This had taken place a little more than a decade ago.

“Explosive change!!”

That girl had yelled out the same words as the characters in the show she was watching on an old TV. It was the code-word that initiated their transformation sequence.

The images in the screen reflected on the clear blue eyes of the young girl with shoulder-length hair as she gave an intent look at the three heroes who transformed into dinosaur-themed suits of red, blue and yellow colors.

At times like this, the person next to her couldn't help but to give Mirage a surprised look. After all, it was that Mirage. The super shy and quiet girl who would barely talk or get along with anyone. Seeing her get this excited was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Or truthfully, once-in-a-week chance, as this always happened every time this show aired on Sunday mornings.

For one, the show was all in Japanese minus a few phrases in English here and there. It was likely Mirage could barely understand what was going on, but that didn't matter for a young kid like her. Seeing all these flashy battles and seeing the heroes of justice save the day was something that went far past the language barrier.

Of course, the person sitting on the floor next to Mirage could hardly share that excitement. Somehow, seeing Mirage get this worked up was a lot more interesting. And at the very least, it was the one time in the week they could find any kind of entertainment while confined in this place. Not like the room where they were right now was too reassuring with nothing but white walls surrounding them and nothing but the black box with images on it resting by a corner of the room.

There were times where the person who accompanied Mirage couldn't help but feel asphyxiated by this environment. Like a bird that was in a cage too small for it to extend its wings.

Who was this person you ask? Of course, none other than a young girl with odd-colored eyes and blonde hair.

As Mirage stood up to imitate the various action poses of the heroes, Wish looked at the screen and then back at the girl.

"Are the heroes really all that great?"

Her habit of speaking without thinking was even worse back then. She loved to question everything she didn't understand which led to really awful results with the people around her. This wasn't the same with Mirage though. After all, Mirage was the one and only person who accepted her and wouldn't push her away no matter what.

"Of course they are!!" The brunette turned around and stroke a dynamic pose. "The heroes will always save everyone no matter what!!"

"Hmmm?" Wish tilted her head to the side. "But I like the villains better!! They are so cool with the way they destroy everything like boom boom bam!!!!"

"....................................Eh?"

It was something small, it was something incredibly small and meaningless, but for that girl, it meant everything. Did Wish really not see the appeal in the heroes of justice? They were everyone's salvation!! She wanted to retaliate and argue back, but Mirage couldn't do so. She couldn't bring herself to argue against this girl. She couldn't argue against the one that meant everything to her. Doing so was scary. What if she went away again? She couldn't allow that. All she could do was to laugh it off while keeping the discomfort to herself.

At the very very end, Mirage knew it would be fine. As long as this person was here, it would be fine. As long as things kept going like this, she would be happy. With this, she could only hope these happy days could go on like that forever but...

☆

The soft brightness from the early morning was drowned out. For an instant, it almost looked as though someone had pressed the rewind button on the sky itself. However, this isn't what happened at all. The darkness that had consumed everything wasn't solely caused by the darkness of the night. It was caused by the moon moving over to block the light of the sun. It was an eclipse.

Of course, there was no way for a natural eclipse to happen so abruptly. If anyone were to take a look at this empty street from far away, it would look like nothing but an empty road on an early morning.

Mirage's Phantasmagoria worked by flipping the switches of human senses to change how they perceived the world; it didn't change the world itself.

The reason she had decided to use the power of Velvet Burst to create this kind of phenomena was simple. The mastermind would become shrouded in absolute darkness while she would get a clear view of the battlefield. Mirage would have an overwhelming advantage before this battle had even begun.

With one more step, Mirage dashed at full speed towards her opponent. The mastermind was only a few meters away, it would all end here.

But that's when a light flashed in the midst of that darkness. It had come from one of May's Silver Memories. The short-haired brunette didn't know what to expect, but she knew better than to let her guard down.

No matter how you saw it, what May now held in her hands looked like a videogame controller. It had two handles on each side for May to comfortably grab unto, two-joysticks, a few buttons, and three openings on the backside where tiny cartridges could be inserted.

Mirage knew that an opponent who had set up so many traps wouldn't pull something like this out for no reason. But while the controller already spelled trouble, there was a more fundamental issue here. Where had this controller come from? Of course, Mirage knew nothing about Silver Memories, but it wasn't the first time she had seen a similar mechanism. After all, she was well acquaintanced with a certain sword that defied all laws of physics by withdrawing its blade into the sheath with the press of a button.

If this person had pulled something out of thin air by using a similar mechanism, the problem was that the controller might not be the only thing she could bring out. With this in mind, Mirage's dash turned into a powerful sprint. She had to get there and take the mastermind down before she could bring out anything too troublesome.

A simple misunderstanding could go a long way.

A battle had started with a great advantage for Mirage, that was a valid perspective for the hero to have, but that was perspective wasn't completely correct either. It's true, she had the advantage in the terrain, but she lacked proper information on her opponent.

As good as the intel of G.H.O.S.T. was, it didn't prove enough when faced against May Mireille.

