The Eighth Match - 4

A café terrace in front of castle garden theater—it was the same seat where she had once shared a meal with Yuno.

Listening to the clamor from within its walls, Linaris stared silently in the direction of the garden theater.

She almost came across as the innocent child of a respectable, well-to-do family, taking an early afternoon breather.

"…Farewell, Master Zigita Zogi," the young lady murmured, not with a smile at the loss of her greatest enemy, but instead with a tinge of sorrow.

One could rephrase the ability of tactical strategy as the ability to create options.

Obsidian Eyes had a massive amount of information they'd accumulated from their investigations.

What sort of shape did the duties of the castle garden soldiers take? If there was someone among the other sponsors who would try to use Zigita Zogi's camp for themselves, who would it be? Was there an opportunity to assassinate Zigita Zogi with certainty and without any suspicions being sent their way?

If they were going to make a move on a strategist of Zigita Zogi's caliber, he was sure to outwit their attack, then trace it back to the source. If he did, he would likely arrive at the true form of Obsidian Eyes, which she needed to keep secret… In which case, they weren't the ones who were supposed to deal with

him.

There was only one person who could assassinate him with certainty and without casting any suspicions toward Obsidian Eyes' possible involvement.

His opponent in the eighth match. Uhak the Silent was the only one who could do it.

All the preparations had finished in the middle of the third match.

Secretly switching out the keys, the corpse-transformed soldiers inside the garden theater were able to come and go freely.

Identifying the soldiers who belonged to the garden theater using the information gleaned from her infiltration, she had turned those involved with the eighth match into corpses.

Therefore, Linaris didn't even need to enter the garden theater at all during the eighth match.

The surveying of the garden theater that Enu had pushed forward had, from the very beginning, laid the groundwork to determine whether the range of her vampire pheromones could reach the arena from the outside or not.

The means didn't need to be complicated.

If anything, it needed to be something so simple that Zigita Zogi couldn't outsmart it.

At that same moment.

Inside the garden theater, a soldier threw something into a furnace.

Hidden inside the bandages that covered his wounds…was a handkerchief soaked in fresh blood that was not his own.

Linaris the Obsidian was a vampire who could spread the vampiric infection through the air. Even just a single part of her body, a smattering of blood, was no exception.

Evading all his precautions, she'd infected Zigita Zogi just by having him stand in the same space as her blood.

The simplest method, and impossible to avoid.

Our biggest obstacle has disappeared. With this, at last…I can finish my mission.

Zigita Zogi was sure to have stationed his goblin forces within the garden theater to be ready against their powerful enemy, the invisible army. Dant the Heath Furrow and Hiroto the Paradox were also there as well.

It was possible she had led them to summon their previous collaborator, Ozonezma the Capricious. Even then, it would be no problem for Linaris.

She had made part of the Obsidian Eyes forces slip into the castle garden spectator seats. Lena the Obscured. Frey the Waking.

Once the results of the eighth match were confirmed, these two would immediately begin to act. With their level of skill, it was possible to infect Hiroto the Paradox without even making him aware of the fact. Furthermore, by using blood for an airborne infection, his bodyguard—the terrifying chimera Ozonezma—wouldn't have any hopes of resisting them, either.

Airborne infection, requiring Linaris's blood and unable to be spread from corpses, was a final resort. The potency of this tactic came at the cost of a greater chance of its truth being exposed. Now, with Zigita Zogi dead, they could put said method into action without any apprehension.

Now there was no one who possessed the brains to arrive at Obsidian Eyes' existence in the shadows.

"My lady."

There was a voice at her feet from underneath the tablecloth. A bizarre minia who walked on all fours.

Wieze the Variation. A sniper who snuffed out his enemies with chakrams.

Promptly noticing the new presences that came into his firing range, he cautioned her.

"Six carriages. They bear the Seventh Minister's flag." "…Thank you very much. Continue to stay on guard for me."

Linaris was able to discern the same a fair bit of time after the sniper's eyes had picked them up.

