Chapter 47: What!? …What!? W… what?

“It’s me… Dark Frost.”

“Dark Frost?”

Riley slowly landed on the ground, his long coat fluttering with the wind. And even though he has been in the impact of two explosions, his coat still remained pristine; not even a speck of dust sticking on it.

“What are you doing?” Tomoe Reynolds, aka Dark Frost, once again whispered loudly before gesturing to Riley to hurry up and hide, “They will see you, hurry up.”

“…” Riley, however, remained standing where he was as he looked around him. But after a few seconds of checking that there was no one in the near vicinity, he approached Tomoe.

“I take it the Dark Millenium also appeared in your sector, Dark Frost?” Riley then said as he entered Tomoe’s hiding spot.

“…Yes,” Tomoe nodded, his words now completely calm as Riley was no longer exposing himself outside.

“3 of the students in my sector went along with them, the instructor failed to stop them since they were afraid to hurt the students.”

“I see.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…Did you also run away?” And after a few minutes of silence, Tomoe’s almost monotonous voice whispered in the air, “I was surprised to see you suddenly falling from the sky.”

“No, I got blown away by a bomb, Dark Frost.”

“I see.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“I am surprised you did not join them, Dark Frost,” this time, it was Riley who broke the silence as he looked at Tomoe’s costume from head to toe, “You’re even wearing a costume similar to them.”

“My costume is similar to Darkday, not to them,” Tomoe quickly answered, her words slightly agitated, “But still, I have no choice but to hide because someone might think I belong to their group. I would never join their fake group.”

Although Tomoe’s voice was still slightly monotonous, the slight irritation escaping from it was noticeable.

“Interesting,” Riley then muttered as he leaned closer to Tomoe, “How do you know they are fake, Dark Frost?”

“Hmph. Saving the world? That is something Darkday would never do,” Tomoe then quickly answered,  her monotonous voice slightly showing signs of excitement, “Darkday wants to destroy every living being on this planet. Darkday is a god, he would never dirty his hands by joining with mortals. In fact, he would be disgusted by this, I know it.”

“…You seem to know a lot about him,” Riley then breathed out as his hand slowly reached towards Tomoe, “Tell me, what else do you know?”

“Please stop asking me questions about him,” Tomoe then let out a small scoff as she slightly leaned her head outside their hiding spot, “You can never comprehend Darkday’s greatness. But one thing I could tell you is that he would never work with anyone; and if ever there does come a time that he does, it will be me serving under him.”

And as soon as Riley heard Tomoe’s words, his hand which was reaching for her neck stopped in its tracks, “You… wish to serve Darkday?”

“I no longer want to answer any of your questions,” Tomoe then said as her eyes continued to scan the outside. “I think the coast is clear, we need to get to the bus before those freaks see us.”

“Should you not remove your costume first, Dark Frost? I believe it isn’t wise to go around looking like that.”

“Never,” Tomoe said as she stepped out of the damaged building, “This costume is my sign of commitment to Darkday, I would never take it off just because I would be inconvenienced. Let’s go, there’s no one here.”

“You go ahead, Dark Frost.”

Riley, however, only watched Tomoe as she stepped outside, “I still have something to do here.”

“…Suit yourself.” Tomoe only stopped to look at Riley for a few seconds, before proceeding to walk away.

Riley then let out a short but deep sigh as he removed his sunglasses; it was starting to get even darker outside, making it hard to see through the shades. An individual willingly wanting to serve under him? That was new.

But alas, her dream of wanting to serve him first could never come true, as that role was already taken by his First Subordinate, Silver Moon. Also, he was not ready to accept a Second Subordinate, he still lacked the necessary experience, Riley thought as he stepped out of the ruined building.

“We have one of them here!”

And as soon as his foot landed on the ground outside, a rainbow seemed to have passed by him.

“…” Riley then blinked his eyes a couple of times as he turned his head towards the blurring rainbow, only to see a colorful bunch of people from afar surrounding… Dark Frost.

“Surrender! The Justice Defenders have you surrounded, there is nowhere for you to escape, villain!”

“Oh,” Riley quietly hummed as he realized who the group was, “What a coincidence,” he then quietly whispered as he slowly made his way to the commotion.

“Put your hands on the back of your head and get on your knees!” Black Defender, the leader of the team, pointed his finger at Tomoe as his eyes slowly glowed in red, “Please do not force us to put you down, evil scum!”

“This is a misunderstanding,” Tomoe, on the other hand, was still completely calm; the tone of her voice still holding its monotony even as she was surrounded by the Justice Defenders, “I am a student of the Academy, Class 1-V.”

Tomoe then showed the tag pinned on her chest, showing her name as proof that she was, indeed, a student.

“…” Black Defender looked at his teammates for a few seconds, before letting out a light scoff, “Say what you want, villain. But your words are meaningless to us! Defenders, subdue the targe–“

“This is why I told you to take off your costume, Dark Frost.”

And before Black Defender finished his words, he felt a slight force pushing his face, causing him to slightly stumble to the side towards one of his teammates. And with the path he opened up, a young man clad in white casually passed.

“…You?” Black Defender quickly collected himself as he glared towards Riley, “Aren’t you… a part of that bitch’s group?”

“…Bitch?” Riley momentarily paused in his tracks before continuing to walk towards Tomoe, “Are you referring to Nuclear Baby, Black Defender?”

“Who else!? And why are you here? Are you trying to get credit for catching one of the members of the Dark Millenium!?”

