Jonas?
What was he doing here?
The Psionic squad's captain's heart sank, and he assumed a standard combat stance.
There was nothing to say. Rescuing Noel was the purpose of this operation. As long as they could get her out, it didn't matter if every last one of them died.
Whoosh!
The moment Jonas finished speaking, the squad's telekinetic seized control of an object and sent it flying at him.
Jonas neither dodged nor ducked. Contrary to the telekinetic's expectations, he simply stood there and let it pierce straight through his chest.
"Everyone, there's no need to be so impatient."
Ignoring the weapon embedded in his chest, he clapped his hands in a bizarrely incongruous show of encouragement for the Psionic squad. "Your plan was quite effective. Even I was caught off guard."
That was a lie. Jonas had already seen through everything. This was a trap.
Noel wanted to speak, but she couldn't open her mouth at all.
Yet after only two or three seconds, her lips began moving on their own.
Oh no. Not being able to speak was better than this!
"Jonas, do you still need to stall under these circumstances?"
As though responding automatically, Noel began saying things she didn't mean. "If you had a way, you would have captured all of us outright instead of standing here making idle conversation."
"Yes, that Zero of yours really has me scrambling. I can't come over just yet."
Jonas paused briefly, seemingly giving the Psionic squad time to digest that information. "I'm not here in person, and the Alt Conglomerate only has one top-tier combatant here. But the Arbitration Bureau has already reached the surrounding area."
"You mean that as long as we escape the Arbitration Bureau's encirclement, we can survive and get out of here?"
Noel sounded