Chapter 504: The Legal Last Stand

Author's Preface
What is resolve?! It is smashing the plot and deleting 3000 words right on the verge of posting them!!

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"........."

"Umm, Silver-san?"

"Ah... yeah, it looks like Silver's gotten completely absorbed in some serious analysis right now, so let's just leave her be. Yeah."

"I-Is that so... But still, that play just now was incredible... The way he sprinted through the gaps of the 'Mechanitan' as if he was slipping right through them, caught a punch with his face, and then... umm,"

"Kicked off the ground to accelerate, used levitation to slide into her guard, did a mid-air jump, used Prison Breaker's body as a pole to do a pole-dance-like maneuver, twisted her arm up, and shot her."

"Eh?"

"Ah... ahh, sorry. I said that out loud, didn't I... Well, I'll interrogate him about it later. Shall we return to the commentary?"

"R-Right..."

Leaving aside Silver, whose sociability from earlier was nowhere to be found as she narrowed her eyes in silence, Kei was the first to regain his sociability and began commentating while pointing at the gauges displayed on the screen.

"The intrusion of a Target Enemy, the exchange of Ults, and then Pixie's elimination... If you just look at it simply, it looks like No Face was overpowered, but in reality, this is actually quite tangled up."

"What do you mean?"

"First of all, Hannya was probably the one who set up the 'Colonel's' intrusion. She barely moved after defeating Dust... so I think she used Display to estimate his rough coordinates and travel route."

"In other words... No Face-san was being lured in right from the start?"

"That's right. Pixie is definitely agile, but the Mechanitan that the 'Colonel' drags along are massive, so no matter how you look at it, they're obstructive obstacles. Plus... ah, I see some people pointing it out in the comments too. Yeah, well, it's not like she's Amelia or anything, but with Hannya's skill level, I think she was also aiming to defeat and absorb the 'Colonel'."

"Ehh, so you're saying Hannya-san was aiming for two things: 'sealing Pixie's movements' and 'defeating the Target Enemy'?"

"That's right. However, this is where No Face's scheme comes into play. I won't know for sure until I interrogate him later... but isn't No Face's aim to bring the total number of Ult activations up to four?"

"Not five?"

"Actually, it's the exact opposite. No Face knows that Hannya is a highly logical gamer, so he probably intends to seal off her Ult usage by dangling the uncertain element of the Ult Crystal in front of her."

If obtained, it grants maximum gauge—but there is only one. In an already complicated three-way battle, the appearance condition for this further uncertain element, the Ult Crystal, is six Ult activations by the players.

"Pixie's Ult is already a massive pain in the neck, but No Face's grand finale is Cursed Prison... Silve— Ahem! Even I wouldn't want to carry the risk of allowing the free descent of the very same Prison Breaker that forced a draw against Sylvia Goldberg."

"So No Face-san was actually aiming for an exchange of Ults, then."

"Hannya probably knew that too, but of all the Target Enemies, the 'Colonel' brought along the 'Valkyrie' at the exact right timing. So, her getting forced into a situation where she had no choice but to use Prison Break was Hannya's first miscalculation."

Most likely, Hannya's initial plan was to remain as Cursed Prison, deal with Twinkle Pixie, and then drag the fight into a three-way battle using the Mechanitan's intrusion. Pointing at the Cursed Prison currently fighting against the "Mechanitan", Kei voiced his deduction.

"But the second miscalculation was that Pixie held on far better than expected, and on top of that, Dust's parting gift cornered her to the point where her numerical advantage is practically gone. Sure, she can use other characters' weapons, but because their power is reduced, she only barely survived. Conversely, because she only has enough health left to die from a single light punch, Hannya is stuck in a situation where she can't just die, but she absolutely has to defeat the 'Colonel'."

"...Ah! Because No Face-san's final character is Cursed Prison!"

"Exactly. If she leaves the 'Colonel' alone, there's a risk that No Face could steal both the Target Enemy subjugation bonus and the 'Colonel' as an absorption material, so leaving it alone isn't an option. But since she's on literally a sliver of health, she's practically guaranteed to get killed first... so the benefits gained from defeating the Target Enemy have basically become useless."

Even so, the reason she isn't swapping characters the moment she defeats the 'Colonel'... in other words, the reason she isn't letting Cursed Prison's health reach zero herself, is probably because she hasn't given up on the 'Cursed Prison vs Cursed Prison' matchup. Kei muttered this in his heart.

That was exactly why, putting aside the idiot doing completely incomprehensible things, he could understand the reckless absurdity that Amelia was attempting.

