“Here…” The man who wielded the power of the fire gave me something. A simple communication device to wear on the ear.

From the device I heard the conversation of Valleria, Ellie, the enemy and their leader on one line. Which meant that the two girls had also heard what our chairman had just said....

About us who will burn down the school itself…

Jumped into the aqueduct, walked slowly and heard the echo of our own footsteps, a manhole was opened by one of us.

It looks like the back side, near the school's storage room, is currently empty.

“Daniel, right? Follow me sneak into the basement next to that warehouse over there. I think that's this school's plumbing room. You got it? While... The rest of you guys stay here and wait for news from us.”

Wow... Seems like Albert has often been assigned as the team leader just like Ellie.

“You copy?”

I nod in response.

“Okay. Follow me.”

Following him, who was currently leading the way, left and right, we came to a stop at the edge of a building... Waiting for several terrorists to pass by watching the situation.

Albert suddenly dashed quickly, just a split second before the terrorist's eyes looked right over our place. Leaving me alone across, right in this corner.

~~~~~

“You think I can be fooled with that way of yours, huh!? You want this child to die?!”

Albert and I stared at each other while hearing what echoed from the communication device in our respective ears.

“Then just kill me right here right now! But you must promise not to kill the others after you regret not getting my powers, you hear me!?”

Valleria… You're being too reckless…

“Okay, as you said! Get down on your knees now!” Apart from the terrorist leader's shout, the rest that I could only hear was the screams of the people. And…

“Are you guys really looking for power without knowing anything about the power itself?!”

This sound… It must be Ellie.

“Then, does that mean you guys don't even know that we also retain the memories of the original owner of this power? We know because we have that power as if we were born by that knowledge itself! So go on, I dare you. But are you sure that you want to trust your own head compared to us who own and who know exactly how this magic works, only to regret it after disappointing everyone on both sides with your result!?”

Everyone was speechless at what the girl had just said.

I'm in awe of her this time, I admit it.

Even when Albert and I, who were currently opposite each other, looked at each other, he also seemed to be smiling broadly.

“Fine. I agree. I will kill you for that wind power, but where are we supposed to find a deserted place as wide as you just said?”

“I can do teleportation... I will take you to a place.”

“You can teleport?! Bah! Then I will take you instead. You! The wind user... Get out of this building. Leave this girl alone here with us!”

Wow… So rude... I'm sure that guy doesn't have any girlfriend yet.

“You all, point your swords at these kids and get ready one minute from now... If you don't hear any from me after that, then just kill all these children on the spot!”

The man gave a terrible command before then disappeared alone with Ellie.

Meaning that she would be fighting the enemy alone, but I'm sure Ellie is such a smart person to immediately run away if the opponent is too dangerous for her to fight.

Or…

Or not, because I remember that she didn't want to back down at that time when she was fighting against me. Instead, Ellie went berserk that she felt like she was being insulted by my own kind and wise words.

Damn…

Now I'm worried.

“Albert? Are you in place? You have thirty seconds! Burn the place down now!”

Suddenly orders came in, forcing Albert to move alone to the location where he was going to set the school building on fire from below.

Where now I, who was still keeping an eye on each enemy's eyes, was only able to move ten seconds after Albert disappeared from sight. So I used Elis' instincts to find out the exact location of Albert the great carrier right now.

I stopped right in front of the door frame of the room…

Spreading out his arms, I watched Albert’s body spewing streams of fire in all directions when I opened this door, until it forced me back as I tried to close it again from the outside.

But the pressure was so strong that it sent me flying backwards through a glassy window, hitting the inner wall of the school hallway. That’s where I found two terrorists who were panicking because this place was suddenly filled with the sound of an alarm and flooded with fire extinguisher water spray, asking about who the hell am I.

so I got up.

Creating two non-elemental bullets that spun quite fast and traveled even faster than the speed of sound, pierced through the two people's necks until they lay struggling helplessly.

They both have quite a number of souls, so I know they won't die until their regeneration allows them to breathe again. But...

My head was suddenly dizzy until I knelt down while gripping this left shoulder quite tightly.

“Is this the second stage?”

“Not yet... Don't worry. You're still at the lowest counter-curse level.”

Elis then encouraged me and advised myself to find a safer place, because the fire had spread and made all the puddles in the hallway evaporate.

No… That’s not it! This is not even the effect of the burning at all…

But Albert really did act to raise the temperature of any solids around this place. Forcing things to dry and then re-burning anything that can be burned.

“Albert, you haven't completely burned the walls and windows on all sides of the building yet! Don't let them escape through the window! Just make the fire even bigger in the wood frame and exterior walls if you can! Now, teams 9-7, 8 and 9, get ready at the west exit! While the rest of you, go and block all exits apart from that one. Daniel? Tell your troops to ambush them from behind only if one is on their way without any hostages.”

“Roger!”

The simultaneous sound of my communication device made me slightly deaf.

But I understood the order.

So I moved to look for the whereabouts of the enemy, as well as my other ten members and Albert, because I've been separated from them.

The way the flames spread, it felt really unnatural.

It really is like being controlled by consciousness…

“Ugh... There's more and more smoke!”

I don't know who I'm complaining to while sitting here peeking out at every crossroads.

A swarm of steps suddenly approached rapidly…

Seriously?!

Why are the terrorists and the kids running this way?!

“Your current position is the position of the west exit, you idiot!”

“Oh?” It seems that what Elis said just now was right.

“Daniel! They’re here!”

I turned into a black mist right after Elis warned.

Moved to the top, perfectly disguised with the real puff of fire’s smoke.

I waited for everyone to run to the very end, then I stole the two terrorists at the very back by strangling their necks as hard as possible using non-elemental chains, until they were unable to make any noise.

Their movements suddenly stopped because they couldn't breathe, so I threw each one of them into every intersection so as not to attract anyone's attention.

I've beaten four people in total without even killing them.

And didn't want to show off, but those four carriers were some of the strongest of them all, so the rest of the task will be a lot easier going forward.

“Second stage?”

“Not yet…”

“Nice.”

