Resolved Despair

The moment I warped in, I subdued Semily—username: revenger—and scanned the surroundings.

Just as expected, she was alone inside a sealed, empty space.

Of course she was.

When you were receiving top-secret intelligence on mass-slaughter magic, you did not keep anyone else nearby. Whether your rank was high or low, you needed time alone—to look at the information in private, then decide what to do with it.

The only person in the community who had ever personally witnessed the Admin Warp function was Choi Yebin, who went by killer. So revenger would never have imagined that someone could warp straight to her. The ability had no precedent.

Or perhaps, even if she considered the possibility, she would not have worried much. What could some beggar or vagrant do to the head of the Succubus Coalition even if they did warp in? That was probably how she thought. She was strong. That strength had made her arrogant—and now it was time for her to taste humiliation.

Crunch.

I ground her face into the floor while binding her entire body with magic. Even with her cheek scraped raw against the ground, Semily no longer screamed. She was assessing the situation.

"Don't even think about trying anything clever."

I applied enormous telekinetic pressure. Blood burst from Semily's mouth. A thin moan finally slipped from the lips that had maintained silence until then.

"McDeras… so you were in league with that admin bastard… Who the hell is he?"

Even now, Semily clearly could not conceive that I might be the admin myself. I enlightened her.

"That admin is me."

"That's impossible…? You're the admin? Then all those vulgar things you wrote on the board, all those disgusting fantasies—every single one of them was—mmph… mmph…!"

I forced her mouth shut. Sitting astride her back, I considered.

"Should I just kill her."

Semily thrashed, but it was useless.

Succubi as a species were strong in one-on-one combat and in personal fights, but their attacks mostly contaminated the mind. Before arriving, I had already layered dozens of mental barriers out of mana. Their strongest weapon was as good as sealed.

Semily tried to strike. Her attacks simply bounced off the barriers again and again.

Killing her would be easy. Create a spear of condensed mana, drive it through her throat, and she would die. But would that be the right move in the long run?

Absolutely not.

Right now the Succubus Coalition was secretly pushing for war. If Semily died in this situation, they would immediately suspect the Human Alliance and launch the war at once. They would rush to strike before their surprise attack lost even a fraction of its edge—that much was obvious.

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If I can just make use of her…

Getting a private audience with someone who held overwhelming influence over an entire faction was no ordinary opportunity. I had reached this place through the warp function, but because I had moved within the same novel, there was no penalty. Here I could use one hundred percent of my power.

That settled it. No need to deliberate any longer.

First, I beat Semily without mercy.

"St… stop…"

After several dozen minutes of beating, a scream finally tore from her throat. Watching her beg for her life eased a little of the irritation I felt toward someone who had been preparing a sneak attack from behind.

Then I doused her with potions. If she died by accident it would be a catastrophe.

"If… if you're going to heal me, then why the hell did you—"

I slapped her cheeks a few times until she shut up.

"If you still have the leisure to open your mouth, you'd do better to spend that time thinking. Though I suppose even that is meaningless now."

I hauled the sprawled Semily upright, looked her in the eyes, and cast the spell.

Memory Deletion.

A broken ability capable of erasing roughly twenty-four hours of memory. The problem was that it was a consent magic—a mutual-communication spell that required the target's agreement. That was not a problem.

"Consent to the Memory Deletion spell. I will erase thirty minutes of your memory before and after this moment."

"Th… that is absolutely out of the question. If you do that, I'll forget that you're the admin. Now that I know who you are, it's obvious the improved mass-slaughter magic data is fake. Looking at how frantically you charged in here, you're clearly in a hurry. In the end, if I just pass the information to the Coalition, our surprise war will succeed. Why should I agree?"

Semily gave a dry laugh. I lifted her with telekinesis and began the torture.

"You're making a bad move."

Even facing my cold expression, she only smiled and answered,

"Kill me. If I die the war begins anyway, so it doesn't matter."

"What a magnificent sense of duty. Speak again when that sense of duty breaks."

Semily was full of herself, but unfortunately for her, the people who could perform the cruelest torture in this world were mages.

Compared to physical torment, mental torture was several times—no, dozens of times—more powerful.

I flicked my fingers. The surrounding space transformed into a barren wasteland.

"Wh…?"

Semily stared blankly at something. A grotesque abomination stood before her—a thing made of thousands, tens of thousands of teeth, more bizarre and terrifying than any living creature.

"Illusion… it's only an illusion. A lie… it's a lie…"

As expected of a succubus who specialized in mental attacks, her judgment was accurate. That did not mean she could escape the mental torture.

Crunch… crunch-crunch…

The monster swallowed Semily and began to chew her thoroughly with its tens of thousands of teeth. She could not even scream as her entire body was crushed to powder.

And then—

"Haaah… ghk… kuh…"

Her body regenerated. This was inside the illusion. She would have to endure the agony of death endlessly from now on.

Three hours later, Semily no longer possessed the will she had before. She begged for her life as if she were someone else entirely.

"St… stop… please… I'll consent… I'll consent so… spare me… please spare me… no… kill me please… please just kill me…"

After her three hundred ninety-fifth death, Semily crawled on the ground, weeping and screaming. Ignoring her words, I manipulated the illusion again.

"Hhk… hhk… uh… uh… nn…"

Semily's five hundred third death. She had reached the point where she could no longer form proper words.

"You don't even have to do as I say. Instead you'll spend the rest of your life trapped here, neither dead nor alive. This is your last chance. What will it be?"

At last I released her from the illusion. In reality, barely ten minutes had passed. Her body was unharmed; her mind was not. Semily drooled and pressed her face into the dirt.

