Chapter 9: Wishes

“Um… Master…”

“Hm?”

Fifina’s voice suddenly came through the earpiece.

For some reason, Ephnel felt that Fifina’s tone today was unnaturally weary.

“The story you told me before, about your hometown… could you tell it to me again…?”

“Huh? Why bring that up all of a sudden…”

“It’s just… I suddenly wanted to talk to you, Master. You’ve been so busy lately… Besides missions, it’s been a long time since we’ve had a proper chat… Is… that okay?”

“What’s there to be okay or not okay about?”

Ephnel let out a laugh, gently closing her eyes.

Has she been busy lately?

Although Fifina said so, Ephnel herself wasn’t really conscious of it.

As an Agent, Ephnel had always been a fast-acting type.

She single-handedly took on more than half of the usual missions.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call her a workaholic.

But to her, these were things that had to be done sooner or later, things she couldn’t escape.

She preferred to be proactive rather than passive.

And… as long as she could eliminate the danger, then no one else would get hurt.

This had always been the strength that drove her.

“I see…”

She lowered her head, leaning on her spear, resting her forehead on the back of her hand.

“Well, anyway, my hometown is a really boring place, not much of a story to tell… How about you, Fifina? I heard you got a good place in a competition, is that right?”

“Eek… You knew about that, Master?”

“How was it? Now that you’ve finally won the trophy, did you tell your parents?”

Fifina’s parents worked in a neighboring city.

She lived in Seikyo City with her grandmother.

After her grandmother passed away, she chose not to cross the dangerous regions outside the city to return to her parents, instead planning to stay here and finish her first year of high school.

This was all what Fifina had told Ephnel.

“That kind of thing is hard to bring up…”

“What does it matter? It’s the violin you love, and you’ve been recognized by everyone. It’s okay to be a little more confident.”

“That’s true… but… when it’s something you love so much, and one day you finally get to hold it in your hands as you’ve always wished, you can’t help but feel a little lost… as if it might slip away. It just feels a bit unreal…”

“What’s wrong with that?”

Ephnel smiled.

“Joy and happiness aren’t anything special. Just enjoy them as a matter of course.”

“Umm…”

Fifina suddenly went silent.

‘She probably doesn’t know what to say next, right?’

Fifina had always been a bit indirect like that; Ephnel had long since realized this.

After an unknown amount of time, Fifina’s delicate voice came through.

“Master… have you ever experienced it…?”

“What?”

“A gift you’ve dreamed of, a person you’ve wanted to get closer to… suddenly appearing before you one day… a wish finally coming true… something like that…”

“Well… I don’t really remember.”

Putting aside gifts for a moment, the “person she wanted to get closer to” that first came to Ephnel’s mind was her sister.

But unfortunately, due to a series of events, her relationship with her sister was far from what it used to be.

Looking back, all her memories were of them coexisting peacefully.

It probably wasn’t a time that could be called a “dream” anymore.

Although they were “siblings” living under the same roof, the distance between them was growing ever more distant.

“I see. That sounds like something you would say, Master…”

Fifina’s voice faded in and out, then she fell silent.

The air returned to quiet.

“By the way, Fifina.”

Ephnel paused, then suddenly asked:

“I’ve been a little concerned for a while now, so just to confirm, are you… alright?”

“Huh?”

The other end of the line seemed startled.

A brief silence, then a laugh of unclear meaning.

“I’m fine, Master. What are you referring to?”

“I see… Your voice sounded a little off to me…”

“Maybe… it’s signal interference? Master, are you getting a little stressed?”

‘Is she starting to feel fatigued?’

If fatigue continued to accumulate and she couldn’t concentrate, she might eventually lose her resonance with “Order.”

The result would be a forced deactivation of her “Exile Form,” and the loss of the “Power of Order’s” support.

“There is a little… After all, maintaining ‘sync’ makes it unavoidable… But! This level is completely fine!”

Fifina replied.

It really didn’t sound like she was lying.

Ephnel secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

An Agent’s physical functions are enhanced by the Power of Order, granting them abilities far beyond those of ordinary people.

Enhanced vision is one aspect of this.

However, the degree of an Agent’s physical enhancement varies from person to person.

Among them, only Fifina possessed the ability to specialize and amplify her vision to the extreme for ultra-long-range reconnaissance.

With Fifina’s help, Ephnel was able to successfully grasp the initiative in such a vast combat zone.

Honestly, if something were to really happen to Fifina, Ephnel would truly be in a passive position.

The core strength of the Agents, led by Seiran, was absent.

The Agents present were all less experienced, just like Fifina.

It was too much to ask these juniors to handle a Special A-grade Erosion disaster.

The combat power they could muster was stretched far too thin.

The continuous high-intensity battle had pushed them to their physical and mental limits.

If an accident were to occur at this point, even in the final stages, there could be casualties—an outcome Ephnel did not want to see.

