Light Yagami VS Junko Enoshima – DEATH BATTLE!

(Note: This fight was originally published on DeviantArt from March 8 of 2018 to the 31st of the same month. This version is intended to merge both parts while also fixing minor things that have been on the back of my mind since I released it.)

Brain: “Alright, the combatants are set. Let’s end this debate once and for all.”

Nocturn: “It’s time for a KILLING GAME!”

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Part 1

My name is Light Yagami. I may look like a normal person to most people, but I am hiding a secret that could throw the world into a permanent state of disarray and chaos. What’s this secret I’m speaking of, you may ask? To put it simply… I am God.

I did not create this world, nor the creatures that inhabit it, but I have the power to control their lives… and deaths. And it’s all thanks to a simple notebook. It may sound ridiculous, but with this Death Note, I can make any human die in whatever twisted ways I desire. However, I am not a psychopath. I don’t kill people without rhyme or reason, no. I only kill those who truly deserve it, the wretched criminals that roam this Earth and ruin the lives of the weak.

I am going to use this power to create a New World. One where crime is non-existent, and both the strong and the weak can live together in harmony, without the need of being afraid of violence and death! And the one to create that New World Order will be none other than me, Light Yagami, known by the rest of the world as Kira!

Naturally, I cannot make my identity available to the general public. Only a select few are aware that I am Kira, but there are some rather nosy people that suspect me. I’ve been acting as both Kira and the prestigious detective L for a few years now. I’m in charge of investigating my own case. Heh, it’s quite ironic…

But enough about that. Let me tell you why I am in this position. It all started when I received a peculiar letter…

“Dear Mr. Yagami.
We at the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles have recognized your overwhelming talent and would like to hire you as one of our teachers for this upcoming semester. We have enclosed a file with all the details that you need to know, from our location to the salary that you will receive. We will patiently await your response.
Yours truly, the headmaster.”

I had no idea what that letter was talking about. I had never heard of that academy, and I most certainly didn’t apply for any sort of teacher job anywhere, let alone that shady school. I simply threw away that nonsensical letter and went on with my life. But it seems they had different plans…

One day, I went out for a brief walk while carrying a black backpack, which contained my Death Note. Alongside me was Ryuk, a Shinigami dressed in pitch-black clothing. To put it simply, he was the guardian of the Death Note. Only those who had previously touched the notebook were able to see and hear him.

“Kukukuku… Where are we going, Light?” The Shinigami spoke to me, but before I was able to reply, I felt my consciousness slip away as two figures I couldn’t identify in time grabbed me by surprise and put me to sleep using a handkerchief soaked with chloroform. They threw me inside their black car and started driving it somewhere.

“Oh, well. I should probably follow them.” Ryuk said in a laid-back tone as he spread his wings and flew in the same direction as the car, more out of curiosity than of willingness to help me.

A few hours later, I woke up in a strange place… A classroom of sorts. It was full of empty desks, and there were cameras attached to a few of its corners. I had no recollection of how I got here, aside from what I’ve already mentioned so far. Confused, I tried to exit the classroom, but right as I grabbed the door’s handle, I heard a loud “THUMP” coming from the lockers that were located in the back of the classroom. I turned my head and saw a teenage boy lying on the floor.

“Ugh…” The boy let out a groan as he tried to get up from the floor. He was wearing a black school uniform and a baseball cap, which obscured his dark blue hair and gambogeish grey eyes.

“Are you alright?” I offered to help the boy by using my right hand to reach out to him.

“Y-yeah… Thank you.” The boy said in a rather timid tone as he grabbed my hand and got up from the floor.

“Do you have any idea of how you got here?” I questioned the boy. My mind was still full of unanswered queries, but I needed to keep calm.

“I have no clue. All I know is that some strange people knocked me out and threw me into a limousine of sorts. Do you know anything, mister?” The boy gave me his disappointing answer in a polite manner. Despite the situation he was in, he was awfully calm.

“Same as you. And no need to address me so formally. You can just call me Light, Light Yagami.” I answered his question and introduced myself.

“Oh, pleased to meet you, Light. I’m Shuichi Saihara. I’m formally known as the Ultimate Detective, but I don’t think I’m deserving of that title.” The boy introduced himself in return.

“You’re a detective too? That’s pretty impressive for someone as young as you! I’m just a simple detective from the Japanese Police Force.” I enthusiastically replied. I don’t know if this Shuichi person will be a friend or a foe, but I would prefer to have him on my side.

“Hm… Could this mean they’re kidnapping detectives? It would certainly help them if they wanted to commit a large-scale crime.” Shuichi theorized while scratching his chin with his right hand.

“We’ll think about the reasons why they kidnapped us later. For now, we should try to investigate this place.” I proposed the idea to Shuichi, who nodded in agreement.

We opened the classroom door and left, only to find a long hallway covered in moss and dust. As we walked through the deserted hallway, we noticed a menacing anthropomorphic creature covered in machine parts. It had white hair and a large antenna sticking out of its head.

“Watch out, Shuichi! That might be an enemy guard.” Nervous, I tried to hide behind a corner with Shuichi, but it seems I spoke too loudly.

“That’s robophobic! Just because I’m a robot, I have to be an enemy, right? You humans are all the same!” The mechanic creature yelled at me, almost as if it were trying to scold me.

“Uh, I think it might not actually be an enemy,” Shuichi said to me with a worried look on his face, but it seems that the robot was not satisfied.

“It? Do not treat me like an object! I may be a robot, but I am very much alive, and I am a male!” The strange robot started rambling. I approached him and tried to apologize, for everyone’s sake.

“We apologize for our insensitivity, we were just slightly confused. You can call us Light and Shuichi. Do you know if there’s anyone else in this building?” I offered the robot a handshake, which he promptly accepted. Despite being a robot, he didn’t seem to be very strong.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance. My designation is K1-B0, but you can just call me Keebo. As for your question, I have seen a few more people here, but they didn’t know anything about the building we’re in.” The robot replied with a polite introduction.

“Thank you for the information, Keebo. We’ll let you know if we find an exit.” Shuichi cheerfully replied. We waved K1-B0 goodbye as we went our separate ways. We kept on walking until we found a small girl that wore a strange school uniform accompanied by a witch hat, which covered her short crimson hair and her bored-looking brown eyes. Before we even said anything, we could hear her whining.

“Nyeh… I just want to go home… Why did I have to run out of mana in a moment like this?” Her voice was so monotone that it made me want to yawn, but if I wanted to learn more about this place and how to escape it, I had to force myself to interrogate everyone.

“Excuse me, do you anything about this place or how we got here?” I reluctantly asked the little girl. She looked like a complete airhead, so I did not have high hopes, but there was no harm in trying.

“Nyeh? Right now, I don’t know anything, but if I had my trusty magic ball, I would be able to see everything that happened here in both the past AND the future!” The little girl kept on spewing pointless fantasies. I don’t know what I was expecting.

“I think you need to focus more on the present.” Shuichi gave a snarky reply that nearly got a chuckle out of me.

“How dare you talk back to the Ultimate Mage, Himiko Yumeno? Well… I’m more well-known as the Ultimate Magician, but that’s just a farce!” The little kid whined again as she stated her name.

“Um… If you learn anything about this place, please let us know.” Shuichi said to the girl as we returned to our path. A strange question popped up in my mind.

“Hey, Shuichi. All the people I’ve met here so far seem to have some sort of “Ultimate” title. What is that supposed to mean?” I asked the Ultimate Detective.

“Well, the Ultimate Program is an incentive created by the government to develop the talents of young high school students that excel at something. Think of it as a scholarship of sorts.” Shuichi gave me an elaborate response. As expected from the Ultimate Detective.

“But then why am I here? I’m not an Ultimate, and I graduated from college a long time ago-“ When I asked that question, I realized something. The letter that I received earlier this month was talking about getting me to work as a teacher in some sort of Ultimate Academy. I think I need to gather some more information before telling anyone, but at least I’m getting closer to the truth.

Shuichi and I trod through a long corridor that led to a large room filled with sports equipment. There was some sort of stage on the back, and a large window near the ceiling on the right wall. A plain-looking girl with glasses and long, blue hair stood in the middle of this gym-looking room. She seemed to be pretty out of it, so I tried to talk to her.

“Hey, are you alright?” Despite my attempts to talk to her, she didn’t even blink. I didn’t want to bother her anymore if she didn’t want to talk, so I signaled Shuichi to leave the room. However, she decided to speak right as we turned around.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t see you there.” The girl spoke out to us. Shuichi and I looked into each other’s eyes, confused, but we decided to continue the conversation.

“Hey, we were wondering if you knew anything about this situation,” Shuichi asked her, but the girl shook her head.

“Sorry, I’m just as clueless as everyone else here. The name’s Tsumugi Shirogane. You might know me as the Ultimate Cosplayer.” She replied in a monotonous voice.

A cosplayer? What would anyone gain from kidnapping a cosplayer? Have otakus taken over Japan? I’m starting to worry about the future of this country.

“Wait a sec. I think I know you… You really remind me of the protagonist of a very popular manga… Hm… No, it must be my imagination.” Tsumugi said as she carefully looked at me from a distance.

“Um, sure, whatever. Just let us know if you find out anything about this place.” I replied to her in an upset tone as I decided to leave the gym, Shuichi following me.

As we kept on walking, we found a peculiar-looking boy standing around in a large room. The boy was very tall and slim. He had short green hair and wore very casual clothes, adorned with a set of rings and other various tokens. Shuichi and I approached him, but he talked to us before we had the chance.

“Hey there. I assume you two also appeared here for no reason, right?” Much like his dressing style, the young man’s voice sounded very casual, but mysterious at the same time.

“Yes, that seems to be the case. Are you another Ultimate?” Shuichi replied to him while asking about his talent.

“That I am. But there’s a small problem. I cannot remember what my talent is no matter how hard I try. The name’s Rantaro Amami, by the way. Does it ring any bells?” The boy replied, but his response left us in a state of confusion and disbelief.

“Sorry, but it doesn’t sound familiar at all,” I answered his query, and Shuichi shook his head, implying that his answer was the same as mine.

“Oh, well. Guess I’ll find out in due time. But anyway, I’m curious about that large door over there, but it’s too big to open by myself. Would you mind helping me out?” Rantaro said in a laid-back tone. Both Shuichi and I replied with a simultaneous “Sure.” We rushed to the door and began pulling the handles, slowly making it open with a loud creaking sound. A bright light filled the hall, coming from the outside world.

“Looks like we weren’t trapped after all.” Shuichi said with a relieved expression, but the moment Rantaro stepped outside, he put a stop to our enthusiasm by saying “Don’t get your hopes up. Look again.” Following Rantaro’s advice, I walked out the door and looked at the sky…

All I could see were miles upon miles of barren wastelands through a semi-transparent dome with iron bars spanning its entire width. Inside the dome were a few small buildings, and the one that we were in a moment ago, which was noticeably larger on the outside. It likely had more floors that we hadn’t discovered, but I suppose we’ll find out in due time.

There was a small terrace near the main building, and there appeared to be a girl of short stature sitting on one of its benches. The girl had tanned skin and white hair, and her outfit was composed of a long yellow jacket that barely covered her white bikini top and grey skirt. I walked towards her, accompanied by Shuichi. Rantaro went his own way to investigate. Before we reached her, she noticed us and quickly ran towards us.

“Yoohoo! Are you the ones who kidnapped Angie and brought her here? Or were you sent by Atua to save her?” The girl enthusiastically danced around us while speaking in her thick foreign accent. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what country it was from, but it sounded like something you would hear from a Polynesian person.

“I’m afraid we’re technically neither. We’re hostages as well. Is your name Angie, or are you referring to someone else?” Shuichi said to the girl, who looked at us with a curious expression on her face.

“Yah, I am Angie Yonaga, the Ultimate Artist, and faithful devotee of Atua!” She enthusiastically said while waving around a small brush.

“It’s pretty surprising to see that someone as young as yourself could become the Ultimate Artist. You must have practiced a lot.” I put my fingers on my chin and questioned her, pretending to care about her life.

“Nyahahaha! The reason why I have talent is that my body is no more than just a vessel for Atua to pour his blessings onto our world!” Angie said in an enthusiastic tone while putting her palms together, almost as if she were praying.

“Who is this Atua you speak of?” Shuichi asked, curious. Hearing this seemed to upset Angie slightly, but she hid it well with her permanent smile.

“How have you not heard of the very being that created you? Atua is our Lord and Savior, and if you don’t submit to his will, you’ll spend the afterlife in an abyss of eternal suffering!” The girl rambled on about her deity in a cheerful tone. The dark subject of her rant, however, made her attitude somewhat disturbing.

“Say, how did someone as small as you move such a large door? Please answer seriously, you can leave all that Atua make-believe-“ I tried to question her, but before I finished my potentially offensive phrase, she responded.

“Oh, a girl in blue opened it for me while insulting two short boys that were with us.” I was shocked by her unexpected honesty, but it was much appreciated. We both gave her our thanks, to which she replied with “Thank Atua, not me.” Annoyed by her constant religious fanatism, I simply waved her goodbye and walked away from the terrace, aiming to investigate a small building to the west of the school building.

We walked the stone path that led to it, and once we reached the building, we encountered a man of very short stature, presumably one of the two guys Angie mentioned. He wore dark punkish clothes along with a wool hat with spikes. Looking down at his legs, he had metallic shackles attached to his ankle. His eyes looked completely dead, but he was very much alive. We approached him to see what he was doing there.

“Hello, sir. We’re investigating the vicinity of the school building. Do you know what’s inside this small building?” Shuichi politely questioned the short man, who looked at the ground with a gloomy expression.

“No need to address me so formally, kid. Name’s Ryoma Hoshi, Ultimate Tennis Pro. You can just call me Hoshi. I don’t even play tennis anymore…” The man said, raising his head to make eye contact with us.

Hmph. To think that this midget was a tennis pro at some point. Nevertheless, Hoshi wasn’t what interested me. I was more curious about the locked door that he was standing next to.

“Do you know what’s behind that door?” I asked in a deadpan tone, the Tennis Pro simply shrugging the question off while putting a cigarette in his mouth.

“H-hey, you shouldn’t smoke here.” The Ultimate Detective nervously scolded the midget, who casually bit half of the cigarette off before saying “It’s not a real cigarette. It’s just candy.”

“Okay, but why are you standing here if you don’t know what’s in the building?” I interrupted their casual chatter with a relevant question, causing Hoshi to cross his arms and go back to his previous gloomy expression.

“I just don’t feel like I deserve being with the others. Ever since that incident… I haven’t been able to get close to anyone without feeling remorse or anxiety…” The tennis pro stated, arousing interest in both Shuichi and myself.

“Wait… I think I know what you’re talking about. Ryoma Hoshi… Aren’t you that man who massacred a whole branch of the mafia for personal revenge?” Shuichi exposed this fact that was completely unknown to me. This was certainly interesting to learn.

“The one and only… Not exactly proud of that, though. It was all my fault… And I only made it even worse. ‘Least I got some hard time in the slammer. Got what I deserve. But if you ask me… My punishment should be greater. I still need to atone for all those lives that have ended because of my stupidity and selfishness.” Hoshi continued to rant, but learning details like those certainly made this conversation more enjoyable… for me.

“That’s… pretty deep. I really don’t know what to say about it. Just know that if you need anything, I’m here for you. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.” The kind Shuichi offered his aid to the depressed man, but all he did in response was nod it off. We would’ve stayed there to investigate the locked building, but without a key, we couldn’t do much, so we merely left that zone and took the stairs located to the east of the facility, which led to a large courtyard on the lower floor.

In the middle of the courtyard was an athletic-looking girl with dark braided hair and a large green bow on it. She wore a short blue blouse and a skirt of the same color. For some reason, she was stretching her legs. She must be the girl that Angie mentioned.

The moment she heard our footsteps, she got up and charged towards us at full speed, only to grab Shuichi by his arm and throw him onto the hard concrete floor, causing him to scream in pain. She prepared to attack me, but I raised my fists and took a step back. She got into a peculiar combat stance similar to those used by Aikido fighters.

“Back off, you degenerate males! You perverts are no threat for Tenko Chabashira, the Ultimate Aikido Master, and pioneer of Neo-Aikido!” The girl yelled at us in a very aggressive tone while stepping on Shuichi’s back.

“E-excuse me, but could you stop that? I don’t particularly enjoy getting thrown around like a ragdoll.” Shuichi said after groaning in pain. Tenko let go of him and took a more normal stance.

“Ugh, I bet you secretly liked getting stepped on. Normally, I would apologize for the sudden attack, but you degenerate males don’t even deserve that.” The Aikido practitioner scoffed at us while making an incredibly weird face.

“That was uncalled for and sexist. I don’t know what you’ve been through, but it’s extremely rude to attack someone just because you’re prejudiced towards their gender.” I scolded the girl, clearly annoyed by her behavior.

“Psh, whatever. Just don’t get in my way or you’ll get an unrestrained taste of my Neo-Aikido!” The androphobic teen left the courtyard with a look of disdain sullying her face. With that nuisance out of the way, we decided to keep exploring the courtyard, seeing that it had a small chapel-like building that we hadn’t visited yet.

Its entrance was a large red door, and it had a small sign labeled “Shrine of Judgement”. Upon opening the doors, we saw a large fountain with a statue depicting a muscular man with the head of a teddy bear holding some sort of jar of water.

Staring at the fountain was a short boy with dark purple hair and eyes dressed in a white denim outfit decorated with a checkered bandana. He had a rather mischievous expression, and it appeared that he noticed us entering the shrine.

“Ah, hello! It seems you have discovered my secret lair! I’m Kokichi Oma, the Ultimate Supreme Leader! Please make yourselves at home!” The boy said while putting his arms behind his head in a laid-back manner.

“U-Ultimate Supreme Leader? Secret Lair? What are you talking about?” Confused, Shuichi questioned Kokichi, who smiled chuckling.

“Nee-hee-hee! Actually, I lied about the secret lair part. The rest is all true, though. I’m the leader of a secret organization with thousands of members all around the world!” The boy said with an air of superiority to his voice, which seemed to upset Shuichi.

“And what’s that organization’s name, Kokichi?” The Ultimate Detective asked while adjusting his hat. Kokichi put his finger to his mouth and smiled smugly.

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be secret anymore, would it?” He replied in a condescending tone, which irritated both of us.

“Then how do we know you’re not lying?” I pressed on, looking to throw him off.

“That’s what makes it fun! You don’t know who’s really telling the truth until you find out for yourself! For all we know, you could be a sociopathic murderer beneath that friendly exterior. Anyhow, I don’t think I ever got your names.” Kokichi spoke with an air of superiority to his voice. His comment about me being a sociopath caught me off guard, but I didn’t let it get to me.

“I’m Light Yagami, and he’s Shuichi Saihara. And don’t think just because you’re younger than me, I’ll let you mess with me. Respect your elders, kid.” I reprimanded the so-called Supreme Leader, causing him to change to a somewhat annoyed expression.

“Heh. All I’ll say for now is that you should watch your backs and beware of who you trust. You never know when someone will stab you in the back.” The boy said in a suspicious tone as he left the shrine.

Both Shuichi and I stayed silent for a moment due to the Supreme Leader’s comment, but our silence was suddenly killed by a loud DING DONG sound coming from a set of speakers located outside of the shrine. We quickly stepped outside to see what was happening, but the monitors weren’t showing anything. However, a message began to play on the speakers.

“Ahem! Hello, my dear Ultimates and not-so-Ultimates! I’m the headmaster of this academy. I have an important announcement to make, so please gather in the gymnasium! I will explain everything about your situation. I will see you all there!” A loud, high-pitched voice blurted out of the electronic equipment. The contents of the message shocked both of us.

“T-the mastermind is going to show themselves just like that? This has got to be a trap!” Shuichi nervously spouted. Not wanting to see him panic, I put my hand on his shoulder.

“Calm down, Shuichi. If they’re calling us to that place, it has to be for good reason. We’re expert detectives. I’m sure we can figure out a way to turn the tables.” I tried to comfort the boy to the best of my abilities. The last thing I want to deal with right now is a bunch of overly emotional teenagers having mental breakdowns.

“Y-you’re right. Let’s head there and see how the situation progresses.” Stuttering, but slightly calmer, Shuichi agreed with me. Given his response, we both marched back into the school building. Upon entering the gym, we saw all the eight other people that we had met earlier. It seems there wasn’t anyone else in the building, or in that room, for that matter.

All the Ultimates stood around while chattering amongst themselves, but their casual chat was interrupted by another loud DING DONG. Everyone’s looks focused on the back of the gym, which had a small stand raised above the ground. Despite the alerts for the arrival, no one seemed to be behind the stand, until…

“MONOKUMA APPEARS!” A squeaky voice resonated throughout the room while a small teddy bear jumped out of the ground and onto the stand. The stuffed animal had a rather peculiar look to it. Half of him was white and innocent, while the other was black with a red eye and a wicked grin. Its sudden appearance caused the Ultimates to mumble loudly about it.

“A-ahem! Please, stay silent, the headmaster is about to speak!” The black and white bear said, much to the confusion of everyone in the room. I could hear some skeptical people saying things like “That plush is the headmaster?”

“I SAID SHUT UP! Jeez, kids these days don’t respect their superiors in the slightest.” The stuffed animal yelled, clearly angry, causing the entire room to go silent, except for Kokichi, who could be heard chuckling, but the bear paid him no mind and continued his speech. “Now that there’s some peace in the room, let me explain who I am, and what you’re all doing here. My name is Monokuma, and I’m the headmaster of the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles!”

“Hold on for just a sec. How can a stuffed animal move around and speak? Who’s controlling you?” Rantaro questioned Monokuma while raising his pointer finger.

“No one is in control of my sexy little bear body but myself. Hell, sometimes I can’t even control myself! But I guarantee you, I’m fully autonomous.” The bear said while striking a stereotypical “sexy” female model pose.

“So… In other words, you’re a robot. Do you know who else is a robot? Keebo! If you connect the dots, it becomes obvious that the two robots are in leagues!” Kokichi said with a smug look on his face.

“Wait, that’s robophobic! Just because we’re both robots doesn’t mean we have to be allies!” Offended, Keebo protested against Kokichi’s suspicion. Tired of this pointless dilly-dallying, I decided to speak up.

“Everyone, this is a serious situation. If we don’t listen carefully to what the self-proclaimed headmaster says, we might end up in even hotter water than we already are. I suggest we use our heads and act maturely.” The sound of my voice silenced the nervous teenagers, causing Monokuma to let out a chuckle.

“Heh. Well said, Professor Yagami. As expected from the man that will act as their teacher!” The bear said in a mocking tone, but the contents of his taunt shocked me.

“Teacher!? What the hell am I even supposed to teach! I’m just a normal detective with no educational license.” I objected to the bear’s wishes, but my response only made his grin intensify.

“Oh, don’t worry, you’re not here to teach them any ordinary subject. You’re here to teach these Ultimates how to commit a murder!” The bear retorted, causing the tension in the room to get even more palpable.

“W-what are you going on about!?” I asked with my fists clenched. I have no idea what this bear is talking about, but hopefully, he’s not aware of my real identity. There’s just no way for someone like him to know… Is there?

“Puhuhuhu! That is the reason why you’re all here! To take part in a mutual Killing Game with the guidance of mister Yagami over there!” The bear yelled out while laughing. Everyone in the room began screaming.

“You mean we have to kill each other!? That’s completely immoral!” Tsumugi screamed in an upset tone.

“Nyeeeh… Killing someone else is too much of a pain. And then you need to hide the evidence and stuff… Granted, I could use my magic, but…” Himiko murmured with her monotone voice.

“Killing is not an issue for me. I have witnessed many sacrifices in the name of Atua. It can’t be too difficult!” Angie said with an unsettlingly cheerful expression.

“Are you all seriously going to just blindly follow what that bear is saying? Use your brains! Killing is wrong!” Shuichi tried to silence the crowd but to no avail. The panic was too strong at that point.

“Puhuhuhuhuhu! So soon and you’re already panicking? I haven’t even begun explaining the rules of the Killing Game!” Monokuma kept on talking despite the noise of the Ultimates’ whining.

“Rules? Forget the damn rules! I’m going to tear apart that stuffed animal limb by limb!” Tenko cried out in anger as she charged towards Monokuma.

“Rule number 1: Acts of violence against the headmaster are strictly prohibited, and will be punished with execution.” The robotic doll said, causing the Aikidoka to suddenly stop in her tracks, her sandals making a squeaking sound as she drifted through the gymnasium’s recently cleaned floor.

“E-executed? You don’t mean…” Tenko mumbled under her breath, intimidated by Monokuma’s statement.

“Yup! It means exactly what you think it means! I will kill you on the spot if you break the rules! Now, instead of going through the tedium of explaining every rule, I’m just going to hand you these handy dandy Monopads, which have the rules listed in them, as well as a map of the school, and a list of all the students!” The animated stuffed animal handed each of us a small monochrome tablet. I clicked on its “Home” button, causing it to display several options. I promptly selected “Rules of the Killing Game”, making the screen show a list of rules.

1. Acts of violence against the headmaster are strictly prohibited and will be punished with execution.
2. When a murder is committed in the academy, a class trial will be conducted. Participation in this trial is mandatory for all surviving participants.
3. If the killer (hereinafter referred to as “the blackened”) is correctly identified during the class trial, only the blackened will be punished for their crime.
4. If the blackened cannot be identified, or if an incorrect participant is identified as the blackened, everyone except the blackened will be punished for the crime.
5. If the blackened survives the class trial, they are declared the winner. At which point, they will graduate from the Ultimate Academy and re-enter the outside world.
6. If innocent participants (hereinafter referred to as “the spotless”) continue to survive class trials, the killing game will continue until only two of them remain.
7. “Nighttime” is officially designated as the hours between 10:00 PM and 8:00 AM During this time, the dining hall and gymnasium are closed.
8. Monokuma will never directly participate in a murder.
9. Your Monopads are very important items. Make sure you do not damage them.
10. A body discovery announcement will occur when three or more spotless students discover a body.
11. Both teachers and students have the same rights when it comes to murder.

After giving the rules a calm read and began checking out the map of the academy, I noticed that there were places we hadn’t been to. My curiosity piqued upon realizing that the blackened could escape as long as they don’t get exposed. If I play my cards right, I might be able to leave this school-shaped prison and return to my life as Kira…

“Before I leave you, I’m going to give you a small bonus because I’m feeling very generous!” Monokuma said with a huge grin on his face.

“Just stop playing around… I’m pretty sure none of us are in the mood to deal with any of this.” Hoshi said while adjusting his hat. What could Monokuma possibly mean by “small bonus”, though?

“Prepare yourselves to hear the motive of the Killing Game!” Loud gasps could be heard after the mastermind pronounced those words. Giving us another motive to kill besides the guarantee of their freedom… This is rather intriguing.

“If you want to be able to survive in this academy, one of you has gotta kill someone else before tomorrow at 8 PM, or everyone will be executed!” The bear continued his speech, intriguing us even more.

“Does that mean… one of us WILL die!?” Shuichi screamed in confusion, but his screams only made the situation worse. Himiko was trembling and hugging Tenko, while everyone else except Kokichi wore faces showcasing pure, unadulterated fear.

“Does it count if we kill Keebo? I mean, he’s not a human, so…” The Ultimate Supreme Leader mocked the robot once again, causing his nervousness to turn into anger and irritating some of the other students as well.

“Dude, just knock it off already. This is no time for jokes. Our lives are at stake!” The mysterious Rantaro told Kokichi off with his arms crossed.

“Aaaaaaaanyhow, it’s almost 8 PM. You should be going to your rooms soon! I will see you all tomorrow!” Monokuma said before disappearing into thin air. The Ultimates continued to panic, but before the issue escalated any further, I walked up to the stand where Monokuma gave his speech and prepared myself to talk.

“Everyone, be quiet and listen to me! According to the Monopad, there’s a dorm with rooms for everyone to the right after exiting the main school building. Given how we’re trapped here, I believe the most logical course of action would be to rest for the remainder of today so we can work on a plan to escape tomorrow.” I tried to convince the Ultimates, with some of them looking at me with scorn.

“Who named you our leader? Just because that bear called you our teacher doesn’t mean that you get to boss us around!” Kokichi yelled out, pretending to be angry, seemingly wanting to cause discord.

“Yeah, that degenerate is right! The leader has to be a strong, independent, beautiful woman!” Tenko screamed, full of pride.

“So… Not you.” Kokichi mocked Tenko, causing her to be angered. The Aikidoka tried to attack the Supreme Leader, but Himiko grabbed her by the arms so she couldn’t do anything.

“Guys, I think it’s plain to see that Mr. Yagami seems to be the most level-headed right now. I believe it might be a good idea to listen to his advice.” The Ultimate Cosplayer spoke her mind, and it seems that it was able to convince everyone.

“Alright, thank you, Tsumugi. Before we all leave, I want to establish a meeting point so we can discuss our plans in detail tomorrow. In the morning, we’ll use the Dining Hall as a meeting point. There are still a few places in the academy that we haven’t explored, so I would like to get a good grasp of the layout of this place before designing a plan to fight back against Monokuma. Any objections?” I thoroughly explained my plans to the teenagers, hoping there would be no issues.

“OBJECTION!” The blue-haired cosplayer screamed while pointing straight at me. Everyone in the room started looking at her, but she quickly regained her composure and blushed slightly as she apologized. “S-sorry, I didn’t have any actual objection. It’s just that I always wanted to say that…”

I sighed and stepped down from the stand, signaling everyone to leave the gym and go to the dorms. I headed to the dorm building before anyone else, trying to locate my room, which was on the lower floor of the two-story building.

