Vicious Darling

【62】

Amplification.

That was the reason Dahlia, who could merely make wildflowers dance, came to control the vegetation in this vast abandoned factory district.

Mihir thought his ability suited him quite well. Harmonizing with others had been his talent since childhood. However, this amplification required another Esper. When alone, he became helplessly powerless.

So Mihir pondered how to make himself more useful. For quite a long time, he made little progress.

Then came the day when Mihir was assigned a bank robbery mission, but he ended up cornered instead. The security was more robust than expected.

To salvage the situation, Mihir amplified his colleague’s power to the maximum. Surprisingly, his colleague, exhibiting power far beyond his own abilities, entered a berserk state. This happened because he used his ability to the point of depleting the accumulated guiding energy in his body.

Mihir escaped the bank, leaving his berserk colleague behind.

‘Anything in excess becomes poison.’

He might have been able to save his bank-robbing friend if he’d tried. Most died in the aftermath of the rampage, and those who survived were all severely injured.

But as Mihir discovered this darker aspect of his ability, he realized he needed to keep it secret. Not simply to keep it as a hidden card.

If other Espers knew that Mihir could drive them berserk, who would trust him with their backs? If they were law-abiding citizens, perhaps, but Mihir was a criminal.

If people knew he could kill them without warning, no one would join hands with him.

Since then, Mihir had kept his secret well. After finding a new partner in Dahlia and joining the Thorns Order, he rarely needed to use the darker side of his ability.

‘But in a situation like this, I have to use it!’

Using a child as bait to lure the enemy out, Mihir thought his calculations were perfect. An Esper whose power was merely transformation would only self-destruct if driven berserk.

As long as he could keep a safe distance to escape—and right now, Mihir was connected to Dahlia, who could help him flee.

“Farewell.”

As if sensing his fate, the wolf-shaped Esper opened his mouth.

Dahlia’s vines immediately constricted the wolf’s body and broke its legs. Though the wolf barely dodged, a tree root shooting up from the ground eventually pierced its thigh.

The wolf bared its teeth at the pain, like peripheral nerves burning up. Sharp fangs gleamed with a cold menace under the moonlight. Their ferocity instilled fear in any human who faced them.

Nevertheless, to Mihir, “that thing” was already as good as a corpse.

Of course, this was merely his opinion.

The white fur, though soaked in blood, still shone dazzlingly bright.

Chris, who appeared to be slumped over, raised his head. Yuri had been generous with guiding lately, so Chris still had reserves left.

“Guh…urk…!”

Mihir bulged his eyes as he felt something tightly grip his neck.

The moment he approached to confirm Chris’s death, the wolf, which had been pretending to be dead, rose up. Somehow, the beast had broken free from the vines that had been binding it and now used them to strangle Mihir’s neck, pulling roughly.

It was created by Chris’s telekinetic power as he pretended to be dead.

His thigh, which had been deeply gouged with exposed bone from Dahlia’s attack, was healing rapidly.

“N-no! Let go! If you don’t, this child will—!”

Mihir grabbed the child by the collar. He seemed to just want to pull, but his strength appeared uncontrolled.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Dain had fainted due to the rapidly deteriorating situation.

Chris, startled by Mihir’s rough handling, relaxed his grip.

“Cough, cough…!”

Mihir, finally free from the restraint, struggled to control his rough breathing.

“I’ll kill you!”

His once neat and gentle face was now hideously distorted. The feeling of being thrown to the ground when he had sensed perfect victory was terrible.

“I’ll harm this child first, right before your eyes!”

As the four-legged beast transformed into a human, Mihir’s eyes widened.

“No.”

Chris slowly rose to his feet. He roughly put on the clothes Mihir had thrown aside while mocking him, and flatly stated:

“The moment you touch that child, you lose.”

Thunk.

Mihir’s head, which had been moving slowly, suddenly dropped down. A tree root that had shot up from the ground was protruding from his chest.

The red liquid dripping along the stem was undoubtedly his own blood.

Mihir’s head slowly turned sideways. Dahlia, with bloodshot eyes, was extending her hand toward him.

“Dah…lia?”

“Let go! Let go of her, you idiot!”

Despite Yuri having already knocked away Mihir’s hand, she was still screaming.

Dahlia, who had been anxious since the child fainted, became enraged when Mihir threatened to kill the child.

