The True Identity (3)
"Yona-nem! Have you come to save us, sir?!"
"As expected of Yona-nem, sir!"
"No, I got captured too."
"???"
"???"
The two of them looked utterly confused. What could I say? When they stared at me with those hopeful eyes, it made me want to betray their expectations. The words that slipped out earlier had been pure instinct.
I let out a chuckle at the pair standing there with their mouths hanging open like idiots, then used the Unicorn Dagger to slice through their ropes.
"It was a joke. But it's true that I didn't come here to rescue you."
"Ah, thank you, sir. But if you didn't come to rescue us..."
"Then how did you even know to come here, sir? Didn't Boss Eve ask you to help us?"
"How would Eve even know you two had been captured and ask for help..."
"Ah."
"Oh."
Good grief, these blockheads. Still, they were my blockheads. I checked them over for injuries, running my hands across Lemon and Apple's bodies as I spoke.
"Those guys are part of Those Who Swallow the Twilight. It's common sense to smash every heretic you find, but more importantly, they had their eyes on something I've already claimed. So I need to kill them right here, right now."
"Hiiik!"
"The ruler of the back alleys...!"
Why the hell was that phrase coming up now? Those Who Swallow the Twilight weren't some neighborhood thugs. Anyway, they didn't seem hurt, so there was no need to waste holy water on them.
"Alright, if you get it, Lemon, step back over there."
"Does that mean you're going to fight too, Yona-nem, sir?"
"It's not that you're weak or anything, but you'd just get in the way over there, sir."
"Who said anything about fighting? I told you to back off because you reek of piss, Lemon. Apple, you can stay right where you are."
"That's too mean, sir!"
"As expected of Yona-nem. Excellent judgment, sir. The stinky Lemon should hurry up and get away, sir."
Apple pressed herself against me, making little shushing noises with her mouth. Meanwhile, Lemon wore an expression like the world had ended and slowly shuffled backward. The awkward way she moved suggested she was self-conscious about it after all.
Lowering my stance, shoulder to shoulder with Apple, I turned my gaze toward the battlefield. The small fry had already been mostly cleaned up by Rydia and Karen. All that remained was Elly and the pair of small figures. But the battle between those two had grown far more intense than I imagined.
Boom!
A roar like an explosion. The wind pressure from Elly's fist tore through the weeds and flipped the earth upside down. Yet that overwhelming violence never reached the small figure. It never did—which was why the pressure was wasted on the innocent ground.
Partially slowed time. A translucent warrior burning with tireless fighting spirit. Lightning pouring from a clear sky like divine punishment. Even the corpses of the dead heretics wriggled and clung to Elly.
Of course, most of it couldn't harm her. She shattered the time barrier with raw power. The translucent warrior had already died dozens of times. The lightning was split apart by the edge of her hand. The meaty corpses that clung to her burst apart with a single kick.
The small figure was mimicking the authorities of countless dead gods using the divine power granted by the Goddess of Love. It was weak compared to a true miracle, but still carried the horrific force of a natural disaster.
If that was the case, what did it make Elly, who brushed those disasters aside like they were nothing?
"Elly's so strong..."
"She's a monster, sir."
"Not even human, sir."
"Hey! Elly is an ordinary person! Even at her age, with that kind of strength and the money to match it, she's just a normal woman who suffers daily torment as a single virgin... Wait, maybe not a girl. Anyway, that's the kind of person she is!"
"Suddenly I feel a strange sense of closeness, sir."
"She used to be our comrade, sir..."
I smirked at Lemon and Apple's suddenly friendly tones and focused on the fight ahead.
Even missing one arm, Elly was strong. Unreasonably strong. But she wasn't just strong. While she overwhelmed with crude, dominant physical power, she was also methodically cutting off her opponent's every path.
Priests grow more desperate when cornered and can invoke stronger miracles, yet the small figure remained at a disadvantage. It had to be because of Elly's meticulous combat style. She fought with pure power that left no room for tricks, yet more cunningly than her foe. This was a hunt. Elly the wolf, the small figure the sheep—a play with a predetermined ending.
The small figure knew he was being hunted but couldn't escape the pull. Every attempt to create a variable was blocked by Elly's experience, and all outside help had been slaughtered by Rydia and Karen.
It wasn't for nothing that Rydia and Karen stayed back to watch after clearing the trash. There was no need to add or subtract anything. The situation was perfect as it was.
If things continued, the small figure would eventually have all options sealed and take a direct hit from Elly. His head would fly off. No matter who Those Who Swallow the Twilight were, there was no way to resurrect from—wait, was there? There was a method using the God of Death's authority to turn into an undead. But at best it would be the same as when alive, and usually weaker. An undead body had advantages, but far more weaknesses.
Sure enough, Elly's attacks were starting to land. The small figure's deeply pulled hood shook violently, as if it might fly off any second.
And then—
"Hup!"
Thud!
