TWLPOD 26

Even though… defeating them, who possessed combat abilities inferior to even androids, was not difficult in itself… that, in its own way, added to the psychological burden.

“Hah… hah…”

My breathing grew increasingly ragged, and my stamina was being depleted. My clothes were uncomfortable, and my weapon was continuously wearing down.

As we shifted our position slightly according to the combat situation, we turned a corner at some point, and the entrance we had come in through came into view.

By the time we reached this point, thankfully, the numerous machines were no longer in sight.

[“……”]

Unfortunately, the only one left before my eyes was Simon.

“Simon.”

Kay wiped the sweat with a cloth and called his name, then closed his mouth, then opened it again.

“Get a grip.”

It would be a lie to say he hadn’t thought of him when he said he was coming to Lympus. Just as the children still called him ‘Mister Simon’ even after five years. The enclosure of a family that had lived under one roof never disappears.

[“Kay.”]

“Yeah. It’s me.”

As the memories submerged in the depths of his mind surfaced, he hoped that perhaps his reason remained, but.

[“—providing information.”]

It was a futile hope. He no longer had a self as a human being.

[“From Willomere. An S-class Esper. His ability is…”]

Kay took a scalpel from the pocket of a fallen researcher.

[“<Ignition>, which creates flames from the body.”]

“Stop talking.”

[“The temperature of the created fire can be raised and lowered according to his own limits, and he can also extinguish the fire he has ignited himself, depending on its scale.”]

“Simon, I’m begging you.”

[“The side effect is…”]

Kay stabbed his foot with the scalpel. The moment his opponent lost his balance and staggered, he immediately kicked the back of his knee, knocking him down. Not missing the opening as he fell, he slashed the inside of his open mouth.

Slice. The sensation of something being cut was more vivid than usual.

[“Gahk!”]

Simon, who had lost his balance, staggered back a few steps and then sank to the ground.

Blood formed at the corner of his mouth, and soon, a red and green liquid poured out.

A sticky fluid and smell like oil.

Even though I knew and was seeing it, I confirmed once again that he was no longer human. No matter how many times I repeated it to myself, my heart did not feel any lighter.

Nevertheless, it was something that had to be done.

“To Leah. I’ll apologize.”

Any Esper, when sensing a crisis, exhibits greater power. It’s a very natural thing, just as humans secrete adrenaline, endorphins, or dopamine in a life-or-death crisis.

The ground beneath Kay’s feet shook as a massive blade shot up. A three-dimensional concrete blade pierced the ceiling, and Kay leaped into the air a step early, raised his hand, and stared at the soaring blade. He raised his hand at an angle to reduce friction and pressure, and with a slight application of force and the sensation of his dermis tearing, he spun in the air and landed on the blade.

“So.”

Aiming for Kay, who had easily dodged the large attack, blades shot out from the walls in succession. Dodging the not-so-small blades one by one and using them as footholds, Kay closed the distance to Simon, again and again.

Hesitation is not allowed.

In one breath. In one strike. I must cut him down.

He tightened his grip on the scalpel and sliced deeply from his neck down his upper body.

Slice— The sensation of tearing through the epidermis was clear through his palm.

[“Ghk…”]

However, the android body, which does not die as long as its core is intact, continued with the next attack without hesitation, even while letting out a pained sound. Kay switched his grip on the scalpel, using it like a dagger, and plunged it into the arm of Simon, who was about to manifest his ability again.

Even though it had pierced halfway through the concrete wall, blades shot out from the torso that was merely carrying out its given orders, and Kay did not dodge the blade flying precisely toward his heart.

Kill or be killed.

The outcome on a battlefield where you had to fight with your life on the line was always the same.

“Die in peace.”

He wasn’t dead. So he was alive.

[“Kay…”]

Kay thrusting his hand into the split-open torso and crushing the core was faster than the protruding blade piercing his flesh.

Crack—!

A sharp cracking sound rang out as it was violently crushed.

The facts that the core in his hand pulsed like a heart, or that the lukewarm lubricant clinging to his hand felt just like the sensation of blood, followed belatedly.

The machine, whose operation had completely ceased without even a moment of extermination, collapsed onto his body.

That was all.

[“Thank you…”]

Holding the weight of the fallen body, Kay belatedly recognized the auditory hallucination that wouldn’t leave his hand and ear. It was a heartbeat that felt just like a living thing.

Even though what he had killed was surely a machine that couldn’t be called human.

“Farewell. Simon.”

Under the seeping moonlight, Kay slowly burned the dead body.

