It had been about two hours since I parted ways with the Squad. As you'd expect, there was no signal in the catacombs. With no way of knowing what was happening outside, all I could do was walk and hope that Seia was handling things.
"Hey."
"Y-yes...!"
"Are you sure we're going the right way? I feel like I saw that cross about twenty minutes ago."
"W-we're going the right way, I swear. I swear on the Primordial Divinity, I'm not lying! The exit is just around this next corner..."
Just as the Arius mob girl said, as we rounded the corner, the exit from these damned catacombs finally came into view. Beyond it, obviously, lay the Arius district.
"Ahaha, you're right! Yep, thanks for the friendly tour. ☆"
"S-so, does this mean..."
"As a reward, I'll make this hurt exactly twice as much as what you did to Azusa-chan. And I'm being generous."
"...Heek?!"
Of course, I was lying. Why would I go easy on her?
Seriously, what part of a tiny girl like Azusa even looks like it's okay to kick? All she did was remind me of the scenes where Azusa was being beaten by the Arius instructors, which just made me even angrier.
"W-wait! I don't want to d— Gyaaaaaah!"
...What is she doing? I haven't even hit her yet. And who said anything about killing her? I was obviously going to control my strength.
"Huh...? Guh!"
Still, she put on a pretty good show, which helped ease the tension. So, as a more serious reward, I hit her just a little bit lighter than I'd originally planned. No matter how pissed I was, I couldn't break the taboo of shattering a halo.
Leaving the crumpled can of an Arius mob behind me, I stepped out of the catacombs. Finally, I'm out, I thought, only to freeze at the sight of Arius students swarming the area.
"...Unidentified intruder detected! Report to Madame!"
"Wait, that crest... Trinity? It's Trinity!"
"What...? How did a Trinity bitch get here...? No, forget that, subdue her! Madame will deal with her!"
They looked like the ones who failed to capture the Squad. I had no idea why they were still loitering around here. Even Beatrice couldn't have known I was coming. This was just a pain in the ass for me, getting spotted immediately.
...Eh, whatever. I came here prepared to break through on my own anyway.
Looking around, I could sort of guess why Beatrice's methods had worked so well on the Arius students. The whole place was bleak and gloomy. You could tell at a glance that they were all living hard lives. If I had been born and raised in a place like this, I'd want someone to blame and hate, too. Beatrice just scratched that itch for them. She had focused their aimless hatred, which had previously been directed at each other during their civil war, onto Trinity and Gehenna.
Click-clack—
They surrounded me, aiming their guns, and began to close in. If they were going to shorten the distance for me, I was more than happy to oblige.
If I just beat the fight out of all of them now, there'll be a lot less resistance when it's time to integrate them into Trinity. Since they already know what rock bottom is like, they'll be sure to feel the difference in living standards. On top of that, a little propaganda—like telling them Trinity had been trying to apologize for years, but Beatrice rejected all their offers for her own selfish gain—would be the icing on the cake.
"Hey, can anyone tell me which way the Arius Basilica is~? I'll give a special pass to whoever does."
I was in a hurry today, so I wasn't going to pull any punches like I did with the Squad. I was hoping some idiot would speak up...
"Ha, what are you talking about! Drop your weapon and get on your knees!"
...Isn't the cliché for one of them to give me directions and then get chewed out by the others? No one's talking.
"Ahaha, sorry, but I've got a long way to go, so I can't let you catch me. Yep, so if you change your mind and want to give me directions, be sure to raise your hand, okay?"
The jaw of the student who had fearlessly stepped forward was sent spinning, and the light of her halo flickered out.
"...What? I-is she dead?"
"Does that matter right now?! Just shoot!"
"Hey, unless that halo on your head is just for decoration, there's no way she's dead! I already figured out how hard I need to hit to knock someone out cleanly back there, so you don't need to be so scared. ☆"
One-hit kill. My gun was just an accessory.
Watching the Arius mobs fall like autumn leaves, I had a thought. Call me the Pink Flash of Trinity...
In the end, one of the Arius students, broken by overwhelming violence, finally pointed me in the right direction. It was after the halos of every student who'd tried to approach me had gone dark.
"Emergency! Trinity has invaded! Requesting immediate support in Sector C! Enemy numbers are... one... What? This isn't a joke, just get over here and help! We're about to be wiped out!!!"
Uh... sorry to say this, but... if you can't even stop one person and have to call for backup, anyone would think it's a joke.
About... thirty minutes? An hour after entering the Arius district? I hadn't checked the time, but it felt like it had been that long.