I opened the door with my name on it and saw a small, dark blue room with all sorts of common pieces of furniture and a small window covered by marine blue curtains. Despite being a kidnapper’s place, it seemed fairly comfortable. I took off my shoes and backpack and sat on the bed. Without even intending to fall asleep, I subconsciously closed my eyes and crashed into the bed in less than a minute. Today had been a tiring day.

“Light…”

“Wake up, Light…”

In my dreams, I heard a familiar voice. Startled, I slowly opened my eyes, only to see a large shadow with a wingspan as dark as the night. Even though I couldn’t see much because the lights were off, I could recognize that silhouette. Somewhat confused, I decided to address it.

“Ryuk, how did you get here?” I asked while turning on the lights, getting to see the Shinigami in all his glory.

“I followed the car that took you here. Sorry for taking so long, I lost track of it for a moment.” The God of Death replied in a laid-back tone.

“Does that mean you know exactly where we are?” Nervous about my escape, I pressed on.

“I don’t know, Light. We’re pretty much in the middle of nowhere. And I do mean that. We’re miles upon miles away from civilization.” Ryuk explained, intensifying my worries.

“I need to think of something… If I don’t keep on purging criminals, the SPK is going to suspect me even more than they already do, and I can’t contact Mikami or Misa from here… Plus, there’s also the factor that I’ll get killed if a murder doesn’t happen tomorrow… There’s only one solution. I’ll play the Killing Game!” I thought out loud, knowing that only Ryuk could hear me.

“Kukukukuku… That’s the Light I know. Can’t stop thinking about murder even when your own life is in danger.” Ryuk chuckled while floating around the room.

“I need to be extremely careful. Using the Death Note to kill would basically require me to have the cameras record me writing the victim’s name, but I can’t make it obvious to everyone else that I’m responsible for the murder. On top of that, doing this would make the mastermind aware of my identity… So maybe I should try to unmask them too and then purge them before they make any of this information public… Hm… I think I can work something out. Now, all I need to decide is who should be the victim.” I put my hand on my chin while thinking about how to escape.

“You should probably think about that tomorrow, Light. It’s pretty late.” The Shinigami said as he sat on the desk located to the right of the bed.

“Since when do you care about my well-being?” I scoffed at the God of Death while getting into a more comfortable position.

“I can’t get apples unless you’re there,” Ryuk responded in a sarcastic, but sincere tone.

“You never change, Ryuk. I’ll get you a few tomorrow,” I chuckled at his joke as I went back to bed, falling asleep moments after closing my eyes.

---

Meanwhile, somewhere in the academy…

A tall and voluptuous girl sat in a completely dark room, illuminated by nothing but a few computer screens. The girl cracked a wicked grin as she looked carefully at the monitors, which displayed the rooms of each participant of the Killing Game.

“So, you want to unmask me, Professor Yagami? We’ll see who uncovers whose secrets.” The girl got up from her chair while still staring at the screens. “And when we do, one of us will show Despair the likes of which has never been seen!” Thinking out loud, her voice escaped her throat as she pressed a few buttons on the computer, turning off the lights, only to leave the room afterward.

---

The next morning…

BEEP BEEP!
BEEP BEEP!

The sound of my pocket watch’s alarm awakened me from my slumber… It was still set for the same hour at which I normally got up to go to work with the investigation team, which was 7:30 AM. Despite my tiredness, I still managed to get up, knowing that I had to seize my chance to investigate the parts of the building that I hadn’t seen yet so I could plan out today’s murder. Trying to get to work as quickly as possible, I hastily put on my shoes and backpack and headed out of the dorms and into the main school building, with Ryuk following me while chuckling softly.

My first destination was the dining hall, which was at the end of the corridor that was to the left from the entrance. The room was pretty ample, housing a large table with enough seats for every one of the hostages. To the bottom of the room was a small kitchen with knives and cleaning appliances, and a small door that led to a terrace outside. After quickly eyeballing everything in the room, I exited it, preparing to go to the next location, the storage room that was directly in front of the dining hall.

I entered the storage room, Ryuk casually phasing through one of the walls. Much like the dining hall, this warehouse was pretty large, with it spanning at least a quarter of a kilometer. Many shelves, littered with all sorts of utensils, decorated the walls of the room. An extensive amount of sports equipment could be seen scattered all across the floor. Large black cases, weight plates, shot put balls, jumping rope, barbells, a set of medals… They really are well-equipped. I looked around one of the shelves, looking for any tool that could’ve been of use to me.

“Aha, found it!” I thought to myself after finding a small roll of adhesive tape. Knowing that it would be helpful with my scheme, I grabbed the roll of tape and stuffed it into my backpack. After looking around some more, I exited the storage room and left for my next destination, which was the basement that could be accessed from the stairs that were to the left of the main entrance. Once I found myself downstairs, all I could see was a poorly illuminated basement with two large rooms, both of them having two doors on each side.

Wanting to get over with the investigation, I stepped into the room on the right side of the basement, which turned out to be an old-looking library. As expected, the whole place was filled to the brim with overflowing bookshelves. I quickly eyed some of the titles to see if anything interested me, but it all seemed like the basic literature that you would find in your average library. I tried to pick up one of the books, titled “The History of the Future Foundation”, but I was interrupted by Ryuk, who was looking at the manga section.

“Hey, look! I found some hentai!” The God of Death quickly flew towards me and swapped my book with the thin comic book that he had brought. He then threw away my book like it was nothing. All of a sudden, the doors burst open, and the blue-haired cosplayer came into the room, nervous. Not wanting to be seen holding the pornographic manga, I dropped it and pretended nothing happened.

“Tsumugi? Is something wrong? You’re hyperventilating. Take deep breaths.” I tried to help the girl relax by putting my hand on her shoulder, which caused her to get slightly flustered.

“N-no, it’s alright! I-I was just doing my morning exercises! Y-you know cosplayers need to keep their legs strong. Conventions are exhausting!” The otaku stuttered while panting heavily. She then approached the comic book that I had dropped. “You were reading this, right? “Otome ni Omakasekkusu”? Hmm, good choice. I see you prefer a more gentle kind of love.” Tsumugi said as she flipped through the comic’s pages, her words confusing Light.

“I wasn’t reading it,” I responded in a deadpan tone.

The otaku flashed a smug smirk as she looked at me. “Suuuure. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. But know that you owe me one, professor.” Tsumugi teasingly smiled as I prepared myself to leave the room.

“What a strange girl. I like her.” Ryuk muttered while we exited the library through the secondary door, which led to a hallway. In front of us was a sliding door. I reached out to open it, only to see that it was stuck, only allowing it to open slightly. I let out an annoyed groan and tried to enter the room through the front door. Once I turned the handle of the main door, I saw a small room filled with arcade machines. Inside that game room was Kokichi, playing with one of the machines.

“DIE, DIE, DIE, YOU ALIEN SCUM! KNEEL BEFORE YOUR NEW EMPEROR, KOKICHI OMA!” The boy yelled while aggressively mashing the arcade’s buttons. An annoying jingle came out of the machine’s speakers. “I DIED!? That did not hit me! It’s not true! It’s bullshit! THAT DID NOT HIT ME! IT DID NOT! Oh, hi, Yagami.” The Supreme Leader threw a tantrum… only to follow up with an extremely casual greeting.

“Good morning, Kokichi. Don’t mind me, I’m just investigating.” I greeted the boy while looking at the machines. After acknowledging me, he continued to play his video game. I tried to look for anything relevant in the room, but there wasn’t really anything noteworthy, except for a door located in the back of the room. I approached it and attempted to open it, but it was locked from the inside. Irritated, I let out a light groan, which seemed to catch Kokichi’s attention.

“What’s wrong, Teach? Locked door?” He rhetorically asked. My only reaction was a disdainful “Tsk”, but that only made him chuckle. He paused the video game and promptly walked to the door. “No worries! There doesn’t exist a door in this world that can withstand the Ultimate Supreme Leader’s Lockpicking Technique!”

Kokichi energetically cried out as he took out a small set of hairpins and inserted them into the lock. After a few seconds of messing with it, the door opened by itself. “Et voilà! Now, what are magic words?” Kokichi said with a condescending look on his face.

“Thank you…” I reluctantly showed my gratitude to the smug teenager while I entered the room. It was a neat and tidy room with a projector screen, a couch, and several shelves filled with DVD cases. Among those cases were tons of movies from all genres imaginable. In the middle of the room was a large table with a decent amount of space underneath. Seeing this gave me an idea, but I needed to wait for Kokichi to get out of the room before executing it.

In the meantime, I tried to check out the secondary door that was located on the right side of the room. Since I tried to open it from outside earlier, it was still slightly ajar. I attempted to force it open, but it seems the rails were completely stuck. With no way to fix it, I simply left it unclosed.

By the time I was done messing with the door, the white-clad boy had already gone back to play on the arcade machine. I closed the door that connected the two rooms and sat near the left border of the table. Ready to begin setting up my scheme, I took out the Death Note and the adhesive tape I found in the storage room.

I opened the notebook and flipped through its pages until I found a blank one. I carefully tore out a small piece of it and taped it under the table. The time to take action was coming soon. With my investigation and preparations done, I left the room and leisurely walked back to the dining hall, waiting for everyone else to arrive.

Ryuk grabbed an apple from the fridge while I prepared some buttered toast with sugar. A simple breakfast, but a delicious one at that. While the Shinigami and I enjoyed our breakfast, the room’s monitor lit up, showing a still image of Monokuma. The speakers then emitted the bear’s voice.

“Ahem! This is a school announcement. It is now 8 AM, and as such, the morning has officially begun. Make sure to grab a bite at the dining hall before starting this beautiful day of murder!” Right after the peculiar announcement ended, I heard footsteps nearby. Even though he’s only visible to those who have touched the Death Note, Ryuk went to hide behind the kitchen’s walls. Kokichi and Tsumugi entered the dining hall, followed by Shuichi, Rantaro, and Keebo.

“Good morning, Light.” Shuichi greeted me while wiping his eyelids, still somewhat drowsy. “Did you come up with any ways of avoiding Monokuma’s plan to kill us all?” The boy asked me as Tenko and Angie entered the room.

“More or less. I have a few ideas, but I’d rather wait a bit until everyone is fully awake to discuss them.” I explained to the detective after swallowing a piece of the toast, Shuichi nodding in acknowledgment. In the meantime, the two Ultimates that hadn’t arrived yet, Himiko and Hoshi, opened the doors and came in with equally exhausted-looking expressions.

“Nyeh… Why did I even bother to get up, if we’re all going to die today anyway?” The Ultimate Magician sighed as she grabbed some milk and cookies from the kitchen. Her pessimistic attitude made some of the people raise an eyebrow while looking at her in concern.

“Don’t worry, Himiko! I will protect you from that degenerate bear!” Tenko enthusiastically said while offering Himiko a hug. The witch girl, however, ignored the aikidoka and sat down to eat her breakfast. Seeing that everyone was present, I decided to try to prepare for the next stage of my plan. I went to the kitchen and picked up a glass and a small spoon. Once I had those, I went back to the table and softly tapped the spoon on the glass.

DING-DING

The sound caught everyone’s attention, just as I intended. Now was the perfect time to give my speech. “Okay, everyone. We have to plan something to prevent Monokuma from murdering us. Since we’re all rather tired right now, it would be in all of our interests to organize an assembly in two hours. After exploring the academy, I believe that the most appropriate place for the assembly would be the AV room in the basement. Any objections that aren’t from Tsumugi?” The cosplayer timidly lowered her hand. I knew she would try to repeat that joke.

Shuichi and Keebo shook their heads, approving my idea. Rantaro gave me a thumbs-up as he said “None from me. Sounds like a good idea.” However, not everyone was satisfied. Himiko and Tenko seemed completely indifferent, while Angie was just drawing something on a napkin. Hoshi, on the other hand…

“There’s no point in trying to fight off that bear. You’re fighting an uphill battle, and it’s one you absolutely cannot win. We’re talking about a mastermind with enough resources to build a whole academy with advanced surveillance and massive installments. They most likely have access to weapons far stronger than anything you’ve seen yet. At this point, we might as well give up our lives. Unless… any of you wants to play the Killing Game.” The Tennis Pro protested against my idea, his words scaring some of the people in the room.

“Look. I won’t stop you from holding your little strategy meeting, but I’m just saying… I’ve already relinquished my life… I did so the moment I decided to kill all those people. If I were to die… Nothing of value would be lost.” Hoshi’s deep words made everyone in the room feel a strange pressure.

“Hoshi, that defeatist attitude isn’t going to take us anywhere. No one deserves to die, please reconsider your idea.” Keebo tried to scold the tennis player, but he simply shrugged at the robot’s comments.

“You’ve still got a ways to go…” The tennis pro mumbled as he left the room. With that conversation over, we all resumed our meal. Once I was done with my breakfast, I stepped out of the dining hall alongside Ryuk and went to the AV room. Since there was still a lot of time before the assembly, I leisurely watched one of the movies that were on the shelves.

---

Two hours later…

With the movie now over, the time for the assembly was about to come. I made sure to sit near the part of the table where I had set up my hidden piece of the Death Note. In just a few minutes, people started to come into the room. As I expected, only Shuichi, Keebo, Tsumugi, and Rantaro decided to join the meeting, but that should be enough. I’d prefer if the room didn’t get crowded while I’m writing names on the Death Note.

“Welcome, everyone. Let’s begin the assembly. I will make sure to take note of everything we discuss.” I greeted the four Ultimates while I took out a regular notebook and a pen. “The most pressing issue right now is the time limit that has been applied to us. What are your ideas to prevent that?” I asked them while fidgeting with my pen.

“Well, I think there really isn’t much we can do right now. We could try to investigate if there’s a hidden exit, but at this point, I highly doubt we’ll be able to find anything.” Shuichi said with a concerned look on his face while putting his fingers on his chin.

“There was still that small building next to the main block, right? I don’t think we’ve explored that one yet.” Tsumugi said as she lifted her finger.

“Yeah, but isn’t that one locked? Unless someone were to break down the lock, we can’t really get there.” Rantaro responded to Tsumugi’s idea while making a serious face.

“Could Keebo do that? I mean, he’s a robot, so he should have some sort of weapon to destroy the door, right? Kinda like a Gundam!” The blue-haired cosplayer suggested in an enthusiastic tone, but her idea didn’t seem to please Keebo.

“I’m not as strong as you think. At my best, I only have the gripping and lifting strength of an old man.” The robot explained with a disappointed look on his face, which crushed Tsumugi’s enthusiasm.

While the Ultimates discussed their ideas, I took note of whatever came up. But the moment they got distracted, I carefully snatched the scrap of the Death Note from underneath the table and carefully hid it inside my notebook. With all the pieces now in place, I took action. I swiftly used my pen to write the name of the only person who I think deserves to be purged. A disgusting criminal whose sloth and hatred for life itself would be able to bring ruin to others… Ryoma Hoshi, the Ultimate Tennis Pro!

The ink flowed into a swift and beautiful imprint on the paper. Wanting to keep the circumstances as normal as possible, I decided not to write any specific cause of death. Now all I had to do was play the waiting game and act normally.

“Well, Light? What do you think we should do?” Rantaro asked with a curious look on his face. I smirked and put both of my hands on the table.

“I believe that the best thing we can do is to unmask the mastermind of this operation. Once we know their identity, we can force them to free us.” I tried to explain my ideas.

“But how are we going to find that out? It could be any person in the world, for all we know.” Shuichi nervously stated his rebuttal.

“No. I think someone in this building is the puppet master. They’re simply using Monokuma as bait to make us believe that they’re not one of us. If they really are human, they must have made at least one mistake that could lead us to their identity.” Despite it being a bluff, I proudly presented my argument, in hopes that it would mess up the mastermind upon hearing it. The Ultimates appeared to be concerned about my idea, but before anyone got to say anything, we heard a loud CRASH sound coming from the first floor.

“What the hell was that!?” Rantaro yelled as he got up.

“It came from the first floor! Hurry up, we need to see if we can prevent a murder from happening!” Keebo said as he quickly opened the door. Running as fast as we could, we made our way out of the AV and game rooms and then walked up the stairs. Once we were on the first floor, we weren’t sure where to head to next.

“We need to split up! I’ll look in the classrooms from the right wing! You guys handle the left wing!” Tsumugi suggested before hightailing to the place she mentioned. Shuichi, Rantaro, and I went directly to the storage room and the dining hall, while Keebo ran to the gym as fast as he could. While Rantaro looked around the warehouse, Shuichi opened the doors to the dining hall.

“The door to the terrace got smashed to pieces! That must be what caused that loud noise!” Shuichi shouted as he pointed to the shattered glass that was where the secondary door used to be. Pretending to be concerned, I ran through the door alongside Shuichi. We quickly made our way through the courtyard, but we were unable to find traces of the perpetrator of the act of vandalism.

“Damn it… We were too late.” I exclaimed while looking around the vicinity to see if we could find any more clues.

“Well… While we’re here, why don’t we try to see if we can break that lock from the small building?” Curious, Shuichi pitched the idea to me.

“Alright. There’s no harm in checking.” Since I was just as curious as him, I agreed with his idea. Both of us headed to the shack, but we noticed that the lock was no longer attached to the door, but lay on the ground instead. With the door now open, Shuichi and I looked at each other and nodded. We stepped into the room, but all that we found was a black box. Curious about its contents, I gently opened it, only to see…

…The lifeless corpse of Ryoma Hoshi, with his neck covered in blood as he lay in a fetal position inside the black box. That was definitely unexpected. Even though I wrote his name on the Death Note, it seems that someone has tampered with his body in some way. Realistically speaking, he should’ve just had a heart attack and collapsed somewhere. Heheh… This should be interesting.

“I-is that Hoshi? Can you hear me, Hoshi!? Please, open your eyes!” Shuichi tried to check if the tennis player was still alive, but he was completely still. His life had already faded away. Startled by the detective’s screams, Rantaro ran to the small building as fast as he could, only to see the results of my scheme.

“Damn… I knew it was inevitable… After that depressing speech of his, I started to worry that some coward would try to take advantage of Hoshi’s nihilism.” The mysterious boy with the green hair said, his voice filled with sorrow. The moment he finished his monologue, the monitor in the room lit up, showing a picture of Monokuma holding a glass of wine.

“A body has been discovered! Repeat, a body has been discovered! Please, everyone, gather in the boiler room, located in the small building to the west of the main school building. Soon, we will begin the investigation period, which you may use however you please. Once the time limit is over, we will begin the Class Trial!” The bear’s high-pitched voice informed us of the current situation, presumably playing the same message in every room of the academy. In a matter of minutes, all the students arrived at the crime scene.

“W-what the hell happened here!?” Tsumugi yelled upon seeing the midget’s corpse. Tenko was taken aback by the sight of it as well, but she didn’t say anything. From the looks of it, Himiko was absolutely terrified and shaking uncontrollably, her nose and eyes beginning to leak slightly.

“My brothers and sisters, let us say a prayer for our fallen friend’s soul. May it reach Atua’s domains and rest in peace.” Angie put her hands together and prayed with a smile on her face.

“WAAAAAAAH! Why did it have to be Hoshi!? God, why couldn’t you have taken Himiko or Keebo!?” Kokichi cried some very obvious crocodile tears and whined as he insulted the magician and the robot.

“Wh- Why would you say that? Is it just because I’m a robot?” K1-B0 tried to get the Supreme Leader to apologize.

“Nah, it’s just cuz you’re both annoying.” The boy’s fake tears dried up as his expression changed into an indifferent one.

“You’re one to talk! All you do is insult others! If I had my magic wand here, I would unleash an explosion powerful enough to send you to the Shadow Realm!” The red-haired girl threatened the trickster, but it seems that her boasts only made him laugh out loud. Before the childish argument went further, Monokuma appeared in the middle of the room.

“Ahahahaha! Good to see you’re all here!” The bear announced his presence, receiving nothing more than disdainful looks from the Ultimates. “Aw, what’s with the sour faces? I thought you guys would’ve been happy to see your adorable little headmaster!”

“Just shut up already! We don’t want to hear your babbling!” Tenko shouted in anger at the robotic bear.

“Agh… And here I thought I was being nice by bringing you all a present to make the investigation easier… Oh, well… I’ll still leave it here. Ingrates…” With a gloomy attitude, the bear took out nine small tablet computers and handed them to us. “With that being said, let the investigation begin!” On a completely different note, Monokuma disappeared from the room, leaving us to inspect the scene.

Before I started to inspect the crime scene, Ryuk appeared behind my back and chuckled. “Kukukuku… Things have taken an interesting turn, eh, Light? Do you think your plans are going to work?” I refrained from answering his question, knowing that people would hear me if I did, my only answer being an indifferent “Hmph.” Without any other distractions, I began my examination.

INVESTIGATION START

“Let’s take a look at the tablet that Monokuma gave us,” Shuichi said as he pressed the home button on the electronic apparatus. Wanting to see its contents, I did the same thing. The screen lit up, showing the silhouette of the deceased tennis player with pink marks on his neck, along with some text, which read the following:

“Monokuma File:
The victim was Ryoma Hoshi, the Ultimate Tennis Pro. His body was found inside a black box in the boiler room. The time of death was 10:10 AM and the body was first found at that same time. The body has no external injuries, but some of its cervical vertebrae are broken.”

I see… So it’s an autopsy report of sorts. Still, isn’t it a bit vague for an autopsy report? The fact that it didn’t mention anything about the cause of death being a heart attack is concerning… If Hoshi died before I wrote his name on the Death Note, then this will count the murder as someone else’s action. I better take note of this. I checked my Monopad and wrote my thoughts on the piece of evidence to a “court record” of sorts. With that being done, I closed the Monokuma file, but before I started inspecting the scene itself, I was interrupted by Shuichi.

“I believe that we should try to split up to investigate the school more efficiently. In order to prevent people from tampering with the body, I recommend assigning two people to stay here as guards.” As expected from the Ultimate Detective, Shuichi gave his suggestions.

“Good thinking there, Shuichi. I’m a bit useless when it comes to all this investigating business, so I might as well stay here standing guard. Does anyone else wanna volunteer?” Rantaro offered to watch over the corpse with a laid-back attitude. The moment he said that, almost all of the Ultimates ran away in different directions, leaving only Shuichi, Rantaro, and K1-B0 behind. The robot sighed, disappointed.

“Why am I even surprised by this outcome? I suppose I’ll stay with Rantaro.” The two boys stood close to the door and looked at Shuichi and me from the distance. With that issue taken care of, I continued the investigation by examining Hoshi’s corpse without taking it out of the box. Just as the Monokuma File said, the corpse didn’t seem to have any external wounds.

However, there was something really strange about the body… There were notable bloodstains around the neck, but it’s impossible for Hoshi to have bled at all, considering the fact that the wound didn’t leave any cuts on the skin, just a large bruise. I added the details about Hoshi’s wound and the bloodstains to my Monopad.

Afterward, I prepared to close the box again, but Shuichi stopped me before I did. “Wait, Light! There’s something else inside the box, look.” The Ultimate Detective put his hand in the box without touching Hoshi’s body and took out what appeared to be a medal.

“What is this doing here? Why would there be anything else in a box that’s supposed to be used to hide a corpse?” I pondered out loud while carefully examining the medal. It didn’t have any particular details related to Hoshi’s death. It was just a plain medal made of gold with an engraving depicting the number one surrounded by laurel leaves. Although it didn’t seem to be of great relevance, I still took notes about the Gold Medal on my Monopad.

Once we made sure that there wasn’t anything else in the box, I closed it and began examining its exterior. It was a pretty large black case with metallic edges, likely designed to carry sports equipment or musical instruments. As we had already found out, its dimensions were big enough to fit a short person inside it.

It was robust, but also light enough to be able to be carried by a person with average strength. What was most peculiar about it, though, was the fact that there were a few blurry bloodstains on its sides and handles. The killer must have been in a hurry if they didn’t have time to clean them off. I quickly wrote down my impressions about the Black Box on the Monopad.

Seeing that there weren’t any more clues in that area, I prepared myself to leave, but as I approached the door, I noticed something on the floor behind the door. I crouched to pick it up and realized what it really was. It was the same lock that we saw on the door to this building yesterday. It didn’t seem to have any sort of damage, so it must have been opened normally instead of through brute force. It looked like an extremely important piece of evidence, so I added the Lock and the details surrounding it to my notes.

With all the details about the room having been looked into, I decided to step out of the room alongside Shuichi, who was taking notes as well. The moment we left the small building, Rantaro shut the door and stood before it. I prepared myself to leave the area, but I heard the Ultimate Robot’s voice calling out for me. “Light, Shuichi! Before you leave, I think that it might be good to go over the events that transpired before the murder.” In a serious, but worried tone, Keebo gave his suggestion.

“That sounds good,” Shuichi replied, prompting the robot to begin his recap.

“Based on what I can see in my inner memory, the first thing that happened today was the brief reunion that took place in the dining hall at 8 AM. After it ended, everyone split up, leaving us with a two-hour period where no one has alibis. At 10 AM, we started the assembly, which gives us four and Tsumugi airtight alibis for the time of the murder.” The robot narrated his memories of today. I quickly added K1-B0’s Account to my notes. Rantaro’s expression turned into a pensive one before he began talking about his thoughts.

“If I recall correctly, we were only able to talk for roughly five to ten minutes during the assembly until we heard that loud noise coming from the kitchen. It took us three minutes to get to the first floor, where we split up again. I heard Shuichi’s screams while I was in the courtyard two minutes after we split up, and by 10:20 AM, everyone had arrived at the scene of the crime.” Showcasing an impressive memory, the green-haired teenager explained the timeframes relevant to the crime. I jotted down Rantaro’s Account and thanked him.

“Where should we go now, Light?” The Ultimate Detective asked me while looking around the vicinity.

“I believe we should inspect the dorms. There might be details there that we haven’t seen yet.” With a thoughtful expression, I gave Shuichi my suggestion, to which he nodded with a calm smile. We made haste to the large dorm building, noticing something very peculiar along the way. Hidden by the overgrown grass was a large metallic plate lying close to the entrance of the dorms.

Upon more careful inspection, we noticed that it had two particularities to it. According to the number depicted in it, we found out that it was a 100-pound weight plate. There were some bloodstains on it, but they were very minor. I used the Monopad to take a picture of the Bloody Weight Plate and moved the investigation to the dorms.

Once inside the dorm building, we looked around to see if there were any major clues in plain sight, but as expected, it wasn’t going to be that easy. The young Saihara spoke his mind to me. “Light, we should try to memorize the Layout of the Dorms. It might help us connect the dots later.” Acknowledging his quick thinking, I started to look at the order of each room while taking notes.

“Let’s see… On the top floor, starting left from the entrance are Tenko, Rantaro, Himiko, Keebo, and yours. On the bottom floor are Hoshi, Kokichi, Angie, mine, and Tsumugi’s. Speaking of Hoshi’s room, it might be worth our time to check it out.” We walked toward the late Ryoma’s pad and tried to turn the doorknob, but much to our dismay, it was completely locked. “Damn it! We can’t open it… I suppose our only option is to break it down.” I took a few steps back and prepared myself to throw my entire weight onto the door.

“Ooooh! Performing acts of vandalism without me? I thought we were friends, Yagami!” The voice of Kokichi Oma echoed throughout the dorms as he exited his room, causing me to return to my standard position.

“Kokichi, this is a serious investigation. Please, do not intrude with your foolishness.” Shuichi angrily scolded the short boy, who laughed it off as he crossed his arms.

“Actually, the only intrusion that I can see here is the one that you two are trying to perform. It looks like you’re having a key problem.” The Ultimate Supreme Leader mockingly replied, but his words struck a chord with me. Kokichi was able to pick the locked door to the AV room earlier this morning.

“Would you be willing to use your Lockpicking Skills to help us with the investigation?” I tried to convince the boy, whose face contorted into a dubitative smirk.

“Hmm… Anything for you, sensei! But only because you asked nicely!” Kokichi’s face returned to its obnoxiously smug expression as he took out a pair of hairpins and inserted them into the lock of Hoshi’s door. In just a few seconds, a clicking sound came out of the door before opening completely.

“Thank you, Kokichi. This will undoubtedly be useful.” I expressed my gratitude to the boy in white, to which he replied with a sarcastic bow before going back to his own room. With that roadblock gone, I entered the bedroom as Shuichi held the door just in case. I didn’t really see anything out of the ordinary in the room… Until I checked the drawers on Hoshi’s nightstand. Inside was a small piece of paper with ugly-looking handwriting on it. Seriously, I’ve seen more legible handwriting from doctors. Frustrating caligraphy aside, the contents of the note were as follows:

“Hello, Ryoma. I have found something that might interest you. If you want to see it, please check outside your window at 10:10 AM. I am sure you would gain plenty if you acquired it.”

“Very interesting… This mystery is starting to make more sense. Now, I believe we should inspect the storage room. I remember seeing a few of the relevant items there.” In a calm and collected tone, I directed my newfound sidekick to the main school building. Shuichi and I headed to our destination, looking out for any clues. However, my extrospection made me realize that my Shinigami was no longer following me. When did he even leave? Eh, he’s probably eating apples in the kitchen. As long as he doesn’t interfere with my plans, I couldn’t care less about what he does.

