Chapter 44
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Hide and Seek
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Kiel's avatar lunged at me. The flow of the air around us shifted.
Gripping Ella under my arm, I dodged the avatar's first strike.
The wooden puppet's fist grazed past my ear. The sound of splitting wind rang out.
"Wow. You're really pissed off, huh."
I sneered and twisted the puppet's wrist. Its broken right arm tumbled to the floor.
Dozens of avatars emerged from the swirling sandstorm.
They came in all shapes and sizes. Most were humanoid, but a few rare ones took the form of beasts.
Under Kiel's control, they thrashed wildly, grabbing at my limbs all at once.
Give her back, give her back, give her back—!!
Kiel's voice exploded from the mouths of multiple avatars at once.
I held Ella even tighter and slipped through the gaps between the avatars.
Spinning around, I used the back of the first avatar as a springboard to kick another in the face.
Wooden shards scattered in all directions.
Twisting and contorting my body to its limits, I evaded every assault,
and for attacks from unavoidable angles, I countered by pulling them into my domain.
I kept up the game of tag while taunting Kiel.
"Hey, why are you so mad?"
[Shut up...!]
"If you think about it, this is all because of you, right? None of this would've happened if you hadn't made that deal with me. Isn't that so?"
[I said shut up!]
"You enjoyed it too. You ruined dozens of people's lives for fun, but now that it's your turn, you're flipping out. So why not enjoy this too?"
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Not like I had any room to talk.
An avatar twisted its limbs and charged at me.
I kicked off the ground, launching myself into the air. Mid-spin, I smashed the puppet's knee.
The off-balance puppet toppled sideways, causing the surrounding avatars to lose their footing as they surged forward.
I stomped on the head of a crawling avatar.
"Did you really not see this coming at all? Seriously?"
[Shut up and give me that girl!]
"Come on, no way. You must've been prepared for something like this."
The human heart never quite does what you want it to.
Even if you anticipate that a day like this will come someday and steel yourself for it.
When the moment actually arrives, your thoughts change.
That's just how people are. Pretending to know what they don't, and pretending not to know what they do.
Such contradictory creatures.
"Oh, and when's Edward's memorial? You should host one yourself. He got pretty famous, didn't he?"
[...!!!]
Kiel's avatars howled like enraged beasts.
Even through all that, Ella hadn't stirred once in my arms. No struggling, no questions.
She was simply watching the scene unfold quietly.
Her eyes darted rapidly, tracking the avatars' movements.
I twisted off the neck of an avatar that had closed in right next to me.
"Do you know what your fatal flaw was?"
[Shut up, shut up, shut up you fucking bastard!!]
"Trying to do everything halfway. If you'd focused on protecting just the one thing you cared about most, things might've turned out differently. Right?"
To accomplish anything, you have to devote yourself entirely.
But Kiel hadn't done that.
If she wanted to save her own skin, she should've run.
If she wanted to save her friend, she should've gone all out.
But she hadn't.
Instead, she'd tried to protect everything ambiguously, setting up some ridiculous surveillance system to keep me out.
Just like how she'd juggled identities as Broker and professor to seize it all.
"Stupid bitch."
Kiel stopped responding.
Instead, she began speaking to Ella, who was tucked under my arm as we moved.
Having judged physical seizure impossible, she was now trying to persuade her into running away on her own.
[Ella. Get away from that guy, quick.]
The avatar most resembling a human opened its mouth. The earlier intense emotions were gone, replaced by a calm voice.
[That bastard's a monster. He doesn't care about means or methods if it means achieving what amuses him.]
"..."
[You learning swordsmanship, going to the academy—it's all just pieces on that bastard's board. It's actually taking you further from revenge. If you truly want revenge—]
Listening to this, it sounded kinda funny.
"Not like you have any room to give advice."
"Shut up."
"Yeah, you do that."
Dozens of avatars rushed in all at once.
The one puppet most resembling Kiel herself stayed back, continuing her words.
[You need to break free from his intentions first. I can help you. So—]
Amid the wave of avatars crashing like a tidal surge, one extended its hand.
Ella looked at that hand and replied.
"...No."
[...!!]
"I don't know what that bastard did to you... but still, no."
