Instant Death

Chapter 3: Ah, Mokomoko-san, you haven’t passed on yet.

Ayaka Shinozaki was isolated within the darkness of the night, overlooking the royal castle from high up in the sky.

She had made the eager decision to kill the king imposing a seal down upon this city. The only question was how to go about doing that.

The simplest way to go about it would be to release Dragon Breath upon the castle at maximum power.

Ayaka was fully aware of the power it possessed. It was completely possible to perfectly annihilate the entire region, with the castle and king right along with it.

However, she had some problems with that.

First of all, she didn’t know whether or not the king was even in the castle. Ayaka was unacquainted with the circumstances of this country and beyond that, she knew nothing of the daily schedule of the king.

Next, it appears that her classmates were currently inside the royal castle. She wasn’t sure if she was okay with wiping them all out just like that. She wanted to kill them off one by one as they realized what they had done to her.

『Listen! My unit is absolutely against this! In the first place, it is completely unprecedented to inflict damage upon uninvolved people for the sake of revenge! Some amount is permissible, but this would be complete overkill! The amount of damage we would inflict would be enormous!』

『That is true. That behavior would deviate from that of a normal human. Do not forget the aim of our project. Revenge on its own is a human-like action, but taking it to this degree would be too much.』

Ayaka thought about what she was at this point. She was already an existence far removed from that of a normal human. She didn’t get what was so significant about humans to warrant being so fixated on becoming average.

“I wouldn’t do such a thing. I was just thinking about how to track down the king.” (Ayaka)

However, it was true that she had been considering it, if only for a moment. Because she was divided into units, no single one was truly Akaya Shinozaki. She wasn’t able to keep anything secret from the others, so there wasn’t a point in trying.

『I recommend using Dragon Sense.』

“Then I’m assuming you understand what that is?” (Ayaka)

『By scattering infinitesimal amounts of your soul essence into your surroundings, it will become possible for you to comprehend the state of affairs of your peripheral area.』

“Really? Dragon Sense.” (Ayaka)

She recited the name and felt the sensation of something pouring out of her body. If the personality unit was correct, that something was a portion of her own soul. Regardless of whether or not the quantity was insignificant, she didn’t feel anything wrong in particular.

At first, the incoming flow of information swiftly overwhelmed her senses, but that feeling subsided not long after.

It was filtered to the dragon language unit, where it was then compiled all at once and promptly analyzed.

『I have confirmed the number of classmates present and proceeded to leave a mark on each of them. Henceforth, it will be possible for us to track their positions. Riona Shirayama has also returned to the castle after our fight a short time ago.』

Riona was a girl who fought with karate. Her ability allowed her to exponentially compound the amount of power she possesses by the 10th power.

She had made excuses for her loss, saying that her odds of losing would have been nonexistent if not for the seal affixed on this city. For that reason, Ayaka had gone to the royal castle to erase the cause of that seal.

“She gave me her word for a rematch after I deal with the source of the seal. Did Dragon Sense determine where the king is?” (Ayaka)

『It has detected a seemingly royal bedroom within the castle with a king-like presence inside.』

With that, Ayaka descended upon the royal castle.

＊＊＊＊＊

Ayaka looked down at the half-naked man that had fallen before her.

Within this supposedly royal bedroom, said fallen man was most likely the king.

She had entered through the window and killed the man she found inside.

“He looked down on me from the start and gave off the impression of being a big deal, so I suppose that this guy was the king. Quite the letdown.”

『He held the ability to seal off the abilities of others around him. Was he planning on resolving this with close combat because of his confidence in that ability?』

She had released her Dragon Breath to test his abilities, which ended up directly hitting and penetrating the king’s chest. His death was instantaneous.

“With this, the power of the seal covering over the town should be gone, right?” (Ayaka)

『That is probably the case. However, if the ability derives from the royal bloodline, it is possible that someone would be able to take over the job.』

“Someone… like that woman over there?” (Ayaka)

A half-naked woman was trembling at the edge of the bed.

“Hey you. This person was the king, right?” (Ayaka)

“Yes!” (Half-Naked Woman)

“Are you a member of royalty too? If you’ve inherited the blood of the royal family, that means you’d be able to use the sealing ability.” (Ayaka)

“I-I didn’t inherit any royal blood! I don’t have the ability to seal anything! I was a bride who married into the royalty here from another country!” (Half-Naked Woman)

In which case, she was unrelated. Dragon Sense had come to the conclusion that the woman in front of her was telling the truth.

Ayaka jumped back out the window.

She needed to hurry before a substitute took over the king’s position.

Dragon Wing. Ayaka invoked the magical power of the dragon language. She was able to feel the sensation of that power on her back, despite no wings actually being there.

She put power into the invisible wings.

Moving at a speed similar to teleportation, Ayaka began her descent upon Riona Shirayama.

Riona was lying down in a bed. Standing at the bedside, there was a woman clad in a white gown who appeared to be a doctor, holding her hands out over Riona.

『Is she undergoing medical treatment?』

Regardless of whether or not it was due to magic peculiar to this world or the woman’s own ability, Riona’s injuries appeared to be healing.

