CHAPTER THREE: LION AND FOX, LIGHT AND DARK

CHAPTER THREE: LION AND FOX, LIGHT AND DARK

The Lunar Society headquarters

Figaro had arrived at The Lunar Society's headquarters approximately ten minutes before Ray was woken up by Nemesis.

It hadn't been long since he'd left Gideon. The Superior knew the quickest way to the capital by heart, and he'd traversed it while wearing his best AGI-enhancing equipment, so while his speed had been impressive, it definitely wasn't surprising.

Standing at the gates of The Lunar Society, Figaro spent a moment to equip the best gear for the situation, such as anti-debuff armor to counter his prime opponent, a stone ax so large it could split mansions in half, and a monocle-like accessory.

That last item wasn't particularly rare or remarkable. It only had a weak Clairvoyance effect, which was often used to search for traps and the like. However, Figaro planned to use it for a completely different purpose — to merely look at the backs of people's left hands.

The presence of a crest there would indicate that the person was a Master.

"If I get rid of all the Masters, they'll have no choice but to let Ray go," he murmured.

And the monocle was there to help him differentiate who to kill and who to let live.

Indeed, the very same man that had dismantled the blockade at the south of the capital by annihilating Mad Castle was about to rescue Ray by massacring The Lunar Society. And alas, no one was there to tell him just how absurd and rash he was being.

This Superior's modus operandi was quite unlike what his noble-like features would have you expect.

"Let's go," the fair-faced meathead said as he started it all off by throwing his gigantic ax towards the main gate.

Needless to say, it collapsed in one hit, and Figaro didn't hesitate to bound over the rubble and enter the premises.

Thus began the lion's wild dance of destruction.

Walls crumbled, structures fell, Masters vanished, and tians scrambled for safety.

It didn't take much of this chaotic pandemonium for Tsukuyo herself to stand before Figaro. Kaguya, too, was forced to end her chat with Nemesis and join her Master in battle.

It was at that moment that Ray woke up and saw the two Superiors face one another, murderous as could be.

With The Lunar Society's HQ as their stage, two of the Big Three were now fighting each other to the death — a situation that could certainly be called a Clash of the Superiors.

◇

Paladin, Ray Starling

Nemesis and I stood in the shattered room and observed the battle.

Figaro's arms were entwined in his trademark Crimson Dead Keeper chains, and he held a bow in his hands — a weapon I had rarely seen him use.

From his words, I could assume that he'd come here to help me, but his murderous intention seemed unfittingly immense.

Did something happen between him and the aberration? I pondered.

Speaking of Tsukuyo Fuso, she was holding a wand as menacing as Figaro's Gloria α or Xunyu's Yinglong's Fang, and she, too, looked thoroughly murderous, likely because of the tragic state of her base. Even a third party like me could feel the hostility between them.

Maybe because of the intensity alone, or perhaps because of their immense skill, the battle between the Over Gladiator and the High Priestess was simply sublime.

Figaro wasn't clad in his AGI-focused gear, so even I could follow his movements, and they were nothing short of spectacular. The four chains on his arms attacked automatically, and he coupled it with shots from his bow.

Not only that, but he was doing it while moving all across the space by kicking off of walls or pillars, and the arrows he'd launched all seemed to break the laws of physics, leaving log-sized perfect circles wherever they hit.

Tsukuyo Fuso, on the other hand, was entirely different from the way she had been when she'd faced me.

She was wrapped in a dark blue cloth highly reminiscent of the night she'd subjected me to, only denser, and she was launching black waves, much like swallows or crescent moons, with every swing of

her wand. In all honesty, she looked like a final boss straight out of an RPG.

"Is that dark blue cloth just another form of the Lunar Reduction Field?" I asked.

"Yes." Nemesis nodded. "Kaguya... Tsukuyo's Maiden... transformed into it a short while ago."

"Maiden...? Oh, so we share a category."

The impression they gave me was completely different than the one I'd gotten from Hugo and Cyco, though. Also, that cloth of hers seemed like a solidified version of the night she'd used to defeat me.

