“…Zoe… mi…?”

The possessed Zoemi muttered and sat up.

“ZOOOEEEEMIIIII!” *WHOOOOSH*

The possessed Zoemi roared, and his body became so full of spiritual energy getting turned into star powers that it released a shockwave that pushed the scholars and the fledgling avatar even farther away.

“ZOOOEEEE…!” *^%$#@#%^* *thump*

The possessed Zoemi howled and… got his head and one-third of his torso blown off by a pillar of silver light shot out by the Zoemi above him, and his limp body fell back down limply.

“Aaaahhhh… that felt good. That guy was hitting on my women, and I was just itching to teach him his place!” *^%$@^%$*

“!!!”

Zoemi let out a satisfied voice and erased the remains of his annihilated copy as the scholars and the fledgling avatar could only watch in silent terror.

“H-how…HOW?! YOUR COPIES WERE SUPPOSED TO BE AS STRONG AS YOU!”

The aloof-looking woman ended up so scared that she lost her reasoning and shouted at the black-haired youngster.

“How? Well, back then, when the so-called artificial basilisk hugged me from behind in at the border between Bellcephora kingdom and Atreterve nation, I thought it was my Miri getting cozy with me, so I got jealous and cut that copy off of my connected consciousness and took away almost all of his power~! I got so lucky, don’t you agree~?”

“E-eeehhh? No…! I-impossible…! for such a reason…! Ahaha… AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Really… REALLY?!”

Zoemi snickered and hummed happily, causing the fledging avatar to lose it and start laughing maniacally.

*click* *&#^%$#&$#^* *GHAAAAAAAA*

…and then the black-haired young man followed it by snapping his fingers and annihilating the aloof-looking woman with a well-aimed shot of the law of Sagittarius.

“OH. MY. GUIDE! Could you imagine that was the reason?! PFFFFT! Of course not!”

Zoemi roared with laughter, looking towards the petrified scholars…

“Whew… I needed that. Oh, and just so you know, I actually was aware of that piece of filth Cherro lurking somewhere in this world, so I began to overthink everything, and once the war started, I sent out copies that were only strong enough to protect a few of people important to me. They were independent in case something went wrong – and lo and behold. For one, I was completely right.”

He shrugged his shoulders and revealed in a casual voice.

“Although I have to add that I overestimated Cherro’s power. With his current state, it would be impossible to possess the real me~”

Zoemi added with a satisfied hum, turning to the side as if he was going to just walk – or rather float – away.

“It’s that way to whatever form the remains of that filth have, right?”

“!!!”

He asked, pointing precisely towards the vault where the hero core crystal was kept, making the scholars flinch.

“I’m kidding. You don’t actually have to tell me that. I can sense his filthy mana everywhere and in everything, no matter how much anyone wants to hide it… haaa…” *#$%^%@#$^&%* *GHAAAAAAA*

The black-haired young man chuckled and waved his hand dismissively, wiping the scholars and the entire facility with the exception of the vault with Cherro off the face of the earth with his star power.

*THUNK* *CRUSH*

Zoemi approached the vault, and instead of opening the door, he tore them apart, not even grabbing it by the handle but just stabbing his fingers on one side and waving his hand to the side.

He entered the room lighted up by the mana crystal lamps and carefully looked up and down a massive container that was a much larger version of what Roiso’s remains ended up in.

The liquid inside the device in which the mana crystal containing Cherro’s essence was submerged in wasn’t translucent at all – it was straight-up jet-black.𝓞𝐯𝑳xt.𝚌𝑜𝑀

“Go on. I know you can sense me~ I would say that you can shit yourself from fear now, but you aren’t in a state to do that, can you?”

*thump* *crack*

Zoemi chuckled mockingly, and as if in response to his provocation, something slammed at the container from inside, causing a small crack.

“So, you somehow made all those people call you a hero… I must admit, you are every single bit as pathetic as I thought you were~! Thank you for not betraying my expectations at the end~!”

*THUMP* *CRACK* *crack*

Zoemi continued to laugh at the device, and this time the response was more violent, creating a much bigger crack on the other side of the container with a third one spreading between the two as if aiming to connect them.

*psssssss*

A black mist began coming out of the cracks as if the darkness within it was under pressure.

That certainly didn’t bother Zoemi, though~

“Naming yourself the great hero, calling possessing someone into turning them into your avatars… How much do you have to compensate, you filth? Just get out of there already, or are you so pathetically weak that a piece of translucent crystal is holding you back? Oh, great degenerate here of filth~?”

*WHAM* *CRACK* *PSHHHHH*

The next series of jabs seemed to be too much for the self-proclaimed great hero, and the magic device containing him erupted – realizing a cloud of black mist and a whole load of jet-black darkness is almost liquid form, boiling and bubbling over a sizeable solid chunk of magic crystal that was so dark it looked two dimensional.

The liquid darkness closed up the crystal from the outside world and formed a vaguely-humanoid shape before stepping out of its former containment.

The mass of darkness looked as if it was straightening its back and puffing out its chest proudly.

*blub*

The darkness bubbled up as the space where the mouth should be opened up – although with how perfectly black it was, there was basically impossible to notice the change.

“…you… again… Zoemi…! Standing in me and my perfect princess…!”

The creature’s first words were crude, but after a few seconds, it was able to talk like any human – although its voice was… oily…

“There is no escape… As long as she exists, I will be there because we are connected. Meant for each other. Destined!”

The creature howled, spreading its arm-like appendages to the sides boastfully.

“…”

Zoemi didn’t move or say anything, waiting patiently and observing the creature.

“…but I know that I must kill you first… I thought that getting rid of the soul of the original toy that was made to keep the princess away from me would be enough… But destroying you, a mold that grew on the trash that the royal protector was, is necessary too!”

The creature continued, reaching one of its appendages and pointing it at Zoemi’s face.

“I will kill you here and now, and then I will find my princess wherever you tried to hide her away from me…! Zoemi… ZOOOOEEEMI-” *WHAM* *SPLURT* *CRACK*

The remnants of Cherro grew confident and laughed before beginning to chant Zoemi’s name – just for the black-haired youth to appear right in front of it and punch at its chest, splattering the liquid darkness to the sides and shattering the perfectly black crystal into thousands of sharp pieces that embedded themselves into the walls, ceiling, and the floor behind the creature.

*SQUELCH*

As if the crystal was its spine, the liquid darkness could not hold itself upright and fell to the ground with a sound that revealed that it was more of a gelatinous mass than a watery liquid.