strange state that both his mind and body was in right now, there was no doubt that Oyabun had the power to carry out his threat. You really are a Demon Lord, aren’t you?!

I flew out of the sea, assaulting Oyabun with a gigantic monster made of water. In the split second that Oyabun blasted it away, I bound his body with telekinesis.

…Or tried to, at least. He immediately broke free with brute force.

Despite not having taken a single attack from me throughout the entirety of our battle, Oyabun’s body was more ragged and bloodsoaked than when we had begun. However, I had also taken damage beyond what my defenses could stave off, and my telekimuscle was in a severely fatigued state. The attack I just did and the attempt to restrain Oyabun had tired me out even more.

I landed on the same ground that Oyabun was standing on. I wanted to conserve the strength that I had used to remain floating.

My hands grabbed empty air, invoking powerful pressure that closed in on Oyabun from all sides. At the same time, I also telekinetically reached out for Oyabun’s mukimukin. To my dismay, once again he threw both of them off with brute force. Shit, that’s right. Of course it makes sense that an attack only possible with telekinesis could still be blocked by telekinesis.

Oyabun counterattacked by charging at me while howling at the top of his lungs. He threw a telekinetic punch. I blocked it with my own punch. His rock-like fist that was stained crimson with blood met my disfigured fist filled with broken bones. This time, there was no flash of light and or explosive wind. Barely having exceeded the speed of sound, a single sonic boom washed over both of our bodies.

Neither Oyabun nor I had much left in our tanks. We continued wearing down each other’s respective strength and time, both rapidly growing weaker with each passing moment.

Oyabun’s attacks were effective precisely because of their simplicity. With telekinesis boosting his every attack, he simply continued whaling on me. And I had no other choice but to parry each one of those attacks head on. If I tried to go on the offense or aim for his weak point, I was 100% sure that he would be able to wrestle me down with his superior physical strength.

Having determined that we wouldn’t be generating any more shockwaves, I dispelled the gigantic barrier and redirected that strength towards the fight in front of me. Thanks to that, the power balance between Oyabun and I flipped abruptly, putting me in the advantage. He avoided my punches, parried my kicks, and moved all about to avoid my telekinetic bindings. Somehow, he continued holding on. I was pressing him, but I wasn’t able to completely push him over the edge.

The power to wipe out stars had gradually degraded to being the power to split apart stars, then to the power to destroy an island, then to the power to tear down a castle wall. The fight that — had it gone even slightly wrong — had the potential to smash Earth apart was now nothing more than a primitive fistfight.

“SAGOO! THIS IS YOUR PRICE FOR DECEIVING ME, NO, FOR DECEIVING US!”

Oyabun, who had been shouting like a beast throughout the entirety of our fight, once again brandished his bloodsoaked fist.

Guilt welled up within me, causing my body to freeze for a split second. My arm rose to block my head a beat too late, and, with the worst possible timing, my telekinetic defenses also became slightly delayed due to the fatigue. Oyabun’s iron fist ended up tearing my right arm straight off.

Blood spurted from my shoulder like a fountain.

It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!

It hurts so bad, but I’ve already overcome pain long ago! Just how many times do you think I’ve suffered the torture of tearing off pieces of my telekimuscle by now?

I promptly used telekinesis to stop the bleeding, then managed to land a counter in Oyabun’s face.

Staunching my wound was taking all the telekinesis at my disposal. Therefore, I could only manage a simple punch, not bolstered in any way. Even so, I felt one of my bent fingers stabbing into Oyabun’s right eye socket and squishing something soft.

Oyabun let out a scream and collapsed to the ground, but immediately tried to get back up. My shoulder heaved up and down heavily as I found myself torn between admiration and despair.

Please just spare me already. Just how strong are you.

Just let me win already. I beg you.

Look at these weak-ass punches. I thought I had turned the tables, but you’re still holding on.