Upon arriving at the storage room, we met Tenko, who was checking out the many boxes located in the room. She noticed us and quickly walked up to us, stopping right in front of our very faces. “About time you two showed up! Ugh, you degenerates are always leaving the heavy lifting to the ladies.” She shouted at us in a condescending tone, but I simply sighed and replied in a calm manner.

“Ah, Tenko. You’re just the person I was looking for. I would like to know where you were after leaving the dining hall earlier this morning. Please, try not to withhold any details.” I inquired at the misandrist, whose anger intensified.

“Why do you care? Is that what you sick bastards get off to? I will never be anyone’s fetish fuel!” Tenko replied while crossing her arms.

“Uh, actually. It’s for the investigation. By refusing to answer our questions, you would only make you more suspicious, you know?” Thinking quickly, the young detective argued back, taking the aikidoka aback.

“Y-you… Fine, I’ll talk. But this better be worth it!” The martial artist briefly pouted before commencing her explanation. “Let’s see… Right after having breakfast, I went to the gymnasium to train for a while. Afterward, I took a walk inside the school building, making sure to check out most of the rooms. Once I was done with that, I went to my dorm room, where I read a martial arts manga that Tsumugi recommended to me. After that, I went back to the gym, and then I heard a loud noise coming. Confused, I searched the first floor, but the only person I found was Tsumugi, who was coming out of the girls’ bathroom. Is that enough, Sherlock and Watson?” We carefully listened to Tenko’s Account while nodding along.

“Yeah. Thanks a lot, Tenko.” Shuichi kindly smiled, but Tenko gave us a look of disdain before exiting the room. With that nuisance out of the way, we could finally examine the room more thoroughly. Other than the empty boxes that Tenko was messing around with, we were able to find a few suspicious objects. The first of them was a black box, identical to the one Hoshi’s corpse was stuffed into; a metallic bar connected to a singular 100-pound weight plate; and lastly, a case with two medals, one made of silver, and the other one made of bronze. All three of these items were eerily similar to previous clues that we had investigated. Clearly, they must have some relation with them… I took note of the Suspicious Items and kept on looking for more clues.

Inside one of the boxes that Tenko was rummaging through were several plastic envelopes with miscellaneous pieces of white clothing, such as socks, underwear, undershirts, and most importantly, gloves. The box containing the white gloves had a single empty plastic envelope. The killer must have used a pair of these gloves during the murder… I added the evidence regarding the Empty Glove Envelope to my notes. After having searched through the entire storage room, those were the only clues we were able to find, but despite their low quantity, they were certainly of the utmost quality. Satisfied with those results, I left the warehouse with Shuichi and entered the dining hall again.

Unsurprisingly, the room didn’t have anything new since the last time we visited it, but I figured we should at least try to inspect the Shattered Glass Door. I crouched and carefully looked at the countless glass pieces lying on the floor, soon noticing that a few of them were stained with blood. I think I’m finally piecing this mystery together… No pun intended. Given that it was the only apparent clue in that room, we took our leave.

“Where should we go now, Light?” The young detective asked while adjusting his cap. I pondered while looking at the map displayed in my Monopad, only to realize that there was one room that we’ve been neglecting since we first found it: the library. I pointed out our new destination to Shuichi, soon walking to the basement floor, where we opened the door to the library.

Inside the library was Himiko, standing by herself and trying to push one of the bookshelves. Curious, I tried to approach her. “What are you doing, Himiko?”

“It’s hard to explain…” The little girl replied in an exhausted tone, but Shuichi pressed further.

“If it’s not too much to ask, we need to hear what you were up to while we were holding the assembly. I assume it relates to what you’re trying to do now.” The boy asked, with Himiko turning all her attention towards us.

“Y-yeah… While the assembly was taking place, I was here looking for magic books with Angie. But when I pulled one of the books from that shelf in the middle, it moved on its own! It must have been the work of my immense magic power! And the most surprising thing was that there was a hidden door behind the shelf.” The red-haired girl explained almost as if she were narrating a fairy tale.

“Did you check where that door led to? Would you mind showing us that door?” As I wrote down Himiko’s Account, I continued questioning her.

“Nyeh… Angie and I tried to open it, but it had some sort of electronic lock. If only my Door-Opening Magic was a few levels higher, I could’ve forced it open… Also, I’ve been trying to move the shelf again, but it’s not budging an inch… I checked the same book that I moved the first time, but it didn’t work…” In a concerned tone, the magician continued explaining.

“Do you have any way of proving your testimony? For all we know, you could just be lying, or exaggerating the truth.” Skeptical, I menacingly pressed on. My questions seemed to intimidate the little girl.

“I-I-I’m telling the truth! I promise! If you don’t believe me, just ask Angie. She was with me the entire time. I think she’s in the girls’ bathroom right now.” Himiko responded, trying to keep her composure. Taking her words into consideration, we thanked her and left the room, directing ourselves back to the first floor’s east wing, where the two public bathrooms were located. Just as Himiko said, the tanned artist was walking out of the girls’ bathroom right as we arrived. Wanting to verify the magician’s testimony, we approached her.

“Excuse us, Angie. We need to ask you a couple of questions. Please answer them sincerely. Is that okay with you?” Shuichi politely asked her, and she smiled at us.

“Of course! Atua’s teachings say that lying is for sinners, so you do not need to worry about that possibility.” The enthusiastic artist casually accepted our proposal.

“Perfect. Himiko told us that you two discovered a hidden door in the library earlier this morning. Is that correct?” I inquired while preparing my Monopad to take note of Angie’s Account.

“Yah! It was pretty surprising to see that there was something like that in a boring place like the library. Sadly, we could not get it to open, but there might be some other way to enter it.” In an unsurprising turn of events, the story that Himiko told us ended up being real. Many hypotheses were flying through my mind right now, but our time was running short, so I needed to take action as quickly as possible. If what Tenko said is true, there has to be some sort of lead inside the bathroom.

“Say, would it be too much to ask you to escort us to the girls’ bathroom for a moment? I need to check for clues.” Despite the risks that could come from my question, I still asked it. Angie’s expression turned dubitative for a moment, but she responded quickly.

“That will not be an issue! I am sure that your intentions are not perverted, and it is what Atua would have done. I will try to cover you.” In a stroke of luck, the girl allowed us to enter the restroom. It was rather small, with only three stalls and a large utility closet. Next to the wash bins was a metallic trash can. I approached it to see what was inside. Besides some things that… I’d rather not mention, it contained two valuable clues: a pair of silk gloves covered in blood, and a bunch of crumpled tissues, which were bloodstained as well. I quickly took pictures of the Bloody Gloves and Tissues and got up to resume the inspection.

Seeing it as the only remaining place to look for evidence, I directed myself to the utility closet and opened it. Much to my dismay, it didn’t have anything out of the ordinary. I tried to take a step forward, but due to a small puddle of water that was on the floor, I tripped. Luckily, I managed to stop myself from hitting the ground by grabbing a metallic handle that was attached to the back wall. Doing this, however, had a very interesting effect…

The bathroom’s wall moved back, revealing a Secret Passage. “W-what the heck is this? Are you alright, Light?” Shuichi entered the closet with me and helped me stand up.

“Yeah, I’m fine. But what matters now is this hidden door. We need to see where it leads to…” I calmly replied as I took a step into the passageway. It contained a long set of stairs that led down into the basement, but at the end of them, there was a rather peculiar door… I tried to open it by turning its handle, but to no avail. This seems very familiar…

Knowing that there was nothing else we could do, we made our way out of the secret passageway back into the girls’ restroom, but what was awaiting us there was rather unpleasant…

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, YOU DISGUSTING DEGENERATES!? I BET YOU COERCED POOR LITTLE ANGIE INTO LETTING YOU IN TO DO YOUR PERVERTED BUSINESS BY TELLING HER IT WAS FOR THE INVESTIGATION. GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!” …Tenko angrily scolded us as she grabbed us by the arms and threw us out of the bathroom. Can’t say that was unexpected…

DING DONG DING DONG
BING BONG BING BONG

Now back in the hallway, we heard a chime coming from the nearest monitor. Once again, it displayed Monokuma drinking wine. We turned our attention toward it, not wanting to miss any details.

“*yawn* I’m getting tired of waiting… You’ve had enough time to investigate. You know what that means, right? It’s time for the Class Trial to begin! Please, gather in the Shrine of Judgement, the chapel-like building with a red door located in the courtyard. Attendance is absolutely mandatory! If you don’t come, I will take you there by force!” After the monochrome bear gave his speech, the monitors turned off. Shuichi and I looked at each other. His expression was anything but confident, but that did not matter. The moment of truth was about to come.

We both walked to the designated location while a tense silence filled the entire school. I gently opened the red doors of the Shrine of Judgement. We were the first two to arrive, but our loneliness was remedied soon. Every one of the living Ultimates poured into the building, all of them with serious frowns… Except for Kokichi, obviously. Alongside the teenagers came Ryuk, who greeted me by saying “Sorry for leaving without telling you anything. I wanted to explore this place a bit more.”

Once the ten of us were there, the large Monokuma statue began moving on its own, crushing the jar that it was holding and submerging itself in the water as a stone bridge covered the fountain. With the statue gone, the doors to an elevator showed themselves behind it. Determined to end this preposterous game and return to my life, I took the first step towards the elevator.

The metallic doors opened themselves after detecting my presence. I entered the elevator, and all the students followed after me. This trial… It will determine who lives and who dies. But I’m convinced I can do this… I am Kira. I am God. An amateur crime like this cannot stop the god of the new world. I will find the perpetrator… And I will purge them! They will regret the day they decided to challenge me! I will escape this place no matter how many lives I have to take!

---

Part 2

(Note: Unlike Part 1, this part will be narrated in the third person.)

For the nine people trapped in the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles, this day was an important one, for it was the day in which they would risk their lives in a Class Trial of truth, lies, hope, and despair. With the sudden death of Ryoma Hoshi being shrouded in mystery, it was their job to uncover the truth and expose the culprit, lest their lives would be reaped by the mastermind.

All nine of the hostages stood silently inside a cold elevator. Accompanying them was Ryuk, the black Shinigami that watched over Light Yagami. He didn’t really care about who lived and who died, but he still wanted to see the spectacle that this massive debate was going to be. To him, humans were nothing more than sources of entertainment, and he refused to side with anyone. He only followed Light because it was obvious that a human with the power to kill anyone was going to live an interesting life full of misadventures.

With a sudden shake and a loud metallic noise, the elevator stopped and opened its doors, letting the students and their “teacher” see a large courtroom covered in a neon blue light. There were ten white stands laid out in a circle in the middle of the room, with a tall wooden chair situated beyond them. Sitting on that large throne-like chair was Monokuma, whose typical grin shined as bright as always.

“Welcome to the courtroom, everyone! Please, step onto your stands so we can begin the trial!” The stuffed animal cried out from his chair while beckoning at the hostages, who reluctantly approached the designated places that had been established for them. Shuichi dreadfully stared at the only empty stand, which had a portrait of the deceased Hoshi.

With all the students and their teacher in place, it was time to begin the Class Trial.

“Let’s begin with a basic explanation of the rules of the Class Trial. For the next hours, you will be tasked with discussing the circumstances of Ryoma’s murder. If you can figure out “whodunnit”, only the culprit of the crime will be executed. But if you pick the wrong peeeeerson, I will punish everyone besides the Blackened, so be careful who you choose!” The mechanical bear explained in a deceitfully playful tone.

“Seems fairly simple. So basically, we just need to make our arguments and present the correct evidence, right?” Rantaro said, holding his fingers to his chin.

“Yes, that appears to be the way in which this court will function. Does anyone have suggestions for the first topic of discussion?” Light asked, curious to see what awaited him. Despite his quiet nature, Shuichi was the first to speak out.

“I’m personally really curious about the circumstances involving where the body was found. After all, the boiler room was locked before we found the body, so there’s no way anyone would be able to access it.” The young detective brought up his idea while adjusting his cap.

“Ooh, that’s true. The boiler room was always locked, but we never saw how it was opened.” Tsumugi reiterated Shuichi’s last point.

“But how and when was it opened? I don’t think anyone here has a key, so unless someone broke the lock, it’s impossible for anyone to make it into that room.” Keebo made his argument.

“That’s not possible. The lock was still near the door after the murder, and it was in perfect condition. If the killer had broken the lock to get into the room, it would have dents, and pieces of it would be shattered. Furthermore, I believe someone here is hiding something…” Light gave his explanation while turning his head to the Ultimate Supreme Leader.

“Neeheehee! Whatever could you mean, Light?” Kokichi sarcastically asked while hiding a mysterious smile behind his index finger.

“There is someone here who can open any door without needing a key.” Shuichi continued Light’s argument.

“Ah, that’s right! They must be talking about the mastermind!” Himiko said, thinking she was getting a good clue.

“Not necessarily. If you know how to pick a lock, you have no need for keys. Isn’t that right, Kokichi?” Light followed up.

“You’re sharper than I expected. But tell me, how can you prove that I picked any locks, Professor Yagami?” The white-clad teen condescendingly responded to Light’s accusations.

“It’s rather simple. This morning, before the breakfast reunion, when I was investigating the basement floor, you picked open the door to the AV Room. In addition to that, you unlocked the door to Hoshi’s room. Before you ask for any way to prove my claims, Shuichi witnessed the second instance.” The adult detective explained in a stern tone.

“Exactly. I saw your lockpicking skills with my own two eyes. The chances of you being the one to unlock the door to the boiler room are very high. What do you have to say to this, Kokichi?” The Ultimate Detective reinforced my testimony, but the trickster seemed unphased still.

“Hm, but even if that’s true, you still can’t say for sure whether or not I was the one who opened that door. For all you know, there could be someone else with that ability here. For example, it could’ve been Himiko with her magic!” Kokichi relentlessly defended himself.

“Wh-what? I would never use my magic for a murder! Also, I was with Angie this whole morning? Do YOU have an alibi? I bet you don’t!” The Ultimate Magician shifted the blame back onto Kokichi.

“Nope, I don’t! You wanna know why? It’s because I was lockpicking the door to the boiler room!” In an unexpected turn of events, Kokichi confessed.

“Wait, what? Weren’t you denying that a moment ago?” Rantaro questioned the boy’s actions, confused.

“I never said I didn’t do it. I was just testing your abilities. But yeah, after we had breakfast, I went exploring for a bit, and when I found out that the boiler room was locked, I gave it a taste of my lockpicking skills!” The Ultimate Supreme leader gave his testimony while a wicked grin adorned his face.

“But, doesn’t that mean you’re the murderer? It does line up with what Atua is telling me.” Angie questioned with a dubitative expression.

“I don’t think so. Besides the picked lock, there isn’t really anything else that we can use to connect Kokichi to the murder itself. All we know is that he unlocked the boiler room. Speaking of that, why did you do that, Kokichi?” Light continued his argument.

“Huh? Do I need a reason? I was just checking around the school grounds to see if there was anything we missed earlier. Weren’t you doing the same thing before breakfast, Professor Yagami?” The purple-haired boy retorted, his response irritating Light.

“I suppose that makes sense… But please, stop calling me Professor.” Yagami replied, annoyed.

“Fiiiiine. Would you prefer if I just called you by your name backwards?”

“Silence. That joke was never funny.”

“Wait, Yagami backward… Imagay? Oh, heheheheh.” Interrupting the progress of the trial, Monokuma picked up from where Kokichi left it, clearly annoying the Death Note owner even further.

“Um, guys? Instead of pointlessly fighting about Kokichi’s immature jokes, we should try to focus on how the act of opening the boiler room could be connected to the crime.” Shuichi halted the discussion, bringing it back to its rightful place.

“Well, yeah. Of course, it’s connected. The body was found there. It’s possible that the murder also happened in that room as well.” Rantaro brought up his point.

“We don’t know that yet. For all we know, the killer could just be using the boiler room to obscure the place where they killed Hoshi.” Keebo offered his rebuttal.

“I agree with that, Keebo. There’s evidence that points to the murder’s location being somewhere else.” Yagami supported the robot’s argument while looking through his notes.

“What do you mean, Light? Was the murder really somewhere else?” Shuichi questioned nervously.

“Yes, I believe that it all happened outside the boiler room, and I think I have an inkling of where exactly it was.” As Kira said this, the tension in the room grew. “I am certain that Ryoma was killed near the dorms.”

“How can you be so sure? Where’s your proof?” Tenko responded, irritated. “I won’t believe what a degenerate like you claims until it’s completely backed by solid evidence!”

“There was a large weight plate covered in blood hidden in the grass by the dorm building. When taking into consideration the fact that the corpse has a broken neck, I think that connecting the dots from here should be easy enough.” The Death Note owner elaborated on his hypothesis.

“Ooh, I think I know where this is going! The blackened must have snuck up on the victim while carrying that plate and then WHACKED them right on the neck!” Tsumugi tried to figure out the method, but her theory didn’t seem to satisfy everyone.

“No, that’s wrong!” Shuichi yelled out, making everyone turn their heads toward him. “Sneaking up on someone while carrying such a large and heavy item, all while in a mostly open area… Doesn’t seem like the most efficient way to try to kill someone. Plus, just a single bash from the weight plate shouldn’t be enough to kill someone.”

“Oh… I see. I overestimated the killer’s strength, I guess.” Tsumugi replied to Shuichi’s statement, somewhat disappointed.

“But then how could they have done it? Could they have built some sort of mechanism to make the plate gain enough momentum to be able to break Hoshi’s neck?” Rantaro theorized as well.

“That’s not completely out of the question, but if it were the case, there would be some sort of sign of the setup used.” Keebo offered his rebuttal.

“Well, they could’ve still used a mechanism and dismantled it before anyone found it,” Kokichi argued.

“That’s just not possible. The timeframe for the murder does not allow for such a quick cleanup. The killer was very clearly in a hurry.” The Ultimate Detective showed his disagreement.

“Is that so? How exactly do the timeframes affect the crime, then?” The Supreme Leader pressed on, curious.

“Um… Let’s see. According to the Monokuma File, Hoshi died exactly at 10:10 AM. At that time, I was in the AV room with four other people holding an assembly. The assembly started at 10 AM, and it lasted roughly ten minutes.” The boy with the hat continued his explanation.

“Nyeh? Why did you stop the assembly so soon?” Curious, Himiko questioned Shuichi.

“We were forced to end the assembly when we heard a loud crashing noise coming from the first floor. Given the testimony that you gave us during the investigation, both you and Angie must have heard it as well.” Light picked up where Shuichi left off, giving his testimony more validity.

“Hmm… Now that you say that, I do remember hearing something when Himiko and I were at the library.” The tanned artist confirmed Light’s theory.

“The noise we heard came from the dining hall, where someone, presumably the blackened, shattered the glass door that connected with the courtyard. I believe that they did that to create a shortcut to the place where they killed Hoshi. If Rantaro’s account is accurate, Light and I found the body five minutes after the murder took place. Following that train of thought, it’s impossible for the killer to have dismantled any sort of mechanism because they already had their hands full with having to move the corpse to the boiler room.” The young sleuth offered his thesis with a worried look.

“All of that is fine and dandy, but how can you be so sure that the person who broke the glass door was also the killer? Anyone could have done that, regardless of whether or not they killed anyone.” Smug, Kokichi found the hole in Shuichi’s argument.

“B-but why would anyone other than the killer break down that door?” Nervous, Shuichi tried to find a rebuttal to the trickster’s arguments.

“Simple, they could be in leagues with the perpetrator.” Rantaro seemed to find reason in the trickster’s ideas.

“But, wouldn’t they still get executed even if they did that and the killer was found out?” Light questioned.

“Exactly! Cooperation in a Killing Game is pointless. Even if the killer made it unscathed out of the trial, the accomplice would still be executed alongside the other spotless students.” Monokuma interrupted the discussion to give the students that valuable piece of information.

“In that case, the person who broke down the dining hall’s door MUST be the killer!” Determined that he was right, Light stated his beliefs.

“So, knowing that the blackened had to be in the kitchen at around 10:09, we can finally start picking potential candidates. Let’s hear our alibis.” Keebo encouraged his classmates.

“Well, for starters, I was in the AV room with Light, Shuichi, Keebo, and Rantaro. So it’s impossible for any of us to have done it.” Tsumugi explained her group’s alibis.

“I can put Atua as a witness that I was with Himiko in the library until we saw Monokuma’s announcement!” Angie swore upon her god.

“That just leaves Kokichi and Tenko as the only ones without alibis. Or maybe you can cover each other?” Yagami filled in the blanks.

“No can do, sir. After I unlocked the boiler room, I just went back into the building and took a walk around the halls. I did see Tenko inside the school building, but that was prior to the murder.” The white-clad boy elaborated on his vague testimony, completely calm. Tenko, on the other hand, was sweating bullets.

“If I recall correctly, Tenko spent a lot of time walking around various places in the school all day long. Would you mind giving us a refresher?” Shuichi tried to persuade the aikidoka into giving everyone the info that they needed.

“A-alright… I went to the gymnasium after having breakfast. Then, I searched for any possible exits in various rooms of the main school building. After an unsuccessful search, I grabbed a manga from the library and went to my dorm room. A bit later, I went back to the gym, and that’s when I heard the noise from the dining hall. At the time, I wasn’t too sure where the sound had come from, so I just explored the first floor by myself. I ended up in the bathroom, where I saw Tsumugi. Right about that time, the body discovery announcement played.” Tenko gave a detailed testimony.

“Oh, right. We did split up once we got to the first floor. Tsumugi headed to the east wing, so it makes sense that you’d meet up there. I went with Light and Shuichi to the west wing, and Keebo headed straight to the gym.” Rantaro elaborated on how the events played out.

“Wait a second. Something doesn’t add up. Isn’t that right, Keebo?” Light earnestly pressed on, astonishing Tenko.

“Quick thinking, Yagami. I was concerned about that too. When I went to the gym, I never saw Tenko, and there aren’t any alternate paths from the gym to the east wing.” The robot proved Kira’s train of thought correct.

“W-what are you implying, you robotic degenerate? If you didn’t see me, it’s just because I’m very fast and you have terrible eyesight!” Offended, Tenko tried to prove her innocence.

“Hey, my eyesight is 20/13! I’m pretty sure I would see you even if I didn’t want to!” Keebo defended himself.

“Why would anyone want to see Tenko’s ugly face anyway? I’d rather stick my face in a garbage bag… Not that Tenko isn’t one already.” Laughing to himself, Kokichi insulted the aikidoka.

“Say that to my face, you immature runt!” Full of anger, she tried to leave her stand, but Himiko and Angie grabbed her from each side to prevent her from doing so.

“Stop with the ad hominem already. The point is that Tenko’s testimony is faulty. Considering what K1-B0 said, she can’t have been at the gym during the murder, but there is proof of her being in the bathroom thanks to Tsumugi. Taking these factors into consideration, she could’ve perfectly been in the dining hall, only to run to the dorms, kill Hoshi, hide his body in the boiler room, and enter the school building through the main door, only to go directly to the girls’ bathroom.” The Death Note owner theorized, with each word making Tenko turn even more pallid.

“A-are you seriously accusing me of killing someone!? Is it just because I’m a girl? Ugh, you degenerates are all the same!” The androphobe screamed, angry and nervous.

“Hmph. She’s not even being subtle. She’s already started digging her own grave. But even though it’s obvious at this point, I believe we should try to connect the dots properly. We still haven’t established the exact way in which Hoshi was murdered.” Rantaro said, holding his index finger up.

“E-exactly, you can’t just point your fingers at me! Show me something that you can use to link me to the crime! Spoilers: You won’t find anything because I didn’t do it!” The defending party said, sweating intensely.

“Well, if you compare the evidence to what Tenko’s account encompasses, it’s very easy for her to have been the one to do it all. You said you had visited almost all the rooms in the main building this morning before the assembly, correct?” Shuichi cross-examined the suspect.

“Y-yeah. I went to the library, the storage room, and the dining hall.” Tenko continued explaining, getting increasingly more nervous.

“Wow, at this point, you might as well say you’re guilty. There’s no way this isn’t connected to the murder somehow.” Kokichi said with a condescending expression on his face.

“I hate to agree with him, but he’s completely right. If Tenko visited those three rooms before going to the dorms, then it’s very likely that she was the one to take the missing items from the storage room.” Shuichi agreed with the Supreme Leader.

“Nyeh? What missing items are you talking about?” Himiko questioned in a lazy tone.

“During the investigation, we found out that a few items were in suspicious situations within the storage room. We believe that they’re all connected to the murder!” Shuichi established. Yagami showcased several pictured on his Monopad before giving an explanation.

“The first of those items was a large black box identical to the one that Ryoma’s body was found in. Based on that, it’s easy to assume that the one used for the murder also originated from that room. The next item was an iron bar connected to a single 100-pound weight plate. The bloody weight plate that we found near the dorms had the exact same design and weight. Furthermore, there was a case containing two medals made of silver and bronze respectively. A gold medal with the same design was found inside the box where Hoshi’s corpse was found. Lastly, one of the boxes with spare clothes had a single empty envelope. This envelope was meant to have a pair of white silk gloves inside it.” Light elaborated in great detail.

“How are those gloves relevant? I don’t think I saw anything like them at the crime scene.” Rantaro asked, doubtful of Light’s accusations.

“Wait, I think I saw a pair of bloodstained white gloves when I went to the bathroom.” Tsumugi testified, causing Tenko to begin sweating even more.

“Exactly. When Angie helped us investigate the girls’ bathroom, we found them alongside a few bloody tissues in the garbage bin. What do you have to say about this, Tenko Chabashira?” Shuichi reinforced our theory while accusing the suspect.

“…” She merely stayed silent, knowing that anything she said could incriminate her further.

“Pleading the fifth, huh? Smooth. Since Miss Karate Girl here refuses to speak, I wanted to ask something. You said there was a gold medal inside the box where we found Hoshi, right? What’s its relevance to the case? Seems to me like it could’ve just been planted there to distract us.” The Ultimate Supreme Leader said while grinning.

“I have a theory in regards to that,” Kira answered Kokichi’s query. “Given the location of the medal, I believe that the token and the box that contained it were both nothing but bait.”

“But hey, that’s just a theory, a murder theory!” Tsumugi interrupted with a non-sequitur.

“Wh-where are you heading with this, Light?” Astonished, the Ultimate Detective questioned the adult.

“If you may recall, we stated earlier that the weight plate could only be used as a murder weapon if it had a good amount of momentum. We’ve already established that the killer didn’t use any sort of mechanism to kill. However, if someone were to drop the plate on the victim’s neck from a high altitude, it would surely kill them in one blow. But still, that requires a lot of precision, especially if the target is moving.” Yagami offered his theory.

“Wait, are you suggesting that the box and the medal were used to keep Hoshi distracted while the killer dropped the weight plate from one of the windows on the second floor of the dorms?” Shocked, Shuichi filled in the blanks that Light left on purpose.

“Hey, now. Aren’tcha getting a tad bit ahead of yourselves? This is just speculation. Can you back it up with anything?” Rantaro said, intrigued by the detectives’ arguments.

“Hey, Avocado Head. If what we’ve seen so far of this trial is anything to go with, it’s pretty clear that these two always have an ace up their sleeves. I’m not siding with them, but… This is pretty entertaining.” Kokichi said, his pejorative nickname irritating Rantaro.

“Kukuku… I like how this human thinks.” The Shinigami broke his silence and spoke directly into Light’s ear.

“Heh. He’s right. We do have the perfect piece of evidence that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the murder was carried out exactly how we described it. Please, take a look at this note that we found inside Ryoma’s pad. Apparently, someone used it to lure him out of the dorms. I rest my case.” With his tone now sounding slightly more arrogant, Light took out the note that he found during his investigation. All the Ultimates read its contents, shocked looks forming on their faces.

“I-I never wrote anything like that! That handwriting has to be that of a degenerate male! Girls always have cute, cursive handwriting with hearts on top of the “i”s!” Tired of being shamelessly accused, Tenko yelled out.

“Neeheehee… Is that really your best excuse? Then why don’t you write a copy of that note for us?” Kokichi taunted the aikidoka, who didn’t respond; and instead, let out an annoyed grunt.

“Tenko… Why did you kill Hoshi?” Himiko asked, tears filling her eyes.

“I didn’t kill him! This is all just a terrible coincidence!” Tenko cried out in despair.

“This so-called coincidence still has more evidence pointing at you that we haven’t discussed yet. Remember where we found the murder weapon? It was right under one of the windows of the dorm building. After checking it thoroughly from the inside, it’s easy to see that it lines up exactly with where your room is located!” Light continued his accusations, with Tenko’s face contorting into a despairful grimace.

“STOP IT! PLEASE, I BEG YOU!” The aikidoka broke into tears, the pressure making her proverbial mask crack.

“I’m sorry, Tenko. But if we want to make it out of here, we need to find out the truth behind Hoshi’s death!” Shuichi tried to convince the “Blackened”.”

“Puhuhuhuhu! Looks like you’re having a lot of fun! Have you decided who you’re going to vote for yet?” The headmaster interrupted the debate while chuckling.

“Yes. I think we’ve already exposed everything that we needed.” K1-B0 replied to Monokuma’s query on behalf of everyone, but…

“No, that’s wrong!” Light let out an exclamation that resonated all throughout the courtroom. “Monokuma. We may have exposed the Blackened, but there’s still one more person whose name needs to be called out.”

“What are you talking about? Remember that your paycheck depends on my mood!” The monochrome bear threatened Light.

“I am talking about the mastermind of this Killing Game, Monokuma. I have seen through your tricks, and I’m well aware of who it is that’s controlling this operation! I am going to make sure everyone knows who it is!” The owner of the Death Note responded to the bear’s threats with his own.

