Your Gentle Despair (6)
"What an arrogant thing to say."
The doctor murmured in a dry, lifeless voice as he regarded the monster wearing the shape of a girl.
He would grant that Dr. Apocalypse's creation was impressive—but arrogance of that magnitude made it little better than a failure. A god who went around declaring itself a god had never existed in the first place, so in a way the result was only natural.
And at that level, I can still suppress it without much trouble.
Thanks to the test subjects that had conveniently returned to his embrace of their own accord, the timing of his metamorphosis had been pulled even further forward. A magical girl's despair was, quite literally, the finest detonator imaginable.
"Arrogant, you say? Which part, exactly? I was simply speaking from the heart."
A flat, even voice drifted through the speakers. Curse's brow furrowed at the casual way the words were delivered, as if the reply were the most obvious thing in the world. Arrogant, insolent, and overflowing with an almost laughable degree of confidence. Did it not even realize it had walked straight into the enemy's headquarters?
Maybe its sense of danger is completely broken.
Judging by Dr. Apocalypse's temperament, what she had wanted to create was not some god of monsters, but a weapon for slaughtering magical girls. So had it come here under her orders? Whatever the purpose, he had no intention of going down quietly.
A low hum filled the air.
"Kh…"
Through the tubes driven into every part of his body, sedatives and thick, concentrated despair poured into him together. The reasons a human ceased to be human were different in every case, but the end always touched the same thing: despair.
It was hot. And at the same time, cold. Like plunging his entire body into a blazing furnace and the freezing abyssal deep at once.
"…"
How much time passed after that? The moment his mind shattered, his flesh collapsed, and his soul cracked apart—
the despair that had been devouring him began to coalesce with explosive force.
Something a magical girl did not possess, but a monster did.
The hum deepened.
"Haha… hahaha… HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
A Despair Core. The organ called a monster's heart resonated with the despair around it, and wild laughter tore from his throat. The feeling was exhilarating. Beyond compare. With this power, he could casually crush the skull of that unpleasant existence.
"It is no longer a matter of you coming to meet me. Now I am the one who will go to meet you."
Curse slipped on the white lab coat he had left draped over the chair, muttering in an excited voice. When death stood right before your eyes, what expression of despair would you wear? His newly formed Despair Core began to race toward a brand-new research objective.
Well then—time to go pull a god down from its pedestal.
"Hey, the mic is still on."
He grumbled and muttered, laughed like a maniac, and then suddenly announced he was coming to meet me. Had he finally lost his mind? Or had he suddenly developed a taste for suicide?
The idea of a pervert like that coming to see me was horrifying just to imagine.
…Should I run away right now?
Grrk? Grrruk… krrk…
KYAAAAAAAK—!!!
"What's wrong with all of you?"
After a single wave of despair rolled through, the monsters' behavior turned strange. Like bees hit by electromagnetic waves. The ones that had been following my orders were losing their bearings in the face of overwhelming despair. The silver lining was that they still weren't attacking me—but if Curse stepped out of there, I had no idea what would happen.
No choice, then…
I had already eaten a decent amount of despair. If I spun up the Despair Circuit, monsters of this level would submit easily enough. I rolled my head left and right, loosened my body a little, and was just about to activate the circuit when—
…This feeling.
Hope energy approaching from far away froze me in place. A sensation so familiar it had become almost nostalgic. I had no idea how she had found the path down into the basement, but at this rate Emerald was going to catch me.
I can't let her find me.
If Emerald realized I was here—and worse, that I was a monster—my happy life as a despair-powered freeloader would go up in smoke. No. Absolutely not.
I forced the Despair Circuit, which had started spinning on pure reflex at the approaching despair, to a halt and slowly backed away.
A soft electronic whine cut through the air.
"Have you grown frightened? For someone who claimed to be a god, that is a truly pitiful sight."
"…"
I wasn't scared of you, for the record. And who the hell ever claimed to be a god, anyway?
The despair rolling off Curse was definitely impressive, but not enough to make me flinch. Even his appearance, which would have terrified an ordinary human, had become almost endearing after how many times I had seen it. I had watched that design to death in anime, after all.
