After taking Eirwen to a hospital and getting all the necessary check-ups done, I checked on the other students. Fortunately, they were all doing surprisingly well. Ashlyn had found them, so she was nearby talking to them as well.
No one was seriously injured. Only Tanya had taken some moderately severe damage from being hit multiple times without being able to defend herself well enough, but even she was in much better shape than Eirwen.
I also found out that Astrid had been rushed into emergency surgery. She’d received a very severe wound to her abdomen, and her organs had barely stayed inside her body. She was going to survive, but she’d be left with scars because there hadn’t been anyone available at the time of the surgery with powers that could help, since it was an emergency.
Clearly, the hooded woman had planned everything meticulously so nothing would get in her way. That was already being investigated, though. I saw members of DPYT-9 showing up. They’re the government’s secret department, tied to the political elite.
There are even ordinary people among them, but most are Kaira’s who had very specific powers and were trained from a very young age. They’re practically a military experiment.
Since the way a person lives their life shapes their power, these girls had been trained and taught specific things from birth to try to control what powers they developed. It worked in part. Since you can’t control exactly how someone absorbs knowledge, some of them didn’t end up with the same power foundation.
But overall it was a partial success, and they’re part of this department that handles troublesome things like the current situation.
’If DPYT-9 members showed up for this, it means the big shots at the top consider this a real problem...’ I’d only seen them appear three times in my entire life. They didn’t even show up when a piece of Aurora Island fell.
’I need to focus...’ I decide to stop thinking about it. I have something more problematic to deal with. This time, I decided to bring Charlotte to the night training.
"Professor Zenith, why are we on top of this building? Actually, shouldn’t I be resting like the others? Everyone got five days off to rest, so why don’t I?" she says while I look at my prosthetics. Because of Ashlyn, I had to spend 48 hours being studied. The scientists wanted to know how the cube had become my new prosthetics and the risk of it leaving my body.
"You’ve already had two days of rest. That’s enough," I tell her coldly. Unfortunately, no one discovered anything. These prosthetics could come off at any moment, and no one could even remove them. They’re completely attached to my body. They even gave me a small voice-activated device so I could call for help if the prosthetics ever left my body.
"..." I open the case I brought and start assembling a sniper rifle. Charlotte crouches down next to me, watching.
"Professor, you’re not going to commit crimes, are you?"
"No. Just be quiet and wait."
"...Why aren’t we hunting monsters? I heard you took Eirwen and Ashlyn to hunt monsters during training," she asks, feigning innocence.
"I adapt training to what each of you needs. Eirwen needs more control over her powers, so combat is good. Ashlyn also needs experience, so she gets combat too... you... you need something different."
"...Your prosthetics changed..." she murmurs, touching my tail, which coils around her arm.
"Stop touching. It’s invasive," I say sharply. I don’t know how much control I have over this Cube. If it decides to crush her hand, I wouldn’t be at fault for it.
"Okay..." She murmurs and stays still while I finish assembling the sniper rifle. I set it up, bracing it against the building’s ledge.
"Look here," I pull her over to look through the scope. She puts her eye to it, but then I shove her off the building. As she starts to fall, I grab her hand and see the fear in her eyes the moment I pull her back up.
"W-What the hell was that?!" She shoves me, backing away from the edge of the building.
"It’s not nice being betrayed by someone you trusted, is it? The difference is I caught you before you fell, and you wouldn’t have died from that fall. Eirwen could have died, and you didn’t go after her."
"...Okay... I get it. I’m sorr—" I punch her in the stomach. She doubles over with a dry gasp, unable to even scream. I drive my knee into her stomach and kick her, sending her to the ground.
She curls up, clutching her stomach, gasping without being able to breathe properly from the blows.
"You know, I’m a pretty aggressive person, but I don’t usually hit people without reason. If you only mess up with me, that’s fine. I won’t beat you over it." Because of Eirwen, I lost one of my prosthetics, and I didn’t hit her over that.
"But traitors? I HATE traitors. I hate people who abandon others in a cowardly way just to see what happens, like you did."
"If it had been me, you can be sure it wouldn’t have ended with just a few punches." I look into her eyes and see a strange reaction. Her ears and tail curl inward while her eyes tremble with a panic far greater than just pain or momentary fear.
’Again...’ I’d always wondered what kind of life Charlotte had led to develop spatial powers. Some of the things she says are also quite self-deprecating. And now this panic reaction.
"...P-Please d-don’t hit me..." She curls up as I approach her.
"I’ve already hit you enough to punish you for what you did. I don’t go overboard. Mothers hit their misbehaving kids with slippers, so I hit you for your mistake, and I won’t do more than that..."
"Tell me, why did you abandon Eirwen there? You knew she could have died." Even though it was ’good’ that Eirwen held off that monster — since she distracted it until I reached the area, the destruction and death toll were minimal. She saved many lives just by surviving and fighting tooth and nail.
"..."
"You know, I don’t give a damn about your past, and if something happened in it, I don’t care. But I can’t just let you put the others at risk. It’s terrifying to imagine a future where you’re an enemy."
"..." I feel space distorting and cancel it with a light flick of my fingers.
"!!!"
"It’s stupid to attack someone with spatial powers so obviously. It’s easy to cancel. You know something ironic about spatial powers? They all depend on space that already exists, which means that between people like us, only the stronger one controls the space." Spatial powers are more limited than they seem.