The carriage designs were garnished extravagantly with silver. The white and blue flag signaled the presence of physicians. It was a cohort under the command of Flinsuda the Portent, leader of the medical division. They were, in essence, the bane of any vampire; however, that itself wasn't any reason to fear them.

Nevertheless.

An anxious shadow passed through Linaris's mind.

There's far too many here just to treat injuries or confirm the death of the losing candidate… Even assuming there were injured inside the garden theater…

The medical-division carriages came to a stop as she watched from her position.

Looking at the people who alighted from the carriage, her anxieties changed to conviction.

A woman wielding a massive war ax. Thick bangs that almost seem to block

out her whole line of sight.

She was the Tenth General, Qwell the Wax Flower.

"A dhampir…! Why is the Tenth General with the Medical Division…?!"

A bodyguard who was resistant to the vampire's virus. There was only one thing that could possibly point to…

It was a team that'd been sent, convinced of a vampire's involvement, to specifically deal with it.

The Seventh Minister doesn't belong to any specific faction and is swayed by coin. Master Hiroto, the Gray-Haired Child, must have a large amount of Aureatian currency through his musket dealings. If he already had Miss Flinsuda working on his behalf before the start of the match…then we've already…

It meant they had been identified.

They knew that the "invisible army" was a vampire group, or perhaps even the fact that it was Obsidian Eyes itself.

Linaris had planned to erase Zigita Zogi with the fastest method possible, but the enemy's thinking had been far faster and meticulous enough to arrange for a medical team.

In that case…will infecting Master Hiroto while he's in the castle garden right now…actually be possible? If he had a chance to make a bargain with Aureatia in this short period of time, it isn't completely impossible that he's obtained the antiserum. If Master Ozonezma has been inoculated with the antiserum, then everyone will end up killed by the target… There's a chance they've gone one step further…and positioned some ally we are unaware of… and seen through this ambush.

"My lady. Shall I wipe out the medical team here?" Wieze said, below Linaris as she worked through her endlessly labyrinthine thoughts. "Even I alone could kill them all without leaving any survivors. Kill this dhampir here, and they're little different from any other minia."

"…No… The fact that this medical team has come here…means that Master Zigita Zogi has already seen through our plans to mobilize a large number of corpses during the eighth match. They've already come to realize the 'invisible army' is a vampire…that Obsidian Eyes is in the shadows of the Sixways Exhibition…"

Obsidian Eyes had made a large number of moves related to the match.

The preliminary subterfuge using castle garden soldiers made into corpses. Airborne infection using Linaris's blood. Impersonating a sponsor with the

mimic, Lena the Obscured. Suppressing Kuze the Passing Disaster's movements with Mestelexil.

To ensure they put an end to Zigita Zogi that day, they had no choice but to play many of their cards. Had the ultimate tactician managed to anticipate that a vampire parent unit would make a move during this match as well?

Nevertheless. I need to take control of Master Hiroto here, or we shall lose our golden opportunity to do so. All these misgivings are based on my own assumptions, and I haven't seen any definitive evidence, either.

This operation needed to continue. Even if Obsidian Eyes' covert plans had already been exposed, now that they had given their enemy so much information, backing down was the worst possible move they could make. She simply needed to control Hiroto the Paradox and take command of his country. That was what Linaris's brain told her to do.

Her father had done so. Sparing no thought to the sacrifices. Calmly and coldly choosing the optimal path forward.

I will create an era of war. That's all I need… If I can just finish Father's wishes, then I can be free…

The castle-garden-theater spectator seats—

Lena the Obscured continued her surveillance as the venue erupted with the conclusion to the eighth match.

A mimic—a construct race capable of changing their form at will. After fulfilling her mission to disguise herself as Nofelt the Somber Wind, she had moved to the spectator seats to complete her next mission.

She had pinned down where Hiroto the Paradox was sitting. As well as confirming that Ozonezma the Capricious was right beside him.

