“I do not!”
“Well, Rinko was never good at these sorts of finer details. Never mind!”
Eve had Anzu wave the sword around, like she was testing out a new video game.
Once she’d run through the basic controls, Eve said, “We’re done here,” and turned to go. “Now we just have to get out of Azami real quick. Off to Kunlun, pry open the door to the Last Dungeon—and once I’m home, it’s mission complete.”
“Mission, my ass. That’ll free all the demon lords trapped in there! How many deaths will that cause?”
“Rinko will be right on my heels, so it’s a desperate measure. It makes me sick—really, it does.”
“That grin proves you’re lying.”
Eve couldn’t stop herself. Her mind was full of future delights.
“I’m immortal! Only I can control the runes! Give me a hundred—no, fifty—years, and the whole world will be dancing on the palm of my hand. By the time Rinko catches up with me, it’ll be too late.”
She was practically frolicking.
But then—
“Did I hear my name?” Rinko was standing before them, albeit barely. She’d lost her second form, and her clothes were covered in blood.
Eve had not expected to see her here, but she soon started chuckling again. “If you had a white coat on, you’d look like a post-op surgeon!”
“I could use a surgeon. Everything hurts.” Rinko grinned.
Eve frowned slightly. “Seeing me off?” she asked.
Rinko didn’t answer.
“Buying time?”
Again, silence.
Eve pouted. “The right to remain silent will not help you here. Imagine a thriller—the killer, on the edge of a cliff, time to confess his sins—and he clams up? No one wants that.”
“Nothing else worked,” Rinko said.
“Meaning?”
“Eve, I’m here to kill you.”
“Didn’t you already try that?”
“Ha-ha-ha, fair.” Rinko conceded that point. “But I was also holding back. Or rather—I didn’t dare use my last resort. I’ve got a real doozy up my sleeve.”
“Yet you’re making a big deal out of it.”
“I’ve got a rune that cancels immortality.”
This was quite a bombshell. Eve froze up completely.
“You what?”
Rinko was as calm as Eve wasn’t. “A rune that cancels immortality.”
Immortality was one of the main strengths the offworlders-turned-demon-lords had in common.
Even if their injuries did prove fatal, they’d come back to life inside a year (although it varied from individual to individual).
This would end that advantage.
Eve had spent much of her time as president trying to roll back the clock, trying to regain her health—and this ruined all of that.
She clearly couldn’t believe her ears.
“……………”
“That’s a good look for you.” Rinko smirked.
“Well, I suppose,” Eve said, recovering (or pretending to). Her voice shook. “You plan to wipe the slate clean?”
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch, Eve. It’s a risky move! So powerful, it’ll remove my immortality, too. If I mess this up, it might just be the death of me.”
She made it sound like a self-destruct, which showed she meant business.
“I made the thing so I could age along with Lou, the king of Azami. I’ll admit—with my injuries, if I kill my immortality, I might drop dead here and now.”
As it was, she was fighting off the pain, catching her breath again between each line.
“You, risking your life? How out of character.”
That was the best retort Eve could manage.
“I meant to use it once peace prevailed, but the circumstances leave me with no choice.”
“I’m unharmed! Remove my immortality here, only you’ll die. Your death will be in vain! If you can’t live out your life with your husband and daughter, what use is it?”
Eve attempted to appeal to Rinko’s emotions, but Rinko cut her down.
“But you won’t be able to heal.”
“……Yes, that does go with the immortality.”
“Those who survive me will handle the rest. Lloyd and Marie will arrive before you head to Kunlun, and they will take you down.”
The look on Rinko’s face showed her mind was made up.
But Eve had made a career out of undermining these moments. Perhaps she would lose her immortality, but the joy of dashing these hopes outweighed that fear.
Her momentary panic died down; Eve was thinking clearly again.
Meanwhile, Anzu— Well, she’d only just found out about immortality at all, so she wasn’t really following much of this.
“I am so out of my element here. Can I go home?”
That bad.
Neither glanced her way, but both apologized.
“Sorry, Anzy.”
“This’ll be quick. You’re our witness!”
As that last word left her lips, Eve made her move…
Which meant turning and running for it.
“I’m done here! No need to take risks!”
“……Not so fast.”
“Whoa!”
Rinko blocked her escape route with a ferocity that made Eve pull up short.