“Hmph. So you really think you can do that? Very brave of you, but I assure you that there’s nothing you can gain from this. Even if you expose the mastermind, they won’t be executed, since they haven’t necessarily killed anyone.” Monokuma stated in a defiant tone.

“Well, with that statement, at least we know that the blackened and the mastermind are not the same person.” Shuichi brought up his point.

“Monokuma, do you really think the Killing Game can continue as normal if everyone knows who the mastermind is? Once their identity has been exposed, there’s nothing stopping any of us from killing them and putting a stop to this twisted game.” Light continued to argue.

“Killing… the mastermind?” The Ultimate Magician rhetorically asked, concerned.

“Wouldn’t doing that make us just as bad as them?” K1-B0 inquired, trying to hold the moral high ground.

“Hmph. Don’t be so foolish. A criminal’s life is absolutely worthless. If you’re cowardly enough to kidnap teenagers and make them kill each other, you do not deserve mercy. By defending them, you’re just enabling their misdeeds.” The owner of the Death Note stated his opinion, causing a sorrowful silence to fill the room.

“Light…” The Ultimate Detective muttered before snapping out of it and going back to his normal expression. “…What are the clues that led you to know who the mastermind is?”

“Do you remember Himiko’s testimony? She said that there was a hidden door in the library that had an electronic lock. Now, we do not know what’s inside it, but given certain circumstances surrounding it, we can infer that it is related to the mastermind in some way. For one, the mechanism hiding the door was blocked out after the murder took place and Himiko discovered it.”

“Y-yeah… At first, you could open it just by pulling one of the books on the shelf that was blocking the door, but after Hoshi died, there was no way to move the shelf.” The red-haired magician verified.

“In addition to the one in the library, there’s another hidden door that can only be accessed through the utility closet in the girls’ bathroom. The closet contains a passageway that leads all the way into the basement, and judging by the layout of the academy, it would converge with the same room that the library’s hidden door leads to.” The adult detective continued explaining.

“W-where are you going with this? I don’t understand how this is supposed to point towards the mastermind.” Tsumugi asked, confused.

“I believe you of all people should know better than anyone.” Kira accused the cosplayer, whose expression shifted into a confounded one.

“Are you implying what I think you’re implying!?” Tsumugi responded, full of unease.

“If you piece together all the facts of this case, it makes sense that the mastermind has to be you, Tsumugi Shirogane! And before you beg for proof like a hungry stray dog at a picnic, let me give you just that.”

“…You’re giving her a stray dog?” Kokichi mockingly interrupted, only to get ignored.

“Let’s start from the very beginning. This morning at 7:30, I went to investigate the library by myself, but while I was doing that, Tsumugi barged into the room, breathless from running. Normally, such an event would not be strange or memorable, but when you consider the rest of the coincidences involving Tsumugi and the rooms that have hidden doors, it only makes the truth that much more obvious. The other coincidence that I’m talking about is one that comes from Tenko’s testimony. Right after the murder, Tsumugi was seen in the girl’s bathroom. Pretty suspicious, isn’t it?”

“Wow, this is so much of a stretch that Luffy would be jealous! There’s nothing solid or incriminating about this theory of yours!” The blue-haired girl said in response to Light’s arguments.

“Tenko. I’m well aware that you probably don’t want to help me after I drove you into a corner, but I need you to testify in greater detail about your encounter with Tsumugi.” Light encouraged Tenko while ignoring the cosplayer’s accusations.

“…I understand. I regret what I did, but I will try to use my knowledge to help… I went to the bathroom after killing Hoshi to wash my hands, and that’s when I saw her. Now that I think about it… She didn’t come out of any of the stalls. She came from the utility closet…” The aikidoka explained her testimony.

“Fantastic. Thank you for the information. Now, knowing this, all the pieces connect to each other. Tsumugi didn’t want me to discover the hidden door, so she ran into the library as fast as she could. She likely knew through the usage of some sort of pager. Once she suspected the murder had taken place during the assembly, she made her way into the “mastermind room” through the girls’ bathroom, where she likely monitored the situation by using the cameras located all throughout the school. She must have also set some sort of locking mechanism to prevent people from entering the room.” Light described his train of thought. The whole room was astonished by the depth of his argument, with an awkward silence following Light’s statement.

“Wow, Light. You really did a number on her! The best thing is that even if you can’t prove anything with decisive evidence, no one will trust Tsumugi anymore! She’s absolutely cornered!” In an abnormally joyful tone, Kokichi mocked the suspect.

“Hmph. I suppose you leave me no choice, then.” The cosplayer’s distressed expression shifted into a dark and serious one as she used her fingers to reposition her glasses. “Yes, I am the mastermind.”

“All according to plan.” The bearer of the Death Note thought to himself as he flashed a wicked grin. All the other students, with the obvious exception of Kokichi, were completely shocked.

“Tsumugi? But… why? Why would a simple cosplayer do this?” Tenko inquired, her face completely pale.

“If what she’s saying is true, I’m pretty sure there’s more to her than her cosplayer self,” Rantaro responded while trying to keep his composure.

“Th-this doesn’t make any sense! There has to be something wrong!” Himiko expressed her incredulity, but she was only met with a chuckle from the mastermind.

“Heheheh. There’s no mistake here. I am the one who ordered those strange figures to kidnap all of you and bring you here. I am the one who programmed Monokuma. I created the rules of the Killing Game.” The cosplayer said, laughing.

“Puhuhuhuhu! That’s right! Light got it all correctly. Are you sure you didn’t cheat or something?” Tsumugi’s robotic bear jokingly questioned Light.

“You… you monster…” K1-B0 insulted the criminal mastermind.

“So, now that you know all of this, what are you going to do? Will you try to kill me? Or will you just drown in your despair while the trial goes on?” Shirogane continued gloating while the Ultimates suffered.

“The trial must go on.” After a long silence, Shuichi spoke out with a dark expression. “There are still questions that need to be answered.”

“What!?” Both Light and Tsumugi exclaimed in surprise.

“Tenko may have confessed her guilt, but there is still something I don’t understand about this case. Hoshi’s neck was covered in fresh blood when we found him, but upon inspecting the wound that allegedly killed him, we realized that something doesn’t quite add up.” The young detective said, determination filling his eyes.

“For Atua’s sake, stop making this more complicated! Tenko already said that she did it!” Angie complained, tired of the trial.

“I’m sorry for confusing you all, but I’m sure there’s something about this that could make a significant difference.” The black-clad detective apologized. “The problem with the wound lies with the fact that despite being covered in blood, there wasn’t a cut or anything that would allow the wound to bleed. Plus, death by neck trauma isn’t quite instant. It can take up to several minutes depending on the person’s build. So realistically speaking, it’s impossible for Tenko to have killed Hoshi and prepared the scene of the crime so quickly.”

“But the Monokuma File explicitly stated that Hoshi died of blunt neck trauma!” Light said, nervous.

“No, that’s wrong!” Shuichi yelled angrily before taking out the Monokuma file. “The Monokuma File never said anything about the cause of death. “The victim was Ryoma Hoshi, the Ultimate Tennis Pro. His body was found inside a black box in the boiler room. The time of death was 10:10 AM and the body was first found at that same time. The body has no external injuries, but some of its cervical vertebrae are broken.” Do you see what I mean now?”

“Wh-what!? This can’t be…” The adult thought to himself while trying to keep his composure.

“Knowing that, and seeing that there was already blood in the dining hall due to the broken glass door, I think that Tenko simply got cut when she broke through the door, and she used that blood to create a false lead when she tried to kill Hoshi. Considering that several pieces of evidence like the black box and the weight plate are stained with blood as well, it’s pretty consistent.” Shuichi kept on presenting his arguments, with Light getting more nervous with each truth bullet that Shuichi shot.

“Oh, there’s another inconsistency! If the time of death was 10:10, and that was also the first time the body was found, wouldn’t that mean that the person in the scene of the crime would’ve been the first to spot it?” Kokichi pointed out.

“Exactly. The body discovery announcement only plays when three spotless students find the body!” The mastermind said with an arrogant expression.

“B-but I remember killing Hoshi by dropping the weight plate on him! I even checked his pulse before stuffing him into the box! I’m sure I’m the killer! There was no one else at the scene!” Tenko claimed, her look getting more and more concerned.

“Then, that means… Hoshi’s heart had already stopped by the time you tried to kill him!” Shuichi stated while readjusting his hat.

“That… actually rings a bell, doesn’t it? Haven’t you all heard the rumors about those weird heart attack accidents happening to criminals because someone called Kira was purging them somehow?” The mysterious Rantaro mentioned his theory. “Is it possible that… one of us is somehow related to Kira?”

“That’s ridiculous! I’ve been investigating the Kira case for years, and it’s impossible for anyone here to be that deranged psychopath!” Light lied, wanting to protect his identity.

“Y-yeah, that does sound like a bit of a stretch,” Himiko said while trembling like a defenseless deer.

“Hmmm… But don’t you think it’s really suspicious that a situation so similar to the Kira killings would happen when someone so close to the investigation is present here? And considering that I offered the opportunity to leave this secluded place by killing someone and that the person who died is a publicly known convict, all the pieces add up!” Tsumugi exposed even more of her opinions.

“What the hell!? Are you seriously accusing me of being the very same person that I’ve been chasing after for so many years? Are you out of your mind!?” Yagami yelled, his anger clearly getting to him.

“Puhuhuhuh… I believe we’ve already discussed everything that we needed. Here comes the moment you’ve all been waiting for! IIIIIIIIIIIIT’S VOTING TIME!” Monokuma cried out in joy as the small screens in the stands of each student lit up, showing a roster of all the participants of the Killing Game.

“Wait, don’t do this yet! Stop the voting! We have not come to an agreement!” Light shouted at the bear.

“No can do, pal! My patience has already run out, and the uncertainty of not having a definite result only makes this all the more exciting and despair-inducing!” The bear denied Light’s request, causing him to grunt in indignation. With everyone being forced to vote, the students and their “teacher” started to select their pick for the blackened. In just thirty seconds, everyone had chosen who they thought was the murderer. After that, a large screen appeared in the middle of the courtroom, showing the number of votes that each person had gotten.

“Let’s see… In third place, with only a single vote, Tsumugi Shirogane! Next up, with three votes, Light Yagami! And last, but not least, the person that you chose as the killer… With 5 votes, Tenko Chabashira!” Monokuma announced in a playful tone.

“I see. So that’s what you decided to choose. I understand suspecting Tenko more than Light, given how she practically admitted her guilt, and that there are many things that incriminate her… I’m just not entirely convinced it’s the right choice.” Shuichi said with a sad look on his face, which he tried to hide with his hat.

“Who cares? Let’s just see who’s the blackened already!” The Ultimate Supreme Leader complained, excited to see the results.

“Fine, fine. Let us see the one true answer!” The bear said as he pressed a red button with a gavel, causing the screen to morph into a slot machine that displayed the faces of all participants of the Killing Game. The slots spun while the neon lights of the machine lit the room, only to come to a screeching halt when showing Light’s face on all three slots.

“Well, well, well. Looks like you voted for the wrong person! Tenko was NOT the Blackened! It is just as Shuichi said. The killer is Light Yagami, your teacher of despair!” Tsumugi evilly laughed while announcing the results.

“L-Light? H-how!? There has to be a mistake! I swear I killed Hoshi!” Tenko cried out as anxiety built up within her.

“I… I’m not going to waste any more time. I know Tsumugi is going to execute us all very soon, so please, Light, tell us what happened. How did you do it? Are you really Kira?” Shuichi, feeling betrayed, questioned the other detective.

Light, however, was only feeling an immense bliss at that moment. “Heh. Heheheh. Hahahahah. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! It all went just as planned. You’re all so laughably gullible! All I needed to do was play the good guy and you fools were bound to fall into my trap!” The owner of the Death Note laughed maniacally.

“You… You scumbag… I knew this case was too easy to be true…” Rantaro spitefully said while clenching his fist.

“I… I really don’t understand this. Please, explain.” K1-B0 asked for help, confused.

“Fine. I’ll give you your explanation. It’s not like you’re going to be able to tell anyone, seeing how you’re all about to die. Yes, I am the Blackened, and not only that. I am also Kira, the God that purges criminals from the Earth to achieve greater justice. With nothing but my Death Note, I can make anyone die in whatever way I desire… And that’s what I did with Hoshi.” Light explained, his face no longer seeming innocent, but now a twisted mess of pure evil.

“Light… I trusted you. I thought you wouldn’t do something so vile… And now you’re telling me that you’ve been killing people for YEARS? You… You disgust me beyond words! I swear that you’ll be found out… and I’ll be watching every minute of it from Heaven!” The Ultimate Detective’s eyes filled with tears as he insulted his peer.

“Every word of what you just said… was wrong.” Light smiled as his eyes turned red. “You did not trust me. None of us trusted each other. The moment we learned that we’d be involved with a Killing Game, all trust became meaningless and null. And my actions… they are not vile… My actions are those of Justice! I am God! As such, I will make sure to purge any filthy criminal that crosses my path! And that “disgust” you bear towards me… Are you sure it’s not admiration? I might have saved you at some point in your life without you knowing. Also, I will never be caught. My wits are unmatched! Oh, and lastly, Heaven and Hell do not exist. There is only life and death, and you’re all quite close to the latter.” The bearer of the Death Note rambled on with an evil grin on his face.

The room was in pure shock to see Yagami’s true colors, but one foolishly brave Ultimate stepped up to him. “Hey, so… All this philosophical bullshit is cool and all, but what the hell is a Death Note, and how did you use it to kill Ryoma?” The Supreme Leader couldn’t help but ask, causing a reaction of irritation upon Light, who reluctantly reached out to his backpack, out of which he took a pen and a small black notebook.

“The Death Note is a powerful tool owned by the Shinigami, the Gods of Death. It is a notebook where just writing a name on it causes that person to die in whatever way is specified. Let us make an example out of our beloved mastermind, Tsumugi Shirogane!” Light began writing the cosplayer’s name on his notebook.

“HEY, HEY, HEY! I’m the one who’s supposed to do the executing! It’s punishment time!” The robotic beat interrupted Light by slamming his gavel on a red button again. A screen appeared in the middle of the courtroom again, this time displaying all the living students besides Light, as well as the following message.

YOU HAVE VOTED FOR THE WRONG PERSON
GAME OVER

The trial grounds began shifting around, separating Light from the rest of the students. All the stands formed a tighter circle with Tsumugi’s staying in the center. The floor started to shake wildly.

“O, SPEARS OF GUNGNIR, BY THE MIGHT OF ODIN, I CALL UPON THEE!” The blue-haired cosplayer yelled, causing the floor to shake even harder while thunder cracked outside of the courtroom. A long spear came out of the ground, only to pierce right through Shuichi’s chest, causing him to instantly vomit some blood. In less than a second, more spears appeared, each one piercing the body of one of the Ultimates.

With loud SHINK sounds filling his ears, Light could do nothing but rejoice as his plans came to fruition. The sight of the bodies of Shuichi, Rantaro, Kokichi, K1-B0, Tenko, Himiko, and Angie getting skewered by more and more spears filled him with an unfathomable sense of joy. He had won this battle, and his freedom was about to come.

“Thirty-eight, thirty-nine… Forty seconds… Now, your time to perish has come, Tsumugi Shirogane!” Light exclaimed as he looked at his watch. He knew that enough time had passed since he wrote Tsumugi’s name on it, so he patiently awaited the moment the cosplayer’s heart stopped…

…But it never came. Tsumugi’s stand rose above the stands holding the skewered corpses of the still semi-conscious Ultimates. The mastermind stood there, crossing her arms and laughing.

“Y-you’re both… disgusting…” Shuichi said with his last breath before becoming completely motionless… None of his classmates were lucky enough to survive for the time needed to say their last words.

“Aaaah… This despair… It’s so lovely! Look at their bodies… All riddled with holes. Doesn’t it feel wonderful to see suffering this PURE and RAW!?” The mastermind smiled as her stand moved closer to Light, whose face was covered in sweat due to the anxiety of not seeing Tsumugi die. “Mmmm, but the most despairful face here is yours, Light! You really thought everything would go according to keikaku, and now look at this yourself. It’s going to be so fun to break you~!”

“B-but… How the hell did you survive!? I wrote your name on the Death Note!” The detective questioned, getting increasingly more nervous. “W-wait. Could it be…?”

“Heheheh. Your next line will be “Your real name is not Tsumugi Shirogane!?”, and the answer to that question is yes! Let’s just say that I didn’t really mean it when I said I was the Ultimate Cosplayer. To be more accurate, Tsumugi is the Ultimate Cosplay! She’s nothing more than a fictional identity created by the one and only… me!” The person pretending to be Tsumugi took out a small remote and pressed a button on it, causing a thick fog to appear, completely obscuring “Tsumugi”‘s figure. Anxious, Light looked back at Ryuk, who simply watched the scene with a lifeless look in his eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier, Ryuk!?” Kira reprimanded the Shinigami, who shrugged in response.

“I didn’t think it was going to be relevant. Plus, you already know I’m not supposed to help you.” The pitch-black god of death said in an indifferent tone.

While the two talked to each other, the fog began to clear up, revealing the silhouette of a voluptuous woman with a curvy body and peculiar-looking hair tied in twin ponytails. As the smoke disappeared completely, Light and Ryuk got a clear look at the woman.

Light’s eyes came into contact with the attractive woman, whose light-pink hair and shiny blue eyes contrasted her pitch-black blouse, which was quite open at the chest area, showing a glimpse of her black and red bra. The lower part of her body wore a red miniskirt and a pair of tall black boots.

Her entire appearance seemed gaudy, with many complements decorating her outfit. She wore two teddy bear-shaped hairpins resembling Monokuma. Around her neck was a black and white tie, which was partially covered by a large red ribbon. Her slim hands were adorned with flashy red fake nails, which gave her a somewhat idol-like air.

“Betcha didn’t see that one coming! Name’s Ryoko Otonashi, also known as the Ultimate Despair!” The girl introduced herself while smiling deviously.

“Cut the bullshit. The fact that you think you can fool me with such an obviously fake name is an insult to my intelligence.” Light pretentiously responded to “Ryoko’s” introduction.

“Aww, you’re not going to believe a cute girl like little ol’ me? I’m so offended I might cry!” The mastermind blushed as her expression shifted into a cutesy one, along with her voice.

“You’ve already given me more than enough reasons to doubt you.” Light said, his voice full of spite and distrust. “Now, fulfill your end of the bargain or I’ll make you regret it.”

“Hmm? What bargain?” The mastermind said, playing dumb.

“The rules of your stupid Killing Game. They said that if the Blackened survived the Class Trial, they’d be allowed to re-enter the outside world.” The Death Note owner elaborated.

“Oh, so you just want to leave? That won’t be an issue at all! I don’t mind letting you go… But I want something first.” The pink-haired girl mysteriously responded, covering most of her face with her hand.

“Haven’t you already had your fair share of fun by putting me through this torturous show?” Light responded, his anger intensifying.

“Hm, perhaps. But in my personal belief, there are two aspects of life that I cannot have enough of. Fun and despair!” A small crown suddenly materialized on the girl’s head as she faked an English accent.

“I do not care about your philosophy, you wretched criminal. State your terms and we’ll see if we can come to an agreement.” Yagami sternly said.

“I’m sure you can imagine what I want. Let me give you a clue, it starts with the letter D, and you have one.” While blushing and making a provocative face, “Ryoko” started lightly drooling as she teased Yagami.

“Uuuh, Light? I think she wants your di-“ Ryuk obliviously lampshaded the joke, only to be interrupted by Light.

“She means the Death Note, you imbecile!” Kira shouted at the Shinigami, surprising the Ultimate Despair.

“Oh, are you talking to your imaginary friend? Or is it your Stand?” With her expression changing to imitate a stereotypical nerdy face, “Ryoko” questioned Light.

“Stand? What are you even- Ugh, forget about it. If you want the Death Note, you’re not precisely in luck.” Light retorted as he stuffed the notebook back into his backpack.

“Aw, come on! I’ll do anything in exchange~!” Making her cutesy face again, she tried to seduce Light.

“Kukukuku… Are you sure she’s not trying to have-“ The Shinigami mocked Light once again, only to be met with a cold glare from him, which stopped his joke.

“Anything?” Light looked back at the Ultimate Despair, who repeatedly nodded in an adorable fashion. “Then die and get out of my way, you filthy bitch.” With his anger finally reaching its peak, Light flat out insulted “Ryoko”.

“Well, that’s fucking rude! Goddamn, and here I was, trying to be fucking nice to you, only to be met with a piss-poor attitude!” With her hair getting slightly untidy, the Ultimate Despair snapped at the detective.

“Hmph. If you want the Death Note, you will have to take it from my dead body!” Tired of dilly-dallying, Yagami finally said what he wanted to say.

“Oh, yeah? Then so fucking be it, bitch! I’ll tear out your lungs from your ass if I need to!” The Ultimate Despair vulgarly replied to the detective’s statement as she rose her hands in a fighting stance. However, before Light approached her, she had a brief moment of introspection.

“Here’s the fruit of my labor. This Killing Game gave me the chance to create a level of despair far beyond any human comprehension! All I need to do is defeat this pasty detective and steal his notebook. Light Yagami, prepare to die at the hands of Junko Enoshima!” Without saying a word out loud for the sake of her safety, the mastermind thought about her plan. The battle of wits was finally over. It was time for their hands to do the talking.

Ready to begin the fight, Junko cracked her knuckles and lunged at Light, who quickly stepped back and grabbed the fashionista’s forearm before reeling back his own arm and punching the girl on the cheek. Not even stunned by the damage, Junko slightly lifted her left leg and used it to stomp on Light’s feet, causing him to flinch. While Kira was stunned, the model stepped back and delivered a kick to the detective’s midsection, knocking him down.

From the floor, Light tried to push himself back up with his hands, but he suddenly felt the floor shake. Recalling what he saw during the executions, Light instinctively rolled to the left, barely managing to avoid a spear that rose from the ground. However, that was merely a distraction arranged by Junko, who quickly approached the still downed Yagami and promptly used her heel to step on the man’s stomach, causing him to groan in pain. Wanting to retaliate quickly, Light performed a low kick from the floor directed towards Junko’s shin, which made her fall down face-first.

Before the Ultimate Despair landed on top of Light, he grabbed her by the neck and began repeatedly slamming her head against the floor while he tried to get himself up again. Once he was back on his feet, Light commenced kicking Junko’s ribs intensely, making the Ultimate Despair moan with every hit that she took. Seeing how the criminal had stopped squirming, Light walked away from her and dusted off the back of his clothes.

“Stay where you belong. You should be grateful that I’m not making you lick my shoes. You criminals disgust me beyond human words.” Kira scornfully looked down on the fallen fashionista, but his distraction was a very clear mistake.

“Is that so? Then I’ll make sure you never say or write a word again, you wannabe God!” The voice of the mastermind was heard before she swung a large baseball bat at Light, striking his left arm. Yagami let out a loud scream, knowing that Junko’s attack had dealt great damage to his humerus. With his right hand, Light punched Junko in the mouth, but hardly inflicted any pain.

“Ugh, you’re pretty sturdy for a bimbo…” Light insulted Junko as he backed away. Junko, however, simply chuckled at the detective.

“Nah, I’m not sturdy. It’s just that you hit like a girl.” The Ultimate Despair jokingly responded as she took out a grenade from her pocket. The sight of the explosive alerted Kira, who quickly ran behind the large chair that Monokuma was sitting on. Still bloodlusted, Junko removed the pin from the grenade and swiftly used her baseball bat to chuck the explosive at the chair, prompting Monokuma to jump off. The hand grenade caused a small explosion upon making contact with the chair, blowing it to bits, and exposing the Death Note’s owner.

“T-that’s animal abuse!” The robotic bear exclaimed as it landed on the ground next to “Ryoko’s” legs. Indifferent, the Ultimate Despair kicked the bear, making it fly towards Light’s position. “GRAAAAAAR!” The Monokuma roared as it prepared to grab Light, who was crouching behind the rubble left by the explosion. Before the bear made its way to him, he delivered an uppercut with his right hand, knocking it away. With a quick motion, Light ran out of his hiding place and kicked the downed Monokuma again, causing it to swiftly travel back to Junko.

The supermodel of Despair held the automaton for a moment before it started glowing, unleashing an explosion that filled a good portion of the room, destroying several of the stands and sending Junko flying to the opposite end of the courtroom. Once the smoke from the explosion cleared up, Light approached Junko, thinking she was dead, however, it was not going to be that simple to kill her.

“O-okay… Not gonna lie… That hurt a bit.” Enoshima whined as she tried to get back up by grabbing onto a nearby pillar. Light cautiously stepped back and picked up a broken piece of the metallic stands.

“Don’t worry. This will hurt more.” Holding the sharp piece of metal to Junko’s neck, Light prepared to kill his opponent. With Junko backed into a corner, she began smiling intensely.

“Heheheheh… This despair is amazing… You used my own weapons against me. Your cunning is truly exceptional.” The Ultimate Despair praised her enemy while rummaging with something with her hands behind her back.

“Stop what you’re doing. You’re not fooling anyone with those cheap tricks.” The owner of the Death Note said in a serious tone, getting the metallic bar closer to Junko’s neck. The mastermind could not help but press her legs together as she drooled onto the iron bar. “…You’re even worse than I imagined.” Light spitefully looked down on the seemingly aroused Enoshima before hearing a loud creaking sound coming from behind him.

CREEEEEEAAK

“What was that!?” Light shouted, surprised by the sound. Junko, however, did nothing but let out a chuckle as she saw a large door behind Light slowly opening. Curious, the detective turned his head while still holding the bar, only to see a shining red eye coming from a pitch-black space in the courtroom. Out of the newly opened door rushed a brand new Monokuma with its claws extended.

“Graar! I lived, bitch!” The bear vulgarly shouted as he dashed towards Light. Knowing that it was best to defend himself, the detective used the piece of the stand to stab the Monokuma in the head, causing it to slowly stop moving. However, this was a bad move for him, given that he left himself open to a counterattack from Junko.

“Hey, dumbass, don’t forget about me!” With a sudden mood swing, Junko rudely yelled as she delivered a sneak attack to the detective using a combat knife. Light tried to step away from Junko, but this only caused the attack to slightly graze him instead of stabbing him fully. The quick attack left a shallow cut on Light’s right cheek, and also cut open the man’s backpack, causing its contents to spill out. A black notebook, a brown pen, and a wallet landed on the floor, with Light panicking as he noticed. Satisfied, Junko murmured “Jackpot!”

“I won’t let you lay a hand on the Death Note!” Kira said as he quickly crouched to grab the things that he had dropped. From the floor, Light used his pen to stab the mastermind in her right thigh, causing her to let out a moan of pain with a slight bit of pleasure mixed with it. With his notebook in hand, Light made a dash towards the door that Junko had opened, assuming it led to the exit, grabbing the metallic bar from the broken Monokuma on the way.

“My, my. It seems you are quite the fool, Mister Yagami. That door will not lead you to your freedom… Only your despair!” Junko said to herself as fake glasses materialized on her face and her hair was united into a single large ponytail. She looked at Light entering the dark room before pressing a few buttons on some sort of controller, letting a condescending chuckle escape her mouth afterward.

Once inside the room, Light heard the metallic doors shut, leaving him completely in the dark. A couple of seconds later, two sets of emergency lights lit up all across the dark corridor, signaling Yagami to go forward. The detective slowly started walking, expecting a trap to pop up at any second. However, all that he felt at first was a familiar presence.

“Hey, Light. That fight was pretty awesome. Never thought you’d be able to do that kind of stuff.” That voice belonged to none other than Ryuk, who had been silently watching the action from the sidelines.

“Why in the world aren’t you helping me, Ryuk? I’m nearly at my wits’ end here!” Light angrily yelled at the Shinigami.

“Kukuku… Fine, I’ll help you. But I’m not going to write Ryoko’s name on my notebook.” Ryuk responded with a chuckle, only to be met with a scornful look from Light. However, their banter was promptly interrupted as Light heard the sounds of several robots activating. Kira looked deeper into the hallway and saw dozens upon dozens of red Monokuma eyes slowly approaching. With every passing second, the figures of the copies of the bear became even more visible. Knowing that he couldn’t take the risk of getting cornered by the bears, Yagami charged forward and slammed the iron bar onto one of the Monokumas’ heads before kicking it down and stabbing the bar into the eyes of the two closest Monokumas.

With the first three enemies being down, Light continued moving deeper into the corridor, which started sloping up. Noticing more Monokumas getting closer, Light got on guard and raised the iron bar horizontally. However, the iron bar was met with the sharp claws of a Beast Monokuma. The Death Note owner tried to parry the hit for as long as he could, but the makeshift weapon gave in quickly. With nothing more than a pair of two-inch-long pieces of iron, Light was left defenseless against the bloodthirsty robots.

In a desperate attempt to protect himself from the Beast Monokuma, Light began trying to kick it in the head, but the quadrupedal robot did not budge in the slightest upon meeting Light’s foot. The Death Note owner tried to step back to avoid the monstrous creature, getting increasingly nervous.

“Light! Grab the Death Note and turn it into a scythe!” Ryuk called out to Yagami and gave him some advice.

“Wait, what the hell are you talking about!? It can do that!?” Light responded, confused, only to take out the Death Note and focus on trying to transform it somehow. In an unexpected turn of events, the notebook morphed into a black mass and soon took the shape of an ominous black scythe. “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner!?”

