Becoming Professor Moriarty's Probability-Chapter 233: The Final Problem (8)

“Haah, haah...”

“Kulluk, kull...”

“... Ugh.”

The rough groans of three women pierced through the majestic roar of the waterfall.

“... You’re more skilled in martial arts than I expected?”

“I’m not like those fools who rely solely on magic.”

“If only my body didn’t feel so heavy... I could have overwhelmed you...”

The professor, Charlotte, and Lestrade were already covered in wounds from head to toe.

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Curiously enough, one of the easiest targets, their abdomens, remained untouched.

It seemed there had been some unspoken agreement among the three regarding the purpose of the fight.

“Come on, let’s go at it again, Professor?”

“... We’re already ready, but it seems handling the two of us is proving to be too much for you.”

In the lull of the temporary standoff, Charlotte and Lestrade caught their breaths, only to begin taunting the professor, who was also panting heavily.

“You...”

“Surely you’re not about to call us cowards, are you? This is all for the sake of London’s peace, after all.”

“... I’m talking to the inspector over there, young detective. Keep quiet.”

“Me... are you talking to me?”

At that moment, Professor Moriarty, wearing a cold smile, opened her mouth.

“Are you really okay with how this is going?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Let’s say for argument’s sake that you and Holmes manage to take me down. What do you think will happen to you then?”

“Well... um...”

Lestrade, who looked as if she wanted to ask why Moriarty would pose such a question, hesitated and began to stammer.

“Right now, you’re weaker than an average person, thanks to the energy from the waterfall. However, Holmes, being a mana user, can’t cast any magic but is otherwise relatively unharmed.”

“.......”

“I know you have a knack for martial arts, but you’ve seen it for yourself up until now, haven’t you? Holmes isn’t an easy opponent either.”

The professor’s words, laced with subtle manipulation, began to make Lestrade’s gaze waver in the silence.

“What... are you trying to say?”

“It’s simple.”

“... If you’re about to suggest I side with you, I’ll flat-out refuse.”

As Lestrade posed her question in a trembling voice, the professor let out a faint chuckle, whispering in a low tone filled with schadenfreude.

“I’m not asking you to fight Holmes alongside me. But surely, by now, you’ve realised that you need to keep Holmes in mind as you continue to fight, haven’t you?”

“... Bullshit.”

“It’s a very basic strategy. Right now, I’m the one with the most injuries because I’ve taken the brunt of your combined attacks. In such a situation, shouldn’t the one with the least injuries—namely you, detective—seize every possible advantage?”

As her words trailed off, a moment of silence fell over the waterfall.

“... Inspector?”

Amid that silence, as Lestrade began glancing at her out of the corner of her eye, Charlotte, with a slightly flustered expression, opened her mouth.

“Surely... you’re not actually falling for those ridiculous words, are you...?”

“......”

“Hey. Could you please answer me...?”

However, before Charlotte could even finish her sentence, the inspector, glaring back at her, took a step back.

- Swish...

“Are you really being serious right now?”

As Lestrade raised her baton, Charlotte, now visibly baffled, lifted her whip in response.

“... We’re not playing house here.”

“I’m well aware of that. But...”

“To begin with, Adler is my husband!”

Lestrade, her voice rising several octaves, scowled at Charlotte, who widened her eyes in disbelief.

“Strictly speaking, aren’t you the one having an affair with my husband?”

“... Are you done talking?”

“No, I’m not. But since we’re short on time, I’ll spare you the rest.”

At Lestrade’s cold declaration, Charlotte, her gaze now icy, glared back at the inspector and opened her mouth.

“I never expected the embodiment of London’s justice to sink this low.”

“... Sink? Well, let’s settle on that for now. I’m too tired of upholding the so-called justice anyway.”

Lestrade’s words were delivered with unflinching calmness.

“... But what am I supposed to do when just thinking about Adler makes my heart race?”

“........”

“I’m a woman before I’m an inspector, damn it!!”

At her impassioned outburst, Charlotte bit her lip nervously, her expression betraying a hint of unease.

“That’s... the same for me too.”

“You were a bloody misandrist just a few months ago!”

“... Hmph.”

Watching the scene unfold, the professor murmured with a sly smirk.

“So now it’s a one-on-one-on-one.”

Her gaze shifted, landing on Adler, who was sitting at the edge, pale and frail, struggling to catch his breath.

“... Just wait a bit longer dear.”

“But this bitch... I’ve had enough of this farce.”

“... Informal speech?”

“I’ll have you for myself soon enough...”

And then, within seconds, chaos erupted as the weapons of the three women clashed together in a frenzied skirmish.

.

.

.

.

.

“Ugh...”

“Kulluk... Gah.”

An unknown amount of time later,

- Thud...

“... Finally.”

As Charlotte and Lestrade, gritting their teeth and continuing the chaotic battle, eventually collapsed onto the ground at the same time, Professor Moriarty, who had been kneeling and watching the duo, staggered to her feet.

