--- [Illian’s perspective]

My shadow clone is still up, but it won’t survive much more damage.

Getting into another fight right now is risky, but it doesn’t look like I have a choice…

“I empathize with you and the situation you’ve been put in, but I can’t overlook you attempting to kill one of us. No matter the reason.” – Edward

“Empathize? You literally kidnapped us… You’re just as sick in the head as that psycho.” – Illian

“I don’t expect you to understand, but it’s true. We… No… I, would not have done it if I didn’t deem it necessary.” – Edward

“Well, I don’t give a shit if you ‘deem it necessary’ or not. You kidnapped us, tortured us… You even tried to kill us! There’s no point in trying to justify it. You’re evil.” – Illian

“…” – Edward

Even though he’s still got that deadpan look, I get the feeling that he’s genuinely listening to me.

“You’re right. What we’ve done is evil. However… That doesn’t make it any less necessary…” – Edward

He slowly steps towards me; he’s done talking.

It’s time to fight…

He moves his hand behind his back, and as if he was unsheathing it, he summons a large sword.

It’s big…

It’s both longer and wider than me.

The edges look sharp enough to cut through anything.

I must avoid it at all costs.

As he continues to approach me, I prepare by entering a flexible stance.

No matter how he tries to swing it, I can dodge.

After that, all I need to do is counterattack.

…

--- 1 minute later

Or at least that’s how I thought it would go…

As soon as he got in range, he swung his sword.

It was so much faster than I expected, taking me completely off guard.

The sword sliced through me like it was nothing, and I fell to the ground.

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He immediately turned around, picked up Cat, then walked away like nothing happened.

Luckily for me, he wasn’t aware of my ability.

The damage transferred over to my half-dead clone, and I was completely unharmed.

I just had to lay on the ground pretending to be dead until he walked away.

That guy is a monster…

I won’t be able to pull that trick on him again; I can only summon one shadow clone per day.

I’m without a specialty right now, so if I’m forced to fight him again, I’m dead…

I don’t know how much better the others would fare either…

He’s too fast and too strong.

The only one of us who might be able to deal with him is Alex…

--- [Lett’s perspective]

“That’s it! I’m so done with him running away all the time! We’ll beat you, then finally get him!” – Miki

“Yeah!” – Shiki

“Listen, kids. I don’t particularly want to fight you, but you’re both so strong that I don’t think I have a choice. You, however, do have a choice. Just go away and leave us alone. If you do that, no one will be hurt.” – Lett

The girl clenches her fists and grinds her teeth.

“I’m so tired of you dumb adults always ordering us around! Stop underestimating us!! After we’re done with you, we’ll beat the crap out of the other big dummy too!” – Miki

She leaps right at me; I should probably get out of the way.

He said she gets stronger each time she hits me, so I should avoid that at all costs.

Luckily for me, that won’t be a problem.

Before she’s able to touch me, I teleport away to the other side of the corridor.

“Gah! Get back here!” – Miki

She continues to chase after me, but to no avail…

“Help me out here, Shiki!” – Miki

“Oh, right!” – Shiki

He looks around frantically for a bit, it’s like he wasn’t even paying attention until she called for him.

He turns around and runs his hand through the wall like its butter.

Just as he’s about to put it in his mouth, I teleport over to him and grab his wrist.

“I’m not gonna let you eat that.” – Lett

I shake his hand and all the food falls on the floor.

His ability is just like hers; he also grows in strength.

Although the mechanism is different, it has the same end result.

I won’t let any of them grow stronger.

With my ability, I can keep them both in check.

“Ugh! You’re so annoying!” – Miki

She tries to hit me again, but just like every other time, I’m easily able to teleport away.

The brother keeps trying to eat, but I stop him every time.

They’re not getting anywhere.

I could keep this up forever, but I don’t have time for that.

The others are in danger…

I need to wrap this up immediately, then make sure they’re all okay.

Getting us all out of here in one piece is my number one priority.

Being indecisive here is not an option.

If I waste my time here, something bad could happen to my friends, and I won’t let that happen.

Even if they’re just kids, they’ve clearly made their choice.

I can’t talk them out it, so I’ll have to get a little rough with them.

“This is the end of our little fight.” – Lett

“Huh?! What do you mean? Are you finally gonna fight bac-” – Miki

Before she gets to finish her sentence, I teleport behind her and chop her on the neck.

She passes out and falls to the ground.

“Miki!” – Shiki

He runs over to her and checks her pulse to make sure she’s okay.

He lets out a sigh of relief, before turning towards me.

“Wait!” – Shiki

Just as I was about to do the same to him, he stops me.

“I won’t chase after you or your friends, okay? Just let me take care of my sister.” – Shiki

“I’m sorry, I can’t do that. If I let you take care of her, she will just wake up sooner. The moment she does that, she will be chasing after us again. I gave you the opportunity to give up, but you didn’t take it.” – Lett

Just as he’s about to reply, I do to him what I did to her.

If he starts pleading, I might change my mind.

That can’t happen.

My friends are too important to me to risk their lives on a gamble like that.

Being nice isn’t an option right now…