Cruel Fates and Heartless Monsters

"You two! Get that malignance!"

"Aye! Rai-kun!"

"Got it! "

""

"Clean up's mine! "

Two weeks passed after I first met my team in the Sumeragi estate. During that time, we neutralized Psych-malignances around the city as a team in training exercises and formal patrols.

"…Can you sense it too, Rai-kun?"

"Yeah. It's around the corner near there. Fujikawa, I'll back you up so lead the charge."

"Gotcha… Let's do this quickly for the sake of the poor guy."

There were also times when we fought unstable psychics until they either overexerted themselves and died or we did that favor for them.

"Gruaaaahhh!!!"

"Sorry that we didn't come when you were still alright."

"…Rest in peace."

Although these unstable psychics are nothing more but brutal and dangerous beings who had their mental states mutated by Astra energy, they are still humans. We still view them as such and laying them to rest is a heavy yet merciful thing for us to do.

"Welcome everyone! To 2072's Freedom Music Dive Festival!"

The day of our joint operation came as the Sagami seaside arena was opened with concertgoers coming in droves to support and meet the bands and singers who will perform here today.

"Where are you, Chronia?"

"Backstage. Helping lift Masami-nee's band equipment out of the truck."

"How about you, Fujikawa?"

"Still in the line! The entrance gate is crowded, you see. Hey! Don't push me! Where do you think your touching me, HAAAH?!"

"…How about you, Kai?"

"Been here at the snack stall for a while. I wasn't informed that I'd be a corned dog seller till we start! Darn it, boss!"

At our communicators, we answered Furuta-sensei who asked where we are now. As the Sagami bay seaside arena is a very large place, we opted to split our team in several points to avoid catching the suspicion of the men we are targeting as we enter.

"Sensei, you're at the second floor, yes?"

"Yeah. I saw a Malaya Coffee machine when I entered, so I came here to buy some and-"

"Too specific, sensei. I was just asking a simple question."

"Ah! Y-yes, I am at the second floor."

"Good. Can you look at your 10'o clock?"

From behind the stage, I saw our team leader upstairs dressed with a suit and a pair of amber-tinted sunglasses, sipping a can of coffee and turning to the direction I specified.

"I sensed it when I passed by. It and the one at the other side has an Astra energy emitter inside."

"I see. They hid it in the speaker so it can be transmitted along with the sound waves from the concert songs… very creative for those Miyazono scum."

"I found the emitter, but I can't locate where the sensor is. If their aim is to find people compatible with Astra energy, they'd need a sensor for it."

"Leave that to me, Chronia. I finally got in."

After a while in the crowded line, Fujikawa finally entered the arena and told us that we're all inside.

"I'll go change clothes at the toilet. I'll link up with boss at the second floor."

"Got that. Chronia, Fujikawa. Handle the patrol while I'm out of the overwatch. Don't act too hastily or you'll garner their attention."

""Roger, sensei.""

I took out the last of the padded boxes from the truck and lowered it at the designated place of Masami-nee's band's storage area. I excused myself to an empty stall and there, changed from my backstage staff uniform, into casual clothes. With that, I walked towards Fujikawa whose appearance stunned me for a moment.

"…What?"

"Well, you look good. S-sorry for spacing out for a moment…"

"Haah? Care to repeat that?"

Even though she was very against it, in the end, Fujikawa still had to wear a feminine blouse and properly style her hair to look like an average concertgoing teenager. As she is some kind of a tomboy, I can understand her frustration after I inadvertently stared at her.

"L-Let's go…"

"Hmph!"

We walked around the place while focusing our Astra energy in our eyes, looking for the sensor that should be visible to us. With half an hour before the concert starts and the emitters do their job of emitting Astra energy, we needed to find it immediately or our enemies will be able to take new members into their folds.

"Anything in your line of sight, Fujikawa?"

"None. It annoys me since it looks like I'm staring at everyone in here."

We saw faint traces of Astra energy, showing that our enemy was indeed here and have prepared the place for their own agenda. But as for the location of the sensor, we are clueless about it.

"…Sensei. We've looked around for a while. There's nothing in the concert area."

"It should be there. Astra energy sensors aren't as advanced as emitters. They can only function on short ranges, so they need to be as close to the crowd as possible."

