Year 4667 of the Unified Imperial Calendar:
Fourth Month, Day 18. (7:59 AM)
◇ Astra's POV ◇
I was shocked at the power of the miniature mana cannons. If the miniature ones had this kind of power, then what about the not-miniature ones?
I shuddered at the thought of what it would be capable of, as I was reminded just how powerful the Grand AM Research Lab was.
In any case, I had no time to waste, as I still needed to save milady.
I didn't know just what kind of effect it would bring to milady, but once they find out I'm here for her, it would be a massive weakness for me.
I continued moving towards the center of the room, as I occasionally encountered soldiers, however, I just vaporized them all the same.
About 5 minutes later, I managed to find the Aether Core, and then put a hand on it as planned. The rest was up to Isabelle.
'I'm in contact, Isabelle!'
As if making my fears come true, Isabelle's answer was once again delayed. Fuck! Did the enemy really have some jammer or something of sorts?!
I'm sure Isabelle's answer would take several more seconds before it arrives, so I prepared my other hand as I deployed the mana cannons.
"He's over there!"
"Be careful! He has an illegal mana cannon! He's probably a terrorist!"
"Move in one by one!"
'Shit! This is gonna be annoying!' I cursed inwardly as I shot the incoming guards, watching them get obliterated by the mana cannons.
My mind had already gone numb for the very first murder I had committed, and trust me, I have no idea why I could still move my hands. It was the experience injected within me that was involuntarily moving my body. On its own, my body aimed, fired, and adjusted its aim for a new target once more.
However, I still had to do this. Rather than a bunch of strangers who was only doing their job, I would choose milady's safety over them. After all, I had only caused her trouble for the entire time I was there in the mansion, despite the fact that she keeps on saving my sorry ass every single time!
'Damn it! Even if I'm an idiot(which I totally admit), I'm still a guy who knows how to pay up favours, you know!'
When I thought about it that way, the numbing feeling behind my head lessened, as I knew I was acknowledging it. Yup. I wasn't a good guy, and I never was. I might be law abiding, but I've never really respected it much either. I just knew that doing those would mean trouble, so I didn't do it. That's all there is to it.
As if only waiting for my thoughts to finish, Isabelle's answer finally arrived.
[I understand, master. Please don't removed your hand.]
'Damn it! What's with the delay this time?! It was almost half a minute, you know?!'
[I apologize about that. It seems the connection would occasionally get cut off. Reconnecting took a bit of time.]
'Getting cut off?!' I asked, but before she could answer, the entire room suddenly turned into back into its default bluish green glow from the hostile red.
[I've retrieved the missing data. I'm sending it to you immediately.]
'Is there anything regarding the cause of the delays?' I asked again, but the data arrived along with a jolt along my spine before she could answer. However, she was still diligent enough to answer my question. Or at least she tried.
[I've sent the data, and the comple—] she suddenly got cut off.
'Hey! Isabelle! What's wrong?! Isabelle?!' I tried to call out, but no answer.
I wanted to connect to Quanta through the collar, but suddenly remembered that I was wearing a Mobile Armour right now. My neck was completely covered.
And as if adding to my frustrations, even more guards arrived. Perhaps the lack of corpses made them assume that they were the first to arrive to me, so without any fear, they rushed at me with wands in hand, and shot countless barrage of mana bullets.
"Fuck!" I cursed.
Once again, I pointed the mana cannon towards them, and fired. A high pitched whir resounded, and they vanished along with the blinding flash from my cannons.
I grit my teeth as I continued the massacre. No matter how much I think of it, it was strange. They should at least know that something was wrong by now, and they should be fleeing right now. Why are they keeping this up?
'W-Wait, could it be...' My eyes widened for an instant as an idea came to mind. This behaviour of them was too strange. It was as if they were machines. And this could only be done by one thing.
Another group then arrived, but before I shot them, I checked their necks. And as I had thought...
...it seems they were slaves.
Unlike the one on my neck, their had red coloured patterns on it, indicating that they were bona fide slaves. Unlike Warslaves, they didn't have minds of their own, and they were forced into absolute obedience without any regard to danger and consideration for their life.
It was the lowest thing that could possibly happen to a person.
I lowered my head with a dark expression as I pointed the mana cannons toward the new group. Death was their only way for salvation, as taking off the collars would only kill them. It was all the same, but forcefully taking it off would bring them pain before they die.
Nell had explained all of it to me. And once again, I was made aware of how lucky I was for encountering milady.
"Sorry," I spoke softly, closer to a mutter, "I'm gonna release you now." And so, I fired.
And once again, just like the very first time I killed someone earlier, I heard it.
Something inside me broke. Like the sound of chains snapping into pieces, it broke.
◇◇ ??? ¿¿¿ ??? ◇◇
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[Mental Adjustment progress...93%...]
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[Initializing 'Final Push' plan...]
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