Chapter 37

The Titans.

Primordial giants with godlike power.

When they took a step, the earth trembled.

When they breathed, a storm raged.

[H-How are we supposed to deal with that…?]

They wanted us to fight those things? Those creatures that could take a direct hit from a railgun turret and still stand there unharmed?

[This is impossible…!]

[W-We have to run…!]

Instinct screamed at us.

We couldn’t win.

We had to run.

But we were only first-year chicks who had just become Adaptees and entered the Academy.

For the first time in our lives, we faced the aura exuding from an upper-tier [Mystic] species, and we couldn’t even think of running away. Fear froze our legs in place.

And in that moment, one of them reached its hand right up to the barrier. The railgun turrets that had been spewing shells without pause were swept away in an instant.

KWAaaaaAAAANG—!

[Taaaake coverrrr!]

Someone shouted.

Fragments from the destroyed barrier, shattered by the Titan’s swinging arm, came flying toward us.

The railgun turret debris, which had looked like tiny dots in the distance, grew massive in an instant and crashed down on the students.

Kraaaash! Thud! Thud!

Most of the students dodged in time, but a few couldn’t escape and were buried under the rubble.

Red liquid began to seep out from under the debris, but the color was quickly washed away in the downpour.

Iri barely managed to hurl herself aside in time to dodge the fragments.

But the classmate who had been right next to her was gone. In their place, unrecognizable chunks of flesh had splattered across Iri’s body.

“……!”

She couldn’t even scream.

If she had been just a moment slower, she would have ended up like that. The thought sent a bone-deep, suffocating terror through her entire body.

—AaaAAaaAAaaaahhh!

Screams echoed in every direction.

Someone was desperately trying to lift a boulder pinned to the ground. Someone else, hit by a small shard, had lost one of their mechanical legs.

And to make matters worse—

—You crazy bastard! What the hell are you doing!

—Shut up! I said shut up!

One panicked student was aiming their arm at the Titan. The skin on the back of their hand split open, and a single-use grenade launcher rose up.

—I’ll kill that giant bastard!

—Stop it, you lunatic!

BOOOM!

The grenade fired from their wrist, but the violent wind and rain threw it off course. It dropped short without getting far.

Flames erupted near the first-years.

In that instant, a cold shiver ran down the back of Iri’s neck.

“Urk?!”

It was the same instinct that had saved her countless times before.

She instinctively turned her head toward the Titans. Beyond the curtain of rain, a massive eye was staring straight at them.

‘It’s… looking at us…!’

The explosion just now had drawn their attention. Their target had now shifted to this side.

‘I… I have to run…!’

Running here would be a violation of orders.

But if they just stood here waiting for instructions, they’d die like dogs. Even if she got punished later, she had to get out of here.

Yes, she had to run.

The thing was already stepping through the breach in the collapsed barrier, entering the city. With that size, it would reach them in just a few strides.

And then—

Through the chaos of screams and panic on the Internal Comms Network, a ray of salvation came down.

[Notice. Stingray Scholarship recipients and corporate scholarship students are to board their designated vehicles according to affiliation and relocate to Sector D. Transport will arrive shortly.]

Board, then relocate.

The words were dressed up as if they were redeploying to another operational zone, but the meaning was obvious.

‘They’re only evacuating the corporate ones…!’

It was blatant favoritism.

The intent behind the order was plain as day.

Normally, they would have dressed it up more convincingly to avoid stirring trouble. But right now, they didn’t even have the time to craft such a lie.

Soon, dozens of flying armored vehicles burst through the rain from the city center. Some bore the Stingray insignia.

The transports landed in an open lot, and people quickly rushed out. Judging by their uniforms, similar to the first-years’ but with slight differences, they seemed to be upperclassmen from the Academy.

Those whose parents were corporate employees, or who had been scouted early as scholarship students, ran toward their respective corporate vehicles.

The injured from the Titan’s earlier attack were quickly retrieved by upperclassmen from the same affiliation and loaded into the vehicles.

Naturally, this drew outrage from the regular students.

—What kind of bullshit is this!

Especially among the first-years, many hadn’t yet been scouted by any corporation since enrollment, so the protests were fierce.

—Goddammit, you’re just leaving us to die?!

—Let us on too!

But their demands were ignored. The corporate scholarship students pointed their guns at the first-year regulars without the slightest hesitation.

—Stand back. This isn’t your ride.

—You bastard! You want a fight?!

One male student, as if ready to fight to the death, drew his weapon at the corporate scholarship students. But before his weapon could even activate properly, dozens of rounds tore through his body.

Thud.

He collapsed limply, his body mangled beyond recognition. Silence fell for a moment, but they couldn’t stay frozen forever.

The regular students gave up trying to cling to the corporate side and chose to fend for themselves instead. Groups of friends gathered in small clusters and began fleeing into the tangled alleys of Sector E.

Ratatatatatatatatat—!

By now, the Titan had fully crossed the barrier. The corporate vehicles opened fire on the giant in a frenzy, but they couldn’t slow its advance in the slightest.

—If your legs still work, run and get on!

At someone’s shouted curse, Iri snapped out of it. This wasn’t the time to be frozen—she forced her fear-numbed legs to push off the ground.

But then—

“Uuugh?!”

