Powerful’s crude fist came flying. An unpolished punch. But that didn’t mean it was inelegant. It was a punch honed through hundreds of thousands of years—a punch solely focused on efficiency, embodying the essence of a butcher who had slaughtered countless humans. That single punch carried enough force to kill a person outright.

However—

Thud.

“Ugh—!”

Eight brushed it aside as if he could see every motion. After deflecting the blow with ease, his own punch, swift and fluid like a phantom, struck Powerful squarely in the abdomen.

Collapse Fist. An overwhelming strike that carried the full weight of his body, shaking Powerful’s internal organs to their core.

“Uaaah—!”

Letting out his signature yell, Powerful was sent flying. Eight wiggled his fingers, gesturing for him to hurry up and attack again. Seeing that, Powerful spat out chunks of blood and bits of his innards before charging back at Eight.

He threw another punch. A punch that had never been blocked before—yet it was preemptively neutralized, as if Eight could see the future. With his force points suppressed, Powerful couldn’t deliver proper strength. Instead, he took a flurry of counterpunches.

He kicked. But Eight nimbly stepped back, dodging the kick, then hooked his foot and broke Powerful’s balance, toppling him to the ground. Rolling on the floor, Powerful endured several soccer kicks before he managed to stagger back to his feet.

Even in such a one-sided beating, Eight didn’t press the ground advantage. Powerful knew why—Eight was stronger, and both of them understood that.

Powerful frowned as he glared at Eight, who remained just out of reach.

“Rays! Get in here!”

“…You can’t beat him. Do you think me joining will change anything?”

“Damn it—!”

Scratching the back of his head in frustration, Powerful groaned. Rays was right. His ability was Normalize—and that was it. Despite his imposing appearance, Rays wasn’t much of a fighter. Even if he joined the fray, he couldn’t match Powerful’s raw strength when invoking the power of War.

In short, if Powerful couldn’t win, adding Rays to the mix wouldn’t change the outcome.

“…Maybe I should’ve learned some martial arts after all.”

Hundreds of thousands of years.

He’d had plenty of would-be teachers. Many had noticed his talent and lamented the waste of his potential, offering to train him.

But Powerful had refused every one of them—and this was the first time he regretted it. Even if those self-important humans had died with a single flick of his finger breaking their skulls…

“Kui-kui.”

“What the hell is that—?”

“The Earth’s strongest martial art.”

Muttering some nonsense, Eight wiggled his fingers again. Powerful sighed and charged at him once more.

If only this were a dream.

If only this were a nightmare.

*****

“Gah—!”

Watching Powerful get sent flying and vomit blood, I realized my theory was correct.

“So that Normalize ability doesn’t extend to the fourth dimension, huh…”

The four-dimensional suit I was wearing drew its power from the internal fourth dimension embedded within it. Its engine output existed one tier higher than anything in the physical world.

Even a single-tier difference in output was astronomical when scaling up.

There was no need to speculate why someone with such a broken ability had such a glaring weakness. The Four Knights, including Mr. Clear, were artificial lifeforms created in the distant past.

“They probably added that weakness to keep them under control.”

Which also meant whoever created these four guardians had either mastered fourth-dimensional technology or was a higher-dimensional entity themselves.

A civilization that advanced existing in this universe? It was terrifying.

No civilization capable of such technology could vanish overnight.

So where did they go?

Why were they hiding?

“Damn… You’re really good at fighting…”

“It’s not me. It’s the AI.”

“…I see. Born as a tool, only to be defeated by a tool.”

Powerful let out a bitter laugh, and I couldn’t help but chuckle along with him.

“You never even intended to win, did you?”

“You caught on?”

“Of course. If it were me, I wouldn’t have targeted you directly—I’d have killed Aile or the civilians to mentally break you. But you never once looked at Aile, not even in passing.”

