by Sakon Kaidou
Examination Chapter: ■■■ ■■■■■’s Analysis
Central arena, audience seating, ■■■ ■■■■■, ■■■■■■
“Lad, did you see that?! That kid’s amazing!” the middle-aged tian man seated next to me cried.
“Yes, he truly is!” I enthused.
As I gave the appropriate response, I analyzed the broadcast. The moment it had appeared, I’d changed my thought process from personal to tactical. The Giga Professor, Mr. Franklin, had started the broadcast in order to make the kingdom’s tians despair. However, the newbie young man called “Ray Starling” — a surname I knew very well, by the way — had turned it around and emerged victorious, bringing about the opposite of Franklin’s intended result.
If he’d committed this act of terrorism just to make the kingdom lose faith in its Masters, it was safe to say that he’d failed, but Franklin still had some pawns on the board. Needless to say, he wasn’t out of plans just yet.
I began forming an image of the overall situation, starting with the numbers of pawns on both sides of Franklin’s Game.
First, I went through Gideon’s forces.
No. 1 in the duel rankings, “Endless Chain,” was sealed. No. 4, “Black Raven,” and no. 8, “Vagrant Golden Sea,” were both bound by the barrier around the central arena.
No. 6, “Kamen Rider,” and no. 7, “Raging Blaze,” had been defeated in battle.
No. 2, “Monster Cat Mansion,” no. 3, “Guillotine,” and no. 5, “Bone-Eater” were not present. No. 9 and below weren’t all that relevant to the situation at hand.
The barrier’s disappearance would release nos. 1, 4, and 8, which could greatly influence the flow of the battle. In fact, no. 1 was capable of killing Franklin all by his lonesome.
The non-ranking Masters outside the arena were gradually decreasing in number, but many of those incapacitated at the western gate were only bound by the Frozen debuff, meaning that they could re-join if it was removed.
There was also the person who I assumed to be the Superior Killer. I’d lost all trace of them, but I was absolutely certain that it was due to stealth abilities rather than death.
The newbies that had left the arena had lost half of their number, with only about twelve still alive. However, Ray Starling — the newbie who’d achieved the most — was badly injured, making it questionable whether he could continue fighting.
Then there was Franklin’s battle potential. The Masters he’d hired were gradually being purged, and the same applied to the monsters released unto the city. However, it was glaringly obvious that he had more in store, making it entirely possible that the numbers on his side could increase.
The three characters thought to be his heavy-hitters had been taken care of.
Veldorbell, the one who’d killed “Kamen Rider,” had in turn been killed by the Superior Killer. Hugo Lesseps, the one who’d sealed “Raging Blaze” and many other Masters, had been captured by the newbie called “Rook.” And the Ray Starling Killer, the monster that had greatly damaged the Royal Guard, had, ironically, been killed by Ray Starling.
Though the number of pawns on the board clearly wasn’t all that great, all the ones sealed within the barrier and the unknown monsters Franklin still had in store made it hard to predict which side would win. And I wasn’t even including the pawns that could destroy the board itself.
By that, I meant the joker Franklin had placed beneath this arena and the three abnormally powerful individuals sealed in here — myself included.
I looked over the stage, eyeing the opposite side of the arena. By straining my eyes a bit, I could see a woman with a porcupine on her knees. Her eyes were directed at the broadcast, and I couldn’t tell whether she was amused or bored.
Suddenly she shifted her gaze towards me, causing our eyes to meet. Though her expression was devoid of any killing intent, I felt as if it came with the question, “You wanna go?”
If I responded to the challenge and fought her, we would bring about far more death and destruction than all the battles so far combined.
Right now, I had no intention of becoming the cause of such a calamity, so I simply shook my head. With that, she seemed to lose all interest in me and returned her gaze back to the broadcast.
This is the first time we’ve met, but so far, she gives me the impression of a wild beast, I thought.
