Chapter 89: I Have a Reason I Must Stay Here

Chapter 89: I Have a Reason I Must Stay Here

Inside the cafeteria of the Embers underground core area.

“D-Don’t… don’t kill me.”

In the foul air thick with the stench of rusted metal and blood, an Embers guard was curled up in a corner, his face pale with terror as he stared at the horrific figure not far away—like death itself given form.

A High-Level Second-Order Machina Type Starbearer from the Starbearer Association headquarters: Benjamin Sesko, the Demolition Expert.

Looking at this expressionless, terrifying humanoid weapon, the guard’s mind kept replaying the nightmare-like scenes he had just witnessed.

First, every bullet fired at the man had detonated in midair.

Then, the metallic fragments left behind by those bullets seemed to be controlled by an invisible hand, rising and hovering around him.

Finally, the most chilling moment arrived.

The metal fragments that had been suspended around Benjamin suddenly accelerated, piercing the skulls of every resisting individual in the cafeteria with terrifying precision, effortlessly completing a one-sided massacre.

As for the few who had miraculously survived the initial barrage—the metallic fragments lodged inside their bodies detonated in a bizarre explosion, finishing them off completely.

A devil.

This man was nothing less than a devil in human form.

As an ordinary person, there was no way he could ever defeat such a monster.

Driven by an overwhelming instinct to survive, the Embers base guard not only dropped his weapon, but also begged for mercy in the most abject manner imaginable.

However, his pleas meant nothing to a purely rational, utterly inhuman Machina Type Starbearer.

Click

As he looked down at the guard kneeling and begging before him, Benjamin’s mechanical eye emitted a faint whirring sound. Streams of data flowed through the iris of his pupil, as if calculating something.

The next second—without the slightest trace of pity or hesitation—Benjamin raised his hand.

Boom!

Before the guard’s eyes, filled with agony and despair, the metallic fragments still embedded in his body instantly transformed into lethal bombs, engulfing him in a blazing explosion.

Moments later, on the cafeteria wall where he had been cowering, there appeared a grotesque “abstract oil painting” composed of flesh and blood.

And the message conveyed by this painting contained only two words:

Death.

Despair.

At the same time, many similar pieces of “bloody art” could be found throughout the Embers cafeteria.

The severed limbs of Starbeast test subjects.

Fragments of weapons left behind by those who resisted.

Bloodstains from those who tried to flee.

Each of these abstract artworks told the same story to any living soul who passed through this place—a single ending known as death.

With these macabre decorations in place, the Embers cafeteria had completely lost the noise and warmth it once had.

All that remained was a twisted exhibition hall of hell, filled with death and the stench of blood.

“Th-This… this has already gone beyond the scope of the mission, hasn’t it?”

Among the team, a young Association Starbearer couldn’t help but mutter quietly as he watched what Benjamin was doing.

His voice trembled—not only from fear, but also from a deep sense of moral unease.

After all, what was happening here was nothing like the “justice” Benjamin had spoken of on the surface.

Others in the team shared similar thoughts.

Yet no one chose to respond.

Silence became the dominant theme among them.

After all, the two second-order Starbearers who might have been able to persuade or restrain Benjamin—William and Isaiah—had already become mysteriously separated within the “Endless Maze” after entering the Embers underground core area.

“Move. On to the next sector.”

Benjamin stood before a massive door, remaining perfectly still for a full minute before suddenly speaking.

His distinctive machine-synthesized metallic voice carried no emotional fluctuation whatsoever, yet within it lay an unmistakable, unquestionable authority.

It was as if he were telling the others that if they did not follow his orders—

The fate of the Embers guard just now would be theirs as well.

Thus, after watching Benjamin push open the door and step into the area beyond, the six First-Order Starbearers from the Steam City Branch hurriedly followed.

Setting aside the lethal danger posed by Benjamin himself, in this bizarre, labyrinth-like underground core area, even lagging behind by a single step could mean becoming lost forever.

So whether they liked it or not, they had no choice but to stay close to Benjamin.

After all, there was no longer any path of retreat for them.

Splash—

The moment they stepped into the new area, a chill crept up everyone’s spine.

They looked down, only to see that the open floor was covered by a layer of icy water deep enough to submerge their ankles.

Very quickly, they realized where they were.

They were inside a massive underground drainage system—long since shut down—so silent that only the echoes of dripping water could be heard.

And directly ahead of them, seated high above at the far end atop a massive drainage outlet, was a silver-haired youth wearing a black eyepatch.

He calmly looked down at those entering below, a spine-chilling smile hanging at the corner of his lips.

Drip. Drip.

Due to the temporary shutdown of the power supply, the underground drainage system had also come to a halt.

The accumulated water was slowly rising.

Yet the boy seated before the enormous drainage outlet seemed utterly unconcerned by this worsening situation.

He silently watched as Benjamin and the others approached, and once they had closed to a certain distance, he smiled and raised his hand.

“Yo, good evening.”

Tendou’s voice wasn’t loud, but within the vast emptiness of the drainage system, the strange acoustics amplified it.

At the same time, although his tone was extremely polite, everyone except Benjamin instantly tensed up.

Because this mysterious stranger's appearance was strange enough as it was.

And his expression… was far too relaxed.

So relaxed that it seemed he didn’t take them seriously at all.

This arrogance and disdain radiating from this mysterious stranger's very bones caused even these seasoned Association Starbearers to feel an immediate and intense sense of danger and unease.

Of course, Benjamin was the exception.

