The Fall of the Western King
Da… Dania?
"I don't particularly feel like giving thugs like you a second chance. But just in case."
The girl pointed a finger straight at Bram.
"Anyone here who got threatened by that bastard over there, or who's standing in this place because you had no other choice?"
She spoke with complete nonchalance, as if the murderous atmosphere around her meant nothing at all.
"If that's you, kneel. I'll let you live."
"Who the hell does this cocky little bitch think she's pointing at?"
A man clamped a heavy hand down on the girl's shoulder as he spoke.
This is my chance to get on Bram's good side.
The man had always resented his place in the hierarchy. Congratulating himself on being the quickest to act, he looked toward Bram and declared with swaggering confidence,
"Boss. Just give the order. I'll take care of this worthless bi—"
The girl caught the hand resting on her shoulder. In the next breath she wrenched it sideways with a sharp yank.
Crunch.
"Huh?"
A grotesque sound rang out as the man's arm was ripped clean from his body.
A fountain of crimson blood sprayed in every direction.
"GAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!"
The man still had no idea what had just happened to him. All that flooded his mind was searing, unimaginable agony, and the only thing left for him to do was scream.
A moment later the girl kicked him. His body went flying, slammed into the wall with a wet bursting noise, and his scream cut off at once.
"I guess that means there's no one, then?"
The girl's murderous aura made the entire area stir uneasily. Their comrade had died far too easily. Fear began to frost over the men's eyes. A few of the quicker ones broke out in cold sweat, quietly debating whether they ought to drop to their knees after all.
"Kyahahahahaha!"
Bram threw his head back and roared with laughter at the sight.
"So the rumors of a monster were true."
He bellowed at his flustered subordinates.
"You bastards!!! I will not forgive a single one of you who backs down from a mere girl. Anyone who turns tail will receive a punishment so cruel you'll wish you'd died here instead."
His thunderous roar swung the atmosphere back in his favor.
"On the other hand, the man who snuffs out that bitch's life will receive a reward the likes of which you'll never see again. Look forward to it."
There was a reason he was the boss. In an instant the current shifted. The fear vanished from the men's eyes, replaced entirely by naked greed.
"I shouldn't have bothered talking."
Watching them, the girl allowed herself a small smile.
"It's hell…"
The man's name was Pargal. Driven out of his own country, he had fled into Drax just to survive. After becoming one of Bram's trusted men, he had spent every day drowning in carefree pleasure and been perfectly content with it.
What his eyes were seeing now defied belief.
Thud—
Crunch—
BOOM—!
Flesh and bone separated under her kicks. People were literally torn apart by her bare hands. The girl popped them open as casually as a child playing with balloons.
The space, soaked in the blood of countless corpses, looked exactly like hell itself.
Pargal had already lost all will to fight and collapsed onto the floor. Overwhelmed by absolute terror, his body refused to move even a fraction, as if it had frozen solid.
Death approached him, slow and inevitable.
"I… I don't want to die…"
The last thing he saw was a pair of pure-white legs stained red with blood.
That was the final destination of Pargal's life.
Useless trash.
Bram watched his subordinates die without putting up a fight and thought exactly that.
The sight of them frozen in terror, simply waiting for death, looked utterly pathetic to a man who had once been a warrior.
Before long his last remaining subordinate crumpled.
As if announcing that he was next, the girl turned her head toward Bram.
"Fine… monsters should play with other monsters."
The girl tilted her head with a puzzled expression.
"Monster? You?"
She looked at Bram as though he were something laughable, almost as if she were the one trying to provoke him. Watching her, Bram laughed inwardly.
That's right… lower your guard all you want… I'll send you off the exact same way I did him.
Back when Bram had still lived as a warrior, there had been a comrade who always stood beside him cutting down enemies. Bram had resented that man.
Whenever Bram killed ten, the man cut down thirty. Whenever Bram slew a single beast, the man cleared five.
An insurmountable wall. Bram had never been able to accept that fact.
In the end his resentment reached for the man's life. He waited until the man was asleep, gouged out his eyes, and just like that he finally climbed over the wall that had towered above him.
No matter how hard you train, a human body is still a human body. Bram knew better than anyone that the price of carelessness was death.
"Heh heh… maybe that's how it looks to your eyes. But do you know this, little girl?"
Keeping one hand inside his coat, Bram slowly closed the distance.
The girl simply stared at him, as if she couldn't quite understand what he was doing.
Then he pulled his hand free.
A pistol rested in his grip.
Bang.
"…!"
Without the slightest hesitation Bram fired.
The bullet buried itself dead-center in the girl's chest.
He immediately swung his fist and smashed it into her face. The impact sent her crumpling to the ground.
"Even a monster only has one life. It's far too precious a thing to throw away through carelessness."
He tucked the gun back into his coat as he spoke.
"Still, I'm impressed. To think you'd butcher every last one of my men like that. Keh heh heh…"
He glanced down at the fallen girl for a moment.
