"There he is." Tsuyoi looks towards the figure ahead of him.. He faces the long hallway that barely has any light. The lightbulbs flicker. Tsuyoi feels like anything can come out of the shadows during that millisecond window of darkness.
At the end of the hallway, Sanita stands. He grunts the moment he sees Tsuyoi. His right hand slowly reaches for his dagger. "Surprised? Knew you'd find him eventually. But sorry bro, you'll gotta kill me before you can kill him." Tsuyoi enters a wide-stance. His right foot takes a step forward. His hands are raised but not closed, so he can unleash his flames when he needs to.
"I'm not surprised, I'm annoyed. I didn't fall for your 'bait'." Sanita slowly starts walking towards Tsuyoi. His voice echoes through the hallway.
"I expected a trap. Something cowardly. I didn't expect that you'd be here ready to face me head-on." Sanita draws his daggers.
Tsuyoi cackles with a proud grin. "Cowardice, from me? Don't you dare forget my name, you ugly bug!"
Sanita picks up his pace, the distance between them gets shorter and shorter. But Tsuyoi doesn't walk towards Sanita like he did before.
"You don't seem to understand. This isn't about you or me." The killing intent in Sanita's face glared through Tsuyoi's soul.
Tsuyoi instinctively took a step back without realizing it. "Oh but it is."
Sanita realises Tsuyoi isn't the one rushing. How can Tsuyoi, out of all people, play defense? "Then the guilt is on your soul, not anyone else's!" Sanita yells before swinging his dagger when he gets close enough.
Tsuyoi saw the attack coming and ducked. He tried to land an uppercut on Sanita's chin but he quickly sidestepped to avoid the coming attack. Sanita keeps his pressure on Tsuyoi and follows his attack with a thrust towards Tsuyoi's artery.
"Shit!" Tsuyoi uses all his might in order to dodge at the last second. He leaps backwards, crashing into a wall. "Damn…" Before Tsuyoi can catch his breath, Sanita closes the distance once again and rapidly swings his daggers. "You're slower. Get distracted much?" Sanita says.
Left without any option, Tsuyoi unleashes his flames in a radius around him to push Sanita back. Sanita dashes backwards to avoid the flames.
Tsuyoi cackles while panting. "Didn't peg you for the trash-talking type. You say this isn't about you or me, but the way you fight… almost like it's personal."
Sanita stops his attacks and faces Tsuyoi with annoyance on his face. "Maybe you've influenced me more than I would like to admit. But I'm pretty sure that isn't one-sided. You have no personal gain by staying here. But you chose to fight me. Pretty idealistic if you ask me."
The grin on Tsuyoi's face grows bigger. He wipes the sweat on his forehead. "And more trash-talking. Almost like you're desperate to prove my point."
Sanita starts sprinting towards Tsuyoi. "You don't know what you're talking about, you damn Dawnthinker!"
Tsuyoi gets ready to block his attack, watching his moves carefully.
"I've been watching you two since you infiltrated that pedophile's house. You used your Treasure a lot, haven't you? That Aura Link of yours… is running on life-support!"
Sanita swings his left leg, throwing a kick towards Tsuyoi. Tsuyoi blocks by leaning towards the kick, avoiding damage to his liver. Sanita quickly regains his balance and thrusts towards Tsuyoi's jugular once again. Tsuyoi leans back to avoid the swing. It barely misses him, cutting his chin. "Right for the artery..? You're really out to get me…" He nervously laughs.
Sanita sweeps his leg. Due to leaning back, Tsuyoi's balance was horrible. The sweep manages to make him fall on his back. "Agh!" He winces. He opens his eyes to see Sanita's dagger heading for his face. "Holy shit-"
Tsuyoi rolls to the side and avoids the death penalty that almost got him. Sanita's dagger pierces the ground, making it stuck. Sanita tries to pick it up but Tsuyoi reacts first and unleashes his flames towards the cornered Sanita, slamming him to the wall and burning him. "Get distracted much?"
