"That's what happened. The Cult of Diablos took me hostage because they wanted to seize my life's work..."
Reclining in an office chair, Cid listened as the scientist behind him kept his head lowered and recounted how the Cult of Diablos had imprisoned and abused him, making his ordeal sound utterly miserable. Cid couldn't help nodding along.
Amazing...
Cid glanced admiringly at the man before him. He looked like a pitiful scholar who had been persecuted and tortured by some sinister evil organization, so terrified that he didn't even dare raise his head to look at Cid.
According to the middle-aged man, who introduced himself as Kensei Kanase, he had originally been a diligent researcher working at something resembling a family business owned by his relatives. But because someone coveted his family's mysterious technology, he had been forced to flee with his sister's daughter.
Then, by sheer chance, the Cult of Diablos and several other evil forces discovered them. They deceived and imprisoned both him and his only remaining relative, intending to use that mysterious technology to develop a superweapon. With the life of his sister's daughter, who had fled alongside him, at stake, he had no choice but to give in and agree to help the Cult of Diablos develop it.
Of course, Kensei Kanase claimed he had no intention of actually creating the superweapon according to the wishes of the evil forces holding him captive. According to this middle-aged man, who had supposedly been "forced" into everything, he had already secretly contacted a like-minded, pure researcher named "Laugus" and joined forces with him.
Their plan was to use the superweapon on the day it was completed to destroy the evil organization imprisoning him, then send his sister's daughter somewhere "safe."
Wow, that's incredible...
"I know my experiments have killed many people, but she's the only family I have left. So if you're going to blame someone, blame me. My sister's daughter is innocent..."
He really does sound pitiful...
Perhaps summoning the last bit of courage he had before death, Kensei Kanase fearfully raised his head. A trace of pleading appeared in his otherwise calm eyes.
Looking at him like this, Cid almost felt as though sparing him was the only reasonable choice.
"So you're saying you're the victims?"
Cid interrupted Kensei Kanase's account and asked in a voice devoid of emotion, his pitch-black eyes resting coldly on him.
He had already made up his mind.
After all, everything Kensei Kanase had said was true.
Yes. The man hadn't lied.
There wasn't a single false statement in anything he'd said. Cid could tell that much.
"I..."
"Don't worry about me. I'm only here to hear your truth. Tell me, do you believe you're a victim?"
Kensei Kanase opened his mouth, seemingly ready to answer Cid's question, but hesitated and stopped.
"..."
Seeing through his thoughts, Cid looked down at the man and smiled faintly.
"I made a few rules for myself when it comes to killing people, and I've followed them ever since. One of them is that if killing someone would make me feel sorry for them, I try not to kill them. So I want to know. Do you think you deserve to die?"
Cid spoke calmly.
Kensei Kanase fell silent for a moment. Then, as though finally freed from some burden, he looked Cid directly in the eyes.
"...You truly are merciful, sir. Yes, I believe I'm a victim. I don't think what I did for the sake of my only family was wrong."
That's the truth...
"Clap! Clap! Clap..."
The corners of Cid's mouth curled upward, and he couldn't stop himself from applauding.
He was starting to admire the man in front of him.
He was just... incredible.
Seriously, how did he do it?
Not a single word he'd spoken was false, and even the emotions behind them were completely genuine.
And yet he was still lying.
It was honestly... disgusting.
"So those are your last words?"
Cid asked gently.
The sudden question left the man before him momentarily stunned.
"Whoosh!"
"Buzz!"
A sharp whistle sounded beside Cid's ears.
The next instant, a violent metallic vibration erupted behind him, followed by a fierce gale that sent Kensei Kanase flying.
Cid calmly turned against the wind.
What entered his sight were two slender, exquisitely pale female arms. Holy light shimmered along the magical patterns carved into them, while claw-like nails on their delicate fingers scraped against the protective barrier behind Cid.
At some point, the two angel-like creatures that had been lying on the operating tables had risen to their feet and attacked him.
Both had gaping holes in their chests, with some kind of organ removed from their bodies. Cid had assumed they were already dead.
Had Cid not put up a magical defense, then anyone else standing there, aside from those with exceptionally powerful regeneration or defenses, would probably have been killed in a single blow.
