Omens
The Affection Manipulation ability. When I first awakened it, I was genuinely thrilled. It wasn't the kind of power that let me fight monsters head-on, but the idea of twisting people's hearts to suit my tastes felt incredibly appealing. I could turn all those filthy fantasies I'd never dared voice into reality, and building relationships would be quick and effortless... if only this were still a normal world.
Awakeners wield every imaginable ability these days, and mental-type powers sit at the very top of the threat-and-control list. My Affection Manipulation wasn't as broken as it first sounded. For one thing, I could only adjust how people felt about me. There was no numerical cap on how much I could change it, but I couldn't lock the value in place. Ever heard the saying that the human heart is like a reed? No matter how much someone loves you, their feelings aren't going to stay exactly the same every single day. Depending on their mood or circumstances, they might like you a little more or a little less. If even natural love and affection fluctuate like that, artificially grown feelings would wither even faster—unless the target experienced a miraculous "coincidence" or convinced themselves it was "fate."
Let's say I raise someone's affection from 0 to 80. Eighty is the sweet spot for a pretty passionate couple. If someone who never cared about you suddenly starts burning with love, it's only natural for them to feel uneasy. And that unease is one of the biggest weaknesses of mental abilities. These days, the moment that discomfort appears, people report it to the government. In the end, the fate of nearly all mental-type awakeners—except for a tiny handful—ends in one of two ways: hide your power for the rest of your life, or get thrown onto the front lines. It's well known that mental-types who refuse frontline duty are executed on the spot. That's why I had no choice but to conceal my ability...
At least I could disguise it by raising or lowering affection in tiny increments. A boost of 5 to 10 points didn't trigger much suspicion, and thanks to the nature of my skill, I was assigned to the relatively cushy rear-line post at the Mental Protection Ward.
I had never set anyone's affection to 100 before. Or rather, I couldn't. That would be the more accurate way to put it. I'd already witnessed what happened when someone pushed a target's affection past 90—they lost their mind. At 90, the stage is destined soulmates. An unbreakable bond. When I tested it on my childhood friend, she genuinely went insane. Well... there were unavoidable circumstances, but still.
Sigh. I don't even want to imagine it now.
Fuck, how did she know?!
Did I manage to dodge it...?
She wore a bright, refreshing smile as if she were in a good mood, but her fist was clenched so tightly I could hear it. Crack.
How the hell does a sound like that come from a human fist...? Oh, right. She's not human.
Time to change the subject, fast...
Great Warrior...? Holy shit, that's the strongest position any warrior in an elf tribe can hold. She's way bigger than I thought?
The mood seemed to lighten for a moment. If only the elf's face hadn't suddenly twisted into a scowl.
"...Pardon?"
"W-well... that is..."
The moment those words left her lips, an overwhelming aura flooded the room.
I'm screwed. What do I do...? Brain, work! Think!
The pressure slowly tightened around my body.
"I-I actually had an elf friend a long time ago, and her name was Anna, so I must have called you that without thinking. Haha..."
"......"
Too clumsy. Damn it...
"...Excuse me?"
She's insane!!
"I-I've only seen her a few times, so I don't even know which tribe she was from. Ahem... Anyway, Miss Anna—"
Please, someone save me...
"Wait, why are you suddenly talking about exterminating all elves—"
"Miss Anna, please calm down. Maybe we should talk about something else—"
This is hopeless... She's not listening at all.
Logically, even a Great Warrior shouldn't be able to wipe out the entire elf race. So why do I have this gut feeling that she actually could?
It might be because of my ability messing with normal reasoning. I have to stop her!
"Miss Anna."
"Yes? After this, we should..."
This is the only way...!
I leaned in and kissed her.
"Eh...?"
Her lips were cracked from hardship, carrying a bitter taste. It wasn't as sweet as I'd imagined, but the sticky sensation made my body heat up strangely. In that instant, the heavy air in the room seemed to clear.
"......"
"Puhuhu... Hah-haha... Hee... Hehehu..."
"...Are you okay?"
The stimulation must have been too much. Her face looked exactly like someone experiencing a drug for the first time. Her eyes rolled aimlessly, her limbs trembled, and her expression was one of pure ecstasy. The twisted moans that escaped her reached their climax.
At this point, I'm starting to wonder if there's actually drugs on my lips.
Let's just let her rest for now.
I left the elf—who had clearly taken a one-way trip to heaven—alone and took a moment to breathe.
Deep inside a gate in another world.
In a forest as vast as Earth's jungles, the strongest predator crouched in hiding. A monster so far beyond standard classification that it would register as SSS-class if it ever appeared on Earth. The dinosaur-like beast was currently sprinting in panic.
"Kiiiieeeeeeek—!"
After running for some distance, the monster let out a roar of joy. Had it caught prey? No. It was fleeing—from a human, not another monster.
"Found you~"
Crunch.
With a sound loud enough to rupture eardrums, the monster's neck split open like tofu. Its skull had been completely torn apart from the inside. A technique that concentrated every ounce of a person's malice to maximize pain right up until the moment of death. The human who used it chuckled as she mocked the fallen beast.
Her clothes were dyed crimson with blood. In stark contrast, her pitch-black eyes and hair—dark as if coated in ink—were striking enough to draw every gaze.
"You idiot~ If you scream like that, of course you'll get caught."
"Kie... eek."
The monster wasn't done yet. Even with its neck severed and head smashed, it tried to regenerate and let out another cry. Of course, its severed body showed no signs of returning.
"Whoops, what stubborn vitality. Alright, I'll be generous. You win the taxidermy prize~!"
"KIIIIIIEEEEEEK!!"
Had the monster understood some of the human language? It shook its head with all its might.
"Resistance is fu-ti-le. Are you trying to ruin big sister's mood?"
Crack.
Smiling brightly as if this were just another ordinary day, the human—no, the madwoman—dragged the collapsed monster's head across the ground and left the forest.
"Perfect. This spot should do!"
Stab.
The stinging sensation beneath its neck woke the monster.
"...Kieek?"
Its head had been impaled on a crudely carved wooden skewer. The moment it saw itself, rage surged through it.
"KIIIIIIEEEEEEEK!!!"
Just as it was roaring, the monster suddenly stopped breathing.
"......!"
She was staring straight through the monster. There was no emotion whatsoever in those eyes. It was the gaze one might give an inanimate object. If she had kicked it or treated it like a toy, the monster might have resisted more fiercely. After all, that was how it had always treated its own prey before tearing their heads off.
But this... the being before it was something the monster could not comprehend—an existence of incomprehensible horror.
In that moment of trembling terror, a spark of life returned to her eyes.
"...Huh? Ah! No, it couldn't possibly still be alive... could it?"
She reacted as if startled by something, then fell into deep thought.
"Still... that kind of reaction... what if it really is alive?"
"And if it's with another woman?"
The monster, already drowning in incomprehensible fear, plunged into primal terror at that instant.
"Kie..."
An overwhelming killing intent that could kill with nothing but a glance.
She lightly sliced her arm through the empty air.
Crackle.
Sparks flew as the space began to tear open. The rift gradually widened.
With a smile so wide it looked like her lips might split, she vanished.
A moment later, all that remained in the empty space was the monster's poor, severed head.
"Kiiiiiiieeeeeeek..."
An airport in Germany.