“How impatient. Won’t you stay and chat for a bit?”
The woman spoke as if we were merely exchanging pleasantries.
Even with my muzzle leveled at her, she didn’t show a hint of fear. She simply stood there, arms spread wide, a quiet smile playing on her lips. A skin-tight, jet-black suit clung to her, tracing every curve of her body. Amidst the darkness of her attire, her hair—shimmering like strands of spun silver—reflected the light with an eerie brilliance. Her bare fingers were pale and bloodless, yet perfectly formed. She looked less like a person and more like a porcelain doll.
“Honestly, things have been so hectic that I didn’t even have time to prepare a proper welcome.”
She tilted her head slightly, her gesture suggesting a mock sense of disappointment. Despite her words, she wasn't the least bit flustered.
Roselia snorted.
“Hmph, don’t act tough. The big guy upstairs is history. The only ones left are you and Olaf. Once we’re done with you, I’ll take my time finding Lucia Rainburg.”
The woman’s gaze shifted to Roselia. For a fleeting second, her narrowed eyes seemed to glimmer with a strange luster.
“Oh, it’s you... the one from the manor? You’ve certainly gotten a lot thinner.”
She giggled. It was the light, airy tone of someone greeting an old friend.
Roselia ignored the jab, but I didn’t miss the way her jaw tightened. As the tension in the room reached a breaking point, the woman opened her mouth again.
“Now then, shall we—”
Gown.
My gun spat fire, cutting her off mid-sentence. She talked too much.
The energy round streaked through the air, piercing her flank with pinpoint accuracy. Faster than the report could echo, the woman’s body swayed under the impact.
“...Oh my.”
Still standing with her arms spread, she looked down at her side. A charred, gaping hole had been blown through the black suit and into her flesh. Yet, she didn't even flinch. Instead, the corners of her mouth curled into a smirk.
“What a lovely greeting.”
As she spoke, the wound began to writhe with a sizzling sound. The edges of the hole filled in with flesh and fiber, the damage undoing itself like a video played in reverse.
I see. It’s the same thing I saw at the Rainburg Manor.
Self-repair nanomachines. Like the others, she didn't seem to feel any pain. Whether that lack of reaction was due to her modifications or something else entirely remained to be seen.
“I can’t exactly have you turning me into a pincushion, so I’ll have to punish the naughty ones.”
Her smile twisted.
In the next instant, she vanished.
The air let out a sharp crack. Simultaneously, the concrete beneath her feet shattered, the sound reaching my ears a fraction of a second late.
Fast!
My instincts took over. I twisted my body, diving to the right. Even so, I wasn't quite fast enough.
“Tch...!”
A sharp pain tore through me along with the whistle of displaced air. My left arm went hot, then numb, as the sensation drained away.
“Ahaha... You avoided that well.”
Her voice was a sweet, airy whisper. I looked back to find her standing a few meters away, looking down at me while still in the follow-through of her swing. The smile on her face was as cold as thin ice.
I retreated with a backstep, moving toward where Roselia stood shielding Cecily.
“Repairman!” Roselia screamed.
Pain flooded back into my senses all at once. I looked down to see my left arm hanging by a thread—literally. It dangled by a few cables and a strip of skin. A mixture of red blood and dark machine oil dripped onto the floor.
“...Well, she got me good.”
A wry smile escaped me. It had been a while since I’d taken a hit this bad. It was almost refreshing to see my own guts outside of a routine maintenance session.
The silver-haired "Cecily" curled her lip.
“Hehe... ‘Humans’ really are such fragile things.”
Humans, huh?
The way she said it made it clear she didn't count herself among them. There was no joy or malice in her voice, only a cold, clinical interest—like a child observing a broken toy.
“Repairman, how bad is it?” Roselia called out, her tone urgent.
I gave a casual wave with my right hand, still gripping my gun.
“I’m fine. I’ve had worse.”
A mixture of blood and oil sizzled on the floor, sending up a faint, acrid smell of burning. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cecily gasp. I took a breath to steady myself and activated my skill.
«Target: Rei Haijima» «Damage Rate: 12%» «Repair? : Materials are sufficient»
OK.
The moment I willed it, a faint light seeped from my shoulder. The charred skin and severed prosthetic components restructured themselves; shattered framing and severed wiring knit back together. By the time the light faded, even the sleeve of my torn jacket was as good as new.
“S-So amazing...” Cecily whispered.
Roselia let out a low whistle of approval.
