Beneath the Talent Workshop, inside a rocky hill that no detection equipment could locate, was where Mugino Shizuri was being held.
"If you're going to kill me, do it! Stop wasting time!"
The speaker was a slender, shapely girl with brown hair.
Her features were gentle and elegant, her long brown curls falling languidly over her shoulders, her fair skin smooth, delicate, and supple.
But at that moment, her doe-like eyes held not a sweetness that inspired tenderness, but the flames of hatred.
That emotion stemmed not merely from the girl's volatile temper, but even more from her present circumstances.
Clank, clank-!
Mugino Shizuri strained to move her arms, but all she produced was the crisp clatter of swinging chains.
Dozens of metal chains connected to the ceiling and floor bound her tightly, leaving nothing untouched, from her neck, waist, and arms to her feet.
Even with the monstrous strength to lift an adult with one hand, Mugino Shizuri could not break free in the slightest against such sturdy restraints.
Yet that hardly mattered. For Academy City's fourth-strongest Esper, vaporizing this irritating metal in an instant required no more than a thought.
But for some reason, ever since waking up, although she could once again control every part of her body and sense her Atomix ability, she had remained unable to use it, like a river blocked by a dam.
And so, after another fruitless struggle, Mugino Shizuri once again turned her blazing gaze toward Roland, who sat on the sofa opposite her, pouring and drinking his wine alone.
"Not going to keep making a fuss? The harder you struggle, the more I'll enjoy myself later. Besides, this chamber was specifically designed to obstruct detection. With my power reinforcing it, it can block all information."
Casually picking up the nearby