"So you're the kind of super-villain scientist who fights back, huh? I even gave you time to say your last words. Couldn't you just save your strength?"
Cid glanced back at Kensei Kanase and the remote control in his hand, muttering to himself.
He had already given the man full boss treatment. He'd even specifically asked whether he was finished with his last words after his performance ended.
And now he was fighting back?
Honestly, it was heartbreaking.
Well, that was a lie.
Cid had only refrained from killing him immediately because he wanted to see what tricks the man had up his sleeve.
After all, this was an evil scientist.
Shouldn't an evil scientist create some absurdly powerful final monster right before dying? That was practically part of the job description.
"Clang! Clang! Clang..."
Seeing that the surprise attack had failed, Kensei Kanase's eyes sharpened. He pressed a red button on the remote.
The two Faux Angels floating in the air seemed to receive some kind of command. Their attacks immediately accelerated until their arms left afterimages, hammering against Cid's protective barrier.
"This is really fascinating. You're clearly dead. Your souls are already gone, leaving your bodies as nothing more than lifeless objects. So how are you controlling these Angels?"
While enduring the relentless storm of attacks against his barrier, Cid examined the two Angels with interest before asking Kensei Kanase the question.
He couldn't understand the magical patterns engraved across their bodies, but no matter how he looked at it, a soulless energy-based life form with such high magical resistance shouldn't be controllable through magical patterns with such a low energy level.
Cid genuinely wanted to know how Kensei Kanase had managed it.
He was quite fond of learning new things.
"Don't be ridiculous. Faux Angels cannot be controlled by external forces. The very idea is as absurd as your so-called method of awakening souls through emotion. Once a complete Faux Angel is born, it is destined to ascend to a higher dimension and reach the side of the Gods."
"The two before you are merely mask-wearers whose spirits have been removed. Once the spirit remaining inside them dissipates, they'll become useless."
The pitiful scientist from moments ago had vanished completely.
As though Cid had asked something laughable, Kensei Kanase explained with the confidence of someone certain of victory while dodging the debris flying through the room.
Cid wasn't surprised.
In fact, he'd more or less expected it.
A guy who lied so much that Cid could practically smell how evil he was suddenly dropping the act was perfectly normal.
...Well, technically, Kensei Kanase hadn't been spouting lies.
Everything he'd said really was true.
But Cid could guarantee that the man had been lying the entire time. He'd simply told half the story while hiding the rest, mixing partial truths together until they created a false impression.
And this guy actually thought a cheap trick like that could fool him.
Unfortunately for Kensei Kanase, Cid knew the biggest falsehood better than anyone.
The Cult of Diablos didn't exist!
It was a perfect case of being too clever for his own good.
From the earlier conversation between Cid and that nameless man, Kensei Kanase had concluded that the Cult of Diablos was real. So he'd incorporated the Cult of Diablos into his story to make his lies sound more convincing.
That was the moment Cid understood exactly what kind of game he was playing.
The man had apparently never considered the possibility that the whole thing was just a setting Cid had casually made up as bait.
It was hilarious.
That said, Kensei Kanase's performance really had been convincing.
Cid had listened from beginning to end without hearing a single outright lie. Even the emotions behind his words had been completely genuine.
That was honestly impressive.
Unfortunately for him, once the first hole appeared in his story, Cid stopped believing anything else he said.
From that point onward, he'd simply listened for entertainment.
Cid gave Kensei Kanase a long, serious look.
If his vision hadn't shown the man's condescension and malice toward him practically maxed out, to the point that even the interface had taken on a dark tint, Cid genuinely would have wanted to ask how he'd managed it.
If that contradiction hadn't made him suspicious, and if he hadn't activated his X-ray vision out of boredom, Kensei Kanase might actually have fooled him.
Seriously, how did he do that?
Cid could understand the rest. Those were just half-truths and carefully omitted details.
But he genuinely couldn't understand how Kensei Kanase could claim with complete sincerity that the Cult of Diablos existed.
The man lying on the floor had personally admitted he wasn't a member of the Cult of Diablos, so how could Kensei Kanase be so absolutely certain that the organization was real?
Was it really just because Cid had casually assigned that nobleman the identity of a Cult member?
That was incredible.
Was this the power of an evil mad scientist? He'd managed to convince himself based entirely on a fabricated accusation.
