I just checked my college class grades, and ooof I got two C+ and a C for my math class. I know I could do better than a basically 70% average
===============================
The artificial Gear did not attack at all, and that absence of violence immediately unsettled Morrana more than any direct strike would have done in its place.
Weapons, in her experience, usually demanded something simple and immediate, such as a target to destroy, a command to obey, or a hand willing to guide them into motion.
This thing, however, only hovered near Haruto's chest in a slow, patient rotation, pulsing softly like a second heartbeat that did not belong to him.
Seraphina kept working at the console without pausing, her fingers moving quickly across the interface as sweat gathered at her temple and slid down her cheek.
"The upper chambers are almost isolated now," she said while wiping her face with the back of her wrist, her eyes never leaving the data stream. "We only need two more lines to fully sever the connection."
Maeriva stood near the doorway with one of the unconscious engineers lying at her feet, her posture rigid as she kept glancing down the hallway with constant suspicion.
"Fast would be nice in a situation like this," Maeriva said while shifting her weight slightly, her hand resting near her weapon.
"You want fast or safe in this kind of operation," Seraphina replied without looking up, her voice steady but strained.
"I want both outcomes at the same time," Maeriva answered immediately, her tone sharp with frustration.
"Then you are going to have to pick one priority over the other," Seraphina said calmly as she continued typing.
Maeriva exhaled through her nose and muttered under her breath, "I really hate that answer more than I should."
Azaria crouched near Haruto with her head tilted slightly to one side, studying the floating Gear as if it were a strange insect she might either dissect carefully or name out of boredom.
Haruto turned his head slowly to look at her, his voice weak but curious.
"Should I be worried about what that thing is doing to me right now?" he asked while swallowing dryly.
Azaria responded with a bright and almost cheerful smile that did not match the situation at all.
"Absolutely, you should be worried," she said while leaning closer to inspect the device.
"Cool, great, that is exactly what I wanted to hear," Haruto replied with a tired exhale.
"But not about me specifically," Azaria added while pointing vaguely at herself, still smiling.
"That does not really make me feel better in any way," Haruto said while blinking slowly.
"I am aware of that fact," Azaria answered honestly without hesitation.
Morrana crouched down beside Haruto more carefully, her movements controlled and deliberate as she studied his condition.
"What exactly do you feel inside your body right now," Morrana asked in a calm but focused tone.
Haruto blinked slowly several times, his pupils uneven as if his focus kept slipping in and out of place.
"Cold," he said after a long pause while pressing his back slightly into the chair. "Not outside my body, but inside it, like I swallowed ice and it got stuck behind my ribs and refuses to move."
Morrana nodded once, absorbing the information without interrupting him.
"Is there any pain involved with that sensation?" she asked next.
"Some of it hurts," Haruto admitted while shifting slightly. "It comes and goes in short bursts that I cannot really predict."
"Are you still able to breathe normally under that pressure?" Morrana continued while watching his face closely.
"Yeah, I can breathe," he answered after a moment. "Not comfortably, but I can still do it."
The artificial Gear pulsed again at that exact moment, slightly stronger than before.
Haruto's fingers twitched involuntarily against the armrest of the chair.
Azaria noticed the movement immediately and reached out gently, taking his wrist between two fingers while checking his pulse with careful precision.
Her usual playful expression faded into something more focused and controlled.
"Hey," Azaria said in a noticeably softer voice than before. "Look directly at me for a second."
Haruto obeyed slowly, turning his head to meet her gaze.
"Do not follow the rhythm that thing is trying to force into your body," she said while keeping her fingers steady on his wrist.
"What rhythm are you talking about exactly," Haruto asked with confusion spreading across his face.
"The one inside your chest that does not belong to you at all," Azaria explained while narrowing her eyes slightly.
Haruto's expression tightened as he processed her words.
"Oh," he said quietly after a pause.
"Yes, that one," Azaria confirmed. "Ignore it completely and do not let it guide your breathing."
"How am I supposed to ignore something like that," Haruto asked while his voice cracked slightly.
Azaria shrugged lightly while still holding his wrist.
"Think about something extremely annoying instead," she suggested without hesitation.
Haruto gave a weak and confused laugh despite everything happening around him.
"Like what kind of annoying thing," he asked.
"Taxes, slow internet connections, or people who clap when airplanes land," Azaria replied immediately.
Haruto stared at her for a moment in silence.
Despite the fear and exhaustion, a small and fragile smile appeared on his face.
The Gear's pulse steadied slightly after that interaction.
Morrana glanced at Azaria briefly, acknowledging the effect without saying anything.
Good, she thought quietly.
Seraphina exhaled sharply while still focused on the console.
