TWLPOD 40

“It was you?”

The human experimentation at that research facility.

[“If you want an answer, you’ll have to win first.”]

There was no way that those who had gone so far as to experiment on humans would have made an exception for animals.

[“Then, shall we begin?”]

At those words, without needing to decide who would go first, they each swung their weapons at their respective enemies.

Aran knew that the world, filled with shattered mirrors in all directions, had been prepared for him.

“You seem to have studied a lot. To prepare something as trivial as this.”

[“To a tedious degree for the past three years.”]

“No wonder I felt like I had a stalker.”

In an instant, the distance between them closed, and the gun and the light clashed and sparked.

As Aran put strength into his feet and pushed his opponent, Sage, with his toes against the wall, was also able to hold his ground by bracing himself.

“If you had studied properly, you would know that you can’t beat me, no matter what kind of troublesome tricks you pull.”

[“Perhaps in terms of strength. However.”]

Sage, who had been in a tense standoff, suddenly released his strength, throwing Aran off balance, then spun half a circle, loading centrifugal force into his leg, and swung. Aran’s body was pushed back by the solid impact.

Bang—!

A sharp bullet grazed Aran’s hair and lodged itself in a mirror on the wall.

[“The external forces can hold out for an hour at most, and in that time, you have to defeat me and overload the core… Isn’t the advantage mine?”]

While the distance between them had widened, Sage’s gaze turned to Kay. A beast, which looked to be about thirty times Kay’s size, was swinging its arm like a whip. Kay seemed to be nimbly moving his small body to dodge here and there, looking for an opening, but perhaps due to the fatigue from the continuous battles, his movements were heavy.

[“According to the simulator, wearing you down has a higher win rate than wearing him down.”]

“That’s not an incorrect analysis. If I’m depleted, I can’t guide him.”

At those words, Sage’s pupils dilated.

[“You guide him? You?”]

“Yes.”

A Multi possesses both characteristics, but they cannot manifest both at the same time.

Therefore, to destroy the core, the win rate was higher if Kay manifested his power and Aran guided him.

[“In that case, your operation is already half a failure.”]

“Why?”

[“In the final room, I wanted to inflict extreme ‘mental stress’ upon you.”]

Aran naturally thought of the android that looked exactly like him.

[“Unlike you, for whom a lot of data has been accumulated, there wasn’t much information on him. Creating a similar machine was impossible.”]

Then what kind of machine had appeared for Kay?

Aran was bothered by the sight of Kay repeatedly clearing his throat when they had joined up.

[“Instead, I gave him the most turbulent existence from the moments he was observed.”]

He deflected a bullet that had been fired from the gun and had changed direction arbitrarily, and charged again to close the distance.

[“A dear friend.”]

Aran realized that he meant Simon Jaeger. However, from Kay’s perspective, it was an opponent whose life he had already taken with his own hands. Would he be shaken by seeing a mere copy?

[“I let him hear the sounds.”]

“Sounds?”

[“The sounds of the moment he was dismantled and given a new body. He was a truly good person. He missed his hometown of only desert, night, and poverty very much.”]

The machine spoke in a subdued voice, as if sympathizing with him, but Aran was unfazed. There was only the clarity of having found an answer to the moment he had looked like he was about to cry, a simple, ‘Ah, so that’s why he had that expression.’

[“You don’t feel much sympathy, do you?”]

As if reading his thoughts, Sage sneered faintly.

[“Isn’t it ironic? That something like you is also human.”]

At the reproach disguised as a sneer, Aran chuckled. It was a rare, genuine laugh, and at the same time, he began to push Sage back.

“That’s not something you should say, having conducted biological experiments and even shown the subject’s sacrifice to that ‘dear friend’.”

Once again, blade and light clashed.

[“Do you think it’s something a human wouldn’t do? You seem to have a rather high opinion of humanity’s morality.”]

“That’s not it. It’s just that someone said.”

The glittering spear of light reflected off the mirrors, causing diffuse reflection that disordered his vision. Even if he tried not to be conscious of it, Aran kept getting distracted by his own reflection in the mirrors and had to focus.

“That even such flaws are human, aren’t they?”

He widened his view to observe Kay, who was fighting the giant beast. At a glance, the size difference was reminiscent of David and Goliath.

The beast’s skin seemed highly durable, deflecting Kay’s attacks and continuing a one-sided offensive. While Aran’s focus was broken, worried about Kay who was purely on the evasive and defensive, this time a flash of light burst out instead of a bullet. Aran’s vision was momentarily washed in white. Without even a moment to blame his carelessness, a massive shockwave hit him, and his body was sent flying.

“Keuk!”

As soon as he was slammed into the mirror wall, fragments shattered above his head.

