TWLPOD 3

“You save your strength.”

Aran, who had been furthest from the exploded building, focused all his consciousness on the shadow walking out of the thick smoke, as if he had never been dozing off.

The sharp clanking of chains and the sound of a leather straitjacket dragging on the ground were cold, unlike the heat. As the wind blew and the smoke cleared, the shadow’s true form began to become visible to the naked eye.

Even though he knew full well that one could never judge the strength of an Esper or a Guide by their appearance or looks.

“No way… are you kidding me?”

For a moment, Iris couldn’t help but react with disbelief.

“It’s not a joke. Guiding doesn’t work either.”

Jude, who had joined the two from behind, was trembling from his voice down to his hands.

“…ve them… back…”

Flames flickered at the ends of his fluttering black hair.

His body itself walked out, burning like a single ember.

A gaunt body that looked as if it could be lifted with one hand. He could see eyes filled with red fury and resentment.

“Bring them back to life.”

He, who had come out of the building, did not stop.

Sparks flew with his steps, and a scorching heat created a path. He moved forward with staggering steps. His target was clear. It was Charles, twisting his whole body in agony from the burns. Fear flickered on the faces of the healing-type Espers clinging to his side.

“Iris. Prepare a water prison.”

Aran took a pair of black gloves from his pocket, put them on, and pulled them taut. After putting them on, he grabbed the hand of Jude, who was still trembling and attempting to Guide, and pulled it down.

“Jude, you go ask Charles what that guy did.”

“Ask him what he did?”

“If a guy who was quietly locked up even after being captured suddenly went berserk, there must have been some kind of trigger. Ask and if it’s something that can be resolved, then resolve it.”

“…And if it’s something that can’t be resolved?”

Aran’s sigh dissipated into the air.

“Well. I don’t think the Center will be left standing, for one.”

Aran’s sigh dissipated into the air.

The moment he finished speaking, Aran snapped his fingers, and a thunderbolt struck above the young man’s head. It was, quite literally, a bolt from the blue. Despite the lightning being so intense that an afterimage remained on people’s retinas, the young man simply turned his body slowly, as if someone had merely tapped his shoulder.

“He is. A monster.”

He had a distinctively prepared impression.

Hair that resembled the deep night, a face that would have been serene though it was stained with bruises, and red eyes. Within the intense anger, a despair that looked like it would spill out at any moment was clinging on.

“…Don’t interfere.”

“That depends on your point of view. From our side, you’re the one who interfered with a perfectly fine induction ceremony.”

As if he had anticipated the movement, Aran blocked the flames flying from the side and the young man’s body with light. A shimmering golden barrier clashed with the crimson flames. The attacks on each other met and condensed, and then exploded.

A huge aftershock swept through.

Aran firmly planted his military boots on the training ground floor and braced himself in preparation for the next attack, but even as time passed, he could not read his opponent’s movements.

The murderous intent that had been so clear just moments ago was gone without a trace… the young man was simply standing in front of Aran.

“…L?”

Muttering a single syllable that sounded like someone’s name in a low voice.

Because he had stopped so defenselessly, Aran, unable to attack first, shifted his thinking to subduing him and reached out his hand. But the young man, who seemed to be accustomed to combat, reflexively dodged his hand and his eyes glinted with a strange light once again.

Left fist. Right leg. Then he blocked an incoming elbow with his arm, and as if waiting for it, a kick that used centrifugal force to rotate the body. The basic movements flowed like water, relentlessly and without any wasted motion.

The attacks themselves were simple, but they were so fast that it was impossible to dodge without concentrating, and if he failed to dodge and blocked instead, the flames enveloping his body would spread to his uniform.

‘I can’t even grab him.’

The temperature was so hot that it felt like he would get burned just by turning his head to let a flying fist graze his cheek. His cheek, which was becoming feverishly hot, stung as if it had been cut, making it seem nearly impossible to simply capture and neutralize him.

‘Only three out of twenty… they were lucky.’

To be this strong even while wearing a straitjacket that suppresses an Esper’s abilities, he couldn’t even imagine what he would be like at his full capacity.

‘Now, then, what to do with this.’

Perhaps letting him go as he is would be the way to end this with the least amount of damage.

