Episode (4)

───「Outcast: Character Appendix」───

■ Meden

· 187 cm. Pitch-black hair and eyes. He was handsome.

· Supernatural ability: Aura Body. It hardens his blood and bones like a high-density mana alloy.

It might not look like much, but simple is best. Could he one day stand against the Empire's strongest, Sebestian? (Here's a hint: even his "blood" hardens like mana alloy!)

■ Elje

· 168 cm. Platinum hair. She looked cold and proud, and she really was.

· Supernatural ability: Phase Shift. Through mana, she controls temperature and pressure and rapidly changes the physical state of matter.

■ Pain

· 213 cm. In person, his massive build was even more overwhelming. A shaved head covered in scars.

The kindest one.

· Supernatural ability: Vibration Collapse. He force-resonates mana particles in the air and releases shockwaves that shatter every physical structure they touch. Anyone with weak mana resistance cannot even stand in front of Pain.

■ Filty

· 160 cm. Slender and graceful build. Everyone said she was not 160 cm, but she was 160 cm. The story's acknowledged unrivaled beauty.

· Supernatural ability: Super-Vision and Mana Visualization. She can observe scenes from dozens to hundreds of kilometers away. But because of brain overload, she cannot fully retain what she sees, so she has to draw it as pictures.

■ Kade

· 173 cm. A sharp, twitchy look. A weasel-like face with a mohawk cut.

Supernatural ability: Neural Disruption. He synchronizes mana waves with an enemy's bioelectric currents to distort their vision or induce auditory hallucinations.

────

......Before I knew it, I had finished the main story and was reading the dense Outcast character notes in the appendix on the very last page of the comic.

"Finished reading?"

The homeless man beside me asked.

"I did."

"Man, the way you talk is seriously hilarious."

He chuckled. I gave no real reply and handed the comic back.

"It's fine, keep it. It's firewood anyway."

"......Ahem."

I gladly tucked it inside my coat.

These days, I wanted to get a bag or something. For storing emergency food, and for this comic too. Of course, carrying baggage would make it harder to run away......

That was what I thought back then.

It was a serious question, but the homeless man just snickered and grabbed a few coins from the can in front of him.

"If you wait, more show up."

"......What?"

"It's a super popular comic, so copies are all over the place. Tons get thrown into trash cans too."

He flicked his soot-stained fingers through the air as he went on.

"As long as you stay alive, you can see it again anytime, anywhere."

As long as you stayed alive.

That one line from the past later hit me with bitter regret.

* * *

"Order from upper command. Everyone evacuate."

At those words, the researchers moved in perfect order. Orders from above were gospel to them. I found it absurd, but I followed them as if I were heading up the emergency stairs, then stopped.

Tap tap tap tap......

Their footsteps faded into the distance. Once they had evacuated high enough, I went back down the stairs.

Kuuuuung──

Mason Industries' high-rise core laboratory. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Feeling Outcast drawing near, I looked at Elje inside the lab.

"......"

I stepped in quietly. Thud. I made my footsteps on purpose. Elje's eyelids twitched open. The moment she saw me, her face covered in blood, she snapped.

"What the hell are you staring at? Want to die, you bastard?!"

It was a familiar sight, to some extent.

"Your comrades are on their way."

"......!"

Her body stiffened. Shock, sorrow, and hope flickered in her shaking pupils, then she twisted her face again and shouted.

"If anything happens to those bastards, I'll wring your necks first!"

I gave her outburst a faint smile.

Thanks to you, I had fun.

Ah, I did not mean these insults were fun.

I meant the joy and excitement Outcast had given me before regression......

A very strange feeling.

Maybe you could call it my own private sentiment.

They had been my comfort during my fugitive days, what made life worth living. And now I was meeting them in reality like this.

"That's enough."

I gave a light nod and turned away.

If I left first, they would be able to regroup around Elje.

"Hey! If you let me out now, I'll let you off once!"

Elje shouted urgently behind me.

"I know you're lying."

I answered with a bitter smile. In the setting, Elje was a liar.

Her comic-book personality popped in real life too.

"Hey! Where are you going, you bastard?!"

No, she felt even more comic-like than in the comic.

These people were real, so I had always wanted to meet them in person at least once.

That wish came true.

"You son of a bitch──!"

But now, people who should live would die, and people who should die would live.

That was hundreds of times better than everyone perishing together.

Kuuuuuuuuung───!

A tremor roared as if it would swallow the building whole.

Walking down the corridor, I checked the timer.

「4 : 18 : 13」

Soon, they would arrive.

......

Before dawn, while darkness still refused to wake.

The armed group Onyx entered Mason Industries through the first-floor lobby first. To breach Mason's lab at all, someone had to punch through the front, so they willingly took the vanguard.

Kwaaaang──!

"45th floor!"

Meden no longer hid his strength. His skin and muscles hardened like mana alloy. He advanced by sweeping away security guards, fleeing researchers, and every other bastard in his way.

