Paladin, Ray Starling
Right after Juliet fatally wounded G, we were sent straight back into the Eighth Arena.
Both the cylinder around it and the rising water were gone now. There was also no sign that the place had been submerged mere moments ago—it wasn’t even damp.
And in the middle of the stage stood Overlord Invidia. She was back in her original form, but the damage she’d sustained was still visible.
“I looost... That really did feel like a true boss monster’s defeat, though...”
She’s got no arms and a hole where her heart should be. How is she so lively? I wondered—before an answer came to me. “Do you have Death Soldier?” I asked.
“I do. I took it so I could be sure to save all my footage before I die.”
Well, that explained why she was still alive.
Wait, I just noticed that she’s using her legs to operate the magic camera console. Man, she’s dextrous.
Then, I realized that Juliet looked somewhat sad. G seemed to notice it too. “Oh? What’s wrong, Julie? What’s the matter, Julie?” she asked.
“I... I gave you the death penalty... That means you’re going to the gaol...” That clearly explained what was bothering her. While fighting G, Juliet must’ve been completely focused on the battle—the time limit and the circumstances didn’t allow her to think about anything else.
And now that we’d won, she’d realized what beating G really meant, which had made her upset. She felt guilty about sending her friend to the gaol.
There was one small issue with that, though...
“She’s not going to the gaol,” Chelsea and I said in perfect unison, denying Juliet’s concerns.
“Huh?”
“What? She pulls this kinda shit and she’s not wanted?” Juliet tilted her head, while Max became confused. I couldn’t blame them. I wouldn’t have known this either if I hadn’t watched her videos.
“Oh, she is,” said Chelsea. “She’s like public enemy number one in Legendaria.”
“Then why’s she not goin’?”
“She’s got an MVP reward that lets her bypass her wanted status and come back from her death penalties,” I said. If my memory served me, it was a mobile save point called “Sevenfall Eightrise,” and it let her come back from her death penalties eight times per year. I’d seen the video where she fought a music battle against Titania—she’d lost and died after it, but ultimately it had all ended with her coming back like nothing mattered.
“If you wanna know more, check out my video, ‘Super Useful Item! G Tries Something New!’”
She’s trying to get viewers even now! She’s really on that grindset! I thought, but then I realized something. “Wait. Why are you still alive? We Death Soldiers don’t get to live this long.” I was pretty sure that a minute had already passed.
“I got someone to make me an accessory that extends the duration by minutes!” First Harodihg Gnik, now this... Underground Sanctuary seemed to have some pretty good crafters.
“I’d actually love to have that too...”
“Our desires align... (Me too...)”
“You’re both way too excited about builds that involve dyin’.”
C’mon, Chelsea. Juliet’s a low HP build, while I’m, well...me. It’s pretty important that we get to stay around for a long time once our HP’s gone!
“I could give you some if you ever come hang out with my clan!” said G. “Consider it payment for today’s performance!”
Wait, really? I thought. Honestly, that might be enough for me to forgive all this.
“I must say,” Nemesis spoke up. “For someone who was just soundly defeated, you’re acting quite upbeat...”
“I mean, I had fun. We were all shining bright. It’s normal to feel good after something great happens, right?”
The Overlord—G—said those words with an expression that showed she was telling the honest truth.
That basically confirmed my suspicions about her...
“Hey, G,” said Chelsea. “You could’ve destroyed us easily, right?”
“Huh?”
“Whaddya mean?” Juliet and Max seemed confused by Chelsea’s accusation, but I knew what she was saying. While G had fought us with all she had, she wasn’t putting everything she’d got into winning, exactly.
“I mean, R’lyeh’s got way worse places than that dungeon inside it, right?” The Depths of Jealousy was a terrifying dungeon and could be easily flooded with her monsters. However, the very fact that she’d picked a place that was possible to clear at all told me that she wasn’t just trying to kill us outright. R’lyeh could easily hold a lot of places where just surviving would be borderline impossible. I mean, if she’d dumped us into the deep sea, we wouldn’t have even been able to breathe.
