The arrow flew.
The trail of green light it left behind was like a beam.
The trail reached the wall of the Rootstream on the far side.
And Agitator's head was at the center of that trail.
Its head had been pierced through.
BOOM!
Agitator's head exploded, scattering black smoke and black blood.
Then its entire body disappeared, scattering black smoke.
"Ptooey! Ptooey! Ah, damn it."
"Whew, the sand. I am letting go."
The two people behind him, caught in the bow's aftershock, spoke.
"Ah, yes, huh?"
The two let go of Haseol and stepped away, causing him to fall face-first into the sand.
"Pff!"
Haseol spat sand from his face and raised his head.
FWOOSH!
The Rootstream was disappearing.
That must have meant that, now that the ghost had disappeared, the ability gears were safe.
"Whew."
Haseol let out a small breath and looked at the bow in his hand.
"Could I kill Dictatorship with this bow?"
He asked the question before retrieving the ability gear.
"Lionheart is ability gear that guarantees power commensurate with the time put into it. The important matter is how much time Dictatorship will give you."
"What if I attack from far away and draw Dictatorship outside the Rootstream?"
"Dictatorship did not even pursue you outside the Rootstream. Would that work?"
"Hmm......"
"If Asha is still alive, she would also make a very good shield."
"That is true."
He was still not enough to face Dictatorship.
"Finding a way to overcome Subjugation Enforcement is the priority too."
"That is the biggest problem."
Haseol nodded as though he understood.
"Uht."
At the suddenly heard voice, Haseol, Myun, and Bisan all turned their heads.
"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
One person roared as though howling.
A girl with a black bob threw both hands high into the air and shouted.
Reverse Life and the staff were in her hands.
"I did it! I did it! I did iiiit! Yaah! Hyahhhhh!"
Asha roared with joy.
"I will go check whether Reverse Life and the staff are both still in the places where they were earlier. Haseol, keep watching her."
Bisan spread his wings and flew over the desert.
"Fuck!"
Asha spat something close to a curse and threw Reverse Life and the staff she held onto the ground.
"Hnghhhh. I hope this is the end. It can't be, can it? Aaaah, I don't want to."
Asha sat down in the desert.
"I don't want to......"
Speaking in a voice that came from the heart, she hugged her knees and curled up.
Then white light crackled, and Asha disappeared.
"She cleared the Rootstream?"
Myun pointed to where Asha had been.
"It seems so."
"Then what was the Rootstream we just removed?"
"It seems so."
"How did an ordinary person beat someone of Type: Division with threat level A and clear this Rootstream?"
"Agitator did not seem very strong, did it?"
"Yeah. An ordinary person died only after being hit several times."
"Its Nature was lethal against me."
"Yeah."
"Then does that not mean its Nature did not work on Asha? If it went out of its way to beat Asha to death with fists that were not so strong."
"That would be it."
"How did she overcome Agitator's Nature?"
"Since she was chosen as a predecessor, she must have had some kind of strength. Asha's strength was probably what let you escape Dictatorship too."
Haseol stared intently at the place where Asha had been.
The image of Asha sitting curled up around her knees, saying she did not want to do it, remained like an afterimage.
"Here!"
Bisan's voice rang out.
"Reverse Life and the staff! Both of them are here!"
Bisan held up the two ability gears.
"Why are they there?"
Myun sounded dumbfounded.
"If the human Asha cleared this Rootstream, she should have taken the ability gears with her."
"She should have."
"If she failed, the ghost would have broken both ability gears, so they would not be here either."
"Then...... Was it showing us how Asha would have resolved this Rootstream if she had been here?"
"Why would it show us that?"
"To help us resolve it?"
"Did it help?"
"Not really...... There was nothing about it that helped."
"The middle parts crackled and got cut out. What help was that? And who would even show us that?"
"Because it was pure white light......"
Haseol thought of the person who had used the power of pure white light.
"No one except Asha comes to mind."
"While she is tied up by Dictatorship?"
"Asha's power was probably why I survived and escaped."
"Let us say that was possible. But that illusion we just saw did not seem to help you much, did it?"
"That is true."
"What good is there in showing you her crying and throwing a fit because she does not want to do it? You have already passed that point, Haseol."
"......"