"Tch! What now, Chronia? If we can't find it, this mission is screwed and so are our chances to fight those crooks fairly."

"…"

I pondered about it for a moment until I noticed something about Sensei's words.

"How far is the closeness, sensei?"

"Huh? Well, I estimate about 50 or so meters. Anything above that and the sensor can hardly recognize an active Psychic emission from background Astra energy emission by normal people."

"Wait, Chronia… You mean-"

"Yeah. Look up."

I and Fujikawa looked at the high ceiling of the concert area and sure enough, I was partially right.

"Three… four… four sensors are bolted in there to look like smoke detectors."

"Only four? That would be insufficient. They'd need about a hundred or so in here if they want to actually detect compatible candidates."

"You heard me, Sensei. I can only see four up there. If there's anymore, I would've already said it."

"I know that, Fujikawa. I and Kai will handle those sensors through the roof. You two, look around again. Our enemy aren't stupid, they'd probably plant those sensors in places where no one would suspect them to be in."

"Darn these Miyazono crooks…"

Fujikawa can't help but curse under her breath as we only found a handful of the truckloads of the sensors that would spell the victory or doom of our mission.

"Hey, Sensei."

"Yeah?"

"I have a suggestion to make this easy for us."

After about half an hour, the concert program started as the host, a young female idol with the stage name of "Nya! Nya! Madoka-nyan", climbed up to the stage to announce the formal start of the concert event. She was wearing a maid outfit along with a pair of cat paw gloves and a headband with cat ears. She's a pretty well-known solo idol.

"NYAHALLO! EVERYONE!"

"""NYAHALLO! MADOKA-NYAN!"""

"A~RE? I can't hear your cheers!"

"NYAHALLO!!! MADOKA-NYAN!"

As the crowd became riled up and excitement ran high in anticipation of the idol's opening performance to formally start the music event, I pressed my earpiece to call my teammates who are staying at our planned areas.

"Once I do this, I'd be in the center of attention of the Miyazono henchmen mixed in the audience. At that point-"

"No need to repeat it, Chronia. I already got it."

"Mm! Leave the rest to us, Rai-kun!"

"Don't try to act cool, Chronia. Call us if you need help."

After hearing their remarks, I heaved a heavy sigh and prepared myself as I sensed that the speakers containing the Astra energy emitters was turned on to prepare for the concert's start.

"Here goes nothing."

I closed my eyes to focus deeply and released my control over my passive Astra energy emission.

"-!"

In just a single instant when I turned off my control, I emitted a large wave of Astra energy that made my head hurt immediately before I turned it back on for the sake of the health of my mental state.

"E-Eh? A~re?"

"Huh? Are the speakers broken?"

"What's happening?"

That wave of Astra energy that came from the backstage hit the emitters in the speakers, short-circuiting and destroying the speaker's internal parts which made the music that was supposed to accompany the idol's singing fizz wildly before stopping.

"It's effective, Ephraim. Get out of there now."

"Aye, sensei!"

I wore my backstage helper uniform and joined with the other workers who are heading to the technician area to help in the problem.

"There must be a problem in the control room. Look for it immediately!"

"""Yes, sir!"""

"Let us through! This is security!"

"I saw a spike in this place before the emitter became inactive!"

It allowed me to pose as a worker and get past the henchmen who was heading to where I was.

"That wave also helped me. I can see all of the sensors now, boss. It's on the light sticks that they distributed at the entrance."

"Light sticks, huh? I'll handle it. Fujikawa, pull the switch."

"Roger!"

Only a few seconds after the first commotion, Furuta-sensei gave the instruction to have the electric panel deactivated by Fujikawa to turn off only the lights in the concert area.

"E-Ehh?"

"What's going on now?"

"I-Is this really how this should start?"

The confused audience was too preoccupied with making sense of what was happening that they didn't notice Furuta-sensei manipulating some iron dust to fly inside the light sticks in their hands and crush the sensors there.

"Who could've guessed that they would do it this way, huh? Well then, it's my turn now!"

Kai, who was in the roof area, followed suit as he made some vines to grow into a ventilation shaft and crawl to the four large sensors at the ceiling. There, the vines entered the sensors and made a mess of its components.

"It's good now. I can't sense any artificially made Astra energy here."

"Where should we link up, Sensei?"