The only reason we were able to win in the first place was because the dungeon she’d given us had both a start and a goal.
“Also... You’re holding up pretty well even at 0 HP. There’s something you could do even now, right? Something that would take us all out?” I asked. The damage to her torso might’ve destroyed the trapezohedron, but though her ult was canceled, it’s not like she had to take us outside like this.
If she really wanted to beat me, she could’ve used the time given to her by Last Command to do something else—maybe even that classic load-bearing boss move where you destroy the dungeon to take the heroes down with you.
Her answer to that...
“I didn’t want that. I mean... It would’ve been boring.”
...was brief and straightforward.
“Nobody wants to see a video where I just beat the crap out of someone who can’t fight back. And I clearly lost, so of course I’m not going to turn the tables and just make it a draw. I’m against that kinda stuff.”
Indeed, the reason she did what she did—and didn’t do what she didn’t—was that she was a content creator.
For her, all of this was just a gaming video recording session.
G’s attempt to steal the arena had just been a way to enable the game between us, while the stuff about avenging her brother was nothing more than something to spice up the narrative.
At the heart of it all, G wanted to make a video featuring herself.
To put it simply, if the resulting video was interesting and exciting, to a content creator like her, whether she won or lost was irrelevant. It was a victory regardless.
And her good mood told me that the battle we just had must’ve greatly exceeded her hopes and expectations.
“This turned out better than the stuff I made with Legendaria’s Superiors. I honestly wanna say thanks. Seriously, I’m bursting with gratitude!” she said with a bright, blissful smile as Chelsea, Max, and I looked down at her with conflicted expressions.
Getting caught up in her shenanigans had been a pain, but she honestly didn’t seem like that bad of a person.
“But if you’d lost, she would have taken your arena. Does that not make her a proper enemy?” Nemesis asked.
Well, I guess, I replied. She’s not bad at heart, but she is a real handful... I guess that makes her kinda like Miss Eldritch?
“I don’t mind being your enemy, but I will come back to record another video sometime!” G said. “Oh! But I want you to see through my disguise, so let’s become friends!”
“What a wild thing to say...” Not seeing through her disguise seemed like it could be bad, though, so I just did as told and put her on my friend list.
“Friending someone who just tried to kill me and take my arena makes no sense,” I muttered, “but it feels like it’d be worse if I didn’t. Scary stuff.”
“Don’t worry about it. This is pretty common in Legendaria.”
Seriously? That’s actually kind of terrifying. Legendaria might be a match for Tenchi.
“Suppose it’s almost time.” G’s extended Last Command then expired, and she started to transform into motes of light. “Oh. Right. I almost forgot.” As if she’d just thought of something, G turned to me with a cruel smile. “Heh heh heh. Don’t think this is over... You may have defeated me, but I’m not the only Overlord you must face...”
Silence settled over the arena in the wake of G’s stereotypical evil Overlord line.
Well, I get what she’s going for, but there’s one small issue...
“Umm... You’re actually my second Overlord,” said Juliet.
“Mine too,” I added. That line only worked if G was the first we’d fought.
“Huh?! Can I ask who your first was?”
“Uhhh... I got caught up in a fight between Dis and Sechs...”
“I recently fought ZZZ...”
“Oh. So that’s why he made that request. That explains it.” G looked like this had made everything clear to her. “What a bummer, though,” she continued. “I’ve been wanting to say that at least once ever since I became an Overlord...”
“S-Sorry,” said Juliet.
“It’s fine. I’m over it,” G said, letting out a sigh and smiling at Juliet. “Let’s play again sometime, Julie.”
“Okay.”
And with that, the last bits of G became light and vanished.
“She really did whatever she liked until the very end,” said Nemesis.
“Well, I guess it’s good to find out that there’s Masters like her too.” As far as Superiors went, she was honestly pretty all right.
“She did not endanger the country or any tian lives either...”
I feel like the arena’s disappearance would’ve knocked Count Gideon out from the stress, though.
Anyway, that concluded the trouble at our base...
Which made me start to wonder how things had turned out at the Central Arena.