Mirror October had never considered himself a demon or an evil force. Even if those utterly vulgar people saw him as terrifying and horrifying, he believed he embodied justice with a clear conscience. The old orphanage director, with a voice like a broken gong, once said: "Stand tall without shame to heaven above, bow low without shame to earth below! To live with integrity is justice!"
Though he didn't fully agree with that old geezer's concept of justice, it hinted at the profound darkness lurking beneath Mirror October's seemingly cold exterior. When Lu Xiu sneered and questioned him, Mirror October nodded with great satisfaction. "Now this is interesting!"
Only this lived up to the title of Justice Knight!
If this game ended with Lu Xiu's collapse—no struggle at all—Mirror October truly couldn't savor the joy of teaching. So, like a desperate prisoner clinging to their last stronghold, she roared at the enemy! Brimming with dramatic tension, it moved anyone to tears.
"Why, heh heh, Lu Xiu. Don't you think this counterattack is a bit childish~~?" As Mirror October shattered Lu Xiu's belief in the path of unwavering, flawless justice, she turned her own broken convictions against him.
"Since my justice is fake!
My justice is so despicable!
Then what about you?! Is your justice any better? Who gave you the right to judge the world? Who granted you power to tower over everyone? If you truly represent justice, what gives you authority to act this way? Doesn't towering above others contradict the laughable justice you keep preaching?"
Sneering, Lu Xiu fixed her mocking, lively eyes on Mirror October's slender figure.
How ironic! The strongest criminal stood outside the cell, while she—a Superhero—was locked inside. What was this? As absurd as the world's follies, as hard to accept as cold, cruel reality. Her ideals were shattered beyond repair. She'd bet her last shred of belief on a strike to leave the most brutal counterattack on Saw's sense of justice! "Come on, Saw! Give me your answer!!"
Observing Lu Xiu—once the most glorious S-Class hero, the Justice Knight, now obsessed and almost demonic—Mirror October slowly shed his frivolous, playful smirk. An indescribable darkness spread from him. With just his ice-cold resolve, he made Lu Xiu feel true, pure, ultimate despair.
He hated humanity to the bone, yet loved them deeply. The two were intertwined, inseparable even at time's end.
"I have the right to judge, because you gave it to me."
This time, Mirror October didn't use his disguised, hoarse voice. He spoke in his true, genuinely young and gentle tone. "Yes, the right you granted me—the right I've upheld until death. And now you deny me?"
"What... wait! You... who are you..." Lu Xiu startled at his sudden voice change but sensed something off—it was too young.
Granted... judgment...
She seemed to recall something but wasn't sure. Rising from the ground, she gazed at Mirror October with a complex expression. S-Class hero power surged from her, as if ready to pierce the entire base! The earth groaned beneath her.
"Since I saved this world, and you gave me the right to save it, then this world surviving only because of me—why shouldn't I change this filthy place?" Mirror October finally bared his sharpest fangs. He had that right!
He'd saved the world twice!
Once sacrificing his power, another time his life! If the world he saved was a man-eating pyramid—with decaying demons feasting at its peak—he had the duty to correct it. And if he ever lost hope...
"Who are you really!?"
"Aren't you guessing? Say it! Speak the name, Lu Xiu! Hahaha!!"
"Impossible! He's dead. You can't be him. I saw his relics—his hero's relics are still in the Central Bureau... Who are you? I won't let you defile a fallen hero! Explain now!!"
Her face turned deathly pale. Mirror October's shrill laughter stripped away something she'd always prided herself on. Her once-straight back bent under invisible force; she staggered, bewildered.
"Lu Xiu, know why I'm rated SS-Class by the Superhero Administration? I'll tell you. It's because SS-Class is their highest rating. The peak state I left at death remains unsurpassed. Do you know how pitiful I find you all?" Mirror October's shadowed figure merged with another in Lu Xiu's mind—a saint-like hero whose story inspired countless Superheroes.
When hero and devil overlapped, Lu Xiu felt the world crack open. She didn't know whether to cry with joy or wail in despair.
"Even if... why you..." Her shattered beliefs vanished completely. He was the source, the revered saint of all heroes. Just thinking her opponent was the one who'd protected the world and died for it, she closed her eyes in pain.
Why you? Why must it be you!
You were dead...
How I admired you, followed your path—you destroyed it with your own hands...
"Lu Xiu, I was once more naive than you. But when I saw this world through hate-filled eyes, everything changed. So strange—a mix of ugliness and beauty, like Quasimodo. I desperately wanted to change it all..."
Mirror October's crimson eyes, as if about to bleed tears, recalled his death. Liberation. Rebirth.
"So, I'm back..."
