Yuto was waiting for confirmation from Ria. He woke up and checked the last messages sent and received. It was strange: he saw messages that were marked as read, but which he did not remember. They had been sent a few hours before waking up.
"The target is already at the mall. Go before he leaves."
"Understood. I am on my way."
Although not understanding, Yuto just ignored the second message, which he himself had sent. He said:
— Maybe I was too sleepy when I sent this. Ria must still be waiting for me, I have to hurry!
Yuto was going to change his clothes, but he realized that he had already done that. Perhaps he had slept in those clothes. He ran to the living room, when he saw an unexpected scene:
Genesis was sitting on the couch, watching the TV, with an unusual serious face. Haji was trying to comfort her.
But the strangest thing was Tatsuya, who was standing. He had his hands on his head, as if he was very angry about something.
Yuto, realizing that something serious had happened, forgot about Ria's message. He looked at the television. It was probably the reason for that tense atmosphere.
A newscast was playing, showing the deaths of two important people. The first was Wisedroid. The second, Yuto.
Confused, he first asked Tatsuya:
— Tokihito-san, what are you doing here?
Tatsuya ran towards Yuto and grabbed him by the neck.
Staring into his eyes, he slowly lifted Yuto off the ground. He didn't look like the same person from the tournament. Now, he had murderous intent.
Tatsuya, enraged, exclaimed:
— I knew you were up to something! Now I understand why your name brought back unpleasant memories: you were always my enemy!
Haji, surprised, ran to the two, trying to calm the situation:
— Wait, this is a misunderstanding! Yuto would never kill someone like that!
Genesis, who was still serious, turned to the three. Crying, she said calmly:
— You mean he usually does a lot worse?
— That's not what I meant! I know he's not behind this, I swear! Tokihito-san, stop it already!
Tatsuya, upset, hesitated for a few seconds, until he let go of Yuto's neck, saying:
— You better have a good explanation for that.
Yuto, on the floor, started breathing again. When he recovered, he replied:
— I really don't understand what's happening-
Tatsuya didn't wait for the speech to finish. He just kicked Yuto's stomach, exclaiming:
— Do you still have the nerve to say that?
Yuto, almost fainting from the pain, looked at Genesis. She seemed to have lost all trust in him. Trying to reach her, he asked:
— Genesis, you still trust me, right? You know I wouldn't do such a thing, right?
— I want to believe in you, Yuto, but I just can't.
While saying those words, Genesis went to the door of her room and locked herself in it.
Yuto woke up. He glanced at his cell phone, eager for confirmation from Ria. An unread message was visible:
— The target is already at the mall. Go before he leaves.
Yuto used the message notification as an alarm. That way he would respond as quickly as possible. He just replied:
— Understood. I am on my way.
He ran to the mall. Before meeting Wisedroid, he activated the security system of the place with his power. A level 7 threat alarm sounded. That way, it would evacuate everyone nearby so he could concentrate on his target.
As the threat was located inside the mall, the reinforced metal doors were not closed, so as not to keep victims trapped. Everyone who was there quickly fled not only from the mall, but from the entire surrounding area.
He went to meet with Wisedroid, trying as hard as he could not to remember Ria's plan. Even so, Wisedroid already knew of his presence.
Yuto found Wisedroid crouched in front of the cone-shaped hole. Without moving, the android commented:
— A hell of a hole, isn't it? If I said who did it, everyone would panic. Therefore, I try to prevent unnecessary information from becoming public. Don't you agree with me, Yuto?
— How did you know I was here?
— I know you're pretending to be unaware that I can read your mind. You know exactly what my power is.
— I am afraid of what you see daily in people's minds…
— Don't worry about that. I filter out the details that don't interest me. But you interest me too much. I want to know everything you think, even the most inappropriate things.
— I definitely should be worried about that...
Wisedroid finally got up. He turned towards Yuto, shooting a blue laser from his right hand. Yuto, already expecting this, dodged the attack, commenting:
— You knew I would dodge. Why don't you just kill me?
Wisedroid started running towards him, while attacking multiple lasers from his two hands. With each attack, he intensified the next. Yuto dodged all of them, each time with more difficulty. Wisedroid, while attacking, replied:
—I already said: you interest me. You are after me, but you refuse to attack me. There must be some reason behind it. I'm giving you a chance to talk me out of killing you.