"Kill them all! No reason to leave these sons of bitches alive!"

Onyx screamed in rage.

While they turned the lobby and lower floors into complete ruin, the Outcast members used the chaos and rushed to the upper levels. They tore up the emergency stairs like mad.

"Hiiik!"

Then one researcher appeared around a corner.

"P-please spare......"

He dropped to the floor, trembling. Pain paused as he moved to kill him. He only glared, but Meden beside him slammed his fist down without hesitation.

Puhk-!

The researcher's skull crumpled, and his breathing stopped.

"......They deserve to die. If we hesitate, we fall behind."

Meden flicked blood and brain matter off his hand. Pain gave a short grin and nodded.

"Yeah. Let's go."

They kicked off the stairs again, toward where Elje was held.

- Boom!

Obstacles were still everywhere. Suddenly, an emergency door burst open and Mason Industries' private troops poured out.

Kwadadada──!

They fired magic bullets. A barrage filled the corridor, but Outcast did not stop. They tanked the rounds with their bodies. Even as flesh tore, they forced their way close and reached out.

- Kraaagh!

- Ghk!

Tearing open enemy throats, they sprinted higher and higher.

[ 02 : 15 : 31 ]

There was not much time left.

......

Dudududu──

Feeling vibrations rising from below, Elje dragged in rough breaths. She was afraid, and happy, and crushed by vicious worry and guilt.

Could they really make it safely up through the middle of enemy territory?

And if they could, from where, and how......

"......Haa."

This time, she was the burden. She was always lecturing others not to burden Meden, and now look at her. She regretted saying it. This was why people should not speak carelessly. The same went for actions. Those thoughts crowded Elje's head, and then.

──Kwaaaak!

The lab's entire thick outer wall was destroyed at once.

Pussssssst! Mana shoved concrete away and crashed in like a wave, and beyond it, comrades who almost looked like they were flying.

Elje's mouth fell open.

"Ah......"

She looked at them as they burst in through clouds of dust. Meden and the others were already drenched in blood. Shock and emotion surged through her at the same time.

With a tangled expression, she muttered.

"Hey. What if you die like this?"

"Then we die together. That's why we gathered, right?"

Meden's answer was a perfect score for them. At least for them, who had endured by relying on each other in the hell called T24.

"Let's go."

Meden shattered Elje's restraints and was just about to grab her hand.

──Pazzt.

Mana ignited from somewhere. From one point, a sea-like torrent exploded out. A massive tidal wave crushed into the whole space and whipped through it.

Swaaaaaa───

For a moment, time seemed to slow. Everything in front of Elje fragmented into sharp pieces. Steam crashing in. Red flashes of mana. Meden running at her with his hand outstretched in desperation. And beyond the collapsing wall, the machine monster finally revealing its silhouette.

Falkenrat.

Kwaaaaaaaa───!

As if seized and flung, Elje was hurled out of the building.

──Hwaaaak.

Air pressure slammed into her. As she free-fell through the night sky, she saw the shattered panorama of Mason Industries.

Steel. Concrete. Rebar. Glass. In that place where those fragments rained down like a meteor shower, again.

The one person who appeared for her.

Elje shouted and reached out.

"Meden!"

Her platinum hair, lit by moonlight, scattered wildly, and both eyes shimmered with tears.

"Elje──!"

Another protagonist, Meden.

He leaped off collapsing debris and grabbed Elje's hand. He pulled her into his arms.

The two embraced in midair, and then.

Kwaang!

They landed safely.

"Khuh!"

Meden groaned. Elje flinched and pressed her hand to his cheek.

"Meden! Are you okay?"

"......I'm okay. I think my leg is a little broken, though."

They looked at each other for a moment. Silence followed, no words.

A pointless tension seemed to tint the air pink, but there was no time to relax.

Behind them, a far larger mass struck the ground.

Kuuuuung──!

Acrid smoke rose from the blast center. Beyond the dense curtain, Falkenrat's dark red artificial eye flashed.

"Foolish. Did you think you could run?"

At his mocking words, Meden kicked off the ground. First strike wins. His Aura Body charged first like a cannon shell. He drove a straight punch into Falkenrat's abdomen.

Kwaak-!

Falkenrat did not even flinch. Instead, he raised his mechanical arm and smashed Meden across the face.

"Ghk!"

Meden spat blood and was thrown back. Flesh and blood sprayed from all over him, and Falkenrat leaped after his airborne body.

"You monster bastard......!"

This time, Pain stopped Falkenrat. Mana condensed in both his hands. Vibration Collapse. The wave exploded point-blank near Falkenrat.

Kugugugung──!

The shockwave ran through Falkenrat's mechanical joints and triggered resonance. Part of his armor dented, but he bent his waist at an eerie angle and grabbed Pain by the throat.

"Khuhk......!"

"Only this much?"

He slammed Pain into the ground. From behind Pain, Kade jumped in and fired a mana wave. Neural Disruption mixed with mana interference. It struck the back of Falkenrat's neck. The red artificial eye crackled for an instant, and his vision warped.