"At the corned dog stand where Kai was staying earlier. Let's… Ah shit, here we go again…"

Before he can finish his words, Furuta-sensei stopped as we heard some annoyed sigh from his line.

"Boss? Hey, Boss! Are you… Argh! Darn it!"

Kai was next who also cursed lightly before he cracked his knuckles and cut his line.

"Rai… look behind you."

"I already guessed it…"

I just split up from the group of running workers when two men wearing black suits with Miyazono corporation's pins on their lapel collars stepped near me. They were looking at me as if I was some kind of annoying insect.

"You there. You're not in the employee list. What are you doing here?"

"Sneaking to the backstage to meet with the VIPs?"

"…"

I turned around while keeping my left hand on my waist, using it to open the flask of blood that I was keeping in my belt.

"I'm nearly there, Chronia. Let's hit them from front and back."

"Sure."

Fujikawa spoke to me from the earpiece as I was holding my ground in front of these two henchmen.

"What's wrong? Can't talk to us properly?"

"Come on, we'll just beat you up to teach you a lesson and throw you to the bay so no one will know."

"Now, Chronia!"

As the two took out electric prods to attack me, Fujikawa arrived just in time for me to activate my Psychic powers and cast an ability that I've been trying to familiarize for the past two weeks.

""

In an instant, I connected all four of our mental states and brought us inside the monotonously colored dimension where we will not be detected by the other enemies around us.

"W-What the-?!"

"Eat this!"

"Hyauk-!"

"O-Oi! What are you kids-"

"Sleep for me!"

"Urgh!"

Fujikawa and I hit them enough with our fists to render them unconscious. They fell down incapacitated, and I immediately broke the Subspace so we can make our escape from the scene.

"Let's go."

"Yeah. Let's head to Kai first. Sensei can hold his ground, but Kai can't."

We passed by the control room where the sound and electrical engineers are being booed by the audience for the disruption in the performance.

"I-I don't understand… Why are these things not working?!"

"You said that these were doing good in the diagnostic test, right?"

"The event administrator changed the speakers after that! I'm not to be blamed here, alright?!"

I heard that exchange between the two technicians and understood how things went down in here before we came.

"The stairs to the rooftop are by here. Let's go!"

"Right behind you!"

We ran up the flight of stairs and as soon as we opened the door, we sensed the Subspace that Kai made before he cut communications. It looked like a portion of the roof area was distorted, as if you are looking through a hazy road in a hot day.

"On my mark… now!"

"Ick-!"

We placed our hands inside the distorted space and linked our mental form into it to enter the subspace. Immediately after everything in our sight became rid of their colors, we heard Kai giving us orders while he is lightly wounded.

"Rai-kun! Girlie! On me!"

""

"How many are them?"

As soon as he saw us, a lightly injured Kai jumped back to our direction as we prepared for battle. Fujikawa took out her flame machete and I made the blood in the flask to levitate around me in a ready position.

"About five… two are psychics and three psych-malignances."

"They brought some monsters, huh?"

"Yeah. That's why I'm quite annoyed in the communicator earlier."

"Kai, your injuries are-"

"Don't mind me, buddy! I've actually wanted to be hit once or twice to use "that form". I know Boss told you to stop me from doing it, but with those monsters… I need to do it."

Kai's mention of "that form" made me understand what he wanted to do. Even though I have some reservations about his plan, I knew that he won't use that unless he really needs to.

"Alright. I won't tell him, but tell me that you won't go on a rampage again after this."

"Hehe… I'll try my best buddy… Well then, cover me for a minute, Rai-kun! Girlie!"

""Gotcha!""

"URAAAA!!!"

Kai groaned as the photosynthetic highlights on his hair glowed and healed his wounds. With him recovering, Fujikawa and I gave him some cover before we go on a proper offensive.

"GUWA-OW!"

"Tch! "

"Guoh!"

"Drat!"

Fujikawa's flames covered the morbidly large and misshapen malignance, burning it instantly into ashes. Another one of the monsters hid behind the burning one and reached out for her, but she narrowly blocked its hand using her machete.

"Well, well… Look at this guy."

"You look too healthy for a wannabee Dracula."

"I'm tired of hearing that joke."

