Bonus: The Grave Dilemma⑥

The king of the mountains, having finished paving the ground with magma, swung its main cannon without moving from the spot.

Froenda and Hamazura gasped at the way the massive gun spun around with a grin!!, but the target of Microbe Revenge wasn’t the two small openings.

Instead, it was aimed at the sky.

"Hyooho, looks like that Doppelgänger-kun from earlier was nothing more than a decoy after all—!"

Having destroyed the decoy Doppelgänger, Kihara Gensei scowled in irritation at the lack of resistance.

──A decoy Doppelgänger. In other words, it could be replaced over and over again.

For Gensei, who had been struggling to destroy even one of those decoys, that was nothing short of disastrous information.

And so, Gensei shifted his thinking.

Rather than trying to resolve things alone with the unstable vessel that was faltering under the strain of two souls, he would instead use the other pieces available on this battlefield.

(That said, Kamijou-kun is trying to force me out of this body. If I give him any more freedom, it could easily end up tightening the noose around my own neck... which means, if I’m going to guide someone, it has to be Blackguard-kun...)

With that thought, Gensei looked down.

There he saw two girls—one blonde, one brown-haired—valiantly zipping around the mountain road on a bike.

(...Hmm, with that, their lack of power is undeniable.)

Shoving the roadside pebbles from his mind, Gensei shifted his gaze to other actors.

(Mugino-kun... looks like she’ll be taken down by Blackguard-kun sooner rather than later. Amata was doing something interesting, but nothing that would matter. Which means... perhaps Hokaze-kun, who seems close to defeating Amata? The compatibility isn’t great, but at least she could serve as a distraction—)

Of course, given the opponent, Hokaze would never pierce Microbe Revenge’s armor. And even if she could, colliding in the flesh with a titan fifty meters across would mean nothing but ending up as minced meat. Naturally, she would be used as a pawn to be sacrificed. But ultimately, her ability only barely clung to the bottom rung of Level 5 status. Someone like that could be thrown away as often as needed.

So Gensei decided to dive down, ready to drag Hokaze into the fight—when suddenly.

KAH!!!! A burst of lightning erupted from Hokaze.

It was the light unleashed by Hokaze—no, by “Hokaze Junko and Yuuri Senya, Astral Buddy”—as part of their assault on Kihara Amata.

A strobing flash designed to trigger a photosensitive seizure.

Of course, its true target was Amata—but—

"Wh... at...!?"

Right now, Gensei was inhabiting Nurikae’s flesh.

That meant he wasn’t in his original cyborg body, but in a completely "living" one. As such, physiological reactions were the same as any normal human. Simply put—Gensei’s consciousness blinked out for an instant.

And in battle against Microbe Revenge, that instant was literally fatal.

GOGIN. The main cannon of Microbe Revenge throbbed, swelling monstrously in size. The alabaster weapon, now a giant cannon stretching a full hundred meters, locked onto Kihara Gensei with unerring precision.

KYUGAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

And with a towering pillar of light, Gensei’s figure was wiped away.

Chapter 3 – The Value of a Soul Is Worthless　Double(Square)_Faith.
Bonus: The Grave Dilemma >>>>>The Battle for Ryoko Soshi in District 21 (⑥)

"Gya, gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!?!?!?!?!?"

At the same time.

On the mountain slope, two idiots had been thrown off their bike and were now tumbling across the ground.

The railgun that Microbe Revenge fired at Kihara Gensei carried output on a completely different scale from before. Even the residual light from the shot contained enough killing force to be lethal.

Fortunately, the two had been riding through the forest and hadn’t taken the blast head-on. But even the light they caught through the trees was enough to send them sprawling and writhing in pain on the forest floor. At least they hadn’t slammed into any trees during the fall—that alone could be called lucky. Still, compared to the “unluckiness” of staring straight into that light, it wasn’t much of a blessing.

"N-no, wh-what the hell was that!? The power was on a whole different level than before!"

"Goddammit… that bastard—everything before this was just a warm-up! Most likely he couldn’t fully hijack the Number Three’s power, so the output had been unstable!!"

Hamazura muttered as he blinked away the afterimages, but the truth only piled on more despair.

And just now, Gensei had taken that attack head-on. With one threat temporarily out of the picture, Microbe Revenge’s influence on the battlefield had only grown stronger. From here on out, their lives could be snuffed out at the whim of that machine.

"Well, I don’t think an old geezer like him would die from just that… but either way, he’s gotta pull back from the fight. Damn it, why’d he get blown away so easily…?"

"But what do we do now? At this rate, even our safety is—"

Hamazura’s voice cracked with weakness—then it happened.

Gigi-gi-gi-gi. With a sinister creak, the massive cannon shifted, rearranging itself as it began to lower its aim.

