Walking through the forest deep in the mountains outside the royal capital, Beta looked around and frowned.
Naturally, she had turned down Christina and Alexia's invitation because she had serious business to take care of.
According to Eta's intelligence, the escaped Subjects 711 and 712 were very likely mixed up with the Nightsword Society of the Kingdom of Midgar.
Although Shadow-sama had already said he would handle the matter, the fact that those two had escaped in the first place was their fault. No matter what, they couldn't simply sit back and wait for Shadow-sama to clean up their mess.
So after spending some time investigating and learning the whereabouts of the final member of the Thirteen Nightblades, Marquis Despoht, Beta decisively turned down the other two's invitation and came here to investigate.
She couldn't neglect serious work just to play house.
But now, Beta found herself completely lost.
She hadn't thought much about it before setting out, but once she arrived, she realized...
"It's too big! I can't find a single clue!"
Honestly, tracking people had always been Zeta or Delta's job, since they were the best at it.
Asking Beta, the most average member of the Seven Shadows, to handle something like this was somewhat beyond her abilities.
That said, with Zeta already sent off to investigate and collect samples, Beta really was the best remaining choice.
She sighed helplessly.
Just as Beta resigned herself to the tedious task of searching the entire forest one section at a time, she suddenly froze and looked toward the distant royal capital.
Her eyes widened.
"Something happened!"
The sky above the royal capital had already been dyed red by the raging fires inside the city. Thick black smoke climbed straight into the night sky.
Even from this far away, Beta could sense the chaos engulfing the royal capital of Midgar.
Her first instinct was to turn around and rush back.
But she immediately stopped herself.
Beta looked at the silent, pitch-black forest before her, then toward the distant capital that was clearly in trouble.
Conflict showed plainly on her face.
Logically speaking, Gamma had plenty of Shadow Garden members with her.
Unless they were unlucky enough to run into one of the Cult of Diablos's combat-oriented Knights of Rounds accompanied by a force of elites, they should at least be capable of retreating safely.
And if Beta abandoned her mission now and returned to the capital, by the time she arrived, everything would probably already be over.
If something happened to Gamma, she would already be dead by then.
If nothing happened, Gamma wouldn't need Beta to return anyway.
Besides, Shadow-sama himself was currently in the royal capital.
But asking Beta to remain perfectly rational, stay in the forest searching for the enemy base, and simply ignore Gamma's safety...
She couldn't do it.
"Boom!"
A sudden explosion rang out.
Beta immediately turned toward the source of the sound.
It had come from the center of the forest.
Flames from the explosion burned brightly in the darkness, making the location impossible to miss.
Well.
Apparently, this bizarre stroke of luck had made the decision for her.
Who would cause an explosion that large in the middle of a silent mountain forest at this hour, precisely when something major was happening in the royal capital?
Beta didn't even have to think about which lunatic organization would do such a thing.
"Time to move. Stop worrying about the capital. Shadow-sama is there, so everything will definitely be fine."
After reassuring herself, Beta faced the rising flames, pushed off the ground, leaped onto the treetops, and raced toward them at tremendous speed.
...
"Run!"
The moment the massive explosion went off, Akane Nishino sprang into action.
She immediately killed everyone who had been watching her and Millia, then grabbed the stunned Millia, who clearly hadn't processed what was happening yet, and sprinted toward the exit.
After learning from Millia that she had escaped the frying pan only to fall into the fire, Akane had spent some time weighing her choices.
Should she gamble on the possibility of returning home?
Or should she entrust both her own life and Millia's to this lunatic organization called the Cult of Diablos?
In the end, she chose to escape.
Over the course of a single day, Akane planted the Eta-brand explosives she had stolen while escaping Alexandria throughout the entire base, then seized this opportunity to flee.
When she thought about it carefully, maybe this wasn't so bad.
She still hadn't found any clues about Minoru Kageno from Shadow Garden.
Going home by herself wouldn't feel right anyway.
Akane tried to comfort herself with that thought.
But the moment she considered that she might have abandoned her only chance to return to her own world, she felt as though her heart were bleeding.
Back when she was still in Shadow Garden and assisting Eta with experiments, she had once overheard the purple-haired Elf mention that, when it came to research in this particular field, there might not be anyone in the world more advanced than the "Seeker of Truth."
If Akane let this opportunity slip away, she might never be able to return to her own world.
"You caused that explosion?!"
At that moment, Millia, who had more or less followed Akane out on instinct, instantly took down a black-clad man blocking their path before staring at Akane in astonishment.
"Yeah. I did it all for you."
Running at full speed, Akane glanced at Millia, who was keeping pace beside her, and answered casually.
