Chapter 49: Answers

"Welcome, brave adventurers! I am impressed you made it this far! Well done!" a jovial voice called from within the room.

As we walked into the room, I saw a middle aged man sitting on a throne in the center of the room. He wore an exquisite crown decked with large and expensive-looking jewels.

"Are you the Evil King?" I asked bluntly, not buying the nice guy act.

"Ohohoho! I have the most creative nicknames, don't I? I must admit, I did not expect anyone to make it to me so easily. Did you plan on falling into that pit from the beginning?"

"How could we have planned that, you old ******** (illegitimate child)?!" Mari shouted, ready for a fight.

"Ohohoho! You are a feisty one! There is no need to fight me. I do not intend to kill you. I want to reward you for beating the game!"

"If I may ask, what is this game you are speaking of?" Touwa asked while pushing up her glasses.

"Oh! I nearly forgot to explain myself! Silly me! My memory has been slipping lately. Old age is hard on you."

"Quit your babbling already! You're not fooling anyone!"

"Alright, I will explain. As you know, I suddenly began to release monsters onto the world once my people and I moved to this planet. Do you have any idea why that is?"

"Like we'd know your reason for being evil!"

The King sighed before continuing.

"Back on my original planet, a strange being made a deal with me. In exchange for my planet, it would give me the power to control monsters. Obviously I agreed so my people and I had to leave our planet. Just to liven things up, I decided to use my powers to create a game. The goal of the game was to get to me without dying. Of course, I wouldn't make it easy so I created generals and traps to slow the players down."

"Y-you're despicable," I whispered, barely keeping it together.

"What did you say, young girl? I could not hear you."

"YOU'RE DESPICABLE! DO YOU VALUE LIFE SO LITTLE?! PEOPLE HAVE DIED PLAYING THIS SO CALLED GAME OF YOURS! HOW CAN YOU LIVE WITH YOURSELF?! YOU'RE MORE OF A MONSTER THAN YOUR MINIONS!"

"Hana," Yuri gasped.

"How very rude! Here I was going to give you a reward for beating my game so easily," the King pouted.

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY REWARD! JUST DIE!" I shouted as I lunged at the King, my sword poised to kill.

"That's enough, Hana!" Yuri shouted, regaining her composure.

It was too late. As soon as Kojomaru went through the King's body, I disappeared.

I suddenly found myself floating in a dark space. The King's memories floated by until I was dragged into one. I was back in the throne room of the castle. The King was sitting on his throne as a hooded man spoke to him. Unable to move or speak, I listened to their conversation.

"Who are you and why have you asked to see me in private?" the King asked, his voice booming.

"I am but a mere traveler. I simply want to bargain with you, King…"

"Ozoku. My name is King Ozoku. What could you possibly propose to me, a king of great wealth?"

"I can grant you the power over monsters. In exchange for this power, all I ask is that you give me your planet. Do we have a deal?"

"My planet? Where do you suppose my people and I will go then? Begone! I have no need for such deals!"

"You will obey, Ozoku!" the hooded figure rasped, his voice rising in intensity.

Ozoku sat there, almost as if in a trace. Finally, he spoke.

"You have yourself a deal! I have always wanted to control monsters. Maybe I could make a game…"

Suddenly, I was whisked off, once again floating through the black space. Before I could react, I once again landed. This time, I found myself in a barren wasteland. Unsure what to do, I stood there, waiting for something to happen. While I waited, I thought back to the King's memory that I saw. Something must have happened to the King once he gave his name.

"Who are you?" a voice asked from beside me.

I looked to see a hooded figure like the one from the memory.

"Oh, I'm… uh… Kana Hojo," I lied, hoping the figure wouldn't see through it.

"Very well. Follow me please, Kana," the figure replied, emphasizing the fake name.

I followed and did my best to appear entranced, just in case this figure used names against people. Soon, we found ourselves in front of a large castle. Without a word, the guard let us in so we continued on. Eventually, I was brought to the throne room.

"Who is this girl?" the figure on the throne asked in a familiar raspy voice.

"She says her name is Kana Hojo. I found her out in the Western District. There was no sign of any vehicle."

"I see. Tell me, why have you come here?" the figure on the throne asked me.

"I don't know. I just kind of ended up here," I responded honestly.

"You lie! I can tell you recognize me from your body language! How is that? How do you know me?"

"I saw you hypnotise King Ozoku."

"Impossible! I sensed no presence that day! However, it seems you are telling the truth…"

"You're behind the universal disturbance, aren't you?"

"What did you say, girl? How did you come to such a preposterous conclusion?"

"It all makes sense now. The reason why one person on every planet suddenly turned evil. You hypnotised them! Ozoku, Same, Kasai, Kagaku: all of them were hypnotised by you!"

"How do you know those fools?!"

"My friends and I were forced to defeat all of them. This ends now! I will defeat you here and stop this madness!"

"You honestly think you can defeat me? I know your name, Kana Hojo! Therefore I have complete control over you!"

"That's what you think!"

I charged at the figure and stabbed him in the chest with Kojomaru.

"How can this be? I spoke your name."

"I had a feeling you used names to control people so I lied about my name. You're Fae, aren't you? You're through!"

"NOOOOOO!" the leader of the Fae gasped as he died.

As soon as his body faded from existence, I found myself back in the King's throne room.