This was supported by the fact that Figaro, despite excelling at melee combat, wasn't fighting her from up close, meaning that the cloth-Embryo might be a more effective — or harder to resist — Lunar Reduction Field.

The swallow/crescent moon-like waves were likely similar in nature.

Another thing to note was that the wide-scale night she'd used to suppress me wasn't active. Tsukuyo Fuso herself had said that the night wasn't effective on high level opponents, so when faced with someone like Figaro, she probably had no choice but to "compress" it.

Also, Figaro's endless buffing was a good counter to her debuffing. He was growing stronger with every passing second. His movements were gradually becoming too quick for me to follow, and his arrows were causing more and more destruction.

The two were more or less on equal footing right now, but that meant that Figaro would eventually gain the upper hand.

"As things are, it seems like the meathead will win," commented Nemesis.

"Yeah." I nodded, but then noticed something. "Hm?"

The flow of the battle itself was shifting in his favor, but there were two things I found odd and concerning.

First was the fact that Figaro wasn't looking at me at all. I was aware of a plausible reason for that, though. He himself had told me about it.

One day, after we'd had a little spar, we'd chatted a bit. I'd taken the opportunity to ask him why he was so adamant about playing solo, both in the Tomb Labyrinth and out.

Figaro definitely wasn't socially impaired. While sparring, dueling, or just having lunch, he had absolutely no trouble making pleasant exchanges with me, Shu, or the kingdom's duel rankers, so that had made me all the more curious about his solo fixation.

A part of me had thought that it might be a sensitive subject, but Figaro hadn't hesitated to answer, "Because I can't cooperate with anyone."

I didn't know the details, but apparently, when he participated in battles involving someone he recognized as an ally, his fighting would become abnormally worse, and that was why he was never a part of any party, and always acted alone.

It wasn't an effect of a Dendro skill or debuff or anything the like. It was related to his real life, so I'd chosen not to ask about it any further.

That being the case, right now, Figaro was purposely ignoring me because if I entered his vision, his movements would become more dull.

Even so, his fighting was lacking some of his usual brilliance, making it evident that he was telling the truth and that my very presence here was burdening him.

The other strange thing I'd noticed was that Figaro seemed to be rushing so much that it made it look like he was panicking. Occasionally, he looked away from Tsukuyo Fuso and, for some reason, glanced at the sky.

Since she wasn't using the wide-scale night effect, it was nothing more than a sky you'd see on a typical evening.

Another thing I'd found strange was not something with Figaro, but with Tsukuyo.

"She still looks confident," I muttered.

Though she was clad in the nightly veil, I could occasionally catch a glimpse of her expression — a composed smile.

It didn't seem to suit her current situation at all. Figaro was growing stronger by the moment, and his attacks were beginning to pierce the night shrouding Tsukuyo Fuso.

"Ah..." she gasped as one of Figaro's arrows grazed her and completely blew her left arm away. In but a moment, she became as limbless as I.

"Mercy of the Holy," she said, speaking the name of a skill. Light gathered where her arm had once been, and reformed it as if it had never been gone.

An injury so grave, treated in mere seconds.

"So that's the healing magic of the High Priestess..." I muttered. Though she could probably fix me up just as easily, I still had absolutely no intention of asking for her help. "Even so, it doesn't look like he can lose this."

Figaro's attack, the damage it had done, and the way Tsukuyo Fuso had reacted to it made me more confident than ever.

She'd used her immense healing ability and damage reduction from the Lunar Reduction Field to effectively become an endurance build meant to survive prolonged battles, meaning that Figaro — a fighter that turned stronger with the passage of time — had no way of losing this fight.

However...

"Oh dearrr, a dummy like you is just too much for little old me alone," she muttered as she wiped her brow with her freshly-healed left arm.

She was absolutely right about that. Figaro was at the top of the kingdom's duel rankings and was nearly unmatched in solo battles. In contrast, Tsukuyo Fuso was a support job focused on helping her clan as they did the dirty work.

One was the apex of single battle, while the other was the zenith of leadership. The outcome of a one-on-one battle between them was obvious from the start.

