Chapter 11

“Very impressive. As I thought, you have good intuition.” A chill ran down Rain’s spine when he heard those nonchalant words of praise. “Now let’s see how you deal with the next one.” As soon as Alec uttered those ominous words, the floor under Rain’s feet started rumbling. A second later, flames and shock waves at his feet knocked him off balance. “Urk, aaah!” “Ha-ha-ha, you don’t even need the staircase anymore!” Rain crashed down to the floor below, landing right next to a lone mage with a rifle. It seemed that mage had shot through the ceiling to strike at him. Goddammit… Alec had prepared an ambush, Rain realized, and he reflexively prepared to counterattack. But as soon as that soldier entered his field of vision… “Huh?!” …Rain lost his will to fight. Which made sense, since the man was missing half his body. What the hell?! Rain doubted his eyes. The soldier held a rifle in his right hand, but his left was nowhere to be found. And before Rain managed to come to grips with the situation, the man crumpled to the ground and stopped moving. Wh-what…is this...? There was no mistaking the sight. A corpse had shot at him. Rain desperately held back the urge to jump up in fright. He calmed his nerves, then focused on the man’s body once more. Had it been blown off by a sniper shot or torn apart in a blast? Whatever the case, the fact remained that he was dead. There wasn’t any blood dripping from his torn appendages, and his heart was missing, so he shouldn’t have been able to move. That soldier had long since passed. And yet, until just a few seconds ago, he’d been moving. What is this...? What the hell is happening?! Exelias moving on their own, a corpse firing at him—all these things shouldn’t be able to move, and yet they were. Impossible… No magic or technology could’ve caused any of that. But what if…that odd phenomenon was the result of a special power? “The Oud’s property is called Enthrallment.” “Ah…” “It allows me to enforce orders on any targets my bullets pierce.” Startled by the voice, Rain turned around to see Alec ambling toward him in a calm, composed manner with his pistol in hand. “It’s not limited to people, either. Machines, animals, corpses… I can force a target to do anything, as long as it can physically handle the task. It’s the stuff of dreams… Though I’ll admit, it’s inferior to the Belial’s divinity.” Alec released the shells from his revolver’s chamber to prepare his next rounds. They looked similar to Air’s bullets, except they were gray. Those are… The gray bullets Alec employed, which packed a special power. “It allows me to enforce orders on any targets my bullets pierce.” Anything could be manipulated. Unmanned machines, living humans, or even the dead were all fair game in his eyes. What the hell is this guy? He had the same unusual Bullet Magic, the same black-and-red eyes. And most importantly…he called himself a Ghost. Rain wanted to know more about the man so similar to Air. However, survival was his main priority. He had to avoid getting caged like an animal. “I finally understand,” Rain said as he cast aside his doubts, recalling the mission he had to accomplish. “I can’t win this fight without killing you. I’ve got tons of questions on my mind, but I’ll have to put them aside for now.” “What?” Alex didn’t comprehend Rain’s words. “Your life ends here, Alec Thanda. You’ve killed too many innocents.” “Hmm… You intend to win, eh? How admirable. So enlighten me—what tricks do you have up your sleeve?” Alec wasn’t the least bit frightened. He knew Rain possessed a minuscule amount of mana, so he was confident in his victory. Rain hated to admit it, but Alec was clearly a far more skilled mage. If he’d fought him head-on, he’d have been reduced to cinders in mere moments. However, that hadn’t happened, and Rain had also noted the arrogance Alec displayed at times. He isn’t… He wouldn’t deliver a killing blow… Over the course of their exchange, there had been several times he could’ve ended Rain’s life. But instead, Alec had simply watched and laughed as Rain scrambled helplessly. Alec had decided to toy with Rain, thinking he had the option of finishing him off whenever he wanted. But that carelessness, that arrogance, would be his downfall. Rain fixed his eyes on his target, aimed his gun at it, and said, “Fine, I’ll use it.” Then, he fired his bullet diagonally to the right. “Ha-ha-ha-ha! What, have you gone blind now?!” He’d fired in a seemingly random direction, completely missing Alec. And because he assumed Rain had made a mistake, Alec didn’t budge an inch. Good… Stay right there! The shot he’d fired to the side was the silver bullet. It hit the back wall at a thirty-four-degree angle, then the adjacent wall at fifty-five degrees, the upper section of the wall at seventy-seven degrees, and the lower section at seventy-five degrees, ricocheting against the roof tiles, rebounding, ricocheting, rebounding, ricocheting… It went on and on until he saw it. “What’s wrong? What are you going to—? Gaaah!” “You