RM Vol 3: For a World without Boundary – Interlude: Sirin dares!

Author notes:

UmU

I am back! Not gonna lie, this chapter has been a cute one for me. It's also an interesting challenge, trying to show this version Sirin. The girl deserves nothing but the best and I will not allow myself to do her a disservice.

That said, I hope this is not too presumptuous of me to ask you fine readers to help support the story. Spreading the words about our Marshal, leaving a nice review or a like, and even a nice coffee tip would suffice to keep the story going at flank speed! 

My internet bill is coming soon, and as I have to pay a hefty sum to keep it running for the next six months, any support would be appreciated!

Other than that small request of mine to ensure our livelihood... Three new pictures are posted in the album! Do enjoy!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/waZgkRa3UQhqKQBi9

------------------------------------------

"This is Master Sergeant Adelheid Gordon, Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 501st Airborne! Oorah" Were the last words left behind by the female Pathfinder before she blew herself and a group of zombies up.

For some, her final moments have been a glorious one. Others, however, can't bear to watch her sacrifice. That said, none show pity, just regret and admiration toward the valiant shown by Adelheid Gordon. It would have been an honor to fight side by side with her. Those in the 501st, especially her own Company, collectively offer the heroine a silent salute and tears of acceptance. In the future, the 501st Division will mark today as the day to honor their fallen members.

Watching the video feed from the med bay, Overseer Yuki can't stop a sigh from escaping her lips. "You're in good hands now, Sergeant." It's one thing to see casualties as numbers on a screen, but it's another matter entirely to witness a live video from the frontline. The latter will surely hit you with the weight of a freight train since you have witnessed the final moments of the soldiers who live, fight, and die for your cause.

A youthful, but mourning gasp can be heard by her right. Looking in that direction, Yuki can see Bella watching over the rest of her sisters concernedly. The older girl must be afraid that this might be too much for the sisters, more specifically Seely who has just gasped. She has voiced her opinion about whether it's safe to watch the combat footage as they're minors, somewhat broken minors mind you, but still minors nonetheless. But in the end, the girls have been very curious to see their rescuers in battle, and Bella can't go against Sirin's wishes.

Bronya, who's been sitting in between Bella and Seele, takes the latter's left hand into her right as an act of silent comfort. This makes Seele calm down before hyperventilating. While over near the wall of the med bay are Rozaliya and Liliya, the former has somehow scuttered over onto Liliya's bed, hugging her little sister, seeking comfort of her own. Liliya though, despite showing a face of reluctance, still pats the pink hair of her supposedly older twin. Seeing no cause for alarm, Yuki lightly smiles at the bonds they show.

Turning back to her left, Yuki is not surprised to see Sirin is also showing a look of pure concern to her sisters. That said, her eyes sometimes dart over to the video projection, glinting traces of unwillingness all the while.

"Something on your mind?" Yuki lightly asked with a sense of familiarity.

Siring jerks her head at the question before lightly scratching her cheek and saying. "Is there really nothing we can do to help them?"

"I have thoughts up a few ways, with ground rescue being the likeliest to succeed." Sirin perks up but Yuki immediately adds. "But time constraints don't allow us to deploy another rescue team. There are so many things that can go wrong if we do not wrap up this engagement soon."

Sirin deflates at the answer, despite the short moments she has come to learn of the Outlaw 2-6 survivors, she has come to care about these brave people, seeing them as something great, something valiant. In short, Sirin is rooting for them to win, to turn a desperate situation around. But reality is different from fiction, of the surviving four, one has already sacrificed herself for the others to live just a tad longer. Sirin is saddened by that. It's why she had asked once again whether Yuki could have done anything at all. She's also mature enough to understand that Yuki must have a clearer picture than her to make hard decisions. It's not her place to edge the Marshal to do what she really can't.

Sirin is not one to give up that easily though. Maybe, just maybe, she has the key to solve it... Or at least a partial key. It really doesn't hurt to try, lest she regrets not doing anything at all.

