Light (6)
The laboratory was shrouded in a sacred silence. The swirling shadows had long since faded, leaving only the metallic tang of blood to brush against the tip of my nose. The fierce battle had finally drawn to a close.
“······.”
In my arms lay a blue-haired girl. Had the tension finally left her? The girl who had once shimmered like beautiful snowflakes was now unconscious, having exhausted every ounce of her strength. Her faint breaths tickled the collar of my shirt.
“You must be exhausted.”
Her eyelids were gently closed. I lingered for a moment, savoring the warmth pressed against my chest, before slowly lowering her body to the floor. Carefully, so as not to wake her.
Beside her lay the owner of the pink hair. She, too, had lost consciousness. Both girls were covered in dust, but neither appeared to have sustained any serious injuries. That, at least, was a relief.
“Even though I secretly took measures… it seems I can’t help but worry.”
A bitter smile crossed my lips. I had known the safety measures would prevent them from getting hurt, yet my heart had still clenched with anxiety the entire time. After all, worry had always been the disease of adults.
“It was unnecessary concern, it seems.”
The children had performed far better than I expected. Given how terrifying the situation must have been, not a single one of them had acted selfishly. Touched by their courage, I gently stroked both girls’ foreheads. My quiet whisper carried a trace of tenderness.
“You did well. Both of you.”
The summoner and the vain noble. They had played their roles to perfection. Many trials still awaited them, but for now, they needed rest. I spread my shadow over them like a blanket.
“May you have sweet dreams.”
Snap!
I flicked my fingers. Space twisted for a brief instant, and a modest barrier formed around the children. Not even the headmaster of Galimar would be able to break through this.
“I said it was over, but… I still have some personal matters to attend to.”
I brushed the darkness from my fingertips. Quite some time had passed since we arrived at the laboratory, so the academy would soon locate our position. I had roughly thirty minutes left. A bit tight, perhaps. But considering the episode about to unfold, I needed to build up enough groundwork here.
With that thought in mind, I turned my head.
Ugh… Aaaah…
In my field of vision wriggled a grotesque shape. Though its body had been severed in half and it could barely move a single tentacle, its stubborn vitality somehow kept it clinging to life. If left alone, it would likely breathe its last soon.
Aaah… Aaaaah…
A sob leaked from between its hideous, gaping maw. Its red pupils flickered one final time. In a way, they almost looked steeped in sorrow.
I quietly met its gaze. Rotten blood flowed down like tears.
“······.”
A monster that could not smile. It was the worst experiment produced by Baob, a disaster-grade chimera responsible for countless casualties. Yet—
“You poor thing.”
It, too, was nothing more than another victim. Forced into mutation by experiments it never wanted, it had lost its original intellect and become a creature that craved slaughter. How could I not pity such a wretched life?
“Truly, this is the ugliness sown by adults.”
All the mutants I had encountered today had been created from beast bases, but this monster was different. It was the only chimera crafted from human material.
Its tattered, flayed skin. Once, it must have been a girl who smiled with pure innocence. She had become a monster before even reaching the age of ten. If she had never been given the chance to forget her childhood, what adult in this world could possibly blame her? I could only mourn a life that had been so cruelly shattered.
I suppose I should keep my promise.
I quietly reached out my hand. Shadows crept up from the floor like smoke and swallowed the severed form. The monster thrashed for a brief moment before resigning itself and vanishing into the darkness.
I had placed her inside my subspace. There, she would remain unseen by others and could rest in peaceful silence. And whenever I wished, I could bring her out again.
“······Heh.”
My mood had soured slightly, but I swallowed the feeling. A bitter smile lingered at the corners of my mouth. There wasn’t much time left. It was time to wrap up this episode.
I walked forward with calm steps. Leaving behind the devastated laboratory, I once again crossed the long corridor. My feet carried me toward my destination.
Let’s go see that rat’s face, shall we?
Meanwhile, at the deepest level of the underground facility.
A hidden chamber that could only be reached by descending seven flights of stairs tangled like a maze. A man stood within it.
Crash!
A rather noisy sound rang out. The man was frantically gathering the scattered documents on his desk, preparing to flee the laboratory. His face, visible between the disheveled folds of his robe, had turned deathly pale.
“Damn it…!”
The curse he spat out trembled in a way that didn’t suit his deep voice. His hands fumbled clumsily, unable to find what he needed, clearly revealing the man’s panicked state. It was as if he were trying to escape from something.
“How could something like that even exist…?!”
He muttered, his voice thick with fear. When he had received this mission, he had never been told about such a monster. He had only been given simple instructions.
“Fuck! This doesn’t make any sense…!”
It was supposed to be nothing special. A teleportation hijacking prepared through secret channels. Using it to kidnap a single person. The target was the rumored female student who could supposedly summon a wyvern.
—She’s worth researching.
—Chimeras made from dragons as materials have been extremely rare until now…
—It will serve as excellent stimulation for the believers.
—We should offer that child to our god.
The two additional people that came along had been given permission to be disposed of however he pleased. The man had accepted the mission with delight. After all, it was a rare opportunity to personally feed the ‘artwork.’
The sight of students despairing before countless tentacles. Imagining their bodies being torn apart by soft, fleshy appendages sent a thrilling pleasure down his spine. The man had looked forward to that ecstatic scene.
But then—
[Oh dear… This is quite the moment of crisis, isn’t it?]