“At last...”

Wiping the blood flowing from her head roughly with her sleeve, she advanced.

“This moment has finally come.”

“No...”

“... You’re too late.”

“... Ack.”

Holmes, who had used all her strength to grab Moriarty’s leg, was kicked away, forced to release her grip.

“Even if I can’t use magic... my very existence is vastly superior to lowly existence like you lot.”

“Da... mn it.”

“Even in this state, my body is still sturdier than the feeble frames of you inferior beings.”

With a sneer curling her lips, the professor resumed her steps.

“Wouldn’t you agree? My dear assistant.”

“.......”

Her gaze remained fixed on Adler, whose face had grown far paler than the last time she had glanced at him.

“The verdict has already been decided. Your prophecy that Reichenbach Falls would be my grave has failed spectacularly.”

“.......”

“Your silence tells me this wasn’t the outcome you anticipated? No matter. The victor is clear, and it is none other than me. As it should be.”

Standing before Adler with a limp in her step, Moriarty offered her hand, flashing a charming smile at her beloved assistant.

“Let’s go home. And live together forever.”

“.......”

“In our very own kingdom of crime...”

It seemed, at that moment, the long and arduous war had finally found its victor.

- Bang...!

“.......!”

Just then, a sudden air bullet from nowhere struck the professor’s outstretched arm just as she was reaching for Adler.

“Ugh...”

The shock left Moriarty momentarily dazed, but she soon clutched her arm in pain and collapsed to the ground.

“The cliff... above.”

“... Professor.”

In this tense moment, Adler, who had raised his hand to signal Moran to stand down and stop the follow-up shot, staggered to his feet.

“I have a question.”

“......?”

“As long as I’m alive, will you inevitably kill Charlotte someday?”

With a barely audible voice, Adler posed the question to the professor sitting before her.

“Naturally...”

“... And the same goes for you, Miss Holmes, doesn’t it?”

He then turned to address Charlotte, who, gritting her teeth, was crawling forward with fierce determination. The detective nodded with a venomous expression.

“As expected... Well, if that’s how it is, then I suppose there’s nothing I can do.”

Seeing her reaction, Adler let out a sigh and began walking,

“In the end, I think I’ll have to break my contract. I simply can’t choose between any of you.”

“What in hell are you...”

“It’s the kind of statement that invites a beating, I know... but I love all of you equally, so how can I possibly pick just one?”

Towards the edge of the waterfall, where the spray swirled like smoke at a fire scene. Adler walked without a stop, there was no hesitation in his steps.

“And so, the choice I’ve made is this. I can only express my deepest apology.”

The professor and Charlotte, watching with anxious expressions, followed Adler’s every move with their eyes.

“What can I say, I just had to find it. Professor, Miss Holmes. A way where both of your hostilities could reach their peak, and yet no one would have to die.”

“Isaac?”

“A way to stop the anomaly that’s devouring this world.”

“Adler, what are you doing?”

“A way where everyone I love could survive...”

Though their anxious voices called out to Adler,

“... Just in case, both of you shouldn’t feel guilty, alright?”

Ignoring their pleas, Adler, standing at the edge of the cliff, muttered with a slightly trembling voice.

“I was already terminal, to begin with. There’s no cure for what I have...”

“No!!”

“S-Stop it!!”

At last, realising what Adler intended to do, the professor and Charlotte desperately tried to lift themselves.

“... Ugh.”

“Damn it...!”

But just like Inspector Lestrade, who was groaning in agony, they were too gravely injured to move themselves in time.

“I didn’t want to say anything that would leave regrets... but there is one last thing I wanted to convey.”

A tearful voice reached them, trembling yet resolute.

“To all of you. For the first time in my life...”

Tears streamed down Adler’s face as he whispered with a smile brighter and sadder than he had ever made before.

“... I love you. I always loved all of you.”

The moment those words were spoken,

“With all my heart, soul, and being.”

“Isaac!!!”

“Adler!!!”

His frail body tilted toward the precipice.

“As if I’d let you just go like that...!”

The professor, watching with a face paler than ever before, forced herself up and hurled her body toward him.

“..... Agh.”

Was it because of the bullet fired into her shoulder by Moran?

Though she managed to grab hold of Adler’s clothing for a brief moment, her strength failed her, and she inevitably had to let go.

“”Ah...””

By the time Charlotte and Inspector Lestrade, forcing themselves to their feet, leaned over the cliff’s edge, it was far too late.

- Ssssshhh...

The golden dot, glimmering like the brightest sunlight, plunged down for a long, long time until... it was lost in the vehement torrent of the waterfall. Vanished from this world without a single trace.

“””...........”””

The women, staring wide-eyed at the scene, wore blank expressions as an unnerving silence settled between them, heavy and suffocating.

“..... Hah, hah.”

It wasn’t until a few minutes later, when Watson arrived at the edge of the waterfall, gasping for breath, that the silence was broken.

“So, where the hell’s Adler?”