"I could reallllly use an ally or two..." she murmured.

We were at her clan's headquarters, so there should've been many of her followers here. However, I didn't see any of them in my immediate vicinity. There was only Figaro, Tsukuyo Fuso, and us.

"She herself made all the adherents, Master and tian alike, distance themselves from the battle," said Nemesis.

The aberration had probably realized that an opponent like Figaro was just too much for them, and that they wouldn't be much help in a battle against him.

Still, she must have known full well that a pure support build such as her would stand little chance in a solo battle against a pure battle build such as Figaro, and... wait.

"Is she really alone?" I thought out loud. We'd only talked for a brief moment, but that was enough for me to be able to tell that she wasn't exactly a nice enough person to make all her underlings stand down and to face a threat all by herself to lower the casualties.

And so, as if to prove me right...

"You can join us now, Kage."

"As you wish."

Indeed. She spoke to something, and the "something" answered.

It seemed to have a man's voice, but I couldn't be certain about that. After all, it came from all the lengthy evening shadows, and it reached my ears like an echo.

"The Shades and Death, They Beckon — Erlkönig." The voices from the shadows spoke what were unmistakably grand words of power

— a skill.

Suddenly, all the shades turned from black to crimson and rose up as arms with the most menacing of claws. I felt like I was looking at the nightmare of a child still afraid of the dark. Shades small and large... the darkness of every corner became monsters full of pure malice.

"King of Assassins," Figaro muttered in surprise as he began evading.

The shadows of the trees in the garden, the shades of the ruined building, the blackness beneath the broken lanterns, and even the darkness following Figaro became crimson, gained an extra dimension, and clawed towards him. However, though the claws were menacing, the shadows themselves were far more scary, for everything they touched simply crumbled.

The trees in the garden, the ruined building, the broken lanterns — all were consumed by the shadows they made, crumbled to pieces, and scattered.

It was like watching the deceased invite the living to the afterlife — beckoning straight out of hell.

The shades were encroaching towards Figaro like a raging wave.

"These shadows are an Embryo's ultimate skill!" I shouted, more certain than ever.

Before they'd appeared, I'd heard the word "Erlkönig." That was the name of a certain poem by Goethe and a song by Schubert based on it.

It was about the Erlking beckoning a child to his death from the shadows of the night forest, and it was a perfect fit for what I was seeing.

Another thing to note was their menacing presence, as it matched those of the skilled rankers I'd faced in many mock battles over the past month.

Figaro had said they were made by the King of Assassins — a job

Marie had once told me about. It was the Western equivalent of her

Death Shadow, meaning that he could very well be on the same tier

as the Superior Killer. This ultimate skill alone was enough to tell that the King of Assassins was among The Lunar Society's best.

However...

"Something's off," I murmured.

The shadows were attacking Figaro, but not as intensely as you'd expect. It almost seemed like they were focusing on keeping him in check and preventing him from acting, rather than actually killing him. A portion of them were positioned around Tsukuyo Fuso, too.

I momentarily assumed that they intended to limit Figaro's movements and make it easier for her crescent moons to hit, but for some reason, she created some sort of barrier around herself.

That was probably another one of her High Priestess skills. After she'd put it up, it didn't seem like she had any intention to attack anymore.

The shadows alone weren't enough to defeat Figaro, and Tsukuyo Fuso was focusing entirely on defense, making it seem as though they were stalling.

"What good can come of that?" I thought out loud.

The first thing that came to mind was that they were waiting for reinforcements. However, no matter how great of a clan The Lunar Society was, I couldn't help but doubt that they had that many Masters that could turn the tides of this battle, especially since Figaro only grew stronger with every passing second.

Would something change if they bought enough time?

"Ah...?" I silently gasped as I realized that the shadow beneath my feet had become quite long.

For a moment, I thought that the shadows were about to attack me, too, but then I realized that it was natural — an effect caused by the sun slowly sinking below the horizon.

Well, it's gonna be night soon, I thought. Wait... night? "Is that what it's about...?" I murmured.

