To flip the board.
The decision Immun made was extraordinary in scale.
He forced a volcanic eruption by inserting Philosopher’s Stones into the lava, altering and expanding its internal composition.
Rumbleeeee!!
A single blow that brought down the entire mountain range.
Agnes was caught off guard by the sudden quake and lost her balance in confusion.
Immun didn’t miss that opening.
There’s only one shot at this.
With one hand pressed against the ground, Immun charged forward straight into the range of the Planetary Gear.
Then he aimed his gun at Agnes.
“Liar…”
Looking at the barrel pointed at her, Agnes muttered.
She had never truly believed him when he said he’d save her…but still, she couldn’t help but feel betrayed.
“No.”
Bang!
But without hesitation, Immun pulled the trigger.
The bullet fired from the pistol struck Agnes’s body.
It hit near the wound she had sustained earlier from Deus, and the pain was excruciating.
“Khk!”
The pain was so intense that she couldn’t even scream properly. She collapsed to the ground, letting out only a strangled cry.
As she writhed in agony, a realization came to her—
“How…?”
There was pain, yes…but no blood.
In fact, even her previous wounds had stopped bleeding.
“I sealed the wound and stopped the bleeding.”
Immun had never intended to kill anyone.
His pistol had been loaded exclusively with non-lethal rounds.
More precisely, the bullets were made from Philosopher’s Stones, designed for healing or subduing. Not killing.
“I understand that you were very startled. You must have been scared too. But don’t you think it’s time to calm down? We’re human. Shouldn’t we start by talking, instead of recklessly firing off such dangerous weapons?”
“……”
Agnes looked up at Immun, eyes brimming with tears.
And the only words that came out of her mouth were—
“You’re just as crazy.”
“I am Ex Machina, after all.”
He had saved someone who had tried to kill him.
Considering that Agnes had secretly been planning to stab Immun in the back, it was truly an absurd situation.
A selfish person can never understand a selfless one.
And precisely because of that—
“Did you really think I’d be moved by you and repent?”
“……”
Immun’s expression hardened as he watched the Planetary Gear begin to orbit around him.
“There’s no reason for us to fight, is there?”
“There isn’t. But there’s also no reason for me to let you live, is there?”
“You speak of killing someone like it’s the most natural thing in the world.”
“Isn’t it? The fewer people who know my identity, the better.”
“……”
Agnes was a criminal.
One of Ex Machina’s most notorious terrorists, with a history of bombing civilian zones for her experiments.
Someone like her had no reason to let those who uncovered her identity live.
Being entirely selfish, what she felt wasn’t gratitude…but fear.
“I’m not going to say sorry.”
Agnes spoke to Immun with a calm face.
“Honestly.”
Immun muttered as he looked at the Planetary Gear pointed at him.
“I didn’t expect that, anyway.”
Flinch!
At that moment, Agnes felt her body begin to seize up.
“What I embedded in your body has properties that cause muscle contraction. It stopped the bleeding, yes, but… there are a few minor side effects. By now, you’ve probably noticed—”
“Ah… ughhhk!”
“—that it tends to paralyze all your muscles.”
Agnes couldn’t even form proper words as her body stiffened.
The Planetary Gear aimed at Immun too merely continued to orbit without firing any beams.
“I am not someone who has the right to judge you. But I also have no right to forgive you.”
Immun recalled the tragedy caused by his very first invention.
The shoe polish he had made had brought down several noble households.
It was toxic.
Not only did it affect the people who wore the shoes. It unknowingly harmed those around them as well.
By the time he realized that truth, it was too late.
There was no one left for him to seek forgiveness from.
The entire family had been wiped out.
His foolishness had killed people.
Even if he wanted to apologize, there was no one left to hear it.
“You likely have no one to seek forgiveness from either. Just from the weapons you launched earlier, I could already tell who you are.”
The firepower, the weapon designs—
They matched the scenes of terror that had appeared in the news multiple times, carried out by Ex Machina.
And she had been the one behind those attacks.
Even though this was their first meeting, that was all Immun needed to know the kind of person Agnes was.
“So at the very least… stand trial. I believe that would be the most fair conclusion for you.”
Immun had done the same.
When he had finally realized the weight of what he’d done, he turned himself in and spent years in prison.
“Hff!”
Immun lifted the now-paralyzed Agnes onto his back.
For someone who had lost an arm, even that simple act was agony.
He couldn’t use the Philosopher’s Stone he had administered to her. Not again.
As he had said, that substance came with serious side effects.
“Oh great Scriptwriter!”
Staggering, Immun pressed forward.
And then, he remembered the old man who had called him over after seeing that infamous shoe polish.
That man had never given Immun direct instruction but had shown him a path so that he could realize things for himself.
Immun remembered it even now.
Though the time was brief, while he had been under Deus, there was something he had carefully observed.
“I believe in you.”
Deus didn’t wear shoes.
So the day he approached Immun asking for a shoe shine, it hadn’t been a coincidence.
He had come looking for him from the very beginning.
Deus had known.
He had been searching for the culprit who had been subtly spreading poison into the world.
