"We need to move out, now!"
Old Man Rom spoke urgently to Felt. He had never imagined Elsa would turn on them so ruthlessly. Was it because Felt failed to secure the deal, or was she simply cleaning up witnesses? Rom didn't know, but he understood one thing: Elsa was a monster. They couldn't stay in a place she already knew.
"No, Rom... let's keep watching," Felt murmured, her eyes fixed on the sky. "After all, this is just a vision. It might not be real yet."
[ "Honestly, in any other situation, I might have considered playing with you all a bit longer. But right now, I have a much more delicious dessert to sample!" Elsa's face was adorned with a smile that looked gentle, yet her eyes radiated a sickening, pathological gleam. "As for you... you didn't choose to run?" ]
[ "Even if I chose to run, I doubt I'd get away," Ayanokōji Kiyotaka said slowly. In his right hand, he now gripped an icicle. ]
[ Elsa had dispatched Rom and Felt in a matter of seconds. For Ayanokōji, however, that window was sufficient to scavenge a weapon from the shards Emilia had left on the ground. The freezing temperature of the ice bit into his skin, causing immediate frostbite, yet Ayanokōji seemed not to feel the pain at all. His eyes remained locked on Elsa. ]
[ "You picked that up while I was enjoying my appetizer?" Elsa giggled, her seductive smile resembling a beautiful but venomous viper. "I must say, I'm a little surprised. You didn't lift a finger to help those two. I thought you were friends!" ]
[ "We only met today. I wouldn't call us friends," Ayanokōji replied flatly. To him, Rom and Felt's only utility had been the few seconds of time they bought him. Looking at the demonic woman before him, he spoke again: "Your target is Emilia. I'm just someone who met her recently to help find a trinket. Can you pretend you didn't see me?" ]
[ "I'm terribly sorry, but I can't," Elsa said softly, her eyes narrowing as a wave of suffocating bloodlust filled the room. "After all, you're an involved party now." ]
[ "I'm only a hired hand myself, but enough talk. I've wasted too much time and I can't wait to play with your bowels! Please, try to entertain me a little!" As she spoke, Elsa lunged, her short swords whistling through the air. ]
[ Elsa moved with the terrifying speed of a striking cobra. A single slip-up would mean instant death. However, Ayanokōji—a master of every martial art from his world with reflexes far beyond the human norm—executed a backroll to evade the lethal strike. In the same motion, he thrust the icicle forward. Elsa twisted her body mid-air in a way that defied human anatomy, narrowly dodging what should have been a guaranteed hit. ]
[ "Ayanokōji Kiyotaka, was it? What a peculiar name!" Elsa wasn't frustrated by her failure to land a hit. On the contrary, her smile widened, and her lazy eyes ignited with excitement. "Are you a member of the Knights? No ordinary guard could move like that." ]
In the classroom, the students stared at the screen, unable to believe their eyes. The boy they had considered a "background character" was displaying high-level combat prowess, actually holding his own against a terrifying assassin.
"He might actually win!" Horikita Suzune shouted, her eyes glued to Ayanokōji. Even though it was just a video, it felt like the real Ayanokōji was fighting for his life right in front of her.
However, she noticed that Ayanokōji's face held no joy. Instead, his gaze was uncharacteristically grim.
"No. I can't win," Ayanokōji said, stating it as an indisputable fact.
"But you're holding her back! If you find an opening, you can win!" Horikita insisted.
"Look closer," Ayanokōji replied. "She hasn't even used her full speed yet. She's 'playing.' I'm human; my stamina has a limit. She is a supernatural being who doesn't seem to tire."
"Furthermore," he continued, "holding an icicle like that has already caused severe frostbite to my hand. My grip will fail, and my movements will slow. The outcome is already decided."
"How can you say something so hopeless? You're the one fighting!" Horikita was agitated, unable to comprehend how he could analyze his own death with such detached coldness.
Ayanokōji didn't answer. He knew the limits of the human body better than anyone. He turned his attention back to the screen, watching his other self face the inevitable.