"That's some destruction," Dmitry whistled, entering the control room. "And thirteen brains?!"
'Right? I alone would have been enough,' the voice claimed in Konrad's head. Not that the Captain could hear it. 'He could if you held his hand,' he offered.
But the Duke of Halaima wasn't in the mood for jokes.
"I was this close," he muttered, kicking a Bloodsucker's corpse. "For the second time, I've met Strelok and let him go. Why did that freaking Blowout have to happen right now?!"
If that didn't make him freeze up, he could have knocked the target out.
Or follow him.
At the very least, make a decision that was his own.
But as always, the situation was completely out of his control.
"Well, I'm pretty sure it happened because you took the Brain Scorcher down," Dmitry noted.
And once again, the parallel brain agreed.
'Yeah, was about to say. No way the timing was a coincidence. Almost as if the Zone reacted to a Psyonic S.O.S. signal, the takedown created.'
The Zone did, huh?
What exactly was it, anyway? He had a theory now, but—
"Oh, and don't worry about Strelok," his friend comforted him. "You'll get him next time."
Which was more than likely.
Given that they knew where he was heading now, and even got an invite.
An offer to join him in the final fight, and—
Some food for thought that Konrad couldn't chew through yet.
"Remember when I told you he had a twin?" he asked, turning around and freezing right away.
Dmitry was busy dissecting one of the Bloodsuckers with his hunting knife.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Konrad demanded, though the real question was: why?
"Sorry, I'm listening," he said, wiping blood from his palm. "But I promised to sample everything for the scientist. So you were saying? Twin sister? I do remember."
Right. Konrad was about to share a theory, but seeing the butcher workshop—
"Why bother?" he asked, more puzzled than upset. "We're not going back to the lab. The path to Pripyat is in the opposite direction. I've wasted enough time as is, and—"
"And you'll be gone soon," Dmitry interjected. "While I'll stay here. So I'll give them a visit later."
Ah. Yeah. Wasn't he a bit selfish?
Thinking only about what he wanted.
But of course, others had their own plans.
"Don't worry, it won't slow us down," the Captain claimed, putting away some tentacles. "Not more than my gun, anyway. So what about that twin sister? Don't leave me hanging now."
Konrad had almost forgotten what he was trying to say.
But yeah. The sister.
"I have a wild theory," he claimed. "I came up with while waiting for the Emissions to blow over."
'And I helped you refine it, but why mention that, huh?' the parallel brain complained.
"Let's hear it," Dmitry said, but would not stop for a moment.
He went on to loot the zombie corpses next, checking their guns and ammo, and—
"No food here, either," he grunted, throwing away a moldy piece of bread. "We'll run out this evening. And hey, wasn't this the Makarov I gave you? Why'd you throw it away?!"
Yeah, no. He did everything but listen.
"I ran out of ammo, that's why," Konrad snapped. "Can I finally tell you what I figured, or what?!"
"I'm waiting," the Captain said. He slid the pistol in his pocket, then held up his hands in a mock surrender. "But someone was in a hurry a mere moment ago. So what's with the sister?"
Konrad let out a sigh, trying to refocus his thoughts again.
"Strelok is an otherworlder like me," he began. "But he never had magic. His sister did. And according to him, someone kidnapped her to bring her to the Zone."
Dmitry's eyes widened.
"She's here?" he muttered, finally listening. "At the heart of this mess?!"
"That's what Strelok thinks, at least," Konrad nodded. "And it'd make a lot of sense, too."
He shared what he learned from his parallel brain.
"The Group that runs this place is trying to bring magic to Earth," he said. "The mutants and these brains they created, substitute mana with Psyonic energies."
But there was actual magic essence on this planet, if they knew where to look.
"Back in Kasserlane, there were tools to steal the mana of sorcerers," Konrad noted. "I imagine they captured people they found to use them as magic farms, or something."
Which would have been much easier at a huge rock concert, but they took a different approach.
"So you think when they sealed the old CNPP, they created a prison below for wizards?!" the Captain scowled. "And all these anomalies, heck, even the Blowouts—"
"It could be their corrupted mana escaping the dome to reshape the landscape," Konrad said.
Thinking of it this way, the Zone could have been a mirror for the victims' suffering.
As long as his theory was right.
So the only reason why he didn't beat himself for staying here longer was—
"You get your wish," Konrad claimed. "We'll uncover the Zone's secrets. And who knows how many of those victims might be willing to fight against that fallen angel."
Because, well, sorcerers didn't grow on trees, right?
Not on Earth, anyway.
They had to be Lucifer's puppets to be here, one way or another.
And in that case, they could have helped him in the final fight.
'Greedy much?' the parallel brain scoffed. 'You came for Strelok, and now you want an army.'
Well, according to Gabrielle, they were one man short from the start.
This could've given them a safety margin—and offered a chance for those who wanted to fight.
"Okay, okay, that's a lot to take in," the Captain noted, and he was even a bit behind now. "But let's say you're right. That'd mean we'll face some pretty terrifying foes deep in the Zone."
"Yeah, I guess," Konrad nodded.
"What are we going to do about them?" Dmitry asked, because—
Yeah. What indeed?
He had no idea what Strelok's plan was, as a simple man without magic.
And Konrad had lost his spells during that wave of corruption, too.
The parallel brain was still in deep silence about it, despite promising to give his magic back—
'In three days, man—if you'd finally let me focus,' the voice complained.
But yeah, he had to answer the way he could.
"They might be anything from petty kidnappers," Konrad said, "to Earth's version of a Demon Lord. Heck, if I didn't know my Demon Lord banished Lucifer, I'd say—"
"Who did what?!"
Damn it, did he never give a full rundown?!
Taking a deep breath, Konrad let out an even bigger sigh.
"So I'm here to fight Lucifer, right? By using his puppets against him." By the time he reached his duel with Maou Midori, and then his time as a Tokyo rockstar—
"Okay, okay, I get it," Dmitry groaned, rubbing his temples. "I won't ever comprehend you."
Which was not his goal at all.
Heck, he didn't even mention his time-traveling first wife or the other haremettes.
"But the important part is that this Lucifer guy can't be here," the Captain summarised. "And if his goons are this desperate to make magic, they shouldn't be that much of a threat, either."
"Well, I didn't say that," Konrad noted. "But now I'm gonna deal with them, one way or another."