'What's wrong with that little girl?'
An enemy?
Had her frightened act merely been a distraction?
She had attacked Noah!
Tatsumi's eyes widened as guilt flooded through him.
'Damn it, this is my fault! If I hadn't distracted him, there's no way someone as strong as Mr. Noah would've been caught by an attack like that!'
The false little girl clung tightly to Noah's shoulder, her teeth piercing his clothes and sinking into his flesh.
"Blood Collection: Absordex."
That was her Teigu.
It took the form of artificial teeth implanted inside the user's mouth.
By drinking blood, it could drain a victim into a dried corpse, while the stolen vitality healed the user and strengthened her body.
Anyone who mistook those fangs for the cute little canines of an innocent girl would pay dearly for it.
"Dry up and die!"
Noah's expression did not change.
He had deliberately allowed her to bite him.
Since he did not need to fear poison or infection, physical contact gave him the perfect opportunity to use Seeker and Appraisal.
[Dorothea]
・Place of origin: Dorothea
・Former state alchemist of the Kingdom of Dorothea
・Teigu user
・Modified human
・Will exhaust every branch of knowledge to preserve her youth and live forever
・Minister Honest has recently become younger, causing Syura to grow suspicious of her
After processing the large amount of information he received, Noah understood most of what he wanted to know.
Dr. Stylish had already defected to Syura's side before his death.
After Noah killed the doctor, Syura ordered Dorothea, an alchemist, to take control of all Dr. Stylish's hidden laboratories.
Syura wanted greater control over the Imperial Capital, and the Jaegers stood in his way.
He also wanted to weaken Esdeath's influence, so he had used the new Danger Beasts to draw out both the Jaegers and Night Raid and have them destroy one another.
If the Jaegers won, Syura could appear afterward and claim the achievement and prestige for himself.
If Night Raid won, Esdeath's forces would still be weakened.
Noah had to admit that, when it came to ambition, Syura truly was Minister Honest's son.
Dorothea continued biting down, but panic steadily grew inside her.
No matter how hard she tried, she could not draw a single drop of blood from Noah, much less drain him dry.
A hand closed around her skull.
Noah lifted her with almost no effort and held her in front of his face.
Dorothea stared at him in shock.
"You're wondering why you can't absorb my blood," Noah said. "You've killed well over a hundred people this way, so having your ability suddenly fail must be a new experience."
That single sentence made Dorothea's expression change completely.
"H-how...?"
How did he know?
Who had leaked information about her?
He even understood her Teigu's ability.
To train his control, Noah no longer allowed many of his body's functions to operate entirely on their own.
His blood circulation, for example, was regulated directly through Weaver.
Anyone trying to drain his blood would first need to overcome Weaver's control or use enough force to exceed the ability's operating limit.
Dorothea could do neither.
Using Soul Corridor in front of Tatsumi and Lubbock would be troublesome. Unless Noah altered all three of their memories afterward, they would see too much.
And if anything went wrong, one of them might spend the rest of his life as a drooling fool.
Noah decided against it.
He was still looking forward to seeing Tatsumi's heroic story unfold.
The boy might be an assassin, but who said a hero needed songs and statues to be considered one?
A person became a hero through their choices, not through the title other people gave them.
"I'm curious," Noah said, still holding Dorothea by the head. "What gave Syura the courage to plot against Esdeath? And during that tournament, he entered because he already knew its true purpose, didn't he?"
Dorothea stared at him in horror.
"You already know that much?"
Noah gave a faint nod.
He had learned most of it from her only moments earlier.
"Tell me what Syura is relying on. Don't try to deceive me by saying it's his father. Even Minister Honest wouldn't willingly make an enemy of Esdeath. Syura is doing this behind his back, isn't he?"
"I..."
"Would you like to find out whether your skull is harder than a block of iron?"
"Wait! I genuinely don't know!" Dorothea cried. "All I know is that he obtained some kind of forbidden power from somewhere else. He never told me what it actually was!"
"Forbidden power?"
Blue light appeared in Noah's eyes as he examined her closely.
Half truth, half lie.
Even in this situation, she was still mixing falsehoods into her answers.
Lubbock stepped closer.
"So she's the person behind all of this?"
Tatsumi glared at Dorothea.
"That voice we heard over the broadcast was yours, wasn't it?"
Despite her situation, Dorothea still dared to provoke him.
"That's right, boy. You really do exceed my expectations every time."
