As directed by Commander, a squad of four Charging Support Sphinxes formed and barrelled toward Dill. With the camera still in one hand, Rick used the other to fire his crossbow wildly, managing to hold back the Charging Supports’ advance.
From out of the shadows cast by the Charging Supports leaped Fleetfoot. Using the apes as a shield, he slipped past Arthurs’s two swords, and even with a bolt from Rick’s crossbow lodged in his thigh he arrived right in front of Dill.
“Don’t get carried away, barbarian!” Opening successive miniature portals, Fleetfoot mesmerized Dill with his footwork before finally unleashing an attack that was sure to kill his foe. He held his knife in an overhand grip and slashed...but his knife met only air.
Leaning to one side to evade the strike, Dill gripped his spear high up the shaft and drove the head into Fleetfoot’s chin from underneath. With Fleetfoot still skewered on his spear, he lifted it high above his head, then thrust it toward the camera.
“You must choose, people of the free state of Vulcan, and you Tereans, whose homeland was trampled by the Reincarnators! Will you submit to slavery and death?! Or will you take up arms and fight, emerge victorious and welcome a new dawn?! My name is Dill Steel-Link! In war, the name Aegis was bestowed upon me. I was born in Aspro Terea, and fought in the Holy War for the good of my homeland. Neither the overgrown forests of Notos nor the Titan ambushes sent by Lycaon stood any chance of holding back my invincible might! You know me well!”
“Adolf...” muttered Hero, still standing stunned and not joining the fight. “It’s like...Adolf Hitler...”
“My name is Aegisthus—son of Halberd, hero of the Holy War! As a shepherd of our armies I was known as Aegisthus, the Titan killer! For the sake of all Tereans, to save the sacred city of Vulcan, Aegisthus has now returned!”
Tossing aside the spear with which he had skewered Fleetfoot, Dill drew his sword and struck the center of his shield with the hilt so that it rang. This fierce motion caused his rusty hair to sway, and with glistening beads of sweat flying from the nape of his neck, he was truly the image of a god.
“For victory! For freedom! Fight, O mortal children of men!” Dill turned his back to the camera. “Aegisthus will walk beside you.” Dill’s chain mail cloak billowed behind him and thunderously beat against the paving stones at his feet; he clashed with Repeater as she charged at him from one side and pushed her back. A cheer erupted throughout the plaza.
Behind the scenes, Halberd had made arrangements for weapons forged in Vulcan to be distributed to the civilians. The civilians, in their excitement, flocked to Dill with those weapons in hand.
Hero remained frozen where he stood. What is this? I thought they would be unable to resist in the face of this overwhelming difference in strength, the attractiveness of our terms of surrender, and the influence of the hero Prodotis. Why didn’t my words resonate with them? And why does Aegisthus always succeed when he gives a speech like that? This frenzied excitement... I’ve seen it somewhere once before.
“Oh, man, this won’t do at all! Shut the broadcast down at once! And what are you doing, Yuujin? Take this fight seriously.” The leader of the Project, Shiden, wielder of lightning, had finally managed to shake off the persistent pursuit of the mail-cloaks and return to the plaza. In each hand he held a warrior of the brigade—the scout Stewart on one side and the burly soldier Bastard on the other. He cast their corpses, burnt black with eyes ruptured from within, casually aside.
“Dill Steel-Link must be killed,” muttered Hero.
“Eh? What else is new? Hurry up and get to it.”
Ignoring Shiden, Hero advanced at Dill. Noticing this, Dill left the other Reincarnators to his comrades, and turned to face Hero.
“My name is Eugene.”
“My name is Aegisthus,” answered Dill.
“My name is Orestes!” followed Sid, standing beside Dill. Also, the giant, Halberd, brushed off a few Reincarnators and joined the party.
“And my name is Halberd... Gah ha hoo, looks like all the main players are here.” In pursuit of the giant, Summoner emerged through an open portal. He was dressed as an office worker except for the gauntlets he wore on his hands and a helmet to protect his head—he had come decently well armored.
Shiden, who shrugged off these introductions with a yawn, became aware of a delicate silence and exchanged a glance with Summoner. “...Could you be waiting for me to introduce myself? I’m not going to. It’s embarrassing.”
“Hmm...would my business card be sufficient?” Still wearing his gauntlets, Summoner fumbled in his breast pocket to take out his business card case. Unsurprisingly, he dropped it, and the clatter of the case on the ground was taken as the signal to raise the curtain on their fierce battle!
“I don’t care for half measures. Let’s decide this once and for all, martial artist from another world.”
“Aegisthus, the instigator. How many times have men like you played with the hearts of the people, getting in the way of men like me? You’ve been placed before me to test my heroic ideals.” Halberd faced Summoner, Hero faced Dill.
“Which means...I suppose I’ll be fighting you? Are you content with that? I’m the strongest one here, you know?” Shiden smiled at Sid, with lightning bolts of seven colors illuminating him from behind.
“My name is Orestes. That name means, ‘he who will surpass Aegisthus.’ Shiden, general of the Reincarnators, listen well—Orestes will take your head.”
“...Ha ha ha ha! Pretty cool! You don’t stand a chance, though! Not a chance, not a chance! I am the strongest Reincarnator!”