Sanita yells out in pain. Tsuyoi doesn't stop unleashing flames on the already helpless Sanita. Sanita uses his other dagger and throws it towards Tsuyoi, using the last bits of his strength.
The dagger pierces Tsuyoi's left shoulder and pins him onto the wall. "Of course he isn't dead yet." Tsuyoi winces. This stops his attack which gives Sanita the window to gain footing again.
Tsuyoi looks at the burnt Sanita while trying to pull the dagger out of his shoulder. Even though the situation seems dire, Tsuyoi can't help but smile at the sight before him. Sanita looks like a chalked corpse. "Heh. Looking at you, I'd never guess you were the last hope of your species."
Sanita starts to regenerate using mana, but it's a slow and painful process. He tries to say something but it comes out gargled and inaudible. Tsuyoi manages to pull out the dagger and stand up again. He doesn't regenerate his shoulder wound. "I can keep fighting with this. I don't need to waste my energy, especially when I just went full Flamethrower on him!" He thinks.
Tsuyoi looks around the hallway for anything that can help him. He notices Pablo's Zweihander he dropped from before, he rushes towards it and crouches to pick it up. "He can't heal from dismemberment, right? My fists mean nothing if he can just-"
He feels a hand stop him from picking it up. The grip is firm, not letting Tsuyoi break free. Tsuyoi looks up to see Sanita. Sanita's eyes are burning, like Pablo back in Thalorien. Tsuyoi freezes in surprise.
"...You… You can't pick the sword up." Sanita brings Tsuyoi's arm towards himself. Tsuyoi tries to break free. "Anyone…"
Sanita screams in rage and throws Tsuyoi across the hallway. "...ANYONE, BUT YOU!"
Tsuyoi slams into the wall, opposite to where he was previously. The air in his lungs escapes leaving him breathless. He regains his composure and looks towards Sanita. "Shit, the path to Blessings is open! He threw me this way on purpose. Now he can-"
Sanita starts charging towards Tsuyoi, totally weaponless. Tsuyoi gasps in surprise. "Someone that can't possibly see the bigger picture… has no business being in my way!"
Tsuyoi barely has any fuel left in his tank. He decides he won't use his Treasure unless totally necessary. As Sanita gets closer, Tsuyoi gets ready to block his fists.
"Because some of us care more than just getting to see the next day!" Sanita turns his left arm into a swarm of flies that extend towards the Zweihander on the floor and picks it up. Sanita retracts the flies and grasps the weapon firmly. "But I..! …I shall be the one that reaches for the sword!"
Tsuyoi can't react in time as Sanita swings the sword. Dismembering both of Tsuyoi's forearms in a single strike. Tsuyoi yells out in pain.
Sanita then pierces Tsuyoi's stomach and pins him to the wall behind him. Tsuyoi vomits blood as the sword goes through his body. Sanita exhales, finally letting go of the breath he was holding. He drops the sword on the floor.
"...It is over." Sanita creates a few flies that enter through Tsuyoi's open wounds. He deems this as the 'checkmate'. "Regenerating won't help. But you can burn the flies inside your body, right? That's what I thought. But I noticed that your palms also burn whenever you use your Treasure. For some reason… you aren't immune to your own flames."
Tsuyoi's eyes widen as Sanita figures out his one weakness. The weakness not built-in to his Treasure… but the weakness that he himself has caused. He can't speak.
Sanita manages to regenerate just enough to make the pain disappear. He is also running low on mana. "Could it be because you hate yourself? Seems like the feeling is mutual, we both hate you."
Tsuyoi looks at the floor in resignation. He realises this is the end. With no hands… no way to stop the flies…
"I'll make them block your bloodstream. To make sure you have time to think about the failure that you are."
Sanita watches the pain and despair on Tsuyoi's face. He enjoys it slightly. Tsuyoi opens his mouth for his last words. "You know, someone would get very angry towards you if they learned you killed me." The words are barely audible.