"Maybe if it had been right after you started this work. But you are already someone who does it without much complaint."
"Right after I started this work......"
Haseol fell into thought for a moment.
"Asha seemed like she had not been doing this work for long, right?"
"It looked that way."
Flap.
Bisan landed before the two.
"Bisan, can Eska check who touched Reverse Life and this staff before we did?"
"Eska can."
"Let us go check."
At Haseol's words, Myun and Bisan nodded.
"Training my power is not a very good method."
In the living room of Haseol's house, Bisan sat on the sofa and spoke to him.
"The reason for a vampire's existence is its longing for life. It is an exceedingly instinctive part. By using it often? Or by understanding it theoretically? It is difficult to grow stronger that way."
"Do I simply have to hope that I will realize it someday?"
"That is right. There is no part that Haseol can improve through effort right now."
At Bisan's words, Haseol turned his head.
"What about Shura's power?"
"The reason for a werewolf's existence is its longing for the body's ultimate limit. You hone the body and stand purely at the peak of martial arts."
"Then is that not what I need to learn now?"
"The way to grow stronger is repeated mastery."
"Ah."
"Rather than having the mind understand it, the body has to move on its own. It is not very good for becoming stronger in a short time."
"I see."
Learning from Shura was not a particularly good path if he wanted to rush off and defeat Dictatorship.
Click.
The front door opened.
"I am back. Eat."
Myun entered with plastic bags in both hands.
"Eska has not come back yet?"
Myun spread the food across the table.
"No, she has not returned yet."
Lunch was bossam.
Myun piled the meat on one side and the vegetables and buckwheat noodles on the other.
"Is this not too much food?"
Haseol let out a hollow laugh at the food filling the table.
"You have to eat well to work."
"That is true, but."
"Whether there is an urgent matter or not. Anyone who is going to move has to eat."
Haseol did not say anything more and nodded at Myun's words.
Screeech.
A Slap Portal opened at one side of the living room, and Eska walked through it.
"You are back."
"Mm."
Eska sat beside the table and set down the staff and Reverse Life.
"Did you find out what the staff was?"
Myun asked first.
"It is an experimental tool. When someone makes a solution, they put it in there and examine what reaction occurs."
Eska answered.
"What is the staff made of?"
"The staff itself is simply made to be sturdy. Usually, magic is cast on the staff to examine the reaction between the magic and the solution."
"Then it is not very useful."
Myun seemed to lose interest.
"After we eat, we can put it straight into the Fairy Realm."
He reached a conclusion.
"Is there no information about the previous owner?"
The moment a conclusion was reached, Haseol asked a question.
"There is."
"Yes?"
"There are traces that an ordinary person with no connection to supernatural abilities touched both ability gears."
"When? Can you tell whether it was a long time ago?"
"There are traces of someone touching them recently. Every other trace disappeared as time passed."
What Eska's words meant was clear.
"Then does that not make it more likely that Asha once obtained the ability gears?"
"It does."
"Then does it not seem more likely that the Asha we saw there was showing something that actually happened in the past?"
"If so, the question is why she buried ability gears she had already obtained back in the same place."
"The reason is......"
"Eat first. Think while you eat."
Myun pushed a lettuce wrap into Haseol's mouth.
Caught off guard, Haseol accepted the wrap and chewed.
"The ghost destroys ability gear, so it would not have been the ghost. And Asha did not seem to have any companions, either."
"That is true."
"The ghost that attacked Asha was definitely dressed the same as the Agitator I killed."
"That is true."
"Asha also told me to prepare myself because Rootstreams would be created one after another and it would be difficult."
"Do you think the Rootstreams appearing one after another are Rootstreams Asha prepared, Haseol?"
Bisan asked as though he found it an interesting view.
"It seems likely. Ah, Eska."
"Speak."
"Can the ability gears we obtained before also be checked for information about other users?"
"Bring them here, and I will check."
"I will go to the Fairy Realm."
Haseol immediately rose from his seat.
When he touched his thumb to his solar plexus and twisted it, he disappeared from the living room.
"King of Mages. What happened to the captured Assassins?"
Shura asked a question, then ate the buckwheat noodles.
"They disappeared."
"How?"
"They turned into black smoke and disappeared."
