High school freshman Kazuma Sato is nearly hit by a truck on his first day. A beautiful girl named Aqua, who claims to be a goddess, saves him. She offers to grant him one wish, and he jokingly asks for her to be his girlfriend. She immediately agrees. Thus begins their strange relationship.
At school, his childhood friend and kendo ace, Darkness, demands he become her fiancé. Aqua declares she's his girlfriend. Then transfer student Megumin confesses her love and challenges Aqua to a duel. Thr
God's Blessing on This Wonderful Academy! - The Defeat of the Chosen One, and What They Still Want to Protect
The rooftop after school.
The sky was beginning to stain with the colors of sunset.
Satou Kazuma stood facing a girl whose silver hair swayed in the wind.
"...Tell me, Wiz."
His deep brown eyes pierced straight through her.
"What were my parents trying to do? What happened fifteen years ago, at the Great Rift?"
Wiz lowered her pale violet eyes, just slightly.
The evening breeze lifted her long, straight silver hair, soft and weightless.
"...Kazuma. How much do you know?"
"That you're a former member of the Hollow Ring. That shadow-walking organization."
Wiz's fingertips trembled, faintly.
"...Yes. That's right. I fled from them."
She touched the silver pendant at her throat.
"The Hollow Ring. They're deliberately distorting the boundary between the spirit world and the human world. Calling forth shadow-walkers, trying to merge the two worlds together."
"For what?"
"...For power. When the two worlds blend, a massive vortex of energy is born. They intend to claim it."
Kazuma clenched his fist.
"...Fifteen years ago. My parents."
Wiz's words caught in her throat for a moment.
"...Your parents were Guardians. Chosen ones, sworn to protect the human world from the distortion of the boundary. And fifteen years ago, they threw themselves against the Great Rift to hold it back."
She looked him straight in the eye.
"They sealed the boundary's core. At the cost of their own lives."
The wind swept across the rooftop.
Kazuma's black hair whipped around him.
"...At the cost of their lives."
His voice came out hoarse.
"Yes. But the seal was incomplete. The Hollow Ring is trying to break it. And the key to doing so—"
Wiz's gaze dropped to Kazuma's chest.
"—is the keepsake from your mother. The Guardian's crest, hidden on the back of that photograph."
Kazuma reached into the inner pocket of his uniform.
His mother's photograph.
"...This is the key?"
"Yes. That crest is the final key to sealing the Hollow Ring. You were born to save the world."
Silence.
Anger and grief churned in Kazuma's chest.
"...Don't give me that."
His voice was low.
"I wasn't born to save the world. I was born to live a normal life."
His fist tightened.
"My parents chose the world over me. And I was left alone. Tell me, Wiz. Where's the salvation in that?"
Wiz said nothing.
She only gazed at him, sorrow in her eyes.
"...I have to protect you. From those who would use you."
Her voice trembled, faintly.
"For my own atonement, too. ...I watched your parents disappear. I was inside the organization. I couldn't stop it. So this time—"
She bit her lip.
"This time, I want to protect you."
That was when it happened.
Clatter.
The rooftop door flew open.
"—Stop right there!"
Darkness burst through, her blonde half-up hair swinging.
Behind her, blue-haired Aqua and crimson-haired Megumin.
"Kazuma! What are you filling my boyfriend's head with?!"
Aqua shouted, the blue bracelet on her left arm glowing.
"Eavesdropping is such a vulgar habit."
Wiz said quietly.
"Shut up! If you're going to put Kazuma in danger, I won't allow it!"
Darkness gripped her bamboo sword.
"Kazuma. Whoever you are, you're my childhood friend, and the one I've sworn to protect. As a Guardian, and as a woman."
Her amber eyes were utterly serious.
"My Explosion magic exists for moments like this!"
Megumin pressed a hand to the eyepatch over her right eye and stepped forward.
"I'll prove my power is worth something when my senior is in trouble! I won't lose to Aqua-senpai or Darkness-senpai!"
"...You guys."
Kazuma looked at each of their faces in turn.
Aqua's straightforward blue eyes.
Darkness's unwavering amber eyes.
Megumin's burning red eyes.
All three of them were dead serious.
(...Why would you do this for someone like me?)
Something burned deep in his chest.
(...I want to protect them too.)
"...All right."
Kazuma raised his head.
"Let's go. Central Park. The distortion is spreading there."
"Yes. The shadow-walkers should be appearing."
Wiz nodded.
"Everyone, let's move! As Kazuma's girlfriend and as a goddess, I refuse to lose to any of you!"
Aqua raised her bracelet high.
"As his fiancée, I will protect Kazuma to the very end!"
Darkness readied her bamboo sword.
"Behold the full glory of my Explosion magic!"
Megumin spread both arms wide.
Kazuma walked forward, the four girls at his back.
