The green-haired girl, who had met my gaze, let her raised lips drop back into a cold, expressionless line before descending slowly to the ground. Watching her gradual descent, she almost resembled an angel, descending from the heavens to the earth with a strange sense of holiness.

As she lightly touched down, my first thought upon seeing her up close was that she was alarmingly thin—not in a sleek, model-like way, but to the point of appearing fragile, as though she might break if touched.

If the green-haired elf I met previously was like a fairy embodying nature’s fragrance and beauty, this girl was like nature itself, stripped of any embellishment, displaying both beauty and harshness at once.

“This area is restricted. No unauthorized entry,” I said.

“I’m aware of that. So, are you the scientist from E City?”

“If you know, then leave immediately. You do realize this is illegal, don’t you?”

“Illegal? And who decided that?”

“Who decided…?”

Her remark left me momentarily speechless, as if she hadn’t even been through elementary school. The girl, perhaps taking my silence as a victory, smiled brightly and continued.

“This land was created by nature. It cannot belong to anyone, of course. So it’s my right to come and go as I please.”

“…Did you even attend elementary school?”

“Oh, why are you saying that? I may look young, but I’m definitely an adult.”

“That’s a relief.”

I had wondered if she might be an actual clueless child, but thankfully that wasn’t the case. I glanced over at Leviathan, who was still groggy from sleep but now seemed to be snapping awake. Without a moment’s hesitation, Leviathan darted towards the girl.

Just as Leviathan reached the girl and raised her fist, she froze, her arm halted mid-swing.

“…Huh?”

“Leviathan?”

“Hold on—”

In the next instant, an invisible force struck Leviathan hard, sending her flying toward me. Barely dodging her, I turned my gaze back to the girl, noting that her cloak had morphed into a human form.

A strange figure, wrapped head-to-toe in bandages, emerged, his face obscured. I grimaced at the sight.

“Adding assault to the list, are we? I’d say that justifies a bullet, wouldn’t you?”

“Oh, scary.”

“One question. Are you the one responsible for the plants here rotting?”

“Rotting? I simply helped these poor, confined lifeforms return to the wide embrace of nature.”

“Got it. Thanks for the confession.”

I gave a command in the direction of the sand where Leviathan had landed.

“—Go get them, Leviathan.”

“Rawr!”

Leviathan burst out of the sand, charging at the bandaged figure and taking him high into the air. The green-haired girl remained unfazed, watching calmly as her companion disappeared.

Confident in her abilities, I guessed. She must have powers similar to Meister’s—the kind of abilities that made someone nearly invincible against modern technology.

But assuming I’d come unprepared was a big mistake. I aimed my capture net gun at her.

“Move, and you’ll get hurt.”

With that, I pulled the trigger, and a heavy net dropped over her, its weight pinning her down. She calmly touched the net, unperturbed.

“…Made by human hands, I see.”

“Correct. It’s a net. There’s no way you’ll get out of it.”

“Wasting gifts from nature this way—such a human trait.”

She muttered cryptically, then brushed her hand over the net. To my astonishment, the net began to rot, disintegrating into dust just like the lifeless land of this wasteland.

Watching this, I let out a dry laugh. This material shouldn’t rot. And it wasn’t machinery, so she couldn’t control it by touch.

Yet, effortlessly, she slipped free of the net and clasped her hands behind her back.

“Things like this don’t affect me. Anything made by human hands is useless.”

It seemed that this “thief” was more dangerous than I had anticipated. Swallowing, I stared at her, realizing that this fight might be more drawn out than expected.

Name: Flower
Ability: Nature’s Advocate
Description: Loved by nature, excluding all artificial creations.

A muffled groan.

“What, done already?”

Leviathan looked down at the bandaged figure beneath her, who could barely move, and tilted her head in curiosity.

He struggled, writhing beneath her grip, but no amount of resistance could match Leviathan’s superhuman strength. With a bored expression, she broke his limbs before dragging him back toward Eight.

“This one—!”

“Agh, aaah!”

“Eight!”

Hearing Eight’s shout, Leviathan sprinted over. Could it be that Eight was losing?

Returning in a flash, she found Eight in the midst of a desperate struggle with the green-haired girl. The girl had him by the hair, biting down on his arm.

“Aaaargh! Let go! Let go, I said!”

“Honestly!”

The capture net gun, once a point of pride, was nowhere to be seen. Eight was grappling with the girl bare-handed. He looked surprisingly evenly matched with her despite his lack of combat skills.

Watching them from afar, Leviathan sighed before approaching and calmly twisting the girl’s arm to subdue her. She looked at Eight.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah… Leviathan…”

“Maybe you should start working out, Eight? You couldn’t even handle her…”

“Haha… I’ll consider it.”

Eight, never one to truly consider working out, dusted off his coat, covered in sand, and looked down at the restrained girl.

The girl glared at them with a murderous look in her eyes. Displeased, Leviathan shoved her face into the sand, making her lower her gaze.

“So, is she the culprit?”

“Most likely…”

“So we just take her in, right? Let’s go.”

“But, Leviathan, where’s that bandaged one you brought?”

“Oh—”

Realizing she’d left the bandaged figure in the middle of the desert, Leviathan let out a gasp. Just then, a detached arm flew through the air and hit her, sending her flying back.

This time, she managed to brace herself and avoid further injury, though she still stumbled a few steps back. As the green-haired girl slipped free, she darted toward the direction the arm had come from. The bandaged figure, emerging from the shadows, grabbed her and lifted off into the sky.

“No way!”

Frustrated, Leviathan flung the severed hand away, but it turned into a flock of bats that flew back and reattached to the bandaged figure. The sight reminded Eight of something from a comic book—a vampire, an immortal creature that refuses to die.

“Just you wait! Next time, it won’t end like this!”

The green-haired girl shouted as she ascended into the sky, while the bandaged figure flew away with inhuman speed.

At that moment, my phone finally powered back on, and the frozen CCTV and Evilsroids resumed functioning.

Leviathan glanced at me as the two figures disappeared into the distance.

“Want to bring out the robots?”

“No. That girl’s power is stronger than I thought…”

“Oh? Even stronger than you?”

“I wouldn’t say that. I could still beat her, but…”

We’d have to prepare all over again. Thinking of the girl’s face, I immediately began fiddling with my phone. Now that I’d seen her abilities, identifying who she was became the priority.

Although with powers like hers, she was likely hiding her identity well. It might take all of my AI’s computing power to track her down…

[Protect the Environment!]
[True Natural Environmental Organization]
[Chairwoman: Flower]

The next day, I chuckled bitterly as I stared at the open webpage displaying the green-haired girl’s information.