Spy Room Volume 1 Chapter 4

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Lies and rescue

At the storehouse of the research facility, where the gas tanks were being stored—

The bomb let loose by Guido didn’t have much impact. Only because of the gas tanks next to the girls, the explosion ended with such force. But, the blast of the bomb ran through Lily’s body. She somehow managed to keep her ground, and slipped in between the pipes, hiding in the shadows of the water tanks. If what Lily guessed was correct, the goal of this bomb was to create a loud sound, alarming people in the vicinity that a battle had begun. Though she didn’t know who exactly this was aimed at.

In the gaps of the tanks, the plumbings were almost as thick as the roots of a large tree. Together with multiple of these, it was like a forest, allowing Lily’s comrades to hide around there as well. Guido on his end just stood at a place separated from the tanks, not moving an inch.

“What should we do now?” She heard the white-haired girl’s voice from somewhere. “Once the enemy comes here, we’ll have to deal with guns and handgrenades, you know?”

The silver-haired girl commented in a cheeky tone. “Of course. I don’t know how strong the glasses are, but if there’s gasoline or other highly inflammable gas in there, there’s a high chance that we’ll die in the explosion.”

“Then, whether it’s fighting with our knives, or running away, but—”

“Both options are way too dangerous…It’s the teacher of Sensei, right? That frivolous lad over there.”

That one action of his showed enough that he was an excellent spy. They couldn’t see a future where they would be able to win. Not to mention at close range like this. Not knowing how to respond to that, Lily just held her tongue. She was good at cheering on without having any prominent basis, but coming up with concrete plans was out of her jurisdiction. From across another water tank, they heard a silent voice. It was the red-haired girl.

“If we run away, we all will eventually be caught…Fighting here with everyone has the highest chance for all of us to make it out alive…”

No arguments there. Hence, everyone prepared themselves. If they hazardly run away now, maybe one of them might survive, but none of the girls wished for this. No matter how naive it may be, they didn’t want to use anyone’s life as waste for another to get away. At the same time, Guido seemed to have guessed the girls’ intent.

“Seven versus one, huh.” He showed an uplifted smile. “I’ll hold down every single one of you. You’ll surrender in three minutes max.”

Three minutes. Lily had hoped that they could make it to five minutes at least, but that was wishful thinking. Guido wrapped his arm around his back, bringing out a drawn sword. A weapon very untypical for a spy, but it seemed to be his speciality. The sound of spit being swallowed could be heard from one of the girls. Meanwhile, Guido lowered his waist, getting into a stance. Around twenty meters separated Guido and the girls lurking in the gaps of the tanks. With his physical abilities, it would take a mere moment to reach them.

A few seconds of silence.

A whistle counted as the starting signal. The girls all showed themselves at once, firing their handguns.

“Don’t let him get any closer!” The black-haired girl screamed. “If he gets too close to the plumping, we can’t shoot anymore!”

Seven guns were pointed at one man, fired with no restraint whatsoever. No hesitation. If they were as foolish as to hold back, being killed would be a deserved fate. If they fought a normal person, he’d be riddled with bullets, and suffer and immediate death. Oh how fortunate that would be.

Guido however dashed towards them in a zig-zag, occasionally blocking a bullet with his blade, or redirecting its course. He showed no signs of fear or anxiety, as the corners of his mouth were formed up like a smile.

In the blink of an eye, Guido arrived at the place filled with the plumbing, forcing the girls to give up on using guns. From here on out, using firearms would be self-destructive. As for the seven of the girls, they all leaped up at the same time, with wires wrapped around the plumbing, and they hid in the dark again. Luckily, this was a forest of tanks and plumbing, so they weren’t lacking in hiding spots.

Guido didn’t bother with the other girls, straight chasing after Lily. It felt like she was a rabbit, being chased by a lion. She ran along the plumbing with all her strength, but Guido was slowly catching up to her with even higher speed.

—He’ll catch me.

Right as she thought that, a whistle arrived at her ears. It was the signal for their trap. Two seconds after this signal, Lily jumped up.

“Sorry about this!” Lily screamed. “But we’re used to fighting someone higher ranked than us!”

Be it the development of a plan, the quick-witted combination of several ideas, and adapting to the quick changes, those were all talents they’ve honed. Doing half a rotation forwards, Lily looked behind her. Guido had chased after her, with the sword in hand, and came to a sudden halt. His right leg was wrapped in countless numbers of wires. Someone must have set it up—this booby trap.

After landing on the ground again, Lily looked up at the sky, and found a silver-haired girl holding up her middle finger. At the same time, the other girls turned towards the incapacitated Guido, approaching him with knives. On top of that, the pink-haired girl approached him with a stun gun from behind. They were in perfect cooperation. With his right leg not free, there should be no way he could avoid knives approaching from every single direction.

“…Are you really that stupid?” Guido showed a cold smile.

Lily watched this scenery, dumbfounded. Right then, it happened. With barely any effort, Guido tore away the wires holding back his right leg, sinking a kick deep into the stomach of one of the girls. Kicking her away, he swiftly dodged the knife attack.

“Just in what country did you learn that trap, huh?”

Greatly swinging his right leg, the girl’s body was thrown at the gas tank. As a result, the pink-haired girl could only let out a faint groan, as she collapsed onto the ground.

“The techniques of the Republic won’t work on me.” A cold voice resounded.

Laying on the ground at Guido’s feet, the girl showed no signs of getting up.

“Six people left.”

Watching this happen, the girls yet again became painfully aware. The pure and innocent mood maker of the group, the ashen pink-haired girl—Annette was out cold.

***

Countless famous spies and workers were assigned at the Endy Research Facility of the Galgado Empire. Taking the biological weapon into consideration, you’d probably want to station more personnel, but having made enemies with many countries in this world, the Empire didn’t have the manpower for this.

In the first place, protecting a facility such as this wasn’t the job of an intelligence agency. That job was made for the army. On top of that, for the spies of the Empire, the Republic of Deen was already dead meet in their eyes. The only dangerous group [Homura] had been annihilated. On top of that, they had a list of their supporters. All they had to be wary about were the survivors of [Homura]. Awaiting him at this research facility with a great number of soldiers at their disposal, they had the perfect trap. After their success, they had free reign on the country itself.

Thinking that, one of the Galgado Empire’s spies, Eve, let out a yawn in the administrative building of the research facility.

“Hey, you think the guys from the Republic of Deen are already dead?”

Eve was a female spy in her mid-twenties. Shown, brown hair made her look like a young girl. In the intelligence agency of the Empire, she mostly acted in counterintelligence—namely, aiming to spot enemy spies. At the communication room, her and other soldiers were currently on stand-by. Some of them were rather displeased with Eve’s lax attitude, but she herself just smiled as she ignored that. Army and soldiers in every country were just tied down. They must have been agitated by the girl, who was relaxing as she licked some candy in her mouth.

Still, all they could do was hold back in silence. There is no clear power difference between army and intelligence agency by any means. The intelligence agency of the Empire was a completely independent organization from the army. That being said, on top of holding any sort of information on any kind of scandal related to the army, and being way more useful in this day and age of spies and intrigue, the intelligence agency became a more proficient, more powerful institution over the army.

“The state of things, [Aobae¹] has come in contact with spies near the storehouse to the west.”

A single young male soldier answered.

“Another squad has found traces of an enemy spy near the east gate, and are currently on the search.”

“Hmmm. Then the information we received beforehand was correct.”

Eve fixed her posture on the chair, putting her legs on the desk. The soldiers around her narrowed their eyes to that.

“Um…Is a question okay?” The young man called out to her.

“Hm?”

“What kind of chance of success do these rats of the Republic of Deen have?”

“Probably zero?” Eve said, quite disinterested.

