"Kuhaha! Well now, I never expected Fred to attack me so easily. I thought I had properly bound you with fear, but it seems it was not enough."
Even though a lightning arrow had pierced his chest—something that should have been instantly fatal—Oswell laughed hysterically while blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
"No no~ Doctor is still the object of our terror. It's just that the feeling of 'I don't want to have any more regrets' won out over the fear of Doctor."
Frederick spoke to Oswell in a serious tone, completely different from his usual drawl.
"No more regrets, huh? Ahaha! Too bad for you. Betraying me means you'll regret it immediately!"
As Oswell laughed, the lightning arrow vanished from his chest. The gaping hole closed up before their eyes.
"That is… Self-Healing…? Why does Doctor have the same ability as me…?"
Caroline let out a bewildered voice when she realized the phenomenon healing Oswell's chest was Self-Healing.
"Why are you surprised now? The whole reason I experimented on you was to achieve the grand goal of manifesting Self-Healing in others as well. Thanks to your cooperation, I learned a great deal about abilities. And about what comes after as well!"
"…!"
Oswell directed a gaze that carried even madness toward Caroline. Lurea stepped protectively in front of her sister and spoke.
"You are awfully relaxed for someone relying on Self-Healing. But deep down, you are quite panicked, aren't you, Doctor? You cannot handle this much combat power on your own."
"Indeed, I myself do not have much combat ability. No matter how many magic beasts I summon, you lot would deal with them easily now. That is correct. But I rose to executive rank in that cult. Did you really think someone like me would lose to brats like you? How insulting."
Lurea's near-provocative words changed the atmosphere around Oswell.
"Anyway, whether during the war or after it ends, I will have to fight the Guide eventually… This might be the perfect opportunity for a test run. So, Twilight Moonbow—accompany me in my experiment!"
Oswell shouted while snapping his fingers again.
The magic beasts all transformed into reddish-black mist and gathered in his palm, forming a reddish-black orb.
"…The way you speak as if Lurea and Fred are beneath your notice is really irritating."
Lurea muttered in dissatisfaction after hearing Oswell's words.
"No no, I simply mean the two of you do not have the right to participate in this experiment. You will be excused from here!"
"—!?"
"What is this…?"
Suddenly, Lurea and Frederick clutched their chests in pain.
They quickly collapsed to their knees, unable to stand.
"Lurea-neechan, Fred-niichan, what is wrong!?"
Seeing her siblings suddenly suffer, Caroline rushed toward them with worry.
"Hahaha! I told you, didn't I? 'You'll regret it immediately!' Of course I prepared countermeasures for if you betrayed me. But disposing of you so easily would be a waste. You will be useful to me until the very end!"
From the reddish-black orb in Oswell's hand, two thin lines extended at incredible speed toward Lurea and Frederick.
"Do not get near them!"
Caroline swung her short swords to cut the lines.
But the reddish-black lines passed straight through her blades without being touched.
The tips of the lines connected to the siblings' chests, and their suffering intensified.
"…This is… our blood… being drained…?"
Lurea—whose senses had been sharpened by Doctor's human experiments—realized their blood was being sucked into the orb in Oswell's hand through the reddish-black lines.
"I do not know what you are doing, but I will not let you do it freely! Ruu-nee!"
"Yes!"
Sophia and Luna unleashed attack magic toward Oswell to interfere.
But it was blocked by the reddish-black mist surrounding him.
"Then I will!"
Seeing magic attacks ineffective, Logan thrust his spear into the mist.
But even that was repelled.
"…This might be checkmate~…"
Feeling the approaching "death," Frederick let out a voice.
"Fred… are you regretting it?"
Lurea—who had also accepted death—asked Frederick.
"Haha~ No way~. Because… in this hopeless… death of ours… our little sister is crying for us… Our very last… choice… was the right one, wasn't it…?"
"No! No! Do not talk about dying! We finally… finally made up, and now we have to say goodbye? Absolutely not!!"
Caroline shouted with large tears streaming down her face.
"We have… killed so many people until now. No matter what, we cannot stay with you… Ah, I almost forgot… Take this…"
Lurea spoke to Caroline in a gentle tone as if soothing her. With trembling hands, she removed the earring from her right ear and offered it to Caroline.
Frederick did the same, offering the earring from his left ear.
"This is… a magic tool we made… using techniques we learned while assisting Doctor's experiments… Inside are our respective original magics sealed away. I believe you can master them… Please take them."
Caroline accepted the two earrings from her siblings.
Seeing that, Frederick spoke with a satisfied smile.
"Sorry, Caroline… I know apologies do not make it right… Half a year ago, when we reunited and I learned you were alive, I was so happy… I wanted to keep you close right away. I ended up saying awful things again… Sorry."