Zigita Zogi had Ozonezma come to act as Hiroto's bodyguard after all.

Exactly as anticipated.

Lena carried a small vial with her as well.

However, it wasn't a corpse's blood dissolved in the vial's water, but Linaris's blood, capable of airborne infection.

Regardless of the fighting capabilities Ozonezma the Capricious might possess, if she opened it up as she passed by at point-blank range and made them breathe it in, she could put them under her mistress's control. It didn't even require her to act suspiciously, let alone attack them.

If there's one problem…

Lena looked down at the arena. The garden-theater seating was constructed in a basin shape to ensure the arena was visible from any seat. In the spot slightly removed from the center of the basin was a red blood splotch.

What resembled a squashed bug was, in fact, the miserable end of Zigita Zogi.

…That helm.

She lifted up the bandage covering her eyes.

The light in her eyeballs, to an unstable construct like Lena, put a heavy strain on her and was a major limitation whenever she changed into someone else. Even then, she needed to visually confirm Zigita Zogi's death once more.

She verified that his corpse was still wearing his helm.

The metallic helm had been cracked open, together with the rest of the cranium, like shelling a tree nut, and stuck into his flesh, likely making it impossible to tear off.

The appearance of all the sixteen challengers in the Sixways Exhibition had been verified beforehand by several of the Twenty-Nine Officials, then registered accordingly. If there was any equipment that completely covered one's face, then naturally, the organizers would verify the face of the person beneath it before and after the match.

Therefore, any impersonation of one of the candidates by another could never happen—the situation was completely different from the fourth match, where the hero candidate had been swapped out with another. At the very least, it had been verified that Zigita Zogi himself was beneath the helm.

For this match, they were no longer able to do the postmatch verification. The head they were meant to double-check had been completely smashed.

If, in the unlikely scenario…that getting his head caved by Uhak had been incorporated into his plan, then it's possible the goblin appearing in this arena had been expendable from the start. Can we pick out Zigita Zogi from other goblins without the head still intact…?

If she approached even closer, Lena might have been able to determine for herself. However, the castle garden theater was vast, and her only option was to judge from a distance. With all eyes fixed on the arena, sneaking in was impossible.

…I have to be cautious.

Caution. Nothing more. Lena's mission hadn't changed.

She would approach Hiroto and Ozonezma and infect them. Then she would

depart from the scene.

As long as her mistress had ordered her to do so, she would carry out her duty, even if it cost her life. Simple as that.

However, Lena's feet stopped soon after she started walking toward Hiroto's seat. Her gaze drifted—on the exact opposite side of the spectator seats, there was another hero candidate, beside Ozonezma.

Shalk the Sound Slicer.

He was far away. A seat too far away to be guarding Hiroto.

Nevertheless, he was positioned with a good look at the area around the politician's seat.

Lena took out her radzio, fully aware of the danger of making any contact. It connected to Linaris, outside the garden theater, in case of emergency.

"My lady. It's Lena. Uhak the Silent has won without issue. However, there are a few points that bother me."

<…What would those be?>

"Shalk the Sound Slicer is spectating the match. Southwest side, twenty-fifth row, second from the right. Hiroto the Paradox's seat is on the eastern side, fourth row and tenth seat from the right."

<... >

"They are separate from each other, but if he seriously did go into action, no distance would be too far for him."

Shalk the Sound Slicer was one other of Obsidian Eyes' feared enemies, on par with Kuuro the Careful. His body, composed of white bone, wouldn't be infected by any blood-borne virus.

Furthermore, once his spear fixed on a target, no amount of sleight of hand would make it possible to escape.

<That…is not anything unusual. Master Shalk has spectated almost all the matches up until now.>

"I believe the same thing. However, there is a chance that he has made contact with Yukiharu the Twilight Diver. Right?"

<…Yes. >

It was impossible for anyone in Obsidian Eyes, no matter their agility, to surveil Shalk himself.

