A day after the picnic in Violet's neighborhood, night has come over the country of Enclume, which Gerald resided in. He was passing by a street, feeling like buying a bottle of drink. The public radio on the street was playing its usual news channel. A female anchor spoke out.
"We've just received quite an interesting and potentially sensitive news from the nation of Leidenschaftlich. The notorious criminal 'Undying One' has allegedly left some notes regarding a ghostwriter doll named Violet Evergarden, claiming her to be some apex soldier from Galdrik Empire, but stolen by Leidenschaftlich."
Upon hearing that, Gerald stopped in his track and gave his full attention. The news of Undying One and his impossible strengths have long reached all over continent of Telsis, but not much was covered on him due to his lack of international threat. But Gerald was suspecting something about Undying One, yet couldn't get a finger on it without more concrete information.
"Euler Pierce, a leading assistant of Leiden city's effort to arrest Undying One, stated that he couldn't fully trust his statement. He did voice a complaint in the past though, of how this ghostwriter doll was a nuisance in his work by trying to fight Undying One all by herself and disrupting the police work." Another anchor said.
"A leading political advisor of Enclume emissary voiced that if what Euler Pierce says is correct, then this ghostwriter doll could be the Galdrik's Empire's apex soldier given that immense strength would be required to even dare to fight Undying One." the female anchor said.
"But some member of emissary argues that no such sighting or evidence of apex soldier was found on Galdrik Empire's side during the Great War, and to avoid presumptuous statements that could initiate tensions between nations, calling for the advisor to reconsider the validity of Euler Pierce's claims."
But Gerald knew what happened; The Devouring One was indeed their creation of apex soldier that was later lost when deployed on a mission. But what puzzled him was why Undying One knew of this when it was supposed to be confidential within the military.
"Come to think of it, the Undying One's immense strength that probably rivaled Devouring One always bothered me…" Gerald said to himself. "I first thought it was an exaggeration, but it seems that it is not after what he has done."
Did Alexei secretly create another apex soldier? No, Gerald thought. Alexei was already too much stress managing Anointed One and Devouring One that no man would be foolish to take another work. Besides, he didn't know Alexei to be the type to do something secretly.
The question of whether Undying One was created in another nation was irrelevant, for what mattered most was he knew of Violet's origin. Assuming confidentiality was practiced, no outsider would know anything about apex soldier they were creating.
But then a critical thought crossed Gerald's head. The sole outsider, Euler Pierce, who was moved out after failing as Anointed One, would be the only one to know of Devouring One's existence. And if Undying One knew of Devouring One's existence, that could only mean one thing; Euler Pierce was the Undying One. It wouldn't be a far-fetched thought for Euler to be able to somehow find a way to attain superhuman strength either.
It was not something Gerald could confidently proclaim, for he would look like a madman for such a leap of faith. But now that Gerald had this in mind, an urge for purpose, the urge to act suddenly came to him. The thought of resisting Undying One intimidated him greatly. But perhaps, this last action that he took could be the only hope he had left of making up for his failures and wrongs against his motherland, his friend, and Devouring One.
"My sins won't be undone, but I'm not dying without cleaning my own mess." He hurried to his house and rummaged through letters he received. He found one of Alexei's letters and searched for information about location of Euler's workshop. "Quiet plain, west of the major Leiden city…" Opening a map of Telsis, he marked the area of possible location of Euler's workshop. He opened his personal safe and counted the money he had from his work and from his past work at Galdrik's Empire. It was far from abundant, but the plan was still possible. In the next morning, he will go to Leidenschaftlich.
The next day, Euler visited the bank in the city to withdraw some funds for himself. He spent considerable amount of money just upgrading his suit of Undying One; now the suit had twin wrist blades instead of one, and more fortified back armor to protect the power source for the synthetic muscle's strength. The visor was also upgraded to see better in the nighttime. Yesterday, he made it in the newspaper again, where he invented a sensor designed to detect Undying One in advance before he caused damage. Then as the police force was ready in advance, Undying One fled the scene. Of course, that sensor didn't really detect Undying One; it only detected a small receptor that Undying One was carrying. Without it, the sensor didn't work.
