Antagonist Protection Service

Chapter 258: Antagonist of Earth (3)

The suggestion came forth for the two Challengers to depart the Tower and rest for a while.

“Watch the news over the coming weeks. Answer the question for yourself whether or not this is a lie.”

I already knew that all the messages being broadcasted following this upcoming incident would be utterly unfavourable. Of course they would, and there was no way for one individual to completely counter the incomprehensibly vast reach of the media.

All I could do was implore them to think about what they will see for themselves.

No matter how provocative it is, they were smart enough to understand.

“…If we need to contact you… What should we do?”

“You won’t need to do that.”

“But–”

“Just leave him.”

Putting a hand firmly on the other’s shoulder, Nina cast me a single glance before turning her attention back to Cassano.

“No matter what the truth is, I’m not going to get involved in something so shady, and neither should you. Go home, sleep, and forget about it.”

“Nina–”

Thud-!

Cutting right through his assertion, Nina abruptly chopped Cassano on the back of the neck, causing him to collapse into her arms like a puppet with its strings cut.

“…”

“…You know what would have happened.”

Her calm eyes flickering up to meet my own, she worded simply, and it was certainly true that no further elaboration was required.

Witnessing the surprisingly amusing scene, one side of my lips naturally lifted.

“Thanks.”

“…That’s creepy. Put the mask back on if you’re going to look at me like that.”

Snorting a small laugh, even though it was unabashedly rude, I couldn’t say I didn’t understand where she was coming from. She was used to me veiling my face and emotions this whole time while we cleared the Tower, so now that I had my bare countenance revealed with almost full expressiveness all of a sudden, I’m sure it would have been at least somewhat uncomfortable.

Reaching up, I summoned the Villain’s Vizard again.

Just as I did, I noticed a subtle, but undoubtedly present, furrowing of her brows―as if something happened that was ‘wrong’ right at that instant.

“…”

For the subsequent moments, she was caught staring, her forehead wrinkling with thought.

Eventually, I couldn’t help but ask.

“Is something wro–?”

“No.”

She answered before I could even finish the question.

“…”

“…”

Staring at each other for a short while, before long, Nina cracked, her eyebrows visibly flinching once again, clearly distressed by something.

Taking an unsteady breath, her guise was briefly that of a lour before she revealed the root of her vexation.

“…You. What did you say your name was?”

At that, I couldn’t but pause.

She forgot? Even though I had only properly introduced myself less than ten minutes prior, even taking one step further to make it stick by attaching it to the widespread news of Ryoko and Cassie?

Really?

No. Surely not.

…Unless.

‘…’

It was only a suspicion, but――

“Ah. Enki. Right.”

“…”

The very moment I dismissed the Villain’s Vizard, she proclaimed to have abruptly recalled what she had let slip from her memory.

‘Of course…’

“―I’ll leave now. You already know this guy won’t stand still, but if he has business, it’ll be fine. I won’t come back though… for a while. At least, I won’t get in your way. Do what you want. I don’t care. So long as I’m left out of it.”

Saying all that pretty matter-of-factly as always, Nina curtly nodded, throwing the unconscious Cassano over her shoulder before the air just around her body began to distort, promptly transporting her away from the 30th Floor and leaving me all alone once again.

“…”

Gazing down at the crudely simple, sheer black mask in my hand, I recalled its item description.

More precisely, the one effect that was the entire reason I purchased it in the first place.

Recognition Disruption.

I had never once forgotten that the Villain’s Vizard had possessed this effect. Yet, this was the very first time I had witnessed its effects so plainly.

And it was, to put it bluntly, scarily powerful.

The identity of myself donning the Vizard and myself without the Vizard are separate. Therefore, if someone only knew the me with the Vizard equipped, they wouldn’t forget or misremember anything, but of course, they wouldn’t know my real self to begin with.

On the other hand, if someone knew me without the Vizard, and then I put it on, even if I was standing right before their eyes the entire time, they would simply fail to recognise who I was?

A sinister vizard that obscures the whole face of the wearer.

As far as I recall, it was working a little dodgy when I was in Drakon-Rasa. Lucretia was able to recognise me just fine whether I was donning the Vizard or not, and as for Joádin and the others… Well, now that I think about it, I never actually spoke to them with the Vizard on that they would fail to recognise me, and as for the time when Joádin rescued me from the Black Fang, and even the Black Fang themselves, didn’t they state that they knew me from the wanted posters?

So then, if the posters had me with my Vizard on it, they could recognise me―naturally, because they already knew the identity of me with the Vizard donned.

…But, that wasn’t right. Was it?

From the very first moment of my return, I was wearing the Vizard.

According to that timeline, Lucretia would never have had the opportunity to realise it was me―because I never once introduced myself to her with the Vizard on.

Because it is the Villain’s, the wearer’s identity cannot ever be revealed.

Could it perhaps be because she was the Antagonist? No, that didn’t make any sense. There was nothing that dictated the Antagonist must know my identity, and even though we knew each other from the past, I didn’t even possess the Villain’s Vizard back then.

Then, could it be… due to the fact that her blood contained divinity?

The only exception is the Hero.

If possessing divinity, or maybe just a certain amount of it, was enough to override the recognition distortion effect of the Vizard, then it would make sense how she immediately recognised me with it equipped.

After all, although it possessed an ultimate level of Magic Nullification, it didn’t say anything regarding divine protection or other forces.

And, as far as I was aware, there was not a single person on Earth who I knew personally that possessed even a sliver, not a shred of divinity or divine energy. Meaning, even if the worst case scenario happened and they appeared before me, so long as I was wearing the Villain’s Vizard, they should not recognise me.

That was perfect for my plan.

‘Speaking of which…’

There were still a handful of Floors remaining, and I highly doubted that John Pierce would do me a favour and pause his progress just to wait for me to catch up.

“Let’s get started, then…”

Not wanting to waste any more time than I already have, I ceased beating around the bush and equipped the Villain’s Vizard, sending myself to the next Floor at the same time.