Adolescent Adam

Volume 3, 5 - Surprise Attack

Volume 3, Chapter 5 - Surprise Attack

“I’ll see you in thirty minutes then.”

“Okay.”

Mutsuki’s meeting began at past five in the evening, so the school had already grown quite empty.

As his bodyguard, Ange had to wait for him to finish, so they agreed to meet up once he was done.

She had been acting odd today (or since the previous evening?), but she took her work seriously. She had found a place where they could quickly meet back up.

Mutsuki did not feel much like he was a target anymore, so he cheerfully started toward the classroom. But as they parted…

“Mutsuki.”

“Yeah?”

“…Sorry.”

Ange gave him a quiet look as she said that, but it did not catch his attention.

A lot had happened with Lucia on top of being sleep-deprived, so he suppressed a yawn as he stepped inside the classroom.

He sat in the seat across from Katsue-sensei who looked a little tired herself since this was her twelfth meeting today.

“Now, Student #12, Fujita Mutsuki. Let’s discuss your plans for the future.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

After Mutsuki left, Ange quickly checked on her surroundings.

Most of the classrooms had finished their meetings, so the school was nearly empty. She saw no one in the hallway awash with the red of the sunset.

But when she looked out to the window, she saw someone nonhuman sitting on the minute hand of the clock tower. Satowa Lucia was monitoring Mutsuki’s actions.

That was convenient, so Ange pulled out her cellphone.

She still could not figure out what that demon was up to, but based on his recent actions, he was not showing any sign of abducting Mutsuki right away.

She was pretty sure she could use him.

She would have him protect Mutsuki in her stead for the short time she neglected her bodyguard duties. With him there, FeTUS would be unable to touch the boy.

“Hello, Nii-san? Yes. He’s on top of the clock tower, so take care of that.”

She contacted Rapha who she had called to the school.

With someone to keep an eye on Lucia, she could ensure Mutsuki’s safety for the time being.

The three-way stalemate between angels, humans, and demons was normally an annoyance, but it came in handy here.

She had something to do in the gap that opened up.

She had been planning to do this for two weeks now, but her bodyguard duties had prevented her from doing so. Bringing him in front of the enemy was too dangerous. And more importantly, he was too kind.

Seeing her turn her blade on a classmate would be a shock.

She left the school building and walked out onto the schoolyard. The different sports teams had started practice at midday and were finishing up at this time.

Ange arrived at the club building. The large academy included an elementary, middle, and high school, so it had a lot of club activities and thus needed a lot of club rooms. She moved to the back of the D-shaped structures arranged like a labyrinth.

That created a perfect blind spot.

“Ange-chan? What’re you doing here?”

She had planned to call this girl here, but she had conveniently found Ange instead. Barely anyone ever came here, so they were alone together.

She was alone with Kurikara Saya, her classmate.

“You aren’t part of a club, right? Are you here to see someone? Oh, could it be me?”

She laughed and gave her usual bright smile. Her sporty softball practice uniform made her look all the more cheerful.

“It’s about the volleyball, isn’t it? I am worried since we haven’t been able to practice much. I want to do it right if we can.”

She talked on and on even though Ange said nothing.

Kurikara Saya was always like this. She was a natural eternal optimist and her mere presence could cheer up her surroundings. She had even approached the unsociable Ange and made friends with her.

Ange hated humans, but she did not hate that girl’s personality.

But…

“Shut up.”

The bright smile froze over at that cold phrase.

Ange’s threateningly chilly atmosphere was enough to wipe that look from that eternal optimist of a classmate’s face.

“There’s something I want to ask you. Do you remember this email?”

“Eh? Y-yes.”

Ange pulled out her cellphone and displayed the chain email sent to the entire class a little over a month before.

“I spotted Fujita-kun and Jiyuuni Ange-chan on a date! Something smells fishy about them.”

A few random emoji were thrown in and it was sent by Saya.

A little over a month before, Saya had seen Mutsuki and Ange playing at the arcade.

She had immediately told everyone else and the class had started teasing them over their relationship.

“Oh, that. Ah ha ha. Sorry. I’ve already apologized a ton, haven’t I? It was just a little joke, so I never thought it would get that serious.”

“That isn’t what I want to ask about.”

She pointed to the “on a date” part.

“This doesn’t say where the date was, so only you know where you saw us.”

“Y-yeah. It was at the SeeDWalK arcade, right? Although it’s closed now after that gas explosion.”

