Dalitz furrowed his thin brows. “What? This is...”

“It looks just like a manastone, doesn’t it? It’s called a hagul nut. You can find them all over the mountain. It was an important food source for us, back in the day. But you wouldn’t have known, would you? You had no interest in such things.”

“You little...” he muttered, his tone ice cold. “You tricked me.”

“I did.”

“I see. So you have a death wish, do you?” Dalitz hissed, pulling a sharp knife from his pocket. He swung it at Liz, but his motion was stopped short.

“Kneel.”

At Liz’s command, his knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground. His eyes widened in astonishment as he lay prostrate. “Th-This is...”

“Director Dalitz. You’ve been making use of my powers this whole time, all while being cautious not to fall prey to them. Always keeping a distance from me, always keeping your knife within reach. But today, when the success you were so certain of didn’t come, you let your guard down.”

Noticing a small wound on his left hand, Dalitz twisted his lips. “You attacked me while I wasn’t looking? That’s low.”

“I did. Even if I can only control you for a few hours before the blood metabolizes. Even if you won’t become a top executive, and won’t be able to help Gina. And even knowing it’d be difficult for me to become a top executive myself.”

Liz knew Dalitz’s cunning was necessary for her to survive the Black Guild using her power; therefore, controlling him here wouldn’t save Gina at all.

“And still you betray me,” he spat.

“I can’t keep doing your bidding. I feel bad for Gina, though, which is why I’ll be sharing her fate.”

The silence that befell the pair was soon broken by faint laughter from Dalitz’s lips. “I thought I could still use you a bit longer,” he said between laughs. “Worthless wretch.”

“What?”

To Liz’s shock, the man used his knife to sever his own left hand at the wrist. Bright red blood gushed out like a fountain, flesh swelling from the severed end. It squirmed and wriggled, reforming into the shape of a new hand.

Dalitz clenched and unclenched his fingers, then quickly stood up. “That purges your blood from my system. You can’t control me anymore.”

“Wh-What’s the meaning of this?” Liz asked, taking a step back. A swift kick from Dalitz connected with her stomach, sending her to the ground with a groan.

“Heh heh. Let me tell you a little secret, Liz. When I was promoted to executive, I was granted a meeting with a top executive.”

“What?!” But...everyone said only top executives could meet with other top executives.

“It was from the other side of a partition. I was given words of encouragement...and I got to ask about something.”

Liz said nothing to that.

“About your sister, you must be wondering? No, of course not. It was about enhancing my body. There are all sorts of dubious technologies underground, you know,” Dalitz explained as though lecturing an unruly child. “My concern was the possibility of you using your power on me as you just did, even though I’ve raised you like my own child. Thus I figured it was necessary to enhance myself, in case you ever managed to injure me. And it would be useful when dealing with other executives as well, of course.”

Dalitz looked down at Liz coolly.

“The top executive was very open to my questions. He’d been making progress on some research alongside the Conductor. And the two implanted regenerative cells in me,” he explained. “Although I did have to part with all of the money you’d saved for your sister’s treatment. Heh heh.”

Liz stood there in shocked silence as a pair of arms suddenly sprouted from Dalitz’s back, ripping through his suit like twisted wings. The arms’ bulging muscles undulated ominously, a dark red fluid dripping down as the newly created appendages picked up a thick piece of scrap wood from the ruins of the orphanage.

“You see, Liz? It’s not that I let my guard down around you. It’s that I don’t need to keep my guard up anymore.” With a sigh, he stepped closer to her. “As inconvenient as it is, I’ll have to take action myself. Foolish woman. If you’d been good, you could’ve kept dreaming a while longer.”

“You’re right...” she murmured, wiping her face as she stood up. Her stomach throbbed with pain from the kick, but her heart was oddly calm. “But the last time I was here, I was reminded of something.”

“Of what?”

“That when I was at the orphanage, I was like everyone’s big sister. Zenos told me that.” Liz looked behind Dalitz as he silently raised the piece of scrap wood. Beyond lay a lively, sprawling community, despite the poverty. And further still was a ramshackle clinic in a corner of the ruined city. “When I infiltrated Zenos’s place, it was nothing like I’d imagined. It seemed kind of fun, actually. It wasn’t fancy, but people kept dropping by, and the place was full of laughter.”

Liz exhaled roughly.

“I always thought I was doing what was best for my little sister. But here, in this place...” She swallowed her words momentarily, shifting her gaze to the burned-down orphanage. “I was everyone’s big sister.”

“And?” Dalitz asked, visibly irritated.

“And I’m going to protect everyone’s home,” she declared. “I won’t let a man like you take it away!”

He laughed. “Pathetic. I’ll eradicate every last pest from the surface myself.” He swung the scrap wood directly over Liz’s head.

I have to dodge. Liz knew that, but her body wouldn’t move, and her eyes involuntarily closed.

Yet the moment of impact never came.

Tentatively, she opened her eyes, and saw a man, with black hair and dressed in a cloak dark as night, blocking the piece of wood with his right hand. She knew that back, those shoulders—it was a boy she’d once known, now grown taller than her.

“Glad I made it,” he said. “Ran like hell using Enhance Legs, but it was worth it.”

“Zenos? Why?” Liz breathed.

“We’ll talk about that later,” he answered simply before taking a step toward Dalitz. “You know, back when we lived here, Liz was always protecting the rest of us.”

As the eldest, as their older sister, she would jump in front of the children to protect them. But now that boy, who back then had been far too small, was the one standing before her.

Turning his familiar face to her, Zenos said, “It’s my turn to protect you, Liz.”

***

On the outskirts of the slums, in the western mountains, Zenos faced the man who had once been the director of the now burned-down orphanage. He was still pale as a corpse and just as slender as the healer remembered him, but now had two out-of-place muscular arms sprouting from his back, writhing as though in search of prey.

“Ironic to confront you here of all places, huh?” Zenos asked.

“Who the hells are you?” Dalitz demanded, brows furrowed.

“Huh? You seriously don’t remember me? I was here for a while too. Damn.” Liz had said his name and everything!

“Hmph. An orphan whelp. I only remember those who were useful to me—” Dalitz cut himself off, looking Zenos over. “A black cloak. I see. So you’re the healer Liz mentioned. The fake ‘ruler’ of the slums. What a farce.”

“Uh, I mean, that’s on you for assuming, so...”