In the midst of the blowing wind, I, who went to the upper deck, found four figures standing there. One of the girls, who is the source of the torrent of magic power, was standing in the center of the four, shining in the moonlight.
『A』. She, who went by just that one letter, was surrounded by three security staff, as she held her fluttering hair.
“The moon sure is beautiful.”
Smiling, she muttered. Meanwhile, holding rapier-type magic devices, the three security staff are gradually closing their distance toward her.
“… You are,”
One of the woman security staff whispered, while sweat flowed from her forehead.
“What?”
“Human.”
After returning the question with one word, the girl thrust her rapier through the darkness. However, A received it with her palm, as if it was natural. And looking at her hand that was pierced, she tilted her neck.
“Her neck!!”
The three staff members who are scattered in three directions– pulled their trigger– and attacked A with their rapiers that were made into shape by water, like a whip. It then entwined around her neck as they intended to, and the three laughed as if they were already convinced of their victory.
And the moment it entwined A’s neck, they once again pulled the trigger. The whip-shaped rapier then was supposed to regain its sharp appearance and cut A’s neck.
Yes, that’s how it is supposed to be.
“What?!”
Stunned, the three security staff stood stock still.
“What is… happening…?”
Their blades aren’t moving.
However, there was no time for A to pull her trigger. Despite that, the rapiers that had gained their original hardness and sharpness, didn’t slash the opponent’s neck as should be, but they were just towering high in the dark.
“Thank you for this lovely necklace.”
A smiled and waved her hand and the three staff disappeared. Yes, the three security staff disappeared from the scene with their eyes wide open, and A just looked up at the moon as if nothing had happened.
And I can only look at that scene, stunned.
Oi, Oi… that’s not a laughing matter… where did they go… I don’t understand the principle… in the first place, when did she pull her trigger… I can’t let this monster go to Tsukiori and the others…
Without hesitation, I held Kuki Masamune in my hand. But as I was about to jump– something pulled me into the darkness from behind and covered my mouth.
“Ugh… mmph…?!”
“Quiet… don’t move…!!”
I bent my neck and looked behind and saw the girl who was desperately trying to hold me down… Hizumi Ruri, who then whispered in my ear.
“Do you want to die…?!”
“What, it is just Hizumi, huh.”
“Don’t 『What, it is just Hizumi, huh』, me…!! I had a bad feeling, so I came here, and as expected, I found you trying to do something stupid…!!”
“It’s not stupid. There is a chance to win.”
“You don’t know anything…!!”
With a ghastly expression, Hizumi held my shoulders down.
“Immediately…!! Get on the emergency boat with that blonde vertical roll immediately…!! You shouldn’t be here right now…!! Go before she notices us…!! Quickly…!!”
“It’s impossible.”
I lightly hit the plank below me.
“There are Tsukiori and the others underneath. I don’t have the time to call them and run away, and even if I have, I will never select that option. They have to work together in harmony and overcome the wall in front of them and move on to the next wall. Otherwise, they will be checkmated somewhere.”
“Abandon them.”
“I refuse.”
“Looks like you’re still misunderstanding something.”
Squinting her eyes, Hizumi pointed straight at A.
“Soon you won’t be able to tell such a joke anymore… Because you will end up running away with your tail between your legs… listen… Humans can only protect their own lives… humans who would risk their lives for anyone other than themselves don’t exist in this world…”
At the direction Hizumi pointed at, A stretches her body.
“Since it’s about to be uncomfortable soon, I guess I’ll increase the bait.”
With that said, as if she was molting, her skin and flesh started peeling off along the spine, hands and feet crawling out from inside– bzzztttt– in the process, she emitted a large amount of magic power from her body, making my hair stand on end and my body subconsciously begins to retreat from the place.
“Fuu.”
Goldenish black hair. Wearing a beige trench coat, she opened her eyes that shone like an emerald and revealed the tremendous magic power that covered her body. A cigarette was sandwiched between her index and middle fingers, and purple smoke swirled in the air.
Her eyes. They are shining brightly under the moonlight. However, her eyes weren’t just a normal pair of eyes.
Evil/Magic Eye– a familiar mark was swirling inside her eyes, and it was the same mark as what Hizumi had.