"...I-I... I won’t say anything..."
"Do whatever you want. But know that if you pull that kind of crap again, I won’t stop at just a few hits. Now get up off the ground. I have things to teach you, but of course I won’t teach you anything involving your power. That would be stupid."
"I’ll teach you something more interesting..." Charlotte gets up with an angry expression on her face.
"I don’t want to. I’m leaving..." She starts walking toward the building’s stairs to go down.
"Do you want to leave the academy?" I ask, adjusting the sniper scope. I take a quick look and see the target talking to some security guards. I wonder if I should use a real shot or the tranquilizer.
’I think she’d be upset.’
"What do you mean?" Charlotte stops walking.
"It seems pretty obvious that you want to be expelled. Looking at your behavioral record, they’re all infractions that could get you expelled. You’re not stupid. You should know you can be expelled from the academy."
"The others cause problems, but nothing like yours."
"Tsk... so what if I do..."
"And why would you want that? Let me deduce... hmm... you suffered physical abuse from someone in the past — based on your reaction, from a very young age, so probably a relative?"
"Your general attitude is also pretty fake, so you just had to accept everything to avoid suffering more. And I think the fact that you’re at the academy irritates this person you’re afraid of?"
"!!!"
"Stop talking about my life like you know it."
"I don’t know it, but it’s not hard to deduce. Most people don’t curl up with that much panic when they get hit unless they’ve been hit a lot before and learned that curling up reduces how much they get hurt."
"...You think you’re so clever... yeah, that’s right. I was beaten as a child..."
"Hmm... I see... a feline, that makes sense." I look at her mutation. Not much is known yet about the "mutations" some people have. Most of them appear when a person gets a chip or a core, but there have been cases of people born with them.
Ironically, Charlotte having cat traits fits her situation and her overall attitude perfectly.
"I find it funny how people like you think suffering gives you a reason to hurt others. If that were the case, I could kill whoever I wanted. And that’s not how it works."
"Suffering doesn’t make you better than others or morally superior." I load a real bullet into the sniper when I see the target is armed.
"..." Charlotte looks at me and steps closer.
"Weren’t you leaving?"
"...You called me here to train... what the hell are you doing?"
"I’m killing some problematic people. The attack two days ago couldn’t have been done by the hooded girl alone, so DPYT-9 obtained some information on traitors who helped her — though not all of them."
"Hooded girl? DPYT-9?" She asks, confused, while I adjust the scope using my spatial powers.
"Don’t worry about it. Just know that the target I’m going to kill is guilty of the deaths of a few thousand people. He was already a target before and had already been fired, but was never arrested due to lack of evidence. Now that we have proof of a crime..." Several soldiers had actually been ’sent’ to kill this man.
From here, I can sense the presence of a woman also aiming a sniper at him, and further away behind the mansion, I sense someone rigging explosives in the cars.
"...this is dirty work..."
"Yes, it is. Military stuff. We do... a lot of things like this. Many retired veterans have a specific government website to access data on people they can hunt — whether for money, just for the adrenaline, out of a need to still be active... or to support their side."
"As a former commander, I’m doing this... because I think your future is the same as mine. You’ll have a lot of dirty work ahead of you. If you want to leave the academy, go. If you want to fight someone, fight. But be smarter about it."
"Working properly will give you a better future than you think..." I adjust the scope, but as the man moves, he’s hit by a shot that blows his head off before I can fire.
’Tsk...’
"Looks like it wasn’t my kill this time..."
"If so many people want him dead... did you really need to come—" I pull her down, shielding her from a shot.
"Yes, I did. Because now is when things really start."
"H-Huh?" I swing the sniper around and shoot at the sniper who tried to hit Charlotte. He dodges while I scoop Charlotte into my arms and jump off the building.
"W-What the hell is going on?"
"My job here is to steal a briefcase. Everyone’s after it. But understand one thing: the government is not united! Let’s just say the people I support are neutral. There are the aggressive ones, and the passive ones. Whoever gets information hides it from the others."
"I hate the aggressive ones — government people who treat soldiers like disposable trash. But I also hate the ’passive’ ones who hide everything from the public and the military. The neutrals are the most acceptable. Astrid also supports the neutrals."
"And if I don’t steal that briefcase, the chances of someone else who also supports the neutrals stealing it go down. I’m teaching you this before the others."
"But the day will come when you’ll all have to choose a side... after all, humanity is much worse than the monsters in some ways."
"Learn by watching me." I hit the ground, creating a crater, and run while holding her. I see several other veterans also running toward the armored car.
"..." Charlotte seems to realize this is much more than just training. I know we just got out of a dangerous situation, but these are the remnants of the problem the hooded woman caused.
"Y-You’re insane."
"Maybe. But I want to try to lead you down a better path. Leaving the academy is bad for you. The academy is protecting you. If you abandon it or get expelled, people like the ones here will come after you. They’ll kill you, cut open your head or chest, and steal the core in your body." When I say that, she shivers.
"Understand something simple: I’m teaching you as a professor, and I genuinely will help all of you."
"..." She bites her lip when I say that.
"If I behave... will I really get something good out of this?"
"...Yes, but I can’t promise anything."
"...That’s enough for me."
"Perfect. Let’s steal that briefcase as a team. And if we see it’s not possible, I’ll destroy the briefcase. So get ready to use your powers and open a rift in space so we can escape." It’s good to have help from someone with an escape ability like hers.
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