https://youtu.be/bNttDQpfFLY

Elsewhere in the night, in the marketplace at the edge of town, gleaming red eyes met a more dull-looking green pair. There was silence, as Valerie stepped out through the hole, looking at her fallen allies, and made herself fully visible, walking into the street lights and looking upon her starstruck former friend. For once, perhaps in all the time she had known him, Iago looked completely off-guard - the perfect opportunity to attack.

So, she took a deep breath, regulating the Natura within her body and bringing her cupped hands to her side. Transmuting some of her shield, she generated a formless mass of chaotic green Natura, roughly the size of a football, in her hands. Thrusting her hands out, she hurled the ball at him, and he quickly scrambled to defend himself. He was about to jump out of the way, but from somewhere behind Valerie, two arrows shot out and landed by his feet, throwing off his balance and forcing him to take the blast head-on.

He staggered slightly, summoning to hand his rose-pommelled rapier, and on his face grew a sneering grin, spreading his arms out. "...so you have arrived at long last." he said, his voice low and calm. He took a few steps forward, raising his arms again as he raised his voice. "The hero to the villains, the one everyone has been waiting for, Golgo herself; the one and only Valerie Stanlion!"

"...evening, Iago." Valerie murmured, lowering her gaze to avoid meeting his eyes once again, her heart unable to withstand his familiar burning gaze. Even now, she could feel him searing a hole into her with his solitary visible eye. Especially considering what he'd just said. 'Hero to the villains' indeed. Just what had she become?

Iago, for his part, smirked a little, more amused than anything. "Something wrong, my green-clad, yellow-bellied friend?" he asked, a tasteless venom lacing his every jocular word. "You should rejoice at this moment! We have so much catching up to do!"

"I-I guess..." Valerie murmured, feeling her control of the dynamic beginning to fade. Steeling herself, she stepped closer, only for one of Iago's clawed shadow-hands to form in front of her, wagging its finger as he himself did the same.

"Now, now, can't we hear each other fine from here?" he taunted, eyeing her ever so closely as she flinched from the sudden magical non-attack. He smirked slightly more, placing a hand on his hip as he did. "Talk to me, Valerie! I'm dying to know what it's like being a hypocrite who stands for nothing!"

Valerie gritted her teeth, looking at Iago with dead eyes. "Better than a hypocrite who stands for something, no doubt." she said, triggering a raised eyebrow from Iago. "You stand for justice, but you're just as dangerous as your enemies. You've changed since Apex. You've gone bloody mad."

Hearing that, Iago twitched a little, holding himself back from going on the attack then and there. He had to be civilised here, damn it! Forcing a smile on his face, he shook his head, spreading his arms out to his sides. "People are changing all the time, my friend, and you are no exception!" he declared. "Back then, you would never have shied away from my magic. Your strength has vanished much like your courage and wisdom. Tonight I stand before a cowardly wretch!"

"Maybe I am a coward. But you're an absolute gowl." Valerie stood her ground, deciding now wasn't the time to falter under Iago's mockery. "You really think you can take on all of Libera by yourself?"

"Here I stand, no?" Iago chuckled, shaking his head slowly. "But it isn't just me. I have the Red Joker and his friends on my side. And I could have had you, too, had you been less...craven."

Valerie lowered her head slowly, conceding that he did have some kind of point, but shook her head. "We'd just have a handful of people. They wouldn't be enough..."

"And you think Libera is?" Iago raised his arms dramatically. "They can't even catch me!"

He began pacing back and forth, staring at her all the while as his arms continued gesticulating wildly, making a right show of himself. "The two of us, Valerie, are gods among men! Amass enough strength, enough followers, and we could take Erdeland - nay, all of Laeterra by the short hairs!" he exclaimed loudly, a pair of shadow-hands generating behind him and mimicking his movements as he and one such hand pointed at her as though objecting. "But you can't do a thing, can you? You, who knowingly destroys her own potential to follow someone who should be far lesser than yourself! Because you're all too petrified to take charge of your own life!"