Iri suddenly lost her balance and collapsed to the ground. Dirty water mixed with city dust entered her mouth.

‘M-My body won’t move…!’

It was a module malfunction.

A symptom that had begun after her module had been hacked. Convulsions, nausea, dizziness… According to Miyu, the cause was that her nerves were slowly being eroded.

‘Of all times… why now…!’

Normally, the symptoms disappeared after a few seconds, but this time, she couldn’t move her body for over thirty seconds.

‘S-Someone… help me…!’

Iri rolled her eyes toward the Stingray scholarship students. A few students, seeing the Stingray uniform she wore, hurriedly ran over.

“Come on, get up!”

“Where are you hurt? Can you walk?”

“T-Thanks…!”

She had resented Stingray so much.

And yet, never had that fence felt so reassuring. She almost let her emotions get the better of her and tear up.

But in the next moment—

A voice froze her thoughts cold.

“Leave her. Help the others first! We’re out of time!”

Iri knew that voice.

The voice of the man who had tormented her relentlessly for the past several days.

She lifted her head and glared at him.

‘Leon… Albert…!’

Of all places to run into him, it had to be here. Iri wanted to curse, but she couldn’t get her voice out.

The student supporting her spoke.

“What do you mean, leave her…?”

“I’ll take care of her, you go over there!”

“A-Alright!”

The students handed Iri over to Leon and rushed off to rescue others. Leon slung her over his shoulder and began walking slowly.

Then he spoke to her.

“I told you clearly before.”

“……”

“Did my words about quitting the Academy sound like a joke to you? I told you if you quit on your own, I’d lift the malware from your module.”

“……”

“Oh, you can’t even answer now? Must be because of your module problem, huh?”

“W-What… are you… trying to… do…!”

Iri squeezed out her voice, but the words came out broken. Leon, unfazed, continued speaking.

“It’s not like I wanted to be this way toward you. Honestly, I don’t even know you that well, so there’s no need to be so harsh to a junior I barely know.”

“Then… why…”

“Because you’re dangerous.”

Leon said.

“I’ll admit it honestly. I saw the results of the [Showcase]. And I judged your talent to be dangerous.”

“…What?”

“You’re on a completely different level from someone like me. No wonder Lord Aaron took an interest. That’s why…”

Leon dropped Iri onto the ground.

For a moment, she thought he had let go by accident, but she read his eyes and realized it wasn’t a mistake.

“You…!”

“You shouldn’t be in the same place as me.”

The moment he said that—

Kuuung!

With a tremor in the ground, a massive shadow loomed over them. Iri didn’t even need to look to know that the Titan had come right up to them.

“P-Please…!”

Don’t do this!

There’s no need for this!

It’s my fault, so please!

But her pleading voice died at her throat. Leon simply turned away and ran toward the Stingray armored aircraft.

When the Titan closed in, perhaps thinking rescue was now impossible, the vehicles took off all at once.

The Stingray vehicle was no exception.

Leaving Iri behind, they disappeared into the skies.

“Damn… it…!”

Her body was still frozen.

She tried to force herself up, only to roll on the ground. Her ash-gray hair was soaked with dirty water.

And she had fallen in just the wrong direction—facing the Titan’s head. In truth, it was so high she couldn’t even see its face clearly.

‘Ha… it’s ridiculously big…’

Iri let out a hollow laugh.

She was alone in the open space.

Both corporate scholarship students and regular students had long since fled to avoid the giant’s advance.

The sound of rain was desolate.

The giant noticed Iri, the only living being there, and began to show interest. Its massive hand reached toward her.

‘What a shitty life…’

Just one press of those fingers and her body would be reduced to pulp.

In other words—

She was going to die here.

‘…I’ve never been happy, not even once.’

Born without parents, wandering the back alleys.

The family she had barely found died early.

Even though she was chosen as a scholarship student, her sponsor disappeared, and her Academy life was filled with bullying from the very start.

‘Still… that was tasty…’

Was this what they called life flashing before your eyes?

Even now, the taste of the meal she’d eaten in the dorm cafeteria came back—scrambled eggs and bacon. She had overeaten and gotten a bit of a stomachache.

She also recalled Miyu and Ciel, who had tried to help her in their own way. In the end, she had driven them away harshly in her mental turmoil, but looking back, there had been no one more precious.

While countless memories flashed by—

The massive, rough hand drew closer.

‘Brother.’

Looks like I’m dying like this.

In the end, it was a life that didn’t suit me. Maybe in my past life, I was a great sinner.

She imagined for a moment—

Her supposedly dead brother suddenly appearing to save her. He hadn’t shown up when she was beaten by thugs, but maybe now, he would.

That foolish thought overlapped with a memory from a dream she had once seen—

A man’s cold golden eyes looking down at her, instead of her brother’s gentle gaze.

Why was it, she wondered—

That she thought of him at a time like this.

Rain ran down her cheeks.

She was alone. She was alone, and would end up alone.

Even in the moment of death.

This must be the path she had chosen.

This must be her way of life.

Iri murmured without thinking—

“Help me…”

And in that moment—

A deep, low voice pierced through the sound of rain and sank into her heart.

“…Sorry I’m late.”

Then the man asked—

In a voice that seemed indifferent at first—

But carried a deep undercurrent of affection.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

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