“Did you tell anyone else?”

“No. The email spread further than I thought and it got way out of hand. Our teacher was really mad too.”

“Yes, that’s right. You told me that before.”

She put away the phone.

Instead, she pulled out her pendant and removed the wing-shaped top. That was Ange’s weapon. It manifested into Prominence, the divine sword created from an angel’s flames.

“In other words, only you could have set a trap at that arcade.”

She took a step forward.

Overpowered by the defender of the holy law, Saya took a step back.

“It’s a shame, Kurikara Saya. I actually liked you better than Stupid Mutsuki at least.”

“…”

“I will fulfill my duty. I will do what I must as an angel.”

Bluish-white flames burst from her back like wings and she took another step forward. Saya was frozen in place by the sudden development.

“Reveal yourself, Black Cat!”

“…”

When the flames enveloped her, the thread of tension seemed to snap.

Her widened eyes softened.

Almost like she was grinning.

“…?”

Mutsuki suddenly raised his head.

“Fujita? What is it?”

“Oh, nothing.”

When his teacher spoke up, he looked back to the desk. She was giving him some simple guidance on his grades this term and on studying for the entrance exams starting the following year.

He thought he had heard Ange’s voice, so he smiled bitterly.

He had been a little worried about what she was doing. He was pretty sure she would be fine if an enemy showed up, but still.

“Now, Fujita. There are no problems with your grades or your records, so I think you should stay at the academy for high school.”

“Yes, I intend to. My parents suggested the same thing.”

“Very good. Oh, but what was with that last test? You scored far below your average. I know you’re living with Jiyuuni now, but is that why?”

“Um… Ah ha ha. I was having some difficulties and couldn’t focus. Sorry. I’ll work harder next time.”

He had been a little worried, but it looked like the meeting would be over before long.

“This shouldn’t be much of a problem, but if it interferes with your schoolwork, let me know. The school will do what it can to support you.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Katsue Subaru was not the friendliest person, but she took her work seriously. She made sure to meet one-on-one with every single student for these meetings.

Her long black hair was worn up and she had a cold, businesslike appearance. The girls often said she wore too much makeup, but that was clearly out of jealousy. She was beautiful enough to set

Mutsuki’s heart racing if he focused on her looks.

He liked having her for a teacher. She did not show her feelings much, but he thought she was a good person.

“…Mh.”

Suddenly, her expression stiffened.

She turned in a seemingly random direction and placed a hand to her ear. It was a lot like someone who was having trouble hearing someone over the phone. She was not holding a receiver, but she was definitely listening to something.

“Sensei? What is it?”

“…Nothing.”

After briefly seeming to hear something, she turned back to Mutsuki.

He was shocked when he saw her face.

She was smiling. He realized it was the first time he had seen that clever and militarily strict teacher smile.

Just like Ibekusa Machina, she had been the type to keep her emotions hidden.

“Fnyah.”

“Eh?”

Meanwhile, Ange was confused.

She had confronted Kurikara Saya alone so they could clash. The girl had been confused at first, but the look of confusion had vanished once she saw the proof that Ange was an angel.

But instead of growing tense, she had grown utterly relaxed.

She had collapsed. Ange was briefly dumbfounded, but she quickly ran over.

“Eh? Eh? Wait. Saya?”

The girl was lying defenselessly on her back and it did not seem to be a trick to draw Ange over. Ange tried slapping at her cheek, but she only muttered incoherently.

She seemed to have passed out, as if the sight of the angel’s flame wings had caused her to faint.

That was the natural reaction for a normal person, but it was unthinkable for a FeTUS member.

Was it an act? She was far too defenseless for that.

“Wh-what does this mean?”

Was that girl not with FeTUS? Was she not Black Cat?

Given the location and the situation, it had to have been her. But then…

“Our teacher was really mad too.”

She recalled what the girl had said.

“I hadn’t actually planned this out, but I got lucky.”

Katsue-sensei stood up and reached for her hair.

“I had Kurikara Saya tell me where you were likely to visit and then laid a trap. I failed then, but it seems Jiyuuni Ange mistakenly concluded that girl was me. Who would have thought this would happen?”

She laughed in delight. Her lips were covered in thick lipstick and bent into a charming crescent moon.

She let down her knee-length hair.

A few golden threads were mixed into her hair and they wriggled around to split her hair into three strands that braided together.