However, Obsidian Eyes was still the largest spy guild in the land. If someone was impossible to trail, they just needed to collect secondhand information instead—even by Lena's recollection, she clearly remembered hearing a witness account of Yukiharu the Twilight Diver conversing with Shalk

the Sound Slicer. "Also."

Lena looked at the arena. At the body lying on the gravel.

"Zigita Zogi the Thousandth wore a helm. Uhak's attack defeated him by crushing his entire head with the helm. I ask for your judgment regarding this situation, my lady."

<... >

The café terrace, outside the castle garden theater—

That isn't a problem.

Linaris closed her golden eyes, as if in prayer.

Even if the helm was to feign his death, Master Zigita Zogi wouldn't use any strategy that involved in the Sixways Exhibition…since his goal is to make Aureatia accept his people. He wouldn't do anything that would entail abandoning his original goal simply to deal with us.

Linaris was endowed with that power. The gift to penetrate a person's heart and deeply consider their emotions.

Sparing no thought to the sacrifices. Calmly and coldly taking the optimal action—if there was a possibility she would stray from the correct path, it would stem from Linaris herself and the weakness in her heart.

Master Zigita Zogi made sure to appear with an iron helmet on. Clearly a move to confound his enemies should he lose, making it impossible to confirm his death. Master Shalk's seat positioning isn't a coincidence, either. It wasn't Master Shalk himself but Master Hiroto who chose his seat to curb any movements from those who were aware of the details behind Master Shalk and Master Yukiharu's contact—in other words, to curb us.

Lena's voice came through to her from the radzio.

<If I am to act on this information, wish for your orders. Now that a medical team is here, there's no time delay. What should do?>

"Carr—"

She attempted to tell her to "carry out her mission."

Linaris forcefully pressed down on her chest. Was this really the best move?

<My lady. It's Lendelt.>

A voice cut into the radzio call.

It belonged to Lendelt the Immaculate, charged with guerilla-style attacks.

However, the line he utilized should have been in Harutoru's hands…

<Harutoru was killed.> "...Ngh!"

She tried to hold her lamenting cry back but failed. Harutoru the Light Grip had died.

"That can't be…"

<Mestelexil was recovered safely, but Kuze the Passing Disaster appears to have fled. The particulars of Harutoru's time death are unknown. I will follow up with Mestelexil.>

"No…it can't be…"

Even with Mestelexil the Box of Desperate Knowledge with him, Harutoru had fallen in battle.

She could imagine the reason why. Harutoru may have tried to make some attack on his own. Perhaps an unexpected amount of reinforcements came to Kuze's aid.

If they were able to win today, everything was supposed to be over. It was why they had laid out multiple layers of intrigue and deceit.

Even then, the power of subterfuge was unreliable. Linaris knew that. "Miss Lena. Quickly—"

She could no longer believe in it.

Linaris handed down her orders to Lena inside the garden theater.

"—please leave the garden theater immediately and bring everyone along with you. You are free to abandon your infection mission. Please move quickly and ensure no one else takes notice."

If Linaris commanded her to execute her orders, Lena would have gone forward without hesitation.

<Operation suspended. Understood, my lady.> "…Koff, koff."

Right as she ended the transmission, Linaris coughed harshly.

"Koff, hrk…ngh!"

The stress of traveling outside the manor a number of times in a short period, and the extreme psychological tension, gnawed at her thin, frail body.

Suspension had been the only option. If, by any chance, Linaris had misread the situation, then she would lose everything.

She had needed to bestow on Obsidian Eyes a path for their future survival, without sacrificing a single one of them in the process.

Despite that, Hyakrai the Tower had been heavily wounded by a slight,

accidental deviation.

Now she had let Harutoru the Light Grip die.

"Koff, augh… Why…? Why…?"

She covered her face with both hands and dropped her head down flat on the table.

Despite knowing such unladylike behavior was sure to earn her a terrible reprimanding.

She was supposed to be here in her father's stead.

