The Doping Test Results Are In: Positive

OLBA

By the time I reached the hall, the place was already a total bloodbath. The soldiers guarding this facility weren’t supposed to be scrubs—hell, some of them were practically Royal Guard material—but they’d been absolutely shredded.

Yet, here we were.

"How... How is this even possible!?"

In the main hall of this underground dump—the only spot where the moon actually deigned to shine in—corpses were scattered like discarded trash.

Every single one was a one-hit kill.

The sheer gap in skill was honestly insulting.

"You bastards...!"

I glared at the intruders. It was a group clad in skintight black bodysuits. Judging by the... ahem... curves, they were all petite girls.

Seven of them total. Even with the moon as a spotlight, their presence was so thin I felt like I’d lose track of them if I blinked. Their Magic Power Control was off the charts; they were masking their signatures with terrifying precision.

I had to admit it: every last one of them was an expert probably on my level.

One girl in particular was just... drenched. She stood there under the moonlight, staring me down while literally dripping with the blood of my men.

Ngh...!

My instincts just hit the eject button. No logic, no reasoning—just my lizard brain screaming that this girl was a walking "Game Over" screen.

The blood was pitter-pattering off her suit onto the floor. Drip. Drip.

She was dragging her blood-stained katana across the ground like a slasher-flick villain, leaving a long, messy trail behind her.

"Who are you? What do you want?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from cracking.

Seven people on my level? In one room? Yeah, talk about bad RNG.

Fighting them head-on was a sucker’s bet. I cursed my luck while trying to find a breakthrough.

But the blood-soaked girl wasn't listening.

She just sneered.

Behind that mask, I knew she was grinning like a psycho.

I’m being hunted...!

The moment that thought crossed my mind—

"Step back, Delta."

The blood-soaked girl froze.

She backed off without a fight, and I finally remembered how to breathe. In her place, another girl stepped into the spotlight.

"We are Shadow Garden."

Her voice was so beautiful that, under any other circumstances, I would’ve been enchanted. But right now, it just gave me the creeps.

"And I am Alpha."

She peeled back her mask, revealing her face.

Her white skin practically glowed in the moonlight. She took a step toward me.

Ngh...!

A blonde Elf.

She was breathtakingly beautiful. Like, "distractingly pretty" beautiful.

She took another step.

"Our objective... is the destruction of the Cult of Diabolos."

She swung a black katana—one she was holding before I even realized it—through the air.

It looked like she literally sliced the night in half.

The sheer wind pressure and intent behind that swing were enough to make my knees buckle. How does someone this young get this strong? It’s not fair. I felt a disgusting mix of jealousy and pure, unadulterated terror.

But what she said next was the real kicker.

"You... where did you hear that name?"

The Cult of Diabolos. That’s a "Need-to-Know" name. Even in this facility, only a handful of people—myself included—knew it even existed.

"We know everything," she said. "Demon Diabolos, the Curse of Diabolos, the descendants of the Hero, and... the Truth of Possession."

"H-how do you know that...?"

She was dropping info that I’d only just learned myself. This was the kind of top-secret stuff that never leaves the room.

"Did you really think you were the only ones chasing the Curse of Diabolos?"

"Guh...!"

Leaking this info is a death sentence. But could I kill them all and keep the secret?

Not a chance.

My only move now was survival. I had to live long enough to tell headquarters that a bunch of super-powered girls in latex were onto us.

Time for a desperate play.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!"

I drew my sword with everything I had and lunged at Alpha.

"Oh, how reckless," she sighed.

She parried me like she was swiping away a fly and countered in one motion. My cheek split open, blood spraying everywhere.

But I didn't stop.

I kept swinging, over and over, desperately looking for an opening while she dodged me by a hair’s breadth every time. She wasn't even breaking a sweat. She’d read my entire moveset. In return, she started carving me up. My arm, my leg, my shoulder—little nicks everywhere.

But nothing fatal.

She's waiting for me to spill my guts, I realized. She won't kill me yet.

And that’s when I saw my win condition.

After one final, pathetic swing, I took a hit to the chest and stumbled back.

"This is a waste of time," Alpha said.

I didn't give her the satisfaction of an answer. I knelt, clutching my chest, and let a nasty grin spread across my face... as I swallowed the pill I’d been hiding.

"What are you doing—wait, what!?"

My body bulked up instantly. My skin darkened, my muscles felt like they were going to explode, and my eyes started glowing red.

And the Magic Power? Oh, it was beautiful. It was surging like a goddamn volcano.

Ngh...!

I swung my sword—no wind-up, just pure speed—and Alpha instantly blocked it. The impact actually made her grimace. She skipped backward to put some distance between us.

"Cute magic trick," she said, shaking out her numbed arm and tilting her head. "Is that a Magic Power Overload? You're forcibly suppressing it..."

BETA

"Lady Alpha, are you okay?" I asked, stepping forward as she retreated for the first time.

"I'm fine, Beta. It’s just getting a bit annoying... wait, what?"

Alpha turned back, but the target was gone. In the spot where Olba had been standing, a square hole had opened up in the floor. A hidden passage to the lower levels.

"...He ran for it," Alpha muttered.

"The coward... let's go after him," I suggested.

But Alpha held up a hand.

"No need. He is already down there."

"He...? Oh! Lord Shadow mentioned he was going on ahead. But I thought he was acting on his own..."

"Yeah," Alpha said, letting out a soft, melodic chuckle. "He ran off in a completely random direction earlier, so I was worried he’d actually gotten lost for once."

She smiled that knowing, perfect smile of hers.

"To think he predicted this entire escape route... As expected."

I looked down into the dark hole, my heart racing and my eyes sparkling with respect. As expected of Lord Shadow. His wisdom truly knows no bounds.