It was an impossible sight and it left Mutsuki speechless.

He recognized that thick black braid that swayed like a tail.

“Leaving you until the end today, though? That was planned.”

She reached for her suit and it began moving like a fluid as its material, color, and shape all changed. It transformed into a dark suit perfectly fit to her body.

She straightened her spine and her swollen chest visibly bounced through the outfit and the large bell at her neck rang.

Mutsuki recognized the outfit, including the out-of-place fancy cat helmet.

“Knowing Jiyuuni’s personality, I knew she would question Kurikara before long. And I knew she would do it away from you, Fujita. So I placed an observation Springloaded on Kurikara. It seems the trap worked.”

She scratched at the area between her throat and chin to peel off a thin film. It looked like some thick makeup, but when she removed it, her true skin was revealed below.

Her skin was a deep milk color. This was the skin of a white person, not an Asian.

“I can finally say goodbye to this disguise. I had no choice but to hide my race and age, but I don’t like having anything on my face. This is such a relief.”

“Hyah…”

The true identity below that thin film was someone he could never forget.

He saw sadistic eyes and a face too young to call a teacher. Her dress accentuated the curves of her body, she emitted a steel-like aura of intimidation, and she was surrounded by the exotic sexuality of a wild animal.

Mutsuki’s hips gave out and he fell from his chair.

FeTUS Witches Miss C, aka Black Cat, smiled thinly.

“I have recorded Jiyuuni Ange’s attack. I may be on standby, but I have determined she intends to attack me. I will counterattack by capturing Fujita Mutsuki.”

“Ange! Help-…gh!”

The boy tried to run for the exit, but she appeared before his eyes.

Not even he knew why he was unable to get out the word “me”. He simply found his throat would no longer move.

He felt a sticky heat in his stomach and realized he had a hole there.

“Auf jeden Regen folgt auch Sonnenschein. These were two very long weeks, but they were necessary to bring about this perfect moment.”

Black Cat laughed deep in her throat. A claw had grown from the back of her hand at the base of her middle finger and it had stabbed through the boy’s stomach and out his back. The color red soaked the beautiful silver.

“Gh…”

He had been exposed to danger for a month and a half now, but he realized this was the first real injury he had received.

Who would have thought the first one would something so fatal? He could not even struggle and his face stiffened. His groans tasted of rusty iron.

Lucia had been slowed down by the sudden turn of events, but he kicked through the window and into the classroom.

“I’ll kill you.”

He attacked with his voice trembling with an intense rage one would never have imagined he was capable of.

Black Cat had likely known he was on the clock tower. The corners of her mouth bent in a grin and she pulled the claw from the boy’s stomach, but the demon had already arrived right in front of her.

She swayed back from the blow with frightening reaction speed.

However, it was impossible for a human to match a demon. A moment later, a slash arrived from an impossible angle.

Red metal had grown from the blackboard behind her. It wrapped around her neck and tightened in the form of a scythe.

Black Cut quickly used her steel claws as a shield to escape decapitation, but she was still slammed into the blackboard. The scythe continued approaching, so she was unable to move.

After dealing with his opponent in an instant, the boy lost interest and ran over to Mutsuki.

“Yeah, I can deal with a wound like this right away.”

He must have really been worried. He was usually full of emotion, but all he did was give a simple statement and open Mutsuki’s uniform.

There would not have been much damage to the organs, so he breathed a sigh of relief and placed a hand over the hole.

His hand immediately melted like a sugar sculpture in water and it fused with Mutsuki’s stomach. The bleeding stopped. He pressed deeper, reached the boy’s back, and filled that hole as well.

Just as FeTUS had trouble with demons, demons were nearly almighty when it came to the human body. He used his hand to supplement Mutsuki’s flesh and blood.

Black Cat of course knew he could do this.

“Heh heh heh…”

She smiled thinly with the tip of the scythe digging into her throat.

“The power of demons is the miracle of the Fruit of Life. It sounds lovely, doesn’t it? I always have to wonder how many lives you could save if you used that power to serve the world of man.”

“Keep your dirty mouth shut. I’ll kill you once I’m done, so sit tight.”

“At the same time, Satowa Lucia, you were my biggest fear these past two weeks. I hate to admit it, but I have yet to find a simulation where I defeat you.”

She kicked at the wall behind her. The blackboard bent, creating a gap between the scythe and wall. She used that to escape.

