episode_0129

“Beautiful, that face. No joke, seriously.”

“Ah- this? Thanks, I hear that a lot.”

Nari laughed, as nonchalant as ever.

Persona mirrored her smile, then suddenly widened her eyes, the scar from a knife wound stretching her eye further.

“Are you kidding me, you fucking bitch? Don’t you understand the situation?”

“No, I’m serious. I just don’t understand why you’d wear a mask and hide such a pretty face—”

Leaning casually on one leg and grinning, became even more enraged.

Creak—

“Kill her—!!!”

Raising a blade that glowed with magi towards Nari, the black-cloaked thugs surrounding them all rushed at her at once.

Each one was in a frenzied state, prioritizing immediate pleasure over their own lives.

Worthy of devil worshippers, none of them were in their right minds.

Forgetting the purpose of life, they were drenched in pleasure, whirling their blades to bring death to the enemy before them.

Swish— Whoosh—!

“Kikikik—”

“Kyaaaak!!”

They all attacked fiercely, according to their instincts, but Nari was quite calm.

Even so, the fighting ability of each individual was weak, if not weaker, compared to the 1-A cadets.

And since she had been the one to train them in combat, she was fully prepared for an attack from multiple people.

“Hup—”

Bang—!!

Nari swiftly dodged the attacks—lest they self-destruct again—then plunged her own blade into their torsos, pushing them far away.

Thud—

She usually controlled her strength even when fighting multiple opponents, so there was no way she would lose in a situation where she could use her full power.

“Take a little break over there—”

Whoosh-!

And immediately after, she rushed towards where Jane had fallen.

She slowly lifted Jane, who couldn’t support her body and had fainted due to the rejection of magi.

“Jane, can you hear me? Can you see?”

“…”

She was bleeding from every hole in her face and couldn’t answer. Her limbs limp, she just looked at the void like a dying ember.

Nari didn’t hesitate.

From what her mother had told her, ether has long been known as a powerful means to counter magi. Therefore, by pouring ether into the healing magic spell she learned from Tier, she should be able to recover from injuries like this.

Placing her hand on her most damaged abdomen, she slowly tried to activate the magic.

“…What?”

Her body wouldn’t obey.

Earlier attacks had dulled her senses for a moment. Therefore, she hadn’t realized it, but it only started to feel it now.

She…couldn’t release the ether that once moved like her hands and feet.

“Kuk- kuk… Khahahaha—!! It seems you’ve finally realized what’s happening to your body.”

“Could it… be erectile dysfunction…?!”

“Just shut your damn mouth—!!!”

But the destructive tongue didn’t stop, and Persona fired her magic bullets with all her might.

Whoosh- Whoosh—

And Nari, who usually raised her hand to create an [Ether Shield], suddenly realized something.

She felt no sensation of ether in her tingling fingertips, and naturally, she couldn’t use magic.

In the end, she had to take the magic bullets barehanded.

Boom—!!

With a terrible roar, the magic bullets exploded, and soon Nari’s hand emerged from the dust cloud.

A hand whose skin was terribly scorched by burns.

. . .

Nari didn’t stop thinking.

Of this unprecedented situation. The flow of mana, ether, was not reacting at all.

What was the cause? It must surely be the magi explosion she took from Jane first.

Looking at the bodies of the remnants scattered around, all were stained with deep magi. She couldn’t understand its properties exactly, but considering her situation, she guessed it had an effect of disrupting the soul itself.

There was enough basis for that. The thugs who had lost their reason and had become madmen, and her mother’s words about the relationship between magi and ether.

Therefore, she came to the conclusion that she couldn’t use magic externally because the magi was shaking the form of her soul.

Then a question arises. If external use is impossible, what about internal?

The very first違和感 was the hand that took the magic bullets.

The skin… it should have been completely crushed to the bone, but it was only minor injury (by Nari’s standards—no one else considers second-degree burns a minor injury).

Again, she pondered the cause. Reflecting on the situation just now, she realized that the only thing polluted by Jane’s magi was the outside of her body.

The muddying effect of magi hasn’t reached inside. Even if the ether didn’t reach the skin, it was because the muscle structure was firmly maintained that the injury was limited to the skin.

Healing magic and barrier magic spells both release ether externally. What about magic spells that are self-contained within the body?

The moment that thought reached her, Nari redirected all the ether in her body to a body strengthening spell.

Crack—

When she clenched and unclenched her injured left hand, she had plenty of strength.

