"So, when all's said and done, the rankings are..." Edward listed everyone off from left to right, "Issei with 24 kills, me with 14, Grim with 7, mister Lee with 5 and Meil with 0."

"Pretty good, if I do say so myself." Issei grinned.

"I still kind of feel bad for just killing them, even if they were our enemies." Lune sulked, "I mean, what if they have families? If I died and left Cecily, Cene and Nelly all alone, I'd... Ugh, now I'm gonna cry!"

"You already did, idiot!" Edward shouted, "Seriously though, that backpack full of trinkets Issei has is a cheat code. It's just unfair at this point."

"Hey, if Dante can have an entire arsenal of weapons at his disposal to quickswap at any given moment, why can't I?" Issei smugly replied, "Hell, you could even make the comparison between my gadgets and Nero's Devil Breakers."

"Man, I'm over here sobbing and this guy's spouting nonsense..." Lune still looked sullen.

"Hey, you seriously hung up about those guys?" Lee consoled him, "Come on, chin up, guy! Look, lemme teach you an old bandit proverb: "If they're here fighting you instead of being with their family, that means they don't got no one waiting for them."

"That barely makes any sense in the context of bandits." Lune looked like it cheered him up a bit though, "By the way, who are you exactly?"

"Never mind that!" I cut the casual smalltalk short, "We need to chase after Rotriko! There is no telling what the ramifications of letting someone like him loose will be!"

They all returned me a bit of an annoyed glare, but with a depressed sigh, they ultimately agreed that it'd be the smart move to make. Of course they realize how serious of a threat Rotriko is, especially after witnessing him shoot me without even a second of hesitation. This guy won't stop until we're all cuffed and sent to prison, but knowing him, I doubt he'll stop there...

"Either way, we need to find a faster way out of this damned jungle." Ed mentioned as we ran through the thick shrubbery, "Since he got a pretty large head start on us, we have no other way to make it to campus before he does if we go by this road."

"Maybe if we had someone stall him up from the other side so we could catch up, but that's just wishful thinking." Lune replied.

"Maybe it is not." I recalled the WiCom I had in my pockets still, "Right, we should be in range of Nelly by this point."

"Nelly? You can talk to her on that thing?" Ed raised an Eyebrow, "Geez, technology's incredible..."

"Nelly! Nelly, do you hear me?" I shouted into the mic, "Come on, the Sinus Wave is somehow still in the positive amplitude, so she should be picking up by now!"

"Yo, what's up?" Nelly's voice brought back the light in my Eyes.

"Whoa, it really is her voice!" Lune gawked at the device's powers, "That's incredible, Meil!"

"Hey, is that papa with you?" Nelly immediately changed to a more professional tone, "Ahem, what may I be of assistance to you, Meil?"

"You're not fooling anybody with that one, daughter dearest..."

"Nelly, could you please gather Kevin and Javi to the campus gates?" I stressed, "Something very serious and very dangerous is about to happen, we will get there soon, so please tell them to stall the wounded guy rushing to the gates at all costs."

"Eh? Wounded guy?" She sounded confused.

"Yes! And above all else...!" I glanced at Lune for a split second, "After you inform them of this, DO NOT follow them there! The wounded guy has a gun and he is not afraid to use it!"

"Man, that's one scary situation, but alright!" She decidedly obliged, "I'll do it for you, daddy!"

"Stop calling him that!" Lune and Ed both shouted in unison.

Alright, with Kevin's muscles and Javi's job experience as the Librarian of a Thousand Passages, they should have plenty of combat knowledge to stall Rotriko without getting themselves hurt. And besides, even if Rotriko does open fire, we'll surely arrive in time for Lune to Heal them. Let's just hope it doesn't come to that...

"Wait!" Lune halted all of us as soon as we made it to the front gates, "Something's not right..."

"What do you mean, idiot?" Ed began walking to the campus entrance in spite of the warning, "Come on, we can't let Meil's friends fend him off alone."

"Ah, there you are." Happy showed himself to us, "Mes petits évadés, if I may."

"Bonnechance?" I warily Eyed him down, "What is going on? Where is Rotriko?"

"You know, I've heard of all sorts of prison break stories..." He ignored me as he glanced at Issei, "But bombing a hole straight through the jail cell is pretty unheard of."

"You did what!?" Lee and I yelled at Issei.

"Hey, you told me to get Lune and Ed by any means necessary." He shrugged.

"Indeed, and for that you are all going to have fun in the cells together." Happy cuffed all three of them in a matter of seconds, "Isn't that fun? Friends forever!"

"Bonnechance, I am begging you to let us go just for a few minutes more." I pleaded, "There is a very dangerous person on campus and we need to stop him. We will face any and all consequences honestly, but please, just this once..."

"Huh? You think that's how the world works, Meil Deram?" He chuckled, "So what, I let a depraved pervert go "just for a few more minutes", and where do you think he'll go? That's right, straight to the women's dorms."

"We understand your skepticism, but I think you should reconsider..." Lune tried to weasel his way out, but to no avail.

"Hey now, what's all this?" A slow clapping Rotriko made his reappearance, "Should've been more urgent if you wanted to catch me, amis."

"Rotriko!"

