Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: I Don't Like Hurting People (4)
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Combat? With whom? Probably villains. By the time that thought crossed my mind, my body was already in motion. I was in the middle of escorting the little kid home, but that had long since faded from my thoughts.
...Even if someone called me selfish, I wouldn't care. After all, the whole reason I'd come here was ultimately to get revenge on my father, wasn't it? In the end, what I deemed important always came first.
Heading to Sector B, where Aisha was probably fighting, was more important to me right now than anything else.
Tat-tat-
A flood of thoughts began swirling in my head. Villains? Sure, I figured they might show up. But with Aisha's skills, she could handle most of them with ease. Yet even after some time had passed, those towering ice pillars showed no sign of vanishing.
Why?
In that instant, a face flashed through my mind. The owner of the voice I'd heard on the rooftop not long ago.
"Hera..."
Kaiser's blunt dislike was one thing, but Hera's type? I could never read her intentions. Smiling to your face while hiding a poison-coated blade behind her back. If her attention was turned toward Aisha...
Them talking alone on the rooftop had felt off from the start. Aisha's words had rattled me for days, so I hadn't thought it through properly... but something was definitely up.
Grind-
If I'd snapped out of it sooner, if I hadn't let those words shake me, none of this would have happened. But no amount of self-recrimination changed a thing. Right now, what I had to do was reach Aisha as fast as possible—even if just a little.
I drew the sword at my waist and detonated the air in the opposite direction of my run. Even as the explosion swept my body along, this was the only way right now. Faster. A little faster.
Before long, the ice pillars vanished, replaced by smaller ice walls. Had she exhausted herself using her ability? My heart raced with urgency. My vision narrowed until all I could see was the ice. Using it as my guide, I ran on for a moment,
Then, far off—where no ice rose—a figure blocking my path stared right at me. Hera.
"...Long time no see, Zenon."
"Get out of my way."
"I will. Just not right now, hmm. But where are you off to in such a hurry?"
Her arched eyebrow and tilted head, as if she truly had no idea—it made my stomach churn. She knew everything. She knew where I was headed, what for. This was just a ploy to stall me, to interfere.
"...No long talk. Fight me, Hera."
"Not even calling me sis anymore? That stings a little. You used to stick to me like glue back then, calling 'sis, sis' all the time—"
"......"
I gripped my sword with a blank expression. No more words needed. She clearly intended to block me. If she'd really planned to let me pass,
Shiiik-
She wouldn't have used her ability from the start.
"I don't want to fight my little brother. No matter what Dad says, you're still precious to me, Zenon."
I couldn't bear to look at her anymore—pretending to cry, to grieve, acting like I was truly her cherished little brother.
Kwaang-
A slow sword won't connect. Fine, then—a faster one, even if weaker.
Hera's ability was similar to Aisha's in a way. Manipulating 'water' itself, pure and simple. If ice was sharp and heavy, water was soft and light. Concepts like shattering or cleaving didn't apply—making it a hard counter for me.
Fighting the water head-on was pointless. I had to target the source. Slicing through the jets shooting at me, I inched closer—slow enough she wouldn't notice.
Planting my foot, power surged through me—from foot to thigh, thigh to leg. The acceleration built until it outpaced the water streams. Five steps, three steps, one step. Close enough to strike down—
Hera spoke up.
"Oh, do you know how many people Aisha's fighting right now?"
My movement halted. How many? My eyes shook, my sword hand dropping limply. As her fingers folded one by one, it felt like my lifespan was folding with them. Five, six—until all were tucked away. She grinned and opened her mouth.
"Wow, ten of them."
"...Don't lie."
Aisha was just a student. Ten people to take on a student? And if they weren't trying to kill her, why waste that much manpower...
A terrifying thought surfaced. I'd thought I was used to malice like that, but the chill behind her smile made my body shudder uncontrollably.
Hera was trying to kill Aisha.