Assuming May needed to take the time to hold a silver tube and activate her memories one by one to pull things out had been a mistake. After all, all of May's inventions worked like a network. It wasn't too different from before. Her Silver Casters that had created multiple traps for Mirage before were all connected and shared information that was then sent back to May's laptop. Of course, the Silver Casters weren't the only ones connected to May's network. The Silver Memories were too.

Then again, the memories were nothing but containers. If all of her inventions were connected like a network, just what was the source of that network? Where did all those connections lead towards?

The answer had been hiding in plain sight all along. It all connected back to the Silver Core— the game-controller like device May held in her hands.

The hero's assumption was only half-correct. Usually, May would have needed to activate each Silver Memory individually to take out whatever was inside them. If she were to follow this method, Mirage could make it in time. But that was no longer necessary.

With this, May hurled all the memories up into the air. Since the Silver Core was in her hand, and since they were all connected like a network, that meant she could open them all at the same time.

As the memories flew across the air, Mirage finally entered a range where her attack could reach May. Which would be faster? A fist being thrown forward or the press of a single button?

With a bursting noise, a powerful, tiny missile flew towards the brunette hero and made a direct impact at point-blank range. It was a merciless attack that only took seconds. Mirage's body was completely torn apart into pieces as a result of the exploding force.

Of course, that was only what May was able to see. A professional like Mirage wasn't so foolish as to charge head on even with her advantage. May's attack had hit "Mirage" because May had determined her presence was there based off little cues like sound. Little cues that relied on senses.

Now that May's full armament had been released, a small visor extended from a device attached to her ear and rested in front of her left eye, allowing her to see through the darkness of the eclipse. Had Mirage really been hit by May's attack, her remains would still be there. But of course, there was nothing to be found.

In fact, there was nothing but an empty street surrounded by darkness and absolute silence.

As May moved around, so did all of the equipment around her. Her Silver Armament consisted of at least three floating boxes the size of a tiny freezer- one of which the previous missile had come from, a metallic orb continually swirling around her, and three metallic triangles zig-zagging around the boxes. It seemed like they all used tiny propellers to fly, but they were silent enough that you could barely hear them even in this land devoid of sound.

As the mastermind continued to look around, the real Mirage slowly walked towards her. Seeing what happened to the decoy she had created with Phantasmagoria was enough to show her how terrifying of an opponent May was. But even if she knew getting close was beyond dangerous, she still needed to get close in order to land a decisive blow.

She was only a few steps away from May now, but Mirage knew she couldn't grow conceited. For one, Mirage didn't have a weapon like the Scarlet Satellite or the Scarlet Grimoire, she could only rely on her fists when it came down to it. But even now, strange machinery continued to move around May. Even if May hadn't noticed her presence, approaching carelessly could end with a deadly result.

In other words, it was time for a test. You would think someone with the power of Phantasmagoria could simply make a lot of copies of herself appear before May in order to figure out what her equipment could do, but that's not an option Mirage ever planned to take.

You have to keep in mind that they were still in the middle of a city. And even though this may have been nothing but an abandoned city at first glance, Mirage knew that wasn't the case. Except for Elizabelle and Noa who had also been working to protect this place, Mirage was the one person who had gotten to interact with many of the people who lived here.

There was no telling if every single building around them was entirely empty. There was no telling if someone who had holed themselves up while cowering in fear by all the events that took place remained here. But it was more than that. Even if there truly was no one around, many of the buildings in this area were apartment complexes. Those were the homes to many; whether those people had rejected their past lives and lost all attachment to this place, Mirage would still protect those connections.

This is exactly why she had to be extra cautious. She had seen more than enough to know May was carrying dangerous explosives that could make significant damage to everything in sight. Moreover, this was the mastermind that had tried to end the lives of many with no remorse before. If Mirage simply walked in and provoked her, it may end up causing way too much damage to the city itself.

With this in mind, Mirage had opted for a test. A test to see how much she could damage the machinery around the mastermind before she could take her head on. The slender fingers of the short haired brunette reached for the pouch attached to her waist. She made sure to take a handful of her tiny golden sand-like explosives and swung her hand forward.

May had not been able to detect the presence of the opponent behind her and had no way to predict the incoming attack, but even then, the tall girl with long black hair remained unharmed.

This was because the golden sand never made contact in the first place. The tiny explosives began swirling through the air as though they were being carried by a gust of wind and were sucked into the orb that spiraled around May.

Upon seeing this, Mirage's immediate reaction was to back away but that wasn’t enough.

"So there you are." May spoke, and with a swift movement, she entered a small cartridge into one of the controller's sides. "Operation_Alpha."

As she spoke, the first to react were the triangle-shaped metallic boxes. Part of their side detached themselves, just like opening a sliding door, and a disturbing silver light began to gather, almost as though something was charging up inside them.

Something was coming, that much was clear. But something was off about this. May should not have been able to notice her presence at all. Was this person bluffing about having found her so she would panic? No, there was still a second option Mirage didn't want to admit. What if May's weapons were tracking her without the need of someone controlling them in the first place? After all, Phantasmagoria didn't work on machinery.

If so...