Whew—

She bowed her head and sighed deeply.

“Ah, ah. I can’t use magic, so now I’m as good as dead.”

“Idiot, you only just realized—”

Whoosh-

And at that moment.

Nari and Jane disappeared from Persona’s sight.

“Wha, what… Where did they—?”

“Sorry, I’m just taking Jane to a safe place for a bit.”

While turning her head this way and that, a voice suddenly came from behind her.

“—!!!”

In her surprise, Persona quickly swung the sword in her hand backward.

Scrunch—

“Keuhk-”

She ended up decapitating her subordinate who had been standing right next to her.

“Wha… Clearly—!!”

“Hoo, so where was I…”

Clearly, she’d heard the voice from behind, but when she turned her head forward, Nari was standing there.

What kind of trickery was that?

That insane princess clearly can’t use magic now. Yet, she can move at such speed, does she have a hidden artifact?

Persona couldn’t make sense of what was happening before her eyes.

But regardless of whether or not she could keep up, Nari continued.

“I can’t use magic, so I’m dead, huh… But, you know?”

Tap- tap-

She was clearly walking on grass.

But for some reason, the sound was too light. As if she were only stepping on grass, not earth—the sound was incredibly light.

“I was originally unable to use magic.”

Nari picked up the fallen thug’s sword, and Persona and the remaining thugs raised their weapons, but…

The moment Nari took another step.

Her figure completely disappeared from their sight.

. . .

Light, too light.

Even when severing the neck of a living creature.

Even when killing a human—a person of the same species—as the woman whom she’d made love and slept with last night.

As if there were no soul at all, the feeling of tearing flesh and cutting bone was too light.

“…I need to ask one thing to be satisfied.”

And that’s why she strongly felt the urge to cut all their necks right now.

The pitiable beings who had already lost their soul. She wanted to free them from their suffering as quickly as possible.

Only one thing though.

“Did these guys willingly accept the magui into their bodies?”

Did they walk the path of ruin by their own choice, or were they forced to do so by ‘someone’?

If it was the former, she could send them off with a clear conscience, saying it was a foolish choice, but if it were the latter, she imagined a great sorrow would wash over her.

And even greater rage than that sorrow would be directed at the one who corrupted them.

And that person, ironically, was just like how she’d been enraged at Nari.

They didn’t understand the situation at all.

“Yes…certainly these guys were pitiable beings who had lost their way. Those who couldn’t make any choice on their own, not even the obvious choice of living… such weaklings. We merely gave them power.”

It sounded like they’d gathered and nurtured the helpless who had nowhere to stand and given them power, but…

It was a non sequitur.

“No, I mean… was that their choice? Did they willingly accept the magui?”

“Ah- that is it…”

Even though two or three necks were falling each time Nari swung her sword, she feigned leisurely.

From that point on, she had already guessed the answer.

But reality was far worse than she had imagined.

“Of—course I forced it down their throats♡”

Grasping her burnt cheeks with both hands, a mad smile crept onto her lips. Her eyes were already looking at another world. Each time that thought continued, sticky saliva dripped from Persona’s lips.

“The way they begged and pleaded—no—it’s so arousing—? Oh, of course, I killed everyone who wanted the magui on their own. I don’t need such dirty souls…only pure souls—!! That’s what makes corrupting them fun…♡♡”

The answer she had least wanted to hear. Or maybe this is what she’d wanted.

Swoosh—

“Alright, I understand.”

Only then would killing this woman be atoning—saving the souls blackened by her hands.

A lifeline to save her from this terribly dirty feeling.

Nari hardened her resolve.

Swoosh-

She kicked the ground with her legs, hardened like they would burst, and swung her sword with the speed of light.

Swish-

“Kuk- kikik-”

“Kekeke—”

The lost souls felt nothing in their final moments. Neither pain nor pleasure.

Rather, they might have felt relief.

Swish swish swish swish swish—!!

“Gek—?”

“Guh-”

Nari’s blade separated their heads from their bodies before they felt even a moment of pain.

In a single moment.

“Wha—what’s going on—!!”

“Up to this point it’s self defense. This means, I’m cleansing them.”

Persona, once again hearing Nari’s voice from behind her, drew her sword, bracing herself.

But suddenly, her limbs went limp, and she collapsed to the ground.

What she saw in her vision were her own two legs, still standing straight.

“Uh…?”

Looking left and right, the spot where her arms should have been was empty.

Then terrible pain came upon her.

“And from now on… this is a cruel judgment.”