Still, never mind that.
Compared to an ability Cid could see straight through the moment he activated his X-ray vision, he was much more interested in the two angel-like creatures in front of him.
Continuous impacts thundered through the cramped room.
The two Angels showed no concern whatsoever about bringing the entire structure down on top of themselves. Terrifying power of light kept bursting from their wings and palms, forcing even Cid to pay attention to how much power was being thrown around.
Getting buried alive here would be pretty funny.
As Cid observed the Angels, he saw that they were consuming some kind of residual energy left behind by the organs that had been removed from their bodies, using it to continuously draw a strange presence from some peculiar dimension.
That strange presence possessed tremendous destructive power and exceptional energy conductivity, giving them virtually invincible defense as well as formidable offensive strength.
Once a battle began, most people in this world would have no choice but to fight them through sheer attrition.
If this energy didn't seem capable of eroding the soul and turning the body into an empty shell, it would actually make for an incredibly powerful mass-production enhancement procedure.
But...
Hadn't he encountered this strange presence somewhere before?
Probably during one of his walks.
Cid vaguely remembered wandering into the imperial palace of some country whose name he couldn't quite recall. He'd sensed a similar presence there.
He also seemed to remember finding some scrolls about some kind of technique, along with several Holy Swords, deep inside the palace's private treasury.
Cid suddenly felt like cutting loose a little and having a proper fight with these two, just to see where their limits were.
If they turned out to be interesting, he'd go back and grab that scroll for a closer look.
While thinking, Cid absentmindedly glanced toward the place where Kensei Kanase had been hiding from the aftermath of their battle.
He paused.
Then...
The two Angels seized the opening and slammed him against the wall.
A dense barrage of blows rained down on him.
The blade-like claws on the Angels' hands tore through Cid's pure white tuxedo, leaving pale marks across his skin.
"...All right. I've lost interest."
Cid's mouth twitched.
He hadn't expected a momentary lapse in concentration to result in his clothes getting torn.
After two seconds of silence, Cid drew his sword.
He traced three lines through empty space in front of the two Angels.
The next instant, both were severed through the middle and fell to the floor in two pieces.
"What!?"
Kensei Kanase had already reached the entrance, but when he turned back and saw such an utterly unreasonable defeat, even someone as calm as him couldn't suppress a cry of shock.
It wasn't that he couldn't accept the two mask-wearers losing.
After all, he had already removed the organs in which their spiritual essence had gathered. What remained were merely two walking corpses he could temporarily control.
Once their time ran out, they would die regardless.
But losing so effortlessly completely overturned Kensei Kanase's expectations.
Even though the organs containing their spiritual essence had been removed, traces of spiritual energy should still remain around the places where those organs had once been.
Until that residual spiritual energy was completely exhausted, these two mask-wearers were still pseudo-spiritual Angels, the closest things in the world to complete Faux Angels. They could obtain divine artifacts from a higher dimension and existed on an entirely different level from ordinary people.
If that power could even work against a complete Faux Angel...
No.
He had to destroy the base and lure the enemy outside.
Kanon had already entered the final stage. An explosion wouldn't kill her.
Things on Laugus' side should be nearly finished as well.
He only needed to buy a little more time...
Thinking of his niece, who had already reached the final stage somewhere inside this experimental base, Kensei Kanase steeled himself and pressed another button while sprinting toward the exit to buy time.
Behind him, Cid silently watched Kensei Kanase disappear into the distance without giving chase.
After all, why bother chasing a corpse that hadn't even realized it was dead?
"Come to think of it, haven't I heard the surname Kanase somewhere before...? Whatever. If I can't remember, it can't be important. This place is about to collapse, the boss is already dealt with, and there's nobody else here... Wait, there's still another life form?"
As the building began to shake, Cid immediately understood what kind of button Kensei Kanase had pressed.
Before leaving, he habitually scanned the area one more time.
To his surprise, he detected another living presence.
While silently marveling at just how good this group of bosses was at hiding things, Cid frowned and turned toward the steel wall beside him.
The solid steel peeled apart like paper beneath Cid's hand.
Behind it was an experimental tank filled with an unknown liquid.
Floating inside was a silver-haired girl.
"Kanon, how did you get captured too?"