He did not believe that this mysterious stranger, who showed only a First-Order star energy reaction, could possibly threaten a Second-Order Starbearer like himself.

As Tendou spoke, the animation’s camera slowly focused on his face.

On screen, Tendou was smiling as he looked down at Benjamin and the others.

Yet even through the screen, viewers could clearly feel the undisguised killing intent hidden beneath that smile.

At the same time, dimensional viewers noticed something unusual.

That was—the strange object affixed to Tendou’s forehead.

A peculiar collar-like device was clearly visible there.

Streams of silver data surged wildly through the special apparatus, intertwining with his silver-white, tousled hair.

“Holy shit! What’s that thing on Tendou’s forehead?!”

“New equipment? I’ve never seen him use that before!”

“The speed of that data flow—no way that’s low-tier!”

The dimensional viewers were absolutely right.

What Tendou was wearing on his forehead was naturally no ordinary item.

It was a special piece of equipment he had specifically exchanged from the Popularity Shop—

Portable Quantum Core.

【Portable Quantum Core: Grants the wearer a degree of ultra-high computational power similar to that of a Machina】

【Purchase Price: 500,000】

Drip—

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Tendou braced his hands against the edge of the drainage outlet and lightly leapt down, his body as weightless as a feather. The pooled water at his feet blossomed into perfect circular ripples, releasing a crisp, clear sound.

Tendou stood there casually, smiling at the group before him like an innocent, harmless young boy.

“One Second-Order, and six First-Order. You people from the Starbearer Association—or rather, from the Iron Dome House—have really given me quite a difficult problem.”

“If I let you pass through here, then the next area will be the base’s Quantum Core.”

“And… that is a place I absolutely cannot allow you to reach.”

Hearing Tendou’s words, Benjamin spoke from within the group, his expression unchanged.

“What if I insist on going through?”

“Insist on going through?”

Tendou frowned slightly, as if genuinely pondering this difficult question.

But just as everyone was waiting for his answer, Tendou’s figure vanished from where he stood.

And when he reappeared, he was already standing in front of a First-Order Association Starbearer at the rear of the team.

Tendou pressed his palm against the man’s face. The harmless smile on his face vanished in an instant, replaced by a chilling, indescribable coldness and severity.

“If you insist on going through, then I’ll have no choice but to ask all of you to die here.”

“Because, you see—I have a reason I must stay and guard this place.”

As the words fell, the impact of Tendou palm pressing against the Association Starbearer began.

Boom!

A dull, thunderous sound of shattering bones and twisted flesh rang out.

The First-Order Association Starbearer in Tendou’s grasp was flung backward like a rag doll, propelled by some mysterious force at terrifying speed, crashing into the wall behind him and becoming firmly embedded within it.

Moments later, copious amounts of blood seeped from the cracks in the wall, spreading into the pooled water on the floor below and staining it a glaring red.

At the very same moment Tendou made his move, Benjamin raised his hand and fired a stream of gray metallic torrent straight at him.

The specially made metal fragments exploded the instant they made “contact” with Tendou, flames instantly engulfing his entire body.

But—

“Metallic Detonation, huh? What an interesting Star Origin.”

When the flames of the explosion dispersed, everyone’s pupils shrank violently.

Because Tendou, who had taken Benjamin’s attack head-on, was completely unscathed!

Facing the stunned expressions of the crowd, Tendou casually reached up with his left hand and removed his eyepatch, revealing a pair of deep, azure-blue eyes etched with countless unique Star Path patterns.

At the same time, he slowly opened his right hand.

Resting in his palm were several metal blades, gleaming with a strange, distinctive luster.

If the one struck by that Metallic Detonation hadn’t been Tendou but someone else, even if they survived the first wave of explosions, they would never have endured these specially crafted metal blades.

Although Tendou had openly called out Benjamin’s Star Origin, there was no panic on Benjamin’s face.

Because through his electronic eyes and his immense computational power, in that extremely brief exchange with Tendou, he had already located the corresponding Star Origin within his vast internal Star Origin database.

“Vector Control… I never expected an Embers brat like you to develop this Star Origin to such a level.”

Hearing Benjamin’s words, Tendou merely smiled.

It was obvious that he didn’t care in the slightest that Benjamin had identified his Star Origin.

And as everyone present looked at the smiling Tendou—and at the First-Order Association Starbearer who had been killed by a single casual blow—they felt as if the air around them had completely solidified.

Only the crisp drip, drip of falling water continued to echo slowly.

At last, after a brief moment of mutual confrontation, Benjamin slowly raised his hand.

“Kill him.”

“Yes!”

Watching the others charge toward him, the smile on Tendou’s face grew even brighter.

But this brightness was neither joy nor excitement.

It was mockery.

Just as Benjamin had not regarded the Embers members in the cafeteria as human beings, Tendou likewise did not regard this group of Association Starbearers as human.

“Vector… reversal.”

At Tendou’s calm words, a situation emerged that Benjamin had not anticipated—and one that filled the Association Starbearers with terror.

Around Tendou, the water droplets that should have been falling began to change direction, forming the bizarre phenomenon of an “inverted rain.”

The water around Tendou was flowing upward.

Or rather, Tendou had altered the direction of gravity in his immediate surroundings!

And for any Starbearer who entered a certain radius around Tendou, the impact was unquestionably devastating.

Because their bodies—they were no longer under their own control!

<+>

Note:

The collar Stargear that Tendou uses is the collar gadget that Accelerator from Toaru Majutsu No Index Use.

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