“I never thought it would be necessary for you to carry a weapon this big, so I just kinda never said anything about it,” Ryuk responded, triggering an irritated groan from the human, who nervously brandished the scythe. As the Beast Monokuma charged towards Light, he swung the weapon at it, casually splitting it in half. Surprised by the cutting power of the blade, Light looked at it for an instant before returning to his path.

Now motivated by his newfound power, Light dashed through the corridor, hacking and slashing through all the Monokumas he found. However, his charge was stopped when a large monochrome sphere ran into him, sending him a couple of meters back. The sphere stopped in its tracks and sprouted arms and legs, showing that it was yet another variety of Monokuma… A Ball Monokuma. The peculiar machine lobbed a bunch of trash at Light, who was still trying to get up. The human’s clothes were now stained with a weird brown substance, and there was an empty cup of noodles on Light’s head.

Irritated, Light brushed his hair with his hand, throwing away the cup. Once he was ready to fight again, he swung the scythe at the Ball Monokuma, impaling it through its red eye. The blade of the Shinigami got stuck inside the spherical robot, but Light simply put both of his arms’ strength into lifting the notebook-turned-weapon and swung it forward with all his might, making the broken down Ball Monokuma fly off and hit a set of Monokumas wearing body armor, knocking them down.

Light hurried onward and quickly stabbed the Guard Monokumas in the eye with the blunt tip of the scythe’s shaft, destroying them before continuing his path. The detective tried to look at the depths of the corridor, finally being able to discern the end of it. A rusty ladder was the only obstacle left for Light to surpass… Or so he thought. The Death Note bearer let out a sigh of relief as he walked towards the ladder, but he was interrupted when a larger Monokuma fell out of the ceiling in front of him. The Monokuma had parts of its “fur” peeled away, revealing a more monstrous and mechanical design.

The bear let out an intimidating roar with a metallic tone before charging straight at the human and hitting his left arm with its paw. Due to the damage that Light had already taken before, this attack was severely crippling to him, breaking his left arm. Kira let out a scream of agony as he dropped his weapon because of the pain, but he soon grabbed the shaft of the scythe with his right hand.

“I’m sure you can see this, Ryoko. Know… that no matter how much you wound and torture me… You will never be able to avoid the wrath of Kira!” The sociopath said while panting heavily before delivering a swift slash with his right arm, decapitating the Junk Monokuma. With that last robot having been slain, Light turned the scythe back into a notebook and tucked it into his pants. After that, he made his way to the ladder and carefully grabbed it with both of his hands, though showing some clear pain when moving his broken left arm. The detective slowly climbed up the ladder, eventually reaching the exit.

“Finally…” Light exclaimed, relieved, as he made his way to a small room with a single trap door. He pushed it open and exited the room, seeing that he was in a familiar place… The boiler room. Now that he had a moment to rest, he took off his jacket and tore it in half to make an improvised arm sling for his broken extremity. Once he was all set, he grabbed the Death Note and exited the boiler room. However, what awaited him outside was not exactly pleasant.

WHACK!

The moment he stepped outside of the small building where the boiler room was located, Light got hit with a baseball bat in his broken arm once again. This ambush was the work of Junko, who had been waiting for Light while he fought the Monokumas. Just as Junko planned, the surprise attack made Kira fall down immediately, dropping the Death Note in the process.

“You snake! Is that what you call fighting fair?” Light scornfully asked his assailant, who bent over and picked up the notebook of death from the floor while Light lay next to it.

“Don’t make me laugh. Who said we were meant to fight fair? We’re killers! Masterminds! Fairness and mercy are only for those foolish enough to live like lawful goody-two-shoes! On this battlefield, the only thing that matters is who can cause the most despair, and with this notebook, I’ll reign supreme! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take my leave. Hope you enjoy dying here by yourself!” The pink-haired mastermind mocked his floored opponent with a speech before sprinting towards the academy’s main building.

“God damn it… I need to catch up with her… If I lose the Death Note, I’m as good as dead…” Light anxiously thought to himself as he struggled to get up from the floor because of his wounds. Pushing himself against the nearest wall, he managed to get up. “I… I will destroy you, Ultimate Despair!” As he commenced slowly walking to the school building, he uttered those words.

After several minutes of walking, Light finally reached the building. Thinking quickly, he tried to go to the girls’ bathroom. “If she planned to exit through the school, she must have used the secret passage.” The detective thought to himself while treading towards the bathroom. Once he found himself in the restroom, he opened the utility closet and pushed the wall, opening the passageway. Yagami made his way through the dark corridor until he reached a door. Unlike the last time he visited this passageway, the door was completely open. Light grinned as he stepped into a small room full of computers.

He looked at the screens, seeing that they displayed live footage of every other room on the school grounds. It must undoubtedly be the mastermind’s room. Quickly inspecting the room to the best of his abilities, Light found a small trap door underneath a chair. He opened it and let himself fall through it, reaching yet another hidden room. This time, it seemed like a long futuristic hallway with screens and speakers all throughout it.

“I see you finally made it here! Welcome to a little attraction that I like to call the Death Road of Despair! It was originally intended as the execution room for a certain pesky gamer, but I repurposed it into the Ultimate Obstacle Course that you’ll have to go through if you want to escape and recover the Death Note!” Through the speakers, Light heard the voice of Junko, whose image was shown on the monitors.

“What’s the point of playing around like this? You’ve already proven that you can kill someone instantly, and on top of that, you are in possession of my Death Note. You have no reason to make me go through your stupid obstacle course.” Light angrily called out to the mastermind while starting his odyssey through the Death Road of Despair.

“Because it’s fun, duh! Seeing prodigies like you or those Ultimates suffering intensely is the greatest pleasure that exists in this world!” Showcasing her sadistic nature, Junko responded to Yagami’s query.

“I really don’t understand you. Killing for pleasure is sickening-“ Kira continued his argument, only to be interrupted by what appeared to be a baseball that hit him in the chest. Light let out a moan of pain while trying to look for the source of the attack. However, this turned out to be a bad idea, seeing how his chest was hit again by a pair of baseballs coming from a pitching machine hidden in the wall.

“Ah, your hypocrisy is almost insulting. Do you not feel relieved when you see those criminals you despise so much collapsing because their hearts stopped? Is that not killing for pleasure as well?” The monitor showed Junko wearing a crown while faking an accent again. Aggravated by Junko’s words, Light continued moving forward without saying a word, trying to go faster to avoid the baseballs that were violently bombarding his defenseless back. Once he walked out of the pitching machine’s range, he leaned against one of the walls to catch his breath.

“Hey, who said you could stop?” Junko yelled at her opponent and pressed a button, activating a mechanism of sorts. Said mechanism consisted of three massive circular saw blades that traveled across the floor without slowing down. Upon noticing the moving trap, Light hurried onward while guiding himself along the wall with his right hand. Wanting to see the detective putting more effort into his escape, Junko activated another blade. However, this one moved horizontally across the wall that Light was leaning onto. Before the saw could slice his hand off, Light stepped away from the wall and tried to move faster.

The circular saws kept on following Light relentlessly, but the impersonator of L finally got a stroke of luck. In front of him was a flashy motorcycle with tiger-themed decals. Knowing that it was the only way to outrun the blades, Light quickly mounted the vehicle and grabbed its handles with one hand.

“Hey, you’re not wearing a helmet! Where’s your driver’s license? That’s illegal, you criminal! I’m gonna call the cops on you!” Pretending to be angry, Junko mocked Light as she pressed a different button. Kira ignored the Ultimate Despair’s taunts as he started up the bike’s engine and fled from the saw blades, letting out a sigh of relief as he saw the deadly traps disappearing from his view. Sadly for him, that peace did not last long, for the sound of loud sirens began to echo throughout the corridor. Light looked back, only to see a large firetruck being driven by a Monokuma.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” The male sociopath muttered, absolutely fed up with Enoshima’s vile antics. The supermodel, on the other hand, was laughing her lungs out.

“Oh, shit! Looks like I called the wrong fucking number! One of these days, my mistakes are going to end up killing someone, hahahaha!” Junko cackled while looking at Light accelerating on the motorcycle. Light’s eyes widened as he saw that he had reached the end of the corridor, but instead of a door, there was only a wall, but with another path opening to the left. Knowing that he could use that sharp turn to his advantage, Light prepared himself and jumped off the motorcycle at the last second, making the vehicle crash right into the wall and creating a sizeable explosion, which sent him flying away from the wall. With no room to make the turn, the firetruck crashed into the wall as well, making an extremely loud sound.

“Conglaturation! A winner is you!” Speaking in broken English, Junko made a nerdy voice while telling Light that he had reached the end. The detective got up and looked in front of him, seeing a door with Monokuma’s face drawn on it. Ready to end that ridiculous game, he opened the door and entered the next room, a dark high-tech-esque room where Junko was sitting menacingly with her legs crossed while holding the Death Note. Much to Light’s surprise, Ryuk was with her.

“You’re probably asking yourself what the Shinigami is doing here. Don’t worry, the answer is simple. He already knew the way to the Mastermind’s room, so he just came with me once I picked up the Death Note.” The pink-haired woman explained with a sad look. She wasn’t actually sad, she just wanted to mess with Light.

“Sorry about that. I saw the room when I went to explore during the investigation.” Ryuk expanded on Junko’s statement.

“I don’t care. I beat your game, so just give me the Death Note.” The detective anxiously commanded Junko, who grinned in response to Light’s order.

“Hey now, I never said I’d give it to you if you completed the Death Road. If you want it, you’ll have to find it first.” Enoshima taunted Kira once again, but the Ultimate Despair’s constant roundabouts and insults only intensified his already massive anger. Absolutely livid, Light clenched his right fist, walked up to Junko, and punched her right in the nose.

“I’ve had enough. You’ve been doing nothing but clown around this whole time. I hate your stupid shit-eating grin, your bipolar attitude, and your entire being as a whole. I’m going to beat you senseless even if it’s the last thing I do!” With his voice now full of unfathomable rage, Light snapped at Junko, whose nose was now bleeding from the impact of Yagami’s punch.

“Heheheh. You’re finally getting serious? Then I should do the same too!” Despite her injury, Enoshima responded to Kira’s threats as she reached out to a bucket of ice, from which she grabbed an ice pick. Armed once again, she charged straight at her opponent, who blocked Junko’s attack by using his broken left arm to intercept the weapon. With the ice pick stuck inside his arm and Junko still gripping it tightly, Light moved his arm to the left and promptly delivered a headbutt to the fashionista, who had to back away, letting go of the improvised stabbing tool.

Thinking quickly and efficiently, Light forced the ice pick out of his arm and proceeded to wield it himself. Despite having given many ominous glares in the past, Light’s eyes were completely tainted with bloodlust. The genocidal maniac, now corrupted by his hatred, charged towards Junko and attempted to stab her with the ice pick, but the girl grabbed a Monokuma plushie from her chair and placed it in the trajectory of the weapon in order to stop it. Before Light withdrew the pick, Enoshima pulled him by the arm and proceeded to hit him in the stomach with her knee, making him cough up some blood, which stained Junko’s chest.

“You’re so much fun to fight when you’re actually putting effort into it!” Junko praised Light before throwing him at one of the walls, cracking it slightly. Filled with indignation, Light tried to put himself together again and threw a punch at the fashionista, who casually blocked it with the palm of her right hand before twisting Light’s arm. Kira struggled against the Ultimate Despair’s strength, but since he couldn’t make her budge, he tried to kick her in the shins, which made her let go of the Death Note bearer’s arm.

With Junko’s guard being down, Light threw himself on top of the girl, pinning her to the cold floor. He smiled evilly as he took out a fancy-looking ballpoint pen from his pocket. “I’m sure you want to do the Shinigami Eye Deal with Ryuk. You’re pathetic enough to sacrifice half of your lifespan just to become a more efficient killer. But what if I simply took your eyes away? Hahahahah… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!” Yagami laughed malevolently as he reeled back his arm, only to drive the ballpoint pen he was holding right into Junko’s left eye.

“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Junko let out a scream of pure agony as she felt how Kira gouged her eyeball out. Even if she didn’t want to, tears flowed from her right eye. “This is bad! This is bad! THIS IS GREAT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!” The Ultimate Despair cried and laughed as she pushed Yagami off of her. “GOD, THANK YOU SO MUCH, KIRA! YOU’RE THE FIRST PERSON TO MAKE ME FEEL THIS MUCH DESPAIR! ALLOW ME TO SHOW YOU MY THANKS!” Continuing her despairful breakdown, Junko got up while covering her now empty eye socket with her hand.

“You’re being delirious. This insane rambling that you’re going on will be useless-“ Though Light tried to scold her, Junko snapped her fingers, causing a spear to rise from the ground, impaling Light’s left arm. Before Light could even scream, Enoshima snapped her fingers again, causing yet another Spear of Gungnir to appear, this time stabbing right through the detective’s right arm. With Light now immobilized, Junko approached him slowly, swaying her hips.

“After you gave me this wonderful despair, I need to return the favor, but a thousand times better.” With her single eye gleaming just like that of a teenage girl in love, Junko whispered at Light while caressing his face. “My real name… is Junko Enoshima.” In what seemed like an insane move, the girl revealed her true name to the one person who could kill her by knowing it.

“Wh-why are you telling me this? You do know that I’m going to kill you as soon as I break free, right?” Light questioned Junko’s foolish actions, but before responding, the mastermind brought the Death Note to her victim and put it in front of him.

“Write my name. Oh, wait. You can’t.” Junko sarcastically mocked her enemy. “After all this effort, you’re stuck in front of me, knowing my name, but being unable to write it in your deadly notebook. I can feel your hatred just by looking at you.” The mastermind explained her ulterior motive.

“You… YOU ABSOLUTE BITCH!” With almost primal rage overcoming Yagami, he insulted Junko and began shaking his body to the best of his abilities in an attempt to break free from the spears, but to no avail.

“So pathetic… So despairful… But I’m not done breaking you. Your despair can still grow further.” Junko stepped away from Yagami and brought a small television near him. She then turned it on, showing a video that featured distorted visuals and sounds. Light’s eyes were drawn to it, almost like he was being hypnotized.

“This is a Despair Video… And it’s going to be the first step of your execution, Light Yagami.” In an uncharacteristically serious tone, Junko explained her actions to Yagami, whose mind was drifting away due to the effects of the clip, as well as the loss of blood.

Inside Light’s mind, the following words appeared “Light Yagami has been found guilty. Game Over.” He saw the image of Monokuma dragging him away to some sort of room where nothing was present. Only the infinity of darkness. The moment Light’s wounded body reached that void, Monokuma disappeared. Light’s mind was completely blank in confusion… But it all faded away as he saw a middle-aged man with rather ugly facial features. Light looked at the man carefully, but upon closer inspection, he realized who he was.

It was none other than Kuro Otoharada. A terrorist who held several people hostage at a school several years ago… And the first person whose name Light ever wrote on the Death Note. This realization made Light’s eyes widen.

While Light hallucinated due to the effects of the Despair Video, Junko, accompanied by two Monokumas, grabbed a scalpel and started to cut open Light’s chest. Despite the pseudo-anesthesia that Light was undergoing, he was still squirming, making Junko’s cuts slightly imprecise. Even with that issue, Junko continued the operation until the owner of the Death Note’s ribcage had been cut open completely, showing the human’s heart and organs in all their bloody glory.

Back inside Light’s hallucination, a pitch-black notebook fell in front of the detective. Curious, Light opened the cover and saw its blank pages. However, that soon changed when Kuro’s name appeared on it even though no one was writing anything. Yagami stared at the person that was once his victim, who was now pointing at him while the image of a clock materialized behind Kuro. Light’s confusion intensified greatly, but the worst was yet to come. In the real world, the Monokumas and Junko were connecting several wires to Light’s organs.

After forty seconds had passed, Junko pressed a switch, which affected Light’s perception. All he could hear were repeating beeping noises…

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP…

The repetitive sound prolonged itself, and when it did, Light felt a sharp pain in his stomach. It was so intense that he felt like he was going to puke every single meal he had ever consumed, and then, he realized the harsh truth… His heart had stopped. His pain was over, and he felt as though he was seeing a bright door… But then…

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

The beeping sounds returned to their former pace, and Light’s heart kept on beating. He was shocked. He didn’t understand what was going on. But a mere glance at the notebook’s pages was enough to grasp the situation. They were suddenly full of names again. And as he looked around the infinite darkness, he saw them… All the people he had ever killed with his notebook. The realization made him fall to his knees in despair as tears formed in his eyes… Only for the beeping to become a constant sound again. He felt the same pain as before… But this time, it was thousands of times stronger. Not only that, but he felt his whole body collapsing and being set on fire. This was surely fate’s retribution. Some people call it karma, some call it judgment. But what matters is that the man who had purged thousands of people to achieve his perfect world was now suffering every single death that he had caused… all at the same time.

Light’s suffering continued, but he felt relieved when he saw the image of Ryuk, the Shinigami that had accompanied him throughout his killing journey. Light reached out to him and grabbed his legs like a crying kid having a tantrum would to their father.

“Ryuk… please… stop… my… pain…” Yagami begged pathetically, and the Shinigami kneeled down to get to the same height as the detective.

“You don’t deserve it. But I will do it again. Not because you asked. But because it has become tedious to watch this show, and because the owner of the Death Note is meant to be killed by a Shinigami. So farewell, Light Yagami.” The imaginary voice of Ryuk reached Light’s agonizing ears right before Ryuk drove his hand through Yagami’s chest. The God of Death then swiftly ripped out Light’s heart, which had taken the shape of a blood-soaked apple. Without a moment of hesitation, Ryuk devoured the apple, and Kira fell down, completely inert.

In reality, Junko had simply submitted Light’s heart to extreme electrical shocks before ripping it out and crushing it with her heel, but the Despair Video made that fake reality the real execution. The Ultimate Despair walked away from the corpse of her enemy and picked up the Death Note. “From now on, the Ultimate Despair… becomes one with Kira.” The girl muttered under her breath as she left Yagami to rot.

K.O.!

---

Nocturn: “Well, damn. That… was balls.”

Brain: “Yeah, balls to the wall insane. That’s gotta be the most intense finisher I’ve ever seen.”

Nocturn: “Who would’ve thought that the person with the ability to kill anyone with just a notebook would lose so hard?”

Brain: “Well… If this had been based purely on strength and physical abilities, then I’m sure everyone would’ve been able to see it coming. Light’s physical “feats” are nothing impressive. None of them break human limits in the slightest. On the other hand, a single look at Junko’s feats can tell you that she’s easily superhuman. For example, she can survive getting crushed by a firetruck or bombarded with thousands of baseballs at incredible speeds. Considering that she’s survived a punishment that killed Leon Kuwata, who was able to wreck a Monokuma with a single pitch, it’s not too far-fetched that she has similar strength. Take into account the fact that Monokumas can survive blows from the likes of Sakura Ogami (who scales to Nekomaru Nidai’s City Block and Large Building level feats), and you have yourself a pretty strong lady. She’s also quite fast, considering that she can keep up with her sister Mukuro, who can dodge explosions point-blank, and is massively superior to the bullet-dodging Yasuhiro Hagakure.”

Nocturn: “But you just said physicality wasn’t the important part of this match, you boob. Make up your goddamn mind.”

Brain: “Don’t worry, I still stand by that. I’m only explaining those aspects because even though they’re not the main factor, they still hold importance. You’ll see why in a moment. To fully reach a solid conclusion to this match, we’ve had to take a look at a lot of scenarios, with the one that we found the likeliest being the one that was represented in the fight scene.”

Nocturn: “Oh, I think I see where this is going. I’ll take the wheel from here. For starters, it’s important to think about how Light could meet Junko. While it’s very likely that he could simply find out about her by looking at lists of criminals, Junko’s name did not become famous as a criminal until the events of the first Killing Game were over, which would involve a ruined world where communication media is basically nonexistent, so it wouldn’t be possible for Light to find out about it unless very specific situations were involved, such as an unlikely alliance between the Japanese Police and the Future Foundation.”

Brain: “Exactly. Seeing as that theory holds no water, the likeliest scenario would be that Junko could find out about potential Kira suspects through information leaks and hacking, which she’s skilled in. Junko hacked into the Future Foundation’s Neo World Program, which was one of the most sophisticated and confidential programs in the world, so something as simple as hacking into the SPK or the Japanese Police Department’s files would be as easy as taking candy from a baby. Once Junko knows about those suspects, she would most likely kidnap them and put them in a Killing Game to bait them into using Kira’s methods, which she would monitor 24/7 through the use of cameras and microphones. This task would be made easier thanks to Junko’s Monokuma identity. Plus, she could always just pose as one of the participants of the Killing Game to gain more info on her own.”

Nocturn: “And while you could argue that Light would try to avoid writing on the Death Note while being watched by cameras like in the infamous potato chip scene, that would be counterintuitive, seeing that he would not be able to survive the Class Trial if he did that, considering that it would hide his identity completely. However, if he let himself get filmed while killing with the DN, he would most likely be able to pass off as the Blackened and survive a Class Trial without issues unless he got cornered somehow and he slipped up.”

Brain: “With the issue of the Class Trial out of the way, we only need to clarify what would happen if Light and Junko met face to face after the trial. In a scenario where Junko knows about the Death Note, she would most certainly keep her mouth shut about her real name and use a fake one. She may or may not toy with Light a bit first, but if she goes serious from the beginning, she can beat the lights out of Light and steal the Death Note from him without trouble. In a scenario where she doesn’t know about it, Junko would probably make the dumb mistake of saying her name out loud, but her speed and analytical prowess combined would be enough to stop Light from writing her name on the DN. And it’s not like Ryuk would cooperate with him, and Light is too stubborn to do the Shinigami Eyes Deal, which would give him an instant win.”

Nocturn: “So to sum it all up, there ARE scenarios where Light would win, but if you combine all the facts about both series, the likelier cases would be the ones where Junko would decimate Light. At this point, it’s obvious to Note that Light would meet his Death against Junko.”

Brain: “The winner is Junko Enoshima.”

Despair of the Gods – PRELUDE

(The original prelude was posted on DeviantArt on November 7th, 2017. No major changes have been made for this version.)

Nocturn: “Up until this point, we’ve analyzed all sorts of powerful characters, such as a God-slaying Phantom Thief, a serial killer with a hand fetish, and even a gun-toting cyborg, but we’ve never done a full-on battle of wits between “normal” humans.”

Brain: “Yeah, those quotation marks are there for a reason, as these two young sociopaths are far from normal.”

Nocturn: “Light Yagami, also known as Kira, the owner of the Death Note.”

Brain: “And Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Despair, and the woman behind the biggest, most awful, most tragic event in human history.”

Nocturn: “This battle isn’t going to be a conventional one. Instead, it will involve more brain than brawn, but don’t worry, there will still be a physical confrontation.”

Brain: “We’re Brain and Nocturn, and we’re here to analyze their weapons, abilities, and feats in order to determine who would win a DEATH BATTLE… of wits!”

---

Light Yagami

(The original bio was made by Carbonated-Jem on DeviantArt)

Background

Light Yagami used to be just your typical honors high-school student, but his life took a sudden turn when he found a mysterious black notebook lying around his school with “Death Note” written on its cover. Light promptly picked it up and opened the cover, revealing a set of instructions. “The human whose name is written in this note shall die.” That was the first rule Light saw. At first, Light dismissed the notebook as some sort of prank, but his opinion changed after he was visited by the notebook’s original owner, a Shinigami, or God of Death.

The Shinigami, named Ryuk, explained to him that the Death Note is a tool used by the Gods of Death to regulate the lives of humans. Curious about the notebook’s power, Light tested it on a serial killer that was appearing on live television. Much to his surprise, forty seconds after writing the serial killer’s name, he died of a heart attack. Knowing the amazing power that he had received, Light started to kill various criminals from all across Japan. This, however, started to raise suspicion from the Japanese media.

Given how most of Light’s killings shared the same method- cardiac arrests, the public took notice and gave Light’s murderous persona a name, Kira. With the police now looking for clues on how to find Kira, a prestigious detective known as L commenced his search for Kira. Eventually, Light joined his father, an important member of the Japanese Police Force, in his search for Kira, while continuing the killings in his free time. A life of deception and violence was the only thing that awaited him…

Light Yagami

Aliases: Kira, L, God
First Appearance: Death Note: Chapter 1 (December 1, 2003)
Age: 23
Birthplace: Japan
Species: Human
Height: 1.79 m (5′ 10½”)
Weight: 54 kg (119 lbs)
Occupation: Detective, Serial Killer

Powers & Abilities

Intelligence:
-He was already the number one student in Japan before the beginning of the series.
-Carefully made sure to test out the Death Note without raising suspicion after getting it.
-He plans out way ahead in how he uses the Death Note.
–Started out by just killing off criminals with heart attacks to make the world aware of him, then decided to start manipulating the time of deaths in order to make Interpol aware of his capabilities.
-Planned for L to be found by Police rather than Light himself finding him.
-Designed a special setup in his desk cabinet to make sure his Death Note would be safely hidden.
-Thought ahead and kept a stock of criminals to test the limits of the Death Note.
-Thought of a plan to keep suspicion off of him by causing a bus hijacking.
-He was able to use the information at his disposal in order to trick an FBI member into killing the rest of the agents sent to Japan investigating the Kira case.
-He can manipulate most situations into giving him information for future use.
– He plans in advance and sets deaths up a week in advance in the off chance that he goes to the hospital or something similar like that.
-He has made specific precautions to make sure if someone’s gone into his room or not. Just from small details, he figured out that his room and house were full of cameras and microphones.
-He was able to convince the neutral Ryuk into helping him locate all the cameras in his room.
-Almost immediately thought of a way to continue his killing actions in his room despite there being 64 Cameras in there through the legendary potato chip scene.
-He is a great hacker all around.
–Hacked into the Yotsuba Company and the NPA Computers on multiple occasions.
-His intelligence has even been complimented by L himself, to the point where L even asked for Light to join the investigation of the Kira case despite being suspicious of him.
-Actively had his memory removed so he wouldn’t be caught.
-He was able to delay Yotsuba’s plans to kill more people by a month.
-Not only did he devise an extremely complex plan involving the loss of his own memory, but despite it being insanely centered around pure luck it went off without a hitch.
–Planned down to the most minute details like if Misa forgot L’s real name, or how he’d write the current owner of his old Death Note, Hikuchi, without L noticing.
-As L, kept the world on a leash of careful planning, tricking it into his hands.
-He was then dealing with 2 of L’s Successors who were just as efficient as the first one, and actually managed to take one of them down.

Acting:
-Skilled at acting completely collected during a situation.
-Usually, he uses this for most of his plans at getting information.
-He can play the cold killer Kira when delivering public messages or he can play the calm-minded genius and college student Light Yagami.
-He can even perfectly act like he’s got some form of Split Personality.
-Tricked L into thinking he had a split personality that was Kira.
-Uses this as a way to manipulate others for his plans.
-Acted as L, Watari, Kira, and Light on a near-constant basis.

Equipment

Death Note:
-The Notebook of a Shinigami.
-The Notebook has a set of rules that Ryuk himself wrote down in the book.
-Anyone who possesses the Death Note or even a small piece of it can see Ryuk.
-The human whose name is written in the book will die.
-The Note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing their name.
-If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen.
-If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.
-After writing the cause of death, details on the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
-If the cause of death is written as a heart attack, the time of death can be manipulated.
-Unlike Shinigami, Light doesn’t extend his life by killing people.
-The cause of death can be manipulated as much as Light wants as long as it is within the realm of possibility.
–Can’t make someone go from Japan at 5:30 to France at 6:00 in order to die.
–Can’t make someone say or draw something that they don’t actually know.
–It will just default to a Heart Attack in this case.
-Anything can be used to write in the Death Note as long as it is able to make understandable letters.
-Anyone can use the Death Note as effectively as Light as long as they have even a small piece of paper from it.
-It can set the deaths of targets in advance as long as he puts the name in front of the cause and time of death.
-It won’t affect those under 780 Days Old.
-The Death Note becomes useless if a name is spelled 4 times wrong.
-The Death Note will not have an effect if an alias is written down.
-It can’t have someone die in a way that will immediately end the lives of others.
–Will default to a heart attack.
-Suicide as a cause of death is viable.
-It can change the cause of death as long as it’s within 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
-If Light loses the Death Note he has 490 days before he loses complete ownership of it.
–Will need to retrieve it in that time.
-Can lend people the Death Note to be used.
–Those people borrowing it will not be followed by a Shinigami.
-Can’t kill people the age of 124 and onward.
-Can’t kill people with only 12 minutes to live left.
-The Death Note will never run out of pages.
-It can erase his memories by relinquishing ownership of the Death Note back to a Shinigami.

Pocket Watch:
-It’s normally just a watch for telling time.
-After some improvements by Light, it now contains a scrap of the Death Note.
-It also contains a small needle that he can use to prick his finger to write someone’s name in blood.
-Light’s secret weapon.