A while ago, Figaro had been looking at the sky with obvious panic in his expression. Had he, perhaps, not been looking at the sky itself, but at the way it was darkening? The night was Tsukuyo Fuso's Superior Embryo, after all.

Given that, I could assume that...

"...It gets stronger when it's night?"

In the PK clan massacre clip Marie had shown me, in Tsukuyo Fuso's battle against me, and even now, she'd only ever used her night when it wasn't actually night.

So, would something change if she used it at nighttime? Would it allow her to use something she couldn't during the day? Like, say, her Superior ultimate skill?

"That's most likely correct," said Nemesis telepathically. "With the growing darkness, I can feel that Kaguya... her Embryo... is growing stronger, as well."

Her words supported my conjecture.

If that was really true and they were actually stalling until nighttime, it meant that Tsukuyo Fuso was fully confident that she could defeat Figaro if she got to use her ultimate skill, and this was backed up by Figaro's panicking.

Because of this, Figaro had to defeat her within the little time we had left until night, but the shadows were preventing that.

I looked and noticed that, sheltered by her barrier, the aberration was casting some sort of magic — most likely support spells to help the King of Assassins and his shadows.

I also realized that the shadows protecting her were not only keeping Figaro at bay, but also preventing him from going above her.

"They're not letting him use the ace up his sleeve," I said.

No matter how tough the barrier and how resilient the shadows guarding her, they could all be broken by powers surpassing them.

Figaro had one such thing — the Superior special reward, Gloria α's item skill, "Fang of Gloria: Overdrive."

During the Clash of the Superiors, it had delivered heat that'd completely annihilated Xunyu and even blown away the arena barrier's upper part. That skill could instantly vaporize the shades and make short work of the aberration's barrier.

The fight had been going on long enough for him to accomplish that feat without much trouble.

But, alas, he couldn't use it now.

Why? Because we were at the royal capital.

Indeed, The Lunar Society's headquarters was in one of Altea's residential districts.

If he were to launch Fang of Gloria, it would easily pierce the building and burn the homes outside the complex. To avoid that, Figaro would have to do as he'd done against Xunyu and slash upwards from melee range, or aim it downwards from above.

The enemies were fully aware of that, and they were making sure those scenarios didn't happen.

The shadows had surrounded Tsukuyo Fuso and were preventing him from getting close, hindering his movements so he couldn't go above her. This meant that as long as those shadows were there, Figaro couldn't use the ace up his sleeve... and had no chance of winning. However, he had yet to find the location of the King of Assassins, and there was little he could do against them.

To break this deadlock, we had to...

Nemesis sighed. "I don't even need to read your mind to understand what you're thinking."

Yeah, I thought. We'll have to do this without becoming a hindrance for Figaro, but I've decided on what to do.

There was only one way to turn this situation around — we had to get rid of the King of Assassins and make his shadows vanish.

It might've been bold to state that I could make that happen, but I had to kill him and let Figaro move freely if I wanted him to win against Tsukuyo Fuso.

First, I looked around, but I didn't see the KoA anywhere within my visible range.

Granted, the moving shadows and the darkening skies greatly hampered my visibility. Not to mention that...

"Though I'm free to move, it's clear that they have no intention of letting me escape," I said.

The crimson shadows were surrounding the battle area like a wall. The only shadows that hadn't been made crimson were those around me and the aberration. It was to protect her... and to keep

me alive and bound. Whether by escaping or by death, they had no intention of letting me go.

Not like I wanted to run away, but still.

Honestly, I could probably break through the shadows surrounding us by imbuing Silver with Purifying Silverlight and charging towards them, but the KoA would most likely instantly curb me.

I'd been told that it was a job much like Death Shadow, so I simulated that scenario while picturing Marie in his place. She would attack me from a blind spot the moment I tried to move, and the King of Assassins was surely capable of the same thing. Of course, since they had no intention of letting me escape or die, he'd only make me Faint again.

"Hm?" I murmured.

Wait a second, I thought. Something's not right here.

If they really had no intention of letting me escape, why hadn't they just made me Faint again the moment I'd awoken? In the first place, why hadn't they just...?

