Chapter 227
Chapter 227
Chapter 227
Branches of the Future (1)
"Sister, get away!"
Perhaps sensing the danger of the dark red power flaring up.
Before she knew it, the succubi had spread their wings and surrounded Rebecca.
However, Rebecca shouted angrily and threw them backward.
"You idiots, you're the ones who should get away!"
A violent force rushing like waves.
More than anyone, Rebecca desperately felt the danger contained within that power.
'Oh no, the mansion...!'
At this rate, not only the succubi but all the people in the vicinity would die.
TSSSSSS!
Rebecca urgently controlled the flow of power and bent it upward.
The dark red energy was immediately controlled by Rebecca's gestures.
"...So easily?"
The opponent seemed surprised by Rebecca's unexpectedly powerful control.
"Haa!"
With a low battle cry, Rebecca raised her hand high toward the sky.
Then the dark red power the opponent had fired soared endlessly into the sky, exploding like a dragon's breath.
"......"
Having dissipated all the power, Rebecca angrily shouted at her opponent.
"That's dangerous! What if someone had died!"
Despite Rebecca's anger, the opponent showed no particular reaction, blinking and muttering to herself.
"How at that age... in this era..."
"What are you saying?"
"You probably don't even properly recognize what power you possess yet, do you?"
From the opponent's perspective, this was the truth.
Knowing nothing, she had been swept up in Abel's journey, awakened her blood, and while being slowly consumed by that madness, her strength itself had steadily increased.
But by her standards, that strength was impossible for now, when the war with the demons was just about to begin.
"Hmph!"
Not knowing what her opponent was thinking, Rebecca clenched her fist and shouted.
"I don't know what you're babbling about, but since you've caused such a commotion, you must be prepared to get beaten, right?"
Instead of answering Rebecca's question, the opponent asked back.
"Who is it?"
"...Huh?"
"Who made you like that!"
WHOOOOSH!
Uncontrollable jealousy became dark red power and flowed from future Rebecca's entire body.
That vivid red light was incomparable to her own murky, ugly color.
And yet that lively appearance didn't seem to be dominated by blood madness at all.
She too had once been like that, with that personality... but now it was just a memory of the past that could only be chewed over sadly in a corner of her memories.
"You shouldn't be like that. Unhappy like me, miserable like me...! There shouldn't be such a happy branch of the future for 'me'!"
That appearance absolutely couldn't be formed just by living normally in Baran Village.
There must be someone.
Someone who made 'that' 'like that'.
"I don't know who made you like that, but I'll definitely catch and kill them! I'll tear them apart!"
"What is this crazy woman saying! About Rudian this and that!"
Demonic energy immediately filled Rebecca's eyes.
The opponent had very easily touched Rebecca's reverse scale.
Having her reverse scale stimulated, Rebecca very easily lost her temper.
"I'll kill you!"
As it changed from 'beat' to 'kill', Rebecca's anger pierced the sky.
But at Rebecca's appearance of spewing anger and demonic energy, the opponent showed joy and delight instead.
"Yes, that's the look!"
BAAAAANG!
Vivid red and murky dark red collided.
Naturally, not only Rudian's bedroom where Rebecca was, but the entire Belstad mansion exploded and began destroying the surroundings.
'Oh, oh no!'
Only then did Rebecca realize where she was and was struck with terror.
To her, this Belstad mansion was a place that meant much more than just a living space.
'The, the people...!'
Dozens of innocent employees working at the Belstad mansion.
With the collision just now, there was a possibility that they would all die in one blow.
But...
"......!"
Kwaak!
With a sound of something twisting, a purple barrier suddenly appeared, surrounding the area.
The barrier enveloped the entire mansion and instantly restored the fragments of the destroyed mansion to their original state.
Rebecca recognized this miracle and widened her eyes slightly.
'Space-time restoration!'
She was now someone with considerable experience.
She had the insight to sufficiently grasp the flow of space-time.
And from the center of that barrier...
"Purple, Purple one!"
Ktuna appeared, having put all the mansion's employees inside orbs.
-Deceiving causality and manifesting predetermined future beings? Indeed, Berus... truly one who knows no limits.
"...Huh?"
Rebecca blinked, not understanding what Ktuna was saying.
-Don't worry about it. His servants are safe like this, so you just need to defeat your nemesis.
Although they were all unconscious and fainted, as Ktuna said, no one seemed to be dead.
-I'll block the space from the outside, so play to your heart's content.
"Good!"
Rebecca clenched her fist and immediately ignited her fighting spirit.
"Hey, withered old lady! You're dead now!"
"......"
"Acting all gloomy like the whole world has collapsed! You can't attract men like that!"
"......"
"When you go back after getting beaten this time, manage your hair first! If the original is ugly, you should at least dress up!"
Did she know... that she was passionately dissing her future self?
Actually, Rebecca really had no intention of criticizing, she just wanted to provoke the opponent who had made her angry and spoke whatever came to mind.
However, that provocation was very effective and deadly, as the expression of the woman who had been dissed by her past self gradually began to distort like a fierce demon.
"This bit..."
