“Well that didn’t save your men, now, did it?”

“Are they all dead? We spared you, you know?”

“Yup, and I don’t care. Honestly I’m more concerned about the people you’re hiring.”

“They were still just a rookie.”

“Rookie or not, I’m pretty sure Officer Fillmore wouldn’t let someone in that can’t even sense when they’re being tailed for minutes on end. Really, my contact was flabbergasted at how easy this ended up being. Shame they had to resort to poisoning the guard after bumping into them though.”

“Az- Private Orozco had the makings of a great officer.”

“I’m not so sure about that. Remember the B.R.D1 incident? Or that time their entire squad got slaughtered but them because they had a bathroom emergency prior?”

“Those are incidentals.”

“Well, either they were a misfortune magnet, or an incompetent fool that could never actually put in the work during serious situations. Anyway, I’m guessing you called for back-up? So I’m outta here.”

“I hope the girls put you down for good this time.”

“Whatever, Baby Piss-Pants.”

Once again, Esteban only saw me for the child I was years ago but this time, I couldn’t fault him. His contact and him had played me like a fiddle. I obviously barked more orders over the radio to the surviving staff and called for the girls’ help once again but ultimately this did not change the magnitude of my mishap. Sector 3 did not have to be wiped out. None of the flooded sectors needed to be destroyed. I had failed them. I had failed an entire generation of officers by tunnel-visioning on a few details and theories to the point I forgot the bigger picture.

Azul Orozco would serve as a reminder of this.

How dare I be off-put by their behavior? How dare I suspect them of lying? At the end of the day, they put in more work and helped the penitentiary and its residents more than I ever did. Of course a rookie would still have a hard time being helpful during stressful situations no matter how skilled they were. That’s just human behavior. It simply proved that they had weaknesses too. They…

...what the hell am I saying! Azul bumped into the culprit and I’m supposed to believe they didn’t see it or panic even once? Their senses could be dulled during mundane tasks but they were too skilled to not even react to it! Were they alive after all? They can’t appear on camera anyway! Although that would make them a traitor. But why? Esteban or his contact didn’t seem to think they were cooperating. Yet, Azul’s mistakes never actually read as that of a rookie not being able to deal with crisis but a genuine fool that couldn’t read the room to save his life. They always witnessed but acted. These inconsistencies made no sense but the machine never lied. Their resume was accurate! So, who was he to be so ‘pure’ anyway-

“Page 34, Narration: The revelation prompted chief officer, Seymour Gillian, to dash out of his office after those excruciating two hours and fifty-three minutes of intense reflection.”

I heard a muffled shot before I could even register whose voice was this. This was no weapon of ours and I felt myself getting devoured on the inside. The tone of that familiar voice was ice cold, no, even worse, it had no ill-will or malicious intent behind it. It sounded devoid of anything. I dared not to turn around in fear of the face I would be met with.

“I was wondering why you hadn’t come out after three hours.”

A second shot. My survival instincts kicked in. I tried to grab the MP5 I was supposed to hold onto for dear life but I crumbled to the floor pathetically instead.

“‘Tis a shame, really. It was this close to working. Why are you so good at your job, uncle?”

I reached for my sidearm until another bullet rendered my arm useless.

“Now I won’t see any of your cool moments. You were always among my favorites too!”

As doom approached in the form of the rookie I had grown to love, I could only look up and be met with a face twisted in a way I would never understand. The coldness of the barrel felt more welcoming than this husk of a person telling me they liked me.

“Thank god you died quickly alongside your dream and that place anyway.”

Do not weep over the broken pots,

Do not weep over the missed plots,

Remember your thoughts,

Remember the onslaughts,

Seymour Gillian had accomplished his duty,

Esteban Reilly would be granted no such beauty.

At first, I was pretty annoyed by how Lamartine’s teleportation had so many restrictions put in place. What’s the point of this kind of power if you can’t activate it at will? However, I had to say that in the end, getting to one-up that old fella would never get tiresome. He’d probably cry himself to sleep tonight and live with yet another shame for the rest of his life. Just imagining it gave me better gratification than actually escaping.

