✦ ✦ ✦
“Well, better than scaring him?” Eve said, trying to cheer her up.
“No comment.” Alka gathered her spirits back, ready to fight.
Eve sighed, smirking. “Honestly! Three—no, if I count Shouma, four fights in a row. Does this make me the protagonist?”
Clearly, she was still confident.
“You have a man-made body, a pile of demon lord powers—making you the demon lord of nothing,” Alka said. “You’ve got no true self, no second form. And yet you think you can win?”
“You think I’m just bluffing? I’m afraid that’s not true.”
Making a fist with her rock arm, Eve swung as hard as she could.
Her fist was the size of a hut, larger than any she’d made against Rinko. It hit Alka hard…
Shnk!
Just as all seemed lost—Alka stopped it with a single finger.
“You stopped that with a finger?!”
Eve just sounded delighted. “Not ready to quit? Fine, I’ll make that mask crack.”
Her whole kid grandma vibe gone with the wind, Alka was back to her original standoffish vibe. And she was fighting back.
Scritch scritch scritch—
She was using her nails on Eve’s fist.
And…
“Done.”
She tapped it with her finger, and the sturdy golem fist burst, dissolving into dust. Then there was another blast, then another, moving up the arm.
“Whoa!” Eve said, impressed. “Eugy mentioned this! You can engrave eternally active runes with your nails! You call it the Spellnail, yes?”
“You both talk too much.”
“You could call that move your Ultimate Rune Nailbomber! Well? I just thought it up. You can have that name for free.”
“It sucks. You couldn’t pay me to take it.”
While Alka was answering, Eve breathed fire.
“Cheap.”
Alka drew another rune into the flames.
Poof!
The flames wafted away and scattered in all directions, as if she had punched them into thin air in a CGI movie.
It was physically impossible to punch a fire under normal conditions—Eve couldn’t help but gape.
“How does that even work?”
Alka held up her nail, her voice flat. “Just drew an impact rune in the flames.”
All she had to do was get a nail on something.
“Well, I can’t afford to let you get your nails on me. I’ve gotta fight you like you have poison hands, Alky!”
With that, Eve extended her treant roots, going for a ranged fight.
“But I do have all the powers. Let me show you how powerful that is, Alky!”
The roots swung in.
Eve had charged those roots with the golem’s might—and Surtr’s. They had rocks at the tips like morning stars, or they cracked like fire whips; she had a variety of attack types that came in waves.
“Fancy tricks,” Alka sneered. “For an old lady.”
“You’re playing that card, kid grandma?”
Her roots were acting like flamethrowers and smashing rocks—while Alka was dancing through the air around it all.
“Like if Yamata no Orochi had more than eight heads…,” she muttered, shaking her head. Eve was throwing everything but the kitchen sink at her—but she had no finesse.
Alka flicked one root after another with her nail.
With a noise like plucked guitar strings, they detonated.
“Your efforts are futile, Eve.”
“Oh, would you accept my surrender? I thought not.” Eve was still joking around, and Alka looked tired.
“Your tone suggests you’ve got more up your sleeve.”
She was only pretending to be cornered. Alka zoomed in close, hoping to draw out her ace.
“Boo.”
“Whoa!”
Alka shot through her roots, and Eve leapt back into the air.
“You’ve got nothing, then? If you’re just bluffing, this is over, Eve Profen.”
Eve was flying away at top speed, and Alka was right on her heels.
The stage shifted to the air, but their battle was no less intense—
And then Alka’s nail scratched Eve’s side.
That was all. That alone applied the impact rune—or enough of it to feel like Eve had been hit by a blunt instrument. She went flying.
“Urgh?!”
“This is the beginning of the end, Eve Profen.”
“O-oh no!” Eve’s face twisted, drenched with sweat.
Alka saw her chance to win—but for once, she approached with due caution.
As she zoomed in close, ready to land the final blow—
✦ ✦ ✦
“You fool.”
✦ ✦ ✦
—Eve’s grimace gave way to a grin.
“?!”
That devilish look sent a chill down Alka’s spine.
“The impact rune is carved into you! How—”
How could she still be confident? Was it another bluff? Or was Alka the one on the hook?
As Alka’s eyes wavered, Eve’s hand shot out—clutching a lump of flesh.
Alka let out a squeak.
So that’s how she’d played it.
The flesh burst, flying off.
“Like I wouldn’t have a plan.” Eve smirked.
She’d faked the whole verge-of-defeat thing and allowed Alka to touch her.
When Alka had carved the rune into her side, she’d acted hurt—but gouged out that flesh where Alka couldn’t see. It was quite a grisly solution.
“Tch.”
Alka’s fist was already in the swing. She couldn’t stop it now—she had to follow through.
No matter what counter was coming, she’d just have to tank the hit.
As so she committed.
Whoom!
The wind roared in the enormous swing that left her fully exposed.
And Eve was right up against her.
Pssht.
Something squirted from her fingertip. A little mist, right by Alka’s face—like a bug spray.
“What is that, tear gas?” Alka scoffed— “Er, uh…?”
And the demon lord mask split, falling away.
Her impassive poker face was replaced with a look of shock.
In a single instant—she was nine years old again.
And not just that. She was in free fall, no longer capable of flight.
Her back hit the ground hard, unable to catch herself.
“Wh-what the heck did you do?!”
She had no idea what had just happened. Her speech was back in kid grandma mode.
This mystery ploy left her too rattled even to move. Her body was immune to any and all poisons, yet it clearly was affected by something.
Her mind caught up.
“?! Is this how you got Shouma?!”
Alka turned pale. Her body should be impervious to harm, yet she was badly hurt, and the pain wasn’t going away. She’d seen this before.
“I see it’s kicked in,” Eve said, landing next to her and ignoring Alka’s confusion. “That impact rune was certainly a threat. Oh, wait, the ultimate thingamajig, you said? If you’d got that on my chest, I might have worried. I’d hate to lose this rack!”
“What did you do?!”
“Works like a charm, doesn’t it? Glad I tried it on Shouma first. Let me figure out where the spray kicks in fastest.”
Eve quit beating around the bush, brandishing her fingers like a salesman demonstrating a new product.
“An anti–Kunlun villager weapon! I call it hannyatou! I took the same principle you used to call yourself the Priestess of Salvation and create the heroic Sou—and turned it against you.”
Alka’s mind was growing hazy, but she knew she’d slipped up.
“I thought you were throwing too much at Azami… So this is why!”
“Heh-heh-heh. Looks like everyone else is busy with my monsters. Time I grabbed the Holy Sword and made a beeline for Kunlun.”
“Did you forget?” Alka said. “No demon lords can touch the Holy Sword.”
“Oh, I’m well aware. And I’ve got a workaround.” Eve turned, looking around.
Her eyes found—
“Ha! You’re no match for me!”
—Anzu, cheerily slicing through a locust.
“All I need’s a good friend!” said Eve. “And by that, I do mean ‘useful pawn.’”
“What—”
But before Alka could say another word, Eve vanished into her own shadow.