Look at my knees. Look at how badly they’re shaking. They just won’t stop, these knees. My telekimuscle is in even worse shape. Let alone shaking, it’s just spasming by now. It’s spasming so much that it won’t even be able to spasm soon enough. Ever since I awoke to my power, this is the very first time I’ve ever pushed it this hard.

You’re already in pieces, aren’t you?

You’re already exhausted, aren’t you?

So please. Just lose already.

…No, that’s not right.

I will make you lose.

I will beat you.

Feebly, like someone half-dead, Oyabun staggered to his feet once again, his remaining eye still shining like a thousand stars. My feet felt as heavy as lead, but I still managed to plod forward and plant one last punch into the side of Oyabun’s face. It was a wobbly punch telegraphed from a mile away, but it proved enough to make him fall back down.

This time, he made no effort to get up. He merely lay on the ground, face up, panting hoarsely.

Oyabun was down, and I was still on my feet. I was this close to also falling over, but I was still on my feet.

I had won.

I had finally won.

It was my victory.

I could probably have won in a smarter way. I could probably have won without letting my right arm get torn off.

Even so, I had won, without having to sacrifice what was important.

For some reason, laughter bubbled up from deep inside of me. I did nothing to suppress it. The sea was churning and Shichijou-jima was split in half. It was a terrible sight, but I felt so liberated.

“Kinemitsu Sago.”

As I laughed loudly without rhyme or reason, Oyabun muttered my name while still lying face up on the ground.

“It’s my loss. As promised, you are free. You were planning on leaving Tsukuyomi, weren’t you?”

“Ahhh…”

That’s right, we did make that promise.

I had been so occupied with the fight that it had completely slipped my mind halfway through. That was just how intense the heat of battle had been.

Seemingly having misunderstood my lackadaisical reply somehow, Oyabun continued speaking.

“It’s fine. You can leave Tsukuyomi. After all, your tattoo is gone now, together with your arm. You have paid your dues. Your punishment is over. There is no longer anything tying you down.”

“? ……!”

I started, then whirled to look towards Oyabun. His spasming lips were curled up in a gentle smile.

Wait, don’t tell me.

Oyabun, you…

You…!

“Tsukimori-gumi is a mutual benefit society. I may not know the reason why, but you helped us while deceiving us. That’s why I helped you in turn while deceiving you. Tell me, Sago. Were you able to go all out? Were you able to feel the heat of battle? I… did I manage to become the big evil that you wanted to defeat?”

“…… Yes. Yes, you did. I thought I was going to lose. It’s my first time having squeezed out this much power. Goddammit… goddammit…!”

Even though I furiously tried to blink them back, tears still spilled down my face. My voice was quivering.

Oyabun, how can I ever repay you for everything that you’ve done for me?

What can I ever do to make up for how you laid your life on the line to help clear away this frustration that I’ve carried all these years?

It’s not possible. It’s outright impossible.

Even though you’ve set me free, I can’t leave.

“How… how can I leave the Tsukuyomi that has done so much for me?!”

“Are you hearing yourself? You have just defeated the big boss of the evil organization that was plotting world domination. What is there to be ashamed of? Return to where you need to return to with your head held high. You have a place to return to, don’t you? And also… look.”

Oyabun tried to sit up, so I quickly knelt to prop up his back.

I turned to look where Oyabun was looking, just in time to see the first ray of sunlight shine over the horizon.

“It’s daybreak.”

Although the sun would set and yield way to the moon, there was no such thing as a night that would never end.

It was at this moment that my long, long night was finally over.⁵

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Footnotes

1 Lots of variations on this, but it seems like the original source was Ultraman.

2 Footnote from Khuma: Approximately 7,070,781,250 N of force, or 707,078.125 tons. That is a LOT.

3 I personally am imagining the Gainax pose haha.

4 Reference to Momotarou. (Thanks DB!)

5 Not sure how many of you guys read the footnotes and remember this, but both the name “Yaku” and “Tsukuyomi” strongly bear the connotation of “night.” Remember that when re-reading this last part.