Shouma was lying crumpled against a heap of rubble in the remains of the Profen palace. He was in bad shape, bleeding everywhere. He wasn’t dead yet, but he was in a lot of pain.
Eve stood over him, a satisfied smile on her lips; it seemed her preparations were finally complete. And she gave him an earful of her hardships.
“It was rough going! I had to collect all the records of Kunlun villagers from the world and add a line to each saying that silver was their weakness.”
“……What would that do?” Shouma’s voice was listless, his eyes staring into space.
Eve knelt down, like she was nudging a child toward comprehension.
“Are you aware of how runes work? Simply put, they infuse the world’s perceptions with magic and make it real. Turning conception into fact— Totally wild, right? But if the world can’t accept it or if it’s just plain crazy, the effects aren’t that great, or it requires a tremendous amount of magic.”
“……You don’t mean…?”
“Yes, I do! If the world at large thinks Kunlun villagers are weak to silver, then all I have to do is take three nines fine silver powder, brew it with convincingly expensive herbs, fuse that potion with runes, then use the power of the liquor demon lord, Dionysos, to turn it into alcohol. That’s the anti-Kunlun villager weapon—hannyatou.”
“It sure worked!” Shouma said, unable to even raise a finger.
“As long as I have hannyatou, no one from Kunlun can defeat me,” Eve smirked. “Not Alka, or your favorite, Lloyd.”
Eve straightened up and glanced toward Azami.
“The only real threat is Lab Chief Rinko. She has the holy sword, so we’re going to have to duke it out…but she’s shackled by her family and stands no chance against me.”
She no longer had eyes for Shouma.
But that didn’t get him down; instead he just started laughing.
“Kunlun villagers… Kunlun villagers! Ha-ha-ha! We’ve come all this way, and it all hinges on that? What a passionate twist!”
“Stop that; it’s creepy.”
He was half-dead, covered in blood—and laughing. Eve looked appalled.
Shouma turned his bleary eyes her way.
“Listen, it ain’t gonna be Lab Chief Rinko nor Chief Alka in your way. It’s gonna be my beloved little brother, Lloyd.”
“Aww, you’re so devoted! It makes me want to puke.”
She flashed him a look of contempt, but that just got him worked up.
“You’ll eat those words! And find out just why I can’t get enough of him!”
With that, his last reserve of energy was expended, and he slumped over.
Eve frowned.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Is he just trying to scare me? I’ve faced that music countless times as President. It won’t work.”
Losing interest, Eve spread Abaddon wings and took to the air. Turning toward Azami, she grinned.
“Time for the final fight, Lab Chief Rien Cordelia. You’ve got so many things to protect, but I only need to protect myself. You’re smart enough to know which of us has the upper hand!”
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
She flapped her camo wings and flew across the midday sky. Vritra’s rampage had plunged her country into chaos, but she abandoned it without a second thought. She was conceit personified, pursuing only what she took pleasure in.
“There are imbeciles out there who claim having things to protect makes them stronger, but nothing in the world could possibly be of more value than yourself. The urge to protect is a ball and chain—and I’ll prove that today!”
On she flew.
Left behind and half-unconscious, Shouma muttered, “My one regret…is that I can’t see it happen in person. Someone, please be there to film it!”
And with that, he lost consciousness.
✦ ✦ ✦
They sensed Eve’s evil all the way in Kunlun.
Alka and Rinko both felt her palpable malfeasance and turned to the sky above.
“What the hell is…? Is Shouma okay?”
One after another, the Kunlun villagers caught wind of it and turned, looking anxiously upward.
Grandpa Pyrid, the voice of the villagers—and the man who had raised Lloyd—climbed to the top of a roof and folded his arms, scowling in the direction of Profen.
“It’s far off, but that’s one humdinger of a monster.”
“Pyrid…”
He was grinning, his eyes gleaming.
“This used to happen all the time. I’m getting excited!”
Alka rubbed her forehead.
“The only thing you still remember is the fighting…”
What a total battle junkie. She had to laugh.
Pyrid had fought alongside Alka and Eug a hundred years ago, staving off an incurable disease to help seal the demon lords.
Having accomplished that, he’d gone into cryogenic sleep until the cure-all rune was completed. He lost the bulk of his memories as a side effect, but he hadn’t forgotten how much he loved to brawl.