A loud bursting noise resounded through the city as large silver beams flew and exploded into a single point. Mirage had barely managed to make it out of the collision by pulling herself up into the skies using her hook. But she hadn't made it unscathed. The force of the explosion caused by those beams was enough to shatter the floor and send pieces of debris crashing against her arms and abdomen. Thankfully, this damage wasn't fatal, but for someone like Mirage, the fact that someone had managed to damage her at all was already a red flag.

Of course, the kind of opponent she was against wasn't someone that would stop there. She used this timing to open three additional Silver Memories and insert a second cartridge into her controller.

"Operation_Beta."

With this, two metallic discs began flying around while swirling at an incredibly high-speed. They almost looked like they could cut anything that were to enter in contact with them in half, and they were now flying towards Mirage at an insane speed.

The short-haired hero swung from building to building across the skies of Glint City to escape this attack, but this wouldn't do. If she got too far away, she might lose sight of the mastermind and allow her to escape.

Taking a deep breath, Mirage took a sharp U-turn on her next swing. This put her right in the path of incoming saw-like discs, but before they could cut her apart, she slammed her body into the window from one of the tall buildings. The loud sound of breaking glass could be heard, followed by the sound of something metallic slamming against a wall.

Mirage rolled across the floor of an empty apartment until an old refrigerator forced her body to stop. This had been a gamble that paid off well. Usually, this wouldn't have been enough to shake off those saws, but she had opened enough distance between her and May. The black haired girl hadn't been released from the effect of Phantasmagoria, which meant whatever she was using to track Mirage down wasn't reliable enough if there was too much distance between them.

For the time being, it seemed as though May had lost track of her, but that's wasn't enough for Mirage to be reassured. The fact that she had made it just a step before reaching the mastermind and now there was a distance of at least two street blocks between them was something she couldn’t ignore. She was being pushed back.

With a frown in her face, Mirage tightened the bandages around her left arm and began to look around. This seemed like an abandoned apartment; because of the piles of clothes and trash lying around it was evident that whoever lived here had left in a rush and didn't bother to put anything away. Her biggest opponent was machinery, was there something in this house that she could use to her advantage?

The brunette opened the fridge. Maybe a water bottle? It was naive to think that simple water could do something against such deadly devices, but if a possibility existed, she would take it. That was Mirage's philosophy.

Her hand reached for an old bottle at the bottom of the fridge, but then, the earth began to tremble uncontrollably. No, it was more accurate to say that the building that Mirage was inside of was the only one trembling.

A ridiculously loud sound reached Mirage's ears. It was the sound made by two large saws as they cut through solid concrete. Soon after, the building Mirage was in tilted to the side. The fridge, the clothes lying around and everything was swayed as the building began to tilt horizontally more and more.

May's vision was half clouded by the darkness of the eclipse, but the information relayed to her through her visor was more than enough. Her index finger held a button in the controller pressed in while she used her other hand to continuously move one of the joysticks in circles. With this, the saws cut through the building while swaying around it in a circular motion in complete sync with May's commands.

As Mirage lost her footing, she rapidly shot her wire forward to escape the collapsing building, but it grabbed into a cracked piece of the broken window which completely shattered apart when her hook made contact. With what looked like a large, metallic kitchen coming her way, Mirage protected her body, tanking the impact with her left arm.

Even as immense pain spread through her body, Mirage knew this was no time to worry about that. She held onto the sliding kitchen with her right hand to regain her balance before jumping on top of the kitchen and out of the window.

The tall, four-story building descended across the skies after being severed from its center.

Without even bothering to look at the person who stood on top of the horizontal piece of concrete, May inserted the last cartridge into her controller, filling in the final slot.

Her fingers moved fast across all the buttons as she input a specific sequence, and after a beeping noise confirmed her commands, May spoke once again.

"Operation_omega."

The floating, fridge-like boxes opened and released a barrage of missiles, all directed towards the hero.

Mirage ran with all her might in order to escape the attack. It almost looked like someone hopelessly running across a collapsing bridge before it completely fell apart.

After running out of solid footing, Mirage propelled herself into the nearest building, barely making it out of the range of the missiles that turned the falling structure to dust. The brunette quickly swung across the skies again to avoid the incoming debris, but she soon began to fall as her lifeline was cut by one of the saws from earlier.

As she fell from almost five floors high with nothing to stop her fall, May's merciless attacks continued. Two more missiles were headed her way from one direction while one of the saws approached from behind.

Mirage's response was one with no hesitation. She turned her body around, catching the saw with her hand, only a split second would do. She ignored the piercing pain from the blades cutting into her palm and swung the saw in the path of the missiles, splitting them in half. Even though she had escaped the deadly weapons with this, this caused the missiles to explode, and the force sent her body crashing on top of an old car parked in the street and down into the cold floor.

Silence reigned once more for a few seconds. But even then, that hero slowly stood up. She clenched her fist, testing the mobility of her fingers while completely ignoring the blood flowing out of her right hand. Her body was tattered from the impact, but she was still alive. As long as she was still alive, this wasn't over yet.

