The Amphisbaena by Gakuto Mikumo Page B

about this. We’re a bit shorthanded here, y’see.”
    Covering his yawning mouth with a hand as he spoke, Motoki Yaze led Natsuki into the center of the room.
    It was a room that greatly resembled an operating room of a hospital. A girl who didn’t look even ten years old was lying on top of a bed surrounded by high-end medical devices. Her entire body was wrapped with bandages as if she’d been gravely injured.
    And for some reason, both of her arms and legs were firmly secured with thick metallic devices.
    Natsuki hmphed through her nose as she looked down, unmoved.
    “…So this is the fifth? Looks like they really put on a show last night.”
    “Oh yeah. So far, reports coming in of two buildings half-wrecked, five set on fire, blackouts, water shortages… But still better than the alternative. It’s all commercial districts with few civilians nearby.” Yaze had a cynical look on his face as he explained.
    There had been an incident the night before in Itogami Island’s western district, Island West.
    Two unregistered demons possessing high-combat capabilities engaged in prolonged battle above urban areas. Buildings in the area caught up in that fighting had suffered heavy damage.
    This girl, apprehended with heavy injuries, was one of those unregistered demons.
    “…I heard that she was fighting someone else?”
    “We don’t know who she is. It’s been a real pain trying to track her down.”
    Natsuki raised her eyebrows, taking delight in hearing Yaze’s morose-sounding words.
    “So even you couldn’t chase her down?”
    “Ah, there ain’t no way. She’s outta my league.”
    Yaze scratched his head as he spoke.
    Motoki Yaze was a Hyper-Adapter—not a demon, but a human born with exceptional abilities. Using a type of psychic power, his special ability allowed him to extend his hearing over a wire area, enabling him to track everything within a radius of several kilometers like highly accurate radar.
    But even his ability had drawbacks. The field of delicate sound Yaze deployed was vulnerable to big explosive sounds; it wasn’t well suited to monitoring large-scale combat.
    And it had one more drawback—namely,
it was powerless against opponents traveling beyond the speed of sound
.
    This time, when combat had concluded, the target he was tracking left the battlefield at a speed even his ability couldn’t keep up with. Of course, this was not a feat your average demon could accomplish.
    “The report said this girl is an unregistered demon?”
    “At the very least, there’s no matching entry in Itogami City’s Demon Registry database. Well, that’s to be expected, given that she’s not a demon to begin with.”
    “…Not a demon? She’s one of your kind?”
    For once, Natsuki had a look of surprise on her face. Not many things existed that could wreck multiple buildings with flesh and blood that
weren’t
demons. Such feats were all the more unthinkable for ordinary humans.
    “Well, y’see, there’re faint traces of sorcerous physical augmentation, but the way the corporation sees it, she should still be thought of as almost totally human.”
    “So what, a mere human flew in the skies above a Demon Sanctuary, mowing down buildings in her wake? Don’t make me laugh.”
    “Well, there’s no doubt these folks aren’t normal. I’m not laughing, though.”
    “How heavy are the girl’s injuries?” Natsuki asked as she shifted her gaze back to the wounded girl.
    “They say she’s in stable condition for the moment. They’re using cellular cloning to replace missing internal organs.”
    “…Missing organs?”
    “Her diaphragm and a kidney… Right around the Manipura Chakra, you could say.”
    “So they were eaten…”
    Natsuki seemed to spit the words out as she murmured.
    The next moment, she heard an innocent-sounding voice from behind her. It was a melodic but sarcastic male voice.
    “…Hmph, I see. It was not her internal organs that were taken so much as her energy