✦ ✦ ✦
“What the—! You bastard!”
Tsukikage and Yaiba sprang into action, unleashing twin strikes at the shimmering sphere encasing Lady Muu. Despite their precision, the barrier didn’t crack or even ripple; it remained completely unscathed.
“Gwahahahaha! It’s useless! The moment you set foot in this city, your fate was already sealed!”
“What?!” Tsukikage snapped, her blade still drawn.
The orb drifted upward, gliding toward Gyogyon as if magnetized. He reached out and caught it with a theatrical flourish, smirking down at us.
“Did you truly think I left this city unguarded? I knew without a doubt that you’d try to reclaim Eikyō eventually, so I prepared in advance. I wove a trap specifically to capture Mu-Yu. Initially, I intended to kill you all and take her by force, but your resistance was more troublesome than expected. So I must say, my preparations were well worth it.”
So he’d predicted our moves.
To be fair… even if Gonbei and the others hadn’t come to the Shadow Village, our options were limited. Sooner or later, we’d have made a move on Eikyō. There was no avoiding it.
With Lady Muu now securely in his grasp, Gyogyon began rising, ascending higher and higher into the sky. Then, with all the pomp of a mad emperor, he shouted for all to hear:
“Watch closely! Witness the moment I ascend as ruler of the new universe!”
He thrust a hand skyward.
In that instant, the strange, silent towers surrounding Eikyō lit up in sequence. Their peaks pulsed with light, collecting energy like antennae preparing to fire. And then, one by one, those beams converged at a single point; not Gyogyon himself, but at Lady Muu, still floating beside him inside the orb.
The moment those rays struck her, golden light burst from her body like a dam breaking.
“Yes! Yesss! This is it! This is the moment I’ve been waiting for!”
Gyogyon’s eyes gleamed with madness as he extended both arms toward her. The radiant energy flowing from her began to shift, drawn to him like a tide pulled by gravity. The golden streams twisted, pulsed, and then surged into him.
“OHHH!”
The glow intensified with every passing second, his body drinking in the light greedily until the golden radiance erupted in a final, blinding flash so bright we could do nothing but shield our eyes. For a moment, all I could see was white. Gradually, the light began to fade; I felt the warmth slipping from my skin before I finally dared to open my eyes.
“Wait, is that…?”
I stared up at the sky, eyes wide, as Gyogyon floated above us, wreathed in golden light like some freshly evolved final boss.
“Kukuku… Kuhahaha!”
I wasn’t the only one left stunned; Saria and the others were just as thrown off. Even Yaiba and Tsukikage stood there, dumbfounded, eyes locked on Gyogyon with blank stares.
And the reason was simple—
“Behold! Feast your eyes upon the newly evolved form of—”
“Nothing’s changed!”
“Huh?”
My outburst brought Gyogyon’s speech to a screeching halt. He blinked, his face slack with confusion, as if he’d just realized he was standing on stage with his fly down.
I mean, come on.
“After all that ominous buildup with the lasers, the golden glow, and the dramatic monologue, I expected a terrifying second or third form. But he looks exactly the same. Is it just me?”
“No way,” Al said, frowning as she squinted up at him. “With an entrance like that, he has to be different. Probably. Maybe?”
“Huhhh? He looks the same to me,” Saria said, peering upward like she was trying to spot the difference in a puzzle book.
“Yeah. No change,” Origa added in her usual flat tone.
“I-I think so too,” Zora murmured, still staring up with a vaguely pained expression.
“A Gyogyon without tentacles holds no worth,” Lulune said coldly.
“Yeah, that’s definitely just you,” I muttered.
Still, I couldn’t blame her. No matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t spot a single difference. The same alien face. The same smug expression. No new horns, no extra arms, no glowing tattoos, not even a change of outfit.
“Yaiba, Tsukikage, either of you see anything different?”
“W-Well… uh… I… No,” Yaiba admitted, averting his eyes.
And then Gyogyon exploded.
“Silence!”
His scream cracked like lightning, echoing across the sky as he trembled with fury.
“How dare you! I gave you a front-row seat to witness divinity, and you dare to mock me?! I have become the ruler of the entire universe!”
“Yeah, but… you look exactly the same, so…”
“Enough. Then let me show you the power I have obtained!”
Gyogyon raised a hand toward Lady Muu, who continued to float silently beside him. A wicked grin stretched across his face.
“To begin with… why don’t I erase this worthless lower lifeform? She’s served her purpose.”
“Muu-sama!”
Yaiba’s voice cracked with urgency. But neither he nor Tsukikage had any means of stopping Gyogyon now. If he had truly changed, if he really had become something far beyond us, then her life was in real danger.
I didn’t hesitate. I summoned Land’s power, calling forth rocky tentacles from the earth to rescue Lady Muu. Gyogyon’s gaze shifted; he simply looked at the stone limbs, not moving his hands or showing any obvious power, just giving them a mildly annoyed glance. Instantly, they froze in place.
“Hmph. Interfering again? Pointless. That no longer works.”
“What—”
I barely got the word out before the tentacles, mere inches from reaching Lady Muu, suddenly lost all form. They crumbled into dust, collapsing as nothing more than loose dirt back onto the ground.
All he’d done was look at them.
I stood frozen in disbelief, and Gyogyon sneered with twisted satisfaction.
“I now possess the power of Mu-Yu. That means, if I choose, I can return all things—heaven and earth, form and concept—to nothing or create them anew. There is no longer anyone who can defy me.”
“So he really did change…” I murmured.
“This is not the time for commentary!” Al snapped from behind me.
Right. Focus, Seiichi.
As Al chewed me out, Gyogyon’s smirk twitched. He was glaring straight at me now, a vein pulsing just beneath one eye.
“You continue to mock me… You dare mock me… Fine then. I’ll grant you the honor. Forget the girl. I’ll kill you first!”
“What?!”
I barely had time to react. In the blink of an eye, before I could move, breathe, or even think, Gyogyon appeared behind me. I didn’t see him move; he was just there.
And then, he grabbed my head.
“Seiichi!”
Saria’s voice rang out as she reached toward me in a panic, her hand inches too far.
“Now, wear your foolishness like a crown, and vanish into nothing!”
“S-Seiichi!”
Saria’s scream echoed through the sky.