After moving her sight up, she could see the mastermind standing just a few meters away. It was back to square one. Despite Mirage having the advantage at the very start, she was the one who had taken the most damage while May remained unscathed. She couldn't allow this to end up the same way again. Not against someone like this.

There had been a fundamental issue Mirage had been desperately trying to ignore. Her opponent had been using technology to create a destructive force.

Rapid images flashed inside her head.

There were many machines.

There were many adults dressed in white coats.

There were many cables all connected to her.

And then... And then...

No. No. This wasn't the time to think about this. It would be best if her thoughts went somewhere else. She couldn't let her thoughts wander here any more.

Mirage glared at the opponent in front of her. She had to stop being so kind and end this already, that was all there was to it.

Her fingers reached for her necklace. It had the shape of a crescent moon inside of a sun. This was not a magic necklace, and it didn't hold any power or mechanism in itself. But it still held meaning for Mirage, and that was more than enough.

Even as someone who wielded Phantasmagoria, there were things Mirage wouldn't do because it didn't feel right to do so. But this was the one opponent who was forcing her to break her own moral code.

After all, if she let someone like this escape then... those memories she so desperately tried to avoid might just come back. Even though this wasn't the same, it was all too similar. It was all too dangerous. That technology that was better off sealed away might just come back.

"Why are you doing this?" Mirage decided to question her as a final warning. "Why are you delving into this kind of world?"

Of course, there was no way for May to know what the reason behind this question was. But it wasn't the first time she had heard a similar question either. After all, she was someone who was behind many dangerous creations. This Silver Armament was living proof of what she could do. Others not agreeing with her creations was normal. Others questioning why she had chosen this kind of life was normal.

And so, to May, her response was something normal to her as well: "Because I'm curious, that's all there is to it."

"I see." Mirage whispered under her breath.

An instant later, May's right hand was severed at the wrist. The effects of Phantasmagoria were acting at full force, so the pain, the flowing blood, the sound of her hand falling against the floor, there were all very much real to her.

As a result, the braided the girl dropped the controller she held in her hand. And yet, her action was as simple as catching the controller with her left hand instead.

It's not that May couldn't feel any pain, it's not like she wasn't scared at all.

We can find the answer if we looked at the reason why this confrontation had taken place to begin with.

Back at the castle, someone had infiltrated May's network and given both Faith and Eri fake information using her name. Upon realizing there was no way to track down the culprit, she had opted for destroying the castle with everyone inside, she was even willing to give up on her own life when it came down to it. It was all because someone had defied her. It was all because May couldn't take a hit to her pride. Even if it was something so simple, even if it was something so childish, it was enough of a driving force to let her stand in this stage even now.

Those who were stubborn to an unreasonable extent could be terrifying. There was no arguing with someone like May, and she would stop at nothing to get whatever she wanted.

Yes, this was the kind of people who Mirage knew all too well. The kind of people who were obsessed with experimenting and looking at results no matter what the cost of that would be.

It was the kind of people she loathed the most.

This is why, this time, Mirage wouldn't hold back.

As she gave another step forward, this time, May could feel how the nails from her left hand were forcefully pulled out one by one.

This wasn't merely distorting someone's senses with Phantasmagoria. This was using her ability to outright torture her opponent. This went against everything a hero would do. This went against everything she would ever resort to. But she had to do it. This too, was a test. A test to see how far this person would go. A test to see how close to those who had taken everything from her this person was like.

Unfortunately for both, neither was about to back away.

Come to think of it, why was May really going this far?

"You will never amount to anything."

Those words still stung in her heart. It had all began with something simple. She had wanted to prove herself. Much like Faith's father, May's parents were hardly there for her. In fact, the entire family was scattered apart as though they were strangers. Even if she was Faith's cousin, they would barely see each other. The only memories she had from that prodigy were of a tattered body covered in bandages and band-aids on the rare occasions family gatherings took place.

It was something odd. She had wanted to prove herself to someone who was never there. And, yet, once she had reached the point where she could stand in her own two feet, that person was nowhere to be found in this world anymore. What had all of this been for?

She couldn't accept it. She couldn't accept it had all been for nothing. And so, she would prove herself to the entire world. And so, she wouldn't bow her head to anyone no matter what.

That's why even now, even while experiencing the pain of having her fingers torn apart one by one, she wouldn't give in. Extreme physical pain? That was ridiculous. That was nothing compared to everything she had experienced up till now.

But really. It only felt like an excuse. That had been her original motivation for so long, but did that really matter now? Did she truly feel the same way? Somewhere down the line, May had developed genuine scientific curiosity. She had developed a genuine fascination towards making experiments and observing results.

And somewhere down the line, it had all twisted together. Resulting in the person she was today.

Would Mirage have taken a different approach had she known this? Definitely. Would the hero have extended out a hand to save her if she knew the root of her motives weren't malicious? Of course.

But sadly. Misunderstandings could go a long way. Different experiences could paint two entirely different pictures.

And so, Mirage took a deep breath and prepared herself.

This was a battle between technology and the supernatural- this was a fundamental misconception to have. It wasn't. For someone like Mirage, things were very different.

