“Why… didn’t you abandon me then?”
“……”
“You told me, Claudia. That if someone was taken hostage or became unable to carry out the mission, we were to prioritize its completion. You taught us that ‘we’ are that kind of existence!”
“I did.”
“Then why…?!”
Matilda, who had never once shown tears even during Claudia’s harsh training, looked on the verge of crying.
Claudia gazed at her face for a moment before raising a hand to wipe away the tear rolling down Matilda’s cheek.
“…I lost a comrade once.”
“Pardon…?”
Matilda momentarily stopped crying.
Claudia’s gaze was distant, as if looking at a moment from the past.
“I didn’t want to go through something I could never forget, no matter how hard I tried, ever again.”
“……”
Claudia’s gaze returned from the past to look at Matilda.
“Leaving you behind alone was my mistake. I’m sorry.”
“No! It wasn’t your fault, Claudia—”
Claudia gently pulled Matilda into an embrace.
“And thank you… for coming back alive.”
Burying her face in Claudia’s embrace, Matilda no longer held back her sobs.
Hearing the sounds from beyond the door, Ashmia quietly turned and walked away.
*
“You saw someone who took an Amplifier?!”
“Yes.”
The next day, Claudia, now able to get up, explained what had happened during her escape.
“It felt like being chased by a beast. They lacked any normal reasoning, seeming to only pursue whatever was in front of them… So when I drew their attention toward the Lion Family’s crew, they attacked without distinguishing friend from foe. Thanks to that, I was able to escape.”
Ashmia touched her lips.
‘It’s different. This isn’t the superpower drug I knew.’
The superpower drug did amplify mana and put the user in an agitated state.
But while it had aftereffects, there was never a side effect that impaired reasoning to the point of being unable to distinguish friend from foe, as Claudia just described.
‘An overdose would kill them before any side effects could manifest… Is it still incomplete? No, Enya said she was refusing to continue the research. Maybe they created the side effects on purpose.’
Still, to think she survived against things like that.
Ashmia suddenly found herself wondering if everyone in ISIS was like Claudia.
“How was Enya?”
“Her health has deteriorated to a seriously concerning state due to overwork.”
“…That’s not good. We really can’t delay any longer.”
“But after last night’s incident, they’ve undoubtedly strengthened security.”
“Infiltration… will be more difficult now.”
“But we lack the manpower for a frontal assault…”
“Shouldn’t we call the boys after all?”
Ashmia, who had been listening quietly to the four of them, stopped touching her lips and spoke.
“Hey, there’s actually something I haven’t told you all.”
Before their puzzled faces, Ashmia summoned the body of Michael.
“Wh-when did you awaken?!”
Even Claudia, who rarely showed a surprised expression, stammered at the sight of Ashmia’s superpower.
“It’s been a little while, but I missed the chance to tell you. Vanessa and Ron already knew, though.”
“I’ve never seen a superpower like this. To manifest a human body… this close to a physical form…”
“Plus, you have strength comparable to most physical enhancements.”
“But I imagine the mana consumption is just as great.”
“That’s right. I’ve been practicing mana control, but I can’t maintain it for long yet. And while I’m summoning this body, my real body falls asleep like that. The mana drain also seems to increase in proportion to the distance from my original body.”
“The risks are clear, but if you can overcome them, this will be a tremendous asset.”
Claudia propped her chin on her fingers, lost in thought.
“I’ve been curious for a while, but… is that appearance something you intended, Young Lady?”
At Vanessa’s sudden, innocent question, Michael felt the inevitable had arrived.
“W-well. I’m not really sure about that myself.”
Evading the question, Michael glanced cautiously at Claudia.
‘No way… she won’t find out, will she?’
That I’m not the ‘real Ashmia.’ This was the same Claudia who had said I ‘seemed like a different person’ right after the accident.
Claudia, her fingers still at her chin, met Michael’s eyes and spoke with a serious, slightly intimidating expression.
“This is just a hypothesis, but…”
Gulp.
Michael mentally swallowed hard.
“I believe it might be a projection of the image you, Lady Ashmia, hold of a ‘strong man’.”
Michael blinked at the unexpected remark.
“Aha! So, for example, it could be influenced by a protagonist from a novel the Young Lady read?”
“As I said, it’s a hypothesis. He’s approximately 190 centimeters tall, with a body trained to an extremely high level. And judging by the movements you just demonstrated, he possesses combat skills far more refined than what you, Lady Ashmia, have actually learned. It’s not easy to find a man like this in reality.”