During her torturous stay at Auschwitz, Sirin has come to learn and hypothesize many things about her power. It also helps that mother Cocolia supports her fully in exploring her power, whether it's for good or for ill. Without her and her sisters backing her up, Sirin would have died bitterly a long time ago. While how Sirin and her sisters managed to gain or acquire their powers is muddled by various hypotheses, it didn't stop Sirin from inferring that her power is, surprisingly enough, space-related. To be more precise, it's space-time manipulation, according to Mother Cocolia who has extensively theorized about the limit of her power.

Sirin is a walking reality manipulator, given enough stamina, mana, and experience. Right now, other than a slightly stronger body than most girls her age, Sirin can summon portals to compliment her combat ability, creating a sort of pocket space for inventory, conjuring up durable weapons, and being able to telekinetically manipulate an object. Thanks to her affinity, Sirin also has extremely advanced spatial awareness. The ability has saved her skin more time than she can count and allowed the young girl to peer beyond the confinement of her former prison. Instinctively, she knows that her power has no limit whatsoever to grow if given the time and resources to do so... It's food for thoughts for the future Sirin.

The Sirin of now, though, dares. If she can use her portals to go from one place to another, then she sure as Hell can use them to rescue the soldiers at Auschwitz. Sadly, things aren't as simple as just opening a door to somewhere. From research, it's noted that her portal ability has some rules to it:

Sirin must know her destination to open a portal. The more she's familiar with the destination, the lesser the travel cost.

The farther the destination is away from her current location, the higher the travel cost.

If a portal remains active, a subsequent cost will have to be paid to cover the duration it remains active.

The portal can be opened and closed at will or until Sirin can't afford to pay the cost.

The travel cost is both Sirin's stamina and mana.

In this current situation, Sirin has seen the general outline of the Belkan soldiers' location. And having been at Auschwitz for some time, Sirin has memorized its spatial map. This means she can open a portal there immediately, granted, she has no idea how much it will drain her. This is the first time Sirin has tried to open a portal at an absurd distance, after all.

It doesn't deter her from experimenting with it, however. Despite still feeling a bit lethargic from what Lyssa put her through earlier, Sirin is confident she can at least form a connection to the Belkan soldiers' spatial coordinates without much effort.

Oh, how foolish she has been to underestimate her self-appointed task.

The moment her mind establishes a presence in the area, her mana reservoir is exhausted nearly immediately. Her stamina is affected at almost the same severity due to her having to compensate for the lack of mana in her tank. And she is supposed to have an immense pool of it already. The sudden bout of exhaustion forces Sirin to collapse backward onto the bed. Thankfully, Sirin has the mind to keep a poker face and drop down on the bedding quitely. She really does not need to worry her sisters or big sister with her own foolishness. Clearly, Sirin has been hasty and overestimating her capability.

Frankly, Sirin is feeling bitter and helpless over her undoing. She has been hoping to lift the stigma over the usage of her power, a stigma branded by her own mind. So far, she has been using her power mostly to kill. This chance has been the one time she has been in the position to be of help and she freaking blown it.

As Sirin is drowning herself in her own thoughts, she hasn't been able to notice that Yuki is now towering over her bed. It takes a while for Sirin to notice the shadow that is looming over her. She even notices that the room temperature has dropped a few degrees all of a sudden. Looking up to meet the glowing red orb that is Yuki's right eye, Sirin can see the anger behind that glow.

"Sirin, my dear," Yuki spoke up in a perfectly sing-song voice. Her mouth curved up in a perfect crescent. "What in the name of Yggdra did you do?" Yuki's tone stabbed straight into Sirin's heart, making the younger girl gulp nervously.

It would seem that Sirin has been caught red-handed, and Yuki, who's projected Ningyo into Sirin and her sisters, will not leave Sirin off easily. In short...

Sirin fucked up.

"Ehm... I almost formed a gateway over to the soldiers?" Sirin meekly responded, to which Yuki raised an eyebrow, half irritated, half in contemplation.

"Explain, now."