"Are they dead, or did they escape?"
"I believe it was closer to annihilation."
"Did you find out any information?"
"They appeared to have two objectives."
"What are they?"
"To move to eliminate supernatural abilities, and to act according to their Natures."
"Does an Assassin's Nature mean assassination?"
"Yes. When I kept them bound, they shook like drug addicts, asking to be allowed to kill someone. Then they turned into smoke and disappeared."
"Hmm."
The bossam piled on the table gradually diminished.
Eska, Myun, Bisan, and Shura all ate quietly without any particular complaint.
"I am back."
After a while, Haseol appeared in the living room carrying ability gear.
"I will check them right away."
Eska wiped her hands and carried the ability gear to one side.
"Yes, yes."
Haseol nodded and continued staring intently at Eska.
"Eat."
Myun forced another lettuce wrap into Haseol's mouth.
"Ah, yes."
Distracted by something else, Haseol chewed.
"But there was that illusion we saw."
"Do you mean the vision of the event that triggered the beginning of this incident?"
Bisan asked to confirm Myun's words.
"Yeah. When the Rootstream was completed, the human inside it died."
"We saw that future."
"But before the Rootstream is completed, why does it loop and give more opportunities? Are those not two completely opposing things?"
"About that. When I touched the Rootstream this time, I got the feeling that it had two layers."
"Two layers?"
"A black side that tries to maintain its form and kill humans, and a white side that tries to remove the Rootstream. That is what it felt like."
"The Rootstream is not one form, but a form in which two powers struggle to achieve what each wants?"
"Yes."
Bisan nodded.
"That would make sense."
Myun nodded as though it had some merit.
"It would be easier to understand if we completed the Rootstream in black."
Everyone glared at Eska at her words.
Their eyes told her not to say something so ridiculous.
"Did you get the results?"
Haseol, as though telling Eska not to say useless things, pressed her for the investigation results.
"Every ability gear has the traces of an ordinary person."
"If Asha's hands touched the ability gears, can we not conclude that the Rootstreams I have been resolving are ones Asha prepared?"
"For now, that is the most likely possibility."
"Asha prepared them to make me grow quickly?"
"Yes."
At Myun's confirmation, Haseol nodded.
"Then what was the illusion of Asha that you saw this time?"
"Could it have been an error?"
"What kind of error?"
"They recreated the Rootstream from the past exactly, but an error caused what happened there to be shown to us too."
"Why would that error happen?"
"Could it be because she used her power to save me? She was attacked then, too."
"Hmmm. When I put the circumstances together, your hypothesis does seem the most likely."
Myun nodded and resumed eating.
"Then even while Asha was in a difficult situation herself, she was moving to help Haseol."
At Bisan's words, Haseol remained still with a serious expression.
"Even though she was an ordinary person and had no one to help her, she did not give up and obtained the ability gear."
"That is right."
"And rather than simply obtaining them and ending there, she worked for the best possible outcome of obtaining both ability gears."
"......"
Haseol nodded with a serious expression.
"It would be a shame to dismiss her as someone who only did it because she had no choice."
"That is right. She is an amazing person."
Haseol nodded once again, an expression of renewed resolve on his face.
"That is true."
Eska nodded as though she agreed.
"Let us observe a moment of silence for Miss Asha."
"Ah, fuck. She's not dead, so why are we holding a moment of silence? Do not say something so unlucky."
Haseol immediately threw the chopsticks he held at Eska.
"Heh, hehehe."
"Pwahahah!"
At that, Bisan and Myun burst out laughing.
"Hahaha!"
Perhaps because the chopsticks struck an invisible wall in front of Eska and fell, Eska simply laughed it off as well.
"Si Haseol."
Only Shura, seemingly uninterested in the situation, spoke to Haseol.
"Ah, yes."
"You want to kill Dictatorship, right?"
"What? Yes. That is right. More precisely, I want to rescue Asha from Dictatorship."
"Have you finished eating?"
"Yes."
"Then let us go."
"Where?"
"The auction house."
"An auction? Are we buying something?"
"A weapon you can use is going up for auction."
"A weapon I can use would be......"
"Cursed."
At Shura's calm answer, as though it were only natural, Haseol let out a half-resigned laugh and stood from his seat.