episode_0109

Number 13 demanded absolute obedience for three days.

During that time, he also received a promise that Rahe would not attack heroes with her power, nor cause trouble for people.

Listening a bit more, it seemed there was something akin to a power struggle among villains, and he wanted help with that.

‘…It can’t be just that.’

Rahe could glimpse a faint, yet undisguised, lustful emotion in Number 13’s eyes as he looked at her.

And how he would occasionally glance at her legs or her prominent chest.

She didn’t particularly feel uncomfortable about it, nor did she want to say anything. It was a gaze she often felt, and she understood that even someone with a decent moral compass couldn’t be entirely free from sexual desire.

Especially when her opponent was a villain who didn’t care about morals.

When she committed herself, she didn’t naively believe that her body would be used only as he stated. Perhaps it would be used for more sordid acts, or he might try to vent various grievances on her, the captain of a hero squad, or he might take embarrassing photos to lower the morale of the entire hero squad and try to socially destroy Rahe.

However, even considering all that, Rahe promised to accept Number 13’s offer.

She wasn’t the type to lament over her virginity, and if enduring a little humiliation and disgrace could protect the future of her subordinates, it was a small price to pay.

“Then let’s swear upon our respective constellations. You have no objections, do you?”

[No problem]

Rahe proposed, and Number 13 responded.

An oath towards the constellations.

Awakened Ones could make promises in the name of the constellations that bestowed power and grace upon them.

And promises made in this way absolutely had to be fulfilled. If they were not, some kind of sanction would descend from the constellations.

What exactly that would be could only be known when the time came. Depending on the nature of the constellation or the severity of the crime committed, it could be a minor misfortune like stubbing a pinky toe, or an enormous disaster that seemed capable of annihilating three generations.

In other words, for Awakened Ones, oaths and promises made in the name of the constellations absolutely had to be kept.

The reason Rahe could seriously discuss such negotiations with him, despite him being a villain, was precisely because this method existed.

At any rate, the discussion was concluded, and all that remained was the final oath.

As Rahe still wouldn’t allow verbal communication, Number 13 was writing the oath on a whiteboard.

As soon as Number 13 finished writing the oath on the board, Rahe would recite the oath along with him.

Then, this incident would be over. The matter concluded, and Rahe would become Number 13’s puppet for three days….

“Oh dear.”

Suddenly.

Number 13, who had been writing the oath on the whiteboard, dropped an eraser that had been placed on the board.

He bent down and reached for the eraser.

And then.

*Snip—*

It happened in an instant.

*Thud.* Number 13’s severed hand fell to the floor.

With a loud crash, the chair Rahe had been sitting on was kicked and sent flying, and Rahe, still maintaining distance from Number 13, held her sword pointed at him.

Number 13’s arm, which had been pointing downwards, was severed above the wrist, and blood gushed out and flowed down. Number 13 grabbed his arm as if to stop the bleeding, but there was no way to prevent the blood from spurting out beyond the severed wrist.

“What are you doing, Villain Number 13?”

Rahe’s voice snarled.

Rahe’s gaze was fixed on the severed hand at his feet. A smartphone was clutched in that hand, and the smartphone had been cut in half.

He had pretended to pick up the dropped eraser and, with a magic-like movement, pulled out this smartphone.

Rahe’s eyes had accurately seen through it and stopped him.

“Aargh…!”

“I thought you were being docile, but you were aiming for something like this? Didn’t I ask you not to do anything suspicious? Couldn’t you have anticipated this? Or did I look that easy to you?”

From Rahe, an intense killing intent erupted, incomparable to moments before.

Along with it, magical power swirled like a storm, filling the space.

Number 13’s face was twisted in pain, yet he looked at Rahe with a stiff smile, as if even forgetting the situation. Soon, that smile crumbled as if overwhelmed by pain.

Rahe took one more step forward.

“This is my final warning. Obey me docilely and complete the oath sworn upon the constellations. The oath to absolutely fulfill your promise with me. Hurry!”

At her voice, which choked the air with oppressive force, the air trembled, and it felt as if one’s internal organs were being squeezed.

Ah, there’s no helping this. This isn’t a situation where claiming it was a prank would work.

It can’t be helped. For now, he had no choice but to at least pretend to obey.

And then Number 13, looking troubled, opened his mouth.

“『Rahe’s universe is──』”

*CRUNCH!*

Almost simultaneously with Number 13 opening his mouth.

At Number 13’s location, a gigantic ice icicle shot up and pierced through his body.

Did she clearly realize that what Number 13 was saying was not the oath?

