Léon: The Cat Killer

So... how long are you going to hesitate?

Evil continues to spread...

Justice, it's not like Qi Lin will stand up for himself...

……

……

……

A faint, intermittent light slowly emerged from the thick black fog, and the angel's crown returned to its original state, becoming a halo.

Williams watched as the girl, whose pupils had been dilated for some reason, suddenly returned to normal. Still pressing on his leg wound, he continued to look at the progress on the lab panel behind him...

There are still 20 percent of the experiment to go before it is completed.

"...Twenty percent...That means the 'modification part' is completely finished...Next is the 'finishing touch'...which is the personality modification part, right..."

Although it was an inquiry, Nana, who had reviewed the data center files and was intimately familiar with the experimental phase, now held up her gun.

The assassin didn't know whether this was her own choice or a choice made for Matilda by her family.

But... it was I who allowed things to develop into this situation.

The inability to counter Loken's long-planned conspiracy is not a plausible excuse; having accepted the contract, he must bear the responsibility.

The assassin couldn't change the plot...

But at least it can cut off the dirtiest part of the conspiracy.

Pull the trigger... and the entire laboratory suddenly went dark.

Then, in the subtle glow of the fallen angel's halo, which was like a dark cloud shrouded in thick fog... Williams saw that the assassin's silver pistol was once again pointed at him.

"Now, let's talk about what will happen next."

PS:

The plot is a bit heavy, so here's something lighthearted...

PS2: Oh, and by the way, could you please vote for me...? I'll add an extra chapter to wrap up this part of the story.

1st Rosemary Embrace: 020 Rosemary O - Illusion and Reality

"Next? Ah... next... the experiment was abruptly interrupted at eighty percent completion... you even waited until the child finished suturing... um... very good, so... we did reach an agreement?"

Williams was met with three consecutive shots into his other thigh, while the mercenary team on the perimeter was gradually using magic to dispel Nana's sorcery... The fog was shrinking, and time was running out.

"Now, tell me what might happen..."

“…uh…um…what happened…oh…what happened…” Qi

Williams, his face pale with pain as he pressed his legs down, was surprisingly cooperative... just as he had said, it seemed he had accomplished what he wanted.

"The remaining twenty percent... involves using... sophisticated memory manipulation to erase Sample Five's memories... This isn't meant to harm her... Although... it easily evokes the notion that the military just wants a tool that obeys orders... but that's not the case..." (Wu)

"Eliminating her memories is to reduce the probability of her going berserk due to interference from different memories... and to reduce the probability to the lowest possible level... the brainwashing rate must be 100%... otherwise, painful memories will stimulate her instinctive, unlimited spellcasting, and as the Originium-modified organs transmit the consciousness of the previous transplant recipient in multiple directions, Sample Five, forced to cast multiple spells, will rapidly deteriorate..."

Listening to Williams's words, Nana suddenly thought of her own past, as clean as a blank sheet of paper... But compared to herself, Matilda was clearly more important now.

"...Don't expect me to restart the brainwashing program, but you don't want your 'success' to 'decline' for some strange reason and become a laughing stock, do you...Tell me, it should be handled properly..."

"Ah... handle it properly... um... yes... others might not be able to do it, but you... that's right... you should be able to do it."

Williams' eyes gleamed strangely as he looked at Nana. He had lost his initial calm and indifference, and his split lips were now laughing wildly. Nana had no idea what he had seen that made him laugh so exaggeratedly.

“First, since you won’t destroy Number Five’s own consciousness, then destroy the consciousness of the previous host… You should be able to do it. Sarkaz magic can even make the user devour death itself… Although the life support system has been shut down, the gradual process of dying is the culprit that caused the flowing memories to gradually descend into madness… Go, kill them, use your abilities to make them leave their mortal bodies and embrace death… If it’s you, if it’s the ‘Demon King,’ you can definitely do it…”

"I don't understand what you're talking about... but anyway, I don't like your method, let's try something else..."