As for me, I confronted the two enemy Psychics who had cocky expressions on their faces. They were wearing the same black suits with the company lapels on their collars as the others, but these two's suits have green highlights, showing that they are ranked psychics.

"Hyahaha! Let's get a look on what kind of blood this fool has!"

"Don't die easily on us, alright?!"

One ignited a fire around his fists while the other one began to spew some kind of slime from his palms.

"Come at me!"

While I was locked in a stare-off with the two, I noticed that Kai finished healing himself and he walked towards the remaining Psych-malignance that was emitting the most Astra energy between all of us. It was simply a large blob of flesh with so many eyes and small arms that it looked like something out from a gore horror movie. But how it used its powers sure interests me.

"Ya roughed me up pretty bad, didn't ya, jackass?"

"Gruoh…"

"Ya better prepare yerself for a beatin… I'm done bein kind with yer ass."

This is "that form" that Kai uses when he needs to enhance his physical power. It lowers the function of his "human" brain which makes him talk like a delinquent. It stems from the green highlights on his hair that extends nearer to half the length of each strand, meaning that he's directly supplying his body with the photosynthetic energy.

He's yet to make a name for this. But under my observations, I simply called it as his "flow state form".

"Lemme show ya how merciless nature is when ya make me angry!"

"Eyes on us, buddy!"

"Dang!"

Because of the change in Kai that I must carefully supervise to not overcome him, I lost my attention to my opponent and almost got myself hit directly if not for my quick decision of parrying it off with crystallized blood. However, that shield made of blood was quickly taken by the guy controlling the sludge which he dissolved inside of it.

"Whoa, whoa! Looks like we got someone quick on his feet here."

"Can't believe you got to react against my rocket fist."

"…"

These guys are weird.

"I'll give you another shot. After this, I'll be serious, alright?"

"We've been grinding pretty good since the tutorial level. We're just having fun before we real thing, okay? Be a good Exp punching bag for us!"

"Exp? Don't tell me…"

Miyazono corporation… I don't think they'll send veterans for something minor like this. If so, these guys would be…

"Judging from the green highlights of your uniforms and you mentioning a tutorial level… are you two newbies?"

"HAAH?!"

"Oi, oi! How dare you call us noobs!"

"I'll show you who's the newbie, you scrub!"

The pyromancer launched himself off again with his flames that are concentrated like a rocket's launching fire, but unlucky for him, my specialization is on counterattacking.

"Huk!"

"Huh?"

"Hyaaa!!!"

I grabbed his flaming arm and the back of his head and slammed him down to the ground which made an audible creak across his body.

"Kota-kun!"

"Gruwaaah!!!"

Because of his extraordinary speed that I halted in an instant by slamming him down, his rib cage that took the brunt of the blow formed painful fractures while his muscles and organs became torn or bruised inside his body and made him vomit out blood.

"Kak! Kaa!"

"Why you! How dare you fight back, you starting level monster!"

""

The other guy launched a wave of slime towards me that corroded the concrete floor, it was an acid sludge that melted everything on its path. But I am not afraid of it at all.

"Hyahaha!!! This is payback for my friend! Die, you scrub!"

""

I closed my hand that I outstretched to his direction and the wave of slime that he is sending towards me stopped moving as he too, stopped from either moving or talking.

"W-W-What?"

"This sludge… it came from your sweat glands that through your Psychic power, turns that sweat into slime. After you dissolved my blood from earlier, your slime that still had blood particles was already under my control… But this technique, how disgusting…"

"Why you?! How dare a starter monster insult my power! I am one of the-"

"You shut up."

"U-Uaaahhh!"

I used his own slime to keep him constricted in place as I looked at both of their ID cards that I took from the pockets.

"Player 231… Player 474…"

"O-Oi! Hands off our game pass! That's worth more than the loot that you can drop, you scrub!"

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?"

"AYIIEEE!!!"

Game pass, players, starting level, exp, tutorial… I don't like what this is becoming.

"You two are going with me. I need you to spill all the information that you have."

"W-w-wait! I don't want to be eaten by a monster! This is against the rules! I am-"

"H-huh? Shit-!"

I was about to pick up the one that I threw down the floor earlier when his ID card dissipated into ash, and his body began to twitch around in ways that his injured self shouldn't be moving at.

"Chronia! What the hell happened?!"

"These guys are-!"