“With all due respect, I highly doubt that…”

Eve snorted to that, as if she ridiculed him.

“Guido…No, right now it’s [Aobae], I guess. The second he betrayed the Republic of Deen, and joined the Empire, he’s been leaking all the information about their spies. About their methods, their strengths, weaknesses, and of course, about the current plan as well.”

“That is why they will be taken out immediately…?”

“You see, he put up wiretaps in the previous residence he lived in. The enemy didn’t pick up on that, and just kept living there. That’s why we have all the information we need on the infiltrating spies. We let them roam free without them knowing, arriving here with false information even.” Eve snapped with her fingers. “We’re just killing insects who flew into our web.”

Even at the places where they could hope to escape, they already had soldiers and traps prepared. All that was waiting for them was total annihilation. That being said, the young man was still not quite satisfied with this, and continued.

“However, I heard there is one person even [Aobae] has to be careful off?”

“Are you talking about the enemy’s boss? Ahh, no problem with that. That guy is actually [Aobae]’s pupil.”

“Pupil…?”

“They fought hundreds of training battles. That being said, [Aobae] never lost once, so as long as we leave it to him, the enemy’s boss should pose no threat.”

That was what [Aobae] himself had stated. The enemy had been raised by him ever since he was a young boy. He knew whatever trick he had up his sleeve.

“On top of that, the plan of this entire operation is to kill that man. They were all just playing along in the palm of my hand. All that’s going to happen is a one-sided slaughter.”

The young man listened to this story, and let out a deep sigh.

“Just makes you feel pity.”

“Yeah, explaining it like that, they sure are unlucky.” Eve came up with an idea. “Maybe I should go out to greet them, clean them up myself.”

The soldiers around her started a commotion.

“No, you will have to stand-by here, or else…”

“Huh? What’s with that face? You trying to play cool against me?”

“But…”

“Huuuuh?” Eve glared at the soldiers.

They must have been unable to stand back, being underestimated by a woman. At the same time, the young man took a step forward, determination filling his movement.

“If I may be as honest, this research facility is under the security of us soldiers. If it comes down to fighting the spies infiltrating here, we would be more than enough—”

He couldn’t finish his words. Around his thick neck was a thread, wrapped tightly. Being restrained like this, he let out a similar blotted voice like a frog. This thread was connected to Eve’s fingers. Putting more strength into the strangulation, she looked down at the suffering man.

“What was that you just said?” She kicked the man’s face. “Now listen here. I don’t know if you’re some high horse in the army or whatever, but this isn’t the period for you anymore. The period of apes where you can slaughter left right and center is over. In this day and age where technology is advancing, a battle is filled with too many risks and costs, so we can’t waste that. You get me?”

That is why spies act in the shadows. Not using missiles or any other sort of weapon, they are able to reign in the enemy country. As if to teach that to the young man, Eve continued to kick at him.

“What meaning is there in this trained, honed body of yours? You think the enemy will just attack you head-on? Assassination. Wilful murder. Poisoning. If you don’t have any countermeasures for that in your head, you won’t survive in this new world, you know?”

The second the consciousness of the young man was about to fade, Eve stopped.

“Now, I guess it’s time to slaughter some spies.”

The young man gasped for her, and still tried to stop Eve.

“P-Please wait. There is still one first-class spy with the enemy—”

“Doesn’t matter. Not in the slightest. Using surprise attacks, I will not lose. I’ve killed many people with this thread of mine, all of them enemy spies.” Eve showed her thread. “Guess I’ll go deliver the head to [Aobae].”

As soon as she laughed with that thought in mind, a report came in, saying that there was an intruder in the building with the research lab. Perfect timing, she could go and assassinate him herself.

Though she showed a rather carefree attitude, she didn’t have her guard down by any means. She had a gun in her hand, and as soon as she would hear a sound, she was ready. Killing the sound of her own footsteps, she checked for the presence of the enemy. The research facility had turned into an inhuman, robotic atmosphere. The cutting edge linoleum floor was hygienic, making it harder for footsteps to be heard.

Hence, Eve threw her thread to widen the range of control. Naturally, this very thread didn’t make any sound. It was even difficult to make out with the mere eye. All she had to do was wait until he fell into her spider’s web. At her fingertips, she could feel a slight vibration.

Got you now…From this weight, it’s a grown man, huh.

Pulling in the thread, she tied him up. As expected, he really was no big threat. Flashing an evil grin, Eve approached the trapped prey—

“Bueh,” a weird sound escaped from her mouth.

The man had been hiding behind her back. Just having an annoyed look on his face, he wiped off the blood of the knife. Eve didn’t even know what happened to her. Feeling a scorching heat, she touched her throat. A large amount of blood was gushing out. Her throat had been stabbed.

“What, just a small fry.” The man muttered, disinterested.

She couldn’t believe this scenery. Eve should have definitely caught someone with her thread. He must have cut the thread in one second, and attacked her.

“Seems like the Empire is also lacking hands. Sending someone like this as a guard.”

The man caught Eve’s body before she could collapse, and rummaged through her clothes. Seeing that there was nothing of value, he coldly threw her to the ground.

“I don’t even have the time to play with someone of your level. I’m a bit busy.”

The man didn’t even bother finishing Eve off. He just walked away, lackluster of interest, and Eve’s vision finally went blank.

***

“Six people left.”

Guido’s cold voice resounded through the research facility at night.

“Annette-chan…”

Inside Lily, the hypothesis turned into confirmation. It wasn’t a lie. Guido’s fighting skill and techniques were on Klaus level. In the first case, even more than that. Not to mention that, the way he handled the traps and his own body during the fight, somewhat looked similar to Klaus himself. He was without a doubt Klaus’ teacher.

Lily became quiet and observing. She could feel her heart clenching with anxiety and fear. They were fighting an enemy who was most likely stronger than the person they couldn’t beat for an entire month. On top of that, they were already missing one crucial person. Lily raced her eyes over the collapsed pink-haired girl in the corner of her view. Having received one of Guido’s fierce attacks, her chest was still faintly moving up and down. She was breathing.

“She’s still ali—”

“Killing is second-rate.”

Chains fell down at Guido’s feet. They were those used in restrictions and to tie people up. Putting these around the pink-haired girl’s limbs, he called out to the others.

“Come out. You have ten seconds. If not, I’ll cut off one of her fingers for every second you take longer.”

Lily grit her teeth so intensely it hurt. Taking hostages in the world of spies was by no means underhanded—No, it was a general concept. A quite simple style to have people move according to your will. Taking hostages without a second thought actually accounted for being an essential skill. Time passed, and a cold sweat ran down Lily’s cheek. In the shadows, she exchanged gazes with her comrades.

“Sensei isn’t here…” She dropped her gaze. “We have to save her by ourselves. Nothing else for us to do.”

She prepared herself, and stepped out of the plumbing’s shadow, standing face to face with Guido.

“Quite the fast decision.” Guido almost sounded like he was admiring Lily.

“They often praise me for that.”

Though they barely do for any other things—She thought, but kept that to herself. As Lily stood there, she heard the faint murmuring of the black-haired behind her back.

—Let us come up with a new operation while Lily is buying time.

Lily relaxed her shoulders, and got into an act. Apparently, it was her job now to focus Guido’s consciousness on her. Fight on.

“But, sadly a miss.”

The other party wasn’t in any rush for a quick victory.

“You should have thrown away your comrade, and run away. Those who get captured should commit suicide as well. You won’t get far in this world if you try to keep your friends, you know?”

“Sadly, we were taught that [A hostage resembles a hurt swan].”

“…Man, I really thought I raised him better than this.” Guido massaged the back of his neck.

Lily herself made fists with her hands, staring at the enemy.

“We all decided that we would make it out of this alive.”

