The Devil's Flower
There's a saying that it isn't the strong who survive, but those who survive who are strong.
Bullshit. They survive because they're strong. So of course every last one of the survivors ends up being strong.
What am I trying to say here?
Excluding the giant, of the eight who first appeared, the two who made it out alive were especially tough.
Granted, one of those two still went pop! and burst after the giant got him, but still.
Even so, it was a little surprising that people had noticed my tears and dodged them for the first time.
So then, setting aside the giant currently locked in a one-on-one brawl with that military guy Hwang Daegil, where was the remaining survivor and what was she doing?
Clang! Clash-clash-clang!
She was dancing a beautiful dance with Cecilia.
The woman dipped her head, and the clean, elegant blade in Cecilia's hand sliced through empty air.
The woman's crimson hair flared as she slipped past the sword, whipping about so freely it almost looked like a blade whose shape kept shifting at will.
Clash-clash-clang!
And it really was a blade. My eye for these things never fails!
Cecilia's sword and the Mudwell woman's razor-sharp hair lashed out in turn, colliding, then both fighters leaned away to evade.
Neither had taken so much as a scratch; the dazzling exchange looked almost like a carefully choreographed play.
And with the sun sinking lower, their bodies were steeped in the red of the sunset, making them even more beautiful.
Meanwhile, right beside them…
KRA-BOOM! KRAAAAA-BOOM! THUD!
Two men of monstrous strength were locked in a sweaty, reeking brawl.
No fancy techniques—just raw power slamming into raw power.
The giant guy had lost his mind to the drugs, so that made sense, but…
Why was the military guy trading punches so damn honestly?
He was even getting pushed back little by little, as if matching a drug-amped giant head-on was a bit much for him.
Well, of course. The giant's fists were hammering his entire body, while the military guy's attacks were limited to the giant's arms swinging at him.
Either way, helping this side first seemed like the right call.
Truth was, I'd already been getting ready to jump in.
Crackle-crackle-crack!
The tears drifting around the giant's ankles all transformed into vines at once and coiled madly around his lower body.
Thorns punched through his skin with wet shunk-shunk sounds, yet he showed no reaction, as if he couldn't feel pain at all.
Still, at least his legs wouldn't be moving any—
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK! CRUNCH!
"Uh…? Uh-oh……."
That really shouldn't be breaking like that…?
"UWOOOOOOOOOH!"
The giant bellowed a savage roar and thrashed wildly, trying to tear the vines free—and then they started shattering.
Crackle-crackle-crack!
In a panic I hardened the tears into formless crystals and locked down his lower half, but—
BOOM!
"Ah!"
—they shattered into pieces just as quickly.
Thump!
My heart hammered. Maybe it was because this was the first time I'd ever seen my power get broken.
Was this what they called presence? I must like people with presence. Come to think of it, everyone around me has it in spades.
Huh? Tania…?
"Tania's cute, so she's fine."
I nodded vigorously to myself, talking myself into it.
The military guy caught his breath for a moment, then charged the giant again.
THUD!
He took a swinging fist full-on and got driven into the ground, but—
"Hah! I have not fallen asleep!"
—he sprang right back up and charged in once more.
"Hmm~ What am I supposed to be doing here?"
This was the first time since I'd possessed this body that I'd felt so left out.
The pretty big sister from the enemy organization and Cecilia were having their cozy little dance, and my power wasn't working on the giant guy.
I did feel a twinge of jealousy toward the pretty big sister playing with Cecilia, but Cecilia looked like she was enjoying herself, so I didn't really want to crash their date.
Should I just head into the half-wrecked Mudwell base alone?
BOOM! The military guy slammed into the ground in front of me again.
"Hmm~ If I leave him like this, he's probably going to die…."
There's an old saying: a beauty never forgets a favor.
The military guy saved me once earlier, so now it was my turn to help him out!
Besides, just a moment ago my brilliant, lightning-fast brain had already spun out the perfect solution.
If this method worked, a giant like him would be easy to put in his place.
A few tears still clinging to my chin shot forward with a sharp whoosh, slicing the air and leaving wounds on the giant's body.
They weren't deep. Just tiny scratches.
But given the nature of my power, a single tiny scratch was more than enough.
