“Hypothesis. Liebe has become something that cannot be categorized as a beast person.”
Liebe’s head was shot, but he completely vanished without leaving a corpse.
He was absorbed by the dark matter that gradually appeared behind him, and even the radar system could not detect him anymore.
It would be convenient if he just vanished, along with the ancient magic stone, but Qualia was not one to be so optimistic right off the bat.
In the first place, what was that Stealth, which interfered with his perception? Even the ten thousand page long magic book he used as input did not mention it.
At the very least, it was not magic, or a skill.
And more importantly, Liebe supposedly died once before, like Ina said.
Even Liebe himself hinted at that before disappearing.
The being called Liebe was shrouded in mysteries that even Qualia could not decipher.
“Confirming neutralization of Liebe.”
However, Ace, who stood next to him, judged that Liebe was dead, and did not inquire any further.
“Then I will continue looking for beast people, to kill beast people of Azure Skies.”
She said before taking three steps forward. And stopping.
Her eyes moved over to the remains of the magic doll destroyed by Liebe. Its magic stone was also destroyed, and the shards that lost their magic energy reaction glittered here and there, as if emphasizing something.
Ace looked for a moment.
“Qualia, did you repair your body with the magic you called 5D printer?”
“Error. The 5D printer is not magic. What repaired Qualia’s hardware was biotechnology through the 5D printer functions.”
“Request that you repair this individual with the 5D printer function.”
There was no sign of people on that street anymore, only a gentle breeze.
Ace looked up with clear eyes, as Qualia’s own clear eyes looked down and they gently connected.
“This individual is a necessary resource to fulfill master’s orders. For this reason, I desire its reactivation.”
“That is not possible, for three reasons. One, If the biotechnology of the 5D printer is used on someone other than Qualia, there might be unexpected genetic abnormalities. Second, the destruction of the body is severe. Third, magic dolls operate using a magic stone as their core, and the 5D printer cannot repair a destroyed magic stone.”
After hearing the reply, Ace stared at the scattered pieces of the magic doll.
Even though she did not so much as glance at the magic doll bisected by garuda the previous day.
“Understood. No problem. This individual was destroyed fulfilling its role as a magic doll. There are no abnormalities.”
“You are wrong. The death of this magic doll is a problem, and an abnormality.”
“Why?”
“The cessation of the vital activities of an individual related to you has great effects on thought and calculation functions. It is surmised that there are problems and abnormalities emerging in your thoughts.”
“I feel no abnormalities towards the cessation of the vital activities of this individual.”
“Ace, there are disturbances, however slight, in the regularity of your behavior.”
In this short amount of time, Qualia had already learned Ace, because he predicted she would attack him under Ddos’ orders.
Due to the results of this learning, Qualia was putting effort into safeguarding the budding heart within Ace.
Ace also detected something strange, and told Qualia about the small disturbance in her thoughts.
“Yes, there is a defect in my thoughts. The reason is likely because your heart was destroyed instead of me.”
“That is wrong. There is no reason to think about Qualia’s damage.”
“Magic dolls are manufactured to operate instead of humans. We were made as pioneers of an important ‘emergency force’. We destroy and kill as swords of humanity, and have the duty to be destroyed as shields of humanity as well. And yet, you took an attack instead of me. I am still unable to understand the reason… Ah…”
Ace looked at the sky, as if understanding something.
“There is a reason why I am thinking so deeply about this. It is because the diced steaks you gave me were tasty. You said it. If my vital activities ceased, I would be unable to eat them.”
“Affirmative. Qualia did say that.”
“I…”
A lonely wind blew, gently caressing the remains of the magic doll.
“I definitely wanted that individual to also eat diced steaks.”
Ace stood completely still, almost as if time had stopped.
She looked down for a moment, before facing forward again with empty eyes befitting of a magic doll.
“A new order has been relayed. Returning to master.”
“Request explanation. Is that Ddos?”
“Yes.”
“Request that you indicate Ddos’ location.”
“I cannot do that. Master has prohibited it. Gaia.”
Ace’s chest shined like a sea of trees, and immediately after, she activated the skill.
“Reverse.”
She chanted, and a wall appeared from the earth between her and Qualia.
A solid, giant square blocked the whole street. Qualia looked up at the giant wall that seemed to stretch all the way to the sky, and took action.
“Type SWORD.”
Immediately after making a beam sword appear, he swung it in a triangle and opened a hole.
But Ace was nowhere to be seen. Qualia judged that she had gotten away.
“Oh dear, and after talking such big game as well. You seem quite troubled.”
There was the high-pitched voice of a man speaking like a woman. It was Kernel, followed by knights of Clearance who quickly rushed to his sides, surrounding him.
“Request explanation. Are you here to destroy Ace?”
“I saw a reaction of an ancient magic stone in the radar system you gave me before that. It was here until just now. I wondered if Liebe had made an appearance, so obviously, that took precedence.”
“Request understanding. Liebe vanished. It is unclear if he was neutralized.”
“…I feel like I need to hear more about it. But then what should our priority be? We have a bit of chaos on our hands as well.”
Kernel then continued, not letting his composure break.
“Well, you are looking for Ddos first, right? We figured it out. We can talk about it as we go. We might need your help.”
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