The sunset stretched their five shadows long across the ground.
---
Mirador Central Park.
The sky was blanketed in an eerie, pale blue light.
The surface of the pond wavered and warped.
"...What a presence."
Darkness tightened her grip on her bamboo sword.
"Kazuma, stay behind me. I'll protect you."
Aqua stepped in front of him.
"No. I'm fighting too. ...I have to."
Kazuma looked at his right palm.
A crest of light was faintly rising to the surface.
"...Here they come."
Wiz said sharply.
In that instant—
The pond's surface exploded.
Countless black shadows burst out with the spray of water.
Shadow-walkers.
Black humanoid forms with no eyes, no mouths.
Ten. Twenty. No—more.
"Aqua Aqua Aquarium!"
Aqua chanted.
Blue light poured from her bracelet.
A wall of water pushed back the swarm.
"You're quite something, Aqua."
Darkness swung her bamboo sword through.
A whistle of wind.
One shadow-walker split clean in two and dissolved into mist.
"My blade cuts even shadows!"
"Explosion!"
Megumin cried out.
Crimson flames swirled around her.
Detonation.
The swarm was blown apart.
"...Not enough. More, more!"
But—
The shadow-walkers kept coming, one after another.
"There are too many...!"
Darkness's breathing grew ragged.
"It's fine! With my water magic—!"
Sweat beaded on Aqua's forehead.
"...This is bad. These aren't ordinary shadow-walkers."
Wiz's expression changed.
"Someone is controlling them."
That was when—
"—Hoh."
A low voice that resonated from the pit of the stomach.
From the far end of the park, a man walked toward them.
Robes of pure black.
His face was hidden beneath a deep hood.
"A Hollow Ring executive...!"
Wiz's voice shook.
"It's been a while, Wiz. A traitor like you, strolling back in so brazenly."
The man laughed.
"Chosen one. Will you walk the same path as your parents? Those two scattered just as uselessly."
"...You did this to my parents."
Kazuma's voice dropped low.
"Who knows. But I'll tell you one thing. Your mother was crying your name. 'Kazuma, I'm sorry.'"
The words drove through Kazuma's chest.
"You bastard—!!"
Kazuma lunged.
"Kazuma, no!"
Aqua's warning didn't reach him.
"Foolish."
The man raised a hand.
A black wave blasted Kazuma backward.
"Gah—!"
Kazuma slammed into the ground.
"Kazuma!"
"Kazuma-senpai!"
The three of them tried to run to him.
But the shadow-walkers blocked their path.
"Chosen one. You can protect nothing. Just like your parents. You'll try to save your friends, and die along with them."
The man approached Kazuma, slowly.
"Now. Hand over the photograph."
"...Like hell I will."
Kazuma pushed himself up on trembling arms.
His right palm burned.
The crest of light pulsed violently.
"...I'll protect them."
Kazuma raised his right hand to the sky.
"I'm not running anymore. I'm done running and losing people."
The crest blazed.
A blinding white light.
It spread from his back, taking the shape of wings.
Wings of light.
"What...?!"
For the first time, the man showed alarm.
"UOOOOOOOOOH!!"
Kazuma screamed.
The light exploded.
The swarm of shadow-walkers was swallowed by the radiance and vanished.
GIIIIIIIIII!!
Death throes.
The light engulfed the entire park.
"...Did I... get them?"
Kazuma dropped to his knees.
The wings of light faded.
"...Hah... hah..."
Strength drained from every part of his body.
His vision blurred.
"Kazuma!"
Aqua tried to run to him.
Then—
"...So close."
The man's voice.
Kazuma raised his head.
The man was unharmed.
"You can't even control your own power. You're less than your parents. A failure."
The man reached out.
The photograph—his mother's keepsake—was pulled from Kazuma's inner pocket.
"...Stop."
Kazuma reached out.
His fingers closed on empty air.
"With this, the seal breaks. Let's continue what began fifteen years ago."
The man tucked the photograph inside his robes.
"Live on, wallowing in regret. There's nothing a powerless wretch like you can do."
The man's figure dissolved into the darkness and vanished.
"...W-Wait."
No more sound came from Kazuma's throat.
His consciousness faded.
"Kazuma! Kazuma!"
Aqua's scream.
"Kazuma, stay with me! You're not allowed to die until you've become my fiancé!"
Darkness's voice.
"Kazuma-senpai! I haven't even shown you my Explosion magic yet! So please, open your eyes!"
Megumin's voice.
The three voices echoed somewhere far away.
"...So this is the Hollow Ring's goal."
Wiz bit down on her lip.
"If only I had told you the truth sooner..."
A single tear traced down her cheek.
Kazuma's vision closed into darkness.
The crest on his right palm lost its light and quietly faded away.
The pale blue glow still flickered in the park's sky.
It looked like an open door.
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