Kitty Killer Isn't Very Cold

"HAHAHAHA~"

"Heh... Sigh..."

While the old woman sighed as well, Nana ignored the agent's outright provocative behavior.

The girl silently wrote a string of medical shorthand in her notebook. The code-like symbols recorded Nana's objective and what she intended to do next.

The old woman's raised brows and pursed lips suggested that she could understand it.

Since the old woman was a Sankta capable of Empathy with her and was willing to help, Miss Killer altered her original plan once more.

On the paper, Miss Killer told the old woman to evacuate quickly, adding the agent's private phone number at the end. After all, the agent had all the evidence of the illegal experiments the other party needed...

Nana only needed the old woman to use Contingency Contract channels to spread word of what had happened in this laboratory. With public outrage stirring up discussion, the governor and his aides would inevitably restrict the military's support for Loken Watertank.

Without the governor's authorization, Columbia's prized Armored Huntsmen would not appear along Nana's escape route... Suddenly, everything else seemed to fall into place.

After handing the note containing her plan to the old woman, Nana nervously took out a pencil sharpener. Her cat ears drooped as she sharpened a pencil like a wronged child, unsure whether the other woman would agree.

Amid the agent's exaggerated laughter, Outcast glanced at the note, tucked it into her pocket, and brought up a topic that immediately made the agent serious.

"Nana, you seem certain Williams will be punished..."

"As a young nation, Columbia's people may ignore him, and Columbia's laws may have loopholes, but morality itself objectively exists... If anything happens to that kind lady upstairs and the bakery girl, my friend will not forgive Williams... Neither will my pen."

"I see..."

The old woman sighed again and habitually reached for her waist, only to find her holster empty... Right. Outcast's weapon had been confiscated too... Why did Nana feel like this woman was even more reckless than she was? What was she looking for a gun for? According to the plan, victory only required the old woman to leave safely!

Seeing the two women discussing dangerous matters rise at the same time, the agent immediately drew his Arts longsword.

"What are you doing?!"

Realizing she had no gun on her, the old woman suddenly raised her hands in a conciliatory gesture.

"I merely think there is no need for us to wait any longer. Since we cannot see him, we should leave..."

"No. Before Mr. Williams returns, neither of you—Gah—!"

While he was speaking, Nana somehow appeared behind the agent and removed her paracord bracelet. The thin cord formed a loop in the air. Her small hands, clad in medical gloves, gripped both ends. Then the killer viciously kicked his knee, forcing him to kneel, and pulled hard until he passed out... That was for laughing so loudly just now!

Yet when the old woman saw that the girl truly dared to act, and was remarkably skilled besides, her expression became grave.

"It seems Williams really may be rushing those illegal experiments. He even dares to offend someone from Contingency Contract..."

"It's fine. I can get you out. And to keep the military from intervening, please go find my associate quickly. Only if public opinion condemns Williams can my operation proceed smoothly..."

"If that is all, then of course it is no problem... But are you sure? Even after completing the rescue, how will you get out of this heavily guarded experimental zone?"

Considering every possibility, the old woman's gaze toward the girl even carried pity.

"You intend to reclaim your Guardian Gun... and pass Judgment on them?"

"That is merely something to do along the way."

With a smile that belonged to a healer, Nana picked up the agent's one-handed sword. Black Arts light immediately coiled around it.

"But I can deal with people like this without a Guardian Gun... I could pass Judgment on them with a pencil."

With that, Nana hurled the longsword. The wall panel melted away, and the outer glass wall was ripped apart... Living black mist formed a corridor leading straight to the checkpoint. It even encompassed the visitor storage room, and at the corridor's end sat the car Nana had stolen, with even the temporary Arts-forged key still in the ignition.

Seeing the girl act so fiercely and directly, the old woman looked reluctant, but immediately sprinted outside anyway...

"She clearly looks old... yet she is still so agile... Is everyone on Rhodes Island like this?"

Naturally, Nana received no answer to her question. The explosion in the reception room drew agents in from outside, but they could see nothing in the black mist... Perhaps the sounds of battle within the dark fog provoked them, or perhaps the commanders believed it was merely a delaying tactic. Soon, heavily armored personnel gathered outside the reception room and began entering.

Within the dark mist, facing the enemy formation beginning its assault, Nana held a sharpened pencil like a dagger and leapt forward, kicking the second agent through the door unconscious.

The sudden, shrill cry of engagement marked the beginning of the agents' skyrocketing blood pressure. The girl's short stature caused all of their chaotic attacks to turn into savage blows against their own allies.

As the agents shouted, "You're hitting friendlies!" the killer spun elegantly, driving her pencil beneath an armpit and into the body inside a shield that could see nothing. While he screamed, Nana disabled both his hands and casually jabbed his knees several times as well.

