For Valetta, being toyed with by Finn during the Great Strife three years ago was the greatest disgrace of her life. Hearing it thrown in her face again sent her temper flaring out of control.
"Your temper's even worse than I expected. No wonder you came to ambush Tiona and Tione," the faceless figure said mildly. "The ones lying in wait at the Great Azure Falls aren't just you, are they?"
Valetta snorted. "You think I'd tell you?"
"Fair. As an enemy, you're not likely to share your arrangements. And even if you did, I wouldn't take your word for it."
"Then why waste breath?"
"No need to," he agreed.
Valetta drew a deep breath. So this was the prelude to torture, then—
She froze. With a snap of his fingers, a strange worm appeared in midair and began inching through the empty space toward her forehead.
What is that?
"This is a Memory Worm," the figure said. "It searches your brain for fragments I specify—and it can alter what it finds. By the way, everything I'm telling you now will be erased once the edit is done. Trying to 'remember' will be pointless."
"Like hell!" Valetta's face drained. Loki Familia's rookie had power this bizarre? Wasn't his whole thing puppets? What was this?
As the worm neared her head, Valetta burst her magic to the limit. The worm's motion slowed.
"Useless," he said. "The worm works on memory. It has no power of its own—only a particular trait: extreme resistance to magic. Adventurers who can't move always try blasting it off with mana, so I set it from the start to ignore most magical interference. All your effort will do is slow it down."
Damn it!
She watched helplessly as it crawled the last inches. Suppressing it with everything she had only thickened the syrupy slowness—along with the terror of feeling her consciousness slipping away.
The instant the worm touched her, Valetta's eyes rolled back. Her awareness vanished.
Tiona and Tione watched the whole thing. "So this is that space ability? Even someone like Valetta… pinned and neutralized so easily."
Tiona swallowed. A Level 5—one tier above them—was beyond the two sisters even with their stats maxed. Valetta had been infamous three years ago; taking her down would never be easy for them.
And yet, by freezing the space around her and siccing a beast on her mind, Tsunayoshi had completely disabled her.
"Idiot," Tione snapped at Tiona's tone. "You think space manipulation is a toy? Ever seen anyone in Orario with magic like this?"
Tiona paused—then grinned. "Not a single one."
Her eyes slid to Tsunayoshi. Of course only he could do something like this.
"Special," Tione said softly, pride tugging at her mouth. "He's special."
Overhearing, Tsunayoshi scratched his cheek, a little embarrassed, but he didn't stop working. He guided the worm deeper.
"Found it."
The sisters straightened. The worm spun gossamer threads, drawing out the harvested fragments and weaving them into a crystal-clear cocoon.
Tsunayoshi plucked the Memory Cocoon and pressed it to his brow. From Valetta's viewpoint, the entire setup blossomed in his mind.
"I see." He exhaled. "This was a simple revenge op against the Loki Familia—or more precisely, against Finn. They learned you were chasing Great Feats by hunting Amphisbaena and decided to grab you two. If they'd succeeded, the blow to the familia aboveground would've been massive—compensation for their failure with Astraea."
As for why the dark faction was so confident they could take the sisters? The answer was simple: Valetta had prepared to trigger a Janitor event.
Tsunayoshi glanced at the unconscious woman, and even he let out a low whistle. "Thorough."
"Tiona, Tione—come take a look."
"Okay!" The sisters leaned in. Two threads unspooled from the cocoon and touched their foreheads, playing back Valetta's arrangements.
They finished with clammy palms. Tiona patted her chest, relief and fear tangled together. "Good thing we dragged you along today. If it was just us, we were done for."
Caught by the dark faction, turned into leverage—if that had happened, it was over. Tione agreed—and knew that even if the captain had come instead of Tsunayoshi, he might have stepped right into this, too.
"So, from now on, you two move with more care," Tsunayoshi said. The dark faction hunted the isolated. Watch your trail and don't act alone, and most dangers drop away.
"I'll never go alone again," Tiona said at once. Then, after a beat, "Tsunayoshi, how about teaming up with us from now on?"
Thinking of today's brush with disaster made her shiver. The Dungeon wasn't "safe," and bigger parties were better. And to her, Tsunayoshi was the safest teammate there was.
He considered the dark faction's habits, then nodded. "All right."
"Yay!" Tiona bounced. "So what now? Do we get our payback?"
"Of course. If they can ambush us, we can hit back." Tsunayoshi's smile sharpened. "Tiona, Tione—get ready."
"Okay!!!" the sisters chorused, spirits blazing.
"Next," Tsunayoshi said, eyes hardening, "we retaliate."
(End of Chapter)
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