[This is what resolve means! Smashing your plot to pieces and deleting all 3,000 characters that were ready to post!!]
Chapter 504: Resound, Grateful Legacy — Legal Last Stand
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Mysterious Silver Mask: "..........."
Eight: "Um... Silver-san?"
Kei: "Ah... yeah. Looks like Silver's gone into full-on analysis mode, so just leave her alone. Yeah."
Eight: "I-I see... Still, that really was incredible... She ran through Mechanitan the Machine Swarm like she was slipping between them, took a punch with her face, and then... um..."
Mysterious Silver Mask: "Kicked off the ground to accelerate, used levitation to slide inside his guard, then air-jumped and used Prison Breaker's body like a pole, twisting his arm up with a pole-dance-like motion before firing."
Eight: "Huh?"
Mysterious Silver Mask: "Ah... ahh, sorry. Guess I said that out loud... I'll just grill him about it later. Let's get back to the commentary."
Eight: "R-right..."
Whatever happened to the friendliness she'd shown just moments ago, Silver had narrowed her eyes and fallen silent. Kei, meanwhile, was the first to recover his easy smile, and he pointed to the Gauge displayed on-screen as he began explaining.
Kei: "A Target Enemy barged in, both sides traded Ults, and then Pixie was eliminated... At a glance, it looks like No Face simply got overpowered, but this is actually pretty tangled."
Eight: "What do you mean?"
Kei: "First, Colonel's intrusion was probably something Hannya set up. Hannya barely moved after taking down Dust... I think Hannya used Display to predict the rough coordinates and route of advance."
Eight: "So... Face-Hider-san was being baited from the very beginning?"
Kei: "That's how it looks. Pixie is definitely agile, but the Machine Swarm Colonel brings along are huge, so no matter how you slice it, they're obstacles you can't ignore. And... ah, somebody in the comments is pointing this out too. Right. Not that Hannya is Amelia or anything, but given Hannya's skill level, I think defeating and absorbing Colonel was another objective."
Eight: "So Hannya-san had two goals: 'restrict Pixie's movement' and 'defeat the Target Enemy'?"
Kei: "Exactly. But that's where No Face's own plan comes into it. I won't know exactly which interpretation is right until I grill No Face later, but... I think No Face's goal is to bring the total number of Ult activations to four."
Eight: "Not five?"
Kei: "Actually, it's the opposite. No Face knows Hannya is a very logic-driven gamer, so the plan is probably to dangle the uncertainty of the Ult Crystal in front of Hannya and keep another Ult from being used."
Pick it up, and your Gauge fills all the way to maximum.
And there is only one.
In other words, the spawn condition for the Ult Crystal—yet another uncertainty in an already complicated three-way battle—is six Ult activations by the players.
Kei: "Pixie's Ult is plenty troublesome too, but No Face's final character is Cursed Prison. Silv— ahem! Even I wouldn't want to take the risk of giving No Face a free Prison Breaker—the same Prison Breaker that fought Sylvia Goldberg to a draw."
Eight: "So No Face-san was aiming to trade Ults with Hannya."
Kei: "Hannya probably knew that too, but Colonel showed up at exactly the right moment and, of all things, brought Valkyrie along. Either way, Hannya ended up in a situation where using Prison Break was unavoidable. That's the first thing Hannya didn't account for."
Pointing toward the Cursed Prison currently fighting the Machine Swarm, Kei put his inference into words: Hannya's original plan had probably been to deal with Twinkle Pixie while remaining Cursed Prison, then use the Machine Swarm's intrusion to turn the fight into a three-way battle.
Kei: "But Pixie held out longer than expected, and Dust's parting gift pushed Hannya so far that the numerical advantage was almost completely gone. That's the second thing Hannya didn't account for. You can use another character's weapon, but its damage gets reduced, so Hannya did survive. The flip side is that it left just enough HP to die to a jab, so Hannya can't afford to die now and has no choice but to defeat Colonel."
Eight: "...Ah! Because No Face-san's final character is Cursed Prison!"
Kei: "Exactly. If Colonel is left alone, No Face could steal both the Target Enemy defeat bonus and Colonel itself as material, so leaving it alone isn't an option. But Hannya's down to a sliver of HP and is almost guaranteed to get taken out... which means nearly all the benefit from defeating a Target Enemy has effectively gone to waste."
Even so, the reason Hannya probably wouldn't switch characters the moment Colonel went down—in other words, wouldn't deliberately let Cursed Prison's HP hit zero—was that Hannya still hadn't given up on creating a Cursed Prison versus Cursed Prison matchup, Kei thought to himself.
