Fair. We might not have a clear picture, but we were starting to get an idea of this last assassin from Naiarotop. We knew they were strong enough to overpower Zero, and that they knew enough about magic to use Zero’s power for evil. We also knew they planned to take that power and attack the world.
“But if we send out people to search, we’re splitting our forces,” I said. “This is a pain. If only we had some clue to lead us to where they were…”
As if prompted, the windup bird opened its beak and said, “Message from the attacker. ‘Kanata Kanbara, I am waiting for you in the capital.’”
“Well, they’re confident. I know they just got a weapon, but to intentionally tell us where they are…?”
It sounded like the windup bird only got away because the attacker let it. They must have captured it so they could leave that message.
“In the end, the higher beings are after Kanata. Regardless, we should be grateful for our opponent’s confidence,” said Veranta. “This allows us to place our whole force in one location. It is likely a trap of some sort, but we have no option except to go.”
-7-
NAIAROTOP
“MASTER…I have sent the last Eternal Convict, Zoras the Cataclysm, to Locklore.”
In the Upper Realm, Naiarotop was in contact with his superior, the being with the highest authority over Locklore.
“However…” he continued, “Zoras made the absurd demand that we add him to the lower ranks of godhood once this incident is over.”
“An aggravating request, but unavoidable if it will end this mess in Locklore. Zoras… He must know that even if he is raised to the rank of Lower God, his life will still be in our control, yet he still asked. Perhaps he plans to act skillfully and outwit us. An untrustworthy Lower God can be dealt with.” The Higher God let out a snort of laughter. “Well, that is a problem for later. More importantly…have you written a scene that will satisfy you know who?”
“Yes, indeed I have.” Naiarotop’s lips curled into a smile. Zoras might have one-upped him this time by forcing him into a frustrating agreement, but everything was in place for the Locklore grand finale. Naiarotop was
confident he would even satisfy you know who, who was focused on Locklore right now.
“As planned, Zoras has captured Zero, the Silent Void, and lured Kanata to the capital. It will begin a fight where the fate of the world hangs in the balance, a fight between Zoras, the most powerful magic king in history, and Kanata, the traveler who stood against the gods. It looks like they’ll even be bringing in some more travelers worth mentioning and a load of extras. This episode won’t just make you know who happy, it’ll entertain all the Higher Gods.”
“Hm, that synopsis sounds decent.”
“And once Zoras has won, the curse activated using the Silent Void will eat away at the entirety of Locklore…ending the lives of all living creatures. This plan naturally brings Locklore to a conclusion that ends all storylines.” Naiarotop grinned.
Locklore’s management faced two problems right now: bringing the fight between Kanata and Naiarotop to an end…and, once that was taken care of, ending the world of Locklore itself.
When managing alternate worlds like this, you had to close them down quickly when they lost any hope of providing profits. It was expensive to keep a world running.
This mess all started when Locklore’s management interfered too brazenly in dealing with Kanata, but Locklore’s original concept was that the adventures and lives of the travelers were “real,” without any interference from the higher beings. Even if they managed to get Locklore back on track, the suspension of disbelief had been ruined. Plus, they’d already watched all sorts of fights between enemies with levels in the thousands, so any fights involving travelers with mere three-figure levels would be boring.
So now they just had to deal with Kanata—who you know who was interested in—and then close down Locklore as quickly as possible. Handling this carelessly could severely damage the reputations of the gods who were showrunners. They needed to end Locklore naturally while also keeping their expenditures to a minimum.
Using the same assassin sent to take out Kanata to also end the world was the neatest way of handling the problem.
“Have you done a full risk assessment?” asked the Higher God. “If Zoras loses, we will have absolutely no more moves.”
If Kanata won against Zoras now, Naiarotop was finished. He’d lose all methods for interfering with the world, and he’d have to make some excuse for eliminating Locklore and Kanata, all while you know you was watching. They couldn’t allow an inadequate ending like that.
But if it ended up like that, they couldn’t step in, they couldn’t eliminate the world, and they couldn’t keep maintaining it. All paths forward would be blocked. But they couldn’t just leave Locklore running either. Worlds didn’t operate in the red.
They had to avoid that at all costs.
“Yes, there are no problems,” said Naiarotop proudly. “Zoras has already removed the seal on Zero and made preparations for plunging the world into the curse. Even if Zoras loses, the curse can’t be stopped. As much as it annoys me, Zoras gave me the idea. Not even the lich, Lunaère, can stop Zero’s curse once it’s in motion. It may not be the ideal solution, since it is a little forced, but this is the other bad ending I’ve prepared. A bad ending where, even if they win the fight, they still lose everything.”
