How to Defeat the Emperor (2)
A man with swept-back red hair and a flamboyant suit adorned with all manner of ornaments entered the room. Yet his stride was unsteady, swaying as though his mind were in turmoil. It was Nonedon. The portrait and CG I had seen now moved before my eyes, alive just like every other character I had encountered. His frame was massive, nearly matching my own, radiating an overwhelming presence. One look told me he was not the sort of man easily bested in a direct fight.
‘Not an easy aura.’
In pure hand-to-hand combat, I might actually lose depending on how things played out.
“…How noisy.”
His voice was heavy and piercing enough to raise gooseflesh.
“—U-uncle.”
Cryan called out to him. Now that every question had been answered, seeing that face seemed to stir old memories. His voice trembled, yet his body did not. He simply stood before Nonedon’s desk, staring at the man with unwavering intensity—like a ghost risen from a dream. Silent and harmless, yet leaving an indelible impression.
Nonedon stared blankly at Cryan.
“You… who are you….”
He never finished the sentence. He merely looked at him. For a moment, his eyes widened.
“You…. Surely not…. No one is allowed in here.”
Yet Nonedon did not remember Cryan. It was all because of the madness that had taken hold after he killed Mow. Even so, some faint part of him had always sensed the boy’s existence. What Nonedon felt now was not simply the shock of meeting his nephew, but the realization that something he had been searching for all this time had finally appeared before him, however dimly.
Nonedon took a few steps back in the face of Cryan’s continued silence. Cryan spoke quietly.
“Now that I see your face, I’m certain. Do you remember me?”
He held up a photograph for Nonedon to see.
“This is me sitting on Mother’s lap. Your nephew.”
“I don’t… remember. No. Be quiet. I know you. I remember you. I… remember.”
This could hardly be called a conversation. Nonedon merely muttered to himself, lost in his madness. Watching him, I thought to myself:
‘Of course he wouldn’t remember.’
If he had, he would have come for Cryan long ago to return Sora. The fists he swung now were those of a man who had lost his original purpose and was wandering aimlessly. He still possessed his sister’s Sora, yet he no longer remembered why he had taken it. That was why he had never thought to seek out his precious nephew. Instead, he had become obsessed with violence, his heart twisted. No matter how much he had suffered, that fact remained unchanged.
Nonedon spoke again, as though answering a hallucination born from his own mind.
“…You cannot exist.”
“It’s all right that you killed Mother. If it’s you, Uncle, I can forgive you.”
Cryan’s voice was thick with tears.
“Please end it all now, Uncle….”
Nonedon muttered,
“It’s a dream. I’m dreaming. That child doesn’t even know what I’ve been doing. So he can never come here. No… he mustn’t….”
He gave a hollow laugh.
“I’m sorry, nephew. I don’t remember you. Why… why have I been holding onto ‘Sora’ all this time…?”
BOOM—
“…I have to go to the arena.”
With that, he grabbed the door, smashed it open, and staggered out. Had he mistaken Cryan for another hallucination born of his madness? For thirty seconds after he left, everyone remained frozen. Then, as one, we exhaled in relief, the tension draining from our chests.
“Thank goodness.”
In truth, I could have used Rorschach to scramble his broken mind, but doing so would have either killed him or left him a vegetable. I could never do that in front of Cryan. And if I had, Sora’s whereabouts would have been lost forever. It would have been a tragic outcome either way. Still, if Nonedon had lost control of his violence and attacked, our only option would have been to fight and create an opening to escape.
‘At least we bought ourselves a turn.’
From what I could see, things had turned out better than expected. When I stepped out from behind the bookshelf, Jurchen followed.
Jurchen spoke first.
“I don’t know the details, but that’s one hell of a family history. I thought we were here to mess with Nonedon, but I guess not.”
“That was the plan from the start. Got a problem, sidekick?”
“Nah. Not really. Feels kinda exciting, like a background extra suddenly getting pulled into the main story.”
Still the same lighthearted guy. I glanced cautiously at Cryan. The boy who had been forcing himself to act strong now stood frozen, stunned by the sight of his uncle’s broken state. He spoke to me, voice trembling.
“He really is broken.”
“……”
“Ever since that day, Uncle’s been like this. He doesn’t remember me. Not my name, not Sora… nothing.”
He choked back a sob.
“How does it feel, finding the memories you lost? It probably wasn’t what you wanted.”
“It’s still better than never knowing. Thank you, Yohan… truly, for bringing me here.”
I asked him,
“So, what do you want to do now?”
“What do you mean?”
“If you want revenge, I’ll destroy everything. If you’re satisfied, we can leave right now. But if I were you, I’d choose a different path.”
“…Is that so? Then…”
What followed was nothing but raw, honest feeling.
“Please save our pitiful uncle. I could leave like this, but he’ll keep swallowing pain here forever.”
“…I thought so.”
“If you would do that for us…”
He clenched his fists.
“I’ll follow you to the very end. I’ll throw everything I have into bringing my brother down.”
I was impressed. This was exactly why I had helped him. Only someone like this could become the next emperor—unlike the current occupant of that throne.
“Then our goal has changed. Instead of recovering your memories, we’ll free Nonedon from the chains of guilt.”
“Yohan… can you really do that?”
“…Yeah. I’ve got a good method.”
There was some risk, but it was worth trying. If it failed, I might die at the man’s fists. But in every operation I had run since arriving in this world, my life had always been the collateral. In that sense, nothing had changed.
“What method?”
“All we need to do is return his memories and let him receive your forgiveness, right? So that’s what I’ll do.”
His eyes widened.
“H-how can you do something like that…?”
“Nonedon simply can’t remember. If we reconstruct the mental image, that’s all it takes.”
