The hole in the clouds gradually widened, the edges tearing away until the gap vanished into the blue sky like ice melting in water.
The torrential downpour finally ceased, and the sky reclaimed its natural clarity.
"Kkh...! My mana...!"
Because the rain had been cut off immediately after she unleashed her ultimate technique, her mana recovery stopped. Sora's reserves finally hit zero. She no longer had enough power even to sustain her transformation, and the Magical Girl reverted to her original form—a young girl.
(Phew. I think I managed to pull it off.)
Looking at Sora now that she was back to normal, I didn't see any obvious wounds.
I had attacked her once out of reflex, but she had defended herself well. Though she was covered in soot and dirt, there didn't seem to be any major injuries.
The fact that she had survived a fight with me with only that much damage was proof that her strength was the real deal.
Now that her transformation had broken, Sora had no way to pursue me.
I was just thinking about making a quiet exit when the sound of applause echoed from the distance.
"Bravooooo!! Marvelou-us!! Truly marvelou-uuuus!!!!"
It was a piercing, theatrical ovation. The voice was so dripping with mockery that a wave of pure revulsion washed over me.
I turned toward the source. A man stood atop a high pile of rubble, looking down at us.
"I do not know which Kaijin created you, bu-ut to think you would actually defeat Magical Girl Rain!! I thought everything was going wrong today, bu-ut, ye-es!! You truly never know how things will end until the very en-nd!!"
He wore a white suit-like outfit paired with a silk hat. A single blue rose was pinned to his chest, and a large blue star was painted over his right eye.
As he sneered at us in his gentlemanly attire, he looked like nothing so much as a deranged clown. He didn't even bother to hide the contempt in his voice.
"Kkh!! Who are you?!"
Sora glared up at the clown.
At a glance, he looked human, but he was clearly no civilian. Despite his pristine white appearance, he reeked of blood.
The way he laughed at a Hero on the battlefield marked him as a Villain.
"Oh m-my, how unlike me to forget an introductio-on. Since you are so conveniently broadcasting right no-ow, allow me to state my nam-me."
The clown spun his cane with a flourish, then tapped it against the rubble. Thump.
"My name is Doctor. I am an executive of the Dark Syndicate Shadow-uuu."
Doctor gave a polite bow.
Despite his gentlemanly gestures, his laughter mocked the entire world. His tone was a deliberate insult, every syllable calculated to grate on our nerves.
"Dark Syndicate Shadow...?! You don't mean...!!"
"Ye-es!! Exactly what you're thinking-ggg!! We are the ones who shall replace the defunct Syndicate Dark Matter and rule this worl-ld!! For we are the invaders from the shadow-ows."
I remembered what Shimogaki had told me. There was a new organization producing the Kaijin Genome.
"Please, everyone, give us a thunderous roun-nd of applause!! From this moment on, the Syndicate Shadow shall show you how we seize the worl-ld!! Tremble, cower, and wait for us at the brink of despair, soaked in your own nightmare-es!!!!"
Doctor spread his arms wide in an exaggerated pose, declaring his intentions through Sora's transmitter.
At this very moment, a new Villain had stepped out from the darkness and onto the world stage.
"Now the-en. I had prepared a grand firework display for today's declaration of wa-ar, but I was quite troubled because the casualties were far too fe-ew."
Doctor’s face suddenly shifted from a grin to a look of profound sorrow.
"Bu-ut, what a stroke of luck!! To think, to thi-ink that I would stumble upon such a wonderful prize at the very en-nd!!"
Just as quickly, his sorrow vanished, replaced by shock, then snapped back into a grin.
His expressions changed as rapidly as a cartoon character's. It felt like he was wearing a series of masks rather than showing a real face. Nothing about him reflected the truth.
Spinning his cane, Doctor began walking toward Sora with a light, airy step.
"Kkh...!!"
"To think I would obtain the girl hailed as the strongest Magical Gir-rl. And wha-at's more, she is a flawless specimen without a single scra-atch!! Oh, I simply cannot decide how to use her-rr."
"My body... because the mana's gone...! Move...!!"
"Please rest assure-ed. I shall use every last bit of you until the very en-nd. Let us dye the world in despair togethe-er."
Because her mana was gone and her transformation had been forcibly broken, Sora couldn't control her limbs.
As she lay immobilized, the hand of evil slowly reached out. If the "Strongest" were lost here, it wouldn't just be a blow to the Heroes' combat strength. If the world learned that their greatest protector had been abducted by a new evil organization, an unbearable despair would crush the public's spirit.
It might be enough to break the people's will to resist entirely.
"Please!! Move, body!! I have to get home!! I have to...!!"
Sora tried desperately to crawl away. Panicked voices shouted from her earpiece, trying to find a way to help, but no Hero was going to make it here in time.
Sora's resistance was futile. A few more steps and Doctor would have her in his grasp.
The Heroes wouldn't make it. But I was already here.
"Hey. Keep your filthy hands off her."
"Gah!?!?"
The moment Doctor's hand was about to touch Sora, I lunged. I clenched my fist and drove it into his side.
Doctor was blasted away, hurtling through the air until he slammed into a pile of rubble.
"Why...?"
The one who had punched Doctor away and now stood protectively over Sora was the black Kaijin she had been fighting just moments ago.