Sanita raises an eyebrow. "Who, Pablo?"
Tsuyoi chuckles, more blood leaves his mouth as he does so. "I was thinking about my lil' bro, but sure… that works too."
Sanita sighs, he turns his back on Tsuyoi as he gets ready to leave. "I better make sure I kill your brother too, then." Sanita smiles a little. "But I guess that proves your point. This got a lot more personal than I would like to admit-"
"Hey, fuck-face!" A nervous voice speaks out next to Sanita. Right to his left where the hallway connects to another hallway. A figure speaks out. Sanita flinches a little at the sudden voice. He quickly turns towards the sound's source.
He sees Pablo carrying the corpse of Meursault that is leaning on his shoulder. Pablo is holding onto Meursault's left hand which is transformed into a gun. He pulls the trigger, and the bullet misses Sanita.
Sanita sighs and calms down when he sees it's just Pablo. He doesn't even react to the bullet. "Pablo. Turn around and go home."
Pablo pulls the trigger again. It misses once more.
Sanita starts to get angry. Tsuyoi has long lost consciousness. Pablo was slightly hoping Tsuyoi could see this heroic act. "Just. Go. Home. Or I'll kill you too."
Pablo hesitates before pulling the trigger again. But he does nonetheless. This time the bullet hits Sanita's stomach (or where the stomach of a Dawnthinker would be), Sanita growls in anger. The bullets disturb his soul.
"...I'm not going anywhere!" Pablo yells, he drops Meursault's body on the floor and faces Sanita himself. Pablo gulps as he starts sweating nervously. Sanita tries to regenerate from the bullet but fails due to the soul damage. "You're scared, I can clearly see that. You're not this brave warrior, Pablo. Stop pretending to be someone you're not."
Pablo takes a step further. His hands are shaking. "He said that too."
Sanita sees the determination in Pablo's eyes. He realises nothing can make Pablo leave, he already made his decision. What Sanita hates more than a Dawnthinker is a Magiborn that betrayed their species. "I'll kill you then."
Pablo's heart skips a beat against the cold threat. "Like you killed your Magiborn allies on the ship. Just because you thought they would snitch. You're not this Magiborn Hero you think you are either."
Sanita takes a step towards Pablo. "They weren't my men. They were the UG's soldiers. Which is exactly why I killed them, why I'll kill you."
Pablo takes a step back unconsciously. He has made his call… so why is it so damn terrifying? Apparently, choosing to act doesn't resolve everything cleanly.
Yet Pablo acts.
"I heard what Sanita said. I must either convince him to pull back the flies… or I must kill him." He thinks.
Pablo walks towards Sanita once again. "Quite frankly, the latter sounds way more satisfying." He says this one outloud. Sanita dismisses it as non-sense.
Pablo leaps forwards to take a bite out of Sanita. The speed Pablo moves at surprises Sanita. Almost if…
"No, that can't be it." Sanita thinks to himself as Pablo takes a bite out of his shoulder. Before Pablo can shoot Sanita's body parts out with his Treasure, Sanita turns his pierced body part into flies.
"Eugh!" Pablo almost chokes, he coughs out the flies from his mouth in rapid fashion. Sanita swings his fist towards Pablo's chest.
Pablo hears his ribcage crack with the impact. But he doesn't even react to the pain. Instead, he punches Sanita's face back. The Impact had more force than what even Pablo expected. It almost breaks Pablo's fingers.
Sanita gets dazed upon the impact. "How did you…" Pablo doesn't stop attacking. He starts to rapidly punch Sanita's stomach but the punches have no force in them unlike his previous attacks. This confuses Sanita a lot.
"That… hurts!" Pablo winced, pulling back his fists. Sanita looked at him, baffled. "He has this ring that glows each time he uses that… eating thing. But I can sense mana from him. He has a ribcage but I can see him slowly regenerating." He pondered.
