Chapter 123: Victory

"..." I watch Tanya return to the fight. She fires a massive beam of heat at me, but I reflect it by dragging the sky. Eirwen protects them by forming a wall as I notice that my nose is bleeding.

’Just because this is a simulation doesn’t mean I can fight however I want...’ I’m using my spatial powers too much. It’s frying my brain, and I’m glad this is only a simulation and I’m not actually suffering these injuries.

"..." I reset my shoulder, feeling a slight pain as I move my arm, seeing that it helped despite my muscles aching.

They move away from the ice barrier using Charlotte’s rifts. I kick a steel beam loose from the ground and throw it at Tanya with all my strength.

Charlotte tries to create a rift to protect her, but I interrupt it. Tanya barely catches the steel beam as she’s pushed backward, but that’s all I needed.

I throw more steel beams I find on the ground at them. Since they’re support structures, there are plenty of them among these ruins. Tanya runs while Eirwen tries to protect her with walls of ice, but without having spread her cold throughout the entire area, Eirwen’s range is quite limited.

Ashlyn creates her shadows to attack me, but I charge at the shadow, grab it, and use all my strength to push with it as a shield against Charlotte’s shots.

I reach Ashlyn, who uses her rifle as a shield to stop my punch, but she’s thrown to the ground, and before she can get back up, my tail spins like a drill and pierces through her head, killing her instantly. The simulator removes her from the simulation just like it did Edith.

"Urgh!" They don’t stop their attack. I feel a beam of heat pierce through my abdomen from one side to the other. The burning sensation is unpleasant, but ironically, it’s the least relevant attack possible.

’It was so hot that it cauterized the wounds the moment it passed through...’ The melted flesh itself prevents the bleeding, even though it’s an injury that would need a lot of care. I just slap a quick bandage over the wound and turn toward them, dragging the sky into a wall to block more of Tanya’s heat beams.

"Professor Zenith, give up! You’re not going to win, and you’ve only beaten the weakest ones!" Tanya says arrogantly.

’So that’s what she thinks?...It seems they’re still not ready...’ I didn’t get rid of the weakest ones. I got rid of the one who made medicine to treat their wounds, and I got rid of the one who provided support whenever everything went wrong, like when I threw the ice grenade back at Eirwen and Ashlyn made one of her shadows swallow the grenade so it wouldn’t hurt an ally.

Besides, the fewer of them there are, the less pressure they’re capable of putting on me.

’I need to get rid of Charlotte now...it’ll be easier without having to deal with six.’ I put my hand behind me and drag it forward, pulling several ruined buildings and debris toward me before throwing them at them. Eirwen forms a dome of ice to protect Tanya and Rouge, but Charlotte stays outside, protecting herself with a massive rift.

"...!!" I close the distance between us with ease, reaching her. She barely dodges a punch, and I dodge one of her shots.

"It was a mistake to separate like this, Charlotte." Charlotte tries to create rifts at my position. What would be lethal to most people is easy for me to dodge because we both have spatial powers. I’m the worst possible kind of enemy for her.

"Aaahhh!!" She lets out a little scream when my tail grabs her leg and crushes it. I grab her hand and twist it to the side, making her miss her shot.

"No hesitation, that was a good shot." I steal her weapon and point it at her head. She creates a rift that changes the direction of the shot, making it appear behind me and aimed at my head. I dodge and shoot her in the stomach, breaking her concentration.

Then I shoot her in the forehead, finishing Charlotte. Only three left now. Just as I imagined, the fewer of them there are, the easier this gets.

"Your strategy as a group of six was very good, but it relies too much on having allies there to help." I murmur for the ones outside the simulator to hear as I put a hand to my forehead, feeling dizzy.

’...This is bad...’ I taste blood in my mouth. It’s the poison Edith used on me. I have no idea what it was, but it seems to be worsening my condition, which is already starting to deteriorate because of the chip in my brain.

Rouge leaves the ice dome, using the air like two thrusters on her legs to move. She flies above me, firing blades of wind that I barely dodge. I try to pull the sky down to bring her down, but Tanya fires at me from inside the ice dome, forcing me to defend myself against her while dodging Rouge’s attacks.

"..." Tanya’s attacks have become absurdly more aggressive now that she has fewer allies to worry about.