The heavy armor over his vital areas might save his life, but Nana had not intended to kill them in the first place... Driving the pencil deep enough into their bodies could still deprive them of mobility, and if once was not enough, she would try a few more times... In Miss Killer's mind, not shoving the pencils through their ears already counted as showing mercy.

Thus, Nana created a chaotic battlefield filled with terrifying wails.

Screams catalyzed all chaos. Taking advantage of it, the girl brought down three people with her pencil alone... Just as she casually picked up a vase to smash over the fourth person, sudden Arts exploded in the room with utter disregard for the lives of their own companions.

The concealing mist abruptly dissipated under the interference of external Arts. As the agents suddenly spotted her and shouted, "The target is here!" Nana glared at the armed caster outside the door, then smashed the last unlucky fellow to enter the room unconscious with the vase.

Mm... Even without activating her combat recorder, the girl still maintained the most basic restraint.

"Do not stupidly rush into a small room! Make space! Caster units and snipers, begin attacking!"

But clearly, the enemy did not think the same way. From the beginning, their attacks had been intended to kill.

Faced with long-range attacks that could only be described as being poured into the room, Nana chose to step out of the line of fire and overturn a table for cover... Just as she considered which Arts to use to open a path, the sound of something cutting through the air suddenly arrived alongside gunfire.

Peeking out, the girl saw the lead caster captain's head explode from a single bullet trailing golden light. At the same time, two crates of heavy objects crashed into the room. One of the armored soldiers struck by them whimpered again and miserably flailed his arms...

Nana could only respond with an innocent look... Staring at me is useless. I did not throw those.

Looking in the direction the crates had come from, Nana saw Outcast, revolver in hand, give her a salute... Then the old woman immediately climbed into the car and fled.

Did that act of shooting someone mean that neither Contingency Contract nor Rhodes Island cared if their organizations became entangled in disputes over this kind of damage?

Nana did not know. Her attention was more focused on the old woman's precise and elegant shot just now.

There was no doubt that it was a Laterano secret technique... It was the reason the angelic Sankta could struggle against the demonic Sarkaz for millennia and still defend their paradise even when fighting a behemoth like Ursus.

Judgment... Many people, especially those connected to the Laterano Church, called their ultimate techniques that.

But what outsiders did not know was that it was not merely a description. It was the proper name of a technique.

Only those who possessed a Guardian Gun, were Laterano—that was, acknowledged by the Law, or that thing called the Law—and fulfilled both conditions could use this ability. It resembled Arts, but in truth, it channeled the power of the Law through one's own body...

Academia generally believed this was why Laterano people could use firearms with such unusual frequency compared to the outside world.

But that was only half right...

It was not that Sankta could use firearms, but that Sankta were permitted to use firearms... When that permission from the Law was pushed to its limit, even any ordinary Laterano citizen could possess the ability to contend with a battle-hardened Sarkaz.

Its name was Judgment in the literal sense... An attack launched through the Law against those one believed required judgment.

Clearly, Outcast believed that the armed personnel of Loken Watertank had all become accomplices to Williams, the mastermind... Therefore, she had no hesitation in passing Judgment on them.

However, great power always came with risks. Just as Teekaz Witchcraft affected one's emotions and burdened the body... the use of Judgment had limitations too.

Usually, it was five times...

Before six, the number belonging to demons, arrived, Sankta could generally borrow the Law's power no more than five times.

But Nana was different...

Mainly because Nana could kill people without using Judgment.

"Damn it! The captain is down!"

"The employer said we cannot let those two leave! Heavy armor and guards, keep suppressing the room! Ranged personnel, trans—"

Before the second commander could finish speaking, the killer, who disliked dragging things out, emerged from the room in full gear.

The girl wore not only her own equipment. Nana, who had previously been dressed only as a medic, now had several obviously mismatched weapon harnesses hanging from her body. Firearms of varying quality and models, along with weapons resembling throwing knives and one-handed swords, were strapped everywhere on her.

Although she looked a little ridiculous, Nana truly was in a rare fully armed state.

Nana could imagine Outcast's baffled expression upon entering the storage vault and seeing that mountain of stuff. But people only had two hands, and Nana had been the last visitor to enter... So the final two numbered storage crates naturally contained Nana's equipment.

Thanks to Outcast's intelligence, Nana now had a rifle and shotgun in addition to her pistol and sniper rifle... With such abundant armament, Nana could unexpectedly bid farewell to the strange tricks she had used in the past.

"Sufficient firepower coverage"... Like Judgment and Witchcraft, it had a proper term in mercenary circles. It was—

"Tactical Termination."

A sudden explosion, accompanied by a thunderous roar, interrupted a conversation within Loken Watertank's experimental zone. However, the middle-aged man in a white lab coat, one of the main parties in that conversation, ignored the sharply raised head of the bandaged Liberi in a suit beside him.

