Chapter 172

"Let me see if the Overlimit Spell can match the performance of the No. 0 Prototype... Target capture initiated--!!"

Listening to the muttering in front of me and the almost hysterical roar behind me, all trying to get my attention.

Nana used her axe to hook the edge of the shield and flip it over, while simultaneously using her other hand to wield a shotgun as a club, striking the opponent's right hand hidden behind the shield. A white pneumatic injector immediately fell to the ground.

"Nonsense! You can't even use it properly, so what are you talking about performance for?!"

Clearly, even if they regained their mobility through Overheal, their previous injuries could not have been completely unaffected by their movements.

Nana was merely attacking Number One's old injury again, and incidentally kicked her in the knee. Number One, who was charging at the forefront, was turned around and became Nana's shield.

Holding a shotgun, she fired directly at the Number Two -command, who was also in the best physical condition and carrying a light machine gun. The blue light spot seemed to be a solid piece of armor with mass as it was peeled away by the roar of the shot... Nana saw with her own eyes that the other person's cheek was hit by the shot, and half of his jaw was blown off. But as the spell was cast, the other person visibly returned to his previous state, as if the shot that had missed had never existed.

Okay, Nana has to admit, the Overheal spell does have some merit... but this thought was only momentarily interrupted by the slight pain in her left eye.

Looking at the top of each other's heads with a hint of speculation, Kate and Cole, both silver-haired Feline, made an "X" with their fingers and shook their heads frantically, not allowing Nana to do such a dangerous thing.

After all, even Andy, who was so crazy as to allow his own family members to participate in the Loken Watertank Experiment and assumed that only his youngest daughter would be saved, had never been so crazy as to stimulate the accumulation of Originium in his body himself... The way these four agents used their magic was obviously too extreme.

"The second one."

After stripping the opponent of their magical armor with shotgun shells, I threw a hostage at them to force them to deflect the gun, then used an axe to forcefully chop at their shoulder and neck, which were now exposed to magic...

With the two figures falling together, it seemed that Nana's only remaining enemies were the two she had previously hung up and beaten.

Watching No. 0 Prototype calmly kick away the pneumatic syringe that Number Four had been secretly holding, trying to inject into the other's leg, and Number Two, who was barely able to move due to Overheal, now seemed to have completely lost control of his hands... The valuable HK416 and the pneumatic syringe hidden in his hand fell to the ground together.

"... This is... the No. 0 Prototype..."

This is... the 'Angel' activated by the Originium and Ancient Relic Applications Division under the National Laboratory... and the 'Ghost' used for private purposes by a certain employee, now known as the Eternal Constant.

"This... we can't fight... we..."

Before he could utter that forbidden phrase, Number Three, who was barely able to move due to difficulty breathing, suddenly appeared with his back to him. He then held an MGL launcher with only one round of grenades left in one hand, and slowly picked up another pneumatic injector.

"Number Three..."

"I... don't know what kind of person I was originally..."

The black-haired girl aimed the launcher at her opponent, while keeping her other hand slightly behind her back for easy access.

"Even if I have those memories, the process of recalling them feels completely unreal... Everyone looks exactly the same... Those experiences just feel like watching other people's stories."

"Number Three... what... what do you want to say?"

The target assumed an attack stance, seemingly waiting for them, even slightly lowering the shotgun in their hand.

As the light from their own 'Final Protocol' spell dissipated, Number Three knew this was the final opportunity:

"I want to become a real human being."

Number Three's words made the target tilt its head slightly. Number Two knew that No. 0 Prototype could not possibly understand this kind of topic.

"So, let's do our best to complete the mission... If it doesn't work this time, there's always next time... As long as we're needed, we'll always be together..."

Seeing Number Two struggling to get up in her peripheral vision, Number Three took a deep breath. She had endured this painful feeling for a long time because of the magic particles she had inhaled... But now, looking at the main body that the three 'older sisters' could not defeat at all, Number Three did not think that her current feelings were 'fear' or 'dread'... She only felt 'relief'.

Is it because I'm about to be free from suffering?

