Lucy is Still Lacking
To emphasize once more, Lucy was not strong because she had been chosen by the Holy Sword.
She was strong enough to be chosen by the Holy Sword.
Though she was powerful enough to overturn the entire area with a single leap, she could not wipe out a mob scattering in every direction all at once.
She started by sweeping the legs of the one who had fled the farthest, snapping them.
"Gack!"
Lacking a weapon, she grabbed the broken man and hurled him at the next, knocking him down. One by one, she succeeded in grounding them all.
The moment one of them, who had fallen face-first onto the ground, lifted his head—
Screeech!
With a sound of tearing air that no human could ever produce, the human was torn apart as well.
"W-Wait...!"
She accepted no surrenders.
Because Rin had told her to kill them all.
Like a slaughtering machine, Lucy simply carried out the mission Rin had given her with absolute fidelity.
"You're the last one, aren't you?"
"H-Hieeeek!"
"Since you're the last, I'll give you a choice."
Lucy spread her arms and waved them.
"Should I use my hands, or my feet?"
The black market remnant showed some final bravado.
"T-Then... your breasts..."
"Bullshit."
A merciless soccer kick obliterated his upper torso.
Shaking off the blood that had inevitably splattered all over her, Lucy clicked her tongue.
I can't let Rin smell this metallic stench.
She hated being indebted, but she might have to ask Labin to prepare a bath for her.
That was a matter for later.
Lucy spun around with a bright smile.
"Rin! I took care of all of them!"
Whoosh.
For some reason, a breeze blew through the interior partitioned by temporary walls.
Naturally, Rin was not in the empty clearing.
"Huh?"
She had strayed too far.
It was because she had chased them blindly, focusing only on their fleeing backs like wild beasts.
Which meant...
"I left Rin behind...!"
A cold shiver ran down her spine.
She rushed back to where he had been in a panic.
Kicking open the door, she saw Rin struggling, surrounded by three men.
Despite being a civilian, Rin was putting up a decent fight.
Ducking quickly, he threw a hook that caught one of the thugs on the jaw, sending him sprawling.
He shoved the next attacker with his small shield, knocking him down.
But that was his limit.
A dagger swung by a thug lunging from the blind spot behind his shield grazed Rin's cheek.
Slash!
"Got you!"
Taking advantage of the moment Rin froze in shock, a thug grabbed him from behind and pressed a blade to his throat.
"Oops! Look who's here! You see this? Move, and he dies."
"Damn it! Looks like the others got wiped out. What do we do now?"
"Either way, our chances of dying are high."
Whispering among themselves, the three thugs snickered in unison.
"Even if we die, I'm going to squeeze those tits before I go."
"Hell yeah! Let's go out like men!"
But none of their words reached Lucy's ears.
Her wide-open eyes were fixed solely on the cut on Rin's cheek.
"Rin is hurt...?"
Because of me?
Because I ran off to show off, leaving the person I was supposed to protect above all else?
Her fingernails dug deep into her clenched fists.
"Lucy, calm down."
Rin, noticing the rage and madness swirling in her eyes despite her tearful expression, spoke calmly, but Lucy could not stop her rampage.
Rin, who had sacrificed himself for her since the days she had no limbs.
No, Rin, who had devoted himself to her from the very day her limbs were severed.
Having already lost him once, how could she make such a mistake again?
This was a sin.
"I won't forgive you."
Not you bastards, and not myself.
"Pay with your lives."
Sensing the ominous atmosphere, the thugs took a step back.
"This crazy bitch! Do you want your friend to—*cough!*"
Boom!
It was bizarre.
The man holding the blade to Rin's neck had his upper body blown apart by a punch Lucy threw from where she stood.
Blood splattered over Rin as well.
"Hieeeek! Aaaaargh!"
Unable to bear it, the remaining two turned and ran without looking back.
Yet, no matter how hard they ran, they could not move forward.
That was how it appeared to Rin and Lucy, though the fugitives felt as if they were sprinting down the alleyway.
"Amusing, isn't it? To think they could wound Rin-ssi and expect to walk away alive."
The voice was quiet but crystal clear.
Out of the hazy vision, as if materializing from a fog, walked Adora, the information officer.
Just by her gait, Rin could tell she was different from before.
Only now did he take a proper look at her.
Straight grey bangs and a sharp bob.
Orange eyes, and skin as pale as Lucy's—no, even paler.
The silhouette of her modestly full breasts.
Yet, despite her appealing appearance, her eyes held a madness that made Rin feel uneasy.
"Are you really just a thief?"
When Lucy, sensing the incongruity, asked, Adora smiled faintly.
It was a blatant sneer.
"Hero, you truly are utterly incompetent."
"What did you say?"
A gentle gesture swept through the air.
At that gesture, all the surrounding structures began to crumble and scatter like smoke, like dust.