"Just what the hell are you, you freak?" Sanita bluntly said. Though his voice had a little bit of uneasiness which Pablo could clearly notice. Pablo holds his injured wrist. "That's what I'm trying to figure out."
Pablo fully focuses on his wrist and manages to heal it. Sanita uses this window to attack Pablo. He punches him repeatedly. He grabs Pablo and slams him onto the wall. "What's so special about you that I just can't figure out?" He says.
He releases his grasp on Pablo and lets him fall. He picks up the dagger that pinned Tsuyoi to the wall.
Pablo struggles to breathe. He smiles through the pain. "I genuinely don't know either, you damn hypocrite!" Upon hearing this, Sanita's eyes flash with rage. He punches Pablo right in the face and steps back. "You got one hell of a mouth. Why did I let you live anyway?"
Pablo quickly pulls out a bottle of acid, the same type of acid he used on Meursault previously. He chugs it to activate his Treasure. He then shoots the acid from his mouth directed towards Pablo.
"Agh…" Pablo puts a hand on his throat, also slowly healing it from the acid burn. Pablo can barely get up due to his injuries but he pushes through. Sanita turns into a swarm and flies away to avoid the acid. He is now away from Tsuyoi's body and is in the original hallway the fight started in. Pablo goes towards Tsuyoi's unresponding body.
Pablo looks at it with worry, fear, guilt and regret. He came here against Tsuyoi's wishes. When Pablo could leave alive, he chose violence. He falls on one knee as the injuries finally get to him. "Sorry, Tsuyoi. But I still came here. I won't let you put me down. I won't let you think you're better than me. Even though you are."
Sanita watches Pablo. He decides It's best to watch first, act second because he doesn't know what the hell is going on with Pablo.
"Man... I know you're mad at me. I know you don't want me to fight him. I know you said I'm deadweight. But-" Before Pablo can finish, the dead speak.
"...Keep going…"
Pablo gasps, upon realizing Tsuyoi isn't dead he is slightly relieved. But he freezes at his answer.
"...Beat him, Pablo."
Pablo's mouth is wide open. He thought Tsuyoi didn't want him fighting. He thought he was deadweight. He expected Tsuyoi to be mad at him for being so stupid and fighting Sanita, knowing he'd likely die. "But-"
Realization dawns upon Pablo. He feels a shift within his body, like his very existence changed with Tsuyoi's words.
When Tsuyoi judged Pablo, when he tried to give the sword to Pablo, when he pushed him to act… until now he thought all of it was because Tsuyoi saw Pablo as unreliable.
"I think I get it now, Tsuyoi." Pablo's eyes drift towards the sword on the floor. He looks at his ring. He watches it glow subtly, in a color different from before.
Sanita senses the same thing from before. The thing in Pablo's punches he couldn't exactly point out.
"I… I don't know what to say," Pablo's voice shakes. His eyes tear up. Tsuyoi was… letting him grow. "No! I do." Pablo smiles softly. The chaos inside him calmed down. The fear is still there.
But now he knows what Tsuyoi meant. What he tried to do…
Flames ignite in Pablo's eyes. They are burning bigger than Sanita's.
"I am grateful to you, Tsuyoi." Pablo's body slowly left the floor. Levitating slightly. centimeters between his knees and the floor. Sanita's eyes widened in shock. "That's..."
Pablo slowly started to raise his left hand. His hand was shaking due to the strength he lacked. He could barely lift his hand. His ring started glowing in blinding lights, Pablo pointed the gem of his ring towards Sanita. Sanita watched in anticipation. He covered his body with mana in order to defend any attack that might come.
"I am truly, truly grateful." A beam of pure mana left Pablo's ring, growing ever so-bright. It didn't have a big radius, but Sanita could sense the energy coming from it.
It quickly penetrated his mana shield without struggling. "This is… mana!" Sanita gasped.
Pablo's smile grew bigger as the attack landed. He landed on the floor and stopped shaking.
