Chapter 27
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Turning Point (3)
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Air flooded into my lungs through my skin.
Exhaling the chest-full of air slowly finally made me feel alive.
You have completely possessed the target.
The weather was pretty nice.
A cool breeze, a comfortable temperature—neither hot nor cold.
Perfect for a stroll.
Or lighting a fire and zoning out in front of it.
"......"
On a day like that, Roel nearly died.
Enduring excruciating pain.
Thud.
The severed head rolled across the ground.
It belonged to the "person" I'd just decapitated.
"H-Hiiik...!"
"Y-You killed him! You killed him!"
The villagers started panicking.
Some ran, others froze in place.
One person caught my eye in particular.
The woman who'd given Roel the meat pie.
She was charging at me with a pickaxe she'd scavenged from somewhere.
Ah, right.
You were the one who started it all.
Splat.
The pickaxe smashed straight into my head.
My head jerked slightly from the impact, but no wound appeared.
An expected outcome.
Regardless of my possession, a mana-awakened body couldn't be pierced by an ordinary person.
The stab Roel took earlier had been entirely her "letting" it happen.
And all this for something so pathetic.
I reached out and grabbed the pickaxe.
A little pressure crumpled the iron head easily.
She dropped the now-useless tool and collapsed to the ground.
"S-Sorry...!"
The woman begged for forgiveness.
Strangely, there was no guilt on her face.
Only terror. The raw emotion of not wanting to die.
She probably had no room for other feelings. Extreme situations limit thought, after all.
Not that it mattered to me.
A scythe plunged into the woman's heart.
Blood splattered my face, but I ignored it.
I'd just realized I could commit murder and feel nothing.
"Not running?"
Even seeing me like this, the villagers didn't flee.
They stood there in despair or prayer.
The heads of those who'd tried to run had all exploded, leaving them no choice.
I began pulling the other blades from my body.
A pickaxe in my shoulder.
A kitchen knife in my back.
A pitchfork through my thigh, and so on.
Once they were all out, my movements felt freer.
Sss...
I hadn't realized it, but complete possession healed Roel's wounds.
Not fully—no skill like that in my purchases.
If anything, it was minimal life support.
The system propping things up so "I" could move.
Whatever. Fine by me.
With this, Roel wouldn't die.
I picked up the scythe again.
"W-We had no choice!!"
Another villager protested at the sight.
I remembered him. The man who'd attacked Roel's back.
"If we didn't obey, our heads would've exploded... We had to do it to survive!!"
Had no choice, huh.
True enough.
Their options were limited.
Die, or kill.
When survival's on the line, few would refuse murder if it guaranteed life.
This wasn't a matter of good or evil.
It was about staying alive.
So I wouldn't blame them for it.
"Could you have chosen differently even if your head exploded?!"
I personally split the man's head open as I said it.
"At least Roel chose to save you all."
Silence fell.
I ignored it and began taking lives in the order they'd stabbed Roel.
"I-I don't want to die..."
"Roel probably felt the same."
One by one, the bodies piled up.
"Please forgive me. Please..."
"Roel might have."
The sensation of life crumbling at my fingertips brought an indescribable disgust.
"There's no need to go this far. She survived, didn't she?!"
The last remaining villager screamed in desperation.
Unfortunately, that was wrong.
Without me, Roel would've "definitely" died.
And it wouldn't have ended there. The rest of the party sleeping at the inn, villagers included, would've met the same fate.
Roel knew that but couldn't make the call until the end.
She lacked the resolve to decide who lived or died.
A compulsive goodness bordering on obsession.
No amount of strength would let her beat the Demon King like that.
"No. This is how it has to be."
That's why I exist.
From the start, the system's "growth" wasn't physical.
I realized that too late.
"Ah... Demon..."
With that, the last breath stopped.
Drip. Drip.
In the village turned sea of blood, I caught my breath for a while.
A glance sideways revealed the demon still standing there.
"Didn't run."
"Felt like I had to kill you before leaving."
"Didn't interfere either."
"Why interfere when you're tiring yourself out?"
A chuckle escaped me.
"Demons all think alike. Always assuming they'll win in the end."
