Winter's Fury on Steel
Winter fell upon the steel structures. "Put out the fire quick! What the hell's going on?!"
"Th-the lab suddenly exploded..."
The inside of the skyscraper was a scene of utter chaos. Larirure Larirarion and Lemon Hyacinth chased after Kesera Sera Sera. Fires raged everywhere, and explosions had turned the place into a total wreck. The kingdom's knights on standby rushed in to suppress the blaze, while invited nobles rolled up their sleeves to rescue the trapped dwarves.
Larirure Larirarion unfolded the shovel at her waist and unleashed a shockwave at the debris.
With a resounding BOOM, the rubble shattered satisfyingly. The mana infused in her shovel carved through the wreckage, clearing a path in an instant.
"Anyone there?! Respond if you can!" Lemon Hyacinth shouted, ears perked up, searching for survivors. The two of them responded to cries for help from inside, crumpling iron doors and holding their breath amid the smoke to drag out unconscious dwarves.
In the midst of the frenzy, Larirure Larirarion dashed up to a directing dwarf noble and urgently asked,
"Excuse me, we're adventurers who came after hearing about the situation! Could you give us a quick rundown?"
"It's terrorism, not just some random explosion. They targeted the power facilities and supply lines to completely shut everything down."
"Terrorism?"
"This skyscraper won't go dark from a mere blast. It was a dwarf from the skyscraper staff who knew the facilities inside out—the culprit."
Lemon Hyacinth recalled the previous gate incident and drew his pistol sword, asking, "Then is the perp still here?"
Should they prioritize rescues first? Larirure Larirarion furrowed her brow, then asked about the area with the most damage... no, the direction of the giant knight's research facility.
As she'd feared, that was the hardest-hit zone. Rushing over, they found raging flames engulfing the entire research area. Dwarves and the skyscraper's artificial humans were swiftly putting out the fire.
"At this firepower, nothing'll be left."
"...What do you mean?"
"Evidence."
All the research records on the giant knight, honed over more than ten years, were burning away. She watched with narrowed eyes, then squeezed them shut.
She'd hoped it wasn't true, but Larirure Larirarion grabbed nearby dwarves and demanded to know where Kesera Sera Sera was. No matter how much Lemon Hyacinth pressed, she gave no answer, just chased after her with a grim expression, silently loading rounds into his pistol sword.
He wasn't an idiot—given the atmosphere and the flow, he couldn't help but guess what was happening.
At the skyscraper's observation deck with the best view. She'd rushed up as if to extinguish the fire herself, but now Kesera Sera Sera overlooked the cityscape from the tower.
Her green ponytail swayed with the wind, fluttering alongside her purple dress.
"I was planning to send you an invite, but I didn't expect you'd come first."
"...I've got a ton of questions, but why'd you do it?"
"Why? If we're twenty-year friends, figure it out yourself."
An ominous tension filled the air as Lemon Hyacinth quietly chambered a round. Gripping his gun tight, ready to fire at any moment, he glared at Kesera Sera Sera. Larirure Larirarion sighed with a heartbreakingly sorrowful expression she couldn't quite put into words as she gazed at her former friend.
"Probably 'cause I got ignored."
"Bingo! It's frustrating—always hearing 'no' no matter what. They give peanuts for budget, and... yeah, that's part of it. But it's annoying not knowing why everyone else is laughing when I'm miserable. Having to bow to that idiot king with the empty head, and that puny bitch acting like she's right and I'm wrong—it's all bullshit. I wanna shove a bomb down their throats and blow their guts out. Or up their asses—wanna see 'em beg and cry."
So she went all out to make it. Even without a brain, she said, popping a cigarette in her mouth, the Evil God could revive endlessly.
Thinking a brainless body would obey the controller's will was arrogance. If that worked, the great heroes would've used it ages ago. No need for anti-Evil God weapons or monsters, she grumbled.
"Genius my ass—ultimately, we're all just meat lumps. Everyone hypes you up, you've never been wrong... but at least she got to pilot the giant knight her way, right? Wish granted?"
"They'll figure it out quick if they investigate. No matter how pissed you were, you should've held back. Was it 'cause of your boyfriend's death?"
Larirure Larirarion worried it might stem from her changed mindset after her boyfriend's death from before, but Kesera Sera Sera's eyes widened as she slapped her forehead and burst out laughing. "Puhaha!"