“So, you have a fail-safe in place?” The Upper God seemed satisfied with Naiarotop’s outline.
This episode would see the final battle play out, one that would satisfy you know who but also featured a surefire way to wipe out Kanata along with the entirety of Locklore. Naiarotop might have caused the Higher God all sorts of trouble before, but he was sure to win this time.
Naiarotop raised his hand, and an image appeared of Kanata as he currently was. He’d received Zoras’s message and was teleporting to the capital using Veranta’s ability.
“Now, Kanata Kanbara, this is our last match! It doesn’t matter how the dice fall, the only possible future for you is destruction…along with the entire world!”
-8-
WE PASSED THROUGH Veranta’s gold gate to an expansive city on the other side. There were rows of intricate, towering buildings, making for quite a magnificent sight. Crowds of people and wagons passed each other on the paved streets.
It would be no exaggeration to say this was the most prosperous city I’d seen in Locklore. In the center of the city stood a gigantic castle, with a dignity that almost illustrated the concept of luxury itself.
“So, this is the capital…” I said.
And it was soon to be swallowed by conflict, probably. The atmosphere in the city gave no indications of the coming cataclysm, and that disconnect made me feel uneasy.
“Is this your first time here, Kanata?” asked Veranta. “If the times weren’t what they were, I would have liked for you to take a moment to enjoy the sights.”
I turned to look at him and saw the others following just behind.
There was Kotone, Mitsuru, Rosemonde, and Lovis, who all had their level increased to close to 1,000 in the Cursed Mirror… Then there was Veranta, Pomera, Philia, Noble, and most importantly, Lunaère.
I looked at each of our team members in turn and felt a little calmer. Everything was going to be okay. Nothing was impossible with the people I had on this team.
We would defeat Naiarotop’s last assassin before they could use Zero’s power for evil, and once we did that, Naiarotop would have no more weapons at his disposal for interfering with Locklore. This could potentially be our last battle.
“What do we do, Veranta?” I asked. “There hasn’t been any influence from Naiarotop’s assassin yet…”
“Our only choice is to split up and search for them. Once we find them, we’ll need to evacuate the people of the capital, defeat the attacker, and retake Zero…all at the same time. We will use the tower as the evacuation center, so it will be easy to use my power to teleport the citizens there directly from here. We can bother with persuading them later. If they refuse, we will make them go by force if we have to.”
Just as Veranta was explaining that, a gigantic magic circle appeared in the center of the city, complex and glowing with malevolent light.
There was no doubt about it, Naiarotop’s assassin was on the move. The timing was just too coincidental to be anything else.
“It appears we are expected. How considerate of them. That saves us the trouble of searching and persuading the citizens,” said Veranta with a hint of sarcasm, then he clicked his tongue in annoyance.
The magic circle’s color shifted until eventually it settled into a dull, disturbing rainbow made up of a mixture of colors. The light bent and changed shape into the long and slender but gigantic form of a dragon. More dragons appeared one after another, their numbers reaching double digits in no time at all.
The outlines of the dragons’ forms were irregular. One of them had more than ten eyes, one of them had several gaping mouths…but every one of them looked rough and malformed. Their haphazard appearances made me think of the demons in the Cursed Mirror of the Warped Realm.
“Groooaaaar!”
The warped dragons’ dreadful roars echoed across the capital. The city was immediately filled with the people’s shrieks of terror and bellows of anger.
I checked a dragon’s level.
Race: Chaos Dragon
Lv: 2284
HP: 13932/13932
MP: 10278/10278
Chaos dragon…? I’d never seen that name before. The thing that caught my attention more was the level, though. It was lower than the demons in Cursed Mirror, but being able to pump out multiple monsters of this level was beyond extreme.
“Chaos dragons…their levels are in the two thousands,” I told the others. I could almost hear them all gulp. Monsters of this level didn’t appear in swarms like this out in the normal world, it shouldn’t happen.
“…They resemble the demons in the Cursed Mirror. Not just their appearance, their nature as well,” said Lunaère.
The Cursed Mirror of the Warped Realm was a gate to a distortion in another dimension. We weren’t even certain if it was still within Locklore, but the demons there had incredible power, and they seemed to appear and disappear without rhyme or reason.
“Maybe this is the same principle…?” I asked.
“Perhaps at a basic level,” said Lunaère. “Regardless, this isn’t something you can conjure with measly magic tricks. I believe it would be appropriate to assume a portion of the mixed curses sealed inside Zero are manifesting as those dragons.”
In other words, while Veranta might have bragged there was no way anyone could undo the seal, someone already had.