Leaving their ally and running away—that wasn’t even a playable choice.

“Sensei, and the other seven beauties of us are [Tomoshibi]. Seven colors in the rainbow, seven sins. Seven is the perfect number. Tia-chan as the Sin of Lust, Zibia-chan as the Sin of Wrath, me as the Sin of Greed…And that’s how we split it up.”

At the same time, a Who’s the Sin of Wrath here? return was thrown in from the white-haired girl. Even now at a time like this, she was acting commanding. This in itself put more strength into Lily, as her expression relaxed a small bit.

“It would feel bad with eight or six people. Together with the seven of us, and Sensei, we’ll all make it home.”

“That’s what you call being naive.”

Guido seemed to be fed up with the idle talk as far as things looked. He switched the hand in which he was holding the sword, and pointed the tip of the blade at the hostage. The tied-up pink-haired girl let out a groan.

“Come at me.”

—If you’re just going to draw it out, I’ll kill her.

He didn’t speak it out loud, but that’s what the action told Lily.

“If you are on Sensei Klaus’ level, then—”

The other girls winked at Lily.

“—Right here, right now, we’ll overcome Sensei.”

They’ve been doing the same thing the entire past month. Against overwhelming strength, the weak worked together to stand up against it. It was time they showed what they had achieved. It never succeeded once, but they knew the methods.

—Deceive and defeat.

Lie as much as you can, turn 0 into 1, 1 into 5, create an opening. Next to Lily, the red-haired girl appeared, whispering the plan into her ears. Lily gave a wink to show consent. Someone threw a bomb at Guido, which acted as the starting signal of battle.

A smokescreen.

White smoke roze up into the dark night, and finally disappeared. Guido didn’t move an inch to that, and just remained as calm as before. He would not move away from the hostage. Around the time the smoke disappeared completely, the movement of the girls was completed.

Two girls jumped out, the white-haired and silver-haired girl. Each of them respectively with gloves and dagger. With Guido between them, they attacked. In terms of raw fighting power, they were the top two of the group. Though he blocked off their attacks with his sword, showing barely any effort, the girls immediately continued with their assault. As for the white-haired girl, she had obviously put down the gigantic backpack before this attack, and with her light and nimble body, she blogged the sword by using the gloves, inserted with steel. The silver-haired girl on her part used these openings created by blocking the blade, and attacked with the dagger. Guido however didn’t even break out in a sweat, only looked like he was truly enjoying this battle. All of this as he was on the defense.

“…!”

As the white-haired girl let out an inaudible groan, another girl came to assist. Once again, the item thrown by the black-haired girl was a smoke bomb. The surroundings were wrapped in a smokescreen again, as the white-haired and silver-haired girl retreated.

“What a pain.” A sigh leaked from Guido’s lips.

He changed his target, dashing away from the target, onwards to the black-haired girl. In a panic, she tried to escape, but she couldn’t win against Guido’s overwhelming speed. On top of the plumbing, she tumbled.

“Ah—”

Letting out a groan of shock, she fell onto the ground. The second she collapsed, Guido was already waiting for her with the sword ready.

“You can’t run away anymore.”

“…Stop.”

The black-haired girl let out a feeble voice. Tears built up in the corners of her eyes, and she did a pathetic attempt to crawl backwards whilst on her butt. She twisted her body, showing her slender bodyline. As she was trying to run away, her clothes must have gotten stuck somewhere, as her dress was slightly ripped, revealing her thighs.

“Don’t…don’t come here…” A weak voice escaped from the normally courageous and confident girl.

“………” Guido’s reaction was exceptionally gold. “You have the eyes of a wixen trying to entice a customer. You plan on grasping a man’s sadistic feelings with this?”

With that, the girl immediately stopped her fake tears.

“It’s too late.”

Several piano strings appeared around Guido, attacking him. Almost like a spider web appearing around its prey. Naturally, if it was him, he should be able to cut them away and escape easily, but—

“—Marvelous.”

They had prepared a counterattack. From the dark night, a man appeared overhead. With a knife ready, he charged into the only opening of the web of piano string. This man should be an existence Guido couldn’t ignore.

“This is checkmate, Guido—”

“You think I wouldn’t be able to see through a disguise?”

Guido didn’t hesitate for one second to cut down the piano strings even at the sudden appearance of the fake Klaus. Calmly countering the attack which was way too slow for the real Klaus, Guido grabbed the fake.

“Ugh…”

The girl disguised as Klaus let out a groan.

“Quite the proficient disguise, but that would definitely call me ‘Teacher’, y’know?”

Guido put strength in the arm holding onto the fake Klaus’ one, swinging the girl around, throwing her away. As she flew, the girl’s head hit the ground, peeling away the mask on her face. After rolling around for a few meters, she tried pulling herself up once, but lost her strength and collapsed sideways. Thus, the calm operation advisor of [Tomoshibi]—Grete was forcefully removed from the battle.

“Five people left.”

Guido quickly restrained the red-haired girl. This very action occurred in a mere few seconds. Enough for the black-haired girl to run away. Guido moved back, and hit the girl’s chin with the back of his sword. It didn’t feel like he used too much strength, but the girl nonetheless lost consciousness, and collapsed. The next girl to drop out from the battle was the beautiful black-haired beauty, holding up the team with her grown-up attitude—Tia.

“Four people lieft.”

And with that, the white-haired and silver-haired girl finally caught up with the battle again. Guido swiftly evaded their attacks, dashing up a gas tank, and ran his gaze along the battlefield, almost as if he was looking for his next prey. He happened to meet eyes with Lily, who was still hiding, watching the situation unfold.

“These two have been attacking me the entire time, but—” He pointed the tip of his blade at her. “What are you doing, after throwing caustic words like that?”

“………”

Lily dashed, and shook her head. As of right now, planning, command, battle, everything had been left to someone else.

“………Support?”

“Great personality you got there.”

It couldn’t be helped, since people had things they excelled at, and things they didn’t. Or so Lily wanted to emphasize, but she sadly didn’t have the time for that. Guido had already decided on Lily as his next target. He came soaring down with speed reminiscent of thunder, approaching Lily. She couldn’t even start an evading motion. His dropkick, with a beautiful form, showing no unnecessary motion, shot at Lily’s shoulder.

“Determination!”

Together with that shout, Lily grabbed his leg. Of course, support was not the only thing she excelled at. She had a weapon like no other. From the girl’s entire body, toxic gas started leaking!

“Gas…?”

For a second, Guido’s eyes turned round.

“Now!” Lily screamed, as she led onto Guido’s leg.

Though she was thrown off right after, she had fulfilled her mission. Guido’s body staggered. At the same time, the third special paired attack of the girls followed. The white-haired girl spit an annoyed Just fall over and die already as she leaped at Guido, whilst the silver-haired girl flashed a rather softened version of her usual arrogant grin, stabbing at him with a dagger.

The battle only lasted for a moment, ending in the exact opposite of how Lily anticipated.

“Three people left.”

First, the white-haired girl was hit in the jaw with the back of the blade, and she collapsed.

“Two people left.”

Following that, falling prey to the roundhouse kick of Guido, the silver-haired girl was blown into the plumbing. With this, the always commanding, confident white-haired girl, Zibia, and the whilst arrogant, still showing excellent work silver-haired girl, Monika, both were unable to keep fighting.

—Stop joking with me.

Lily kept running. She was in rage, being forced to watch two of her allies get knocked out like this. On top of that, she couldn’t afford to waste that chance. Her poison should have worked without doubt. Guido however was as calm as ever, and even gazed at Lily in admiration.

“Is this an idiosyncrasy? Being able to move in this paralysis gas.”

“You should not be able to move though!”