Sanita regenerated quickly, he started walking towards Pablo with rage. How could he use mana, despite having a Treasure? "So I see. The superweapon she mentioned wasn't a bomb, nor a gun."
Sanita picks up the dagger that was pinned to the floor. "It was you."
Pablo finally grabs the Zweihander on the floor. "That's right." He enters a stance. He has no idea how to use this thing. "Now, forget Doctor Blessings, let's just kill each other instead!"
Pablo starts to heal himself. But It's smoother and doesn't use that much focus compared to before. "So I was unconsciously using mana before. Blessings mentioned the mana was assimilated into my Aura Link. No wonder my emotional bursts allowed me to use it."
He suddenly remembers the mouth he grew on his chest against Arzt. "I wonder if…"
Sanita charged forward with his daggers, wasting no time. "A Dawnthinker that can use mana, huh? I guess that is special enough."
Pablo parried the daggers with his blade. Even though his technique was off, he managed to overpower Sanita. He did this by boosting his physicality using mana. Though the consequences are imminent as the Dawnthinker body isn't suitable for mana. Pablo's skin bursts. "Argh!"
"You're destroying yourself with mana!" Sanita kept attacking, Pablo couldn't keep doing this forever right? But Sanita severely underestimated how stubborn Pablo could be.
With each strike, Pablo kept parrying. He kept pushing the body further to then regenerate the damage. This loop could go on as long as he wasn't out of mana. Though the pain started to get to him slightly.
"He surely cannot extend the mana outside of his body, can he? But he shot mana with the ring. I'm guessing that's because he can extend his Aura Link to his treasure. The Aura Link is still the inferior power!" Sanita waits for the window to break through.
Pablo's footwork is sloppy. He loses his balance and cannot parry one of Sanita's strikes to his leg. "Slow!" He then kicks Pablo in the chest to launch him backwards, creating a distance between them.
He doesn't falter when his leg is sliced nor when he is kicked. In fact, a smile on his face can be seen. He is enjoying this. Enjoying that he can finally…
…Keep up.
Sanita starts to get even more annoyed seeing Pablo's stubbornness. He doesn't deem it as 'determination'. "Even though this situation is quite frankly very interesting, you're still weak and slow. You can't possibly-"
Pablo moves in blinding speeds and appears right in front of Sanita to punch him in the face. Sanita can see but cannot react in time. It's as if time has been slowed to make sure Sanita saw Pablo's speed.
The punch lands right on his face, breaking his nose and sending him flying. He crashes into the wall and the impact is strong enough to leave cracks on the wall. "When did he… just- wha- How?! He couldn't even lift the sword properly when I first saw him. But now he moved so fast I literally couldn't move a muscle!"
Kori's words echo through Sanita's mind.
"...He is adapting." The words left Sanita's mouth like he was thinking out loud. He looked at Pablo the moment he regained his composure. He noticed Pablo's feet blew up. He was in the middle of regenerating them. "He oversurged his legs with mana, huh? I can outsustain him until he runs out of it."
Tears fell from Pablo's eyes due to the pain. "Man that felt good. Not so boastful now, huh?"
Sanita gets up and wipes mana running down from his injured nose. "You're really willing to become the United Government's lapdog. You'll let these experiments continue just so you can live?"
Pablo finishes healing his body and looks at Sanita. He doesn't know how much mana he has left. Not like he knows how mana works in the slightest. "No. I'll let the Magiborns leave and I will kill Blessings after I'm done with you."
Sanita is left confused, he raises an eyebrow. "Huh? Why the hell are you trying to stop me then? That is what I want too. It seems like you still don't know why you're doing all this. You're just acting on-"
Pablo starts walking towards Sanita with his sword. It's too late to step back. "No, I do know. The reason I'll kill you is because…"
"Hm?" Sanita doesn't realize he is holding his breath, waiting for Pablo's answer.
Pablo's eyes start to glow brighter. Way brighter than before. "...You really, really annoyed me."