Wisedroid, close enough to Yuto, pretended to shoot a laser with his left hand. But he revealed an antimatter machine gun on his right arm. His entire body could transform. It contained an almost unlimited number of weapons spread across all members.
Yuto, dodging the fake attack, had no time to dodge the machine gun, which started firing 777 rounds per second.
Each bullet was capable of passing through 7 kilometers of reinforced metal. In addition, they caused tremendous destruction in the surroundings. A hole measuring 77 centimeters in radius formed where the bullet penetrated.
Ammo didn't run out. His body was capable of producing any type of ammunition infinitely, at a speed that could keep up with the rate of fire.
All he needed was internally produced energy. Most of it came from the sun, which was absorbed by the surface of the dark body.
Yuto, in response, tried to reflect it. It slowed them down, but he got sent across the mall from the impact, breaking the glass wall of a shop and stopping after crushing the wall.
A new attack appeared: the blue crystal on Wisedroid's chest lit up. When fired, it was capable of releasing energy large enough to disintegrate the entire mall and 7 kilometers further. Yuto rolled to the side, avoiding the initial laser by very little. As we ran away from it, it continued rotating until destroying a major part of the mall's foundations.
It started to fall apart, so Yuto ran to the parking lot. Wisedroid came flying and shooting normal lasers at him, who managed to relfect the lesser ones.
I feel bad for their owners, but I have to test something.
Yuto picked some cars with his power and threw them towards the android, who fired rockets at them, exploding a large area. Yuto picked a light pole with his hand and threw it towards Wisedroid, who just lasered it in half.
— You're just damaging public property now.
— Private too, for equal rights.
Wisedroid launched several rockets at Yuto, destroying almost half of the parking lot. Yuto, in response, ran to a nearby skyscraper.
He won't shoot me if there are civillians nearby.
To his surprise, the android keeping firing lasers, antimatter bullets and rockets at him. With no other option, he jumped towards Wisedroid, trying to punch him. The blue crystal lit up again, firing a huge laser and pushing Yuto towards the skyscraper window. His body went through the floor to the other side of the building.
Wisedroid picked his body and threw him again against the window from the floor above, breaking it. Then, he repeated the action, throwing Yuto multiple times against the window. Angry and in disadvantage, Yuto used his supreme gravity to smash his enemy's body. Predicting it, Wisedroid simply dodged it.
Yuto jumped towards him, trying to hit any punch or kick he could. The android catched his hands and kicks before they landed on him. He swung Yuto's body towards the rooftop of the skyscraper, flying there soon after. He used his crystal to fire an even bigger laser, launching Yuto against the building and destroying all the floors. The building fell apart.
Obviously, there were many people inside. Apart from some lucky or powerful ones, most of them died. Other people walking nearby also died. Wisedroid didn't seem to care about casualties. Yuto was not too different. Although he didn't kill them directly, it was partly his fault. He was not regretful, because that would be a weakness. Objectively speaking, he could not take any risks.
Yuto was lying on the rubble, trying to get up. Wisedroid literally threw a fist at him. He detached his hand from his body and extended its range, reaching for Yuto's leg. After catching him succesfully, he swung him towards the city and released him. Almost ten buildings were pierced.
When he finally stopped by a square, the android fired countless missiles at him. Yuto protected himself at the last second with his barrier, but was badly hurt. A huge explosion took place, destroying basically an entire block. It was not as big and destructive as an atomic bomb, but it killed hundreds of people instantly.
— This is your last chance to convince me not to kill you.
— Why are you doing this...? You're killing your own followers...
— And? Leaders make sacrifices all the time. Why can't a hero do that?
Yuto finally realized what type of person Wisedroid was. He wanted to become enraged and destroy the enemy in front of him, but had a weakness in his power: when he pushed it too hard, his vision blurred. He was already at that point, seeing almost nothing.
Unfortunately, Yuto couldn't protect everyone in the blast radius. A lot of people died, partly because of him, and he couldn't forgive himself. The only thing he could do was kill Wisedroid, who was the main murderer. He was about to fight seriously after a long time.
