Instant Death

Volume 4, Chapter 15: Because I’m invincible? No attacks work on me.

Hanamiya Mei was a Saint before coming to this world.

A cat that shot beams from its eyes had killed her. Then she turned into a Saint and came to this world.

To explain further, it had been several days before the school trip, when she was on her way to school.

She was walking alone, when out of nowhere, she heard what sounded like a baby crying.

But Mei was very fond of cats, and so she knew at once that it was the sound of cats fighting.

Mei looked at her watch. She still had some time before class started. While it wasn’t the most admirable thing, there was a part of her that wanted to watch the cats fight. And so she left the path towards her school.

She walked down a narrow alley in the residential area until she found the open area between two houses.

It was there that two cats were antagonizing each other.

A black cat and a white cat. Both of them were beautiful and had luscious fur.

Mei decided to watch quietly.

A catfight was much like playing. Once it was clear who was the winner, it never went further than that. It wouldn’t turn into anything cruel. But if it got too bad, she would stop it.

Just then, the white cat jumped at the black cat.

The black cat opened its mouth wide and spit out a torrent of fire.

“What?”

The white cat avoided the flames by changing its trajectory while still in the air.

When the white cat’s front paws landed on the ground, the area in front of him protruded out like spears and attacked the black cat.

The black cat dodged it with a side step and then unleashed a white breath. Their surroundings froze, but the white cat protected itself with a barrier of light.

Mei was stunned.

She had not expected any of this from a catfight.

And it all ended abruptly.

The white cat’s eyes shone brightly. Beams shot out and then attacked the black cat. The black cat conjured up a mirror to reflect it. The reflected beam headed straight towards Mei.

*****

Mei was in a white room.

The black cat and the white cat were sitting next to each other.

“I’m sorry. You’ve died, meow.”

Said the white cat. Mei wasn’t surprised that it was talking. It could breathe fire and shoot lights from its eyes. Talking was nothing after seeing all of that.

“Uhh. Are you going to take me to another world?”

“Oh, no. We’re just going to bring you back to life, okay?”

The black cat talked without any weird meowing.

“Ah. We seemed to have killed a weirdo, meow.”

“Huh? Isn’t this what usually happens when you get reincarnated in a different world?”

“Hey, what are you going to do? Wouldn’t it have been better to just revive her without explaining anything?”

“No, as gods, we can’t abandon our responsibilities like that, meow.”

“Gods! Does that mean I can receive a lot of cheat abilities?”

The cats looked at each other. It seemed like they were at a loss on how to respond.

“Uhh. Please calm down and listen, meow. Yes, it was our fault for being so absorbed in the fight that we didn’t see you, meow. I’ll apologize for that and bring you back to life, so please forgive us, meow. And I’ll increase your luck a little as part of my apology, meow.”

“What! The cheat! I want a cheat! Like being able to use magic of every attribute! Or unlimited MP!”

“That’s quite the demand. You do realize there is no such thing as magic?”

“But you were just using it!”

“We’re gods… The very idea of normal people doing it. Unthinkable, meow.”

“NO-NO-NO! This is my chance! I don’t want to come back to life!”

Mei was having a tantrum.

She fell on the ground and flailed her arms and legs.

“What should we do, meow…”

“Well, it was our fault… Do you have a way of sending her to another world?”

“I won’t say that I don’t, meow… But if it’s a world where you can use magic… It will generally be quite similar to our world, but also have a scientific civilization…”

“Hmm… Ah, there is someone who is trying to open a hole… We can use that.”

The cats whispered to each other until they came to a decision.

“Uhh, Hanamiya Mei, meow. If you do go to another world, you will not be able to return. Are you fine with that, meow?”

“OK! Bring it on! I don’t care about this world at all!”

“…Then, let me explain. First, you will be brought back to life normally, but don’t worry. You will be sent to another world a few days later, when a hole will open up.”

“A hole?”

“You people don’t know about it, but there are many worlds and they are structured like layers. And so you can use holes to fall into other worlds. There is someone who is trying to open such a hole, and we mean to take advantage of that.”

“Are you saying someone is trying to summon me from a different world?”

“You can say that. But it is to be a very big hole that will take many people. That is why it’s taking so long.”

“Okay, but what about my cheat? Where are my amazing powers?”

“If you could just calm down for a second. We cannot just give magical powers to a human. However, you can use our power as a way of getting around that. In other words, you will become our shrine maiden. And when you need it, we will use our power.”

“Um! Don’t you mean Saint? Shrine maiden sounds so Japanese and old. It’s kind of lame, isn’t it?”

“Well, I don’t care what name you want to go by, meow.”

“Yes!”

*****

And like that, Hanamiya Mei became a Saint and was able to come to this world.

While she did have the system installed into her, there were adjustments due to the power of the god.

In other words, she only looked like she was under the command of the sage, but Mei actually had no restrictions put on her.

She was free.

There was no need to fear, and she was not forced to do anything. The only reason why she tagged along with this sage candidate business was that it had looked like an amusing event to her.

It didn’t matter what happened because she could deal with it with the power of the god. Mei had come this far by just going with the flow.

That was why she didn’t run away, even though they were being forced to kill each other.

In fact, Mei stayed in the fortress that the carpenter had made.

She was in her room and resting in bed.

‘Meow. Mei. What are you going to do, meow? You don’t have to stick around and fight, meow. I think you should just kill this sage person, meow.’

The white cat was floating in the air in a white space. The image that appeared in Mei’s head was very difficult to see.

“Hmm. I don’t think that’s what you’re supposed to do. You’re supposed to participate in events.”

