Brakes Come Off
“Cough.”
A dry cough echoed through the barren space. Ibin felt blood trickling down from the corner of her mouth. But with her hands bound, wiping it away was impossible. Her body shuddered involuntarily. The prison cell was freezing cold, far removed from anything like heating. The air was so dry and parched that her skin felt like it was cracking open.
At least they hadn't bothered blindfolding her or plugging her ears, probably because they weren't overly wary of her. Small mercies.
Is Seoya okay?
That kid must have suffered in her own prison. Ibin hoped Seoya didn't hate her, but even if she did, that was fine. If Seoya returned to Toda and wanted Ibin's life, Ibin would gladly give it. The moment she'd first laid eyes on eight-year-old Seoya, Ibin had already decided to hand over this world to her.
Though giving her two worlds wasn't part of the plan.
The world where Seoya had fallen could never be a threat to her. It was a safe haven made entirely for Seoya alone. Ibin scanned the prison cell. Pitch black and filthy, without a single light source.
I can't get out alone.
Seoya could smash through it all and escape, but that was only because she was Seoya. Unlike Seoya, no soldiers were constantly watching her, but she still couldn't undo her bindings.
Too little mana I can use.
No matter how vast Ibin's mana reserves, she'd poured it all into building the System for another world. What she could currently wield was minimal. Even that was draining away every time the System automatically selected new Hunters.
“Ah.”
Feeling the familiar pull of mana leaving her body, Ibin leaned her dizzying form against the prison wall. With her internal mana dwindling toward empty, her vision spun wildly.
“I might actually die here.”
No one to talk to, so the words slipped out on their own.
Cough.
“Gotta see Seoya first.”
Ibin murmured. She'd raised that child so preciously. Even if she died, she had to witness Seoya safely returning to Toda and the humans who'd touched her being utterly ruined first.
Ibin believed her plan was flawless, but she had no certainty it would succeed. Though trapped here, she couldn't deliver the formulas, blueprints, or Magic Stones directly as originally intended.
But she'd set the System to run automatically without her intervention, so even if it took longer, Seoya would eventually get them all.
Sorry to that world, though...
Still, it was the best Ibin could do. Without her interference, that world would have marched straight to destruction without any chance to resist. No Hunters to fight back against the disasters, unlike now.
Her meddling ensured no external forces would try to wipe it out for a while.
“Haa...”
So much left to do. She'd left changing Toda's public opinion and ruining those who'd harmed Seoya to Taesa... but with no communication, she had no idea how things were going. And blocking the source of the Mutants...
“In the end, it all comes down to Seoya.”
This world really couldn't function properly without that kid. Well, unavoidable.
One month there is one day here.
Even generously assuming it took Seoya a year to build the Magic Amplifier and compute the formulas, Ibin just needed to hold out twelve days. She had to keep herself alive until then, ensuring the System didn't collapse with her death.
Staying put in this prison like now wouldn't be hard. The headquarters leader had no clue Seoya would survive the other world and return to Toda, so they had no reason to kill her yet.
Thud— Thud— Thud—
Then, the ground rumbled. Ibin held her breath and listened.
Footsteps.
“Burn it! Burn it all down!”
“We can't live like this anymore!”
“You trash! Come out! We'll fight you fair and square!”
Furious Pioneers rampaging everywhere.
“Ha...”
A sigh escaped her. Ibin let out a hollow chuckle and dropped her head toward the floor. Right, she'd planned to avoid armed conflict by swaying Toda's residents against Pioneer headquarters and exposing the leader as scum...
Failed.
She didn't know what went wrong, but Taesa had botched the opinion manipulation. And the Pioneers returning from missions couldn't accept that a comrade named Seoya had been framed and executed.
With Toda's people viewing Pioneers as villains and normal methods failing to flip that, the Pioneers now had no choice but to fight. Armed conflict was inevitable.
With peaceful reversal off the table, violence was their only remaining option.
Maybe this was right from the start. I was too idealistic.
Perhaps they should have used force from the beginning. Otherwise, they couldn't even catch a sliver of sympathy.
Seoya, I worried giving you that world was too good.
A space where nothing could harm you. But its climate, resources, food, civilization—better than Toda's. I feared you'd never want to leave.
If so, no helping it. That world was yours, so hating to leave was natural. Unavoidable.
Even though Seoya was far away, Ibin started speaking to her as if she were right there.
But from the moment I first saw you, I decided to give you this world. So please come back and claim it all. Once you're here, we'll handle the rest. Soldiers, the leader—we'll take care of everyone. You just take it all. Grip it in your hands.
So just come back...
Amid the chaotic uproar outside like a full-blown riot, and the lonely silence within her prison, Ibin closed her eyes and prayed fervently.
My Seoya, this world's true master is you.
“We're screwed.”
Taesa summed up the situation concisely upon realizing it. Everything was crystal clear now. Toda—and the Pioneers—were completely done for.
He'd tried turning public opinion toward the Pioneers, but hadn't expected headquarters to strike first. Now they were branded total subversives in this world.
“Since we're fucked anyway, let's kill that headquarters leader bastard first.”
Taesa raked back his red hair, grinding his teeth. Starting with the scum who'd ordered Seoya stabbed.
He strode to his spot, grabbed his sword—
Clang—
—and it slipped from his powerless grip to the floor.
“Fuck.”
Ever since stabbing Seoya that day, Taesa couldn't hold a sword. Over ten years wielding one, plunging it into countless Mutant hearts. But the sensation of piercing the child he'd raised lovingly for nine years—he couldn't forget it, so he couldn't pick up a blade.
He missed Seoya. Wanted her to give him that oblivious look and say something tactless like, “Can't even hold a sword? Hands that weak?” like she always did.
“Rotten headquarters.”
Taesa muttered as he left his room. Branded world traitors, enraged Pioneers were attacking soldiers, who fled headquarters toward civilian villages.
Civilians would soon learn the full story. That Pioneers were attacking them.
They'd think Seoya, that Pioneer, was a super-powerful threat trying to dominate the world, punished by headquarters. The Pioneers' rage at HQ would just look like a riot.
We planned to spread rumors that HQ had siphoned Magic Stones for years and covered up civilian deaths...
But Ibin's Magic Stone embezzlement got exposed, ruining everything. The leader was a pro at manipulating opinion. A guy who'd crumple from one Pioneer punch, yet always controlled them this way.
The leader and a few civilians had spun Ibin's theft and Seoya's recent execution into tales painting Pioneers as a dangerous criminal gang. Now, in civilians' eyes, the thieves were the Pioneers.
Taesa didn't bother picking up the dropped sword and flung open the room's door.
If he couldn't use a sword, other ways existed.
“Loyal dog days end here.”
Taesa growled in a low, boiling voice. He'd stuck by the leader as a spy, playing faithful hound against his nature. Before Seoya joined HQ, everyone called the brake-less, act-first Taesa a reckless idiot. Ibin had scolded him for passing that habit to Seoya.
After Seoya arrived, he'd lived brightly, cheerfully, exemplarily. But now Toda had no Seoya.
“Riot, huh. Might as well own it.”
Blue mana coiled around his hand, swiftly turning to roaring red flames.
He was Taesa, the Pioneer specializing in fire magic.
“Burn the trash first.”
His brakes no longer existed in this world.