Both Frenda and Hamazura froze in shock.

After all, they had been the ones harassing Microbe Revenge’s legs earlier. With Gensei off the board, the two of them were now its most hated targets. It only made sense they’d be next—or so they thought.

Guinn!! Microbe Revenge surged into rapid motion, even with Gensei gone. Frenda frowned at its twitchy, calculated movements, as if adjusting its firing angle—until she realized.

The machine’s target wasn’t the two of them.

"Of course…! It’s after her—the real target!!"

"Hah!? Who the hell else is crazy enough to go toe-to-toe with that monster besides us—!?"

"Another Four, the secret Number Four."

Frenda raised her index finger as she answered.

Sure enough, Reicia could soar freely through the sky with the wings of “Cracks,” and her attacks not only cut but also prevented regeneration. To Microbe Revenge, she was practically a natural enemy. Considering that she had likely taken down Mugino as well, it was no wonder the machine would now set its sights on Reicia.

"Dammit…! But isn’t that bad!? Even if she’s a Level 5, against that kind of overwhelming firepower she doesn’t stand a chance! If we just sit back and watch, she’s gonna get crushed!!"

"Obviously! Which means there’s no way in hell we can just sit here and do nothing!"

"Then what do we do!?"

Hamazura’s desperate shout drew a strained, sweat-drenched smile from Frenda.

"We help her, obviously. A Level 0—the weakest, powerless loser—coming to the rescue of a Level 5, the strongest and invincible esper."

Frenda had set the bike in a certain spot and then split off from Hamazura, running alone across the mountain slope.

The weakest Level 0, a powerless nobody, was going to save the strongest and invincible Level 5 esper.

It sounded grand on paper.

But the question was, how exactly was she going to pull it off?

Frenda’s "Explosives" wouldn’t be able to put so much as a scratch on Microbe Revenge head-on. Still, she already had one answer in mind.

"For that, Hamazura, I need your help. No way around it."

『…Yeah, I know. Damn it all. Just thinking about Microbe Revenge turning its guns on me right now is enough to make my heart shrivel up…』

Chattering casually over the radio, Frenda kept scanning the ground.

Even while fleeing earlier on the bike, she had already scattered remote-controlled mines across the area. If she triggered them when Microbe Revenge passed overhead, she could destroy the footing just like before.

But that alone wouldn’t be enough to take out the exhaust ports. Still—

"Nishishi, stuff like that… in the end, it just comes down to a little ingenuity, doesn’t it? ♪"

For Frenda, who had risen to claim a spot deep in the shadows of the dark side armed with nothing but her mastery of explosives, this was nothing more than a puzzle waiting to be solved.

"More importantly, what about you, huh? Hamazura, are you ready or not? If you don’t do your part properly, everything I’ve set up will go up in smoke."

『……Yeah, I know.』

Microbe Revenge, likely adjusting its tactics to counter Reicia, was now using its incredible mobility to avoid staying in one place. But that, in turn, carried a problem.

With remote-controlled mines, it was nearly impossible to detonate them at the exact moment it crossed a given spot.

Earlier, when its output had still been unstable, its movements hadn’t been that fast. But now, it was an entirely different story. For Frenda to set off her explosives, she’d have to force its route into a predictable path.

And so, the plan was—

"…………Strange."

At that moment.

Inside the cockpit of Radicate 087──the massive weapon known to Frenda and the others as Microbe Revenge──Doppelganger muttered quietly.

The surroundings could only be described as grotesque.

Suspended at the center of a roughly three-meter-wide spherical chamber, Doppelganger wore a bodysuit shaped from pure white slime mold, which held them aloft like a marionette. The spherical walls were likewise lined with the same white growth, plastered thick as though it were a fatty net, from which rod-like devices extended, swaying left and right with a worm-like motion.

Though a cockpit, it looked more like the inside of some monstrous stomach. A blasphemous fusion of the inorganic and the organic. It was a sight that embodied the very concept behind the machine known as Doppelganger.

"I’ve managed to seize control of the Railgun’s ability, but… those two Level 0 nuisances who were making so much noise earlier have gone quiet. …Did they run? Well, not that it matters if they did."

The contract Doppelganger had struck with Kihara Amata contained only one condition: the neu–tral–iza–tion and cap–ture of Kihara Gensei.

Beyond that, they had merely been told to show off the abilities gained from their modifications as much as possible, but that was nothing more than a suggested goal. However their enemies scattered or struggled made no difference—it was trivial compared to the true objective.

Still, those two had once destroyed the footing to try and halt Doppelganger’s movements. It was hard to imagine that, despite having some powerful purpose, they would tuck tail and flee before suffering any real counterattack. More likely, they were preparing some kind of plan…

"…………If any–thing makes sense, it would be some–thing like destroy–ing the magma vents along with the foot–ing…"

But precisely because they held overwhelming superiority, Doppelganger could already read Frenda’s next move.