"Gh..." My thoughts were cut short by Figaro's grunt, caused by one of the crimson shadows touching a part of his body.

From the point of contact, the shadow began to encroach on Figaro's skin, damaging him in the process.

This affected his speed, causing many shadows to charge and attempt to consume him.

He wasn't able to escape, and the crimson shades overwhelmed him, but then...

"■■■!"

...Figaro released the familiar, inhuman roar as he equipped his Gloria α and made the surrounding shadows evaporate.

He was using the standard version of the Fang of Gloria skill, not Overdrive. Instead of launching the vaporizing breath of light, it merely coated the blade in it. Nevertheless, its damage was immense, and it made short work of any shadows in its way.

I could even picture him charging through all the shades and closing in on Tsukuyo Fuso, but both she and the King of Assassins were aware and well-prepared for that scenario. Were he to get too close, Figaro would be completely surrounded by both the shadows and the Lunar Reduction Field. No matter how powerful he was, he would be able to do little against such a number of shadows while weakened.

"Then perhaps he should refrain from using the sword, and instead opt for the appropriate ranged set-up?" Nemesis commented. "He was using arrows and chains until now, after all."

That's reasonable, but I don't think it will work, I thought in response.

No matter how well-adjusted for the situation, I didn't think that any ranged weapon he had could deal fatal damage to her while under the effects of the Lunar Reduction Field, and fatal damage was the only thing that could kill the High Priestess.

Again, the only real way to break through it was to use Fang of Gloria: Overdrive, which could instantly kill her even with all the defenses and damage reductions, and...

"...Wait." I stopped my train of thought.

Nemesis, what did you just say? I asked.

"'Ranged weapons'?" she said. "Or did you mean the thing about the arrows and chains?"

Chains... That's right, the chains, I realized.

The Crimson Dead Keepers that Figaro so loved had the skills "Range Extend" and "Auto Enemy Detect."

I'd watched Figaro hold mock battles against Marie before. When enhanced by his Superior Embryo, Auto Enemy Detect was so powerful that it could even find Marie when she was using her maxed-out Conceal skill. The only time the chains didn't track her was when she used the Death Shadow ultimate job skill: the Art of Vanishing.

Because of this, the current situation struck me as odd.

Despite the King of Assassins hiding somewhere in the surrounding space, the chains Figaro had been using were only going for Tsukuyo Fuso, which could only mean that the King of Assassins wasn't actually in this space. However, even if he'd disappeared with a skill similar to Marie's Art of Vanishing, he was definitely keeping it active for too long. It should've been too taxing in MP or SP to both vanish and use his shadow attacks at the same time.

From what I could tell, Erlkönig was most likely a Type Territory Embryo. Many of that kind could only influence their Masters' immediate vicinity, so it was hard to imagine that he was manipulating all these shadows here from a distance at which Figaro's chains, imbued with Range Extend, couldn't reach.

All of that made it clear that the KoA was nearby, but in a place where neither Figaro nor his chains could find him.

"Does such a place even exist?" asked Nemesis.

Normally, it wouldn't, I thought in response. But if you ignore the means he would go about to get there, and assume based on what's happening... you can find one place.

"Ah!" she gasped upon reading my mind, as certain questions flashed through my head.

Why couldn't Figaro's chains find the King of Assassins?

Why hadn't I been assigned a single person to keep me in check?

Why wasn't I able to log out?

Why hadn't they made me Faint to keep me from running away?

Why were they half-ignoring me?

All of that connected, and I came to a conclusion.

"Ray!" Nemesis exclaimed telepathically.

Nemesis! I replied in thought, giving her an order.

"Very well!"

She instantly transformed into The Flag Halberd, and I quickly imbued her spearhead with Purifying Silverlight. Then, silently, yet forcefully, I thrust it into my own shadow.

Instead of digging into the floor, the light-clad spear sunk into my shadow and made sounds of tearing and clashing metal as it hit something. After a moment of silence, something began pushing the halberd's spear back.

"How insightful of you," said a voice from inside as dual blades emerged from my shadow. They were holding my halberd from going any further.