A vein bulges on Sanita's forehead. He grits his teeth and clenches his fists. "I should've killed you when I had the chance!"
Sanita throws his dagger towards Pablo. He immediately reacts to it and aims his palm towards the blade coming towards him.
"Come on!" Pablo focuses to channel his energy into this. It's a gamble for sure, but Pablo is confident enough to take it.
A mouth manifests on Pablo's left palm. It swallows the dagger coming towards it. "I hope this works!"
The dagger then comes out of Pablo's mouth in the shape of iron marbles. Like any other thing he eats with his mouth, they come out as fast projectiles. "An extension of his Treasure!"
Sanita moves swiftly to avoid the bullets and close in the distance between him and Pablo. Pablo aims to finish the fight as quickly as possible (even though he has just started to enjoy it) because he knows Tsuyoi is going to die due to his bloodflow being blocked.
"I won't let him die." Pablo starts shooting mana out of his ring again. But he does it repeatedly this time.
"You speak as if you know anything! You're ignorant, Pablo! I shall put an end to this. One attack to decide it all…" Sanita parries the mana attacks with his remaining, sprinting with all his might. He infuses his body with the remaining mana.
Pablo swings his blade backwards to prepare for an overhead attack. "Being ignorant is better than being a hypocrite! It's better than hiding behind ideology to justify your actions. Admit it, Sanita…"
Pablo infuses his arm with his mana, killing almost every cell on his arm. "...You're enjoying this as much as I do! In reality, you're just a sick bastard… like me!" Pablo smiles from ear to ear.
Tension grows as Sanita is almost in the striking range. Sanita can't help but smile, proving Pablo right. "The entire fate of my species… is on my back-" Sanita gets ready to swing his dagger, he finds an opening towards Pablo's neck.
Pablo brings his Zweihander down. Slicing Sanita vertically, splitting him. The blade glides through Sanita's body like butter. Pablo yells out in pain as the sword hits the floor. His arms burst with blood, corroding like rotten fruit.
Sanita looks at Pablo in pure shock. He looks towards his other half which falls over. He looks at the remaining half of himself. "...Huh."
The mana that makes up Sanita's body starts to slowly lose its strength. It turns into gas like disappearing into thin air. Sanita watches all of it, fully aware. Fully himself.
Cons of not having a brain.
Sanita falls on his knee, slowly losing his life before he can realise it. With sheer determination he holds on. But that's not enough and he knows it. "I see. Your mana surpassed mine… breaking through my defense…"
Just like she said it would.
Pablo drops his sword, he watches Sanita slowly die. Pablo starts breathing heavily while the adrenaline wears out.
"Just… don't say I didn't warn you." Sanita fully disappears. His remains scatter across the air. His clothes fall onto the floor as they don't have anything to hold onto.
Pablo grits his teeth through the pain. "As if. I'm not that stupid."
Pablo faints slightly and starts to fall over. He tries to catch himself with his hands but his arms crumble over the impact and he falls on his face.
Behind him, Tsuyoi slowly opens his eyes. His breathing is messy, unstable and not efficient. "...Fuh…" he looks at his body that is almost colorless due to the lack of blood flow. Pablo notices Tsuyoi waking up, and slightly turns his head towards his body. He can barely move his body. Pablo's eyes show worry and relief all at once.
Tsuyoi manages to smile. "Hey, I'm pale like you now dude!" He says, grinning.
Pablo exhales. He too smiles in response to Tsuyoi's joke. He quietly laughs. "Aha.. aha- Ow." Each breath he takes hurts his body.
Tsuyoi starts to crawl towards Pablo. He'll use whatever he has left to heal Pablo. "You fucking got him, man…"
Tsuyoi is in deep agony with each muscle he moves. He pushes through and falls over right next to Pablo. He lays on his back beside him. His blood spreads to the floor and touches Pablo's laying body.
