episode_0217

“…Hoo… Did I succeed….”

Within the frozen world, Ashe, who had successfully stopped time, surveyed the situation.

Just moments ago, she was manipulating time for herself alone, but now it was ‘time manipulation’ affecting everything except herself.

As it was an absurdly large-scale manipulation, she felt a massive amount of magic power draining away like a receding tide.

But this time, it seemed she had finally managed to properly stop Rahel.

Ashe massaged her throbbing eyes and first examined Rahel’s arms and legs.

The wounds Ashe had inflicted moments ago had almost completely healed or only left shallow scars.

She was sure she had cut her, but had she achieved self-regeneration in that instant?

As expected, the only word that came to mind was monster.

‘…To stop Rahel, I need to…’

Halfhearted attempts at suppression wouldn’t stop her.

Rahel, the Hero, was the kind of person who could somehow manage even if her arms and legs were gone.

She was a reliable ally, but there was no scarier opponent when she became an enemy.

Ashe was deep in thought, but even now, magic power was being consumed in real-time within the stopped time. She couldn’t drag it out for long.

Eventually, Ashe hastily finished her contemplation and pointed the muzzle of the pistol in her hand at Rahel.

The gun aimed at Rahel’s heart, then her head, and then back at her legs.

She still hesitated to shoot.

She was one of her few friends and comrades.

But more than that, Rahel’s abilities were too valuable.

Losing her abilities would undoubtedly be a huge loss for the Hero side.

Rahel was an irreplaceable talent. That was clear.

‘But…’

‘In the future, Rahel…’

She would become a puppet of the enemy like this.

And she would stain her hands, which loved justice, with evil, and unleash all kinds of tragedies with her supreme power.

That’s why she had to kill her.

Even if it was a waste, she had to end her life now.

She steeled her heart and aimed the gun.

And—she lowered the gun.

Clunk, the gun pointed towards the floor.

She wouldn’t kill her.

No.

She couldn’t kill her…

“Well done. If you had continued, I would have cut off your arm.”

“…Right. I remembered. I had some trouble back then.”

Within the stopped time.

Rahel, who should have been stopped along with time, slowly turned to face Ashe.

Her eyes were still cold, soulless, and emotionless.

Judging by the fact that No. 13 wasn’t moving, Ashe’s magic had certainly stopped time.

But only Rahel couldn’t be stopped.

Even with the clone a moment ago, it had only been stopped because it was a clone; if it were her real self, she wouldn’t have been able to stop her.

She had thought it was strange.

‘If it was just carelessness, that would have been nice… But of course, that couldn’t be the case with Rahel.’

Rahel’s constellation was 『Libra』.

A constellation that tended to adjust to always maintain ‘balance’ so that she was on the same level as her opponent.

For Rahel, who was blessed by such a constellation, almost any special ability was rendered useless.

If the opponent used poison, she would develop an antidote.

If the opponent was fast, she would gain speed that wouldn’t lose out.

If there were many opponents, she would become as strong as their numbers.

And if time stopped—she would also move within the stopped time.

Ashe, who came from the future, had several opportunities to fight Rahel, and she had been utterly defeated each time.

Having personally experienced her ability to even twist time in response to her magic, Ashe had even felt bewildered.

She had felt so keenly that Rahel wasn’t the same as other humans.

『Balance Magic』.

That was the ability written on Rahel’s profile submitted to the Association, but no matter how you looked at it, words like balance or equilibrium didn’t suit it.

—That’s just cheating.

Ashe muttered words of complaint that didn’t suit her and slowly raised her body.

Her eyeball was bleeding from Rahel’s kick a moment ago, and half of her vision was red.

Even keeping her eyes open was painful, and her semicircular canals were messed up, and her sense of balance had been strange for a while now.

And, towards such Ashe.

Rahel approached with indifferent eyes.

Without a shred of affection.

Without a shred of mercy.

She advanced, looking at her friend Ashe with the same eyes as when she faced a villain.