Mei wanted to enjoy this world. She didn’t want to change the rules. She wanted to enjoy things while following the norms and regulations.

‘You don’t mind killing your friends, meow?’

“Doesn’t it sound fun? Everyone here thinks that they’re the strongest. In spite of the fact that their powers are from the sage. And yet they’ll have no chance against the power of real gods. Isn’t that just exhilarating?”

Up until now, the event had been about adventuring together. And now it was a battle royale. Mei thought that it was fun, either way.

‘You’re going to say that while relying on my power…meow…’

“Oh, but maybe I’ll just keep Haruto alive.”

The sage had also said that you could kill her, so Mei was also considering going down that route at some point.

‘Well, do as you wish, meow. I don’t really care about who dies in that world, meow.’

The voice faded away.

Mei rolled around on her bed.

‘I can’t believe this. You’re sleeping lazily in my territory.’

“Ah, morning, Arima.”

Mei woke up after being called. She had apparently fallen asleep.

She looked around the room, but there was no one there.

It seemed that the power of carpentry allowed you to make your voice audible from anywhere in the building.

“Hmm? Why are you talking to me? You could have just killed me instead?”

‘I guess I was too ashamed. But I’ve made my decision now. I’m going to kill whoever I can.’

“Hmmm. Good luck.”

Just then, her bed disappeared.

“Woah!”

She fell on her buttocks. There was no damage from it, but Mei was surprised nonetheless.

And then it suddenly grew dark. For a second, she didn’t understand what was happening.

“Ahh. You trapped me.”

The carpenter was able to use blocks to create all kinds of things.

And he used that to build a wall around her.

“So, what are you going to do?”

In the next instant, something hit Mei’s head with tremendous force.

*****

Arima Osamu’s plan was simple.

He would trap his enemies in a chimney-like structure and then drop heavy blocks on top of them.

He wasn’t able to create blocks in places where people were standing, but he could create them in the space above them.

Perhaps they would be able to survive the attack with their defensive ability.

However, he was able to make an unlimited number of blocks. Even if they didn’t die immediately, he could just keep dropping more blocks. Eventually, they wouldn’t be able to bear the weight any longer. And they would be crushed to death.

On top of that, they would be trapped in an air-tight prison, they might also die of suffocation.

This strategy should be very effective within his territory.

“…How…”

However, Osamu was surprised by Mei’s sudden appearance.

He didn’t understand how she had gotten through his deadly traps. And how had she traveled all the way to that room?

“Search and teleport. But I can only do it at a short distance. Ah, so Abukawa is here as well.”

Abukawa Masahiro. The boy with the transporter power.

“Wasn’t the power of the Saint just about erasing monsters!?”

Abukawa said with wide eyes.

“Sorry. I was lying.”

“Eat this!”

And then something fell from the ceiling.

It was magma.

The hot, melted liquid rained down on Mei.

Mei was drenched in the red substance but still looked up at the ceiling as if it was nothing.

“Ahh, so there was a door on the ceiling. And the other door must be connected to the mouth of a volcano somewhere. Interesting. So, you two are working together then.”

The transporter was able to connect different doors. That’s what they used.

It seemed that magma would be too strong for most doors, but maybe the carpenter’s doors were extra strong.

“Wh-why aren’t you hurt!”

“Hmm. Because I’m invincible? No attacks work on me.”

Osamu and Masahiro’s faces twisted in shock. Mei had wanted to see those expressions. And so she was fully satisfied.

“Saint Punch!”

Mei walked up to Masahiro and threw the laziest punch at him.

Masahiro dodged it easily.

Osamu had been watching. Anyone could have dodged that wobbly, slow attack.

And yet…

Mei’s fist had somehow reached Masahiro’s face.

The place of impact flashed brightly.

And then Masahiro began to fall apart, like a string that was unraveling. In the blink of an eye, he was gone.

“What…what is…”

Osamu barely managed to say those words. He could not believe what had just happened in front of him.

“Ah, right. My attacks have an ‘absolute hit’ option. And the Saint Punch completely annihilates my enemies.”

“…But, if you can do such a thing…you should be able to win against the sage…then! We shouldn’t have to kill each other!”

“I could do that, yes. But what would happen after I killed the sage? Who’s going to think of an interesting event for me? To be honest, it’s not very fun being able to do whatever you want in this world. I want someone to choose a direction for me.”

“Then…we can all think together…”

“I don’t think that sounds very fun. Saint Beam!”

Mei raised her fist and pointed it at Osamu.

There was nothing he could do but be erased from existence by the flash of light.

*****

Mei left the fortress that Osamu had built.

Apparently, the structure would remain even after the builder died.

“I fulfilled the requirements, so I might as well take it easy until the next hour.”

It would not be very fun to just kill everyone at once.

However, that also depended on how the others acted.

Mei opened the system window and checked the list of participants.

It had only just started, and yet 5 of the 16 participants were already dead.

They were, ‘reaper’ Fukai Seiichi, ‘record keeper’ Shijou Juno, ‘reader’ Aihara Yukimasa, ‘transporter’ Abukawa Masahiro, and ‘carpenter’ Arima Osamu.

If things continued at this pace, it would all end within the hour.

As she wondered what to do, a notice appeared.

‘Hanakawa Daimon has been accepted into the sage candidate selection match.’

When she checked the list, his name had indeed been added.

For some reason, he had joined at this point.

“Since he’s here, I might as well kill him.”

She had always found this Hanakawa boy to be a little gross.

In fact, she had often dreamed of killing him with her own hands.