It's Useless
"Kwaaaaack!"
Jackson panicked the moment Brika moved. He had been certain Rosy's threads had her completely bound.
"What the—? Is the right hand limiting the ability?"
His original plan had been to snatch Brika as a hostage the instant she separated from Selene, then casually approach and steal the girl's powers. But now—
BOOM!
"Shit!"
It was already too late to stop Brika as she charged straight at Rosy. Selene had shattered the barrier wall in front of her in the blink of an eye.
"No choice then..."
"Jackson! Jackson!"
Ignoring Rosy's screaming, Jackson vanished into stealth once more.
......
The instant Selene appeared before him, Jackson thought, This is the end.
He crept closer, utterly confident she couldn't detect his presence.
......
"Huh?"
But he was wrong. The moment he tried to approach her, Selene turned exactly in his direction and their eyes met.
"What?!"
She shouldn't have been able to see him at all...
......
Selene gave him one warning glance, then started walking toward Brika again.
"You bastard!"
Jackson didn't stop. He wasn't about to let Selene slip away when she was right in front of him. He reached out, placed his hand on the crown of her head, and activated his ability.
"It's over!"
He was certain of victory.
Vrrrrrm.
His mana flowed into Selene. At the same time, it mimicked her mana and surged back into him.
Yes! Now I'll pass this power to Rosy—
In that brief moment, Jackson was already planning his next move. His ability copied other people's powers.
However, if he kept the copied ability for himself, it would be weakened. To fight Selene on equal footing, he needed to transfer it to Rosy.
So what exactly is your power? Some kind of martial technique? Or maybe a nullification ability, judging by how you destroyed that barrier?
Jackson smiled as he gradually analyzed the incoming power, but—
"Cough... ugh?"
He suddenly felt something wrong and vomited blood.
"Wh-what...?"
Something hot spilled from his mouth. The metallic taste was unmistakably blood. And it wasn't just coming from his throat—blood poured from his eyes, nose, ears, and even his lower body.
"What the hell? No... wait... ugh?!"
Jackson's brain began analyzing Selene's ability. But it couldn't comprehend any of it. By now he should have at least gotten a rough outline of what her power was, yet nothing appeared.
He couldn't even begin to measure what he was looking at. The flood of information was so vast it defied understanding.
"Guh?! Guuuuuurgh?!"
It didn't stop there. What he had grasped was only a fragment of Selene. Ten percent? No, one percent... Not even that. He hadn't understood even a trillionth of her.
"S-stop... stop... guuuuurgh?!"
His brain screamed. His instincts ordered him to stop immediately. But he couldn't.
"Guuuuuuurgh?!"
The word "stop" no longer existed in his mind. That instinct had been deleted long ago. To process information far beyond its capacity, his brain had begun erasing its own memories.
"Aaaah?! Guuuuurgh?!"
Having completely forgotten human language, Jackson trembled violently as blood gushed from his entire body.
Thud.
......
Three seconds after his palm touched Selene's head, Jackson's brain exploded.
"Kwaaaaaaaaack!"
Meanwhile, Rosy was taking a brutal beating from Brika. With her last ounce of strength, she flung the woman away.
Crack.
The sound of bones shattering rang out as Brika bounced off her. That was the final straw—Rosy's ability completely dissipated.
"Uuuuugh..."
Rosy staggered to her feet.
"Jackson..."
She glanced toward her lover.
"Hii..."
Jackson was dead. The moment she saw his face peeking out from where he'd collapsed, she knew. The Jackson she knew was no longer there.
"I-I have to run..."
Rosy staggered away. She was finally doing what she should have done much earlier—fleeing from Selene, who had only intended to capture one of them from the start. Running from the monster approaching her.
"Don't go."
"Hik!"
But she couldn't. From the moment Brika had grabbed her, escape had become impossible. Now the monster could claim both targets.
Tap.
"Ugh."
A small, soft, yet incredibly strong hand seized Rosy.
"S-spare me..."
Rosy turned to Selene with a face twisted in pure terror. An ordinary, cute girl was staring back at her.
"Stop..."
And that girl lifted Rosy up with one hand.
"Stop it!"
She slowly opened her mouth.
"Stop..."
Rosy's wild instincts finally understood the situation.
"Stopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstop—"
She realized she was not the predator.
Gulp.
Rosy was swallowed alive.
A scream echoed through the underground sewers before fading into silence.
"Brika."
"Ugh..."
Having finished her task, Selene approached Brika. She lightly touched her, and the excruciating pain from Brika's twisted body vanished.
"Those bastards... what happened to them?"
"Caught them."
"Are they alive?"
"One will die."
"Will die?"
"(Nods)"
"So you caught one."
"Yeah. The other one."
Selene brought over Jackson's corpse with one hand. It was impossible to tell whether he had died instantly or a moment later.
"Looks like I won't be able to hold a sword anymore," Brika said, looking at her mangled arm and leg.
"No."
Selene's answer was firm.
"What?"
"Brika."
"What?"
"It will hurt."
"What will?"
"Treatment."
"Treatment?"
At that moment—
Vrrrrrm.
Selene placed her hand on Jackson's brainless corpse and poured mana into it.
"What are you—?"
A bewildered Brika muttered as she stared at the body.
"I made sure it wouldn't break too much."
"What are you talking about?"
"Will use it to treat Brika."
Then Selene reached out with her other hand and touched Brika's body.
"What the hell are you—ugh?!"
Brika suddenly felt unbearable pain. The sound of shattered bones being forced back into place rang out as her body convulsed.
"Kwaaaaaaaaack!"
The sensation of her entire body being reassembled slammed into her.
"Guuuuuuuuurgh!"
Brika clenched her teeth hard.
"Brika. Do it slowly?"
Selene's voice, which might have been concern, reached Brika's ears.
Brika, who had been groaning, gave a short reply.
"Finish it fast!"
"Okay."
"Guuuuuurgh!"
Excruciating pain surged through her. It felt like she would lose consciousness at any moment. In truth, Selene didn't care whether Brika passed out or not. It would actually have been easier if she had fainted.
"Guuuuuurgh!"
But this stubborn woman refused to faint. She endured with sheer willpower pain that no ordinary human could withstand.
Crack.
Her teeth, clenched to endure the agony, shattered. The broken teeth cracked and regenerated at terrifying speed.
"Ugh?!"
At the same time, Brika felt it—the sensation she had lost long ago.
"Hm?"
The feeling of her missing right eye slowly filling the empty socket.
"Kwaaaaaack!"
After ten minutes of continuous torment—
"Guh!"
"Done."
"Damn it..."
The war hero who had endured pain no human should withstand let out a long sigh and finally lost consciousness.
"Kidney stones, huh..."
Hsssss.
Jackson's—no, what had been Jackson's—body evaporated and disappeared.
"Good work."
Selene quietly stroked Brika's head.
"Ugh... Doctor... I'll drink lots of water from now on..."
As Brika muttered in the throes of some past nightmare, Selene lifted her with both hands.
Gulp.
She swallowed Brika in one bite.
* * * * *
Everything had gone according to plan. Human society was rather complicated, so she had avoided getting too involved until now. But this time, she decided to pay a little more attention.
She had deliberately let one of the prey escape to lead her to their leader. Originally she'd only planned to catch the leader, but she ended up catching both.
One of them had been used efficiently to heal Brika.
She didn't like killing humans, but sometimes it couldn't be helped.
"Ah?! Professor Selene?"
She had returned to the Security Bureau. As expected, Viera was taking care of the people. This was definitely because of her "long vacation."
"U-um... Professor Selene?"
"Yeah."
"The... the date seems off today?"
"(Tilts head)"
Viera would probably be grateful to her too.
"Viera. Your stamina recovered well?"
"Yes? Well, my skin does feel better... Wait, that's not what I mean."
"(Tilts head)"
"My... my vacation. Why is there only one day left?"
"......"
"Do you happen to know what happened? My vacation was supposed to have just started?"
"......"
But there was too much to do right now, so she probably wouldn't be able to pay attention to Viera.
"Leonia."
"Professor Selene."
"Um, excuse me? Professor Selene?"
"Leonia. Let's train."
"Train?"
"Professor Selene? You can hear me, right?"
She still had a lot of work to do. Because she was...
"Swordsmanship competition. Let's prepare."
"......"
The headmaster. She was going to do it.
"Ughhh... My long vacation... Where did all my paid leave go...?"