"Well, well, no way. Aren't you two super beauties? And me, Lord Shura, lucky enough to meet both at once oh? A little girl too?"
Zeroy and Patchouli hadn't moved yet, when the wild-dressed man leading them—Minister's son, Syura—started shouting frivolously.
His twisted smile made clear: the instant he saw Zeroy and Patchouli, he marked them as prey.
"Don't you two interfere. If you hurt their faces, don't blame me for turning against you—"
Before he finished, a blade flashed. Syura's arm flew.
"...?"
The manic grin froze. He hadn't even reacted.
Two seconds later, agony like a volcano erupted from his stump, shattering his mind.
"Ah... aaaaaah! My hand!"
"What are you babbling? A dead pest like you deserves screen time?"
Another flash. His other hand was severed.
Only then did the others see—the golden-haired girl had struck.
After the first shock, the other two calmed quickly. Except Syura, now handless.
The ronin Izou took a deep breath. Watching Zeroy, his cold face revealed excitement.
"Ah... what swordsmanship. With your blood to christen my Yukino—"
He didn't finish. Zeroy glanced, and her blade severed his gripping hand.
"I wasn't talking to you, was I?"
She glanced, then turned to the last—Shanpu, the clownish brute.
Though unstable, often seeming deranged, he now understood the gulf between them. He raised his hands, trembling, forcing a harmless smile.
"Silence won't save you."
Her blade cut off his knees.
Three screams tore through the forest.
"How dare you! How dare you hurt me?! I'll kill you! My father is a Minister! I'll have you caught, tortured to death—aaagh!!"
Before he finished, another scream. His foot was gone.
"So that's why you looked familiar—you're the Minister's little pest."
Zeroy's cold face curved in a smile.
When the nobles were executed, Patchouli had projected their memories for the masses. Among them was the Minister—Zeroy had seen his son.
She had thought to find him then, to send him after his father.
However, in the flood of pests, she had forgotten him. Her purge would never leave any fish behind anyway.
And here he was, delivering himself. Fortunate.
"Good thing you didn't die nameless in some ditch."
Mood +1.
"Patchi, give me Yatsufusa."
[March of the Dead · Yatsufusa]. Zeroy had already found it.
Now she would use it to trap his soul for slow torment.
Not because he was the Minister's son, but because of his evil karma. Both Swift Death to Evil and Hellfire had judged him harshly. Especially Syura—so young, yet his evil almost rivaled his dead dog father's.
Let him die easy? No chance.
With three limbs gone, death's fear cut through his rage and pain. He thought first to escape with his Imperial Arm.
His [Dimensional Formation · Shangri-La] could teleport instantly.
Nonetheless, then despair: his Arm was in his hand, but his hand was gone.
That was why Zeroy had severed it first—she'd felt the power still on it.
So she had cut without hesitation.
Syura panicked, searching—and found the hand ten meters away.
Normally, two steps. Anyhow, now, missing three limbs...
"No... I don't want to die! I can't! I still have women left—"
He writhed, dragging his body, leaving a trail of blood.
Zeroy, holding Yatsufusa, watched calmly. Stronger pests were always more entertaining.
A normal man, three limbs severed, would be dead. Yet, Syura clung to life, even slowing his blood loss by some skill.
She did not stop him.
She watched him crawl, finally reaching the hand, a bloody trail behind.
"...!"
Hope lit his eyes. Why hadn't she stopped him? He didn't care. All that mattered was the hand.
If he could just reach it...
He raised his stump, stretching toward it. Touch it, and Shangri-La would send him away. Back to the Empire, he'd have time and power for revenge!
Abruptly, as he reached—steel sang. Wind cut. His stump shortened.
"—!"
He blinked, then crawled again, stretching.
Wind cut again. Shorter still.
"No... no... NO!!!"
Madness took him. Ignoring pain, he kept reaching.
Nevertheless, each time, just before, the stump was cut shorter again.
At last, he saw the truth. He turned, despair flooding his tear-streaked face, staring at the golden girl.
"Why..."
...
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