Fated to Be Loved by Villains

Though he was the son she had borne with her own pain, Astrid couldn’t actually place much trust in him.

Of course, considering the path he had walked until now, some might find that strange, but that was just how a parent’s heart worked when looking at their own flesh and blood.

Especially when the person his son was up against had control over all the facilities in the Magic Tower—such concerns were only natural.

However, there was one thing she could be certain about.

“I-Is that really going to be okay?!”

“…”

Astrid let out a deep sigh as she looked at Professor Borris who said so urgently, who still had her trademark big-ass glasses that were barely clinging to her face and disheveled hair.

When it came to getting women all hot and bothered, her son’s skill was, if nothing else, the real deal.

“…Borris, you aren’t usually this interested in other people’s business—“

“…”

Just…how?

They hadn’t even spent a full day talking face-to-face!

How the hell did he manage to turn a woman who’s only interested in machines and dinosaurs into someone so passionate in that short time?!

“…”

No, seriously, just how the hell did he do it?

Did he spray his pheromones on her or what?

He’s already got a whole damn truck full of women hanging off him, and if he could get more of them just by breathing…!

“I’d rather die instead…”

“W-What?! S-So you agree, Doctor? If we leave him like that, he’s as good as dead, right?!”

“No, I meant, I’d rather you kill me…”

Though all her organs were stored in life support systems, she felt a headache coming as she rubbed her head in her steel giant form. Meanwhile, Borris kept flapping her hands and running her mouth.

“S-Shouldn’t we help him? He’s up against Professor Mobius…!”

“How the hell are we supposed to help him?”

In any case, those feelings aside, it wasn’t like they had a lot of ways to help him.

Professor Astrid continued with a slightly stiff voice.

“All the ‘equipment’ we can control…is under the influence of that bastard’s facility control.”

While yes, professors of the Magic Tower generally possessed some combat power even without such equipment due to them having modified their own bodies…

“…There’s no way we could interfere in a battle of that level.”

People said fights between top-tier powerhouses on the continent were usually decided in a matter of seconds. Maybe even less than that.

However…

What was unfolding before her eyes now…

…Was a battle where losing focus for even a split second beyond split seconds means instant defeat.

The one on the offensive was obviously Professor Mobius. This was his home turf, and the Magic Tower, hailed as the pinnacle of human technology, was filled with things worthy of that name.

Tens, hundreds, thousands of light clusters poured down from all directions. They were probably weaponized solar beams that he had prepared in advance. The bombardment of bullets of light that could break through the sound barrier rained down towards Dowd.

Such an attack could turn even a decent powerhouse into swiss cheese in an instant, but…

“-Haa.”

Dowd was able to dodge all of it within a single deep breath—it was nothing short of miraculous.

He caught the bullets’ trajectory, visualized the range of ‘attacks’ that would cause damage if they hit, then fit his body’s range of motion inside an escape route that he found from his analysis

It was a terrifying movement by anyone’s standards, but what came to Astrid’s mind first as she watched was ‘doubt’ rather than ‘admiration’.

…Strange.

The image of Dowd trembling with all his stamina depleted just moments ago was clear in her mind.

But what the hell was she looking at?

As if his exhausted state from before was a lie, he was matching Mobius’ relentless barrage of terrifying assaults blow for blow.

In fact, Mobius himself looked quite flustered. He had clearly managed to chip away a huge chunk of Dowd’s stamina, but now this man was fighting with terrifying momentum as if none of that mattered.

…Am I missing something?

Among all the things that man prepared, his various Skills, Traits, items, and crucially, his Demonic Aura.

Everything should be within Mobius’ expectations. In other words, he must have prepared to go up against all of that.

And yet…

…Something seemed to have slipped through those preparations.

“…As terrifying as it is, at this rate, it doesn’t look like it’ll end there.”

Alpha’s voice cut into Astrid’s thoughts.

As she snapped back to reality, she looked around. Then, she confirmed that a certain scene that was unfolding was worthy of such words.

“Looks like this is going to get bigger than expected. It seems Professor Mobius came fully prepared as well.”

As he said that…

–…

-….

-…….!!!!!!!!!

Other ‘research labs’ that made up the Magic Tower could be seen, slowly approaching this stage.

“—That son of a bitch.”

Astrid gritted her teeth.

It was clear he intended to throw every single weapon in the Magic Tower into this.