Anyway, with that curious exchange, it became obvious that she wouldn’t make a move unless provoked.
Besides the two of us, there was one other abnormally powerful individual here. He would make his move as soon as whatever was holding him back was gone, meaning that the climax of this event was near.
I can’t wait until he enters the scene, I thought. He’s probably even stronger than he was the last time we fought.
What was about to happen would be far more intense than tonight’s Clash of the Superiors or Franklin’s Game.
“It’s your turn now... Shu,” I murmured.
Those words escaped my mouth, confusing the tian man next to me. I lied my way out and began waiting for the time to come.
Chapter One: Plan C
Duel city Gideon
Gideon was roaring with cries of joy — cheers over Ray and the Royal Guard’s victory.
With the defeat of the RSK, the remote controlling the monster-releasing devices had been destroyed as well. Even after the time limit had passed, there was no sign of any monsters being released in Gideon. Thus, the city’s people became overwhelmed with joy and praised the victors.
The traitors working for Franklin, on the other hand, either became upset by the failure or scorned Franklin for his mess-up.
Though the reactions were mostly split between those two, there were a few exceptions. One of them was Hugo. Being one of Franklin’s people, he was aware of Franklin’s plans and knew what the man would do next. That perspective also applied to a few of the veterans fighting or merely observing the situation.
They knew that it wasn’t over yet.
◇◆◇
Jeand Grasslands
Using optical means to hide himself, Franklin observed what was happening in the Jeand Grasslands.
“Well... damn. Seriously,” he muttered while looking down at the place where the RSK had vanished. His tone contained suppressed rage, irritation, and a hint of self-derision.
Tonight, he’d started the plan he’d formed as a member of Dryfe Imperium’s prime minister faction. At the same time, though, he’d challenged Ray Starling to a revenge match.
Franklin loathed defeat more than anything else, and he wouldn’t find peace until he made anyone who won against him experience an even greater loss. That was how he’d broken the spirit of the Master who’d killed him, and that was exactly how he’d planned to get back at Ray for ruining his plan and indirectly defeating him.
He’d intended to have the fine-tuned monster defeat this newbie and make him aware of his powerlessness when all the monsters ravaged Gideon. However, the actual result of the revenge match had been nothing like that.
The RSK, the 100,000,000 lir Pure-Dragon-class monster he’d designed specifically to kill Ray Starling, was turning into particles of light.
Franklin had lost to him again.
It was an unexpected result, but he could’ve predicted it if he’d considered several factors.
Franklin began thinking what he had to do in order to win against Ray Starling with the handicap he’d set for himself. That was about the only thing on his mind while looking at the place where the RSK had vanished.
Though he ruined my plan and defeated me, he’s still a newbie, he had thought yesterday. Going all-out on him would be immature. Not to mentio
n that it’s a waste of resources. Then there’s the fact that he helped out one of my people, so... All right, I’ll handle him with a single Pure-Dragon-class monster.
Franklin slowly shook his head and sighed. “I was such an idiot for thinking that yesterday,” he said in a voice thick with anger and self-derision. He regretted his ever choosing to set a handicap, and tried to think of what he should’ve done instead, but in the end, he believed the result would’ve been the same regardless of what he did. That was because his opponent was Ray Starling.
This was the person who’d defeated a Demi-Dragon Worm — a match for a high-rank job — while being level 0.
Then, a few days later, he’d faced and defeated the UBM known as “Great Miasmic Demon, Gardranda.”
On the day that followed, he’d defeated the head of the infamous Gouz-Maise Gang and felled the UBM born out of the group’s grudge: Revenant Ox-Horse, Gouz-Maise.
And just now, he’d emerged victorious against his natural enemy, the RSK.
The newbie had already brought about a number of miracles, and Franklin had a hunch that he could do it again. The memory of that hunch mixed with the reality of his defeat made his thoughts go into disarray.
