Chapter 51
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: Exim Execution
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“……Asrania is dead?”
It was like a bolt from the blue.
Black Purple's complexion had drained to a deathly pallor.
How on earth?
How had Exim #4 been defeated?
Who had driven her to her death? Everything was shrouded in mystery.
It felt more like a crude, tasteless joke.
Her mind grew tangled and chaotic.
Abyss research. Data. Records.
Her mind blanked out from the shocking news.
‘……Who the hell?’
Black Purple fumbled for the test tube with trembling hands.
The cold glass surface met her touch. The black liquid inside slowly writhed.
A fragment of the Abyss.
‘That person can't possibly die.’
Her throat went bone-dry.
‘According to my records, Asrania's combat prowess was immeasurable.’
An existence impossible to seize, even if one tried.
A calamity the system itself rejected. That was Asrania.
And yet... she was dead?
‘Does that mean something even stronger than Asrania exists?’
A chill ran down her spine in that instant.
‘No. Impossible.’
Black Purple clutched her head with both hands. Her fingertips dug into her scalp.
She had no idea what had truly happened.
Who? How? Why?
That was when it happened.
The door shattered inward as someone burst in.
“Wh-who—!”
Black Purple reflexively thrust out her hand.
The tamed monster stationed in one corner of the lab sprang forth, lunging at the intruder.
The intruder didn't fall back.
A golden light flashed.
Thread,
a thin, razor-sharp line of light unfurled.
“……!”
In the next instant, the monsters' bodies parted as smoothly as tofu.
Blood sprayed in fountains all the way to the ceiling. Before the beasts could even scream, chunks of flesh thudded to the floor. Blood pooled across the ground.
“……Ah?”
Black Purple froze solid, forgetting to breathe.
It was a technique only one person in all of Exim could wield.
The intruder stepped forward slowly.
Her eyes gleamed with a chill devoid of any emotion.
“Ma, Marigold……?”
Shwick!
The golden thread coiled around Black Purple's throat. The gap closed in a heartbeat. Before she could utter a gurgle, Black Purple was hoisted into the air.
“Ugh?!”
Marigold's face loomed right before her eyes.
At odds with her dainty, girlish features, the aura pouring from her felt like it could cleave through anything in its path.
“Gahk, kkh! Why, why are you……!”
Black Purple kicked wildly in midair. Futile.
Marigold's gaze had shed all reason long ago. Nothing remained but the primal urge to rip her foe apart.
“You bitch……”
Killing intent dripped like venom from Marigold's eyes.
“If you hadn't fed me that garbage intel, my sister would still be alive.”
“Grrk…… Wh-what……? I'm, innocent……”
“The Abyss!”
Marigold bellowed. Her grip tightened on the thread.
“You told me, didn't you? That it's a brainless idiot monster! Just some basic beast—nothing to worry about!”
Black Purple's breath hitched. She flashed back to words spoken a year prior.
“Ahem! Anyway! It's documented as having extremely low intelligence. A brute driven purely by instinct, smashing and swallowing whatever's in its path.”
“Yes. Recorded as a lowly creature without ego, oblivious to pain or emotion.”
She had said that. But.
Black Purple couldn't force out a sound.
Her strangled throat was part of it, but terror had clamped her jaws shut.
“You called it a dumb little beast pup, nothing but instinct!”
“N-no, th-that……”
“It's your fault Esira lost it too! You fucking bitch!”
It was the moment she tried to stammer an excuse.
Marigold yanked the golden thread viciously. Black Purple's face jerked forward.
Thwack.
A fist smashed into her face.
Her head whipped sideways. Hot blood exploded from her nose, splattering her lips. Her vision flashed white.
That punch was no joke.
She fully intended to end her right here.
“W-wait! Please, spare me……! It wasn't on purpose, I swear! I believed the data was flawless……!”
“Shut it.”
Dismissing any further words as worthless, Marigold flicked her finger. The golden thread zeroed in on Black Purple's eyes.
“Save your excuses for the afterlife. Take your precious data scraps with you.”
“H-heek, ugh! P-please……!”
Exim Execution.
The moment of judgment for a comrade had arrived.
Facing the lethal thread tip inches from her face, Black Purple squeezed her eyes shut on instinct.
“You deserve to die, you bitch.”
Right then.
Boom!
A shockwave slammed into Marigold's side from the flank.
A ambush from the monster that still drew breath.
“Ugh……!”
Rib-rattling agony toppled Marigold's stance. The noose around Black Purple's neck slackened.
Her chance. Black Purple hacked up coughs as she clawed backward across the floor for dear life.
“Cough! Hack……! Hah, hah……!”
Marigold gripped her wounded flank, heaving ragged breaths. Pain warped her features, but the bloodlust in her eyes only thickened, growing more savage.
