The elevator doors opened onto a vast, sprawling space.
It was a hexagonal field, perhaps modeled on the Festa stage. A pillar stood at every corner, each of which housed an elevator.
No sooner had Ayato and Saya stepped out onto the field—the site of the illegal Eclipse tournament—than a voice called out to them from the darkness.
“Well, well, well. So we have a pair of uninvited guests.”
Far across the field, perched atop the wreckage of a collapsed pillar, sat a man, fixing them both with a faint smile. The figure, his face behind a mask, garbed in the white battle jacket used by Eclipse fighters, spread his arms wide as he rose to his feet.
“But now that you’re here, welcome, Ayato Amagiri, Saya Sasamiya! I was just thinking how it would feel a little lonely to watch this city’s demise all by myself.”
“…Madiath Mesa,” Ayato murmured through clenched teeth.
The head of the Festa Executive Committee and one-time champion of the Phoenix.
A regular fighter at the Eclipse under the guise of his alias Lamina Mortis, and the user of the Orga Lux the Raksha-Nada.
The one who had tormented Ayato’s older sister Haruka, his own biological daughter.
And, right now, he was also the leader of the Golden Bough Alliance, intent on destroying Asterisk and as a result, inflicting unimaginable pain on Ayato’s dear partner Julis.
“…We’re here to stop you,” Ayato said, activating the Ser Veresta.
“Hmm… A little impatient, aren’t we? How about we enjoy the entertainment first? I’m sure you want to see how your little scheme plays out, no?”
With a snap of his fingers, Madiath summoned up enough air-windows to fill the field, more than Ayato could possibly count.
And displayed on those screens—
“Kirin…! And Sylvia and Claudia…!”
In the air-window Saya pointed to, Kirin could be seen engaging in combat with Percival, while Claudia was likewise in the midst of battle against the Varda-Vaos.
Not only that, others showed Stjarnagarm officers confronting huge swathes of Valiants, busy destroying facilities all throughout the city.
“These are all real-time images from our Valiant units. Oh, there’s no need to worry. The puppets’ job is just to destroy any escape routes and distract the city guard.”
In any event, it looked like Claudia’s group had successfully reached the Varda-Vaos.
Thank goodness… At least the first step was a success.
All that remained was to trust them to finish the job.
“…Oh? Is that Minato Wakamiya alongside Miss Enfield?” Madiath said as he watched the video, surprise evident in his voice.
“Minato…?”
When had they found time to call her?
But there could be no mistaking it—that was Minato fighting by Claudia’s side.
“Well, I suppose she has the right. As far as I’m concerned, she can do as she wishes.”
“The right…? So it’s true! You were behind the accident that killed her father!” Ayato cried furiously.
Minato had lost her father when an experimental rocket engine that he was working on had supposedly malfunctioned and exploded. Ayato had long suspected that the Golden Bough Alliance was involved, but to hear Madiath practically admit to it…
“Yes, we needed the rocket engine. Desperately,” Madiath said with a shake of his head. “It was Varda’s sole decision to stage the accident… But I do believe her actions were regrettable.”
“How dare you…?!”
Madiath’s words had been totally devoid of emotion.
Fresh anger welled up in the pit of Ayato’s stomach. To have such utter disregard for human life…
“I never expected you to get this far at this point in the game. It’s reckless, this plan of yours, but it’s considered, too. It’s true we can’t contact Miss Orphelia right now… But let’s just see how long she can keep that up.”
Madiath turned his gaze to another air-window, one that showed Julis in the heat of battle against Orphelia.
It was a live feed of the championship match.
The two contestants were throwing everything they had against each other, letting loose with their abilities.
“Julis will be fine. All we have to do is finish here before she finishes there.”
“Ayato’s right. We won’t let you get away with this,” Saya added, activating her Helnekraum and pointing the muzzle straight at Madiath.
“I see. So you’ve both come for me, while Miss Enfield and her companions are going for Varda. But you do realize we have a third comrade? Unfortunately, we don’t have any Valiants with him, so I don’t have any footage, but I wonder how things are going on his end?”
“That’s…”
Right.
There were three ringleaders behind the Golden Bough Alliance—Madiath Mesa, the Varda-Vaos, and Dirk Eberwein. Even if Ayato and Saya managed to defeat Madiath and Claudia’s team was able to take out the Varda-Vaos, so long as Dirk remained, there could be no stopping Orphelia.
Eishirou was supposed to be on the Tyrant’s trail, and yet…
“Ha-ha, you’re a bad liar. The truth is written right there on your face.” Madiath chuckled as he looked Ayato over. “This is good timing. Let’s call him and see how he’s doing.”
With those words, he pulled his mobile from his pocket and opened a new air-window.
“…Tch! We were just getting to the interesting part! What now? This had better be important.” The surly red-haired youth on the other end of the line clicked his tongue in annoyance.
