Episode 54 – Recordark (6)

Recordark (6)

Creak— creak-creak——

A grotesque sound flowed from his entire body. His skin was dyed a dark red, no longer resembling a human, and heat was radiating from every opening like his eyes, nose, and mouth.

Dangerous.

“He must have been drugged.”

It would be correct to say he was forcibly drugged, but with those symptoms, it was probably ‘Neoz’.

A prohibited drug that can perform beyond Perion depending on the dosage, but its side effects and pain are 40-50 times greater.

That’s already a lethal dose. He’s more of a ticking time bomb than I am. If he went to a doctor, he’d probably be told he had ’30 minutes left’.

Ahhhhhhhh———!

He roared and charged at us. Elise pushed me from behind.

“Hey, you-”

“Can you buy us some time?”

She started to warm up her magic. A blue aura rose around her.

It was her Magic Body.

“……I’ll buy you time, just make sure you do it right.”

“Don’t get yourself killed.”

If we’re dividing the roles of dealer and tanker, there’s no other way.

I summoned Perion. My body heated up in an instant.

Then, he appeared before my eyes. He swung his fist at an abnormal speed.

Swoosh——! I thought I had dodged his attack, but it was a combo. Heavy straight punches came at me from all directions like crazy.

“Damn!”

I dodged some, blocked some, and looked back at Elise.

She was mumbling with her eyes closed, probably preparing some magic, or rather, Magic Spell.

Boom——!

Suddenly, he kicked. A simple kick carried a gust of wind. I quickly bent my waist backward, and the tip of his foot brushed past my nose.

I took a big step back.

“……This is insane.”

The speed is no joke. And it’s getting faster.

It’s an overload.

His body is heating up and accelerating like this, and the moment the drug effect wears off, it will explode.

Probably in 10~20 minutes.

That’s more than enough time to kill two people.

Thump— He loosened his joints. Steam rose from his ears.

Ahhhhhhhh———!

He roared again and charged.

“How many minutes!”

Even though I’ve upgraded my entire body with Perion, his speed was like car racing.

It was hard to keep up.

Creak—!

His fist brushed past my chest. I dodged about half of it. But that half was enough to break my ribs.

“No, how many seconds.”

I mumbled, clutching my chest. Elise didn’t seem to hear, but the magic was slowly overflowing from behind me.

Indeed, the wave is extraordinary.

With this, the power is assured.

Grrrrrrrr——!

He seemed to have sensed the threat and charged at Elise. I quickly tripped him.

—Gah!

I climbed on top of the fallen man. I tried to pound him with my fists, but.

—Grrrrrrrr……!

He purely stood up with sheer strength and crushed me.

“Damn, are you an elephant.”

I moved my lower body while pinned down. I wrapped my legs around his face and squeezed.

Grrrrrrrr——

Only then did the zombie seem to express pain.

But the very next moment, my eyes widened.

A burning pain surged in my side.

“Ah, fuck…….”

He had sunk his teeth into me. His yellowish gums were stained with my flesh, muscle, and blood.

Spit-!

As soon as he spat something out, blood gushed out, and my body went limp.

“……It’s done.”

Thankfully, Elise opened her eyes just in time. She merely spread her palm. The zombie’s body was enveloped in magic and whoosh— it floated up. It was fixed 30m high, against gravity.

“Ah…….”

I watched the spectacle while lying down.

It was a real spell.

It felt like a fantasy.

Caw- caw- cawww———!

The zombie flailing its arms in the sky. Elise suppressing it with magic so it couldn’t come down.

If we just buy time, he will self-destruct.

Therefore, end of situation.

“Phew…….”

I slowly relaxed. The world seemed to fade away, only the sound of my breathing and the rain could be heard, and my vision began to blur.

______________________________________________________________________

……I opened my eyes. The sky was visible. It was still Recordark, but the rain had stopped and it had cleared up.

I tried to get up but hesitated. There was severe pain in my abdomen. Not only that, blood was oozing from under my back.

“You woke up quickly.”

“……?”

I turned to look at her. There was a woman in my blurry vision.

“Can you hear me?”

“Uh…….”

My focus gradually returned, and my vision became clear.

Elise, soaked in the rain, was visible. The pieces of bandage stuck to her blood-soaked hands, the wire and scissors scattered on the ground, and the open emergency medical kit next to them.

I asked blankly.

“……Were you dreaming of becoming a doctor?”

Elise snorted.

“Do you know how many hospitals Petra has? How about you?”

I looked at my upper body. The wound where he had bitten my side was already stitched up.

“……Well, you’re an idiot.”

I didn’t want to admit it, but it seemed like I owed my life to her.

“…….”

I silently looked up at Elise. Elise pursed her lips and snapped at me.

“What are you looking at? It’s disgusting.”

“……I’m not grateful either. If it weren’t for me, you’d be dead too, right?”

“Hmph.”

Elise snorted. She wiped her hands with saline and said.