The tears that had carved red lines across the giant's body slipped into those wounds.
And then countless flowers bloomed.
At first, when the flowers began to open at the wound sites, they were still blue.
But flowers, by nature, don't only bloom above the ground.
Ugly as they may look, roots exist beneath the earth, firmly supporting the beautiful blossoms so they can flaunt themselves to their heart's content on the surface.
The blue crystal flowers took the giant's body as soil and sank their roots deep inside him.
Crunch. Crunch.
They sliced through thick muscle, stabbed, tore, and forced their way into every gap, growing larger by the second.
And those roots drank the giant's red blood as nourishment, making the crystal flowers bloom even more beautifully.
Fed the finest nutrients imaginable, the crystal flowers flushed crimson in an instant, becoming more gorgeous, sharper, and larger.
As countless roots rampaged through his insides, the pain must have been so intense he couldn't even scream—he only thrashed.
The crystals rooted inside him were thin, so they would snap under his strength, but that was fine.
The broken shards simply drank more blood right where they were and grew again.
Parts of those new roots tore through his skin and burst outward, blooming wide open.
Blooming.
In a way, isn't that the moment a living thing gets to flaunt the most beautiful instant of its life?
Even if the crystal flowers made from my tears had no life of their own.
For the giant, this truly was a blooming.
In the final moment of his life, he could display his most beautiful self through the flowers that had grown by feeding on that very life.
It was the moment of blooming.
My flowers grew even larger, nourished by blood.
So does that make my flowers the Devil's Flower? No.
How could a power that lets someone end their life in their most beautiful form possibly be a devil's power?
It's the opposite. My power devours the sins of others and makes them bloom.
Even someone who lived a filthy life can leave beautifully at the end—that's my mercy.
Is there anyone else in the world as merciful as me? I really need to stop being so perfect….
At this rate every person on earth is going to fall for me alone and make my friends jealous.
Pretty, kind, and this considerate on top of it all.
"Haa. Why am I so perfect, anyway?"
Did you know? When a person is too perfect, life gets boring!
People are basically meant to live in order to become better versions of themselves, but…
If you're this perfect from the start, what are you even supposed to do?
Before long, the giant who had been thrashing so hard began to stiffen.
His life was draining away completely.
By the way, what should I name this technique? Something cool-sounding…?
"Devil's Flower!"
I'd argued against it pretty hard in my head earlier, but nothing else fit quite as well.
Well, even villains would die happy if they got hit by these flowers.
After living a life worse than trash, if they could meet such a beautiful end—even if it came from a devil—they'd gladly accept it.
Having lost his life, the giant froze on one knee and went completely still.
No—it was already hard to call him a giant.
Not a single patch of his skin was visible; countless flowers large and small blanketed him completely.
Rather than a "giant," he looked more like a massive flower garden that just happened to be shaped like a person.
"……."
The military guy stared at the sight with a face gone pure white, then took several steps backward.
His expression was different from the stern, serious look he'd worn until now; even he seemed to be marveling at that beautiful spectacle.
I watched his retreating back with a satisfied smile—when a slightly lewd moan drifted over from the side.
"Ahk!"
Making a sound that provocative outdoors with this many people around is a problem!
I turned toward the source and saw that the match must have been decided at some point; the pretty Mudwell big sister was clutching her blood-soaked abdomen, collapsed on the spot and gasping for air.
Watching her heave those rough breaths made my heart pound wildly. Ah, it had been doing that for a while now, actually.
Her gaze was fixed on the flower garden I'd created too; she must have gotten distracted mid-fight because it was just too beautiful.
Her face was awfully pale, though. Had she been cut so badly that most of her blood had drained out?
I was watching her with worry when light flared beside her, followed by a wet slicing sound—and her head went flying.
And so my brief memories with that nameless woman came to an end.
"Hoo…."
Cecilia let out a weary breath, sheathed her sword, and walked over to me with steady steps.
Along the way she paused for a second, her sightless eyes lingering on the giant's flower garden, then heaved a deep sigh.
She finished closing the distance and patted my shoulder.
"You did well. Rest a bit for now. Calm down too."
"…? Yes."
I wasn't tired, worn out, or excited, but I answered anyway so Cecilia wouldn't worry.