As the reception inquired him of his account's details, Euler learned that not much of his funds were leftover, even with the help of the city's subsidy. He was slightly surprised by how much his project was costing him, but since he wasn't planning on doing more upgrades, it didn't fill him with urgency. However, some cost-cutting was necessary to sustain his plan towards having an unparalleled reputation to finally resume his purpose of making breakthroughs according to his master's old desires.
"Eventually it will end with me taking out Undying One for good, but now is the not the time…" Euler thought to himself. "But I do need to cut the cost somehow…Looks like I'll have to draw an attention somewhere, and rob a metal shop; the workers could say that Undying One robbed them, but who will believe the unschooled workers? If the Anointed One tells them that no sensor was activated, then it will become the truth that Undying One never robbed them…" Delighting in such convenience of bearing an indirect author of truth, he left the bank.
The next day afterwards, Violet fully resumed her job in the CH Postal company. She needed a bit of courage to show her face again after her last encounter with Undying One. To her surprise, her colleagues and even most of the clients showed no change in their attitudes.
"Oh, Violet Evergarden? Can I uh, work with someone else?" One client said.
"Y-Yes, you're welcome to do so." Violet replied.
Even so, an occasional cold shoulder from clients made it harder for her to let go of her supposed hinderance and disruption to the city's efforts to fighting Undying One. The situation felt as if she was starting again a new life after she was no longer needed as a soldier from the Great War ending. It seemed to Violet that whenever she entered into a battle, whether it be killing soldiers in Great War, or fighting to protect civilians, she ended up in her life's lowest moments.
"Perhaps that's what my fate is." Violet thought. "If I fight, I only bring harm to people, no matter the objective." Violet glanced at her biceps, as if regretting that she was born with such inhumane strength meant to destroy, even wishing that she was just born an ordinary woman.
Just then, a loud explosion was heard outside. Normally, Violet would be tempted to go out and see if Undying One could be there. But after all what happened, she decided that it is for the best that she doesn't interfere and bring more trouble onto herself and others. But after a while, a sound of man running upstairs could heard. He barged in, panting.
"Violet! You gotta help my father!" It was Henry.
"Henry?! What is it?" Violet said.
"Undying One…He's robbing us! He's got a gun pointed at my dad and others while the police are distracted by the explosion! I managed to escape, but there's no one to get help from except you!"
"Henry…I can't defeat him anymore…If I go, I'll only bring more harm to everyone, and if I get arrested, it will surely upset everyone…"
"Please, Violet! The life of my father is at stake here, and nobody will come to help us! I can't just helplessly let father be in the hands of Undying One! If anyone has a chance, it's you Violet! We never gave up on you Violet, don't you give up on us!"
The one side of her tempted her to let it go after the harm she brought from her actions, perhaps even implying that it is for the best to people close to her. But Violet remembered the kindness shown from the neighbors from the barbeque. At the thought of abandoning them, it already stung her with guilt more overwhelming than her failure to stop Undying One. As she remembered the smiles from the neighbors, nothing mattered to her anymore; she will go help the ones she cared and cherished.
Violet rose up with clenched fists. "I'll go, Henry. It's the least I can do when you were all there for me."
"I can't thank you enough, Violet. Now, please hurry."
"Don't worry about me, Violet. Go and please be careful." Ivy said to Violet.
Violet sprinted towards Rory's Metal as fast as she could. While she was running, she saw black smoke far ahead, presumably where the explosion happened. It looked like it was a considerable distance away from Rory's Metal, which would definitely draw police's attention away from the shop.
Violet arrived and barged into the shop. The workers, including Rory, were kneeling with their hands on their heads, after giving their goods to Undying One. Undying One also gave his attention as he was about to depart with a sack of synthetic muscle materials and some metal parts as well.