I had been worried. I was confident I could protect Aile, but there was always that one-in-a-million chance. Yet they hadn’t touched her or anyone else. Sure, we’d neutralized a few enemy executives, but everyone else—aside from Galrm—was intact.

“…Because I didn’t want to.”

“Why?”

“I told you. I’m sick of it. I was celebrating my freedom, and then I got dragged back here. Damn that leader bastard with his Absolute Authority… There’s no way I’d be serious.”

Powerful looked up at me. His eyes were hollow—like someone who had lived far too long and had grown tired of living.

I stepped closer, meeting his gaze.

“You want to die?”

“Yeah. I’m done. I’ve lived long enough and done everything I wanted. I’m ready to go.”

“Fine. Then I’ll buy your life.”

“…What? Did you even hear what I just—Ugh!”

I knocked out the resigned Powerful and turned to Rays. He had already raised his hands in surrender.

Gesturing for him to follow, I picked up the incapacitated Galrm, Vira, and Six. Since I couldn’t carry all four, I made Rays carry the heavy ones.

After returning to the lab and plugging the wrecked trio into the red solution tanks, I looked at Rays and asked:

“So, do you agree with Powerful?”

“…I think I want to live a little longer.”

“Good. Then I’ll buy your life too.”

I pointed to a long cylindrical chamber in the lab and smiled.

“Step inside.”

“…I said I wanted to live.”

“I’ll let you live.”

Gulp.

Rays swallowed hard, trembling as if the chamber were a medieval torture device.

But I wasn’t going to wait around.

I shoved the two of them into the chambers and activated the systems. Watching their bodies break down cell by cell, I started stretching my fingers.

“So, Absolute Authority, huh? Guess I’ll have to rebuild them from scratch.”

This was going to take a long time. But it couldn’t be helped.

Letting talents like theirs go to waste—or killing them outright—was too much of a loss.

Recycling was mandatory.

Even for humans.

*****

“Hmm… So that’s what happened.”

In the chairman’s office of Evilus Corporation—

Having summoned the now-healed executives of the organization, Regalia listened to the reports about the recent incidents. The mention of an attack linked to Mr. Clear, the person their boss had been desperately searching for, made Regalia momentarily shudder. However, it didn’t take long for her to regain her composure.

“I see. Good work, everyone. You’re dismissed.”
“—Boss.”
“Yes, Scientist?”

Did he have something to say?

Regalia, who had started the conversation lightly, immediately fell silent when she noticed Eight’s gaze. It wasn’t like his usual playful and carefree demeanor. Instead, it was heavy and serious.

Meeting Regalia’s eyes with sincerity, Eight looked around at the other executives before speaking.

“Isn’t it about time? Don’t you think it’s alright to finally tell us what really happened?”
“What do you mean—?”
“What happened in the past, Boss? Who did this to you? And—why did you bring us all together in the first place? Things like that.”

Regalia stared at Eight as if asking if he was serious.

Not once had she spoken those words out loud. How could the Scientist possibly know?

As Regalia pondered this question, she quickly realized how foolish it was. Most of the information she had uncovered had come from the Scientist’s assistance in the first place.

Even so, Regalia couldn’t bring herself to reveal the truth.

“…This is my burden to bear. I can’t drag all of you into it—”
“Come on, Boss. Why not just tell us? We’ve come this far, and you’re still keeping secrets?”
“Galrm. But—”
“What? You think we’ll abandon you if we hear it? Don’t worry, Boss.”

Galrm chuckled at Regalia’s obvious concern.

“We’re your guardians.”

Hearing those words, Regalia looked at each of the executives in turn. Meeting her gaze, they nodded slowly.

Suppressing the surge of emotion rising in her chest, Regalia cautiously opened her mouth to speak.

“…You’re right. I suppose it’s time.”

And so—

This fragile Boss,

Who had kept the secret buried for nearly half of her life,

Finally shared the truth.

The reason she created Evilus.

The seed of her vengeance.