If she had been gambling with only her own life, that would have been one thing.
After all, aside from one friend whose whereabouts she didn't know, there was nothing else tying her to this world.
But after seeing Millia's almost PTSD-like reaction when she encountered that white-haired boy, Akane felt that gambling with Millia's life too would be somewhat irresponsible.
"...You lunatic! What are you even trying to do?!"
The past few days had completely exceeded anything Millia could have imagined.
First, she had been taken away from Itogami Island by No. 712, her former roommate from Alexandria.
Then she learned that Akane Nishino had escaped, only for Akane to drag her straight into the hellhole known as the Cult of Diablos.
Millia had already resigned herself to waiting for death.
Then this lunatic suddenly blew up the base and escaped.
At this point, Millia genuinely could not understand what Akane Nishino was trying to accomplish.
At first, she thought Akane had defected and intended to use her as a bargaining chip.
But now Akane had blown up the Cult of Diablos's base...
She had offended two top-tier organizations in one go.
What was she even trying to achieve?
"You ungrateful brat. Keep talking like that and I might just leave you here and escape by myself."
Seeing her sincere intentions treated this way, Akane stopped pretending to be nice and viciously threatened Millia.
Then...
A tremendous force suddenly came from the hand holding Millia's, nearly pulling Akane off her feet.
After regaining her balance, Akane turned toward Millia in disbelief.
"Wait, are you seriously planning to stay behi..."
Her words stopped halfway.
The expression on Millia's face wasn't the petulant look of someone arguing with her.
Her eyes were wide with fear as she stared straight ahead.
Akane followed her gaze.
Sitting on a tree branch was a silver-haired Elf.
Her face was expressionless, but her blue eyes carried a faint hint of mockery.
"I knew it..."
Millia's despairing voice came from behind Akane.
Ahead of them stood Beta, one of the Seven Shadows of Shadow Garden, whose trust had been betrayed and whose Eta artifacts had all been stolen.
Behind them was the Cult of Diablos, whose base had just been blown up and whose experimental subjects had escaped, along with Fenrir, one of the Knights of Rounds.
They were finished.
"Akane Nishimura, come back with me now. I can overlook all the damage you caused Alexandria, including knocking me unconscious. But if you insist on resisting..."
"That's enough."
Akane cut off Beta's attempt to persuade her to surrender and pointed at her with an annoyed expression.
"I've wanted to say this ever since I was in Shadow Garden. My name is Akane Nishino, not Akane Nishimura. There's only one person in this world who gets to call me Akane Nishimura, and it isn't any of you people who dragged me into another world."
"Nishimura... No. 712. So what you're saying is that there's nothing left for us to discuss, correct?"
Beta's expression darkened.
Akane's merciless reply shattered Beta's hopes of resolving the matter peacefully.
She had already decided she wouldn't hold back this time.
"Obviously. And don't forget, I've already beaten you once."
The instant Akane finished speaking, a beam of light descended from the sky and struck Beta directly, kicking up a massive cloud of smoke.
"Hmph. I win."
Akane gave a smug little snort and tried to pull Millia along so they could keep running.
But to her astonishment, Beta had taken the attack head-on and not only remained standing without injury, but came charging straight toward her at full speed.
"Do you seriously think the same trick will work on me twice? Ridiculous."
Akane hurriedly dodged Beta's attack, only for Beta to follow up with a kick that sent her flying.
Akane crashed through several large trees before finally slamming into the ground.
"Cough... That's... Anti-Eta-kun! That mad scientist woke up!"
Akane climbed to her feet and stared in disbelief.
During her desperate evasion, she had seen the device Beta was carrying.
It was the same tool Akane had once used to betray that mad scientist and escape.
With that device, more than ninety-nine percent of Eta-series equipment could be disabled in a single stroke.
But Akane clearly remembered taking every single one with her.
"You managed to beat me once with a cheap trick and suddenly forgot your own limits. This time, I'm throwing you into prison."
Beta was somewhat surprised that Akane was still conscious after taking that kick, but she didn't pay it much mind.
With the element of surprise and a clean hit to a vital area, Beta would actually have been surprised if one strike hadn't been enough to knock Akane out.
"You're not getting out again this time. We gave you far too much freedom."
Muttering to herself, Beta prepared to deliver one more strike to knock Akane unconscious and take her away.
Then she suddenly stopped.
She twisted her body and raised both arms into a defensive stance.
The next instant, a boulder more than ten meters tall slammed into Beta and dragged her across the ground, carving a trench dozens of meters long.
"Boom!"
Beta slashed through the massive rock with one swing of her sword and brought herself to a stop.
