In the end, Cocolia left MEI Company, escorted by her attendants, and returned to her residence with an indescribable sense of melancholy.
But what Cocolia didn't know was that at this moment, another person was watching her.
On the diagonal side of the street, a girl with silver-gray spiral twin-tails held a monocular telescope, observing Cocolia from a distance.
After seeing Cocolia enter the ambush range, Bronya put away the telescope in her hand, and with a straight little face announced her milky-toned declaration.
"Bronya, is an assassin."
"Bronya, has no emotions!"
As the residual Herrscher of Reason power within her body activated, a massive blue-and-white mech materialized behind her.
However, she didn't immediately charge over and beat Cocolia to her knees. Instead, she used the reflection on the mech's surface to look at her own appearance.
Lightly propping up her chin with her index finger, she said thoughtfully:
"According to the original plot, with my current adorable appearance, if I deliberately trigger the defeat CG and play pitiful, I should be able to get taken in by Cocolia, right?"
Bronya reviewed the upcoming operation while having the constructed Heavy Bunny scan the surrounding environment.
"Beep beep beep... Hm? There's another skilled one?"
Bronya suddenly looked toward another building diagonally across from her.
A figure in a powered combat suit suddenly leapt from there, and with a single flying leap charged toward Cocolia.
Bronya understood—she had encountered someone in the same business.
"So there really is someone else planning to deal with Cocolia..."
She made no move to intervene, just watching everything unfold. She also wanted to see what this person was capable of.
However...
After this assassin charged in, they knocked down Cocolia's attendants in a few quick moves.
Then they were floored by a single punch from Cocolia.
"Tch!"
Cocolia flexed her fist, looking down at the assassin writhing on the ground clutching their stomach with undisguised contempt.
"With this little strength, you're far weaker than the hamsters and golden chinchillas from my hometown. Where did you get the courage to attack me?"
"Ural Silver Wolf? Is this all you've got?"
In response, the assassin immediately struggled to turn over, then fell to both knees.
"I was wrong, please spare me. If you won't abandon me, I'm willing to take you as my adoptive mother... bang!"
Cocolia knocked them out with a kick, waved her hand, and had her subordinates carry them away for interrogation.
"Read too many historical novels, have you?" Cocolia looked on with contempt. "You can betray your own employer without hesitation—how could I possibly trust someone like you?"
Watching Cocolia's retreating figure as she entered her residence, Bronya suddenly felt that her plan might have some flaws.
"It seems the traditional defeat route is no longer viable. Bronya must optimize it."
As she spoke, she took out a small notebook and scribbled away, quickly settling on a new plan.
Then the residual Herrscher of Reason power activated, constructing an item out of thin air according to her thoughts.
It was a pendant with a worn surface, looking as if it had endured long years of use.
...
After dealing with the blind-eyed assassin, Cocolia returned to her residence.
"I thought with Ryoma's financial resources, the Ural Silver Wolf he hired would be exceptionally capable. Seems it was nothing special after all..."
However, after resolving the 'Ural Silver Wolf' who had been secretly planning to assassinate her, Cocolia was still quite pleased.
She planned to first go take a long bath to relieve her body's fatigue.
But the moment she pushed open the door, something like a rope entered her field of vision.
Before she could even react, the thing had coiled around her neck. An enormous force struck, and Cocolia felt a violent suffocation.
But as a warrior who had obtained a beast's instincts through battles with wild animals, Cocolia didn't panic. She reached behind her and thrust the dagger at her waist backward.
In an instant, the rope strangling her loosened, and Cocolia seized the opportunity to break free.
After breaking free, rather than creating distance, Cocolia followed the direction of sound, gripping her dagger and charged toward it.
But what greeted her were bullets.
So Cocolia had no choice but to retreat into the bathroom, using the wall as cover.
However, in the moment of turning, she caught a glimpse of the figure attacking her.
It was a small, lithe girl with silver-gray spiral twin-tails, wearing goggles on her head. She had a stocking on only one leg, and was sweeping the area with a submachine gun.
Listening to the sound of bullets striking the wall, Cocolia yanked the "rope" from her neck and found it was a stocking twisted into a cord.
"What is this? Death by stocking?"
Cocolia smiled and tossed it aside, not particularly panicked about her situation.
She had already stalled for a considerable amount of time. Surely her security team should have responded by now...
Just as Cocolia was thinking this, a sudden feeling of impending catastrophe rose in her heart.
Without the slightest hesitation, she immediately dove toward the large bathtub inside the bathroom.
"Boom!"
The wall instantly exploded, sending Cocolia flying. The violent impact even made her throat taste sweet—the taste of blood.
She rolled over inside the bathtub, and looking at what appeared before her eyes, her last hope finally died.
It was a massive mech in blue and white, its size nearly occupying the entire bedroom.
This mech held the girl in one hand, while the other arm extended a thick cannon barrel. Scorching heat spread from the muzzle, making every hair on Cocolia's body stand on end.
A cold voice with a milky tone came through.
"Bronya has located mission target. Executing elimination operation."
Feeling the cannon barrel drawing close, Cocolia's heart was engulfed in enormous despair.
"This is the end for me."
Just as Cocolia thought this, she discovered that the cannon barrel advancing toward her had stopped.
Cocolia looked at the mech, and found that the girl sitting on the mech's arm was staring blankly at her, as if she had seen something unbelievable.
What had she seen in her eyes?
Cocolia didn't know. She only knew that this was her only chance to turn things around.
So, seizing the moment while the girl was stunned, Cocolia hurled the dagger in her hand at the girl with all the strength she had in her life.
She didn't expect this attack to actually hit—she just wanted to use this strike to buy herself time to charge out of the bathroom.
But contrary to Cocolia's expectations, this time the dagger sank into the girl's chest without any obstruction.
Then the girl and the massive mech behind her disappeared from the bathroom.
Cocolia remained vigilant, and only confirmed the other party had truly left after several minutes.
"She clearly had the advantage. Why did she get hit? And why did she run away?"
Cocolia couldn't figure it out.
But after escaping the crisis, she had time to pay attention to other things. She thought of the girl's appearance just now, and immediately felt extremely angry.
"Even a child this small has become an assassin. This world is truly sick!"
Cocolia struggled to stand up inside the bathtub. Now that the life-and-death crisis had passed, the damage her body had sustained became apparent. She felt as if her whole body had fallen apart.
And at this moment, the corner of her eye caught something on the ground.
It was a pendant that looked like it had some years behind it.
"Is this that child's?"
Cocolia casually opened it, but upon seeing what was inside, she couldn't help falling silent.
Inside was a small yellowed photograph of a woman holding a child.
And the child the woman was holding, judging by the appearance, should have been the girl who had just piloted the mech.
On the inside of the pendant's cover, a string of text was engraved in Slavic script.
[May you never shed tears—Alexandra]
This seemed to be a mother's blessing to her child. But what surprised Cocolia was that the woman in the photo bore a nine-tenths resemblance to herself.
"She retreated just now because she saw her mother in me?"
This thought rose in Cocolia's heart, but she quickly shook her head and laughed at herself.
"How could that be? It's too absurd..."
But perhaps even Cocolia herself didn't realize it—her remaining maternal instincts had indeed been stirred at this moment.
Looking at the photograph, Cocolia sighed, and in the end closed the pendant and put it away.
For some reason, she always had the feeling she would meet that child again.
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