“Demon…”
Shocked, I muttered the true identity of 『A』.
“Arsha…riya…”
At that moment, my heartbeat accelerated.
The worst case scenario just happened… but, I know it wasn’t impossible in the first place… the reason why there are too many retainers… the reason why one of the retainers was trying to let me escape… and the one who can control monsters was just a higher-rank retainer or the demon herself… originally, Hizumi, who suffers from an incurable disease, was treated by the whims of Arshariya and pledges allegiance to her… that is why Hizumi will only appear on the final stage when Arshariya resurrected…
And now, the flow of the scenario was distorted by the fact that Arshariya, who shouldn’t have appeared in this recreation camp, was here, replacing a mob character. With this, everything falls into place.
“Hizumi… did you know…?”
Silently, she nodded.
“How… could Arshariya resurrect right now… the trigger for her to come should be… 『Interest』… and Tsukiori isn’t strong enough to get her interested… is there anyone else…?”
Being stared at by Hizumi, I pointed at myself.
“Me?! Why me?!”
“She said someone who is rewriting the fate of 『Death』 and 『Bad luck』 is on this ship… we thought it was Tsukiori Sakura… but, no matter how much I think, that’s you, Sanjou Hiiro, right…?”
“No, I don’t have any idea what you mean.”
“Arshariya-sama said, by now, 128 good humans who should have died and 279 good humans who should have had bad luck have been saved… If this continues, the demons and the devil religion will end before the devil resurrects. But since you also destroy, distort, and created 『Love』 with a clever technique, we couldn’t tell whether you are our enemy or ally.”
“I really have no idea what you mean… it’s probably not me… I’m glad…”
I gently looked at the demon. What a ridiculous amount of magic power. I don’t think I can win against her head-on.
“Can you see that?”
The thing that Hizumi refers to is the dimensional gate that floats on the pitch-black sea. It was a small gate that was barely enough for one boat to pass.
“That was the starting point of the attack of the retainers. Since it is difficult to detect when the ship will go to the other world from reality or the other way around, so we waited when this ship passed by and attacked from the other world through that dimension gate.”
That was actually the same as in the game. The timing is different, though.
“When Arshariya-sama is distracted, go there with the emergency boat. Since you don’t have a lot of magic power, I think Arshariya-sama won’t be able to detect you… Tsukiori Sakura and the other two will probably be running out of magic power when the battle is over, so, as long as they can join you, all of you should be able to go unnoticed.”
“What about you?”
“I will sneak away when the timing is right. It’s okay, you just have to worry about yourself. As soon as Tsukiori and the other two come, go–”
Suddenly, we can hear the sound of an engine. Hizumi and I froze as we saw the figure of Ojou and her group boarding the evacuation board. Then, with the moon as the background, the demon who was fluttering her trench coat in the night breeze, smiled.
At the next moment– she disappeared. At the same time, she was blocking the front of the evacuation boat.
“The moon sure is beautiful tonight.”
With a grin, the Demon bows gracefully.
“Right now, I’m going to kill all of you, but… fumu, I’ll give you a suggestion… just one.”
She raises her index finger and shakes it from side to side.
“I’ve decided to kill only one person. However, I will be killing and dissembling her carefully. I want you to choose one in 10 seconds. I’m not free, after all.”
As I was about to rush there– Hizumi restrained me from behind.
She restrained all my limbs, making me unable to move… I desperately tried to stretch my finger, but it couldn’t reach the trigger.
“Hizumi… you bastard…!!”
“Sorry, Sanjou Hiiro. I’m the type of person who won’t be satisfied if I didn’t save the life of a person who saved my life. That’s why, please be quiet.”
Being Nelson hold-ed, I could only stare at the panicked girls.
“I-I don’t want to!! You should be the one who dies!!”
“Haa?! I think YOU should be the one who dies!! Why should I?!”
“W-weren’t you always holding us back!!”
Looking at the girls who are starting to point at each other, Arsharita laughed.
“5 seconds left–”
“Then, I’ll be the one who dies.”
Perhaps finding it unexpected, Arshariya opened her eyes wide and stared at Ophelia who went forward.