Just as future Rebecca was about to unleash her power along with curses.
"Haven't you finished yet, Rebecca?"
"...Huh?"
"......!"
The eyes of Rebecca and future Rebecca turned to a young man who had suddenly appeared.
The blonde young man with a serious expression gave off the atmosphere of a veteran who had experienced everything, despite his appearance.
One peculiar thing was that in the young man's hands was the neck of another young man, dead with his eyes wide open.
'I feel like I've seen him somewhere... where was it?'
Rebecca felt something familiar about the opponent.
But since it wasn't a friendly feeling, she soon tilted her head.
"I was just about to finish even if you didn't tell me to."
"Really? I wonder if you really could have finished..."
"What!"
When the young man trailed off and expressed a negative opinion, future Rebecca immediately scowled and got angry.
"You think I can't handle my past self? Do you really think that, Crux?"
The young man called Crux stroked his chin and turned his eyes to Rebecca, who was emitting red energy.
"If you have eyes, look properly, Rebecca."
Crux lifted the neck he was holding and continued.
"Certainly, the current 'me' was pathetically weak trash, but the 'you' in front of your eyes now is different. Very different."
...FLINCH!
"You shouldn't just dismiss her as your past self. Rather... it's better to see her as another possibility of yours, with talent blooming in a different direction."
"That possibility bloomed at this time? Do you think that makes sense?"
"It doesn't make sense logically. But don't you know? The 'intervener of the fake world' that Abel mentioned."
"......"
Future Rebecca fell silent at Crux's words.
Actually, she had forgotten what Abel had said before, but there were words that vaguely remained in her memory.
"It changed due to that guy's intervention. That's certain."
"...Grr!"
"So she must be killed. For you to remain yourself."
Crux casually threw away the neck he was holding and slowly drew the sword at his waist.
DING!
"Since there's no time, I'll help you. If we drag this out, Master will notice. I don't want to harm that person unnecessarily."
That person referred to Crux's master, the former Sword Saint, Grand Duke Quihiller.
'...Strong.'
Rebecca sensed an unusual aura from the young man called Crux.
In fact, among all the human strongmen on the continent at the current time, excluding Rudian's party, only Giovanni could match Rebecca.
Yet this young man she was meeting for the first time had made Rebecca feel the emotion of 'crisis.'
'I don't think I can win without taking damage...'
Since Purple one seemed to have taken care of the other people, should she just run away?
Just as Rebecca was thinking that.
"Did you think no one would notice after making the knight training ground like that?"
"...Hmm!"
A woman with purple hair and a woman with green hair suddenly popped out from behind Rebecca.
Rebecca recognized their identities and was delighted.
"Ah! Sisters!"
"So you were here, Rebecca."
Those who had broken through Ktuna's barrier and entered the scene were Maria and Luciella.
"I was chasing the murderer of Deputy Commander Crux van Richthofen of the Royal Guard..."
Luciella looked forward and frowned.
"What on earth is this situation?"
"......"
"......"
Future Crux and future Rebecca remained silent.
"That corpse was definitely Sir Crux... but who is Sir Crux standing before my eyes now?"
"Luciella... Your Highness."
Warm memories of the past stimulated both of their hearts.
But that was only for a moment...
"He looks similar but is a different person. The method of wielding power is similar, but... the gap in the main body's power is too different."
Another woman slowly walking out from behind Luciella.
"......!"
The moment they saw her, the expressions of future Crux and future Rebecca became horribly distorted.
"Maria... Kepler!"
"How, how is that woman with Lucy..."
Chapter 2's final boss, Maria Kepler. During the superhuman war, they had fought her dozens of times over several years in life-and-death battles. As such, the emotions they had toward Maria were very complex and couldn't be expressed in a single word.
"Lu, Lucy... get away from that woman."
Future Rebecca reached out toward Luciella with a somewhat desperate expression. But the reaction from Luciella was different from what she expected.
"...Do you know me?"
FLINCH! Future Rebecca's expression immediately crumbled. Seeing her like that, Luciella's expression became even more puzzled. GRAB! At that moment, Crux firmly grasped her shoulder.
"Rebecca, this isn't the era you knew."
"......"
"No matter how much Her Highness was a comrade who shared life and death with us, now she's just a stranger with no causal relationship."
"But, still..."
Future Rebecca fidgeted anxiously and pursed her lips. Crux stepped forward.
"If you don't want to fight, just hold her back. I had some hope when we came to this era, but I never thought such a thing would really happen... This is rather a good opportunity."
CLANK! Crux pointed the holy sword 'Daylight' of Delphione that he was holding at Maria.
"I've thought countless times about which would be stronger, the current me or the nightmare of the past..."
"......"
Maria's expression immediately became sharp. Then she raised one hand and lightly gathered telekinetic force.
"Obviously, there's no need to even look."
From her perspective, it was light telekinetic force, but if it actually exploded, it would have enough power to blow away a mountain. Maria gave future Crux a thin smile.
"You are weaker than me, much weaker."
"Shut up!"
FLASH! With a roar full of anger, Crux's sword split through space.