She immediately looked toward where Akane had fallen.
Akane was already gone.
Beta swept her gaze across the surroundings.
A petite white-haired figure was running toward the outskirts of the forest with Akane on her back.
"Tsk..."
Beta clicked her tongue and gave chase at a speed even faster than Millia's.
"Good job. I knew saving you from No. 559 wasn't a waste."
Lying on Millia's back, Akane giggled and praised her.
Millia's mouth twitched.
"Don't misunderstand. You forced me into this! Hurry up and think of some way to shake her off!"
Feeling Beta closing the distance behind them, Millia was nearly in tears.
If she had known this would happen, she would have stayed on Itogami Island instead of following this lunatic out here.
"Let me look. I remember I have something in here without a backdoor. Where did I put it...?"
Realizing how urgent the situation was, Akane stopped arguing with Millia and began rummaging through the spatial bag containing all her equipment.
In those few dozen seconds, Beta had already nearly caught up.
Even though Millia kept changing direction and creating obstacles, all she managed to gain was another ten or so seconds.
"Found it!"
Just as Beta was about to reach them, Akane shouted in delight and pulled a doll from the bag.
Then she threw it behind them.
Beta watched in confusion as the doll Akane tossed out grew larger and larger.
She had no idea what Akane was planning.
With Anti-Eta-kun on her person, most Eta-made equipment would automatically shut down the moment it entered a ten-meter radius around her.
But there was always a chance Eta had made a few devices without backdoors.
So Beta didn't charge in recklessly.
Instead, she swung her sword, intending to knock the doll away.
Then...
The doll moved.
It effortlessly blocked Beta's attack, caught the rebounding blade with one hand, and opened its mouth.
A red beam gathered within.
"Boom!"
An explosion erupted on the spot.
Beta took the beam head-on and felt as though her internal organs were being crushed.
But it wasn't over.
The puppet perfectly predicted where Beta would land and immediately fired hundreds of glowing projectiles toward her.
"Thousand Blades!"
Thousands of flying blades intercepted the puppet's barrage.
At the same time, a swift figure skimmed low across the ground and attacked the puppet.
"Clang!"
Metal crashed against metal.
Zeta's surprise attack was blocked.
The puppet had perfectly predicted every part of her approach, then struck back with tremendous force and sent Zeta flying toward Beta.
Then purple energy erupted from inside the puppet.
The familiar sight made Zeta and Beta's eyes widen at the same time.
"Brace yourself!"
A pillar of purple light shot into the sky.
When everything finally settled, the land within a hundred-meter radius had been reduced to scorched earth.
Only the puppet remained standing in the middle of the devastation.
Its head slowly turned.
The puppet's pitch-black eyes locked onto a group of black-clad figures.
They were members of the Cult of Diablos who had noticed the disturbance and come to investigate.
The puppet moved.
Far away, Zeta and Beta held their breath while hiding underground.
Only after the puppet had moved off into the distance did they poke their heads out and gasp for air.
"What was that?"
Still shaken, Zeta turned toward Beta.
Its speed, defense, and reaction time were all superior to theirs.
It had perfectly predicted the trajectory of every attack they made.
Facing that puppet made them feel as exposed as if they were standing naked before it.
It could even use Shadow-sama's signature technique.
What exactly was that thing?!
"Let me check."
Beta pulled a book from her clothes and rapidly flipped through the pages.
Eventually, she stopped on a page containing an illustration of the puppet they had just fought.
[Shadow Assassin]
Constructed from an assortment of exceptionally rare materials, it possesses Delta's strength, Alpha's technique, Zeta's skill set, Beta's balance, Epsilon's Magical Power control, and reaction speed and predictive ability sufficient to defend against Gamma's Windmill. Combined with the greatest brain as its controller, it truly lives up to the title of ace assassin.
PS: Its original name was Seven Shadows Killer, but for some reason, Master suggested that I change it. He said that since the Seven Shadows Killer can actually kill the Seven Shadows, this must mean Master is encouraging me to kill him. Until that day comes, I must not become complacent over a few minor achievements.
PS2: I originally intended to install a backdoor, but considering its original name was Seven Shadows Killer, I removed it so the name would live up to reality. Instead, if anyone other than Eta uses it, it will go berserk, ignore friend and foe alike, destroy everything it sees, and ultimately self-destruct with enough power to sink an island.
"What do we do?"
Beta closed the book and stared at Zeta speechlessly.
She had decided to stop thinking.
The good news was that Eta wasn't the kind of idiot scientist who forgot to include safeguards.
The bad news was that she had still created a monster.
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