"...Right. No matter how good Amelia is, taking zero damage against the 'Valkyrie' would be difficult. So if she's aiming for the 'HP Recovery' bonus from defeating a second Target Enemy, she has no choice but to target the 'Commander', huh."

"Silver? Let's not use her real name normally, okay? I mean, pretty much everyone already knows, but we were trying not to say it, right?"

"Ucchari ucchari?"

"What? You plan on becoming a Rikishion main now? It's Ukkari." [*1]

Right now, there are two Cursed Prisons in the triangular city.
The 1P color Cursed Armor (Hannya) is currently launching an assault on the "Mechanitan's" headquarters with her health hanging by a thread.

Then, what exactly is the other Cursed Prison... the flashy orange-colored Cursed Armor (No Face), doing............?

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I am meditating.

No, I'm not wandering aimlessly; I'm meditating with a proper purpose.

"........."

Going wild with my Saba-Gan era mentality for the first time in a while made me realize something... Right now, I'm trash.
My tension itself isn't too bad, but precisely because I haven't set a clear goal, I feel like I'm only capable of making half-assed, insulting movements.

"........."

Sitting in Zen meditation, closing my eyes, and focusing my consciousness... Fortunately, given the location, I probably won't be found for about five minutes. From an outsider's perspective, this might look like I'm disrespecting the game, but I need them to understand that this is a necessary ritual to prepare a Cursed Prison capable of satisfying Amelia Sullivan, who went through so much trouble just to fight me.

Intentionally calming my head, which has been elevated by multiple doses of Riot Blood, I construct a new tension.
What am I fighting for? That doesn't matter. If I had to say, it's to get drunk (smug) on the sweet wine of victory and rewards. For a mercenary (helper), that's reason enough to fight.

"........."

In that case, let's reverse the thought process. It's not about what I'm fighting for, but what I must do in order to fight... Yes, the answer is Riot Blood.
I didn't drink Riot Blood to fight; I fight at full power because I drank Riot Blood... The Blood of the Rioters is already coursing through my entire body.

If that's the case, you could say that right at this very moment, my entire body is filled with energy drinks. Life is Caffeine. Isn't my heart gonna explode? Whoops, focus, focus.

"........."

Addi— I mean, heavy users say that when you dose up on Riot Blood and unify your spirit, you face your innermost self and communicate with the great cosmos. As a middle user—especially since I haven't even fallen into Legal Degeneration—I can't hope to achieve that level of utter madness. But even so, there must be something waiting for me at the end of this meditation.
A sea of energy drinks spreading across my inner heart. Through mental unification, the surface of the water becomes perfectly calm without a single ripple............

...

...

...Come to think of it, hasn't it been about twenty minutes?

"I can see it!!"

I see it, a single drop of blood! The soul of a rioter kept in the deepest depths of a Riot Blood user's heart!!

Thoughts race through my mind like lightning, pouring even more nitrous into an engine that's already at full throttle.
With the passing of twenty minutes, the fuel coursing through me undergoes a chemical reaction. Mix, Accel, and Joint... The multi-stage connection that caffeinated caffeine with caffeine ignites all at once just before its effect runs out.

"I have received an epiphany...!!"

I see. If I put honey and dry yeast into Riot Blood and let it ferment... Wait, wouldn't that be illegal?! Damn you, Amelia Sullivan! Even though you were the one who picked this fight, you're planning on flashing a smug victory report to the whole world if you win! On social media or something! (Persecution Complex)
And I can already see the faces of the scumbags who will use that as material to troll me until the end of time...! (Hallucination)
Who are you calling a pervert who got his ass kicked while trolling!? (Auditory Hallucination)

"Unforgivable...!!"

Bring it on, you bastard. If that's how you want to play it, I've got an idea too. I'll give you my entire day's worth of tension...!!

The meditation is complete. Now is the time to use Dust's Legacy...!

Author's Afterword

• Meditation
  A mental conditioning technique for advanced users where one takes Riot Blood and unifies their spirit to face their inner heart. It's said that if one falls into Legal Degeneration, they might even be bestowed eyes from the sea of stars, or something like that. Let's Regain!

Riot Blood does not possess the power to change the world, but it can help... For you, who cannot take that first step, we want to deliver this.
The Riot Blood Series, currently on sale to critical acclaim.
New Release! Instant Ignition: Revol-Lantern!!

Translator's Note

• [1] Ucchari is a sumo move, rikishi mean professional sumo wrestler and ukkari means 'my bad' or 'oops'. Kinda stumped on how do handle this so I'm gonna leave it as is