“I see, that’s good… Thank you for your hard work. Please hold on a little longer. I’m counting on you for the time ahead.”

“It’s my honor, Master! Shion will complete the mission, no matter what!”

Fuurin Shion, that was Fifina’s real name.

“It’s always so relaxing and pleasant to chat with you… But it’s about time to get back to work.”

“I… also… really like… talking with you, Master…”

Fifina’s intermittent voice came through the earpiece.

Grinning, without giving it much thought, Ephnel propped herself up with her spear and managed to stand.

“The break is about over. Tell the others to hang in there. We’re starting the counterattack. Also, have Erenshia gather her people and prepare to evacuate the building and rendezvous with us.”

Ephnel took a deep breath and gave the order.

On top of Seikyo Tower.

The high-altitude wind was biting cold.

From here, one could see most of Seikyo City.

At this moment, at the top of the tower, Fifina was leaning weakly.

Half of her body was soaked in blood.

The sleeve of her right arm was gone from the shoulder down, leaving only a horrifying severed wound, a large bloodstain, and a crude bandage.

A pool of red blood had formed beneath her.

She weakly put down the communicator in her left hand, her breathing trembling.

Her face was pale from blood loss.

If one were to ask who was in the worst condition in this battle, it was undoubtedly Fifina.

Her specialty was support and reconnaissance; her fighting style had always been guerilla tactics and maneuvering.

But in this short-handed Erosion disaster, she had been forced to stand at the forefront of the defensive line, weathering the impact of a large number of Erosion organisms.

Long before Ephnel had contacted her, she had already lost her right arm and had nearly been surrounded by Erosion organisms.

If Ephnel hadn’t arrived and dealt with the giant Erosion organism in the sky, she would have undoubtedly died here.

Unable to fight, the only thing she could still do was become the person Ephnel needed for her strategy.

So she came here.

But she didn’t tell Ephnel about her condition.

Because the current situation no longer allowed her to make any other choice.

Everything was a mess.

Ephnel needed someone to be her “eyes” for command, and that person could only be Fifina, with her maximally enhanced vision.

If she didn’t do it, and the defensive line collapsed, thousands of lives would be devoured by the Erosion organisms.

Between her own life and the lives of thousands, she had already lost the freedom to choose.

Having lost an arm, even bandaging herself was extremely difficult.

She had neither emergency equipment nor medical personnel nearby.

The only thing she could do was apply crude, emergency hemostasis, but this hasty treatment couldn’t stop the loss of her body heat.

Even an Agent couldn’t ignore such a severe injury.

“Master…”

Her vision was starting to blur.

She gazed into the distance, murmuring to herself.

The cleanup operation went smoothly.

After the “Whale” disappeared, the endless stream of “Erosion organisms” on the streets ceased.

By evening, the “Erosion organisms” and “Remnants” had been cleared out by the Agents.

With that, this disaster was considered over.

Ephnel stood on a pile of collapsed ruins, looking at the half-demolished “Order” headquarters building in the distance.

She leaned on her spear, panting, her body screaming in protest.

She was exhausted, her stamina nearly depleted, and her body was on the brink of danger due to blood loss.

Similarly, the Agents who had participated in the final mop-up operation were all sitting on the ground, resting and catching their breath.

Although their combat strength was severely lacking, they had somehow managed to get through it this time.

But…

Fifina had fallen completely silent a few minutes ago, no matter how much Ephnel called out to her.

This left her agitated, and a sense of unease grew rapidly in her heart.

With the final mop-up operation successfully completed, Ephnel’s main concern shifted from the Erosion disaster to her direct junior.

Ephnel looked at the other Agents nearby.

These juniors were exhausted from the final battle.

Several of them couldn’t even stop themselves from deactivating their “Exile Form” and collapsing on the ground.

Only a handful were still fully mobile.

In such a high-pressure battle, it was a miracle that there were no fatalities.

But in return, almost everyone was injured.

Ephnel looked at an Agent girl not far away.

“Lily, I’m going to check on Fifina’s condition. If anything comes up, let me know through the comms.”

“Eh? O-Okay…”

Casually assigning the task to a junior, Ephnel glanced up at the distant sky, gritted her teeth, and, clutching her spear, ran towards Seikyo Tower.

From Seikyo Tower, one could see most of Seikyo City.

The high-altitude wind was as sharp as a knife, scraping against her cheeks.

The wind howled.

Suppressing the unease in her heart, Ephnel climbed upwards.

She reached the top of the tower.

Her unease became reality.

The girl’s figure lay right before her eyes.

It was Fifina.

Or rather, Fuurin Shion.

Her entire right arm was gone.

Her “sync” had been deactivated.

Her school uniform was filthy, and bloodstains dyed half of her body crimson, dripping from the edges and scattering in the wind.

Only a hasty, even crude, strip of cloth was tied around her severed right shoulder.

She lay motionless on the cold platform, still clutching the communicator in her left hand.

Ephnel froze.