I don’t want to lose a single time, yet I’ve lost twice now. It happened even with my countermeasures in place. I can’t stomach this. I won’t allow it.
Gradually, his verbal thoughts became emotions. A staggering lack of words overwhelmed his head before gathering and forming a single sentence.
“I’ll go all out... and kill him.”
At that moment, Franklin, the Superior from Dryfe Imperium, reached a certain conclusion. His greatest enemy wasn’t the imperator faction’s King of Beasts, the field marshall faction’s Hell General, any of the four Superiors from the kingdom or any of the nine Superiors from Caldina’s pride and joy that was Sefirot.
It was him.
The newbie known as Ray Starling was Franklin’s smallest, yet greatest, nemesis. Thus, he decided to defeat him using all he had.
Next time, I’ll grind him into dust using my anti-Superior monster: Mechanic God Dylan, he thought furiously.
However, that was something to do another time. MGD still wasn’t complete, and Franklin had other priorities. His revenge match against Ray Starling was purely a personal thing. He still had a role to fulfill as a Superior sponsored by the prime minister.
With that in mind, he regained his composure and sprung into action, starting with...
◇◆
By the skin of his teeth, Ray had defeated the RSK and announced his victory to the people of Gideon.
Following that moment, he reached his limit, lost consciousness, and fell flat on his back.
“Ray!” Nemesis shouted his name as she returned to her human form and supported his body. Liliana, Sir Lindos, and several other Paladins of the Royal Guard gathered in Ray’s vicinity.
“Ray, are you all right?! Force Heal!” shouted Liliana as she cast a healing spell.
“Those with spare MP, you take turns healing him and the incapacitated knights!” Lindos gave his orders. “Franklin is hiding right now, so the rest of you, search for him and Her Highness Elizabeth! Don’t let that man escape!”
“Understood!” the knights replied in unison before scattering.
A small number of them stayed with Ray. One was Liliana, who healed him with a pained expression on her face.
“We can restore his health, but...” she said while looking at Ray’s left arm. It was Burned so badly that the debuff merely upgraded to Charred. Even high-rank healing magic would have a hard time with such grave injury-based debuffs. Defeating the natural enemy of all Paladins had caused him to pay a heavy price.
Thankfully, Ray was a Master and thus could be completely restored by simply getting the death penalty and respawning once the time had passed. Whether he’d be willing to take this course of action, however, was a different matter entirely.
“For now, just keep him alive, please,” said Nemesis. “Ray doesn’t want to make his exit just yet.”
“I understand,” replied Liliana as she and the other knights healed Ray.
A moment later, the sound of clapping reached their ears. Surprised, they looked for the source and found it in the hologram projected into the sky.
Though they were unaware of this, it was displaying the exact same thing as the ones projected all across town. Right now it showed Franklin, smiling so widely it seemed unnatural.
“Did you see that, dear audience?” he asked. “The monster I’ve created has been destroyed. How sad. Truly a pity. Even so, I believe the Paladins who pulled it off deserve a round of applause. So here, clapclapclapclap.”
Clapping was exactly what he did. However, not a single soul joined him in that. In fact, the viewers who had been cheering just a few moments ago had turned silent upon seeing him.
“So yeah,” he continued. “Congratulations. 251 seconds have passed since the time limit and uh, it’s pretty clear that the remote is destroyed. The monsters don’t seem to have been released, after all.”
Franklin placed his hand on his forehead and shook his head in a disappointed manner. Then he reached into his pocket with a blank expression...
“Lo, this right here is a spare!”
He pulled out a remote, just like the one consumed by the RSK.
“You wretch!” shouted Nemesis, the anger in her tone all too palpable.
“Hahahahahah! The folk on the scene all look like, ‘What was the point of the last battle?’ I’m guessing the rest of the audience feels the exact same way.” Ignoring Nemesis’s words, Franklin continued speaking in a smug manner. “The battle up until now was just a sideshow — a revenge match. Come on, now. Stuff breaks, you know? Making spares is the obvious thing to do, don’t you think?”