Lucia did not even look back. Even with a hand dealing with Mutsuki, he was confident he could kill the woman with his other hand if she approached.

“...? What is this?”

But more importantly, something about Mutsuki required his attention.

Something was not right. The boy was unconscious, but he was too calm. He did not react in pain when Lucia touched the wound. Even his breathing was perfectly calm.

Lucia’s eyebrows twitched from a sense of foreboding and then his face paled.

“You…! What did you do!?”

The skin of the arm on the wound tore like paper and blood spirted out. Mutsuki’s stomach was the same. The skin was falling apart as if it were melting.

“That’s a neuro-contamination program based on cobra venom. Once it spreads to his entire body, he will die.”

“Dammit!”

The skin necrosis was visibly spreading. One hand was not going to be enough, so he also placed his other hand on the boy. Both arms sank down and the necrosis finally stopped spreading.

“Gh…”

But that was suicidal. He had sealed off use of both hands in front of the enemy and he was being quickly worn down as he induced regeneration quickly enough to fight the toxin. Sweat poured from his entire body.

“Heh heh… Ha ha ha… Ka ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! The trick was getting that inside him. That was why I drew Jiyuuni away from him. If she had been here, she could have bought enough time for you to show up!”

Black Cut could not suppress her laughter and her vertical-pupil eyes opened as wide as possible.

“But it’s over now. Once you’re suppressed, I have nothing to fear! I can-…”

The door opposite the previous window was opened and a new intruder cut her off.

“…”

This time, it was FeTUS Witches Miss E. She was Black Cat’s colleague, so Lucia grimaced.

But Machina understood the situation, so she ran over to Mutsuki and looked down at the stomach fused with Lucia’s arms.

“A chain-reaction ion channel interference program. Miss C. Use of this on humans was banned as inhumane.”

“It was necessary as a countermeasure against a demon.”

“Tell me the cancelation key. The burden on his mind and body is immeasurable. This could harm the progress of our plans.”

“The program does not rearrange his DNA. …It must hurt like a bitch, though.”

Black Cat laughed sadistically in her throat.

He would not die, but he would constantly experience the pain of his organs melting away. A normal mind could never endure that. He had only lost consciousness for the time being due to the demon’s healing, but that would not last forever.

Machina’s expression was cloudy for once. She quietly muttered “I’m sorry”, looked to Lucia, and wordlessly confirmed something.

Then she turned a sharp look in Black Cat’s direction.

“Tell me the cancelation key.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Tell me the cancelation key.”

“I. Don’t. Think. So.”

“…”

Silence fell.

Next, a golden circle raced out from Machina’s feet and Black Cat laughed in her throat.

After that, the school building’s roof was blown away with a deafening roar.

“Keh heh heh. Kee hee hee hee hee hee! Let me be honest, Miss E!”

It was 5:30 PM at fifty meters above the school building which was lit by the red setting sun of midsummer. Two figures faced each other from high enough to look down at the clock tower.

“I planned for this as well! I’d wanted to do this with you for a long, long time! Not just a simulation! I wanted to throw my full strength your wayyyyyyyyyy! Zaaaaaaahhhh!!”

Machina turned her body around to sidestep Black Cat’s claws, but the following headbutt struck her head and knocked her away.

She slammed into the clock tower and then fell onto the spherical planetarium roof below it.

Black Cat landed on the “12” of the large clock face. She was curled up just like a kitten that loved climbing trees.

“Nyahaaaahhh? Where’s Miss D? Call her here. I want to do it with her too. I’m even up for both of you at once.”

She unsteadily rose to her feet.

“Let me enjoy this even more!”

Then she jumped forward as if she wanted to be a target. She spread her arms wide and fell toward defenseless Machina.

The girl looked quietly up and dodged by leaping back up to the clock tower. The cat flipped around in midair to bend the direction of her fall.

“There are still quite a few people in the school. A battle would violate our obligation to secrecy. That would negatively affect your inquiry, so you should avoid it.”

“Enough nonsense!”

They both dropped down from the tower into the courtyard.

“Tell me the cancelation key. Do it now and I will not report this.”

“By this point, I’m sure Miss A is already watching!”

Machina tried to keep some distance between them, but Black Cat recklessly charged straight in. Their speeds were the same, but Black Cat’s lack of hesitation allowed her to win out. The girl avoided the sharp cat claws by a hair’s breadth and continued trying to persuade her opponent.