Elly stomped forward and unleashed a punch drawn back to its absolute limit. The strike pierced through every authority and finally shattered the divine barrier protecting the small figure like armor.
Clang!
With a sharp ring, the purple divine power scattered into fragments. Unfortunately, most of the force had been spent breaking the barrier... but enough remained to blow back the robe.
Whoosh!
Elly's fist stopped right before the small figure's nose. The delayed wind pressure flipped the robe backward.
"...Huh?"
A dumbfounded voice slipped from Elly's lips. Her face twisted in shock as if she'd seen something that should never exist. The fighting spirit filling her yellow beast-like eyes transformed into guilt.
I was just as shocked. The same pink hair and pink eyes as mine. But with long ears that weren't human. Among elves known for their beauty, this one stood out—an appearance so stunning it gave even another man goosebumps. Overall gloomy, yet radiating a decadent charm. A beautiful boy stood there.
Wait, no—this made it sound like I was surprised by a guy's looks.
More precisely, I was stunned that the face I had imagined and set in my novel had been perfectly realized.
Yes. The small figure who had been fighting Elly this whole time. Shockingly, he was the one who should have become my protagonist.
...I wasn't sure why Elly was surprised, though. Was it because he had the same pink hair as me?
But something felt off about calling him the protagonist of my novel. The appeal of a gender-reversal story comes from the gap in common sense. That's why possession or reincarnation serves as the foundation.
My protagonist hadn't been much different. The setting was that he possessed an orphan's body while retaining his memories from Earth. So I couldn't understand this at all.
Why would the protagonist side with Those Who Swallow the Twilight?
It wasn't just the shock of joining a villainous group. Born on Earth, he had faint religious beliefs. He could never become a fanatic. Plus, true to his role as protagonist, his basic nature was good. He wasn't the type to think, "After monsters, maybe I'll try sacrificing humans next?"
What on earth had happened...?
"You... what on earth happened...?"
Elly asked in a trembling voice, as if voicing the exact question on my mind. The protagonist paused for a moment, then looked straight at her. His mouth didn't move, but his half-dead eyes swirled with indescribable passion.
"You remembered me, sister."
"O-of course I do! But why... No, never mind. There are no observers now, so it's fine. We don't have to fight. Pretend to be dead here and come with me. This time, for sure..."
"Hehe. To think you'd say that even after losing an arm because I stabbed you."
What? Setting aside how they seemed to know each other, Elly had lost her arm because of the protagonist? There hadn't been any such setting... or maybe there could be. The settings I had specified were strictly followed, but plenty of other details had gone beyond my guesses.
In this case, it must have been added backstory to the setting where Elly held unconditional goodwill toward the protagonist and became an ally who would never betray him. Elly and the protagonist's original body had been connected long before, but when the protagonist possessed it, only Elly remembered him. Something like that.
If so, it was more than enough reason for her to help him.
...But no matter how I looked at it, the protagonist seemed to remember Elly as well. Meaning whatever was inside that body was the original owner. For some reason, an Earthling soul had never possessed the protagonist's body.
Perhaps it wasn't time for the possession yet. Or maybe something had gone wrong and it never would. What was certain was that this guy wasn't the protagonist I knew. And that Elly owed him some debt and felt guilty about it.
Elly, who had completely lowered her fist, spoke in an urgent voice.
"That... I understand now. It must have been sudden for you. It must have felt like the world was collapsing. But it's different now. There's a child in a similar situation to you. This time, I can truly show you the real world!"
"...Sister, you haven't changed at all. But the same goes for me."
The protagonist mechanically lifted the corners of his mouth and drew a blood-stained dagger from within his robes. At a glance, it carried an unusual divine power. It was definitely a holy relic. However, the energy I felt wasn't from the Goddess of Love. It was far more alien... not merely distorted. Probably a relic from one of the already dead gods.
Elly's body began to tremble at the sight of the dagger. It was a fragile sight that couldn't even compare to the powerful figure from moments ago.
The protagonist's expression remained emotionless like a wax doll. Yet his eyes still burned with a strange heat as he waved the dagger toward Elly.
"Sister cannot save us. If you truly wish to... please die by my hand."
"......"
Elly's face turned deathly pale. That son of a bitch—
Rydia and Karen sensed the shift and abandoned their spectator roles, raising their weapons. But I was faster.
Sound-Eating Steps
Transparent Cloak
Haste Boots
All of them activated at once, isolating my presence from the world for a brief moment. I dashed forward at a speed that surprised even myself and arrived directly behind the protagonist. I drove the Unicorn Dagger into his heart from behind.
Squish.
His eyes flew wide open. The protagonist barely twisted his trembling neck to look back at me. I whispered into his ear.
"You shouldn't hit on someone else's woman."
Then I twisted the dagger sideways, completely crushing his heart.
"Rest in peace. Sina."
"......!"
His mouth opened and closed wordlessly before his body went limp. He closed his eyes. I had killed the protagonist. Or more precisely, I had killed the one who was supposed to become the protagonist.