<strong>The Meaning of Viin (4)</strong>


    La mulled over it.


    She was agonized.


    Tormented.


    If Raquel Dra is indeed targeting her, what should she do in such a situation?


    Although she always wore the M suit beneath her clothes… it was an emergency suit, so its performance wasn’t outstanding.


    She couldn’t guarantee victory.


    “…What are you going to do?”


    The child asked. La nced at him.


    “What did you say your name was?”


    “Divo.”


    “How old are you?”


    “Ten.”


    “…Impressive.”


    Ten years old.


    When she was ten, all she had were memories of sulking because her dad was too busy inventing things rather than ying with her.


    La turned to Rhine.


    “I’m going to Elly first. I can’tpromise on Elly.”


    “But-”


    “It’s for your safety as well.”


    La’s gaze sharpened.


    “Elly is the daughter of Petra Senator. If you don’t want to get out of here safely only to die a dog’s deathter, listen to me.”


    Her voice was low and heavy. However, Rhine couldn’t really refute her words.


    Rhine sighed.


    “Understood. But remember, if Elise bes infected… we all won’t be able to handle it, and in the end, we’ll have to.”


    He paused, then pointed at theptop screen.


    “…Join forces with Raquel Dra.”


    “…Do whatever you want. It’s the same as selling your soul to the devil.”


    La retorted sharply and tried to leave, but Rhine blocked her way.


    “What now? Why are you blocking the way?”


    “You can’t go out.”


    “Then what-”


    “We’llmunicate through the walkie-talkie.”


    Rhine pointed at La’s waist. There was a walkie-talkie as big as arge rhinoceros beetle.


    “…You’re making thingsplicated. Fine.”


    “That’s a relief.”


    Divo looked up at La with a smile.


    “What is?”


    “…I feel safe with you here, La. You’ll protect us.”


    “Well…”


    La pouted her lips for no reason. She then set her expression firmly and turned back to Rhine.


    “But, as long as I’m here, don’t you dare touch Elly.”


    “Understood. I promise.”


    Rhine nodded as he sheathed his sword.


    * * *


    The outbreak of Void’s infection.


    This incident was supposed to happen far in the future before I regressed.


    I still don’t understand why things have be so twisted, but anyway.


    I searched through the excessivelyrge tower, one floor after another. Swarms of infected were the obstacles.


    After patrolling and hunting for over a dozen hours, finally.


    “…There’s something suspicious here.”


    I discovered a ce with a somewhat eerie atmosphere.


    The 23rd floor. It was decorated like a theme park. There was a house of phantoms, some sort of railroad track, and caves.


    I activated the SZX-9500.


    Inside the house of phantoms, a strange magical power was detected. It writhed like a living creature. It was the ‘source.’


    “I’ve found it.”


    I picked up the radio.


    “Elise. Can you hear me?”


    ─…Yes, I can hear you.


    Her voice was still soaked with pain, but it seemed she had regained some of her senses.


    “I’ve investigated the internal magical fluctuations from outside. There’s an unusual wave on the 23rd floor?”


    ─…Really?


    Elise answered with a trembling voice.


    “Yeah.”


    ─Okay then…


    Multiple voices came through the radio. They were civilians. They were all asking with an excited tone if support wasing from outside.


    There would probably be a lot of support.


    Mostly from the ‘military,’ though.


    ─…I’ll pass it on to La.


    This infection outbreak wasn’t resolved in my past life either.


    The military and the knights were dispatched, and they killed all the infected. People who held out like Elise eventually died too, as the foreign lifeforms burrowed into their brains.


    Of course, Elise is an exceptional case.


    She managed to restrain the foreign lifeform from scrambling her brain with her own power.


    ─Shion.


    Suddenly, Elise spoke.


    “What.”


    ──Uh… just… no, never mind.


    Her voicecked strength. She waspletely different from her usual confident self.


    “Just hang in there.”


    I cut off themunication.


    Now, I n to hide here for a while.


    Void will surely return to the scene.


    * * *


    “23rd floor?!”


    ─Yes.


    As soon as La received the transmission, she jumped up excitedly.


    “Okay! Hey! We’ve got contact from outside!”


    She immediately told Divo. Divo looked surprised, and Rhine was skeptical.


    “…That can’t be. It’s impossible.”


    “Impossible my ass!”


    “Well, if it’s a hallucination, that could be possible.”


    “Don’t talk nonsense! Anyway, let’s just go check out the 23rd floor. Elly is a genius, you know? She’ll definitely be able to dismantle the form. Oh, wait a minute. Elly!”


    La spoke into the radio.


    “Do we need anything? Tell us everything you need!”


    ─…Microscope. Mana stone solution. Paper. Magic detector. Mana Analyzer.


    “Okay. Got it.”


    La wrote down the list of items on Divo’sptop.


    “Get these for us.”


    “…….”


    Rhine silently looked somewhere else for a moment, then quietly nodded.


    “Understood. I’ll call someone to bring them over.”