I wasn't able to claim victory. I threw all our plans into this, and even then… Master Zigita Zogi was a true genius. If Father was here… If it had been Father here right now, I'm sure then that…

Linaris had thought if she could fulfill every part of the mission entrusted to her, she could begin her own life.

If she could do that, then surely there wouldn't be any further need to keep abandoning her friends.

At her feet, Wieze spoke up.

"…My lady. I will stay behind here. Please escape with Lena or Frey once you've confirmed they've made it out. I will keep watch on the medical team."

"Yes… Very well. I will leave it in your hands."

Linaris returned Wieze's smile as he departed. She was crying.

She smiled and let the tears simply fall down her cheeks, as her etiquette had trained her.

I'm sorry.

Zigita Zogi the Thousandth may have truly been dead.

The iron helm he had worn might have been a way to implant a nonexistent shadow of doubt in his enemies' minds.

Similarly, Shalk the Sound Slicer sitting in a position where he could guard Hiroto the Paradox may have simply been because Hiroto had chosen that seat to instill such a thought in his enemy's mind, and nothing more.

The fear might have all been in Linaris's mind, and if she fought now, she might be able to win.

Even then, I can't do it. I just can't… Sacrificing everyone else is the one thing I cannot do.

Being born and raised within Obsidian Eyes, she had no means to live a life outside it.

Among the comrades she had spent her life with, only a few remained. If she lost them, then there wouldn't be a single thing left in Linaris's life.

More than all that…

"I…I can't possibly put everything on the line like that… I mean…I-I'm merely borrowing it…from Father, after all."

Neither Obsidian Eyes nor any of the agents in its ranks belonged to Linaris. She wasn't Obsidian. She hadn't been able to inherit that from her father.

—She remembered that day.

Her beloved father stained with blood, with Linaris looking on at him in shock.

Who had killed him?

No. He hadn't been killed at all.

Thus, Rehart the Obsidian wasn't dead.

If he wasn't dead, then she should have still been able to accomplish his goal. That was why she still needed to keep thinking. Calmly and coldly, just like her father, regardless of any potential sacrifices, just like her father. Even the slightest chance of defeat was unforgivable. She didn't wish to blemish her

father's name with her own failure.

She wished to be a daughter who wasn't ashamed to act in Rehart the Obsidian's stead.

"…Please forgive me…" She begged for forgiveness.

There was no one else out there who could keep Linaris in check.

Even after the fierce battle in the underground waiting room was over, Dant stayed behind and worked to preserve the scene.

Dant alone wasn't able to read to what extent the enemy had infiltrated inside the castle garden. He also feared that evidence, including Haizesta's corpse, would end up being destroyed.

One minia soldier, and one goblin soldier. Along with Haizesta. There had been three casualties right as the match was going on.

This would be enough of a reason to suspend the match and lobby for Uhak's disqualification, but—

"…General Dant!"

Several soldiers appeared, faces pale.

There was definitely some emergency situation, but first, Dant was wary of the soldiers. There was a chance a corpse was mixed in among them.

"You have to flee this place immediately! We'll secure the scene," said a soldier.

"Can't do that. This is a serious example of unlawful behavior. The match should immediately be suspended, and the scoundrels who sullied the Sixways Exhibition need to be identified. Besides, I need to provide my own testimony for the investigation."

"U-um, well…th-that's not it, General. This isn't about this incident." "What else could it possibly be about, then?"

Dant was suspicious.

Was there any other matter that could be more pressing than a member of the Twenty-Nine Officials being manipulated and killed during the royal games?

If there was, it would have to be on a national scale…

"My apologies, General! It most likely happened right around the time you arrived here, sir. The eighth match is over! Zigita Zogi the Thousandth is dead! Without a moment's delay following the results, an alarm was sounded, which

—"

"Wait. An alarm?! What's going on?!"

"Ministers Jel and Grasse have already departed the garden theater!

Furthermore…you've been ordered to sortie, General!" "…It can't be."

Dant quickly silenced everyone gathered before him, and he perked his ears up amid the silence.

