Combatants Will Be Dispatched - Volume 7 - Chapter 5.9

[Intermission 5] —And So I Head Off-World—

“What’s wrong, Belial? Don’t suddenly start crying like that—you scared me for a minute there! Did you remember something important?”

As my vision blurs from the tears, I see Lilith panicking.

I slowly sit up and look around. I can see that I’m in Lilith's lab.

“No, it's not that I remembered...”

It feels like I’ve been in a very long dream. Astaroth created the Kisaragi Corporation, then he and Lilith joined up.

There was a lot that didn't go right at first, but the corporation started to grow.

Of course, we made a lot of enemies in the process, but we made a lot more allies in the process.

I thought things would keep going well.

As he and Astaroth went from constantly fighting to getting closer, I found myself torn between being happy and being sad.

Astaroth is my best friend, so I was happy she was getting to like him.

He’s also a dear friend, so it was hard to watch him getting closer to Astaroth.

I hated the fact that I was so weak that I had to lie to myself, afraid to damage our current, comfortable friendship, despite the fact that I knew full well why I felt such pain in my chest.

Still, it was so fun to be with everyone that I wanted things to keep going that way forever.

Things would probably have stayed that way if he hadn’t been seriously injured fighting the superheroes.

When I saw him sleeping after receiving enhancement surgery, I made the decision to undergo surgery as well.

“Hey, Belial, we can stop if it’s painful. There’s no need to force yourself to remember.”

I want the power to protect everyone. I want to be someone with the exact opposite personality, someone strong, someone everyone can depend on.

Lilith explained to me that the more of my brain I dedicated to my abilities, the stronger my abilities would become.

And so, after Lilith set the dial to the very limit of what was safe, I turned the dial myself and—

“Oh.”

“...? What is it? Are your memories okay?”

......Have I become a strong person?

I know I have the greatest power of anyone in Kisaragi when it comes to fighting, but I don’t think my heart is all that strong yet.

I’m going to go see him again. And if I feel like I’ve really become strong, then—

“Hey, what do you mean ‘oh’?! Hey, Belial, don’t ignore me!”