Nevertheless, I didn’t really want to rot in jail. I may be effectively immortal thanks to my power but I’d rather enjoy eternity outside. Therefore onto the planned exit route I went! The other convicts could drown for all I cared. They only helped me take down a section when I already had countless other feats under my belt. Each man was on their own right now. Some followed but the exit was only possible if you had the strength to withstand the high pressure of the ocean without having your lungs explode so good luck to them.

Thanks to my current appearance, and the passing of that poor guard, I had no trouble reaching the extraction point of Sector 2. Obviously, calling it an actual extraction point is a bit of a stretch since the path forward still had to be carved but-

“What the fuck Esteban? You said there was a way out!”

“I said I was going out. Not that there was a way for you.”

“You snake! We’re gonna implode or get eaten up before reaching the surface.”

“Hey, if you’re so distraught, just go in the ventilation system or something.”

“For a guaranteed bust maybe!”

“Yeah, well I don’t have a better solution that you could actually achieve with your-”

An explosion rang in my ear before I could finish my sentence. Had the path forward been rigged against me? No. That’d make no sense! Lamartine and especially Veritless needed my help. That’s why they even staged this prison break! However, my empty lungs started to fill themselves with water. There was no time to ask questions as I was getting swept away by the current upward. The salt blinded me but I could hear the mutated monstrosities around the base munching on some unfortunate souls. The original plan had already changed midway thanks to Azul’s incompetence so I could still recover even if it was going awry. Normally my powers would have allowed me to peacefully alternate between different discreet forms to deal with the creatures below and sneak away but my body was in too much pain to do anything but be in survival mode:

Pupper of Change, I called, El héroe de las mil caras!

Before I could get chomped on, my body twisted and turned exponentially stronger as the powers of thousand of mightier men before me empowered my entire being. My size increased alongside my strength to the point I ended up outgrowing the ocean more than I actually swam back up. After years of being denied my right to use the power I acquired fair and square, nothing gave me such intense euphoria than simply being allowed to reclaim my identity from this hell of a safe haven.

I heard another explosion as I removed the sand and salt that were still eating away at my vision. Perhaps that penitentiary had finally crumbled under its own weight? Whatever. That would explain why the stealth ultimately failed but it meant nothing now. I simply climbed back onto the shore and I already towered over everything and anyone. Lamartine specifically picked a day where the main defenders had to recharge their batteries or were away to protect another one of our last bastions. None of the remaining girls could do a thing to prevent me from destroying the haven and leaving in the wilderness. I can adapt to anything after all so why would the apocalypse outside scare me? That’s why Veritless needed me. I’m invin-

“S-Stop right there!”

A strange girl that appeared as light and fragile as a pixie stood before me. Her radiance was admirable but her lack of confidence betrayed her cold feet.

“A newbie?”

“P-Perhaps! However, I am here to ask you to surrender! Please.”

“Adorable,” a light smack was all it took to send her flying into a random building, “which Pupper was naive enough to make a contract with such a self-sacrificial girl?”

I wasn’t seriously expecting an answer but that girl had some grit I had to admit. She looked badly injured but not broken in spirit. That’s always commendable in a protector.

“D-Don’t talk bad about Lilipup!” Okay so she was clearly on the younger side.

“Lilipup?”

“Ah, uh… H-His official name is Pupper of Light… I think?”

“Nice bluff, kiddo. That fool never found a suitable host in decades.”

“I-I’m not a liar,” she cried more from my accusation than the actual attack, “I ask you once more. Please surrender.”

This is not good, I thought, among the protectors the younger ones tend to be awful at lying. If that’s the truth, it doesn’t matter how tall I am. I’ll get obliterated.

“W-Well?”

“I’m sorry. I’m simply… caught off-guard. It’s my first time meeting someone that bonded with such incredible power.”

She turned bashful for just enough time to let me grab her and throw her into the ocean below. I rushed ahead at the same time. I couldn’t go back there. I couldn’t go back to that hell. There was no rehabilitation for people like us. There was nothing to hope for in this world. I played up my bravado but the main goal was always to escape. Getting back at the chief was a cry against the system. I just need a little more, a little more-!