Then came the arms, head, and the rest of the body. The King of Assassins was now out of my shadow and stood before me, in the flesh.

"I must commend you for realizing," he said as blood flowed out of his shoulder — most likely the injury I'd just caused. "For reference, would you mind sharing how you came to this conclusion?"

I'd expected to catch him completely off-guard, but it seemed that he'd stopped it with his dual swords before my spear had sunk in any further.

It was an impressive feat, considering how much he was focusing on controlling his shadows. Clearly, he was as skilled as the many rankers I'd faced. However...

"Don't you have something more important to do than checking my answer sheet?" I asked.

Right now, his focus had shifted away from his shadows. The movements of the crimson shades behind him had become slightly duller.

It was quite remarkable that my attack and our exchange had only had such a meager effect on his control. However, his opponent wasn't lenient enough to ignore that mistake, no matter how slight it was.

"■■■■HHHH!" the Over Gladiator roared as he carved his way through the minutely-slower shades.

Figaro rid himself of much of his equipment and adorned his AGI-focused gear, along with the strongest blade in his arsenal.

He dashed through the shadows, cut them down, climbed the roof, and leapt upwards, bringing himself above Tsukuyo Fuso — a place

from which he could use his strongest attack. Then he began summoning all the brilliant light stored within Gloria α.

"Ah...!" Tsukuyo Fuso gasped as she quickly discarded the wand in her right hand and raised both her hands to the sky, as if to praise the real moon now lording over the young night. "Return to a Life Most Rightful — Kagu—" She spoke the name of her ultimate skill, but alas, she was too slow. Before she could complete it, Figaro had finished his swing.

They had both started their actions at the same time, so it was only natural for Figaro — the one with far greater AGI — to finish first.

Indeed, this moment of victory...

"Fang of Gloria: OVERDRIVE!"

...belonged to the swiftest and the strongest.

The pillar of light coming from above burned the crimson shades, the active barrier, the night Superior Embryo, and vaporized Tsukuyo Fuso.

Thus, the battle between the Over Gladiator and the High Priestess

— two of the Kingdom of Altar's Big Three — ended with Figaro's victory.

◇ 

Following the conclusion to the fight, both Figaro and I faced the King of Assassins.

But instead of doing anything we'd expected...

"Gentlemen, allow me to express my gratitude."

...he actually thanked us.

"What do you mean?!" Nemesis exclaimed as she returned to her human form, the indignation and confusion in her voice all too palpable.

I was as surprised as her. I'd prepared myself to fight the KoA and other adherents as they tried to avenge their spiritual leader or something. Instead, all I'd gotten was gratitude.

Why?!

"Lady Tsukuyo desperately wanted a way to while away the time," he courteously explained. "Not being able to participate in the incident at Gideon made her quite frustrated, you see. She often asked me if there was something she could do to divert herself."

Wasn't she doing that just by being online on Dendro? I wondered, baffled.

"And now she's met a Master as intriguing as yourself, then gone on to fight a fellow Superior, and received the death penalty. In my humble opinion, that should be more than enough to disperse the frustration she's built up over the last month."

"So... she just wanted to kill time?" I asked.

"Indeed."

"...She's pretty dead, though, isn't she?"

"Indeed. I believe that experiencing death, too, was good time-killing."

I was speechless. Wow, uh... This guy's actually the type who wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice his master if she so willed it.

"You're the same as ever, KoA," said Figaro.

In response, the King of Assassins courteously bowed and said "Thank you for the praise."

"No one's praising you!" Figaro, Nemesis, and I replied in perfect unison.

I'd honestly had no idea Figaro was the type who could deliver a brusque retort.

"So, right now, Tsukuyo Fuso is...?" I asked.

"Lady Tsukuyo is most likely rolling around in her futon and throwing a tantrum while howling, 'I loooost!'" he answered. "She should regain her spirits once I prepare dinner for her."

...Is she twelve or something?

"Oh, with Lady Tsukuyo defeated, we have no reason to keep you here anymore, so you are free to leave. Apologies for the trouble. Here is your cartage fee," he said as he presented me with a bag of money.

