Chapter 211
Chapter 211
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 211
Chapter Title: Yuria and the Two Psychics (8)
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Screeeech…!
The sound was like a rusty crowbar scraping hard against a steel plate.
A chilling, unpleasant noise fit for a grim reaper guiding the souls of the dead.
At first glance, one might think it was just a mindless prank.
But Raven’s wariness only grew at the inexplicable action.
Psychics were so meticulous they rarely left a trace.
There had to be a dark reason for them to be doing this.
And perhaps it was related to what the girl had just said about many people dying.
As it happened, his ominous premonition was not wrong; it became reality itself.
“Th-This is…!”
As the sound spread in all directions, the people lying collapsed all around began to tremble violently.
Though they seemed completely unconscious, their movements were desperate, as if trying to flee from something.
It was a scene from a living hell, like being trapped in a blazing inferno.
Raven naturally realized that the unpleasant noise was the cause.
If I let this continue, something terrible will happen.
Raven immediately tried to shoot and destroy the speakers inside the control room.
But Ren, as if she had expected it, spoke in a quiet, mocking voice.
“Big brother, it’s no use breaking the speakers in here. Once it starts to rampage, it doesn’t stop.”
“Once it rampages… it doesn’t stop?”
“Hehe…. A lot of people are going to die and suffer now. And this is all… your fault, you know? Because you ignored my earnest pleas and tried to give up on me…! I’ll make you regret not finishing me off in one go earlier.”
Her voice itself wasn’t particularly agitated.
It was a perfectly calm tone, as if she were simply relaying her thoughts.
But perhaps because Raven was adept at reading others’ emotions, almost to the point of mind-reading.
He could tell that Ren’s condition had worsened considerably compared to when they first met.
It was as if her mind had been consumed by the irrational emotion of madness; her eyes seemed to see only Raven.
‘Do I have a chance? No, it’ll be difficult. Maybe if it were just that girl and I was in perfect condition. But one of my arms is done for, and the space is quite narrow…. I’m even outnumbered. This is the worst. Is the only thing I can do now just hold them back?’
She wasn’t someone he could reason with, so he had to fight one way or another….
Raven calculated his chances in his head and understood the situation was utterly hopeless.
At least he had contacted the Association and called for another Fixer before coming down here.
It was a small mercy that his victory condition had been lowered from winning to simply stalling for time.
But could he really buy time against these two psychics?
In this truly desperate crisis, Raven’s mind grew even more complicated.
At this point, I have no choice but to risk my life to dig up some meaningful information.
Having reached that conclusion, Raven concealed his inner thoughts and asked with a serious expression.
“What did you just do? Did you plant something in these people?”
“…Hmph. Trying to buy time by talking now that you’re at a disadvantage? What happened to your motto of not negotiating with terrorists?”
“…”
“Well, fine. I’ll humor you this once. Because I like you, big brother. Think of it as a final kindness before I break your limbs and take you away.”
Damn, she’s sharp. What a vexing personality.
He frowned slightly at Ren’s leisurely, confident demeanor.
It seemed this, too, was a kind of favor she was showing Raven….
She was acting with extreme arrogance, as if she thought he was already a fish in her net.
However, was this another sudden remark that hadn't been agreed upon?
The handsome man who appeared to be her subordinate spoke to her with a flustered look.
“My lady! Why would you, knowing the enemy’s intentions—!”
“Shut up, Millein. I’ve already done what I was ordered to do from above. What I do from now on is my business. You… if you keep getting on my nerves, I’ll kill you, understand?”
“Kh, ugh…. Understood….”
A flash of malice.
As if her threat to kill him was no empty boast, Ren stared at her subordinate with incredibly menacing eyes.
And did the man called Millein lack the power or authority to stop her?
He bowed his head as if to obey her will and took a step back.
Well, whatever the case, if she was willing to talk, it was an unspeakable gain for him.
Raven ignored the blood streaming from his shoulder and focused on her next words.
“Anyway, you’re just as I’d expect, big brother. Amazing. To get so close to the truth without knowing anything…. That’s right, just as you guessed. The reason these people are suffering is because this sound is causing the Debris we planted to go on a rampage.”
“Debris, you say…”
“A fragment containing the power of the Great One. Ah, have you not seen one, big brother?”
Raven thought. The Great One a psychic would speak of… must be an Invader.
Then did Debris refer to a fragment containing its power?
And prolonged exposure to an Invader’s power usually resulted in symptoms of mental contamination.
They were likely trying to intentionally induce mental contamination through the Debris.
‘Wait, a sound? Did she just say sound? Come to think of it, this is the control room for the stadium’s sound system… No way!’