Ryuk:
-The Shinigami bound to Light’s original Death Note.
-Ryuk has his own Death Note.
-Ryuk was able to trick the king of the Shinigami into giving him a second Death Note.
-He was pretty much the entire reason the series began, all because he was bored.
-Wrote down the rules of the Death Note for a human to read.
-Ryuk must follow Light wherever he goes.
-No one can see Ryuk unless they touch the Death Note.
-With Ryuk, Light can make the Eye Deal, allowing Light to see the names and lifespans of anyone he looks at. Ryuk himself already has these eyes himself.
-Ryuk can obviously write down names in his Death Note with the same rules as Light’s Death Note.
-The only way to kill a Shinigami is by tricking them into extending the life of a human.
-Things like stabbing or firearms can’t kill Ryuk.
-Ryuk CAN and HAS killed Light.
-He can be tempted to assist Light using apples.
–Helped Light locate all the cameras in his house
–Helped Light make sure he wasn’t being followed
–However, he will not do drastic things such as revealing an enemy’s identity, as that will result in directly extending Light’s life, and thus, Ryuk’s death.
-Has made it very clear over the series that he is not there to help Light or his enemies.
-Anything he does for Light is purely for his own benefit.
-He can phase through walls.
-He can fly.
-Overall kinda useless.

Scythe:
-A bladed weapon that has never been used in canon.
-Light has been depicted wielding it in several volume covers and Jump Ultimate Stars.
-In JUS, the Death Note is able to transform into this scythe.
-Since it isn’t canon, it won’t be taken into consideration for the verdict, and will only be there for entertainment purposes.

Feats

Strength

*Claims he could probably overpower a grown woman.
*Can do a bit of damage to L with his punches.
*Sent L flying across a small room with a single punch to the face.
*Knocked away an officer, Mogi’s, hand
*Generally has the same physicality as any slightly fit adult.

Speed

*Generally a pretty quick thinker.
*Keeps up with L in a game of Tennis.
**L was a Junior Champion over in Britain.

Durability

*Had the stamina to write names down for 4 days straight with barely any sleep.
**Consider also that he’s still a student taking classes.
*Usually takes attacks from L.
*He was still moving after being shot in the hand.
*Survived a gunshot to the side.
*Despite sustaining two bullet wounds, dragged himself away towards Ryuk.

Skill

*Surprised even Ryuk with the progress he made only five days after getting the Death Note.
*Became a center of attention for Interpol because of his actions.
*Became such a problem that Interpol required the assistance of L.
*Ended up becoming an ultimate rival to L.
*Throughout a good portion of the manga, he repeatedly came up with complex plans to avoid being caught.
*Outsmarted the NPA on a few occasions.
*He was the Junior High Champion Tennis Player in 1999 and 2000
*Beat L in a game of Tennis
*Became the object of affection for Misa Amane, a popular pop idol.
*Entered a relationship with Misa.
*He was close to finding L’s true identity.
*Found a way to completely erase his memories of his life as Kira.
*Joined L and the rest of the task force in an effort to stop Kira.
*L himself said Light would make a great successor.
*Not only did he devise an extremely complex plan involving the loss of his own memory, but despite it being insanely centered around pure luck it went off without a hitch as he planned.
*Tricked the Shinigami Rem into killing L.
*In the process, he also killed Watari and the Shinigami Rem.
*Became L.
*For 5 years acted as both Kira and L ruling over the world with his Death Note.
*Began dealing with the “True Successors” Mello and Near.
*Gained the favor of Teru Mikami, a loyal follower of Kira’s ideology.
*He was able to deal with Mello after an arduous process, although it ultimately failed.

Weaknesses

*His physical stats are essentially just that of normal humans.
*He requires the face and real name of someone before he can kill them.
*He is very unwilling to take the Eye Deal.
*MASSIVE God Complex.
*Some of Light’s better plans required the use/help of other people.
*His normal personality (Should he erase his memories again) won’t manipulate the emotions of others, especially women.
*Ryuk is capable of killing Light.
*It is a rule that those who own Death Note will be killed by the Shinigami.
**Ryuk is unwilling to give the names and faces of people to Light.
**Ryuk will not interfere and stop someone from killing Light, as that’ll kill him too.
*Without access to even a scrap of the Death Note’s paper, Light pretty much can’t do anything.
*He goes a bit insane if he’s backed into an extremely desperate situation.
**When he was close to being caught, he begged for Ryuk to kill his enemies, which is what got Ryuk to finally kill Light.
*Ryuk himself doesn’t seem to understand the full capabilities of the Death Note.

Look around you, and all you will see are people the world would be better off without.

---

Junko Enoshima

(The original bio was made by Unserious Sam on DeviantArt)

Background

Despair. Hopelessness. Hatred. Those conditions were the only things Junko Enoshima and her sister Mukuro Ikusaba had when they were children. However, despite all the pain she suffered, Junko was bored with the world due to her immense intellect and analytical prowess. That’s why she teamed up with her sister, who was known as the Ultimate Soldier, to create a new world. A world full of nothing but Despair. She started to plan a Tragedy that would require infiltrating Hope’s Peak Academy, a prestigious high school that served as a home for the world’s most talented teenagers, the Ultimate symbols of Hope. While investigating the academy, Junko found out about a genetically engineered student known as Izuru Kamukura, the Ultimate Hope. Junko turned Kamukura into her ally and created a “despair video”, containing a recording of one of Hope’s Peak’s classes taking part in a miniature killing game. Junko captured Chisa Yukizome, one of the teachers of the academy, and showed her this Despair video, brainwashing her into becoming an ally of the Ultimate Despair. With Chisa’s cooperation, she captured the pupils of Class 77-B and turned them into Ultimate Despairs by showing them the long-drawn execution of their beloved classmate, Chiaki Nanami. When word of these events came out to the public, the entire world began to sink under Despair, and the few Ultimates that remained sane were put inside Hope’s Peak as a bunker to protect the last remnants of Hope… But Junko had different plans for them, as she infiltrated the group alongside Mukuro, and organized a new Killing Game after erasing the Ultimates’ memories.

Junko Enoshima
Aliases: Ultimate Fashionista, Ultimate Despair, The Mastermind, Ryōko Otonashi
First Appearance: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (2010)
Age: Approximately 20
Birthplace: Japan
Species: Human
Height: 1.69 m (5’7″)
Weight: 45 kg (99 lbs)
Occupation: Terrorist, Model, Analyst, Student

Powers & Abilities

Intelligence:
-She is easily one of the smartest characters in Danganronpa.
-As she has spent time as The Ultimate Analyst, she is an absolute expert at analyzing people, getting a read on their mentalities and emotions.
-To a certain degree, she’s able to copy people’s talents.
-She can manipulate others to do whatever she wants, by whatever means works.
-Constantly shifts her personality, which makes it rather difficult for people to get a good read on her.
-She can seemingly plan things several years in advance.

Despair:
-As The Ultimate Despair, her main “weapon”.
-Stated to “infect anyone she meets using despair”.
-This is her main method of affecting people, trying to make them lose hope and motivation, allowing her to manipulate them as she sees fit.
-To affect someone with Despair, she can use “Despair Videos” that make the viewer want to kill themselves.
–These videos usually contain violent or sickening imagery that no regular person can stomach.

Equipment

Monokuma:
-A robotic bear that she can control.
-Often used as an alias/disguise.
-Monokuma’s physical prowess is so immense that it can trade blows with the strongest humans in the world, such as Nekomaru Nidai or Sakura Ogami.
-If a Monokuma is destroyed, it will simply respawn.
-Each Monokuma contains a bomb that could explode if necessary.
-Normal Monokumas have a set of claws that can casually tear through a human being.
-There are several variations of Monokuma. (NOTE: These variations have never been strictly controlled by Junko herself, but they were included for entertainment purposes, just like Light’s scythe.)

-Ball Monokumas try to crush their victims by rolling into them.
–They also throw trash.

-Beast Monokumas walk on all fours and act more ferociously.

-Bomber Monokumas carry a bucket full of explosives and wear body armor.
–Not very intelligent, since their explosives can be used against them.

-Guard Monokumas wear full body armor and carry duralumin shields.

-Junk Monokumas are larger in size, more durable, and more vicious.

Baseball Bat:
-A regular bat.
-Seems to be her main choice of weapon should the situation call for a direct conflict.
-Used in her fight with Juzo Sakakura.

Ice Pick:
-A regular ice pick.
-A good short-range stabbing weapon.
-Tried to kill her sister and Izuru Kamukura with it.

Knife:
-A standard combat knife.
-Used to attempt to kill Makoto Naegi.

Wallet Bomb:
-An explosive disguised as a wallet.
-Left it as a “tip” to a taxi driver.

Grenade:
-A regular grenade.
-Pull the pin, and it goes kaboom.

Spears of Gungnir:
-The weapons used in her sister’s execution.
-The victim’s body gets pierced by fifteen spears.

The 1000 Blows:
-A rapid-fire Baseball Machine Gun.
-Used during the execution of Leon Kuwata.

Motorcycle:
-A motorcycle that was used in The Cage of Death, the execution of Mondo Owada.
-Can be used as if it were a normal motorcycle.
-Can somehow move fast enough to liquefy someone.

Firetruck:
-Used during The Burning of the Versailles Witch, the execution of Celestia Ludenberg.
-Can run down people with it.
-Serves all the other functions of a firetruck.

Bulldozer:
-A Bulldozer used during Excavator Destroyer, the execution of Alter Ego.
-Can crush or bash people with the crane of it.
-Likely serves the other functions of a Bulldozer.

Spaceship:
-The rocket used during Blast Off, the execution of Jin Kirigiri.
-Fast enough to fly into space in just a couple of seconds.
-As it plunges back towards Earth right after, it is unknown whether this can fully function as a rocket or it was just designed for killing others.

Ultimate Gamer’s Punishment:
-The labyrinth used in Chiaki Nanami’s execution.
-A massive labyrinth full of deadly traps, such as:

–Floor spikes.

–Small cannonballs.

–Circular saw blades.

–Large rolling stones.

–Projectile blades.

Feats

Strength

*Smashed a shelf of anime with a baseball bat.
*Knocked Makoto Naegi out with a single strike.
*Casually tossed a metal wrench across a hallway before it crashed and got stuck into a wooden pillar.
*Beat Juzo Sakakura, the Ultimate Boxer, in a fight.
*Superior to Leon Kuwata, who badly damaged a Monokuma.

Speed

*Comparable to Yasuhiro Hagakure, a non-combative student who dodged gunfire from a helicopter.
*Able to perform attacks at superhuman speeds.
*Somewhat comparable to her sister Mukuro, who was able to dodge an explosion from Monokuma.
*When controlling Monokuma, she was able to react to Sakura Ogami’s blows.

Durability

*Survived massive abuse from the Ultimate Punishment.
*Survived getting blasted by one thousand/one million baseballs in the chest at high speed.
*Survived riding on a motorcycle in an electrified cage that was intense enough to liquefy someone.
*Survived getting burned alive.
*Tanked getting crushed by a firetruck with no injuries whatsoever.
*Tanked getting pounded by a bulldozer at high speeds without even budging an inch.
*Survived getting launched out of orbit in a rocket before said rocket turned back and crashed into Earth.
**When she did this to Jin Kirigiri, he got reduced to a mere skeleton.
*Took a casual beating from Izuru Kamukura.
*Endured getting her head stomped on by Izuru Kamukura. This, however, knocked her out.

Skill

*Essentially took over Hope’s Peak Academy.
*Managed to convince Izuru Kamukura, a being created to be talented at everything to the point of boredom, to assist her in her conquests.
*Also managed to convince her sister, Mukuro Ibusaba, A.K.A. the Ultimate Soldier, to become the Despair Sisters with her.
*Directly started The Tragedy, an event that literally put the world into an apocalypse.
*Indirectly caused 2,357 reserve course students to commit suicide.
*Managed to turn Class 77-B into Ultimate Despair.
**She did this by forcing them to watch the execution of their class representative, Chiaki Nanami.
*Indirectly caused the deaths of 10 out of 16 of the Class 78 students.
*Created a perfect copy of an Artificial Intelligence created by the Ultimate Programmer without help.
**Said AI was able to infiltrate into the Future Foundation’s simulation of Jabberwock Island and gained complete control of it.
**AI Junko managed to organize a new killing game and forced Hajime Hinata to turn back into Izuru Kamukura.
*Took in the Warriors of Hope before they committed suicide, teaching them her ways and causing Monaca Towa to want to continue her legacy.
*She was an indirect cause of the Towa City Disaster.
*Even after her death, the world became obsessed with her, to the point of people trying to impregnate her corpse.

Weaknesses

*Despite having blatant superhuman physicality, she’s far from being one of the strongest characters in the series.
*Not a direct fighter often, preferring to manipulate others.
*Obsessed with Despair to a fault.
**Will kill her most loved ones to bring herself into despair.
**Can leave holes in her plans, likely so that she has a chance to feel despair.
*Strong-willed people are able to overcome her despair.
*Would likely need preparation time to make the perfect executions for her targets.
*Monokumas are a lot deadlier than her, and without them, she doesn’t have much to work with.
*Fodder automated Monokumas aren’t as smart or durable as the one Junko controls.
*Fodder Monokumas have a weak spot in their left eyes.

If someone like me is born, that means the world is yearning for despair.

League of Villains VS Claw – DEATH BATTLE! (Parts 1-3)

Nocturn: “Okay, Season Finale time. Let’s make this one to remember!”

Kirsche: “The evil armies are prepared, and the bosses are on the edge of their seats!”

Nocturn: “Yeah, the bets have been placed, and the combatants are set. It’s time for a DEATH BAAAAAAATTLEEEEEEE!”

Simon Belmont VS Shovel Knight – DEATH BATTLE!

Brain: “Alright, the combatants are set. Let’s end this “debate” once and for all.”

Nocturn: “Your lack of subtlety is disturbing. But anyway, it’s time for a DEATH BATTLE!”

---

Long ago, there was a legend of a mystical locket with the ability to heal any illness.
It could even bring back the dead, as well as those that were possessed by the foul demons that plagued the land.
Many people traveled far and wide to find this powerful relic, all for their own reasons.
However, while some of the warriors who sought after it were noble and had motives guided by pure kindness, others wanted to use that power to selfishly cheat death or create armies of unlimited power.
Fortunately, the locket was guarded by a powerful knight known as Specter Knight, who kept the relic safe in the ruins of the Lich Yard.
Specter Knight has fought off all the people who were searching for the locket, regardless of their intentions. A radical method, for sure, but it has prevented many evil men from committing atrocious acts.
On this dark day, a mighty warrior has already fallen before the ghostly scytheman, but it won’t be the only battle he’ll fight today…

A knight with dark golden armor and a long crimson cloak sat on an elevated platform while holding a large scythe. He sulked as he looked over the ruins of the Lich Yard. Miles upon miles of dark red soil adorned only by dead trees, tombstones, and destroyed houses. Below him was the upper half of a charred skeleton, likely the result of a previous battle. In the distant horizon, a mighty warrior approached.

He was a tall man of athletic build with shoulder-length red hair. His outfit was composed of black and red leather body armor, black shorts, and a metallic belt. His hands and legs were covered with pairs of leather gloves and boots. In his right hand was what appeared to be a rolled-up whip. He menacingly walked up to Specter Knight, causing surprise upon the guardian of the Lich Yard.

“Halt! These lands are not for mortals to tread so lightly. Begone, lest a terrible fate shall befall you.” The cloaked scytheman warned the leather-clad warrior, who stepped forward.

“I am no mere mortal, wraith. The name is Simon Belmont, wielder of the holy whip. I have come from Wallachia to find the treasure of this land.” The man introduced himself. In his mind, Specter Knight thought “Not this nonsense again…”, but instead of ignoring the unwanted visitor, he jumped up from the platform, landing in front of him. Donovan took out his scythe and pointed it at Simon.

“Your name and objective matter not. The Lich Yard is a forbidden place. If you don’t take your leave immediately, I shall cut you down.” The member of the Order of No Quarter threatened Belmont, his cloak flowing while he did so.

“Your threats carry as much weight as your spectral body. Not even Death itself has been able to kill me!” Simon replied as he cracked his whip.

“We shall see about that.” The specter leaped towards Simon and prepared to deliver a downwards diagonal Dash Slash, but before the scythe reached him, the vampire hunter grabbed it with one hand and slammed it onto the ground with Specter Knight alongside it, making a loud CRASH sound. Before Simon could attack him again, Specter wrapped his cloak around himself and teleported behind the whip-wielder. However, this turned out to be a bad idea, as Belmont then turned around while swinging his whip.

The whip coiled around Donovan’s midsection and arms, immobilizing him. While his opponent was bound, Simon threw a small flask full of a transparent liquid at the knight, with it shattering the moment it came into contact with Specter Knight’s armor. The liquid soaked Donovan’s entire body. Although he couldn’t tell what it was, he felt a massive amount of pain coursing through his ethereal body.

“W-what is this!?” Donovan asked as he noticed that his body was starting to catch fire.

“Holy Water, the perfect weapon to fight monsters of the night. Waste not thine breath, and tell me where I can find the treasure of the land before you melt away.” Simon pulled his whip while ordering the dying wraith around.

“The locket… It’s hidden in a room beneath some stairs underground… Heh… It appears that my time has come. Good job, Belmont. You managed to kill someone that was already dead…” The Specter Knight spewed a last sentence before he and his armor turned into nothing more than a pile of golden ash. Simon then turned around, only to see a man of short stature dressed in a full suit of blue armor. Due to his attire, none of his features were discernible, but Simon could tell that he was glaring at him intensely.

“I believe this is the trinket that you are looking for.” The blue-clad knight held up a golden locket, shocking Simon.

“H-how did you manage to find it!?” Simon exclaimed as he took a step forward.

“While you were busy fighting Specter Knight, I took it upon myself to search every last inch of the Lich Yard.” The blue knight elaborated.

“I see… Now, if you were so kind as to hand over that amulet, that would be much appreciated.” Simon asked for the treasure, but the knight put it in his pocket.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible. I need it… To save her…” The blue knight clenched his fist as a melancholic tone filled his voice.

“Humble knight, we all have wishes we want to have granted to us, but the mere existence of that mystic trinket is an anomaly. I understand that your goal is not one brought on by malice, but if that amulet were to end up in the hands of someone evil, this whole world would be in severe danger.” Simon explained with an honest look on his face.

“Your intentions sound sincere, but… I need to save her as soon as possible, or the land will be in even greater danger. If you don’t cease your attempts to convince me, I will have to force you to leave.” The blue knight responded, causing Simon to shake his head in disappointment.

“So be it. Draw your weapon!” Simon said as he held his whip in a battle-ready stance. In response, the blue knight took out a large shovel with a blue blade. It had been modified to seem more like a sword. Simon, however, was shocked by it. “That’s an… odd choice for a weapon.”

“Don’t underestimate the power of the Shovel Blade. I, Shovel Knight, will show you my resolve! For Shovelry!” The blue knight brandished his weapon, ready to fight the vampire killer.

The Blue Burrower began the match by running towards Simon and swinging the Shovel Blade at him, with Simon quickly stepping back to dodge and retaliating with a quick diagonal swing of his whip, which made a loud CLANG sound upon touching the knight’s armor. The impact made Shovel Knight slide back slightly, and before he could close the distance again, he was met by another swing of the Vampire Killer, which he tried to block with his left gauntlet.

After blocking the blow, Shovel Knight charged at Simon and swung his weapon at him at a diagonal angle, hitting Simon’s side with the blunt part of the Shovel Blade, forcing his body to jerk back due to the pain. The Blue Burrower quickly followed up with another swing of his shovel, striking Belmont’s chest piece.

Shovel Knight attempted to perform a third swing, but Simon blocked the attack by holding the upper part of his whip and the handle at the same time, making the body of the whip tighten. Due to the block, Shovel Knight staggered for a moment, which Simon took advantage of by delivering a kick to the blue knight’s helmet.

Simon then swung his whip, hitting the knight’s chest plate. The vampire hunter repeatedly flogged his target with his whip until Shovel Knight grabbed the body of the holy whip and tugged at it, pulling Simon closer. Once the redhead was near enough, Shovel Knight slammed the Shovel Blade on his head and followed that attack with a punch to the chest.

Before the Ghost of Shovels could attack again, Simon took out what appeared to be a grey shield made of bone-like materials. This was due to the fact that it was forged using the ribs of Dracula himself. The Blue Burrower swung his blade at the vampire hunter twice, but with his fast reflexes, Simon was able to block both attacks with his shield.

Thinking quickly, Shovel Knight leaped above Simon and used a Shovel Drop, consisting of him holding the handle of his shovel with both hands and pointing the blade downwards in midair. Before the blade cut him, Belmont raised his shield over his head, blocking the blow.

The vampire hunter felt the weight of his enemy on top of him before he suddenly pushed the shield up again, shaking Shovel Knight off. The Ghost of Shovels performed a flip before landing, impressing Simon. The vampire killer spun his whip quickly, performing a trick move before flogging the Blue Burrower’s legs. Instead of backing up like a normal person would, Shovel Knight chuckled.

“Hah! Do you really intend to harm me with those feeble swings? Such weak whipping is almost pleasant to receive!” The Knight taunted the vampire hunter while crossing his arms.

“Pleasant, you say? Such freakish tastes! I must make sure to use the full power of the Vampire Killer, then!” Simon retorted before gripping his weapon tight. The leather whip emitted a bright light before it transmuted into a metallic chain whip with a spiked flail attached to its tip. Shovel Knight returned to his fighting stance, ready to take on the new version of the Vampire Killer.

Simon quickly waved his metallic whip at the knight, intending to hit him with the spiked ball at the end of the whip. Predicting the trajectory of the whip, Shovel Knight placed his weapon in front of him, blade pointing up. The spiked ball collided with the shovel’s blade, bouncing right back.

Simon repeated the maneuver again in an attempt to catch Shovel Knight off guard, but the man in blue armor swung the shovel, deflecting the flail back at Simon, who grabbed it with his hand before it reached him. Simon tried to swing the whip again, but Shovel Knight used his blade to deflect it once more, this time swinging it down, causing the flail to hit the ground.

The vampire hunter smirked as he raised his whip at a great speed. Since Shovel Knight hadn’t moved his weapon yet, he saw the chains of Simon’s whip coiling around the shaft of the Shovel Blade. Belmont then reeled in his whip, taking the Shovel Blade away from its owner’s hands. Simon grabbed the weaponized gardening tool with the same hand he was using to hold his shield.

“I shall hold onto this.” The redhead exclaimed as he hid away the Shovel Blade behind his shield. The knight, now empty-handed, put his hands on his hips.

“Fret not, warrior. I still have plenty of tricks up my proverbial sleeve.” The blue knight scoffed at his opponent’s naïveté as he brandished a golden staff with a red jewel encrusted on its tip. It was none other than the Flare Wand, a powerful relic with pyrokinetic abilities. Simon furrowed his brows upon noticing the weapon, but he remained undeterred by the new threat.

Shovel Knight waved the wand at Belmont while taking a step back, three fireballs shooting out of the staff’s tip. Simon quickly swung his whip twice, doing away with the first two fireballs. Before the third one reached him, he used his shield to protect himself from it. Due to the magical properties of the protective weapon, instead of dissipating, the fireball bounced right off the shield.

Noticing the change in the trajectory of what used to be his own projectile, Shovel Knight fired another shot of the Flare Wand. The two fireballs collided mid-flight, causing a small explosion. Shovel Knight then ran towards his foe while filling the Flare Wand with energy, only to perform a leap and then firing a fireball in a diagonal trajectory, aimed at Simon’s feet. The vampire hunter jumped back before being hit by the fireball, which left a small flaming crater on the ground.

“Hmph. It appears I am going to have to fight fire with fire.” Simon stated to himself as he began to ignite his left hand with the Sacred Flame. This match had only just begun.

Simon’s hand shot out a stream of flames, which Shovel Knight dodged by rolling. As Simon kept on firing, the Blue Burrower did his best to try to dodge the flames. During one of his rolls, he used the Flare Rod to shoot a fireball at Simon at close range, however, not only did the fireball rebound off of Simon’s shield, but the knight was also struck by the flames that Simon was using. Shovel Knight’s armor was set ablaze by both of the projectiles.

Nevertheless, much to the vampire hunter’s surprise, the knight walked away from the flames completely untouched while carrying the locket that Simon was looking for. In Simon’s point of view, Shovel Knight appeared as a semi-transparent silhouette. Belmont attempted to whip his opponent, but his weapon phased right through the knight.

The Blue Burrower approached Simon as he tried to continuously swing his whip at him, all of the attacks phasing through him. Once he got close enough, the knight reeled back his fist. Simon, expecting him to phase through the punch, let his guard down, but that was his undoing, seeing as the knight returned to normal as soon as he threw the punch, hitting the vampire hunter right in the face and pushing him back.

“If you’ll excuse me, I would like to have this back,” Shovel Knight said as he stepped back and took out a large fishing rod. He threw the line at the downed Belmont, whose guard had been lowered. The hook of the fishing rod attached itself to the handle of the Shovel Blade, and the Blue Burrower reeled it in, recovering his prized possession.

Still wielding the fishing rod, Shovel Knight looked at Simon as he got up from the floor. Without saying a word, the vampire hunter waved his chain whip at the blue knight, who tried to intercept the attack by casting his line at the whip. The hook of the fishing rod got caught between one of the gaps in the chains. As a response, both of the warriors reeled in their weapons, causing them to tense up. Logically, the fragile line of the fishing rod was torn apart due to the pressure of the opposing forces.

“Do not bring a fishing tool to a whip fight.” Simon scoffed as his opponent discarded the broken rod. “By the by, I should mention that you are not the only one with deep pockets here.” The vampire hunter took out two flasks of Holy Water and threw them at the blue knight. Remembering what the liquid did to Specter Knight, the Blue Burrower quickly swung his shovel and broke the two glass bottles before they reached him, spilling the contents on the floor. The puddle of water briefly caught fire, with the flames dying out almost instantly.

“You lectured me about peculiar weapons, only to throw bottles of water at me? Your hypocrisy disturbs me.” Shovel Knight sarcastically lectured the redhead, only to be met with an annoyed groan and another flask of Holy Water thrown at him. Shovel Knight ducked, barely avoiding the fiery projectile.

In retaliation, the shovel wielder threw a peculiar green orb at the vampire hunter. Simon jumped over the green orb, but due to its erratic pattern, it bounced off the floor, reaching a nearby platform, of which it bounced off again, moving toward Simon’s back. The orb collided with the wielder of the holy whip, forcing him to hunch over in pain.

Despite its collision with Belmont, the Chaos Orb passed right through him, continuing its irregular trajectory. The magical weapon hastily approached the knight who originally launched it, but the Ghost of Shovels thought quickly and slammed his blade on the Orb of Chaos, making it rebound towards Simon once again, striking him in the stomach. Afterward, the Chaos Orb disappeared after phasing through Belmont’s body.

Annoyed by the tricks that his short opponent was pulling, Simon brandished six daggers, three on each hand. Belmont threw the first batch with his left hand, and roughly two seconds later, he followed up with the next one. Shovel Knight tried to cover himself with his weapon, but he was only able to stop two knives that were aimed at his face. The rest of the knives all managed to pierce the knight’s armor. Two of them stabbed each of the knight’s legs, easily tearing through his marine blue chainmail leggings. The remaining two daggers both pierced the Blue Burrower’s chest plate, but they didn’t cut deep enough to reach his vitals.

The Ghost of Shovels forced the daggers off his armor and legs, the ones coming from the latter being stained with blood. Trying to cover up his pain, Shovel Knight took out a dark blue anchor and chucked it at Simon, who quickly countered the attack by taking out an axe and throwing it at the anchor. The collision caused both of the projectiles to return to their owners, who casually caught them in midair.

Shovel Knight attempted to attack again, this time throwing two anchors at the same time, briefly spinning in place before chucking them at Belmont. The vampire hunter stepped backward to dodge the first one. The second one was deflected by using the axe to strike the anchor in midair, sending it flying to the left. However, Shovel Knight wasn’t done yet.

While Simon was distracted by the Throwing Anchors, the Blue Burrower jumped up while holding another anchor, using the momentum to dive anchor-first at Simon. Shocked, the vampire slayer tried to counterattack as quickly as he could by using his axe to slice Shovel Knight’s anchor in half.

“Caught you.” Shovel Knight said as he let go of the split anchor, only to grab Simon by the head. The knight then balanced himself, performing a handstand on top of Belmont, which he then followed by using his whole weight to create a makeshift human catapult, letting himself drop while launching Simon backward in an acrobatic fashion. Simon’s body rapidly traveled across the battlefield until he collided with a wall. Shovel Knight made a quick dash to reach his opponent’s landing site.

The bruised vampire killer struggled to get up as he saw his rival approaching. Wanting to keep Shovel Knight at bay, Simon took out what seemed to be a Christian Cross and hurled it at the approaching knight. The Ghost of Shovels, who was ready for such an assault, began to spin his Shovel Blade at a great speed, causing the cross to rebound back to Simon, who grabbed it again as he looked at his foe, who was now much closer than before.

The blue knight, ready to attack his enemy, put on a pair of large yellow gauntlets, the Dust Knuckles. Anticipating an attack, Simon lobbed his cross at the knight again, but this time, the Blue Burrower caught the cross in midair with his gauntlets. He then clenched his fist, breaking the weapon apart.

The owner of the cross let out a frustrated “Tch…” as Shovel Knight reeled back his fist and delivered a potent jab, which Simon tried to block with his shield, but the sheer force of Shovel Knight’s punch threw him back, pinning him against the wall.

“Taste justice!” The Ghost of Shovels exclaimed as he threw yet another punch, this time even harder than before. While Simon was able to block the attack again, the power behind the blow sent him flying through the wall, leaving a large hole in it. Shovel Knight rushed after his flying foe, heading back into the main section of the Lich Yard. While the knight chased after him, Simon’s body had a rough landing, spinning several times on the floor, leaving him even more bruised than before. Once Simon managed to get up, the blue shovel wielder caught up with him.