...You're the ones who brought me here, you know?

"But before you leave, I would like to hear how you discovered me," he added. "I was right under your nose in the most adequate sense, and I thought it to be quite an excellent hiding spot." Oh, yeah. He'd asked me about that right after I'd found him out. Well, I didn't really see the harm in telling him.

"It's the only conclusion I could come to after considering several factors," I said.

They hadn't seemed out of the ordinary when separate, but putting them all together had made me think that that was the answer.

"First of all, Figaro's chains weren't able to find you."

This had made me conclude that he hadn't been using a Conceal-type skill, and had been hiding in a space where not even the chains could reach.

"When thinking of a place where they couldn't find you, I quickly considered your shadows."

Since he was able to control shadows, it hadn't been far-fetched to believe that he also had skills that allowed him to enter them.

"Well, Crimson Dead Keeper's Auto Enemy Detect doesn't reach pocket dimensions and the like," said Figaro. "I know how his skills work, so I also thought that he was in some nearby shadow. The only difference was that I expected him to be somewhere around Fuso, not Ray."

Apparently, because they'd been acquainted for long, Figaro had known how King of Assassins operated and had made his own conjecture about where he was. However, he'd had a reason why he didn't realize — or, rather, couldn't realize — where the KoA was hiding.

"Then there was the fact that you left me all by myself," I continued. "There are two points to this, actually."

First was the time I'd awoken in these headquarters, while the second was Figaro's battle.

"When I awoke here, I first thought that I wasn't being observed until the servant came to call me for food."

However, now I saw just how unlikely that was. Since they'd kidnapped me, they'd probably done their research and surely knew that I had Silver in my possession. If I'd felt like it, I could've attempted to get on him and fly off the moment I'd realized that

something was wrong, and it was downright weird to not have anyone guarding someone who could escape just like that.

"And that was why you were in my shadow," I continued. "You were ready to jump out and stop me if I tried to escape, and you prevented me from logging out by secretly staying in contact with me."

Indeed, I hadn't been able to log out, not because I was in the effective range of a Type Castle or Territory Embryo, but because the King of Assassins had been keeping contact with me from inside my shadow.

"Yes." The KoA nodded. "Your assumption is most correct."

"Then there was the battle between Figaro and Tsukuyo Fuso. Instead of making me Faint again, you just let me do what I wanted, even giving me the option to influence the flow of the battle," I said. "It wasn't about me... it was about Figaro."

"Me?" Figaro said, looking startled.

That was the reason why Figaro had failed to realize that the KoA was within my shadow.

"You people know that Figaro becomes a worse fighter when he has allies, right?" I asked. "That's why you let me move around and tried to suppress him by making him recognize me as an ally."

If I'd started to move in a way that made it hard for Figaro to ignore me, his movements would've become worse, and that might've been exactly what they were aiming for.

"However, that's not the main reason why you let me do as I pleased," I said. "You had a different main reason."

"Which would be...?" the KoA asked.

"Figaro purposely ignored me."

Figaro couldn't fight as well when he wasn't solo, and he circumvented this flaw by doing all he could to ignore the existence of the allies on the battlefield. Though his fighting still became slightly duller, he could still hold himself in a proper fight, and it came at the cost of being thoroughly unaware of what was happening to his allies. And that meant that...

"As long as you were within my shadow, Figaro could never find you."

After all, he'd have no means of noticing the enemy beneath my feet if he didn't pay any attention to me.

"You said you were 'right under my nose,' and that could hardly be more fitting," I went on.

Figaro hadn't been able to discover him, and Auto Enemy Detect couldn't track him. In that particular situation, he would never have gotten attacked by Figaro, and would thus have been able to focus entirely on controlling his shadows, making it the perfect hiding spot.

"Magnificent," he said and applauded me. "Your words describe my intentions flawlessly. You have excellent situational awareness."

"...Thanks?"

"This has been a most productive time for not only Lady Tsukuyo, but myself, as well."

