"Doesn't this city, where monsters and humans live together, feel incredibly familiar?"
This time, Dust actually took the initiative to raise his hand and point in Ash's direction.
"Look. Humanity is no longer as vulgar and ugly as we hated, because that darkness has been separated out and turned into monsters!"
Because he was Ash's own creation, he understood him well enough. Naturally, he also knew exactly where Ash's sore spots were!
"Isn't this an endless hero stage show? You wouldn't hate it, would you, brother?"
"!"
The Rider who had risen from the ground warily backed away.
Ash realized he might have been wrong. Maybe this world's theme had nothing to do with dystopia at all.
If this setting were part of a tokusatsu show, he would probably have loved it. But...
"No matter how you deny it, I am a being created from you, the original. That is why I understand your thoughts so well."
Dust became more and more excited as he spoke.
"After all you have experienced, perhaps you now fight for things like love and friendship."
"But at your core, the life you originally pursued was one where you enjoyed the thrill of roaring with laughter after victory, then died quietly after defeat! That simple doctrine was what you sought from the very beginning!"
"You claim that you have changed, that you are different from us?"
He raised his hand and pulled out the other party's greatsword, its sharp blade tracing an unexpected path as it pointed directly at Ash!
"Then how will you deny the part of you that can never stop pursuing strength?!"
Changed? He had not changed at all!
Different? What was different?!
The Man Who Truly Changed, Ash!
As the saying went, momentum had to be seized in one burst. The