Turning Point (27)
"... I know this place. No, I've seen it before. I... I..."
Licorice's face was filled with confusion. Her unsteady gaze swept over the interior.
Shattered tanks, cables tangled in a mess, strange devices jutting up like antennas, countless monitors with their lights extinguished.
And the bizarre sense of estrangement that settled in this place.
Maybe it was just a trick of the mind, but if I listened carefully, I could hear a faint sound, like when you hold a seashell up to your ear. I couldn't understand it. I wasn't sure if I was actually hearing it, or if it was just how it felt.
'... What is this place?'
My body, which had been tense and ready for battle, turned cold at the unexpected sight. Cold to the point of stiffness.
Splash—
I heard the sound of water splashing. Water had pooled on the floor, coming up to our ankles.
"Licorice."
That sound snapped me back to focus, and I hurriedly grabbed Licorice, who had started to move dazedly forward. While I pulled Licorice back, Nadia proceeded to scan the area. Streaks of green laser swept throughout the sector.
"It doesn't seem to be operational... No, it's not running at all. I can't detect any power source. Just like the sector where we found the crystal."
"That doesn't make sense. You said there was a high-energy reaction, but if there's no power..."
"Yeah. That's right. Licorice was the one who said that."
Nadia pointed at licorice, who still looked absent-minded, with her eyes. Licorice could not tear her vision away from the scene in front of her.
At last, I recalled what Licorice had murmured earlier. Her condition had visibly changed the moment we entered, and she'd said this wasn't the first time she had seen this place.
At the center stood a massive tank that looked just like an incubator. The thought crossed my mind almost instantly.
As if to confirm it, Licorice spoke, her voice shaking.
"... Yes. I'm certain now. I was born here. No, I was made here. And in that broken tank."
"......"
Nadia and I breathed in sharply. Knowing Licorice was a clone, the revelation itself wasn't shocking.
The issue was this place. It wasn't that she was simply born in an incubator. The problem was the place, the sector, the facility.
She was created here, in this deep underground hideaway of the pureblood supremacist group.
She was watched and sealed off from the surface at the Archive after the pureblood supremacists were driven out.
She was made here, in the Ark, a place hidden by the energy field unless signal stations were activated, so that no one could freely enter.
There had always been questions.
How did Lobelia enter here without deactivating the energy field?
If she could enter, since when had she been able to?
What did she do once she got in?
Was the instability of the Archive's main system intentional?
What does Lobelia, who settled here first, truly want?
Questions kept stacking up, with not a single answer.
'The place where Licorice was made.'
I didn't consider the possibility that Licorice was mistaken. The scene before us was all too vivid for that. And Licorice herself had said, ever since entering, that she felt an inexplicable instinctive feeling she couldn't define.
What if it was because she was actually born here? What if, by growing closer to Lobelia, memories that had once been buried beneath the surface began to rise? Then, it all made sense.
"I can feel it. She's waiting for us. She's coming here. We, we have to fall back... No, no, no... We can't retreat... I—I've already decided..."
"Licorice! Get a hold of yourself!"
I yelled at Licorice as she clutched her head, unable to escape her confusion, but my voice didn't reach her.
Something I couldn't see or hear was happening in her mind, and Licorice started showing signs of hyperventilation. Even with all that air, she seemed to suffocate, clawing at her neck.
I held her firmly in place to keep her from making any sudden moves, gritting my teeth as an uncanny sensation gripped my nerves.
"Nadia, prepare for battle."
"Y-yeah...!"
Even though the order made little sense, Nadia obeyed without hesitation. She must have felt something too, like me. An instinct that told us not to be distracted now.
Just as my instincts screamed a warning—
Click—
The sound of heels echoed. We immediately turned and fixated our gazes where the sound had come from, activating our weapons.
From the place where nothing but deep darkness had existed, a woman walked out. Crimson hair, ruby eyes, sharp eyes shaped into a sly gaze. A woman identical to Licorice—Lobelia.
The only differences were the mischievousness and strange aura in her every movement. Even though we were in the same space, it didn't feel like we were seeing Lobelia. Her presence was just so overwhelming that we could barely maintain our composure.
She looked human, but her essence was utterly different. I realized it the instant I met Lobelia's gaze.
Eyes of unfathomable depth, as though she had done more than just live for countless years.
Nadia couldn't look directly at those eyes, her hands trembling slightly. The tail, which had been on full alert, now drooped and tried to tuck itself between her legs.
"Hello. It's been a while since we've spoken face to face like this."
"... Lobelia."
Licorice finally managed to calm her hyperventilation and glared at Lobelia. Even under that fierce glare, Lobelia just smiled brightly, an innocent smile shining between her gently open arms.
"Welcome back, Licorice. To your cradle."
The cradle. That was confirmation that this was the very place of Licorice's birth.