“Wha…” (Riona)

Riona stared at Ayaka in a daze as she burst through the ceiling. It was only natural for her to be confused.

Ayaka decided to wait for Riona to regain her composure. While it would’ve been easy for Ayaka to kill her right then and there, she wouldn’t be satisfied without seeing Riona fight at full power.

She looked around the room as she waited.

Ayaka wasn’t entirely familiar with the religious system of this world, but the building she was in appeared to be a church. However, there were medical beds lined up, so the building might have served both religious and medical purposes.

She recognized the face of the doctor who was administering treatment to Riona as well. She was her classmate, Akari Misono.

Riona was in a karate dougi1 while Akari was in a doctor’s gown. They appeared to be dressing in accordance with the roles they were playing in the class.

“Alright, I’ve gone and killed the king and dealt with the seal. Let’s start our fight.” (Ayaka)

“Th-That’s…” (Akari)

Akari froze up, dumbfounded.

Riona silently got up from the bed and began slowly rolling her shoulders and stretching out her legs. She seemed to be doing warm-ups to verify the condition of her body.

“You ready to go or what?” (Ayaka)

“The seal’s been broken? I’m worried that you think you’re being serious with what you’re saying” (Riona)

“Feel free to try it out for yourself!” (Ayaka)

The explosive sound of an impact burst through the air.

By the time Ayaka felt it, she had already collapsed into a momentary unconsciousness.

She was confused, entirely unaware of what happened. Her movements were met with a strange amount of resistance.

“What? What happened?” (Ayaka)

『Riona instantaneously closed the gap and landed a clean hit, blowing our body into the town and caving in the earth around us.』

“How’s the damage?” (Ayaka)

『The force was insufficient to penetrate Dragon Scale. However, it was not able to fully absorb the impact, which is why we were blown away in such a flashy manner.』

Ayaka stood back up.

There was a long stretch of cityscape absolutely blown away and a mountain of debris and earth piled up behind her.

Looking at it directly, every building in a straight line from the royal castle to where she stood now had been destroyed.

And then, there was another impact.

Except for this time, Ayaka caught sight of what happened.

Soaring in from the direction of the royal castle, Riona sunk her knee into Ayaka’s abdomen.

Once more, Dragon Scale was unable to fully absorb the impact. Ayaka attempted to deal with the force by turning slightly before taking the hit, but she was ultimately sent into a flashy spiral as she was sent flying through the air.

She was unable to control the orientation of her body due to her field of vision rotating at such high speeds. As the momentum slowed and she was just about to crash back into the ground, Riona proceeded to follow up with yet another attack.

Appearing from above, Riona threw another punch, smashing into Ayaka’s face at the same moment she made contact with the earth.

Ayaka’s consciousness blanked out for an instant.

By the time she came back to her senses, Riona was straddled over her, pinning her down in a mounted position.

From that stance, Riona’s fist came down again.

Shockwaves erupted, uprooting the surrounding buildings while Ayaka’s head was smashed into the surface of the earth.

What followed was a barrage of blows from the right and the left.

A ceaseless fury of punches directly assaulted Ayaka’s face.

“Dragon Fang.” (Ayaka)

With the sound of something wet being severed, Riona’s assault came to a halt, her stance crumbling shortly after.

This was because Riona’s right arm, starting at the elbow, had completely vanished.

Ayaka then grasped her unsteady body and pinned her down beneath her, reversing their positions.

“Wh-what?” (Riona)

Riona’s right arm had been torn off at the elbow and eaten.

Riona was unable to comprehend that her arm had been removed by a bite from the jaws of a dragon.

“Well, you’re certainly a big deal, but it’s become clear that you’re beneath me… Or is there still something you want to show me?” (Ayaka)

“Motherfoocker!” (Riona)

Riona attempted another strike with her left fist.

“Dragon Tail.” (Ayaka)

Her invisible dragon tail constricted itself around Riona’s body. Her attack ended with nothing even happening.

Ayaka stood up and looked down at Riona.

“I guess I’ll just slowly strangle you to death like this.” (Ayaka)

Ayaka felt that there was no point to drawing this fight out any further if she couldn’t even resist Dragon Tail.

If this was the extent of the power that her classmates held, it didn’t seem like dealing with all of them would be very troublesome.

Ayaka was a little disappointed.

＊＊＊＊＊

The royal castle had descended into turmoil.

A mysterious intruder raided the royal castle, killed the king, and destroyed a part of the castle and surrounding city.

However, for the Sage candidates, these were trivial issues. After all, the affairs of this nation were far from a source of worry for a group of people who came from another world.

Rather than worry about such things, the successive murders of two classmates was an issue of far more interest and concern.

Following the murder of 『Eroge Master』 Ushio Shinya, 『Gorilla』 Riona Shinozaki had been killed by a young lady claiming to be Akaya Shinozaki.

Riona had been seen as the strongest close-combat fighter in the class.

The fact that she had lost meant that this was no ordinary opponent. The Sage candidates, who had grown insolent after having received their gifts, couldn’t stop themselves from feeling fear.