The moment he thought that, fiery arrows flew in from outside his field of vision simultaneously.

“Tsk.”

As he jumped to avoid the dozens of fiery arrows coming from an unexpected direction, he realized. This too was part of his opponent’s calculation.

The moment his opponent, who had rushed at him in the air as if waiting, was about to bring his fist down, Aran could have thought of and executed twelve ways to stop him, but he chose none of them. Then, he saw his opponent, who was rushing at him while scattering flames from his body, bite his lip and relax his strength. In the end, his fist was not swung, but instead grabbed Aran’s collar. And he pinned him to the ground and asked.

“Who are you?”

Aran, who had reflexively grabbed his wrist, could feel the pulse beating painfully beneath the skin.

“Who in the world are you, to have that face?”

Some called him a monster, but Aran saw a human burning within the eyes he met straight on. The anger that had been cast over the face of him, who was struggling and forcing his body to move when it wouldn’t be strange for him to collapse at any moment, soon changed to sadness, and his trembling lips barely managed to utter.

“Answer me.”

The intense eyes bored into Aran. Pierced by the gaze, Aran felt his breath catch, and he felt a shiver as he was made acutely aware that he was alive through his opponent. However, Iris’s shout was faster than Aran’s answer.

“Aran! Get back!”

All of the young man’s nerves were focused on Aran. Aran twisted his wrist and kicked his waist, flipping him onto the ground. As Aran backed away, a giant water prison swallowed him whole, starting from his head. The transparent, deep blue, spherical water held his body with concentrated buoyancy and water pressure, and as he choked, oxygen burst out from between the young man’s lips as bubbles.

Aran, watching the young man who was trapped and coughing silently, mulled over the pulse he had felt. The unpleasant feeling he had felt before the building collapsed was still there now. It was even more so because the wide-open eyes, even in the water, were still glaring at him.

“It was unavoidable.”

Aran unknowingly muttered as he looked at the resentful eyes, as if he had been betrayed. It was only for a moment that the young man, who was no longer even spitting out bubbles, perhaps having swallowed too much water, squeezed his eyes shut and relaxed his strength.

Iris approached and placed a hand on Aran’s shoulder.

“I guess I’m not enough.”

Drip, drip, drip-drip. Water droplets began to fall from the spherical water prison that was floating in the air. As if it were melting.

“He really is a monster. This one.”

When water and fire meet, one of two phenomena occurs.

Either enough water puts out the fire, or a very strong fire evaporates the water.

As white steam was released as evidence of vaporization, the water prison gradually shrank.

The completely drenched young man planted his feet on the ground and coughed up water, and even as he staggered, he ignited flames in his hands.

“……”

Aran quietly stared at the body that seemed like it would break if he so much as touched it, already having reached its limit, and racked his brain in various directions. All the alternatives that came to mind were all-or-nothing dangerous options, so he couldn’t move easily. At that moment.

“He’s alive!!!”

Jude shouted loudly and ran out onto the training ground. He shoves the screen projected above his bracelet at them, practically begging them to look at it.

“He’s alive! The kid who was shot!”

Jude, who had sprinted at full power, panted and showed the screen to the young man.

“The cameras… they’re connected to each other… so the other side can see you too.”

Kay, facing the screen, couldn’t easily speak and only moved his lips. Then, the small child who had been hovering between life and death from a gunshot wound just moments ago, beamed and pointed a finger at the screen.

[“Huh? It’s Kay! Kay!”]

To the child who was waving his palm back and forth, Kay managed to ask with difficulty.

“…Anna. Are you hurt anywhere?”

[“Hurt anywhere?”]

The child seemed to be unaware of the fact that she had been shot and that it had been healed with a healing ability. It’s better this way, Kay thought, genuinely relieved, and changed his question.

“Are you hurting anywhere?”

[“Nope. But Kay, why are you soaking wet? You look like a drowned rat.”]

“A mouse, you mean. If you’re not hurting anywhere, that’s good. Can you put Leah on?”

The screen seemed to move, and then the adult who was in charge of the orphanage appeared.

“It’s my fault. I’m sorry.”

[“It was those Lympus bastards, wasn’t it?”]

“I’ll make sure nothing like this happens from now on.”

[“What about you? You’re coming back soon, right?”]