"I can't just bloody stop!" Valerie blurted out, only to immediately realise that was the wrong thing to say. Upon hearing it, Iago's eye gleamed as a wide grin made its way onto his face.

https://youtu.be/MlCK5RWO54E

"Oh, I know." he said. "Maybe in the past, you could, but the woman who stands before me today is wasted potential personified!"

Valerie let out a growl - more of frustration than of rage, and clenched her fists as she struggled to think of a counterargument. It didn't come naturally, because she couldn't disagree with anything Iago had said, and she resented that fact. She had for a while, in fact. Shaking her head, she gave Iago a furious glare, despite none of her anger being directed at him. "So what do you want me to do? Follow a bloodthirsty nutcase?"

Iago faced away, face buried in his palm while wagging a finger at her with a smirk. "I wanted you by my side, not under my thumb." he said. "But I imagine that would veer too close to 'thinking for yourself' for your tastes."

"...fact remains, you're mad." Valerie mumbled, glaring at Iago and stepping forth. "You're killing so many people. Stopping you will be a service to us all!"

"Listen! She says that cleansing the world of its trash is the work of a madman!" Iago declared. "Next, you'll be saying that trading one criminal organisation for another is intelligent in excelsis!"

Valerie opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out, and as Iago observed this, he gave a slightly satisfied smirk, shaking his head. Before he could say anything, though, an arrow, shrouded in silver Natura, flew from the hole in the wall and through the air, striking him swiftly in the chest and unleashing a current of electricity to shock Iago on impact. As he recovered from the attack, the Mikado herself stepped out from the hole, her eagle eyes coldly looking over the scene. Iago, watching her, felt his heart beginning to race.

"Golgo, are you done?" she asked, clearly the most level-headed person in the marketplace right now as she looked back at a speechless Valerie. "Out of respect for your history, I let you talk for this long, but I can't have you too emotionally-compromised. Not now, of all times."

Valerie nodded, taking a few deep breaths to focus on the task at hand as the Mikado looked directly at her. "He's trying to get into your head. Don't let it work." she said, before turning to Iago, who had regained his outward front of confidence.

"If it isn't the Mikado herself!" he declared, summoning his rapier and extending his free hand towards her with a confident smile. "It's ever so nice to meet you. I dare say this meeting has me filled with anticipation in excelsis!"

"Charmed, I'm sure." the Mikado deadpanned, staying behind Valerie and standing tall with her bow in hand. "I, too, have been awaiting this moment. You won't threaten us any longer, Devil's Spawn."

"You seem not to understand who I am!"

"No, I know exactly who you are. A fool playing as an avenger." the Mikado said, piercing into him with her sharp eyes. "What is your quarrel with Libera? What drives such bloodshed?"

"Need you even ask?" Iago shook his head. "I spill the blood of the foul, the wicked! Let them atone for their misdeeds in the fiery pit!"

"...is that really all?"

The Mikado let out a light chuckle, and Iago raised an eyebrow at that, but as it was the one beneath his hair, it simply looked as though he was staring blankly. "Then everyone here is a hypocrite." she continued. "Standing here, you wish only to vanquish me, but in truth? You're like me, aren't you?"

Iago clenched his teeth. Again with that cursed comparison! He was nothing like this fool, who would dare compare a lamb to a wolf! "Ha! Think again, villain!" he erupted. "You only wish you could be comparable to me!"

"Of course, we aren't identical." the Mikado shook her head. "You lack several qualities that I possess. Intellect, discipline, self-awareness, honour, and sanity, for instance. But in this particular regard, we aren't so different."

"Are you done with this drivel?" Iago yelled, allowing his shadowy magic to crackle around his body. "Because frankly, I've had enough of you!"