Would you call something like Magic a supernatural occurrence? What if someone had the ability to communicate with millions of people all around the world in seconds? What if someone could record an image of the scenery before them while only using their hands? What if someone could travel long distances without needing to walk to get there? What if someone could make their voice reach someone thousands of miles away with ease? If you had asked anyone hundreds of years in the past, they would tell you that this was magic. They would tell you it was something impossible to achieve. But humanity had achieved it through technology. It was something simple and mundane everyone had access to.

For starters, the word supernatural was a word that meant something was beyond nature. And the truth was, it was easy for humanity to take nature and go beyond it. For powers like Magic, Alchemy or Spiritism, they were all powers that took nature as a base in some way to manifest. They were powers that used the world as ingredients to work. Technology was the same. It was a power humanity had developed. Simply put, technology was a form of the supernatural that this world had accepted as commonplace.

The power of Velvet Burst was different. It was a power that allowed the user to modify the fabric of the world. It was the difference between causing a glitch in a game by using what was already programmed and rewriting parts of the code altogether.

This was a battle between the supernatural and the power beyond.

After May's left hand was severed as well, what followed were her eyes being compressed and pulled out by an invisible force. With this, she completely lost sight of the images in her visor, and her controller fell to the floor.

Mirage took this chance to sprint forward with all her might.

But...

"Initiate voice command: Operation_Delta."

All of May's armament gathered around her and released a relentless barrage. Silver beams of light, at least twenty missiles and two metallic saws all tore through the air and flew towards Mirage.

The eternal darkness from the eclipse was illuminated by a trail of light that threatened to destroy everything in its path.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!"

The hero faced the impending danger head-on. She didn't hesitate for even a second. Mirage screamed at the top of her lungs and continued to dash forward. With a swing of her arm, she completely tore off the pouch attached to her waist and launched it forward towards the incoming projectiles.

A massive explosion that blew apart everything in its path called upon a cloud of dust and smoke. And then, the hero emerged from the other side, moving onward with every bit of strength she had left.

She had not made it completely unscathed. Releasing her explosives to trigger May's before they could reach her had created an opening, but she was still partially caught up in that explosion. This time, one side of her long white vest was completely torn apart. Red liquid was also pouring down her right shoulder and her forehead.

This was finally the chance she had been waiting for. May had sent all her armament after her in one final desperate attack. This meant she was wide open now. She could do this, she could finally end this.

Within seconds, she was finally within range again. The hero clenched her fists, this would end it all.

"Release."

As May entered her voice command, the tiny metallic orb that had been swirling around her came at Mirage. It was the same orb that had absorbed Mirage's explosives before.

With a resounding noise, Mirage's fist sank deep into May's gut. The black haired girl's full body weight was pulled upwards by the impact of the hit and then came crashing down into the solid ground by an elbow slamming against her back.

Seconds later, the sounds of a nearby, loud explosion reached them.

What had exploded was the orb that had absorbed Mirage's golden sand. The reason it didn't reach Mirage was simple, but it had still been a gamble.

Something had been off about all of this. If we were to backtrack, when did May start properly targetting Mirage? It was after her sand was sucked in by the mastermind's armament, it all started there.

Back when Mirage hid inside a building, why had May opted for bringing down the whole structure instead of going straight for Mirage? While distance might play a factor, there was might have been more to it.

After all, even with so many projectiles being launched towards the brunette, she had made it through.

What May's Silver Armament had been tracking was never Mirage herself. It was her golden sand-like explosives. It had used the absorbed ones as a sample to track the remaining ones nearby. When Mirage swung around the skies, it was easy for some of it to fall off. This is why getting a proper reading of Mirage in the building wasn't possible.

The hero hadn't thrown away her pouch just to counter May's projectiles. That alone wouldn't have been enough to survive such a barrage. The projectiles instead focused on the golden sand instead of Mirage herself.

From the very start, the mastermind never had a way to see where her opponent was, and that's why even at the very end, the final weapon that protected her went off to look for the remains of the explosive — leaving May wide open for Mirage to press onward.

As someone who relied on so much armament to fight, it was needless to say Mirage's hit was more than enough to take May down.

The brunette slammed the controller with her feet, breaking it into a million pieces. With this, it was finally over.

Then again, if that was really the case, why were May's lips curling up into a smirk?

Moments later, Mirage's body was sent flying into the air as a blinding light drowned out the darkness.

☆

The Silver Armament was all a network. With the Silver Core finally being shut down by Mirage, the self-driving system of a certain truck abruptly shut down.

It didn't take long before the truck came to a sudden stop after crashing head-on against an electricity pole.

Starr was lucky to be cushioned by a soft and fluffy girl, but on the other hand, said girl had landed face first into one of the couches.

"Ow ow ow!" She quickly got up and covered her now red nose with her hands. "What just happened?!"

"I- I don't know but-!"

Starr frantically looked around. After all, this was still Glint City. There was no way for them to have crashed into another running vehicle because the city was empty to begin with. If so, had they gone under attack by members of the Organization of Hope? Facing those people was the last thing he wanted, but there was something more important than his own comfort. What about May who had been driving this vehicle?