I could see now why the Squad had been in such a battered state when they escaped into the catacombs. There were fewer soldiers blocking my path than I'd expected. It seemed Azusa had thinned their numbers for me beforehand. Still, they'd recover and get back up soon enough, so I couldn't afford to waste too much time.
As I steadily made my way toward the Arius Basilica.
[So, you're the bold young lady Saori spoke of. I see now, her report was a complete and utter lie. There's no way the Squad could have subdued you. With a mystic of this level, even he would take an interest... Keke, this is amusing.]
"..."
Beatrice was speaking to me through a comms link.
[Hmm... I was under the impression you were quite the chatterbox, but you've suddenly gone quiet. You should answer when an adult speaks to you.]
"You know, you're a pathetic old woman, you know that? Calling yourself an adult while pretending to be a student council president. I don't really feel like talking to someone so pitiful."
[...If you were from here in Arius, I would have enjoyed taming you into obedience. A shame.]
"Oh? No, no. That's not it, Madame. You should be glad I'm not from here. If I were, I would have torn you to shreds with my own two hands by now."
Soldiers were still pouring in, but their numbers had dwindled significantly. I even had enough breathing room to resupply on 9mm rounds from the unconscious Arius students. I reloaded my gun, slotting in a fresh magazine. I was only humoring this conversation to take a quick break before the next wave and to see if I could glean any information. That was why I wasn't bringing up anything important myself and was just trying to get under Beatrice's skin. I knew my opponent, but she didn't know me. Only a fool would give up that advantage.
[Insolent... sigh, this is why students with no proper education are so problematic. Ignorant children who don't know how to respect their elders. It seems a conversation with someone like you will be difficult.]
"Ahaha, what was that! Was that a joke? I hope it was a joke. Because you, demanding respect when you haven't earned any? Don't you think that's hilarious? And for the record, I'm not interested in breaking the ice with a woman like you, either."
[The right to be respected? Children respect adults. That is the natural order of things. A child like you has no right to question an adult's qualifications.]
"Well, what would someone like you know? What a truly respectable adult is like. You probably wouldn't recognize one if you saw one, or you'd try to deny it. We have a word for that, you know. It's called an inferiority complex."
[...]
Beatrice was silent for a while. I thought I heard something break. Did she snap her fan? If I'd managed to piss her off that much, then my little chat was worth it.
After turning another squad into a crumpled honeycomb, I was about to move on when Beatrice's voice came through the comms again.
[...From the looks of it, you've come all this way to save Saori. But why go to such lengths for a child you've only met once? Given that you managed to turn her against me, you must be a black-hearted snake under that facade, but your actions are the complete opposite. It's baffling. I simply cannot comprehend your motives.]
"Ahaha, you really talk a lot, don't you? Yep, if I were Nagi-chan, I would've stuffed your mouth with a roll cake by now. ☆ Just to shut you up."
[A roll cake...? Tsk, very well. It seems you have no intention of engaging in a proper conversation... but a student is still a student. An adult knows better than anyone how to handle them.]
A gut feeling told me that nothing good would come from listening any further. I raised my gun to aim at the noisy comm device, but Beatrice spoke first.
[Royal Blood... Atsuko Hakari. That child was the sacrifice to be used for my ascension to a sublime existence. That was the original plan. A plan you ruined.]
...Ah, dammit. I should have just shot it. Now I have to listen.
[Well, I don't know if a mere student like you can comprehend even a fraction of my story... but the fact that it was the 'original' plan implies the existence of a backup plan. Are you aware of that?]
Wait. This isn't what I think it is, is it? Now that she's lost Atsuko, she's not going to force the ritual with Saori as the sacrifice... She wouldn't do something so horrible, would she? If you're about to say something like that, you'd better be prepared to die.
[It's a shame, but a sacrifice that is no less than Royal Blood... perhaps even greater... has walked right into my hands. Fortunately, the backup plan should yield a satisfactory result. Kekeke... Saori—]
"...Hey."
[...You, how dare you say—]
"You. Can you stop saying Saori's name with that filthy mouth of yours? She's not someone a clueless MacGuffin like you has any right to touch. Yep, so don't even think about running away. Just wait right there. Got it?"
[Insol—]
BANG! Fizz!
Leaving the silenced comm device behind, I ran toward the Arius Basilica, now visible in the distance.
Beatrice, you probably think you're the protagonist of this world, don't you? But you're wrong.
You were always nothing more than a MacGuffin.
And today, at my hands, you'll be demoted to something that's not even a MacGuffin—a forgotten piece of lore that won't even pique Sensei's interest.