"Ahahahaha! You're the best, My Hero! To think you'd give me a performance like this... You really are the greatest!"
Watching the battle from a distance, Lost clapped his hands in pure delight.
As he gushed over his favorite hero's exploits with childlike excitement, Drop—who was watching the clash between Yugo and Abyss right beside him—muttered in confusion.
"What's going on? Why isn't Abyss's [Word] working? Hero-kun is doing all these nonsensical things, but in the end, he's just using the same projectiles and sword strikes that Abyss already nullified with his Clear Plate, isn't he?"
It was easy to be distracted by Yugo's erratic fighting style—multiplying himself, transforming into a sword, and other incomprehensible feats—but ultimately, he was still delivering standard physical blows and blade strikes against Abyss.
Normally, the [Word] ability, which stood at the absolute pinnacle of all Clear Plates, should have been superior, rendering Yugo's attacks null and void. In fact, Yugo had been bypassing Abyss's ability even before he manifested this new form known as X-Blaster.
To Drop, who was left wondering how such a phenomenon was possible, Lost replied with a joyful, rhythmic lilt in his voice.
"Excellent observation, Drop! That is precisely the Power of the [X] Clear Plate!"
"Wait, what? I thought his ability was just to manifest the powers of 'X'-themed heroes he knows about?"
"That’s part of it, but the True Ability of that plate lies elsewhere. In a sense, Abyss is currently the only one who truly understands the nature of My Hero's True Ability."
From what she had seen so far, Drop had assumed Yugo had simply gained the power to draw upon the archetypes of heroes associated with the letter 'X' through his imagination. But according to Lost, that was merely a secondary effect.
To her questioning gaze, which wordlessly demanded to know what the True Ability of the [X] Clear Plate was, Lost explained.
"We call an unidentified person 'Mr. X,' unsolved mysteries 'X-Files,' and unknown variables in math 'X'... On its own, the letter represents the 'Unknown.' That’s the power My Hero has tapped into. Surely you see where I'm going with this?"
"...Hero-kun’s very existence has become 'Unknown' through the Power of the [X] Clear Plate. No one can define him, and what can't be defined cannot be visualized. And if you can't visualize it... [Word] has no power over it. For Abyss, the current Hero-kun is a living, breathing Nemesis!"
"Bingo," Lost replied with a grin, confirming her deduction before turning back to the fight.
He watched with amusement as Abyss was gradually cornered by his natural enemy—a hero whose existence defied the very conceptual imagery Abyss relied on. Drop asked him with visible shock.
"Did you know it would turn out like this? That Hero-kun would awaken an ability specifically meant to hard-counter Abyss...!"
"Hmm? No, I didn't have any certainty. I just had a bit of a feeling, I suppose."
Drop recalled Lost mentioning that "Uncertain Elements" existed and that Abyss might "have the rug pulled out from under him." When she asked if he had predicted this outcome based on that, he gave a carefree, dismissive shrug.
Without looking away from the battle, Lost explained the reasoning behind his intuition.
"Personally, I thought My Hero would obtain the power of [Hero]. However, the Clear Plate [H] ended up in the hands of someone whose compatibility seemed even better than his. That made me wonder... maybe My Hero was chosen by a Clear Plate with even higher compatibility than [H]. I didn't know it would specifically be the [X] plate, or that it would manifest as an ability to counter Abyss. I never imagined it would turn out to be this entertaining."
While she had suspected as much, Drop nodded in understanding at Lost's admission that he hadn't known the location or the exact power of the final Clear Plate. Indeed, she thought, such a perfectly scripted turn of events was almost beyond imagination. Quoting Lost's explanation, she noted:
"But it actually makes a lot of sense. 'Unknown, incomprehensible, unknown variable'... it's the perfect power for Hero-kun."
"Indeed! And watching Abyss's Plan fall into disarray because he failed to account for that unknown factor makes me feel it all the more."
Abyss might have been a collaborator, but he was no friend. Lost, who preferred seeing his favorite hero succeed over seeing Abyss's plan come to fruition, was thoroughly satisfied with how things had surpassed his expectations.
Gazing at Abyss as he was driven into a corner by Yugo, his eyes gleaming with schadenfreude, Lost wore a truly delighted and wicked smile. He spoke in a low voice meant only for himself.
"I told you so. You shouldn't have underestimated Yugo's will and explosive potential... You misjudged a hero's True Strength—the power of a man who never gives up. This is entirely your mistake, Abyss."