Caroline shook her head vigorously as if to say she was not angry at Frederick's apology.
"We are going to hell… We may never meet you again in heaven… Even so, from hell, we will wish for your happiness… With Self-Healing, you will not die except from old age… But still, take care of your body. Live long—for our sake too, Caroline…"
Despite her pain, Lurea managed to speak until the very end without losing consciousness.
"Self-Healing…?"
While rejecting her siblings' deaths, Caroline somewhere understood they could not be saved. She focused intently on every word of Lurea's final statement.
The term "Self-Healing" caught her attention.
"Expanded interpretation of abilities… If this ability could be applied to others as well…!"
Deciding to place her last hope in her own ability, Caroline stored the earrings her siblings had given her in her storage magic tool. Then she moved behind them and placed her hands on their backs.
"Please. Save my family."
Caroline murmured as if praying.
"I have always thought of my ability as a curse. It caused me so much suffering. But other ability users all say their abilities are powers that 'help them.' So please fulfill my wish! I will no longer run from my ability. So please—save the two of them…!"
Caroline's ability, Self-Healing, was unusual among abilities in that it was passive.
It activated on its own even without her will.
Until now, she had never confronted the ability she recognized as a curse.
Now, for the first time, she faced her own ability.
To avoid losing what was precious to her.
Caroline changed her perception—treating her siblings she touched as part of her own body.
"…Ugh… Guh…"
The change in perception succeeded.
But as a result, Caroline now felt the same pain her siblings were experiencing.
"Caroline…!? What are you doing…! Let go…!"
Noticing Caroline's pained voice, Lurea somehow managed to speak.
"No…! I will definitely save the two of you…! I will not let you die!"
Perhaps because of her resolve, the effect of Self-Healing extended to the two of them, greatly reducing their pain.
"I did it…! It worked!"
With the pain flowing from her siblings greatly reduced, Caroline was convinced her plan had succeeded and let out a joyful cry.
"…Even though I should have already drained a lethal amount of blood, they are still alive. Self-Healing affecting others too, huh… As expected, the essence of abilities is—… Well, the two of them are too exhausted to move for a while anyway. I will accept this."
Surprised by Caroline's expanded interpretation of Self-Healing yet realizing he could not kill the two, Oswell decided to move on.
The reddish-black orb in his palm had somehow taken the shape of a fruit.
Then he destroyed the huge magic stone behind him—the labyrinth core—and absorbed the vast magical power contained within into the fruit.
"Now then, let us approach the demonic principle."
Murmuring that, Oswell consumed the reddish-black sinister fruit.
The same reddish-black mist that had surrounded him to protect him now leaked from his entire body.
It gradually grew denser until finally the thick reddish-black fog concealed Oswell's form.
"…Be careful, Caroline and the explorers of Twilight Moonbow. When Doctor uses his own body for something, failure is almost impossible. Considering the situation, something quite terrible is about to appear."
Though she had survived thanks to Caroline, Lurea—whose stamina was severely depleted—stood unsteadily while warning the Twilight Moonbow members.
"No need to tell us. Something that sinister could not possibly be anything good."
Logan responded to Lurea's voice without taking his eyes off the reddish-black fog.
The Twilight Moonbow members, along with Lurea and Frederick, gathered in one place and took a combat stance while watching Oswell's movements closely.
"Hahaha. Ahahahaha!"
Oswell's loud laughter echoed from within the reddish-black fog.
The voice sounded as if multiple overlapping tones were resounding together.
Then, as the fog gradually cleared, in the place where Oswell had stood now loomed an existence that could only be described as a monster barely retaining a humanoid shape.
Its height exceeded two meters. Its skin was a charcoal-like grayish black with several reddish-black lines drawn across it.
From its head sprouted something reminiscent of goat horns, and from both shoulders dense magical power leaked out, forming dragon-head-like shapes.
"I have finally touched it! So this is the wall of sorcery. Breaking through this will take some effort!"
The monster that Oswell had become muttered in high spirits.
"What the hell is that monster…?"
A terrified voice leaked from Logan upon seeing Oswell's form.
Not just Logan—everyone was overwhelmed by the atmosphere Oswell exuded and trembled.
"Well then, first a little test. —Black Dragon!"
When Oswell raised his right hand, a hole opened in the sky above. With a roar, a black dragon created by Oswell appeared.
The black dragon dove toward Logan and the others, intending to crush them all with its massive body.
"—! Shadow Dragon!"
To block the black dragon's approach, Logan used his ability. The manifested shadow took the form of a giant dragon.
The black dragon that had terrified Logan the most—about a year ago during the training expedition—was the one he referenced.