What the hell is this about?! This isn't like what we were taught in the Sumeragi estate!

"H-HELP… HWELP! GRUAAAAGH! RAAA!!!"

"P-P-Psych-malignance?!"

Fujikawa, who finished her opponents, hopped to my side as both of us looked in disgust and horror as the guy with the alias of Player 231 had his injured body mutate into a Psych-malignance not unlike a usual one. However, what horrified us is how he begged for help until he fully turned into a monster.

"Kota-kun! What the hell happened to you, Kota!!!"

"GRAAAA! UGRAAAA!!!"

"N-No! NOOOO!!!"

"Chronia!"

"I know!"

The human-turned-monster grabbed his friend who was immobile due to the slime. He was about to eat him when I focused on the blood particles in the solidified slime and tore it open to let him out.

"Get over here, you fool!"

"T-T-T-Thank you!"

Fujikawa formed a chain from her flames and wrapped it around Player 474's leg to pull him away from his mutated friend.

"I'll lead, give me some cover, Chronia-"

"No need. I'll end what I started."

"H-huh?"

I gave the slime more focus as I reformed the scattered blood particles in it. Because of that, the slime I can control was lessened. But this is all according to how the solution I made will go.

""

*Ka-byug!*

"GUOOOOOHHH!!!"

"W-W-What…?"

I moved the slime near the monster's head and casted my ability that made a sharp, pointed needle made of blood to go through and crack open the skull of our opponent.

"Fujikawa, please burn it."

"…Sure."

From her tone and expression, Fujikawa must've understood the reason why I went through the most direct course of action to kill the mutated person rather than work with her to dispose of it.

"Player 474, right?"

"Y-Y-Yes… But my real name is-"

"No need to tell me that. I don't need it."

"O-okay…"

"Who is that person to you?"

"K-Kota is… huh?"

"What? What's wrong?"

"I… I don't remember."

"Huh?"

"I remember his name but… I… I can't remember who he is to me…"

The guy looked genuinely confused as he searched his brain for an answer. As a doctor, I knew that his expression and how he seemed to not remember his mutated friend at all was not a show but his actual reaction.

""

"Regardless of whether or not you can remember him, I guess it won't be wrong to say goodbye to him as we burn away his mutated body, right?"

"Ah…"

"Hm? Ahh… crap."

As soon as I turned to him, I saw the skin on his nape rapidly turn to blue as if it was rid of oxygen and it caused cellular asphyxiation.

"Uff-"

"I-Is he dead too…?"

"Yeah. Whatever are on these game passes, it seems like it's something that is connected to their life."

I said those words as 474's player card dissipated into ash, and he died where he was sitting at.

"Darn it! Damn it all!"

"Chronia…"

"Who the hell are we fighting…? Why are they killing their own people?!"

""

Kai, who is still in high on his photosynthetic energy, plunged his hand into the misshapen malignance's belly and the seeds he let go inside the body soon grew and detonated the monster into bits.

"Hyahaha! That was fun!"

"Alright, Kai. That's enough for you."

"Yeah. I know…"

Kai closed his eyes and after the green highlights on his hair rescinded back to the tips, his usual demeanor came back as he gave us his cheerful smile.

"Kai, break this Subspace. We need to get to sensei immediately."

"Got it. "

As the dimensional barrier was destroyed and we came back to the real world, I saw the braindead bodies of the two and it frustrated me as Fujikawa patted me on the shoulder to calm me down.

"Come on, Chronia. You can ask as much questions as you want later when we're done here. For now, let's do what we should do."

"…Understood."

Even though I was still disturbed and annoyed, I understood what I should do and followed Fujikawa and Kai down to the second floor of the arena to meet with our instructor and commanding officer.

"This is…"

"Another Subspace barrier. Let's do this."

"Yeah."

"Right at your backs!"

We placed our hand inside and focused until we got to synch our mental forms into the subspace.

"You three arrived just in time."

"S-Sensei, this is-"

"I know, it's a mess. No need to remind me."

After we entered the subspace and saw the arena that is now devoid of colors and normal people, we were surprised to see a lot of our enemies sprawled around with metal panels, iron pipes or bars plunged into them. Some of the remaining opponents are cowering from behind cover or forcing their selves out of sensei's Subspace but with no success.

"Hehe! Just as expected of you, boss. Very efficient and elegant."