She felt that might not be the reason... It seemed that she had been experiencing similar feelings of pain since much earlier times.

[I want to become human.]

[Would things be less painful once we truly become 'human'?]

With these questions in mind, Number Three pulled the triggers with both hands and charged towards the target. Ultimately, an 'Artificial Angel' can only live like a human after completing its mission.

And next time, will someone still tell me... what kind of 'person' I am?

With these questions in mind, Number Three, like her two predecessors, stopped breathing.

PS: Waaaaaaah!

Nana clone (reference to Nana's army)↑

Although this isn't a BA fanfic, I still really like BA elements... even though writing this might seem like stating the obvious...

But after all, it was the release of information about Nana's origins, and the story of Miss Black-footed Cat's background was being explored indirectly through these children.

5th Laytonson's Ghost Assassin: 188 Some things are red lines that you absolutely cannot cross.

That should solve it... Nana thought to herself as she looked at the four people who, despite their condition deteriorating to the point where they were unable to fight, had inexplicably persevered until now.

Let's call them by their shoulder insignia. Number One is a heavily armored unit equipped with a lot of defensive gear. Not only did she skillfully use magic to protect the vehicle during the car chase, but she also blocked Nana and Takina's barrage of armor-piercing bullets during the battle. If she hadn't cleverly used her melee weapon to catch the shield and then targeted her old wounds, the battle would have been dragged on for an unacceptable length.

Number Two uses an HK416 with shotgun shells mounted underneath, and is capable of using two different Firearms Arts simultaneously in a complex manner, making her an undoubtedly excellent Firearms Operator... She even carries an anti-materiel device like the TAC-50 and destroyed Nana's new car with a single shot.

Although dwelling on this matter might seem petty, it was, after all, Nana's first time buying a luxury car on her own initiative, so it would be a lie to say she didn't care at all.

The Number Three weapon possesses a large number of tactical concealment devices, including but not limited to near-silent silencing spells, and can use Optical Camouflage flawlessly. It can even easily execute rapid-fire artillery techniques like the MGL...

Leaving aside the time he was ambushed and instantly killed during his battle with Typhon, after he revived, even when Nana rushed into his face, he used a strange dagger with a flashing component to launch an unexpected counterattack against Nana.

If it weren't for his abundant experience in dealing with flashbangs and his one-eyed combat experience, the average Lycoris would probably have been suppressed and killed.

As for Number Four... let's not even talk about the fact that he can use such an absurdly heavy Firearms Arts as a light machine gun. Even among the members of Lycoris, the only one I've seen who can use a machine gun as an armament so Takina Nana.

The healing spell that could make a confirmed cripple move again was already outrageous, but then the four of them even used three inexplicable spell overloads in a coordinated manner.

Nana understood the methods of defense and healing, and Nana felt she also recognized the bright red, flame-like spell, but she had no memory of using that dangerous spell.

Since I really can't remember, I'll leave it for later. Judging from the strange remarks of the child I killed before, they probably don't understand why they lost.

Their defeat was inevitable from the moment they were ordered to use underhanded methods to advance the situation.

What can't be done in the light is done in the light. Even without finding evidence directly beneficial to the agent, just a little provocation along the trail is enough to cover up their illegal methods that could lead to prosecution. Even if it's obviously a trap, they'll still rush in without hesitation...

On the battlefield constructed by the ICA, he was put around the neck by a collar belonging to the Laisenton Military Police Army, and pulled into the 'ring'.

Just as Nana told Takina, from the moment they decided to fight against their own side here, regardless of victory or defeat, they were destined to no longer be able to hide in the shadows and secretly cause trouble as they had in the past.

By investigating the bodies of these four individuals and reviewing surveillance footage from various businesses, the municipal authorities should be able to understand who is causing harm to the city.

However, although eliminating this standard light elite squad greatly alleviated Lycoris's situation of being secretly targeted, the matter was not over yet, and there were still many things that Nana cared about.

First, the guy who was killed, Qunliu Bajiu Wuba Ling Si Ling Wu, reappeared brazenly.

