Eve heard a mysterious voice and spun around.
“Quite the welcome you gave my brother, and my old friend.”
An aging gentleman stood before her.
“Sou?” Eve said, like she’d bumped into an acquaintance.
“Indeed.”
She knew she’d met the man before, but she found herself rubbing her eyes for a double take.
“You seem rather different.”
Sou feigned ignorance. “Oh? I’m hardly aware of it myself, but perhaps I’m aging well.”
He was a runeman—which meant his vibe changed in the eye of the beholder.
Originally, he’d been a hero, but as that definition grew fuzzy, so did he, and this had long tormented him.
But after making friends with Shouma and sharing his love for Lloyd, he began to define himself as “Lloyd’s old man fan” and was now free of that chameleonic nature.
“For old times’ sake, let me ask— How do you see me, Eve?”
“A grandpa who dotes on his grandkids.”
That was totally his new vibe. Like summer vacation was almost here, and he’d spent all week preparing for the kids to visit.
Sou had no objections. He looked tickled pink.
“Indeed, I am! I woke up purely so that I might capture Lloyd’s heroics with this camera.”
“Him again?” Eve snorted, clearly sick of hearing that name. “I’m afraid I ditched him back in Azami. He does tend to get in the way.”
“Did you really?”
“Yes, so you can just go back to bed.”
“Afraid I can’t,” Sou said, shaking his head. “I cannot stand for what you did to my friends.”
“That word again!”
Eve made a face. She’d heard her fill of that concept.
Sou paid her mood no attention, acting like a presenter giving a talk on the joys of friendship or his favorite idol.
“Being undefined was naught but suffering. Deprived of the purpose for which I was created, yet unable to vanish—I could not become anything. I could write novels about that pain.”
“I can sympathize. I’ve made it through life by constantly setting myself new goals.”
“And yet that’s never enough, is it? I tried to escape the hero role by making myself into the villain—and I know how unfulfilling that was.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Eve debated whether to say anything snarky, but Sou didn’t give her time—he was heating up into a regular sermon.
“What we all need is someone who understands us, Eve Profen. When I realized that, I escaped my undefined existence, ceased to be sinister—and was able to walk through life like any other elderly man.”
Eve’s teeth ground together.
“So this is a humble brag?”
Sou nodded gravely. “If you perceive it as such, that proves your thirst lies unquenched.”
“I’m thoroughly quenched! I’m young again! Look at these curves! Look at my skin! I could totally take a day off from my skincare routine without issue!”
Anzu looked baffled. “You have a daily skincare routine? I ain’t never done a thing.”
“And you’ll regret it five years from now.”
Sou waited that interaction out, then slowly raised his fists.
“Shall we?” he said. “I imagine you’re the one who hurt my buddy, Shouma. Allow me to avenge him.”
“Hard to believe you’re the same man who was trying to free the demon lords and make Lloyd fight them, all so you could make a movie of it.”
With that burst of spite, Eve prepared herself to fight.
“I shall record his deeds, and we shall release that movie. I’ll have time after you’re defeated.”
“If you beat me, then you’ll be missing a great battle scene—of him being trounced.”
“Lloyd Belladonna’s every action is appealing! In battle or out.”
Sou was getting a mite carried away, like a man headed to his grandson’s school sports festival.
“Ugh, it is far too late in the day for a headache like this. I do hope you’re the last one.” Eve waggled her fingers.
“W-whoa!”
Anzu was forced to move forward, Holy Sword in hand.
“Anzy, you go on ahead to the Last Dungeon.”
“Wait, hey! Stop! You belong to me, feet!” Wailing, she was dragged off toward the back of town.
Eve pulled out a handkerchief, faking a teary farewell, then turned back to Sou.
“Oh, are you letting Anzy go?”
“There’s little she can do on her own. You’ll have to be there.”
“True. If she goes back to my old world, it’ll just be the start of a reverse isekai story. I can just see it now—her knees buckling the first time she sees an airplane. Not exactly original.”
Sou read between the lines. “I don’t wish to involve civilians or those I care about. The same applies to you?”
For a moment…
Eve’s brow furrowed, but she soon began to bluster.
“Suuure, can’t have the sword bearer getting hurt, can I? This is rather powerful.”
“What is?” Sou frowned.
“Oh, I kept something up my sleeve to deal with anyone not from Kunlun and impervious to hannyatou.”
“You certainly are prepared.”
“Non, non!” Eve said, waggling a finger. “I did not prepare it—I just finished making it.”
“Making…? Hnk!”
Squeak.
Rabbit costumes popped out of the shadow at Eve’s feet.
It was a horrifying and deeply weird image—and the legs were bending in all sorts of directions, proof there was nothing inside.
There were five of them.
Their unstable, sinister nature was all too familiar. Sou’s eyes widened.
“Runemen?”
“Yessss!” Eve said, her tongue wagging. “Just like you. The king of Profen and her rabbit costume— You’ve heard people suggest there were actually several people inside, many of them simply doubling for me?”
“And you’ve used those words as the basis for these runemen?” Sou inquired.
“Bingo! Nothing as thorough as carving your name into ancient ruins and manuscripts, so they’re very unstable, but that’s also a strength.”
That was enough for Sou to catch her drift.
“Ah, that is vicious.”
“Yes! I bet they can easily kill these poor, immobilized Kunlun villagers.” Eve raised a hand.
The rabbit costumes scattered, arms and heads wobbling, letting out noises like tokusatsu minions.
“Oh dear, that’ll never do!”
Sou’s reaction was charmingly grandfatherly. Moefication complete.
“Now whaaat? You’d better act before someone dies!”
“Indeed. My friend’s grandchildren are here!”
But as he dithered, one of the rabbits charged right at him.
“Eeee!”
“Hmph… Appropriately powerful.”
Sou had taken a nice big swing at it—
But the empty mascot head merely dented, and it didn’t even slow down.
“They’re empty— How ironic!”
“What, feeling sorry for them? One runeman for another?”
“Yes. For their own good, I wish to put them down promptly. To my eyes, this is a most deplorable sight.”
“Oh, you flatter me! Well, I gotta be getting on home. Although I wonder if my old home’s still standing.”