Chapter 406: Interlude – Let’s Walk the Night (Part 1)
Chapter 406: Interlude – Let’s Walk the Night (Part 1)
“Today’s objective.”
I pushed the documents, stamped with a Black Seal, toward the group gathered before me.
Up to this point, it was a scene like any other, but the lineup in this room was anything but ordinary. Usually, even for a difficult mission, you’d see a couple of Awakened Heroes mixed in among regular soldiers. Today, however, every single person in this room was an Awakened Hero.
Though, looking at their faces, the word "Hero" hardly seemed to fit.
Let’s set aside the debate over whether they actually deserve that title for now.
Regardless, they all silently picked up their assigned papers and began to read. Since the briefing wasn't particularly long, it didn't take long for them to finish. Some set the papers back on the desk, while others stared at the pages, slowly shaking them as if checking to see if they had misread something.
“You can all see it clearly, I assume?”
“Mmph, mmph.”
Aside from the muffled sounds of the one in restraints and my two partners, the room was deathly silent. An incredibly uncomfortable atmosphere dominated the space. It was a gathering of people who all had questions but were too loath to be the first to speak.
I suppose that’s what happens when you pack a room with people who don't possess a single shred of sociability.
Sigh.
I let out a long breath.
Perhaps I should have gone with a mixed composition for this operation. But I quickly shook the thought away. The risk was far too high for that.
With that thought, I looked down at the documents once more.
The target this time was a large-scale Villain Alliance. This operation was designed to completely uproot and erase them once and for all. If we deployed regular soldiers, we might succeed eventually, but the casualties would be astronomical. This was the right call.
Especially since the people in this room were specialists in anti-Hero combat.
It couldn't be helped. I’d have to be the one to break the ice.
“Any questions regarding this operation?”
I raised my voice, but the atmosphere remained tense as they continued to eye one another.
“If there are none, we proceed as usual. This mission is a 'kill on sight' operation. If anyone is uncomfortable with that, you are free to step down.”
Despite my words, no one reacted or showed any sign of unease. If these were regular soldiers, there would have been at least some murmuring, even if they ultimately obeyed. But those sitting here showed no reaction at all, as if it were a non-issue.
“Then, until the assembly date, you are—”
I tried to dismiss the meeting immediately, but then...
“I have a question.”
A woman who had been huddled in the corner, blending into the shadows, finally spoke up.
“What is it?” I asked.
At my permission, she let out a sleepy yawn before beginning her inquiry.
“Yawn. These guys are all Heroes. Are you sure the order is to kill, not to secure or suppress?”
Based on the words alone, it sounded like a question about the morality of killing, but there was no such sentiment in her tone or emotion. What she was really asking about wasn't the act of killing itself, but the complications arising from it.
She was asking something more like: Once we kill a Hero, how do you plan to handle that Hero’s Story?
It was a question about the aftermath rather than the act. That, too, was something that had already been settled by the higher-ups.
“The Management Bureau intends to process their Stories the moment their deaths are confirmed. We have already secured all information regarding the enemies associated with the Story progress of everyone on that list.”
“Then, what about Heroes who aren't on the list?”
“Suppression is recommended for them, but the Bureau’s high command plans to write off any unexpected collateral damage from this operation as 'unavoidable.'”
Even if someone unexpected died and their Story went berserk, the Bureau had judged that such secondary damage was a price worth paying for this operation. In other words, I was telling them it was fine to kill anyone.
“I see. Understood.”
Seemingly satisfied, she bowed her head and went back to staring at her papers. I thought that would be the end of it, but then...
“Hard to tell who the villains are here.”
A youthful voice rang through the meeting room. It belonged to the youngest person in the room, who was currently reading his documents with his legs arrogantly propped up on the table, leaning his chair back so far it was on the verge of toppling.
“Is there a problem?”
He had likely only just shed the label of a minor, yet no one else seemed to care about his insolence. When I directed the question to him alone, he replied.
