Chapter 89: Sacrificial Rite (3)

It was too sudden a situation.

Ianna’s brain couldn’t comprehend it.
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The adjutant’s body slumped lifelessly, and crimson blood spurted towards the sky.
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Ianna crawled on the ground towards the adjutant.

Then, with trembling hands, she shook the adjutant’s body, now a cold corpse, a couple of times.
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“Adjutant…?”
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The adjutant’s body reacted to Ianna’s voice.
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A violent post-mortem spasm, like that of a decapitated insect, occurred.
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The gushing blood from the severed cross-section of the adjutant’s neck soaked Ianna’s head.

Red, warm blood began to drip from between Ianna’s white hair.
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Her legs gave out – though she couldn’t walk in the first place – and Ianna crumpled to the ground.
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“Wh-Where… to…….”
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The adjutant was gone.

Right before her eyes.
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Only a lump of meat that was once the adjutant remained.

The adjutant’s existence was nowhere to be found.
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Ianna, her mind feeling like it was on fire, began to ask for the adjutant’s whereabouts.
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[Are you looking for this?]
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Baalzebul placed the adjutant’s severed head in Ianna’s arms.
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The adjutant’s appearance, dead before she even had a chance to close her eyes,

Ianna saw it.
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Ianna embraced the adjutant’s head with trembling hands.
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“Adjutant… Adjutant…….”
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She repeatedly cried out for the ‘adjutant,’ who had been closer to her than anyone else in the Bureau, yet whose name she didn’t even know.
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Hot blood, steaming enough to produce vapor, was streaming from the adjutant’s head.

Ianna stared at the adjutant with bloodshot eyes.
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Then, she desperately tried to revive the adjutant.

She tried to fit the severed head onto the adjutant’s body.
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Of course.
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Doing so wouldn’t bring the adjutant back.

The adjutant was already dead.
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A long time ago.
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Ianna’s brain still couldn’t accept the situation.

Because it shouldn’t have been accepted.
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Ianna, had sworn to protect everyone.

Within the scope of ‘everyone,’ naturally, the adjutant was also included.
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Ianna couldn’t keep her promise.
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Because of her own foolishness, the adjutant had died.

For no reason at all.
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The adjutant had prepared for death, and indeed, had died.

It might have been a somewhat satisfactory death for an individual, but not for Ianna.
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Ianna desperately tried to jam the adjutant’s head onto her body.
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Because it felt as if the adjutant would come back to life at any moment.
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Baalzebul watched Ianna intently.

Then, it opened its giant eye wide once more and extended an arm.
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[You’ve become dirty]
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Its slimy arm gently caressed Ianna’s face.

Wiping away the ‘dirty blood’ little by little.
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“…It’s not dirty.”
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[What is the meaning of that?]
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“It’s not dirty. The adjutant.”
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[That is not what I meant. Girl, I was referring to the liquid that soiled your face]
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Baalzebul gently stroked Ianna’s face, wiping away the blood.
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[I apologize if there was any misunderstanding. Your adjutant is not dirty. It was merely the liquid that soaked your face that was dirty]
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“…”
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Ianna clenched her teeth and glared at Baalzebul.

Ianna’s hands, clutching the dirt floor, were covered in wounds.
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Ianna, clutching the clumps of dirt so hard that her fingernails came off and dangled, charged towards Baalzebul with all her might.
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She tried to charge.
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Thud
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Ianna lifelessly lost her balance and fell forward.

She had lost her sense of balance.
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Ianna’s small hands could never reach Baalzebul’s round body.
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“…Take it back.”
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[What?]
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Ianna showed no emotional agitation whatsoever.

Lifelessly, she tried to get up and charge at Baalzebul again and again.
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Ianna, who had no lower legs, could only fall forward.

Countless wounds began to appear all over her body.
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Ianna stared blankly at Baalzebul.

Her eyes no longer held any vitality.
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Ash-gray eyes.
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They were such eyes.
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“What you said. Take it back. And, bring her back to life. You can, can’t you? You guys.”
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Ianna was now feeling a serenity she had never felt before.

No emotional turmoil or overload occurred.
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Just like a long time ago, when she acted as the magical girl Janwol.

She couldn’t feel anything.
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Vengeance for the adjutant.

That, and only that, was the driving force moving Ianna.
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[Girl, that changes nothing. Act calmly]
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From Baalzebul’s perspective, it was an extremely rational suggestion.
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‘Why can you not rejoice at being chosen?’