Or perhaps she had instinctively known from the start that Number 13 would not comply with her proposal.

At any rate, Rahe perceived Number 13’s intention, decided to eliminate him before he could do anything, and put that decision into action.

Number 13 was impaled from his abdomen to his chin by the rising ice icicle. Rahe watched the horrific sight of his upper body split in half without a flicker of an eyebrow.

Then suddenly, the hand holding the sword moved again.

A phantom sound of *SHATTER!* was heard. Simultaneously, the space in the direction Rahe swung her sword, about three meters away, ‘shattered,’ and beyond it, Number 13 and 7th Division member Coco appeared.

As if in exchange, the Number 13 impaled by the ice icicle in front of her wavered and then vanished.

It was Coco’s 『Illusion Magic』.

“Damn it…!”

“Villain Number 13!!”

Number 13 tried to throw something at Rahe with his remaining arm. However, both the hand and the object it held were instantly frozen. Subsequently, new ice pillars sprang up from the ground like bamboo shoots, targeting Number 13 and Coco.

The two narrowly avoided them and once again concealed themselves with illusion magic. Rahe could clearly sense their presence rapidly moving away.

As Rahe, tracing the faintly remaining magical residue of the two who vanished like a mirage, was about to pursue them.

*CRASH!*

“?!”

The ceiling where Rahe was standing collapsed.

Along with dust and debris, old concrete piles, steel reinforcing bars that formed the building, and buried pipes fell towards Rahe.

“Captain Rahe!”

“Excuse me!”

And from amidst the collapsing ceiling debris, new figures appeared and fell together, targeting Rahe.

Check and Spade.

It seemed they were already deploying their full magical power from the moment they appeared, as blue and red magical flames flared around them respectively, and the two aimed their weapons, held in their hands, at Rahe.

Rahe, as if a turtle withdrawing into its shell, had instantly concealed herself within a dome made of ice.

And just before the two reached the ice dome.

*—SLASH!—*

The ice dome shattered, and instead, two swords shot out from beyond it.

The flying swords accurately aimed for Check and Spade’s necks.

Check narrowly dodged it, while Spade managed to avoid it with great difficulty, both sensing the deadly killing intent and magical power infused within.

Confirming their failed surprise attack, and at Check’s instruction, the two immediately widened their distance from Rahe.

The falling concrete debris and swirling dust clouds gradually settled, revealing Rahe beyond them.

Standing on the debris, Rahe looked at Check and Spade with calm, cold eyes.

“……So it was true.”

Rahe murmured in a voice filled with vague sorrow.

She hadn’t wanted to believe it. She’d hoped it wasn’t true. But it seemed Number 13’s words hadn’t been a lie.

Apple, Coco, Check, Spade. And Club, who had not yet appeared.

All members of the 7th Division had fallen into Number 13’s hands. It was truly a heartbreaking situation. This was clearly the commander’s mistake.

Rahe had no desire for power, so she wasn’t afraid of being disciplined or suffering any disadvantage. Even if she were dishonorably discharged, it didn’t matter.

But the thought that her precious subordinates had become villains’ playthings and that she now had to ‘deal with’ them herself filled her with rage.

“Can both of you hear me?”

“…….” “…….”

“Both of you, please step back. Let me pursue that villain. Then I won’t have to hurt you.”

She spoke calmly and solemnly, but her voice held a faint plea.

*Please listen. Please.* It seemed to plead.

But Rahe’s appeal did not reach the two of them.

Check and Spade, with eyes and faces that betrayed no discernible thoughts, once again aimed their respective weapons at Rahe. Their magical power was visibly expanding again. Clearly, they were showing hostility towards Rahe, their superior.

In the face of that hostility, Rahe merely met their gaze with a calm and composed expression.

*Then there’s no helping it,* she seemed to say, as she extended swords from both hands towards the two.

One was the sword she had always carried at her hip. The other was a sword of ice, from blade to hilt.

Aiming those swords, which emanated a deadly sharpness, at the two, Rahe also unleashed her magical power.

Initially, white magical power surged forth. But soon, the color of that white magic changed.

As the magical power slowly turned golden, Rahe’s eyes and hair also turned golden to match the color of the magic.

Rahe’s full combat stance.

She revealed the form that, in the past battlefields, had earned her the epithets of 『Ice Witch』 and 『Golden Reaper』.

She had no intention of holding back. She needed to deal with the two of them as quickly as possible and pursue the escaped Number 13.

“…I’m sorry, both of you.”

With a quiet murmur.

The differently colored magical energies emitted by Rahe, Check, and Spade clashed against each other.