~~~~~

“Daniel?”

Albert's voice suddenly sounded from behind, he moved with ten people behind him.

The man took out the sword he had, he noticed that one enemy lying on the floor was still alive so he killed that poor guy.

“What the fuck? Why did you kill him?”

“Huh? Aren't all the great carriers like you also specially ordered to take on this task for the sole reason of increasing our own strength?”

“What?”

Albert ordered everyone to sneak into the enemy position ahead of us, while he himself was moving to another body of the enemy who was still struggling across the hall.

“So you're the one who also left two people alive back there? You should have killed them all... And this guy... You mind if I just take his souls?”

“Whatever…”

I got even more dizzy when I heard what he just said... Or maybe even angry.

“Elis, how many souls does this man have?”

“Eighty-three.”

Damn…

That’s a lot...

Why didn't I just read the power from the very beginning?! I’m so stupid…

~~~~~

“We'll close the exit, leaving a few more inside. Albert, you are tasked with defeating half of them all without killing a single hostage. While the rest that we intentionally managed to get out will be the business of us who are also on the outside.”

I suddenly didn't like the sound that had been echoing in my ears... But I still follow these people from behind.

There was no point in hiding anymore if the situation had turned out to be like this… That the terrorists will keep doing the same thing to whoever they think is listening to them from any place…

That it was a mistake, because our leader suddenly decided to close the exit door recklessly. That’s why...

When children's screams reached the peak, every single one of the terrorists who were still trapped inside, threatened Albert not to move or else the hostages would die in their own hands.

They don't care anymore about their leader who may in fact have been deceived from the start by us... That’s why their offerings are different this time.

Now they ask to be let go alive…

Four enemies left in this place... And they were already among the weakest after I knocked out two of the strongest.

But I don't want to wait on cues anymore if the rules turn out to be exactly like what Albert just said... So I created four bullets that were far more powerful than any iron in the world, shot out super fast, killing those left in less than a split second right on target, in the middle of each of their own four heads...

The bullet’s rotation and the speed with which it shot up, was the fastest attack I had ever issued... Attacks that instantly kill all those terrorists on the spot…

All the remaining enemies now lost their balance, and fell down without even the slightest chance to kill any child.

“You're really close to touching stage two of your own counter-curse. Good job, Daniel.”

I was just about to ask Elis about it. but instead, she immediately took the initiative to tell me right away.

Everyone was silent looking at the back of the line, looking at my hands that I was still leaning forward after finishing controlling the things to fully complete the task.

Albert looked at me with such a flat expression full of this bad and red aura thingy hidden within…

Like he wanted to say "Fuck you" for stealing his prey, like now what I really want to say to this guy is…

You want these souls, buddy? Sorry... I have swallowed it all.

~~~~~

After the door opened, everyone on both sides were wary of one another... Watching every face to make sure that there were no enemies left, inside and outside of the building, all of the Sins Takers around the place had done their job in such an unexpected way.

While Albert focused on extinguishing all the flames with the power of his own mind, I walked herding the quite traumatized children away from the scene. Then I thought about the reason why so many of these kids are still alive.

It seems like that not even one of them is truly desperate to kill any children.

Or maybe in the end, those here were actually just people who were forced to kill by orders from their own heartless leader... And when that leader figure is no longer there, they are also no longer afraid to be killed for refusing to carry out this inhuman task…

Unfortunately, I also got carried away by my own emotions and killed a few of them.

Well…

But actually even if I didn't kill them, then this guy named Albert would do it by himself for us. Means whether I kill them or not, it doesn't even make any difference anymore…

It was such a pity though, that those four people were the weakest of all of the others. So I didn't actually get too many souls either... Not as much as Albert had harvested earlier.

Wait…

The enemy leader…?

“Ellie!?”

Is that girl ok?

“You called?” Innocently, she suddenly teleported right next to me out of nowhere.

“Eh? So you can hear my call just now? Though I think my voice is quite low… Where have you been? Near here, somewhere? You okay?”

“Are you worried?”

Hmm...

Why has it been this week, since that day she offered to help me, this cool pretentious girl is always trying to piss me off?

Is she trying to get me to fight herself?

“You know, Niel? I managed to beat that guy just by myself…”

And Ellie is always hungry for compliments... Isn’t she?

“Well, I guess that guy never expected that fighting you would actually be that hard. And I admit that the way you persuaded him not to kill Valleria also felt really cool, Ellie… Nice work.”

But I also love when Ellie smiles like how she responds with my compliments just now.

So, erm….

It's just a mutualistic symbiosis, okay? We both equally benefit in this such condition!

~~~~~