This Is Bad
This is bad. The woman with light red hair and eyes of the same shade. Even for an otherworlder she was excessively exotic, radiating the aura of an ice-cold beauty. Her name was Silvia Liz. A Beast Slayer who wielded dual blades and overwhelming speed as her weapons. Her alias was Caroline—shortened to Carol—and she was the fourth heroine.
Beside her stood a woman with bright yellow hair and green eyes. She looked even purer than Sehwa. Her name was Adeline. A Beast Slayer who swung a massive war hammer. Her alias was Celine, the fifth heroine who had delivered the final blow to me in the previous timeline. Simply put, one was an agility specialist and the other a power type. Both were heroines from another world.
I kept my eyes fixed on the monitor, stroking my chin as I watched the pair standing atop a sheer cliff in the Grand Canyon.
“How did they appear?”
“A colossal pillar of light slammed into the ground. They emerged from it.”
“Did they look flustered?”
“No. They were perfectly calm.”
That meant they knew they had used a portal. These two had not returned from the future like I had. I was certain. If they had, they would have taken a portal to Earth long before I ever approached Sehwa. Or they would have dropped straight into the base, slaughtered every monster there, and taken my head.
For now the worst had been avoided, which brought some relief… but the fact that the two of them were together posed a serious problem.
“What are they doing over there?”
“I-I don’t know either, my Demon King… They only just arrived, so…”
“Can’t we bring the tracking monsters any closer?”
“I’ll try. One moment…”
Marcela’s fingers clattered across the keyboard as she guided a tracking monster right up to the pair. At that moment the petite Adeline looked up at Silvia and began hopping in place like a child throwing a tantrum. Then she pointed straight into the air—directly at the tracking monster’s location.
“What…?”
While I muttered in shock, Silvia drew a throwing weapon from her belt—something she had brought from her own planet—and hurled it. A dull thud rang out, and the monitor filled with static. The transmitting monster had been killed.
Marcela flinched violently.
“T-this is impossible…!”
I kept my expression neutral, but I was just as stunned. How had they detected its presence? Adeline had never possessed that kind of ability before.
Marcela quickly regained her composure and dispatched another tracking monster. This time she kept it at a safe distance, zooming the camera in to observe them. Fortunately they did not seem able to sense it from that range. The pair continued walking silently along the cliff’s edge without exchanging a single word.
Could they simply not understand each other? It was possible. They had lived on different planets with entirely different languages. Yet the way Adeline had been acting earlier suggested they were close. And if they had arrived together at the exact same time, they must have come from the same place. In that case they should at least have been using basic body language.
“Do they suspect they’re being watched?”
“The probability is high.”
“Send out a real monster.”
“What kind would you like?”
“An A-class should suffice. Send Aloken.”
Aloken was a warrior clad in armor of blood-red gemstones, riding a crimson chariot pulled by two scarlet horses. He swung a gigantic axe and ranked among the strongest A-class monsters—nearly S-class in power.
“Isn’t Aloken too powerful…? We don’t even know whether they can transform.”
“You yourself predicted they would be capable of transforming.”
“W-well, yes… but a Device is not easily manufactured. It’s only a hypothesis.”
She was right. Only two people on Earth could create Devices: the Doctor and Marcela. The Doctor’s husband had once been able to as well, but he was long dead.
If they did possess Aether and transformed, they would manifest in a form different from the current Beast Slayers.
“Tell Aloken that if they appear weak, he is to capture them alive.”
“Understood. Shall I send him in a way that avoids detection by the Evilion Gauge?”
“Yes.”
“@&!*(@&$*!”
Adeline flinched and muttered something incomprehensible to Silvia. I knew every language on Earth, yet I could not understand a single syllable. It had to be the tongue of her home planet. But then—
A bright yellow radiance began to bloom around Adeline’s body. I had never seen this ability before. Adeline was a warrior who swung a war hammer; she had never possessed magical powers like this…
The entire Grand Canyon trembled faintly, as though an earthquake had struck. The vibration had not come from Adeline’s spell. It was the tremor caused by Aloken’s arrival.
Silvia spun her dual blades once and gripped them in reverse, staring straight ahead. She looked accustomed to Adeline’s behavior.
Before long—
-KWOOOOOO!
The roar shook the entire Grand Canyon. Aloken, who had launched swiftly from the base, had arrived. He whipped his horses with fierce momentum and charged toward Silvia and Adeline. But the moment he drew close, he yanked the reins hard.
The two scarlet horses reared with a shrill neigh and stopped dead.
Why had he stopped? Fear? Caution? I could not tell; his helmet hid any expression.
Aloken stared fixedly at Adeline for a moment, then flinched.
-Run… I must run…
What…? Run?
An A-class monster bordering on S-class was saying he needed to flee? And from Aloken, whose aggression was second to none?
“Did I mishear that?”
Marcela swallowed audibly and answered.
“I… I heard it too…”
I sensed the situation growing dire. Aloken tried to wheel around and bolt. But Silvia was faster. In an instant she stood blocking his path. The movement looked like teleportation. On the monitor she simply vanished and reappeared.
-Uuuuugh…!
Trembling with terror from the start, Aloken swung his axe. A massive whoosh of wind. The strike was full of power, yet wild with fear. Silvia evaded it effortlessly.
Bending backward like a limbo dancer, she shot forward the instant the axe grazed past her forehead. She circled Aloken at blinding speed. He flailed his axe desperately, trying to break free of the net she had woven. It was futile. Not a single blow landed.
