"Ahahahaha!"
Cuddled by Ryan, who was somehow filled with ecstasy, I timidly looked around the conference room.
Yeah, I knew exactly this kind of situation would unfold.
Wassenberg's retainers, their faces pale and pressed against the wall, suffering psychological torture while waiting for their turn, which could come at any moment.
David, with a look that made it impossible to tell if he was dead or alive, with his stomach completely exposed like someone on an operating table.
Father, bearing a deep wound on his neck as if he had already been poked hard once.
And even Elliott, kneeling and trembling in front of Ryan, as if it were his turn next...
'That's amazing. It's incredible.'
I hoped that Ryan would use his father, who was dragging out the time while maintaining his incapacitation, to vent his anger.
But it has to be to a certain extent.
I wasn't originally planning to come here, but I decided to come when the opportunity arose, all for Ryan's sake.
I was afraid Ryan wouldn't be able to control the intensity of this fight because of my unexpected death.
I couldn't let him go so far as to needlessly wear down his humanity.
'At least he wouldn't be able to do it where I'm watching.'
After finally letting go of my worries, I looked at the faces of my family members one by one for the first time in a while, as they all wore expressions of astonishment.
***
The moment Edgar saw Vania running into the meeting room alive and well, he let out a hollow laugh.
As she didn't die?
Or... alive?
It was something he had never heard of, but it was likely the latter.
Vania, because his own blood flows in that child's veins as well.
To that child he chased away with his own hands, just like Ryan.
The blood of a person with supernatural abilities...
He foolishly realized it too late.
Today's tragedy is his own end.
The fact that ever since the day he abandoned Ryan, he had been building it up piece by piece with his own hands, and no one else's.
***
Diana was more shocked than Vania to see Christa, who had come here holding her hand.
The 1% lifeline that Father had probably been dragging out and holding out all this time, just waiting for her to come.
Diana also waited, cleverly helping to stall for time, but...
Christa, who had actually been waiting, was just staring blankly at her family as they ascended the execution platform.
Then, grinning cruelly.
"I'm screwed. Damn it."
Diana muttered that, pulled the knight's cloak she was holding over her head, and hid under the table.
***
Elliott sat slumped on the floor, staring blankly up at Ryan and Vania, who were clinging to him.
There's no way his brother is mistaken.
He couldn't understand how that child, Vania, was still alive.
"You, how on earth did you...?"
Elliott pointed his finger at Vania.
"Hey~ get a clue!"
"Aaaargh!"
***
"Aaaargh!"
Ryan hurriedly snapped Elliott's fingers, stopping him from speaking.
He seemed worried that Nike would notice if Elliott said something like, 'How are you alive?'
"Where, son-in-law?"
As expected, he whispered the question to me, so I whispered it back to him in the same way.
"He went to check on the work on the central staircase."
When I insisted on coming here, Nike gritted his teeth and headed straight for the 8th-floor entrance instead of the conference room.
He reasoned that while the conference room was safe with Ryan there, the entrance could be breached by Wassenberg's reinforcements.
"More importantly, what on earth is that! Is Dad some kind of doctor? Are you going to perform surgery?!"
Ryan grinned as I pointed at David, who was lying naked on the table.
"I was preparing to do it."
"It's crazy!"
Crack.
Ryan pretended to be in pain when I hit his rock-hard shoulder.
"It hurts! Why did you hit me!"
"Don't make the mental illness worse!"
"I need to operate on that bastard to cure my mental illness."
“That’s bullshit!”
I hugged Ryan tightly around the waist so he wouldn't go anywhere.
"I get dizzy at the sight of blood. Let's stop now and go home."
"...Hmm. Even if I wanted to."
We looked at our father at the same time.
Father, who was just staring at us with an expression that made it impossible to tell what he was thinking
Mirror's Eye - Restoration of Light
To check, I tried using this ability on the wound on my father's neck, but I was still incapacitated.
“My lord.”
Max, noticing this, threw a gun to Ryan. Ryan caught it as if snatching it and pulled the trigger and slid.
“Stay out.”
After saying that to me, he aimed the gun at Elliott's head.
Elliott trembled with his eyes wide open.
Unfortunately, my second older brother can only leave this place in a 'dead' state. The same goes for my first older brother, David.
We can subdue the rest of the superpowered individuals by physical force, force them into labor, or kill them or put them on the guillotine.
However, this is because the two older brothers, who possess top-tier offensive abilities, are walking time bombs.
"Just watch? Are you going to keep watching?"
Ryan urged me on. I looked at my father again. He was looking at me, too.
You understand, right? That I am giving you time to choose.
"...Ryan, wait."
Soon, my father woke up.
Clutching the wound on his neck, he walked toward us, staggering and weak.
“Ah, father...”
Elliott looked back at his father.
The father and son looked at each other in silence.
"I'm sorry."
“Father, father..."
"Let's meet again soon. This is all I can do for you."
"Fa, father..."
Elliott began to cry like a child. His father, watching him, bulged. Tears welled up in his eyes as well.
Soon, Father saw Ryan.
A signal that neutralization has been withdrawn.
But Ryan waited.
Elliott trembled and turned his head back to look at us.
"What? Why are you just trembling without doing anything? Go ahead and set my head on fire. I'm willing to take it."
"..."
Elliott silently knelt, tears streaming down his face.
He must know, too, that if he did such a thing, the last act of mercy his father had earned so that he could pass away without pain would be in vain.
"Don't feel wronged. You know very well that you've lived your life doing things that deserve to die."
"..."
Elliott closed his eyes. Fear of death and belated regret flowed ceaselessly down his cheeks.
...Ah. That's why I didn't want to watch it.
I cannot simply watch this villain meet his end with a sense of satisfaction and gratification.
"Ow! Bro, are you seriously crazy? You could have just talked it out; why are you hitting the kid and making such a fuss!"
Because he is my flesh and blood, and because the time I spent with him clearly exists in my mind that I can never dig out.
"Damn it, our little Princess's pretty face is all swollen up!"
Especially my unnecessarily affectionate second older brother.
"Ta-da! Big brother bought you something super pretty! Take this and cheer up, my little princess~ And promise to stop giving Big brother's ledger to your boyfriend~?"
“Ryan..."
Elliott opened his mouth, tears streaming down his face.
"I'm sorry, brother... for pretending not to know when you were kicked out. For not being able to help you..."
"..."
"I don't know why I did that... I must have been crazy... You're my little brother, too... I really don't know why I acted that way..."
"..."
Ryan listened to him silently.
Twelve years imprisoned under a false accusation. His brother's belated apology that completely snatched away half of Ryan's life.
Did Ryan's anger subside a little after hearing this?
It is something I cannot know.
“There.”
Elliott lifted his head, which he had kept bowed. It seemed he had developed some sense of anticipation because Ryan had been listening to him for some reason.
"If you give me just one chance, all the things I haven't been able to do for you as your older brother until now..."
<Instant death>
The light in Elliott's eyes vanished in an instant. His lifeless body crumbled.
A silence filled with astonishment fell.
In the stillness where everyone watching held their breath in shock, Ryan walked toward David and spoke.
"Next."
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