Thud.
I picked up the chess-piece-sized Vira, followed by the five nameless civilians, carefully tucking them into the four-dimensional pocket inside my coat. Snapping my fingers, I looked at the still-dazed Snowah.
"Snowah, let’s move."
"Uh, uh… Professor, just now, that was…"
"There’s no time to explain. I’ve stopped them for now, but it won’t last forever."
With that, I started walking, and Snowah followed close behind. As she trailed after me, she recalled the scene she had just witnessed.
A woman and five civilians had appeared out of the darkness, their bodies slowly vanishing as if prompting her to choose between them. Just as Snowah was about to select the civilians, Eight had acted first, leaving her in shock.
Eight didn’t choose one side over the other. He chose both. Somehow, he had stopped their vanishing, shrunk them down to chess-piece size, and stored them away.
What on earth…
Even for someone like Snowah, the sight had been incomprehensible. It wasn’t just that she didn’t understand what Eight had done—she couldn’t even perceive it properly. It was as if time itself had been cut away, freezing everything in place.
Yes, it was as though time had stopped entirely.
No way, it couldn’t be…
Snowah shook her head, denying the thought, and focused on Eight’s back. No matter how brilliant the professor was, he couldn’t possibly have that level of technology.
…Could he?
*****
"Help us—!"
Stop.
"Please, choose us—!"
Stop.
"Scientist! Good timing. Next, try punching a gh—"
Stop.
As I walked through the corridors, I systematically neutralized and collected everyone I encountered. By now, my pocket held dozens of people.
If things were working as I theorized, the scenario should have reset by now, but the lack of change suggested there were additional conditions for altering the rules.
It makes sense; if they could just reset everything at will, there’d be no need for traps like this.
Adapting strategy based on the opponent was a sound concept and, in theory, an unbeatable approach. However, history showed that no one had ever truly mastered it.
Resources are always limited, even for transcendent beings.
If Aile had unlimited resources, there’d be no need for these intricate traps. She could just toss me into a black hole or some other inescapable abyss. But Aile—or rather, whatever was attached to her—clearly didn’t have that kind of power.
Did she really think throwing a trolley dilemma at me would make me hesitate?
If this were the outside world and I’d fallen into such a trap unprepared, maybe it would’ve worked. I might have been forced into the cycle of choosing.
But this was the Evilus headquarters—my lab. A scientist achieves the most in their own lab, with access to countless tools deemed too risky, impractical, or classified to take outside.
In game terms, I was a cheat character with a "win" button. Even if Aile forced me into a scenario where one had to die, I could choose a nonexistent third option and bypass it entirely.
"Professor."
"Yes."
After pressing that win button repeatedly, we finally arrived at Aile’s room. The door was utterly transformed, radiating an aura that screamed, The culprit is here!
The black flowers decorating the door were identical to the tattoos that had grown on Snowah’s hand. Thorny vines extended from the flowers, wrapping tightly around the doorway. Spraying disinfectant on the vines, I watched as they dissolved and fell apart as easily as cutting threads.
Snowah gave a bitter smile as she watched the vines crumble.
"That really is a miracle cure."
"A miracle cure? Not even close."
This disinfectant was just a simple cleaning solution, effective only for wiping away filth. To call it a miracle cure was an overstatement.
Chuckling at her joke, I pulled the door handle. The lack of traps made it clear that just reaching this point had been the real test.
Opening the door revealed Aile, sitting on the bed with one leg hugged to her chest, waiting for us.
"Hehe, you’ve arrived, Scientist—"
"You little—!"
"Wha—kyahhh!?"
I lunged at her and flipped her over, delivering the spanking I had promised. The sound was more of a dull thud thud than a sharp slap.
"Ow—! Wait, wait, stop!"
"You used magic on people! And on your comrades, no less!?"
"I-I’m sorry! Please, just—!"
Just stop.
Before I could continue, something erupted from within Aile. A powerful wave surged outward, throwing me backward until I rolled across the floor and into Snowah’s arms.