Preparing herself, she grabbed a knife and pushed it towards Guido’s body. However, he stopped her without any great effort. There were no signs of his movement becoming slower, more dull.

“No way…” Lily was baffled. “To my poison doesn’t work…”

This poison was even strong enough to shortly seal Klaus’ movement. How can he be this calm?

“Ah, it did work. I closed my mouth immediately, but it’s pretty tough actually. Look, my fingertips are getting numb.”

As if to show her, he waved his hand, and then closed it as a fist.

“And—did you think that was enough to defeat me?”

“Lily-senpai, run!”

Then, they heard a voice behind them. A girl with tears in her eyes jumped out of the shadows, clinging to Guido’s back.

“While I buy time, you have to—”

“Shut up.”

Cutting the girl’s words immediately, she fell prey to the sword. She couldn’t even hope to win against this insane speed he used. Tragically, this marked the end of participation for the meek, feeble and always careful brown-haired girl—Sara.

“One person left.”

Run away, or fight? This one moment of hesitation would prove fatal. Before she could move her legs, Guido was already right at her, his fist running deep into her stomach.

“And that’s the end of it.” The man shortly announced.

For this entire month, the girls worked their hardest. Their efforts didn’t betray them. They indeed became stronger, and have leveled-up drastically. Their talents had been honed thanks to Klaus.

—But, it was just one month. Guido had been working as a spy for over twenty years. He didn’t spend the entire time in training, but acquired actual battle experience. And this result shows here. In simple terms, they had no hope from the very beginning.

“Zero.”

An arrogant declaration arrived at Lily’s ears, and resounded until she collapsed.

***

Klaus was running. He could only think about the explosion sounds he heard just now. Feeling impatient, he dashed through the research facility as quickly as his legs carried him.

—I have to hurry. Faster. I cannot lose my comrades a second time.

Klaus broke the window glass with a kick, and jumped outside the facility. From the third floor. Sending a wire flying, he made it connect to the rooftop of an adjoined building, breaking the window of that building, and hushed inside. Though it was a rather crude action, he didn’t have time to choose. It was an important short cut. He didn’t know how long they cut last against a first-class spy in battle. No, it would have been good luck if it was just a first-class spy.

If they are really fighting that man, then…

In order to save them, he had to move as quickly as possible. Imagining the worst-case scenario, his legs carried him even faster. However, as if to prevent that, a large door sealed off the hallway, a metallic one. Klaus took out his lockpicking tools, and kept closing in on the door. To his shock, there was no keyhole to be found on the door. At the same time, a voice arrived his ears from behind.

“That door doesn’t open. Unrelated to your lockpicking skill. It’s just a wall.”

Turning around, a middle-aged man stood there. Guessing from his outfit, he was a proficient spy. Next to him stood four normal soldiers. Another new bother Klaus didn’t have the time for. In a rush, he tried kicking open the door, but it didn’t move an inch. From the shock he felt on his foot, it seemed to be just an ordinary wall. To that, the middle-aged man commented.

“You want to take the shortest route to the storage of the gas tanks, right? To save your subordinates.”

“Hm, so you know my personality?”

“Heard about it. Also, all your moves and actions are right in our control.” The man laughed, as if he was joking. “The map your subordinates stole is a fake. This here is actually a dead end.”

“………”

“To only now realize you walked right into our trap. What a foolish man you are.” The man shrugged with his shoulders as he sighed, only to burst out in laughter again. “Unsightly.” A jarring voice. “You were also acting as an instructor, right? Your poor students were quite laughable, really. Not aware that the Empire knew of their every move, gathering information we willingly gave, and getting all excited on top of that. They must have enjoyed playing spies, huh.”

“………”

“Weren’t they drop-outs of their educational institutions anyway? You thought you stood any chance against us with the dull blades of failures?”

“…………”

“You finally aware of your lack of skilled guidance for them?”

In front of the door were no windows whatsoever, making this a complete dead-end. The soldiers standing next to the man all readied their short machine guns. In this linear hallway with no places to escape to, it was the most effective weapon. The middle-aged man put up his hand, about to give the order.

“Now, go and rot in he—”

“I don’t even have the time to play along, huh.”

He expected some sort of information to be leaked, but all he spat was worthless verbal abuse. Not an enemy to take serious. At the feet of the middle-aged man and the five soldiers—a large fire emitted. In this closed-off space, the flames spread in the blink of an eye, not leaving the men any chance of escaping. Only Klaus, who separated from this wildfire, as well as using a fire proof suit, could save himself from the inferno. Though the fire had disappeared after a short moment, the soldiers were all unconscious.

Only by using his allies as a shield, the middle-aged man was able to be spared from that. As he screamed in anguish over the flames sticking to him, he glared at Klaus.

“A-A bomb…?”

“I walked into this trap on purpose.”

Fixing his suit, Klaus sighed. He was plenty fed-up with the man. At the same time, said middle-aged man had his eyes open wide, not understanding what just happened.

“Weird…you’re not Eve, so how can you sense traps like that?”

“It was just a feeling—is probably enough of an answer. Well, it wasn’t that bad of a scheme.”

“The likes of such a weak country’s worthless spy…” The man took a few steps back.

However, because of the bad condition he was in, he immediately broke down again. Because of the blast, his legs seemed to be severely wounded.

“Even if you make it past here, what awaits you is just death.” The man spit. “Your inexperienced subordinates can just get slaughtered by [Aobae] for all I care!”

Having too much vigor was always a good thing. To think he would scream this much after losing this one-sidedly. Klaus didn’t have time to admire this whatsoever.

“All bark.”

Taking out a single weapon, he closed the distance between him and the middle-aged man.

“Eeeek…”

“I’m not good at this kind of work. Don’t get irritated.”

Hearing that, all the color drained from the man’s face. What Klaus took out was a thick, jet-black, and chipped—torturing knife.

***

After having slain Lily, Guido let out an exasperated sigh.

Quite disappointing…Didn’t last all too long, either.

It was weird. The girls truly believed they could win against Guido. Just how low were their actual chances, having tasted defeat against their teacher for an entire month, and now the teacher of their own teacher appeared. Turning around towards the collapsed girls, he threw handcuffs at them. As soon as they hit the girls, they moved like actual living beings, wrapping around their limbs, and restrained them. Not like they were in any condition to move, but still.

Right as he turned over to Lily, about to throw the handcuffs at her, when a transmission came through.

「[Aobae], how’s it looking over there?」

One of his allies called him. He was rather displeased to hear this unfamiliar codename, as he twirled the handcuffs around his finger.

“Most of it is done. The intruders are unable to fight back right now, and I was on my way to restrain them.”

「That’s what I expected」

“Did you find Klaus?”

「Five minutes ago. Allies spotted him in the B building, but he seems to have escaped. There is a high chance that he threatened one of our people and received a big chunk of information」

His eyes opened wide. He had received regular reports on Klaus’ movement inside the facility, but he didn’t expect him to move this quickly. So quickly that the guards and soldiers couldn’t keep up.

It’ll only take him seven…no, five minutes, huh.

He had confidence he would be able to win even if he was assaulted, but he couldn’t let down his guard. He knew the man’s skill and talent after all.

“…Have to hurry and make it so these fries can’t move anymore~”

To finish the job, Guido threw the handcuffs at the girl.

“Haaa!”

Those shackles were repelled. As he moved his gaze, a single girl was glaring at him. A gray-haired girl—her comrades called her Lily.

“Correction…one person left, huh.”

Restarting the countdown, Guido called out to her.

“Don’t go resisting now. Every time you move an inch, you’d feel horrible pain.”

He should have hit her right in the liver. Hitting the exact point there, the bloodstream gathers, robbing strength of your entire body. Moving your body in this state of lethargy should move quite the burden on your body.

“…You’re not going to kill us?”