He could faintly catch the bell ringing up on the surface. Two strikes. Three strikes. Two strikes. Three strikes.

Every single member of the Twenty-Nine Officials was well acquainted with what exactly this signal meant.

"Dammit! Things are in enough of mess already…!"

"We were just now dispatched here as reinforcements. With the suspicion of corpse infiltration, Minister Flinsuda's medical team is accompanying us. From here, we will restrain the castle garden soldiers, examine them, and identify who is behind this incident. We'll also ask you to appear for an examination at a later date, General Dant…!"

"Somewhere around here… You—you look like an official medical team. Take a look at my pupils here, then. Examination's a bit simple, but it'll be enough, right?"

Showing his pupils to one of the physicians running through the area, Dant proved that he wasn't a corpse himself.

Vampires. A plague that was thought to already have been largely eradicated. The enemy of Zigita Zogi, who needed to be brought down first and foremost. Naturally, Dant had been informed of it all as well, and it was something he had been on guard against.

However, Haizesta's appearance moments prior had been something else.

The enemy possessed skills of manipulation on a far deeper level than simply controlling a corpse's actions through pheromones.

Most likely, that was the truth of Obsidian Eyes. Something capable of multiplying their scouts, without any of the many other organizations taking notice, had already infiltrated Aureatia.

"I'll head out immediately."

"Good luck in your campaign, General Dant. Are there any other matters to check on?"

Dant stopped his feet.

"…Right. One thing I'd like to ask."

While he had clearly heard the truth himself, he couldn't help but confirm it again.

The cunning tactician, more intelligent than any minia, who had been able to see through every development…

"Zigita Zogi died?"

"Yes. His head was split open in a single strike, and he died instantly." "..."

With a small nod, Dant rushed off. He bitterly mumbled to himself. "To hell with this…"

The goblin who had suddenly appeared on Dant's battlefield, stealing all his military achievements out from under him.

Everything about the tactician had rubbed him the wrong way. Even the feeling of loss the goblin left with his death vexed him. "Zigita Zogi!"

Zigita Zogi was dead. He didn't want to believe it. Dant's face was twisted with rage.

It was what he was supposed to do.

"Damn you for pushing all this trouble onto me!"

Ozonezma looked down at the scene.

In the center of the garden theater, Zigita Zogi had become a widening blotch of blood, and the spectators, witnessing such a gruesome demise, were left speechless, while others whispered and murmured among one another.

Amid the stir, Hiroto alone simply remained quiet.

"The true duel has been decided! The winner, Uhak the Silent!" the adjudicator, Meeka, shouted.

The woman's firm voice clearly reached Hiroto, sitting frozen, and Ozonezma at his side.

"…HIROTO…"

"…"

Ozonezma didn't have the words for how Ozonezma was meant to face the scene of finality before him.

Was he meant to mourn the man's death—a comrade in arms, albeit for a brief time?

Or perhaps, should he have felt relieved that the True Hero had advanced to the second round?

What had happened to his memories around the end of the Final Party's journey?

By the time he had finished agonizing and writhing from the surgery to incorporate the True Demon King's arm and regained his sanity—or at least, what he had believed was his sanity—Setera had vanished.

Only he alone could be rightfully labeled the True Hero.

Ozonezma had thought he needed to search for the ogre, but his fear toward Setera's true identity prevented him from doing so.

…He had believed him to be dead.

If there was any being in this world who could calmly live on after consuming the corpse of the True Demon King, then they were a true and unequivocal monster.

He hadn't wanted to think that the last remaining companion from his travels was such a thing.

Thus, he had kept silent on the ogre's achievement while being simultaneously unable to overlook anyone who falsely claimed they were a hero.

It was something no one else had been able to do…that no one should have done.

The deed was far too great, and frightening. The True Hero was terrifying.

Nevertheless, Setera had returned.

To the Sixways Exhibition, to tell without any words to speak, that the Hero did truly exist in their world.