Swish——

In her hand, she held her beloved sword drawn from its scabbard, emitting a cold, sharp energy….

* * *

Dorothy, who was imprisoned, also noticed the anomaly outside.

The alarm echoing throughout the building was clearly audible even in the room where Dorothy was being held.

And after a while.

She heard footsteps outside the door, followed by loud knocking.

『Dorothy-nim. Are you inside?』

It was Rahel’s voice.

It also meant that reinforcements had arrived safely.

“Yes. I’m here, Rahel.”

In response to the voice heard through the door, she heard a reply from outside.

The lock on this door was on the outside, and No. 13 had the authentication terminal needed for entry.

Dorothy hurriedly tried to convey that fact, but before she could, she heard an unusual sound from the door.

Crackling, buzzing!!

Loud noises were heard around the door and doorknob.

And after a while.

The sturdy door that Dorothy had inspected several times was strangely distorted, the doorknob was twisted out of place, and the wall supporting the doorknob had crumbled terribly.

Opening the half-crushed door, a Hero in a white uniform entered.

“I’ve come to rescue you. Let’s get out of here.”

Rahel held out her hand.

Instead of taking Rahel’s hand, Dorothy asked.

“Did my sister—Doraji send you?”

Rahel nodded instead of answering.

“…Okay, thank you, Rahel.”

And then, Dorothy finally took Rahel’s outstretched hand.

* * *

After finding some suitable clothes to wear nearby, Dorothy, escorted by Rahel, descended to the underground passage, the entrance to the hideout.

Inside the closed room where the entrance was located.

Inside the room, filled with cold air due to Rahel’s magic, No. 13 and Ashe lay sprawled like trash.

No. 13 was pierced through by an ice pick larger than Dorothy’s height, stuck to the wall, and his entire body was covered in ice, frozen solid.

Ashe, on the other hand, was panting, missing one arm and one leg.

Rahel’s beloved sword was vertically impaled in her back.

Like a bug with its wings torn off, pinned and decorated…

“…Did you kill them?”

“I didn’t kill them. I only suppressed them enough so that they couldn’t pursue us any further.”

Dorothy shuddered slightly at Rahel’s nonchalant words.

Anyway, as long as she didn’t kill them, there was no problem.

Of course, if it were her sister’s personality, she wouldn’t have stopped until she had annihilated them all and turned their corpses to dust, but Dorothy had asked her to avoid killing people if possible.

She was grateful for her sister’s consideration in granting her request.

Rahel pulled out the sword that had been pinning Ashe to the ground, took it, and headed towards the passage leading out of the hideout.

Dorothy glanced back at No. 13, who was frozen and unable to revive, for just a moment, and immediately followed Rahel towards the entrance.

And just before passing through that entrance.

“Where are you going, Dorothy?”

A voice calling out to her from the stairs leading down to this room made her stop.

Boss Violet was slowly descending the stairs leading down to this underground passage behind her.

“…Boss.”

“Where are you going? You’re my subordinate and a valuable member of this 【Abyss】.”

Violet said.

Dorothy turned to face her and lowered her eyes for a moment, but then looked straight at her again.

Violet’s golden eyes and Dorothy’s blue eyes intertwined.

“…I apologize for the inconvenience, Boss. I will make sure that this organization, and you, Boss, do not suffer any further damage… I will persuade that child as well.”

“Dorothy, that’s not what I’m trying to say.”

“…Besides that, I have nothing else to say.”

“Dorothy!”

Violet raised her voice a tone higher at Dorothy’s attitude of trying to push her away to the end.

As if judging that as a threat, Rahel, who was guarding Dorothy, tried to pounce on Violet.

Dorothy stopped Rahel.

“Rahel, stay still… Boss, as I said, I have nothing more to say. However, I sincerely apologize for disturbing and confusing your mind.”

Dorothy spoke with a calm face, but with a definitely gloomy look in her eyes.

She hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to say something or not, but then, with a sigh, she decided to reveal everything without lies.