‘Why are you enraged, ensnared by a useless bond?’
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Because it couldn’t understand Ianna’s actions at all.
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[…Perhaps]
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Baalzebul surmised that there was only one reason for Ianna’s anger.

Ianna had been in a physical relationship with the adjutant.
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If so.
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[Forgive my rudeness. I killed your concubine, merely because her answer was late.]
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Baalzebul grabbed the ankle of the adjutant’s decapitated corpse.

Then, it lifted it high into the air.
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[It’s still warm]
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Ianna’s eyes completely lost it.
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The adjutant’s corpse, hanging upside down in the air, gushing blood.

Ianna couldn’t hold back and retched, charging at Baalzebul.
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Thwack!
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Ianna, falling heavily forward, her forehead skin was stained with wounds.

Scratched and torn, the inner skin was clearly exposed.
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“Why… why…… why…….”
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Ianna couldn’t help but realize her own powerlessness.

And began to lament her helplessness.
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An awakening due to a comrade’s death.
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It was something she had experienced countless times when she was the ‘Magical Girl of Janwol.’

But not anymore.
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Such shonen manga-like events didn’t happen.

Ianna was still just powerless.
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“Heh, heh heh… Hoo, heh, heh heh…….”
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Ianna laughed without realizing it.

Baalzebul, unable to understand such an Ianna, tilted its head.
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[Girl, is it because your toy isn’t moving?]
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Baalzebul began to insert its body into the severed opening of the adjutant’s corpse it was holding.

Its giant spherical body shrank to a small size and soon disappeared into the adjutant’s body.
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The adjutant’s body twitched a few times, then shook itself and stood up.

Then, it fitted the severed head onto the neck stump.
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“How is it now?”
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Black threads emerging from Baalzebul’s body connected the severed head and neck.

What was heard, was unmistakably the adjutant’s voice.
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“……”
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Ianna, her eyes blazing with fury, rushed at the adjutant.
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“Is it not to your liking?”
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Baalzebul, the adjutant, tore off the drab gray uniform enveloping its body with all its might.

As its stark nakedness was revealed, the adjutant immediately embraced Ianna.
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“Girl, why do you show such a reaction?”
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It truly couldn’t understand.

‘The girl, Ianna, does she want something more?’
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Baalzebul thought intently.
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‘…I’ve indulged her too much.’
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In the first place, an insurmountable wall existed between Ianna, a mere human, and itself.

It was only because Her Majesty had specifically ordered it that it had tried to bring her along by humouring her as much as possible.
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‘Arms, legs… and, head.’
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Parts unnecessary for producing offspring.

‘It should be fine to cut these off.’
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“Girl, I will ask you one last time.”
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The adjutant lightly lifted Ianna and asked.
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“Your answer?”

“No.”
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​“Ugh, ughh…….”
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Ianna’s right leg was ‘pulled’ off.

It happened in an instant.
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“Blue liquid…?”
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The adjutant, looking quite curious, stroked Ianna’s pelvis where her leg had been pulled off.

Because instead of red blood, something blue was glistening.
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The adjutant, careful not to let Ianna die, slowly staunched the bleeding around her pelvis.
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Creak
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Perhaps because it wasn’t fixed properly, the head fell to the ground several times in the process.

But Baalzebul, in the adjutant’s form, didn’t seem to mind much.
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“Girl, I will ask again. Your answer?”
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“N-No…….”
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Ianna felt a cold yet gentle touch caressing her forehead.

It was the touch she had always felt, the adjutant’s touch.
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The adjutant’s hand slowly stroked her forehead, then moved down her shoulder to her left arm.

And, it gripped her left elbow tightly.
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“Uh…….”
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There was no time to scream.
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Ianna’s left elbow completely shattered, and her arm dangled loosely below it.

The adjutant, as if picking a fruit from a tree.
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Ianna’s dangling arm.
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‘…’
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As Ianna tried to scream, the adjutant covered Ianna’s mouth with her other hand.

Because she didn’t want to hear any undignified screams that would ruin the atmosphere.
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Thump
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Below the elbow, Ianna’s arm, twisted and pulled off, fell to the floor.

Ianna, nevertheless, couldn’t help but remain conscious.
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“Girl, do not worry. You will not die.”
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Baalzebul’s ability, which far transcended human common sense or technology.

Was ‘forcibly’ binding Ianna’s soul to her body.
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“Now, I will ask again.”
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Baalzebul, holding the adjutant’s head firmly, asked.
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“Your answer?”
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The adjutant’s eyes were smiling.

While shedding tears of blood.