How to Be a Good BOSS

At the top of the tower, Durandal opened her eyes and rose from the throne. Within her eerie violet pupils, a sliver of clarity trembled on the verge of collapse. She looked at her hands and rasped, "I haven't completely taken control yet, but it's close enough. Hm? Uva and Kazrai's presences have vanished too? Useless trash. Mezuru and Gameru are still here, though. In that case—"

Watching the livestream, You Hui clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Tch, trash. If it were me, I'd guarantee she'd ** in less than a day. It took you two and a half days to get this far. Your brain really is full of nothing but medals, huh? Couldn't you use some special method? Like..."

Ohma Zi-O, beside her, rapped her on the head. "Which side are you helping?"

"Ahem, of course I'm helping my adorable junior. I'm so jealous that he can freely switch between so many forms. Sigh, why did I ever decide to use Lumine as my character template? Oh, right—" The girl looked at him with ill intent, pulled out a blank Ridewatch, and tried to stick it onto him. "Lend me your Grand Time King to play with!"

Tokiwa Sougo mercilessly pressed a hand against her face. "Didn't I give you the Second Stage already? Go train it yourself. Once you max out the Second Stage, you can become Ohma."

You Hui refused to let it go. "I've had enough of the pain of constantly grinding accounts. Mooching off others is the best!"

His attitude remained firm. "No. I won't give my power to others so easily!"

The girl's face immediately fell. "Bullshit, you hypocrite. Last time, you gave Tsukasa Kadoya cards for every single one of your forms. Do you think I don't know?"

Sougo spoke with complete confidence. "That was to repay a debt!"

You Hui was speechless. "Do you even believe that yourself?"

Which of the New Generation Kamen Riders, Ultramen, or Super Sentai had ever paid off their debts?

Xing's group entered the tower without incident. They encountered no enemies on the first floor, but... where were the stairs in this tower?

Everyone stared at the circular hollow running through the tower from the first floor all the way to the top, lost in thought. Had the tower's designer never considered that humans couldn't fly? Ah, the designer wasn't human. Then never mind.

It seemed the tower's master had noticed their arrival and enthusiastically sent them a welcoming gift. A huge mass of Adult Yummy in all sorts of forms rushed in through the entrance, pouncing on them like starving wolves.

Rita elegantly flourished her scythe. "Miss K, Lord Durandal is in your and Mr. Eiji's care. Leave this place to me and the Immortal Blades. Lord Bishop, please stay behind and lend a hand as well."

Otto watched in bitter indignation as Eiji transformed into his Bird Series Combo and flew upward with Xing in his arms. Rita, forget about getting your year-end bonus!

Eiji carried Xing swiftly toward the top of the tower. "Miss K, why are you so heavy? You're practically heavier than Gameru."

Xing inexplicably felt a surge of resentment rush up from the soles of her feet.

Outside the tower, Raven reported the results of her investigation to Jackal. "Hey, Jackal, that tower's design is completely anti-human. It doesn't even have a ladder to climb up, so I can't investigate any deeper. That's it. If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up."

Jackal on the other end nearly exploded with anger. "Are you human? If there's no ladder, can't you use your claws to climb up the outside bit by bit? Hey, hey, don't hang up!"

The tower was shaped like a truncated cone, its radius gradually increasing from bottom to top. By the time one reached the open-air platform at the summit, it was already far larger than several football fields combined.

Eiji set Xing down. The instant he landed, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. The Violet Bird Phantom Thief was gone, replaced by the familiar Fire Moth group of four, plus Wendy.

Xing spouted nonsense with a straight face. "Uh, here's what happened. We accidentally activated a spatial displacement device just now, swapping our positions with Miss K's. Since that's the case, we'll take her place and fight alongside you instead."

Honest and straightforward Eiji believed her.

The group prepared to combine and transform. Yae Sakura had already pulled Wendy back to the edge of the platform, but what they had not expected was that the person sitting on the throne atop the tower was someone they knew all too well—well, only Xing knew her; the others had never met her.

Xing stared wide-eyed at the girl who was both familiar and unfamiliar.

"Durandal?" She examined the visiting challengers with violet eyes. "Is that her name? It no longer matters. I quite like this powerful body. As thanks, I have allowed her soul to sleep forever in the depths of darkness, free from all worries."

Within Honkai Vision, the once-brilliant starlight had completely vanished, leaving behind nothing but an empty darkness. A dreadful guess surfaced in Xing's mind. "Are you King OOO?"

Durandal—no, King OOO—clapped her hands. "Not bad. You guessed my identity from only a few words. Now hand over my Core Medals, and I shall grant you mercy by allowing you to witness the end of this world."

Kiana was somewhat at a loss. "Hey, hey, hey, what is going on here? How are we supposed to fight now? Are we supposed to kill Durandal? There's no way I can do something like that!"

Mei tried to soothe her. "Calm down, Kiana. There must be a way."