"Stop right there, Undying One." Violet said. "You're not getting away with what you've done."
"Hmph, so you came even knowing that you can't defeat me. How it breaks my heart that one closest to me will reject my offer of friendship."
The voice from Undying One for some reason, felt authentic and not a mockery, which confused and unsettled Violet, but it wasn't important right now.
Undying One unsheathed his dual wrist blades, which Violet gasped at the sight of it. "Now you will die and people you say you care about will die because of you!" He then leaped towards Violet and initiated the fight. Violet dodged backed off to get some distance. Undying One was swinging around his blades arrogantly like an untrained swordsman, but it was still hard to find an opening for Violet.
Violet sidestepped one slash, then delivered a kick to Undying One, then followed up with a roundhouse kick, but Undying One also managed to scratch Violet's thigh with his blade, and the pain caught her off guard. After dodging another series of swings, Violet managed to deliver a punch, but also received a scratch on her face. For every strike she landed, she received damage. As always, Undying One being able to put up a fight despite sloppy techniques frustrated her to no end.
"You still fight for those who would scorn and reject you as an outcast" Undying One said as he was swinging his blades around. "Are you so dull that you can't see the truth, or are you in severe denial?" Violet was then cornered into a machine that had a saw still running. Undying One performed X-Slash on Violet, which Violet blocked with both her arms, but now Undying One was attempting to push Violet into the saw to kill her. Violet's life was flashing before her eyes, and she gave all she can to try to push back Undying One.
"I told you the truth and promised you a better world for likes of you and me, and now you left me no choice!" Undying One said as he was inching Violet closer to saw. "No one will stand by your side, for you will eternally be remembered as the feral, ghostwriter doll whose fighting instinct could not be controlled, and the one who is associated with Undying One! The truth shall be that you were the devil! Now, die!"
As Violet could feel the saw chipping away her hair, suddenly metal debris fell on Undying One's head, causing him to lose focus. This gave Violet an opportunity to push him away and get away from the saw. Both of them looked up to see what happened, and were astonished to see the metal workers, and Rory on a second floor of the workshop.
"We got your back, Violet! If you can't do it on your own, we'll do it together!" Rory said.
Violet was upset to a certain extent that they've put themselves in a dangerous situation. But at the same time, she was grateful to no end that they've come to help her in fight against Undying One. Seeing that they were in a good position up in a high ground, Violet saw hope in the fight.
Undying One growled from annoyance. "Foolish simpletons! You stand with this outcast that will only bring you harm for her own gain?" Readying his blades, he bent his knees to jump towards the balcony of the second floor. Yet Violet figured out his intention, then jumped kicked him out of the air as soon as he jumped.
"That's where you're wrong, you hunk of junk! We don't need someone to tell who Violet is when we know her well enough! This simpleton will stand by her till death!" Rory yelled back.
Undying One swung fiercely at Violet with an urgent heart. But he became too predictable as a result, and Violet landed another kick on him, and he was pushed back a distance from her.
"Now!" Rory yelled and the people threw anything that would hurt if dropped down on Undying One once seeing Violet was out of his way. Undying One swatted away the objects thrown at him, but it gave Violet the window to deliver a strong kick. He got pushed back even further and fell down, and was shocked to feel a great pain from it.
"Violet, catch!" One of workers said as he tossed metal pipe to Violet. When she saw Undying One approach her with his blade again, she immediately knew what to do and used the pipe to fight him. Undying One's untrained blade techniques punished him as Violet outmaneuvered him in every aspect and beat him up mercilessly, while the people on second floor cheered her on. Undying One's suit was now full of bends and damages, something he never experienced before.
At this point, the shock of people supporting what he established to be an "outcast", the pain from being beaten up, and constantly being distracted by a possibility of people dropping objects on him, Undying One determined it was a lost battle. He backed off into a wall where there was a propane tank. He grabbed it and threw it in the direction of the people on the second floor. Violet redirected the tank away from them, and it landed near the stairs towards second floor. Undying One took out his gun and shot the tank, causing it to explode. Then he used the opportunity to escape, not even concerned about anything.