"I was thinking the same thing." the Mikado mused, remaining calm and watching his every movement. "I hope you cherished your freedom while it lasted."

https://youtu.be/5DRtXLMt3Qo

She turned her head to face Valerie, giving her a nod to prepare herself. "Are you ready, Golgo?"

Valerie nodded wordlessly, entering a slightly hunched stance and beginning to quicken her footwork. The Mikado, satisfied, looked at her men, preparing to fire from her bow. "The injured and broken among you, fall back! Everyone else, you are to provide support! The Devil's Spawn's rampage ends today!"

At that, everyone knew the time for talk had passed, as they felt an oppressive, diabolical presence filling the area. Iago, always quick to act, thrust his arms out, and a thick mass of thorned vines sprouted from the ground in the space between himself and Valerie. So, clearly, he didn't intend to make it easy for her to enter melee.

But it would still be possible, naturally. Despite twisted vines filling the entire battlefield between them, Valerie refused to be deterred, focusing her Natura into her legs and beginning to traverse them, her footwork quick yet deceptively careful as she avoided tripping over.

Some of the Libera grunts acted in the meantime. Some of them opened fire on Iago, who simply took it, while others tried to help Valerie by firing various elemental spells at the vine grid - but not even the fire-based ones had any visible effect. Valerie mostly didn't register these attempts to aid her, for they neither helped nor hindered. All that mattered was herself, Iago, and everything in between.

Iago watched in amusement, putting his hands in his pockets as he watched Valerie pursue him. He winked under his hair, and at once one of the vines rose up in front of her, lashing out at her. Without wasting a second, she delivered onto it a flurry of punches, forcing it out of her path before continuing her advance.

Raising an eyebrow, Iago noticed that she was getting awfully close, winding up a mighty punch as Natura gathered around her fist in the form of a spectral glove. Spreading his arms out again, he called forth a giant shadow hand, appearing behind his shoulder and curling into a fist. As Valerie lunged forth with a punch, Iago's giant hand collided with her fist, the sheer strength of the clash forming a shockwave that both combatants felt.

The hand dissipated, and Valerie tried to attack Iago again, but he defended himself with another phantom fist. Valerie continued trying to advance, but found herself matching blows with Iago's shadows and shrugging off the recoil. Meanwhile, another hand with cruel claws attached formed behind her, ready to strike while her back was turned.

The Mikado watched, pulling back her bow and silently firing an arrow. As the claw swiped at Valerie, she shifted in the same direction, narrowly evading the slash. Iago looked at her in confusion, but just as he did, the Mikado's arrow struck him directly, unleashing a burst of deafening sound. Iago was left momentarily startled, and Valerie moved in, recognising her chance to go on the attack.

She jabbed him in the torso before connecting into a cross punch. Without skipping a beat, she unleashed a focused flurry of fists, pounding at his shield too quickly for him to adequately react. He opened his mouth to begin an incantation, and right on cue his jaw met her rising fist, silencing him and sending him flying into the air.

He landed flatly, and as he was about to stand up, the Mikado exposed herself and ran in his direction, her bow glowing in a bright silver light before disappearing, a pair of wakizashi swords taking its place. "Occupy him!" she ordered, and at once, her men obeyed. Relying on their ranged spells, they fired bolts and spheres of assorted elements, interrupting his recovery while Valerie grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up.

Iago didn't seem to react much, closing his eyes as Valerie grappled him and began to spin him around. While he was at her mercy, he summoned a pair of shadow hands at the position of the minions and sent them to lay waste to them once again. As Valerie threw him towards the Mikado, the latter readied her blades before cutting through him, delivering a turbulent whirlwind of slashes.

The hands faded away after that, but not before claiming a couple more lives. Iago scrambled to his feet, determined to regain control, and with a hand clutching his head, he looked at the Mikado with a smirk before summoning his rapier to hand, imbuing it with a thick black aura. "Shall we dance?" he said before moving in to attack her, which she followed up without thinking twice. She always felt more comfortable with a blade in hand.

