Black Badger

“Jin!”

I shouted without thinking.

“You’re al—”

Wham!

Something smashed into the back of my head.

Someone had struck me with all their strength.

I shook my head as it was forced down, then lifted it again.

I’m alive.

That was the very first thought.

A rush of relief and joy surged up.

Of course, it didn’t last long.

Bound tightly in vines, Jin Silver looked at me and gave a bitter smile.

“Long time no see.”

Both of his arms had turned completely ashen.

“It would’ve made for a cleaner picture if I’d died back then.”

I bit my lip.

I wasn’t clueless enough to answer him or ask what had happened to him. Showing open concern would only provoke the anger of our kin. If they only beat me, that was one thing—but Jin Silver would definitely get beaten too.

Frowning, I watched as Jin was forced down to sit in front of the pool across from me.

What the hell did they do to him?

They’d done something strange to Shu’s leg, too.

They weren’t the type to toy with people just for fun. Not because they were moral, but because they wouldn’t bother with something so pointless.

So what exactly are they trying to do...?

「Sir Taleb.」

A resonant voice.

My gaze, which had been stuck on Jin’s arms, shifted toward the owner of that hoarse voice.

「It has been a while.」

Clyde.

The executioner splashed his way into the pool. He hadn’t changed at all.

Rather than a butcher, his face looked more like that of an accountant you’d see somewhere. His hair was neatly slicked back, and he wore the same black formal attire he always had in the Empire. It was the executioner’s uniform—something that oddly resembled Earth’s clerical garb.

The Empire’s finest executioner.

Without caring that he was getting wet, he walked over and stopped beside me.

「You’ve grown your hair out again.」

His voice still had that eerily flat tone, devoid of highs and lows.

“Have you ever seen it cut?”

I replied, thinking he was just as unhinged as ever.

Clyde grabbed my white hair, soaked and drooping with water.

「Not from this close.」

“Is that so?”

I answered listlessly.

Then I observed my surroundings.

Not that taking in the terrain would let me do anything immediately. The dozens of overlapping layers of magic restraining my body were still overwhelming. Even without the chains, I wouldn’t have been able to move easily. The afterimages of countless magic circles wrapped around me shimmered faintly on the surface of the water.

Bright red.

Clyde yanked my hair back.

「How much preparation time do you need?」

Kyle slipped his hands into his pockets.

At least let go of someone’s hair before you talk.

As I narrowed my eyes against the pain pulling at my scalp, Clyde answered.

「None is required. It will simply take some time until it’s finished.」

「How long.」

「Usually around five to five and a half hours.」

The two men talked as if I were nothing more than an ingredient.

Without reacting, I assessed the situation.

In a situation like this, I’d planned to use the tooth capsule.

If I bit down on it, the toxic gas released would create an opening to escape. It was a trump card I’d saved for the worst-case scenario—and one that would actually work.

The problem was that Jin Silver’s presence made it difficult to use.

Until the absolute worst happened, don’t bite the capsule.

I didn’t know what they were planning, but if it took five to five and a half hours, they weren’t going to dunk my head underwater immediately.

If nothing went wrong, Kairos and Ami would lure the Remnant Wraith before then. For now, I had no choice but to pin my hopes on them.

And on the seniors who should be heading this way, guided by the one remaining tracker....

「Begin immediately.」

Kyle’s cold voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

“What are you trying to do?”

Jin spoke up.

Though his eyes wavered anxiously, he stared ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ straight at Kyle.

“What are you planning to do to him?”

Kyle didn’t answer.

Clyde shook off the hair in his hand and silently waded out of the pool.

Moments later, he returned, pushing what looked like a surgical instrument trolley.

Mages in robes stood motionless against the cave walls.

The executioner pushed the cart back into the pool.

「Will you remain here?」

Clyde stopped beside me, still hanging from the chains, and looked at Kyle.

Kyle replied shortly.

「Of course.」

「Emotions may scatter in all directions.」

Clyde said flatly.

「If you don’t mind that.」

Ah.

He’s going to remove my sixth sense.

My heart dropped.

Fear coiled tightly in the space it left behind. I’d thought I wasn’t afraid of death or torture.

This was something I’d never truly considered.

If my sixth sense was removed, they wouldn’t be able to track my position afterward. That was why I’d assumed they’d torture me—but not remove it.

In the Empire, for particularly dangerous criminals who still had any chance of escape or release, sixth-sense removal was avoided for the sake of public safety. Once removed, pursuing an escapee became nearly impossible.

In other words, sixth-sense removal was reserved only for those whose execution was certain and escape absolutely impossible—or for those who had once been dangerous but had lost their power and become insignificant.

Those the world could discard without consequence.

The cast-offs of society.

I’d thought they’d squeeze my memories dry before doing something like this.

When explaining it to humans, I’d conveniently called it a sixth sense, and we used that term as well—but among ourselves, we had separate slang.

Sixth-sense removal was called “vein stripping.”

Kyle slowly stepped into the pool.

「I intend to take a front-row seat and witness the entire process.」

He grabbed my chin and tilted my head upward.

As my head was forced back, my eyes met Kyle’s.

「I’ll turn you into a human.」

Kyle declared in a low voice.

「Just like the ones who shoved you into a negotiation table, knowing full well it was a trap.」

After speaking, he let go of my chin.

Sssss—

Clyde heated something over a flame.

A wave of heat slammed into my body.

Kyle stepped back and crossed his arms. The ones attending him quietly left the cave.

I tried to remain calm, but it wasn’t easy.

Through my terror, Clyde’s emotionless voice drifted faintly to my ears.

「Then we will begin.」

The heat drew closer.