That was why, setting aside the idiot doing something incomprehensible, Kei could understand the reckless stunt Amelia was trying to pull.
Mysterious Silver Mask: "...Right. Even Amelia would have a hard time getting through Valkyrie without taking damage. And if the goal is the second Target Enemy defeat bonus, 'HP Recovery,' then Commander is the only target available."
Kei: "Silver? Can we not casually use the real name? Pretty much everyone probably knows, but we'd all been deliberately avoiding saying it, remember?"
Mysterious Silver Mask: "Ucchari, ucchari?"
Kei: "What, are you planning to main Rikishion now? It's ukkari, not ucchari."
Right now, there are two Cursed Prisons in the triangular city.
Hannya's Cursed Prison, in the 1P colors and with its HP hanging by a thread, is charging straight into the Machine Swarm's home base.
So what, exactly, is the other Cursed Prison—No Face's flashy orange Cursed Prison—doing...?
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Meditating.
No, not meandering. I mean meditating—and with an actual purpose.
Cursed Prison: "............"
Going wild with my old Survival Gunman-era mentality for the first time in ages made one thing clear...
Right now, I'm garbage.
My hype level itself isn't particularly bad. But because I still don't have a clear objective, I feel like all I'm capable of is making cocky, half-assed plays.
Cursed Prison: "............"
Zazen. Eyes closed. Focus the mind...
Luckily, given where I am, I probably won't be found for around five minutes.
To everyone watching, it might look like I'm sandbagging. But this is a necessary ritual if I'm going to prepare a Cursed Prison capable of satisfying Amelia Sullivan, who must have gone to incredible lengths just to fight me. Cut me some slack.
I deliberately calm the brain that stacked doses of Riot Blood have amped up, and begin constructing a new state of mind.
Why am I fighting? Who cares?
If I had to give a reason, it'd be to get drunk on the rewards and the sweet taste of victory, then gloat about it. That's reason enough for a hired gun brought in as backup to fight.
Cursed Prison: "............"
So let's reverse the question.
Not what am I fighting for, but what should I do in order to fight?
That's right.
The answer is Riot Blood.
I didn't drink Riot Blood in order to fight.
Because I drank Riot Blood, I'm going to fight at full power...
Riot Blood is already coursing through my entire body.
At this exact moment, you could basically say my whole body is filled with energy drink.
Life Is Caffeine.
Isn't my heart gonna explode?
Oops. Focus, focus.
Cursed Prison: "............"
Addic—... heavy users supposedly take Riot Blood, face the deepest part of themselves, and commune with the vast universe.
I'm only a middle user, and I haven't even fallen into legality, so I can't expect that level of insanity.
Still, there has to be something visible at the end of meditation.
A sea of energy drink spreading through my inner self.
Through perfect mental concentration, its surface lies utterly calm, without a single ripple...
..........
...Come to think of it, hasn't it been over twenty minutes by now?
Cursed Prison: "I see it!!"
I see it—a single drop of blood!
The soul of the rioter that every Riot Blood user keeps deep within their heart!!
Thoughts tear through my mind like lightning, pouring even more nitro into an engine that's already at full throttle.
The fuel racing through me reaches the twenty-minute mark and undergoes a chemical reaction.
Mix, Accel, and Joint...
A multi-stage linkage of caffeine caffeinated with caffeine by caffeine erupts all at once just before the effects wear off.
Cursed Prison: "I have received divine revelation...!!"
Of course!
If I add honey and dry yeast to Riot Blood and let it ferment...
Wait, that's illegal!
Damn you, Amelia Sullivan!
You're the one who picked this fight with me, and if you win you're planning to smugly announce your victory to the entire world! On social media or something! (Paranoia)
I can see the faces of those bastards who'll use it to mock me for generations to come...! (Hallucination)
Who are you calling a pervert who got his ass kicked while sandbagging!? (Auditory hallucination)
Cursed Prison: "Unforgivable...!!"
Fine, asshole.
If that's how you're gonna play it, I've got ideas of my own.
I'll give you my entire day's worth of hype...!!
The meditation is complete.
Now is the time to use Dust's legacy...!
[Meditation
An advanced way of enjoying Riot Blood in which you take Riot Blood, focus your mind, and confront your inner self. Those who have fallen into legality can supposedly even be granted eyes from the sea of stars, or something like that. Let's Regain!
Riot Blood doesn't have the power to change the world, but it can help you do it... For those of you who can't take that first step—that's exactly who we want this to reach.
The Riot Blood series, now on sale to great acclaim.
New release! Fast-Acting Ignition—Revol Blantan!!]