COLD OBSESSION

Sometimes, you have to do things fast and succeed no matter what. I don’t have the luxury of leaving things unsolved until tomorrow, especially since even today isn’t promised. However, sometimes, you also pay the price… for trying to outpace time.

“Magnetic baton. The mechanoreceptors on it create negative pressure upon contact with anything. You won’t be able to use your arm anymore,” he said, pointing the baton at me.

“Do you think I need both arms to defeat you?” I said, holding my broken arm with the healthy one.

“You’re too passionate about rushing into battle. That’s what got you killed now,” he said, raising the baton to strike again.

“Riko!? When did you end up here?” I said, seeing her in front of me, her shield taking the blow instead.

“How sweet of your friend. But don’t think I’m finished—”

“Don’t forget about me. It might be fatal for you,” said Masashi, throwing a smoke grenade at us.

“I can’t see anything. Where is he?” I said while coughing and looking around the disturbance, though I wished I thought of someone else firstly... In any case, I was looking for an opportunity to turn this smoke into my advantage. I wasn't going to run away from the problem, I was going to strike first this time. however, I could suddenly feel someone's fingers on my wrist, becoming increasingly more contracted. Did I got caught first? I just have to turn my wrist around and kick him with my leg, then—

“Fast, we need to get the hell out of here!,” shouted Masashi, who was the one grabbing me.

“Wait, Riko’s on the ground! She’s not moving.” I said, noticing her through the smoke eventually. I felt like she was always there, close to me, yet I could not see her for some reason.

“Shit, can you walk alone? I’ll carry her,” he said, rushing to grab her. I simply nodded and followed him, watching him take care of my friend since I lost an arm in the battle I rushed into.

“Hurry up, we’ll storm into this house,” he said, kicking down the door despite carrying her. We came to this village—or rather, I was ordered to—come and save them from a Selenoran attack, but instead, we're the ones destroying their homes.

“P-Please don’t hurt us! We’ll give you everything you want!” said the family inside, hiding behind a couch, defenseless. There was nothing I hated more than lacking the power to fight, and hiding from the enemy in this home seemed wrong.

“Don’t worry, we’re Amethystians. We’re here to take care of our friend,” I said, entering the house after Masashi and Riko.

“Thank God, please put her on the couch.” said the mother, willing to help us without question.

“Is this a laser drill used to mine crystals?” I asked, touching it, reminding me of a familiar feeling.

“Yes, this is a village of miners. Most of us still have them. Did Haruto do this to her?” asked the father of the family.

“Haruto? Is that the Selenoran outside?” I asked, glancing out the window.

“That’s how he introduced himself. He said he has the mission of liberating the village and making it Selenora’s land.”

“I’m Masashi, by the way. This is Ryo, and she is Riko.”

“I’m Kazuya, this is my wife Aiko, and our little son is Naoki.”

“Masashi, we need to regroup with Rin and get Riko on the train.”

“What are you saying? If we don’t defeat him now, more villagers will die.”

“And? The mission was to help the village. It didn’t say we had to do it now or save everyone.”

“You’re still acting the same way, I see. I hate that,” he said, grabbing my collar.

“Same goes for you. You still trust people, even though they killed your mother unjustly,” I said, before getting punched. I saw it coming but didn’t bother dodging.

“You need to leave that dark side of your mind for good,” he said, turning away and walking to the window. That’s when I had a better chance to see Riko, lying unconscious, affected by the magnetic field pressure that she blocked. It reminded me of someone…

I could see a hallway. I recognized it all too well. I was in my village’s home. Had it not been destroyed?

“Are you leaving already?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Can you at least take Ryo with you?”

“We’ve talked about this. I don’t want to take him.”

“I see... if you think that’s better, then we’ll live here.”

I could hear my parents talking, so I peeked out the door only to see his back slowly getting farther away from us.

I remember this scene. It’s me being useless again. It’s me not knowing how to help my mother. She was never the same after he left, and I didn’t know what to do.

I met my mother’s eyes as she walked toward me.

“You have to save everyone, Ryo. I know you can do it,” she said, hugging me.

“Ryo… Ryo! Do you even hear us?” said Masashi, shifting my attention back to him. “As I was saying, we need something to bypass his field.”

“If only we could help… but my oldest son abandoned the village, scared of fighting Haruto, and left the weapon we villagers put a lot of effort into making,” said Kazuya.

“What weapon are you talking about?” asked Masashi, determined. “I see, so you need someone to use those to defeat him?”

“Yes, we’ve seen it work on some robots, but we were still losing, so now everyone hides in their homes, too scared to try again.”

“That’s nonsense. If you’re confident in your power, you should keep trying. Give ‘em to me. I’ll go there,” I said, picking them up.

“Don’t be stupid. You can’t even hold it with one arm,” said Masashi, putting his hand on it too.

“I can do it. Besides, who’s going to do it if not me?”

“I trust you… you’ve always won these types of close, dangerous challenges. But at least let me help you.”

“Fine. You’ll throw a smoke grenade again if something goes wrong,” I said, leaving the house and stepping back onto the street.

“You always leave us behind… but I understand. I’d leave me and Riko behind too if I had a goal to be obsessed with this much. However, I hope someday you’ll rely on us too.”

“Huh? Isn’t that the brat I broke his hand? You should’ve left my village,” said Haruto, stopping from hitting one of the villagers.

“Your village? You don’t look like their mayor or something,” I said, keeping my shield close.

“I might as well become their mayor. I’ve been given orders by Master Ryuunosuke to take over this village, so it’s mine now,” he said, calling all of his robots.

“Even better. I’ve always liked the idea of taking down important figures,” I said, throwing grenades at him.

“Did you forget I can control the objects around me?” he said, stopping the grenade and redirecting it to a nearby house.

“No, I didn’t. But I had to sacrifice one to make the others work,” I said, as the other two grenades, which missed him intentionally, exploded against the building behind him.

“I admit my range isn’t that far, but surely you didn’t think these slabs of shattered concrete would hurt me?” said Haruto, controlling them too.

“Sorry I had you waiting , I’ll give you a thing you can’t control “ I said while revealing the bow I had hidden behind my shield, holding it with one arm and aiming at his head , pulling the string with my mouth, and hitting his antenna

“How the hell did it go through the field!?” said Haruto, tilting his head backward, unpleased about his power being useless.

“The arrow is made out of copper, which creates currents that bypass the field. You were unlucky to pick a village of miners.”

“I see. I was careless in even learning about the mission I was given… It won’t happen again!” he said, snapping his head back to normal.

“What’s going on? Ryo didn’t miss… he hit it clean!” said Masashi, hiding nearby.

“You were wrong about one thing, one-armed boy. This helmet controls the field, not the antenna!” he shouted, pointing at his helmet. “You’re as good as dead.”

“I don’t think so. Not on my watch,” said Masashi, throwing the smoke grenade. However… sometimes there's a limit to how much I can avoid the damage caused by my desire.

“Too late. You’ve already missed your chance,” he said, emerging from the smoke with his baton raised. Since I lowered my shield to shoot the arrow, I could only block with my arm.

“This can’t be how it ends... I still have a long way to go,” I muttered to myself, on the ground, unable to feel either of my arms.