“No….”
Giselle Hartman, a Gamma Rank personnel affiliated with the FPL’s Fourth Research Lab, was drenched in cold sweat.
Had she simply worn herself out as usual, overwhelmed by a pile of paperwork, only to fall asleep exhausted, she might have dismissed it as just another nightmare.
Since attaining Gamma Rank, her workload had eased, leaving her with fewer instances of confusing nightmares with reality.
Thus, it became clear —
The familiar explosion she had just witnessed could not have been anything other than real.
It was just like IF-017-1, but much larger, accompanied by an even greater inferno.
Her nightmare… had become reality.
“I let my guard down because it seemed docile…”
Giselle tugged at her hair.
IF-017, ‘the Dragon.’
Even though it had remained calm and restrained when awoken—it lulled her into a false sense of security. Watching it sleep quietly in the arms of her junior reassured her. Its habit of sketching despite the potential damage it could inflict on the containment chamber further eased her concerns. She had convinced herself it was different from other instances of IF-017, leading her to believe everything would be fine.
It was all a mistake.
She thought her witless junior had likely already been vaporized by now, causing Giselle’s knees to buckle as she crumpled to the ground.
“Of course, it’s obvious now… they truly are the servants of some god.”
Giselle clutched her head as it throbbed with pain. A voice kept lingering at her ears—someone she missed dearly but didn’t want to hear. It was nothing more than cruel hallucination magnifying the brutality of reality.
Still…
— BOOM! KABOOM!
The loud crashing sound wasn’t a hallucination—it boomed too vividly.
“…What a surprise.”
Stirred out of her shock, Giselle turned her head. It looked as if a single detached house had fallen from the sky.
If not for the familiar objects visible amidst the debris, Giselle might have thought otherwise. Instead, she muttered in disbelief,
“The containment room for IF-017.”
Could it be that it remained fixed in place because of its spatial properties and has only now fallen?
Giselle approached the wreckage.
As expected for something falling from such height, it was shattered to pieces.
“Such a memorable place…”
Giselle reminisced over the past few years. Most of her memories, however, were concentrated in the last six months.
Naturally, almost everything inside must have been destroyed.
With a heavy sigh, Giselle felt a pang of regret.
Perhaps a few things could be salvaged.
As she was thinking about checking the debris, a voice echoed.
“…Please… help me, senior…”
Furrowing her eyebrows, Giselle pressed her temples. Just as she hoped the hallucinations were dying down, they began again.
Then something felt off.
Why was the voice coming from within the rubble? She decided to test a theory by calling her junior’s name.
“…Kan Hana?”
In response, a familiar voice answered.
“Here… get me out! Please!”
Clearly, it wasn’t a hallucination.
Her face brightening momentarily, Giselle prepared to rush to Kan Hana’s side but hesitated.
It was the voice of someone she knew calling her closer, yet protocol dictated that she first confirm the absence of mental contamination before moving in.
“…No. Vague as it may be, this is an emergency situation where Article 11, Clause 7 applies.”
Ignoring the nagging doubt in her mind, Giselle reasoned it to herself—it wasn’t technically against regulations.
“Just hold on, I’m coming to help!”
And with that, Giselle sped toward Kan Hana.
—
“Alright, what were you doing in there?”
Though asked, Kan Hana struggled to answer.
Not even she understood why she was still alive.
Concluding that honesty was best, Kan Hana pieced her memories together.
“The isolation chamber fell, and I was inside.”
The chamber definitely plummeted from great heights, causing her to lose consciousness. That’s what Kan Hana could recall.
Upon waking, she found herself buried in debris, though strangely unharmed.
Then she thought she heard a familiar voice, so she called out for help and eventually… survived.
End.
“Ah, so… you were inside a building that fell hundreds of meters, and yet you are completely unscathed? Is that correct?”
That was exactly what happened. Even recounting the events felt incomprehensible to Kan Hana.
“Amazing, indeed….”
Kan Hana’s response caused her senior’s expression to grow enigmatic.
Kan Hana hung her head, unable to meet her senior’s eyes. Even to her, it sounded absurd to claim survival from falling hundreds of meters in a building.
Her senior muttered.
“Surely this must be a case of mental contamination…?”
“Eh? No, it’s not!”
Yet, having no desire to spend hours arguing with security or enduring endless questioning, Kan Hana frantically waved her hands in denial.
Still.
“I know… to that extent. IF-684 wouldn’t allow any unknown anomalies near when it went berserk. This isn’t mental contamination.”
To Kan Hana’s surprise, instead of sounding the emergency bell as expected, her senior pulled her into a tight embrace.
“Huh?”
“I’m so relieved you’re alive. Truly, so very relieved….”
Clutching Kan Hana tightly, as though reluctant to ever let go.
Embarrassed and stiff, Kan Hana awkwardly raised her hands but didn’t pull away.
It felt wrong to push away her senior, whose voice quivered with emotion.
Thus, Kan Hana silently accepted the embrace.
A few minutes—or maybe just a few seconds—passed.
Dozing, she was startled when she realized she had unknowingly leaned into her senior’s body.
“Why am I suddenly so sleepy…?”