"Ah, monsieur Cochère." Happy saluted him in a friendly manner, "Did you report the terrorists you were talking about earlier?"

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"Yes, that matter is settled." He turned to gloat at us, "Or should I say, it is thanks to your skills as an officer that they are now safely cuffed and won't do any more harm."

"Eh? These guys are the ones you told me about!?" Happy scrambled to comprehend the situation, "No way, I'm that good!?"

Dammit, what the hell is going on? Was Nelly unable to locate Kevin and Javi? Were they beaten by Rotriko? Once again, this guy just won't stop being an annoying prick to us...

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***

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"Well, that sucks." Issei broke the ice after a painfully long period of silence in our shared cell, "So, when's Lune gonna break us out?"

"I can Materialize us a pick or even the key to the cell, but it'd be smarter for us to use this newfound time to concoct a battle strategy." Lune nodded, "First of all, what is our end goal, Meil?"

As everyone turned to me, it had become apparent that they were willing to follow through with whatever I may wish. This is good, I don't have to worry about anyone getting cold feet.

"We kill-"

"Tsk, try again." Lee disapproved immediately.

"Huh? But you asked me what the goal was?"

"Yeah, and now I'm telling you to think of a better one." He continued, "Meil, I did say killing is alright for bandits, but well... You're not a bandit."

What the hell is he spouting all of a sudden? He previously said killing isn't an issue. Heck, he JUST killed 5 people not half an hour ago!

"I agree with mister Lee on this one." Ed nodded, "Meil, killing is always the last resort, but you really have made it your first."

"This was a test to see what kind of person you've become." Lune folded his arms, "And now I see. You are completely unfit to take care of Nelly."

"Eh!? Nelly? What does she have anything to do with this?" I let out a panicked yelp.

"Hmph. Pfft!" They all burst out laughing all of a sudden, "Of course she has something to do with this? Turn around."

Doing as they said, I creaked my head back to look at the barred window, outside of which Nelly's head just barely peaked out. Hey, hold on, I didn't notice she was here! So wait, then these guys were...! Grr, Lune was just playing a prank on me, I can't believe I fell for it! Ack, but that prank was nasty, threatening to separate Nelly from me...

"Yo, catch." She casually dropped us the keys, "I snatched these bad boys while Javi and Kevin busied themselves talking to that fatass cop."

"The keys to the cell!" I smiled, "With these, we can get our weapons back, and...!"

"Ahem." The fellas cleared their throats, "What'd we say about excessive force?"

"It is the last resort, okay..."

In any case, does this mean they wish to talk things out peacefully with Rotriko? No, there's no way such a man can ever be trusted. He needs to be killed, otherwise he'll kill us all! I know it, it's happened plenty of times before! Silvia, Vivia, Chant, the officers at the slave prison...! This is a dog eat dog world, and I will not let anyone get eaten!

"Meil, don't look at us like that." Edward made a calm face, "You don't get it, do you? The reason we're telling you not to kill anymore."

"Hm?"

"You're your own prisoner, Meil." Lune added, "Be it Silvia, Vivia, Chant or even the officers at that prison you got enslaved in. They all killed without remorse, and if you continue to walk down this bloody path, then I'm afraid you'll only succeed in joining their ranks."

"Me? Being compared to those monsters?" I actually laughed in their faces.

"Well yeah." Issei finished me off with his casual, blunt reply, "Both you and them have killed a bunch of people. And while I can't speak from experience about the others, I can guarantee that you have the exact same glint in your Eyes now as Silvia did back in the prison."

I'm... the same as Silvia? Silvia, the same woman who tried to kill me and the Grimhearts back in the Mobius Awards? Not only that, but also after, when she went after me in the prison and conspired with the Carmens to kill Lune. I've... the same Eyes as her? Nelly, why isn't she saying anything to defend me? She of all people should know just how wrong you are! ...Nelly? Why are you... so sad? That look, it's... foreign. She doesn't recognize the man in front of her as Meil anymore. I see...

"Violence breeds violence, as they say." Lee added, "And judging by all you've shown us just today, I can imagine the reason you got this dark was exactly because of all these dangerous secrets you kept from us, Meil."

"Who knows? Maybe the reason behind your PTSD stems from you being forced to kill so much." Lune half-joked, "In that case, if you stopped killing, you might be able to cure it and be back to your normal, pragmatic life."

"That's not how PTSD works..." Edward lightly mocked him.

"Nelly." I turned to her, though I'm not sure what I wanted to say in that moment quite frankly, "...Thank you."

"Yeah, anytime." She nodded.

Thank you, for what exactly? For dealing with my trauma with such compassion, sincerity and patience? For still giving me the strength to go on, even in my darkest moments? For hearing all the wrongdoings I've dealt with, and still not turning her back on me, instead returning me a disappointed and saddened glare that surely put me on the right track again? Maybe it's all of those combined into one. I'm not sure, but if I asked her, I'm sure she'd happily explain it to me. Maybe later.

"Look, we're not forcing you to do anything here, okay?" Lee took the keys from me and unlocked the cell, "But everyone else agrees that our plan shouldn't involve killing. Still, your shitty situation, your move."

"...My move, huh?" I finally gave up once I took another peek at a smiling Nelly, "Then, the plan is as such!"