episode_0242

It happened in an instant.

Spade stepped forward to protect Mabel and Number 13.

Mabel, behind Spade, began a fluent chant, preparing magic to stop Rahel.

Number 13, leaving the two behind, tried to escape the scene riding the ‘Ink Beast’ Mabel had created.

Doraji and Dorothy, along with the unconscious Apple and the aide, accompanied the fleeing Number 13.

They weren’t being careless.

Spade and Mabel were trying to go all-out from the start.

Number 13, wary of Rahel behind him, was considering various possibilities in his dim-witted mind.

—Number 13 doesn’t know what happened after that.

Huh…?

He was about to utter a dumbfounded sound.

However, no sound came out. His body wouldn’t move properly either.

He only realized a little later that his lungs were ruined and half of his body had simply exploded and blown away.

Huh.

Huh.

Huh…?

It was a sensation like inserting an unnatural cut between cuts.

Number 13, who had been turning his back to Rahel just a moment ago, was now being held by the neck, his body lifted.

Spade must have tried to stop Rahel.

Mabel must have tried to stop Rahel with her extraordinary magic!

But now Rahel is in front of Number 13.

Behind her are countless traces of cracks and destruction, and the ice crystals she created with her magic.

Spade and Mabel are lying sprawled somewhere in that hallway.

Covered in blood, they looked far from alright.

‘Ha….’

He was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t even sigh.

He realized he had lost consciousness for a very brief moment.

Could it be that his memory is patchy here and there because his revival wasn’t complete due to lack of mana?

Still, as the memory slowly returned, Number 13 trembled with horror.

Rahel was like a storm.

A disaster that a human body could never withstand.

Even though two A-class heroes (Spade, Mabel) gave it their all, she took their full power with an indifferent face—and retaliated.

Neither the persistent Spade,

Nor Mabel’s abilities that had been playing around with the executives of 【Dawn】 meant anything.

What meaning could those petty tricks have in the face of a disaster?

“Keuh… keuk….”

Perhaps because the regeneration of his lungs was barely completed, Number 13’s stopped breathing returned.

The reality of being held by the neck by Rahel remained unchanged, so Number 13 was tormented by difficulty breathing.

He desperately struggled, flailing his feet and trying to tear off Rahel’s arm reaching for his neck with his own two arms, but it was impossible after all.

A little earlier.

Leaving Rahel to Spade and Mabel, Number 13 was running towards one end of the hotel hallway—the glass wall.

He was trying to break through the glass wall of the lounge to see the view overlooking the entire city and jump beyond it.

Of course, he wasn’t planning to die.

Even though it was the ■■ floor, he judged that there was at least a higher chance of surviving than being caught by Rahel.

Whether that would have actually succeeded is unknown.

Unlike Number 13, who had the means of revival, he couldn’t be sure whether Doraji and the others would be able to endure even if he protected them.

In the first place, he was stopped by Rahel and couldn’t even attempt it, so there’s no way to know now.

“Hey, Ra…hel…! You… get your hands… off… off…!”

The hallway on the VVIP floor, at one end of it.

Right in front of the lounge surrounded by glass walls, designed to give a panoramic view of the high-rise scenery…

Despite the efforts of Spade and Mabel, Number 13 was eventually subdued like this without even reaching his destination.

Not only was he subdued, but he even lost his life right there.

The shock of that death caused Number 13’s memory to be cut off for a moment…

“…….”

“Hey, what kind of eyes are those…!! It’s me, me…!! Don’t you know me?! It’s me! Your master, Number 13! Or… that’s right, your superior… Administrator Number 13! So get a grip… and do it right, Commander Rahel!!”

Number 13 thrashed in the air, making a pathetic struggle, but there was no response from Rahel.

Her eyes were lightless as if covered in thick fog, and her face was expressionless as if it were a sculpture, but still beautiful.

A brainwashed doll only carrying out orders.

With her humanity gone and only revealing the overwhelming beauty that she originally possessed, Rahel slowly opened her mouth.

A voice flowed from her mouth, but it was also not an answer to Number 13’s question.

“It is the order of Doraji-nim, the first priority commander.”

“Protect Doraji and Dorothy.”

“Annihilate those who interfere with the two.”

“I will, carry out the order.”

“I am only carrying out the order.”

She speaks calmly, in an emotionless voice, like a machine.

The hand holding Number 13’s neck gradually applied more force.

Number 13 coughed, cough… and let out an even more painful breath.

Crushing that neck would be as easy as cracking an egg for Rahel, so was she deliberately trying to kill him so slowly out of a shred of mercy, or was it Doraji’s order to ‘kill him especially painfully’?