At that moment, my old friend stirred.
“Finally, Steel Lord…?”
‘Yeah.’
It was only an idea that had just occurred to me, but I was confident. The moment I saw him, the plan had clicked into place.
“So I’ll make Nonedon recognize your existence again, no matter what. Depending on how it goes, we might even find Sora.”
“…If that’s possible, please do it.”
He spoke with grim determination.
“If you can, I’ll repay this debt for the rest of my life.”
I turned to Jurchen, who was still rummaging through the room.
“Jurchen, what was Nonedon like when he fought in the arena?”
“At least he didn’t look as mentally unstable as he did just now. He spoke properly and kept a clear head.”
Right. That made sense. The arena was the only place where he could truly calm down. I explained the new plan to the two of them.
“Here. Take this.”
I handed over the VIP arena ticket I had found while searching Nonedon’s desk.
If his beloved nephew couldn’t be remembered, then we would make him remember—whether he wanted to or not.
***
Nonedon sat trembling in the center of the floating arena, a single chair placed beneath him. The scheduled match would begin at night. There was still plenty of time until then, so there was no need for him to show himself here yet. Still, he said nothing and simply sat alone on the chair.
Because this was not a scheduled appearance, the stands were nearly empty. Aside from a few die-hard arena addicts who had come early, no one was watching him. Naturally, the usual cheers and jeers that filled the arena were absent. It was quiet.
Nonedon simply let the dark sea breeze wash over him. His figure looked almost serene. At a glance, one might have mistaken him for a pure martial artist who had reached the pinnacle of combat rather than a man tormented by mental collapse. Of course, no one here knew the truth—that this was Nonedon’s true self. Even with his fiery temperament, he could completely suppress it when it came time to fight. That was the mark of a seasoned warrior.
Whenever his mind threatened to break, Nonedon came here to steady himself. But the few arena addicts present today were not silent because they were awed by his composure. They were silent for an entirely different reason.
‘D-die…!’
‘Nonedon, you bastard. Today’s the day I kill you!’
‘Aaaagh—!’
They had witnessed him single-handedly reduce roughly one hundred and fifty ship slaves to bloody pulp. Overwhelmed by sheer biological dominance, they could only stare in primal terror. It was instinctual.
Around him, the groaning forms of the fallen slaves slowly came into view. Sitting among their unconscious bodies, Nonedon no longer looked human. He was a monster.
‘…All of you, come at me together and try to kill me. If you manage it today, whoever does it will be free—and take my place.’
Those were the words he had spoken to the slaves working below deck. But once again, his fists had refused to grant him death. Nonedon muttered,
“Please… don’t appear in my hallucinations, nephew. Don’t drag my sins back into the light.”
Yet even as he spoke, he could not recall his nephew’s name. No—
‘…Wait. What did I just say?’
He could not even remember what he had said or what he had seen. He had clearly witnessed the hallucination of his grown nephew standing proudly before him, yet he had already forgotten that this was the very existence his sister Mow had begged him to protect until the end—the one his broken mind had been searching for all along. Though the longing and pain remained, his shattered brain could no longer judge what he was doing. He only spoke; he only thought. He no longer knew which version of himself was real.
To push his unstable mind back beneath the surface, Nonedon chewed on a sedative.
Crunch—
“……Ah.”
When he came to, it was night. The stands were packed.
…So it was that time again.
“Who’s my opponent?”
He rose to his feet.
***
The fighters here had a peculiar way of entering the arena. Before appearing, they were placed inside cubic chambers stored in the lowest internal deck. These chambers were then raised to the main deck, revealing the fighters to the crowd. I didn’t know why it was done this way, but it certainly added to the spectacle of “duels upon the ship.” It was like a metaphor for trash being dredged up from the sea. In that case, I supposed I qualified as well—a piece of trash who only knew his lady. Being hauled up like this was fitting enough.
“So this is the chamber beneath the ship.”
“K-khahaha…! Now the captain gets in here. All I have to do is press this button, and the captain gets pulled up by the chains into the arena.”
Jurchen spoke with barely contained excitement, as though he had never imagined we would actually do something like this. His brain soaked in dopamine, he grinned. Having participated in the arena once before, he had safely guided me down to the bottom deck. He asked,
“Captain, you’re planning to barge into the arena, right? As an ‘unexpected event,’ not an official participant.”
“Yeah. Time to settle this.”
“You’re seriously insane. Couldn’t you just submit a regular application?”
“No time. I’m not using such a boring method.”
“…Nonedon’s always there early, so he probably won’t notice the situation down here until the match starts.”
I pointed at his subordinates lying unconscious along the path we had taken—including the one who operated the chamber and the fighter scheduled to appear tonight.
“We knocked out every last rat. I’m betting all my gold that he won’t notice a thing.”
“…Really? Khaha—!”
“What’s so funny?”
“Captain, I gotta say this even if nothing else.”
Jurchen grinned broadly.
“You’re one seriously cool and fun guy. Looking all proper while pulling stunts crazier than mine.”
“…Haa?”
“Captain, you’re a human I acknowledge. Someone like us could probably stick together from now on.”
“Hearing that from you doesn’t make me happy at all. I’m a perfectly normal person.”
“People’s feelings are one-sided like that. And I guarantee, to anyone else, you wouldn’t look normal either.”
His eyes gleamed.
“We’re both people obsessed with something, aren’t we?”
At that moment, the deck above erupted with noise. It seemed tonight’s match had begun.
“You should go.”
“…Yeah. Let’s start.”
I put my mask back on. Jurchen saluted.
“Good luck, Captain. Wipe them all out.”
“Leave it to me.”
Rumble—
The chamber shot upward at high speed.