Chapter 48 - EP.2 Mountains of Corpses, Seas of Blood 2

Early evening in Sanctum.

Santa's Rest Stop.

"Ah. I could really use a drink."

Sprawled in front of the counter, Ifrit muttered as she eyed the liquor in the cupboard.

Santa, who was repairing cyberware, raised his welding mask and answered gruffly.

"Didn't you say you'd earn your pay? If you drink, I'm telling Ash everything."

"Ugh! Quit nagging! Do you realize you've said that more than ten times already?"

"Because you've said the same thing more than ten times! Damn idol."

After that gruff reply, Santa started lowering his mask again, only to whip his head around toward Ifrit.

"Anyway, aren't you supposed to be on guard duty? Why are you lounging around here?"

"Don't worry. I've got more than twenty reconnaissance drones patrolling the rest stop. I'm not slacking off, you know? I'm monitoring things, thank you very much."

"Oh, really? All right. I'll tell Ash exactly that. It might be fun to see how that stickler reacts—"

Ifrit sprang to her feet.

"Ugh, seriously! Can't I say anything around here? Why do you keep bringing Ash up?"

"You really have to ask? Because nobody makes you squirm like Ash does. Be honest. You're a little scared of him, aren't you?"

"..."

Ifrit glared, her heart-shaped eye lights flashing, but Santa brushed it off with a sly grin.

"... Tch. You don't miss a thing, do you?"

"That's experience, brat. Now go stick close to Akina. Otherwise, I'm telling Ash every—"

"Oh! Fine, fine!"

DING!

Just then, a loud notification rang out from Ifrit's PDA, carelessly left on the counter. She craned her neck to look at the screen.

[SIREN★ has started livestreaming!]

[LIVE]

[Emergency. I'm Being Chased.]

After staring blankly at the PDA, Ifrit snatched it up.

"... What the fuck is this?"

All her languor vanished in an instant. She hurriedly tapped her way into Siren's channel.

"Why? What's going on?"

Santa approached at the sudden change in atmosphere, but Ifrit only stared silently at the PDA.

There was Siren on the screen, her face filled with terror.

Hiding somewhere in a dark alley, she panted for breath. After briefly looking around, she turned toward the camera and spoke urgently.

"Everyone... I think I'm in serious trouble."

"H-huh? Isn't that the young lady from before? The one who went with Ash?"

"Wait. Just be quiet for a second, Gramps."

At Ifrit's warning, Santa immediately fell silent. The two watched Siren's emergency broadcast as though being drawn into it.

"Some ninja I don't know is chasing me, and I don't know where to run. What should I do?"

Her anxious expression. The frantic shake of the camera. Her occasional gasps for breath.

Everything coming through the screen conveyed the urgency of her situation.

And Ash was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn it! Something's definitely gone wrong!"

Bellowing, Santa tossed aside his welding torch and headed straight behind the counter.

He opened a steel cabinet and took out his weapon, the Peacekeeper, carefully stored inside.

"I shouldn't have sent those two alone. Goddamn it!"

As he hastily checked the weapon's cylinder, Santa's face twisted with a devastation she had never seen before.

In contrast, Ifrit simply kept watching the PDA, occasionally tilting her head.

'... Something's off.'

The situation on the screen certainly looked serious.

But at the same time, something didn't feel right.

'The framing is far too steady. It doesn't look like a bodycam or an action camera. A drone, then? She deployed a broadcast drone while being chased?'

That made no sense.

'And this emergency business, too. If it were a real emergency, she'd call the transport team instead of starting a stream. But Halloween's emergency transport team...'

Ifrit glanced toward the backyard. Jack and Dullahan, who had taken Akina outside to teach her how to shoot, were arguing about how to hold a pistol.

In other words, Siren hadn't used ROA's emergency channel.

'Then there's only one answer.'

Ifrit narrowed her eyes.

'This is an act.'