“Huh? I won’t kill you.” Guido softly shook his hand. “Don’t worry. I don’t plan on killing you right now, so just go back to sleep.”

“—Then, even more reason not to sleep now.”

Lily started to push herself up on shaking legs. Her upper body was shaking furiously, and she almost collapsed a few times, but she definitely pushed herself past her limit.

“Why are you getting up? You can’t win against me.”

“I finally understand your aim…” Lily showed her white teeth. “It’s Sensei, right? Your aim, from the very beginning.”

“Yup, correct.” He even clapped.

It wasn’t out of ridicule, he seemed really impressed.

“It’s exactly as you say. For the Empire, he is just as important of a matter as the biological weapon.”

Of course, ‘Hades’ Doll’ was still protected to the brim. For the politicians of the Empire, it could prove to be one of the strongest weapons in negotiations and political activities in general. Even if the chance of a new war is relatively low, they had to be prepared, or they would fall behind. However, for the intelligence agency, there is an even more dangerous existence.

“Let me tell you. On the day [Homura] got annihilated, it was planned that he would die on a different mission.”

The reason Klaus was sent on a different mission from [Homura] wasn’t connected to Guido’s grace. For this man alone, you had to set a very special trap, unless you can’t kill him, but you couldn’t save the members of [Homura] either. That resulted in the final decision to split them.

“Even so, he made it back alive. He beat the Empire’s spies at their own game. Hence, for them, that guy is the most problematic target right now.”

In a situation where everyone would have been killed in action, he made it out alive. Guido didn’t think of him as a human. Klaus often referred to Guido as a [monster], but in his eyes, Klaus was even more distanced from a normal human. For the Empire, an existence too dangerous to be left alive.

“But, this is the end. As his master, I can guarantee that. No matter what, this time for sure, he will die.”

For that, their preparations were perfected. Guido turned the muzzle of a handgun towards the sky, and fired, having the sound of the gunshot fill the night sky. This sound must have reached Klaus’ ears as well.

“That guy will pick up the gunshot and explosion sounds, and come here. In this situation with you seven as hostages, coming to challenge me. With an enemy he definitely won’t be able to defeat, he will fight for his life—and will eventually lose it here.”

Lily laughed at that explanation.

“Haha, I wonder if he really will come here…? We might as well just be sacrifices for hi—”

“He will come. It’s that idiot disciple after all.”

That was the only thing the teacher could say with certainty.

“He definitely won’t throw away his allies. He’ll cross every trap, and will come here even if it costs him a leg—That is the man I knew as my pupil.”

Even in this world of deceiving, he would not throw away his own justice. He’d rather come here and risk his life rather than savely retreat.

“Right~ Ahaha, I can tell. He definitely seems like the type to come,” Lily sighed, as she gazed up at the night sky. “—And then, he’ll die, as he protects us.”

“He thinks too much of his allies. Using this weakness, that man is actually quite easy to conquer.”

“Wah, this is pretty cruel~ If Sensei comes, he dies, and if he doesn’t die, we will be killed. Pure despair, am I right!” Ehehe, the girl laughed. “Then, even more reason to stand up and fight.” She said.

Lily’s knees were wobbly as she stood, barely able to keep herself from falling.

“If Sensei will die once he comes here, then we just, you know, have to defeat you before it comes to that.”

“You must realize that it’s impossible, right?” Guido nonchalantly threw a knife at Lily.

She somehow managed to block that, but she lost her balance in the process, once again falling to the ground. She still didn’t have any strength in her legs.

“You got no chance to win against me. Why are you trying this much?” He snorted arrogantly.

He didn’t even bother praising her for this sort of suicide attack. All he did was scorn her.

“Because it feels comfortable.” Lily muttered.

“…What are you on about?”

“It’s the reason we work this hard.” The girl started putting more strength into her voice. “I’m sure you wouldn’t get it. This enjoyment in trying to overthrow Sensei every single day. How we were seriously getting into a fight during the nights of our reflection. This burning passion in wanting to become an even better if it’s with these comrades—No way in hell would someone like you, who betrayed his own friends, ever understand that.” Lily spit at him. “What a poor excuse of a human you are.”

“…………”

Most likely an attempt to provoke him. Reflected in the girl’s eyes was an emotion filled with contempt, and also pity. Of course, this level of provocation didn’t do much to anger Guido. There was no need to lend ears to a all bark no bite spy on her last breath.

“The poor ones are you bastards.” Guido laughed heartily. “Comfortable? Yeah, I can see that. A gathering of failures like you, sharing similar wounds, being able to live in luxurity like that, you must have been happy. You must want to protect that, alright. But, as a result of you just playing around, everyone was taken hostage, just turning into shackles to hold down Klaus for his eventual death. You still don’t get that?” Guido was honestly a bit amazed.

The reason for their defeat was a lukewarm level of friendship.

“It’s over.” Guido grabbed the sword.

Using the back of the blade, he rammed it directly into Lily’s stomach, at speed she had no hopes of blocking in time. Her back hit a plumbing behind her, as she coughed up blood.

“Just watch. The result of you failures working your ‘hardest’. The last moments of the man who will be killed because of your sins.”

“……!” Lily couldn’t even force out a voice at first. “Sensei…you can’t…you’ll be killed…don’t…come here…”

“That’s exactly why he will come. That man, for certain.”

Unable to cast away his comrades, unable to run away in this battle he will end up losing. Prioritizing your allies over the mission, a detrimental flaw for a spy.

And thus, the five minutes since the transmission should have passed. Leaving the useless enemy alone, Guido wondered where that man could appear from.

“Don’t go sneaking around like that, and come out already…you stupid pupil of mine…”

Letting this girl fight all on her own.

“You must be close by, right? Hurry up…your enemy is right here!”

One could almost feel resentment in Guido’s voice. To think that the man he gave his life and blood to raise—turned out to become such a moron.

“The man who killed your family is right here!”

With intense vocal volume, Guido’s voice filled the silence.

“The teacher you’re supposed to overcome is right here!”

He screamed even louder.

“Your students were risking their lives, you know?!”

His voice even had the tanks vibrate. But, there was no other sound following. No voice, nor any footsteps approaching. Weird. The five minutes should have passed already.

“———Why doesn’t he show up?”

“Guido-san, a question…” Lily leaked a meek voice.

Guido reacted, and looked down at her. And then, a shiver ran down his spine. The teary-eyed, terrified expression on her face disappeared, and like a death god, saying that your life was over, her dry eyes gazed at him.

It made no sense. Once Klaus came, he would die. If he didn’t, then the girl would die. The girls should be in a despairing situation, so why—

“——How long do we have to keep playing along?”

Why was the girl—laughing?

At the same time, he heard the crackling sound of a new transmission coming in.

「—Marvelous」

No way would he have mistaken that voice. The transmission came from the first transmission room, basically right next to the research lab. Klaus didn’t make his way to save the girls, but brought the mission to a success.

***

The night of the kickoff party, before the begin of the mission—

After they disbanded, Klaus called Lily to his room. For some reason, her cheeks were a bit reddened as she arrived, but clearing up any potential misunderstanding she had was too much of a bother, so he just ignored that, and got right to the point.

“I want to task you with the most dangerous job of the mission.” He said.

Lily was perplexed, and eventually got on a high horse like she usually would, but at the very end, she agreed with a confident If it’s for my comrades. Though he felt that this pure love towards her comrades was a bit too dangerous, Klaus knew this was one of the best traits. He put his faith in her, and announced with a quiet voice.

“Most likely, the Empire is letting us move freely.”

“Eh?”

“I did tell you before, but the Kagerou Palace is being wiretapped. The enemy most likely knows about our every move. The information you’ve gathered was probably just dummies to have you play along. You can burn it right away.”