Bronya coldly calculated the data. "According to Bronya's analysis, what we need to consider now is not whether we should kill Durandal, but whether we can defeat Durandal while her body is occupied by King OOO."

Eiji said nothing. He merely silently assumed a fighting stance. In the name of a Rider, he would definitely save that girl.

King OOO said regretfully, "You refuse? What a pity." She toyed with the original TaToBa Combo in her hand. "You originally had a chance to survive."

Xing had not forgotten her goal of collecting the entire series of Core Medals. "Wait, where are Mezuru and Gameru? What did you do with them?"

"Them?" King OOO pointed at her own body. "They're in here."

Well, damn. Not only was she denying them the chance to take the medals, she had gotten to them first.

A villainous BOSS from a Chinese animated series had once said that any BOSS who sent minor monsters for the protagonist to fight was not a good BOSS. If there was going to be a fight, the BOSS had to fight personally. They absolutely could not give the protagonist experience points. King OOO had truly mastered that lesson.

Kiana was startled. "You... swallowed them?"

"Precisely. In order to increase my power, Core Medals are necessary." King OOO looked at Eiji. "The Dinosaur Medals I lost are with you, aren't they?"

Upon hearing that, Xing's brain nearly crashed. If those four had been lost by King OOO, then didn't that mean King OOO still had other Dinosaur Medals?

What happened next confirmed Xing's suspicions. Violet radiance emerged simultaneously from King OOO and Eiji's bodies, seemingly resonating with each other.

"Everyone, let's go!" The four combined into Fire Moth form once more.

King OOO inserted Core Medals into her belt, and an immense energy far surpassing that of an ordinary Combo erupted in an instant. "Transform." The brief two words seemed to contain endless magic. After the familiar red, yellow, and blue rings merged, the kingly version of OOO appeared.

The battle began!

"Final finishing move confirmed, Kiana Kaslana!" A gigantic blade of light slashed down toward King OOO's head. "All style and no substance." The other party calmly raised an identical Dinosaur Axe. When the two weapons clashed, it was the larger one that shattered.

"Taka, Kujaku, Condor, Kujaku, Condor, Kujaku, Condor!"

Eiji once again inserted seven Bird Series Coins into the TaJa Spinner. Incomparably scorching fireballs shot from the shield, but King OOO swung her Dinosaur Axe, sending out a slash that scattered them.

Bronya rapidly calculated the gap between friend and foe. "Hey, isn't this guy ridiculously strong? There's absolutely no way to clear this. Xing, is it still too late for us to surrender?"

"What do you think?" He pressed the button on the sword hilt. "Final finisher confirmed, Bronya Zaychik!" A brilliant azure beam of destruction swallowed King OOO's figure, blasting a gap through the open-air platform.

"Where do you think you're aiming?" Like the Grim Reaper whispering in his ear, Xing turned around in terror. King OOO had appeared behind him at some point and viciously swung the Dinosaur Axe down at him. Under the power of the Dinosaur Medal's "Nothing," the three pieces of armament were forcibly separated from his body, and the weapons that had been blasted out of their armor flew toward different edges of the platform.

"It's over." King OOO's fist slammed heavily into Xing's chest after he detransformed, a purple beam piercing through him. King OOO seized him by the throat and casually tossed him away.

Xing was thrown straight off the top of the tower like a rag doll. Yae Sakura tried to catch him, but the instant her body touched him, the lingering power of the Dinosaur Medal on him knocked her back into Stigmata Space. Wendy reached out to grab him, but failed to watch her footing, stepped into empty air, and fell from the tower.

"Xing!" Rage ignited within Eiji. He switched to the Insect Combo and created clones, then had those clones pull out the other Combos. The basic Hawk-Tiger-Grasshopper Combo, Insect Combo, Feline Combo, Bird Combo, and Dinosaur Combo all appeared in rapid succession!

However, King OOO merely waved a hand, using Gameru's gravity-manipulation ability. The clones were crushed to the ground. "I'll send you to see him." King OOO scanned the Medals again and activated his finisher.

"Scanning Charge!"

There was no Rider Kick. King OOO simply slashed out with the Dinosaur Axe, unleashing an enormous energy blade. Every clone was scattered by that strike, while Eiji himself was blasted away. All the Core Medals he possessed, including the Dinosaur Medals, flew toward King OOO. He tried to intercept some of them, but only managed to catch one Kujaku and one Condor.

Propelled by the force, Eiji fell from the tower. His vision gradually blurred as everything he had experienced from childhood to adulthood flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern. After reliving his entire life, Eiji's memories stopped on that shattered red Medal.

Eiji clenched Ankh's shattered Core Medal. "If I could, I really want to see you one more time before I die, Ankh."

Core Medals were essentially born from desire. To repair a desire, one had to use desire itself. At that moment, Hino Eiji stood at death's door, and his desire to revive Ankh reached its peak.

Author's Note—

The next chapter will recreate an iconic scene. The OOO arc will end tonight.

Did you notice how little King OOO talks? Villains who talk less won't die from talking too much.