His train of thought, one thought leading to another, arrived at a single conclusion.
The Debris, a fragment containing the power of an Invader, and the unidentified noise that caused it to rampage.
It was the relationship of a terminal and a signal.
If they could hide the Debris among the spectators, they could cause chaos in the stands just by making the sound reverberate from here.
And people caught in the powerful mental contamination would attack their surroundings indiscriminately.
Her words about many people dying… were certainly no empty threat.
“You…!”
“Aha, you finally get it now? Hehe, but it’s already over. I’m not some stupid villain who explains their plan beforehand. I tell you after it’s done. How about that? You didn’t expect it, did you? That’s why I told you. If you came to me, I’d make it all go away…. Do you regret it? You should have listened to your little sister, right?”
“M-My lady…”
Ren twisted her legs and grinned with a villainous expression.
Panting as if excited by her sadism, she was the very picture of a madwoman.
Even Millein, standing right beside her, began to wonder if he should try to rein her in.
But Raven wasn't fazed by her theatrics.
He was all too used to terrorists shifting the blame for their actions onto others.
Since there was no guarantee it wouldn’t have happened even if he had meekly obeyed her.
Her words were nonsense not worth taking to heart.
“Well, whatever. Does that answer your questions? Then this boring story time is over. It seems you have no intention of walking to me on your own two feet, big brother… so first, I’ll get rid of those useless legs of yours from the knees down!”
“Tch, try it if you can!”
Raven aimed his gun at Ren with his one good arm.
It seemed talking to buy time was no longer an option, but he had no intention of going down meekly.
The stands above might already be a scene of utter chaos.
And it was possible no help would reach him until the situation was completely over.
But he had experienced such desperate situations dozens of times.
And since he had overcome them all so far, he intended to struggle through this one as well, somehow.
“Kyahahat! How long do you think you can run!”
“Kuh…!”
But no matter how strong his resolve, willpower alone couldn't change the situation.
Facing a vigilant Ren, the severely injured Raven could do nothing but evade her attacks.
Raven managed to twist his body and dodge Ren’s merciless attacks several times, but…
Ultimately, perhaps due to losing too much blood, he was overcome with dizziness, and his feet unintentionally stopped.
One who attacks relentlessly and one who dodges everything.
In a hair-raising standoff, it was a fatal opening.
“Your resistance ends here!”
Kagagagak!
Ren’s powerful psychokinesis distorted the floor just by grazing it.
The wave of power rushed toward Raven, who had frozen in place.
Just as his legs were about to be torn to shreds…
Suddenly, a pure white shadow descended from the ceiling and landed in front of him.
“What…!”
“…”
Kiiiiing!
A sharp sound, like two rapidly spinning gears being forced to mesh, echoed through the room.
It was a powerful impact, as if mighty forces were clashing, each refusing to be pushed back.
Raven, who had braced himself for his limbs to be torn off, realized it was a clash of psychokinesis.
The small, pure white back of the head that had landed before him was all too familiar.
Soon, Ren’s powerful psychokinesis, fired from a distance, scattered into nothingness.
When only the lingering remnants of power remained, rustling their hair like a breeze.
The pure white girl, Yuria, spun around, lifting her mask to reveal a surprised expression.
“Raven. Beep…”
“…Yeah, I got hurt. The enemy was stronger than I thought.”
She seemed flustered by Raven's shoulder, which was gushing blood as if he had been pierced by a spear.
Had she not expected him to be this badly injured?
Her round, wide eyes were filled with worry for him.
However, perhaps because he was used to wounds of this severity, he didn't seem to think it was a big deal.
He spoke urgently to Yuria, who seemed to have dropped from the ceiling.
“No, let’s worry about this later. Yuria, hurry upstairs. They’ve spread a powerful mental contamination in the stands. We have to contain it before the damage gets worse.”
“…Hmph.”
“Yu-Yuria?”
But in response to Raven’s urgent words, Yuria just hummed nonchalantly.
It was a reaction he couldn’t comprehend, as if she were telling him not to worry about it.
As if to say, ‘You were worried about that?’, she pulled a device from her pocket and held it out for him to see.
What is she trying to show me? As Raven leaned in to check the screen, a familiar sight came into view.
“Why is this… The stands? Wait, is this… a live feed of what’s happening upstairs?”
“Yep.”
The stands visible on the screen were, contrary to his worries, completely peaceful.
People were just sitting in their seats, looking bored; the signs of blood and fighting he had expected were nowhere to be found.
What in the world is going on?
As Raven looked at Yuria with a somewhat baffled expression, she made a ‘V’ sign with her fingers and laughed with a confident voice.
“Heehee…”
It seemed this cute and quirky girl had already done something incredible.