Arknights, but the Family Has Fallen into Decline Again, Again, and Again

The person who established this mental link was either not yet proficient in the technique, or the technique itself was flawed!

However, "Talulah" possessed such mastery in this field that she could weave the vague sensations carried through the mental link back into clear words. In other words, once she accepted Oute's mental link, his thoughts were transparently exposed to her alone.

But what was wrong with pressure?

The question flashed through someone's mind and vanished.

Normally, it would be fine—at most, it might cause psychological issues. These days, who didn't have a little depression? But while accepting the accessory and enjoying this noble, individually calculated Buff from another world... one also had to endure the rules of that other world.

"I've changed my mind." The dragon woman's pretty face turned cold as she commanded, "Kill them."

What? She hadn't wanted to kill us before? What difference did changing her mind make?

Whatever.

Heavy Defender No. 6! Advance six steps toward twelve o'clock!

Sniper No. 3! Shift three centimeters to the left!

So noisy! So many thoughts! So fast! The dragon woman's brows twitched. She felt that her rate of interpretation was far behind the speed of Oute's thoughts.

And, by sheer accident, this had occupied a huge amount of her brainpower.

There was no point in interpreting this!

She gave up.

The thugs who had started calling themselves the Reunion Movement after putting on white masks swarmed forward in disarray at the dragon woman's command.

Dobermann took over command of the newly recruited Operators. Though it was far from perfect, these untrained white-masked thugs would not be able to break through them easily in the short term.

The dragon woman frowned.

These actions did not match what she had just interpreted.

Wasn't he the frontline commander?

"Talulah!" Amiya suddenly spoke. "I've read your files!"

"At the beginning, you were fighting for the Infected, weren't you?!"

"Why is it that all I see now is a gang of thugs you've gathered?"

"Massacres! Arson! Hunts! All just to satisfy your own cruel whims?!"

Nearl's ears twitched.

Those were the very words she had used earlier to rebuke that little boy, the Reunion Movement officer.

"How far have you fallen?!"

Those words should have struck Talulah herself.

Besides, whether such feeble words could hurt her adopted daughter was another matter entirely...

Yet someone only felt explosive fury surge up from the depths of her heart.

Flames blazed fiercely as dark clouds silently spread across the horizon. The dragon woman's fire cast a flickering glow beneath that oppressive, frigid sky. Yet if one looked away from the flames and regarded the scorched darkness itself as a painting...

For a moment, it seemed possible to see a hastily stamped, unsealed circle, with five wedges piercing inward through its gap.

Like an iron crown.

Paranoia!

Malady against malady, sauce against sauce, Talulah versus "Talulah"

"What do you know?!"

Oute was puzzled: Who was that directed at?

Blazing white flames erupted outward from her as their center. The "old hands of the Reunion Movement" still gathered around her exchanged looks, yet had no choice but to flee their leader's wrath.

"Upon this land, her people are suffering because of everyone's shortsightedness!"

The Draco woman knelt halfway to the ground, clutching her head and roaring. Her lovely face was full of struggle and rage, while her exquisite Lolita dress was stained with Chernobog's dust.

Skipping turns right from the start? Skip a few more—it's good for your health, really! This was so much better than I'd imagined!

But that tone... It really was hard to tell which one was suffering the mental break. Black Snake? Talulah? Or were the two truly inseparably entangled by now?

Ah! That was entirely possible!

Either way, this was a good opportunity! Before they settled things in their heads, this Draco's flames would be useless!

Oute withdrew the accessory and equipped Reynauld's Head himself, letting the pain in his sternum ease slightly. Gritting his teeth, he set down a drone equipped with a camera, had PRTS take the wheel, and hid inside a structurally sturdy ruin, using the opportunity to monitor the entire battlefield.

"Hah..." The Draco let out a mournful cry, and the last traces of clarity in her eyes vanished completely.

The power granted by the two accessories was pulled from the dragon woman's body, and an indescribable emptiness filled her marrow. A long red ribbon wound once around the Draco's left arm, its trailing end fluttering wildly, while the altered X-shaped mark had faded somewhat.

Several Reunion Movement veterans flew into a rage and roared, "You hooded freak! What did you do to Talulah?!"

They likely had not expected an answer from the beginning. After exchanging glances, the Reunion veterans formed up and charged.