“There you are! Apologies for being so rough, but the situation required it. Now, for Shovelry, I must finish you off.” Shovel Knight took off the Dust Knuckles and brandished his Shovel Blade once again.

“As if. The pride of the Belmont Clan won’t give up so easily. I refuse to be done in by a mere gardening tool!” Simon said as he stood up proudly for his family while wielding the legendary Vampire Killer whip.

“Do not mock the Code of Shovelry, Belmont!” The blue knight said, irritated by Simon’s words. However, while the two warriors conversed with each other, many creatures appeared around them…

“I suggest you pay attention. It appears we are surrounded by the undead inhabitants of this land.” Simon looked around to see a horde of skeletons, ghosts, and frogs approaching in great number.

“Hmph. That seems to be the case. Do not expect me to cover you, Belmont. This is still a duel between us two.” The knight retorted as he prepared to slay the new enemies that were surrounding them. All Simon did in response was nod and smile.

A group of skeletons wearing body armor and wielding cutlasses charged forward, surrounding the two warriors. Determined, Simon swung his whip horizontally, sweeping several of the undead monsters while shattering their bones instantly. The Ghost of Shovels slammed his weapon onto the chest of the skeleton in front of him, the shock causing the zombie’s skull to fall off. Before it fell to the ground, Shovel Knight grabbed the skull and lobbed it like a baseball pitcher would. The makeshift projectile was able to strike the head of one of the other skeletons, breaking it to pieces.

A few of the Boneclangs leaped towards Simon, ready to strike him down. The vampire hunter quickly stepped back and waved his whip upwards in an arc-like pattern, repelling the enemies. Shovel Knight jumped up with his blade pointing down and dropped his whole weight on the unfortunate Boneclang that was below him, whose skull was crushed like a watermelon in a summer festival. Defying all laws of physics, the Blue Burrower pogoed off the skeleton’s body and performed another Shovel Drop on a nearby enemy. After pulverizing another Boneclang, the knight landed on the floor and began to smash his shovel onto any and all skeletons that were close to him.

As Simon’s rival kept on destroying enemies, the whip-wielder kept up his assault until he noticed a slightly larger Boneclang wearing a crown several times the size of its head. The Boneclang Honcho charged towards the vampire killer, but before it could reach him, Simon summoned what appeared to be a book with the words “Holy Bible” written on its cover. The holy scriptures began to orbit around Belmont, and once the Boneclang Honcho attempted to strike Simon, the book intercepted the hit. Due to its holy aura, the book repelled the blow and instantly turned the skeleton into dust, leaving nothing but its large crown behind.

Shovel Knight tossed a large golden coin at the crowd of skeletons. As soon as it made contact with one of the Boneclangs, it transmuted it into a mere jewel. The blue knight approached the valuable collectible, but before he could pick it up, his arm was hit by the tip of Simon’s whip, the spiked ball damaging his blue armor.

“Watch where you swing that thing, you barbarian!” Shovel Knight yelled out while striking some of the skeletons with his weapon.

“Need I remind you that this is still a duel between us? Just because some fools are meddling doesn’t mean we are allies.” Simon retorted while chucking bottles of Holy Water at the Boneclangs, melting them instantly. Angered, Shovel Knight tried to retaliate by performing a charged swing of his shovel at Simon, but the vampire killer was able to anticipate it, so he jumped above the knight, making the attack hit an unfortunate skeleton instead of the intended target.

Two large skeletons carrying curved blades and lanterns lit with blue flames started to approach the scene, making small tremors happen with every step they took. As a preemptive attack, Shovel Knight launched a large fish-shaped bomb at one of the Super Skeletons. Upon touching the floor, the bomb made a mad dash forward, soon crashing into the large enemy. The explosion was able to harm the skeleton, but it wasn’t enough to take it out.

While the Blue Burrower carefully swung his shovel at the monster, Simon chucked a piece of garlic at the monster, managing to insert the consumable into the beast’s mouth. The skeleton’s movements started to slow down due to the pain, and before it could move further, Simon wrapped his whip around a nearby Boneclang and threw it at the Super Skeleton, shattering both of their bodies with a loud CRASH sound.

Although Simon appeared to be doing well on his side of the defense, Shovel Knight wasn’t being so lucky. Many Boneclangs were surrounding him while he tried to fight off the Super Skeleton, and some electric frogs were hopping towards him. “You leave me no choice, then.” The knight said under his breath as he took out a large War Horn. He took a deep breath before blowing the horn with all his might.

FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The sound of the horn thundered throughout the whole kingdom, and the poor souls that were trying to attack Shovel Knight were all damaged by the potent soundwaves. This attack was enough to turn the Super Skeleton into a pile of lifeless bones, and even the electric frogs were damaged by the attack. Simon’s reaction to the attack simply had him covering his ears, but although he was not close to the attack’s range, he was pushed back a few meters.

Despite the annoyance of the Ghost of Shovels’ “musical” performance, Simon carried on fighting the monsters by heaving a large diamond at them, the jewel bouncing off the enemies it made contact with. With each bounce, the diamond got faster. Once the jewel returned to Belmont, he grabbed it in midair and launched it at Shovel Knight, who was able to react to it in time, deflecting it back at Simon with his weapon. The vampire hunter, expecting that move, crouched to dodge his projectile, which rebound off a nearby skeleton, flying over Simon’s head again and towards Shovel Knight. The jewel shattered the moment it made contact with the knight’s armor, and the impact pushed the knight into a large pile of bones.

From within the pile of bones, the Blue Burrower drank a red liquid out of a small glass bottle. It was none other than one of Plague Knight’s potions, the Fleet Flask. As soon as the knight ingested the red liquid, a green wall of flames burst out of the bone pile, and Shovel Knight started to relentlessly charge forward, his flaming barrier making short work of every foolish Boneclang that dared to attack him.

The enemy forces were on their last legs at this point. All that remained were a dozen skeletons and a pair of ghosts. Wanting to get this business over with, Simon summoned what seemed to be a soul. It was the spirit of Michael Gelhart Schneider, a famous soldier of old. His soul manifested itself as half of his armored body covered by an orange aura. Schneider brandished the crossbow that he used to wield in his prime and began to fire bolts at all the skeletons that Simon got close to while Simon himself and Shovel Knight used their main weapons to finish off the remaining ones.

After all the Boneclangs had been disposed of, Schneider automatically aimed at Shovel Knight, who was trying to slice the ghost enemies in half, only to have his shovel phase through the ethereal enemies as if he were waving the weapon at nothing. Much to his surprise, he felt a sudden sharp pain in his shoulder, caused by Schneider’s crossbow bolt.

“Curses! Not only are my attacks doing nothing to those ghosts, but Belmont’s familiar won’t stop pestering me either…” Shovel Knight uttered while he pulled the bloodstained arrow from his shoulder.

“Earthly weapons such as those won’t be able to harm those spirits, but my Vampire Killer will!” Ignoring the knight’s complaints, Simon casually swung his whip down, tearing both of the ghosts apart. With that last move, only Simon and Shovel Knight remained on the battlefield. Simon sat down for a moment, panting heavily. “Let’s take a small breather, shall we?” Simon said, tired from the fight. Shovel Knight nodded and lowered his Shovel Blade.

Shovel Knight looked at the horizon while Simon drank some water. He started to think to himself  “Simon is already wounded, and I still have the locket on me. If I were to escape now… He would not be able to catch up. It’s a cowardly move, but… I must save Shield Knight, no matter how…” Without uttering a word, Shovel Knight started to slowly walk away from Simon. He stopped in place… only to perform a quick hop and summon a small metallic platform held up by a large gear.

In hopes of going unnoticed, the Blue Burrower activated the Mobile Gear, trying not to make a sound and dashing away from the scene while Simon rested. The vampire hunter noticed Shovel Knight’s escape attempt, promptly getting up and running after the Mobile Gear. “Get back here, you Cerulean Coward!” Belmont yelled.

Shovel Knight stood on the Mobile Gear’s platform as if it were a surfboard, gaining more speed due to the sloped terrain of the Lich Yard while Belmont forced his tired legs to run as fast as they could. Given the severe difference in speed, the Mobile Gear had a major lead. Frustrated and out of breath, Simon stopped running, soon losing sight of his enemy.

“Curses! I lost him! I must catch up to him…” The vampire hunter blasphemed as he took out a small semi-transparent red orb and crouched next to a nearby ravine. After a few seconds, a small tornado came out of nowhere and picked Simon up. Belmont began piloting the wild wind while holding the red crystal and started to follow the blue knight’s trail.

The Blue Burrower’s makeshift vehicle had managed to get him out of the Lich Yard, having then reached the green scenery of the Plains of Passage. Shovel Knight looked back and saw that he had completely lost his rival. He let out a relieved breath, but the moment he did so, a long javelin flew past him, getting stuck in the soil as the Ghost of Shovels’ Mobile Gear dashed past it. Concerned, the knight turned his head again, only to see the red-haired vampire hunter riding a tornado and reeling his arm while holding a javelin identical to the one that he had just dodged.

“COOOOOOOOWAAAAAAAAARD!” Simon yelled, completely enraged. Shocked by Simon’s sudden comeback, sweat started running down Shovel Knight’s masked face. He leaned his body forward, increasing the speed of the Mobile Gear.

“You’ll never catch me, Belmont! Not when I shift into maximum overdrive!” The Blue Burrower exclaimed as he accelerated. Belmont threw the javelin at him, but the speed of the Mobile Gear allowed him to dodge it. In just a few seconds, Simon’s tornado managed to catch up with the Mobile Gear, to the point of being able to get right next to it. Simon prepared to strike at his enemy with another javelin.

“…I knew I should’ve gotten the Turbo…” The knight mumbled in disappointment while taking out a golden staff similar to the Flare Wand, this one being called the Flareo Rod. As Belmont got closer, Shovel Knight swung the Flareo Rod, unleashing a fiery explosion with an extremely loud BOOM! Despite the explosion’s small size, the close distance between Simon and Shovel Knight made this explosion deal plenty of damage to both combatants, with the shockwave knocking both of them off their rides.

Shovel Knight’s armored body was sent rolling downhill, ending up at the entrance of a small town. Meanwhile, Simon was sent in the opposite direction, falling into a nearby lake. The Blue Burrower coughed as he forced himself to stand up. Due to the explosion, his armor had been badly damaged. Noticing an armory in the vicinity, the knight tried to run as fast as he could to the establishment. Once inside, he took out a small sack full of gold and jewels and handed it to the blacksmith.

While the master of Shovelry did business, Simon attempted to escape from the lake, with his clothes and hair getting soaking wet. He tried to look for his foe, but all he found was the broken Mobile Gear lying at the end of the hill. Based on this fact, the vampire hunter deduced that Shovel Knight had taken shelter inside the town near the hill. Following his suspicions, he began to march onward to the small town.

Simon looked around the busy village, trying to avoid arousing suspicion. He looked at the town’s armory and saw its door opening. A knight of small stature wielding a shovel came out of it, but his armor was red and black. At first, Simon thought it was just a misunderstanding, but as soon as the knight noticed, he tried to run away. Shovel Knight, now wearing the Mail of Momentum, rushed through the streets of the town, being careful not to alert any of the denizens of the locale.

While the not-so-Blue Burrower tried to escape, Simon encountered a peculiar character. He had the same build as Shovel Knight and wore the exact same blue Stalwart Plate armor. He even carried a Shovel Blade! The only difference was…

…He had the head of a fish. The vampire hunter looked at the fishman with an incredibly confused expression, to which the anthropomorphic fish responded with an irritated “Is there something on my face?”

The fishman’s high-pitched voice was very different from Shovel Knight’s, leading Simon to believe that he had gotten the wrong guy. However, before he continued his search, he heard a loud CRASH! sound, caused by the Ghost of Shovels’ collision with some crates. The noise alerted the whip wielder, who rushed to the scene, only to see Shovel Knight using the Propeller Dagger to climb one of the houses. The knight started running on the rooftops of the town, trying to escape from his persecutor.

Thinking quickly, Simon leaped onto the boxes that Shovel Knight had toppled over, using them as a stepping stone to reach the roof of the building. Once he got a solid footing, he started chasing the shovel-wielding man. In an attempt to deter him, the redhead hurled knives at his enemy, but due to the Mail of Momentum, the knives didn’t cause the knight to flinch in the slightest.

Continuing the chase, the knight soon reached the edge of the city block’s rooftops, only to perform a running jump towards the next block, turning around in midair and throwing a Buzzsaw Boomerang at Simon. The vampire hunter dodged the projectile, but after outspeeding it, the boomerang performed a U-turn and made contact with Simon’s back, inserting itself into his body. Simon let out a groan of pain as he tried to catch up with the assailant, but making a short stop to force the buzzsaw out of his body.

During Belmont’s short stop, Shovel Knight used the Propeller Dagger again to accelerate, reaching what appeared to be the end of the town. Outside the town’s gate was an open meadow full of grass. Before crossing the gate, Shovel Knight cried out the following words. “Farewell, Belmont!”

However, Simon chuckled as he took out a small Stopwatch. “Not so fast, you Shoveling Fool!” He yelled while pressing a small button on his watch. As soon as he did that, time itself came to a screeching halt.

In less than a second, Simon rushed to the knight’s position by making use of the street lights like tether points for his whip to swing in. Once he reached his foe, he wrapped his Vampire Killer whip around Shovel Knight’s waist and promptly dragged him out of the town and into the prairie. After reaching the designated location, Simon slammed Shovel Knight’s still body onto the ground with his whip and began throwing daggers at it, all of which stopped in midair while time was stopped.

Simon turned his back from the downed opponent and snapped his fingers, causing time to return to its normal flow. As an effect of this, all the daggers inserted themselves into Shovel Knight’s armor. Shocked by the sudden shift in time and location, as well as the assault, the knight let out a groan of pain. “Ugh! How did you…”

“Explaining the trick would be a waste of breath. Shovel Knight, I request for us to settle this fight fair and square.” Simon said in a serious tone while Shovel Knight stood up and removed the knives from his armor.

“As you wish, Belmont. I will prove to you that Shovelry is the way of justice itself!” The Ghost of Shovels said, just as serious as the vampire hunter. Dark clouds began to appear, hiding the sun and bringing loud winds with them.

“Feel free to heal up while you still can,” Simon said as he took out a piece of green herb and began chewing on it. Due to the herb’s magical properties, all of Simon’s wounds cured themselves. Shovel Knight nodded and took out a silver chalice containing a red liquid known as Ichor. The knight drunk all of the Ichor, healing up completely. With both heroes in top form once again, the final duel was about to commence.

[Play each song depending on who you’re rooting for!]

Before the fight truly started, Simon grasped his whip, causing it to shine bright, just like when it morphed into a chain whip. This time, however, it turned into magic flames concentrated around a leather whip. With his upgraded weapon in hand, Simon dashed forward and reeled back his arm, prepared to attack Shovel Knight.

Confident in the defensive prowess of his new armor, the Black-and-Red Burrower simply allowed Simon to approach. However, before he reached him, the knight used his Shovel Blade to scoop out some of the ground, with a peculiar spark shooting out of the tip of his weapon. The spark traveled across the ground in a straight line, but before it hit him, Belmont jumped over the magic projectile.

Once he got close enough to Shovel Knight, the vampire slayer swung down his flaming whip, hitting the champion in the chest. Although the fiery weapon’s strike was a mighty one, it did no harm upon the Mail of Momentum, only managing to push the knight slightly. Having Simon within range, Shovel Knight swung his weapon, but Simon slightly jerked backward before getting hit. That, however, did not help him escape the blow completely. The Shovel Blade was still able to cut open his leather chest plate while also making a shallow cut on Simon’s pectorals.

After the shoveler harmed Simon, both warriors quickly backed away from each other, expecting an instant retaliation. Shovel Knight reeled back both of his arms while preparing to deliver another strike. Anticipating the knight to step forward, Simon swung his whip, but much to his surprise, Shovel Knight stood in place, resulting in Simon’s attack missing. After his fakeout, the body of the Ghost of Shovels began glowing blue, and he hastily jumped over the wielder of the Holy Whip.

Having managed to leap an estimate of two meters above Belmont, Shovel Knight delivered a Shovel Drop. However, due to the energy that he was charging, the weapon’s blade was covered in bright red flames as it quickly approached the whip-wielding Belmont. The Burrower was so close to victory that he could almost taste it… But much to his dismay, a blue spirit with the shape of a cloaked woman protected Simon by forming a forcefield above his head. Due to the Spirit of Belnades, the knight’s attack was futile, but it was still able to produce a large burst of fire that incinerated all the grass that surrounded Simon.

Still suspended in midair by Belnades’ forcefield, Shovel Knight tried to return to the ground, but he felt the flames of Simon’s whip wrapping around his waist. With one swift movement of his right arm, Simon slammed the Burrower’s body onto the grassy field, causing a loud CRASH to be heard.

Trying to get back on his feet as soon as possible, Shovel Knight performed a roll, adding distance between Simon and him. The moment he was able to stand up again, the knight hurled two small bombs at Belmont. The vampire slayer attempted to cover himself, but the moment the bombs came into contact with him…

BOOM! BOOM!

…The two weapons unleashed a large green explosion each, enveloping Simon’s body and burning away the top of his clothes, leaving him bare-chested. Despite the damage, Simon got up from the floor and prepared to keep on fighting. When he saw his opponent, he noticed that he wasn’t wielding his blade, but instead, having a boxing stance. Wanting to keep the fight fair, Simon raised his fists and slowly walked towards Shovel Knight.

Both of the warriors being extremely concentrated, they each delivered a hook. With his left fist, Simon put a crack in the Burrower’s chest plate, while Shovel Knight was able to strike Belmont’s stomach. The two fighters flinched, but the Ghost of Shovels snapped out of it first, only to throw a quick punch at Simon’s chest. On top of that, a large shadowy fist shot out of the knight’s hand, pushing the vampire hunter away.

Belmont spat out a bit of blood while he tried to keep his footing, but as he did that, Shovel Knight summoned a perfect copy of himself. The Shadow Knight and he both dashed towards Simon, who quickly drank a translucent liquid from a golden jar he was carrying. Before anything happened to Simon’s body, the two Shovel Knights began punching away at the wounded vampire hunter. Seeing him weakened, the two knights took out their Shovel Blades and prepared to deliver the final blow.

“You fought well, Belmont, but this is the end for you! Taste the power of Shovelry!” The double Ghosts of Shovels cried out before delivering a cross-slash at Simon… But he had suddenly vanished. Unbeknownst to them, the substance that Simon had consumed was an Invisibility Potion, which not only made his body completely impossible to see but also turned it intangible. While in this invisible state, the vampire killer delivered an intense kick to Shovel Knight’s right arm, shattering his gauntlet and pulverizing his whole humerus.

“AAAARGH! What in the world is going on!?” Shovel Knight cried in pain as he dropped his Shovel Blade. Due to the damage that he had taken, Shovel Knight was unable to keep the Shadow Knight summoned, meaning that he was now completely defenseless. Shovel Knight kneeled down as he saw Simon’s body turning visible again.

The proud Belmont then took out a knife made of pure gold and launched it at the knight, striking the small fracture that he had caused earlier with his punch. While stuck in Shovel Knight’s chest plate, the golden knife began emitting an intense heat, causing the hole in the armor to grow bigger.

“I would explain what’s going on, but actions speak louder than words. Goodbye, knight of Shovelry.” Simon said before dashing past the knight while waving his whip. The whip coiled itself around the Ghost of Shovels’ damaged chest plate, sinking the knife deeper into his blue chainmail and applying pressure to the armor, soon shattering it completely.

Simon quickly picked up the Shovel Blade from the ground and drove it through its owner’s back, splitting his spine and impaling him. Shovel Knight looked down, seeing nothing more than the golden knife lodged inside his chest, along with the bloodstained blade of his shovel. He tried to scream, but before he could do that, he felt the flames of the Vampire Killer whip wrapping around his neck, applying an enormous amount of pressure.

Acting on pure natural instinct, the knight tried to claw away at the whip with his left hand, but by the time he had managed to put his gloves on the searing hot whip, his windpipe had already been burned to smithereens. Simon let go of the knight’s neck, seeing that he had no strength left. With his last breath, Shovel Knight coughed up a bit of blood before dropping dead. Three large sacks of gold came out of Shovel Knight’s corpse.

K.O.!

With a stern look on his face, the tall shirtless man began to search the bags that the knight dropped upon his death, soon finding the Phase Locket that Shovel Knight had used during the fight. Much to Simon’s surprise, the trinket was shining brightly. It had absorbed the soul of Shovel Knight. Simon looked at the corpse with a serious look.

“Maybe I should give this amulet one last use before I destroy it…” Simon thought out loud as he approached the dead body and removed the Shovel Blade and the knife from it. Then, with a determined look on his face, he held up the amulet in front of himself, causing it to emanate an overwhelming amount of energy, all of it covering Shovel Knight’s body. The Blue Burrower’s wounds began to heal, and even his armor returned to normal. His fingers began twitching, and soon, his body started moving once again.

“B-Belmont!? How am I alive? I thought…” The knight of the shovel said as he looked at his shirtless opponent. Simon extended his arm and helped Shovel Knight stand up.

“Fret not. This battle is already over. I used the locket’s power on you.” The vampire slayer stated.

“But why would you do it? Weren’t you opposed to its use?” The knight replied.

“I still am. And that’s why I will destroy it here and now. But I must explain why I used it. I believe that your cause is a just one, and based on our fight, I can tell that your skill is quite amazing. Hence why I brought you back. A knight as noble and powerful as you deserves to stay alive.” Simon said while clenching his fist, shattering Specter Knight’s locket.

“Hm… You are truly a good man, Belmont… Even though you killed me.” Shovel Knight stood up, slightly saddened, but content with the end result.

“Before we part ways, I have an offer for you,” The vampire hunter said. The Blue Burrower raised his head, interested. “Allow me to join you in your quest to free these lands. There is still plenty of time before I return to my homeland, and I would like to learn more about this place.”

“Now that you say that… A helping hand is always appreciated, and I’m sure you would be of use in my crusade against the Enchantress’ army. Alright, I accept your offer, Sir Belmont.”

“Thank you, Shovel Knight. I shall make sure to make this alliance an unforgettable one.” The Ghost of Shovels extended his arm and gave Simon a firm handshake, both of the warriors smiling as they swore an oath to work together. Despite the brutality of this match, its ending was very much a happy one.

---

Nocturn: “Friendship ending? Man, what a cop-out. Oh, well. At least there was a death… and a pretty brutal one at that.”

Brain: “I’m… pretty sure no one’s surprised by this verdict.”

Nocturn: “But Brain! Castlevania is only Wall level!”

Brain: “What are you, a 2015 DBFW writer? Did you forget about Trevor VS Joseph already?”

Nocturn: “That never happened.”

Brain: “Sure, Jan. Aaaaaanyhow, time to lay down the facts. Let’s start with the easier side, Shovel Knight’s. In terms of attack potency and durability, the Blue Burrower should be at the very least Town level via scaling to Shield Knight. At the end of Shovel Knight’s campaign, Shield Knight survives the collapse of the Tower of Fate, an occurrence that caused large-scale earthquakes. This feat has a yield of 6 kilotons of TNT. The reason why SK scales to this feat is that he was able to defeat the Enchantress, who is basically Shield Knight, but on Dark Magic Steroids. In addition to that, there exist feats of a higher caliber for him, especially considering that an amped-up Black Knight was able to summon meteors with ease. Summoning even a single meteorite would have a yield of 166 Kilotons, and considering that Black Knight can summon a grand total of six meteorites, this bumps his power to 997 kilotons, which is the very high end of Large Town level, bordering Small City level. Shovel beat the shit out of that amped up BK, yadda yadda yadda. You get the idea. Lastly, the Enchantress was also able to create massive black clouds above the overworld of the game, and while this feat is a bit iffy to scale to Shovel Knight himself, if we give it the benefit of the doubt, it would give him a DC of 30 gigatons of TNT, or Island level.”

Nocturn: “Onto SK’s speed. This one’s pretty simple. During his adventures, Shovel Knight has faced off against two different lightning users, and the best thing is that both of them use natural, cloud-to-ground lightning. For instance, Baz’s lightning has been calculated to be Mach 638, or Massively Hypersonic. Given how Shovel Boy easily moves in tandem with that lightning, it’s easy to scale him to that speed.”

Brain: “Now, time to tackle the harder issue. Simon Belmont’s surprisingly overpowered verse. To the average person, Simon might not appear to be very strong, but once you look into the kind of foes he faces… You’ll shit bricks. For starters, let’s take a look at Simon’s nemesis, Dracula. In the novel “Reminiscence of the Divine Abyss”, it is explained that Drac’s castle, Castlevania, isn’t just a normal castle, but a magic dimension of infinite size made of corpses. In that same novel, a vampire named Olrox is able to recreate his own version of Castlevania, recreating its very same infinite size. Olrox is stated to be severely weaker than Dracula, and given Drac’s incredible power, it comes as no big surprise. What do I mean by that? It’s very simple. Throughout many times in the series, Dracula and Death are both referred to as “avatars of Chaos”. Chaos, in the context of Castlevania, refers to the conceptual idea of evil itself, and it’s the perfect counterpart of the idea of good and justice, whose avatar would be the God of Christianity, the creator of the Universe. Dracula, being the strongest avatar of Chaos, would be the equal counterpart of that God, and considering that the idea of Chaos was able to create an alternate universe full of galaxies and stars, it’s safe to say that Dracula’s power can match that. But wait, there’s more! Drac is stronger than Galamoth and the Time Reaper, both of them being entities powerful enough to wipe out the entire space-time continuum. And considering the facts that Simon himself has beaten the Time Reaper, and that KID DRACULA was able to beat Galamoth… Yeah, pretty obvious to see that it scales. And now, the very last, but very best feat of them all. In Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, we finally get to see what the Abyss looks like… and it’s a compound dimension formed by six different layers, each with its own celestial bodies. In DoS, the Abyss is all maintained by the creature known as Menace, and its death caused the destruction of all six of the Abyss’ layers. Considering that Menace was a failed attempt to imitate Dracula’s power, it’s crystal clear that it scales as well. All of those feats and many more are sourced in this amazing blog by Matthew Schroeder.”

Nocturn: “Jesus Christ, what did Butt Butt do to you, man? Does he at least have better speed than Simon?”

Brain: “Nnnnnnnope. There’s a metric fuckton of weapons, spells, and enemies throughout the Castlevania series that use light, most of them in a realistic way that reflects and refracts off of mirrors and such. And considering those items and characters are all fodder tier… It’s pretty easy to estimate that Simon and Drac are both at the very least faster than the speed of light.”

Nocturn: “Okay, we get it, Simon stomps the whole verse and the next two ones. Do we even need to cover the rest of the categories?”

Brain: “Not really? The only thing in Shovel Knight’s arsenal that could remotely do anything to Simon is the Alchemy Coin, since it can turn living beings into money, but considering Simon’s massive speed advantage and the fact that SK can’t even use it on most strong enemies pretty much nullifies that argument. Plus, even if it somehow managed to hit Simon, he has been able to break out of transmutation from Medusa Heads in a matter of seconds, so it would ultimately be meaningless.”

Nocturn: “Looks like Shovel Knight got his Butt Butt whipped.”

Brain: “The winner is Simon Belmont.”

Steel Thy Unconventional Weapon – PRELUDE

(Note: This prelude was originally posted on DeviantArt on January 24th, 2018.)

Nocturn: “Honor, chivalry, a massive arsenal, and an enormous monster kill count. All of these things describe the attributes that the typical video game knight must have.”

Brain: “Now, it’s time to see which of these 8-bit platforming heroes is the better knight.”

Nocturn: “Simon Belmont, the whip-wielding Vampire Killer.”

Brain: “And Shovel Knight, the Blue Burrower.”

Nocturn: “We’re Nocturn and Brain, and we’re here to analyze their weapons, abilities, and feats in order to determine who would win a DEATH BATTLE!”

---

Simon Belmont

(The original bio was adapted from BangJang96 on DeviantArt)

Background

Simon Belmont
Aliases: Wielder of the Holy Whip
First Appearance: Castlevania (1986)
Age: 23
Birthdate: Circa 1669
Species: Human
Height: 6’0″
Occupation: Vampire Hunter

Powers & Abilities

Spirit of Belnades:
-Simon is able to summon the spirit of Sypha Belnades.
-Protects Simon from any and all damage.

Spirit of Schneider:
-Simon can summon the spirit of Michael Gelhart Schneider.
–Automatically targets enemies and shoots them with his crossbow.

Equipment

Vampire Killer:
-Simon’s main weapon.
-A whip with magical properties.
-Can change its shape into the following:
–A whip with thorns.
–A metallic chain whip.
–A longer chain whip with a morningstar on the tip.
–A whip made of pure fire.
-Simon has the ability to wield it with unrivaled skill.
-It’s able to deflect magic.
-Deals more damage to evil beings.

Dagger:
-It is thrown forward quickly in a straight line to inflict low damage.
-It can be thrown three times in a row.
-Is most effective when thrown with dead-on aim.
-Is the fastest of his sub-weapons.

Gold Knife:
-A stronger version of the knife.
-Sets enemies on fire upon contact.

Axe:
-It’s normally thrown forward and upward in an arc.
-It’s most useful for attack airborne enemies, or those which wait on higher platforms and are out of reach.
-When used against large monsters, the axe can sometimes do multiple hits if staying in contact with the enemy throughout its trajectory.

