Chapter 148: Trish…?

I snapped out of the strange trance again. Once more, I was seeing memories I didn’t remember. Couldn’t remember.

Once again, everything around me had changed. The entire corridor I’d been standing in was gone, replaced by gaping holes in every direction.

The ceiling, the walls, even the floor—everything had been torn apart. My summons had ripped it all to shreds as they homed in on every living thing in the area.

And they still hadn’t stopped. I could still sense some getting killed, some killing, and most being obliterated by dozens of spells.

“I can’t keep blacking out like this.”

I shook my head. It had been fine the first few times, but I couldn’t let it keep happening.

I had no idea how my body moved while I was unconscious. Worst-case scenario, it was killing everything in sight. Best case, I was just automatically defending myself.

But… even that best case still wasted time.

Time I didn’t have, according to the deepest parts of my mind.

THUD!

But now, that didn’t matter.

I had finally found what I’d been looking for.

[Profaned Step]

Through the eyes of the summon that had found it, I fixed the location in my mind, then teleported to appear right in front of it.

And there it was.

A huge, ridiculously reinforced gate—so solid it could probably survive multiple trains crashing into it.

Brute forcing my way through it was definitely not an option…

But…

Right now, I was ready to use every tool I had.

“Beelzebub.”

There was no answer, but I knew just saying his name was enough to alert him. And to my surprise…

ZIP!

The entire gate in front of me vanished, like it had blinked out of existence. He didn’t even ask for anything in return.

Guess I really did help him when I gave him his rival’s name.

BOOM!

The ground exploded beneath my feet as I sprinted, each step shattering the concrete as I pushed my body to its limit.

I stopped questioning it.

All I knew was that I needed to trust my body and keep moving.

Another gate waited ahead of me, but this one was much weaker than the last; they’d clearly blown their entire budget on the first.

They had never expected anyone to make it this far.

[Stop this instant.]

The speakers rang out, but I didn’t listen.

BOOM!

I crashed through the second gate like it was paper. I was getting close; I could feel it.

The divine energy I gave Fiona earlier finally responding now that I was close, acting like a small beacon.

And…

She was alive!

[If you don’t listen, we’ll kill her.]

tap.

The instant my foot touched the ground, I slammed to a halt. The sudden change in momentum sent a rush of wind past me, the impact jarring after moving at such a high speed.

A worried voice crackled through the speakers.

He was watching closely, clearly stunned by the sheer force I could unleash just with my body alone.

“What do you want?”

[That eye of yours.]

They noticed? Guess they weren’t a shadow society for nothing. Noticing the power radiating from my eye should have probably been expected.

“Will you let her go if I give this away?”

[A deal’s a deal.]

I clenched my fist. He has to be kidding me, right? I’m not a big enough idiot to make a deal like…

A deal like…

H-huh?

*** Beijing – 1:13 A.M.

We moved through an underground compound directly beneath Beijing, built into an abandoned sewer network. Our mission was to eliminate a terrorist group that had just threatened to attack the capital the following week.

By now, years had passed since I first trained T-452—or rather, T-1.

And to be honest…

THUD!

THUD!

CRACK!

She had become a reliable companion.

“I got the information out of him!”

Even after all those years of killing, she never lost her smile. She still looked at me the same way she did back when she was just a student in London.

“Nice job. Who’s our next target?” I asked.

“The third code holder is about three kilometers to the east.”

“That’s farther than I thought…”

I checked my remaining ammo. It wasn’t enough if the ratio of distance to enemies stayed the same as when we first got here.

And it wasn’t just that—we were clearly running out of steam. Rest wasn’t an option either; we were too deep in enemy territory to safely stop and recover.

This was our most dangerous job yet…

And the exact reason why they gave me a partner in the first place.

“Let’s get going.”

I moved first, trying to kick the door open.

BANG!

But…

It didn’t budge.

“The hell?”

BANG!

I kicked it again. Still nothing.

So I used my gun instead. I’d already made a lot of noise; one more shot wouldn’t make a difference.

“T-1, check the previous entrance while I handle this!”

“Roger!”

THUD!

BANG!

I heard a sudden gunshot and the sound of fighting behind me, and just as I turned to see what was going on—

*** Present

That’s odd…

Why do I feel… pain?

There was something weird in my left hand, and when I looked to see what I was holding…

[Eye of the Profaned (Unique)]

“H-Huh?”

I reached for where that eye was supposed to be, and… there was nothing there, just a simple hole.

Before I could even process what had just happened, the speakers rang out again.

[Good choice. We’ll be sending someone to escort you soon.]

Did… did I make a choice while I was unconscious? I felt completely dumbfounded.

W-Why!? Why did my mind accept the deal!? That shouldn’t even be an option. There’s no way I would be that dumb. I tried to recall the vague memory I had before I woke up.

But once again… there was nothing.

I couldn’t remember it ever happening.

T-1, the mission in Beijing—I should remember all of that. But…

Nothing.

[Photographic Memo—ERROR

Even my photographic memory wasn’t working. But, I could tell there was something wrong, something trying to claw its way out of my mind…

Then…

Right!

From back then, right before the first of these many strange memories began to appear…

“T-Trish…?”

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