There was no time to doubt, and there was no time to explain. Clenching his fist, Starr launched a massive punch against the truck's metallic wall, creating an opening big enough for them to escape.

Pink haired Estelle could do nothing but to remain dumbfounded by both what she had just seen and the pain that lingered on her face.

She slowly got up and checked that her arms and legs were still in place. Thankfully neither of them were hurt too badly by this crash. After peeking through the big hole on the side of the room, she was met by the boy's eyes giving her a concerned look.

"She's gone!!" He didn't waste any time before voicing his worries.

"What do you mean she's gone?"

Estelle stepped outside. She was barely processing this situation and Starr's terrified expression wasn't helping one bit. She had heard his words, but she still needed to see for herself.

She walked towards the driver's side of the truck at a fast pace. This was the side that had taken the most damage. Most of the front side was smashed inwards because of the pole. In fact, May being gone might have been a good thing considering what could have happened to her had she taken on this hit.

Her next reaction was to frantically look around for May. It was normal for anyone's first thought to be that she might have been sent flying around somewhere. But it didn't take long for the same kind of fear that Starr had to reach Estelle as well. What if... they had lost May along the way?

Not only could it mean that this wasn't a simple accident, but it meant that something could have caused that accident. It immediately put Estelle in high-alert.

While the pink haired girl continued to analyze the situation, the one who acted was the young boy. He quickly opened the door leading to the driver's seat and crawled into the tight space so that he could reach for the driver's wheel.

"What are you doing?"

Estelle couldn't even begin to imagine what went through the boy's head.

"I'm going to go back and help her!!"

Such a statement would have sounded ridiculous to anyone. But for someone like Starr, it felt like a matter of fact. It's not like the boy considered himself a hero and it's not like he had strong motives for wanting to save May. It was something much more basic than that.

He had grown to admire someone. That someone had given him a name a hit the reset button on his life, letting him crawl out of the hole he had gotten himself into. That someone had stopped to save another life before his very eyes, because to Wish, that was just the natural thing to do.

That's why, if he really wanted to better himself, following her footsteps was an ideal option. If that girl had been here, she would have rushed to save May without a second thought.

But even then, Starr was not Wish. Even though Wish was the kind of person who could step up to any kind of challenge that came her way, she was also the kind of person who could back up that statement through her sheer skill. Starr had strange super strength, but that was it. To him, that wasn't any special talent, it was just another natural part of him. A part of him that had gotten him nowhere in times of need.

He had nothing special, and he was no one special. But that's exactly why, unless he wanted to remain like that forever, he had to stand up to adversity when no one else would do it.

Estelle's face grew pale with anguish as she heard the sound of the boy forcing the engine to start once again. She knew these people had saved her life, she had accepted that much. But even knowing that, it didn't make her want to rush into danger to help anyone. They were still nothing more than just strangers for crying out loud.

Helping others and rushing into danger was fine and all, but was that really normal? It was easy for someone to side with the heroes and say that they would too step up if they were playing a game or reading a book. But standing here, with pain in your body after being in a traffic accident. Feeling the cold breeze that reminded you of how you were still alive. Feeling your legs slightly shaking. Feeling this cold sensation spreading all around you. Even if you knew someone out there needed you, if that person was a stranger, would you really stand up and put yourself at risk for their sake?

The truth was, that not helping others was also normal. The truth was, that prioritizing your own comfort was normal. And that was okay. That was human.

With this, she could turn a blind eye to everything. She could step away, go back home, go back to her usual life, and pretend none of this had ever happened.

This had nothing to do with her. She knew that much. She was well aware of that and yet... why had she raised up her voice at that moment?

"Do you... know how to drive?"

It was nothing but a simple question. It wasn't supposed to mean anything. And yet, that small question was like hanging onto a thin thread while refusing to let go.

With a frown on his face and trying to ignore his teary eyes, Starr shook his head as a response.

Running away was normal. Running away was okay. No one would blame her, and no one would hate her for it. So then... why? Why couldn't she accept it so easily?

"Are you sure you want to go on this thing?"

"We don't know where we lost her so... we need to find her fast, if we walk there it might be too late."

It might be too late? Too late for what? The thought of someone that had been talking to them just minutes ago leaving this world forever was way too somber for Estelle. It had been something small, it had been something stupid, but that girl still had shared something that mattered to her with them.

No. Stop this train of thought right now. Going ahead with this would be stupid. There were no guarantees that anyone would remain safe. She had to turn around and leave while she still could. And yet, Estelle's body moved contrary to her thoughts.

"Move aside, I'm going to get us there."

With these words, she pushed Starr away from the wheel and hopped into the truck. Even though part of the front side had been smashed in, there was still enough space for both to sit on the driver's seat if they squished themselves together a little.

"Really?!" Starr's eye lit up almost immediately. Not having to go alone was immensely reassuring.

"On one condition." The pink haired girl gave him a glare. "We are not going to fight anyone! We'll just find her, take her with us on this truck and get away immediately!!"

Starr enthusiastically nodded twice, he saw no problems with that plan at all.

"Fine then." Estelle took a deep breath while gripping the driver's wheel. "Let's do this."

