Desperate and Helpless Times

"The trigger word for this charm is the Ancient Hermes Language word 'Light.'" Klein reached a hand out from behind Leonard and handed Alice a charm. "When we charge out later, throw this charm at Megose and the child in her belly..."

"What about the captain?" Alice suddenly interrupted Klein.

"The captain once told me that as a Nighthawk, you must not only believe in yourself, but also in your teammates." Leonard answered her. Alice looked at him. Leonard had long since put away his usual carefree manner, his expression rare in its seriousness and solemnity.

"...All right." Alice agreed, Closed Her Eyes, took a deep breath, and signaled that she was ready.

Then they walked out together. Leonard wrapped an Extraordinary Item Alice Didn't Know around his hand and spread his five fingers, while Klein held a metal sheet identical to Alice's.

Dunn noticed the three of them appearing together and seemed to understand something. When the trio launched their attack, Dunn nimbly rolled behind the chair, avoiding their direct assault, then retreated back to their side after the blast.

Alice stared blankly as sunlight passed through the ceiling and merged with the golden sheet, transforming into a Light Sphere that swelled outward.

With a thunderous boom, Alice could feel the house shaking. She could hear the glass groaning under unbearable strain, yet she stared fixedly at the very center of that dazzling Light Sphere surrounded by flames until tears streamed down her face.

As the light gradually faded, Alice saw soaring flames and black ash drifting amid them. Everything seemed to have vanished in that violent burst of light.

However, Alice knew that was not the case—the fear born from long-suppressed restlessness seemed to find an outlet only at this moment. Warned by her intense Sense of Crisis, Alice had no time to think and instinctively rolled to the right. An arm-length, sharp White Bone Blade slammed down where she had been standing, carving a deep mark On The Ground.

No one needed to point it out. Everyone noticed the figure at the end of the White Bone Blade—it was Megose, who should have already turned to ash.

Her clothes had not survived the explosion. Her skin had turned charred black and was still constantly peeling away. What had been her head had become a sphere wrapped in a layer of blackened skin, while flames danced inside her eye sockets.

Her left arm had transformed into the White Bone Blade from before, eerie yet holy.

Inside the still-shaking room, Megose raised the bone blade again. This Time, her target was Klein.

"Submit!" Leonard let out a sound filled with intense Blasphemous Words. It was an ability he had just stolen from Megose.

Megose was, unsurprisingly, controlled by her own ability. She bent slightly at the waist, her Legs trembling, and Klein took the opportunity to evade the strike.

But—it was meaningless.

They had all Realized that they lacked any sufficiently powerful means to deal with the child in Megose's belly. Once the child was successfully born, they would undoubtedly die.

And Megose was not even willing to let them struggle before death.

Megose's head suddenly exploded. Blood and brain matter splattered amid the charred skin, and her body broke free of control as a result.

Immediately afterward, Megose's body turned into a cannonball. With a loud bang, she charged at Leonard, who had briefly frozen after the Blasphemous Words were broken.

Dunn, who happened to be nearby, tried to stop her—so they shared the force of the impact together, both sent flying into the wall by Megose. Blood spilled from their mouths, and they passed out cleanly.

"Waaah!"

In the Complete Silence, a baby's cry suddenly Sounded from Megose's belly.

Alice and Klein, who were still conscious, both felt dizzy. Their windpipes constricted, making it difficult to breathe.

A Blood-Red shadow Appeared Before Alice's eyes, By Her Ear, across her face, beneath her nose, and all over her body. Warm, wet stickiness spread across several places. Alice knew it had to be blood from ruptured vessels.

Through the translucent red haze, Alice saw Megose's headless body rise, turn around, and walk toward them step by step.

Megose's blade swung viciously at Klein. This Time, with no one there to help or protect him, the still-dizzy Klein had his clothes brutally torn open, his body nearly split in half.

Then Megose ignored Alice's futile interference and brought her blade down fiercely on the temporarily incapacitated Klein, cleaving the man who had narrowly survived moments ago into two.

Then Megose turned her headless body toward Alice.

Am I... going to die? Alice watched Megose approach her and thought despairingly.

"Rumble, rumble—"

Alice's mind buzzed, but a sound suddenly rang By Her Ear, as though it had come from an extremely distant place. Before Alice could identify it, she saw Megose lunge straight at her.

—Then, bizarrely, trip and fall to the floor.

Even more bizarrely, when she fell, the bone blade formed from her left arm lay across her waist and abdomen, cutting both herself and the child in her belly in half.

...The second time.

Alice stood stiffly where she was, looking at the motionless Megose on the floor—how familiar this scene was.

The last person to die like this had been a Lucky One.

Clap. Clap. Clap. Slow applause sounded. Alice stiffly turned her head and saw a figure in a Trench Coat walking in while clapping.

Alice recognized that face—it was Ince Zangwill, who had escaped with 0-08.

Alice finally understood. So he was the mastermind, the source of all those coincidences.

Was this what 0-08 did? Create coincidences?

"This is not the kind of luck a Lucky One should have—yet how long can your luck last?"

Ince Zangwill's voice arrived together with his attack. Facing Ince Zangwill, Alice realized for the first time just how powerless she was.

Ince Zangwill did not even need to command undead creatures to attack her. As a Beyonder lacking frontal combat abilities, she was virtually incapable of resisting him. Even If It Is luck, it was useless at this moment.

At the end of this story, Alice only had time to see Ince Zangwill's pale hand reach into her chest and pull out a still-beating heart.

Then came deep, deathly darkness.

This should probably be followed by "The End" for the entire story (just kidding).