The two-hour limit after the last round of the instance The Battle of the Lords came to an end, and everyone was returned to their territories. During that time, the Lords who had joined the ambush against Kaito truly understood what it meant to be powerless before overwhelming strength.
The fate of each one was the same, to die and flee again and again, unable to resist, only to fall once more without even understanding how.
At first many tried to fight back, but after realizing nothing worked, most chose to hide or use others as decoys. Around twenty-five hundred people ambushed Kaito, most with all three of their lives intact, and yet barely a thousand managed to escape when the time expired.
When Kaito reappeared in his territory, seated on the throne of the hall he had already grown used to, he was finally able to relax. It was not physical exhaustion but mental, the weight of everything that had happened.
In truth, the entire event had lasted only six hours; it was barely two in the afternoon. Even so, it had felt like an eternity to him.
Still, when he checked his status screen, he couldn't help a faint smile. Something good had come from all that chaos:
2.4[1] billion experience.
That was the amount gained in just the last two hours.
He also drew some conclusions. For example, Lords who are killed do not drop abilities, only experience. And if you kill them several times in a short span, you only receive the reward the first time.
Finally, he discovered that Lords within the world ranking do drop abilities when killed, but only if they are eliminated completely, meaning all three of their lives are taken.
Two players from that ranking had faced him.
The first, the group leader whose communication ability had been used to lure Kaito into a trap, would never return to Gaia after Kaito took his last two lives.
The second was a defense specialist in charge of protecting the machine that blocked space. He was clever, blending into the crowd with long-range abilities that made detection difficult. After Kaito killed him once, he activated an ability that could nullify all damage. It sounded impressive, but it really wasn't.
First, because once activated he could not move, leaving him completely immobile.
Second, he himself had mocked that he could maintain it "until being teleported back," admitting it had a time limit. In short, it was more of a lifeline against a finishing blow than an absolute defense.
Even so, Kaito regretted not obtaining it.
At least the first opponent had left behind his communication ability.
He also learned, using a list that Kaguya had provided of the participants in the plan—the reason she gave him the list was to convince him they could kill him—and comparing it with the experience notifications, roughly how much experience Lords granted according to their level.
The two world-ranked players, for example, gave him about twenty-four million experience combined. Not even together did they surpass what he had gained from Kaguya alone, which made her level clear.
Next were nearly three hundred members of the server top ranking. Unlike the world ranking, which has a million spots, the server ranking has only a thousand. Each of these fighters granted around two million experience.
If those in the top can be considered "high class" combatants, then the "mid class," a little below them, just over thirteen hundred people, granted around five hundred thousand experience each.
Normally in any army the weakest are the majority, but not here. Among the "low class" there were only about eight hundred. It made sense: the weaker you are, the less likely you would dare face someone holding the title of number one in the world. Each of them gave less than a hundred thousand experience, but together they added up to about forty million.
Altogether, the total reached that 2.4 billion… and one extra ability.
Another thing he confirmed, by comparing the two world-ranked players and then asking Kaguya, was that experience in the world ranking depends on two factors: strength and position.
Most who appear there have similar strength, hovering around the same letter grade with small variations. That's why the base experience they give is almost identical.
What truly makes the difference is rank. The higher you are, the more experience you grant, and the gap widens at the top.
For example, rank 700,000 might give only a million more than rank 750,000, but number 5 grants at least a hundred million more than number 6.
The only clear exception to the first rule is Kaito. While most are in the D to E+ range, he is at B– and also holds the first place, so the experience bonus is enormous.
With some simple calculations it was easy to see that killing Kaito at this moment would grant around 5 billion experience.
Thinking of Kaguya brought him back to an unresolved matter.
He wasn't sure how to handle her, so for now he kept her in a cell in the underground prison.
Although anyone might imagine she could escape, a Lord can control almost everything related to their Sub-Lords, and sealing their abilities is basic.
Then a notification appeared in front of him:
[Unit Koneko killed Sub-Lord Black]
[Both are directly subordinate to Lord Lucifer under the Gaia system. The Lord may decide whether a life is lost.]
Kaito checked Kaguya's loyalty information:
[Name: Lord Black
Real Name: Kaguya Shinomiya
Status: Sub-Lord
Rank: D
Lives Remaining: 2
Loyalty: 50%]
"Kaguya is still useful; don't let her lose lives," he thought.
[Sub-Lord Black does not lose a life at the Lord's request]
A moment later:
[Unit Koneko killed Sub-Lord Black]
[Both are directly subordinate to...]
"Again?" Kaito thought, repeating the order so her lives would not decrease.