Yuto saw no reason to accept Wisedroid's offer. Waiting a couple of seconds, the android resumed:
— I will take that as a no. I warned you.
Yuto advanced with all his speed towards Wisedroid. He landed a series of punches and kicks fast enough for no human eye to follow. But Wisedroid was not human, and managed to dodge all attacks without much difficulty.
Realizing this, Yuto started using his strongest attack: supreme gravity. If he increased gravity in a specific region to extraordinary levels, it would crush even the most durable material. He created several gravitational cylinders of 100 meters in radius. He activated them instantly, destroying everything in the designated region.
Wisedroid evaded the attacks at the last second. After a long time, he battled with everything he had. He fired more atomic missiles, but Yuto returned them to Wisedroid, who fired them with the antimatter machine gun to explode them in the air.
Once again, he energized his blue crystal. Decreasing the trigger time, it activated in less than a second. Yuto, realizing that he couldn't return a laser of that size, used all his strength to throw himself to the side, where he wouldn't be hit.
The cone-shaped laser devastated everything that was left up to 7 kilometers ahead. The radius was much bigger this time. It had a cone shape, so the farther it went, the more destruction. Once again, many innocent people died. Both were exhausted. One, for lack of energy. Another, for the dripping blood and the frayed vision. Again, Yuto exclaimed:
— Don't you value other people's lives? You were supposed to be a hero, yet you are killing innocent people only to achieve your goal!
— Don't put your blame on me, kid. All you had to do was prove your worth.
— Worth of what?
— Of Tatsuya's trust.
Yuto stopped for a second. If he answered that sooner, could all the people who were caught in the explosions have survived? But Wisedroid didn't specify his question on purpose, to make Yuto feel guilty for not answering it. Angry, he replied:
— What the actual fuck you are to Tokihito-san? What about Genesis?
— She has proven herself to be incompetent. Her main goal was to watch you, but not for me. Tatsuya was the center of my attention. He doesn't remember, but we are longtime friends.
— If he doesn't remember you, it means he doesn't care much about a soulless machine.
— How odd that someone who let their childhood friend take part in an experiment would try to insult me.
Yuto tried to calm down, but he showed an uncontrollable desire to kill his enemy. Pausing for breath, he said:
— What do you know about her?
— Slade is a fragile slave of the Boss. She wouldn't become such a pitiful creature if it weren't for you.
— I know you are lying. She promised me she would return safe and sound.
— And she did, but not in the way you'd expect.
— Bastard...
Silence covered the war zone. They stared at each other, waiting for the other to let his guard down. Finally, one leapt at the other quickly, about to strike the final blow. But Wisedroid saw something unusual in his Premonition: a bullet going through Yuto's head.
He stopped midway, dodging Yuto's attack and watching the future trajectory of the bullet, as well as Yuto falling dead to the ground. He couldn't see where the shot was coming from, as the shooter was out of range.
Confused, Wisedroid commented:
— What a shame. It looks like we've been interrupted by outside forces. Someone besides me was after you.
Yuto didn't understand what he meant, but tried leaping again to punch him with all the strength he had left. Before he reached Wisedroid, a shot hit his head.
Ria was on the roof of a building 8 kilometers away from the battle. She had Yuto in her sights the whole time, but waited for the fight to intensify to catch both of them by surprise. She murmured:
— Sorry, Yuto, but I can't risk such a chance. Killing two troublesome birds with one stone is not something I can ignore.
Seeing the two jumping towards each other, she decided it was time to shoot. She aimed at Yuto's forehead.
She chose that building because it had an advantageous view of most of the city and was beyond the reach of Wisedroid's power.
The plan was for Yuto to not only distract Wisedroid, but also himself. That way, Ria would catch both of them by surprise.
The secret of how to kill Wisedroid that only a few people knew, among them Ria, was the 7 second foresight limit. If something happened shortly after those 7 seconds, Wisedroid would drop his guard and stop using his power.
Ria loaded her carbine with an EMP bullet. It would disable all electronics within a 10 kilometer radius.
Shot.