"…"

Ozonezma went to say something to Hiroto, but an alarm bell began to ring from afar.

It propagated through the spires in each of the districts quickly, turning into a piercingly loud din.

"…WHAT IS THIS?"

The tall black smoke rising up in the distance could be seen even from the spectator seats.

Ozonezma realized what exactly the implications of it all were. "Everyone, please calm down and move as commanded!"

A soldier came running up the seats, shouting with all the volume his voice could muster.

"This is a life-threatening disaster! Line up in order and evacuate as instructed! Match pace with children, the elderly, and the injured and don't disturb the line! We are fully prepared to get everyone out of the arena!"

"Those closest to the east exit, come this way! We are arranging carriages for you outside!"

Ozonezma—and all the hero candidates—knew. This alarm bell didn't signal any ordinary disaster.

"…HIROTO! YOU NEED TO FLEE IMMEDIATELY, TOO. THIS LOCATION IS ALREADY IN DANGER, JUST AS THEY SAID."

"…Yes. I suppose so."

Hiroto was perfectly calm, his hands folded together on his lap as he stared at the arena.

The supernatural politician wasn't at all rattled by Zigita Zogi's death. "I'll follow after you. Go ahead without me."

"…I…"

Setera had vanished. Among all the chaos, had he already headed off to do the job he was meant to do?

Ozonezma was scared of him. He overlooked him. He was unable to forget the ogre. He rued him.

Ozonezma wanted to convey something, even a single word, to the ogre, but he didn't know what exactly he was supposed to say.

Zigita Zogi's body hadn't been devoured but left exposed in the arena.

If there was even one person who believed in the horrible truth behind the Hero, then would this Sixways Exhibition have ever happened in the first place? If Ozonezma hadn't completed the taisai, would Hiroto have returned from across that sea? Or perhaps, if Zigita Zogi hadn't isolated Ozonezma outside Aureatia? If the information on Uhak had been made clear to him. If Ozonezma hadn't ended up losing to Soujirou the Willow-Sword.

Izick the Chromatic. Olukt the Drifting Compass Needle. Setera the External. The True Demon King. Hiroto the Paradox. Zigita Zogi the Thousandth. Soujirou the Willow-Sword. Ozonezma the Capricious.

No one had planned for it to happen at all.

In some place beyond the reach of anybody, all their fates had grown intertwined.

Was what lay ahead in the future of the Sixways Exhibition the answer to this fate?

"…HIROTO. I WAS NOT ABLE TO DO ANYTHING IN THIS BATTLE. CALL FOR ME IF THERE COMES A TIME I AM NEEDED."

"That's much appreciated. I'll do exactly that."

The colossal beast scaled the castle garden walls with a single jump and then disappeared.

Hiroto continued to stay seated in the now-blank, snow-white spectator seats.

Just as Hiroto the Paradox had been a perfect politician, Zigita Zogi had been a perfect tactician.

Foreseeing even his own future, dying without accomplishing his objective, he had used every method at his disposal to protect the politician's life.

Even in death, the tactician had beaten the land's most wicked spy colony. The politician left behind merely had to achieve the tactician's goal.

A perfect politician didn't have any personal feelings. Without a single desire of his own, he moved solely to realize the promises to his constituents. The goblins' renaissance. That was possible even without Zigita Zogi the individual.

As long as Hiroto could accomplish that, their wishes would come true. There was no problem. As long as someone wished for it, there wasn't anything that Hiroto the Paradox couldn't accomplish. It had been so up until now, and it would be true going forward.

He smiled slightly, then pressed his fist up against his brow. "Ahhh…goddamn it…"

Zigita Zogi had been a goblin the likes of which would never be seen again.

It had been a dream, passed down by Zegegu Zogi, by Ephelina, by Raheek. From afar, the alarm bells continued to clang.

Thus, there wasn't anyone to hear his wail. "Goddamn it aaaaall…!"

Match eight. Winner, Uhak the Silent.