Despite rubbing her eyes and trying to shake off the exhaustion, she couldn’t fight the fatigue.
“Are you alright? Blink your eyes for me.”
“It’s not like that….”
Concerned her senior might think she’d hit her head, but Kan Hana shook her head. Though, upon reflection, she did recall a strange feeling of warmth gathering in her body just before losing consciousness.
Could it be tied to her sudden exhaustion? Kan Hana pondered.
Right then,
A familiar set of footsteps approached.
—Clomp, clomp,
Though they seemed heavy with a sense of discontent, Kan Hana immediately recognized them.
Once, they were light and nimble!
One name came to her mind.
“IF-017!”
Upon hearing her voice, the senior spun around and recoiled in shock.
The senior’s breathing quickened, her heart pounding.
“What… what is that?!”
After all,
It made sense. IF-017 was visibly enshrouded in raging flames.
Reunited after just a few days, it appeared in this wretched state!
Instinctively, Kan Hana wanted to cry out in denial, yet something struck her as odd.
The scene didn’t evoke the usual sense of impending danger.
Instead, her chest filled with warmth, a reassuring sign that this fire posed no threat.
Upon closer inspection, IF-017 appeared to be controlling the flames, not consumed by them. She was deeply relieved.
But still…
Why did it look so strained?
Kan Hana felt drawn to it, as though watching over a vulnerable child by the riverside.
Caught in this trance, Kan Hana’s reverie was interrupted by a stern voice.
“…Stop spacing out and run. I’ll buy you some time.”
“Eh?”
“Stop asking questions and go already! Now! The life of a Beta Rank person takes priority over a Gamma Rank, that’s just common sense.”
Her senior was pushing her back urgently, her desperation uncharacteristically pronounced.
Yet Kan Hna’s feet refused to budge.
“Why… why should I run? Have you lost your mind entirely?”
Her senior’s question fell on deaf ears.
The only answer Kan Hna could offer was that she couldn’t bear to distance herself from IF-017.
Kan Hana realized the moment she laid eyes on it: she could never pass by it.
“…Senior Giselle, run without me. I don’t think I can… leave.”
And with that, Kan Hana stepped toward IF-017.
“Wha… No, no! You’ll die! You’ll die!!!”
No matter what her senior said from behind, Kan Hna’s steps couldn’t be stopped.
Looking back briefly, she saw her senior trying to hold her back, even crying.
This was nothing like the Giselle senior Kan Hana knew. If she’d seen this behavior a couple of months ago, she’d be utterly amazed.
But still…
She broke free from her senior’s grasp.
“No… not again. Not like this…!”
Though her senior seemed to be in great distress, there was no going back now.
Kan Hna’s determination was set like a ship with its sails unfurled.
Guided by the heat and her heart, she approached the blazing IF-017, step by step.
The closer she got, the more beads of sweat formed on her entire body.
Of course, it would hurt.
They often say searing pain is the most unbearable human pain, and given the magnitude of these flames…
No, perhaps she wouldn’t even have time to feel pain before turning to ashes.
Kan Hna’s reasoning remained grounded in common sense.
But even so, that reasoning couldn’t override the intuition that if she didn’t get closer, she would inevitably regret it.
“It doesn’t matter if I die. Anyway, I can’t meet Mom and Dad anymore…”
You’re the only one left for me.
Kan Hna swallowed the rest of her words, stifled by the rising heat.
Just six months of acquaintance, yet here she was, willing to lay down her life.
Kan Hna couldn’t help but chuckle at her own absurdity.
But still…
It just felt so wrong to pass by when it looked so distressed, so uncomfortable.
She simply couldn’t.
Kan Hna firmly believed that somehow, some way, she could help IF-017.
Finally, when she was within arm’s reach, IF-017 did not incinerate her.
Contrary to expectations, the flames weren’t unbearably hot.
Rather, they were stiflingly warm.
Even though sunlight normally turns hot before becoming unbearable, this warmth felt like having one million layers of winter clothing packed onto her body.
Through her parched lips, Kan Hna struggled to form words, whispering within her thoughts…
“I’ll help you!”
—
Drawn by the sound of collapse, I arrived at the scene, puzzled by the bizarre situation.
I had thought it was the lost Sacred Flame… but its position felt odd.
Why was it in Kan Hana’s heart?
Hmmm…
Perhaps Kan Hana truly was a Sage after all?
Definitely, though a bit dimwitted, she fit the bill more than that weirdo Giselle senior who treated me like some grotesque, featureless monster.
It’s absurd—people with decent physiques are unworthy of being believers, yet Kan Hana is an exception?
How strange…
Right at that moment,
A chunk of the Sacred Flame abruptly vanished from inside me.
It made me feel cleaner, fresher, more at ease.
…No.
Something wasn’t quite right here.
Where did the heat that was boiling just moments ago go? Did it seep out somewhere?
I focused my senses on the missing flame.
There was no need—I could see it right before me…
“Just… no, extremely unbearably hot, but it’s for IF-017, so I can endure!”
The Sacred Flame was inside Kan Hana.
Huh?
What?
It was just inside me a moment ago, so why is it suddenly within her?
Impossible!
What kind of Mna are you?
How did you manage this?