"Shut up, Kai... You three, prepare for battle!"

"""Yes, sensei!"""

I ran out of blood in my flask, so I lightly cut my palm and used it to float around me, ready for battle. Kai drew out some seeds from his pockets while Fujikawa took out a stick of gum that she chewed while pouring more Astra energy into her machete that blazed with a bluish hue.

"Damn it! Damn it all!"

"This wasn't in the game! This isn't a starter level, you damned devs!"

"I don't wanna die!"

Our enemies who shouted the same things seem to be the same as the other two from earlier. Because of this, I asked a question of Furuta-sensei.

"Sensei… the ones we fought upstairs was the same. They say that this is a game and even had IDs that they called as game passes."

"I am aware of that and that's what pisses me off. I know who is responsible for sending these half-baked psychics here and we fell right in his trap."

"What?"

"The forced awakening event is just a cover. The Miyazono's true intention is something more important than this."

"Then let's leave this subspace and-"

"Did you lose your brain, Chronia?!"

"-!"

"If we break this Subspace, it will declare as us the victor of the fight and the IDs of these kids will activated, making them malignances with physical bodies."

"I see it, boss. Simply put, Rai-kun, these newbies we are fighting will become monsters that might endanger the people downstairs. We need to dispose of them first before we go after our real enemy."

"…I understand."

"Well then, let's do this!"

We charged forward, giving our still living enemies the least painful death possible and after only a few moments, Furuta-sensei broke the barrier. Out in the real world, I saw the braindead bodies of our enemies sprawled around as I grit my teeth in frustration.

"…"

"The S.S.S agents here will take care of the clean-up. Let's go now, kid."

"Yes, sir."

We ran where Furuta-sensei detected a strong Astra energy source. We arrived at the left wing of the arena where the function rooms are located that will be used later as a meet-and-greet area for the performers to their fans.

"…Hold it."

"…"

Furuta-sensei spoke as we were about to approach a corner.

"…High-level Seed psychics."

"Seeds… artificial psychics?"

"Yeah. Leave them to me."

Furuta-sensei took a screw from his pocket and made it levitate around while he's morphing it into a fine needle shape.

"…Go!"

"Huh?"

"Ukk!!!"

"Gah!"

The needle that accelerated as fast a bullet went through the necks of the two Psychics guarding the door of the function room.

"Let's go."

"Yes, sir."

Furuta-sensei placed his hand on the metal door and through the vibrations it caught, heard what was happening inside.

"It seems like they took some people from the crowd. Did they perhaps detect them right in the entrance and used the emitter and sensors from earlier as a cheap distraction?"

"Perhaps. They seem like they weren't worried at all earlier since they sent new recruits to us. Whatever is behind this is what they really meant to do."

Furuta-sensei gave us signs on what to do. Fujikawa will be leading the charge inside and start burning the room to flush everyone out. Furuta-sensei will be constraining them with metal bars while I and Kai will deal with those who will fight back.

"Go!"

"-!"

*Byak!*

Fujikawa kicked open the door and threw a fireball inside that immediately spread to burn any combustible material.

"WAA!!! HELP!!!"

"HOT! HOT!!!"

Those who were caught in the blast rolled on the floor to kill the fire as Furuta-sensei took some iron bars from the walls to hold them down.

"P-P-Protect Miyazono-sama!"

"Protect the young master!"

"Kai!"

"I know!"

"Gya!"

I sent my blood forward and on impact, solidified it into a crystalized form to pierce the charging enemies.

""

"W-W-What the heck…?"

"My head… it's…"

Meanwhile, Kai's seed formed flowers that spread pollen on the enemies that after a moment, made them die through suffocation in the lungs.

"…Kai, you heard what they said, right?"

"Yup. Miyazono-sama, they said. Means one of the three brats are here."

"Miyazono… you mean, one of the three heirs of the corporation head?"

"You're right, Rai-kun. The big bosses of the enemies. Whoever it is, it must be someone reckless to go here while knowing that we will appear."

"This is an opportune moment. I'll inform Oyabun-sama about this. You, Chronia. Contact Nakamura about this and ask her permission to join us."

"Yes, sir!"

I took out my agency phone and called Yusa-san, my operator who handles my missions.