***

Koooom!

An energy blast tore across the ground.

A blinding white beam carved through the earth and shot into the sky.

Ami gasped and snapped her head up.

Boom!

The energy blast exploded in the open air.

Covering one ear, Ami shouted,

“Why is it so fast?!”

“It’s faster than it looks.”

Kairos didn’t look back as he slammed the accelerator.

“Still, if we keep this up, there shouldn’t be any major problems.”

They were racing across open plains.

Since it wasn’t a paved road, the vehicle shook violently. Pebbles kicked up and scraped against the underside of the car. The chassis rattled madly.

Naturally, neither passenger even blinked.

Ami wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.

“Damn!”

“That’s to be expected.”

“That’s a Tathagata Palm!”

She shouted, ready to open the window and leap skyward at any moment.

Kairos jerked the steering wheel sharply as he replied,

“What’s that?”

Kraaang!

The Remnant Wraith’s palm slammed down just behind the car.

The ground shook, and the vehicle was hurled into the air. It flew up with a roar, then landed roughly back on the ground. Even so, neither of them changed expression.

Clutching the passenger seat, Ami answered,

“That.”

“A hand?”

“Yeah.”

As she replied, Ami narrowed her eyes at the black smoke filling the side mirror.

“You said the gas thins out once we get farther from the pit, right?”

“Yes.”

“And the cannon....”

Mid-sentence, Ami’s mouth fell open.

“The cannon!”

Kwa-ga-ga-gaang!

A light that swallowed everything swept across the ground.

The car burst out of the dust cloud created by the beam.

The engine screamed as the vehicle tore onward.

Thump thump thump thump thump!

The Remnant Wraith closed the distance. Below its torso, instead of legs, were twisted roots like tangled tree roots. Dragging along a lower body unsuited for movement, the upper-rank monster advanced.

It slammed the ground with its massive hands, chasing them at a terrifying speed.

Kairos said calmly,

“It’s coming again.”

Inside the gaping hole where its mouth should be, a bright pit of light formed.

“The charge time is astonishingly short.”

Kwaaaang!

“Aren’t we being targeted by sound?”

They barely dodged.

If Kairos hadn’t had the presence of mind to use the jutting chin as a jump foothold, the bumper would’ve been blown off.

Thud! With a heavy impact, the car resumed its mad dash across the wasteland.

Ami rolled her eyes in disbelief.

“Why does it keep attacking us?”

“It’s fixated. It’s a fundamentally cruel and violent entity. If it weren’t fixated, it might just fire indiscriminately at anything in sight, then lose interest and wander off in another direction.”

The handler whipped the wheel back and forth, dodging the massive palms trying to crush the car.

“Stupid as hell.”

“That’s why it’s terrifying. There’s no way to kill it, and it’s too violent and too dumb.”

“Don’t try to control it.”

Ami said.

“Hilde told me. If you try to control an upper-rank monster, your nerves can burn out and kill you. Things are going fine as they are, so don’t try to control the Remnant Wraith, got it?”

Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! The palms drew closer, thunderous sounds engulfing the vehicle.

Milk, nestled in Kairos’s arms, trembled violently.

The monster in his pocket remained well-behaved, but there was no time to comfort the terrified Milk. Kairos trusted that the familiar he’d raised since birth would endure this time as well.

“We’ll reach the portal device soon.”

They had to lure the Remnant Wraith into the portal apparatus.

The pre-installed portal device was massive. Even so, they were approaching the most difficult point of the plan. The device absolutely could not be damaged. Not until they dragged that thing into enemy territory and then pulled it back to the pit.

If it was damaged by the Remnant Wraith’s cannon, the plan would become complicated.

The sound of energy gathering again.

“Two more intervals, right?”

“Yes. If we dodge exactly twice, the timing will be perfect.”

At high speed, they calmly discussed the firing intervals of the energy cannon.

Those accustomed to speed could estimate when the next and the following attacks would come—and where they themselves would be at those moments.

If they detoured just a little, the timing would line up.

Kairos called to his familiar.

「Cry louder.」

The bell-like sound grew louder.

At the same time, Ami spotted the device standing tall at the edge of the empty plain and shouted,

“Request portal activation!”

Bzzzt, crackle

Wooooong!

The portal activated.

A device standing starkly amid the arid wasteland, radiating an intense sense of wrongness.

Inside it, blue waves began to ripple.

At the center of those waves, a black hole formed.

A voice came from beyond the hole.

“Let’s go.”

Kairos nodded and floored the accelerator.

Confirming that the sound-entranced Remnant Wraith was following close behind.

They charged straight toward the portal.

***

“Haa....”

As the searing pain subsided, the breath I’d been holding spilled out.

Cold sweat streamed down my face and dripped onto the water’s surface.

My neck hurts.

I stared blankly at the water and thought.

It feels like they’re slicing my nape thinly with a heated blade, like cutting sashimi.

Still, fortunately, my sixth sense hadn’t been affected yet.

If only they’d arrived before it was taken....

“It’s slipping.”

The blade slid in.

“Ah!”

A sharp cry burst out with the stabbing sensation.

There was no time to feel embarrassed about the sound. Along with the piercing pain, a flood of emotions was violently washed out of me. Emotions I didn’t even know where they’d been stored surged like waves, leaving me reeling.

Was I crying?

...No. My eyes didn’t feel wet.

But I knew something was wrong.

Because Kyle was staring down at me with a look of horror.

Shock and rage twisted across his composed face.

After a long moment, the man who had been staring at me through that storm of emotion finally spoke.

“Longing?”

My organs froze solid.

“Longing? How can you possibly long for me?”

Ah.

“How can you long for us?”