Like Roel sensed, I felt it too.
This demon's level was pathetically low.
Even lower than the wolf demon, or the vampire.
"Why? Because I'm human?"
Cheap tricks are just tools.
Never a measure of true strength.
He was misjudging his power because of the humans he'd killed.
"Wishful thinking at best."
Moments later, the demon lay pinned to the ground, impaled by every tool around.
It took a mere ten minutes.
The demon could no longer regenerate.
Expected. Regeneration is a ability with limits.
I could see its breath fading.
This demon's time was up soon.
Your soul is highly unstable.
Complete possession release is recommended.
...My time was up too.
Complete possession has been released.
In the silence, Roel opened her eyes.
It was strange. She'd thought she was dead, yet here she was, awake again.
"Augh."
The pain confirmed she was alive.
Agonizing pain throbbed through her entire body.
So what the hell happened?
Did someone help her?
'...Professor!'
Yes, it had to be the professor.
She must've woken up somehow and saved her.
Delighted, Roel looked around.
Searching for Professor Cigarette.
"Uh..."
But no matter where she looked, Professor Cigarette was nowhere.
Corpses everywhere.
Villagers' corpses.
"Wha...?"
A few with burst heads. The rest bore slash wounds from something sharp.
Roel finally checked her hands.
A scythe caked in blood.
The demon lying dead right in front of her.
"Wh-What... is this...?"
Her brain stalled for a moment, then pieced it together.
Nausea surged instantly.
"Urk, bleeech."
She collapsed and vomited on the spot.
Her heart pounded unnaturally hard.
Couldn't breathe right.
"No, wait. I didn't... no..."
I killed them.
With these hands.
Why? Was I controlled?
If so, why is the demon...?
"...You."
The barely alive demon used its last breaths to speak.
"You're a monster."
Those were its final words.
It hurled an unerasable curse before dying.
Roel couldn't question or interrogate it. Already dead.
"...Ah."
Roel's mind had always been sturdy.
It never broke, even facing death.
She'd always resisted to the end, confident in a honorable death.
"Aaaah...!!"
Not anymore.
If she'd caused all this carnage, better to die.
Roel quietly picked up the scythe.
Aimed it at herself.
"Hey, what are you doing?!"
Sera, newly awakened, rushed over and snatched the scythe.
"What's going on?! Why is everyone dead...? Roel?"
Roel lost consciousness right there.
Quite some time had passed.
About ten hours by real-world time.
Roel had woken up just recently.
Fortunately, Roel avoided any weird misunderstandings.
Thanks to Professor Cigarette waking up right after Sera.
Cigarette quickly sorted the situation.
She immediately sent Evan and Laila back so they wouldn't see the carnage and cleaned up the rest before dawn.
The blame for the massacre fell on "me," not Roel.
I wondered how she'd convinced the Academy, but Cigarette said the "Saint" helped.
Never expected aid from Ortella like that; even I felt a bit stunned hearing it through the screen.
Anyway, no punishment for Roel.
Rumors strictly controlled, Sera wouldn't let on either.
She could keep up normal Academy life.
Though it'd be tough for her.
"...Nice weather."
Currently using Avatar.
Remaining usage time: 37 minutes 28 seconds
The moment I heard everything, I bolted from that space.
No guts to watch Roel suffer.
So here I was, burning precious usage time irresponsibly.
"Hoo..."
I rubbed my dry face repeatedly.
Honestly, I don't think my actions then were wrong.
It was necessary, and something we both had to go through.
For me and for Roel.
"Not an easy thing, after all."
I muttered and started walking again.
This incident netted tons of points—enough for another avatar or two.
Keep walking, thoughts'll sort themselves.
"Ah."
Even thinking that, I didn't get far.
"You're..."
A familiar face from across the way.
A woman whose bright beauty contrasted her poor complexion.
Roel stared at me in shock.
Damn, when'd she get out?
Come to think of it, she had a habit of walking when clearing her head.
Reason didn't matter.
I tried recalling the avatar immediately.
"Wait!"
My finger froze on the button at her words.
"I have a question."
This was really bad.