"Professor! Are you okay?"
"…Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks."
"But more importantly—"
Snowah helped me to my feet, her eyes fixed on Aile, who was now slowly stepping down from the bed.
Even when we entered, she had seemed slightly off, but now she was completely inhuman.
Her sclera had turned pitch black, her hair writhed unnaturally, and thorny vines began sprouting all over her body.
She resembled not a human but a grotesque, otherworldly entity.
I knew this was coming.
The behavior Aile had exhibited so far had been too cruel to truly be hers. Using magic on people without hesitation, holding civilians hostage—these weren’t actions the real Aile would ever take.
Aile was fragile. Deprived of love from a young age, she had severe mental issues but never externalized them. At worst, she would hurt herself, silently suffering alone. That was the Aile I knew.
"Who are you?"
—Stop… just die.
"So you won’t talk, huh?"
I sprayed disinfectant at her, but the vines on her body only flinched slightly, showing no sign of disappearing. Perhaps this thing was parasitic, unlike the previous monsters made purely of magic.
Well, that was one simple option gone. Time to take a detour.
"Snowah."
"Yes, Professor."
"I’ll leave this to you."
I stepped back, allowing Snowah to take the lead. She raised her staff with a sly smile.
"This is what you call the right tool for the right job, isn’t it?"
"Indeed."
"I never imagined I’d end up doing something like this, even back in my active days—"
Pointing her staff at Aile, Snowah spoke.
"—As your friend, I’ll knock some sense into you, Aile."
The magical girl of cold calculation, someone who had always kept her distance from emotions like friendship and passion, was finally breaking out of her shell.
—Come.
That single word from Aile, filled with an eerie resonance, left it unclear who had truly spoken it.
Snowflakes and petals swirled violently. The pristine crystals spun in midair, scattering the petals, only for new petals to rush in and block the snowflakes.
But Snowah remained unfazed, conjuring fresh snowflakes and hurling them forward. The room had already transformed into an arctic wasteland, engulfed by a relentless blizzard.
"What are you doing, Aile? You’re much weaker than you used to be, aren’t you?"
—...
To everyone’s surprise, Snowah was overpowering Aile. This was unthinkable, considering that back in her heyday as a villainous magical girl, Aile had defeated dozens of magical girls, including Snowah, all on her own.
But upon closer consideration, it wasn’t entirely shocking. At that time, Aile wasn’t just a magical girl—she was something entirely beyond classification. As Eight once described, Aile was closer to a Kamen Rider or the protagonist of a tokusatsu show than a traditional magical girl.
Now, however, Aile fought as a typical magical girl, relying on spells and magic. And against a magical girl opponent, Snowah had no reason to lose. She was a veteran of over a decade in this field, a seasoned magical girl nearing the end of her career. Losing to a novice who had only recently begun wielding magic?
Such an outcome was virtually impossible, even in the rarest of cases.
"You’re weak. This isn’t fun. Come back as the Aile I knew."
In an instant, Snowah subdued Aile, pinning her underfoot. She leveled her staff at Aile, speaking with cold detachment.
Inside Aile, the malevolent flower panicked. It couldn’t understand how things had turned out this way.
—Die… just die.
Finally, the flower made a desperate, almost suicidal decision: to burn through the host’s life force and unleash a burst of explosive power. It didn’t matter if the host was destroyed in the process—that wasn’t its concern...
"I’ve got you."
—!?
At that moment, the malevolent flower felt something grab hold of it and pull it upward. It panicked, unable to comprehend where this grasp was coming from, as if some unseen force was dragging it out of Aile’s body.
The flower writhed, its stems flailing as it was forcibly uprooted.
"What even is this thing? Honestly, this confirms it—this isn’t Earth. If it were Earth, something like you couldn’t possibly exist."
Holding the source of the chaos in his hand, Eight glared at the flower.
Under his gaze, the malevolent flower felt as though every fiber of its being was exposed and dissected. It shuddered, a cold sensation sinking deep into its very soul, until it slowly lost consciousness.