Tsuyoi looks at him. He has no intention of getting up. "You think-" Pablo interrupts. "Yeah… Let's just rest here, just a little." Pablo rolls over to his back and looks at the ceiling with Tsuyoi.
The two remain speechless and just sink all of it in. Everything that happened replays in both of their minds. Both of them use this moment to just chill out even though Tsuyoi is clearly bleeding.
Minutes pass, both of them do not say a single word. But eventually, Pablo becomes the one to break the silence.
"Heal yourself if you can, Tsuyoi. I'll handle myself just fine."
Tsuyoi turns his head towards Pablo. "You sure?" Pablo nods. Tsuyoi heals himself just enough to stop his bleeding. He doesn't heal anymore to avoid snapping his Aura Link.
Tsuyoi grunts and gets up. "Hold on tight buddy." He picks up Pablo and starts carrying him on his back. "I got you. You just hold on, 'kay?"
Tsuyoi stumbles with each step, still heavily wounded. Pablo slowly closes his eyes and tries to rest even though every cell in his body is screaming 'pain'. But Pablo is used to it. Pain is all he ever knew.
The Doctor's office is closer than ever. Through the path, Tsuyoi thinks about Pablo's actions and the last thing he remembers. He realises that he has grown more 'distant', probably due to the damage his Aura Link received. "Pablo. About what I said before… Before I went to fight Sanita-"
Pablo speaks through closed eyes. "You meant it, right?"
Tsuyoi grows nervous, trying to find a proper answer. He gulps. "I kinda did." He cringes, waiting for Pablo's response.
Pablo smiles. "Thank you for not lying to me, then. If it wasn't for that… I wouldn't come out of the cage I trapped myself in."
Tsuyoi exhales in relief. He chuckles nervously. "N-No problem, man. I should be the one thanking you, for saving my ass."
Tsuyoi makes it to the office. He opens the door to see Kori scribbling something on a paper, and Doctor Blessings fully tied to a chair with his mouth gagged by ice. "Yikes." Tsuyoi says. Kori lights up when seeing them. "You two look like you had one hell of a time." She is unusually calm about the situation.
Tsuyoi softly places Pablo on the chair in front of Kori. "Yeah, you could say that." Pablo opens his eyes. He regenerated his arms on the way even though he can still feel the pain.
Kori looks at Tsuyoi. "You got Sanita?"
Tsuyoi puts his hands on his pockets and leans on the wall. "..." He smiles and looks at the injured Pablo. "No. I got my ass kicked. Pablo got 'em."
Kori puts a hand over her mouth and gasps. She then puts her hand back down and smiles. "That's amazing!"
Pablo sighs with a smile. He enjoys the attention, he truly does. But he is in too much pain right now to think too much of it. He gets up, looking satisfied with himself. "Kori, could you remove the ice on his mouth? I have a question for him."
Kori giggles and then snaps her fingers to activate her Treasure. "Consider it done."
The ice on his mouth quickly melts. Doctor Blessings coughs and gasps for air. "I can't feel my lips… I can't feel them…"
Pablo looks at Doctor Blessings deep in the eyes. "Doctor, I handled Sanita for you. You're safe."
Blessings exhaled in relief, releasing the breath he didn't know he was holding. "Oh thank goodness!"
"Although," Pablo looks him in the eye. He still looks… happy. "Could you give me a map of the facility?"
Blessings nods quickly. He doesn't think too much of it and is too grateful for Pablo to even attempt it. He points at his locked drawer with his eyes. "It's there. The password is-"
"1111, I know." Pablo enters the password. His guess is correct and manages to open the drawer. He grabs the map of the facility and inspects it. Tsuyoi and Kori watch in curiosity.
"This seems alright." Pablo says.
Doctor Blessings struggles in his chair. He feels as if all muscles on his body are stiffened. "Could you untie me, please? I have sensitive skin-"
Pablo points his ring towards Doctor Blessings. His ring glows. Doctor Blessings freezes, he is more confused than scared. "What are you-"
A blast of mana pierces his skull. Ending his life instantly. Pablo's hand shakes slightly as he puts down his hand. Tsuyoi is left speechless, so is Kori. "Dude... why did you..." Tsuyoi speaks out in a low voice.
