A Will Unbroken
His head throbbed as if it were about to split open. No, perhaps it really had. It felt as though his skull had been shattered, the soft nerve cells inside crushed to mush. His pumping heart ran wild, as if broken. His blood was hot, his veins were hot, his entire body was hot. It felt as though his whole being were burning like kindling.
"...Whew."
Amidst a rage so intense it felt as though needles were pricking his brain, the first thing Yujin did was bite his own lip. His lip tore, and a sharp sting flared. It was a trivial pain, but it was enough to pour cold water on his endlessly overheating mind.
Calm down.
Be angry, but do not let the anger consume you. An overload of supernatural ability caused by emotional runaway has far more disadvantages than advantages. If he truly cared for Lucia, he had to keep his composure now instead of letting excitement take over.
Stay calm.
Fortunately, Yujin had experienced something similar before. Back when he faced Astaroth to save Angelica and Lucia. He sharpened his turbulent heart, honing it into a blade.
"...I will ask you one thing," Yujin said, suppressing the flames that rose around him like a haze.
His gaze was directed at the child in the white cloud mask, but at the same time, it drifted to Lucia, who lay sprawled on the ground.
She was alive. She was still alive. Thanks to her Super Regeneration, she was still breathing even though her upper and lower body had been severed. The child in the white cloud mask had dragged not only her upper body but her lower body along as well. Yujin stared at the legs held in Murmur's hand. If he could take them back and reattach them, she would recover. That realization became the driving force that allowed him to maintain his composure.
"Why on earth did you do this?"
"Huh?"
Only then did Murmur notice Yujin and tilt its head. Having had absolutely no interest, it had ignored him as part of the background, but suddenly the background had spoken to it. Moreover, there was a relentless wave of intense heat radiating from him. He seemed to be a fairly skilled supernatural ability user.
But that was only from a human perspective. By a Main's standards, he was nothing but a small fry. Since the Rift in Space had been opened, Agares's command was fulfilled. Now, all that was left was to return and report the situation. Murmur, who had planned to watch the ensuing chaos for a bit after the gate opened before cleaning up and heading back, felt no need to answer Yujin's question.
"..."
However, the boy seemed to have a connection with the girl it had half-killed, and Astaroth also seemed curious, so Murmur spoke flatly.
"I told you. She kept getting in the way and being annoying, so I only half-killed her."
"What did she get in the way of? No matter what it was, it couldn't possibly justify doing something this horrific."
"...? Why are you mad at me? I warned her. I said I'd let her live. I told her she could run away, but she's the one who kept blocking me."
Murmur wore an expression of genuine incomprehension. Although its face was hidden behind the mask, Yujin could read Murmur's emotions through the inflection of its voice alone.
"She wouldn't run away even when I tore off her limbs, crushed her face, and pulled out her heart. So I had no choice but to cut her in half. That finally quieted her down. She was so annoying. Oh, Astaroth. I brought this to give to you. You like this kind of stuff, don't you?"
Hearing that innocent voice, Yujin felt his vision go dark.
What on earth was I doing?
He hadn't worried much even when Lucia didn't return. He thought nothing could happen in a park like this, and even if something did, he believed Lucia would be fine. Because she was an outstanding supernatural ability user too. After Astaroth appeared, he had even thought it was a relief she hadn't returned. While she was fighting her own desperate battle, he had been so blissfully ignorant, having such carefree thoughts. She had fought so desperately until she was reduced to this horrific state, and what on earth was I doing...!
"You crazy bitch...!!!"
Just then, a piercing scream erupted. Uncharacteristically, Aris's face was heavily distorted, her red eyes glowing even more crimson. The only reason she didn't fire her heat ray immediately was because doing so might catch Lucia in the blast. The sound of grinding teeth echoed. Aris—no, Frey—glared at Murmur as if she wanted to chew it alive.
"Where do you get off spouting such absolute bullshit, you fucking piece of shit...!"
"A-Aris?"
Yujin looked at Frey, so bewildered that his emotional control momentarily slipped. As if her previous timid demeanor had all been a lie, she growled as if ready to tear Murmur to shreds this very instant. Come to think of it, she had shown a rough side during their field training, but to Yujin, who was used to her usual self, Aris's sudden transformation was jarring. Had the shock been so great that even the gentle Aris was driven to such fury?
"Ahaha! Were you just playing coy all this time?"
In contrast, Astaroth's reaction was casual. If anything, her eyes sparkled as if she had just witnessed something highly entertaining.
"..."
Murmur glanced at Frey. Her rage was palpable, pressing against its skin. While Yujin suppressed his emotions and locked them deep inside, Frey unleashed hers directly without any filter. Feeling the sharp, tingling hostility, Murmur stroked the edge of its white cloud mask with a finger.