“Eh, then what about all the effort we put into gathering it?”

“For naught.”

“So direct!”

Lily sighed. It must have been quite the shock.

“Though it sounds a bit cruel, but with one month of effort, you can’t hope to win against first-rate spies. Especially with my mediocre teaching.”

He did admit that they’ve grown exponentially. However, having been drop-outs of their previous education institutions, they were still no enemy for someone of Klaus level. It really couldn’t be helped this time around. Hearing this, Lily was devastated.

“But, then…”

“That is perfectly fine. We will act like we’re unaware, and infiltrate.”

“And how are we going to take back the biological weapon then?”

“The enemy will be underestimating us, thinking we’re completely clueless. It’s probably meant as a trap for me. If we manage to anticipate that beforehand, we can make it out. I will fight the enemy directly, and steal the right information from them.”

“Sensei, that sounds crazy dangerous…”

She was absolutely right, but it couldn’t be helped in this instance. Luckily, during this one month, he had continued to walk into countless traps built by the girls. That should prove enough as preparation.

“I want you girls…to deceive a certain enemy.”

“Like a diversion?”

“Exactly—act weak, and create an opening. That is your true mission this time.”

Ultimately, the reason he gathered these girls, and the reason he trained them ran down to one simple one. He would not be able to defeat that man by himself.

“Hmm…there’s still something I’m not quite getting.”

Being told the details of the operation, Lily put one finger on her cheek, softly tilting her head in uncertainty.

“Basically, we’re supposed to be playing along the Empire who’s making fun of us in the shadows, and then reveal the lie we kept for a month, and show our true efforts as a team, strike them down with a secret attack, and have them eat dirt?” The corner’s of the girl’s mouth raised up. “That—sounds super awesome to me.”

Because of her strong mentality, Klaus could put trust in her. Thus, he announced, camly, yet confidently.

“Deceive, and defeat. Show them the results of our efforts.”

***

「Can you hear me, Teacher…? Been a while, right」

He could hear the voice of his pupil. Looking at the lamp of the transmission device, he knew where this voice came from.

The first transmission room…?

The room next to the research lab with the biological weapon, at the southern tip of the research facility. Guido was far away from that location. Klaus had taken over the location.

「I just secured the biological weapon. Felt like telling you about that」

Just as he remained in his memories, Klaus announced with an indifferent tone of voice. The second he received a transmission from this first transmission room, he knew what was going on. What left Guido speechless however was the fact that Klaus headed for the research lab instead of saving these girls.

“To think that you would prioritize the mission over the lives of your allies. I’m shocked.” He gave words of admiration.

Guido had fully expected him to rush here. Unexpected—but nothing too pressing.

“Come here within five minutes. If not, I’ll go around killing the girls one after another.”

In the end, he still wouldn’t let the girls die. Eventually, he would still come here, and die at the hands of Guido.

「No—」

Klaus spoke up, as calm as ever.

「I’m not coming」

“Huh?” Guido doubted his ears.

A dumbfounded voice leaked out of his mouth.

「I brought the mission to success, so I’ll be going home now. After all that running around, I stand no chance against you in a battle. I’ll be prioritizing my own life」

It felt like the world was turned upside down. At the same time, Klaus explained.

「My students being in danger, or the enemy being someone who betrayed me, or my teacher who was supposed to have died, all of that, well, I can admire your hard work for setting all of that up, but I do have to tell you. The two of us won’t be fighting today」

“…What are you talking about?”

「You failed to protect the biological weapon, as well as finishing me off. Nothing more, nothing less」

If the other person was a normal spy, it would have been the adequate decision. Throw away your comrades, and make sure that you at least make it home with the mission a success. But, the other person was someone who would never dare do that. Klaus would never discard his allies. This entire plan was built upon this one conviction.

“Don’t make me repeat myself. Come to the west of the facility within five minutes. Else, the girls are dead.”

「Don’t make me repeat myself. I will not come」

“You are throwing away the girls—your comrades?”

「Exactly」

“The Empire will definitely torture them to get every ounce of information.”

「I recommend gut punches」

Impossible. How could he remain this calm? In this situation, with the girls’ safety greatly endangered, how can he show such a nonchalant reaction? Riddled with questions, a cold sweat started building up on Guido’s back. His subordinates were recording every conversation happening in the Kagerou Palace. On the fourth day they started living together, Klaus definitely swore ‘I will not let you die’ towards the girls. Was that just a lie? He actually sent them to their deaths?

—No, that man would not choose this. Guido himself, who knew Klaus better than anyone, could say that with absolute certainty.

「But, Teacher, you have one fatal misunderstanding」

“Hm?”

In midst of this confusion, Klaus words entered Guido’s brain like water into dry ground.

「I anticipated that [Homura] would eventually be betrayed. I was surprised to find out it was you, but it didn’t change anything in the end」

“That doesn’t explain anything. How did you know?”

「Just a feeling」

“…I forgot that weird incompetence of yours.”

「If you want to know a reason, it’s because I found the wiretaps you set up. Also, for [Homura] of all teams to be annihilated, that was only possible if someone from the team itself leaked information」

He had found the wiretaps? That would mean—

「All our actions happened under the assumption that the traitor was listening in「

“All your actions…”

「For example, there is this certain rule we had. ‘Always only use your special ability outside of the Kagerou Palace’, you see」

Guido gasped as he remembered. According to the subordinate who was listening in on the happenings in the Kagerou Palace, the girls had been perplexed at some of the rules when they first arrived.

[Rule 27: Be always serious when going out]

「You didn’t know one of the girls was a poison user, right?」

“……!”

「You acted like you knew everything about them, but you were completely unaware. Not even you would know of the ‘Educational institution hidden geniuses’.

Klaus raised his voice. Almost as if he wanted to show his supremacy.

「Hence, I don’t even need to go there. Let me announce right here. You will lose against the girls」

“Huh?”

「Not even you can win. These girls hold talent far surpassing mine」

Everything Klaus said only induced more confusion in Guido. Klaus was sacrificing the girls. The girls would be able to win against Guido himself. Ridiculous. All of it, just sounded like an empty dream. Still, the girl called Lily was still smiling.

“…Haha, seems like that’s enough time I bought.”

“Time you bought…?”

“This time, I’ll be seriously seriously serious. It’s time for the child prodigy Lily-chan to shine.”

Almost as if to say she was holding back this entire time.

“…’Hidden geniuses’ my ass. The reason I don’t know about you is because you’re all failures, right? I know everyone else who has excellent grades.”

“T-That’s not true…?”

They were totally drop-outs. Klaus’ words must have been a lie. As if there was a monster to surpass Guido in the midst of these seven.

…But, I don’t get it. These girls have no chance of winning. So why is that idiot disciple not coming to save them?

Is he planning for a bargaining? No, looking at this, there’s no mistaking it.

“Second transmission room…” He connected to a different source. “Is it true that the transmission of Klaus came in front the first transmission room?”

「Yes, that’s correct. Klaus has taken care of the personnel in the room, and taken the transmission for himself. He arrived in front of the room, but he shows no signs of moving」 A spy in the other transmission room explained. 「Klaus definitely is…in the place furthest away from you」

“What is going on…”

There would be no rescue. And their tricks wouldn’t work either. Meaning, there are two possibilities.

One, Lily actually was a hidden genius of the Republic of Deen. Or two, Klaus was truly ignoring the girls’ safety. The first one has to be wrong. Guido would have known as they fought. There were some parts where he could voice admiration, but it was all still too rough. Then, the latter? But, after keeping his comrades so precious, a man like Klaus would turn his back to them now?

“Did that idiot disciple actually change…? Without saving his allies, just—”

“—We don’t need any help.”

Guido’s words had been cut by none other than a coldly smiling Lily.