Because he modeled it after the strongest magic beast he had ever seen, the two dragons looked similar in form.
"—Heavenly Thunder Hammer Mjolnir!"
Seeing the shadow dragon holding back the black dragon, Luna dropped a massive lightning bolt from above toward Oswell.
Yet it left not even a scratch on Oswell, who showed no sign of caring.
"Then this! —Amplification Chain Raise Repeat!"
Next, Sophia activated an original spell given to her by Orun.
An even more powerful version of the massive lightning Luna had unleashed earlier struck Oswell again.
Even so, it dealt almost no significant damage to Oswell.
"…A spell that amplifies magic power? What an interesting spell you have created. Still, this body is incredible. To receive that level of magic and only feel a slight numbness."
While Oswell admired his newly strengthened body, Caroline—who had activated ki and closed in at blinding speed—swung her short sword.
"—!"
The short sword—made primarily from black dragon scales—sliced through Oswell's body.
—but Oswell ignored his wound and casually swept his arm.
From the outside, it looked like nothing more than that.
Yet Caroline was sent flying backward with tremendous force.
"Caroline!?"
Lurea and Frederick—despite their battered bodies—whipped themselves into action and moved ahead of Caroline's trajectory to catch her.
"…Thank you, Neechan, Niichan."
Intense pain assaulted Caroline, but she was accustomed to pain. Weakly, she thanked her siblings who had caught her.
The bones where Oswell had struck were shattered, but Self-Healing had already begun mending them.
"…To think you were this weak. No—perhaps I simply became too strong."
At the moment Oswell let out a disappointed voice, the black dragon's magical mist barrage caused Logan's shadow dragon to lose form and vanish.
"—! Gnome, please!"
As the black dragon closed in on Logan, Luna shouted.
Immediately after, the ground upheaved and covered both Oswell and the black dragon separately.
The suddenly appearing domes changed their material from earth to steel.
"This will not hold for long! Let us retreat now! That thing is beyond our ability to handle!"
"The transfer is ready! Everyone, come to me!"
At the same time Luna proposed retreat, Frederick had activated a magic circle capable of transferring them all to the labyrinth entrance.
Having realized they stood no chance against that monster, the Twilight Moonbow members followed without objection and entered the magic circle floating around Frederick.
"All right~ Jumping now!"
With Frederick's words as the signal, Logan and the others vanished from the deepest part.
◇
"…What the hell was that monster…! Bringing out a black dragon too is totally unfair!"
After transferring to the labyrinth entrance and escaping Oswell and the black dragon, Logan grumbled.
"First, let us reunite with Orun-san. I feel bad pushing this onto him, but I think only Orun-san can handle that monster…"
Sophia then proposed their next course of action.
"…Anyway, let us leave the labyrinth first. Carol, are your injuries okay?"
Hearing Sophia's proposal, Luna asked Caroline—who had been badly injured earlier.
"Yeah! Thanks to my ability and Ruu-nee's recovery magic, I'm completely healed! Thanks, Ruu-nee!"
Caroline jumped in place to show her body was fine.
"Then let us head to Shishou."
With their course decided, Logan called out to the members and headed toward the exit connected to the surface.
As Twilight Moonbow followed, Lurea spoke up.
"…Caroline, this is where we part ways for now."
"…Eh? W-Why!?"
Caroline—who had assumed Lurea and Frederick would leave the labyrinth with them—let out a surprised voice.
"Both Neechan and I cannot move properly right now~. If we stayed with you, we would only hold you back. So we plan to hide in this labyrinth for a while and focus on recovering our strength~"
Frederick explained why they would not leave the labyrinth together.
Thanks to Caroline's ability, the two had escaped death, but they were still severely anemic from excessive blood loss.
In that condition, they could not fight, so they decided to remain in the labyrinth.
"Such…"
"Doctor's target is Sophia Clodel. To help you escape, it is better for us—who would only be a burden—to act separately."
Seeing Caroline resist leaving the two behind, Logan spoke quickly to explain the reasoning.
"…Understood. Neechan, Niichan—we will meet again, right?"
"Yes. It may not be soon, but we will definitely meet again. Shall we make that a promise?"
To soothe her sister, Lurea extended a hand with her pinky raised in a gentle expression, swearing reunion.
"…Yeah, promise."
Caroline said in a voice holding back tears and hooked her pinky with Lurea's.
After the pinky promise with Lurea, she did the same with Frederick.
"Since Carol forgives you two, I will forgive you too. So do not just die somewhere on your own—come back to Carol!"
Seeing Caroline's pinky promises with her siblings, Logan spoke to them before leaving the labyrinth together with Twilight Moonbow.