"Well, even if they tried that, fix–ing while break–ing is trivially easy. At best, that’s the extent of their hand. Anything more is just wasting resources to consider."

Muttering thus, Doppelganger switched their thoughts completely.

Radicate 087 was equipped with numerous sensor arrays. Electromagnetic, infrared, optical—the majority had been disabled by the torrents of power unleashed in the battle with Gensei. But now that Gensei had withdrawn from the field, their normal functions were recovering. With them operational again, even something like locating mines on the ground before activating repair functions was hardly a problem.

"………………,"

That was when Doppelganger noticed a disruption in the instruments.

Specifically, electronic and infrared sensors were being jammed. Tracing the source, it appeared to be radio signals emitted from one of the observatories.

"…I see."

Upon realizing this, Doppelganger understood.

Among the cutting-edge observatories deployed in Academy City were, naturally, infrared-based telescopes. By tampering with their parameters, it was indeed possible to repurpose them into makeshift jamming devices.

If the sensors were blinded by jamming, Radicate 087 might lose its footing for a moment, leaving an opening for a mine strike.

But.

"Naïve."

With a short murmur, Doppelganger swept their arm.

Countless fine mycelial threads trailed with the motion, setting slender iron rods quivering like a shiver, swaying side to side. That movement translated outward into the result: ‘rotation and main cannon targeting.’

"Of course, minimizing unnecessary casualties is preferable, but…"

Cold, detached.

"I am not the type to shrink from sacrifices necessary for my objective."

They pulled the trigger of the main cannon, a weapon that stripped even death’s dignity from human beings.

"Do-whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?!?!?!?"

Meanwhile, Hamazura had, by some miracle, just barely escaped with his life.

Needless to say, the jamming against the sensors—done by modifying the observatory’s telescope—had been Hamazura’s handiwork. Strictly speaking, it was Hamazura’s handiwork after listening to a crash course from Microdot, a pro in that field.

『You okay…!? That was a hell of a noise just now』

"Somehow! Goddammit, I’m never betting my life on a gamble like this again!!"

Shouting roughly into the comm before cutting it, Hamazura slumped down with white smoke rising behind him and called out to the woman standing at his back.

"Hey, reckless. How was the view of hell?"

"That’s my line, hothead. So, what’s your takeaway from barely scraping through with your life?"

"…………"

The two idiots locked eyes, and in perfect sync, spat out their answer.

"“Worst thing ever, obviously, you dumbass.”"

Immediately after.

The ground beneath Microbe Revenge’s feet erupted with a deafening blast.

『In the end, it comes down to collapsing the footing!』

A short while earlier.

That was exactly the declaration Frenda had made. Naturally, Hamazura, hearing it as the very first thing out of her mouth, pulled a sour face.

『Again…? Didn’t the last attempt at destroying the footing get nullified by that magma eruption? Don’t tell me you forgot we were about two seconds away from being swallowed by lava flow and cooked alive.』

『Of course, if we did exactly the same thing, it’d just be a repeat performance. But I’ve thought things through properly this time.』

Frenda, brimming with confidence, raised her index finger and continued.

『See, the reason I failed last time was because I hadn’t fully grasped what cards the other side was holding. I accounted for Microbe Revenge’s repair function, sure, but I didn’t account for the magma eruption ability. That gap between assumption and reality came back to bite me as failure.』

『Failure’s bill coming due as instant death is one hell of a scary business model…』

『Well, you could say the fact I didn’t die makes me the winner.』

Grinning with a mischievous “nishishi,” Frenda’s optimism drew a wry smile from Hamazura.

『So, what’s the actual plan?』

『This time, we destroy the magma vents first.』

Frenda stated it clearly, without a shred of hesitation.

『The purpose of the magma eruptions is twofold: to offset the loss of balance when the footing’s destroyed, and to clear away the small fry gathering underfoot. Which means, if it isn’t already active the very moment the footing goes, it’s useless. But…』

With a dramatic gesture, she clenched her fist, then spread it wide open as if mimicking an explosion.

『…If we destroy the magma vents at the same time as the footing, the enemy won’t be able to use both the eruption and the repair functions simultaneously. No matter what, they’ll be forced to stop moving.』

『That’s all well and good, but can you even manage to destroy the vents in the middle of an explosion? We’re talking about a monster that instantly repairs whatever we throw at it. Honestly, I can’t see the same spot taking damage twice.』

『Not a problem. …What if the explosion happens inside the vent?』

『…………』

『When we blast the ground, we’ll also launch explosives with it. The blast carries them straight into the magma vents. If the bombs detonate inside the machinery, not even a giant weapon like that could shrug it off.』

That wasn’t a plan so much as a circus stunt. By all common sense, the explosives should detonate prematurely just from being caught in the blast. To expect them to “ride the shockwave without going off” was practically magic.

