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“Master, please stand back! I’ll handle this!”
“Are you sure? That’s not an opponent you can take down with half-measures. At least if it’s got the same specs as the Saint’s attendant golem.”
“I can do it!”

I clenched my fists and faced down the man who looked exactly like Mr. Koutei.

Master couldn’t fight — the stronger the magecraft she used, the more it strained her body. This was my job.

Besides, if I stumbled here, I probably wouldn’t deserve to call myself her disciple.

“Hello! Let’s talk first, okay? We’re not dangerous people at all, we just want to, uh, do a little research on these ruins—”
“Enemy lifeform behavior analysis… incomprehensible. Magecraft incantation detected. Engaging emergency elimination.”
“—That was fast!?”

The look-alike ignited the boosters on its back in an instant and shot toward me like a rocket.

Dodging backward was out of the question — Master was right behind me. But even so—

“…You’re still slower than Theo!”

I caught the blade between both hands, stopped it cold, and twisted it aside until it snapped.

Using that momentum, I spun and drove a roundhouse kick into the charging hulk, the impact ringing out with a harsh crunch as its armor dented.

“Ugh, tough…!”
“Hostile threat: beyond expected parameters. Recalculating—initiating combat simulation.”

The kick had definitely connected, but not enough to stop it.

Using the force of my blow, the look-alike leapt backward, tossing away the broken sword as its shoulder parts shifted with a heavy clatter.

That was—yeah, I’d seen that in robot anime before. Shoulder cannons. Which meant I was about to get shot.

“Momo, if you could keep up with Theo’s claws, you can see it. That staff’s not as flimsy as it looks.”
“…! Got it!!”
“Mid-range bombardment: energy charge complete. Fire.”

Light gathered in the twin muzzles on its shoulders, swelling to the size of a soccer ball before firing.

Getting hit by that would definitely not end well. But I was fine — as long as I stayed calm, I could read its movements.

I measured the distance, steadied my breathing——and punched the incoming orb of light head-on.

“Yaaahhh!!”
“Error: unexpected… counterattack—unavoidable—”

The sphere I punched felt heavy and strange, like a mix between a water balloon and a sack of flour.

Then, as if it had been hit squarely back in a game of catch, it shot straight into the look-alike’s shoulder cannon——and exploded.

“Okay! I don’t really know what just happened, but I managed to punch it back!!”
“That’s absolutely insane.”
“Error: artillery unit damaged. Recalculating tactics…”
“Good, your erratic moves have thrown it off balance. Press the attack while it’s still confused.”
“Right!”

Sparks of unstable energy crackled from its ruined shoulder, forcing the look-alike down onto one knee, struggling to move.

I closed the distance in a burst, not giving it time to pull another one of those transforming tricks. If I hesitated, it might deploy some ridiculous weapon again—so this was my chance to end it.

“Deploying close-combat armaments…”
“I won’t let you!!”

As it swung a concealed blade out from its arm, I grabbed the limb mid-strike, hoisted it onto my shoulder, and hurled it down.

The judo throw I’d only ever seen done once before somehow landed cleanly, slamming the look-alike flat on its back with a heavy thud.

“Recalculating threat level… error, error, error…”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Koutei! He might be your brother or something, but I’m about to do something awful!”

Still gripping its arm, I spun it around, faster and faster, like a hammer throw.

I wasn’t planning to just fling it, though. Once I’d built up enough momentum, I shifted my spin from horizontal to vertical——and slammed it straight down into the ground.

Its armor must’ve been tougher than the floor, because it didn’t crush—but half its body sank into the earth.

At that point, there was no way it could get out on its own.

“――――…… ――――:―――……”
“…It’s so muffled I can’t even make out what it’s saying. The fact that it’s still functional at all is terrifying.”
“W-What should we do, Master? Should we finish it off just to be safe?”
“No. If we’ve got it restrained, a reckless follow-up could be risky. And given how tough that thing is, destroying it wouldn’t be easy anyway.”
“Th-that’s a relief…”

I knew it wasn’t alive, but smashing an immobile golem still didn’t sit right with me.

And the fact that it looked so much like someone I knew made it even worse—
even during the fight, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

“Wait, Master! Why does this person… um, this thing… look like Mr. Koutei!?”
“Either he was modeled after this unit, or this unit was modeled after him. The color difference in the paint job… perhaps they needed a way to distinguish the individual models?”
“Hm, I wonder if it’d tell us if we asked.”
“Don’t even think about digging it back up for that. If you couldn’t destroy it, I don’t want to tangle with it either.”
“I’m not that stupid, Master! I just meant maybe Mr. Koutei himself knows something about it.”
“At the very least, that Saint seems to be hiding something. If we see her again, I’ll make her talk.”
“Please don’t do anything violent, okay? Come on, let’s use the time we’ve got to keep exploring!”

We’d managed to bury the look-alike safely, but our real goal was still ahead of us.

We were here to uncover the secrets of these ruins—and so far, all we’d done was find more and more mysteries.

“Let’s start by checking one of the houses. Don’t wander off.”
“Ehh… Is that really okay?”
“There’s no one to complain. I’ve been sensing for signs of life—this whole area’s completely deserted.”
“Still, it feels wrong… Hey, wait up, Master!”

While I hesitated, Master strode straight ahead without a moment’s pause.

And thanks to that lack of hesitation—we found ‘it’ sooner than either of us expected.