Despite the fact that I'd just told him the reason why his master had lost, he seemed strangely happy. Though not in the same way as the aberration, he was definitely just as much of a weirdo.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I must log out," he continued, clearly satisfied. "I must return and make dinner for Lady Tsukuyo, after all... Oh. Or would you perhaps prefer to give me the death penalty?"

"...No. Just go," I sighed. "I've had enough for today."

This whole incident had made me stupidly tired.

Figaro had been about to pull out his Gloria α, but he stopped upon hearing my words.

Maybe I should just have him cut him down? I pondered.

"Thank you kindly," said the KoA. "I will make sure to express my gratitude properly someday. Take care..."

"Ah, wait a sec," I stopped him as I realized I still had a question I wanted answered.

"Yes?"

"Well, this is about the battle between Figaro and the aberr— Tsukuyo Fuso." There was one point that still didn't make sense to me. "Why wasn't Tsukuyo Fuso wearing a Lifesaving Brooch?"

That accessory negated fatal damage, and it was pretty much a necessity in every battle between the more experienced players.

However, when the aberration had been bathed in light from Fang of Gloria: Overdrive, it didn't look like one had activated, meaning that she hadn't actually been wearing it. Its presence could've changed the outcome of the battle, and I couldn't help but ask about it.

"That's simply because Lady Tsukuyo is Lady Tsukuyo," the King of Assassins answered with a smile on his face and confidence in his tone, as if he honestly believed that that was the only possible response to my question. "All the best. May we meet again."

Then he went through the logging out procedure and vanished.

"Honestly, I'd prefer it if we didn't," said Nemesis, and I shared her sentiment.

After the KoA logged out, we walked out of The Lunar Society's headquarters.

Honestly, I'd expected to be attacked by the adherents here, but they didn't seem to mind us all that much, as if they'd been told to leave us alone. In fact, it looked like they were just too preoccupied with fixing the broken mansion.

Man, was the place in a rough state. Seriously, the destruction there rivaled the one left by the Clash of the Superiors, making it clear just how hard Figaro had been rampaging before the aberration came out to face him.

"All right, I'll go raid the Tomb Labyrinth now," Figaro said the moment we walked out.

I guess he went berserk on The Lunar Society and saved me only as an extra to his raid, I thought.

"Figaro, thanks for helping me," I said.

"It's fine. No need for that," he replied. "You worked really hard when dealing with Franklin and the Gouz-Maise Gang."

"Hm...?" I could understand Franklin, but where did the Gouz-Maise Gang come in all of this?

"Anyway, see you later. I'll be in the Tomb Labyrinth for a while, so if you need anything from me, just tell it to Shu and he'll pass it on."

With those words as his last, Figaro dashed towards the created dungeon. He was really fast, and it only took a moment for me to lose sight of him.

"All right, it's high time I log off, too," I said.

In real life, it was past 10PM, so I really wanted to get out, prepare for tomorrow, and go to sleep. Not to mention that I'd been getting alerts for hunger and bladder trouble for quite a while now.

"Very well," said Nemesis. "Be the best college student you can be."

"Don't worry, I'll enjoy my life for all it's worth."

"Do come back here, all right?" she added.

"Eh? Well, I'll be online tomorrow night."

For some reason, those words of mine made her seem somewhat... relieved?

"Good night, Ray," she said.

"Thanks. You too, Nemesis."

With those words as my last, after being online for a whole complete Dendro day, I finally logged out.

◇◇◇

???

"Damn that sickly meathead prince... And I was so close to turning him back like I did last time," Tsukuyo grumbled.

"They say that luck is an important factor in victory. Unfortunately, unlike last time, the battle didn't begin in the middle of the night."

"And that's exactly why he came early. And he destroyed the mansion so I couldn't just hide until it was night... Hmph, oh well. It's still just one loss, one victory for me."

"Indeed. What do you wish to do now, Lady Tsukuyo? You cannot go online, so I would strongly recommend you go to sleep."

"That's probably best. Spring break is over, and I have lots to do in college tomorrow."

"Truly. You were intending to gather new members for the club."

"Oh, yeaaah. I hope I meet a freshman that catches my eye..."