“Yikes!” she said.
Rinko shook her head. “Can’t believe you’re trying to skedaddle.”
She stepped forward, sketching the anti-immortality rune.
Eve looked exasperated. “I was just trying to surprise you!”
“You might manage it on your own, but how are you gonna get yourself to Kunlun with mind-controlled Anzy and the Holy Sword in tow? It’s not just me here. There’s tons of powerful foes outside.”
Even if Rinko fell here, she had backup.
That was why she could afford this risky ploy.
Eve was well aware of that. Scratching her head, she chuckled.
“I thought this might happen—and you’re not the only one with a card up your sleeve.”
“……Yeah?”
Rinko had known her long enough.
It was often hard to tell if Eve was serious or joking around—but when she spoke like this, it was never a bluff.
A moment later—
Whmm……
—the whole castle shook.
Not just up and down, or side to side; it was unpredictable, like a baby playing by slapping and rolling something around.
“Wh-what the—?!” Anzu yelped.
Rinko had to brace herself against it.
“What’d you do?” she said, glaring at Eve.
Eve explained the rocking castle with all the hype of an MC at an entertainment showcase.
“Why is it rocking? Pure magic! And not just any magic—a teleportation spell! This is the impact of moving the entire castle!”
“The entire castle?!” Anzu yelped.
“Yessss!” Eve said, delighted by this reaction. “If my plans were foiled here, I figured I could just bring the castle to Kunlun, with the Holy Sword inside!”
She’d had sleeper agents in the Azami army place magic stones geared for teleport magic at dozens of locations around the castle.
“They wouldn’t have looked like magic stones—Dr. Eug’s designs are good like that. An application of the rune cannon charged them with magic. I may not be good at hitting moving targets, but this much I can manage.”
“……You’ve been planning this awhile, then. We knew Jiou had spies in our midst…”
The shaking was now so intense, Rinko took a knee—to Eve’s infinite pleasure.
“And you know where we’re going—Kunlun village!”
Whmm!
Even as she spoke, Rinko and Anzu both felt a horrible floating sensation.
That hit had been their landing, and the shaking stopped.
The ground was now at an angle; Rinko lost her balance. Eve clearly hadn’t anticipated this, either, and went tumbling after her.
She kept talking, not even picking herself up.
“Surprised? Not every day a castle moves!”
“I feel like it got you as good as you got us.”
“Just a trick of the mind, Anzy,” Eve insisted as she got to her feet.
“All the way to Kunlun?” Rinko yelped, clearly still not able to believe this. “The magic stones that would require—”
“I swear it’s true! See for yourself!” Eve fired her rune cannon at the wall.
Bam bam.
The wall collapsed. Where the vault should have been—was now a pastoral landscape, with grassy knolls and a gentle breeze.
Rinko’s jaw dropped.
Eve absolutely relished that. “Mwa-ha-ha! Your backup’s nowhere near us! What now? Gonna use that rune? Leave the rest to the Kunlun villagers? I can use hannyatou to render them all powerless, but do you think it’s worth a shot?”
“Y-you really are—gahhh!”
Surprise and anger fought for control within Rinko—and she forgot she was still in a battle.
Eve landed a powerful kick right in her undefended side.
Rinko went flying, tumbling all the way to the wall.
The strike was so successful that Eve doubled over laughing.
“Flawless! Comeback! I only meant this to be a last resort to get the Holy Sword here, but cutting you off from your backup is the cherry on top! You look positively crestfallen, Rinko! Oh, what a glorious day!”
She was so worked up, she started talking to Eug, who wasn’t even there.
“Eugy, you’re a true genius! You weren’t the idea girl—you never could match Alky there. But you were better than anyone else at realizing other people’s concepts. Orders from above unleashed your true potential! You were born to do my bidding! Or perhaps it’s the other way around? Your pride got in the way, so you were useless unless I told you what to do.”
“Rinko! Ngh!”
Anzu tried to run to Rinko’s side—but Eve quickly seized control again, forcing her to walk the other way.
“Come on! You can do it!”
“I’m not your baby! Rinko! Rinkoooo?!”
Rinko’s wounds had opened, and she was curled up in pain.
Eve waved good-bye and merrily set off for Kunlun—and the Last Dungeon.
“It all comes down to this! My last dungeon—Kunlun itself!”