"Now then—I will extract the price for wrecking my laboratory."
Ugh, normally you pop out at the worst possible times, so why are you late today of all days?
I watched Curse out of the corner of my eye, timing it carefully. All right—from now: ten, nine, eight, seven—
As the hand reached closer, I flicked my gaze sideways. Curse noticed and paused for a moment; I clicked my tongue internally.
Why stop there? Do whatever you want! Just stretch your hand out already!
If Emerald saw Apocalypse and Curse having a friendly little chat, her eyes would spin halfway out of her skull. And once those eyes spun, she would start blasting me with massive hope-energy magic cannons. Just imagining it made me shudder.
"I do not know what you are aiming for, but it is already far too late."
A wet, meaty sound.
"Ghk—"
Curse's hand punched straight through my heart. Yep. Definitely a complete lunatic. Just casually skewering a person's body like that.
I looked down at the arm piercing me for a second, then slumped my head as if coughing up blood. The sell was perfect—WWE-level. From here on, the rest was up to them.
I was flung limply against the wall and, hidden from Curse, the corner of my mouth curled up in a tiny smirk.
"AKARI—!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"What—"
A thunderous blast.
The magic cannon packed enough hope energy to raise goosebumps all over my body. If I hadn't turned my head, the sheer flash of hope might have blinded me for real.
Ugh… that tingle…
I was no masochist, but being thrown into a situation like this sent a shiver racing down my spine. Emerald had charged in at full power to save Apocalypse from Curse? It was the kind of plot that would never even make it into a parody novel; I almost burst out laughing and barely managed to hold it in.
"Kek—cough, cough, cough!"
Aigoo…
Whether from the heart being pierced or not, clumps of blood kept surging back up my throat. I didn't feel like I was actually dying, but the blockage made breathing a pain. And the coughing fit wouldn't stop.
Wait… at this rate aren't they going to treat me like a corpse?
I wasn't sure whether Emerald had seen the wound. If she had, things could get a little awkward. Should I quietly regenerate right now? But if she saw Curse skewer me, regenerating would look suspicious too.
My head spun with all the conflicting options.
"My, it seems the calibration is still imperfect…"
"I won't let you get away, Curse…!!!"
"Curse, is it? Is that the name you have given me? Very well. From now on I shall live as the curse of magical girls. Living under a name bestowed by a magical girl sounds rather enjoyable."
The fight between Emerald and Curse was unfolding quite entertainingly. Emerald drove him back with hope energy; Curse blocked and was steadily forced to retreat. The original Curse would have handled someone of Emerald's level with ease, but as a fresh birth he seemed quite vulnerable to hope energy.
"But are you certain? Did you not come here to save her?"
"Kh…!"
"If you keep chasing me, her life will be in danger. You two seem rather close—are you truly all right with that?"
There was something in Curse's voice designed to sow conflict. It did absolutely nothing to me—I had no thoughts and nothing to lose—but it clearly worked on Emerald.
Whatever. I'll just quietly regenerate before Emerald gets here.
As discreetly as possible—like melting a snack in my mouth in the middle of the night—I began slowly regenerating the wound. Hoo… my heart was pounding with the fear of being caught.
If I spun the Despair Circuit properly I would draw both Emerald's attacks and Curse's intense interest at the same time, so I had to heal without any help from the circuit no matter what.
"We shall meet again. Next time I will research both of you thoroughly."
With those final words, Curse vanished along with the underground monsters. I half expected a sucker punch, but apparently he hadn't sold his conscience quite that thoroughly yet.
Anyway, that wasn't what mattered right now.
"A-Akari… are you okay? You're okay, right?"
"Her life signs are weaker than a normal person's, but for Akari that falls within the normal range. Still, they're weaker than usual, so she has probably lost consciousness."
"Th-thank goodness… I'm so, so glad… hic… I'm sorry, Akari. It's all… it's all my fault…"
Emerald pulled my blood-soaked body into her arms and began to sob. I clamped down hard on the trembling corners of my mouth.
This despair… I really, really like it.