Amidst the scattering shards, Aran’s eyes snapped open.

Reflected in those eyes was the sight of the Key aiming precisely at Kay’s back, while he was being slammed into the wall.

“Kay!”

Instinctively, his body moved first. And he ran. The fact that the ability he possessed was light, that his past self who had mastered the technique of moving at the speed of light, even if for an instant, could not have been more praiseworthy.

“Ugh!”

Kay, who had been concentrating all his attention on the beast, was moved in an instant. The sensation that shook him from his head was similar to teleportation, yet much more disorienting.

The dizziness came belatedly due to the excessively fast movement.

“You, what did you just…”

Before that, the sound of something exploding was heard. Kay, who could not finish his sentence, turned his gaze, as did Aran.

[“Kkieeeng!”]

On the flank of the beast, which had not even been scratched after a hundred of Kay’s strikes, a mark appeared as if it had been hit by a wrecking ball.

The black fur scattered with a ‘whump’ sound, and drip, drip, green oil flowed from the beast’s body.

“One-on-one is too tough. Let’s take them one at a time.”

Aran whispered into the ear of Kay, whom he was holding in his arms.

“The wolf first?”

With a nod, Kay repositioned his grip on the sword.

“You, can you do that just now one more time?”

He knew it was not a fitting sentiment for the situation, but the longsword, with its reddish hues from the jewel-made blade to the hilt, suited him well.

Satisfied that his own judgment had not been wrong, Aran feigned composure.

“Of course.”

“Then get ready.”

The moment Kay said that and ran forward, and the Key, who was at a distance, rushed to stop him, happened at the same time.

However, unlike the Key, who was shaken by the fact that his own bullet had hit the beast, Kay swung his sword as if he had read it in advance and blocked his approach.

Taking the opportunity, he grabbed the beast’s mane and used the recoil from pyrokinesis to swing his body high into the air like a swing.

Tap.

Having soared high, he turned his body without losing balance in mid-air. The soles of his military boots touched the ceiling as he held his sword vertically.

The descent with added acceleration was instantaneous. Before the roar had even ceased, a massive impact sound followed, and the beast, with the sword precisely embedded in the spot where it had bled from the shockwave, let out a scream. It thrashed about in all directions, unable to control its massive body.

“Aran!”

Having noticed and moved even before Kay gave the signal, he moved, literally drawing a streak of light. Like Kay, he stepped on the ceiling, and descending vertically even faster than him, he added impact to the sword embedded in the beast’s wound.

First, fragments of light scattered. The silence that lasted until the mirror floor shattered was brief, and then the sound rushed in.

At the beast’s howl, Aran momentarily covered his ears. Kay pulled out the sword embedded in the beast’s body and charged.

The sunset red, imbued with flames, was swung gracefully. Amidst the scattering mirror fragments, huge flames also shot up, dazzling the eyes.

Just like Aran, while the Key was distracted by the beast’s death, the Key’s body was instantly split by the flames.

Just a few seconds.

That fleeting moment decided this match.

He knew by instinct that the battle was over. Kay was catching his breath when he coughed, chok, at the ash floating in the air, and as if reacting to that sound, the beast’s cry, a ‘grrr—’, was heard.

Kay, whose body had naturally turned, met a pair of large, black eyes.

He could not believe that the eyes of the huge beast, which looked not at all artificial on the outside, were actually mechanical. Those eyes stimulated Kay’s memory.

“…It’s painful…”

The weight in his arms is still vivid, and when the wind blows, the breath of the one who died leaning on his shoulder reflexively comes to mind.

The death of one who turned to ash and flew away, whose name is merely engraved on a block of stone.

“Grrr…”

Looking at the eyes that seemed to be asking for death, Kay reached out to the pink core that was faintly visible through the wound where the sword had been embedded.

“You don’t mind, right?”

“Yeah.”

At that answer, Kay covered the beast’s eyes with his other hand. Then he put his hand into the wound and grasped the pink core amidst the sticky oil.

With a strong grip and applied heat, it shatters with a sound like breaking glass. Even the beast’s slight movements soon ceased.

“…”

With his left arm and hand covered in green oil, he stood up and closed his eyes for a moment. As if in a silent prayer.

Where the beast was creating a river of green glaze.

Kay, who opened his eyes and stared at it for a moment, immediately drew his sword and placed it under the chin of Sage, whose torso had been severed.

“Now answer. The research facility in K-District. Did you lead it?”

The attempt to create anomalous entities by kidnapping espers, a fact that could be inferred from the result of mixing living creatures and machines. Even when he asked again for a definite answer, only silence returned.

“Any last words?”

Was it because of the word ‘last’? Sage, who had been motionless, murmured in a cracked voice.