“Välkkuul!”

In a blink, a ray of light tore through a portion of my skin. The beam was only about the size of a coin yet I could feel all of my organs starting to fail to function at a basic level. The Pupper of Light was truly a terrifying fellow despite its name. Thankfully, I had prepared one last trick to evade getting killed in case of emergency.

“P-Please! Stop now. You know you can’t win!”

Disregarding her warnings I made sure that my back would cover the worm growing out of my abdomen. I could molt and shed away this failing body to start anew at least once a day.

“I-I beg of you!”

“I’m sorry. Your power simply amazed me,” I used my last muster of strength in my old body to put my hands up, “I will surrender!”

“Now!”

Her voice took a darker turn than I anticipated but it would be fine. As long as she doesn’t notice that I-

“Apostlite Valgus.”

Her calmer tone was followed by a blinding ray of light that enveloped both of my beings in a relaxing sensation. That is until the illusion wore off and both of the bodies that I had made for myself realized they had been melted together. The green of my skin had turned into a charred dark brown that fumed from every pour. The pain only kicked after 4.3 seconds. I counted in my head how long I could try to weasel out of this situation before I crumbled onto the shore in a painful yell that added nothing new to the atmosphere of that “last safe heaven”. It’s not like fights were rare here. In fact, they were quite the entertainment judging by the crowd that gathered.

“I-I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” cried the pathetic girl before turning to the onlookers, “Can anyone call an ambulance?”

“Was it earnestness… or naivety… that allowed you to wield this power…?”

“Stop talking! You’ll only aggravate your injuries!”

As if I wasn’t dead already. Frankly, only my Pupper was to thank for my prolonged suffering. I imagine it was laughing at my fate after I forced it to assimilate to my body all those years ago. Change would finally come around by my death… I guess that’s poetic for a pathetic convict like m-

“The ambulance has been called!”

That voice.

“Congrats on your first victory!”

That fucking voice.

“Don’t weep! It was awesome!”

Among the cheering for that protector’s performance, one voice resonated more than any other. The one supposedly from a dead fool. They were standing with their hair still wet in a change of clothes that looked like it was picked by an eight year old trying to be cool. I tried to move my mouth. Ask away what their deal was. To expose them for lying and acting irresponsibly as an officer. They would have been a dime a dozen under normal circumstances but nothing was normal about them. How did they even escape the collapsing penitentiary or the monsters lurking below?

Before I could even act on that primal fear that ate away at my last remains of sanity, I felt something pierce my skin before infiltrating my body and eating the last functional parts of it. A Deleron, the natural predator of Puppers… Their last hand sign taunted me as my consciousness faded into darkness. How did a mere prison guard get access to this?

To the Spectator’s delight,

Tears formed at the sight,

Of that Magical Girl’s might.

It was even better in person. Lagle Lill was as charming as ever. Her display of power today? A mere glimpse at the incredible hero she was destined to become. Her pleas to Esteban too, such a cool concept! I love those that have the strength to empathize with others despite doing what needs to be done. I may have lacked that in the past but now I could just kick back and enjoy a retelling of my favorite story right in front of me and without the chronic pain! How sweet was that deal?

If only I didn’t have to stand back. I would have run and hugged her with all my might! For all the joys she already brought me. At least I showed my appreciation by making sure the story would stay on track and not be overwhelmingly against her. I was just supposed to let myself be poisoned by Lamartine and used by Esteban during a routine inspection, I didn’t expect to be tailed for so long… I guess being a mob killed on the first page is harder than anticipated.

The Delerons inside my hoodie screamed at me to rush that girl and her Pupper for a feast. I made sure to remind them who was actually in charge. The distress of Lagle sounded like music to my ears but unfortunately, as per the canon obliged, the crowd got uncomfortable at her display of kindness. It was hard to be a kind protector in such a cynical dystopia. Therefore, I opted to leave alongside everyone else. Until my arm was grabbed.

And the Delerons cried once more.

In that damp she was a light,

Her convictions to most a blight,

And her heart was that of a knight.