Chapter 183: The Convergence of Training and Study

The fateful third round.

Both sides still hold their gauge. Both already know where the other is. Zenoselgus won't be coming this way for a while. Which means this is the climax. Silver Jumper has to find a way out of this, and Metius has to finish him here, no matter what.

Sylvia: "I got a little pissed off earlier. Sorry about that."

Kei: "No worries. I'm used to dealing with movements that have abandoned human limits."

The key still lies in the super move. At a glance, Metius's super—Metia Strike—seems to boast incredible performance. And in practice, it delivered devastating power against Clockfire and Cursed Prison. But Metia Strike has a clear weakness. One of Sylvia's strengths is the technique she uses to hide it.

(That tokusatsu flying kick... the recovery after the move is longer than any other character's super.)

Strictly speaking, the super's active frames extend all the way through the back-turned victory pose after the kick. If you can land an attack during that pose, you can force her into hitstun. Sylvia typically only uses the move to land the finishing blow, rendering the recovery window a non-issue. Or she uses her words and the surrounding situation to divert attention away from that opening.

In Cursed Prison—Sunraku's—case, the intercepting side had also bought into the impromptu roleplay, so he didn't notice. But if, in that moment, he'd immediately activated Prison Break instead of shielding the NPC behind him, the outcome might have been different.

(Well, even if he had noticed, whether that idiot would've actually done it is another story.)

A fun draw versus an optimized victory. Unfortunately, Kei's friends are all the type to pick the former with a smile.

(She's aiming for me to spend my gauge. If I use it, it'll be to counter her super...)

As of round three, the Chaos Cube's location is still unknown. But Kei has a rough idea.

In this game, the cube's spawn points follow certain patterns. If you had to search every back-alley trash can or deli kitchen, the game's entire genre would shift too drastically. Therefore, the Chaos Cube typically appears in one of three locations—though exceptions do exist.

First: the center of an open, flat area like a park or stadium, floating above some kind of object—usually a landmark like a fountain. Incidentally, during last night's testing, a tragedy occurred when Pencilgon the bomber launched a direct assault on the very stadium where the NPCs had evacuated.

Second: the rooftop of a building. Specifically, only buildings with heliports qualify, and you can confirm their presence or absence at the very start of a round. The shapes of buildings with heliports follow patterns, so identifying them is easy.

And third... the greatest symbol of this Chaos City: Chaos Tower. The one architectural object that is always, without exception, placed in this ever-shifting city. Its top floor—the observation deck—is the final of the three points where the Chaos Cube can spawn.

Kei doesn't move his gaze. Sylvia might deduce the cube's location from his eyes alone. The tension rises in direct proportion to the passing seconds. Moving first isn't necessarily advantageous. But failing to move first carries the risk of being overwhelmed. Summoning Zenoselgus isn't a great plan either—she's probably already adapted to that. He wants to believe it's not possible, but if Sylvia has already figured out how to use MPK herself, the next one forced into a one-versus-many will be Kei.

Kei: "...A bad habit, maybe."

Sylvia and Sunraku are the "think while moving" type. Pencilgon and Kei are the "move while thinking" type. Furthermore, while he and Pencilgon act according to a pre-set plan, those two constantly update their plans on the fly. Worry dulls your movements. They'll exploit any hesitation. In that case—in that case—in that case—

(Secure the cube. Nothing else. No slacking.)

He narrows his actions to a single point. Bundles his thoughts and focuses solely on the powerful enemy before him. He's lost countless times. And he's studied countless times. A monster whose strength updates every time they meet. But even so, her fundamental habits and battle style never change.

Kei: "...!"

Silver Jumper seizes the initiative. The silver figure doesn't retreat—he charges forward, toward Metius. Metius greets him with a smile and accelerates, bringing Silver Jumper into her range faster than he can close the distance.

Sylvia: "Now, think you can keep up?!"

Kei: "Even if I can't keep up, I've still got options... hup!"

In the real world, Uomi Kei doesn't need to actually build muscle. He just needs to understand the "method" for doing it. Sylvia's dominant leg is her right. It's not that she can't kick with her left, but her right leg is unquestionably her primary weapon. He can't pull off TAS-like movements the way Sunraku does with his "monkey see, monkey do, just kidding" approach. But if it's a movement he's genuinely practiced—

Kei: "Thank you, 'VR Aikido Class'...!"

Changing tactics doesn't render past efforts meaningless. The counter-techniques he trained to surpass Sylvia Goldberg—he responds with movements superior to any hastily cobbled-together improvisation.

The foundation of Sylvia Goldberg's battle style is martial arts—specifically, one that emphasizes kicks. More practical than sport, but in the world of virtual reality, advantages from physical specs barely exist.