’Rouge is in the air, and Eirwen is stabilizing the temperature...I need to take out Eirwen first. I won’t be able to kill Tanya yet. She’s learned to defend herself against damage very well.’ Surprisingly, the most rebellious one was the one who learned everything I taught them the best.

I pick up a stone from the ground and throw it hard at Rouge, making her stop and dodge. I take advantage of that to drag the sky into a ceiling and a distant wall, blocking Tanya’s attacks.

’Not bad.’ Tanya throws an ice grenade at me. Once Eirwen prepares the grenades, there is no need for her to be the one using them. The grenade hits the ceiling, explodes, and spreads cold.

Ice begins to form and violently spread across the ceiling, reaching all the way down and coming toward me. Eirwen’s control over her powers has increased splendidly.

I get close enough to the ice dome to reach Tanya, where we have a brief exchange of punches. Rouge can’t attack without risking hitting Tanya, so she descends extremely quickly with an explosion of air.

"..." I stomp on the ground with force, tearing a chunk of stone loose, which my tail grabs, crushes, and throws dust and small debris at Rouge. She loses her direction and ends up crashing into the dome’s ice wall, breaking through it.

I kick Tanya with all my strength. She blocks with her hands but is sent flying backward. I take advantage of that to enter the ice dome, where it’s extremely cold.

"P-Professor!!" Eirwen sees me and immediately fires ice spikes at me. I give a slight spin, dragging the sky and sending the ice spikes back at her as even faster projectiles. She creates an ice wall that cracks under the impact of the sharp spikes.

I move closer before she can retreat and create some distance. Tanya comes through the opening, and Rouge uses the air to try to reach me quickly.

"..." I warp the sky, cutting the distance between the three of us. All of them become confused and collide with one another, falling to the ground. I take advantage of that to grab Eirwen by the throat.

And before she can freeze me just by being close, I point the pistol at her and fire several times into her head just to make sure she can’t do anything, not even on reflex.

’Tsk...I didn’t take Charlotte’s spare magazine...’ I throw the empty gun aside. Only Tanya and Rouge are left, but my vision is so blurry now that all I can see are two vague shapes.

Purely out of military reflex, I grab something thrown at me and realize it’s an extremely hot steel beam. It melts beneath my hands like glowing red liquid.

I block a kick from Rouge, but I hear the crack of my prosthetics. Since this is only a simulation, the "self-repair" isn’t nearly as good as what the cube does, so the prosthetic cracks.

"..." I use all my strength to tear space apart, splitting Rouge in two along with the entire ice dome and several nearby structures. I hear the groan of the ice sliding and crashing to the ground with a thunderous boom, shattering into countless pieces.

"Only you are left, Tanya." I could’ve sworn she wouldn’t be the last one. Who would’ve thought she’d improved this much?

"Wrong, Professor. We won."

"...That’s quite a bold statement."

"You’re tired, Professor. Edith did her job well. Do you really think you can defend yourself against me? Especially now that I’m alone?"

"...!!!"

’Damn it...’ I realize the mistake I made. I got rid of all the shields that were preventing Tanya from attacking at full power. I try to drag space to create a wall, but the air becomes so hot that I feel like my skin is frying.

Tanya unleashes an enormous beam of heat, and I don’t even have time to react. I simply appear outside the simulator.

"...Hahaha...I died." I let out a strangely proud laugh. Tanya seemed like a much smaller threat than she actually was. Having her hold back made me forget just how wide her range is and how hot she can make an environment.

"..." I look at the five girls watching the screen, then glance at the display and see that Tanya completely melted all the nearby ruins, turning the place into a blazing hell of molten metal and rock.

"You won." I say it to the five of them, who look at me with victorious smiles, having won this time.

’I should have taken out Tanya before Rouge...but I’m not going to take away their achievement. They fooled me well...even though this strategy was built around everyone except Tanya being killed, they learned that you don’t always win with everyone alive...they’ve grown well.’ I lie down on the floor, exhausted from the simulation, while Tanya is also removed from the simulation with an extremely arrogant smile.

"WE WON!!" she shouts, jumping on top of the others with incredible excitement. I decide not to complain or criticize them. Even if it’s a strategy that relies on sacrifice, it’s their achievement, and they managed to win. It was only a simulation, anyway. No one died, and they deserve to feel that their efforts paid off.