And as the truck rushed at full speed across the streets of the city, Starr finally asked a new question that had come to his mind.

"Do you know how to drive?"

"Of course not!!!"

☆

Mirage had collapsed in the middle of the street. She was barely hanging onto her consciousness. After facing May’s Silver Armament and breaking through her defenses, she had thought it was over, but she was forgetting a very important piece of information.

The game-controller shaped Silver Core wasn't the first thing May had brought up at the start of this confrontation. It had been a bracelet that still remained on her wrist.

In the midst of the darkness, May Mireille stood up. Thanks to the damage Mirage had taken, the mastermind had managed to regain her lost limbs. Even though she was close to hyperventilating, she was still in one piece. This was good, this was more than enough.

With the press of a button on the bracelet, a robotic voice spoke from within the metallic accessory.

"Requesting access... Requesting access... Silver_Core could not be found. Warning. Warning. Access granted."

Immediately afterward, the bracellet's color changed into a radiant gold.

"You are as horrifying as I expected. That's why I have to thank you." May spoke. "Anyone that couldn't get past my Silver Armament would be broken by this immediately. You are the perfect test subject I needed."

Even after all this, even now, May's heart was still yearning for a peek into the unknown. She was still willing to push forward for the sake of observing unknown results. This was the core of the Otherworldly Inventor shining brightly through and through.

Even after all this, even now, the inventor's heart was still drowning in an eternal abyss. There was no need to keep going, but she had to do everything perfectly. Otherwise, she wouldn't be good enough. Otherwise, there was no point in her existence. This was the core of May Mireille corrupted by unwavering malice.

Mirage could only struggle with all of her might to force herself to stand up. Her blurry sight could barely grasp sight of May as the mastermind's fingers reached for her bracelet, no, as her fingers reached for the newly awakened Golden Memory.

With the press of a button, May's ultimate equipment was released. This time, it wasn't an armament full of explosives and deadly weapons. This time, it was a belt buckle and a high-tech bracelet.

Upon placing the round and metallic buckle on her waist, a belt extended from its sides, wrapping itself around May's body. And then, she placed the bracelet on her left wrist. Its shape was similar to a smartphone but one side was more like a triangle than a square.

This was far too much of a familiar pattern to Mirage. The sheer anxiety of guessing what was going to come next snapped her back to her senses, allowing her to stand on her own feet once again. She had to stop this, she couldn't let it happen.

But of course, no matter how tattered and miserable her opponent looked like, May paid no mind to it.

With a press of a button on her bracelet, loud techno music resounded from May's devices, and tiny particles of light began to gather around her.

She extended her arms forward in front of her body, and with a swift movement, she pulled her right hand backwards and swung it towards her belt, slamming her hand against the buckle.

"Access code: 888!!"

She yelled out the activation code.

All the radiant particles of light swirled around her and flew towards her while dancing to the rhythm of the music.

And then!

A radiant hero, clad in blue armor with silver outlines stood before Mirage.

The armor that protected May's body was full body armor. It was too slim for it to have been a robot, but odd mechanisms were attached to it like a rocket pack on its back and tiny bracelet-like canons attached to its wrist. The front visor had a fanged-like shape that almost resembled a bear. Moreover, metallic silver gloves, a silver scarf, the initial transformation bracelet, and the belt all decorated the suit.

Following a roaring explosion at May's back, the shadow of the moon drifted away.

The effect of Mirage's Phantasmagoria had completely shattered.

The mastermind had become a hero of justice.

"Now, fall before the might of my world!"

After May's words reached Mirage, the brunette knew something was coming. She jumped backwards in order to open some distance, but it was useless.

The warrior clad in a shining armor, Silver Mask, shot forward with the speed of a jet. Mirage could do nothing but to move her left arm forward to block the incoming punch, but the impact sent her body crashing into a car and into a wall thanks to the momentum.

Before she could get up again, her opponent was already blasting towards the spot where she had collapsed. Mirage knew she couldn't afford to take too many of those hits. She immediately prepared herself to release the power of Phantasmagoria in order to throw May's senses all out of order, but that didn't stop Silver Mask from forcefully pulling her up and slamming her into a wall.

Phantasmagoria didn't work on machines. Even though the opponent standing before her was still human, the armor had created a loophole that stopped her power from working.

Even though Phantasmagoria was an out of this world skill created through Velvet Burst, Mirage was still only human. Even with access to that, the skill still had its limitations.

If we looked more in-depth at the power of Phantasmagoria, there were two ways it could be used:

The first one, Phantasmagoria, the power to modify the filters of the way her target would perceive the world. However, Mirage could not activate this unless she could see her target and unless her target was human. Little did she know May's body was connected to the processor of the suit through many sensors attached to her skin. Phantasmagoria didn't work because Silver Mask's senses were no longer that of a mere human.

The second one was only a variation, but she called it Diffused Phantasmagoria. If used properly, it could be even more dangerous. If given enough time to prepare, Mirage could modify the perception of a single “something,” be it a location or item. With this, no matter who it was, and no matter if Mirage was even there anymore, everyone's perception of the altered target would be different –just like how the Castle of Hope looked as though it had exploded to everyone.