And yet, Frenda—the girl who had carved out her place in the darkness solely on the strength of her explosive expertise—spoke as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

『See, explosions are nothing more than the chemical reaction between oxygen and explosive material. Which means, if you seal the explosive in a vacuum, it doesn’t matter if a nuclear war breaks out right next to it, it’ll never go off. Even something like sunblock cream would work. With a simple girl’s necessity, you can make an explosive inert—piece of cake.』

Still, even for a bomb pro like Frenda, the prep work could only be done onsite.

That gap was Hamazura’s job to fill.

『And to buy time for that prep work, I need you to use the observatory.』

『…The observatory?』

Hamazura tilted his head, and Frenda nodded.

『Yup. District 21 is mountainous, so there are tons of observatories. And they’re not just for stargazing through telescopes. Modern observatories are all about sending and receiving radio and infrared signals. That’s how they managed to pick up messages from Mars, remember?』

『…………』

『And conveniently, we’ve got a pro in that field on our side. With Microdot’s help, we can turn one of those radio telescopes into a jamming weapon. She’s from the dark side—dirty tricks like that are her specialty.』

Still, this wasn’t exactly a checkmate play.

『Microbe Revenge will definitely hate sensor jamming. It just got its vision clear after shaking off the thorn in its side, Gensei. That’ll make it extra pissed at anything that messes with its sensors again.』

『…And what happens to me in all this?』

『Once you activate the jammer, you run.』

『That’s just brute force bullshit!』

Even Hamazura couldn’t help but gape at the unreasonable demand.

『Relax, relax. From the moment it detects the jamming to the moment it decides to destroy it, there’s at least five seconds. More if you set a timer. With your ridiculous luck, you’ll be fine.』

『Something feels real wrong about factoring in my bad luck as part of the plan…』

Hamazura muttered complaints, but the hierarchy between them wasn’t about to change.

Frenda simply pressed on.

『And that’s when I make my move. With the sensors jammed and its aim fixed on the observatory, its footing will be left wide open. That’s when… we send in a bike loaded with explosives!』

Using only the handful of seconds Hamazura had bought by halting Microbe Revenge’s advance, they would send a bike rigged with explosives charging forward. When it reached its target’s feet, they’d trigger a mine to blast the bike—and its payload—straight up into the air, only to detonate again inside the magma vent.

If it worked, Microbe Revenge’s vents would be blown apart, its posture control crippled, and its footing yanked out from under it. Once stripped of mobility, that lumbering giant would be the perfect prey for Jagged Edge.

Hearing the full plan, Hamazura couldn’t help but mutter his impression.

『Man… the whole thing’s rotten to the core.』

Both enemy and ally alike—science abused, piled on top of more science abused. What had started as a fight to stop Microdot’s research from being misused had, somewhere along the way, twisted into a fight that outright counted on misusing her research.

Peaceful use of technology? That was nothing more than a pipe dream now. This was the dark side through and through—a scorched battlefield where every last face belonged to a villain. And yet, even here, Frenda laughed.

『What? You saying you’re not satisfied unless the only thing left behind is a cute girl’s smile?』

『…Nah. That’s more than enough.』

Hamazura found himself laughing along with her.

Even if the whole process was caked in filth, if the ending was a girl smiling, that was good enough. For now, he could honestly believe that.

『…By the way, when you said that just now, you didn’t mean your smile was the reward, did you?』

『The hell, Hamazura?! Are you saying my smile’s not good enough for a reward?!』

『Gyaah! Not the low kick! Don’t wreck King Hamazura’s golden right!! I swear I felt a crack!!!』

──And so, Microbe Revenge went up in a fireball.

Of course, that didn’t mean Microbe Revenge had been defeated. But thanks to their struggle, they had, in the end, saved the life of Reicia Blackguard.

With the blazing wreckage of Microbe Revenge at their backs, Frenda and Hamazura turned their eyes toward the girls.

Reicia Blackguard. And Kamijou Touma.

As the two heroes stood frozen, dumbfounded, it was Frenda who spoke first.

"Good grief. Consider that our thanks for driving Mugino and the others off. Thanks to you, we’ve got way more room to move now."

Then Hamazura followed.

"Sorry, but could you keep stalling for a bit longer? Looks like this isn’t something we can handle on our own."

And finally, both of them fixed their gaze on the massive weapon looming below and declared—

"“We’re gonna go smash that oversized hunk of junk.”"

The cast was assembled.

The curtain was rising on the main stage—Heavy Object.