“Then I will recommend she keep quiet about this incident. Tell me the cancelation key.”

“Why are you so insistent on the key!? We can secure Fujita Mutsuki for ourselves like this. You can spend as much time with him as you want underground! What do you gain by removing the toxin!?”

“…”

Machina fell silent and Black Cat grabbed her.

She grabbed the girl’s collar and kept her forward momentum going.

“Be honest! Why do you really want the cancelation key!?”

Her slender body slammed against the stone wall with enough force to shake the entire tower.

“…”

Her expression bent a little from the shock and she bit her lower lip as if hesitating to speak.

After a few seconds of hesitation, the ends of her eyebrows rose sharply and she glared at Black Cat.

“Don’t be cruel to Fujita-kun.”

“Kh…ah…”

Black Cat’s face twisted even worse.

Machina had grabbed her collar as well.

While the impact against the wall had been distributed across Machina’s entire back, the same blow was concentrated on the single fist pressed against Black Cat’s chest.

The woman staggered and let go, so the girl gently placed her feet on the ground.

“Miss C – Personal Name: Schwarze Katze – has been judged hostile.”

“Gh…”

“Extracting combat tools. Expanding phase variable field up to layer 32 and opening within Euclidean space.”

The glowing magic circle that opened at her feet was large enough to encompass the entire courtyard.

Machina remained expressionless, but deep anger filled her eyes that were as transparent as the surface of a clear lake.

She was overwhelmed by intense rage.

She moved her neatly lined-up fingers and golden threads that glowed like firefly light danced from them. The ground’s magic circle moved at the same time.

The entire ground swelled up and attacked Black Cat – Schwarze Katze – in the shape of an arm.

“Tch!”

The woman was still choking from the impact to her chest, but she just barely shifted her body out of the way. The massive stone fist cut through empty air.

But as soon as she dodged it, the stone stripped off the yellowish-green clothing wrapped around its surface. The grass scattered and assaulted Schwarze. It filled the lenses of her glasses, robbing her of her vision.

Black Cat realized her opponent had control of the ground. She had no chance of victory on the surface, so she jumped twenty meters into the air.

But as soon as she cleared the grass from her glasses, she realized this was exactly what Machina had wanted.

The girl had run up the wall ahead of her, faced her from the same height, and kicked off the face of the large clock.

“Why you-…!”

In midair, Machina pinned Black Cat’s arms behind her back.

“Applying molecular distortion to spatial composition data. Antimatter creation complete. Converting all mass into heat energy.”

Black Cat was only thinking of freeing herself, so she could only fall defenselessly when Machina herself let go.

She fell toward the top of the planetarium roof of the library building.

A golden circle was drawn on the spherical roof, so Machina must have set this up earlier.

“Beginning reaction.”

Machina held her hand out toward the circle. An identical circle appeared in the air. It was curved in the opposite direction of the dome.

Black Cat was falling in the center spot where the dual magic circles arrived closest together.

“Annihilation.”

Without a sound, the hill dyed by the sunset grew as bright as midday for just a moment.

“…!”

A cylinder of sun-like light appeared in only the shoulder-width space where Schwarze was. There was nothing the woman could do.

“Complete.”

An annihilation reaction filled that limited space. Instantly, heat energy rivalling the center of the sun was sealed in that round space.

In order to combat angels, Black Cat was equipped with a Kühler Kralle tool to diffuse heat, but the damage had to be unfathomable regardless.

Once the cylinder filled with enough brightness, the curved circles reversed direction. They drew an ellipse and closed together to match the speed of Machina’s fall.

The sealed light vanished as if it were being crushed into nonexistence, but…

“Compleeeete?”

“!”

“Do you nyot know how to finish what you’ve started??”

Before it could fully close, something crawled out from the light.

A black form charged out with smoke rising from its entire body.

It rushed straight toward the girl in freefall and thrust up its burned fist since the metal claws had melted.

“Hh…”

Even without the claws, the blow sank into her solar plexus and nearly broke into her stomach.

By the time they landed on the roof, Schwarze’s eyes were sparkling despite her injuries and she held Machina’s nearly unconscious form by the neck.

“What good is it if you’re not trying to kill me, hmm? This is what happens when you hold back because you only want to hurt me a little.”

Black Cat laughed in delight as her body gave off the smell of a well-done steak.

