Fumio knew how to admit when he made a mistake.

Coming here, to this isolated place, to face a [Esper], without knowing the true extent of their powers and abilities, had been one of his gravest errors.

Moving his staff around himself, the man managed to turn the five women he was facing into mist—or rather, the five clones of the [Black Corps] that were reducing him to a rag.

"attack!" (5 copies)

"(They don’t even let me catch my breath!)"

The copies of his opponent were not even close to being as capable as the original.

Fumio could have easily defeated one, especially since a single hit made them vanish.

The problem? Simply, there were too many.

Every defeated enemy was immediately replaced by another. Forcing the [Mage] to face dozens of opponents at once.

Moreover, their teamwork was perfect, as all of them were the same person.

Two clones struck the mask of Hajime’s master simultaneously, doubling the impact force. 

For a few seconds, Fumio staggered backward; one of the copies took advantage and moved behind him to kick him in the back of the knee.

"Khhh... disappear!"

Using his staff, the member of [New Dawn] eliminated the opponent before he could strike his other knee, merely stabbing her in the stomach without even turning around.

The other four copies didn’t miss this opportunity, while their enemy tried to ignore the pain in his knee, they jumped on him.

"Take this!" (4 copies)

One was knocked out with a kick to the head by the [Mage], and two others by blows from his staff, but before he could eliminate the last one, another ten versions of the [Black Corps] entered the fray.

"(They keep coming! I’ve probably eliminated fifty by now! What are her limits!)"

"Got it!"

"Now you’re ours!"

"This will be fun!"

Two clones grabbed Hajime’s master’s arms, while another held his neck in a chokehold, aiming to cut off his oxygen supply to the brain.

The other two moved in front of the 30-year-old, and started hitting him with coordinated punches and kicks.

"(I need to reinforce my [armor]!)"

The [mana] of the [New Dawn] member absorbed much of the damage, but his body would soon reach its limit if this pounding continued.

The [Black Corps] knew what they were doing, and so did her other versions.

Every move that Fumio received was aimed at his vital organs or pressure points.

Even with [armor] defense, the growls of pain from the man became increasingly difficult to contain.

"Enough!!!!!!"

Using all his strength, the [Beta Rank] 30-year-old headbutted the woman blocking his circulation at the neck with the back of his skull, causing her to revert to mist.

The ones beating him mercilessly were next; with two perfectly timed and coordinated kicks, the two copies turned into mist.

His final move was to use all his leg strength to push himself backward along with the copies holding his arms, making them crash into a metal wall of the abandoned factory.

“Shit!” (2 copies)

Seizing this opening, Fumio broke free from their grip, delivering an elbow to the face of the one on the right, then got up and struck the last enemy, who was still on the ground, with his staff.

"All attack!" (10 copies)

The Hajime’s master didn’t even have time to catch his breath before more enemies lunged at him.

"(They don’t even give me a second to look around! If I had just a few seconds, I could notice the original! Such an effort to produce so many copies should leave some trace! Just like Aomori-san, who bleeds from the nose when he overuses his powers!)"

His thoughts, unfortunately, distracted him enough to allow a clone to strike him in the groin with a kick, and a headbutt— the perpetrator of that move appeared, but the damage was done.

"Ghhhhuu.....*"(Fumio)

"Now he’s out of strength!" (5 copies)

At that moment of weakness, Fumio was struck multiple times all over his body by the remaining copies: a kick to the ribs, one to the leg, two strong punches to the face, and several other punches causing multiple fractures, forcing him to kneel.

“Take this!”

A knee to the disoriented [Mage]'s face was enough to make him lose his grip on his staff and break his nose.

"(I can’t do it! I’m at my limit! I don’t even have time to grab the vials of...?)"

While being attacked by twenty enemies, trying to block their bodies with his bare hands, the master of Hajime noticed something as he searched for his staff’s position.

Until now, while fighting against dozens of copies at once, at least forty more of their kind surrounded him, preventing him from escaping.

Now, the number had dropped to ten.

"(How did I not notice before! Not only am I the only one exhausted after this fight! That woman must be at her limit more than I am!)"

Finally, Fumio grabbed a version of the [Black Corps] by the legs and swung her like a human club, destroying fifteen copies attacking him.

"All attack!" (5 copies)

Another five took their place, but with a slight delay, allowing the 30-year-old to recover his weapon.

