Butcher Demon

She shoves the straw puppet into her pocket and turns around.

“InoRyder?”

“Hehe, ayoo”

InoRyder peeked in through the peephole.

A beep sounded and the door opened easily.

“Are you alone? What about the security? How did you even get here?”

The room Abigail was in is up on the upper floors of the Central Headquarters building. It was under the direct control of Penrose, an area that prohibited even the executive level of the 88, let alone the general public.

“Damn. I never thought that shorty is a talented hacker–“

InoRyder turns her gaze around.

“It was a mind-blowing feat. He broke through multiple layers of security instantly without running a single programs. How did he do that? If I had that kind of skill, I’d never need to work again for the rest of my life. I’m jealous.”

“Natsuki told you that, didn’t she?”

“Yes. I haven’t told anyone about it, so don’t worry. Just me. Natsuki told me that Abby was very strict about not telling anyone, she was very smart to obediently follow your instructions. If I casually used that move, I would have been in a big trouble by now. …… By the way–“

InoRyder entered the room and peered at Abigail with a worried look on her face.

“Have you received any sexy punishment?”

“Idiot.”

“But still, Isn’t quite a waste to leave a beautiful girl like Abby all alone in such a small room?”

“Even if I am, I don’t feel it anymore. I’m already used to it.”

“Well…. it’s that a hard thing to comment on.”

Abigail smiled provocatively at the grimacing InoRyder.

“――I really don’t want to hear it….but also kinda is……hearing stories of Abby getting this and that Uum ……NTR……I mean……Can you tell me?”

“You sure have stiff mouth. Especially for someone who would risk her life to come to a place like this to help me, you know?”

“Heh heh. Of course, I’d jump through hoops for you…….”

InoRyder scratches her head as Abigail looks at her sideway. Then she and stands up and stretched, closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Hpmm…… nn! –Now all I have to do is to get the information directly from Penrose. Can you help me?”

“Heh?”

InoRyder then hurriedly waved her hands side to side.

“No, no, no. You still want to do this? Time’s up! We gotta get the hell out of here right now!”

“It’s now or never.”

“Are you insane? I managed to get here by myself because the security was stretched quite thin here, but the area where the lieutenant general is located is a different story—“

InoRyder abruptly closed her mouth and glared at the room’s entrance door with a sharp look in her eyes. Her fingers rested on the revolver at her waist.

A clattering sound approached from the corridor.

“–I already knocked out all of the security…….”

InoRyder turns her head to the door and quickly hides in the shadows.

Abigail also sat in her chair, pretending to be oblivious and continued to brush her hair.

Eventually, the footsteps stopped at the door.

The door slid open.

Immediately InoRyder shouted after peaking at who’s at the door “What?”

“Captain Garnier?”

Gilles Garnier stepped through the door. The former Fox captain himself. Unlike when she saw him in the dungeon, today he is dressed in all black combat uniform.

“Garnier………… why?”

Abigail had been informed that he had died in prison. It must be the same for InoRyder. They both opened their mouths in shock.

“We’ll talk about the details later. Right now, the headquarters building is under attack by alien.”

“Alien?”

“One Butcher just broke into this building.”

“Oh, butcher!? What else? How many?”

“Seems to be alone.”

“Alone in the middle of 88?”

“InoRyder, we’re moving. Stick to Abigail.”

“Move? where are we going?”

Garnier replied to Abigail’s question, peering out of the room and down the hallway.

“–You want to meet Lieutenant General Penrose, right? Follow me.”

“……”

InoRyder grabbed her by the shoulders as Abigail was unable to catch up with her thoughts due to the abrupt development.

“Maybe Whisley contacted him? He’s called a werewolf and he’s really an immortal! I don’t care if I lose if I’m up against a lieutenant general right now! But that’s a worst-case scenario though. But if we can get the ex-captain on our side then we’re all set. “

She seems to trust Garnier completely.

“Oh Abby, this is for you.”

She hands me a revolver before following Garnier out of the room.

“What’s this?”

“Senpai’s faithless. A lucky charm. I brought it because I thought we might be in trouble. There’re six bullets in it.”

Abigail took the heavy, chilly iron, thanked her, slipped it into her waistband, and left the room.

The passageway was empty and eerily quiet.

“They seem calm for being under attack.”

There were no alarms sounding in the hallway as they walked side by side.

“Well, the situation is a little bizarre. Sure, the butcher is a tough opponent but we’re in the middle of the 88 you know? One butcher is not enough to get this far and even so, that’s not a big deal, we have killed many of them out there. We can just surrounded it with Agatha’s soldiers and attacked. It might take a while to prepare the necessary weapons, though.”

“I see. ……”

(I hope he’s ok……)

With a sense of unease in her heart, Abigail looked at Garnier’s back. He didn’t even bother to listen InoRyder’s story, just kept walking at a steady pace.

“…….He’s a man with a lot of secrets.”

InoRyder said, looking at his back.

“His life is full of mysteries. I was surprised when I heard about his sudden death in prison, but later, when I thought about it, I wondered if he had been given another strange mission or something.”

–Something suddenly stuck in Abigail’s mind.

She asks what suddenly occurred to her.

“Garnier, what happened to your left arm?”

Today Garnier had two arms.

She remembered well that he has one when she saw him in his cell that day.

“This? Some kind of prosthetic limb.”

Garnier said, and showed his left hand, waving it.

It is too sophisticated. Smooth like a living thing.

Abigail stares at it.

As a technician, she recognized the abnormality of this prosthetic hand.

Then, a sense of discomfort grew in her heart.

After seeing the lab in November, she understood 88’s technology is comparable to that of the center.

and yet–

The three of them took the stairs, and soon they stood in front of the heavily constructed door, escorted by a few security guards.