"This is Operator Yusa. Why did you call, Operative Chronia?"

"Furuta-sensei and our team found out something important, Yusa-san. I am requesting a direct line to Director Yuri immediately."

"…Understood. Hold on as I am rerouting your call."

"…"

After a moment, I heard some light noises from the other line which sounded familiar to me.

"H-Hello? Why did you call, Ephraim?"

"I-I have an important report. We found out that an important person in the Miyazono group is present in the mission area. Furuta-sensei is asking permission from you to bring me along for the apprehension."

"Hmm… I accept it. Take care, Rai-kun."

"Thank you, Yurippe! And um… are you shopping in Akatsuki district?"

"Ah! So, you were hearing the noise?"

"Yeah. The saleswoman is pretty loud."

"A-Ah… just stay safe, okay. I'll send some agents your way if you need backup."

"Y-yeah… Thanks."

The line was cut at the same time as Furuta-sensei's call.

"You three. Take their guns and follow me."

"Yes, sensei!"

"Got you, boss!"

I took a handgun from one of the dead enemies and followed Furuta-sensei as we entered the next room that leads to the underground garage lot.

"They've escaping. Let's go, you three!"

"Right!"

We detected a powerful source of Astra energy leaving for the garage as we went through the room and disposed the guards there with precision.

"Protect the young master!"

"Don't let them through!"

Hiding our psychic abilities and Astra energy to not make them initiate the creation of a Subspace that will delay our chase, we used our guns and after a short fire fight, cornered our target inside a van.

"…Get out of there."

"…"

"Get out of there or I'll crush that van around your body, you asshole! Don't test my patience!"

Furuta-sensei angrily shouted as he casted his Psychic power and made the van's roof creak audibly, threatening the person inside of a painful death.

"Alright, alright… You peons sure don't have any sense of humor. Can't you give this old man a slack?"

"You-!!!"

"Kai! Kai! Damn it! Stand down!"

"You bastard! I will never forget what you did back then! I'm gonna kill you!"

As soon as the person stepped out of the vehicle, we saw a young man dressed with a high-end suit with the Miyazono corporation's lapel pin and is wearing highly-tinted sunglasses with thick lens.

"Hehehe… I sure am honored to be targeted by Replicant like you. Even though I don't believe such a being as I who is loved by fate will ever die on your hands."

"YOU-!!!"

"Chronia! Hold Kai for me!"

"Y-yes, sensei."

I held back the enraged Kai who has nothing but murderous intent on his expression and eyes as he looked at the guy who called himself an "old man" even though he didn't even look like any older than us.

"Oh… New faces. A tomboyish beauty who controls fire and has faced great adversities in her life but won in the end."

"Huh? What are you talking about, you weirdo? Shut up or I'll shoot off a limb or two off your lanky body."

He spoke some obscure words towards Fujikawa who was confused but seemed annoyed enough to threaten him.

"And you… wait, what are you?"

"Huh?"

"My eyes guarantee that I see the truth in all things but you… I can see nothing from you."

"Don't listen to him, Rai. Don't let him confuse you with his crap talk."

"Y-yes, sensei."

As Furuta-sensei used several steel bars to hold this guy's hands and ankles together, he kept on looking my way with an astounded expression on his face.

"You are…"

"?"

"Of all the Psychics that I saw in my life, your Astra energy's color is the most curious…"

Suddenly, I felt a creeping sense of fear crawling up me. As if his gaze is enough to touch me in all kinds of ways.

"Most curious… very, very curious…"

"Tch-!"

At some point, that feeling felt more tangible and I sensed that he is using his Psychic powers, with that provocation, I lifted my control over my Psychic power and with the short distance between us that made my ability stronger, made him get a taste of his own medicine.

"W-What the… Urk! What is this?!"

"Don't kill him, kid. Our allies are nearly here."

"I know. I just wanted to make him understand what he is doing."

I closed off the blood vessels on his neck, starving his brain of oxygen which made his previously cocky expression as he looked at us like a geezer, turn into an enraged expression.

"Why you…! How dare you threaten one of the most brilliant brains in this world! I will-"

"You're lucky that our side need you as a captive, or else, I will end your life here with no reservations."

"Gak! Kak!"

"You're free to kill us since we are on different sides, but to send hapless people to their deaths and even using their injured or dead bodies to make monsters… You are worse than scum…"

"You…! YOU!!!"