While Silvia held his attention, Adeline finished her strange chant and cried out, spreading both arms wide. The bright yellow orbs of light left her body and began pouring into Aloken.
-Krr… KRAAAAAAGH!
Aloken screamed in agony, writhing. The two scarlet horses neighed wildly and thrashed, rearing madly. Soon a dark energy rose from their bodies and was devoured by the yellow light.
Aloken’s movements grew sluggish. Moments later he collapsed and lay still.
Psssh…!
His entire body crumbled into dust and vanished. It was as if his very existence had been erased.
I watched with wide eyes and muttered, “Purification?”
When struck by light as brilliant as the sun, a monster’s dark energy drained away and turned to dust. If that was not purification, what else could it be?
Only now, with my chest gone cold at Aloken’s death, did I notice that Adeline was wearing priestess robes one might see in a medieval temple.
Without looking away from the monitor I asked Marcela, “Do we have any information on the world where Silvia Liz and Adeline live?”
“N-no, none…”
Was it a planet that wielded holy power? Aside from the fact that Adeline came from another world, I knew nothing. It was frustrating. And Silvia’s physical prowess was astonishing. Before transforming she had been an ordinary civilian… yet she moved so fast she seemed to disappear. It was almost as if she had absorbed Aether.
The arrival of two people strong enough to defeat Aloken without effort was a catastrophe. On top of that, Adeline had used some bizarre, infuriating power to purify him. Whether it was truly purification or not hardly mattered; the result was equally unbelievable.
Aloken was a monster that even the current Sehwa and Yuria could not guarantee victory against in single combat. Seeing Adeline’s ability, it seemed even an S-class monster would fall easily. If I sent every force I had there might be a chance of victory, but she likely possessed other techniques as well.
In that sense I was impressed by Marcela’s foresight and grateful I had followed my instincts. Whether this situation was an opportunity or a crisis remained uncertain, but the scales clearly tipped toward crisis.
I must not reveal my identity under any circumstances. Staying silent had been a divine move, an incredible stroke of luck.
“Demon King… what should we do?”
“We need to test how far she can detect magi. If…”
If Adeline could sense the energy I had planted inside Sehwa and Yuria… The mere thought was horrifying.
Deciding further experiments were necessary, I asked Marcela, “Do we have any captured humans?”
“We have several kept for S-class monster awakening experiments. They have already lost their sense of self.”
I generated malice within my body and concentrated it into my little finger. Then I made a small cut at the tip. Dark crimson blood welled up. Marcela hurriedly brought a vial and collected it.
“Inject it into three humans and release them nearby. Use varying amounts. One should receive the absolute minimum. You understand?”
“Yes!”
Silvia and Adeline continued wandering through the Grand Canyon. To any observer they looked thoroughly lost, roaming in every direction.
So they really did just happen to fall there.
They were also talking to each other. That proved they were unaware of the tracking monsters. It was a relief to think they no longer believed they were under surveillance.
Silvia’s speech sounded awkward and slightly stuttered; it seemed she was using the language of Adeline’s planet.
So Silvia went to Adeline’s world and then came to Earth from there?
While I made various guesses, a human staggered toward them, groaning. It was one of the males Marcela had sent—one I had injected with a large quantity of malice.
His sense of self had been completely erased, exactly like the magician inside Yuria’s lucid dream. Even after receiving malice he displayed only zombie-like behavior.
Adeline tilted her head at the sight of him, then her eyes turned hostile and she began chanting the same spell she had used on Aloken.
Something felt off. When Aloken had appeared in the distance, Adeline had been wary from the first moment. This time she only reacted after he entered her line of sight.
She had only dealt with the tracking monster after it drew close, and she had failed to detect the new one keeping its distance. Therefore—
“It seems the detection range changes according to the strength of the magi.”
“Yes, I agree.”
I pulled Marcela closer and draped an arm around her shoulders. She flinched, then offered a bright smile. Soon, however, her face grew worried.
“Demon King… my shoulder hurts…”
“Hm?”
I realized I had been gripping her too tightly and relaxed my hand. Anxiety must have made me unconsciously apply too much strength.
“Sorry.”
“N-no, it’s all right… Everything will turn out well. Please don’t worry too much.”
“Yeah.”
Her comforting words eased my mind. Or so I thought—until the familiar bright yellow light began leaking from Adeline’s body once more. I could only swallow hard.
She intended to use it on a human, not a monster. Or perhaps, since the human carried malice, she considered him a monster outright?
This time Silvia did not move. She simply guarded Adeline and kept her eyes locked on the human.
The yellow light Adeline created soon flowed into the man’s body. And then something astonishing happened.
“Uh… UAAAAAAGH!”
The human who should have been capable only of incoherent noises suddenly screamed. If it had been only a cry of pain I might have stayed silent, but as the malice drained away, clarity returned to his eyes. The sight nearly drove me insane.
“…..”
“…..”
Marcela and I watched the monitor with our mouths slightly agape. Black energy poured from the kneeling man’s upright torso until—
“Ugh…! Krrgh…”
After a few pained groans he clutched his head as though suffering a migraine. He shook his head vigorously, then spoke to the gently smiling Adeline.
“What… where is this place…? Who are you people?”
Focused eyes. Clear pronunciation. The human had regained his original personality after receiving Adeline’s light.
Complete erasure of malice. That was undoubtedly purification.
Watching the scene, I could only open and close my mouth. I could not hide my shock. No words came. There was only one thought left.
This is bad.
It wasn’t even my counter character… Are you fucking kidding me right now?