A boy had appeared with a playful tone. With a single casual wave of his hand, the numerous tentacles were sliced apart in an instant. Before the man could even comprehend what had happened, a blue line was drawn through the air. Immediately afterward, the massive body was helplessly severed.
“Just where the hell did that monster come from…!”
The greatest artwork created in Belzen. The highest-grade chimera had been cut down without even being able to put up a fight. It was strength that defied all logic. A mere student—nothing more than a greenhorn—had overwhelmed a monster that even the Empire’s renowned heroes had struggled against. The situation was turning sour.
[Heh heh.]
And then there was that meaningful smile the boy wore while staring at the screen. It was a smile so ominous it seemed as if he knew he was being watched. The man sensed that something had gone terribly wrong. A chilling sensation crawled down the back of his neck. He felt certain that something bad was about to happen.
The man immediately began preparing to escape. He planned to slip out through the emergency staircase connected to this hidden room. Since it was a location that could not be found unless one was a manager of this facility, he had no fear of being pursued.
“I need to return to headquarters immediately.”
He had to inform the cult leader. That such a powerful being was hiding among the students. That perhaps the informant had betrayed them. The man rose to his feet, desperate to leave this ominous place.
The very next moment.
“I must tell the cult leader about this right away…!”
“You seem to be in quite a hurry?”
“······.”
A voice came from behind him. The man’s mind went completely blank as his body froze in place. There had been no presence. No sound of footsteps. Nothing.
“······.”
“Where exactly are you rushing off to in such a hurry?”
The relaxed voice brushed against his ear. When he slowly turned his creaking neck, the golden snake he had just been watching on the screen was standing there. Had he appeared out of thin air? The boy smiled with his eyes in a carefree manner.
It was a frivolous smile, yet alarm bells were screaming inside the man’s head. If he didn’t move right now, he would die. Instinctively, he channeled mana to his fingertips and unfolded an offensive spell formula.
But—
“An interesting attempt.”
Snap!
The moment the sound of fingers snapping rang out, the magic wrapped around his hand vanished. At the same time, every muscle in his body went rigid. It was as if he had been struck with paralysis. The man couldn’t even blink.
“I have many questions for you.”
The snake smiled gently. Yet a terrible killing intent swirled around them.
“You will have to answer a great many things for me.”
The boy’s palm covered the man’s face. The icy cold temperature shattered his reason and stirred up abyssal terror. The snake murmured softly.
“There’s no need to go through the trouble of moving your mouth, is there?”
His pure white pupils gleamed sharply. The boy stared at him with his eyelids fully open. An indescribable sense of deprivation crushed the man. It resembled the gaze of a grim reaper. The look one would give to a sinful soul about to be harvested.
“Because I intend to hear the answers directly from your brain.”
“Ah…”
Snap!
Once again, the sound of snapping fingers echoed. Immediately afterward, the shadows covering the man’s face erupted in a massive explosion. The final scene that remained in his fading consciousness was—
“Then, sleep well within your nightmare.”
The cold, contemptuous white eyes.
A short while later.
Several people burst into the underground facility that had been silent for some time. They were none other than a portion of Galimar’s faculty.
“Find the students immediately!”
The students who had vanished along with the rampaging magic circle. Although detection had been delayed due to the distorted mana, swift countermeasures had allowed them to reverse-calculate the teleportation’s destination. They had located the children’s whereabouts just two hours after their disappearance, and every available personnel had teleported to the site.
They hurried down the corridor with urgent steps. As the professors continued their search, they soon discovered two students lying on the laboratory floor. One with pink hair, the other with blue.
“Students found here!”
“Regia Pirates and Emilia Vanity. It appears to be two of the three missing students.”
“Where is the remaining one?”
“We’ll search the surrounding area!”
“No, more importantly… what exactly are all these things scattered around?”
“······Corpses of beasts?”
The professors who had entered the laboratory couldn’t help but be greatly shaken. The scene was nothing short of utter chaos. Two unconscious students. Countless unidentified chunks of flesh splattered everywhere. Wolves, spiders, tentacles… the numerous corpses of creatures that seemed to be grotesque combinations of various animals. The professors stood speechless.
“······What in the world is all this?”
“······.”
“Just what on earth happened here…”
It was a space that inspired the most horrific imaginings. What exactly had the students endured during the two hours they had spent in this place?
While they were merely casting futile glances around, the sound of footsteps echoed.
Step. Step.
Perhaps startled by the sudden presence, the professors reacted sensitively and assumed combat stances. They held their breath and waited. Then, a sticky voice whispered into their ears.
“My, my… It seems you’re all a step too late.”
All eyes turned at once. What emerged from the thick darkness was none other than the golden snake. His eyes were narrowed in an ominous smile.
“You’re already too late.”
The single phrase carried an especially meaningful weight. It was the appearance of the last student they had been searching for, yet for some reason, the professors found it difficult to relax. A menacing aura kept tightening around their throats.
“······.”
The professors unconsciously swallowed dryly. Of course, whether they did or not, the boy simply approached them with leisurely steps.
“Hmm~ There’s really no need for you all to be so wary, you know?”
“······.”
“The situation ended quite some time ago.”
Against a backdrop thick with the stench of blood, the snake flicked his tongue as if delighted.
“Please, rest easy.”
It was a greeting that lowered the temperature of the underground facility by several degrees.