As the buildings and walls vanished, everyone in the black market looked around in confusion.
"Haaah...!"
The two men trying to escape Lucy collapsed again before a wolf-like magic beast that suddenly appeared in front of them.
Among the things that had vanished like a mirage were the cages holding the magic beasts.
The three magic beasts, which had grown massive after undergoing a mutant awakening, immediately caught the scent and growled at the nearby fugitives.
"W-We have to run!"
"Where?!"
The magic beasts in front, Lucy behind.
Despite being trapped between a rock and a hard place, the thugs flailed their limbs.
They struggled desperately to flee anywhere, by any means, but just like before, they could not move from the spot.
"What the hell is going on, damn it!"
Growl!
"N-No—!"
Without even a chance to scream, the two had their upper bodies torn away.
Having devoured their meager prey in an instant, the magic beasts soon turned their gaze to Rin, who was closest.
Tensing at the sight of their slit pupils, Rin tightly strapped on his small shield.
Fortunately, fighting magic beasts was far more familiar to him than fighting humans.
"Rin!"
Lucy hastily gathered her mana, preparing to leap.
But someone else stepped forward before her.
"Do not worry."
As Adora gestured once more, the magic beasts began to bare their fangs and drool at each other.
"I will make sure no one lays a finger on you."
"...Who on earth are you?"
Ah, Rin asked about me himself.
Pure joy welled up from deep within her chest.
"I am Adora."
One magic beast snapped its jaws around the neck of another.
Then, the remaining beast crushed and devoured the head of the one biting the neck.
"Through the endless repetitions, I have been waiting for the one who will lead us to the future."
Crunch, crunch.
The final victorious beast chewed and swallowed the rest of its kind, flesh, bones, and organs alike.
Even in the face of this gruesome spectacle, none of the many people in the black market could move.
They could only flail in place.
Even Lucy could not break free from Adora's mysterious art.
"Just as I was growing weary and losing my sense of self in the thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of millions of aimless repetitions... you appeared."
Growl!
The head of the magic beast that had devoured its kin twisted at a bizarre angle.
It trembled like an aspen leaf, yet its jerky movements made it look as if it were lagging.
As the vibrations intensified, the beast's body grew larger.
At the same time, its fur swelled, taking on a deep, blood-red hue.
Both Rin and Lucy knew very well what that omen meant.
"That's...!"
Rin gasped in horror.
Adora stepped closer to him.
"You are our only salvation."
"Get away from Rin!"
Finally, Lucy began to move.
Channeling her mana, the Hero moved, dragging the very isolated space that bound her along with her.
Even so, Adora's gaze did not waver from Rin.
"You are the half we have long awaited."
"Shut up!!!"
Whispers that were only slightly twisted versions of the words Lucy usually said to Rin.
Lucy screamed at the top of her lungs and surged forward.
She had to shut that bitch's mouth.
How dare she, to Rin...!
My...
"But you are my Rin alone."
"...You fucking bitch—!!!!!!!"
Red-gold mana erupted.
Shrouding her entire body in mana, Lucy prepared to pounce on Adora.
"Not that way!"
Rin barely managed to pull the Hero back to her senses.
"Lucy! It's a trap! Don't go for Adora, eliminate the magic beast—!"
Awoooooooo—!
A thin, high-pitched howl that belied its massive size.
A slender cry that sent shivers down the spine.
Awoooo—!
And then, smaller howls echoed in response, one after another.
Before they knew it, the awakened Unique Mutant magic beast had cast its skill.
Pack Summon
"You truly know nothing but yourself to the very end, Luciena Estelle."
Adora did not hide her disgust for the Hero.
"Leaving Rin alone on a whim, never listening to a word he says, and... and...!"
Her voice, trembling with genuine rage, reprimanded Luciena.
"To go so far as to let Rin's cheek get cut!!"
As her arms parted the space like drawing back curtains, the surroundings completely collapsed.
In an instant, the black market turned into a vast, empty lot.
Lucy realized that the isolated space binding her had been released.
The same applied to everyone else in the black market.
"I have no further business here. I am taking Rin with me."
The moment she uttered those words, Adora momentarily felt as if the world had ground to a halt.
She felt that way the instant she saw the Hero's unfocused eyes.
"Who said you could?"
Red-gold mana swirled violently.
"He is my only ally, my best companion, my Rin."
"Then prove it. Prove that you can protect him."
Adora snapped her fingers.
Her body turned into smoke and billowed upward.
The smoke flowed into the nostrils of the Unique Mutant magic beast, and the beast grimaced, howling with all its might.
Awooooooo—!
"Everyone, prepare for battle!"
Labin's shout echoed from somewhere.
As if waiting for that very signal, hundreds of wolf magic beasts lunged at Lucy.