    “We need to bring Elly too.”


    “Let’s do that.”


    Surprisinglypliant. It seems like there might be some ulterior motive.


    “…I’ve said it. If anyone dares to harm Elly—”


    “I won’t. If there’s support from outside, there’s no need for me to do that. If the support is real, that is.”


    The words were loaded with meaning, but now they had to trust each other. Fighting and doubting each other wouldn’t solve anything.


    La ryed the message to Elise.


    “Elly. We’reing to you now.”


    “Me too.”


    That’s when Divo raised his hand.


    “I’ll go too.”


    “…You’re just a kid. Stay here.”


    “It’s okay. I can handle magic, so I can be of help. I can assist Ms. Elise.”


    Divo was unusually confident. La looked puzzled and turned to Rhine.


    “He’s right. This child has been quite helpful to us.”


    “…….”


    Still feeling a bit uneasy, but well.


    “Alright. But don’t you dare get in the way.”


    There’s no need to risk a brave child unnecessarily. Eachbatant is important, after all.


    * * *


    On the 7th floor, La met up with Elise and her group. But there were people she hadn’t seen before on the bed: a man and a child.


    “…Who is that person?”


    La asked who they were. Elise answered.


    “The man is Mr. Jackson. The girl is Yeri. They copsed from exhaustion as soon as they arrived, so we let them rest.”


    “Survivors…”


    “Are they not infected?”


    Rhine furrowed his brow and examined them closely. La pushed him lightly.


    “Ease up, will you!”


    “…….”


    Rhine silently red at her. La yfully touched Elly’s cheeks with both hands.


    “Elly. Can you make it up to the 23rd floor? Your cheeks are so warm. You have a fever… You’re like a hot bun.”


    “…Let go.”


    “Why are you wearing a hat?”


    “…….”


    It was to cover the mas stuck to her head. No matter how bad her condition was, it looked too ridiculous.


    “Elly…”


    “I said let go.”


    Elise swatted La’s hand away and alternated her gaze between Rhine and Divo.


    “…Why is the child here?”


    “He’s a smart kid. He knows how to use magic spells. Really clever. He wants to be your assistant.”


    “…….”


    Elise looked a bit perplexed but didn’t want to think too much about it. It was that kind of situation.


    “Are you really okay?”


    Divo looked at her as if he was amazed. Elise, with a headache, furrowed her brow and said,


    “Okay? What do you mean okay… Let’s just go to the 23rd floor.”


    * * *


    Elise, La, Rhine, Divo, and four other escorts, along with a cart full of items for form analysis.


    The eight of them arrived at the 23rd floor together. Of course, they encountered countless infected bodies on the way up. Those who were once human perished by Rhine’s sword, and were knocked unconscious by La’s Magic Spell.


    La couldn’t bring herself to kill them.


    Rhine looked at her with eyes full of frustration, but in truth, no one was more frustrated than La herself.


    Because there might be a way to turn them back into humans…


    “It looks like that’s the ce.”


    Elise pointed to the house of the phantom. A chilling aura was detected inside.


    “Let’s go in. Mr. Rhine? Please lead the way.”


    “…La, if infectede from behind, please make sure to double-check they’re down.”


    They slowly made their way inside, on guard for any potential ambush by infected.


    Slowly, ever so slowly.


    “…Ugh.”


    Elise asionally groaned, and Rhine watched with an ominous expression for 10 minutes.


    Finally, they arrived at the ‘source’.


    “This seems to be it.”


    There was a huge magic spell on the floor. It writhed in a blood-red hue, alive like an octopus.


    Elise swallowed hard at the sight of it.


    “Get the items ready. I’ll do some research.”


    “Should we deactivate the barrier first?”


    Rhine asked. Elise shook her head.


    “…No. We need to find a way to stop this infection first. We can’t go outside yet.”


    “Fortunately, you think the same as I do.”


    Rhine let out a sigh of relief and chimed in.


    “Can’t we reverse-engineer the form and emit a wave that kills all the infected?”


    “Why would you kill them all!”


    La interjected hastily. Rhine’s eyebrows shot up.


    “Then what do we do?”


    “We have to separate the infected from it! Elly! Can we do that?”


    “…Easier said than done.”


    Elise was clenching her teeth due to the increasing pain when suddenly,


    Thud─


    Heavy footstepsnded from somewhere.


    “…What was that. Who was it just now?”


    La tilted her head in confusion. She looked around swiftly. The house of the phantom was quite dark, so only silhouettes were barely visible.


    Instead, La counted the number of silhouettes.


    One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight… nine.


    “…Why are there nine?”


    The moment La said that,


    Sssshing──!


    Rhine drew his sword and aimed in that direction. La also quickly ignited a me.


    Whoosh!


    The zing fire illuminated the darkness. Among La’s group, a figure that seemed to press down the darkness like a shadow stood there.


    The viin with a hockey mask.


    Raquel Dra.


    “You──!”


    La was about to unleash her magic power when she hesitated. Raquel Dra was standing right behind a small child.