And once he found the boy responsible, Deus did not scold him.
He simply let him realize it for himself.
He had judged Immun not for the sin he had committed, but for the potential he still held.
He didn’t scold his ignorance. He didn’t blindly condemn his innocence.
“There must’ve been a misunderstanding.”
To Immun, Deus was a benefactor—
The one who had guided him onto a path where he could come to repentance through his own realization.
And that’s why Immun believed.
Even in this moment, after being cast aside, he had no doubt.
“You’re the closest person I’ve ever seen to the kind of hero I once dreamed of.”
Because he was an ignorant boy.
“I won’t doubt you.”
Thud.
Staggering through the erupting volcanic zone, Immun finally collapsed.
His condition was far from good.
You… were the only one…
As consciousness began to fade, Immun remembered—
The only one who ever saw the true worth in a worthless boy.
He saw again the image of the old man who once smiled at him with that playful expression.
***
– Who would think it’s okay for a child to be holding a sharp blade?
With the erupting volcano behind him, Deus clicked his tongue in regret.
For a mechanical being, it was an oddly human gesture.
– Just moments ago, Immun triggered the eruption to gain the upper hand against Agnes.
“So that was Immun’s doing?”
Even so, the timing of the eruption felt far too precise.
– He subdued Agnes that way and achieved his goal, but can we really call this a success?
“…Hard to say.”
– Before long, the eruption will devastate the local ecosystem. So tell me, Johan…how is what Immun did now any different from when that little brat once made shoe polish with mercury?
“There’s no difference.”
No one died?
That’s no excuse.
Beneath the Veldani Mountains lies an ordinary forest still covered in snow, and in that forest, there must be countless wild animals.
In terms of life, what happened this time is far too massive in scale.
– Then let me ask again, Johan. Are you just going to stand by while a sharp blade sits in a child’s hand?
“……”
– I don’t believe that’s right. Taking it away and making sure they can never hold it again…that’s what should be done.
He wasn’t wrong.
Regardless of intent, what Immun had done had crossed a serious line.
A sharp blade in a child’s hand.
Not an inaccurate metaphor.
But Deus’s argument had a flaw.
Let’s make one thing clear first.
“…Whether it’s a child or an adult, holding a sharp blade looks dangerous all the same.”
It has nothing to do with a person’s maturity.
Just possessing such a weapon is dangerous in itself.
“But you chose to use a child as your reference point. Why is that? It must be because there’s a clear distinction between a child and an adult.”
– Exactly.
“A child is someone to be protected, while an adult is someone who must take responsibility.”
What Immun did falls under a serious act of terrorism.
Compared to the time the boy mixed mercury into shoe polish, this goes far beyond.
There could’ve been people nearby at that moment, after all.
But still…
“Don’t talk as if everything has already gone to hell when there’s still a chance to set things right.”
Everything Deus mentioned was based on a worst-case scenario.
But in reality, what do we see?
We can still take care of things before they spiral out of control.
– Then let’s make a bet. Whether or not this situation can be salvaged. If you win, I’ll admit my fault without complaint and step down.
“Sounds good. I’ll bet that Immun will take responsibility for what happened. If I lose, I’ll answer your question without resistance.”
– Ah, just so you know, Immun has already collapsed. He’s not exactly used to combat, after all. Right now, he’s basically lying on the ground, having achieved nothing.
“So what? People fall down while walking sometimes, don’t they? All they need to do is get back up.”
– Good, very good. I can’t remember the last time I saw you this confident.
“Is that so? I’m actually quite a confident person, believe it or not.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m confident in myself.
I’ve always placed my trust in the people around me. And not once have they betrayed that trust.
At this point, I think I’m allowed to be confident in my judgment.
“Oh, by the way….just to clarify, it’s fine if someone helps him, right? If someone’s fallen, it’s okay to give them a hand getting back up, isn’t it?”
– So you do have a plan. Still, I’ll give you this. You’re quick-witted.
Crash!
In that moment, unidentified steel pillars struck the ground around me.
I couldn’t even tell where they came from. Probably one of Deus’s prized nanomachine technologies.
– I’ll allow it. But you won’t be moving from that spot. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure the lava doesn’t splash over to your side.
“Is that so?”
I mumbled as I tossed a pebble toward the barrier that had deployed around the pillar.
It didn’t conduct electricity or anything. It simply seemed to isolate the inside from the outside.
“Well then, I’ll make myself comfortable.”
He’s trying to keep me from acting?
Looks like Deus still doesn’t understand what kind of person I am.
“I wasn’t planning on moving anyway.”
I’ve always been the kind of person who stands one step away from the stage.
***
In his hazy consciousness,
Immun, who had been lying face-down on the ground, came to his senses at the shadow cast over him and slowly lifted his head.
“Puhihi! Mister, do you need this?”
Before he knew it, a pink-haired girl had appeared before his eyes, holding out a staff.
“Thanks. I was just in need of something to lean on.”
Immun took the staff, which was the Rack and Pinion Gear, that Yuna handed him and pushed himself up to his feet.
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