"Lutecia! Stop that!"
"I told you not to move, old hag! This isn't a bluff!"
Lutecia held the knife to her own throat. The top layer of skin was cut, and a small amount of blood began to flow. If Azenda gave the order, she would scatter the red liquid.
"Ugh! I-I understand. I'll do as you say. I'll do as you say, so...!"
"You just need to not do anything, and you'll be fine. But if you move next time, you know what will happen to the kid there, right?"
Megane nodded with a bitter expression. She clenched her fists, her body trembling. In truth, she wanted to rush forward right now.
However, the weight of You on her back held her body back just barely.
In the distance, the sound of gunfire could be heard.
"Tch, that guy, don't you dare lose from firing too many useless shots. I won't take responsibility."
There was a shadow that attacked the spitting Azenda.
"Whoa, that was close."
It was Yami, who had taken advantage of the opening to punch, but she was easily stopped by Vivio, who had stepped in between them.
"Hey, hey, I told you. This is the start of Golden Darkness's humiliation show. You're just an ingredient now. You're a sack of meat to be cooked by me. Get it?"
"...I don't recall agreeing to that."
"That's not it. That's not how it works, Golden Darkness. The moment you couldn't punch this little girl when you first came to this world. You already agreed."
Vivio's knee-kick compressed Yami's internal organs. Her vital organs screamed a terrible protest.
Even when being manipulated, a person's physical abilities can be supported with magic. Although Vivio liked martial arts as a sport, she would never use meaningless violence.
"—cough, hah."
Yami, who was caught completely off guard and unprepared for an attack, had her toes leave the ground from the impact of the kick.
There was no strength in the feet that landed. She held her stomach and fell onto her hands and knees. Unable to even scream, she simply tried to gasp for air.
Azenda squatted beside the gasping Yami.
"Help won't come. That guy you're so friendly with is probably being attacked by someone else right now."
"I'm not... friendly with him..."
"Oh? Is that so. Well, I guess I was wrong about that. But there's no way he could get here on his own, not in a million years."
She said it with an unusual amount of confidence.
"This is a world I created. The world inside a mirror, created by my Stand, 'Man in the Mirror'!"
"A Stand...!?"
The bitter memory of her battle with Red Hot Chili Pepper came back to her. High-voltage electricity had temporarily sealed her Transform ability, putting her in a difficult situation.
But unlike that time, she hadn't been hit by any electricity.
"Didn't I say it? This is my world. I can decide what comes in and what goes out. If you had such a dangerous thing as your Transform ability, I couldn't torture you the way I want. I wouldn't be able to get my revenge as I wish."
Megane could only tilt her head, completely unable to understand. Azenda shook her head, as if to say her understanding was lacking.
"What do you think I dragged you into here for? If I dragged in a 'thing that can fight' along with you, I would be in danger, wouldn't I?"
"A thing that can fight? ...! No way!?"
Megane's face turned pale as she finally understood their current situation.
The reason Megane felt a little out of breath was because her body was always being supported, if only a little, by magic.
The reason You's condition suddenly worsened was because her connection to the Life Catalog Genome Tree was severed. Without the Genome Tree, You's body was so weak that it was difficult for her to live a normal life.
The reason Yami couldn't use Transform was because Man in the Mirror had refused its entry into the world.
"Nothing I haven't permitted can enter here... I only allowed your 'bodies' to enter... I didn't permit any other special powers... A 'world inside a mirror' where I can act safely and invincible... that is my Stand—"
The Stand's vision appeared and kicked Yami in the face.
"Agh!"
"—'Man in the Mirror'!"
Yami fell to the ground. Her pure white dress was completely dirty and torn. What's more, the bottom half was dangerously exposed, but Yami didn't have the luxury of caring.
"The last time we fought, you were a cold, machine-like thing. And what is this now—"
Azenda touched Vivio's face, almost licking it. She brought her face closer, and a thick tongue, fitting for her plump body, came close to touching Vivio.
"You've been softened by this little girl, and you've become so pathetic. Haha! This is what they mean by laughter that you can't stop!"
Seeing that, Yami clenched her fists, pounded the ground, and stood up on her trembling legs. The damage seemed to be great, as she was still holding her stomach.
Seeing Yami still having the will to resist, Azenda, the master of this world, wore a sadistic smile.
She had no intention of ending her suffering quickly. She would break her down thoroughly, for as long as time allowed, and in every way she could think of.
"Just killing you won't be satisfying—I want to see your crying face, Golden Darkness...!"
Yami's movements in response were significantly heavy.
----------
Fate hid behind a shelf to escape the gunshots. She had suddenly been thrown into a world where everything was horizontally inverted. Although she was confused, when attacked by a large man with a gun, she had no time to think.