His trachea was blocked, and he felt pain as his barely returned breathing was blocked again.

He felt like a terrible sound that shouldn’t be heard was coming from his neck.

Crack crack

Creak…!

He dies again.

He senses that death is approaching…!

“Wai, aaaaaaaaait!!!!”

And.

The very moment Number 13’s neck bone was crushed.

Aiming for Rahel, a red light trail rushed in like a low-crawling beast.

Number 13’s neck, which had been crushed by Rahel’s hand, was showing signs of quickly reviving again with his death.

“…….”

Rahel threw Number 13 away and prepared to face Spade and respond.

A terrifying chill that seemed to freeze everything, from her feet to her whole body, surged up.

Spade, rushing in with all his mana, looked like a meteor or a bullet.

With that fierce momentum and speed, it would be difficult for ordinary people to even recognize Spade’s rushing figure.

But to Rahel, that figure was clearly visible as if in slow motion.

Every move, every expression, every posture, how he was going to attack from now on, Rahel felt like she knew all those things as if she could grasp them in her hands.

The difference in class.

Spade is clearly a skilled and powerful hero.

But compared to Rahel, who holds the title of the strongest in the Hero Association, there is an unavoidable difference like that between an adult and a child…!

Whoosh

“……?”

And.

Rahel turned her head, feeling a faint sense of incongruity passing by her side.

Number 13 is gone.

Number 13, whom she had thrown to the side, had disappeared.

Was it because she was focused on that red trail rushing through the hallway?

She was caught off guard…!

The sound of shattering glass came from beyond the lounge behind her after a beat.

Number 13 and Ashe, who had snatched such Number 13 in the stopped time, had thrown themselves through the glass wall.

“…….”

It wasn’t that she was neglecting her vigilance, but she was late to react to Ashe’s actions, which were neither aimed at Dorothy or Doraji, the top priority protection targets, nor at Rahel herself.

And, she probably thought it would be okay.

Because taking away that useless villain wouldn’t be a big problem.

Rather, stopping that fiery red subordinate who could hurt herself and the two sisters she was protecting would be a higher priority.

Rahel finished that judgment, the calculation and thought about priorities, within a fraction of a second with her prodigious thinking ability.

She completely cut off her attention from Number 13 and Ashe, who had already disappeared, and focused entirely on Spade, who was already close by.

And.

Kuuuuuuuuuuuuuung!!!

The light of Spade’s red mana and the light of Rahel’s pure white cold collided and clashed with each other.

* * *

“Master…! Master!”

The air hitting his body hurts.

Number 13 was confused by a strange sense of floating and, even more so, the sensation of gravity pulling his body down, and he came to his senses.

His crushed neck had already recovered, but it had completely consumed all the mana that remained.

His whole body was engulfed in a debilitating sense of exhaustion….

“Uh, uh… uh…? Ashe…?”

As he said, even a proper voice wouldn’t come out because of the violently swirling wind.

In that situation, Number 13 panicked and turned his head from side to side trying to assess the situation.

Ashe grabbed Number 13’s face and fixed it towards her.

“Master. I’m sorry, I failed.”

The wind was loud, but he could understand what she was saying from the shape of her lips and the faintly audible voice.

And, at that, Number 13 felt strangely choked up.

Judging from her appearance, which didn’t seem to have any unscathed places at a glance, he could guess that Ashe had really done her best.

—What are you sorry for.

—Rather, I’m sorry.

—It can’t be helped. It’s about stopping a monster like that.

What words could he possibly say?

What words could he, in his current state, possibly say?

As Number 13 was thinking about that and choosing his words, the speed of the two falling began to slow down gradually.

Eventually, barely, at a height where the ground was clearly visible below… the bodies of the two were stopped.

It was because Ashe manipulated the 『Time of Fall』 that had been binding the two.

Stopped like that, in a position to look at each other’s faces side by side.

Ashe smiled with difficulty and said to Number 13.

“Young Master. I have a last resort. Maybe I can beat Rahel.

In Ashe’s gaze looking straight at him, Number 13 sent a gaze containing the question of whether there really was such a thing.

Ashe nodded and added, “But,”

“The probability of success is below 10%. If I fail, my whole body will explode and I’ll die.”

“……Is there such a means, what do you think? Or, I think it’s okay to run away as it is. We can save the lives of both of us and the boss…”

Goodness.

The success rate is below 10%, and if she fails, she dies.

And if they run away as they are, he and the boss can live.

In that case, of course.

“There’s no reason not to. I’ll do it. Tell me, your 『last resort』.”

At Number 13’s unwavering choice, at that unwavering answer.

Ashe smiled as if she was truly happy despite her whole body being battered.

And a mysterious light gathers in her hands….