John Mühlen did not speak first.

I did not bother with niceties and went straight to the point. I did not bother with long-winded introductions like “Hello, senior, I’m the rookie Hildebert Taleb.” He would not have paid any heed to that anyway.

I simply asked the question.

“How do you kill the Fire Shield?”

A short silence.

About five seconds of stillness, maybe. John Mühlen broke the quiet over the phone in an even tone.

[Three methods.]

As I had guessed, he answered the question like an AI — tersely and precisely.

[Soak it with a large volume of water to quench it, then finish it off with physical attacks.]

“Yes.”

[Heat it until it dies.]

“Oh... right.”

[Or trap it and suffocate it by depriving it of oxygen.]

None of the three were easy.

I looked at the stairwell door we had just run down. The Fire Shield showed no sign of coming down yet. The stairwell door sat quietly closed in the dark.

But it would force the door open soon with a pillar of fire. If it came into the underground lot, things would get much worse. There were a lot of cars parked here; the moment the Fire Shield spewed flame, the place would become an inferno in an instant.

I stared vaguely at the cars parked in front of the electric vehicle chargers.

If those caught fire, they would be hard to extinguish.

Had coming down to the parking lot been our mistake?

Still, if we had not come here, we might have been crushed by the falling rubble a few minutes ago. Thinking it through, this had been the only choice.

Now our options were to prevent the Fire Shield from getting into the parking lot or to escape as quickly as possible.

I frowned slightly.

“How much water is needed to quench it? The fire extinguisher and hydrant didn’t seem to put it out.”

[Enough to drown it. A fire extinguisher or a hydrant alone won’t do it.]

“What if we rupture the water tank up ahead?”

[Depends on the size of the tank, but that could work.]

“Thanks. Ah — to suffocate it, how sealed would the space have to be?”

[As long as the space is reasonably airtight, that will do.]

Mühlen stopped there and fell silent.

After a pause, he asked back.

[By the way, who are you?]

He must have taken the call reflexively when it rang.

It wasn’t a video call, but I grinned wide anyway. Kudo, watching me, arched an eyebrow as if witnessing something absurd.

I ignored everyone’s reactions and replied cheerfully.

“I’m a junior who admires you, sir!”

[It’s listed as Test Subject 0.]

That bastard.

Heat surged through me, but I pulled myself together quickly.

At least he didn’t recognize me.

Before he could recall who I was, I needed to cut the call.

I said brightly, “Thanks for your help. I’m busy — bye!”

Click.

I hung up. I shoved my phone back into my pocket and lifted my head.

I met the president’s astonished stare, Kudo’s expressionless blink, and the children peering around Kudo’s katana.

The president mumbled in disbelief.

“You hung up on John Mühlen? The century’s scientist answered the phone and you hung up? He takes those idiotic questions one after another...?”

“Why is it idiotic? It was a question that could save our lives, sir. Did you hear that, senior?”

“The problem is all the cars.”

Jonathan Kudo had already said what I had been thinking.

He rested a hand on the katana at his waist and looked down at the kids.

“I’ll lure it to the water tank; you run to the exit with the civilians.”

“Yes.”

“You can still run, right?”

He glanced at my injured leg.

I forced a crooked smile through the heavy, tingling pain.

“Yes. I said I wouldn’t be a hindrance.”

“Go.”

Kudo lifted his head and met my eyes.

Dried blood and rubble. Scorched clothing. And yet he somehow retained an imposing presence.

Like the neat katana at his hip.

“Now.”

KWAANG!

The door exploded.

“Mommy!”

“Damn it, again!”

“I’ll run on my own feet!”

“Don’t be an idiot.”

I scooped the screaming Becky and Luke into my arms.

“Be careful, senior.”

No answer came.

But I did not look back. Ignoring the pain in my thigh, I searched for the exit from the underground lot.

A dim arrow labeled “EXIT” glimmered in the dark.

I followed it and ran. The president cursed in a string of expletives as he followed.

Becky sobbed loudly.

“Becky Ende! Don’t waste your energy crying!”

Even crossing a lot full of cars, Luke made a surprisingly mature remark.

“They teach us in kindergarten: when you meet a creature, don’t cry — hide or run!”

Boom!

A car exploded.

The parking lot flared bright and heat slapped my back. I glanced over and, of all things, an electric vehicle had exploded, and I swallowed a curse.

Dark gray smoke began rising from the burning car. I bit my lip and kept running, watching the man panting beside me.

“Wet a bit of cloth with saliva and cover your nose and mouth.”

“What?”

“If you don’t want to die inhaling toxic gas.”

“Becky Ende, spit!”