“Oh, no particular problem. It’s just, these guys might be villains, but they’re still fellow Awakened, right? Ordering a total massacre of our own kind... feels a bit much, don't you think?”
He shrugged as if it were nothing. I replied in a low, calm voice.
“They are not just Awakened. They are Heroes.”
“I wouldn't mind being called just an Awakened, personally. Given what I do, 'Hero' feels like a bit of a stretch.”
“...I won't deny that, but watch your tongue in the future.”
“Yes, yes. Understood.”
He responded with a cheerful smile, but he was the type whose contrarian nature would likely lead him to repeat the same behavior. Who was to blame for the fact that someone who had been killing people since he was a minor had turned out so twisted?
Regardless, I decided to give him a bit of justification.
“The reason the Management Bureau is responding so aggressively is because the other side is acting beyond all reason.”
An atmosphere of 'What are you talking about all of a sudden?' quickly spread through the room. I continued quietly.
“The Bureau requested multiple times that they disband their organization and report to the Bureau for processing in exchange for amnesty. They mocked those requests and attacked the Bureau on several occasions.”
Normally, the Bureau would move to secure targets immediately after a first refusal, but the background of this villain group was unique. They were one of the organizations founded before the Bureau existed, back when Heroes were simply called 'Awakened.' It was started by those who couldn't endure the treatment of Awakened at the time and fled their respective countries.
Knowing this, the Bureau had been as lenient as possible. Some sub-organizations did voluntarily disband and report in. However, several groups remained suspicious of the Bureau and maintained a hostile stance.
“The Bureau’s final ultimatum was delivered a month ago, but they ignored the notice and are planning a large-scale gathering. Consequently, the Bureau views this as a formal rejection of our terms.”
Even so, because the Bureau understood the circumstances that led them to those choices, they had maintained a conciliatory attitude. But years passed without them complying, and the intensity of their attacks on the Bureau only increased. Eventually, The High Command’s patience ran out.
If it had ended there, it might have still resulted in mere suppression, but they had crossed a line they shouldn't have.
“The goal they’ve put forward for this gathering is... to put it simply, Awakened Eugenics.”
An announcement that they would not tolerate a society or organization where ordinary people and Heroes were mixed. It was a direct strike at the very founding principles of the Management Bureau. And so, it had come to this.
Having finished my explanation, I took a deep breath.
“Now you understand, don't you? Erase them all.”
After delivering the sentence, I spoke my final words.
“Dismissed. I’ll see you on the day of execution.”
*
In a corner of a sprawling metropolis.
A ruined building in a back alley that had yet to be reconstructed. Due to The Enemy’s information warfare, we hadn't been able to confirm until the very last moment if this building was indeed the site of the gathering.
Vrrr.
The terminal at my side vibrated. I looked at the screen.
—Target spotted.
A single, short sentence appeared on the display. A message from the Observation Team. After confirming it, I pressed a button on the terminal to send a pre-set command to everyone.
—Execute as planned.
By now, that command would have reached my subordinates scattered in all directions around the building. I immediately checked the time.
About four minutes until the start of the operation.
That was close. If the Observation Team hadn't confirmed The Enemy, the operation would have been aborted. We were prepared to move the moment even one person on the list was identified, and the signal had only just arrived.
Villains they may be, but as survivors of that era, they were clearly skilled and cautious. This operation might be more difficult than expected.
With that thought, I steadied my breathing.
Three minutes until the start.
Time to shift my thought circuits and prepare to ensure The Enemy’s total annihilation.
*
One minute until the start of the operation.
I slowly looked at my partner beside me.
Bound head to toe in restraints, my former lover was breathing heavily, waiting only for the operation to begin. I stroked him gently as I spoke.
“Calm down, Edward.”
“Huff... huff...”
I could feel him swallowing his breath and saliva in response to my words. Good, he’s still alright. I continued to stroke him.
