Collapse – If It's Inevitable, Then So Be It
The dinosaur couldn't answer Iris's question.
It wasn't intelligent enough to communicate with other species like that. Iris must have known as much. And yet, she kept bombarding the dinosaur with questions.
The dinosaur refused to answer to the end. Suddenly, Iris's barrage of questions stopped.
And then.
Zing! A laser beam sliced out the dinosaur's eyeball.
—[Groooaaarrr!!!]
The dinosaur writhed in agony, letting out a scream. But it didn't last long. Follow-up beams shredded its face into a hundred pieces.
The dinosaur met its end.
It was definitely dead, but Iris kept firing lasers, carving up the corpse. She wasn't done venting yet.
I called out to her cautiously.
"...Iris."
—[Response.]
"Don't let that guy's reaction get to you. In my eyes, you're the coolest and prettiest."
—[Acknowledged.]
Did my compliment work? Iris stopped desecrating the dinosaur's corpse. Her excitement had faded. Her tone evened out again, back to normal.
—[Moving.]
Iris turned away from the dinosaur's body and flew off leisurely to another spot.
After that, as she explored the world, she encountered countless creatures. Most resembled dinosaurs. And they all reacted the same as the first one.
Spotting Iris, they grimaced like they'd seen something grotesque and attacked first.
Not just one—every single one she met.
—[Gro!]
—[Eliminating.]
—[Grooo!!]
—[Eliminating.]
—[Kyaaaak!!!]
—[Eliminating.]
—[Kieeeek!!]
—[Eliminating.]
Of course, they were all eliminated. Iris wouldn't spare anyone who dissed her looks.
—[Eliminating.]
—[Eliminating.]
—[Eliminating.]
Iris grew less emotional over time. The first few times, her voice had been chilling with rage as she tortured them slowly instead of instant kills... but now, whether she'd gotten used to their reactions or resigned herself, she ended them cleanly without a hint of displeasure.
—[Eliminating.]
—[Eliminating.]
—[Eliminating.]
—[Eliminating.]
—[Eliminating.]
—[Eliminating.]
She wiped out every one she encountered. But it wasn't indiscriminate slaughter—she checked their reactions first before striking. Though since they all reacted the same, it was basically the same thing.
"Iris. You're not mad, right?"
—[Calm.]
Her tone was normal. No chill to it. But I could tell. Even if she wasn't acting on emotions, her heart carried a massive wound right now.
I cleared my throat and spoke softly to soothe her.
"...How could they react like that to you? This world's got some messed-up standards of beauty."
—[Agreed. Incomprehensible.]
"Iris, you ever hear of mi-chu-yeok-jeon?"
—[Mi-chu-yeok-jeon. Unknown.]
"It's when beauty standards flip—beautiful becomes ugly and vice versa. Looks like you're in a mi-chu-yeok-jeon world. Everyone's reacting weird to you."
—[Confirmed.]
As the helpers said, if me or my monsters called Iris ugly, it wouldn't be a big deal. She takes it as a joke, not serious. And even if she knew it was real, she wouldn't attack us.
Besides, Iris knows deep down her appearance is grotesque. She has to—she wouldn't react so sensitively otherwise. She's just denying reality, pretending otherwise.
—[This world's creatures are wrong. Their eyesight is abnormal, presumed.]
"Exactly."
—[Our species is beautiful.]
"...That's what I think too."
—[Merino Ulla also told me, 'Iris is beautiful, yang!']
"Merino's got good taste."
—[This world has no value left to explore. Only barbaric creatures who can't appreciate beauty.]
Iris declared the scouting over and turned around.
—[Returning.]
Back to where she'd started—with the Hedgehog Summoner God.
Iris returned. The Hedgehog Summoner God hadn't budged, still dancing his butt dance with the spirits.
—[Doomba, dooomba! Doo-doo-doo-doomba!]
—[Doomba...]
—[Doo-oomba...]
The spirits half-heartedly shook their hips. Annoyed by the sight, the Hedgehog Summoner God stopped dancing and yelled at them.
—[How long have we been dancing and you're already slacking off like that!? This won't do! Time to call the Abyss Lord!]
Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doomba.
The Hedgehog Summoner God bounced his butt at ultra-high speed thirty times. Black particles gathered in the air—
—[Doo.]
They clumped into a mass.
—[Dooom.]
Coalesced darkness. From within, a figure emerged in lotus position.
—[Ba.]
The Abyss Lord had been summoned.
—[Dance time?]
The moment the Abyss Lord manifested, the sky crumpled like paper, the ground cracked like glass. The world rippled and warped as if all laws had shattered from the summoning's aftermath.
That's when—
—[Warning.]
Iris raised her tentacles and spoke.
—[Presence unbearable. This world cannot withstand the Abyss Lord. Dimensional collapse. Destruction. Apocalypse.]