"You bastard!"
Tatsumi now understood that she had manipulated him from the moment he entered the cave.
Had he come alone—or even if Noah had simply not been present—Tatsumi would almost certainly have lost.
"Were those all the new Danger Beasts?" he demanded.
Night Raid's greatest concern was the safety of the people.
Their priorities were different from Noah's.
Dorothea answered without much concern.
"Yes, that was all of them. Production stopped after Dr. Stylish disappeared. Every remaining specimen was gathered here, and you've already killed them."
Tatsumi and Lubbock both relaxed slightly.
The new Danger Beasts had destroyed several villages during their rampage. Even now, some of the victims' bodies had yet to be recovered and buried.
Dorothea looked confused by their reaction.
"Aren't you members of an assassination group? You're supposed to be merciless killers, so why do you care so much about a few worthless commoners?"
"What did you say?" Tatsumi growled. "They were living people! They hadn't done anything wrong. They were only trying to live ordinary lives. What right did you have to take even that away from them?"
"Huh?" Dorothea looked genuinely innocent. "What did we take from them? They should've protected themselves. If they couldn't even defeat such worthless monsters, then they deserved to die."
"Enough!"
Tatsumi's shout echoed through the room.
"Mr. Noah, please let me kill her. I'm begging you!"
Noah looked at the smug Dorothea, then at Tatsumi, who had been provoked with almost embarrassing ease.
Then he released her.
"Oh?"
The moment Dorothea was free, Tatsumi charged.
Neuntote swept through the air again and again, leaving a dense trail of crimson afterimages.
Dorothea saw through every attack and avoided them without effort.
"Hehehe. Don't underestimate me because of this appearance, brat. If I become serious, I can dispose of trash like you in an instant."
Tatsumi continued attacking, but tension filled his face.
'Damn it!'
Why did his attacks feel so slow?
Why could he no longer follow her movements?
Why could he not move faster?
Had he grown weaker?
Was this a side effect of Noah's enhancement?
"You're nothing but an arrogant little brat!"
Dorothea had initially remained cautious after witnessing Tatsumi's earlier strength, but the longer they fought, the more she realized he was not particularly impressive.
He did not appear exhausted either.
Yet his current ability was far below what she had seen in the chamber.
She drove a fist into Tatsumi's stomach.
The blow was so powerful that Incursio forcibly deactivated.
Dorothea was a modified human.
Her body was nothing like the frail form it appeared to be. She possessed physical strength and explosive power far beyond normal human limits.
To Tatsumi, the punch felt as though a bomb had detonated inside his abdomen.
He dropped to his knees and could not force himself back up.
Dorothea grabbed his hair with one hand and picked up Neuntote with the other. She threw the spear at Noah with all her strength.
Noah tilted his head and casually let it pass.
"The situation has reversed. Hahaha! I really must thank you, you idiotic child."
Dorothea dragged Tatsumi toward the emergency escape mechanism while sneering at Noah.
"The moment I return, I'll expose your cooperation with Night Raid. Just wait. The Empire will place a bounty on your head before long!"
She then glared at Lubbock.
"You with the threads! Stop whatever you're doing, or I'll cut this brat's head off!"
Lubbock had secretly begun arranging a trap with Cross Tail, but Dorothea had left him no opening. He could only withdraw the threads in frustration.
Dorothea reached the escape mechanism and kicked Tatsumi hard in the back.
"Goodbye, boy. Thanks to you, I get to escape."
She made sure to leave him with that final wound to his pride.
Boom!
The emergency system activated and launched Dorothea through a passage toward the Imperial Capital.
Since the laboratory lay deep inside a mountain cave, an ordinary escape tunnel would not have been sufficient.
Dr. Stylish had instead designed an extravagant launch system that fired the occupant into the air like a cannon shell.
At that speed, not even a bird could have caught her.
Ignoring the pain, Tatsumi pushed himself upright and watched the escape pod vanish.
He punched the ground in frustration.
"Damn it! If it weren't for the side effects of that enhancement, I never would've lost!"
Noah tilted his head.
"Side effects? What are you talking about?"
"Huh?"
Tatsumi looked up at him.
"There aren't any."
It was an enhancement, not some reckless burst of power that left the user crippled afterward.
If support abilities carried such severe drawbacks, their practical value would be greatly reduced.
Lubbock understood his junior well enough to realize what had happened.