[Unit Koneko…]
Kaito looked at the message with a smile.
"She must be furious."
Suddenly an idea came to him. He touched the panel before him.
[Sub-Lord Black's abilities unlocked]
"Have some fun," he murmured, letting his words fade into the air.
Ñ
---
In the underground prison, Kaguya's figure reappeared amid a burst of pixels.
When she felt her abilities return, her first instinct was not to use them but to negotiate.
She summoned her scythe and spoke in a firm voice
"Wait… look, Kaito unlocked my abilities. That clearly means he doesn't want us to fight."
Koneko ignored her. In a blink, she appeared in front of Kaguya and delivered a punch that made her spit blood. Kaguya's body bent at an unnatural angle before being hurled against the nearest wall.
The wall remained unmarked. The impact was so brutal that it killed her instantly, leaving no trace behind.
"You don't understand Kaito," Koneko said with a threatening smile to the newly respawned Kaguya, "He wants me to give you a beating… a fair one."
Before Kaguya's eyes, Koneko vanished again. An instant later, she felt herself slammed hard against the floor. She died once more.
When she revived, Kaguya no longer acted passively; this time she took the initiative.
She hurled her scythe with a dark flash.
Koneko caught it midair. She closed her fist, and the weapon shattered.
Kaguya's eyes widened in disbelief before she closed them in pain. Still, her scythe was tied to her ability, so as soon as she reappeared it materialized again.
Determined, she assumed her Shinigami form.
"Stop, I don't want to hurt you," she declared with complete confidence.
Koneko only laughed as ears and a feline tail emerged from her body.
"Try it."
Kaguya attacked, moving at an almost imperceptible speed, her body intangible.
Koneko used no flashy technique or complicated strategy. She drew her hand back; a white energy streaked with golden light wrapped around her fist as she threw a simple punch forward.
Kaguya, confident, was startled to feel that this energy could harm her. The fist passed through her body, which fully materialized before collapsing lifeless to the ground.
The reason Kaguya's Shinigami form can harm the soul is that this form is, in essence, nearly a soul itself. Only someone able to damage a soul could hurt her.
And although that form was normally an advantage, it had a weakness: touching the soul hurt more than any physical wound. To damage it was pure agony.
Kaguya respawned. The rebirth erased the pain, but not the memory. The mere memory was enough to send a cold sweat down her back. Not wanting to experience it again, she did not transform this time.
"Do you think I can't hurt you just because you use that ability?" Koneko laughed, appearing before her. A simple, crude kick killed her again.
"You don't know me," she growled, crushing Kaguya's chest with a single blow.
Kaguya died.
"And you don't know Kaito."
Kaguya died.
"You're no one to try to change him."
Kaguya died.
"I won't let you."
Kaguya died.
"Kaito is not someone you can manipulate."
Kaguya died.
"Even if Kaito had a problem…"
Kaguya died.
"I'm the one who should help him."
Kaguya died.
"Not someone like you, who just showed up."
Kaguya died.
"Wait…" Kaguya murmured weakly, "Even if you're angry… all of this makes no sense."
Koneko fell silent for a moment. Kaguya let out a small breath of relief. But the next words chilled the air.
"It's certainly boring if you die without feeling anything. And even if you do feel something, once you're dead you forget the pain." Koneko smiled, one of those smiles that make your skin crawl, as the air around her grew colder, "Or almost all of it, right?"
A freezing thought crossed Kaguya's mind: No… she couldn't, could she?
Her worst fears were confirmed instantly.
Wrapped in white energy, Koneko attacked again. The strike felt like a connection glitch: Kaguya sensed nothing on impact, but half a second later an indescribable pain tore through her. Her eyes rolled back, foam spilled from her mouth, and she collapsed.
"Soul attack…?" she asked in horror when she respawned.
Koneko gave no answer. She simply continued, again and again and again, without rest, without hesitation, nothing but pure fury.
After half an hour, though Kaguya kept reviving, her body refused to move from the pain. That only made her die faster each time, trapped in a cycle of agony.
Eventually, even alive, her consciousness was shattered, incapable of thought.
In her final lucid moments, she could only think:
'What kind of monster is she?'
{I think I never mentioned this in the narration, though I had it written down from her introduction.
Koneko's strength in her normal form is high class (the protagonist is in this range too, though his speed borders the supreme class).
In her Nekoshou form, she reaches the peak of the supreme level, comparable to someone like Grayfia, almost a Maou.
And in her Shirone form, she stands at the level of a Maou.}
[1] 2.400.000.000