Dowd may be holding his own for now, but at this rate, the balance would inevitably crumble—

“If that’s the case, we’ll also have our own means to help out as well.”

At Alpha’s words, Astrid’s train of thought came to a screeching halt.

“…Alpha.”

“Yes.”

“If he’s pulling in all the facilities like that, there’s bound to be a spot where the control system’s management gets sloppy, right?”

“The AI is flawless, but Mobius is manually controlling it right now. Of course there would be.”

Alpha said with a grin.

“He’s trying to expand the playing field.”

After accompanying each other for so long, they grew to be able to understand some things without exchanging words.

Alpha and Astrid looked at each other and grinned.

Expanding the playing field, huh? If Mobius is trying to gain the upper hand that way…

“…Yes, since that’s the case, we do have our own means to help out.”

There was always a way to return the favor in kind.

“…Huh? Huh? What are you talking about?”

As the two spoke, Borris, who was unable to follow the conversation at all, turned her head back and forth with a stupid voice.

“Borris.”

In exchange…

She received an unsettling question.

“You know how to drive a hovercar?”

“…Pardon?”

“Alpha and I can’t, but you should be able to, at least to some extent, right? I mean, it’s still a machine.”

“…”

Borris’ body turned stiff.

●

“-Site 1. Railgun, subsonic small drones, heat-seeking smart munitions, ready.”

As Mobius’ words fell, an AI voice, probably the Magic Tower’s control system, followed.

[Administrator authority confirmed. Preparations complete.]

“Commence bombardment.”

[Commencing.]

With those words…

-!!!

-!!!!!!!!!!!

A blinding flash erupted from all directions.

It felt like all the weapons in the Magic Tower were raining down on me at once.

But this time too.

“-Haa.”

My heart pounded, the whole world felt like it was accelerating.

My ‘range of perception’ expanded to the point it felt like my head was splitting. Meanwhile, my senses were sharpened to the extreme.

I could count how many tiny flying insects were nearby, how many blades of grass were there, how many pebbles and gravel on the ground, even the total number of hairs on my body—such a massive amount of information floods my brain.

While experiencing that…

I calculated and deduced what kind of attack that would come out by seeing its form and initiation time in an instant.

Bullets, more bullets, the path of ricochets, the range of fire, and the gaps in between…

I ‘calculated’ it all within a split second.

“Four seconds.”

I muttered while taking a long sidestep.

One. Two. Three. Four.

The shower of bullets narrowly passed me by.

After the fourth second, that pattern ended.

Next…

“Three seconds.”

One. Two. Three.

In that instant, I sprinted forward, not stopping for anything.

The heat-seeking smart munitions were raining from above, grazing through the gaps in the previous barrage.

That pattern ended in three seconds.

The next one was unavoidable, so I’d have to take it head on.

I grabbed Ultima and generated a shield.

The shield’s range covered my entire body. Its form wrapped around 120 degrees to the front.

-!

Another storm of bullets came from the front, but they were immediately blocked by the barrier.

[…What the fuck? You can predict the fucking future now?]

What are you on about? I’m just dodging and blocking.

[You still need to predict your opponent’s attacks to do that! How the fuck are you reacting to everything in this clusterfuck?!]

I smirked at Caliban’s question while continuing to evade the incoming attacks.

These were the series of attacks that would kill me in an instant the moment I made even the slightest mistake, but…

Honestly, evading them wasn’t all that difficult.

Activation time. Time to reach me. Direction of evasion, and my range of motion…

To ‘cook’ these ingredients and produce the optimal result…

For ‘the current me’, it wasn’t such a difficult task.

Thinking that, I suppressed the ‘Yellow’ energy pulsing in my chest.

…Not yet.

It didn’t feel like I could handle it properly yet.

For the ‘fusion’ that I practiced with the chancellor, this level of ability was just barely scratching the surface.

If I could truly utilize the power of the Yellow Devil, this much would be child’s play.

“…You truly are a pain in my arse, do you know that?”

While I was thinking, Mobius suddenly said those words to me.

He seemed genuinely fed up. The expression on his face made it seem like he was saying, ‘How the hell are you not dead after all that?’.

“—But you can’t keep this up forever, can you?. I could just wait here and watch you die on your own—“

“You won’t have to wait that long.”

Interrupting him, I took another deep breath.

“Ten minutes.”

“What?”

“After that, you’ll die.”

“…”

“You can wait that long, right?”

Mobius’ face twitched /genesisforsaken