"No, Tatsumi. You were definitely fighting with everything you had. You lost to that blonde girl because your own strength simply wasn't enough."
"That's impossible!" Tatsumi protested. "I'm stronger than that!"
Lubbock sighed.
"Looks like you became too attached to power that never belonged to you."
Tatsumi fell silent.
'Is that really how weak I am?'
What he had just shown was his full ability without Noah's enhancements.
Not only had he lost, but he had blamed the person who helped him.
How pathetic.
Tatsumi lowered his head.
"I'm sorry. I let her escape, and now Mr. Noah is going to be branded an enemy of the Empire because of me."
Noah did not answer immediately.
After a few moments, he turned his attention away from the cave.
"You don't need to worry about me. I never intended to give her the opportunity."
A formula unfolded across Noah's closed left eye, linking his sight to Black Nightmare high above them.
Through Five Sights, which had been installed into the aircraft, he locked onto Dorothea's position.
'Found you.'
Black Nightmare began its attacs as its altitude rapidly decreased.
Using gravity to accelerate, the black aircraft broke through the sound barrier within moments.
From the ground, the only visible sign of its passage would have been the ring of cloud bursting apart in the sky.
Traveling far faster than sound, Black Nightmare moved like a ghost that could never be properly seen or tracked.
Boom!
Two missiles struck the escape pod in midair.
The explosion tore it completely apart.
In the final instant, Dorothea only sensed something passing above her and the pod.
Before she could even wonder what it was, the entire escape craft disintegrated around her.
Its reinforced shell proved as fragile as thin paper beneath the missiles' power.
The explosion was loud enough to reach the deepest part of the cave.
Tatsumi and Lubbock felt the violent vibration and looked upward in alarm, with no idea what had happened.
Noah offered no explanation.
...
The three of them eventually left the cave.
Outside, they found Sheele happily playing with Oranides.
A warm smile covered her face as she stroked the small creature.
The moment she noticed Noah and the others returning, however, she froze awkwardly in place.
"Long time no see, Sheele."
Noah greeted her casually, making her even more embarrassed.
"L-long time no see."
During their time apart, Sheele had already reached a decision.
Some things could not be avoided forever.
She needed to tell Noah what she had become.
"You two know each other?" Lubbock asked in surprise.
Sheele explained how she had met Noah.
Having to tell the story directly in front of the other person involved made her visibly uncomfortable.
After they talked for a while, Noah asked Sheele to speak with him privately.
"May would probably be too shocked to speak if she learned what you've been doing."
"Ah!"
Sheele immediately panicked, assuming Noah intended to tell May.
Her reaction was understandable.
Noah had only happened to witness one of the dangerous situations she had experienced.
Even in the Imperial Capital, especially in the lower town, strength was essential for protecting oneself and one's friends from all kinds of threats.
Considering Sheele's natural talent, joining Night Raid was not her only choice, but it was still a reasonable one.
Noah only wanted her to understand that he did not blame her for it.
Cutter of Creation: Extase.
It was also known as X-Shears.
This was the enormous pair of scissors that had cut through Noah's stone sword in the darkness.
Its ability allowed it to slice through almost any defense as easily as paper, while its hidden technique released a brilliant flash that robbed enemies of their sight.
After borrowing the Teigu and examining it with Appraisal, Noah repeatedly assured Sheele that he would not tell May she had joined Night Raid as an assassin.
Only then did Sheele relax.
...
Upon returning to the Imperial Capital, Noah immediately learned that Wave and Run had both been seriously wounded.
The news made him think, 'Just as expected.'
In his opinion, however, Syura was moving far too quickly.
Night Raid remained an unresolved threat, yet Syura had already begun weakening the Jaegers.
Did he possess some other way of dealing with Night Raid without relying on Esdeath's unit?
Noah treated Wave and Run with healing formulas, stabilizing both of them.
Wave's injuries were particularly severe.
The only reason they had managed to return was probably Run's Teigu, Mastema, one of the extremely rare flying Teigu in the Empire.
"Esdeath still hasn't returned?" Noah asked Bols.
Bols shook his head.
"Not only Captain Esdeath. Seryu hasn't returned either, and we've lost all regular contact with them. I can't imagine the Captain being defeated, but they may have encountered something that's keeping them occupied."
After their conversation, Noah remembered what Dorothea had revealed.
Syura had supposedly obtained some kind of forbidden power.
What exactly was it?