A few minutes later, a brand-new mountain of corpses piled up in the biker gang's base.
"Heehee... heehee, it's back... that monster is back..."
Before Zeroy sat the last surviving biker, slumped foolishly on the ground, muttering incoherently.
His eyes were nothing but bloody holes—he had gouged them out himself.
"Scared stupid, huh?"
Zeroy shook her head helplessly.
"Don't think playing dumb will let you escape."
She waved her hand, and a burst of hellfire engulfed him. The fool immediately shrieked in agony.
Even if he'd lost his wits, she would still burn his soul—force him to feel the pain in full.
After killing the last of them, Zeroy found a tent.
A foul stench lingered inside. Several women were tied up within, bound in place with ropes.
Their expressions were numb, eyes hollow, their bodies covered in wounds and bruises, bearing the marks of inhuman torment.
Looking at their miserable state, killing them might almost have been a mercy.
Nonetheless, Zeroy didn't.
"Patchi, heal them for me."
She called Patchouli over, who cast a healing spell to mend their injuries.
Their physical pain relieved, whether they chose death for release or to stand up and start anew would be their own decision.
"Let's go. Time to begin the purge."
From then on, Zeroy wasted no time. H.A.M.P materialized, and she moved into action.
"Oh, right, Patchi—here's a virus serum I found. See if you can use it to purify this world."
Zeroy truly disliked highly contagious viruses.
The Gastrea Virus, the zombie virus—it wasn't enough just to kill the monsters. Unless the virus was dealt with, the world could never truly start anew.
Contagion. Disgusting.
If she were to use either virus in the future to raise her own army, she would have to strip away all negative effects—and erase contagion as well.
Truth be told, if there were another way, she would rather never touch either virus at all, even if she eventually modified them until they were nothing like viruses.
"You really think I'm some omnipotent being, don't you?"
Patchouli gave her a dead-eyed look at the request.
"Just try, okay?"
With a little playful coaxing, Zeroy then gave her a sincere thumbs-up. "Anyways, seriously, Patchi, you're basically omnipotent already. Super amazing!"
"...I'll take that as a compliment."
"Of course it's a compliment!"
Zeroy said happily, hugging her tightly.
"Ever since we met, you've helped me in all sorts of ways. With you around, it feels like I have a hundred times the strength!"
"A hundred times... that's too much. I don't have that kind of power."
Patchouli turned her gaze aside calmly, but the tips of her ears flushed faintly red where none could see.
"Don't sweat the details. You've been an enormous help, Omnipotent Patchi, with your Omnipotent Magic! I can't even imagine what I'd do without you. Honestly—"
Zeroy's tone suddenly turned serious.
"Let's form a team for life."
"You're getting more and more ridiculous." Patchouli sighed helplessly. "Fine. I'll try. Though I can't guarantee success."
"That's enough. Thanks!"
"Oh, and—"
Patchouli recalled the girl named Saeko Busujima.
"In special environments, common sense is easily overturned. You'd best be careful not to treat it as an iron law."
To her eyes, Saeko clearly harbored feelings for Zeroy. And not just her—Saya Takagi, too, she suspected.
And likely more. A third, a fourth—it was only a matter of time.
Not that she judged them.
In Gensokyo, there were plenty of same-sex relationships. As a nonhuman herself, she held no belief that "only men and women can be couples." She wasn't biased.
Zeroy met Saeko and the others simply because she saved them.
Think about it: to be rescued from despair at the end of the world, in an environment where no men remained, who would be the most attractive, most exceptional among them? Zeroy, of course. And she was also their savior.
So even girls with otherwise normal orientations developing feelings for Zeroy—it was natural.
However, Zeroy herself probably hadn't realized. To her, they were just friends. Meanwhile, she was being taken advantage of without even knowing.
Tch...
"...?"
Zeroy blinked in confusion.
What was that about? Why bring it up out of nowhere? Where did that come from?
Patchouli had spoken too vaguely. Zeroy didn't even think of Saeko, or of relationships at all.
Her words could apply to almost anything, especially when delivered with such seriousness.
"Patchi, promise me—don't turn into a riddle-spouter, okay?"
Zeroy placed her hands firmly on Patchouli's shoulders.
"..."
Patchouli frowned.
Albeit for reasons of her own, she chose not to mention Saeko after all.
"Nothing special. Just a piece of uncommon sense from our world. Just remember it—when facing things, think more, observe more."
"Got it."
Just then, H.A.M.P alerted Zeroy to a large number of biological signatures.
During their conversation, they had already reached a city. Along the way, H.A.M.P had automatically detected and eliminated zombies in the wilderness. Zeroy only needed to intervene when humans were found, to judge good from evil herself.
Zeroy piloted H.A.M.P to the city center, her detection radar sweeping across the whole area.
It showed nearly 3,000 survivors remained.
Together, she and Patchouli cast magic. In under two minutes, all survivors were gathered and relocated to safety.
Then Patchouli disappeared into H.A.M.P, her task being to quiet and settle the survivors.
Inside H.A.M.P, Zeroy confirmed there were no main corporate branches here—the data in minor branches she couldn't be bothered to collect. Only the major ones mattered.
"Commence Scorched-Earth Operation. Begin saturation bombing!"
...
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