“How long until you will finally stop seeing me as the poor princess of a heroine that needs to be saved? I’m the cheeky, strong, cool, and beautiful Leader princess, you know?” Thus, the girl stood on her two legs.

“Here at [Tomoshibi], I found the method with which even a failure and dropout like me could bloom in full glory. That’s why, as the leader, I’ll use the entire team’s strength to strike you down!”

There was no hesitation in her words. In this situation where she should have been backed into a corner, strong will resided in her eyes.

“Don’t get on a high horse now, you shitty failure…”

“I’d advise you don’t look down on me, or you could end up hurting the most?” Lily opened both her arms.

“Codename [Hanazono]—It is time to bloom and go wild.”

With a questionable decision for a spy, Lily proudly announced her codename. The change followed immediately. Almost as if flowers were blooming from her body, one after another, objects were born.

“Bubbles…?” Guido groaned.

A great mass of bubbles appeared from every opening of Lily’s body. Her hems, her collar, from the openings of her buttons, from beneath her skirt. Looking like soap bubbles, they fell to the ground around Lily. Those bubbles didn’t just disperse however. As if they were coiled about the plumbing and tanks, they stuck around them.

Even just watching them, you’d want to avoid these at all costs, as they held a poisonous violet color. A jarring, burbling sound ran out, as the bubbles grew. Immediately after, one side of the girl was wrapped up with bubbles.

“Well, with just the poison gas, it was enough to leave Sensei defenseless for a while.”

“Huh?”

“A new technique I learned after an entire month of training. Using my idiosyncrasy, they’re poison bubbles.”

Idiosyncrasy—something she experienced herself before. She can move inside this paralytic gas. Even poison you’d have to avoid at all costs does not affect her. She was resistant to poison. Knowing this, Lily stuck out her tongue.

“How strong do you think these poison bubbles are?” Lily asked, with a humming tone.

So they were really poisoned bubbles. Watching them grow in number, and bigger as well, Guido fell back a bit.

There must be bluffs mixed in there…

Guido calmly judged. There was no need to expressly reveal her idiosyncrasy.

But, what if the poison was strong enough on level to kill you with one strike?

He wasn’t scared. He basically just went through a normal thought pattern as a spy always should. At the same time, Lily readied herself with these mysterious bubbles, flashing a provocative smile. No fear to be seen. Accepting the gap of skill between them, not able to count on Klaus’ help, she still showed her teeth. Might she actually be a genius, and not a failure? In this helpless situation, was she actually an existence that could show this much leisure?

His thoughts raced for a second, and he found determination.

“Idiot disciple, are you still listening?”

「What is it?」

“You probably can’t see it, but only Lily is the one to move.”

「That’s more than enough fighting power」

Klaus’ voice was filled with confidence.

I don’t get it…

Then, for the first time, Guido felt panic.

It hurts to admit it, but just as he said, I don’t know how strong that girl really is…

With any other spy, he had the leisure to calmly think this through. If it was any other spy of the Republic of Deen, or just any excellent candidate of any educational institution, he had their respective traits in their head. As a male, Guido even heard of the male problem children of the students out there. He could imagine their fighting tactics plenty. And now, his only blind-spot—a female irregular of an educational institution.

“No, that doesn’t matter…No matter what plan it is, I just have to break it up head-on.”

Even if this was a battlefield with a lack of information, he fought through many of those to stand where he does now. Drawing out every ounce of strength in his body, Guido awaited Lily’s attack. He would take her hostage, and force Klaus over. That was all. Equally, Lily seemed to be prepared for her attack as well, and clad in the bubble—

Lily started dashing. With all her might. Rather than her speed, the position she was in made Guido more sensitive to her. She was clad in bubble armor, closing in on him. Her long hair was ruffled into a mess, as she let out a war cry, attacking him head-on.

“Eh?” A disarrayed voice.

“Too late.”

The conclusion Guido induced happened with a lightning fast attack, not even allowing Lily any counter. Lily hadn’t even realized he had closed the distance. She didn’t see anything. Guido had shifted his step, making the other person misjudge the distance. She didn’t even have time to resist. Whilst evading the bubble Lily was clad in, he slashed at Lily’s back.

“!”

Even she must have reached her limit with that. She felt her entire body draining of strength. Finally, the silver-haired girl with a mentally strong enough to stand against an enemy of Guido’s level—Lily was out.

“Zero.”

With this, he defeated everyone. He was convinced he definitely destroyed their plans now. Wiping off the blade, he pushed it back into the sheath. Whilst doing so, he realized that a bit of foam rested on the back of his hand. He didn’t manage to dodge it all, apparently. He reflexively wiped that away, but he felt no change. Not pain or numbness either. It just felt like normal foam.

“…Was the poison a lie? Or does it have a belated effect?”

Either way, it didn’t seem to have been deadly poison. Judging that, Guido gazed at his surroundings, checking on the seven collapsed girls. He realized they all had a different hair color. Ashen-pink, red, black, white, bluish-silver, brown, and silver-grey. Lily brought a rainbow as an example, and now it made sense. These were indeed seven colors.

“Klaus, I’ve now dealt with the girls complete—”

He couldn’t finish his words.

—Suddenly, a shadow appeared overhead, closing in on Guido.

“……!”

Plumbing fell down. It must have separated itself during the intense battle. At once, he jumped back.

—Induced by Lily’s bubbles?

The timing was too good to be a coincidence, but he quickly denied that possibility.

—I guess not. This was just incidental. A row of coincidences must have built up.

At the very least, he had no proof to say otherwise. Guido didn’t have any information on a girl who could predict accidents.

And, this isn’t much trouble anyway—

He himself found no problem evading it. He had already separated from the location where it would hit the ground.

But then, something moved. At the piles of heaps Lily created, at the edge of his view, something shook. His reaction was too late. As he was in the middle of his jump, he couldn’t evade. Something jumped at Guido’s back. Following that, a sharp pain ran through his body.

“Huh—?”

He spit out blood. His back felt scorching hot. Lily was still out cold. The other six girls should not have been able to move either. What just happened? He suppressed the pain, and looked behind him. A drawn sword appeared from the bubble Guido had believed to be poisonous.

“What misfortune…”

A blonde-haired girl stood there. Holding the knife in her hand, she had stabbed it accurately into Guido’s back. Holding beauty like a doll, her eyes were filled with melancholy as she gazed at him.

“For her first role in a cooperation, that was quite tough…”

This scenery shouldn’t exist. Guido once again looked at his surroundings. At the storage area of the research facility, seven girls lied scattered on the ground. He wasn’t seeing things. The only other possibility—

“An eight girl…?”

The giant backpack the white-haired girl had carried—she must have hid in there. And after that, she hid her body with the help of Lily’s bubbles. However, even if his brain understood the ways behind it, Guido still couldn’t accept it.

Didn’t Klaus always refer to ‘The seven of you’? And didn’t the girls always say ‘The seven of us?’ Lily even made that analogy with ‘The rainbow also has seven colors’, so why? They should have been seven. As if he heard this doubt, Klaus spoke up via another transmission.

「Oh right, I didn’t tell you」 It was a freezing cold voice. 「The eight girls are to live together as just seven, was also one of the rules」

“Huh…?”