Luke understood perfectly and spat.

The parking lot continued to light up.

Cars were going off here and there — struck by the Fire Shield’s flame pillars. Fortunately, Kudo was drawing the creature well. The distance from the explosions was manageable. I pushed aside my worry for the senior and ran.

The light from the fires made the route visible, which helped.

No time to cover my mouth properly; I just ran until my thigh felt like it was ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) burning.

KWAANG!

I hit the exit ramp.

A narrow, dizzying incline. I ran up the ramp without looking back.

I tried not to think about Kudo. He was a Badger with good regeneration; he’d be fine. He had experience in the field, survived the Second War, they said...

My goal was to get these people out.

“Wait, wait.”

The president beside me halted on the slope.

“I can’t run anymore...”

“Catch your breath.”

I wheezed and looked back at the man who’d come to a stop.

Then I saw him slump down, and the start of the slope grew ever brighter.

“I’ll put the children on the surface and come back.”

“What?!”

The president panicked and lifted his head.

“You’re leaving me behind?!”

“I’ll be back in a minute. I’ll come right back and carry you if I have to.”

“Don’t go!”

The man howled in terror.

He stopped covering his nose and mouth with the saliva-damp cloth and raised his voice.

“Don’t go! Tell that kid to run on his own feet and carry me! He said he’ll run! If you can’t protect me, you’ll all die too! You’ll die!”

“I can run, brother.”

“I’ll really be back in a moment.”

Arguing was pointless — running immediately would be faster.

I looked straight into his despairing eyes and said plainly.

“I’ll be back. Right away. Keep your nose and mouth covered and crawl low.”

“Please....”

“Brother, I’m really okay.”

I twisted my body and ran down the slope again, not meeting the man’s stare. Ignoring Luke’s muttered, “I can run, brother. That person is really famous. If a famous person dies, that’d be terrible,” I pushed on.

Becky hiccupped and continued to cry. She kept her small hands tight over her nose and mouth as her brother instructed, yet she would not stop the tears.

Hearing that cry, I ran until my legs felt like they would burst. Toward the white sunlight at the exit.

In life, you sometimes have to choose between the worst and the less bad. Every time, you suffer, but you choose the lesser evil.

To prevent more loss, you prioritize whom you can save, even if you must discriminate between lives that cannot be distinguished....

To watch those you left behind die with eyes full of reproach....

Wait, when did this become a story?

No time to question that now. We reached the surface. I set the children down. Cameras flashed here and there, but I ignored them and moved.

Firefighters who had arrived handed me three portable oxygen masks. They fit an oxygen mask on my face in an instant.

I stopped the people who wanted to go back in. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

“If you go and something happens, we’ll call for rescue.”

The firefighters attached radios to my ear without hesitation.

I thanked them, took two oxygen masks, and ran back inside.

To retrieve the remaining people.

***

Heated air was climbing up through the parking entrance.

The smoke was so thick that it took a moment to get my bearings. I narrowed my eyes and ran down the ramp.

The air was unbearably hot.

The president’s condition, as a civilian, worried me.

At that moment I found him collapsed.

I rushed over and fitted him with an oxygen mask.

Silhouettes moved at the bottom of the slope.

“Senior!”

Drenched like a soaked mouse, a man was coming up the ramp. I called out.

“Are you all right?”

No response. But his face did not look good. He climbed the slope slowly, as if dizzy. He must have inhaled a lot of toxic gas.

I hauled the limp president into my arms and rolled the mask toward him.

“Put it on!”

The mask tumbled and rolled down.

It stopped exactly where intended. Kudo slowly bent, picked up the rolling mask, and took it.

He was able to move.

Relieved, I lifted the slack president.

Fortunately he was still conscious. He looked up at me with eyes full of reproach.

“Let’s get out.”

I met that angry gaze.

“I’m sorry for leaving you behind.”

It was almost over...

The president thudded and struggled with his arms as if trying to pull out his phone.

“Why are you doing that?”

Was he injured?

“Are you hurt...?”

KWAANG!

Kuuung!

A roar. A sound above, impossible to describe.

Before the sound, I had seen something cut through the air above, but there was no time to wonder what it was.

My ears went numb, and I sensed something pouring down from above.

Instinctively, I shielded the president.

A sudden, blinding pain slammed into my back. The stimulus was so intense that my senses began to dull. Noise, endless noise.

While I held the president against me from the collapsing ceiling, I heard the senior shout urgently — the smooth, graceful-bladed man yelling something frantic.

I could not answer.

I caught only one word clearly.

“Taleb!”

Still, it was a relief that he seemed not to be buried.

As I had that thought, I lost consciousness.