“She’s not a member,” Riley then quickly said stood beside Tomoe, “She’s in my class, as you can see, the color of our name tags are the same, Black Defender.”

“W… what?” Once again, Black Defender looked at the rest of his team as they all tried to examine Dark Frost.

“She… doesn’t have a number on her.” And finally, after a few seconds of analyzing her costume, Green Defender let out a short but deep sigh, “And I remember now, she was in the Academy before we boarded the bus.”

“For real?”

“…Yeah, I think I saw her too, she caused quite the commotion.”

“Fuck, I thought we had someone,” Black Defender then lightly stomped his foot on the ground, causing it to slightly crack, “Why are you even wearing something like that?”

“…None of you would understand,” Dark Frost then put down her stance before turning her head towards Riley, “I didn’t need your help, but you deserve my thanks either way…

…So thank you, Riley Ross.” Tomoe muttered as she bowed towards Riley.

“…” Riley, on the other hand, could not help but slightly raise an eyebrow. Why exactly was she thanking him? He thought.

The sighs of the members of the Justice Defenders whispered in the air as they too, all put their guards down. But after a few seconds, their leader, Black Defender, clicked his tongue and pointed towards the two.

“Get back to the bus, Class 1-V,” he scoffed, “Let the real heroes handle this threa–“

“Found you.”

“What the!?”

The members of the Justice Defenders all turned around as soon as they heard a voice coming from one of the buildings. They all waited as the steps began to echo from the shadows of the building, and after a few more nerving steps, the owner of the voice revealed itself to them.

A man clad in black, with the roman numeral 7 etched on his suit. And it wasn’t only him, there were two more following him from behind, with the numbers 11 and 12 on them.

“…Dark Millenium,” Black Defender whispered as his eyes started to glow red. This seemed to be some sort of signal, as the rest of his team got into a sort of V position, their stance all raised up as they faced the three members from the Dark Millenium.

And without even a warning, Black Defender rushed towards the three, while the rest of his teammates ran to the side.

Seeing this, No. 7 only raised his hand, and as soon as he did so, the two behind him also ran to the side to meet with the other members of the Justice Defenders. As for No. 7, he just stood calmly as he watched as Black Defender got closer and closer towards him.

“Surrender!” Black Defender then roared as his fist was only a meter away from No. 7, but before it could threaten to squash No. 7’s helmet, a blue, and seemingly flat light stopped his hand from reaching further.

“W… what?” Black Defender then tried to pull his fist away, but found himself unable to even move an inch; both his legs, now also wrapped by the blue light.

“Black Defender!” Seeing this, his teammates, who were busy fighting with the two other members of the Dark Millenium, all retreated to try and come to his aid. But alas, they too, found themselves suddenly unable to move as they were chained by the mysterious blue light.

“Now, now,” No. 7 then raised his arm, gently touching Black Defender’s face as he looked him straight in his glowing red eyes, “You don’t need to resist, we are not here for you.”

“Bullshit!” Black Defender screamed as the light in his eyes started to beam out straight towards No. 7’s helmet; but once again, it was blocked by some sort of blue light.

“A… agh!” Black Defender once again screamed, but this time, it was because chains of blue light slowly started to crawl across his entire head, covering it entirely.

“You do not have to worry, our intention here is not to kill any of you,” No. 7 then let out a small giggle as he stepped away from Black Defender and towards Riley and Tomoe, “If I wanted to, I could snap all of your necks right now, but I wouldn’t do that.”

“L… let go of Black Defender!” Green Defender then screamed, but like their leader, her mouth was covered by the blue light.

“All I want is you, Dark Frost, for you to join the Dark Millenium,” No. 7 then stopped a few meters away from Tomoe, reaching his hand towards her as his two other comrades once again stood behind him.

“I already refused you earlier,” Dark Frost then said as the ground beneath her started to emit a cracking sound, glistening as its surface froze almost instantly, “And I am going to refuse you again.”

“Why?” No. 7 calmly said, “You already look the part. These people will not understand you like we do, Darkday will welcome you in our ranks without any hesitation.”

“You are the ones who do not understand Darkday,” Tomoe then said as a trail of dark frozen spikes protruded from the floor, heading straight towards No. 7. But like the previous attacks of the members of the Justice Defenders, her surprise attack was not even able to harm the three.

A sort of blue sphere surrounded them, completely protecting them from all the spikes thrown towards them.

“Please do not let us take you by force, Dark Frost,” No. 7 then let out a long and deep sigh as blue lights started to crack around his left arm, “Because if we have to cut off one of your legs for you to join us, then we will do–“

“Kya!”

And before No. 7 could even finish his words, a piercing shriek entered all of their ears.

“Black D… Francis! Please, oh god no… Francis!”

“Tch,” With his words cut off by the sudden scream, No. 7 could not help but click his tongue, “Did I not tell you that I would not harm any of you!? Quiet down!” He then roared before turning his attention back towards Tomoe.

“As I was say–“

“…No. 7.”

And once again, No. 7 was interrupted, but this time, by one of his comrades.

“What!?”

“I thought… I thought we weren’t supposed to kill anyone? Why… why did you do that?”

“…What?” No. 7’s voice quickly lowered as he heard his comrade’s words. He was about to say something else, but when he realized that both his comrades were looking at something, he could not help but also turn his head towards the direction they were looking to.

“W… what?” He then once again repeated his words as he finally realized why everyone seemed to be in a fit.

Black Defender…

…his head was no longer attached to his body.