Rinko was starting to wonder just why Eve was so confident. The fight was clearly going Rinko’s way, and for all Eve’s bluster, she was entirely on the back foot…
“You know you can’t win, so you’re bluffing? Is that what this is?” she asked.
Eve’s smile was downright evil. “Mwa-ha-ha, curious? Lemme show you what else I got.”
“What now?!” Rinko gasped.
When her jaws weakened, Eve slipped away—
“Hokay.”
“Hah?!”
—and hid in her own shadow.
“Crap! Seta—Satan’s power!” Rinko backed off, ready to snap her jaws the moment Eve emerged.
But Eve stayed under.
“What now? Running away?”
“Oh, puh-leez,” Eve purred.
Something shot out of the shadow—
“Grrr!”
“Ha?!”
A wolf. No, not exactly a wolf—it was walking on four legs, but it was covered in plant-like vines.
“Dionysos’s wolf?!” Rinko yelped.
“Bingoooo! And now here’s your prize!”
The weird wolf started bounding around, running right past Rinko toward Azami itself.
“C-crap!”
Rinko had assumed Eve had already used up all her summonses.
Eve popped back out of the shadow and floated above it, smirking.
“Wave attacks are the key to any battle! Oh, right—you’re a scientist, not a strategist.”
“Grr, some gamer I am! Forgetting the most obnoxious part of SRPGs!”
“Haha! Didn’t think a creature that big could change colors with fear! You learn something new every day.” Eve was cackling wildly.
“Shit!”
Should she fight Eve? Or protect her citizens?
Trapped in a dilemma, Rinko left herself exposed.
And Eve seized her opportunity.
“Time you died.”
She quit showboating and came in for the kill.
No longer toying with her opponent, Eve darted forward, her fist aimed at Rinko’s throat.
Everything up to that point had been sporting—but now it was mortal combat.
Rinko failed to react in time, falling squarely into Eve’s trap.
Rather than flaunting her strength, Eve was making short work of the fight—like rubber-stamping a document. Rinko couldn’t keep up.
The blow drew blood, and Eve grinned. For a chatterbox like her to let her smile do the talking—she must be sure she’d won.
“See, like I said. Shackles. QED.”
Rinko had argued that having someone to protect made her stronger—and Eve appeared to believe she had just shredded that line of logic.
Rinko snarled, blood gushing from her throat. “I ain’t lost yet!”
“Oh, let’s not get carried away.”
Rinko tried to breathe fire at point-blank range, but with a fist lodged in her throat, this didn’t work out.
“Gah…hnk!”
“Aw, got a sore throat? Poor Rinky.”
With that taunt, Eve started swinging.
She was too close for Rinko to defend herself from the hail of kicks and punches.
Eve could hit anywhere she wanted, like a Boxercise sandbag.
Seeing Rinko on the ropes, the troops’ cheers gave way to alarm.
And that just fueled Eve’s frenzy.
“Mwa-ha… Aha-ha-ha!”
Unable to stop the laughter, she rained down her blows faster and faster.
But Rinko still stood, long past the point when Eve thought she should have gone down, and that started to frustrate her.
“Give it up! You used to know when to quit! What is this, emotion? You never had that!”
“Like I said…I got heart now!”
“And it’s pumping the blood right out of your wounds! Go down!”
“Never!” Rinko roared. She wasn’t trying to intimidate so much as inspire herself with a cry from the soul.
“Give it up!”
“Not giving up makes things happen! That boy taught me that! Sorry, but I’m not gonna roll over and let you win!”
“Another sufferer of Lloyd Syndrome? No cure for that, Rinky!”
It was time for the curtain to fall. Eve flexed the fist in Rinko’s throat…
…and the boy who’d taught Rinko how not to quit arrived.
“Are you okay?!”
The source of Lloyd Syndrome himself.
“L-Lloyd?!” Rinko’s cry was a mix of joy and surprise.
“G-gahhh?! Lloyd?!
Meanwhile, Eve made a noise like a frog hit by a car. She was now thoroughly allergic to him.
She quickly pulled her fist free and backed off.
“Vritra’s rampage should have bought more time… You came all the way from Profen? How— Aughh!”
Eve had found her explanation: a little black hole in the sky.
And flying through it were Selen, Riho, and Phyllo—the usual company.
“Time to earn our keep!”
“……Mm.”
“Yikes, Azami’s a shitshow!”