Seeing the girl pursing her lips, Williams hummed again, lost in thought... Meanwhile, as Nana looked worriedly toward the laboratory, Matilda, just as the other had predicted, began to writhe in pain on the powerless operating table.

The hallucination that had disappeared suddenly reappeared, and Nana could see the girl's family members beside her, who were worried and wanted to get closer.

But as they got closer, they also made the same sounds of pain.

"It hurts!"

"Oripathy hurts so much, life is so painful, why can't I just die!"

Why does it hurt so much even when I'm dead?!

The man screamed and gradually merged with Matilda. The restraints used to bind her seemed to be broken free by a tremendous force, and the shockwave destroyed the entire experimental table. Like an explosion, the entire laboratory was blown apart.

Nana had originally planned to protect Williams, who was still somewhat useful, but surprisingly, the girl didn't feel any impact.

Turning around, Nana saw twins who were shielding her from something, their bodies partially transparent. Further away… Kate nodded at her, seemingly in a gesture of unease, while Cole had already embraced his youngest daughter before disappearing from sight…

“Even if you suddenly make this request, it's different from the plan that's been prepared for many years. Scientific research and surgery can't be completed just by making a request! If you can't appease Number Five here, then let her vent... let her wreak havoc, but such painful memories will drive her crazy!”

“...She’s not called ‘Number Five’...her name is ‘Matilda’…”

She grabbed Williams by the collar and threw him out of the door she had pried open. Judging from the commotion of the mercenaries outside, they should be there soon... Nana decided to keep this guy alive for the time being... mainly because of Matilda's health; she might have many more questions to ask him later.

But letting Matilda cause chaos and eventually go insane is definitely not an option; Nana needs to find a way to appease her…

But how do we do it?

This seems to be another instance where Nana is in a similar situation to before, wondering about the exact nature of being alive and lacking any knowledge about it...

Seeing that Cole had been absorbed and even half of Kate had disappeared, Matilda cried and scratched her head... The invisible storm grew exponentially.

The girl's beautiful silver hair, inherited from her, was shaved off during surgery. Seeing the kitten crush her brother's corpse and scratch its own wound until it bled profusely, Nana didn't know what to do.

But... recalling Cole... and how Kate had hugged Matilda and grabbed her hand, trying to stop her from hurting herself, Nana unconsciously took a step forward.

Yes, we can't hesitate any longer this time.

Using the damaged laboratory as cover, the assassin dodged several sweeping storms and struggled forward... Even though neither witchcraft nor the power of judgment could help her at this moment, even though Nana could only be a bystander... even though she could only physically touch the other, even though the girl knew better than anyone that even the heaviest embrace could not alleviate the slightest pain...

Even though she knew that doing so would only cause her unnecessary injury, Nana still hugged the other person... hugged this child who had suffered such a calamity simply because he had the blood of the Bruce family flowing in his veins.

Reason is asking, what's the point of this?

That's the emotional answer, because even if I didn't do it, the pain would still be excruciating.

The hug couldn't alleviate Matilda's pain in the slightest, but it could gradually heal Nana's heart.

But... isn't there any way to help her?

No, the method... perhaps it already exists... it's just that Nana doesn't want to think about it.

Looking at the laboratory torn apart by unseen violence, Nana picked up Matilda, who was like the eye of a storm. In the distance, on the second floor, the life support system fixed to the floor was also illuminated by a crimson glow under the torn ceiling.

If it's you, it should be possible.

[No problem with Nana-neechan.]

Me too.

Mia looks so pitiful... Let's end all this.

The image of that family appeared beside her again. For the first time, Nana realized that she was actually such a fragile being. She had only developed a little bit of affection for her neighbors at the beginning... Why was she crying continuously?

Because... you've never loved like a normal person before... now you're like a normal person.

"Cole..."

When the white-haired Ms. Felin saw Nana raise her gun, she smiled at Nana and said nothing more.

Under the sunlight, those jars were no longer 'samples'... Nana could clearly see that they were living people.

Kate was making a face at herself, and the twins looked apologetic... But if anyone could be considered annoying even in death, it would be Andy, who had caused all of this yet seemed relieved...