Sylvia: "You're always so good at receiving, Kei...!"

Kei: "That phrasing could cause some serious misunderstandings!"

Sylvia: "Kei's a bottom."

Kei: "Gh... psychological attacks...!"

Kei can't do things like "consciously acknowledge a reflexive action while simultaneously planning the next move." But through accumulated prediction and experience, he can respond to Sylvia's—Metius's—next move. He can't perfectly block everything, though. That's why he takes hits. That's why he gets sent flying. Each time, he checks his surroundings, searching for the slightest opening—the thin thread that leads to victory.

Kei: "......!!"

Sunraku calls it "the moment the tightrope connects to the far shore." Pencilgon calls it "the moment to light the fireworks." For Kei, it's "one of many keys has just found its lock." And for the first time, Kei offers a prayer of gratitude to the god of RNG—whom one of his friends loathes like snakes and scorpions.

Galaxia Heroes: Chaos added many new elements. Among them, there is one thing that serves as an exceptionally powerful weapon against Sylvia specifically. That thing is situation. An unfairness that could never occur in a perfectly even coliseum. And that unfairness has just forged a key to the door that blocks his path to victory.

The villain "Cursed Prison" risked his own body to protect a small child. The act drew both praise and criticism, but was generally received favorably. I see—the old "delinquent picks up a kitten in the rain" phenomenon, then. But there are those who don't like it. There are those who, when they see the same scene again, cannot simply stand by and watch.

It's simple. There's a victim NPC being attacked, and an attacker NPC doing the attacking. And there's a hero who, in the previous battle, had her heroic moment stolen by her nemesis.

Pursued by a beast devoid of reason, the NPC must have exhausted all strength to flee. A miracle where the exact same NPC gets caught in the crossfire again didn't happen, thankfully. But a young woman was on the verge of being attacked by Zenoselgus. If you looked closely, you'd realize she was the mother of the NPC people had started calling "Chestnut-Paste Girl." A miracle had occurred after all.

This is it. It has to be now. Silver Jumper's gauge is draining. He destroys the keys to victory he'd stockpiled, and a silver streak races across the battlefield.

Sylvia: "Ah..."

Kei: "You're wide open...!"

A leg sweep. An exceedingly simple technique—one that reaps the two pillars supporting the human body. Exhaustion from past fierce battles. The price of forced, unnatural movements. The freeze from a sudden event. A blank in her thoughts. All of it accumulated to create, in the undefeated, unsinkable Sylvia Goldberg, a tiny—truly tiny—opening.

Silver Jumper's gauge move, "Silver Foot," strengthens his legs for ten seconds. Hardly dramatic—it just boosts his kick power. But the true value of this gauge move lies in its secondary effects: enhanced leaping power and running speed.

Kei: "Sorry, but I'll be taking the spotlight this time too!!"

Sylvia: "Nnaaaahh—!?"

In the instant Metius falls and rises again... a silver streak races through the city of chaos. The saying goes: the more dramatic the action, the more heroic. The saying goes: hope tastes richer when despair has been properly savored. In other words, the scumbags' conclusion on gauge farming was:

(Beat the NPCs to a proper half-dead pulp...!!)

He can't say that out loud, of course. Unlike his conveniently anonymous scumbag friends, Kei has likability stats to maintain—and the income that comes with them.

Kei: "Hello, mademoiselle. You're safe now."

NPC: "Y-you're...?"

Kei: "Silver Jumper. A silver hero."

Perfect. A woman properly beaten half to death. A rescue just before Zenoselgus's attack could crush her. The decisive face. The decisive line... The gauge he accumulates exceeds the gauge he spent on this pinnacle of heroism. On the surface, he's carrying the woman to safety. But that's merely a cover. Silver Jumper puts distance between himself and both Zenoselgus and the recovering Metius, and heads for Chaos Tower.

Kei: "Now... I've got to climb this thing."

He's already set the woman down somewhere safe. Behind him, he can hear the footsteps of the azure shooting star, racing freely in all directions, and the footsteps of the alien beast, breaking through everything with sheer violence. I see. So Sylvia Goldberg really can't afford to do anything careless anymore. To think she's already mastered Monster Train—Kei clicks his tongue in disgust, but a smile rises to his face.

Kei: "That's more like it."

A hero. A hero. A villain. The final battle begins, with the towering, three-dimensional tower as its stage.

And so, the one left standing in the end was...

A hero who times his arrival precisely when the NPCs are beaten half to death. A villain who beats the NPCs just enough to keep them alive, but never enough to let them feel hope.