[Lobotomy/Limbus] I became Yuri's coworker*

"Are you free tomorrow?"

Nova looked up.

"Why~~?"

Her voice was thick with drunkenness.

"There’s something I need help with during the Mercenary’s work. I was hoping you could come in with me."

The corners of Nova’s lips slowly curled up.

"Oh~ Then why not bring Captain Mir along~?"

"..."

"Don’t tell me... you’re finally planning to cause trouble?"

"It’s not like that. Just help me this one time. If Captain Mir catches me, I won’t get away with just one or two hits."

"That makes me even more uneasy~ Don’t tell me... you want me to do it for nothing in return~?"

"...A week’s worth of Enkephalin. I can’t do more than that. If it costs more, I’d rather go in alone and die."

"Well~ I was going to do it for about that much anyway. She’s only WAW-class, right? So... what do I have to do?"

"The Red Hooded Mercenary might breach tomorrow. No... she definitely will."

"Then it is trouble. You want me to clean it up?"

"..."

"Fine."

Nova rose from her seat.

The long rifle slung across her back swayed faintly.

Abraxas.

Honestly, that gun was dependable, unlike its user.

The next day.

Our first assignment was Insight Work.

Click.

The containment unit door opened.

As usual, the Mercenary was sharpening her axe.

Then she noticed Nova standing by the door and raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Two of you today. Who’s that?"

"Yeah, she’s my senior."

"Did you come to tell me some amusing story?"

Nova leaned against the wall and smiled.

"Something like that."

"You stay out of this."

The Mercenary said it while looking at Nova.

"I don’t like your smell."

"That’s harsh."

Laughing, Nova rested Abraxas on her shoulder.

"Still, I’m insurance today."

"Insurance?"

"Yeah."

"I’m here to stop you if you try to blow someone’s head off."

The Mercenary gave a short laugh.

"Then I should blow your head off first."

"Oh."

Nova laughed.

"How bloodthirsty~"

I slowly drew in a breath.

Then I sat down in front of the Mercenary.

"Mercenary."

"What?"

"Let me ask you something."

"Ask."

After a brief silence, I slowly opened my mouth.

"You’re an Abnormality."

"..."

"You know that, right?"

"Yeah."

The Mercenary answered as she sharpened her axe.

"What’s with the sudden nonsense? Are you saying you don’t like talking to me because I’m an Abnormality and you’re human?"

Her tone was sharp. Maybe it was because I had brought Nova along.

"And."

I continued.

"You’re a subspecies."

The sound of the axe stopped.

"What...?"

The Mercenary’s blue eyes slowly lifted beneath her hood.

I did not stop.

"That means there’s an original."

"..."

"And you aren’t the only subspecies like yourself. There are countless subspecies in our company’s branches. The original exists at headquarters too, of course."

"And each subspecies is a little different, but they all carry memories split off from that original. More precisely, only hatred toward the Wolf and a handful of other memories."

The Mercenary said nothing.

Instead, her grip around the axe tightened.

"What... the fuck are you talking about?"

"Mercenary... those memories."

I looked at her.

"Are they really your memories?"

"..."

"The flower shop, your family, the Wolf, the Fixer, revenge."

With every word I spoke,

the Mercenary’s expression twisted a little further.

"Was that really your life?"

"Shut up."

Her voice was low.

But something within it was cracking.

"...Are those memories really yours?"

There was no sound.

The Mercenary did not move.

Only the hand gripping the axe.

Little by little.

Ever so slightly, it trembled.

"..."

Her blue eyes shook.

Like someone hearing words they had never heard before.

Or words they should never have heard.

"No."

A low voice, almost a whisper.

"No."

Once again.

Her grip on the axe tightened.

Veins stood out on her hand.

"No."

And then—

"I SAID NO!!!!!!"

KWA-A-A-ANG!!!!

The axe smashed into the floor.

The entire containment unit shook.

Concrete fragments flew in every direction.

Red warning lights flashed.

[Danger Level Increased]

[Abnormality Status Unstable]

[Qliphoth Meltdown]

"Ah~ Our rookie really set her off."

The Mercenary was no longer looking at us.

No, more accurately, she was not looking at anything.

Her shaking eyes,

her ragged breaths,

her quivering body—

she looked like someone whose very existence was collapsing.

"No..."

Click.

The long rifle came up.

"Rookie~ You’d better dodge~"

Bang!!!!

The shot rang out.

If this had been before, I would have died.

I was sure of it. Last time, if I had not memorized her combat patterns, I would have died too.

But not this time.

My body moved first.

The bullet grazed past my cheek.

Kwang!!!!

The wall behind me shattered.

"Oh~"

Nova muttered briefly.

"You really dodged that. Looks like the captain trained you hard."

Bang!!

She fired in rapid succession.

Without aim or judgment, solely to destroy.

Like an Abnormality in breach, driven not by reason but by instinct.

I drew Repentance.

Clang.

I deflected one bullet.

Bang!!

Another came flying.

This one was aimed at my torso.

Clang.

I blocked it again.

My wrist went numb, and my right arm shook.

But I did not stop. I could feel that I could do this.

The movements I had learned from being beaten hundreds of times by Mir.

