"Lower your weapons."
Illya took a step forward.
"Now."
There was a sense of finality in his tone, one that left no room for argument.
Clearly, this man wasn't playing around.
"D-don't move any c-closer!"
A mercenary cried out from beside Sarah, their voice sounding more desperate than commanding.
Illya's expression remained unchanged.
"Don't tell me what to do."
He took another step forward, causing the mercenaries to flinch.
CLICK
Many of the armed men cocked their guns out of sheer survival instinct, the fear of death overriding their sense of self.
"Whatever you do, don't fire!!"
Sarah frantically shouted at the mercenaries, but few could actually hear her pleas over the beating of their own hearts.
"You're not gonna shoot?"
Illya smiled, though it was devoid of any warmth.
"Why?"
His voice was chillingly hollow.
"You didn't seem to have a problem when you shot her."
He gestured at Nekomata, causing the cat thiren to flinch.
"Why hesitate now, huh?"
The mercenaries shrank back as Illya took another step forward.
"Wait..."
Illya's eyes bored into the group.
"Is it because you're scared of me?"
He took another step forward and watched as they flinched again, his smile widening unnaturally.
"Seriously?"
Illya's smile no longer resembled a smile.
"I don't think I've done anything particularly scary, though."
He tilted his head in mock confusion, his expression simulating some twisted form of contemplation.
"Huh. I really don't get it. What could a guy like me have done to frighten a bunch of season mercenaries, much less armed ones?"
The atmosphere was suffocating.
"Oh, wait."
"I get it now!"
Illya's hands clenched into fists.
"Hah~! You guys are just a bunch of cowards, aren't you?"
No one made a sound, afraid of drawing the attention of this unhinged lunatic.
"Ah~! That makes so much more sense! You're all just a bunch of cowards with weapons!"
The abyssal veil around him began to hum an eerie tune.
"But, hmmm."
"There's something I still don't understand."
Illya's features lost all trace of expression, his countenance reassuming the same blank demenour he had adopted when he first saw Nekomata's wound.
"How could you be so detestably cowardly and courageous at the same time?"
Illya's hollow tone filled with anger.
"How can you possess the determination to take a life and lack the resolve to lose your own?"
His eyes burned with... jealousy?
"How can you sleep without nightmares or worries? Without the faces of those you've wronged haunting your conscious?"
Illya grit his teeth as he regarded the assembled mercenaries and Sarah.
"How can you point weapons at the weak, when the very purpose of the weapons you're wielding is to stand up to the strong?"
"..."
Silence fell over the area as the barrels trained on Illya's form began to falter.
This quiet seemed to finally allow Illya to regain some semblance of composure.
'What the hell am I doing?'
He coughed into his fist and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, to suppress the endless well of emotion that had seemingly erupted from nowhere.
Unfortunately-
'I... ugh-'
A throbbing pain struck Illya's head, causing him to recoil.
That vivid flash of scarlet had caused a rush of memories he had buried deep in his psyche to reemerge... Memories that he couldn't dismiss casually.
Illya's voice trembled as he pointed at the mercenaries accusingly, his eyes clouding with a complex emotion.
"The guns in your hand are the very means by which we pursued peace, and yet here you are, using them to propagate violence."
Illya shook his head and spoke once more, his voice tinged with somber frustration.
" How can you spit on their memory by-"
Thankfully, before he could lose himself any further in his turbulent emotions, the distant sound of police sirens pierced the air.
Illya's expression froze.
WEEEEEEEEEWOOOOOOOO
Red and blue lights lit up the distance as a storm of footsteps began to shake the ground.
Thankfully for Illya, the loud, jarring noise served as the catalyst for his emotional stabilization- allowing him to regain his previous composure.
"... What's that sound?"
"Wait-"
"Those are police sirens! Pubsec is here!"
One by one, the mercenaries seemed to snap out of the hypnosis Illya had put them under.
"Ms. Sarah! What should we do?!"
A mercenary next to the secretary urgently called her name, but the woman didn't bother responding.
She was too busy feeling relieved.
'Thank the creator~ I really thought I was a goner there."
Sarah let out a sigh and smiled bitterly.
'Still, though... Weeks of work and a bunch of test subjects gone...'
Her eyes fell on Illya, causing her to shiver.
'Well, still better than getting ripped to shreds by this lunatic.'
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About an hour after Pubsec first arrived, Section 6, alongside the Cunning Hares, came out of the tunnel leading out of the Deadend Hollow with the survivors.
"Senior!"
Illya, who had successfully slipped past Pubsec's questioning, turned his head and saw a familiar pair of fox ears.
Miyabi walked over to him with the rest of Section 6 in tow.
"All of the residents survived- Though some have some minor injuries."
Illya nodded, a smile forming on his face.
"Ah~ That's good. Great work as usual."
His tone and demenour were back to normal- a fast recovery considering what had just happened.
Yanagi waved Illya off with an awkward smile.
"We didn't actually do much. By the time we got there, the residents were almost halfway out."
"Mm~? Did Nicole's plan work?"
Miyabi nodded, though there was something a bit odd in her gaze.
"Indeed. While we weren't filled in on the details, it seems that the... 'Cunning Hares' were the ones who rescued the residents."
Illya's eyes flickered in the direction of the Hares, a small smile spreading across his face.
"They're a bit quirky, but when it comes down to it, they're very reliable."
Harumasa followed his gaze with an amused look.
"Just a bit quirky?"
Illya shrugged with a similarly entertained expression.
"Meh. Results are results~"
The archer chuckled softly.
"Hah~ Can't argue with that."
Illya just smiled and nodded gently before shifting his attention back over to the residents.
"Well, as much as I'd like to continue this conversation, I have a few things I need to ask Nicole."
He ducked his head apologetically and scurried off to the pink-haired girl a few paces away.
Nicole was currently chatting with a few of the survivors, but her ears quickly picked up the sound of Illya's approaching footsteps.
The leader of the Cunning Hares cut her conversation short and whipped around to face him.
"Boss, there you are!"
Illya greeted her with a smile.
"I heard from Section 6 that you guys-"
She cut him off before he could finish.
"Save that for later- What happened to Nekomata?"
Illya blinked.
"Oh."
He tried his best to keep his expression the same.
"She took a bullet to the hand trying to protect Perlman- but don't worry, she's being patched up in the hospital right now."
Nicole let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"Hah~ That's good. I was getting a bit worried since I didn't see her around."
Illya merely nodded, choosing not to comment any further.
"Oh, wait, boss- one more thing..."
Nicole could already sort of guess the answer to her question, but it never hurt to be safe.
"You wouldn't mind if we recruited another member into the Hares, right?"
"Not at all. As long as this new member is capable and a decent person, I have no objections."
Nicole's expression visibly brightened.
"Then-"
She grabbed her suitcase before retrieving Anby and Billy.
"We're going to go adopt a kitty!"
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(A/N: My fault for the late upload.
I wanted to watch the New Dev talk cuz they generally tend to drop lore bombs that foreshadow possible future events, so I took a break yesterday and watched it earlier today.