“I actually thought about leaving you to die. I despise you more than you think.”

“Is that so?”

“Since you bought us time, as you said, let’s call it even. Let’s pretend it never happened. We didn’t enter the isolation zone, and we didn’t meet anyone in there.”

Sigh.

I smirked and laid back down on the ground.

“Yeah. Whatever.”

My consciousness is still a bit blurry.

Is this a dream- I wondered, and also wondered if I really had regressed.

It’s all because of that woman.

Elise Petra.

I hate her. I despise her family, too, blinded by their ambition for the Senate. I loathe them so much that I don’t want to build even the smallest ‘connection’ of giving or receiving help.

Ironically, it’s proof that I don’t hate them as much as I hate Libra. Because if it’s for the downfall of Libra, I’d willingly become their loyal hound. I’d do just that.

After all, there’s no original sin for Elise.

Of course, if killing her would bring my mother back to life, I’d at least consider it.

But the world doesn’t work that way. Killing her in the name of avenging my mother would be nothing more than venting my anger.

Just like Noah Lucille today.

…So.

“Me too.”

I shift my gaze from the clouds above to look at Elise. Her slender, platinum eyes, briefly revealing contempt, are staring at me.

“I hate you.”

I just barely hate you.

I can never have good feelings for you, who was born by killing my mother, or for your family.

“You, your fucking family, much more than you all think.”

Just a bit short from hatred.

Elise Petra stands at that point where I neither want to forcibly fill that hatred, or reduce it.

And it’s not because of Elise herself.

“So? Thanks.”

She sneered. As if my malice was not a threat at all. As if she was grateful.

“Keep hating. The more you do, the more frustrated you’ll become.”

She gets up and walks away, step by step. With steady strides, she distances herself from me.

“……”

I close my eyes as I watch her retreating figure.

Suddenly, a voice from the past echoes in my ears.

…I have a favor to ask, friend.

A memory that has now disappeared.

Times that come like waves, existing only for me.

…When you leave here.

I was a prisoner of Recordark. Not an ordinary prisoner.

The charge was treason. The sentence was 20 years.

But I didn’t have the luxury of 20 years, so I made an escape, and I succeeded.

The cost was another person’s life.

…destory them.

Yael.

He died for me. He sacrificed himself for my freedom.

…The family that made me this way.

Of course, those moments are now nothing more than lost time, but I won’t leave them lost.

The lost time defines me, I continue within it, and in the end, it is me.

Even if it’s time discarded by the world, because I remember it.

…destroy Petra.

Yael, praying for Petra’s downfall in his fading heartbeat.

His story, only revealed at the brink of death.

But, I couldn’t understand his last words at that time.

…and protect Elise.

You left a will to me, who didn’t even know your name, to protect Elise.

“I thought it was nonsense.”

Now I know your name along with it, but I didn’t know the reason then.

“But what can I do.”

Honestly, I thought you misspoke.

From ‘kill her’ to ‘protect her’.

I never imagined she could be your kin.

“Your sister…”

I rummaged through the pocket of my Endex uniform. I grabbed a single card. I held it high up to the sky.

───!

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck the dry sky.

The bright spreading light illuminated the name written on the card.

[Elise Petra]

“……I hate her so much.”

______________________________________________________________________

“……Are you really, really okay?”

“Ah, I’m fine. Stop asking.”

Recordark’s visiting room. The power outage caused by the magic storm was restored in 20 minutes, and all the seniors of the magic prison, except for the one who was already dead, gathered safely.

Shion Ascal was… somehow back and sleeping on the desk.

“If you’re injured anywhere-”

“I said I’m not.”

Elise waved her hand annoyingly. The guard finally backed off.

“……Haah.”

It’s been a tiring day.

All sorts of people have already been dispatched to the scene of the crime. A senior and a prisoner were killed by an external intruder, so journalists will flock too.

Elise was about to sit down when she noticed someone.

Gerkhen Kal Doon was on the chair next to her. Holding something in his hand.

“……What’s that?”

“……”

Gerkhen Kal Doon glanced at her. Then he shoved something into his bosom.

“No, what is it.”

Thorns unknowingly rose in my voice. Gerkhen Kal Doon said in a tiny voice.

“A treasure.”

Treasure. Does he mean an assignment?

Elise gritted her teeth slightly and looked at Gerkhen Kal Doon.

“You’ve collected it in the meantime.”

“It was under the statue in the living space corridor.”

“……Liar. I’ll believe you if you show me.”

Elise reached out. Gerkhen Kal Doon was very cautious. As if she was some kind of hedgehog.

“Never mind. Don’t you see I’m exhausted now? Go write a report.”

“Okay.”

As she pretended to give up and suddenly turned around, Gerkhen Kal Doon also tried to get up but quickly sat back down.

“Really…… I’m so dumbfounded I’m getting dizzy, dizzy……”

With those last words, Elise collapsed with a thud.

She had fainted.