"Oh yeah, forgot to tell ya."
Kesera Sera Sera tossed her lit cigarette to the floor. Staring at Larirure Larirarion with pitch-black, rotten eyes, she grinned.
"I killed him. That guy. He dissed my bomb, pissed me off, so I blew him up."
"You're insane."
"This world's too stuffy. There are easy, effective ways, but they keep going the long route. I thought about it nice and slow... the world belongs to the born winners. Those at the top gotta be competent. It's all about power—raw firepower! I wanna treat those damn assholes like grad students and TAs, work 'em to death without graduating 'em!"
"Fuck, you're crazy on that side too?"
She cackled, mocking them: "You knew everything coming here anyway, right?"
"...You never told me you were human. Mentioning firepower... you know about Radamu Dice, don't you? No way a lab rat like you cares about some new explosive bullshit!"
"Correct!"
"As expected of my friend," she clapped. No regrets now, she'd done what she could, no lingering attachments—she laughed.
Giving up? Larirure Larirarion raised her shovel, ready to subdue her and make her spill everything about the [Organization] since she was connected, when PFFFT—Kesera Sera Sera's head exploded, one twintail bursting into flames as she tumbled back.
Larirure Larirarion clutched half her face, grinding her teeth and staggering.
"Stuck it on when you yanked my hair earlier."
"You crazy bitch scientist!!"
Seeing bloodied Larirure Larirarion, Lemon Hyacinth lost it and charged, kicking her hard. Kesera Sera Sera barely budged from the brutal kick. Before she could grab his leg, his gun barrel spat fire.
He unloaded full-auto right in her face, pouring bullets with zero intent to spare her, pure killing intent—but...
Invariable Authority
(or similar invisible translucent barrier)
An invisible translucent barrier protected Kesera Sera Sera. "Barrier?!" Lemon Hyacinth clicked his tongue and leaped back.
"Friend time's over. People change with age. Oh, and... two misconceptions to correct."
Kesera Sera Sera held up two fingers. Larirure Larirarion had already warned and they'd come up, so knights hearing the fight were swarming to subdue her.
"First, I'm the boss of that organization you mentioned."
"What...?"
"You're assuming I can't escape this kingdom and I'll get caught..."
One finger folded as she pointed her index at Larirure Larirarion.
Stunned by her twenty-year friend being the mastermind behind it all, she stared with a trembling eye—but Kesera Sera Sera grinned mercilessly at her old pal, boasting, "My firepower's the best, huh?"
"Second, that I have one of the Maou powers."
Demon King's Dark Annihilation Hell Orb
With that incantation, their vision went black.
Lemon Hyacinth hugged her tight, gritted his teeth, and hurled them over the balcony railing.
With disbelieving, hollow eyes—shock not even fully settled—she screamed the name of her once-friend.
"Kesera Sera Sera!"
One of the Maou powers devoured the skyscraper. No collapse noise—it was the Maou's hellfire that returned all it touched, even light, to nothingness, instantly consuming and shaving away the tower.
The black pillar soaring into the distant sky swallowed light itself, its flame shape invisible.
Thanks to her comrade, she'd barely survived—now Kesera Sera Sera leisurely descended the skyscraper, gazing down.
"Hah?"
Her face twisted seeing the giant knight—supposedly without a heart or power—move and clash with the Evil God giant knight.
Scratching her head, she grumbled that the others' prep was ruined again, then fished out her last cigarette from her pocket.
"Friend, the world's shit. No matter how great you're born, someone better comes along. I hate bullies. Hate those better than me."
But she liked you. Always nagging to drink, setting up blind dates. Calling a guy she hadn't contacted in twenty years a friend and hanging with him.
Not without some forced dragging, sure.
"Dwarves can't hold their tempers."
Facing the charging dwarf knight, she yanked at empty air. Mana from her gloves sparked lightning on contact, swelling the knight's body like a balloon until it burst.
Blood sprayed everywhere, swelling contacts and chaining explosions that razed the corridor in seconds, collapsing it.
"So I decided! I'll turn this world into a sea of fire! I can't hold back wanting to blow it all up, Larirure Larirarion!"
She bellowed it for the world—and her—to hear. Blood spewing from her throat, unsatisfied, she unleashed Demon King's Dark Annihilation Hell Orb again, boring a massive hole through the top floors into the visible clouds.
"With this power!"