Fate: Hero Simulator

[3rd POV]

Even in this vast underground cavern, where Touko and the puppet can teleport, as long as Kyouya's speed surpasses her reaction, that puppet is nothing more than a wooden stick.

When Kyouya crushed the puppet, it was already a declaration of Touko's defeat.

This doesn't mean he defeated her, but rather she lost in this fight with her sister.

Touko is a master of puppets, and she has a lot of tricks to keep herself safe.

Even if she still had to fight, she could try to defeat Kyouya, but it wouldn't matter.

She came here to defeat her younger sister, and the puppet was designed using her sister's data.

However, she didn't expect someone like a magus to be able to burst with that much strength in close combat.

This mistake broke the puppet and caused her loss.

"Boom~"

The wall shattered as Kyouya's battle with the Volumen Hydrargyrum finally drew Aoko's attention.

Watching him defeat the puppet, she showed no reaction.

This just showed that he wasn't Touko's helper, but he wasn't her helper either. He wasn't on either side but ended up in the middle of their sister's fight.

Did he want the Aozaki's magic?

Aoko admitted that speculating about someone she didn't know well this way wasn't a good idea.

Kyouya might have simply passed by and been caught up in the fight.

However...

"I gave a warning, and you are a Magus. You have no one to blame but yourself."

A powerful magic bullet shot at him, and he had almost no time to breathe.

The mana poured out as if it were limitless, as Aoko wanted to destroy this magus.

Yes, a Magus.

If Kyouya were just an ordinary person, she might have shown him mercy. However, since he was a Magus, he had to abide by the rules of the Magi.

"Touko, how long do you plan on hiding?"

Aoko could sense her elder sister nearby, and their sharp hostility had already faded.

"There's no need to hide anymore."

Touko's figure emerged as she slowly lit a cigarette, acting as if everything before her had nothing to do with her.

She'd been tricked again.

Yes, again.

Touko's felt complicated.

After realizing that Kyouya wasn't her sister's ally, she didn't feel joy but only felt like she'd been tricked by fate again.

Back then, everyone saw her as the successor of Magician of the Fifth Magic, only for her to become a joke in the end.

Now, some unknown kid had destroyed the puppet she created to defeat her sister.

Of course, Touko still had some jokes up her sleeve—even if she was killed here, she wouldn't actually die.

However, what was the point?

This time, she had lost and for no reason at all.

"This isn't like you at all."

Aoko could sense her sister's sadness.

She really hated seeing her sister like this, feeling down found it utterly sick...

This was not the sister she knew.

"Touko, if you don't snap out of it, then just go die."

Aoko couldn't stand it anymore and was really angry.

They finally decided to stop fighting and settle their differences, but now they couldn't even do that.

Touko looked utterly disheartened.

Instead of letting her sister stay like this, Aoko thought it would be better to make her angry again and get her to fight.

Even if they would keep fighting for years, there would still be a day when they could reconcile.

They had the lifespan to wait.

A deadly magic bullet tore through the air, aimed straight at Touko's head.

"Boom~"

The explosion rang out, but Aoko didn't feel like her target had been hit. Instead, she saw a figure swiftly pulling Touko away from the danger.

Who could it be other than Kyouya?

"Now that it's clear I'm not on her side, can we work together?"

Just moments ago, Kyouya had been fighting fiercely with her, and now he wanted to team up.

Of course, this wasn't about Kyouya being nice; it was because he had no choice.

Although he had taken down Touko's puppet, it didn't mean he had defeated her, not to mention that he hadn't even faced Aoko who was a powerful magus.

If Touko died, Aoko wouldn't have to worry about keeping her promise not to use magic.

At that point, Kyouya would have no choice but to die with no other escape.

"Work together? With someone who might steal the Aozaki family's magic?"

Touko's heart was even colder and darker than her sister's.

How could she not consider the possibility that Kyouya was a villain?

She would rather die at her sister's hands in this underground cavern than work with some mysterious young man whose true intentions were unclear.

"So, are you giving up?"

He could see clearly that this was the look of someone whose will to fight had been crushed.

"Give up?"

Touko murmured to herself. She wasn't someone who feared failure, but after being toyed with by fate twice, she was beginning to feel lost.

Not only had magic been taken from her, but even the chance to prove herself seemed to be slipping away.

"Boom~"

Magic bullets flew past, crashing into the walls and causing massive explosions.

"What if I don't give up? I still have some tricks left, but it all depends on that puppet. Without that puppet..."

"Without that puppet, you can't win?"

At that moment, Touko finally noticed that Kyouya was holding a blue holy sword.

The Ryūka.

"To be honest, I know a thing or two about that flowing sword technique."

"…"

Touko remained silent, clearly still hesitating, not yet ready to decide.

That's when he remembered something Rin had once said about a "taboo."

"So, when facing your own Magus sister, you start trembling in fear? In the end, Scarred Red is nothing more than that, huh?"

"What did you say?"

That was a voice from hell—full of hatred, anger, malice... every negative word imaginable could describe such a voice.

It came from Touko's lips, and it was a forbidden taboo she absolutely could not handle.

To be continued...

...

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