“Oh, it’s certainly important,” Madiath answered with a theatrical wave of his hand. “Varda and I have been visited by unexpected guests. I was worried about you, my friend.”
“Ah, I get it. Sounds like you’ve got a bit of mess on your hands. But don’t worry. Nothing out of the ordinary over here.”
“Excellent. So everything is proceeding according to plan?”
“It will,” Dirk answered blithely, before shifting his hate-filled gaze. “Yo, Ayato Amagiri. Your buddy Yabuki was sniffing around… Sorry, but he ain’t found me.”
“Ngh…!”
Ayato couldn’t tell whether Claudia’s plan had somehow been leaked or whether Dirk had hidden himself exceptionally well, but if Eishirou couldn’t find him, it would have been hopeless even if Ayato and the others had helped.
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Saya said. “I don’t trust Yabuki as a person, but I have confidence in his skills. He’ll find you before time runs out.”
“Ha! You don’t even have your head on straight, do you?” Dirk shot back condescendingly. “Where exactly do you think I am? An airship. Up in the sky. No matter what you do, it’s impossible for you lot to get to me here.”
Up in the sky…?!
That would make it difficult for Eishirou to track him down.
It might be possible, but in the limited time they had left…
“Wonderful. You seem to be doing remarkably well. I’m envious,” Madiath interrupted, applauding theatrically. “By the way, I do have one question.”
“Huh? And what’s that?”
“Why did you betray us when we’re so close to fulfilling our goals?”
“…!”
In contrast to Madiath’s perilous words, his tone of voice was light, his smile unwavering.
“Hmph. So you caught on?” For his part, Dirk didn’t seem fazed in the least, admitting to the accusation without hesitation.
“Of course. All our information told us their group had no idea of our true purpose or whereabouts. For them to have acted so aggressively over the past twelve hours, it’s only natural to suspect a leak. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Just so you know, I didn’t give them squat about Orphelia. She probably gave that up herself. All I did was offer them a couple of hints about where to find you and Varda,” Dirk said unapologetically.
“…What does that mean?” Saya said, staring at Madiath and Dirk, eyebrows raised in suspicion.
It was only thanks to the information that Dirk had provided Eishirou that Ayato and the others had been able to locate Madiath and the Varda-Vaos, and even after confirming its accuracy, he hadn’t been able to shake the suspicion that it was all a trap. But it seemed like the members of the Golden Bough Alliance really were turning against themselves.
“I thought all three of us were in consensus when it came to the implementation of the plan, even if we each had different agendas. For you to try to upend it all at this critical juncture… I find it difficult to comprehend,” Madiath said, sighing deeply as his shoulders slumped.
“Difficult to comprehend? Yeah, I guess it is. If you had ever bothered to understand even the first thing about me, you would’ve known I’d do this. Come on, as far as you’re concerned, Varda and I are no different from the rest of them, are we? To you, we’re all equally worthless.” Dirk’s voice lowered even further, his frustration emanating through the air-window.
And it wasn’t just frustration. Ayato could clearly feel the black depths of his hatred, his disgust, his resentment, his anger, and a swathe of other negative emotions swirling around him.
“Listen up, Madiath Mesa. Yeah, I hate this screwed up world. So I teamed up with you and Varda to destroy it. To force all the winners, those worthless integrated enterprise foundations included, to crawl down in the filth with the rest of us.”
To destroy the world.
So that was the goal of this young man, the famed Tyrant. Ayato was immediately convinced of the veracity of his words.
This, he felt, was the true Dirk Eberwein.
“But I hate you just as much as these guys do. You cling to the past, wallowing in your pathetic delusions and your pointless anger. I don’t much like Varda either, what with how she’s always looking down her nose on our world, chasing after her stupid fantasies. Or Orphelia, running away from her own damn responsibility. Or Percival, letting her natural talents rot. Or you, Ayato Amagiri. You’re an eyesore and a goddamn pain in the ass.”
Dirk’s outburst wasn’t emotional, but neither was he speaking calmly or matter-of-factly—rather, this tirade was delivered deliberately, with a deep, dark passion.
“If I had kept silent, nothing would have stopped us from winning. A complete and total victory… But I can’t just sit by and let someone I hate win. And that goes for everyone, myself included. I hate myself just as much as the rest of you. I make myself sick. So I thought I’d stir things up a little. But don’t feel bad. If things keep going like they are, the plan will still work out, even if it’s not exactly how you intended. You might not get everything you wanted, but neither will they. Both sides will lose. Yeah, you heard me. We’ll all lose. You, me, Varda, Ayato Amagiri, the integrated enterprise foundations, everyone in this whole shitty world. We’ll all wind up in a nasty, miserable place, stuck dragging each other down, none of us ever winning.”
Then, in the softest of murmurs, Dirk finished, “And that’ll make me feel just a little better about it all.”