were too careless, Alec.” He saw Alec get hit. The silver bullet had bounced around countless times to avoid Alec’s Qualia before settling into the back of his skull, which sprayed fresh blood. “If you’d focused on your Qualia the whole time, you could’ve avoided it.” The Devil’s Bullet ended Alec’s life. And as it did… “Ah…” …the world shifted. “Urk, aaah!” The world had undergone Reprogramming due to the power of the Devil’s Bullet. “Did I…shift over?” A second ago, he’d been in a dilapidated building on the north side of Leminus with Alec. But when everything changed, Rain found himself in… “Where…am I?” …a completely unfamiliar place. Looks like I’m still in Leminus… After looking around, he realized he was in a wide cellar with no windows. There was a staircase in the corner, and he could see the familiar forms of his classmates. Except… …What’s wrong with them? Something was off. His classmates were all silent, hugging their knees. None of them seemed injured, but they looked dead inside. What happened to them? “……” Rain moved to check what had happened. And after ejecting the magazine from his rifle, he confirmed that the shell had the name Alec Thanda etched onto it. What’s happening...? The shell was proof that the world had shifted, erasing all of Alec’s deeds. But if that truly was the case, why were his schoolmates hugging their knees in a cellar? The enemy commander had been expunged from the annals of history, and that should’ve averted the massacre. Leminus should’ve been at peace, but… “Hey…tell me what’s going on right now!” Rain approached Centonal, who was squatting with his head down. Like Orca, he favored fire Bullet Magic, and he was a strong-willed individual with firm character. But even he was shivering like a scared kitten that had lost its parents. “Wh-what do you mean?” “Just tell me, Centonal. What happened here?” “F-fuck off! Now’s not the time for your stupid questions!” Centonal seemed extremely flustered. He definitely knew something, but Rain didn’t think he was in any state to answer questions. So he checked with the others, but none of them were in their right mind, either. This can’t be… What the hell happened here?! Something terrible had obviously occurred, but he’d run out of leads. Giving up on them, Rain rushed up the stairs…and saw something that shocked him to the core. “Wh-what is this?!” Scarlet-red fire raged… Leminus had been consumed by crimson flames. “Why…?! I erased Alec!” A sea of red flames had spread as far as the eye could see. Leminus had become little more than a smoldering inferno. Alec’s existence had been erased, but the fire burned down the town with even more intensity than the destruction that had preceded it. However, the biggest difference of all was the color of the flames burning the town. Crimson… It wasn’t a pillar of normal fire. Instead, it was a thick, true shade of red, a deep scarlet that left an intense impression on all who beheld it. And amid that conflagration, Exelias rushed through the town. Mages fired Bullet Magic that destroyed civilian homes, murdering any citizens who flocked out of them in a panic. This once peaceful, sleepy town had been dyed red by the raging flames, as well as the flesh and blood of its inhabitants. Rain couldn’t understand the situation at all. What was happening? Why was the fire even worse than before the world had shifted? As those sorts of thoughts ran through his mind… “Hello.” …someone called out to him. “Huh…?” “Are you…a Ghost, too?” When Rain turned toward the source of the voice, his gaze fell on a girl. She stood with her back to the flames, like the personification of the destruction itself. “No, you’re not. I see… You’re Air’s…” The girl was so red, it was almost ridiculous. Her transparent eyes shined with an inhuman ruby glint as she directed a void-like gaze at Rain. But the next moment, those eyes… “Well, it doesn’t matter.” …turned black and red. She’s a Ghost! Rain reached for his rifle and fired Bullet Magic at her. He got off two shots, but the woman easily avoided both. However, his attack didn’t end there… They’ll rebound! Rain’s Pharel bullets attacked the girl from behind, taking her by surprise— “Oh.” —or so he’d thought, but the girl nimbly avoided them. She’d made that look far too easy, as if she had eyes in the back of her head. “Phantasmal Bullets, eh…? This is the first time I’ve seen someone use it in battle.” “Ugh…” Her cold voice sent shivers down Rain’s spine. And then the girl pulled out a pistol before Rain’s Qualia could predict it. He’d failed to even register her malicious intent. Click! “Good-bye.” The crimson girl shot Rain through his right eye. Splat! “Gaaah, aaaaaah!” His right eyeball split into fragments of flesh and fluid with an almost comical sound. Rain’s consciousness started to fade, but he could still make out sounds around him. “You poor thing. You shouldn’t have gotten yourself involved with the Ghosts.” And that noble, dignified voice froze the blood running through his veins.