"How do you feel? What are you thinking? I guess not happy? Then, sad? Or are you angry? Or... just confused? I'd be happy if you told me. I'm curious. It's been so long since I lost my cradle, I want to know what it feels like."
"..."
"Oh, never mind. Maybe I don't need to ask? After all, you're not my everything—just a precious part of me."
Lobelia's eyes curved in satisfaction. Licorice shrank back in fear. Though they looked alike, the two standing on opposite sides projected completely different atmospheres.
I immediately became aware of the button to activate the restraint device. If Lobelia tried to control Licorice into doing something, it was a measure to stop her instantly.
But Lobelia did nothing—she only radiated a look of welcome.
'She's impossible to predict.'
Since we couldn't guess what she'd do, I thought it wise for us to strike first. I exchanged a silent look with Nadia. Our weapons were already active. All that remained was to decide where to aim.
The moment I stepped forward, ready to signal the start of the battle, Lobelia, sensing our heightened vigilance, spoke up.
"Are you planning to fight me? Hmm... I didn't show up with that intention at all."
Lobelia glanced at us and smiled slightly. She seemed to be trying to put us at ease, but with someone who looked like Licorice, it only heightened our tension.
"I'm here to talk. Really. Look at me—I'm alone, unarmed."
"You're alone because that's all you need. You've lived longer than the stars, haven't you?"
"Wow! So you figured out a little? I'm glad my efforts paid off. You must still have a lot of questions. How about it, I could answer them. Want to hear?"
"How do I trust you?"
"Need proof?"
Lobelia giggled as though she'd be happy to give it. Almost simultaneously, a transmission came in from Celestia.
- Hyun-woo! I've arrived in front of the central control room! The door is closed, so I'll start setting up the barricade— Huh? The door is suddenly...!
Celestia uttered her confusion at once.
"What do you mean, the door? What happened?!"
- It's fine. The door just opened, that's all. Hyun-woo, are you okay? It seems empty here, should I keep waiting?
After hearing Celestia, I understood Lobelia's intent. This place was effectively her home turf.
Even if no one was there, it only looked that way because she wanted it to. Lobelia knows the Archive's system inside and out—she has countless tricks up her sleeve.
"You all have so much to do. The pureblood supremacists will be arriving soon—you need to seize control of the Archive main system as fast as you can, right? Go ahead. I guarantee your safety."
Lobelia stepped aside and gestured for us to move, as if to say we could go ahead. She meant that since she was saving us time, we should spend that spared time on her—all very confidently.
"You..."
"Celestia, infiltrate. Get into the main system and take control. The pureblood supremacists will storm in, so find the satellite lockdown release code as quickly as possible."
"Licorice!"
I called Licorice in surprise. She shook her head, wearing an expression like she was swallowing something hard.
"Hurry, as much as possible."
- ... Roger that.
Celestia hesitated briefly, sensing something in her subdued tone, then added a word of caution. The communication ended on our side.
Lobelia clapped her hands.
"Wah—, as expected of my clone! Such decisiveness!"
"Don't look at me like that, it wasn't for your sake. And don't call me your clone. You and I are completely different."
The look on Licorice's face as she spoke was one of disgust.
"How did you even live all this time? What have you done..."
Licorice struggled to suppress her urge to retch as she spat out the words, but Lobelia just silently smiled, not deigning to answer. She only spoke up as Nadia and I, deciding it was best for now to go along, sighed and lowered our weapons.
"All right, I think we're just about ready to actually talk. But before that, I need to hear the answer to the question I missed earlier. Licorice, how does it feel to be back in your cradle?"
"It's disgusting. That I was born in a place like this."
"Not wonderful, but an interesting answer."
Lobelia burst out laughing—kyahaha! Licorice's face twisted even further, the obvious reaction to realizing at which part Lobelia found such amusement.
"Well, what should we talk about first~?"
"To hell with talking, cut the bypass connected to me. Because of you, I...!"
"Hm? Ah, you mean the reflux? You did have a hard time with that. But it hurts to hear you phrase it like that. I was actually blocking the reflux. That little Sprout you're keeping around only stopped what I wasn't able to."
"... What? How can you spout such nonsense—!"
Licorice's pent-up anger exploded, causing her words to be abruptly cut off. Though Lobelia kept smiling, the aura around her had changed.
"You know I have no reason to lie. This isn't a joke. I was really in trouble. I never meant to show you so much. You didn't even have the qualifications until you could properly prove your value."
Despite her smile, it felt as though a blade was pressed to the back of my neck. "Proving one's value"—that was a phrase the pureblood supremacists were notorious for.
Licorice bit her lip. Lobelia's gaze shifted—to us, no, to me—leaning back against the wall.
"Well, shall we continue our talk? Let's find common ground. That's the purpose of conversation, isn't it? To straighten out what's gone crooked between us."