    It was ‘Divo’.


    “…Divo!”


    “La, calm down.”


    Rhine swallowed hard, his magic body summoned as he kept his sword pointed at Raquel.


    Raquel ced his hands on Divo’s shoulders, as if to take him hostage.


    “Don’t do it!”


    La shouted loudly. Elise, suffering from a headache, looked at Raquel Dra but couldn’t focus properly.


    “Let the child go. Take me as your hostage instead. You came here because of me, didn’t you?”


    She extended her hand as she spoke.


    The man showed little reaction.


    “…You bastard! Let the kid go!!”


    Then, Divo looked up at Raquel Dra and whispered very softly, a voice only the two of them could hear.


    …I know.


    Raquel’s gaze shifted slightly downward. He looked straight at Divo.


    …That you won’t kill me.


    Divo wore a smile-like expression.


    From within the hockey mask, a heavy bass voice settled.


    ─You’ve seen.


    …Yes. You saved a child. You must have your own convictions, like me.


    Raquel Dra remained silent.


    In the eerily quiet house of the phantom, La’s skin prickled, and her hair stood on end.


    Divo continued slowly.


    …I’ve brought the person you want. We can work together.


    ─The person I want?


    Divo nced down at La.


    Raquel Dra would want to kill La. If the only daughter of the Hilton family were taken out, it would cause immense chaos in Trick City.


    At least, that’s what Divo believed.


    As a fellow viin.


    …I also know who you are. I’ve tried anagrams too, haven’t I? Right, ‘Dale’?


    Divo.


    It is Void (Void).


    …I also know who you are. I’ve tried anagrams too, haven’t I? Right, ‘Dale’?


    ─That’s right.


    Raquel Dra turned Divo around to face him. Divo looked up at him with a smile, and he whispered something very quietly──


    “…!”


    In an instant, Divo’s rxed expression changed. His eyes filled with horror. His skin turned rigid with cold.


    “Oh, no!


    Divo turned around, shouting loudly and reaching out to La.


    “Save me, please save me!! Save me──!!!!”


    “Divo!”


    La tried to rush to him, but


    ──!


    Raquel was quicker and detonated a Gale.


    Divo copsed in an instant.


    The small body fell powerlessly backward.


    That image was seared onto La’s retina.


    “Ah… you son of a bitch—!”


    Raquel Dra drew his wand. He swung it at La as she charged at him.


    Wham───!


    A massive current of air pressed down on her. Rhine extended his sword, but Raquel’s Gale de pierced his heart first.


    “…R, Rhine!”


    La watched Rhine fall like a leaf, sprawled on the ground.


    “Kuh, kuhhh!!”


    She struggled with all her might. But the pressure of dozens of tons pinned her down.


    She couldn’t breathe. Not a single fingertip could move. Even the ‘Suit’ couldn’t be activated… The fate of the remaining guards was self-evident.


    They didn’t dare to defy him and could only kneel.


    Life is precious, after all.


    Thest one standing, Elise, red at Raquel Dra.


    “…You.”


    ─Disengage the barrier.


    “No. The infection will spread. We need to find a form that can detoxify the infection first—”


    ─There is no such thing. This isn’t poison. Those who are infected have already be one with the foreign life form and can never return to their former selves.


    Elise’s gaze wavered.


    ─But you are not yet. The foreign magic entity in your head is still clinging to you. It hasn’t burrowed into your brain yet.


    Raquel Dra’s diagnosis was very fast.


    Did he understand his condition just by ncing at it?


    ─It’s just a matter of time. You don’t have much time left.


    “…Then? What’s the way? How can I survive?”


    ─By drilling into the skull and directly extracting the extraterrestrial life form. Delicate surgery is required. For that, you must open the barrier.


    “……”


    Elise’s gaze dropped. She looked at La cautiously.


    “Eugh… keugh…”


    She doesn’t seem to have any leisure. Not even a little bit.


    Elise knew the magical form Raquel Dra used to subdue La. It gathered a current to momentarily disrupt the opponent’s movements.


    A very simple 「Flow Maniption」.


    However, the form, which was merely 「Flow Maniption」, was iprehensibly powerful. Its output and performance were immense, far surpassing that of ordinary magic.


    Simply put──


    There was a severe difference in ss.


    Raquel Dra was no ordinary mage.


    Certainly, Elise as she was now could notpete.


    No, even a top-ranked mage active in the field would find it impossible.


    ─There is no time to hesitate.


    Elise surveyed her surroundings.


    Divo, copsed. La, sprawled on the ground, growling like an animal. Rhine, bleeding out and dying. The others, kneeling and looking only at her, begging with their eyes for her to do as Raquel Dra said.


    “Haah…”


    Elise sighed. She faced Raquel Dra, and although she couldn’t see his eyes because of the hockey mask, she spoke.


    “…Promise me. If I open the barrier, you will spare the others.”


    Raquel Dra nodded as if he had been waiting for her to say that.


    ──I promise.