Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Deranged Rampage - 6
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"They're really going at it hot and heavy, little sis?"
Aria's face twisted in a mix of bewilderment and absurdity as she spoke. Ariasfil's flushed cheeks were now firmly etched into her brother Rios's memory.
"Not the kind of thing to say when you're the one showing up late, but leave the rest to me."
With that, Rios snapped his fingers.
"Huh?"
Aria and Leonardo vanished in a teleport at the same time. The coordinates were set to the Magic Tower, so they'd get proper treatment there.
"Distracted...!?"
In that instant, the Clay Doll charged at Rios.
"Distracted? Nah, I just turned away because staring any longer might rot my retinas."
Weapons forged of ice plunged into the Clay Doll's flesh. The impact sent it sprawling backward once more.
"...Ha... hahaha...!"
Yet for some reason, the flung-back Clay Doll was cackling madly.
"Right... I've heard of you. Rios... the eldest son of House Reinhardt, was it?"
The Clay Doll let out another guttural roar.
"You think you can win like this!?"
Onrushing monstrosities—there were still plenty of victims fueling the Clay Doll's form.
"...People always say I'm pretty lazy."
Ice weapons rained down like a storm, skewering the abominations. Rios's eyes burned with quiet fury.
"Sorry."
As the ice pierced them, the monstrosities exploded from head to toe. Explosions so swift they couldn't even register the pain.
"You..."
"What's wrong? Smiling through everything isn't your specialty, Rios Reinhardt?"
With those words, the Clay Doll sucked in the burst flesh chunks. Its muscles and bones regenerated instantly upon absorption.
The victims fused with it without even leaving corpses behind, uttering faint, feeble screams.
"Ha...! You lot are so predictable. 'Life is precious,' 'The dead can't come back'... that sort of...!"
Rios narrowed his eyes into a smile.
"Have you ever seen love?"
On a battlefield where slaughter raged and the scent of blood thickened amid the rain.
"The first time I saw love was with Grandpa and Grandma."
Rios grinned as he launched into a tale of love.
"Those two, with more white hair than black even though they were so old, got along better than my young parents ever did."
"What the hell is this all of a—"
The moment it tried to interrupt, Rios hurled a blade of pressurized water.
"Back then, love just looked beautiful to me. I was pretty mature for my age, even as a kid."
As he spoke, he vaporized his water weapons into steam, detonating them.
"Grahhh!!"
"But not long after Aria was born, Grandma passed away. Some black mage like you messed with her food."
The steam's heat triggered chain explosions in the raindrops. The blasts shredded the Clay Doll's flesh in all directions.
"Grandpa flew into a rage. He wiped out every black mage, anyone connected, and every organization he even suspected—practically went insane doing it."
The Clay Doll gathered the scattered flesh, regenerating its body. Then it lunged at Rios, as if mocking the attack.
"That's when I realized. Love is so beautiful that it's tragic."
With that, it sprouted arms in all directions, unleashing its unique magic at Rios.
"I'll kill you in one strike...!!"
"Is that the kind of love a piece of trash like you gets to trample on however you please?"
Crack
The arms infused with unique magic had their bones snap, angles twisting unnaturally. No external spell had interfered, nor had the Clay Doll done it intentionally.
"I don't think so—especially not when it's my little siblings' love."
It wasn't just bones. Muscles, blood vessels, nerves—every cell in the Clay Doll's body was turning against itself, destroying it from within.
"How...? Urgh...! Why is my body...?"
"What makes you think instant-kill techniques are your exclusive?"
Rios snapped his fingers again.
Splat, thud
Ice blades erupted from within the flesh. Not flung from outside, but forming internally and bursting through.
"Gaaaaahhh!!"
"You have your unique magic? Well, so do I."
"...Unique... magic...? From trash like you...?!"
Rios snapped his fingers once more. This time, blood vessels ruptured across its entire body.
"Aaaargh!! Stop...! Please stop...!!"
"What's wrong? I haven't even gone solid-state yet."
No blood flowed out. Every fluid in its body solidified, warping it from inside. Water expands when it freezes, shredding every pathway it occupies.
"My unique magic lets me perfectly control the state of water. Any moisture infused with my mana is under my total command."
Only now did the Clay Doll realize—the ice weapons earlier had been catalysts to inject his mana.
"In that case...!!"
Another monstrous roar, and there were still abominations left...
Boom! Crunch!
"There... should be more... left..."
"And from the moment it started raining, you never stood a chance. I've already infused my mana into these very rain clouds."
That's why every abomination touched by the rain had burst long ago.
"Of course, without rain, the power drops sharply. Guess you could say heaven's on my side here."
The Clay Doll writhed like a worm drowning in water on a rainy day, trying to escape.
Each time, the mana-infused moisture twisted its body, amplifying the agony—but it no longer had the wits to judge.
"Those victims earlier burst because their bodily fluids turned to gas."
"...Ugh... ah... please..."
Black blades kept erupting from the Clay Doll's back skin. Every cell was now permeated with Rios's unique magic.
"What's wrong? I'm not some heartless monster. Of course I'll give you a chance to repent."
At those words, the Clay Doll clasped its barely coherent hands in prayer.
