The next second, the side wall of the warehouse exploded outward.
A figure flew through the opening like a broken doll and slammed into the ground near Freya.
The moment she saw his face, her eyes widened.
It was Miles, one of the three members of Nolan’s team.
He was barely breathing.
When Miles noticed Freya, he assumed she was an ordinary passerby. He managed to lift one hand and spoke in a weak voice.
“Run… Get away from here…”
Freya did the opposite.
She broke into a run toward the warehouse.
Because she had spent a month on Nolan’s team, she knew exactly how he operated.
Nolan usually assigned his teammates to safer positions and gave them support duties.
He was always the one who charged into the most dangerous part of the fight.
If Miles had been injured this badly, then Nolan, who had gone in first, was probably in even worse shape.
“How is that possible? Captain Nolan is Rank Four!”
Auxerre had eight Special Affairs teams.
Nolan’s had the fewest members.
The main reason such a small team had survived for so long was Nolan’s personal strength.
Among the eight captains, he was arguably the strongest.
In other words, Nolan was the most powerful known government practitioner in Auxerre.
Freya gave a light jump and reached the shattered section of the warehouse wall.
Dozens of people stood inside.
There had to be at least thirty or forty of them.
They included men and women, young and old, thin and heavy. Their clothing was equally ordinary.
At a glance, they looked like random people gathered from the street.
Their expressions were the only strange thing about them.
Every face was blank, stiff, and mechanical.
They moved like puppets on invisible strings.
Captain Nolan stood surrounded in the center of the warehouse.
Every person around him held a weapon.
Blades and other sharp objects had been driven into him from every direction, leaving his body covered in weapons like a pincushion.
Blood continued to spill from the corner of his mouth.
His lips trembled, and disbelief filled his expression.
“I never expected…”
Freya could not hear the rest.
Something tore through the air with a piercing whistle.
The attack was too fast.
Even with her War Path-enhanced body, Freya had no chance of avoiding it.
All she could do was turn her head slightly toward the source.
For the briefest instant, she thought she saw a red blur.
Then everything went black.
When Freya opened her eyes again, she was standing inside the academy restroom.
She had returned to the place where she had begun her fourth simulation.
A small system notification appeared before her.
[Simulation complete.]
[Duration, seven hours.]
[Save this simulation file?]
There was no doubt about what had happened.
Something had killed her instantly.
She had died so quickly that she had not felt any pain.
Freya was not sure whether to consider that good news or bad news.
She pursed her lips.
“That question is completely unnecessary. Why would I save a dead version of myself?”
Future Simulation entered another one-hour cooldown.
Freya returned to the classroom and continued attending lessons as though nothing had happened.
When the cooldown ended, she did not immediately begin another simulation.
Time passed until the end of the school day.
Freya walked slowly along the road home, thinking about what she should do next.
Obsidian’s mastermind was far stronger than she had imagined.
Anyone capable of defeating Captain Nolan had to be at least a Rank Five practitioner.
Freya was only Rank One.
More accurately, she only possessed one Rank One saved version.
Her original body was still that of an ordinary person.
And she was supposed to stop the evil plan of a Rank Five criminal?
She had barely left the starting area, and now she was expected to fight the final boss.
Was this a joke?
For the first time, Freya felt tempted to back away.
Whatever this villain was planning did not seem directly related to her.
Perhaps she should simply leave it alone for now.
As she considered that possibility, Freya passed an alley.
Without warning, she turned into it.
A moment later, she backed out again as though she had taken a wrong turn, then continued walking home.
One minute after she left, another girl stepped out of the alley.
Her clothes were different, and her right hand was wrapped in bandages.
Otherwise, she looked exactly like Freya.
Freya had entered the alley to summon War Freya somewhere no one could see.
The time and location were almost right.
Before doing anything else, she intended to complete a flawless clear of Rex.
[Current date, July 21, the second day since Freya arrived in this world.]
At the same time and place as before, War Freya spotted Rex wandering in a daze near the apartment.
This time, she did not call his name loudly as she had during the simulation.
She chose a more cautious approach.
The original Freya had gone to speak with her landlord nearby, using the excuse that she wanted to discuss the rent.
War Freya wore a hat with the brim pulled low.
Other people could see little more than her chin.
Her face remained hidden.
She walked toward Rex.
When she was three paces away, she spoke at an ordinary volume.
“Rex?”
The moment he looked over, War Freya raised the brim with her right hand.
She lifted it just enough for Rex to see her face.
Then she immediately lowered the hat, turned around, and walked away.
Rex froze for a moment.
His instincts soon took control, and he followed her.
The two wound through several streets before reaching the empty alley.
This time, War Freya did not walk all the way to the dead end.
She stopped just beyond the corner and pressed herself against the wall.
A dagger rested firmly in her hand.
Rex staggered into the alley.
The instant he came around the corner, War Freya struck.
The dagger flashed forward and plunged into his neck.
Freya had fought Rex several times.
She knew this enemy, who wanted to eat her, extremely well.
Rex had none of that experience.
This was reality.
To him, Freya was still nothing more than a cute, ordinary girl.
She was prey.
A tempting little treat his instincts told him to devour.
He could never have imagined that his helpless prey would attack without warning.
Nor could he have expected such a vicious strike.
During the previous simulation, Freya had tried speaking with him first.
She had allowed his reason to collapse completely, and Rex had been the one to attack.
This time, she had the first move.
After driving the dagger into his neck, War Freya twisted hard.
The blade turned halfway around inside the wound.
Blood burst from Rex’s throat.
War Freya immediately released the weapon and stepped back.
A split second later, the skeletal tail sliced through the air.
It struck nothing.
Rex always fought according to instinct.
He targeted the greatest immediate threat first.
Only after removing that threat would he attack a vital area.
When Freya carried a gun, he attacked the hand holding it.
During their last fight, when she had approached him empty-handed, the tail had aimed for her head.
This time, it was almost certain to target the right hand holding the dagger.
Just as Freya had predicted, the tail stabbed toward that hand.
She avoided it before the attack had fully begun.
At the same time, she lowered her body and swept Rex’s legs out from under him.
As he lost his balance and began to fall, Freya reached forward and seized the dagger still buried in his neck.
She pulled it free.
Then she followed his falling body down and stabbed again.
This time, the blade drove into his eye socket.
Thud!
By the time Rex hit the ground, he was already dead.
The entire fight had lasted less than five seconds.
Quick and clean.
Freya pulled the blood-soaked dagger free and wiped the blade against Rex’s clothes.
Only then did she slowly stand.
Rex had wanted to kill her.
No, he had already killed her once.
The thought of sparing him had never entered her mind.
At that moment, the system interface appeared without being summoned.
It did not appear before War Freya.
Instead, it opened in front of the original Freya, who was still speaking with her landlord.
[The first fatal crisis has been successfully cleared.]
[System upgrade in progress…]
Less than five seconds later, another message appeared.
[Upgrade complete.]
Freya blinked.
“That was fast.”
She carefully examined the upgraded system.
A new save slot had appeared.
[Save Slot 02]
Other than that, nothing seemed to have changed.