Even after Mihir’s head dropped, Dahlia didn’t stop. The plants, swept up in the Esper’s fury, danced almost maniacally, twisting Mihir’s arms and stabbing his legs.

Chris quickly snatched the child away from Mihir.

Dahlia’s movements were actually quite restrained for an Esper who had witnessed her Guide in mortal danger.

Still, there was a need to separate the child from her. A Guide’s durability is incredibly fragile—so much so that they could die from an Esper’s frantic attempts to protect them.

“Ah, no! Dain!”

Seeing the child transferred to Chris’s arms, Dahlia swung her vines again. However, this whip was significantly slower than before. Chris dodged it without difficulty.

The army she commanded was gradually waning, like plants moved into the shade.

Thanks to this, subduing Dahlia was easier than before.

“Ah!”

As Chris, with an expressionless face, swung his hand, she felt a dull impact to her head and fainted.

If she had been in her right mind, she would have defended herself. But the current Dahlia had completely lost her composure.

‘Good thing it worked.’

Chris spat out what was in his mouth. Blood and pieces of internal organs flew out.

From the moment he locked eyes with Mihir on screen, Chris had calculated when to rescue the child.

Despite the urgent situation, he had told Peter to create a door far away and deliberately transformed into a wolf to run there—all to cause a misunderstanding about his abilities.

It’s not like Chris’s appearance was widely known like a street flyer. However, Dahlia and Mihir belonged to the Thorns Order. They would likely know the characteristics of Yuri’s loyal hound who had brought down their master, Rosenhauser.

That’s why he needed to be in wolf form.

‘Platinum blonde hair and blue eyes are too conspicuous.’

Moreover, Dain kept trying to go outside the factory to find a wolf that no one else had seen. She had even told Dahlia about it.

‘So when a white wolf appeared, they naturally thought it was an Esper.’

In a way, Dain had inadvertently helped.

From the moment he encountered the Mihir-Dahlia pair, Chris had pretended to be only familiar with bestial combat. This was to induce misjudgment.

Even when running on tree roots that Dahlia had produced, there were invisible telekinetic platforms beneath his feet.

All of this was to corner Mihir. Chris firmly believed that when the final moment came, Mihir would harm the hostage.

‘Thanks for acting like a villain until the end.’

Carefully embracing the child and striding forward, Chris glanced at Dahlia and lifted her body with telekinesis.

“Cough, cough…”

He let out another fit of coughing. No matter how he tried to suppress it, blood kept rising up, so he couldn’t help it.

It was fortunate that things had gone as planned. However, Mihir’s ability was so unexpected that his guiding energy was rapidly depleted.

‘No matter how I think about it… it seems like a side effect of therianthrope rampage.’

Organs that shouldn’t exist were growing and shrinking chaotically. Though he managed to return to human form…

It was lucky it ended at this level.

Right after that, his thigh was pierced and his limbs were broken. Though he recovered immediately, his sense of pain kept replaying the sensation of the injury.

A kind of phantom pain.

At this point, even someone as patient as Chris couldn’t help but feel pain.

“Chris!”

Through the scattered vines, a square “door” opened.

Chris blinked slowly at Yuri’s voice.

‘Seems like my insides are more damaged than I thought.’

He hadn’t even detected the wavelength of Peter’s ability.

Through his dizzy vision, he saw Yuri stepping through the door. His face was paler than usual, though that might have been an illusion.

Chris was an Esper who excelled on the battlefield. And his master knew this fact all too well.

No matter how unfavorable the situation, Chris always returned alive. To bring victory to his master.

‘But why…?’

As he asked himself, Chris realized something.

‘Dain’s button!’

The child’s clothes still had a video recording device disguised as a button. And it remained undamaged throughout this intense battle.

If he had left the terminal transmitting this in real-time in front of Peter when he rushed here…

Yuri must have watched the entire battle.

That’s why Peter opened the door at just the right time to bring Yuri.

‘What should I say?’

Not to worry?

But that seemed like the perfect thing to say to get scolded by Yuri.

He could feel his vision gradually blurring.

There was no more time to ponder. Despite his failing vision, Chris strode resolutely toward Yuri.

Suddenly, his body wobbled. He felt Yuri grab his shoulder to support him.

Kneeling on one knee, Chris extended the child toward Yuri.

“…a Guide.”

Those were his last words before he fainted.