"I... I'm sorry...! I won't... do it again... please...!"
"...You know, it's weird. You destroy people's lives so creatively, but when it comes time to apologize, you all sound exactly the same."
Rios pressed his index finger and thumb together, tensing them.
"Don't you usually repent to the person you killed, not the one about to kill you?"
"Ah... aaaah...!"
The moment it grasped the meaning, Rios flicked his fingers.
"Riossss!!"
At that instant, a woman came sprinting at full speed.
"Oh, the grade-grubber's here."
It was Ameri Esp.
"Shut it, you slimy git."
Though this Ameri was a far cry from her usual self.
"So, friend, what brings you here? Unless it's urgent, let me finish off this trash first."
As he spoke, Rios prepared to snap his fingers again.
"I'm here to stop that."
"...What?"
"Don't blow it up. Then it'll really be irreversible."
The Clay Doll smirked faintly. Soft thinking like that would cost her life.
"This freak nearly killed my siblings, and you're saying I should morally spare it?"
Even if Rios ignored her, no problem. Worst case, he'd just...
"Nah, that's not it."
Ameri froze the Clay Doll's scheming hand—arm and all.
"I'm saying this for your incident report and the antidote you're gonna need."
"Gaaaaahhh!"
Ignoring the screams as it clutched its frozen arm, Ameri continued.
"Reports are easier with bodies intact, and developing a counter to unique magic is simpler with the black mage's corpse on hand."
"...So, spare it?"
"Nah. Just freeze it solid like this. Or blow everything but the head if you want."
The Clay Doll couldn't even sweat at that. The air around them was far too frigid.
"Ah, that works."
Snap
It had no choice but to watch its body explode everywhere but the head. With that final sight, the Clay Doll's head was encased in ice down to the cellular level.
"Ugh... I'm wiped~"
Staring at the frozen head, Rios flopped straight onto the muddy ground.
"Is this your bedroom now? Get home and crash in a real bed. You'll catch something like that."
"So mean~ Even wide-area spells tire me out at full power."
Ameri sighed and hoisted Rios onto her back. She stowed the Clay Doll's head in her subspace pouch.
"You're the best friend ever~ Thanks a ton~"
"Don't copy me. Or I'll dump you on the roadside."
"So meeean~ You talk like that to everyone else~"
Pinch
"Ow! That's the tendon! Tendon!!"
"I was tired then, and they weren't close. It's harder with an eight-year buddy."
As her grip loosened, Rios flashed his cheeky grin again.
"Guess that makes me special."
"Ugh... think whatever."
"Don't you know? Childhood friend tropes are all the rage in pure romance novels these days."
Rios snickered from behind, making Ameri's face scrunch up red.
"Bullshit. Childhood friends always lose to the true heroine."
"Hey, Ameri."
Suddenly, Rios's arms tightened. Ameri startled for a split second.
"That's not true. You're going too far."
Ameri faltered slightly before Rios's serious expression, her voice trembling as she asked—her face somehow even redder.
"...R-Really? Then..."
"Harem ain't pure romance!"
Thud
Unable to stomach the nonsense any longer, Ameri hurled Rios off her back.
"Walk it off. I'm heading out first."
With that, she unfurled a teleport map and vanished.
"...Should've been a bit more honest?"
In other words, Rios preferred pure romance stories centered on childhood friends—a hint Ameri missed entirely.
And Rios never realized Ameri could've teleported solo but chose to carry him anyway.
The aftermath of the terror attack rippled heavily through society.
The public couldn't stop condemning the Magic Tower and its lords for failing to resolve it themselves. When it emerged the delay stemmed from internal corruption, the criticism intensified.
And the victims of this incident bore scars that would never fade. Those turned from family to bereaved spread their resentment far and wide.
In the midst of it all, the young hero who ended the crisis lay deep in slumber in his hospital room.
"...Leonardo."
"Yes?"
Leo opened his eyes not in the hospital room.
A damp cave, where he sat on the floor.
Before him stood the Sage—not as a translucent spirit, but in solid, human form.
"Awake?"
"...This is where the Guardian..."
The place where he'd clashed with the Guardian and chanced upon the Sage's Stone.
"You're not really here physically. More precisely, this is within your mind—in the Sage's Stone embedded in your heart."
Sudden teleportation to a cave would've been odd. But then, what about his real body?
"What about me outside...?"
"Passed out. Don't worry—just exhaustion. Potions were administered on time, and with proper care in the hospital, you'll recover fully without aftereffects."
That only made it more baffling. Why was he here then?
"Then why...?"
"Confronting...?"
This was surely different from simple regression.
"No need to overthink. Sit first."
"Sit? There's nowhere..."
Suddenly, he was seated—on a familiar wooden chair, no less.
"So?"
"...Huh?"
"Just do whatever. Train like usual, or conjure food like that chair. Overcomplicating it will just make it harder."
Leaning back in the chair, Leo spoke up after a moment.
"...Mind if I tell a long story?"
"As long as it's under 300 years."
300 years—a timeframe that suited the old man perfectly.
"I met Aria around the time I finished that mercenary job that day."
Thankfully, his past regrets clocked in well under 300 years.