The police force was already outside the shop, and they attempted to use Euler's gadgets on Undying One to stop him. But he was so occupied with escaping that he merely shoved his way through the crowd, not bothered by the gadgets.
"What the?! Did you see that?! I thought Mr. Pierce said these would work against him!" one of the officers exclaimed. The police then attempted to pursuit him, but it would soon prove futile from how fast he was.
Within the shop, Violet was putting out the fire with an extinguisher with instructions from Rory. Because of the destroyed stairs, he also asked her to fetch a ladder so that they could come down.
"You are such a crazy man to even think of sneaking behind Undying One and getting up there!" Violet said to Rory and his workers. "If he spotted you, you could've died!"
"Appreciate the concern, Violet. But what kind of men would we be if let our lack of power hold us back from doing the right thing? You came to rescue us, so it was time for us to help you as well. What did I tell you before? We will be there by each other's side."
Tom, Madeline, Seth, and Henry hurried their way into the shop. "Dad! Are you okay?" Henry said. Then he hugged Rory. "Thank god you're okay! If Violet wasn't here for you, I don't know what would've happened!"
"You aren't badly hurt, are you Violet? Please tell me you're going to be okay." Madeline said as she put her hand near Violet's scratch on her face to check up on it.
"I'm fine, thank you for your concern." Violet then turned to Tom. "The police were supposedly distracted by an explosion. Have you brought them here, Tom?"
"Yes, with the help of Henry and Seth and his sons. If one man's call for help can't get their attention, then I'm sure three men and two lad's call for help will certainly get their attention." Tom said.
Tim and Matt also spoke up. "We kicked his butt together, Violet!"
"And I'll tell my friends that we're a friend with a superhero today!"
Such pride in their small but honest work, as well as their admiration for her warmed Violet's heart. She patted their heads to relay her compliment and appreciation to them. "Thank you for your help, boys. Maybe a superhero is a bit exaggerating, but your words are encouraging to me."
Then the police officers, including chief, met with Violet and her neighbors after giving up their pursuit on Undying One. Rory then filled them in with what had happened, including their intense battle with Undying One.
"Chief, I think this technically counts as breaking the city's emergency law…But what do you think?" One of the officers asked.
"Officer, if at this moment, the act of standing by the ones you love is a crime, then I'm more than happy to be charged by it." Violet said. "But I won't regret it. I no longer fight because I'm strong enough or confident in my victory, but to safeguard the lives that are connected by love. The woman and her baby at balcony, the workers at the patent office, the man with his son," Violet turned to her neighbors. "as well as the neighbors I cherish."
"I would've preferred if the process wasn't so unpleasant, but I'm glad that you've come to terms with your shortcomings, and understand what I understood, Violet." Seth said.
"Indeed. It feels as if it was so easy to understand all along. Being the apex soldier in the Leidenschaftlich army and succeeding in every mission, I was too focused on defeating Undying One for good, that I lost sight of what truly mattered. Failure to defeat him felt as if I lost a battle and let everyone down. But it doesn't matter now; even if the city may say that I let them down once again for any reason, I'm not ashamed that I relied on help from my neighbors to defend against Undying One, and now that everyone is alive and well, I'm more than happy."
Those who came to see the scene cheered on as they heard Violet's speech, and journalists were not missing any of it. "Chief Officer, will you be arresting Violet Evergarden and others who, by definition, have broken the city's emergency law then?"
After a long pause, the chief responded. "No, it's not right. How can we, after we let them down and not being there for them? Yet they fought bravely against Undying One and even forced him to retreat. For such valiant act, it is unthinkable that we treat them like criminals deserving punishment." He took off his cap. "This is a personal take, but I believe it is time for us to reevaluate what we've assumed was the truth from Mr. Pierce now. First and foremost, his gadget's shortcomings, but also validity of his view on Ms. Evergarden's actions."