Omen, first laboratory.
Underground, in the hallway that faced the emergency shelter, a three-fold cacophony of sound swept through the space like a storm.
Every minute there was a barrage of several thousand bullets.
Then there was the crumble of ceiling and dust rising up as each piece of rubble rammed into the ground.
And finally, there was the witch Vichyssoise’s beguiling laugh.
“Ah-ha-ha-ha! This is epic! If you keep shooting bullets at me, I’ll be full of holes soon!”
“Ugh, this is such a chore…”
A spent cartridge clattered to the ground.
As Mei, the Saint Disciple of the third seat, glared at the floating witch engulfed in violet flames, she muttered with deep-seated irritation.
Countless bullet holes scarred the walls.
However… Vichyssoise was unharmed despite having been their target.
The bullets had gone straight through her.
“Hey, Saint Disciple, I’ve never seen anything like that before. Is it one of the Imperial forces’ latest and greatest weapons? Or is it a special piece made just for you?”
“No idea. Ask the R&D department.”
Mei carried a Gatling gun. It was a thirty-sixth electronic-control autocannon—the Ruined King Hurricane.
The gun could discharge a whopping thousand rounds a second working at maximum capacity, showering the target with a storm of bullets, just as its name implied. No astral power had been able to perfectly intercept the barrage.
However…
The weapon had been made to be used against humans.
The developers hadn’t made it to take on a monster.
“What’s your body made of? Are the bullets going straight through you?”
“That’s right. Doesn’t matter if you shoot me tens of thousands of times, either. Just give it a rest and let me turn you into ash.”
An ember roared into existence.
As it rotated on the witch’s palm, it grew large enough to swallow an entire person. As Mei watched that, she tsked and retreated.
She was in a corridor on a basement floor.
It was too narrow to avoid the attack.
Fwoom!
The astral flame surged up and licked the ceiling, melting it right before Mei’s eyes. Several hundred kilos of rubble rained down over Mei’s head.
“Ugh, this is BS! You’re not even gonna try hitting me with that.”
“You’ll dodge it anyway.”
The witch floating in the air squinted as though bemused even by Mei’s disparagement.
“I hate it, but I’ve learned my lesson. You Saint Disciples are stubborn and tenacious. Anyway, I never planned to fight any Imperial forces anyway.”
“Then get lost. And stop bringing down the ceiling. It’s annoying.”
“All right. After I finish burying this entire floor!”
Another flame lit in Vichyssoise’s palm.
As it grazed the walls, Vichyssoise’s eyes slowly roamed around as well, as though she were looking for something.
“I’ll bury this floor. I’ll put the stairs and elevators and any emergency exits you have under rubble. That’s good enough. I just need to make sure you can’t get through.”
“That’s a real convoluted way of getting what you want. You’re putting in an awful lot of effort just to steal some research materials on the calamity.”
“It’s what the Hydra’s interim head wants. So all I can do is follo—”
Clatter.
Mei was near a pile of rubble about two meters high. When she sensed a small fragment of the rubble fly off, the witch Vichyssoise opened her eyes wide.
“Vichyssoise!”
“Ah-ha-ha! I knew it, Isk!”
The pile of rubble erupted and scattered.
Iska burst out the rubble swinging his black astral sword. He grazed the witch’s skin but ultimately swiped through air.
“I went through all that work catching you by surprise to bury you in that rubble, but you just really won’t die!”
“This is the third time.”
Iska wiped the red liquid running down his forehead and glared at the witch above him.
“Don’t think I’m going to just chat with you. Get down here.”
“You want to finish this once and for all? Don’t think I’m going to play along. I told you I’m just here to buy time.”
Iska and the witch were five meters apart.
Normally it would just take him one leap. He could have gotten close enough to strike her in an instant, but the piles of rubble in the corridor were in the way.
On top of that, her violet flames continued to burn along the walls and ceiling.
……It’s like she doesn’t plan to attack.
……She’s not playing a leading role. Is she really just here to buy time for Mizerhyby?
This was the basement.
The central stairs and elevators leading to the first floor had all collapsed. And the witch was barring them from the remaining emergency stairs.
But why?
Why was Vichyssoise being so haughty?
……Does she really mean all she has to do is buy time? Really?
……But Alice and Kissing are headed to Mizerhyby.
There was a difference in battle power.
Mizerhyby’s Glory excelled in pitting one person against multiple people, but he doubted she could handle both the other princesses.
……No, think about it from the other angle.
……What if, in this situation, Mizerhyby really thinks she has the advantage?
How would she obtain the advantage, though?
“Wait, no!”
The moment he thought of the possibility, a chill seemed to strike his head and go through the rest of his body.
The answer was right in front of him.
Vichyssoise herself was an example of what they were buying time for.
“Ms. Mei!” Iska yelled at the Saint Disciple behind him.
He pointed at the witch floating in midair.
“Mizerhyby is trying to become a witch herself!”
“Wow…!”
“Tsk…”
Mei reacted with admiration, while the witch clucked her tongue.
Her carefree, intrepid mask now gone, Vichyssoise stopped smiling. Her gaze turned cold as her face fell and stopped showing emotion.
“You idiots. You really are idiots.”
Vichyssoise floated all the way up to the ceiling and spread her arms.
An uncountable number of sparks followed her.
“I said this was your birdcage. If you only hadn’t noticed, I would’ve been happy to watch over you. I’ll just tell you that I won’t let you esca—”
“Move.”
He didn’t intend to wait even a second longer.
If Mizerhyby got her hands on the power of the calamity, he could easily imagine her transforming into something like Vichyssoise or Kelvina.
……No, but…there’s also the one in a million chance.
……What if she transforms into a monster among monsters, like Elletear?
They wouldn’t be able to touch her.
If Alice and Kissing could take the calamity’s power from her, Mizerhyby could turn into a monster of unprecedented proportions.
“Violet Asteroid.”
A violet fireball formed, swelling to fill the corridor.
He couldn’t dodge this. However…
“You think you can cut it with the astral sword? I already know that!”
Vichyssoise raised both her hands.
Instead of heading to Iska or Mei, the fireball launched into the hole-filled ceiling.
The concrete wall that was already near collapsing, having been liquefied by the heat of the violet fireball. Once it could no longer hold its own weight, it groaned and crumbled.
“Are you trying to start a cave-in?!”
A sword, even the astral swords, couldn’t handle that.
The concrete from the ceiling had to weigh several hundred tons. If that came down, he wouldn’t be able to cut through it. In that case…
“Ms. Mei.”
“Ruined King Hurricane, start.”
Iska and Mei went on the move at the same time.
Iska ran straight for the rubble while Mei told him, “Keep low, unless you wanna lose your head.”
The gun that had been made for a warship could shoot one thousand rounds per second.
The Ruined King Hurricane groaned, then immediately produced a storm of black bullets that zipped past Iska’s head and blew away anything in his path.
The hundreds of kilos of rubble were broken down into particles of sand.
The liquefied concrete was blasted away.
It even instantly blew away any stagnant smoke.
His vision cleared.
Nothing was in his way now. Iska gripped his astral swords as he leaped from the ground. In that moment, he saw a small dot darker than the night in front of him.