“Execute Superposition.”
Was what he announced when he activated the second function from Shutdown.
And this function was called Superposition.
For example, if a coin was flipped, it made it so it showed both heads and tails. It allowed for multiple gates to be crossed at the same time. It allowed for both left and right to be seen at the same time.
But since Qualia was currently at 0.1%, he could not use it to its full potential.
At most, he could create another Qualia. That was all.
There was Qualia, who was inside with Liebe and Ace, eliminating the assassins who got in.
There was Qualia, who protected Lobelia and Spirito in the backyard, facing Zero Division.
But one Qualia was enough to fight Zero Division.
(…Kukukuku, they don’t notice they don’t notice…)
A certain assassin approached Lobelia, who was in the center of the backyard, from an angle poorly guarded by Qualia and Spirito. An average person could not detect these people.
These assassins could sever the carotid artery of a passerby on a busy street. If they were somewhere guarded, they could disguise themselves as the air and cut someone’s head.
And this assassin would use the opening brought by the shock of the death of Lobelia, to finish the other two.
“No prediction revisions. Sixth.
Type GUN.”
A light pierced the assassin.
“…Eh?”
The assassin did not notice the hole in the chest at first, or that he was finished.
There was no way he could. None of his targets were facing him. They seemed completely unaware that an assassin was drawing near.
And yet… The gun barrel was pointed towards him.
Qualia caught the presence that was being obscured. And if he could do that, he had no need to actually see.
He could finish off his target without turning to look.
“…Don’t have… To see…”
The assassin became nourishment for the ground.
“Being killed like that is a disgrace to Zero Division!”
The other assassins turned their bloodlust to Qualia upon seeing that. They had no interest in avenging a colleague, but sullying the name of Zero Division was something that aggravated them.
Five assassins surrounded Qualia, and moved at the speed of sound.
Shukuchi. An unprecedented speed that went beyond sound.
They were too fast for the human eye to catch them. Much like a kamaitachi riding the wind could not be seen, much like a bullet being shot was too fast to see, the peak of their agility was too fast.
“Brat… Feel the terror and regret, and repent…”
And they ran around Qualia with irregular trajectories, as if performing a fluent and mad dance while keeping their unreasonable speed.
They wanted to regain Zero Division’s honor by playing with Qualia, and make him twist with terror.
But Qualia analyzed the situation with no expression on his face.
“No prediction revisions.”
Beams flew towards the legs of the assassins running at an incredible speed.
“Aaaaaaaah!?”
“He saw through… Shukuchi!?”
Two, three. Their arms and legs were pierced by those beams, rendering them completely out of the fight.
“…Sorry, but I showed him plenty of Shukuchi.”
Qualia hit targets his eyes were not supposed to follow with his beams, because they fought using the same Shukuchi he saw from Spirito.
Qualia’s predictions were accurate to the point where the footsteps and experience from the fight with Spirito were more than enough information. Even if he was unable to see, he could defeat them with predictions. It was a problem that had already been solved through the mock battles with Spirito.
“At the same time!”
“You…!”
The remaining two assassins went for broke, and it took less than a second to go from making that decision to being near Qualia’s throat. Their blades were being unleashed on their prey, Qualia.
“Execute Teleportation.”
“He’s gone!?”
But the moment they got there, Qualia was gone.
Their attacks hit nothing, and something appeared next to the two assassins, who stopped in their confusion.
“Type SWORD.”
Two flashes of light. Even assassins created big enough openings when they were baffled.
Their arms plopped down from their shoulders. Each flash cut both arms of an assassin.
“Agyaaaaaaaaaah!”
“Confirming neutralization.”
And as if showing his work towards that conclusion, the assassins pierced by beams laid on the ground.
Immediately after, Qualia pointed his gun at the assassin facing Spirito, but there was no need.
“Ranma, third speed.”
Three Spiritos came from beyond the speed of sound, and attacked the assassin.
Once she stopped and became one again, the assassin had been vertically cut in two.
“It can’t be… Our Zero Division… To these kids…”
A survivor sounded shocked. But the backyard was carpeted with the bodies of Zero Division.
One assassin laid dead with a scorched heart.
One writhed on the ground, with holes in the arms and legs.
They all laid on the ground of the backyard of Lobelia’s mansion, bathed in moonlight, and with nothing to hide them.
“If a member of the darkness of Troy is alive, we can hear about Woodhorse… Well, not that Troy wasn’t done the moment we learned about this group.”
Lobelia stood behind Spirito. Her position was never breached, and she glared at the assassin that was still alive.
Meanwhile, Qualia was still in a fighting position. And he was more emotional, compared to Lobelia.
“We’ll interrogate him after Zero Division has been completely defeated. Their leader is probably still out there. Qualia, can you calculate how many are left!?”
“Qualia is connected to Qualia inside, and synchronized. Three threats have been eliminated, so it is judged there are two remaining.”
“Unless what that one assassin said was wrong, or they called for backup.”
“Watch out! These people all used Shukuchi. That means the same should go for the others!”
But even if the assassin that was screaming in agonizing pain input wrong information, conveniently for them, there were no reinforcements.
Qualia compared answers, and there really were only two left.
■ ■
“…Pathetic. Even if there was peace for a while, to let themselves rust this much on the line between life and death…”
“No, Qualia and Spirito did very well. Especially Qualia, who pierced bodies with beams, and used teleportation that went beyond Shukuchi. But what should be noted the most is his ability to learn our movements. This is not an opponent we should be killing. I’m trembling…”
Rocky, the captain of Zero Division, and Krengel, their strongest member, expressed their feelings over the pitiful end their colleagues met.
Of course, they did not intend to continue watching from afar. The situation simply would not be settled if they did not go out as a last resort.
“But we know all too well how they attack. And we cannot checkmate without putting down Qualia and Spirito.”
Rocky said, as he exposed a magic stone wrapped in the black clothing to the moonlight.
It was beautiful, almost like a jewel.
“Diamond.”
Once the light shined on it, it became noisy like the sea.
As it showed its power, it sank into the black clothing. Not sewn into it, becoming one with it.
Meanwhile Krengel held a sword so big, it made his large body look small.
“Rei.”
A magic stone that shined even brighter was assimilated into its handle.
“Rocky, this has become a good age. An age where magic stones can be embedded in weapons and equipment…”
“Magic devices. Invented alongside magic dolls, but their development fell behind once the usefulness of magic dolls came to light. Apparently these are also unofficial prototypes…”
“Is Woodhorse’s trump card one of these magic devices too?”
“Yes. How annoying.”
As both felt magic energy gather in the magic devices, the last two members of Zero Division leaped from the shadows.
“I’ll crush Qualia. Krengel, take Princess Spirito. She’s a perfect opponent for the swordsman killer.”
“Yes. I’ve been wanting to go at it with her, ever since I saw her win the Kingdom of Acacia’s sword fighting tournament…”
“Then let’s go. The light of Zero Division is in front of us.”
They saw Qualia and Spirito.
Qualia pointed his gun at them, but the power of their magic devices was released before he could pull the trigger.
The Diamond artificial magic stone that had been embedded into Rocky’s black clothing.
The Rei artificial magic stone that had been embedded into Krengel’s great sword.
Both activated at the same time.
“Reverse…!”
“Reverse!”
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