“Hey, thinking about it now, what kind of class name is 『Gorilla』 supposed to be anyway!?” (Tomochika)

“Eh, I’m guessing she just had some tremendous amount of power.” (Yogiri)

It was the day after the king’s assassination.

Tomochika and Yogiri were taking a walk through the streets of the city.

The two had set out because Yogiri had asked her for her help for some reason.

Tomochika was sad for the Riona’s death, but she wasn’t very worried about it. If the culprit really was Ayaka, she thought that her actions were totally justified.

―Well, I guess it was wrong of her to kill an unrelated king…

The matter of the king’s death would be under investigation for a while. Apparently, the prince would be taking over his sealing duties as an emergency replacement, but the strength and scale of his ability were nowhere near the kings.

The two of them weren’t expressly prohibited from going out into town like this, but their classmates were still indecisive about allowing it.

However, Yogiri didn’t appear to care about Ayaka’s attacks at all. He ended up leaving for the town exactly as he had planned to.

“So, am I just here to help you wander around town?” (Tomochika)

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to neglect whoever’s been targetting me. I could just keep dealing with them on a case-by-case basis, but that doesn’t get to the root of the problem. That’s why, we have to let ourselves be targetted, and identify the culprit without killing them… Or maybe by killing them.” (Yogiri)

“Which is it!” (Tomochika)

“Well, not killing them would probably gives us more clues.” (Yogiri)

“And why did I have to come with you exactly?” (Tomochika)

“Dannoura-san, you have really good vision right? I was thinking that you should be able to spot the criminal in the act.” (Yogiri)

“Hmm. I might be able to spot them, but they’re targetting you from far away, and if they’re doing something magical, they’re probably hiding out of sight.” (Tomochika)

No matter where they are, and no matter what attack they use, Yogiri would always be able to counterattack. Due to that, the attackers die, but because they’re hidden, he was unable to find or learn anything out about who the attacker was.

“That’s not it I think. If they were able to, I think they’d be attacking me even when I’m inside the royal castle. So I’m guessing they’re only making their moves when I’m making myself visible. If they’re able to see me, Dannoura-san should be able to see them as well, right?” (Yogiri)

From the outside, they seemed like they were on a date with each other as they walked through the town. In reality, it was actually a rather dull experience.

It had been a long time since the two of them were able to walk around together, so Tomochika was hoping they’d be doing something a bit more exciting, but Yogiri didn’t seem to be aware of that.

This got on Tomochika’s nerves a little bit.

“Are you in a bad mood?” (Yogiri)

“Not particularly?” (Tomochika)

“It’s fine if you are, but…” (Yogiri)

“Actually, no. You’re just trying to get me to see stuff for you!” (Tomochika)

“Will you tell me if you notice anything?” (Yogiri)

“Well, I’ll tell you… If you treat me to a meal first.” (Tomochika)

“Treat you? Dannoura-san, don’t you have the same amount of money as me?” (Yogiri)

Yogiri tilted his head to the side in confusion.

“Is that a problem?” (Tomochika)

“Alright, I get it. I guess it’s fine if I treat you to something.” (Yogiri)

“Yes! In which case, yesterday I did some asking around for recommendations about good places to check out!” (Tomochika)

In delightedly high spirits, Tomochika began to run, dragging Yogiri along with her by the hand.

Yogiri had no choice but to match her pace.

However, the surrounding atmosphere grew dubious as they went.

When they started off, the town had been overflowing with the hustle and bustle of a great city, but as they pushed forward, the ambiance it gave off became more desperate and dangerous.

Before long, the source of this unrest came into sight.

There was a mountain of debris and wreckage piled up in front of them.

The remnants of the battle between Ayaka Shinozaki and Riona Shiraishi. Their destructive showdown had entirely blown away the surrounding buildings.

At some level, it didn’t even seem like a scene that could’ve come from a confrontation between two people. Instead, it looked more like the site of a great catastrophe.

“That Ayaka Shinozaki! Unforgivable!” (Tomochika)

Tomochika’s intended destination had vanished entirely.

“Huh. It seems like this place has taken a considerable amount of damage.” (Yogiri)

It was to the extent that even Yogiri seemed surprised at the sight of the place.

“Well, I think I was given a few other recommendations we could take a look at.” (Tomochika)

She took out some notes she had taken from her breast pocket.

At that, without a warning, Yogiri embraced her.

―Huh? What’s up with this hug all of a sudden?

However, she didn’t shake him off.

Despite being confused, Tomochika felt the sensation of something passing very close by her, so she took a look over her shoulder.

The head of a civilian behind her burst open, their body crumpling to the ground.

“Uh?” (Tomochika)

『A sniper, is it? They were even aiming at you, not the youngster.』 (Mokomoko)

“Ah, Mokomoko-san, you haven’t passed on yet.” (Tomochika)

『I’ve always been here!』 (Mokomoko)

Despite having just been shot at, Tomochika was focused more on Mokomoko’s first reappearance after having been absent for a while.