There were two of them and three of us.

They were the ones in a hurry, while we had the advantage of time.

Not to mention, we had divine magic— the ultimate weapon against the undead.

It was only natural that, sooner or later, the Vita Sisters would expose a fatal opening due to their growing desperation.

And there was no way Alice and Tamamo, both possessing incredible combat instincts, would miss such an opening.

Tamamo shattered their defenses with her magic, while Alice effortlessly deflected their counterattacks—

Before delivering a decisive slash straight to the neck!

There was nothing more to see.

The battle was over.

“L-Lies… There's no way… I could lose to such inferior beings… Lord… Morte….”

Vita’s eyes widened in disbelief, a thin white line appearing across her throat.

And then—

Her head slid off her neck, tumbling to the floor with a dull thud.

This was a fatal blow—

Even if Morte, the necromancer who created her, came in person, he wouldn't be able to reattach her.

Perhaps that undeniable fact finally sank in—

Tamamo’s ears perked up, and she let out a gleeful shout toward Alice.

“Alice! We did it!”

“Huff… Huff… Yeah, we won.”

They say beastfolk express emotions vividly through their tails—

And judging by how violently Tamamo’s fluffy fox tail was wagging, she was overjoyed.

Well, it made sense.

She had finally reunited with her precious childhood friend after a year and got to see her fighting at her best.

It was only natural that she’d be overwhelmed with emotion.

…Not to mention, the complicated history between the three of us.

‘Wait… I have a tail right now too, don’t I? Does that mean…?’

A sudden curiosity struck me, so I glanced over my shoulder toward my tail.

But all it did was stand straight up and wag lightly at the tip, as if wondering why I was staring at it.

What the hell does that mean?

No, seriously, could it stop moving on its own? It’s distracting.

As I continued my silent standoff with my own rebellious tail—

Verita, still standing in place, muttered in a low voice, as if struggling to accept reality.

“...I never expected this. I never imagined… my sister and I could be overpowered.”

It made sense for her to feel that way.

An undying knight and a mage with infinite mana—

On a world like Earth, where divine power no longer existed, the Vita Sisters were an overpowered duo capable of defeating even opponents leagues above them.

They never would’ve imagined that they'd be held back like this in a fight.

And to make it worse, their defeat didn’t come at the hands of famous Fixers like Victor or Raven—

But two high school girls, mere promising rookies.

That had to be twice as humiliating.

Even so, it seemed Verita wasn’t ready to give up just yet.

She raised her sword toward Alice, her killing intent flaring as if determined to continue the fight.

“Hah! You still won’t give up? It’s three against one now!”

“That’s something only a fight can decide.”

Did she intend to avenge her sister?

With her blade gleaming, Verita lunged straight at Alice.

But even with Vita present, she hadn't been able to gain the upper hand.

Now that she was alone, her chances of victory were nonexistent.

Still, Alice didn’t let her guard down.

Determined to end this fight for good, she stood her ground and forcefully parried Verita’s attack.

“Fine! Let’s finish— Huh?!”

But then—

Something completely unexpected happened.

Just as their swords were about to clash with full force,

Verita abruptly abandoned her weapon and leaped backward!

Caught off guard by her sudden retreat, Alice’s attack sliced through empty air—

While Verita, now at a safe distance, grabbed Vita’s severed head and held it in her arms.

…What was she planning to do with that?

Alice narrowed her eyes in suspicion, keeping her sword raised as she watched Verita closely.

“Her… head?”

“I acknowledge it. Even with divine magic, our defeat was due to our own weakness.

Right now… you are stronger than us.”

Verita spoke in a calm, detached voice, as if she were reading from a book.

Was she… planning to retreat?

Just moments ago, she had been radiating bloodlust, but now—

It was completely gone.

This made it difficult to land a finishing blow.

As a Death Knight, Verita’s physical abilities were exceptional—

If she prioritized escape over fighting, stopping her would be incredibly difficult.

Besides, while the civilians had already evacuated, there were still Fixers on-site who were either unconscious or too injured to fight.

If we chased her too far, we wouldn’t be able to respond if another enemy attacked.

…Which meant, whether we liked it or not, we had no choice but to let her go.

As Alice and Tamamo quietly kept their guard up, watching Verita's every move—

Vita’s severed head, resting in her sister’s arms, suddenly snapped its eyes open and screamed.

“Grrrk… Don’t accept it! Lord Morte created us—there’s no way we could lose to these inferiors!”

“Y-You’re talking?!”

A decapitated head, speaking—

It was the kind of nightmare fuel that could haunt someone’s dreams for years.

But… Now that I thought about it, how was she speaking?

With her throat completely severed, her vocal cords shouldn’t even exist anymore.