Although Nana suspected that the other party possessed more than just four powers from their face, which looked exactly like hers, and Nana herself knew quite a few tricks of 'resurrection', she still managed to replenish the personnel and even equip them all within a day.

Aside from the possibility that the local SHD might be controlled by the other party, Nana was also very troubled by how many 'backup personnel' the other party had hidden in Laisenton.

Ultimately, cities are not suitable places for armed negotiation. This time, the ICA and the agent's personal connections cleared a battlefield, but what if the other side sends a full squad or even a regular army platoon next time?

Will the entire city be engulfed in flames?

Just kidding, this is beyond the capabilities of an assassin. Although it's not something that can't be done with a little effort... Nana is still keeping her promise to her manager.

Unprincipled and aimless destruction is nothing more than the work of terrorists. The power of Killer Number Seventy-Seven is a power that exists to make the people of Columbia... and even the entire world happier... That's what the agent said.

Whether it's her work as a high-level agent or her part-time job at Rhodes Island, Nana always acts based on the theoretical foundation of an agent.

These four people seem different. They don't seem to act based on any particular ideology. The reason they do things that seem so excessive and irrational to them... seems to be simply that someone needs them to do them.

Atlas claims the reason for defeating the 'Ghost' is the agent's abuse of the 'Ghost's' power... but conversely, it seems the abuse of these children's power stems from the hollow notion of 'being needed'...

Putting aside the fact that the factors within them could Empathy with her intensely, forcing Nana to constantly act in a state of enhanced Witchcraft, making these children, whose 'self' seemed uncertain, fight her to the death... Nana had to admit, she was genuinely disgusted.

"... Then, it's this potion..."

They put away the drug that Number One and the others had tried to use on themselves until their dying moments. Nana just stared at it, and her mind seemed to be flipped by some switch, with memories that didn't belong to her jumping around wildly.

Although the instruments have changed from ancient pure glass syringes to modern pneumatic injectors, those memories are indeed of strange injections that I received either with restricted movement or while I seemed dazed and confused, as if I had voluntarily accepted them.

Although Nana was very confident in her toxin resistance training, she was able to figure out what the drug was as soon as she ingested a small amount.

But that would be incredibly stupid, like showing a 'poison-coated knife' to a surrendered enemy and then licking it yourself... Nana decided to take the four syringes, along with the drugs inside, to a safe place for experts to study.

Well, Lycoris will be taking a large number of its staff with it, it probably won't be able to carry out this kind of work anymore... In comparison, Rhodes Island, as a pharmaceutical company, is much more suitable for the task of identifying unknown drugs.

Okay, it's decided. I'll leave this to Kal'tsit to analyze.

Finally, it's time to deal with the battlefield...

Looking at the four bodies she had rearranged, each with a different cause of death, and because they all looked like her... Nana was surprisingly reluctant to hand them over to the police and National Guard.

It felt like I was being completely exposed by the other person.

"... Weapons and equipment can be left behind, but Terminal containing important information should be collected for intelligence analysis... As for the corpses..."

"Take it with me," Nana decided.

Although the entire shopping mall was in chaos due to the explosion, items could still be found using shopping carts or handcarts for transporting goods.

Just as Nana was pondering this, the mall suddenly erupted in the sound of appliances starting up. As many lights and electrical appliances activated, sparks crackled and popped from the broken second-floor wiring and the circuits damaged by the fire and debris.

Clearly, despite the vague orders, Takina had completed the task assigned to her. Next, she was to leave the evacuation point before the crowd outside could make their decision to break in... barring any unforeseen events that followed.

The sudden attack caught Nana off guard, leaving her somewhat disheveled as the dark green crystal scythe struck the defensive spell with a sound comparable to the firing of a large-caliber Firearms Arts.

Here, we must thank the four opponents for demonstrating the SHD spell called 'Survivor Protocol,' a super-limited spell that can instantly defend the entire body, providing comprehensive, blind-spot-free protection for a short period.

