As Odessa slept, she achieved an inner tranquility that allowed her to listen to Alan’s explanation once she woke. She remained silent for a full thirty minutes during his tale.
“I’m just going to split the difference here and pretend I understand for the most part,” Odessa said at last.
“I’m glad you’re quick on the uptake,” Alan said.
“I’m not.”
This was what Odessa had surmised: this bikini business was all Alan’s weird taste, and the shovel was some kind of bizarre magic. She had completely misunderstood everything, but at this point, nobody had the energy (or the inkling) to correct her.
More importantly, every second they sat around talking, humans were being murdered by the demons. They had to kickstart this revolution as soon as possible.
It was for that very reason that Odessa, as the resistance leader, was needed. Her resolve was particularly crucial.
But Odessa despondently shook her head. Her heart had been temporarily confused by the shovel, but at the end of the day, her own powerlessness was carved into her soul. “There’s no point… We have no weapons, and our morale is at rock-bottom… We can’t defeat the demons. We never could.”
Odessa had spent years trying to come up with strategies and tactics to lead her people to freedom, but it was impossible. Humans were inferior creatures. This was true in terms of strength, weapons, and knowledge. But the biggest problem of all was that…
“The resistance…doesn’t exist anymore.”
She meant this literally. Odessa and Kuronono were the only remaining survivors of “Humanity’s Fangs,” the anti-demon resistance force. Everyone else had been captured by the demons. Everything went up in (literal) flames three days ago, when the entire resistance was gathered at their secret base to look into the development of anti-demon weapons. In the middle of their meeting, a fireball was launched directly into the hideout, incinerating most of their organization.
Those who survived met an even more horrible fate. Ever since the demons had gained control of the Kingdom of Darkness, a river of magma had come to flow just beneath it. All through the kingdom, crevasses opened straight to it. The remaining members of the resistance had been tossed into one of these crevasses while they were still alive.
The only ones left were Odessa and Kuronono.
“Ngh…!”
“Kuronono, I’m sorry you had to hear it like this, but…I’m sorry. There’s no hope left.” Odessa smiled bleakly.
It had taken her three years to build the resistance. With them, Odessa had friends and comrades. She had Kuronono. They were why she had been able to fight for so long. But as she saw each and every person she cared about thrown into the magma, her fighting spirit burned away to nothingness.
I’m…no, all humanity is helpless. That’s all we are.
Kuronono embraced Odessa. “I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t know. It must’ve been so hard for you…”
The princess felt her own tears dripping onto her skin. Odessa also began to cry. Kuronono’s tears…were warm.
That’s why I tried my best to save her. Even her tears are like sunshine. I wanted to make a world where everyone could smile… Odessa thought.
But this world had little room for the brightness of fantasies and fairy tales. Odessa let out a wail of despair.
“They dumped your friends into the magma, eh?” said Alan. “Got it. One sec, lemme scoop them out.”
“Excuse…me?”
With a clank, Alan hoisted up his shovel and jogged over to a nearby crevasse running through the dining hall. He thrust his shovel straight into the molten red current of the magma coursing within.
Kersplash!
Almost as if he were pulling a fish from the water, a woman appeared.
“DIG!”
As soon as Alan shouted, the magma around her instantly dispersed.
The woman was no stranger to Odessa. She was in fact Ezel, her very best friend and one of the most important members of the resistance. What’s more, she was breathing!
“Huh…?”
What had just happened?
“It’s a good thing we’re underground. Up top, my shovel can’t do anything about the dead.”
Alan had used more or less the same technique on the village elder in the desert nation. Alan was incapable of manipulating life and death, but he was capable of uncovering the “past” of the underground. The Kingdom of Darkness existed underground; therefore, its entire history was scoopable. Alan explained this as he continued to scoop up magma.
Soon, all the key members of the resistance were present and accounted for in their original forms.
Odessa, on the other hand, could barely move an inch.
Meanwhile, Ezel sat up, rubbing her bleary eyes. “Where…am I?”
“I can’t believe it…Ezel?!”
She’s alive! She’s okay! I don’t understand what’s going on, but who cares! She’s alive! Odessa was so moved she was on the verge of embracing her best friend.
Before she could do so, Ezel opened her mouth to speak. “Er, Odessa…? Wh-whoa! What are you wearing?!”
“Huh? Ah…EEEK!!!”
Not only was the cloth of Odessa’s white bikini dreadfully thin, it was digging into her breasts and hips. In a panic, Odessa tried to cover herself up as Alan’s scooping continued in the background. Rather, it came to a stop. He had by now saved everyone from the magma.
“What the heck…?!”
Odessa’s eyes were spinning. All of a sudden, the dead had come back to life with no visible harm to suggest they hadn’t always been the way they now were. No humans on the planet wouldn’t have been shell-shocked.
“All done. Odessa, you said you needed weapons, too, right?”
“Sir Alan, you’re incredible! Amazing!” said Kuronono.
“W-wait just a minute! Hold on! I’m…I’m extremely confused!”