Execution Time: The End of an Evil Genius [Èmó Lóng]
Not needing chains to escort him to the stage of his demise, Lóng all but dances from the carriage. His gold anklets provide a pleasant accompaniment to the sound of a wistful hummed melody that seems to echo and become louder as the train slows to a stop and the door opens, Lóng’s figure disappears from view.
Chapter 1: The Unattainable
The screens mounted around the carriage flicker to life, the static fades to a high definition live feed of Lóng in a room the children would all recognise as the very first execution. As expected, Lóng stands in the centre of the stage with a single spotlight pointed at him.
Though unlike Koda, Lóng has all of his limbs and thus begins to dance to the upbeat jazzy song despite his obviously differing taste in music.
Mechanical arms shoot out of the ceiling and ground, metal clamps snapping at his arms and legs. Only ever managing to latch onto thin air as Lóng dances past each arm.
「You know, for something that I programmed you'd think that it would be able to catch me」
A brief grin flashes on the screen as Lóng spins past and onto the next location.
Chapter 2: The Game
With his ponytail draped over his left eye in some childish mockery of the girl who once stood in this place, Lóng struggles against the rope that binds him, each movement he makes appearing laborious and painful. Cydai comes into the booth and Lóng perks up and waves, the rope falling around his feet after his nails tear through the frail material. Snagging the giant Vocaloid plush on his way out, Lóng grabs Cydai’s hand and runs to the next area.
Chapter 3: The Crisis
Lóng sits down in the dressing room like the royalty he believes himself to be, allowing the mechanical arms to serve him.
They behave much more than they did for our favourite pink haired support girl, giving Lóng a transformations into classmates. Each outfit gets a firm look of distaste from Cydai when Lóng poses. Finally growing bored, the arms droop and restore his original outfit for him to move to the next room in.
Chapter 4: The Waltz
The spotlight once again dramatically switches on the reveal Lóng standing centre stage, his cloak draped around his elbows to reveal his bare torso to the fake audience.
「I must say, Zun really must have had no shame. Even I feel quite disgusted.」
Lóng pulls his cloak back on and puts a hand to his chin in thought. A lightbulb moment hits him and Lóng grabs Cydai’s hand once again, but this time to waltz.
In response to Cydai’s rage, Lóng smiles even more brightly. Only to be punched in the face when the music dies and Lóng leans Cydai back in the most cinematic ending to a waltz.
Chapter 5: The Chase
After bursting through the wall and into the new room, Lóng dusts himself off. The CRT, the timer, the soon to be thrown bottles. His eyes seem dull as he approaches the door, the same old puzzles, no more entertaining than the last. Even after his many years of life perhaps one of his only regrets was being unable to find a challenge worthy of him.
Lóng kicks the door open after a number of tries, expecting to see the hanging body of the girl he’d killed just for the locksmith boy’s execution. Instead, perched on a simple stool, leaning against the tree is the corpse of a once bright and beautiful young woman, now reduced to a lifeless pale corpse. For a moment, Lóng falters, a profound sadness washing over him. That one moment proves to be fatal as a bottle flies out of the room left behind him and strikes him in the exact middle of the back of his head. He stumbles forward and crashes at the black haired corpse’s feet, before he can gather himself, the synthetic grass gives way much like a trapdoor, sending Lóng and Zhihao’s body into a dark pit of slides, spikes, and trapdoors.
His judgement, impaired by the prior injury, slow his movements, rendering him almost unable to dodge the traps and dangers this new level held. But all good things must come to an end, as Lóng is impaled by a spike that tears straight through his chest. The retraction of which causes blood to spray in numerous directions. The floor beneath him gives way one final time, prolonging their descent into the ground.
Using the last of his strength, Lóng reaches out to the falling corpse of his bride and smiles. If he couldn't bring her back to him in this world, he would simply have to go to hers. There was nothing he could have wanted more.
Chapter 6: The End
Drenched in his own blood, Lóng -or Xiuying perhaps- delicately holds the corpse of Zhihao in his arms. Despite being impaled by a spike, his grip on her body remains firm, never again will she leave his embrace. Their free fall seems to last for minutes, hours, days. Time is but a distant concept now, as death has finally knocked on his door. His consciousness begins to fade from blood loss, but not fast enough for him to die before slamming into a coffin, shattering what little bones were still intact.
As the lid slams shut, Lóng smiles and pulls Zhihao close once again. But that's not all, the screen displays a digital clock. Counting down to.. something.
An ear splitting explosion rattles the trial carriage. How close was that? The screens have turned to static once again but.. something is loading??