The time spent falling hundreds of times and getting back up hundreds more.

That time was moving my body now.

Bang!!

A bullet grazed my shoulder.

Burning pain flared up, and blood ran down.

But it was fine.

I could still move.

"Aaaaaaagh!!!!"

The Mercenary screamed.

Then she threw her long rifle aside.

Phase two now?

Metal rang out.

She gripped her axe.

Her presence changed. A sharp killing intent filled the containment unit.

"Han."

Nova’s voice seemed, just a little, to have turned serious.

"She’s coming~ And just so you know, a fragile marksman like me dies fast if no one blocks for her~"

Fuck, I know that without you telling me.

KWA-A-A-ANG!!!!

The axe came down.

The floor cracked open.

I threw myself to the side.

The shockwave tore through the containment unit, throwing up countless fragments.

"Crazy..."

Before I could even finish, she came again.

The first strike went for my head.

The next for my torso.

The one after that for my weapon-wielding right hand.

Again.

She did not stop.

There was no thought behind it, no technique.

She simply swung with strength, with rage.

The power of an Abnormality in breach defied logic.

I barely caught the axe as it came down at my legs with Repentance.

My arms went numb.

My grip felt like it was about to burst apart.

But this time, I did not get pushed back.

Before, I would not have lasted more than a few exchanges.

But not now.

Mir’s voice flashed through my mind.

"Don’t block it with strength."

"Redirect it."

"Change the angle."

In that instant, my body moved before my mind did.

When the next axe blow came for my right arm,

instead of merely catching it,

I twisted.

I redirected the force.

The axe slid away to the side.

And I stepped in.

Slash!!

Repentance cut into the Mercenary’s shoulder.

Blackish-red blood sprayed out.

But the Mercenary did not even seem to feel pain.

"Aaaaaaagh!!!!"

She swung the fist of her left hand, the one not holding the axe.

Kwang!!

The impact struck my stomach.

My breath caught in my throat.

My body flew backward and slammed into the wall.

"Cough!"

I could not breathe.

I think my ribs were broken.

"Get up~ You need to protect this fragile long-range marksman~"

Nova’s voice.

Bang!!!!

Abraxas spat fire.

A golden bullet pierced the Mercenary’s thigh.

The Mercenary’s body swayed. One knee buckled.

But she did not stop. She charged, even though one of her legs had bent the wrong way and was useless now.

"She really is WAW-class. Tough as hell."

Bang!!

Abraxas fired repeatedly.

The Mercenary staggered, but still charged forward.

Nova kept aiming for her head, but unlike last time, perhaps because she still retained some mobility, the Mercenary instinctively dodged and closed the distance.

As though dying did not matter to her.

After all, she was in a state where she did not even know what she herself was.

"No..."

She kept muttering.

Then, having closed in, the Mercenary swung her axe at Nova.

"Ah~~ Maybe I drank too much... Next time~ I should cut back on the Enkephalin..."

Kwang!!!!

I stepped forward and raised Repentance.

That last impact had broken my ribs.

My shinbone was broken too.

My left hand would not move from that impact either.

Still, I moved. For that one instant in which Nova could aim and hit her cleanly.

For an instant, her posture tilted and she lost her balance, leaving her right arm exposed and defenseless.

I cut it off.

The Mercenary’s eyes opened wide.

And then—

Bang!!!!

A golden bullet from Abraxas pierced the Mercenary’s heart.

The axe slipped from her severed right hand.

Her long rifle was already rolling across the floor.

The Mercenary’s body shook violently.

Her knees buckled.

She fell to her knees on the containment unit floor.

Ragged breathing, trembling hands, and unsteady eyes.

It seemed some of her reason had returned.

"...I."

A small voice.

"..."

"...I..."

Red eyes stared into empty space.

"...Who am I?"

At that moment, space split apart.

At first, I thought it was a wall.

But it was not.

Space itself was being torn open.

Petals drifted beyond the red fissure.

Thousands of flowers, a burning flower shop, a forest stained red, an endless trail, the howling of a wolf, and fragments of memory filling the sky.

Thousands of memory shards floated through the air like shattered glass.

The entire space warped.

Red threads stretched out in every direction.

Nova’s expression hardened. It was the first time I had seen it.

"...A mindscape."

"What?"

"A [Mindscape Dungeon]. This has never occurred even at headquarters... The original founders only ever proposed it in theory..."

Nova loaded Abraxas.

Click.

"That’s her mental world. Normally, we’d call the other team members and the captain, then go in together... but it’ll be too late if we do. It looks like her mind will be completely destroyed..."

The fissure grew wider and wider.

The wolf’s howl continued to echo from within.

It was low and ominous.

I gripped Repentance.

Nova gave a short laugh.

It was not her usual mischievous smile. This one was serious.

"All right. Time for an adventure."

Abraxas’s barrel pointed toward the fissure.

"Let’s go."

"In there."

Nova spoke slowly.

"There must be an answer in there—the answer she lost."

The red fissure opened its mouth completely.

And Nova and I stepped into the Mercenary’s mindscape.

Chapter 14: The Dream Continues (1)

Comments (0)

Chapter 14: The Dream Continues (1)

Comments (0)

Report Chapter Issue