“What a pain in the ass.”
Terror-stricken, Black Purple scrabbled across the floor. Through tear-blurred eyes, she glimpsed the golden thread pulling taut once more.
Stay here, and she'd die.
Run.
Whatever it took.
Black Purple crawled away while groping at her belt with shaking hands.
Monster Cage.
She clenched her teeth to hold onto sanity. Survival demanded every dirty trick.
“Ha…… hah……”
Black Purple hurled the Monster Cage.
From the mangled cage's gaps, black ooze spewed forth.
Tentacles.
Or rather, grotesque flesh mimics of tentacles.
Thick, sinewy tendrils snaked out like a viper's nest, overtaking the lab floor. Tooth-studded barbs crowned their tips. The reek of blood-mingled slime hit like a wall.
“……!”
Marigold's body locked up. She crumpled as if her legs had given out.
The murderous fury that could've shredded a person evaporated like an illusion.
“……Sh.”
Her lips quivered. Breath snagged in her throat.
“……Abyss?”
Every trace of color fled her face. She looked like someone staring down a nightmare made flesh.
Black Purple seized the opening.
A shoddy knockoff, truth be told—but nitpicking could wait.
“I-I'll empower you. Grow. Bigger, even bigger!”
Purple mana surged from Black Purple's palm into the abomination. The tentacles ballooned unnaturally, crimson veins throbbing fit to burst along each segment.
Kieeeek!
Black Purple smeared the blood from her lips and shrieked in fury.
“Grab her!”
In that instant.
Marigold gnashed her teeth. She rose slowly from her spot.
“……You.”
A girl's voice, innocent in timbre—yet vicious enough to cleave the air itself.
“You dare pull that…… in front of me?”
Golden threads erupted in every direction.
Just as the tentacles reached to ensnare her, the gilded blaze claimed the space first.
The foremost tendril sheared off into nothing. Black slime fountained from the stump.
Second, third, fourth.
Marigold never yielded an inch. She snapped her fingers, lashing the threads.
The tentacles couldn't flee.
Every path the threads carved left tentacles bisected—minced into formless meat.
Plop. Plop. Plop.
Falling chunks pattered in sequence. Slime splattered; the floor grew slick.
“Don't you dare crawl.”
Even the lingering remnants shredded in unison.
Not mere segments—pulverized into tiny scraps.
Black Purple's face bleached bone-white.
“N-no way…… impossible……!”
A droplet of blood pattered down.
Marigold's eyes burned with feral light. Injuries? Irrelevant.
“Now... your turn.”
Black Purple gaped to scream—but silence reigned.
The golden thread had slithered close, carving under her chin. Skin split; blood streamed.
“No funny business. Skulking behind monsters like a coward—that's my least favorite trick.”
This was death.
The thread's bite into her flesh felt all too real.
Soon, her carotid would snap—her head tumbling free.
‘Think. Must think.’
Escape? Impossible.
Fight? Outmatched.
Beg? No mercy in those eyes.
A raving fiend.
Then... bargain.
What Marigold craved above all right now.
‘Asrania.’
Dead couldn't be revived.
But why she died? That shifted the equation.
Black Purple rolled the dice. Her tongue stumbled, but hesitation was luxury she lacked.
“Se-secret……!”
Enduring the thread's crush on her windpipe, she rasped it out.
“I can uncover…… the Abyss's secrets!”
The probing tip halted.
“Gahk, kkh……! Real! Why Asrania fell, the monster's true nature—I can reveal it all!”
Marigold's voice came ice-cold, thread unrelenting.
“……Why trust you.”
“Fr-from now on, Abyss only. Drop everything else, all-in on Abyss! Hnngh, y-you know my skills…… Right? Please……”
Black Purple gulped dryly.
Each throat twitch scraped skin on the blade-edge. Tears pooling, she scanned Marigold's face.
The bloodlust in those eyes dimmed—just a fraction.
Now.
Fail to sway her, and it ended.
“Kill me…… game over. Forever blind to why, how Asrania died…… Fine by you?”
“……”
“Just spare me. I'll…… unravel it all! Flaws, secrets…… everything!”
Black Purple groveled, hands quaking in supplication.
“Ma-Marigold…… please. One chance. Let me atone. Revenge needs intel on the foe. I'm useful. Right?”
“……Fuck. Last chance.”
Marigold knew Black Purple's research prowess all too well.
In the end, release was inevitable.
Especially with Esira in such a state.
“Marigold, how's Esira holding up lately?”
“Mentally shattered.”
“A bit blunt, don't you think?”
“No room for sugarcoating.”
Marigold's lips twisted in a bitter smirk at Naviera's question, then drooped limply.
“Vowing to grow stronger, she's out there hacking down anyone in sight.”