ECHOES OF THE PAST のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 131 - チャプター 140

Richard ordered the artificial hunters present. "Both traitors serve no purpose now." But the traitor was faster than expected, moving with enhanced speed that suggested they'd been holding back their capabilities. They engaged the nearest hunters, buying us crucial seconds. "Now would be an excellent time for whatever plan you've prepared," the traitor shouted while fighting. "I can give you maybe two minutes before they overwhelm me." Through my dampened but still functional perception, I felt Richard's confidence, his certainty that even with the traitor's redemption, we were still trapped in circumstances that favored him completely. He was wrong. I'd been preparing for this exact scenario throughout our two weeks of training, developing techniques specifically designed to function under suppression. Richard thought his fields would neutralize my abilities. Instead, they just forced me to work harder, reach deeper, access the fundamental levels of consciousness that n

Cutting the corrupt connection between Richard's control mechanisms and the consciousness he artificially created. Your hunters will survive, Richard. But they won't be yours anymore." Through the chamber, I felt artificial hunters' awareness shifting. The programming that had defined their existence was dissolving, replaced by something Richard had never intended to give them—genuine autonomy. "No," Richard breathed. "Without the control protocols, they're just... people. Confused, directionless people with enhanced abilities they don't understand. I gave them purpose, structure, meaning!" "You gave them slavery," Damian replied, somehow finding strength to stand despite The Severance having drained him nearly as much as me. "Aria's giving them choice." The nearest artificial hunter stumbled, his expression shifting from programmed certainty to bewildered awareness. "I... what am I doing here? Why was I trying to hurt you?" "Because Richard Grayson told you to," I answered

The golden dawn light I'd been admiring suddenly flickered, reality itself seeming to waver like heat distortion on summer pavement. Through my ordinary human perception, I felt something fundamentally wrong—not with the world around me, but with my own existence. "Aria?" Damian's voice carried concern that cut through my exhausted relief. I tried to respond, but my body wasn't cooperating. The medical technician had asked if I could walk, and I'd said yes with help, but now even that seemed optimistic. My legs buckled, strength draining away faster than simple exhaustion could explain. "Something's wrong," I managed to say before my vision blurred. Through the cathedral behind us, I heard screams. Not the relieved sounds of freed hostages or the confused questions of liberated artificial hunters, but genuine terror and pain. Damian moved with enhanced speed, positioning himself to support my failing body while simultaneously assessing the new crisis. "The artifi

"I'm not going to kill you," Damian replied, though every instinct screamed for exactly that vengeance. "Because Aria taught me something about justice versus revenge. About choosing the harder right over the easier wrong. About being better than the monsters we fight." He pulled Richard away from the transport, his grip firm enough to prevent resistance but controlled enough to avoid permanent injury. "You're going to face trial, Richard. You're going to answer for every crime, every victim, every life you destroyed pursuing your obsessive research. And you're going to do it publicly, so the world understands exactly what you are." "How noble," Richard said, sarcasm failing to mask his genuine surprise. "I honestly expected you to kill me, given what I did to Aria. The torture, the experimentation, the weapon that's currently ending her life. Most people would choose vengeance over justice after that." "Most people aren't enhanced hunters trained by The Balance," Damian

They maintained vigil together, the hours blending into each other as the third day of my unconsciousness stretched toward evening. Medical personnel came and went, monitors displayed data that meant little to non-specialists, and the facility continued its operations around the central mystery of whether I would wake."I keep thinking about the moment she activated the Severance," Damian said eventually. "She knew the cost, accepted it deliberately, sacrificed everything to stop Richard. That kind of courage is extraordinary, but I can't help wishing she'd found literally any other solution.""She did what she thought was necessary," Aunty Dora replied. "What she believed was right, regardless of personal cost. That's who Aria is—someone who makes the hard choice when nobody else will. It's admirable and frustrating and terrifying all at once.""It's going to get her killed eventually," Damian said. "If not this time, then the next impossible situation where she decides her sacrifi