「Since you probably guessed it already, let me do you a favor and introduce our members. First is the noisy silver-haired girl, always acting as the troublemaker—Lily. Next, a girl with a commanding, quite rude tone, and white-hair, acting as the leader of the special attack unit—Zibia. The third girl is quite feeble, and a worry-wart with brown hair—Sara². Following that is the fourth girl with charming black-hair, specialized in seduction and the operations leader of the team—Tia. Fifth member is the calm, graceful-mouthed red-haired girl who insists on calling me ‘Boss’—Grete. The sixth girl in the team has bluish-silver hair, always arrogant, always referring to herself like a boy³, and the temperament of a prodigy—Monika. Next girl has a pure atmosphere to her with her ashen-pink hair color, often using ‘The great me’ to refer to herself, pushing up the mentality of the group with her naivete—Annette. Finally, the eighth and final member, possessing golden-blond hair, an indifferent attitude, isolated at first because people thought she attracted accidents—Elna. I did always refer to them as ‘Seven girls’, but they were actually eight」

It was a trick they set up beforehand. If there was a way to directly check, it would have been an easy feat to reveal there were actually eight girls, but separating the voices of eight girls on a recording would prove difficult.

“Just how many…lies did you pile up…”

The encounter with the girls was a lie, the words he had sworn towards them were a lie, the deceiving on each other between the girls was a lie, their lives consisted of lies, Lily’s strength was just a lie, the poison bubbles were a lie—it was just to hide this one attack.

It finally clicked in Guido’s head. The girls never once seriously thought they could beat him. They spent the entire month planning this attack. But, it clicked too late. Blood was already spilling from Guido’s back.

***

Seeing the collapsed Guido, Lily formed a fist with her hands. Simple-mindedly, her heart bounced, as she got excited over this.

Operation success…!

The eight girls are to live together as seven—that was the great trap set up by Klaus.

[Kagerou Palace: Rules for Shared-living: Rule 26 -You are to work together as seven and live here]

At first, when the girls had spotted that sentence, they were unable to understand what it was talking about. As Lily arrived, and Klaus showed himself, there were really only seven of them. That’s why the rule was a bit off-setting. But, on the night of the second day, it all made sense. Elna appeared late, because she got wrapped up in a heavy traffic accident. Thus, the eight of them had to live there as just seven.

—Once all girls were gathered in the same room, only seven of them could speak. On top of that, they couldn’t name each other.

Together as a team, they created one gigantic lie. All to use the wiretaps against the one who was using them.

Well, it must have been really dangerous…

Lily softly smiled, and moved on to the next part of the operation. Elna searched for a key as she put her hand in his chest pocket. Accepting it from her, Lily freed the other girls who were restrained by the handcuffs. Luckily, none of them were too heavily wounded. At the same time as she was relieved, she was forced to admit Guido’s skill in battle. Inducing this much pain in the enemy’s body without even leaving behind a wound was quite the impressive, and an important skill in the world of spies. Especially during threatening.

“Now, let’s run away! We’ll leave the rest to Sensei!”

Lily swiftly went freeing the other girls, as Elna gave an exasperated expression.

“Where did the spirit from before go…?”

“In the end, we’re still destined to be saved princess heroines!”

“What kind of weird unit is that!”

In the chance of their encounter with [Homura]’s traitor, the job of the girls would be over. Klaus would take care of the retrieving of the biological weapon. Basically, taking away the sweet-mouthing, Lily wanted to get away from this scary place already. By the time Lily arrived at the white-haired girl to free her, she thought of paying her back for some trouble she got thanks to her, and pondered over putting some scribbling on her cheek, but—

“Behind you!” Elna’s scream rang out.

She barely managed to avoid the sword slashing at her. The ribbon on Lily’s hair didn’t make it unfortunately. Elna’s sense of danger and perception really was unparalleled. It showed just how much misfortune she had to suffer through in her life. Still, Lily would have rather not seen the reality in front of her eyes now.

Guido was standing again. He had the glaring bloodshot eyes of a predator as he breathed heavily.

“Elna should have definitely stabbed him…”

“I slightly shifted my body after being stabbed, stopping the blade with bone and muscles…” He wiped off the blood dripping from his mouth. “A blacked out a bit, not gonna lie. It’s been a while since something like this happened.”

Next to Lily, Elna was biting her lips. But, nobody could blame her for this. They still dealt with a first-rate spy.

“What a voracious monster…”

Guido brushed his hair upwards. His hand was still drenched with blood, coloring his hair in a rusty tone. The wind blowing by swiftly dried that blood, and his new demonic hairstyle brought down a heavy sense of intimidation on the girls.

“Let’s run away!”

Together with Lily’s words, the girls started running. Guido was heavily wounded. He shouldn’t be able to chase after them. That is what they deduced. He was just acting energetic.

—But, that assumption turned out to be false.

“—!”

Guido showed a flawless condition, equal to before. The second he jumped, it looked as if he was soaring through the sky as he stomped on the plumbing, and swiftly closed in on the girls in the nick of time. As he arrived above the girls, something shot out of his right hand.

Blood.

He greatly waved his right hand, firing drops of blood at them like a shotgun. With blood being extremely sticky, once you had it in your eyes, you wouldn’t get it off that easily. Hence this action could prove greatly effective. His target turned out to be Lily again. She heard the sound of something cutting through the air, a dropkick was aimed straight at her face. Thankfully, the white-haired girl came in right before it hit to block her. But, she couldn’t stop the momentum, as she bumped into Lily, blown off into the girls behind her, mowed down to the ground. Because of one single kick, four girls were rolling on the earth.

—Way too strong.

Guido right now was like a wounded animal. Not intent on holding back anymore.

“0.1 seconds.” Guido raised up one finger. “That’s how much you slowed down my movement, and the result of all your hard work.”

Numbers akin to a small calculation error. After putting plan over plan over plan, this is what they got. Guido gazed down at the girls who have gotten up, and pointed the muzzle of the gun at them. Apparently, he didn’t bother too much about there being gas tanks at the girls’ backs. He was sure he would be able to hit them. Right as Guido steeled his expression, and put one finger on the trigger.

“—Marvelous.”

A cold, yet confident voice could be heard. The gun was flicked away, and Guido separated himself from the girls. At his place now—Klaus landed.

“Sensei!” Lily screamed in relief.

Klaus turned over at the girl, and threw a briefcase at her.

“It’s the biological weapon. Take it and run away.”

“So you really got it all alone…”

“It’s all thanks to you taking care of Teacher.” Klaus turned his back to the girls, and glared at Guido. “I’ll take some time, so go on ahead. Take route 4 and leave the country. Don’t forget to do preparations like a fountain erupting in the plateau.”

“That’s quite the mysterious instruction, but I understand.” Lily answered, as she checked the well-being of the other girls.

On the backside of that, the reunion between Klaus and Guido happened.

“Been a while, Teacher…”

“Klaus…”

Teacher and disciple had been reunited after having been separated by death, but how should they talk? It should have been difficult, but they had more pressing problems than this. At the same time, the girls started running towards safety.

“My subordinates have shown excellent work.” The girls heard Klaus voice at their backs. “Your movements are now 0.1 seconds slower.” His voice was filled with calmness. “I finally caught up to you.”

In the face of that, Guido seemed to have been inflicted with rage.

“Klaus!” He let out a roar.

Whilst running away, Lily turned around to watch that scene. Guido readied his handgun, attacking Klaus. His speed greatly surpassed Lily’s reaction speed.

“Teacher, it’s a shame, but—” Klaus’ lips softly moved. “You right now aren’t even worthy of being my enemy.”

The last Lily saw was Guido soaring through the sky, and not out of his own desire. She couldn’t even guess what Klaus had done. Their fight had been too quick for Lily to follow. But, the only thing she knew was that the winner of it all was her teacher Klaus.

Five minutes later, the girls arrived at the wall of the research facility, and managed to escape whilst being under heavy fire. Hopping into the beforehand prepared truck after they disappeared from the sight of the Empire, they immediately took their belongings and crossed the border.

Thus, the Impassable Mission ended—in success.

---

1 Bluebottle fly

2 He also mentions her rather peculiar way of talking, but that’s quite tough to put into an English equivalent

3 Again, she refers to herself as Boku