Oute watched coldly, taking out his terminal under Nearl's protection.

His voice came through Dobermann's earpiece. "You've worked hard, Dobermann. I'm taking command again."

Though Dobermann gave no reply, her tail unconsciously wagged once, and the worried crease in her brow relaxed.

Once the mental link between Oute and the Draco was severed, command of the Operators returned to him.

At once, the newly recruited Operators' movements took on a completely different flavor. Although there were more Reunion Movement members present, every clash with the Operators brought attacks several times greater than their own. Worse still, at the instant they attacked, the Operators' strength would suddenly increase!

"What the hell?!" A white mask stumbled back several steps. "We're the ones surrounding them!"

If Talulah had not still been standing nearby doing nothing, these thugs who had only recently put on white masks would have nearly begun to rout.

And that was the epitome of Terra's society, where the strong ruled.

Rumble!

The storm clouds at the end of the sky had completely swallowed the still-bright sunlight, plunging this sea of fire in Chernobog into darkness.

But soon, Originium would fall like meteors.

"Orderly retreat. Contract the defensive line."

"Amiya, prepare for Catastrophe defense. Deploy an Arts shield in ten seconds and maintain it for twelve."

"Nearl, three o'clock. Deflect the meteor fragments."

"Ace, follow this route and intercept those Talulah guards."

Retreat had always been an extremely dangerous tactic.

Generally speaking, only the most elite forces dared to—and were capable of—employing it.

But after the three small-scale battles since returning to the surface, against Crownslayer, Mephisto, and the others, most Operators had now received Oute's accessories. This also made them especially willing to obey his orders.

Oute relayed his individual orders for the powerful Operators through a broadcast to every ordinary Operator's earpiece. Having learned of these arrangements, the newly recruited Operators felt far less uncertainty about the retreat and much less fear of being abandoned.

With all these factors combined, the newly recruited Operators retreated splendidly.

Without a single one missing, they entered the range of Amiya's Arts before the unceasing rain of Originium fire poured down upon them.

"Countdown, eleven..."

Oute paused his command and looked up through Amiya's deployed Arts shield.

Lightning flashed through the roiling depths of the storm clouds. Then, from an ordinary person's perspective, a few sparks slowly drifted down from beneath the clouds. Yet when those sparks rapidly grew in their vision and began mercilessly destroying everything, mortals might well curse their own useless sensory systems.

The relatively low buildings were swiftly bombarded into ruins by the rain of Originium fire.

Amid the smoke outside the shield came the cries of Reunion Movement members. "Talulah! Save me!"

Oute rolled his eyes. Even if she hadn't triggered Paranoia, she wouldn't save you.

Ace looked beyond the shield and remarked with feeling, "Doc Otter's tactics, as dependable as ever!"

"...Four, three, Amiya, stop."

The first wave.

Oute silently noted it.

Just like his earlier orders on the public channel, this public countdown was meant to reassure the newly recruited Operators and maintain morale.

On PRTS's terminal, the little vehicle transmitted an image of Talulah.

She was still clutching her head, but her expression had changed to remorse.

Her cheeks were smeared with dust.

In this Originium Catastrophe, getting dust on oneself anywhere was nothing unusual. Yet the dust on her cheeks vaguely formed two thin trails stretching from beneath her eyes to her jaw. The Draco herself was completely unharmed, but her Lolita dress had been thoroughly ruined.

During an unnoticed gap, the dragon woman had wept, and dust churned up by the Catastrophe had clung to the trails of her tears.

Talulah was muttering to herself amid blazing ruins.

The drone could not capture her voice in this noisy environment, but it could still capture her lips.

Watching Talulah's lips move, Oute easily pieced together the answer, already knowing it. "Alina."

Poor girl. I came too late. There's nothing I can do...

The storm clouds twisted overhead, and a vague iron crown mark flashed past.

Oute quietly weighed the gains and losses.

It seemed that within Paranoia, the more passionately emotional Talulah had temporarily won?

But clearly, her Paranoia had not ended. She had cleared the first hurdle!

Still, this journey had been less like tower defense and more like a strategy game such as XCOM...

Oh, Arknights did have connections to XCOM.

Oute gathered his thoughts, looked at the blue-black mark in his palm, and clenched his fist as though everything remained under his control.

He said to all Operators, "The enemy force has now fallen apart. This phase of the operation is a victory."