Submit? Or Die! Choose.

"Tch, I hope you're not just all talk!?" Mugino Shizuri snorted disdainfully. The emerald-green spheres around her erupted with intense beams of light, shooting toward Rod.

Rod tilted his head slightly, dodging several energy beams in succession before speaking indifferently.

"Too slow."

The explosions from the beams behind him illuminated Rod's cold face with their dazzling light.

For some reason, Frenda felt her heart sink. Her long legs wrapped in black stockings trembled uncontrollably, her cherry lips parted in shock, her face full of disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding! That was Mugino's attack!"

"That man isn't some ordinary opponent." Kinuhata Saiai had already pushed her Level 4 ability, Nitrogen Armor, to its limit. Air currents swirled around her as she remained fully alert.

"..." Even Takitsubo Rikou, usually languid and indifferent, now had beads of sweat sliding down from her temples.

"Oh, not bad. But you didn't think my attacks ended there, did you!?" Mugino Shizuri revealed a ferocious grin as the emerald-green spheres rapidly gathered into a massive orb of light, terrifying energy converging within it.

"BOOM!" A gigantic beam blasted out, its wide-range attack completely pulverizing the floor Rod had been standing on. Another deafening explosion rang out, and the resulting smoke and dust silently swallowed Rod's figure.

The four stood back-to-back amid the smoke, guarding against a sneak attack from Rod.

"Takitsubo." Mugino Shizuri called to Takitsubo Rikou.

Yet Takitsubo Rikou answered in panic.

"No, Mugino. The target doesn't have an AIM Diffusion Field."

"What!?" The other three cried out in unison, staring at Takitsubo Rikou in astonishment.

"You've got to be joking! With those moves, you're telling me he isn't an esper!?" Frenda shouted fearfully.

"..." Silence filled the air. Then, an overwhelming pressure abruptly descended from ahead. A horrific, blood-soaked aura, like a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, rushed toward them. It contained absolute malice. Even the four members of ITEM, who had experienced and witnessed plenty of darkness, felt an unprecedented terror.

The pressure made even breathing difficult for the four of them. Overwhelming evil bore down upon their fragile nerves.

"B-Breathe..." Kinuhata Saiai could no longer even maintain her ability. The gaseous armor around her silently dispersed, leaving only the girl drenched in cold sweat.

"I can still breathe, right? He's not going to kill me over this, is he?" Frenda felt as if a giant hand had gripped her heart tightly. Her pretty face turned deathly pale as she gasped for breath.

"..." Without saying a word, Takitsubo Rikou's trembling body made her fear painfully obvious.

Mugino Shizuri bit down hard on her lower lip. With too much force, she bit it open, and blood slowly trickled down.

Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid, damn it!? I'm the fourth-ranked Level 5 in Academy City!?

No matter how fiercely she roared in her heart, the feeling of dread did not weaken in the slightest. Instead, it only continued to intensify. In the silent surroundings, Mugino Shizuri could even hear her own heart pounding more violently than ever before, along with—

The heavy footsteps that kept advancing, drawing closer and closer. The four girls trembled even more violently.

"You held your heads too high."

At that very moment, sensing the approaching danger, all four instinctively crouched down.

An invisible slash shot past the tops of their heads and struck the wall behind them, carving a deep fissure into it.

The smoke and dust slowly dispersed, revealing Rod's figure. Black patterns had appeared on his face, making his features seem even more sinister.

"Submit, or die. Choose."

As those calm words fell, the four girls, whose heads were practically buried against the ground, all breathed a sigh of relief. If submission meant avoiding death, they had no reason to fight desperately.

The weak obeyed the strong. Was that not the truth of the world?

"S-Submit. We choose to submit." Mugino Shizuri raised both hands in surrender. Her delicate face was already covered in fragrant sweat. Even someone as unhinged as her knew that if she showed the same defiant attitude as before in front of this man, she would undoubtedly die.

She was unhinged, not stupid. The absolute malice radiating from that aura had already destroyed any thought of resistance she had.

"Very well. Your first assignment: investigate the first-ranked Accelerator. I want his usual movements and the experimental project he is currently involved in. The payment is ten million yen."

Rod gave his order, and the aura around him slowly faded. Only then did the four women finally relax and collapse onto the ground.

He could have exploited them and made them work for free, but Rod was not unable to afford the money. To him, money was truly nothing more than a string of numbers now. Wanting a horse to run without feeding it grass was not the right mindset.

"U-Understood." Mugino Shizuri nodded without daring to ask further questions. Rod casually tossed out a string of numbers before vanishing from where he stood.

"W-We survived... That's great!? Waaaaah!!!" Tears streamed uncontrollably from Frenda's eyes. Her pitiful appearance was truly heart-wrenching, but unfortunately, everyone around her was the same sex, so they simply ignored the tearful beauty.

"Who exactly was that man? I didn't even feel such terrifying pressure when facing the first-ranked one." Kinuhata Saiai said, still shaken.

"I don't know, but he definitely isn't an esper. That much is certain." Takitsubo Rikou replied in a trembling voice, folding her arms while still shaking slightly.

"..." Mugino Shizuri remained silent for a long time.

"Mugino..." Frenda looked at Mugino Shizuri worriedly, afraid of provoking her. Frenda knew how proud Mugino Shizuri was, yet she had now lowered her proud head and chosen submission.

"Enough. You all heard him. ITEM's new mission is to gather intelligence on the first-ranked one. Tell the people below us to get moving." Mugino Shizuri's face was hidden beneath her bangs, leaving the other three unable to see her dark expression.

"Yes!" The three answered in unison, turning to make calls.

Yet within the shadows where the other three could not see, Mugino Shizuri's cheeks were flushed crimson, and her eyes stared longingly in the direction where Rod had disappeared.

Mugino Shizuri murmured for no apparent reason.

"So this is submission... It's incredibly stimulating."

It seemed that Rod had unintentionally awakened a certain trait within the girl. As the saying went, those with sadistic tendencies also possessed masochistic ones.