Lie

My classmates ceased attacking the outlaw.

Charlotte, who’d appeared out of nowhere and commanded the class using her skill, was now missing her head.

The shot fired from the outlaw’s hand cannon “Shizuka” had blown Charlotte’s head clean off. Its impact on those standing behind her was also immense.

My classmates shrieked and groaned in fear and pain, having lost arms or legs.

It was complete and utter pandemonium.

“...Are you...dead?”

Blood poured out from where Charlotte’s head used to be, staining the desert sand red.

“Skill number twelve: the black armor, “Tsuyoshi.” It enables him to harden his body and shield himself from damage.”

I made my final report to the corpse on the ground.

The outlaw was standing before me.

His right arm and left leg, which had been sliced off by Charlotte, had grown back while I was distracted.

It wasn’t the result of an injury swap. I’d failed to check the skill he used.

If Charlotte were still alive, no doubt she would’ve rebuked me.

“...Charlotte.”

The outlaw ignored me as he gazed at Charlotte’s dead body and muttered her name.

“You were faking it, eh?”

“Huh?”

I blurted out in surprise.

The outlaw turned to me, and our eyes met.

“So you’re her ‘current favorite.’”

“What do you...?”

I was about to ask him what he meant when I sensed a skill activate. A shudder ran through my body.

It had come from Charlotte, who was supposed to be dead.

(What the hell is this skill?! It can’t be!)

“If you live through this...”

The outlaw’s red cape billowed in the wind, and the gravity around him disappeared, making his body float.

“We’ll see each other again.”

 The outlaw took off in the direction of the castle without looking back.

“...Skill number thirteen is the red cape ‘Shoko.’ It allows him to erase the gravity around him and fly.”

I had better things to do than report to a dead woman, but I couldn’t help myself.

If I live through this? What did he mean by that?

(There’s no way she could’ve survived that!)

I’d sensed two skills from Charlotte’s corpse: “remote-control” and “self-destruct.”

How had she managed to conceal them all this time?

“You weren’t...”

I heard a ticking sound from the headless corpse—the sound of a timer bomb counting down.

“You’re telling me you weren’t lying?!”

“This is not my real body, but merely a remote-controlled dummy.”

“There’s a powerful bomb inside my body. If I die, it’ll go off and kill us all.”

“Of course, I’m bluffing. You don’t sense that kind of skill from me, do you?”

That line had been the real lie.

All of us, including myself, no longer had any way of escaping.

Even though I knew it was useless, it still didn’t stop me from warning the others.

“She’s gonna blow up! GET OUT OF HERE!!”

I heard a click, and a bright white light engulfed everything.

“Don’t die.”

I recalled my last conversation with Charlotte.

“Try and make it back alive so you can report to me again.”

“THAT LYING BITCH!!”

A tremendous explosion swallowed us whole.