"Done," she said while pressing the final command. "The upper chambers are fully isolated now, and if the core breaks at this point, it should not create a backlash into the human subjects."
"Should not," Maeriva repeated while raising an eyebrow.
Seraphina did not look away from the screen as she answered.
"That is the most honest technical assessment I can give you right now," she said plainly.
Zarathos still held Voss by the wrist, keeping him restrained while the doctor remained unusually still.
His eyes moved between each of them with careful calculation, as if he were constantly searching for an exit that no longer existed.
"You are all making a serious mistake here," Voss said in a controlled voice.
Maeriva looked at him with visible irritation.
"That is a very rich statement coming from you," she replied flatly.
"I am not referring to morality in this case," Voss clarified quickly.
"No, of course you are not," Maeriva said. "That would require self-awareness."
Voss ignored her and turned his attention toward Morrana instead.
"You do not actually understand what this system is becoming," he said directly.
Morrana stood up slowly from her crouched position, her expression unreadable.
"Then explain it to me properly," she said in a calm voice.
Voss swallowed once, his wrist beginning to smoke slightly where Zarathos was holding him, although no full burn had occurred yet.
"The Sacred Gear system is no longer stable or neutral in any meaningful sense," Voss explained while speaking faster now. "Heaven has begun altering access conditions, devil compatibility is collapsing across multiple regions, and artificial inheritance lines are being severed entirely."
Morrana watched his face carefully as he spoke, analyzing every detail of his expression.
He believed what he was saying, she realized.
Not completely, but enough to make it dangerous.
"So your response to that situation," Morrana said slowly, "was to kidnap civilians and experiment on them."
"We selected individuals with low social impact profiles," Voss replied quickly.
Azaria's head snapped toward him immediately.
"Say that exact sentence again," she said while standing up.
Voss froze for a moment.
Azaria did not smile this time at all.
Haruto watched her from the chair, still breathing carefully and unevenly.
Voss tried to rephrase his words more carefully.
"I mean they were chosen in a way that would minimize large-scale social disruption," he said slowly.
Azaria took one step forward, her voice sharpening.
"That is just a very long and polite way of saying you picked people nobody would notice missing quickly enough," she said coldly.
No one responded immediately to that statement.
Voss looked away first, unable to maintain eye contact.
Maeriva's hand tightened slightly around her weapon in response.
Morrana raised two fingers in a quiet signal.
Wait, she indicated.
Not yet.
Seraphina moved toward the secondary console while still monitoring the system.
"I can begin draining the core into a containment loop now," she said, "but someone will need to stabilize the connection so it does not snap back into the host."
Zarathos released Voss abruptly and shoved him into a nearby chair, where chains immediately wrapped around his torso and arms to secure him in place.
"I will hold the core if necessary," Zarathos said in a low voice.
Seraphina shook her head while adjusting parameters.
"Your hellfire output might actually destabilize the system further," she warned.
Maeriva stepped forward immediately.
"Then I will do it instead," she said firmly.
Seraphina glanced at her briefly.
"This system feeds heavily on fear-based pressure," she explained. "Your War presence might increase instability instead of reducing it."
Azaria raised her hand casually.
Everyone in the room turned to look at her at once.
"What," she said simply. "I am Pestilence. I specialize in subtle and unpleasant biological and psychological interference."
Morrana frowned slightly.
"Azaria," she said in a warning tone.
"I can slow the connection without breaking it completely," Azaria continued while lowering her hand. "I can just make it sick and unstable enough to be controlled."
Haruto blinked slowly while listening.
"You can make the evil chest thing sick," he asked weakly.
Azaria pointed at him immediately.
"See, he understands the concept perfectly," she said.
Morrana still did not like the idea at all.
Azaria noticed her hesitation and rolled her eyes slightly, but her voice became more serious.
"I am not trying to show off here," she said quietly. "I understand the timing is important."
That statement carried more seriousness than anything she had said so far.
Morrana stepped aside after a brief pause.
"Do it," she said simply.
Azaria placed her palm near the floating Gear without making direct contact, and a faint green shimmer began to crawl across her fingers like dust moving in sunlight.
The Gear pulsed again in response.
Haruto gasped sharply and grabbed the armrest of the chair tightly.
Morrana immediately placed a steadying hand on his shoulder.
"Focus on your breathing," she instructed calmly.
"I am trying to," Haruto replied through clenched teeth.
"Then slow it down further," Morrana said.
"I am genuinely trying my best," he answered.
Azaria's expression tightened as she maintained the interference, her hand trembling once before stabilizing again.
"This thing is extremely unpleasant to interact with," she muttered under her breath.
Seraphina began the drain sequence immediately afterward.