Holy Water:
-Also known as Fire Bomb.
-It’s thrown forward in a short arc, causing weak damage against any enemy in its path.
-Once it hits the ground, the bottle will shatter and flames appear upward, damaging any enemy in its flames repeatedly for a few seconds.

Cross:
-Also known as Boomerang.
-Simply spins once thrown forward until it reaches the edge of the screen, and then returns the way it came from like a boomerang.
-Catching it allows Simon to throw another one sooner.

Sacred Flame:
-Thrown in a small arc to the ground.
-When it lands, a pillar of fire slowly rises from the landing spot and slowly trickles down.
-Any enemy caught in the flame suffers successive damage during the pillar’s duration.

Diamond:
-A peculiar projectile that bounces off walls and floors until it hits a target.

Javelin:
-It’s thrown in a low arc.
-Usually cannot go through walls or floors, but have the added ability to inflict continuous damage on the spot they land.

Bible:
-Spirals around Simon, protecting him from damage.
-Deals a small amount of damage to nearby enemies with its pages.

Stopwatch:
-Allows Simon to stop time for five seconds.

Invisibility Potion:
-Drinking this potion makes Simon invisible and intangible for a few seconds.

Garlic:
-Deals damage over time to enemies that touch it.

Laurel:
-A herb that makes Simon invincible for some time.
-Makes him immune to poison.

Rib of Vlad:
-One of Dracula’s remains.
-Despite being a single bone, it manifests as a shield that can deflect projectiles.
–Just roll with it, I don’t get it either.

Red Crystal:
-Allows Simon to see the invisible.
-Increases Simon’s magic power.
-Can drain water.
-Can summon a tornado that will transport Simon from one place to another.

Herb:
-A magical herb that heals any and all damage that Simon has taken.

Feats

Strength

*Can easily tear through walls.
*Killed Medusa and several of Dracula’s underlings.
*Destroyed Death itself.
*Whipped Dracula’s head off.
*Backhanded a zombie several meters away.
*Strangled a merman to death.
*Broke a werewolf’s back.
*Killed Dracula three times.
**Dracula is highly superior to Olrox, who created a dimension of infinite size.
**Dracula is the most powerful avatar of Chaos, an abstract being with the power to create a whole universe filled with galaxies and stars.
**Galamoth, who is stronger than the Time Reaper, pales in comparison to Dracula’s power.
**Dracula is highly superior to Menace, a being capable of maintaining the Abyss, which contains galaxies.
*Comparable to Alucard, who can summon meteors and Neutron Bombs.
*Defeated the Time Reaper, who has the power to destroy the entire space-time continuum.

Speed

*Managed to dodge the Lightning Bolt spell from Dracula.
*Can swing the Vampire Killer 91 times in three seconds.
*Able to swing the Vampire Killer at speeds so fast that the human eye can’t keep up with it.
*Able to dodge meteors summoned by Dracula.
*Can stop axes and fireballs in mid-air.
*Can keep up with Dracula.
*Dracula is superior to many items and enemies that can utilize realistic light and move in tandem with it, such as Paranoia.

Durability

*Can survive a dip in magma.
*Can withstand massive falls.
*Can take hits from Death.
*Can survive all sorts of attacks from Dracula.
*Managed to survive getting crushed by Castlevania.
**Despite appearing as a mere castle, Castlevania is actually an entire dimension.
*He’s highly resistant to attacks that turn him into stone as he will only remain that way for two to three seconds until he takes damage or until the effect wears off.
*While inflicted with Dracula’s deadly curse, defeated Dracula to free himself from it.

Skill

*Fought a swarm of mermen while on a raft as the water current was moving upwards and slew the Dragon Zombie while on another raft as the water current kept moving upwards.
*Crossed a collapsing bridge while dealing with Medusa Heads.
*Defeated Medusa twice, who has the power to turn people into stone by simply looking at them.
*Defeated Carmilla, who is capable of possessing living beings.
*Defeated Slogra and Gaibon, two of Death’s most loyal servants.
*Defeated Death itself.
*Defeated Dracula three times.
*Gathered the parts of Dracula’s body that were hidden across Transylvania.
*Revived Dracula, only to kill him on the spot.

Weaknesses

*A lot of his weapons are more effective on dark beings than normal ones.
*Most of his good feats aren’t evident.
*Captain N: The Game Master.

“If you will fight, then stand resolute.”

---

Shovel Knight

(The original bio was adapted from Spider-Pidge on DeviantArt)

Background

Shovel Knight

Aliases: The Blue Burrower, The Ghost of Shovels, Butt Butt
First Appearance: Shovel Knight (2014)
Height: Approximately 4’6″
Weight: Approximately 100 lbs.
Occupation: Adventurer, Farmer

Equipment

Shovel Blade:
-Shovel Knight’s signature weapon, and his primary tool for combat.
-Can casually bust through metal and stone.
-Capable of reflecting projectiles.
-Can pogo off of enemies using the Shovel Drop technique.
-With the Drop Spark, releases shockwaves on the ground with his strikes.
–However, this is only active when he’s at full health.
-With the Trench Blade, can dig up entire piles of dirt in a single swing.
-With the Charge Handle, can charge the Shovel Blade up, dealing twice the damage.
–Though, doing so limits his movement.

Note: Given how most armors are highly situational and not something that would affect his combat abilities, I’m only including one aside from his standard one.

Mail of Momentum:
-Reduces the amount of recoil Shovel Knight takes from enemy attacks.
-However, Shovel Knight has a harder time stopping with this armor.

Flare Wand:
-Fires a flaming projectile in a straight path.
-Costs 4 magic points.

Phase Locket:
-For a brief period of time, gives Shovel Knight immunity to damage and hazards.
-Costs 8 magic per use.

Dust Knuckles:
-Does a quick punch at the opponent.
-Can repeatedly plow through stone and ice.
-Costs 2 magic per use.

Chaos Orb:
-Throws a magical bouncing sphere, that does repeated damage to enemies it comes in contact with.
-Costs 6 magic points.

Propeller Dagger:
-Has Shovel Knight dash through the air, damaging opponents in the process.
-Costs 4 magic points.

Alchemy Coin:
–Transmutes small enemies into money.
–Stronger opponents, such as bosses, have shown an immunity to this.
-Costs 8 magic points.

Fishing Rod:
-Sends a fishing line with an anchor attached.
-Mostly used for fishing, but he can use it for combat.
–Though, its usage is completely situational.
-Costs 6 magic points.

Throwing Anchor:
-Hurls a purple anchor in an arch.
-Costs 6 magic points.

Mobile Gear:
-Sends a mobile platform, that can be used to traverse spiked areas, and damage enemies.
-Costs 6 magic points.

War Horn:
-Blows into a horn to create a shockwave, damaging any enemies within its radius.
-Does the same amount of damage as the Charge Handle.
-Costs 20 magic points.

Troupple Chalices:
-Two chalices that hold Ichor from the Troupple King.
-The Ichor of Renewal completely restores Shovel Knight’s health and magic.
-The Ichor of Boldness grants Shovel Knight invincibility for 10 seconds.
-The Ichor of Fortune attracts any nearby gold to Shovel Knight for 60 seconds.

Flareo Rod:
-A variation of the Flare Wand.
-Releases a cluster of flames in front of Shovel Knight.
-Costs 12 magic.

Bait Bomb:
-One of Plague Knight’s Arcanas.
-Travels along the ground, and explodes upon making contact with an obstacle or enemy.
-Can also be used for fishing.
-Costs 6 magic.

Tow Anchor:
-A variation of the Throwing Anchor.
-After throwing it, Shovel Knight holds onto it, sending him flying as it destroys anything in its path.
-Costs 4 magic points.

Ghost Glove:
-Variation of the Dust Knuckles.
-After punching, sends a phantasmic fist as a projectile attack.
-Costs 3 magic points.

Buzzsaw Boomerang:
-Sends a buzzsaw projectile that spins through the air, before returning to Shovel Knight’s direction.
-Costs 5 magic points.

Fleet Flask:
-One of Plague Knight’s Arcanas.
-When consumed, Shovel Knight becomes surrounded with green flames, as he dashes at high speeds.
-Doesn’t stop unless he hits an obstacle, manually stops, or attacks.
-Costs 5 magic points.

Shadow Knight:
-Creates a shadow clone of the Blue Burrower, that follows his every movement.
-Remains at a fixed distance from Shovel Knight, and is unaffected by enemy attacks or gravity.
-Costs 1 magic for every second active.

Rising Dagger:
-A variation of the Propeller Dagger.
-Sends Shovel Knight rising upwards, to reach greater heights, or to attack airborne enemies.
-Costs 6 magic points.

Infidagger:
-A second variation of the Propeller Dagger.
-Works similarly to the Propeller Dagger, but keeps going until Shovel Knight hits an enemy or obstacle.
-Costs 5 magic.

Burrow Bomber:
-After charging up, Shovel Knight spins through the air, damaging anything that comes in contact with him.

Fire Razer:
-Shovel Knight jumps into the air, before doing a flaming Shovel Drop to the ground, releasing a wave of fire.
-Works somewhat similarly to the Armor of Chaos and Toad Armor’s Shovel Drop.

Bomb Burst:
-One of Plague Knight’s signature abilities.
-After charging, creates a small explosion, which propels Shovel Knight into the air.
-Said explosion also damages any nearby enemies.

Blink Flash:
-Allows Shovel Knight to make a short dash, letting him pass through enemies and obstacles unharmed.
-Can be used after a jump to extend his time in the air.

Dash Boots:
-Allows Shovel Knight to dash, increasing his running speed by a decent amount.

Shovel Blade Max:
-Allows a Custom Knight to access the Drop Spark, Trench Blade, and Charge Handle abilities.
-If another Special is used in its place, these abilities aren’t accessible.
-Even if this is equipped, the Charge Handle cannot be used if a Charge Ability is also equipped.

Glide Cloud:
-Works somewhat similarly to Plague Knight’s Float Burst.
-Summons a small cloud around Shovel Knight, slowing his descent and allowing him to glide short distances.

Double Jump:
-Self-explanatory.
-Gives Shovel Knight an extra jump in mid-air, allowing him to reach greater heights, and bridge wider gaps.

Diagonal Drop:
-After leaping in mid-air can diagonally strike with his Shovel Blade.
–Basically, it lets him dropkick with a shovel.
-Replaces the regular Shovel Drop.

Bounce Bomb:
-Allows Shovel Knight to throw miniature explosives at the enemy.
-Can throw up to three at a time.
-When thrown in mid-air, slows his descent.
-Works identically to Plague Knight’s bombs.
-When these are equipped, he cannot swing the Shovel Blade.

Feats

Strength

*Can casually shatter skulls.
*Can break through walls of brick and stone with ease.
*With his casual strikes, can destroy metal barriers.
*Can leap several feet into the air, despite wearing full armor.
*Fought on par with his universe’s Kratos.
**SK’s Kratos could easily break apart pillars and destroyed a temple in one blow.
*Comparable to the members of the Order of No Quarter.
**Every member is capable of supporting the weight of the other seven.
*Has defeated an amped-up Black Knight.
*Harmed and defeated the Enchantress, when she was possessing Shield Knight.
**Shield Knight survived the Tower of Fate’s collapse.

Speed

*Fast enough to outrun cannonballs.
*Can react to missiles from Tinker Knight.
*Dodged meteors during his third fight against Black Knight.
*Can dodge lightning from Baz and Phantom Striker, which is sky-to-ground lightning.
*Fast enough reactions to fight in combat, while riding the Battletoads’ Speeder Bike.

Durability

*Tanks cannonballs that are the same size as him.
*Can be launched across the map by a catapult, and get up like it was nothing.
*Takes missiles and bombs exploding, and is fine.
*Can take meteors during his third fight with Black Knight.
*Survived a massive burst of energy from the Remnant of Fate.
**Though, this did render him unconscious.
*Can tank attacks from his universe’s Kratos.
*Comparable to Shield Knight, who survived the destruction of the Tower of Fate.
**Said tower was mountain-sized, and its destruction caused a quake felt across the map.

Skill

*Along with Shield Knight, became regarded as one of the greatest heroes of the land.
*Dueled against Black Knight multiple times, and won in all of their encounters.
**During their third encounter, Black Knight had his power amped by the Enchantress.
*Defeated every member of the Order of No Quarter.
**Would later fight all of them back to back and emerge victoriously.
*Bested all four of the Wandering Travelers.
*Defeated the Enchantress, and freed Shield Knight from her possession.
*Alongside Shield Knight, defeated the Remnant of Fate.
*Crossed paths with Kratos, before defeating him.
*Bested all three of the Battletoads in combat.

Weaknesses

-Limited supply of magic and almost every relic depletes from that supply.
–The only exceptions to this are the Troupple Chalices, which are one-use only.
-Can be somewhat stubborn.
-Several of his relics are situational in use.
-Shouldn’t scale to Kratos and the Battletoads’ canon feats.

“If you will fight, then stand resolute.”

Terry Bogard VS Jin Kazama – DEATH BATTLE!

(Note: This prelude was originally published on DeviantArt on October 31st, 2017. However, to account for revisions to the stats, the results have been changed, and the fight has been given a new ending.)

Nocturn: “Alright, the combatants are set. Let’s end this debate once and for all.”

Brain: “GET READY FOR THE DEATH BATTLE!”

Kings of the Iron Fist – PRELUDE

(Note: This prelude was originally published on DeviantArt on October 18th, 2017. The information presented here may be outdated.)

Nocturn: “The fighting game scene has given us some of the most incredible martial arts masters in fiction, and today’s fighters are no exception.”

Brain: “These two masters of the fist aren’t impressive just because of their technique, but also the powers that allow them to channel their inner energy…”

Nocturn: “Terry Bogard, the Legendary Hungry Wolf from Fatal Fury.”

Brain: “And Jin Kazama, the Child of Destiny from Tekken.”

Nocturn: “These two highly powerful fighters are going to face off in a no-holds-barred duel to the death. For the research, we are allowing every source of media in which the characters have appeared with the exception of crossover games like Street Fighter x Tekken or SNK vs Capcom. That way, both characters will be able to utilize their full arsenals without worrying about canonicity.”

Brain: “I’m Brain and he’s Nocturn, and we’re here to analyze their weapons, abilities, and feats in order to determine who would win a DEATH BATTLE!”

---

Terry Bogard

Background

Nocturn: “Terry and Andy were two orphans from the American city of Southtown. Raised by the streets, their only principle they followed was the survival of the fittest. But it all changed when a man named Jeff Bogard adopted them. Jeff raised them with an amount of care that they were completely unable to imagine.”

Brain: “However, things took a turn for the worst on the day of Terry’s tenth birthday. Jeff’s old partner, Geese Howard, showed up at Terry’s home and promptly killed Jeff in order to obtain the secrets that their master had left for him. Naturally, little Terry and Andy did not take this very well.”

Nocturn: “Filled with an immense thirst for vengeance, Terry and Andy sought out their foster father’s master, Tung Fu Rue, who took them under their wing and taught them in the way of Hakkyokuseiken, a martial art that allows humans to channel the power of the Earth.”

Brain: “Ten years after starting his training, Terry armed himself with courage and signed up for the King of Fighters tournament, which Geese Howard was hosting. Terry easily plowed through the competition and climbed the ranks of the tournament until he was able to face off with the man who killed his father… A fight with such a high amount of bloodlust that it earned him the title of the Legendary Hungry Wolf.”

Terry Bogard
Aliases: The Legendary Hungry Wolf
First Appearance: Fatal Fury: King of Fighters (1991)
Age: 35
Birthplace: United States of America
Species: Human
Height: 1.82 m (6’0″)
Weight: 83 kg (183 lbs)
Occupation: Martial artist, Free Spirit

Powers, Techniques, & Equipment

 

Fighting Styles:
-Terry is a highly versatile fighter with a style that mixes multiple doctrines.
-Boxing techniques for direct and potent punches, as well as fast defenses.
-Kyokushin-style Karate, which focuses on high and low kicks, knee strikes, and high punches.
-Kung Fu martial arts for a wide variety of effects, including balance and stability.
-Kickboxing, which grants him great knowledge in using punching and kicking techniques.
-Street Fighting for unpredictable and effective moves that break the rules.
-Hakkyokuseiken, for powerful Chi-based moves.

Chi Manipulation:
-Thanks to his knowledge of the Hakkyokuseiken techniques, Terry is able to utilize Chi.
-Chi, Qi, or Ki is the energy of the Earth, and it exists within everyone.
-Terry is able to use Chi to sense people’s presence.
-Terry can gather Chi around his body in order to enhance his attacks.

Power Wave:
-Terry gathers Chi around his fists and punches the floor, causing a wave of Chi to travel along the ground.
-The wave of Chi causes a small explosion upon contact with the enemy.
-Difficult to block due to its low altitude.

Burn Knuckle:
-Terry gathers Chi around his fist and lunges forward with his arm extended.

Power Charge:
-Terry charges forward and tackles the opponent using his shoulder.

Crack Shoot:
-An acrobatic ax kick.
-The improved version of the move makes the target bounce up after taking the hit.

Rising Tackle:
-An acrobatic spinning kick.
-Perfect for stopping aerial attacks.

Power Dunk:
-A diagonal aerial version of the Burn Knuckle.

Power Geyser:
-One of Terry’s most iconic moves.
-He punches the Earth with his fists covered in Chi, causing a massive eruption.
-He can perform this move repeatedly.

Senpukyaku:
-A technique learned from his master, Tung Fu Rue.
-Terry spins around to create a small scale tornado.

Trinity Geyser:
-A more powerful variation of the Power Geyser.
-A series of Power Geysers fire out of the ground.

Power Stream:
-Terry leaps forward and punches the opponent, causing a massive Chi explosion in the process.

Star Dunk Volcano:
-One of Terry’s strongest attacks.
-Starts with Terry kneeing the opponent in the stomach.
-Ends with a combination of the Power Dunk and the Buster Wolf.

Buster Wolf:
-Terry’s most iconic move.
-Firstly, he delivers a highly powerful version of the Burn Knuckle.
-Lastly, he creates a point-blank Chi explosion that obliterates the enemy.
-ARE YOU OKAY!?

Feats

Strength

*Casually one-shot some grunts.
*Matched Andy blow by blow.
*Cancelled out Billy Kane’s Chou Kaen Senpuu Kon with his Power Geyser.
*Casually destroyed part of a column.
*Traded blows with Kyo Kusanagi.
*Kicked Geese Howard off a building.
*Superior to Bao, who plowed through the Zero Cannon’s beam.
*Massively superior to Cheng and Choi, who survived the Zero Cannon’s beam.
*Beat down an entire pub full of people.
*Kneed a man in the stomach hard enough to make them puke.
*Destroyed the roof of a large building.
*Defeated Jamin with a single Burn Knuckle.
*Destroyed Laocorn’s God armor.
*Destroyed Mars, the God of War.
*Destroyed the temple of Mars.
*Matched Wolfgang Krauser blow by blow.
*Destroyed a forest with a single Power Wave.
*Cancelled out Krauser’s attacks with his Burn Knuckle.
*Destroyed Krauser’s armor.
*Superior to Goenitz, who can create Supercell storms.
*Superior to Verse, who can cause storms.

Speed

*Punched several steel beams in a fraction of a second before they could fall to the ground.
*Intercepted a bottle and a chair thrown at him in mid-air.
*Dodged a surprise attack from Andy.
*Superior to Elisabeth Blanctorche, who moves in tandem with beams of light.
*Casually dodges attacks from all sorts of martial artists.
*Reacted to several surprise fireballs.
*Outran several explosions.
*Kept up with Jamin, who casually catches bullets in mid-air.
*Superior to Bao, who intercepted the Zero Cannon’s beam.
*Casually dodged a bullet.
*Intercepted attacks from Billy Kane.
*Superior to Takuma Sakazaki, who can intercept a beam that traveled at Relativistic speed.

Durability

*Took hits from Joe Higashi.
*Has taken attacks from Kyo Kusanagi.
*Endured attacks from a God-powered Laocorn.
*Endured a pyrokinetic blast from Jamin.
*Took a tornado attack from Tung Fu Rue.
*Tanked a Chi blast from Geese.
*Survived the explosion of the NESTS cartel building.
*Easily scalable to powerful characters such as Takuma Sakazaki.

Skill

*Stole a truck from one of Geese’s men.
*Received training from Tung Fu Rue.
*Defeated Andy Bogard after hours of fighting.
*Defeated Kim Kaphwan without much trouble.
*Defeated Geese Howard in a bloodlusted match.
*Defeated Rugal Bernstein.
*Defeated Wolfgang Krauser.
*Defeated Goenitz.
*Defeated Orochi.
*Defeated Mars, the God of War.
*Has conquered the King of Fighters tournament.

Weaknesses

*Arrogant and cocky.
*Sore loser to the point of giving him major depression.
*Lacks academic knowledge.
*Slightly alcoholic.

“Are you okay!? BUSTER WOLF!”

---

Jin Kazama

Background

Nocturn: “The Mishima family. There has never been a more cursed bloodline in the history of fighting games. The first offspring of the twisted Heihachi Mishima was Kazuya Mishima, a man just as horrible as his father, whose thirst for revenge and power turned him into a perfect vessel for the demonic power of the Devil Gene.”

Brain: “At some point, Kazuya had a child with a woman known as Jun Kazama, but Kazuya’s demonic bloodline tried to infect that child, an event that made Jun abandon Kazuya and raise her son in the mountains. That Child of Fate was none other than Jin Kazama.”

Nocturn: “Jin received training from Jun, who educated him in Kazama martial arts. On Jin’s fifteenth birthday, Jun was attacked and killed by a monstrous creature that went by the name of Ogre. Jin, who didn’t know that his mother had been killed, began desperately searching for her, and he was taken in by his grandfather, Heihachi, who taught him Mishima style Karate.”

Brain: “However, Heihachi’s intentions were not very honest. He wanted Jin to demonstrate his power in order to lure out Ogre during the third King of Iron Fist tournament. Jin was able to catch onto this fact, and in the end, he was able to defeat both Heihachi and Ogre, but he discovered in the process that his blood contained the power of the Devil Gene. After finding out this fact, he began an all-out war against his own family in order to destroy the Devil Gene.”

Jin Kazama
Aliases: Child of Destiny, Lightning of Fate
First Appearance: Tekken 3 (1997)
Age: 21
Birthplace: Japan
Species: Human/Devil
Height: 1.80 m (5′11″)
Weight: 75 kg (165 lbs)
Occupation: Martial Artist, CEO of the Mishima Zaibatsu

Powers, Techniques, & Abilities

Fighting Styles:
-Mainly uses Kazama Style Traditional Martial Arts.
-Combines that fighting style with Karate techniques.
-Used to utilize Mishima Style Fighting Karate, but stopped using it out of spite.
—Only uses it in his Devil Form.

Electricity Manipulation:
-Jin’s aura manifests itself as electricity.
-Jin can use it to enhance the power of his attacks.
-However, he can’t use it for anything else. (In canon sources. He can shoot balls of lightning in SFxT)

Fire Manipulation:
-He can imbue some of his attacks with fire.

Devil Gene:
-A supernatural genetic abnormality in Jin’s DNA.
-Inherited from Kazuya and Kazumi.
-Grants the bearer a huge amount of superhuman power at the cost of their rationality.
-Jin has achieved almost full control of it and can use some of its abilities without tapping into his Devil Form.
—Can fire lasers out of his forehead.

Barrier Creation:

-Due to the Devil Gene, Jin can create invisible barriers around him.

Resistance to Mind and Soul Manipulation:
-Thanks to Jun Kazama’s blood, Jin can prevent the Devil Gene from taking over his mind completely.
-In addition to that, Jun’s blood was able to damage Kazuya when he was trying to steal Jin’s soul.

Devil Jin:
-A form achieved by Jin when he taps into the Devil Gene’s full power.
-Makes Jin turn into a bloodlusted monster.
-Changes Jin’s fighting style to Mishima Style Karate mixed with Kazama Style Martial Arts.
-Gains a whole slew of new powers.

Laser Beam:
-Devil Jin can fire powerful laser beams out of his forehead.
-They’re more powerful than the ones Jin can use in his base form.

Flight:
-As you could expect, Devil Jin can use his huge wingspan to fly at high speeds.
-This ability can also be incorporated into his moveset.

Telekinesis:
-Devil Jin can use telekinesis to choke opponents.
-It was also used to destroy Hwoarang’s motorcycle from a few meters away.

Feats

Strength

*Pushed Heihachi through a wall.
*Casually beats down Tekken Force soldiers.
*Destroyed some chains that had the power to weaken the power of the Devil Gene.
*Devil Jin destroyed a whole wasteland just by spreading his wings.
*Devil Jin destroyed Hwoarang’s bike.
*Destroyed an entire forest.
*The sheer pressure of one of his punches was enough to destroy all of the windows in a skyscraper.
*Killed Azazel in one punch.
*Punched Heihachi off a cliff.
*Devil Jin sliced down an entire temple with his beams.
*Devil Jin sliced the mountain-sized Spirit Kyoto in half.

Speed

*Devil Jin’s beam was able to tag Combot DX, which neither Heihachi, Kazuya or him were able to touch.
*Flew to out of the atmosphere in a few seconds.
*Can keep pace with Kazuya and Heihachi, who are massively superior to JACK robots.
**JACKs able to fly out of orbit in just a few seconds.
*Superior to Tekken’s many fodder bullet-timers, like Bob.

Durability

*Took blows from Devil Kazuya.
*Survived a fall from orbit.
*Survived the explosion of a helicopter from within.
*Survived getting crushed by a temple.
*Got punched through a boulder by Asuka.
*Survived getting thrown off a helicopter.
*Tanked getting shot several times.

Skill

*Started a war with G Corporation using the Zaibatsu’s resources.
*Indirectly caused the death of Miguel’s sister.
*Obtained the Mishima Zaibatsu after defeating Jinpachi.
*Fought against Lars Alexandersson.
*Defeated Kazuya and Heihachi while injured.
*Defeated Jinpachi Mishima.
*Defeated Ogre.
*Has managed to keep on living without being overtaken by the Devil Gene.

Weaknesses

*Constantly restraining his true power.
*Becomes much more uncontrollable in Devil Form.
*Has lost fights to rather weak opponents, like Miguel or Hwoarang.

“Power is everything.”

A World For One – PRELUDE

Nocturn: “Welcome to our humble arena! The only one in the whole cosmos where you can get to see people from different realities beating each other to death!”

Kirsche: “We are Kirsche and Nocturn, your dearly beloved hosts from questionable backgrounds, and today, we have brought a brand new battle for all you wonderful people to enjoy!”

Nocturn: “One of the most common tropes in comic book universes is the Superhero Team-up. The X-Men, the Justice League, the Avengers, the International Justice League of Super Acquaintances, you name it. Good guys joining forces to defeat a common threat. It is hype.”

Kirsche: “I don’t know about that. I think it’d be much cooler to see villains teaming up to kick some hero butt. Seeing the good guys win all the time is boring.”

Nocturn: “Well, you’re in luck, because today’s combatants are the biggest coalitions of evildoers around, and both of them try to use their unique powers to take over the world!”

Kirsche: “Of course!”

Nocturn: “From My Hero Academia, the League of Villains, led by All For One.”

Kirsche: “And from Mob Psycho 100, the esper organization Claw, led by Toichiro Suzuki.”

Nocturn: “Before we get into the rundown, it’s important to establish which members of each group will be considered.”

WARNING! MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE MHA MANGA. ANIME-ONLY WATCHERS BEWARE.

For the League of Villains, we are including all of the basic members (Shigaraki, Dabi, etc.) + Paranormal Liberation Front members who are currently part of the team + members who were arrested (Moonfish, Muscular, AFO, etc.), but NOT members that are either spies (Hawks) or just vaguely associated with the group (Wolfram, Stain, etc.).

On Claw’s side, the main forces seen during the World Domination Arc (Toichiro’s Super 5 and the other artificial espers) and the 7th Branch members who ended up betraying Toichiro will be included, but not people who only pretended to be part of Claw, such as Sho Suzuki or Joseph.

It should also be kept in mind that not all the characters who are in this prelude may appear in the battle itself, but they’ll all be considered for the analysis.

Kirsche: “With that being said, it’s about time we show you their members’ powers, equipment, and feats in order to find out who would win a Death Battle!”

2B VS Raiden – DEATH BATTLE!

(Note: This fight was originally published on DeviantArt on September 21st, 2017. The information presented in the verdict may be outdated.)

Brain: “Alright, the combatants are set. Let’s end this debate once and for all.”

Nocturn: “It’s time for a PLATINUM DEATH BATTLE!”

Blade Runner – PRELUDE

(Note: This prelude was originally published on DeviantArt on August 19th, 2017. The information presented here may be outdated.)

Brain: “The art of Ninjutsu was created in feudal Japan as a way for low-class citizens to combat the oppressive influence of the Samurai, the highest-ranking soldiers of the Japanese society. In today’s duel, we will see a brutal showdown between those two classes once more… but with a twist.”

Nocturn: “And that twist is that they’re both high-tech mechanical fighters with tons of weapons and skills!”

Brain: “Like the YoRHa Unit Number 2 Type B, the Executioner android of YoRHa.”

Nocturn: “And Jack, code name Raiden, the cyborg mercenary of MSC.”

Brain: “I’m Brain and he’s Nocturn, and we’re here to analyze their weapons, abilities, and feats in order to determine who would win a DEATH BATTLE!”