"Wh… wh… whatever you… say… I'll… do… i… it…"

"Consent to the Memory Deletion spell. At the same time, consent to the Imprint spell."

I cast two consent magics on the completely broken Semily.

First: Memory Deletion.

Of her own will, she agreed to the erasure of thirty minutes of memory before and after.

The second consent magic was Imprint.

I imprinted a single emotion into her.

"The emotion I will imprint on you is fear. From this moment on you will feel an overwhelming terror of war. And when you wake, you will also receive the composure to feel no sense of wrongness about the before-and-after of your situation. Do you consent?"

After hundreds of deaths she was already perfectly subjugated. Something like a right of refusal no longer existed. Semily nodded frantically.

Bam!

I slammed her head into the wall. She fainted on the spot. It was not magic, so there was no skill name, but if I had to invent one… Sleep Magic (Physical) seemed about right.

Leaving the Semily I had put to sleep with magic (physical) behind me, I activated the warp spell I had prepared in advance.

KRAAANG!

"You're back?"

Even with the enormous noise, Choi Yebin showed no sign of surprise as she looked at me. She had been sitting blankly in the room, doing nothing.

Thanks to the warp gate I had installed in the Magic Tower—specifically in the room I had given to killer—I could return to my original position with only a small amount of magic. I had not used the Admin Warp function. That ability required a minimum of twenty-four hours before it could be used again.

Unlike when I had gone to rescue killer, this time I had moved within the same novel, so there were no restrictions on personal magic. That was why I had been free to warp at will.

"Sorry."

At my words, Choi Yebin—killer—asked with a puzzled look,

"I wasn't even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠startled, so what for. By the way—did you go meet that revenger person?"

I nodded without speaking. Choi Yebin shook her head as if she could not believe it.

"What were you thinking, going alone? Looking at the comments you showed me before, that person seemed seriously dangerous."

"Nothing particularly dangerous happened. But it was something that had to be done even if it meant taking the risk."

"To stop the war…? So… did it work out?"

"I stopped it. She's unconscious right now, but once she opens her eyes she'll scrap the war plans."

I immediately entered the community and, with admin privileges, deleted some of the comments I had exchanged with revenger. If I left the comments asking for consent because I was about to use the warp function, revenger might find them strange later.

After deleting those comments, I sent her a photo.

I finished with a performance of pathetic weakness. Once revenger woke from her faint she would see the photo I had sent on the community, reconstruct the sequence of events, and the war would naturally be delayed.

Under the Imprint magic she would feel no sense of wrongness about the situation in which she had blacked out, while still feeling terror of war. Add the manipulated comments on top of that and of course she would cancel the surprise war.

Choi Yebin, who had been staring blankly at how quickly I was working, asked,

"You know this time it was actually dangerous, right? What kind of insane mage warps into a place they know nothing about?"

"If risking one life can stop a war, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠isn't that a net gain? If war had broken out, the first target would have been the Magic Tower. My own life probably wouldn't have been guaranteed either."

Choi Yebin chewed on those words for a moment, then muttered,

"You wanted to protect people?"

"Protect what? I just acted because I was afraid I'd die."

Choi Yebin snorted a quiet laugh at the man's words. Because the lie detector in her had just flagged them as false.

"You're a good person… so why on earth do you act like that on the board?"

"What?"

McDeras, who had been busy with community posts and had not properly heard, asked again. Choi Yebin answered,

"I asked why you act so weird on the board."

"Because it's fun? More importantly, leave some comments on my posts. These bastards only leave hate comments and it's upsetting."

"Haa…"

Choi Yebin quietly sighed and entered the Doom Gallery, hunting down the admin's posts one by one to leave comments.

Today, as always, Choi Yebin was being slandered.

About three days passed. I committed every available force to defense just in case, but the Succubus Coalition never came. If things had gone according to the original schedule, they should have invaded yesterday.

The war had been postponed. I did not know when the next outbreak would come, but for now, the immediate crisis was over.

McDeras used an admin-exclusive function to send a one-on-one chat to love peace.

Technically speaking, it was not true that no one had gotten hurt, but… by now it would not exist in revenger's memory, so I saw no need to contradict love peace.

In truth, love peace was a verified user, so I could check her information if I wanted to—but I deliberately did not. Even I was not shameless enough to secretly peek at information a girl who had given me enormous help wanted to hide.

After finishing the chat, I stared hard at the admin functions. For some reason, a new ability had appeared after I stopped this war.

Love peace was a mage. And she had an important exam right in front of her. What she needed was not a grimoire—it was one-on-one instruction from a great mage. Surely that was what she would want more.

Just in case, McDeras packed a box containing two Elixirs and one grimoire the same way as before, then typed.

After that I went to Choi Yebin, who was still in the room, and spoke.

"Choi Yebin. Can you help me out this time?"

"With what?"

"I'm going to the novel of someone who helped me. Want to come along? An emergency might happen for all I know. Two people seem better than one."

"Aren't there plenty of people better than me?"

"You're the only one who knows I've been running the Doom Gallery."

Choi Yebin thought for a moment, then nodded.

"If I can go with you… I'll help."

McDeras then linked Choi Yebin to himself and sent a message to love peace.

The instant love peace pressed accept—

McDeras's body moved.

When he landed, thick dust and a foul alleyway filled his vision. A moment later a man he had never seen before approached and spoke.

"The fuck is this bastard? Don't you know this is our turf?"

I looked down at the man and answered.

"If it's your turf, what exactly are you going to do about it?"