The gray-haired man merely met the assassin's gaze before speaking:

'shot.'

That irritating tone is really annoying.

Thinking this, Nana, already battered and bruised by the surrounding storm and debris, pulled the trigger.

Five gunshots rang out, and the angel revealed its halo and wings... This was not a judgment; if one had to say, it was Nana's own farewell... Five streams of light and particles of light mixed with flesh and blood blended into Nana herself.

But just as the storm subsided and Nana was able to look down to check on the girl in her arms... Nana's eyes were filled with fear, followed by hatred, in emerald green.

"...You killed Dad, Mom, and everyone else?!"

Ah...she can see it too...

Before she could even process how to respond, the girl in her arms suddenly screamed and erupted, sweeping away half of the buildings behind Nana.

Suddenly, part of the view disappeared, but almost at the same time the power erupted, four phantom figures suddenly appeared beside Miss Angel. They were the child's parents, sister, and brother... The people, their faces full of sorrow, pressed down on the kitten.

As Matilda's expression shifted from anger to blankness, and then from blankness to bewilderment, Nana inexplicably felt a sense of relief from her previously heavy heart... So, Williams, are you really that reliable? You let the kitten cause all the chaos, and in the end, it was you who was able to calm down?

Or is it that... something that isn't even a fatal wound... is enough to make her feel less guilty? In any case, the assassin's expression, with half her face covered in blood, transformed into a shy smile that belonged only to 'Nana'.

"...Mia, we can go home now..."

……

…………

Matilda Bruce...

As a young child, she didn't understand many things.

But... if suffering is a wrongful repayment... then can such pain atone for the deaths it has brought upon the people of the church?

After the battle at the church, standing there dumbfounded and surrendering was perhaps a child's simple response to "please stop the violence"... But the child would still wonder, if things had turned out differently if he had stood up in the first place.

The young child didn't fully understand the connection between cause and effect, and before the real pain arrived... she also thought that if her sacrifice could bring peace to others... that seemed like a good choice.

When Matilda Bruce thought this... she didn't even know how to spell the word 'sacrifice'.

Children are, after all, just children...

Even adults can't get what they want most of the time, so how many children's ideas can be taken seriously?

[The assassins arrived faster than expected... So let's ignore all long-term plans and directly use the final experiment implanted in Subject Five as the standard to begin recording the experimental procedure for Yi Qi Ba Balin VI (Part 1).]

And so, the painful things began.

Although the first brother on the operating table lost consciousness instantly, the pain seemed to flow into his body through his vision.

The voice said it was because of something called 'Originium Arts', but children don't understand such things... All she could do was cry and struggle, but obviously that didn't work.

Then... the room that was flashing light and making noise suddenly went dark...

Although there was no sound, the machine was still running.

The older brothers were treated like ingredients or monster materials in a game. The children, thinking that they would also be moved to that spot illuminated by the lights, did nothing but continue to cry and struggle.

For Matilda, there wasn't even the concept of a 'last flashback of memories'.

She didn't even know what death was.

The child was simply perceiving the world in her own way... She struggled and cried out until the very end... because she sensed that even without her family, that blank-slate soul was still trying to get closer.

She can still be saved!

The child cried so instinctively.

But... she was still moved under that terrifying light... no matter how she pleaded for help in the direction of that person in a childlike manner, the other person's emotions seemed hesitant.

'Why……'

Why didn't Sister Nai (Nai VIIII, San Ling Si VII, San Si Nai) come to save me?

'Aren't you right there?!'

The child didn't understand, so she could only continue crying...

In the darkness, more things inexplicably began to slowly emerge...

The brothers' endless homework, the sister's never-ending work, the mother's exhaustion at work... and... that... pain that should have been the strongest... but in the end, felt nothing but pain.

This isn't the father who would stand in front of me! He wouldn't cower in a ball like in this memory!

If it's just pain, then I'm in pain too!

My head feels like it's stuffed with something, and it hurts a lot!