The Way to Love in the Place of Dead Chapter 28

Thump. Thump. Thump. The sound of his heartbeat lifted his body.

[“Intruder detected. Capture, dead or alive, is irrelevant.”]

[“Transmitting data. Receiving. Aran Rapperd and… presumed S-class.”]

In life, moments come when you can’t avoid fights, big and small. And those moments are usually unrelated to your own will or intention. There is no prepared fight, and the opponent doesn’t wait for you to be ready. Surprise attacks and betrayal were always more effective for victory, after all.

[“Black hair, red eyes. Matches the data.”]

Listening to the android’s incessant chattering voice behind him, Kay grabbed the arm of the charging Esper— no, Aberrant— and flung him forward. Then Aran, who had leaped at some point, drove his spear straight down. It was dazzling, as if fragments made of light were scattering, but the Aberrant collapsed on the floor only produced a bursting sound, his body ‘reinforced’ against the impact of being impaled by Aran’s spear. It didn’t break.

[“Beginning video transmission.”]

The voice that followed was a complete mechanical sound. The ‘blades’ Simon created shot up from the floor once more and charged. Kay’s judgment for survival was swift. He reached out and instantly melted the laboratory’s glass window and escaped.

[“Target found.”]

However, on both sides of that corridor, as if waiting, dozens of androids stood by, guns in hand, carrying out loading, aiming, and firing without hesitation. With the sound of that gunfire as the signal flare. Combat was forced.

Kay took a weapon from a downed enemy and drove it into the gaps of an enemy machine. Since their bodies were modeled after human flesh, finding the core through joints or between bones was the optimal combat method.

“Kh!”

The problem was the numbers. An unbelievable number of androids for a supposedly locked-down research building… half-human, half-android mechanical life forms rushed at them.

While bringing them down, with their even worse combat ability than androids, wasn’t difficult in itself… it added to the mental burden in its own way.

“Huff…. Hahh….”

His breath grew increasingly ragged, and his stamina depleted. The clothes were uncomfortable, and his weapon kept wearing down.

As he gradually shifted positions according to the combat situation, he turned a corner at some point, and the entrance they had come through came into view.

Having made it this far, thankfully, those numerous machines were no longer in sight.

[“…”]

Unfortunately, the only one left before his eyes was Simon.

“Simon.”

Kay wiped his sweat with the cloth, called his name, closed his mouth, then opened it again.

“Snap out of it.”

It would be a lie to say he hadn’t thought of him when told he was coming to Limpus. Just as the children still called him ‘Mister Simon’ even after five years. The fence of being family who lived under one roof never truly disappears.

[“Kay.”]

“Yeah. It’s me.”

Memories dormant at the base resurfaced, and he hoped, perhaps, that some of his reason might remain.

[“—Providing information.”]

It was a vain hope. He no longer possessed an ego as a human.

[“Originally from Willamere. S-class Esper. Ability is…”]

Kay picked up a scalpel from the chest pocket of the researcher collapsed on the floor.

[“<Ignition>, which generates flames from the body.”]

“Stop talking.”

[“The temperature of the created fire can be raised or lowered according to the user’s limit, and self-ignited fire can also be extinguished depending on its scale.”]

“Simon, please.”

[“The side effects are…”]

Kay stabbed the scalpel into his foot. The moment the opponent lost balance and staggered, he immediately kicked his knee out from under him and brought him down. Not missing the moment he fell, Kay slashed inside his open mouth.

Slice. The sensation of something being severed was more vivid than usual.

[“Kghuk!”]

Losing his balance, Simon stumbled back a few steps, putting distance between them, and collapsed.

Blood formed at the corner of his mouth, and soon, a liquid that was both red and green poured out.

A fluid as sticky as oil and its smell.

Even knowing, even seeing, he confirmed once again that he was no longer human. Chewing it over, repeating it, didn’t make his heart any lighter.

Still, it was something that had to be done.

“To Lea. I’ll apologize.”

Any Esper, when sensing danger, exerts stronger power. It’s a very natural thing, just as humans secrete adrenaline, endorphins, or dopamine in a life-or-death crisis.

The ground beneath Kay’s feet trembled as a massive blade surged up. The concrete blade, made three-dimensionally, pierced the ceiling, and Kay, having jumped into the air a step earlier, raised his hand while staring at the surging blade. He raised his hand obliquely to reduce friction and pressure, applied a slight force, and with the sensation of his skin tearing, he spun in the air and landed on top of the blade.

“So.”

Aiming for Kay, who had easily dodged the large attack, blades shot out from the wall in succession. Kay dodged the not-so-small blades one by one, stepping on them to use as supports, closing the distance between himself and Simon, again and again.

Hesitation was not permitted.

In a single breath. In one strike. He must cut.

He put strength into the hand gripping the scalpel and slashed fully from the neck down the upper body.

Slice— The sensation of tearing through the skin via his palm was vivid.

[“Kk…”]

However, the android body, which doesn’t die if the core is intact, continued the next attack without hesitation, even while making agonized sounds. Kay switched his grip on the scalpel, holding it like a dagger, and drove it into Simon’s arm as he was about to manifest his ability again.

Even with his arm half-piercing the concrete wall, blades protruded from the torso that merely carried out its given command, and Kay didn’t dodge the blade flying precisely toward his heart.

Die. Or kill.

The outcome on a battlefield where you must fight with your life on the line was always the same.

“Die in peace.”

Since he didn’t die. He is alive.

[“Kay…”]

Rather than the protruding blade piercing Kay’s flesh, Kay thrusting his hand into the split torso and crushing the core was faster.

Crack—!

A sharp bursting sound rang out as it roughly shattered.

Things like the core in his hand pulsing just like a heart, or the lubricant warmed lukewarm by the heat clinging to him truly feeling like the sensation of blood, those things only registered belatedly.

The machine body, having completely ceased functioning without even a moment of annihilation, collapsed onto him.

That was all.

[“Thank you…”]

Holding the collapsed weight, Kay belatedly recognized the auditory hallucination that wouldn’t leave his hands and ears. It was a heartbeat, as if truly alive.

What he had killed was clearly a machine that couldn’t be called human, and yet.

“Goodbye. Simon.”

Under the seeping moonlight, Kay slowly burned the dead body.

The ember that spread from his own body transferred to Simon, and as he raised the temperature of the fire higher and higher, the proteins, fats, and even the moisture that formed the blood all burned away. A decidedly unpleasant smell spread through the air, and among it, the green oil mixed with the blood aided Kay.

In accordance with the providence that all living things die and return to nature.

Having burned him without leaving even a bone fragment, Kay quietly gazed at the last handful of ashes remaining in his hand.

Watching those particles slip away even as he stayed perfectly still, he felt a sense of dissociation from reality.

“…ou hear me?”

It seemed like someone was saying something from somewhere, but he couldn’t quite hear it.

“…was …it?”

Only a muffled feeling, like someone shouting from afar, continued. But the noise gradually grew louder, grating on his nerves. He just wanted the whole world to be muted, even for a moment. The moment he thought he wished there was time, just a brief moment, when he could be cut off from the world.

Tap, a hand touched his shoulder.

“Kay.”

Slap—!

Starting from that touch, the muffled sounds returned to normal and then some, ringing so loud it hurt his ears. Not just his hearing, but all his nerves were hypersensitive. So the sting on the back of his hand felt unprecedentedly painful, and he belatedly realized that the pain came from having slapped away Aran’s hand that had touched his shoulder.

“Don’t touch me.”