An attack launched by the dead, completely unlike anything humans could do, would leave even the ICA's best assassins momentarily stunned: (covering their hands)

"The corpse... it started moving on its own?" Jiu

Terrified, Nana nearly jumped back several steps, almost grabbing the ceiling to avoid the attack. Her eyes were filled with shock and confusion.

Seeing the four people she had neatly arranged suddenly rise up like Carrion Eaters was, in Nana's current memory, definitely one of the most terrifying scenes of the past twenty years.

"Still alive?"

No, it's a dead person.

The dead were brought to life by those dark green, crystalline things.

Just as Nana was pondering why those dark green things looked so similar to Kal'tsit's ornaments and the material of her own bones, the four corpses gave Nana no more time to think.

They... they attacked Nana like mechanical monsters cloaked in their own skin, brandishing scythe-like blades that seemed to be made from the radius bones of her arms.

'Can these guys still maintain their tactical formation and encircle us?!'

It was a powerful sprint where the calf muscles burst open the moment the leg was kicked, unlike the previous battles against humans where there was a window of opportunity to shoot. This feeling of being instantly knocked down in someone's face reminded Nana of the long-lost illusion of fighting against the Collapse Entity on the Snowfield.

But even the Collapse Entity are just things that fight using humans as their basic carriers... What are these things right now?

"It's like a monster born from 'my own' flesh... If I took my bones out, would they also turn into this kind of crustacean-like monster?"

Telling jokes that she wasn't sure if the other side understood, Nana smashed the scythe monster charging at her head with the butt of her gun. Her weak hands were barely blocked by the Survivor Protocol under her armpits... As for the two scythes aimed at her heart from behind, Nana simply retreated sharply, dodging the scythes by rushing into the monster's arms, while simultaneously smashing the back of her head into the monster's 'face'.

"The grass... it's so hard..."

Feeling the back of his head as if it had hit a rock, even the usually self-disciplined assassin Feline, couldn't help but swear.

Fortunately, during the second wave of attacks, Nana called upon the invisible hands of Cole and Kate for assistance. Coupled with Nana's strategy of always breaking free from the encirclement even when attacked, after paying the price of a ten-centimeter-long stab wound to her left arm from the scythe monster, Nana successfully brought all four corpses into view again.

However, perhaps because Nana's self-awareness was too strong, the scythe monster that had injured her seemed to evolve after obtaining her blood.

Not only did the green crystals suddenly proliferate rapidly, completely breaking through the limitations of the skin and flesh, transforming the entire creature into a burly crystalline monster with arms resembling a praying mantis, but a mercury-like Halo even appeared on the top of its head, which had four insect-like mouthparts!

You don't mean you can use Firearms Arts like Sankta, do you?!

Just as Nana showed a look of horror, the monster with the Halo above its head actually extended a crystalline limb, like a human arm, from its abdomen and picked up the HK416 that Nana had laid out on the ground!

It even fired before Nana, and it was the Number Two signature move —the Master Key and the assault rifle—firing simultaneously at full power?!

"Wait, wait, you're not Number Two at all, are you?!"

Saying that it shouldn't be something surprising right now, Nana quickly picked up the tattered folding shield from the ground and used its surface to apply a defensive spell to conceal herself. The assassin girl awkwardly hid behind cover.

Nana was initially worried that the remaining three monsters might launch a surprise attack, but after hearing the same sound of Halo growing outside that matched the previous monsters' auras, Nana peeked out in horror from behind her cover.

They actually huddled up to the first Halo monster, seemingly licking their own blood from its scythe.

And... it really did transform into the same monster form.

How can I describe the twisted state of those four corpses?

Its eyes shone with an empty light, its head itself looked like a giant, crystallized insect, its original hands had turned into folded mantis blades, and similarly curved, sickle-shaped limbs had sprung out from its shoulders.

The ten or so hands around its waist deftly manipulated the weapons and equipment it had possessed in life, while its legs had become monstrous, anti-joint crystalline limbs...

Just the sight of them standing up, nearly four or five meters tall, is terrifying enough. The most crucial thing is that their torsos are covered with fragments of skin that look exactly like themselves. Nana felt that she had to rank this scene as the No. 1 most terrifying sight in the last twenty years.