The machine emitted a low mechanical groan as red energy lines began pulling backward through the cables, away from Haruto and into a containment cylinder mounted on the side of the room.
The lights flickered again across the entire chamber.
Maeriva turned her head sharply toward the hallway.
"Company is approaching," she said immediately.
Footsteps echoed rapidly from the corridor outside.
Three devils rounded the corner with weapons already raised and ready to fire.
Maeriva moved instantly without hesitation.
She met the first attacker at the doorway, shoved his weapon aside with one hand, and drove a sharp elbow into his chest that folded him backward.
The second devil fired immediately afterward.
The shot struck Maeriva's shoulder and sparked harmlessly against hidden armor beneath her coat.
She grimaced slightly.
"That was unnecessary," she said coldly.
She kicked the second attacker's knee sideways and brought him down with a controlled strike to the side of his head.
The third devil saw Zarathos standing in the room and immediately made a decision to retreat.
He turned and ran.
Zarathos looked toward Morrana briefly.
She gave a single nod.
Zarathos flicked one chain forward, and it snapped down the hallway, wrapping around the fleeing devil's ankle before yanking him off his feet.
The devil slid across the floor and stopped directly at Zarathos's boots.
Zarathos leaned down slightly.
"Sleep now," he said simply.
The devil lost consciousness immediately.
Azaria let out a short snort despite herself.
"That one was actually kind of funny," she admitted.
The drain process continued steadily afterward.
Haruto's breathing gradually became easier as his shoulders slowly relaxed.
The artificial Gear dimmed further with each passing second.
Seraphina watched the containment readings carefully.
"We are almost finished," she said.
Voss suddenly laughed from his restrained position.
It was a small, bitter sound.
"You all think you have actually solved anything here," he said.
Morrana turned toward him slowly.
He looked exhausted now, more like a man who had not slept in days than a confident researcher.
"There are multiple copies of this project already in motion," Voss continued. "Not full systems yet, but enough research, enough teams, and enough infrastructure. You destroy this one, and the others will simply adapt."
Azaria kept her hand near the Gear but glanced at him.
"Thank you for volunteering that information," she said flatly.
Voss stopped laughing immediately.
Maeriva gave a faint, humorless smile.
"Oh, that is going to come back to bite you," she said.
Seraphina spoke again without looking up.
"Core drain complete," she announced.
The artificial Gear collapsed into a small dull shard and dropped onto the tray beneath it with a soft metallic click.
There was no explosion, no dramatic reaction, and no final resistance.
It simply failed and became inert.
Haruto stared at it in silence.
"That is it," he asked quietly.
Morrana helped him sit up more carefully.
"For now," she answered.
He rubbed his chest with shaking hands.
"I can still feel it," he said.
Azaria's expression softened slightly.
"You might feel it for a while," she admitted.
"Will it eventually go away," Haruto asked.
Azaria hesitated for a moment.
"I do not know," she said honestly.
Haruto nodded slowly in response.
He still looked afraid, but he was not broken.
That was enough for now.
Morrana turned toward Maeriva.
"Begin evacuation of all remaining chambers," she ordered. "Use the service lift and keep it quiet."
Maeriva nodded once and left with Seraphina immediately.
Zarathos began gathering unconscious devils into a single corner with efficient and almost dismissive movements.
Azaria remained beside Haruto for a moment longer.
He looked at her briefly.
"You are kind of weird," he said.
Azaria smiled again.
"You have absolutely no idea," she replied.
A few minutes later, the first group of rescued humans began passing through the observation corridor.
Some of them were crying quietly, others stared at the floor in silence, and one man kept asking repeatedly about his missing sister.
Seraphina answered him gently while continuing to guide him forward.
There were no speeches given and no promises made that could not be kept.
Only movement forward.
Morrana watched them until the hallway finally cleared.
Then she turned her attention back toward Voss.
He stared at her while trying not to visibly shake.
"What is going to happen to me now," he asked.
Morrana did not answer immediately.
Outside the room, Maeriva helped a woman steady herself against the wall.
Azaria gave Haruto her jacket because he was still shivering.
Zarathos stood near the doorway with his flames lowered.
Small actions continued quietly around them.
Morrana finally looked back at Voss.
"You are going to tell us where the other copies are located," she said calmly.
"And if I refuse to cooperate," Voss asked.
Azaria glanced over from Haruto's side.
"Then we will get creative," she said simply.
She smiled again, but this time it carried no playfulness at all.
Voss swallowed hard.
The facility lights hummed steadily overhead.
Somewhere far above them, Kyoto continued moving as if nothing had changed.
Morrana preferred it that way.
The city did not need to know how close it had come to becoming fuel.
Not tonight.