After recovering from paralysis thanks to his parasite’s healing abilities, Minoru focused his attention outside the warehouse.
The battle was still going on, which meant not all the Parasidolls had been defeated. Clearly, their combat skills were effective against Fumiya Kuroba.
Minoru’s objective was to steal and use the Parasidolls as his reinforcements. There was no reason to win the fight outside. He decided to use Fumiya as a distraction and escape from the lab with Qimen Dunjia.
Minoru was heading toward the warehouse entrance when he was suddenly overwhelmed by an intoxicated feeling.
At first, he thought it was the lingering effects of the Nox Out he had cast. But he quickly realized this wasn’t the case. The symptoms he was experiencing were definitely from the nitric oxide that Nox Out produced. But this time, the spell had been cast by someone other than himself.
It was a very localized version of Nox Out, with its area of effect limited to just around the head of its target. But what bothered Minoru the most was that this complex spell had been cast without him even realizing it. He only knew one person who was capable of something like this.
Minoru cast a downward air current that dispersed the nitric oxide that was making him suffocate. Then, he scoured the warehouse for the magician behind it all.
“Grandfather!” he shouted.
The man he was looking for stood just a few meters away. Rather than embarrassment, Minoru felt himself tremble in fear at the fact that he had not sensed his grandfather’s approach.
“You noticed my spell just now, didn’t you?” the old man said with a calm tone unbefitting of someone facing an enemy. “What a shame. It is truly such a shame. I clearly did appreciate you for who you truly are.”
Regret and deep sorrow filled his voice.
“I failed to see your true worth, unable to fully understand what it was you were seeking,” Retsu continued, sounding almost like he was confessing. “I was so fond of you. I pitied you. I thought that, at the very least, I had to protect you. And yet…”
His voice trailed off and he looked toward the sky, as if holding back tears.
“Clearly, I was wrong.”
Minoru barely managed to suppress the words “That’s not true” from escaping his lips.
It’s not your fault, Grandfather, he thought. You didn’t do anything wrong.
But he couldn’t bring himself to say this to the old man out loud. Now that he had lost his humanity, Minoru suddenly felt that he no longer had the right to speak to his grandfather. He kept his mouth shut.
Retsu continued, “I see now you would rather exchange your life for something meaningful than resign yourself to a life in bed. My affection for you must have been a burden.”
“……”
“But, Minoru.” Retsu’s voice shifted. Regret shifted into resignation, confession into resolve. “I cannot accept you as you are now. I cannot let a demon that harms people go unpunished.”
“Grandfather, I—!” Minoru began.
He wanted to assure Retsu that he had no intention of causing harm to humankind. But as soon as he opened his mouth, he realized he had lost the right to say things like that.
“The family has decided not to kill you,” Retsu said. “However, if you are captured, they will only treat you as a lab rat. That is far too cruel for me to bear.”
Minoru’s heart felt as if it were struck by a powerful shock. He suddenly understood what Retsu was trying to say.
“My dear boy, allow me to bestow upon you a final act of mercy,” he said. “Let me send you to the next world with my own hands.”
Retsu unleashed a lethal spell. Minoru’s human heart tried to accept it, but his parasite’s spirit refused to die.
Suddenly, Minoru’s awareness returned—or rather, he regained his sense of reality. It felt as if he had been standing in a dream this whole time.
Outside the warehouse, Fumiya’s battle against the Parasidolls still raged on. He couldn’t have been unconscious for long.
Minoru glanced down at his body. His clothes were torn and singed in several places, but most of his wounds had healed. Even now, his parasite was healing him.
He lifted his head and gazed forward until his eyes landed on a figure collapsed on the dark warehouse floor. For a brief moment, he wondered who it was. But it wasn’t long before he realized the answer.
“Grandfather!” Minoru called out, running over to the old man.
He reached toward Retsu’s limp body. Before instinctively shaking the old man’s shoulder, he quickly withdrew his hand. He understood what had happened. His grandfather was dead.
✦ ✦ ✦
He had killed him.
✦ ✦ ✦
“No!” Minoru screamed.
His heart ached. He could almost hear his own soul shatter, as if a part of him were observing from a distance.
Minoru left the former Lab Nine with fifteen Parasidolls in tow. The destruction he left behind included a group of injured researchers, a broken Parasidoll, a captured immortalist, and the corpse of Retsu Kudou.
✦ ✦ ✦
“General Kudou is dead?”
Tatsuya heard the news late that night from a call with Fumiya.
“Yes…” Fumiya faltered. “I wasn’t strong enough to protect him.”
“You’re wrong, Fumiya,” Tatsuya said.
Tatsuya’s words of comfort were exactly what Fumiya was hoping for. But Tatsuya didn’t say this frivolously. He meant every word he said.
“You did well. Not only did you face Minoru, but you even took on an entire group of Parasidolls. No one would blame you for pulling back.”
“You really think so?” Fumiya asked.
“I do.”
“…Thanks, Tatsuya.”
“Don’t let Retsu’s death weigh on you too much,” Tatsuya continued. “What happened between him and Minoru is now the Kudou family’s business. The Yotsuba family bears no responsibility for what happened inside the former Lab Nine.”
“All right.” Fumiya nodded.
Tatsuya offered some comforting words to Ayako, too, before hanging up the visiphone. Since he had received the call in his room, Miyuki still did not know that Retsu was dead.
It was getting late, so he decided it was best to save the news for the morning. Plus, he wanted to organize the details about the event in his mind.
Minoru stole fifteen Parasidolls, Tatsuya noted.
He was well aware of how strong Parasidolls were in battle. They shared a single will through a telepathy-like ability, making them more formidable as a group.
To complicate matters further, Minoru—who was also capable of telepathy—was leading them all. Needless to say, this was not going to be an easy fight.