This had rendered Mirage completely powerless as a merciless opponent continued her assault.

With her back against a wall, Mirage held her arms in front of her body as May released a flurry of intense punches. Each had enough force to send Mirage blasting away, and it was already causing the wall behind her to start cracking. It wouldn't be surprising if that reflected the state of her bones as well.

"Please... stop." Mirage could hardly let out her voice. "Please stop this, please!!"

But her opponent did not even bother to respond.

Even this, it was just like back then.

Mirage could almost hear the voice of her younger self as she yelled the same words.

"Please stop!! Please stop this, please!! Please!!!"

But no matter how much she begged, her voice didn't reach anyone. Instead, it was all drowned out by a scream of pain and terror.

"Please!!"

She begged May one last time, but sadly, Mirage was well aware this was useless. No matter how much she raised her voice, it wouldn't reach anyone.

With this, the wall that helped Mirage keep her balance broke apart.

And with one final hit...

May's armor was broken into a million pieces. The mastermind was sent flying across the street and into the opposing building.

"I told you, didn't I? That you should stop this." Mirage spoke with a cold voice. She held her forehead with her right hand while a radiant scarlet light gathered around her bandaged arm. "Don't blame me for what happens now."

Of course, the power of Velvet Burst was a power full of mysteries. It was a power that transcended humanity and the world itself. Just because Mirage had access to Phantasmagoria, it didn't mean that was the only Velvet Burst she could use.

For Mirage, this was the Wheel of Fortune. What goes around comes around.

This is why she had always used her bandaged arm to block most of the incoming attacks. But this didn't mean she had wanted to use it.

There was more to it.

There was a reason Mirage had begged May to stop. There was a reason she wanted to prevent this from happening.

But it was all too late now.

An image buried deep in her memories she had tried so hard to contain was coming back.

There was blood everywhere.

There were screams of terror everywhere.

And yet, even then, there was a single girl who extended her hand towards her. That blonde girl had tried to reach for her even at the very end.

But then...

Something had snapped inside Mirage. She glared at May and slowly walked towards the spot where she had landed.

"You just wanted to experiment? You were curious?"

Mirage's voice was filled with silent anger. She pulled May up by her collar, lifting her entire body weight.

"You were trying to be a hero? You thought I was a good test subject?"

And with another swing, she slammed May against a window before picking her up again and clenching her fist. Even though May's consciousness had already faded away. This didn't stop Mirage.

"Hero? Justice? To hell with all that!! I can't allow someone like you to roam free!! I can't allow someone like you to live in this world!!"

☆

It was impressive that the truck was still able to move after that crash. Given it had an automatic driving system made by May installed, it wouldn't be any surprise if she had done any other changes for cases like this.

"Are you sure we should keep going? I haven't seen anything, just how far back did she leave?!"

Estelle complained. She was flooring the accelerator while frantically driving around. Every time they had to turn into a corner, Starr felt as though his soul was leaving his body.

"I don't know I thin- wait!!!!!"

The boy had caught sight of something. They had finally found the person they were looking for but... this wasn't the scene he expected to see at all.

A short haired brunette was lying on top of May. Her left bandaged arm was giving out a faint scarlet glow, and her right fist continued to strike May's face at full force, one after another one after another one after another one.

"It's all because of people like you!! It's all because of people like you that everything was taken away from us!!"

But Mirage's next punch was stopped as she sensed something was off. She immediately jumped back to dodge a large stone that was thrown at her. It seemed like the stone had been thrown with enough force to open a small crater in the ground where she had been standing.

And then, a boy and a pink haired girl stood before her.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Estelle was quick to pick up May and throw the girl's weight behind her back. She didn't have the courage to look at the girl's face for too long, and she was panicking too much to care for the blood now sliding down her back. "Starr, let's get the hell out of here!!"

"I-I know!!" The boy's body was shaking. Conflicting emotions were filling up his heart. He was scared, he was terrified, but at the same time, he felt strong anger towards the person standing in front of him.

With a dash, both ran back towards the truck a few meters away, but their plan wouldn't work so easily.

Mirage propelled herself with a jump and smashed the truck apart with a single punch. The vehicle flew into a wall and exploded from the sheer impact.

And so, the girl who stood before the explosion spoke to the new obstacles before her.

"Give her back and get out of my way."

"Mirage..." Starr whispered under his breath. It's not like they were complete strangers. This was still his brother's best friend. Of course, he had known her even before she became his boss. So why did that kind girl had the face of an unstoppable demon now?

"If you don't get out of my way, be it Ryuusei's brother or anyone else, I will break you apart."

☆

A blonde girl shut down the door for the police station as she stepped outside. She was being followed by a spiky-haired boy whose head was filled by the way too many concerns at the moment.

"By the way!" Wish decided to ask. "That boss of yours, is she doing okay?"

"Uh? Mira?" Ryuusei could not even start to comprehend the weight behind the question he was answering to. "Yeah! She's fine!!"

"I see." For only an instant, had Wish's expression turned into one of sadness? "That's good to hear! Let's go meet with Maymay!!"