“Gh…”

“But you did pretty good. Keh heh. It definitely hurt. It hurt like hell. I thought I was gonna cry. Nyee hee? Hee hee hee. Nya ha ha ha heh heh heh hee hee hee!”

Her face melted in madness as if she was enjoying the pain and she clenched her fist once more. She faced Machina whose consciousness was fading after the blow to the gut.

“Here’s some advice, so make sure to thank me. Beat down your enemy until they’re utterly defeated. If you don’t, you nyever know what they’ll do when you lose. For example…”

“Uuh…”

“Something like this!!”

Machina’s cloudy mind cleared up after she fell and hit the ground.

She quickly got up, but something was wrong. She did not feel any pain besides the punch to the stomach.

After that, she noticed what was going on around her.

It was dark. The setting sun had vanished at some point and she was surrounded by stars.

She looked up and saw the red sky. Only then did she realize a hole had opened in the roof and she had fallen into the planetarium.

She quickly realized why: just before being punched, someone had interfered. A redheaded girl with a giant hunk of metal on her back stood there.

“What’s this, infighting? If I could have found Black Cat’s identity this easily, I feel like an idiot trying to figure it out my way.”

Ange pouted her lips, but her expression was otherwise composed.

Schwarze had been hit with enough force to break through the roof, so she was a little dazed.

“Heh. I forgot there was another one of you left.”

“I may have guessed wrong, but it’s all the same in the end. Prepare yourself, Black Cat. I’ll pay you back for that humiliation.”

“You guessed wrong, did you? What happened to Kurikara?”

“I carried her to the infirmary. The place stank, so I made sure to air it out. …Wait, you know about Saya!?”

Ange blushed and shouted in anger that someone knew about her mistaken deduction.

Machina sighed and stepped up alongside her.

“Fujita-kun is in a dangerous situation after being infected with a neurotoxin program.”

“Mutsuki is? What happened to Satowa? Wasn’t he there?”

“He is having trouble returning to the fight, so the two of us must retrieve the program’s cancellation key code from Miss C. I request we work together.”

“Work together? Are you stupid?”

“Then I request mutual noninterference.”

“…Hmph.”

Mutual noninterference referred to the promise not to fight that Mutsuki had forcibly made her agree to.

They would both take on Black Cat, but they would not attack each other. That was the same thing as working together.

“Well, it is true I don’t think I would have it in me to deal with you at the same time.”

Ange clearly did not like it, but she turned her sword toward Black Cat as a sign of acceptance.

Schwarze brushed the dust off of herself with a delighted grin that showed off her canine teeth.

“Shaaaaaahhhhhhhh!”

“Loop!!”

She charged in while covered in wounds and Ange intercepted her with her double divine sword.

It was an equal exchange of swords and fists.

Black Cat had the greater speed, but Ange’s weapon gave her more reach, she had incredible reflexes, and Black Cat’s movements were not too fast for her to see. Plus…

“Corona!”

“Like that’ll work on-…gh!?”

The blue flames emitted from Ange’s back struck the woman as she tried to take up the optimal striking distance.

Schwarze tried to defend, but her melted clothes only released white sparks. A moment later, flames of two thousand degrees struck her and blew her away.

Machina narrowed her eyes.

“Her Kühler Kralle is broken. Use your flames. I will support you.”

“What!? Wh-what are you talking about?”

Ange did not understand, but she scattered Helios, small balls of heat that pursued her opponent beyond sword range. They became bullets and targeted the woman collapsed in the planetarium seats.

“Prepare heat-bending fibers. Sine boost.”

Machina’s magic circle provided support. Each of the dozens of glowing spheres bent into an ellipse as if being squeezed from above and below.

“Gwah!”

They became spears of light and struck Black Cat just as she finally got up.

She was knocked away again and broke through the wall that had grown as weak as tofu from the heat. Machina immediately followed.

“What was that!?”

Black Cat was supposed to be a formidable foe, but she was not putting up much of a fight thanks to all her previous damage. Ange did not like that or how Machina seemed to be manipulating her, so she too pursued with a lopsided frown on her face.

They jumped down to the courtyard below the clock tower that’s grass had been torn up.

Black Cat was collapsed by the shrubbery surrounding the courtyard.

Her breathing was stable and she seemed to be conscious. She could get up if she wanted to, but she was badly damaged and almost seemed to be sleeping on the grass.

“Miss C. Let me reiterate: you should tell me the cancelation key.”

“I don’t think so.”

