Chapter 35

The whole chain of events with the second-generation Exelia was strange… He’d been charged with guarding prototype units that were described as “not ready for live combat.” They were apparently experimental models made to test the flow engine, but the unit he’d used still served as a powerful weapon. Rain had some background in Exelia development, including flow engine research, so the Turret-Model Exelia’s performance struck him as odd. It felt way too close to completion. They’d only finished the engine’s structure a mere two years ago. Under normal circumstances, it would have taken at least ten years to implement it properly, since developing new weapons systems was a lengthy process. But somehow, the Turret Model seemed approximately two years out from full-blown deployment. O’ltmenia didn’t have the manpower or funds to progress research that quickly. …… The unidentified units they’d fought on the mountain confused him as well. He and Air had only cooperated with Deadrim and Isuna for so long due to their presence. Those soldiers didn’t seem to be in league with the East or the West, which meant a completely separate faction had known all about the second-generation Exelias. That faction had organized a platoon of over thirty men in an unusual environment like a snowy mountain…almost as if they’d predicted the train car would fall down the cliff with the Exelia in it. None of this makes any sense… However, most of all, Kaisei Reisman, the man who’d organized Deadrim’s battles and likely manipulated her with a pact bullet, weighed on his mind. If everything they suspected was true, then he was likely responsible for the entire incident. No, not just him. Something much bigger than one man had clearly pulled all those strings. Nausea struck him. Rain refused to be optimistic and assume it had all happened by coincidence. His intuition colored his thoughts with paranoia, so he couldn’t help but believe the incident had been engineered to put something major into motion. But what? The same eerie, creeping feeling he got when he first learned someone had pushed the Ghosts into fighting resurfaced within him, which in turn triggered an indescribable sense of dread and disgust. …… Rain approached Alestra Academy’s courtyard as such thoughts ran through his mind. It looked the same as ever. Isuna Cole had disappeared…and as a result, Deadrim likely never even became a Ghost. It had all worked out for the best. But for whatever reason, everything felt oddly artificial. Maybe I’m just being a worrywart… Rain shook his head upon concluding that his baseless anxiety was a mere figment of his imagination. He needed to focus on gathering information instead, so he made his way toward the library, which archived newspapers daily, to learn more about the Reprogrammed world. However, someone interrupted him as he prepared to step inside. “Rain!” they called out to him from behind, sounding relieved. “Wait!” “Athly…?” “Haaah, haaah… I…finally found you…” Athly rushed over to him, her voice hoarse. She’d clearly run out of breath, which meant she’d spent quite some time running around to search for him. Rain wondered what he’d done in that timeline to cause such concern. “I’m so glad you’re fine… You’re not hurt…” “…Uh, obviously?” “Oh, thank goodness…” She was so out of breath that she barely managed to string her words together. Though, the implication that he was supposed to be hurt was troubling. Did something happen to me in this timeline? He examined his body but failed to find any wounds. Additionally, he felt no pain, unpleasantness, or nausea. At worst, he felt a bit sluggish from all the thinking. But then, why had Athly run around in a panic? Why had she appeared so worried? “What’s wrong, Athly?” “…Thank you.” “Huh?” “That confirms it.” …Confirms what, exactly? “I’ll see you later, Rain. There’s somewhere I have to be.” Athly left those parting words behind as she walked off. Apparently she’d needed confirmation, but Rain didn’t understand what she wanted to know. She said “I’m so glad you’re fine”…but why? Rain should not have been in any danger in the new timeline. In the world before the Reprogramming, he fell off the cliff with the rest of the car, but they’d erased those events. Plus, only someone who possessed the Devil’s Bullet noticed the shifts, so that couldn’t have been it. …I should ask her about it later. Rain headed for the library to gather more information. This early in the morning, there was no one else inside. “Ah…!” And so, the sound of a bottle shattering against the floor rang out all the more clearly. Rain had knocked it down in surprise. “What…the hell…?!” He’d slammed the newspaper against the desk in shock, which made the bottle sitting on it teeter, fall, and crash to the floor. Shards of glass scattered about as Rain stared at the newspaper in shock. The grim reality of the newly Reprogrammed world shocked him to his core. The West commences its invasion of the eastern capital, Alestra. Over three thousand confirmed dead. Number of wounded individuals rapidly rising. Estimated to exceed five thousand by tomorrow. Great losses suffered due to the West’s second-generation Melee-Model Exelia. The West’s…second-generation Exelia?! That’s impossible! Second-generation Exelia technology should have been exclusive to the East. But if that article was to be believed, the West had already possessed and perfected it. Something… Something’s changed…in a big way… And that change was due to the Devil’s Bullet. I… We… There’s no turning back for us now… An indescribable sense of dread loomed over him as he realized he’d caused a great shift in the currents of history. What changed? No… What did I change?