"(They’re slower and weaker than before! I can do this!)"

Exploiting the slower rhythm of the fight, the [Mage] managed to look around, noticing one person among those surrounding him who was sweating much more than the others.

"That’s the original!!!!!!"

Ignoring his other enemies, the [New Dawn] focused on the real version of his adversaries.

Splitting his staff into three parts, the man threw them at one of the copies.

Two copies immediately stepped in to defend the original, now turned to mist, to stop the attack.

Now Fumio had the confirmation he needed. Using the remaining pieces of his weapon, he launched his last attacks against the few remaining enemies.

"Stop him!"

The more they disappeared, the slower and weaker the other clones became, as if the fatigue was shared among them—or perhaps, the [Black Corps] was much more exhausted than she let on.

(Why isn’t she trying to run?! She’s out of energy to even move?! Then this is my chance to capture her and get some answers!)

Finally, Fumio reached the [Esper], after passing through all the copies. The slightly pale expression of the [Black Corps] was replaced by a 32-dent smile when she noticed something behind the [New Dawn].

“What—”

A Herculean force struck Fumio, sending him flying dozens of meters away, smashing through a metal wall of the factory where they were fighting.

Eventually, his body hit the ground hard.

"E-e-eh...."

For a moment, the mind of Hajime’s friend didn’t understand what had happened.

Most likely, after all the adrenaline of the fight, he wasn’t feeling anything.

Then, suddenly, the adrenaline subsided, and he only felt one thing: pain.

"Ahhhhhhh! My arm!?"

The bones of the man’s left arm had been shattered horribly; one bone was even protruding through the flesh, causing excessive bleeding from Hajime’s master and Kuro.

His injuries weren’t limited to just one limb, unfortunately. His ribs were also bruised—perhaps even completely shattered.

The mask of the [New Dawn] had broken after his head had smashed through the wall at that speed. A trickle of blood was running down from his scalp onto his face.

Despite the pain, Fumio tried to get up and understand who or what had done this to him.

"(Another [Black Corps]? Why didn’t I think she was in company?! I was arrogant!)"

From the hole he’d made, someone or rather, something emerged.

"A-an doll ?"

Yes, what surprised the master of Hajime was a blonde doll dressed as a maid, life-sized, carrying a large hammer.

The details of her face were so realistic that, for a moment, even the experienced [Mage] thought she was a person pretending to be a giant doll.

"(N-no, I don’t see any blood flow in that thing... no internal organs... it’s definitely a doll... M-M, how the hell does she have so much [mana]! It’s more than Kamijo-san and Kusanagi-san combined!)" 

As the doll approached, followed closely by the [Black Corps], Fumio realized what it was.

"Is this the power of Kugutsu!? Why the hell does she have such a strong puppet as a weapon?!"

It was the woman who had almost beaten him who answered his question.

"Oh, you’ve already figured it out? After all, your terrorist group has a lot of information on the district leaders, it’s a real shame that not all of it is correct, don’t you think?"

"(So that’s it... that woman lied about her true abilities... even to Goto! Why didn’t we consider that option!?)"

With his remaining arm, Fumio drew a syringe from his belt, aiming it at his chest. There was no more time for thought, he had to act.

"(This will hurt, but I have no choice!)"

Lowering his [armor] and aiming at the thinnest part of his equipment, the needle pierced his skin, injecting a mixture of adrenaline and [Dragon Blood] directly into his heart.

The effect was immediate. It was as if his body were on fire; the [Mage] was full of energy, like a nuclear power plant. His heart pounded wildly.

The pain lessened just enough for him to stand and resume fighting.

"(I only have a few minutes before my body gives out! Not enough to escape, but enough to hit that thing at least once!)"

Using his last remaining staff, Fumio went on the attack. The [Black Corps] smiled slightly, aware of what was about to happen.

The doll beside her disappeared and reappeared in front of the [New Dawn], in a flash of speed.

Despite having seen every frame of her movement, Fumio couldn’t avoid the hammer that struck his side.

And so, the second arm of the man was rendered useless. As he flew through the air, smashing through the glass inside the factory, the last thing Hajime’s friend saw before losing consciousness was the weapon that had defeated him, descending upon his face, the doll that had caught up to him in the sky.

"(I’ve failed..............)"