With a sound, the cheeks of Ojou are starting to be scraped off. Dripping blood, she took a step to protect everyone else.
“W-what’s wrong…?”
While trembling, she takes a step further toward Arshariya.
“W-we’ve already chosen…s-so, feel free to kill me…”
As if bored, the demon sighed.
“Why did you select yourself?”
“I…”
Ojou laughed desperately while clenching her precious necklace.
“Because I am the daughter of the Margeline family.”
“I see, the type of person I hate the most.”
Despite her statement, Arshariya smiled happily.
“But I like to distort the smiles of that type of human the most.”
“Ah!!”
As her necklace was robbed, Ojou’s smile collapsed.
“This is a magic device…? What garbage.”
Arshariya lifted the necklace high and grinned.
“This is probably a gift from a lover or someone whom you have a close relationship with… right?”
“R-return it to me!!”
“You know, I am actually the kindest among the demons. I prefer to ruin someone than kill her. From ancient times, it has always been fun breaking up couples or sending a man to interrupt relationships between girls. And let me tell you, that was amazing. To the point my brain trembles with pleasure.”
Saying that, Arshariya poured more power into her hand, and tears spilled from Ojou’s eyes.
“S-stop…”
With tears in her eyes, Ojou whispered to Arshariya.
“T-that’s… something very important to me… the one and only treasure of mine… without that, I can no longer meet with that person….”
“That’s splendid!”
Ojou, who was pressed down by Arshariya, tried to reach her hand to the necklace while struggling desperately.
“I beg you… please stop…!!”
However, that necklace was still making a rattling noise as it was held in the hand of Arshariya, who was laughing full of ridicule– until that arm was blown away.
“Nn?”
Pointing the tip of my sword to the sky, still holding the stance after slashing Arshariya’s arm, I glared at her.
“… Don’t touch Yuri with your dirty hands.”
I then took the necklace from her right arm, which had fallen from her hand. I handed it to the crying Ojou and gently pushed her back.
“Go. Don’t worry. I’m sure you will meet that person someday. I guarantee it.”
“W-what… what about you…?”
Instead of answering, I moved my shoulders, which were previously restrained by Hizumi– as the girls from the Otori Academy desperately dragged Ojou into the boat.
“I’ll be asking for a VIP treatment.”
I smiled at them.
“She is that Ophelia von Margeline, after all.”
Hearing that, the girls from Otori Academy nodded.
Just like that, the boat carrying the stunned Ojou goes away in a blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, Arshariya who had been watching the scene had her right arm grow back with a relaxed smile on her face.
“I’ve been waiting for you, Sanjou Hiiro-kun. First of all, allow me to introduce myself. I am Arsha–”
“Die~ (^o^) (Stab, stab, stab)”
“Are you serious? This is our first meeting, and I’m in the middle of introducing myself, you know?”
Without hearing her words, I thrust the tip of my sword into Arshariya’s chest many times. At this moment, my head was full of the words 『Only this girl, I have to kill.』.
“Well, calm down for a bit.”
Arshariya, who took a step back, smiled and put her hand on her chest to give a bow.
“Once again, I am Arsha–”
Stab!!
Kuki Masamune, that I threw, pierced Arshariya’s brain, and she fell backward.
But, the demon slowly stood up and pulled out that sword and threw it away.
“Don’t be so impatient, just hear me– this guy, are you serious (while being beaten)…”
“DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! DIE NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!! (Bare handed)”
Me, who was being kicked off with one leg and made some distance from her, then grabbed Kuki Masamune, that was stuck in the boat board, and stopped.
“Oi, oi, this should be our first meeting, right? Let’s relax. Do you even have a decent delicacy?”
“Shut up!! You didn’t think you could go home alive after doing all of that, right?! Watch your mouth, you third-rate!!”
I took a stance while screaming.
“Should I tell you how many times I saved and loaded just to kill you?! Countless times!! I have been killing you and Sanjou Hiiro over and over, killing you two is the best mental healing for me!! So you can just die!! Hiiro too!! Die 100 times!! I will be killing you right now!! Kill, kill, kill!! I’ll plant Yuri flowers on your grave!!”
“Wha–”
“Shut up and die!!”
The demon and I exchanged our gaze and– we moved at the same time.