Fate recognized the man's face. He was one of the members of a criminal group she had arrested before the Sixth Division was formed. It was not a group simply connected by profit, but an entire family of criminals.
Unfortunately, she had failed to capture one person, but she had captured the most troublesome person, the mother, and had taken over the scene.
She quickly understood that the reason for the attack was revenge. And that it was a good opportunity to finish the job she had left undone.
However,
(I can't feel any magic at all... What's wrong with my body?)
Even if she wanted to fight back, he was in full gear. In contrast, Fate didn't have her partner device, Bardiche, and couldn't use her greatest power, magic.
(I should be able to use magic even without my device, but something like this...)
Her thoughts about why she was being attacked and if Sho was okay were forced to an end by the hand grenade that rolled at her feet.
"!"
Normally, she would have blocked it with her Barrier Jacket and Protection, but she was now in her normal clothes. She rolled to the side to avoid it. However, since she was wearing denim pants that were not easy to move in, she couldn't completely avoid it, and a fragment pierced her leg.
(It's okay, it's not deep!)
She felt some pain, but it wasn't enough to stop her from moving.
As the smoke cleared, she heard the sound of footsteps running toward her. He had a lot of equipment, so he had no intention of attacking quietly.
(In that case, I'll use something else as a weapon...!)
There were various things around her. Just throwing the products on the shelf would be enough to serve as a distraction.
(Why?! Why won't it move?!)
No matter if she pushed or pulled, the box of chocolate-filled snacks didn't budge.
And it was for a reason. Inside the "Man in the Mirror," objects could only be moved by the main body, Azenda, or the Stand vision, Man in the Mirror itself.
And when Azenda dragged them into the mirror, she could decide what to allow in.
Inside "Man in the Mirror," only things that Azenda had permitted could be brought in. And that wasn't just physical objects. Fate's magic, her device's functions, and weapons for fighting were all sealed.
However, the same was true for the weapons the man was carrying. These were all permitted by Azenda, but once he used them all up, the man, her comrade, would be unarmed.
The man also knew this. Therefore, he wouldn't play around like Azenda.
If magic couldn't be used, the conditions for the man and Fate were equal. And with the added advantage of knowing the mechanism of the Stand beforehand, the man would not lose.
"It's for your own good to stop your useless resistance, Golden Reaper."
"Tch...!"
The man held his gun steady, not letting his guard down. The loaded bullets would create countless holes in Fate in less than a second.
Fate became unable to move, as if she were being stared down by a carnivorous beast.
"Stands are amazing. The day would come when the Golden Reaper would be crawling on the ground before me... Finally. I can finally avenge my family."
"(A Stand... even here?) As expected, your goal is to avenge your family!"
Even without a weapon, Fate suppressed her heart that was about to be filled with anxiety at the word Stand, and glared at the man bravely.
"This is useless! Even if you take me hostage, there's no way your family who are in prison can be released..."
"Don't be mistaken. You're the one who will be putting in the effort to have them released."
"Huh?"
Fate couldn't understand what the man was saying.
"If you can't obey, then so be it. You will lose your family just like me."
"!! Y-you...!"
"I've done my research. Your daughter is on this trip, in this very place. And that woman will capture your daughter in this world, too."
"Vivio has nothing to do with this! If you're going to do something, do it to me only!"
"You're the one who started it. You're the one who took my family away. If that's the case, I won't feel like it's fair unless you suffer the same fate."
His reasoning was too selfish. In the first place, if his family hadn't been criminals, they wouldn't have been arrested.
But there was no point in explaining common sense to someone with different values.
There was no room for negotiation.
Even without a weapon, she had to do something.
A flash of light crossed Fate's vision. Next, she felt a lukewarm, slippery liquid. It was flowing from her right shoulder.
"—!"
The man pulled the trigger without any hesitation.
"I won't kill you. This is indeed that woman's invincible space, but I don't know where the weaknesses might be."
"Ugh..."
She held her gun wound on her right shoulder. She bit her lip to keep from screaming. Cold sweat appeared on her forehead, and her vision became blurry. Even so, she didn't avert her gaze.
"It's a hassle if you resist. I'll make your limbs useless. Depending on the situation, I might have to fight the Ace of Aces right after this."
"Nanoha...!"
The face of her childhood friend, who was not in this place, came to her mind.
However, even if she were here, the situation wouldn't have changed. Not for her, who also used magic as her main force, just like Fate.
Next, the face of the boy she had been with just moments ago came to mind. The boy who told her to leave it to him if a Stand appeared.
"Next is this."
The gun aimed at her right leg fired.
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