Then, as if his business with her was finished, he looked away and turned his gaze on Dania instead.
"We're done over here. What are you going to do now, woman?"
"…"
But Dania's eyes were not on Bram.
"What are you looking at—"
"You call yourself a warrior, yet you fight like a common thug."
"…!"
He whipped his head around. The girl he was certain he had killed was rising to her feet as lightly as if nothing had happened at all.
"You bitch!! I shot you point-blank—how—!"
He had driven a bullet into her chest from nearly arm's length. Even a mana user with monstrous strength shouldn't have been able to walk that off.
"Are you stupid?"
In the blink of an eye the girl was right in front of him, fist already flying toward his chest.
"This body can smash boulders to dust without a single scratch. You think one bullet with zero mana in it is going to put me down?"
BOOM.
"Guh… hhk…"
He tried to raise a guard the moment her fist shot forward, but a massive hole punched straight through his arms and into his torso.
Bram went flying, crashed face-first into the dirt, and coughed up blood.
"Cough… you… bitch…"
A pool of his own blood steadily widened beneath him as his vision began to blur.
"I can't… cough… die like this…"
"Extra-san, time for you to exit the stage."
With those incomprehensible words from the girl, Bram closed his eyes.
For a man once feared as the King of the West, it was an absurdly hollow death.
Lily stared blankly.
Vivid red blood spraying through the air, the horrific screams of dying men, severed body parts scattered everywhere.
None of it registered in her eyes.
The only thing Lily's gaze followed was a single girl who seemed completely out of place in this nightmare.
Her movements were light, almost as if she were dancing.
Wherever she passed, crimson lines trailed after her like decorations meant solely to adorn her beauty.
Like a single proud swan, the girl dominated the space with an elegant presence.
Lily could not tear her eyes away.
She's beautiful…
Thump—thump—
Lily's heart pounded hard, and a deep, unfamiliar emotion began to bloom inside her chest.
Haah… that scared the hell out of me.
The moment Bram fired, my body had flinched on pure instinct.
I had completed my full military service; I knew exactly how destructive a gun could be. The gunshot had been loud enough to leave my ears ringing. Even a graze left lasting damage. A clean hit and the rotational force of the bullet would simply burst a body open.
Every scar the barracks had carved into me had surged back to the surface the instant that massive report cracked through the air.
But the bullet hadn't done a thing to me.
The round that flew toward my chest had only pierced my clothes. All it accomplished was reminding me once again that this place was not South Korea—it was a world inside a fantasy novel.
I looked down at my hands. They were painted so thoroughly in blood that my original pale skin was nowhere to be seen.
How many people had I just killed?
Even after slaughtering so many, my heart barely stirred. No—if anything, I almost felt the same pleasant thrill I used to get from playing a game.
Was I unconsciously treating this place like it was still just a novel?
A cold emptiness seemed to settle over my heart.
Even though this world was reality to me now, it was still a world someone else had created. A story that followed its proper course. A tale whose ending was already decided.
I feel so lonely all of a sudden…
I was the only one who knew this world's future.
It suddenly felt as though I had been left completely alone in this place.
Why was I even here? What reason did I have to—
"Hera!!!"
"Eek?"
Before I realized she had even approached, Dania threw her arms around me.
"Are you all right? You're not hurt anywhere, are you?!"
"Da… Dani… a? Mmph!"
"Hera… thank you… thank you so much…"
Dania buried me against her.
What pressed against my face was something soft, warm, and impossibly plush.
Th-this is…
"W-wait… hnn… y-your chest…! …No, more importantly, blood! You're getting blood on you…!"
"Just a moment… please stay like this just a little longer… hic…"
My mind went completely blank.
This situation was far too stimulating for me.
Even before I possessed this body I had never once been involved with a woman!!
"Hah… haaah… Daniaaa…"
But the sheer enveloping power of her embrace left me no choice but to surrender.
Th-this feels so gooood…
After holding me for a long while, Dania finally let go.
My freed face was flushed every bit as red as hers.
"I'm sorry… I suddenly hugged you like that…"
"N-no, it's fine… more importantly, the blood on your clothes…"
She simply smiled at me as if it were nothing.
"It's all right. More importantly, are you truly okay, Hera?"
Seeing the worry return to her expression made a warm feeling bloom in my chest.
"I'm completely fine. Thank you for worrying about me, Dania."
"I'm so relieved… hm? Lily?"
A young girl was tugging at the sleeve of Dania's clothes from behind. Our eyes met.
Ash-gray hair that caught the light with a silvery sheen. Amethyst-purple eyes that looked as though they held gemstones inside them. Her face was still childish, yet even so her beauty already shone.
It was Lily—the yandere heroine who always stayed by the protagonist's side.
"H-hello, Unnie…"
Lily greeted me shyly, eyes fixed on my face.
It looked like I was going to have a lot to think about from here on out.