“…Boss. You would understand, Boss. You would understand if you lost a sibling and held that sense of loss and regret in your heart for a long time.”

“Boss, I also have a younger sister.”

“She’s prettier than me, more sociable than me, taller than me, and has a better style… She’s a really wonderful younger sister.”

“I cherish that child so much.”

“I owe that child.”

“I have something to atone for to that precious child.”

“So, I can’t stop.”

“So, I couldn’t quit.”

“…Still, I don’t think it’s right for that child to try to lay a hand on you, Boss, and even help her…”

“I will somehow persuade her on that part.”

“So, Boss.”

—Please forget everything.

This incident, everything about Dorothy, completely.

If you just forget and never try to get involved again, everything will be resolved.

So.

Therefore….

“There’s no way I can do that.”

Violet said.

“There’s no way I can forget. There’s no way I can just let it go.”

“…Boss.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Stop talking nonsense.”

“Boss, I’ll apologize for this. It was my fault. I understand that you’re angry because I poked at your sensitive sister’s affairs. I’ll be sure to make up for that later. I’ll atone for it. So please, just now——”

“There’s no way I can do that, Dorothy!!”

Violet interrupted Dorothy’s words.

Tears faintly welled up in Violet’s eyes.

“This incident… I’m angry that you dared to poke at my sister’s affairs. That’s right, Dorothy!”

“But what I’m angriest about right now.”

“What I can’t tolerate the most.”

“Is that you suddenly tell me to ‘forget’ without any rhyme or reason, Dorothy! Huh?!”

“How am I supposed to forget!”

“How am I supposed to just let you go!”

“I can’t let you go!”

“There’s no way I can do that!!”

Violet said.

Violet said.

Violet said.

“Dorothy, Dorothy is——like family to me now!”

With those words.

Tears streamed down Violet’s eyes.

* * *

“My younger sister is so precious to me.”

“She was the only family I could open my heart to.”

“But, but you know.”

“My sister is precious, but now… Dorothy, No. 13, and the strategist are all precious to me.”

“It’s only been a few years, and we’re not even blood-related.”

“But, still….”

“I thought of Dorothy as family.”

“…I thought it would be nice to have a sister like this….”

“How can you just leave like this?!”

“Without properly explaining anything!”

“Without being able to say goodbye properly!”

“Without telling me what you’re thinking!”

“How can you just tell me to forget!”

For Violet, who had already lost her family, Dorothy’s actions now were not much different from losing her family again.

The villain organization 【Abyss】 is an organization for Awakened people who, like Violet’s sister, have to lose their lives mercilessly.

They operate to protect them, put pressure on society with their existence, and have the purpose of serving the minority of people who have no human rights.

But frankly speaking, for Violet, that purpose has now become secondary.

More than achieving any great cause with this organization, if these few members of the organization could live together like a family… that would be enough.

Even if there are any hardships and thorny paths ahead, if we can cheer each other up and work together… then I thought such a life wouldn’t be so bad.

If I’m with them.

If I’m with my precious colleagues in the organization….

“……Family…?”

And.

Dorothy muttered, narrowing her eyes at Violet’s words.

It seems that Dorothy also felt something from Violet’s words.

A strange emotion. A strange feeling.

She enjoyed some emotion called nostalgia or longing, or expectation, for a moment… and shook it off with a blink of her eyes.

“Boss, I’m sorry, but I can’t be your sister.”

“I’m really sorry, but… I have a possessive younger sister.”

Cutting her off with a cold and level-headed voice, Dorothy bowed deeply.

Then, after gesturing to Rahel, she turned her back on Violet and passed through the entrance.

Immediately after passing through the entrance, Dorothy looked back at Violet one last time.

“I really enjoyed my time in the organization. …I’ll send the strategist back as soon as possible.”

With those words.

Dorothy said goodbye like that and left through the passage beyond the entrance.

“Tch…!”

Violet stood blankly behind Dorothy, then stomped her feet on the floor as if annoyed, venting her anger….