Two years later——
[Everyone! Do you guys want some ice cream!?]
When Ada called through a megaphone inside the factory,
dozens of workers stopped their tasks and crowded around her. In
particular, heavy workers wearing motor suits looked especially impatient as
they jumped out.
“Okay, please stay in an orderly line!”
As Ada distributed containers and spoons, the cooler cart
that Crawford had been pushing was emptied in a flash.
“May I have one?”
Hearing the man who reached out to her say that, Ada,
dressed in her travelling outfit, handed over a container to him and bowed her
head stiffly.
“Mr. Hadou, thank you for all your help over the years!”
For the past two years, Ada had stayed in Arkham and helped
to improve Demonbane’s Analytical Engine and the motor suits, but when the
prospect of repairing Demonbane was in sight, she decided to return to London.
“——If you don’t mind, I’d love to have you stay here and assist us.”
Hadou said as he ate his ice cream alongside Ada.
He was not lying in that regard. Ada had a genius sense for
mechanical technology. The current Demonbane had been thoroughly integrated with new technologies invented by Ada. Without her, it would have been impossible to
reconstruct Demonbane in the first place, which was almost completely
disassembled in the Battle of Providence.
“It’s an honor, mister. But my real job is to be a
reporter.”
Ada puffed out her chest proudly, raising her spoon with a heavy sigh.
“From now on, I'll use these two and a half years of
invaluable experience as the fuel to enlighten London and then the world! ——Ah,
of course, I’ll maintain secrecy, so rest assured.”
“……Personally, I’d prefer you not to cause a commotion around the world too much, though.”
“Oh, I have to disagree with you on that, Mr. Hadou.”
Ada’s face suddenly turned serious.
“You try to do everything on your own, but someday the world will need to unite for the coming battle. ——I will support you in my own way.”
“Then I won’t stop your decision……”
Hadou shrugged his shoulders. After getting along with her
for two and a half years, he was fully aware that this young girl would not
back down once she had made up her mind.
“……Speaking of, is it about time for your train?”
“Yes, as you can see, I already set my bell properly——”
Ada stopped bringing the spoon to her mouth and took out her pocket watch.
“——Ah, it stopped!? Oh no!”
When Ada hastily gulped down the ice cream,
“Ouch ouch ouch.”
She cowered, clutching her temple.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine——civilization can only progress by overcoming
these pains!”
While declaring such an overblown statement, Ada stood up
and approached Crawford.
“I think I should escort you to the central station.”
Crawford said as he picked up her suitcase,
“Thanks, but I’m good. I just want to say farewell to
everybody here.”
After saying that, Ada received her bag and looked back at
the hall.
“——Then, goodbye, Mr. Hadou! Goodbye, Mr. Crawford! Goodbye,
everyone!”
As Ada waved her hand, the familiar workers responded by
swinging their spoons.
“And so——”
Ada puffed out her chest and lifted her gaze in one go.
“Have a great day, Demonbane!!”
Raising her hand towards the iron giant——now fully
armored and no longer a “corpse of steel”——Ada quickly turned on her heels to
leave the factory.
With a pitter-patter, the sound of her trotting footsteps
began to fade away, and eventually they disappeared.
“……She’s left.”
Hadou muttered, perhaps to answer Crawford’s words, or perhaps
not.
“The whole world united…… huh?”
Even an Evil God who possessed transcendent power could be
repelled with the strength of man——as a result, the battle against Zs-awia had
probably left her with such a hopeful impression.
——Yet that was not the case.
There may be something on a different
dimension that could not be challenged, even if hundreds of millions of people
band together.
It took one magus and hundreds of thousands of citizens’
lives to defeat the Evil God——what if that was nothing but a single
aspect of a sole inhuman being’s power?
On that day, after receiving Lemuria Impact’s destructive
spell, the Evil God’s super-material body crumbled and dissolved before
being evaporated and erased without a trace.
However, at that moment of sublimation——Hadou
had clearly seen it.
The Evil God transformed into a young man with golden eyes,
and he was smiling at him.
“Demonbane——do you think we can win?”
Hadou looked up at the steel giant.
“Against that monster…… against the Grand Master, Master
Therion.”
+
One night——
In the heart of the “Blasted Heath”, at the distant center of
the glassy crater, there was a figure descending from the sky above.
It was a white-skinned young man with golden hair. His angelic,
well-proportioned body was suspended in the air.
Slowly, but surely—after spending hours, days, or even
years falling—at last, the young man had reached the ground surface, landing
soundlessly like a feather.
The young man remained motionless, facing upwards. The sky
was full of starlight, reflected by the glass earth. Embraced by the twin
starry skies, he was utterly absentminded, emptiness reflected in his golden
eyes.
Clop, clop——
In this land that was supposed to reject all living things, someone
approached with echoing footsteps.
“——Have you awakened, Grand Master?”
Greeting him from above was a woman wearing glasses with dark
features and dressed as a maid. She was accompanied by a girl with obsidian
eyes at her side.
The young man glanced at the woman and said with a visibly bored look.
“……You, huh?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
The woman replied, seemingly dismissing the young man’s
attitude.
“The ‘Heart of Infinity’ has been stolen, but in its place,
I’ve found the [Pnakotic Manuscripts]——Here.”
Saying this, she gently pushed the back of the girl she’d
brought along.
The girl stepped forward, but then halted to examine the
young man’s expression.
Then, the young man returned his gaze to the starry sky and
spoke in the same indifferent tone as before.
“……Everything is all set.”
“Indeed. This is my job, after all.”
The boy murmured, ignoring the giggling woman.
“I think…… I was having a dream.”
“Oh, what kind?”
“It was the same old frolicking dream as always, but……
I had some fun in it.”
The young man raised half of his body; a slight smile formed on his graceful lips. Subsequently, the girl sat down next to him,
resting her cheek against his smooth chest.
“That’s it, that’s it.”
The woman chimed in.
“——Perhaps you might still be caught in that pleasant dream. But take caution and beware! For any minute now, the dream may turn into a terribly awful nightmare!”
Having said that, the woman fawned on the heavens and
started to laugh maniacally.
Ignoring her laughter, the young man unconsciously stroked
the girl’s hair as he directed his melancholic look beyond the horizon——towards
Arkham City.
+
*Clang*——
Enshrined in the deserted underground factory, Demonbane’s
eyes opened; its mechanical pupils stared fixedly at a specific spot in the
distant “Blasted Heath”.
Yet——the light in its eyes eventually faded and closed once more.
For now, that day has yet to come.
The speechless steel giant simply waited in silence for the time of awakening——
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