Just in time as his enraged expression was fully directed to me, S.S.S agents appeared and took him away.

"Instructions said that were taking him to Sagami bunker."

"Good job, Agent Chronia!"

"Y-yes. You're welcome and thank you for taking him away."

After the armed convoy took him away, Furuta-sensei called the Sumeragi group and was told that the group who will take us out of the place will arrive a bit later.

"…That's a successful mission. You can pat yourselves on the back, you brats."

"Thank you, sensei."

"Let's wait a bit until our extraction team comes."

Although it was a bit late, I asked Furuta-sensei and Kai about that guy who we just caught.

"He's Miyazono Keiji. One of the three heirs of the Miyazono group. He's a really strong Psychic."

"Strong? Then why didn't he fight back when we are about to catch him?"

"Because he's just that strong."

Almost killing someone like that and enraging him… maybe I bit more than what I can chew this time.

"He's a very strange weirdo who does all kinds of things on a complete whim. He's been caught thrice already, but he always gets out after he gets bored with being imprisoned by us."

"Knowing you guys, he'd probably not be able to escape easily. How did he pull it off?"

"…"

Suddenly, both Furuta-sensei and Kai became silent before sighing and telling the truth.

"Miyazono Keiji is a Animakinetic Psychic. He can see and manipulate someone's soul and in the case of his many jailbreaks… he can transfer his soul to the body of others."

"Then when he said that he is an old man-"

"He's done this every time he becomes bored with a body, or his current body becomes too injured or nearing death. That's the reason why I was pissed with him."

"Why?"

"Because he hurt someone dear to me. He broke a bond that isn't meant to be broken, and because of that, that someone is now hurt beyond recovery."

Kai hid the subject of his speech under a vague cover, but I understood the gist of it.

"Once Oyabun-sama allows me to do it. I'll be the one who'll end that person's life."

"…I understand your rage."

And so, the mission that we undertook was complete and we even got to arrest someone high-ranking in our enemy's group.

However, unbeknownst to us. Our captive held little to no value to our enemies and what we did that we viewed as nothing but a minor inconvenience to them, was something that actually disrupted an important plan they have.

"Gardener William Tetian… can you explain the reason how my idiot of a brother escaped his mansion and got himself caught by the Sumeragi men again?"

In the main headquarter building of the Miyazono corporation in Hiraga district of New Tokyo city, a young woman was sitting behind an office table placed over a raised platform. She exuded an authoritative aura towards a man with grayish hair.

"…I have no excuses, Lady Himari. Lord Keiji simply didn't want to be held in his home and went away without our knowledge. By the time we arrived, his body was already dead, and we suspected that he's been away for hours."

"Nyahaha! What a blunder isn't it, Sister Himari?"

Another young woman laughed heartily from another raised table. Unlike the other, she was a bit more cheerful and casual with her words.

"Silence, Aishi. I have become tired of dealing with your leniency with that fool."

"Well, I apologize, sister. As you may know, I can't really hold him back since all three of us are made to embody Freedom."

"…"

These two women, along with the young man from earlier who was taken by the S.S.S agents, are the three heirs of the company and are top-notch Psychics.

"Whatever, he'll probably come back later once he gets bored. The real reason why I called you here Gardener William is due to the failed forced awakening in the music festival."

"We have checked our security cameras and have confirmed multiple individuals who ruined the project. We are trying our best to salvage data from the records since someone from the enemy have corrupted the files with a virus… I apologize for this failure, Lady Himari."

"It matters not. We can just try again next year."

"I am grateful for your patience for our failure."

The young lady stood up from her seat and looked out of the window to see the very visible difference between New Tokyo's lively nightscape and Old Tokyo's dim appearance.

"She already told us about it… I can already feel it…"

Miyazono Himari spoke these words while her hands shook lightly and beads of sweat formed on her forehead.

"He's here… Law is here."

Even she, who owns everything in this new world, understood what kind of threat the mere existence of someone who can embody that spirit is.

And soon, this truth will not be only obvious to those who are against that being, but also to the one who was given such a power… and responsibility.

"Good morning, kids!"

"Good morning, Rai-nii… Fuwaahh~!"

"Hehe… Eat up now, it's a school day after all."