Gabriel kept his composure. He could tell from the tremor in Elena Kasner's eyes that she was more afraid of them than they were of her.
"K-Knight! S-save m-me!" Dr. Otto stammered.
Elena tightened her grip, pressing the crystalline edge of her nails closer to his skin as she slowly backed toward the door.
"Stay where you are," she warned. "That's right. Between me and him, there's a lot more this city would lose with his death than with mine."
"...."
Gabriel didn't deny it. She wasn't wrong. Dr. Otto's death would be catastrophic for Munich.
After all, he was one of Munich's leading cybernetic surgeons and oversaw half of the city's medical augmentation research. His death would send shockwaves through both the government and the private sector.
But Gabriel also knew a moment of hesitation could be just as costly.
Through the terminal, the voices of the rest of the Knights echoed.
——We heard it loud and clear. Currently retconning. Stall her as long as you can.
Gabriel didn't answer. Even a whisper could set her off, who was inching backward toward the exit, her hand still pressed to Dr. Otto's throat.
"Sir… Knight!" the doctor gasped.
Gabriel tapped his fingers against the side of his leg. Each tap matched Elena's step, relaying her position through the terminal's subsonic channel. The Revenant Knights waiting outside the door received every signal.
Elena was nearly there.
The moment her heel brushed against the door, Gabriel's taps grew rapid.
——Go.
A high-frequency pulse resounded. The door blew open. The Revenant Knights stormed through in perfect synchronization. Their visors flared with red tracking lines as magnetic restraints snapped online.
Elena staggered from the blast. But even then, she didn't release Dr. Otto. Her arm remained locked around his neck, her crystalline nails pressed just enough to draw blood.
"I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!" Dr. Otto's voice broke into frantic sobs.
The Knights moved in, forming a tight semicircle around her. From their gauntlets, the Null-Field Resonator activated, a specialized piece of Revenant Knight technology designed for Glasshearts.
The air vibrated as silver light sparkled from the emitters. It was an electromagnetic interference wave that disrupted crystalline neural conduction, the very thing that allowed Glasshearts to weaponize their bodies.
Elena's body tensed immediately. Her skin fractured in response to the field. Thin lines of crystal light crawled across her body as she struggled to keep her balance.
"Let him go," one of the Knights warned, stepping closer. "The Null-Field's already destabilizing your body. One more step, and your body will collapse in on itself."
But what Elena did next shattered every expectation.
———!
Her crystalline nail drove straight into Dr. Otto's neck.
A gasp escaped his lips as blood splattered across the sheets. The doctor's body went rigid, then slackened in her grasp.
"Damn it!" Gabriel barked. "Move in, now!"
The Revenant Knights moved forward instantly. Photon sabers were useless against Glasshearts. But Revenant Knights often carried retractable steel blades.
Elena threw her hand up. Glass shards burst from her palm. The shards ricocheted across the room, slicing through furniture, embedding into the walls.
One Knight raised his arm, activating an energy dampener on his forearm guard. The shards shattered against the field, but several found their marks. One pierced a Knight's leg, and another caught the edge of Gabriel's coat.
Those uninjured moved as one, rushing in to disarm her. But Elena moved faster.
She dropped to all fours, crawling across the bloodstained floor with inhuman agility. Her joints bent at impossible angles as she darted between the Knights like a wild animal.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The magnetic field was slowing her down. Elena's blood dripped from her mouth. She knew that if she stayed any longer, she would soon meet her end.
Elena lunged toward Gabriel and slashed. Gabriel deflected her claws with his blade and kicked her in the stomach. Elena staggered back, but Gabriel moved faster, disarming her and grabbing her by the neck.
His nanite gauntlet tightened its grip until her face began to turn purple.
Elena bit into his gauntlet with her crystalline teeth. Gabriel winced in pain as sparks ignited from the nanites on his wrist.
Then, all of a sudden, Elena slammed the back of her crystalline head into the ground again and again.
The floor cracked on the first impact, split on the second, and shattered on the third.
Crackle——
Both of them fell through the collapsing floor and crashed into the second level below.
Dust and debris filled the air. Gabriel groaned, rolling to his side as fragments of shattered crystal scattered across the ground.
"Sir Knight, I never asked to be born like this."
"...."
"...I never asked to be born at all."
By the time he looked up, Elena was already gone.
She had used the fall as cover and escaped.
——Target confirmed. Currently en route.
Fortunately, the Knights stationed outside had already sealed off the exits.
"Don't let her escape!" Gabriel ordered.
Through the shattered window above, Gabriel climbed out after her.
As he ran, the pieces began to align in his head. The professor and the secretary had no criminal history. But the rest of the Manticore's victims had once been accused of abuse, harassment, or rape. Some cases had even been filed by prostitutes… but none of them ever won.
Gabriel's expression darkened as the realization sank in.
Elena Kasner was far from innocent, but this didn't add up. The professor's and the secretary's deaths were different. The Manticore's victims were always mauled and torn apart, enough that it left no doubt about the brutality behind them.
But this was clearly different.
They weren't her doing.
"There's a third party…"
Someone else had orchestrated the suicides. Someone who already knew what Elena Kasner truly was, and wanted her framed for it, and exposed as the Manticore.
* * *
A week ago.
Julius sat by the window, watching the rain trail down the glass. His reflection stared back at him, eyes half-lidded with boredom.
"You," Julius said without bothering to look up.
"Y-Yes, Young Master?" the driver stammered.
"We're far enough. Turn the car around."
"P-Pardon?"
"I'm not going back to Berlin."
"But Sir Gabriel—"
Julius finally turned his gaze toward the rearview mirror. "Who do you work for? Gabriel… or me?"
The driver froze. "....You, Young Master."
Julius had read through every article, every post, and every digital trace he could find from a time that had yet to be through SIBYL's projection.
The killer had never been caught, and after its final killing, its activities abruptly stopped, as if the Manticore just disappeared.
Now, he had more or less grasped the situation.
"Drive to Prinzregentenstraße," Julius said.
"What?"
"Just do as I say, no questions asked."
"...Understood, Young Master."
"And if Gabriel ever asks, you tell him I've been safely taken back to Berlin."
In his previous life, there was no one in history who had killed more Glasshearts than Julius Sebastian Schneider.
The Manticore was just another walk in the park.
When the car finally stopped at Prinzregentenstraße, Julius stepped out and soon found himself standing in front of a looming gate.
He straightened his coat, walked up to the intercom, and spoke calmly.
"Greetings," he said. "I'm here for an audience with the mayor."