The embers that spread from his body moved to Simon’s, and as he raised the temperature of the fire higher and higher, the protein, fat, and even the water that made up the blood all burned up. A smell that was by no means pleasant spread through the air, and in between, the green oil mixed with blood aided Kay.

In accordance with the providence that all living things die and return to nature.

Having burned it away without leaving even a bone fragment, Kay silently stared at the last bit of dust remaining in his hand.

Watching those particles slip away even when he was just standing still, he felt a sense of dissociation from reality.

“…ir?”

It seemed like someone was saying something somewhere, but he couldn’t hear it well.

“…re y…kay?”

A muffled feeling, as if someone was shouting from far away, continued. However, the noise gradually grew louder, and his nerves were on edge. He wished the whole world would just submerge, even for a moment. Just as he was thinking that he wished for a moment of time when he could be cut off from the world, even for a little while.

Tap. A hand touched his shoulder.

“Kay.”

Slap—!

With that touch as a trigger, the muffled sound returned to normal, and then became so loud it hurt his ears. Not just his hearing, but all his nerves were oversensitive. That’s why the stinging on the back of his hand felt unusually painful, and he realized afterward that the pain came from having shaken off Aran’s hand that had touched his shoulder.

“Don’t touch me.”

For the first time in a long time, words flew out of his mouth without passing through his head. Only after the stinging on the back of his hand faded did his surroundings come into view. The trashed interior and exterior of the laboratory, the soldiers in uniform, and even Jin, who was approaching.

“Are you two, all right?”

It was so funny that he would ask such a monotonous question after seeing the traces of the building that had been shattered by random gunfire and the power of Espers and supernatural beings. The sound of his laughter must have been louder than he thought, because Jin’s expression became strange, but he didn’t have the energy to care about every little thing. No, in the first place, they were people who didn’t even care about us who had disappeared, so why should we care about them?

“You seem… to be all right. I’d like to hear a situation report.”

At the words ‘situation report’, his ears became muffled again. When his ears became muffled, his balance faltered, and he had to plant his feet firmly to stand straight.

“There were human experiments. The one I just killed is burned away, but…”

Kay looked back. In the long hallway, the corpses of those he had killed, those who were not human, were piled up.

As if his murderous intent from moments ago had been a lie, Kay continued speaking as usual.

“Look for them. It seems that not only the Espers, but also half of the researchers’ bodies had been androidized.”

To Jin, Kay, who only conveyed the necessary information, might have seemed fine, but not to Aran. His calmness, unfitting for the situation, made him look like a balloon on the verge of bursting.

“Is there, anything more I need to do?”

When Kay asked, staring into his reddish-brown eyes, Jin shook his head.

“No. You may rest until you are called for the next mission.”

Kay, who was trudging away, quietly called out a name.

“Aran.”

Aran, who was about to provide additional information to Jin, turned his head at the call.

“Remember what you said, that if I cause trouble, it should be within a range that can be solved with money?”

“…I remember.”

“Is that still valid?”

Aran found Kay fascinating. He was fascinatingly full of life, and that was the same even in moments like now when he was suppressing his emotions. Like his ability, like his wavelength, he always infected others with the feeling of being alive.

“As you wish.”

That’s why, even if it meant paying a higher price than originally planned, he wanted to grant his wish.

Because money. And life. To him, they were much cheaper than the feeling of being alive.

Kay, who was silently retracing his steps, had a clear destination, and the place he stopped was in front of a certain building.

At dawn, the very building where the full moon auction had been held. Stopping in front of the stairs leading to the semi-basement, Kay asked.

“Are you going to follow me?”

“I have to protect my wallet too.”

Aran threw a light joke, but Kay went down the stairs without a reply. There was no time to even check on him, let alone stop him.

“Hey, this is a restricted area—”

As if he had scouted it out at some point, Kay pulled a gun from the possession of the guard protecting the primary entrance and fired a single shot, breaking the building door before the shell casing hit the floor.

“Kay.”

Calling his name couldn’t stop people from dying. The guard in front of the secondary inner door, and the employee who was at the spot where they checked invitations after taking the elevator down, both had bullets planted precisely in their foreheads, and their bodies slumped. The several layers of security that could never be entered without an invitation were powerless in the face of a stronger force.

Having melted the entire door, Kay now entered the desolate auction house, where no one was present and no light came in.

“Is this revenge?”

“No. Letting off steam.”

“About what?”

Dozens of laser pointers clung to Kay’s body.

“I don’t know.”

There are things that don’t change, no matter how many times you preach platitudes like ‘there is no hierarchy of life’ or ‘a person’s life cannot be converted into money’. Humans put a price on other humans, and buy that value with money.