Meden charged through that opening. He pushed past his own limits. He drove the density of his Aura Body to the extreme.

"Die──!"

Meden's fist struck Falkenrat's knee joint dead on.

Kwajik!

At last Falkenrat's body staggered. Pain and Kade joined in and unleashed chained attacks from every side.

Roars of steel clashing with Aura Body, mana explosions, and tearing flesh filled the chaos.

[ 00 : 13 : 15 ]

......

Upper floors of Mason Industries.

I leaned against a pillar by the completely blown-out outer wall and looked far down below. I watched the scene unfolding there without emotion.

A brawl of this scale was probably unprecedented in western imperial history.

"......Interesting."

The man and woman falling through collapsing debris while holding each other.

I watched their famous scene, one I had seen in the comic, in real life. A bittersweet feeling rose in me.

By now they had landed and were fighting Falkenrat. The winner was probably......

"......?"

I felt that gaze again. Not far away, Filty's Super-Vision fixed on me. Meeting her eyes, I gave a faint smile.

"Nice to meet you."

Filty's gaze shook. Her massive agitation was clear even from far away. Before long, her observation cut off.

I quietly closed my eyes.

One last time, I focused on the deepest part of myself.

──Thump.

My heart beat heavily.

It was the virus's pulse, aimed at one of Outcast down on the ground.

Among them too, there was Izenheim.

「00 : 07 : 15」

......

Falkenrat had faltered for a moment under Outcast's combined assault, but he did not fall. Instead, he raised his output and overwhelmed the three.

Kwaaaang-! Chaeaeng! Kwaaaaak-!

Relentless pressure. Meden's Aura Body hit its limit, Pain dropped to one knee covered in blood, and Kade lost part of his right arm to Falkenrat's rifle.

"Vermin-like fools. Still, this was amusing."

Falkenrat smiled leisurely and seized Meden by the throat. His objective was live capture, so he would not care even if Meden ended up brain-dead.

Kwaaaaaak. Pressure surged through the mechanical arm.

"Kuhk-"

Watching Meden being strangled, Elje staggered to her feet.

Her platinum hair rippled with mana waves. Her eyes turned blue.

"Machines......"

Phase Shift. The mana released from her eyes wrapped around Falkenrat's mechanical body. For mana to seep in, she needed gaps, and now they already existed. Wounds around the joints, made by her comrades.

That was enough.

Paaaat──!

In an instant, moisture across the area boiled and became superheated steam. Falkenrat's coolant rapidly vaporized and began bursting out between his mechanical joints.

- ......!

Falkenrat's artificial eye spun through multiple colors, and his body moved on its own.

In the end, a machine was only a machine. It could not resist error. It could not adapt to its environment.

"Now!"

Elje shouted through blood.

Meden squeezed out every last drop of mana and forged his right arm into its hardest form.

"You tin-can bastard-!"

His all-out strike slammed into Falkenrat's red-hot armor, overheated to the limit.

Kwaaaaaaaaang────!

The impact burst out like artillery. Falkenrat, hit head-on, was blasted back and crashed into a wall.

"Haa, haa......"

Breath leaked through Meden's teeth like heat. Broken chunks of metal scraped the ground with shrill sounds, and silence dropped over the area in an instant.

The four leaned against the dirt, gasping hard.

"......Khuh."

"Ah, shit......"

"It hurts like hell, seriously."

Silence came after the death match. Their bodies were wrecked with blood and soot, but they had survived. Outcast looked at each other and grinned.

"Let's go."

Meden forced himself up.

"Meden. Before we go."

Elje pointed at Falkenrat.

Falkenrat was still alive. A machine-human could regain function at any time, so a finishing blow was mandatory.

"......Ah. Confirmed."

Meden nodded and started walking toward him.

──Tok.

Footsteps approached from the far side.

Between torn rebar and concrete, a man in a lab coat appeared and walked out.

Mask. White coat. Rimless glasses. Not one wrinkle, excessively neat. In this total mess, he stayed calm and simply looked at the Outcast members.

"......Wait. I remember that face."

Pain gave a dry laugh. It was one of the researchers Filty had marked in her comic. Elje lifted the corner of her mouth too.

"It's that researcher from before. Nice to see you!"

"Yeah? If you're happy to see him, shouldn't we get a closer look?"

Elje waved, and Pain cracked his knuckles and walked toward him.

"Oh, look at this guy, he's not even running?"

Even in front of Pain's giant frame, the researcher stayed still. He just looked up at him.

"Hey. Let's chat for a second. Torture was fun, right? Since this is probably your last conversation-"

Pain grinned and reached to grab his collar.

Slice──

Moonlight flowed.

A clean straight line cut across Pain's neck.

A blood-red line bloomed softly, then opened in full.

"......?"

Thud.

Pain's head fell.

His face rolled across the pavement, still wearing that smile.

[00 : 00 : 00]