…But he did exist in reality.
“But even if we accept the clothes, why is his hair so long? It’s so shaggy you can’t even see his eyes.”
“That’s because cutting it is a pain… I mean, no, it’s just as you and Vanessa said, Claudia. It’s probably influenced by a cartoon character I watched when I was young!”
He blurted out whatever came to mind to cover his slip-up, but thankfully, both Vanessa and Claudia nodded along.
Matilda had an expression that said she was convinced because Claudia was, while William just kept staring in fascination.
Come to think of it, it’s unlikely that someone with common sense and rational thinking would suspect an unscientific phenomenon like ‘possession’.
‘Still, I think I managed to get through that somehow.’
Michael let out a huge sigh of relief inwardly.
“Now, let’s get to the main point.”
Ashmia, having dispelled Michael’s body, opened her eyes again and spoke.
“If we include my superpower in our combat strength, is a frontal assault possible?”
At Ashmia’s words, Claudia nodded without hesitation.
“I believe it is possible.”
“However, we mustn’t forget that we have to carry out this operation without revealing that we are ‘Kallashniel’.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. It can be easily resolved.”
After hearing Claudia’s explanation, Ashmia touched her lips and nodded.
“Alright. Can you be ready by tomorrow?”
“We can be ready as soon as tonight.”
Ashmia smiled and gave a thumbs-up.
*
Around sunset, near closing time.
The guard at the main entrance of the Bloom Research Institute saw a girl and a woman in gas masks getting out of a black van and, with a startled look, reached for the pistol at his waist.
But.
Thwack—!
Crash—!
Sent flying by Vanessa’s fist, the guard shattered the glass doors of the main entrance and rolled across the lobby floor, covered in blood.
Amid the screams of startled people, Ashmia calmly walked to the center of the lobby, drew two pistols, and spoke, one in each hand.
“If you want to live, get out now.”
A small girl in a gas mask threatening them with a gun…?
As the people stood frozen, unsure what to do in this bizarre and surreal situation.
Bang! Bang—!
Without hesitation, Ashmia shot the two guards who came running at the sound of the commotion, putting bullets in their legs.
At that moment, the lobby erupted into chaos.
Through the fleeing crowd, members of the Lion Family’s crew could be seen running forward, guns in hand.
Rat-tat-tat-tat—!
The crew opened fire on Ashmia with a machine gun, but.
Ting! Ting! Ting!—
Vanessa, stepping in front of Ashmia, deflected the bullets.
“Tsk, machine guns sting a little.”
Crack—!
A man struck by Vanessa’s snapping kick, as she shot forward like an arrow, collapsed with his neck lolling.
“Move in.”
As Vanessa drew the crew’s attention and engaged them, Ashmia spoke into her radio. Just then, Claudia, Matilda, and William, also in gas masks, got out of the van and rushed into the institute.
The three of them threw the smoke grenades they had packed plentifully in their backpacks in all directions.
Hiiiiisssss—!
“Vanessa!”
“Yes!”
Vanessa returned to Ashmia and lifted her into her arms.
“Okay, let’s get started.”
Summoning Michael’s body, Ashmia advanced, easily subduing the members of the Lion Family’s crew who couldn’t even open their eyes because of the smoke.
Bang! Bang! Bang!—
Occasionally, an enemy would fire indiscriminately, but Michael swiftly dealt with them while Vanessa blocked the bullets.
‘I should have done this sooner.’
The situation was resolved so quickly that the thought couldn’t help but cross his mind.
“Claudia, Matilda, and William, go get Enya. And proceed as planned.”
The three nodded and ran forward, throwing more smoke grenades. Michael was about to pass a door when he seemed to remember something and opened it.
“Wh-whoa?! W-who are you?!”
Ronald Bloom and his secretary, who had been enjoying another tryst in the director’s office, were hastily getting dressed amidst the sudden commotion.
Michael sighed inwardly and approached Ronald.
“Wh-what?! Stay back! I’ll call the police… Gack?!”
Thwack—!
He figured a punch would kill the man, so he restrained himself to a flick on the forehead. But seeing the blood gushing from his brow, it seemed even a flick had left him half-dead.
“You can receive the rest of your punishment in prison for the rest of your life. If you’re lucky, you might even get the death penalty.”
After a glance at the unconscious Ronald, Michael asked the trembling secretary.
“Basement level two, how do I get there?”