Just then, Siren pulled something out from inside her clothes on the PDA screen.

"I think it's because of this chip. Does anyone know what it is?"

A hologram reading [DREAMWEAVER] filled the screen. It was the very thing Ash had taken with him not long ago.

"Old man. Stop that and come here."

Santa, who had been ready to rush out at any moment, hurried over.

"Why? What's she saying?"

"It's an act. One hell of a fucking act, too."

"What are you talking about?"

Ifrit considered how to explain the situation, then scratched her head.

"It's complicated, but she's not in that much danger. That much I'm sure of. Doesn't it strike you as odd that Jack and Dullahan are just messing around out there?"

Santa turned to look at the backyard.

"... You're right."

"So let's just watch for now."

Ifrit tapped her PDA.

"And find out what the fuck this is."

* * *

"Which way was it from here? Left? Or right?"

Eyes wide, Siren panted for breath at a fork in Underland's streets, putting on a look of despair.

Her thoughts, however, were nothing like her outward appearance.

'Ah. Was that line a little awkward?'

Just as Ifrit had guessed up on the surface, Siren was acting with all her might.

She had never done this before, so a close look would reveal how painfully awkward she was, but she seemed to have succeeded in creating a reasonably convincing atmosphere.

"... I'll try going left for now. Please, let there be no ninjas that way."

She forced desperation into her voice once more, recalling her conversation with Ash.

["From this moment on, my lady, you are on the run."]

["Uh... I am?"]

["Indeed. All because of a mysterious chip. You have fought off their attacks once or twice, but you can hold out no longer. And so, with no other choice—truly no other choice—you are going to seek help from your former comrades, the REST-men."]

["... Get help from the REST-men?"]

Honestly, when she first heard Ash's proposal, she wondered what kind of bullshit he was talking.

["Ah! I think I understand!"]

Zero, beside them, chimed in just then.

["You mean to give the impression that she has no choice but to place herself under the REST-men's protection. In exchange for the chip!"]

["Oh? In exchange for the chip? I hadn't thought that far. An excellent idea."]

["If we broadcast the entire process, Memoryphilia will surely try whatever it takes to stop the chip from reaching the REST-men."]

["Indeed. The REST-men are a sizable force even in Underland. Recovering the chip would become more difficult once it was in their hands."]

["They'll send their best forces to stop it. My younger siblings will certainly show themselves."]

["Wait, hold on! You're telling me to walk into the REST-men's den? While streaming? With the chip on me?"]

["Correct."]

After explaining the plan, Ash looked at her for a long moment before speaking.

["Can you do it?"]

And so, here she was.

"I need to find the REST-men, quickly..."

Siren had agreed.

Gladly, at that.

'This is my chance.'

She raced through Underland's gloomy back alleys, keeping up her desperate performance.

Of course, her actual thoughts were quite different.

'The perfect chance to prove my worth to Mr. Ash!'

In truth, something had been weighing on Siren ever since they arrived in Underland.

That unexpected chase by the REST-men, brought on by her past. The unpleasant feeling had lingered in a corner of her heart, like a debt she owed.

'How did he come up with this?'

Instead, Ash had made her past the centerpiece of the operation. He had turned her strained relationship with the REST-men into their stage.

Once again, she cried out desperately.

"Could someone at least contact the REST-men for me?"

Just then, an unpleasant chat message caught her attention in her artificial eyes, which were synced with the broadcast drone.

[IfritIsTheBest: Hey. What kind of bullshit are you pulling?]

Siren barely managed to stop herself from bursting out laughing.

'Senior saw right through it.'

That was actually a good thing.

It meant that at least the people at the rest stop had realized this was all a lie.

She shouted loudly once more.

"Help me! REST-men!"

That was when a gunshot rang out.

BANG!

The sharp report echoed through the dark alley.

Siren let out an exaggerated scream and dropped to the ground. In fact, she had been expecting some sort of response by now.

