GUDAGUDA Kishin Project

Sooo, my head's missing. Again.

Oh nooo. How terrible.

Run along, now.

I know it's the second time, but you could at least PRETEND to be concerned!?

A bit early for the revival, isn't it?

Hey, what even is a revival anyway?

Wow, Lady Chacha. Such deep thoughts.

Agreed.

Hey, Naritoshi. Your Noble Phantasm wandered off again.

It's not my Noble Phantasm. It's the Ranmaru of this planet's Noble Phantasm.

Maybe it got stolen again after you returned it to its rightful owner?

You bought it!

I mean, you got it!

Good to see you again, Lord Fujimaru! It's been a while, hasn't it!?

It hasn't? I guess it does feel like all that hullabaloo just happened yesterday, doesn't it?

Zan!

Huh? Does this mean you prefer Zanzaburo to me!? I'm honestly kind of hurt!

？！

So this is the famous Izumo-no-Okuni. I've heard your name before, but I think this is the first time we've met.

Um, it's hard for me to be sure since you don't have a head...

Oh, hey. You must be the headless Lady Nobunaga I've heard so much about.

Huh. So your head really is missing.

What's going on? I was sure I returned Lady Nobunaga's head to this planet's Ranmaru.

It's a long story... Well, less long than just too absurd to even try to explain.

At any rate, would you all mind coming with me?

...And there you have it.

There we have what!?

？！

Mastermind President!? You're still alive!?

Wahahahaha! Okay, Boss, let's just kill him now before he tries anything!

Hey, whoa now, don't get me wrong here. Yes, I'm Takasugi Shinsaku, but I'm also NOT Takasugi Shinsaku.

After I stayed with Lord Takasugi in his final moments, the Singularity just sort of stuck around instead completely falling apart.

After a while, I came back here because of reasons, and this video of the president just kinda...showed up.

You see, once Iwell, not ME per se, but the version of me you all defeated...

Anyway, once I learned I wasn't long for this world, I prepared a contingency plan in case Ama-no-Sakagami ended up getting everything he was after.

Basically, I came up with a plan to defeat myself if my body was taken over.

Of course, that's no mean feat. The only one with any hope of beating Takasugi Shinsaku is Takasugi Shinsaku.

So I copied my thought patterns into a heroic AI...

Its sole purpose is putting a stop to Ama-no-Sakagami's ambitions.

That is who you're talking to now: the digital hero known only as Takasugi!

What are you talking about? We defeated Lord Takasugi ourselves.

Exactly. I can't believe Shinsaku lost.

Who said I was the only one who could defeat me, anyway? Oh, right. Me.

Dammit, Shinsaku, what happened? All that time and energy getting your ducks in a row, and you still lost?

Did you ever think about how I'd feel, having to show up after you died a badass death?

Well, that's not to say Takasugi was an easy opponent. We must've just gotten lucky.

You're failing spectacularly at cheering me up here, Sakamoto.

You clearly don't believe that, but here you are, pretending otherwise.

Ugh, I knew I shouldn't have teamed up with you. What was other me thinking, partnering with a shady guy like him?

Anyway, afraid we don't need you now that Ama-no-Sakagami is gone, right? Now do us all a favor and get out of here.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple.

No, it's not. I was absolutely positive other me would win, so I secretly developed a project designed to beat me.

I call it...

The New Kishin Project!!!

New Kishin Project...?

That's right! The only thing that can beat a Kishin is another Kishin!

Which is why I was building a Kishin of justice I call "Arahabaki Mk. II."

We destroyed that other Kishin thing, too.

You... You what? What the hell!? Who said only a Kishin could beat a Kishin anyway!?

Oh, right. Me.

Well, anyway, I expected Arahabaki Mk. II to disappear along with this Singularity...

I can already hear the "but" in this...

But for some reason, Nobunaga's noggin reconstituted itself inside Mk. II, acting as a power source and activating it.

It then went off to defeat its mortal enemy, Mk. I, but with Mk. I already out of the picture...

...the Kishin AI went haywire.

That sounds like it's pretty much your fault.

PRETTY MUCH!? Try completely! So you're telling us there's ANOTHER one of those seriously deadly robots running around!?

Hey, I never expected you to actually beat the first one.

I mean, what kind of idiot would go into battle thinking he was going to lose?

You're not wrong there, but you still deserve a painful death.

So that's why I called you all here today.

If you don't stop it, Mk. II will reach critical mass and go berserk, creating countless branching Singularities.

Worst-case scenario, it could even end up destroying your world, too.

？！

A-at any rate, I do want to know what happened to Lady Nobunaga's head after I went to all that trouble over it.

Oh well. Looks like we've got another big job ahead of us, Oryou.

Fine. Oryou will just have to show everyone Oryou's newly awakened power.

Good grief. I'll do it, but it'll cost you extra.

Nice try, but our contract doesn't end until this Singularity is destroyed, so our old terms are still in effect.

There, see? It's right there on the bottom right.

What? I never saw anything like tha

No, wait. It's in extremely fine print, but it's there, all right. Dammit.

All right then, let's go destroy this Arahabaki Mk. II now and get it over wi

Incidentally, as with the first Arahabaki, Mk. II is pretty much impervious to damage as long as it's getting magical energy from the six Magical Reactors...

So you'll need to shut those down first to even stand a chance against it.

We have to do ALL that again? Oh, come on. Guess we'll have to go get the god of war and Queen Whatsit.

Oh, and one last thing. Servants have been summoned to guard each of the reactors, so you'll want to be extra careful when handling them.

Why in the world would you go to all that extra trouble?

That's where I and the other me who lost to you all differ.

I arranged for these Restoration Servantsas I like to call themto guard the reactors on their own, just to cover all my bases.

Too bad they're only getting in the way now, though, am I right!?

You really shouldn't be talking right now! Especially not looking so smug!

For that matter, none of this would've happened if you hadn't been so damn thorough in the first place!

Stupid president computer!

Hahaha, hey, at least things are interesting!

Now, go! The future is in your hands!

Wahahahaha! Man, even as an AI, that smirking grin of his still pisses me the hell off!