He regained his focus, pretending to go on the offensive, but in truth using feints and misdirection to throw her off. He thrust his blade, observing her closely and trying to find any weaknesses in her guard, but she was very guarded. Someone as cautious as her had to be. Realising Valerie was lunging at him from behind, he chuckled smugly, and before she could hit him, a black sigil appeared in the ground beneath her - a circle, with the constellation of Capricornus in it. From it emerged an enormous, demonic-looking goat head composed of shadows, whose jaws shut immediately, snaring Valerie in them.

Now he could focus on his true enemy, but poking holes in her guard was much harder than he thought it would be. Maybe it was because he was keeping her too busy, but she didn't seem to be making any real attempt to attack back, either. She was just watching, as studiously as he was. And like an eagle watching her prey, she eventually struck, her blades glowing silver as she pushed past his feint and kicked him squarely in the stomach.

He stumbled back a little as the Mikado's weapon changed shape once again, this time becoming a nodachi, which she grabbed by the sheath in one hand and the hilt in the other. Unsheathing her blade, she attacked in the same breath, disarming Iago before turning around and slashing across his torso with unmatched speed and strength. He stumbled slightly, shaking his head as he regained his bearings just in time for Valerie to break free from the beast.

The Mikado stepped back and snapped her fingers in a quick rhythm, causing Iago to raise an eyebrow before hearing Valerie running towards him. He turned around, ducking under her punch as shadows began to gather around him. Once again, the surviving henchmen pelted him with their magic, which he simply took, acknowledging his former friend as the larger threat. Summoning his sword back to his hand, he thrust it towards her, which she swatted away before shifting towards him and smashing his face with a haymaker.

He took the hit head-on, and at that Valerie's fists glowed with a green light as she unleashed a blinding flurry of punches, focusing more on speed than power as she gradually built Natura up in her right hand. Eventually, she unleashed it all, her hand covered in an enormous Natura gauntlet as she forcefully lunged at Iago, punching him and blowing him away into the open. He sat up, panting slightly, only to see most of the minions - the ones whose shields were broken but who were still alive - looking through the open windows of the buildings nearby with metal spheres in their hands.

They threw them at him while he was down, but the shadows had followed him, and they grew angrier. As the first few bombs exploded, the darkness expanded into a vaguely spherical shape around him. He stood up, hunched over slightly as the darkness around him formed countless tendrils to catch the bombs and throw them away. He clutched his chest, feeling his heart pounding as he realised defeat was likely. He'd likely be captured, and torn from Inigo. And he could not let that happen.

https://youtu.be/80BZFXxzZ4g

Once all the bombs were gone, he absorbed the shadows and emerged from the darkness, his arms surrounded with elongated claws while his body held a dark glow. He glared at Valerie and Kotoba, and all whimsical masks had been officially shed. Silent and refusing to hide his fury, he lunged towards the Mikado, who held onto her sword tightly only for Valerie to stand in front of her, standing strong before the rampaging Iago.

He shrouded himself in a shadowy, goat-demon aura, about to ram into her horns-first, and she stood her ground, grabbing him by the shoulders as he approached. She slowly stepped forward, pushing back against his advance, and the two growled as they looked into one another's eyes, trying to overpower the other as Iago's darkness grew stronger. Blades of shadow filled the air around him, and Valerie felt them cutting into the bulwark that was her shield.

Still, she was determined. Even in the face of Iago's attack, she gritted her teeth and persevered. Chains of verdant Natura formed around her ankles, hooking to the ground, as she once again built up energy in her body. Neither combatant moved the other, their clash like the meeting of two unstoppable forces. Until Valerie's began to grow stronger, her eyes glowing a bright green as her veins glowed with a green light visible through her sleeves.

