He had known since the time of the Ten Goukai that he was no ordinary person.
　The God-Devouring Clan is trained from birth to eliminate their emotions. It was believed that those who had excess emotions could not bring down a god.
　And to the extent that he stood out among them, Leia had completely erased all emotions. Yes, at least until she left the village, Leia had never once expressed her emotions.
　That Leia, in front of a man named Takumi, her emotions were leaking out. It was no longer the case that she had changed to the point where you might think she was a different person with a similar face.
　I shuddered at the man who had changed Leia's values to such an extent.

　Investigate Takumi and Alice's powers.
　The request I received was simple indeed.
　I had no choice but to refuse.
　With the disaster Leia had caused, there was no longer anyone in the village who could bring down the gods.
　For if I did not accept any request, our clan had no choice but to perish.
　It was madly frustrating not to be able to fight the match with Leia with whom I had a history, to the best of my ability, but I pushed those emotions aside.
　After losing his own god, he still trained himself to death, not to defeat Leia, but to keep his clan alive.
　Leia and I will be back again someday: ......

　Huh?

　It was just a moment before the blink of an eye.
　Takumi, who had been looking at Alice all this time, suddenly turned around.
　I checked the destination of Takumi's gaze.

''Hee.

　Makina was there, falling on her buttocks and crawling on the ground, scrambling to get away from Takumi.
　The Machina, who was receiving the same request as I was.

　I'm not sure if she noticed, but she was looking at me!

　Impossible, Makina's reconnaissance was close to perfect from my point of view.
　She should have been taking pictures without making a sound with the special high-performance camera planted in her right prosthetic eye.
　For a moment, Takumi, who had turned around to face Machina, turned to Alice again.
　Sweat blows out of her entire body, and the black clothing she's wrapped herself in becomes damp.
　It's only a matter of time before I'm noticed.
　However, I couldn't just run away like Makina.
　I would carry out my mission with my life on the line.
　That was the last path left for us, who had lost our gods and were now in hiding.


''The Four Heavenly Kings (not including Dogma) were killed in the blink of an eye. What should we do now? Nuruhachi.
'Neither surprise nor magic will work. The only thing that will work is harnessing Alice's own power.

　The Demon King and the Great Sage come up to Takumi's rear.
　While sandwiched between Alice, the Demon King, and the Great Sage, the three non-standard people, Takumi has not changed at all.

"I have one more plan in mind for you.
'What? Your stupid plan will backfire.

　Their conversation seemed to be spoken in a minuscule voice so that no one could hear them, but it didn't matter to me, who could tell the conversation by the movement of my lips due to my covert training.

'I'm going to tell you that Yo stole Takumi's first kiss,' Alice will be upset and your attack will be monotonous.
...... You shouldn't do that. If it's done poorly, there won't be a single piece of it left.
Ha, that's good too. I kissed my beloved. Nurhachi confessed his love for her. "I have no wish to leave this world!
...... Hmmm, that's certainly true.

　Their power explodes.
　As if in response, Alice's power also swells up.
　A storm of power envelops the stage of the Daibukai like I've never seen before.

　And despite standing in the middle of it all, Takumi is simply there, unperturbed.
　Even if he was the strongest in the universe, it was impossible for him not to react to this situation.

　Is he out of it from the beginning?
　I know this because I've been trained to lose my emotions.
　Some of the emotions that are supposed to be present in Takumi were not there in the first place.
　He did not learn to control his emotions.
　The survival and fighting instincts that humans are supposed to have are slipped away.

　I am reminded of the words I heard when I lost my god and begged for training from a hermit who was rumored to be the strongest in the East.

　The sea does not drink its own water.
　The earth does not eat its own fruit.
　The sun does not shine on itself.
　The truly great power is always for the benefit of others.
　Therefore, he has nothing to gain and his vessel has nothing to gain.

　Yes, Takumi goes on the stage of the Great War Party, but he does not have the will to fight, and he does not try to use his great power for himself.
　There's no emotion there, just watching Alice and the other three from far above.

　At the very edge of their limits, the three of them are gradually closing the distance between them.
　Still, Takumi is completely unfazed.

　In the meantime, a voice echoes from off-stage.

Leia, everyone's on stage! You're not going!

　The dragon woman was shouting at Leia.
　Indeed, all of the winners of the second round of the Grand Wukkai were on the stage.
　The winner of this battle would undoubtedly be the winner of the Great Martial Society.
　At the dragon woman's call, Leia stared at the stage, or rather, at Alice.
　What's that face?
　Even my suppressed emotions overflowed at the sight of Leia, who had changed so much.

''Alice-sama has come. ...... I can't do anything more.
What are you talking about? You can't let Takumi-dono be robbed!

　Leia turned away from Alice and looked down.
　Leia said in a faint voice that only I, who can read the movement of her lips, could understand.

'...... I am, after all, a substitute for Lady Alice.

　Substitute?
　Was Leia just a trial run before Alice came along?

　Leia's body was trembling in small increments.
　I know that feeling.
　It's what you've given me.
　It's a feeling called despair, the loss of something precious.

　I couldn't forgive you for taking everything away from me, or even from my family, and then showing your joy in front of Takumi.
　I thought it would be refreshing to see Leia overcome by despair.

　I don't know what that means.
　I felt even more irritated than before.

　Why? Why not move.
　Why give up and do nothing?
　You didn't. You never gave up.
　Didn't you take your whole family, call me an abomination, and never stop searching for strength?
　Go ahead and fight, you know that was an important place to be.

　I hadn't said the words.
　But I guess she noticed my gaze, and Leia looked at me with vacant eyes and shook her head slowly and quietly.

'I can't do it, Yol. Lady Alice is .......

　That was the moment Leia said that.
　There was a sound like a thunderbolt striking.

　It was just Alice taking a step forward.
　With that alone, the stage cracked open with a roar.

''What did you say now?''

　Alice's long and beautiful blonde hair stood up against the sky with a bang, as if she was poking at an angry person (so much so that it pushed the heavens up).
　What the hell!
　How is it possible for a person to have this kind of power?
　All of Alice's power is just a fragment of what she's seen so far?
　Its power, so enormous, was no longer something I could measure.

'Didn't you hear me? I took Takumi's first kiss from him.
By the way, Nuruhachi took a second kiss, too.

　Alice roared like a beast at those words.

　Leia didn't even try to see the fight.
　She closes her eyes and takes a praying position.
　I know.
　I know that there is no such thing as a victory over Alice.

　No, there is only one person who surpasses it.
　The most powerful man in the universe, the man who is unconcernedly prepared in this instantaneous situation, finally makes his move.

　Takumi held out his right hand and struck a waiting pose.
　With that alone, the movement of the three men on the verge of exploding came to a halt.
　What in the world are they going to do?
　The hall fell silent, and as all eyes were on Takumi, he opened his mouth.

'Calm down, all three of you. It's getting close to dark, so why don't we take a break? I made you a sandwich.

　Everyone in the audience, including the three of us on stage and me, opened their mouths wide and went popping.

　In the midst of all this, I heard a small laugh.
　Leia, who earlier had a look of despair on her face, is smiling with tears in her eyes.

　I know what it means that Leia is no longer able to hide her emotions.
　There's no way she could do such a thing by the side (side) of a man like that.
　
　It was the same for me.
　The truth is, I was aware of it.
　I knew that my mission wasn't just to keep the family alive.

　I've wanted to carry out my mission for that man since the moment I was asked to do it.