After all, she was heading straight for the REST-men's home base.

She got to her feet with a bewildered expression and looked around.

From both ends of the alley.

From the windows of old buildings.

Even from the far end of a musty pipeline.

REST-men whose bodies had been replaced with crude cyberware surrounded her like hyenas scenting blood.

"You really are one crazy bitch. You know where you are? And you came crawling in here yourself?"

At the words, equal parts mockery and menace, Siren hastily raised both hands in surrender.

"I surrender. I'll surrender."

The REST-men watching her all burst out laughing.

"Crazy bitch."

"After running your ass off, now you what? Surrender? What the fuck is this, a comedy?"

"Still, it's worth watching. When else will we get to see Halloween's number-one bitch grovel like this?"

"True enough."

The contempt and ridicule kept coming.

Ignoring their taunts, Siren maintained her terrified expression.

Then she opened one hand and stretched it out for everyone to see.

"I'll give you this!"

Someone answered.

"What is it?"

"I don't know! All I know is that it's important to Memoryphilia. So, please, just—"

"That's what you showed me before, isn't it?"

The familiar voice silenced Siren.

A moment later, a familiar figure slowly emerged from the darkness at the mouth of the alley.

"Hello, Anna."

Siren's face rapidly stiffened.

"... Jenny."

Jenny.

Instead of her previous easygoing smile, she wore a vicious one that reeked of blood.

"You look awful. You should've just stayed put in my shop."

"... Jenny."

"But you know, weren't there two of you? Where'd you dump that tin can, coming here alone?"

"..."

"Well, whatever. I bet he's smashed to pieces and dumped in some alley. That's how it usually goes when you come to Underland."

"Jenny, please help me. I'm being chased—"

"Help? Me, help you? Again?"

Jenny's vicious smile deepened.

"Not happening. I'm not helping you anymore. I'm sick of watching you live it up on the surface all by yourself."

"Jenny. Just listen to me for a—!"

Siren took a step forward.

At that single step, Jenny jerked her pistol up as though seized by a fit. Siren had no choice but to stop.

"I didn't know the arm I fitted for you was that good. That arm you brought me like you were on the run, that arm you begged me to install—I didn't know it was that good. Do you know how much I've regretted that day?"

"Jenny!"

"Why only you!"

Jenny continued.

"Why do you alone get to live like that? Why do you alone get to shine? Both our lives were garbage. We were trash licking the bottom of Underland! Isn't this too fucking unfair?"

Suddenly, Jenny burst out laughing.

Her laughter sounded like Underland itself.

"I'm so happy right now. Happy you've fallen back into this cesspool. So I'm not helping you anymore. I'm not letting you escape this place alone."

Jenny aimed her pistol squarely at Siren's head.

"Now it's my turn to shine. That arm, that chip—they're all mine!"

"Oh dear. That would be a little troublesome. Those things do have rightful owners, after all."

Someone's voice cut in.

It wasn't a REST-man's voice.

Everyone surrounding Siren looked around.

"What? Who's there!"

Just then, one of the REST-men pointed toward a rooftop.

"Up there!"

Three figures stood silently on the roof.

The one in the middle spoke.

"Hmm. It feels as though a lot of people have been asking who I am lately."

It was the ninja in the wolf mask.

"Zero. My brothers and sisters call me Zero."

"No. You are not Zero."

This time, an electronic voice cut in.

There was one difference, however.

This time, no one had a chance to react to the voice.

BOOM!

Two figures had plummeted like meteors.

The impact sent an unexpected storm of dust swirling through the tangled alleyways.

At last, the dust cleared, revealing them.

A humanoid swordsman stood proud, his black cloak billowing, while a tiger-masked ninja surveyed the surroundings with killing intent shrouding him like mist.

The humanoid swordsman, Ash, spoke.

"The entire cast is here."

His teal optical sensors flashed.

"Then let us begin Act Two."

So declared the director of this production.