Three Reborn

It had been only a few days since I last saw him, but Three seemed to have undergone a complete transformation since then.

Not in physical appearance, as such. His short but messy hair colored a light brown remained the same, as did his pallid skin and somewhat ratty features that gave him the impression as if he was constantly squinting. Those remained the same as ever.

However, he was now dressed in ornate clothes, including a billowing, dark cloak that trailed behind him, making him look more mature. Adding his self-satisfied, greedy-looking eyes—present even before, but much more pronounced now—he looked like an entirely different person now.

Next to me, Mana yelped and immediately hid behind me, shaking.

“C… no, Three,” I spat. “Can’t you just leave us alone?”

The boy who was clearly using magic to float looked down at us with a wide smile. “Nah. Your daring escape has gone for too long.”

More and more Twos began to emerge, giggling, from within the surrounding trees.

“Now, now, girls; let me talk with them a bit. Attack them only if they make an attempt to escape,” ordered Three with a wave of his hands. The Twos all stopped in place.

Was he looking down on us?

No… but he probably was toying with us. Since he was now Three, the evil overlord who supposedly regained his memories, I couldn’t think of him as just stupid old C anymore.

He already showed me he was an extremely powerful mage before. I tightened my grip on Tarisha.

“What do you want?” I asked coolly. If he was going to give me time to think of a plan, that was probably for the best.

“Give up, come back with me and become my wives,” he clearly stated his terms. “That’s all I want. Now that I drank the potion again, I have eternity ahead of me. I will give it to you as well, Saga. I’m not asking for much, right?”

“Haven’t you done enough…?” muttered Mana from behind me. “Messing up our world and even other worlds just for your amusement!”

“No!” For a moment it sounded as if Three lost control of his voice, but he soon wore that irritating smile again. “No, Mana. I was only just getting started. There are still so many worlds to conquer… so many women to get. Why would I give up such a dream?”

He was a lost cause.

There wasn’t even any need to try and explain how horrible any of the things he was describing were, because if he couldn’t understand that himself, he would never be able to. He might even brush it all off if told by someone like me, who had already dirtied her hands.

So instead I opted to say something else.

“Was it really meant to go this way?”

“Hmm?”

There was no need to answer. If I told him that in stories like these the hero was supposed to emerge as a better person—I had the feeling he’d just laugh and say it did happen.

He probably wasn’t even seeing himself as an evil overlord. He simply viewed it as natural.

Three frowned, perhaps growing annoyed at the lack of an answer. “So, what will it be? Will you choose the easy way or the hard way?”

Mana gathered some courage and shouted from behind me, “W-we’ll never yield to you! Y…you’re sick! My lineage wasn’t meant for—eeek!”

This last part she shrieked as Three swung his hand and shot a jet of flames right at us. Fortunately I was prepared for it, and swung my sword.

The flames dissipated and parted, with the resulting hot wind fanning my hair. As he made an overly aggressive move, I felt my eyes blazing up in preparation for battle.

Fight him. Kill him. Cut him down.

It was as if a voice shouted this inside me. But right now, I first needed to make sure Mana was safe.

Although somewhat displeased before, Three now regained some of his smug composure.

“You know, I’ve been wondering for a while now—how do you even do that?” he asked. “Your sword isn’t even made of mogage or anything. It wouldn’t make sense if it was, anyway.”

Apparently it was made from ginarium, whatever that meant—not like I was going to explain this to him. But I already knew Tarisha was special.

“Surely it can’t block this, right?”

I was ready based on his words even before he cast the actual spell.

Grabbing Mana, I leapt out of the way of the incoming lightning strike that scorched the grass under me. In fact, it wasn’t a complete evasion; some remnant sparks still zapped me, causing me to leak a groan of pain.

“Aw, man. Really thought you might be able to pull it off. It would be such a cool move.”

Even I wasn’t crazy enough to try cutting down lightning. I had the feeling I could handle a bullet, though… not that I wanted to really try.

Leaning over Mana as we fell, I briefly whispered something that made her widen her eyes and then stood up again, Tarisha raised.

I wanted to cut down this bastard so bad… but that was probably part of the reason why he was floating right now. I’d find it difficult to reach him. Maybe if I threw my sword?

It was worth a shot, anyway.

Presently, Three sighed. “I had the feeling you’d choose the hard way. Makes you hotter, really, but still a pity. I really don’t want to ruin that pretty face of yours, even if I can just heal it later.”

You already used that line before, idiot.

Was he simply reciting as many cliché lines as possible?

“Well, at least that means I’m not as ugly as you,” I said.

He laughed. “Ah, that’s a new one. Hmm, but it’s somehow lacking your usual bite. Maybe we should workshop better insults?”

That was enough. Hopefully I bought enough time. “Mana!” I barked.

“Y-yes, I’m ready!” she said, then activated her magic.

Her magic specialty was dimensionalism, or whatever she called it—the ability to directly move from one location to another. Mana opened a door right near us and immediately pushed it open.

“You really think I’d let you!?” shouted Three.

The next actions all became a blur. I cut through the attack he sent at us next, but something sliced the air, hit Mana and caused her to shout in pain. Cracks appeared on the door even as we passed through it, and then—there was a sensation as if my body was being squeezed, some sort of splash, and then darkness.