Kwaaaang-
No more thinking needed. Not Hera, not anything else mattered. Seizing the moment amid the sudden explosion and thickening mist, I bolted toward the ice pillars. Blood trickled from my bitten lip, my jaw clenched so tight my face cramped.
There was no reason for her to die. I didn't know why she was targeting Aisha, but I could easily guess it had something to do with me.
She was trying to take something from me again.
Even if it was someone unconnected to Carmen, someone innocent—just because they were in the way, just because it'd hurt me.
Run, explode the air, get flung forward by the blast. When I finally arrived, I barely held up my buckling legs and stared blankly at the scene.
Splattered blood, shattered ice chunks. Even a severed wrist. No matter how I looked at it, this was close to the worst I'd imagined.
"...No."
Powerless, I murmured while touching the cold, hardened blood on the ground. Again, again I... Why? My thoughts wouldn't connect anymore. Head gone white, vision spinning, I forced myself upright.
...I couldn't say she'd died yet.
I calmed my heart with effort. It was too soon to assume this blood was hers, that wrist hers. Considering the ability that had frozen me and Kaiser, maybe she'd taken down all ten. And with the ability alarm blaring, heroes had probably shown up to fight alongside her.
"...Think calmly."
My mind was too frantic. For some reason, every time I thought of Aisha, anxiety clawed at me like madness. If I'd pulled myself together sooner, stuck by her side... this wouldn't have happened.
I swept my dry hand over my face and moved my feet again. Far off, there were traces of something being 'carried.' Following that might lead me there.
As I dashed along the trail, it hit me what this stifling feeling was. Swayed by a single word, hollow from a brief separation, chest tight just from thinking of her.
...Sickness?
No, not that. It was too specific—this only hit when it involved Aisha.
Haa-
Another sigh escaped. I wanted to shake off this nameless emotion, but hesitation gripped me every time. I shook my head. Later. Right now... what mattered was what had happened to her.
The trail stretched endlessly. Probably made by her ability—no signs of struggle or fighting. Cleanly subdued and carried off? Frustrated by the lack of end in sight, I sped up again.
Kwaaaa-
Then a roar—like ice freezing over—rang out. I froze in place, staring up blankly.
A serpent. A massive one forged from ice, coiling its body as it glared at someone. With every lash of its tongue, frost spread everywhere. Spring had long passed, yet the chill from that serpent drew frosty breaths from my lungs.
"...Aisha."
Before I knew it, I was exploding forward again.
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The direction was toward the Hero Agency. No clue why Aisha was there. But that colossal ice serpent told me she was still alive.
The massive water stream wrapping around the serpent was probably Hera's. Grind—my teeth gnashed. When villains failed, she stepped in herself? Knowing her strength made my urgency spike.
A bit more, a little faster.
Suppressing the sensation of my lungs bursting, I pushed on—until finally, I spotted Aisha. Amid the rubble of a collapsed building, slumped and catching her breath.
What should I say? How to apologize? She'd been pushed this far because of me. Because I was Edwin Carmen's son, the unwanted product of a political marriage.
I couldn't lift my face. Approaching her slowly—
"...Hey."
A voice called.
"What are you spacing out for?"
Blood trickled from wounds here and there—who knew when she'd gotten them—yet she smiled like it was nothing.
"You hurt?"
"...A little."
Not a little. I wanted to snap at her, but I knew there was no time for that now, so I shut my mouth.
"...Sorry."
She stared at me for a moment, then lowered her gaze and said it. I stood there blankly, not understanding why she was apologizing—until I realized it was about what she'd said on the rooftop. Thinking back to how those words had tormented me, my face burned for no reason.
But right now, I had just one question.
"That... did you mean it?"
More tense than facing villains, I awaited her answer from her lips. Meeting her red eyes for a beat, Aisha tapped her ear lightly and murmured softly.
"...No."
"Then we're good."
"...Really?"
She tilted her head, looking puzzled, but I meant it. Relief washed over me. My lips curved up on their own—I was smiling before I knew it.
...It felt really good.