She tightly clutched his jacket, almost ripping a hole in it before letting go, her fist still tightly clenched. With energy coursing through her entire arm, she ducked slightly, before bringing herself up in a mighty uppercut, smashing through the blades and into Iago's chest, diverting his attack entirely and sending him rising into the air. Without missing a beat, she leapt up after him and punched him again, launching him up higher before landing on the ground and nodding towards the Mikado.

The Mikado, nodding back, had by now put away her sword in exchange for a bow. Taking careful aim at the now descending Iago, she fired a shining silver arrow at him, soaring through the air and colliding with him, knocking him out of the sky with a piercing shriek. He landed on the ground helplessly, and as he looked up, he saw Valerie looking down on him emotionlessly, green Natura crackling in his palms. And for the first time, he felt genuine fear strike his heart.

He didn't fear pain, definitely not. Why would he? It was a reminder that he was still alive. But in this instance, he feared his defeat. He feared letting Libera run free. He feared them getting their hands on his precious Inigo, and whatever horrors would befall them both under the Mikado's cruel eye. He stood up, the darkness surrounding him beginning to fade away as he looked at the pair in panic. He gazed into Valerie's unforgiving eyes and shook his head, cackling weakly as he noticed a slight twinge of doubt in them, her hands quivering a little. In his own mind, fear gave way to epiphany.

"...what could be the matter, Golgo?" he asked, his words defiant as he smirked at her. "Don't tell me you're getting cold feet? You're so close!"

"...shut up."

"You don't want to let the Mikado down, do you? Not like you so insist on letting me down?" he taunted, shaking his head slowly. "Go on, be the great hero these 'people' need!"

Being egged on like this, strangely enough, had only a negative effect on her confidence. She felt the Natura in her arms slowly fading away, and Iago's smirk grew a little more insidious. "...so it's as I thought. It must be in your very nature to disappoint." he tutted. "Just like I've always known, you are naught but a hypocrite who stands for nothing. You've come all this way, just to grow lily-livered at the last second! What have you come all this way for, then?"

And at that, her Natura began to flare up once again, remembering that for all her mistakes, she didn't want them to be in vain. She couldn't handle that. Looking back, she saw the Mikado staring expectantly at her, with the few minions who still lived looking on in fear. They were waiting for her. Even Iago was waiting for her. She needed to do her duty. So, swallowing her fears, she thrust her arms out and unleashed a powerful beam of green Natura, crashing into her former friend as his Natura shield surrounded him like a black suit of armour. She stopped firing, just in time to watch the barrier crack and shatter away.

Iago hung his head low, descending to his knees willingly, and clapped slowly. "...congratulations, Valerie. At long last, you have finally achieved something."

"...stop." Valerie murmured, earning a brief cackle from the sorcerer.

"Yes, of course! I suppose you've earned this, after all." he said, his eyes meeting the Mikado's with a grin. "So, whisk me away, will you? But do be warned, with my capture, you'll have the Red Joker on your tail."

The Mikado crossed her arms at that, nodding slowly as she stepped forward. "I'm banking on it." she told him, before nodding to Valerie. "Take him away."

Valerie nodded at that, pulling out a knuckle-sized metal cube and walking behind Iago, who presented his wrists willingly. Placing it between them, she pressed the button on it. From there, it began to glow green, and a pair of handcuffs, made from hardened light, formed around his hands, with the cube as a centerpiece.

Iago did not react to this, closing his eye with a small smile on his face. This was his fate, now, and he could only grin and bear it as he felt Valerie's hand clasp his shoulder. He looked back on all he was leaving behind, and with a sigh, he shook his head.

"Well, Inigo? I leave this all to you. Finish what I have begun!"

"Take us to Modum." Valerie said simply, now holding out a silver warp crystal. It began to shine with a brilliant light, engulfing the pair competitors completely, and in a flash, they were gone. The Mikado couldn't help but smile as she looked upon these events; this was, without a shadow of a doubt, a victory.