°

°

°

Liberi burst straight into the room where the six people were gathered. They all turned their heads with surprise at his dramatic entrance—especially since he didn’t look like much to command such attention... Enarky’s good eye widened when he saw him like that, but Liberi wore a darker, more sinister expression.

A silence hung in the air for just a few seconds, before Liberi raised his voice, “I know you’re here, alchemist… I advise you to stop your little game now and deal with me.”

People raised their eyebrows; Lola bowed her head to one side curiously; Cinderella gently clutched the hem of her dress; Sachi was still lying unconscious on the ground, just as he had been a moment ago; and Liberi paid him no mind, continuing, “You heard me just fine. Whoever among you is here to cause trouble, step forward right now.”

Gravel: "Huh...? What are you even...—"

Enarky: "Liberi? What's going on?"

Liberi slowly shifted his attention towards Enarky.

The light in his purple eye grew unrecognizably colder...

He spoke again, his voice tremulous, "... I—... It's you..."

Enarky: "Wh—"

The young man is brutally slammed to the ground, two bony yet powerful hands gripping his throat to choke him, a chilling, blood-curdling gaze piercing him from above his shocked face.

Liberi: "IT WAS YOU...!!! YOU'RE THE ONE!! YOU'RE THE SIXTH!! It's you who's persistently insisted on following us and trailing behind our heels!!"

Enarky suffocated, kicked, clawed at Liberi's arms. The others stood by in stunned shock, Gravel steps ahead, about to intervene.

Liberi: "Just how could I be so blind and think you were interesting??!! This is the last fucking time a human gets to humiliate me this way!!"

As high as the tension had risen, it came crashing down just as sharply, or rather, slammed straight into a brick wall with the sound of bones snapping... Liberi had just been struck squarely in the ribs by the boot of someone he couldn’t yet perceive. He hit the wall, his plumes of black smoke thickening.

Liberi: “…W-what…?!”

His vision blurs as that person shoots a loud bullet at him, mercilessly piercing through his shoulder, the unexpected pain having him petrified.

The group's stance goes defensive.

Gravel: “Y-you…?! Where did all this blood come from?!”

Enarky shed a few tears as he hyperventilated, rolling on the ground now that he was free.

In a state of total panic, he turned to see who had just barged in like that again and attacked Liberi—

Enarky: “...”

Enarky: "...K-Konc...?—"

to be continued...