As the carbine was extremely powerful, Yuto was unable to deflect the bullet with his power. Even if he tried, he wasn't in a position to try harder than that.
Wisedroid approached Yuto's corpse, commenting:
— I really hoped you could convince me. Too bad you had more enemies than I thought.
As Ria watched the scene, she muttered:
— 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Zero.
The EMP bullet had a countdown to the explosion. Wisedroid did not foresee anything dangerous to him when the bullet hit Yuto's head, so he deactivated his power.
Then, an electromagnetic pulse went off. All electronics within a 10 kilometer radius have been disabled, including the androids. Genesis was in range at the moment, so she was forcibly shut down.
Wisedroid was no exception. Caught by surprise, he took a few seconds before shutting down completely. At that time, he murmured:
— I can't believe I fell for such a cheap trick...
Wisedroid fell to the ground. Ria only needed one more bullet to destroy his body. Since her power only created bullets that empowered its targets, she was using special ammo.
She used an explosive bullet. 7-Up worked on androids, as they were considered living beings. So a single bullet wouldn't be enough to kill him from that distance, even if the carbine did most of the work.
Shot.
Yet another atomic explosion was caused. Everything within a radius of 1 kilometer disintegrated, including Yuto.
Tatsuya was walking around the city, aimlessly. There were explosions powerful enough to be heard across the city. Shortly thereafter, a cone-shaped laser disintegrated a large area.
Trying to understand what was happening, he ran to the epicenter of the commotion. When he was about to reach the place, another explosion even bigger than the ones before happened.
His instinct told him that Yuto had something to do with it. After all, that person was the only one that awakened any memory in him.
Before he knew it, he used his power on himself and Yuto.
Ria had already exited the building, convinced her plan had been a success. She didn't see Tatsuya, the man who had committed the massacre at the abandoned building.
Tatsuya left Yuto's house, dissatisfied with his answer. Both didn't remember anything that had happened that day. But no one believed in Yuto, apart from Haji.
Haji invited Yuto to lunch at a random restaurant, to try to remember everything little by little. They both sat down and ordered whatever they wanted.
They didn't realize it, but they were in a maid cafe. The maid in charge of them was surprised by their unusual presence. The maid was Kiseki. Embarrassed, she asked:
— Young man, haven't I seen you somewhere before?
Yuto and Haji turned to see her more closely. Recognizing her, they exclaimed:
— Kiseki?! What are you doing here?
— I work as a maid...
–— Wait, are you a level 6, nurse, doctor and maid? Won't you tell me you're an idol too?
— I am…
Surprised, both were stunned. Yuto was happy to find such a perfect girl. Haji, not so much.
Haji, folding her arms with her eyes closed, said:
— Whatever! That's not all that impressive. Now give us the best you've got.
— R-Right! Sorry for the inconvenience, miss.
Kiseki shyly ran towards the kitchen. She would prepare everything on the menu. She didn't intend to charge them for it, as she couldn't forgive herself for pissing off a customer.
Haji, trying to understand Yuto's situation, asked:
— Yuto, do you mind telling me why you killed Wisedroid? Genesis won't forgive you if you don't tell the truth.
— I really don't remember anything. I'm sure I woke up, went to the living room and saw that he and I were already dead.
— If that's what you say, I trust you. You've saved me in the past, and I wouldn't be here without you. But Genesis and Tokihito-san don't think so.
— I know. I swear I'll try to remember everything.
— You don't have to push yourself too hard. By the way, you already died once. We still don't know how you came back to life.
Kiseki arrived with five plates piled up in different parts of her body. If they blew on it, everything would be ruined. But she managed to lay it all on the table, saying:
— This is my apology. Please accept.
Haji, amazed by the generosity, said:
— When I said I wanted the best you had, I didn't expect all that.
— But, miss, I disturbed you, and I must apologize. Please accept this as a gift from me.
Yuto, afraid of the price of all that, warned:
— This is going to cost a fortune. I don't know if I'll have enough to pay you.
— Don't worry, lad. This is all on me.
— What?! Are you sure?
— Yes. Please enjoy.
Yuto, once again, was enchanted by Kiseki's purity. Again, he remembered the meaning of her name. After all, she was a miracle, a being beyond his comprehension.