Murmur was different from Astaroth. While Astaroth killed people simply for a fleeting moment of 'pleasure,' Murmur killed out of necessity. Murder was not the goal, but a means to an end. Today was no different. It had no particular desire to kill anyone. But if necessary, it would. It had opened the Rift in Space to achieve its goal. That was all. If people died as a result, it didn't matter to Murmur in the slightest.
Just as a human walking down the street feels no guilt and pays no mind when they accidentally step on a bug, Murmur was ultimately the same kind of existence as Astaroth. It chose the means of murder far too easily. It had tried to kill the shop owner just to get cotton candy. Even if killing wasn't necessary and there were plenty of other ways, it chose to kill because it was convenient. Rather than controlling its strength to merely subdue the owner and steal the cotton candy, simply killing him and taking it was much easier. There was no need to choose a troublesome method when an easy one existed. Even if they took human form and spoke human words, the essence of a Main was fundamentally different from a human.
"...?"
Because of this, Murmur could not truly comprehend why Yujin and Frey were angry. Nor did it particularly care to know. It was slightly curious, but that was all. It wasn't about to expend effort trying to understand. Thus, Murmur began to contemplate whether to choose the convenient option once again.
Should I kill them?
Whether it was just Frey, or both her and Yujin, they posed no threat to Murmur. None at all. They were young supernatural ability users who didn't even measure up to a Vice-Captain, let alone a Captain. Even if they attacked, it would only be a minor nuisance. There was no need to kill them. But there was no reason to let them live either. It looked like they were going to attack... so should it just kill them beforehand?
Murmur twitched its fingers. It folded its thumb. Next, its index finger. Then its middle finger. Just as it was about to fold its ring and pinky fingers—
"No... way..."
A weak hand grabbed Murmur's ankle. No, it was barely a touch. There was so little strength in the hand that merely touching it seemed to exhaust all remaining energy.
"You... can't... pass..."
"..."
"Never..."
It was Lucia. Despite having no lower body, she had crawled across the ground with her two arms to grab Murmur's ankle. The ones who were utterly horrified by this sight were not Murmur, but Yujin and Frey. Even in such a state, Lucia's will remained unbroken. Dragging her spilling entrails as she crawled along the ground, she exerted every ounce of her strength to stop Murmur.
"...Sigh."
It briefly contemplated whether to just step on her head and crush it. Shaking its head, Murmur finally raised both hands.
"Fine, I lose."
If she was like this even after being half-killed, she wouldn't stop unless it actually killed her. Normally, it would have killed her without a second thought, but since it had already declared it wouldn't kill her, it couldn't do that either. In the end, Murmur gave up on making Lucia give up. Besides, its goal had already been achieved. In a sense, it had won. It lost, but won anyway. Somehow, everything had become a hassle. Murmur set down Lucia's lower body, which it had been holding. Then, it turned to Astaroth and spoke.
"I achieved my goal. I'm going back."
"Oh? What about the rest?"
"You do it."
"Eeeh...?"
"That was originally your role anyway. The one Agares assigned to you."
"Well, that's true. I only came to watch today, but... hmm, well. Sure."
If nothing special happened, she really had intended to just watch and leave. But right now, there was something special right in front of her. Yujin. Aris. Lucia. The three Class A students who had been calling earlier. ...How fun. Truly entertaining. Astaroth wore a smile beneath her mask.
"Alright, leave it to me."
"Yeah, I'll leave it to you."
Murmur turned around without hesitation. Walking away with its back completely exposed, Murmur's figure instantly blurred like a mirage. As if a gust of wind were blowing away fog, the child in the white cloud mask vanished like dispersing smoke.
"You...!"
Frey, who was about to yell with a flushed face, shut her mouth at the sight. ...What was that? A supernatural ability? Did it disappear? Where? How? An illusion? Or a space-teleportation type ability? Its presence had vanished in an instant. That meant it had either teleported across space or was so fast that her perception couldn't keep up.
"Now then, the situation has changed."
Astaroth, who had waved energetically to send Murmur off, rested her parasol on her shoulder and spoke. "I came to watch Murmur work, but I've been handed the baton instead. This is unscheduled labor. My day off has turned into a workday. I really want to complain and tell them to respect labor hours! It's not like they're paying me overtime either... Isn't this a total black company? What do you think, Oppa?"
Lucia's Super Regeneration was already successfully reattaching her severed body. Rejoining Lucia's torso and legs while forcing her scattered entrails back inside, Yujin reached into his inner pocket with blood-soaked hands. A dagger slid smoothly from its sheath. Yujin answered her question with his actions. Even as the dagger was pointed at her, Astaroth leisurely shook her head.
"No, no. You've got the wrong opponent. Shouldn't you be worrying about something else right now?"
"What on earth do you mean by..."
"Ah, fuck, those goddamn masked bastards are already pissing me off enough."
Holding Lucia close, Frey backed away from Astaroth and looked up. The Rift in Space was complete. Fully visible even to ordinary people.