Her throat must have been burned because her voice was scratchy.

“In fact, I don’t know it. The program is changing within a data range of 128 exabytes per second and the cancelation key is included in that. The only way to cancel it is to calculate out the fluctuating number field in less than a second, but the only supercomputer currently capable of that is the O’clock at FeTUS headquarters. The only way to cancel it is to take him there.”

“Taking him to our headquarters is the same as declaring war on the angels.”

“Most likely. But that isn’t a problem.”

Black Cat got up.

Machina’s eyes widened when she saw her and Ange grew pale.

“At the very least, Fujita’s guardian angel will die here and now.”

Her cat helmet’s white fangs had stabbed into her temples.

They extended further and further, invading her brain.

“Release final safety device. Abandon avoidance recommendation code. Y Device: activate.”

“Oh, no.”

“Eh?”

Machina raised her defenses, but Ange was wide open as she grimaced at the grotesque sight.

“Gah!?”

“Gah!?”

The result was the same either way. By the time they felt fear towards the bloodshot bestial eyes, they both had a fist sinking into their gut.

They were both sent flying through the library’s wall.

“Cough… Wh-what was that?”

They even broke through the bookshelf on the other side of the wall.

Ange shoved the fallen books aside to get up and she searched for Machina. The studying students were dumbfounded by the sudden destruction of the wall, but the two girls were hidden from their view.

The two of them had only just gotten up when Black Cat reached them, grabbed their necks, and pulled them up.

It was like the difference between adult and child. Black Cat’s arm strength was clearly greater than before and the two were helpless as they dangled from her hands. Machina had taken two blows to the solar plexus now, so even breathing caused her body to ache.

“Corona! …Huh? C’mon, burn! I said Corona!”

“Keh heh heh heh heh… What’s this? Are you trying to do something? But nyothing’s happening.”

Ange had lost her sword, but she still fought back with her wings of flame. However, the enemy ignored it altogether. Not even her hair burned from a direct hit of two thousand degree fire.

No matter how much Ange struggled, she could not remove the hand on her neck digging into her carotid artery. At this rate, she would suffocate without accomplishing anything at all.

“Stop this, Miss C… You should…cancel this… You will…never return…to being human…”

“Was man sich eingebrockt hat, Das muss man auch ausl?ffeln. And it feels great. Such an abnormal amount of adrenaline. The grim reaper is so close and it feels wonderful.”

The woman’s slender arms remained motionless as if they were machines built for this task.

“Nyagh!? Pkh.”

When they finally relaxed, it was at the woman’s own convenience.

She thought she was going to vomit and she fell to her knees while holding her head. Once they could breathe, the two girls coughed violently.

Ange was confused, but Machina took action immediately. She grabbed her short classmate’s body and began running up the clock tower.

“Cough, cough. Wait, wait, Ibekusa. What was that!?”

“The Y Device. It is the ultimate attack circuit left behind by Miss Y, the legendary witch who constructed the Springloaded system. Each of the Witches has been given one.”

“Springloaded? You mean she embedded a Springloaded device in her own body?”

“Technically, she let it invade her body. …Knowing that the process is irreversible.”

Machina kicked off the wall to leap out below the darkening sky. She landed in the classroom through the hole in the roof.

Mutsuki was still unconscious and Lucia seemed to be headed in that direction due to the stamina being sapped by using his body as a catalyst.

Machina faced Ange again.

“Take those two and hide. With her brain mechanized, Miss C will not even be able to play around with us. She will prioritize her mission to secure Adam above all else, so-…”

Machina was trying to get Ange and the others to escape, but the two of them were both blown away again. The entire school building was hit.

Half the building vanished and the two girls were buried in the rubble.

Lucia was dumbfounded as a black form landed in front of him.

“Capture of Fujita Mutsuki…positive.”

Black Cat approached without her usual battle-crazed smile and her voice sounded mechanically flat.

Their work must have been complete because the fangs had removed themselves from her temples. The cat-shaped helmet fell away and her head was exposed.

Two isosceles triangle-shaped devices were embedded directly into her skull like cat ears.

“Kh… What the hell is this!?”

Lucia had no idea what was going on, but he knew this was no normal enemy and tried to fight back. But the toxin was too powerful and Mutsuki’s skin began melting as soon as he diverted his attention away from it. He could not fight like this.

Schwarze would no longer listen to anything beyond the absolutely necessary and she mechanically reached out her hand.