❝DÉVOUEMENT❞ ; twst.

✦ chapter ninety five.

still in the simulation room, ortho replied, "the cool down in the simulator is completed. transferring the subjects to the healing room."

"2245, the whole process is completed," spoke the operator.

"good. you are allowed to leave after backing up the data," replied idia.

"understood."

minutes later, ortho entered the room as he informed them that all the subjects have been transferred to the healing room. idia nodded as he said, "great work, ortho, n/n."

f/n nodded and said, "you two did great, too. i'm glad things went smoothly." ortho smiled as he said, "you did a great job, nee-san! nii-san! how was the test result of leona kingscholar-san and jamil viper-san?"

"the measurement is complete. i will display it on the monitor now, " answered idia as he displayed the results on the large monitor. ortho's eyes widened as he said, "wow, they both got a perfect number!"

"...well, leona-shi is rotten, but he is from the royal family," trailed idia. 

"...because of that, you can tell that he has received advanced magic education since he was a child. the speed of forming magic and the amount of magic power are very excellent. above all, the adjustment of the force is perfect, and the way he cast out the defence magic based on the attack power of the enemy is marvellous." added f/n.

"he didn't waste too much magic power... which means it only accumulates a small amount of blot," finished idia.

"another remarkable point is that the mental stress doesn't affect the blot accumulation that much," added ortho.

"mhm, but we can't say anything about this. i know leona-shi is strong against the danger that is caused by external factors. if it's caused by internal factors, we are not sure if his feeling of anger and sadness will become stronger, we can't measure it for now," spoke idia.

"i see... he has a stable mental state. the blot accumulation will probably increase rapidly when he gets emotional," noted ortho. "leona-shi is the same as vil-shi. this status is the type to be a tank. even though his personality isn't suitable to be a tank, which is also called the leader position... the way their personality doesn't even match up with the optimal jobs... gives the feeling of ssr unprecedented problematic kids, lol," babbled idia.

"what about jamil-san? what kind of job is suitable for him in the game?" asked ortho.

"jamil-shi... hmm, i think he can do well in any job," answered idia, "his tendency is similar to azul-shi. rather than speed, they focus more on efficiency. looking at his profile, jamil-shi didn't receive any kind of specialized magic education until he entered night raven college. i feel like he will be careful while taking an action because he's afraid of running out of magic."

"just as you said before, 'on one hand, he is calm and efficient. on the other hand, he is buying time by using the others as a shield'," spoke ortho.

"however, only the activation of defence magic is pretty speedy and accurate. is it because he is kalim-shi's bodyguard?" questioned idia. "then, the positions that are closest to the tank, a healer or an attacker might be the best job for him," replied ortho.

"right. it might seem like a job for beginners, but it's difficult to do, it's the most suitable for high ranking players," added idia.

f/n suddenly tuned out the rest of the conversation as she eyed the displays of personal information on the large monitor, '...riddle's overblot was because of his upbringing... leona wanted to defeat mal but failed, and lil rubbed more salt into his wound by stating that he will never be king... azul's final breaking point was when all his contracts were turned to dust, fearing to return to who he used to be when he was still a child... jamil had enough of always playing servant and hiding his true potential... vil did not want to lose to neige again, but seeing as what happened during the vdc... hm... and grim... how is he?'

f/n trailed out of her thoughts as soon as idia mentioned, "besides... everyone who got involved in this experiment will all be sent to the lethe river. lethe river is a system that can erase our existence from both memory and data."

f/n and ortho suddenly went quiet as idia continued, "it's a waste of time to even think about deepening the relationship with 'living humans' from the outside world. they will eventually forget it anyway."

'...he's not wrong, but...' thought f/n as she and ortho glanced at one another.

"...anyway... i'm going to check on subject f. is it alright to enter his room?" asked f/n. "...yeah, go ahead," replied idia. f/n nodded and turned around to leave the room as idia said, "we will be watching from the cameras..."

"...right."

...

as soon as f/n opened the door to grim's room, she heard him speaking. "why did i do that to yuu... did i get taken here because i attacked yuu?" f/n stayed silent, seeing as grim did not notice her presence yet and continued listening to his little monologue.

"they were injured..." sniffled grim, "ace... deuce... epel... yuu... can i go back to the ramshackle dorm again...?" grim started crying as he wiped his tears. f/n then answered, "...yes. i'll make sure you'll get back to your dorm."

grim immediately turned his head to see f/n as he said, "n/n...! you're here! what's with that outfit?" f/n did not answer his question as she continued, "...on behalf of this organization, i apologize for going through such hostile acts just to capture you as our subject experiment. you will be able to leave and return to night raven college after the experiment is complete."

"what...? are you saying you work here?"

'...lethe river... he'll forget what i say, anyway...' thought f/n.

"yes. aside from being the lieutenant colonel of briar valley... i also work for s.t.y.x. as a military representative. if anything goes wrong, rather than calling the magical force, i am the one assigned to deal with them... and most of the time, it's always eliminating the subject..." answered f/n.

"e-eliminating...?!"

"...i won't do that to you, grim. i will only do that if there is no hope of return for the overblotted magician," spoke f/n.

"...does yuu know?" asked grim.

"...no," replied f/n, "you'll forget this anyway... so i don't have to worry about you spilling this to him... but, if ever you don't forget, please don't say a thing about this."

"why not?" questioned grim.

"because they won't remember who i am to them."

grim stayed silent, partially because he did not understand what she meant. f/n took this chance to continue, "if you won't forget this message of mine, then... please tell yuu to keep the card with him... and even if he'll forget me, please relay this message to him... 'i'm sorry for betraying your trust.'..."

"betray...? o-okay... i don't understand... what about ace, deuce, and epel? are they okay? what do you mean yuu won't remember you?" questioned grim.

suddenly, idia's voice was heard from the speakers of the room.

"f/n-chan. time's up."

f/n stayed silent before turning around, "...i'm sorry, grim. time's up. i must go..."

"w-wait! n/n... don't leave me in here! i don't want to be alone!"

f/n gritted her teeth as she tried to hold back the tears and the pain she feels from hearing grim beg like that, 'out of all the people i could have deepened my relationship with, why did it have to be the people from the place which i am assigned a mission at? ...stupid choice, f/n... now, look at you.'

"i'm sorry, grim... we'll let you out a little later... please, rest."