As she watched that black back stand between her and the Villain, his black muffler snapping in the wind, Sora found herself thinking that he looked just like a Hero.
Bakon!! Rubble exploded outward as Doctor stood up.
Amidst the swirling dust, Doctor—his white suit now torn and stained with mud—glared at me with pure venom.
"You. What do you think you're doin-ng...!!"
"Hah. So you can make a real face after all."
The gaze he turned on me was filled with a hatred that welled up from the bottom of his soul. Finally, I was seeing a real emotion instead of one of his plastered-on masks.
"Answe-er me!! You are a mere Kaijin! How dare you interfere with m-me?!"
"I'm not your subordinate."
"That is not the point-tt!! I am asking why a Kaijin would side with a Hero-oo!!"
I see. In the eyes of the world, a Kaijin was naturally an enemy of Heroes.
A Kaijin protecting a Hero was an aberration.
But this aberration was exactly what I wanted. This was the path I had chosen.
"And if I am?"
"I se-ee. You truly are mad-dd. I do not know who created you, bu-ut you are a failure beyond all descriptio-on."
"Call me whatever you want."
I didn't care what anyone said. I didn't care what anyone thought. I didn't need a reward, and I didn't need gratitude.
I had looked at the back of a Hero and thought it was cool. I had yearned for that way of life.
"I don't care if you're a 'Doctor' or whatever, but you've got some nerve trying to put your hands on her."
Maybe the day would never come when I'd be redeemed for being a Kaijin. The scars left by my kind were too deep, and prejudice would follow me regardless of what I did.
But I was going to see this through. Not as a monster who destroyed things and fought Heroes, but as a man who faced evil with a wounded Hero at his back.
"Let me get one more hit in!"
I kicked off the ground, charging toward Doctor.
I was going to bury my fist in the face of the man who had the audacity to ruin this day.
"Come forth!! Cheval Shadow-www!!!!"
A massive black shadow erupted from the ground between me and Doctor.
The lightless mass was a slime-like, amorphous blob that rapidly coalesced into a rounded humanoid form.
"Out of the way!"
"■■■■"
I threw a punch at the new obstacle. The black humanoid let out a cry that wasn't even a language and threw a fist of its own to meet mine.
The two fists collided. For a split second, they were balanced, but the scales quickly tipped.
"Hah!!!!"
I was the victor. The black thing was blown backward, but something felt wrong.
"Kuhu, kuhahahaha... hahahahahaha!!!!"
"What's so funny?"
"Oh m-my!! I never dreamed you would touch it so willin-ngly!!"
A shrill, cackling laughter rang across the battlefield.
Doctor clutched his stomach as he pointed at the black mass, which was already beginning to reshape itself.
"That is the secret weapon and the ultimate weapon of the Syndicate Shado-ow!! The Silhouette Kaijin Cheval Shadow!! It incorporates the cells of those it touches to copy their abilitie-es!!!!"
The entity finished its transformation. It was a humanoid freak that looked like me, yet was subtly different. It was a perfect shadow, stained a deeper black than even my own form.
"I originally built it to copy the abilities of Magical Girl Rai-in, but it has now obtained a power that exceeds her-rs!! Cheval Shadow, execute that foolish failure-re!!"
My double, Cheval Shadow, pointed its right hand at me.
"Factor Mimicry: Hellflame Cheval."
A torrent of hellfire erupted from its palm—it was unmistakably the fire of a Kaijin.
The flames roared toward me. I could have dodged easily, but Sora was right behind me. There was only one thing to do.
"Factor Release: Flame Kaijin Hellflame!!"
I selected the same ability and met the attack head-on. A direct collision of powers.
The two fires crashed into each other. An explosion rocked the area, but I was the one who pushed through.
"Wh-hy!?"
Cheval Shadow, losing the struggle, was engulfed in my flames. It leaped into the air to escape the heat, its movements betraying its confusion.
It didn't understand why it had lost.
"There's no 'why' about it."
"!?"
"Factor Release."
"Factor Mimicry."
Once again, we chose the same ability.
"Superstrength Kaijin Muscular."
"Muscular Cheval."
Two strikes, backed by supernaturally enhanced muscle, were unleashed.
But Cheval Shadow's fist only caught the air. My fist, however, sank deep into its face.
Cheval Shadow was hammered out of the sky and slammed into the ground.
"Wh-why, why, why-yyy!!!!"
They were the same abilities, the same power. There shouldn't have been such a gap in performance. Cheval Shadow's copying mechanism had clearly functioned perfectly.
"You're an idiot. You really thought you could compete just by copying an ability?"
Cheval Shadow might have successfully copied the myriad powers dwelling inside me.
But the premise was wrong. I wasn't the strongest because I had the powers of every Kaijin created by Dark Matter. I, End Kaijin End, was the strongest because I could master every single one of them.
If you just copy the ability without the skill to use it, you'll never reach me. You have to be able to push every power to its absolute limit just to stand on the same stage as I do.
"Come on. I'll personally teach you how a real Kaijin fights."
"Do not mock me-ee!!!!"
The Silhouette Kaijin Cheval Shadow and the End Kaijin End. The two masterpieces of rival syndicates collided.