“With this body and this combat ability, I never had a chance...” The One said, but he continued to smirk. “But there is one thing that’s in my favor... I think it’ll work out.”
“What’s in your favor? You’re staring down an ass-beating.” Lily smirked back.
“You’ll know at some point.”
He said, but before the words left his mouth Lily had already begun her attack.
“You think so, huh?!”
There was the sound of something tearing through the wind. Lily’s punch, however, was even faster than that.
“Tch...!”
The One dodged with his doggy speed. But Lily just laughed.
“Hah!” she shouted, and her formerly-straight arm immediately turned 90 degrees.
“What...?!” The arm had changed its direction to right where The One was going to land.
“Gwah!”
The punch landed hard on The One’s stomach, sending him flying.
“That attack is my specialty.” Lily bared her teeth. The One adjusted his position in mid-air, landing on all fours and looking at Lily in surprise.
“There’s not supposed to be any mana here...”
“I came on a yacht. And I brought a generator and a mana disperser.”
Lily launched another attack. With both of those, it was possible to use magic. The area was already densely filled with mana. But the same was true of the enemy.
“But then I can fight equally well!”
The One put up a mana shield to block Lily’s attacks. There was a dull thudding sound as they slammed into the glowing energy. But Lily was still relaxed and confident.
“Equal? We ain’t equal at all.” Lily began to smash her fists into the shield again.
“Uwah!” The One gasped in surprise. Both he and the shield had been knocked backward.
“Hey, not bad!” Nonimora said happily.
“Don’t mess with a veteran brawler,” Lily said, proudly putting her hand up to her hat.
“Now... There’s lots I want to ask you.” Lily cracked her knuckles as she walked toward The One.
The One must’ve been hurt, because his doggy snout was panting.
“Hmph... You think you’ve won, huh?” The One said, sarcastically, but Lily ignored him.
“I sure have. A dog’s no match for... me!”
With the last word she threw another punch. This time, the incredible force of it blew through The One’s shield in an instant. Her anger had clearly made her attack more powerful.
“Uwaahh...!”
Now The One was scared. Lily’s fist smashed into him right above the eyes. His howls turned into raw screams.
“Gyaaah!”
Next, she grabbed him by the head and smashed his jaw hard into the ground. He hit it so hard he went flying back up into the air. Then, she grabbed him with her left hand. She snatched him by the throat and began to squeeze hard.
“Gwoah...”
The One began to moan as he was suspended helplessly in the air.
“Hah... I think tonight we’ll be having dog stew for dinner,” Lily laughed.
“Oooh! The President’s stronger than usual today!”
“I think it’s ’cause she’s pretty mad!” Kanna and Michie were excited.
“Calm down, guys. Calm down. I’m always this strong.” She grinned, and then squeezed The One’s throat tighter.
“Guh... geh....” The One could barely breathe.
“Alright, time to start talking. First, who the hell are you?” Lily asked.
“Hmm? What are you going to do? You’re not going to kill him?” Nonimora asked as she walked over.
“Things are complicated, you see. There are some questions I have for him,” Lily explained. Then she put her right hand up against her left, and began to shake.
“D-Damn it...” The One was moaning in pain, but in his doggy body, he couldn’t fight back. Eventually, he began to talk, though resentment was clear in his tone.
“Fine... What is it you want to know?”
“Piss me off and I’ll snap your throat, puppy-boy. I asked who the fuck you were. Answer me.” Lily squeezed tighter.
“Aaagh... I suppose I’m what you’d call an alien.”
“An alien?” Lily had been expecting this answer, a little, but it was still a bit of a surprise. The others must have felt the same way, because their eyes had all gone wide at the response.”
“So that’s what’s going on...”
The One was staring at her defiantly now, but she kept asking questions.
“So let me ask this. Does space exist beyond the solar system?”
“It can’t be observed. That’s right. But... beyond it, lies another universe.”
The One now must have felt like he was controlling the conversation, because his tone had changed to that of a teacher.
“So this world itself ends at the solar system,” Lily said.
“Correct. That’s as far as the world goes. The other worlds are the same.”
“Which means that you broke through that wall... and came to our world that way.”
“Yes. But only my mind came. What you call the Faceless Power is the collective mind of us aliens.”
“Wait... Aren’t there two kinds of Faceless Power?” Lily asked.
“Correct. Our minds... The minds of we aliens... are held within this tower.” The One pointed his front paws, as best he could anyway, in the direction of the tower.
“That the power that Marine and I are using, right?” Nonimora said.
“Correct. But the Jeweled Branch, which was created to control it, can also unleash it.”
Lily began to get a bad feeling when she heard these words.
“So the other Faceless Power... the one the people of the Republic are using... it’s the Faceless Power of mankind, isn’t it?” She shuddered as she spoke.
The Faceless Power of mankind. It was impossible to say what might result from using the psyche of an entire race as energy when that race was still alive, but it probably wasn’t something good.
“That’s right. Once, mankind sealed it, saying it was impossible to control. But now, by coincidence, it has revived.” The One chuckled to himself as he spoke, as if telling a funny story.
“Impossible to control...”
“Yes. I am the last survivor of my race. My race was destroyed, and became a Faceless Power. And we were stuffed inside your capsule... The Swallow’s Cowry Shell. I am a being of pure mind that became separated from it.”