"Ah... No need to worry. The people from Contingency Contract have probably grown impatient from waiting... Since I ordered that they were not allowed to leave after discovering them, this reaction can be considered within expectations..."

"...Will it not interrupt your experiment? We have lost the trail of your subsequent targets..."

As he spoke, he looked toward the one-way glass before them. The white-haired girl strapped to the experimental bed no longer even made whimpering sounds... Stanfield had previously complained that she was too noisy and disrupted his conversation with Mr. Williams.

But as the one leading the experiment, Williams would neither stop it nor care about sounds that had already become commonplace to him... Just as outsiders suspected, he had prepared for every aspect of this experiment... including the psychological aspect.

"From now on, my experiment will race against the outside world's reaction... Will the experiment produce results first, or will the outside world forcibly interfere with the laboratory's operations first? That is the only uncertain factor... As for the three reserve subjects... Until Number Two adapts to the Originium Organs, it does not matter if they remain outside."

"I believe you have prepared everything. I am all ears regarding how you wish to proceed."

"Mm... Your temperament is well suited for this sort of work..."

After delivering that calm conclusion, Williams continued staring straight ahead as Number Two whimpered painfully within the laboratory.

"First, until we employ the final measure and confirm there are truly no other suitable candidates, Number One through Number Five remain on the observation list... The food and clothes Zero took back were not given for free. The markers were always there. It was merely a matter of whether we needed to find them..."

"But our first round of lawful surveillance already..."

"Mm, failed... They have a good neighbor... But I prepared a backup plan."

As he spoke, Williams withdrew a document bearing a government seal from his pocket.

"This is government guardianship authorization for Number Three, Number Four, and Number Five... When the time comes, use this together with the death notices for Zero through Number Two to collect them."

"...This... is fake?"

"No, it is real... Because the target's Arts can suppress pain on a mental level, the experiment's success rate increases progressively... There is still a chance of success with Number One through Number Four, but Number Five's successful implantation is inevitable... I truly established an orphanage for her. The building ahead of the experimental zone was built specifically for her."

"Oh, that smallest one... But forgive me for saying so... In practical terms, she will inevitably regard you as her mortal enemy... How exactly do you intend to adopt her?"

"That is a technical issue... Memory cleansing is unexpectedly mature technology in Columbia..."

"So in a certain sense, you will become the father of the girl whose entire family you killed? I am unexpectedly looking forward to seeing you succeed."

"That is merely your twisted sense of humor... In fact, I desperately hope the earlier ones succeed immediately... They will surely hate me afterward, but it does not matter even if they see me as their enemy... All I want is success."

As the two continued talking, the monitor showing the target's heartbeat suddenly became a flat line.

Stanfield clearly saw the middle-aged man beside him purse his lips slightly. What emotion was that, exactly?

"Record this. Subject Number Two has died. Automated equipment will begin the third organ crystallization treatment... Also, maintain the target's life as much as possible through the life-support system. Ensure the Originium Organs remain active until Subject Number Three arrives."

[But... if this continues, the organs will exceed the Originium crystallization threshold. If they remain too long, we may obtain Originium Crystals shaped like a corpse...]

"It does not matter."

Williams was utterly calm.

"We only need to keep the organs stable... As for the excess portions that crystallize, cut them away."

After speaking, Williams gestured toward the corner. A towering, muscular monster that looked as though it wore armor approached Stanfield. But upon closer inspection, one could see that the armor had grown from its body.

"The target's current location may offer considerable resistance. Take him and move with the Operations Department. If they resist, flatten everything."

"...You really are not afraid of the mayor settling accounts with you afterward..."

Ignoring Stanfield's remark, Williams turned toward the laboratory. Mechanical arms were switching blades.

"I only want success. Now, it has become inevitable."

PS: I still ended up writing this far. Sigh.

Just tossing in a picture.

PSS: After thinking it over, I came back up here to tell readers eager to argue... White Cat's family is not completely dead. Kate and Cole will still have many exchanges and interactions with Nana later on.

PSSSS: Also, this book is alternatively titled—Miss Killer and Her Can Opener. Quietly.

Turning the original material into a can opener is inevitably a painful process for the material... It is fine. Starting next volume, Rosemary will get to smash things to her heart's content... I am not lying or twisting the wording. She will continue living with her family.

They are really not completely dead.

Rosemary's Embrace: 017 Judgment

"The administrative district is under attack! Security team, get the security team here for support!"

"The security team cannot provide support! The checkpoint has been breached!"

"The enemy escaped?!"

"No! A group of people is attacking the experimental zone!"

"We cannot see anything outside the decontamination station!"

"What about Arts countermeasures?! Where are our casters?!"