So cold.
She curled into herself as tightly as possible, trying to preserve what little warmth remained in her body.
Suddenly, someone lifted her up. Before she could even open her eyes, she felt something force its way between her lips.
Something had been shoved into her mouth.
She opened her eyes in a daze, and her thoughts gradually cleared.
"Mmph! Mmm!"
"Stop whining and swallow!"
She had no idea what had been stuffed into her mouth, but it was clearly some kind of thick liquid. Her instincts made her resist swallowing it, yet the other person continued forcing it into her mouth until she had no choice.
"Don't you dare spit it out. This stuff is incredibly rare. Honestly, I didn't want to waste it on you, but if this went on any longer, you would've died. Then who would I collect my money from?"
The person forcibly pouring the liquid down her throat spoke without the slightest concern for her wishes.
Shiba Miori tried to lower her gaze. The object between her lips was a tiny bottle filled with a white liquid that looked disturbingly similar to something else.
"Mmph?!"
Her eyes widened as she clearly felt her body changing.
Until a moment ago, she had been numb, aching, and utterly miserable. Her body had felt as though it were on the verge of death, but now it was rapidly recovering.
"Hmph. Now you understand how good this stuff is, don't you? Don't waste any. Lick the bottle clean."
Tendo Kisara released her hand, leaving the bottle caught between Miori's lips.
"What is this?"
"A man's **."
Kisara uttered those dreadful words without the slightest hint of embarrassment.
Of course, it was actually a panacea. She never would have used something so precious if this woman hadn't been on the verge of death.
"Fine. Don't tell me."
Miori intended to take the bottle back with her and analyze the residue inside.
She wasn't worried that Kisara might try to harm her. Her instincts also told her that this liquid was extraordinary. It was undoubtedly another treasure Kisara had obtained from some unknown source.
"By the way, why does my face feel swollen?"
"How should I know?"
Kisara lied without batting an eye, even though a clearly visible handprint remained on Miori's face.
"You slapped me to wake me up, didn't you?"
"No."
"Hmph!"
Miori snorted. That was definitely what had happened.
She stopped arguing with that insufferable woman and looked around.
Corpses covered the ground.
The surrounding forest was frighteningly quiet, almost as though every Gastrea had been wiped from the face of the world.
"Let's go."
"Where?"
Kisara ignored her, so Miori could only purse her lips and follow.
They hurried onward for several miles, and the expression on Miori's delicate face grew increasingly incredulous.
Gastrea corpses were scattered everywhere along their path, most of them ranging from Stage One to Stage Three.
There were even a few Stage Fours, though none were Named Stage Fours.
Named Stage Fours were exceptional creatures that far surpassed the normal standards of their stage. Most had survived the catastrophe ten years ago and served as the right hands of the Stage Fives. In a sense, they already had one foot inside Stage Five.
Before losing consciousness, Miori had seen an abnormally powerful Stage Four.
Where was it?
Hm?!
Kisara suddenly stopped.
Miori stepped up beside her and followed her astonished gaze. What she saw was an even more shocking field of mangled flesh.
Those pieces could not have come from numerous individual Gastrea. They had all belonged to a single creature.
The enormous skeleton before them made that perfectly obvious.
One phrase immediately surfaced in Miori's mind: the legendary butcher who carved up an ox with perfect precision.
Looking closely, the pieces of flesh did not appear completely dead.
The weapon that had cut the creature apart must have contained Varanium, which could interfere with a Gastrea's ability to heal.
If the flesh hadn't been chopped into such small pieces, it might have truly come back to life. The separate parts could have gathered together and resurrected the creature.
Of course, "small" was a relative term. Every piece was nearly half the size of Miori's body.
This Stage Four had to be the creature she had seen before losing consciousness.
She surveyed the surroundings again.
Everything remained deathly quiet.
Had every Gastrea within several miles been slaughtered?
Judging by the trail of destruction, only one person had done all this.
That was incredible.
The man's combat ability had to be at least comparable to the monsters ranked among the top fifty by the International Initiator Supervision Organization, or IISO.
"Kisara, where did you find such powerful reinforcements?"
He had undoubtedly come because of Kisara. Most of the extraordinary equipment in her possession had probably come from him as well.
"Powerful reinforcements?" Kisara replied with a smile. "The man I brought here might not be our savior at all. He might end up playing with this world until he breaks it, or simply destroying it."
There was no warmth in her smile. It was cold to the core.
As for the man himself, he had moved away from their position after confirming that Kisara had awakened. Apparently, he was now treating the Gastrea like enemies in a game, slaughtering them in enormous numbers as if testing his limits and aiming for the highest possible score.
"Playing with the world until it breaks? Destroying it? Is he really that powerful?"
Miori answered with a smile of her own.
The two women stared silently at each other until Miori's expression gradually stiffened.
Kisara's smile resembled that of a demon from hell.
She wasn't lying.
It was almost as though Kisara had struck a bargain with a demon to accomplish some hidden objective, summoning a monster capable of destroying the world from the depths of hell.
"Do you really intend to destroy this world?"
"Honestly, do you think a diseased world like this deserves to keep existing?"
"Yes, because people like Sumire, Satomi, and the Seitenshi still exist."
"Hmph!"
Kisara's cold snort allowed Miori to relax slightly.
Having dealt with Kisara for so long, Miori knew that bottomless darkness lurked within the other woman's heart.
That darkness had been born from the deaths of Kisara's parents.
For the sake of revenge, she was willing to use any means necessary, perhaps even destroy the entire world.
Yet the existence of people like those Miori had named was precisely what kept Kisara from surrendering herself completely to the darkness.
A droning buzz filled the air, producing a deeply unpleasant sound.
Miori immediately turned around and frowned at a swarm of what appeared to be Stage One Gastrea in the sky.
How troublesome.
Flying Gastrea were difficult to handle.
The moment they spotted the two women, they accelerated and dove toward them.
Then, halfway through their dive, they abruptly changed direction.
The Gastrea seemed almost panicked as they turned and fled.
What was happening?
Realizing something, Miori turned back toward the dissected Stage Four. Her gaze traveled beyond it and into the darkness deeper within the forest.
Was something approaching that frightened the Gastrea enough to flee?
There!
Something emerged from the forest and stepped into the moonlight.
A human silhouette.
There was no mistaking him. He was the man Miori had seen just before losing consciousness.
He was walking toward them.
Had his presence frightened those Gastrea away?
Could Gastrea even feel fear?
As if sensing her gaze, the man looked back at her across the distance.
Miori felt as though his stare possessed physical weight. It crashed into her and pressed down so heavily that she barely dared to breathe.
It felt as though she were staring into the abyss, only to discover that the abyss was staring back.
Kisara might truly have been telling the truth.
She had brought someone into this world who might actually be capable of destroying it.
(End of Chapter)
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