As Adi was organizing personnel to move in and support against Valetta, a shrill cry split the air.
"Ahhhhhh!!!"
The scream was so far beyond mere grief that it bordered on pitiable. Hearing it, Adi snapped her head toward the sound and sprinted at once.
At the same time, Takumi, Lili, and the Astraea Familia had made it back to Orario. They headed for the battlefront immediately, splitting forces to render aid across multiple hotspots.
Takumi advanced with Lili, Lyra, and Ryuu toward Valetta's sector. The instant they arrived, fury flooded Ryuu's eyes.
"How can they do this!!!"
She could not hold herself back—she rushed to pull survivors from danger, determined to save as many as possible.
Lyra, however, took in the battlefield and sensed something off. Suspicious. Far too suspicious. Lining up what Takumi had already told them with the scene before her—yes, the carnage was real, but overall the situation looked manageable. If she put herself in the Dark Faction's shoes, a general offensive would never be this simple. But this was not a moment that allowed careful thought; every second spent thinking could mean one more person dead. She bit it down and ran to help.
Lili stared at the devastation—shocked, yet also, strangely, grateful. Had she not followed Takumi, she might well have been one of the fallen. That thought made her voice tremble.
"Takumi-sama, w-what do we do now?"
"Fight, Lili. With what you've got now, you can do it."
His encouraging look lit a spark. Lili clenched her pink little fists, eyes firming with resolve.
"Understood, Takumi-sama!"
She dashed forward. Takumi, meanwhile, turned his gaze toward where Adi had gone. The cute, big-chested tomboy was walking straight toward death.
Adi traced the scream to a rubble-choked corner—when a dagger snapped out at her from the debris. A Lv.3 adventurer, she reacted on pure reflex, flicking her sword to slap the knife aside. She shifted into a ready stance—and then froze at the sight in front of her, eyes rounding.
"W-what? A child!?"
Standing there was a girl dressed exactly like the Dark Faction foot soldiers fighting elsewhere—cream-colored hood and long robe. She was clearly younger than Ryuu and the others; the top of her head didn't even reach Adi's chest. The dagger she'd held lay where it had been knocked; tears rimmed her eyes; her whole body wouldn't stop shaking.
"They dragged a child this young into this…!"
Gentle, amicable Adi felt a fury she had never known rise hot inside her. Seeing the girl's fear, Adi stepped close and offered her hand.
"Don't let those adults trick you. Here, give me your hand. I'm not a bad person—I won't hurt you~~"
The girl looked at the hand and timidly reached out her right hand. Her left, though, clutched tight over her heart.
From a distance, Valetta's eyes narrowed; she gave a cutting little laugh. "Yaha~ This oughta be good."
"O, god in heaven… please let me meet Father and Mother…"
The girl's eyes held no light. Her voice held no color. No hatred, no killing intent; not justice, not evil—nothing. Only a plea. A small, humble prayer: let me see my dead parents again.
The next instant, she triggered the device hidden at her breast.
"Human bomb… The striker device they stole along with the magic-stone gear—that's what they wanted it for."
Takumi muttered the conclusion; the Boosted Gear flared into being around his left arm. As the murderous blast blossomed, supreme light of restoration fell like a curtain.
"Heal!!"
Time seemed to reverse. The girl's body, blown apart an instant before, snapped back to its uninjured state. The explosive unit implanted near her heart popped loose under the flow of restoration, spat out of her chest with a wet click.
Thunk. The palm-sized device hit the ground.
Takumi stepped in, gently pressed a finger to the center of the girl's brow.
"Sleep. When you wake, you get to begin again."
He did not kill her. She was a pitiful child, tricked and used. With nightmare-magic, he edited away a sliver of memory, then shunted her to the edge of the battlefield. After that, he turned, took Adi's trembling hand, and lifted her to her feet.
"No second chances like that, Adi. Kindness needs clear insight—or it will get you killed."
At his quiet chiding, tears spilled from Adi's eyes.
"T-thank you, Takumi-san. I didn't… How could they… use someone so young…"
Gratitude and grief tumbled together. She sobbed—not only for having escaped death, but for the girl's fate. A child turned into a weapon. The cruelty of it hurt just to imagine.
"Tch. Didn't work, huh. What a useless piece of trash, that death-god Thanatos. All the brats he sweet-talked—and not a single one gets to take an adventurer with them."
Valetta had witnessed the pact: the god Thanatos coaxing the girl. When you blow yourself to pieces and drag some adventurers with you—then I'll let you see your dead parents. Coming from a death god, such a promise was more than enough to twist a child's heart.
Now that the device was out in the open, Valetta dropped the act entirely and barked, "Move it, all of you!"
The true big gun of this Dark Faction op slid into view.
Enemies who had seemed unable to move began to stir. Bodies covered in wounds, sprawled on their backs—hands crept into inner robes to find hidden fail-safes.
"Oh Lord… please let this life return to the one I love!!!"
With a cry both tragic and resolved, another blossom of fire burst open.
"Guh—aaagh!!!!"
Alise and Kaguya happened to be within the blast radius; the shockwave slammed them, sent them skittering across the stone for dozens of meters, armor shrieking against the ground.
And those two were only the beginning.
Black-robed soldiers who a moment ago had been on the back foot now stared through blood-webbed eyes, tears streaming. Hands and feet shook as they turned themselves into ordnance and fulfilled the duty they'd been handed.
"Die, die, die!"
"Ange, I'm coming!"
"Bring Chaos to the world~"
"Thanatos-sama!!"
Explosions rolled without end. Dying screams were swallowed by the next detonation, and the next. Adventurers racing to rescue civilians were caught in the chain blasts almost to a one. Even Ais, formidable as she was, took blast after blast, until the cumulative shock left her teetering on the edge of serious injury.
It all happened too fast—so fast no one had time to react.
No one except Valetta, whose joy only sharpened.
"Fire-stones with striker triggers—tell me that combo isn't perfect!"
Gareth, who should have been pressing her, had been forced back himself by the shock, gritting his teeth as he yielded a few steps under the rain of fire—while Valetta, gloating, prowled forward.
And then Takumi stood up out of the smoke and flame and raised his left hand.
The emerald jewel blazed—brilliant, gentle, green.
....
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