“What’re you laughing at, Alka?”
“Ha-ha-ha, sorry. Still…if it’s strong enough to take you back…”
Then it must be every bit as bad as that horde of demon lords. Alka knew only one possible cause.
“That’ll be Eva. She’s unleashed her shackles, poured out all her evil. This is gonna be brutal.”
She sighed and straightened up, doing a few stretches to ready herself.
“If she was just crossing back over on her own, I wouldn’t have bothered, but for her own peace of mind, she’s trying to wreck this world to the point that me and the lab chief get stuck cleaning up her mess. Bad move. I don’t appreciate her getting my friend and Lloyd mixed up in this. She’s gonna pay for her insatiable arrogance.”
With that, she paused and scratched her cheek.
“But if Eug was involved, she’s gonna have something ready to deal with Kunlun villagers. Guess we’ll see.”
As she thought on that, someone stepped up behind her.
As he approached, he whispered something—and he sounded very tired.
“Oh, dear. This takes me back. Like when I was a hero.”
“Hngg? Ah! S-Sou! You’re up?!”
The old man next to her managed a feeble smile and a shrug.
“Don’t act so shocked, Alka. It’s bad for the heart.”
The sinister Sou.
Alka had crafted a hero out of runes, and he had fought at the side of Eug and Pyrid. But once he’d lost his reason for living, he’d tried to become the villain instead—a sad fate. Until quite recently, he’d acted as Lloyd’s nemesis.
Or rather, in an attempt to end his nebulous existence, he’d conspired with Shouma and attempted to turn Lloyd into a new hero. But he wound up liking Lloyd so much that he’d decided he’d rather stick around and cheer him on. Now he was more a friendly old codger. Bit of a generalization, but not widely off the mark.
Pyrid saw Sou and cheerily jumped down off the roof, thumping his shoulders.
“Oh, old-timer! I was starting to think you’d never wake up!”
Sou endured the thumps and looked at Pyrid, his expression hard to read.
“Deary me. That brave soul, reduced to this senile old man. You don’t even remember fighting alongside me? How sad.”
“Course not,” Alka muttered. “We froze him at death’s door. If he’s only lost his memories, that just proves he has the devil’s luck. And you’re in this old man form, so how could he remember?”
“Fair.” Sou smiled. “Hmm… When my existence was fading and nebulous, I could have easily returned to that boy-hero form, but I’m afraid that’s no longer an option.”
“Oh? Fascinating. What’s stopping you?”
“I’m no longer the hero the world desires. I’m no longer receiving that mana. I am here of my own free will, no longer a rune man. I’m merely an elderly man named Sou, a friend of Shouma’s.”
His impression no longer changed in the eye of the beholder. Sou was now an ordinary human, and Alka found that cause for celebration.
“It’s like my son finally grew up!”
“Stop. If you were my mother, I’d have been dealt a rough hand at birth.”
But here Pyrid interrupted their banter.
“Yo, I ain’t following a word of this. Use language a layman can follow!”
“Your comprehensive failings are alive and well.”
“Mm. But even with this vile aura, I figured you’d be asleep a while longer. Did the threat to the world waken your hero blood?”
Alka was just teasing, but Sou shook his head.
“No, I merely heard a friend’s voice.”
“Shouma?”
Sou nodded and pulled something from his pocket.
“Heh-heh-heh… See this?”
It was a well-used handycam.
“I sensed my friend Shouma’s powerful desire to have someone film Lloyd’s heroism!”
With that jubilant cry, he held the viewfinder to his eye. Alka rolled her eyes.
“All that worrying, and this is what gets you up?”
“You know it. You’d do the same, Alka!”
“I’ll admit it. But did something happen to him?”
“One assumes,” Sou said, nodding. “His passion came through, so I think it’s safe to say he’s not able to hold the camera himself.”
“If he’s only worried about filming things, he ain’t dead yet. Still, filming the hero… Does he think Lloyd can beat someone he couldn’t?”
“At the least, that was my friend Shouma’s impression. After all—”
Sou smiled.
“It is high time Lloyd saved the world and became a true hero.”
Right then, the hero Sou was like a grandfather here to film his grandson’s sports festival.