They were followed by Marie, Allan, Renge, Anzu, and Mena—everyone who should have been stuck back in Profen.
And the last face that poked through the hole—
“Yoo-hoo!”
Yup, it was Alka, smirking down at Eve from on high.
“Arghhhhhhh!”
“You sure didn’t hold back on that body! You had a real complex about your boobs and waistline, didn’t you, President Eva? Or should I say Eve Profen?!”
“Alky…I never imagined you’d abandon Kunlun.”
“Hmm? I didn’t! Sou woke up, so I left it in his hands. Apparently, a threat to his friend woke him!”
“Oh, what a shame… If it was unguarded, I might as well have attacked it right away.”
“Your voice is cracking,” Alka teased—then turned grim again, glaring at her. “It was only possible ’cause you decided to torture poor Shouma. Really gotta thank you there. So I brought along a real nice boy, a blacklisted stalker, some demon lords—the whole shebang.”
Eve thrust a fist in Alka’s direction. “So be it! We were bound to clash sooner or later. Time we settle—”
But as their serious conversation peaked—
“Um, is the lizard okay? Wait, I feel like we’ve met before.”
“Cough cough… Uh, ’sup, Lloyd! It’s me, Rinko.”
“Oh? You’re Rinko?!”
Heedless of the climactic showdown brewing around him, Lloyd was just impressed with Rinko’s dragon form.
“Wow! You’re just like a real lizard! Very strong looking. I didn’t know you knew a trick like that!”
So much for the moment.
“He’s always doing this!” Eve lamented, impressed despite herself.
Meanwhile, Marie took one look at her mother—and the blood.
“Mom?! Y-you’re bleeding a lot!”
“Yes, my daughter! Don’t worry, nothing a little spit won’t fix! Gah!”
“That wasn’t spit, Mom! You’re coughing up blood!”
She was just as bad as Lloyd on that count.
And between the two of them, Eve wasn’t really feeling it anymore.
“And just like that, the tension is gone! Really makes you wonder why you bother.”
She pressed a hand to her forehead—and then Anzu stepped up.
“Then I’ll help give it back, Eve.”
Anzu Kyounin, master of the blade, head of the domain, and always intimidating. She’d known Eve well back in her mascot days. But now she knew Eve had just been using her—and she was pissed about it.
“See? A normal reaction! That’s exactly what I wanted, Anzy!” Eve shot her a huge smile.
“See, that’s creepy, grinning a second after you gripe about the dissipating tension.”
“Oh, now, now. You’ve arrived just in time! It gives me an idea.”
With that, Eve glanced at the battle raging around her.
Locusts, machine soldiers, fire turtles, and wolves had given her a real advantage—but the Profen contingent was turning things around.
“I was hoping to push through while the others were held up, but that didn’t work out,” she muttered.
Meanwhile, Lloyd and the others were busy taking out the monsters attacking Azami.
“Hahh! Lloyd and I are worth a hundred men!” Allan roared. His reputation might have been slightly inflated, but his cry helped restore the spirits of the exhausted defenders.
And of course, the clincher—Lloyd.
“Here goes, Lloyd!”
“Ready, Satan!”
The boy had bounded on Satan’s back, and they were knocking locusts out of the sky.
Their arrival had completely turned the battle around.
Mena and Renge were strong fighters, too, and they were quickly taking out machines and wolves alike. Everyone watching them was transfixed.
Eve had thrown in all her forces—and they were going down. By all rights, this should have shaken her.
But she was still smiling. She might have lost that battle, but the war was still well within her grasp.
“Heh-heh-heh…”
Alka didn’t miss that something was wrong. “The loss drove you mad? No, that ain’t it.”
She knew Eve too well to let her guard down.
“Oh, just fond memories,” Eve said evasively.
“Okay, lemme say this first— We ain’t holding back. This’ll be the last fight, and Lloyd’s watching. I’m obligated to remind him how impressive I am.”
Some things never change, and neither does Alka.
Eve just grinned. “Works for me. I wasn’t in the mood for a squabble. Best if we just go right at it, and you go down quick.”
“Sure…then let’s go!”
Alka’s whole tone changed.
A moment later—she looked grown up.
The human demon lord was Alka’s true form.
The very air crackled around her. Even Eve took a step back.
“Oh! I’ve seen the chief in this cosplay before!” Lloyd said, clearly not feeling the tension at all.
Alka’s second form carried a risk of going berserk, and having that dismissed as mere cosplay took some of the wind out of her sails.