Pablo exhales sharply, he turns towards Tsuyoi and Kori. "Let's free these Magiborns and get the hell out of here before any more UG Agents arrive."
Tsuyoi looks at Pablo in disbelief before nodding reluctantly. "...If that's what you want."
Kori watches Pablo head for the door. She grows nervous as her voice slightly shakes. "Was that… mana?"
Tsuyoi tries to ignore the situation at hand and chuckles nervously. "You have no idea."
The three of them wander through the facility, using the map as a guide. They notice the corpse of a guard on the floor. "Must be Sanita's doing." Pablo thinks. They find the room where the captured Magiborns reside. Tsuyoi manages to picklock the door and open it.
When he opens it, he sees dozens of starved and malnutritioned people sitting on the floor in almost complete darkness. They barely have any food in front of them. There seems to be families, even children here. There are people who have died, but the government didn't even bother to get their corpses.
They all look at Tsuyoi in confusion, but more importantly, in fear. Some children hug their parents in fear.
"Hey-" The moment Tsuyoi speaks, some of the kids start screaming. This starts a chain effect where almost every other kid starts screaming too. "Shit…" Tsuyoi mutters.
"I got this." Pablo steps in front of Tsuyoi and makes his ring glow with mana. He guesses that they would sense the mana and make them realise he is friendly.
Some of the children stop screaming, the chaos calms down when most realise Pablo is using mana. But it doesn't relieve them. Instead, it confuses them more. Their oldest, a man that doesn't look anything below 80 (even though Pablo doesn't know how they age) stands up and looks at Pablo. "Who are you people? You're not wearing a uniform." He tries to sound strong and brave, but his voice shakes.
"We're not with the UG. We're here to free you all. My friend has a connection in Eldoria. If you go where he tells you to go, the woman there will help you." Pablo says. He steps aside and lets Tsuyoi do the rest of the work.
"There is a bar near the city center. It's called 'The Dreamers'. If you ask around, you can surely find that place. The women there named Ayano will help you. Just tell her that I, The Great Tsuyoi sent you." Tsuyoi puts his hands on his pockets as he speaks to the old man.
Everyone's eyes inside the room shine with hope upon hearing this. Not only are they freeing them, they are helping them stand on their feet. The Old Man is left speechless. His voice shakes, he stutters. He really can't say anything.
Pablo gestures to them to get up. "Come on. We'll guide you all to the exit."
Kori watches this exchange behind them. An unexplainable emotion on her face. Pablo notices this and looks at her while she stares into the room. Pablo dismisses it.
Even though he still doesn't fully trust her, he has slightly warmed up to her. But he still doesn't let his guard down.
Tsuyoi nudges Pablo with his elbow. "Aye, Man of the match." Pablo slightly flinched, he was fully lost in his thoughts. "Yeah?"
Tsuyoi hands Pablo his Zweihander he left at the battle site. "You forgot this." Pablo looks at the sword in surprise. He sees his own reflection on the sword. He takes the sword from Tsuyoi's hands reluctantly. He inspects it.
"...Damn. It's in very bad shape." Pablo notices the damage on the sword, and just drops it on the floor. "Is that so? We'll buy a proper one then. A Zweihander really suits you, y'know?"
He puts an arm around Pablo and starts walking towards the exit as the Magiborns follow behind them. Pablo smiles. "I think I started to like them too."
Pablo looks behind him, looking at all the lives he saved. He tries to think about each of them… to realise and imagine that each one has an individual life, an individual experience.
What unsettles Pablo is that he can't bring himself to care. "Must be the Aura Link…" he ponders.
The trio and the Magiborns walk towards the exit, ready to go through another day.
WE BOTH KNOW THAT FELT GOOD.
KILLING, I MEAN.