Tatsuya was not originally a part of the operation. After the first meeting, he purposely avoided Shoya. He felt betrayed. It did not help that he found out Shoya's secret when Emika was kidnapped. It only added fuel to the fire.
"You don't look too good. Are you okay, Tatsuya?"
Anastasia asked the boy as she was passing by where he sat. She leaned against the back of the sofa, facing away from the white-haired teenager.
"..."
He did not respond.
"Don't fucking act sappy. I'll break your limbs if you don't start talking. You fought with Shoya."
Her tone instantly turned cold the next moment. Even Tatsuya felt the urge to answer.
"It's none of your business."
"Yeah...?"
As Anastasia reached out for him, someone snatched her hand away.
"Relax."
Qin pulled Anastasia's hand away from Tatsuya. She had fully intended to break Tatsuya's arm and he did not realise that the girl was serious in every way and manner.
She looked from Qin to Tatsuya. The boy felt shaken but he did his best to openly show it.
Anastasia pulled her wrist away and sighed. Qin looked over at Tatsuya.
"I don't want it to affect the mission, so I'll say it now. You're being petty, Tatsuya."
"Petty?!"
He stood up and faced Qin. The half-Chinese, half-Japanese boy did not flinch. He stared at Tatsuya with an empty, yet, oppressive eyes.
"You blamed and separated yourself from your friend and still blame him for what happened to Emika because you couldn't do shit yourself to protect her. That's why you're petty."
"Do you want to—?!"
Qin snatched at Tatsuya's neck and brought him closer.
"Yeah, I'll fucking fight you if that's what you want. But remember, don't let your personal feelings interfere with the mission at hand."
He turned to Anastasia.
"Looks like I don't have to tell you, do I?"
"Just make sure he doesn't talk shit about Shoya. Otherwise, I'll dispose of him myself, no matter where we are..."
Qin sighed.
"You completely missed the point."
"Hey, hey, don't say that!"
Yoko Sumika cheerfully entered the room and hung her arm around Anastasia's shoulders with a bright smile.
"It's almost time. We need to get ready. Akane from Squad 2 will start the plan in around 10 minutes."
She told the three of them.
"Huh? Akane is the key to the plan?"
Anastasia asked.
No one knew what the plan was excluding those from Squad 5. However, when the name 'Akane' met Qin's ears, he had a faint idea of what was to come.
"I think I know what they're going to do."
They all looked to Qin.
"What?"
"They're—"
·———·
Meanwhile, Regulus was bored.
"Ah, they still haven't come!"
The expectations he had was high and because of this, the reality was very disappointing. The Mortal Sin regretted giving Kyoka too much time. It was Friday and he gave them until Wednesday.
"For once, I regret telling them the truth..."
He muttered to himself.
"Faith, what's the progress with Emika?"
Faith nervously kept her mouth shut. She looked down at the ground, unsure of what to do.
Regulus noticed this and pressured her.
"Faith."
"U-uh, w-well, Emika Kaneko does not possess the Magician Tarot."
He stared at her silently.
"What?"
"The scientists filtered it so that the Magician Tarot would awaken, however, there is no such thing within the girl."
He laughed and laughed and laughed. No one could figure out what he found amusing but no one questioned it either.
"That just makes our situation as desperate as theirs. We need Ryoka and Shoya. This is getting interesting. Don't release her. Make it seem like we still have a use for her."
"Would it not be easier to kill her? Knowing your personality, watching the expression of anguish on their faces would be the best."
"Yes. I'll kill her in front of them for the best experience."
He sadistically smiled, slightly leaving Faith perturbed.
"?"
The maid looked around, rubbing her arms. She was shivering. It was unusual for the base to be so cold. It was not like they were in the Arctic. The base was always warm. It was too cold for cold.
"Faith. Is just me or did the temperature suddenly drop?"
"No, sir. It did drop."
"Master!"
Ophelia came running into Regulus' quarters. She was out of breath from running. If it was a short distance, then she would not be out of breath. Ophelia was running all over the base. She was running for 10 minutes.
"What's going on, Ophelia?"
"We—we noticed something outside of our radar a little while ago. However, only a minute ago, they attacked us and communications broke down."
"Attacked? With what? Missiles aren't enough to damage this base on the island."
Faith asked Ophelia.
"Currently, there's a large horn of ice, protruding from the base of the island through our base. It reminds me of..."
"Cocytus. The spell that Akane Kabura used during the exhibition match between Chinese and Japanese students last year. This one is on a larger scale, though. It seems like they're here."
·———·
"Lesser Niflheim..."
From the nose of the ship, Akane brandished her right arm, unleashing a sea of ice, freezing over the water in front of the ship, forming a massive spike of ice. Akane's cheeks cracked as frost formed.
"Good, now we can proceed."
Ryoka judged.
Absolute Zero—Akane Kabura's Singularity. Before she hated her Singularity and only used it when necessary, however, she has grown far more accustomed to it.
Although, not even that can explain the incredible scale and power of Lesser Niflheim. And, of course, if there was a lesser, there was one bound to be greater.
As Akane exhaled, the cold air became visible in small clouds around her face. It was a mystery as to how Akane had not fainted from mana exhaustion. The girl was far from exhausted, in fact, despite her pale skin, the smile on her face said it all.
"Do you need to rest?"
The principal asked her.
"No, this did take around half of my mana but it's easy for me to recover mana."
Ryoka found the latter half of her sentence strange but she left it alone.
"By the way, did your spell destroy anything?"
"No..."
She breathed out.
"Lesser Niflheim is nothing more than something to slow people in their tracks. It's not an offensive spell like Cocytus. I'm pretty sure that their security systems and communications are frozen though."
"Perfect. I'll get Squad 1, 4 and 6 here. You get your squad."
"We're not going to go save Emika yet?"
"We'll scout her out first. Squad 4 will be the temporary scouts, looking for the place which is guarded the heaviest. Now, let's commence, shall we?"