A grin formed on his face yet again.
“By the way, this one works without a timer, so... I’ll just press it. Beepbeepbeepbeep.” With that, he nonchalantly activated the devices, releasing the 500 monsters in Gideon.
“Franklin!” Nemesis roared in anger, but again, he paid no heed.
“Hahahahahah! You were a pretty great sideshow. Sure, I didn’t like the result all too much, but seeing you now makes it kinda worth it. If only Ray was awake, too. I’d love to see his reaction.” Franklin laughed mockingly.
Liliana glared at him, told her subordinates to continue healing Ray, and stood up.
“Well, hi there, your excellency miss vice commander,” Franklin said cheerfully. “You’re gonna go help the citizens? Or are planning to defeat me? You think you can do that when you’re hurt all over? That’s some impressive perseverance... Anyway, I’m not having that. Call — DGP, KOS.” Franklin raised the Jewel on his right hand and summoned two monsters, both of which appeared right next to Nemesis.
One of them was Dino-Earth Giga Phalanx: a pachycephalosaurus-like dinosaur emitting a red aura.
The other was a King-Size Oxygen Slime: a blue Slime just like the ones he’d released in the arena, only several times bigger.
“Th-They’re...” Nemesis muttered as her intuition told her something. The two monsters before her were far stronger than the RSK, the creature they’d just worked so hard to defeat. In fact, they were actually more menacing than Gouz-Maise, their foe from yesterday.
“What? You find it strange?” asked Franklin. “I have the Superior Job of Giga Professor, and I am the owner of a Superior Embryo. You didn’t actually believe that the RSK was the only monster I had or that it was the strongest, right? In fact, out of all my special creations, he was among the weaker ones. While he was Pure-Dragon-tier, these are a match for Masters with battle-oriented Superior Jobs and Legendary-tier UBMs.”
Nemesis and the Royal Guard were at a loss for words. Franklin continued.
“Surely you saw this coming, right? The only reason I used the RSK was because Ray had been able to kill a Demi-Dragon Worm, and going a step up in terms of tier seemed like the r
easonable thing to do. I spent the appropriate amount of money to make sure everything was accounted for and intended to thoroughly break his spirit. But the result... well, I lost again.” He heaved a long sigh as his smile faded. “Ray won against me two times out of two. I swear that I’ll get back at him for this humiliation.”
Nemesis stayed mute. She realized that, with the RSK, Franklin had been partially playing around. Though everyone had believed him to be immature for singling out a newbie, he’d still been somewhat considerate. However, now that he’d lost two times, Franklin had no such sentiments left.
A Superior — one of the few strongest players — now saw Ray as an enemy.
“Still, I have no intention to fail tonight’s plan,” he said. “Anyway, let’s see how the city’s doing. The monsters there are weaker than these babies, but I did throw in a few troublesome ones and... Hm...?”
After looking in the city’s direction, Franklin tilted his head in a puzzled manner.
Nemesis could easily tell what had him so confused.
Gideon is too quiet.
For a city being ravaged by 500 monsters, it was far too silent.
By straining their ears, they could hear some sounds of battle, but they were strangely infrequent.
“...Did it only release a part of them?” Franklin pressed the button again, but Gideon still remained the same. “The remote is functioning properly. That means the problem is on the other en...”
Suddenly, he remembered something.
Tonight, he’d encountered a certain person who could easily take care of the many devices hidden in the city. It was a person clad in a black mist which made it hard to tell whether it was a he or a she.
The person’s name was...
◇◆◇
A certain place in duel city Gideon
“Oh, I’m so glad I made it,” a certain person muttered while looking up at the projection above.
Her name was Marie Adler. She was sitting at the edge of an alley to take a breather.
Right next to her, there was a bag filled to the brim with devices with Jewels fixed inside of them.
Each and every one of them were broken.