I shrugged it off. Ahead of us, the silver-haired double glared at me. She wasn't frustrated or panicked; she was simply calculating. We both possessed self-repair. The room fell into a heavy silence, a complete stalemate.
“My turn.”
I readjusted my aim. In that same heartbeat, the silver streak disappeared again.
“Roselia!” I barked.
“On it!”
The sound of grinding metal followed instantly. Roselia, shielding Cecily, caught the silver-haired woman’s fist with her crossed arms. Sparks flew, and the metal floor groaned and buckled beneath their feet.
“Oh? Impressive,” the silver woman said. A hint of genuine amusement finally entered her voice. “But I wonder how many more of those you can block?”
The ground exploded as she moved again. She was too fast for the naked eye to track. I had to rely on the displacement of air and the micro-vibrations in the floor to guess her trajectory.
If that’s how she wants to play.
I pulled a small cylindrical cartridge from my belt pouch. It was the "Booster" I’d been holding for Roselia. Without a second thought, I slammed it into my side.
With a hiss, two needles deployed, injecting the solution directly into my system. A cold rush surged through my nerves, and the world slowed to a crawl. My heartbeat sounded like a slow, heavy drum in my ears. The limiters on my brain were gone, pushing my neural reactions to the absolute limit.
Normally, this would cause a neural rupture in seconds. Even with a prosthetic body, it wouldn't hold up for long. But I had my Repair skill. Every time my damage rate ticked up, it automatically mended the strain. I was breaking and fixing myself at the same time, maintaining a constant state of motion.
My vision was bathed in blue. Luminescent streaks outlined my limbs as I kicked off the floor, the air detonating behind me.
I see her.
She was lunging toward the gap behind Cecily. Roselia had noticed, but her body couldn't react in time. I was several meters away, but in this dilated state of time, I could make it.
The world was a series of slow-motion frames. I focused on the tiny window of space between Roselia and Cecily and pulled the trigger.
A flash of light.
I could see the energy round’s path as it left the barrel. The bolt of light streaked forward and punched a hole straight through the silver woman’s thigh.
“Ugh...!”
Time snapped back to reality. A beat later, a dull thud echoed as the woman tumbled across the ground, her body scraping against the concrete.
Cecily let out a cry of shock. Roselia moved instantly, grabbing Cecily’s arm and pulling her back.
“...Not bad,” the fallen woman said, laughing despite the smoke rising from the hole in her leg. Pain seemed to be a foreign concept to her. “But it’s useless. No matter how many times you wound me, I’ll just heal.”
True to her word, the wound began to bubble and close. Flesh and metal knit together until the injury vanished without a trace.
I smirked and triggered my Repair skill again. This time, I targeted two things at once. Two windows appeared in my mind's eye.
«Target: Cecily Rainburg» «Damage Rate: 8%» «Repair? : Materials are sufficient»
«Target: High-class Hospitality Android Vira-NC Series / Saphir» «Damage Rate: 1%» «Repair? : Materials are sufficient»
Two names. One was the girl herself. The other was the vessel.
The true nature of this skill wasn't just fixing things. When I repaired identical structures simultaneously, I could "shift" the contents. Separation. Synthesis. Adjustment. I could take a glass of mixed juice and separate it back into apple and banana.
I wasn't sure if it would work on a personality, but it was a gamble I had to take.
I focused my will into a single thought.
A faint light enveloped both Cecilys—one blue, one silver. The two glows overlapped, pulsed, and then slowly drifted apart. When the light finally died down, two "Cecilys" were standing there, looking utterly bewildered.
Roselia’s eyes went wide. “What... what did you do?”
The android looked down at its own hands, feeling the texture of the artificial skin and listening to the hum of its own servos. Then, its gaze shifted to the silver-haired girl standing across from it.
“!! That’s... That’s my body!!!”
She shouted and tried to lung forward, but her movements died halfway.
I let out a long breath and finished the command on my terminal. Back at the manor, when I’d repaired her, I’d installed a custom override on the main circuit. I flipped that switch to "Off."
Sorry, but you need to sit this one out.
The blue-haired android body crumpled to its knees. Only the sub-circuits were left active; she was conscious, but her body wouldn't obey. She slumped to the floor with a heavy metallic clatter.
Cecily stared at the scene, speechless and frozen.
I lowered my gun and spoke quietly.
“There. Now it’s clear who’s who.”
As the last of the light faded, Roselia looked at me. Her expression was a mix of relief and genuine dread at what she’d just witnessed.
“Now then... why don’t you show us the way to Olaf and Lucia?”
The mechanical body on the floor remained silent, unable to move a single finger.