The Eminence in Shadow (陰の実力者になりたくて！)

Are you so stupid that you don't know what's going on here?

We're trying to tell you that if you're a good boy and do what the grownups say,

we'll let you go!

And I'm saying, I don't need your help.

Both of you, just watch.

Wait!

Fine then!

Kill him!

Gotcha.

Kono subete ima kakete

Tada risou ni todoku made kono te nobashite

Me no mae ni nobiru sentakushi

Zen to aku to no haguruma wa yuku

Tada hitotsu no ketsumatsu e

Nanimo kamo guuzen no Choice

Soshite mata tsugi e no aizu

Kanousei no genkai made

Sono yukusaki o mitsumete

Only one, hoka ni mo iranai

To the one, dake misuetetai

Yuzure wa shinai shinnen to

Ketsui kono mune ni himete

Highest, highest, I'm going on

Shinjitsu yori shinsou no kage o yuke

Highest, highest, I'll carry on

Ze ga hi demo saa, nozomu nara kokou ni tsuranuke

How are you alive?

She stabbed you through the gut!

As long as you protect the vitals, the human body is surprisingly sturdy.

Even if you get stabbed through the gut,

keep your arteries and important organs safe, and it won't kill you.

Don't you think that's just such a beautiful thing?

Beautiful thing?

Yes!

You just protect your vitals,

and it saves you all the trouble of dodging your enemy's attack.

Then, once you've been impaled through the belly,

you can bite right into the other guy's neck.

You're in position for a nigh-inescapable counter attack.

Are you sure you're all right upstairs?

So now what?

Your elf friend is gone.

Is it safe to assume I'll be fighting you next?

W-wait!

I give up!

I was wrong!

I'm sorry.

Let's all just calm down, and we can talk it out.

Is that what you thought I'd say?!

I admit, I was surprised to see Olivier defeated

by some punk kid who can't use his magic.

You were probably just lucky, but nevertheless, a win is a win.

Congratulations!

Thank you!

But all you did was beat one shoddy copy,

so don't pat yourself on the back too hard just yet.

There is so much magical energy lying dormant in the Sanctuary

that not even we can fathom it.

That means we can even...

do this!

Oh no...

This is the power of the Sanctuary!

A resurrected superhuman army, eh?

Sorry...

your time's up.

What...

What is that?

A solid mass of magical energy?

An artifact?

No, don't tell me it's slime?

But how?

How can you use magic?

If trying to use magic gets it absorbed,

then I just have to temper the magic until it's too solid to be absorbed.

It took a bit of time,

but it's really quite simple.

Simple?

But that's not possible for any human being!

Olivier! Kill him now!

Your moves are even more tedious than before.

It's like fighting a bunch of scarecrows.

Just like that! Kill him!

I guess playtime's over.

So you said we draw the holy sword,

cut the chains, and destroy the magical core.

Is that right?

Um, yes...

Wait, you're not going to...

It's such a pain to go through each individual step.

We could just blast through all of them at once.

Same result, right?

How could anyone be allowed this much power?

I am...

...the All-Range...

...Atomic.

You even survived being stabbed through the heart.

Oh, I used magic to pull my heart over to the side.

And now I'm extra tired.

You're just full of surprises.

I'm nowhere near as...

You're disappearing?

I suppose so.

I am the one who called you here.

I'm sorry for lying to you.

That's okay.

That's not the only thing I lied about.

That's okay.

For so long, all I wanted was to fade into nothing.

I wanted to forget everything.

But now,

I've made one memory that I don't want to forget.

Even if I disappear,

I want to hold on to this experience, and never let it go.

Thank you for the precious memory.

I had a good time, too.

Thanks.

If you ever find the real me...

please...

Please?

What we saw back there...

It was probably Shadow's...

Alexia?

Doesn't it just kill you?

Kill me?

We couldn't do anything.

I thought I had accepted the fact that I'm powerless.

But there's more to it than that.

Who was right and who was wrong?

I couldn't even judge between good and evil.

All I could do was stand there as a helpless spectator.

If things stay this way, if I never learn anything,

then I'm going to lose all the things I care about before I even know they're in danger.

That's the feeling I get.

I've been thinking, too.

Ever since the Academy was attacked the other day,

I've felt there are massive organizations working in the shadows.

But we don't know anything,

not about Shadow Garden, or about the organization they're at war with.

Then what are you going to do about it, Princess Alexia Midgar?

We're weak, and we're ignorant.

But if the three of us work together, we should be able to do something.

After all, I'm the princess of the Midgar Kingdom,

and Rose is the princess of the Oriana Kingdom,

and you, Natsume Kafka.

As an author, surely you have a network of connections you can use.

We'll work together to gather information.

And what will you do with the information you find?

That depends on what it is.

But I'm thinking maybe the three of us can join forces and fight back?

We'll recruit allies, establish a base of operations...

Would that work?

Not even a shred of a solid plan.

Well, I said we'll gather information first!

We'll analyze it and then decide!

That would be nice, if you had the intellect to analyze anything.

Did you say something?

No, nothing at all.

So what do you say?

Are you with me, or aren't you?

I'll join you.

I don't have much to offer,

but I do have a bit of influence.

I'm in, too.

I'll use my writing connections to do some research.

That settles it.

We're now officially a team.

Even if one of us is from a different kingdom and social standing,

and there's absolutely no telling what's going on deep in her heart,

I choose to believe we're on the same side.

Joining forces to expose the truth of the world...

It's like the start of a legend.

We have the hero, the wise woman,

and the deadweight, all present and accounted for.

You're the deadweight, right?

The Sanctuary has been obliterated.

Yes.

Has the holy sword been recovered?

The holy sword was vaporized.

Any samples from the magical core?

Also vaporized.

The simplest and most reliable solution to the matter.

That's so like him.

After all, Lord Shadow is the only one who could have accomplished it.

The path he treads is the path we walk, as well.