As I stared in puzzled fascination, wondering about the mechanics behind this—

Tamamo, unfazed as if she had expected this all along, spoke in a calm voice.

“…I see. So that red-haired girl is an undead spellcaster—a Lich.

Since she’s already dead, she can still talk, even with her head detached.”

“Ugh… Can a Lich survive even after getting decapitated? That’s too much.”

Alice grimaced at Vita’s talking head, clearly disturbed.

Normal zombies or ghouls, the kind vampires often enslaved, stopped moving once their heads were cut off.

This was probably her first time experiencing the sheer tenacity of a true undead, one created by a skilled necromancer.

But for some reason, Vita seemed deeply offended.

She twisted around in Verita’s grip, practically shouting in frustration.

“Oi! You there, you flat purple fox! I’m not just a Lich— I’m a High Lich! Do I look like some lowly pile of bones to you?!”

“Wha— W-Who are you calling flat?! I-It’s average!”

“Sister. Stop squirming, you’re hard to hold.”

“T-Tamamo?! Calm down!”

Her fluffy tail puffed up even more than usual, and she wore an uncharacteristically fierce expression.

Gone was her usual laid-back demeanor—she was genuinely irritated.

Hmm… Well, to be fair, Tamamo wasn’t exactly big in that department.

But she was cute and pretty, so did it really matter?

What was there to be so mad about?

I shook my head silently as I watched Tamamo, who looked ready to unleash a barrage of spells at Vita at any moment.

‘Anyway, with this, things are pretty much settled. Vita has lost her body, so she’s effectively out of the fight. And since Verita adores her sister, she won’t keep fighting on her own.’

In the end, the situation hadn’t changed at all.

The enemy had lost their will to fight, while we still had plenty of strength left.

With that in mind, it was safe to say that the Fixers had won the battle at Enigma Auction.

I didn’t know how things were going elsewhere, but this should have a significant impact on the overall fight.

Which meant—my job here was done.

Time to get out of here before my identity was exposed.

Just as I made that decision and began looking for the right moment to retreat—

RUMBLE—!

A chilling sensation ran down my spine as the ceiling suddenly collapsed!

“Ugh…?!”

“Th-The ceiling—!”

“…!”

Luckily, my reaction wasn’t too slow.

I quickly scattered the last remnants of my divine power, forming a protective barrier over myself and Tamamo.

At that moment, I prayed for one thing—that this barrier would shield us from harm.

CRASH!

The razor-sharp debris slid off the barrier and crashed harmlessly to the ground.

If I had been even a second late, we both would have been buried alive.

Tamamo, her eyes wide with shock, bowed her head in gratitude.

But I couldn’t return the gesture.

Because along with the falling debris—

Something far more dangerous had descended into the room.

‘No way…!’

A dangerous enemy appearing in the hotel at this moment—

There was only one possibility.

Cold sweat drenched my back as my instincts screamed at me.

Even being in the same space as this entity felt like having my heart gripped in an iron vice.

“This unpleasant sensation… It has been quite some time.”

Beyond my sharpened beastfolk senses, a deeply unsettling voice filled the air.

It sounded almost human, yet there was something off—like something inhuman imitating human speech.

And as the thick gray dust from the collapsing ceiling settled—

A gaunt, skeletal figure, towering well over two meters, came into view.

My worst fears had come true.

I recognized that silhouette from the original story.

There was no way I wouldn’t recognize it.

‘That’s… Morte, the Necromancer!’

One of the Seven Sins of the Otherworlder Liberation Army.

The greatest necromancer, the one who had personally created the Vita Sisters.

And unfortunately, it seemed like this monstrous being had already noticed that I was using divine power.

With an unnervingly thin, bony finger, he pointed at me—

And whispered in a low, chilling voice:

“Die.”

CRACK.

Something shot from his fingertip.

No—I couldn’t even see it.

That was natural.

Because Morte’s level was beyond comprehension—even among Double Number Fixers, he was among the strongest.

Even with divine power, I was still only at a Triple Number’s level.

The gap between us was simply too vast.

Which meant—

I was going to die.

Every sharpened instinct in my beastfolk body screamed the same thing—

No matter what I did in this moment, I couldn’t escape this fate.

But then—

Something suddenly intervened, placing itself between me and inevitable death.

A shadow-forged bullet—moving far faster than sound.

CRACK!

A sickening tearing noise rang out.

Or… did it?

Maybe it was just my imagination.

Because only after that, the deafening gunshot finally roared through the air.

And then—

THUD.

Something landed from the ceiling, turning to look at me with a mischievous grin.

“…!”

“Jin!”

“Yo. Am I late?”

Even amidst this chaotic battlefield—

There he was.

The one I had wanted to see the most in this world.

The protagonist of this story—

Raven.