Ella fixed her gaze on the avatar amid the wave and the lone one left behind.
She'd spotted the contradiction in Kiel's words.
She said to get revenge on me, I had to break free from my intentions—but Kiel herself hadn't broken free.
"I'll handle the revenge. Not you. Me."
[You...]
"So this isn't your business."
I heard Ella's response.
I stepped into my domain, widening the distance from the avatars.
Once we'd broken away from Kiel, I set Ella down.
She wore a pensive expression.
Interesting.
I'd half-expected Kiel to pull something like that, but Ella's reaction was a bit refreshing.
"What do you think?"
"About what."
"About Broker?"
"...Nothing much. No real thoughts."
Ella stared down at her hands, lost in thought.
Was she regretting not taking that outstretched hand at the last moment?
I couldn't quite read what was on Ella's mind.
"Didn't you think it was pathetic? How she gleefully ruined other people's lives, but lost her shit when it was her turn. Honestly, kinda pitiful, right?"
I tossed out the words and gauged Ella's reaction.
She still said nothing.
"Isn't she one of your revenge targets too? She helped toy with you. You planning to kill me and her both?"
No response this time either.
Ella finally spoke after quite some time had passed.
She turned to me, as if she'd reached some conclusion.
"Neither. I just... think I need to steel myself properly."
"...?"
"You said it yourself. To accomplish anything, you have to be prepared to give everything."
"Basic common sense."
"...Yeah."
Killing intent seeped into Ella's eyes.
Her own form of resolve, it seemed.
Though it wouldn't amount to much more than being leashed and dragged along.
[...Senior.]
The rooftop. Chilly wind. Crimson blood flowing over the summoning circle.
[You're the one who abandoned me. You gave up on me first.]
No.
Kiel's lips moved. No sound escaped her throat.
[You pitied me. Always looking at me like I was so pitiful.]
No, that's not true.
[That look in your eyes when you saw me—I felt it every day.]
Edward's voice grew louder and louder.
[Poor Edward, talentless Edward. The junior not as smart as you. The junior who could never succeed because of his lack of confidence!]
No, I never thought that.
Kiel reached out her hand. But Edward didn't take it.
His chest burst open. Red blood droplets splattered across Kiel's face.
[If it weren't for you... I... I—!!]
Kiel bolted upright in bed.
Her hair clung to her sweat-soaked forehead.
Panting roughly, she scanned her surroundings.
"...A dream...?"
Ever since that day, Kiel had been plagued by nightmares every night.
She slid out of bed and walked to the window.
The academy lay silent. The rooftop was shrouded in darkness, revealing nothing.
The remnants of the magic circle, the bloodstains—all must have been erased by now.
Yet she couldn't tear her eyes away from it.
"...Edward. What you said isn't true. I..."
In that moment, a memory flashed through her mind.
Back in her undergrad days, the first time Edward visited the lab.
It had been snowing. He'd hesitated outside the door for a long time before coming in.
[Senior, um... do you really think I belong in this department?]
How had she answered that question?
[What're you saying? Talent can be overcome with effort.]
Looking back now, what had those words meant to him?
[What're you saying.]
On reflection, hadn't she essentially brushed off his worries with a single light sentence?
Kiel gripped the windowsill tighter.
A week had passed since that day.
She'd tried denying reality, cursing and resenting, but in the end, her heart converged on one truth.
"...I have no choice but to admit it. I had already given up on you."
Excusing it as pitying him, worrying about him, pretending to look after him.
In truth, hadn't she been keeping him trapped by her side, ensuring his talent never surpassed hers?
Kiel pressed her forehead against the cool glass. It soothed her feverish heat.
That bastard's words echoed relentlessly in her head.
[You enjoyed it too. You ruined dozens of people's lives for fun, but now that it's your turn, you're flipping out. So why not enjoy this too?]
Resolve. Yes, she'd steeled herself.
But those were just words.
"...Edward."
She recalled the expression Edward had worn on the rooftop that day.
"You were right."
Crunch.
Kiel's resentment and rage turned toward that man—then swung back to stab at herself.
It had to be that way.
After all, she herself was the root cause of it all.
Today, too, Kiel carved another ring into her wrist.
This made the eighth one.