“I’m going to release the restraints now. You remember the mission objective, right?”
“Huff.”
He nodded.
“Good. Good boy.”
As I said that, I used a key manifested in my hand to undo the first restraint.
Click.
The Key turned in the lock with a metallic ring. The unsealed lock, along with The Key, dissolved into light and scattered.
Whoosh.
As the first seal broke, the surrounding air shifted. A heavy pressure settled over the ground. And within it, the smell of saliva and blood. Catching that now-familiar scent, I gripped the second key.
“Don't forget. Our goal is to go as wild as possible. So the other teams can move in.”
“Huff... huff...”
A ragged, hot breath spread into the air. My linked mind began to be dyed crimson, but I shook my head to ward it off.
Click.
The second seal broke, and he began to move.
Thump.
He took a step forward, craning his neck like a wild animal toward our destination.
“Ahahaha...”
He let out a low sound. A long, guttural growl like a beast. I stroked his head and took the third key in my hand.
“But this time, there’s no need to hold back.”
I shoved The Key into the final lock.
“You can go as wild as you want... It’s okay.”
Click.
The final seal broke.
“%#$^#&##43!!”
As my vision was dyed red, an incomprehensible roar thundered. A red and black aura erupted from him, spreading outward. He, who had been radiating a hot, sticky energy, vanished the moment the seal was gone.
Boom!
He kicked off the ground, leaping toward the target. High in the distant sky, where even the moon was hidden by clouds, he left a trail of black and red energy behind him like a tail, falling toward the building like a meteor.
A half-naked man, using the blood spraying from countless wounds on his body to form claws and talons, and the darkness shrouding him to fashion horns and clothes. Anyone who saw him falling toward the earth, scattering a dark red glow from his eyes, would call him a demon.
But I knew.
I knew that he was a human being, kinder and more fragile than anyone else.
As he grew increasingly violent as the price for using his power, there came a point where he could no longer control himself. He had begged me, his lover, to kill him.
But I refused. I held onto him.
I linked all of my mental-type psychic powers to him to suppress his violence, and I kept him alive by restraining what I still couldn't control.
It wasn't that he lacked reason. When he received new information, he understood and remembered it, and he could give normal responses to others' words. However, without the restraints, he would try to destroy everything around him. As if reason and destruction were two entirely separate things.
There were almost no groups willing to accept him, whom I was forcibly keeping by my side. Even the Management Bureau had suggested freezing him in time until they could find a way to suppress the phenomenon. Even villain groups refused to take in such a ticking time bomb.
That was why we joined the Assassination Team. An organization that could accept us and provide an outlet for his violence. The dark side of the Management Bureau.
He probably hates me. He must resent me for forcing him to stay alive and kill people when he begged to be released from this agony.
But I want him to live even one day longer. Even if he hates me for it.
CRASH!
The moment he landed, a dark red energy surged outward with a deafening roar. The building, unable to withstand the massive impact, began to collapse. In the center of the crater created by his landing, I saw him, weeping tears of blood as he let out a roar.
He grabbed a villain who had survived the initial impact and began to shred them with his crimson claws.
He is a kind person.
The red violence flows into me. I use all my strength to control him. Along with his violence, his pain transfers to me. The agony and screams that come from killing people while possessed by madness and bloodlust. The resentment over why he is still alive. The plea to end this hell as soon as possible.
But he is a kind person.
If he truly wanted to escape this pain, there was a very simple way. He could kill me, the one restraining his actions. He could plunge his own claws into his own throat.
But he doesn't do that.
Because he is a kind person.
I am using his kindness, using my own stubbornness to keep him bound to me. Because I don't want to lose him. Because I want him to stay alive by my side for even one more day.
Because I love him, I use his kindness against him.
“^ %& &$!!!”
With a roar, a red shockwave spread in all directions. The crimson energy blanketed the world, and everything it touched began to disintegrate.
It was beautiful.
A truly beautiful sight.