Aside from Imperial Arms, Zeroy also left behind divine idols, teaching the children to grow stronger through them.
The method was simple: in her absence, they only needed to keep carrying out her will.
Punish evil, protect the good, slay pests, and save the innocent who suffer.
In any case, besides arranging things for the little ones, Zeroy had something else to do.
She and Patchouli had spent half a month collecting materials.
Not long, though not short either. It was about time to check if any new pests had appeared.
And since she was about to leave—at least for a month—she naturally ought to do one last round of cleaning before departing.
Besides, her [Hell Prototype] was in need of nourishment.
At the moment, the [Hell Prototype] only had one function: storing souls. Its capacity wasn't large, only about one thousand.
Compared to the effect of Yatsufusa, that was a huge improvement—even so, for Zeroy, it still wasn't enough.
A few swings at some pests would fill it to the brim.
Before, lacking a way to store large numbers of souls, Zeroy could only settle for tormenting pests for a while before erasing them completely.
Now that she had a method, if she let pests off simply because the capacity wasn't enough, she would be utterly frustrated.
Letting them go before receiving a gift, then still letting them go after receiving it—wouldn't that make the gift meaningless?
That would betray Patchi's goodwill.
Absolutely unacceptable!
So Zeroy was eager to harvest pests' souls to feed her Little Hell.
Ideally, there would be pests around—albeit, not too many. Enough to feed Little Hell without overwhelming it.
As it happened, the world of Akame ga Kill fit the conditions perfectly.
Still, her feelings about it were complicated. She wasn't happy about pests appearing just because they could feed Little Hell—
"I don't understand. Why must you pests exist? It hasn't even been that long, and here you are again?"
Zeroy looked with disgust at the man collapsed on the ground.
"I-I was just momentarily blinded… Please, spare me… I beg you…"
"Tch."
Zeroy's reply was the flash of her blade, slicing him finely into mince.
At once, the black ring of Little Hell manifested above her, its dark radiance pulling the man's soul inside.
So even though she could now feed Little Hell, Zeroy still hated seeing new pests emerge.
Fortunately, after screening humanity again, the number of new pests hadn't exceeded Little Hell's current limit—just over seven hundred.
Barely 0.01% of the population.
So few, in fact, that Zeroy abandoned the idea of creating a new wonder or escalating her intimidation.
After devouring more than seven hundred souls, Little Hell immediately began to grow.
Souls themselves, their emotions, and even the karmic debts they carried—all served as nourishment.
In theory, every soul entering Little Hell would be fully digested, consumed down to nothing.
That said, Zeroy could control the intensity—like sucking on a candy. The candy dissolves until nearly gone, but when only a trace remains, Zeroy chose to stop.
She let Little Hell consume the excess, leaving souls barely intact, with just enough form and consciousness to remain.
This approach also favored long-term growth.
Little Hell didn't only need the souls themselves. The emotions they radiated also served as food. While weaker in quality and quantity than the souls, emotions could be harvested repeatedly.
…
"So, why did Patchi suddenly prepare this surprise gift for me?"
Back in the Main God Space, before starting their next mission, Zeroy and Patchouli were sorting through their spoils.
Mainly, they had spread her faith and gathered many Imperial Arms from the Akame ga Kill world.
Though Zeroy found most of them useless, some were valuable.
For example, the ice-controlling Essence of the Demon God, and other elemental-control Arms—they were all quite practical.
Take the water-controlling [Dragon Possession]. It even touched on conceptual power—not only water, but also blood could be controlled.
Zeroy could even use it to form a river of blood, an extension of her will.
She had to admit: while the humans of that world were weak, thanks to the Danger Beasts, it had much to offer.
Though she had handed those Arms to Esdeath and the others, what she gave were actually Patchouli's replicas.
The Empire's technique for forging Arms had been lost for centuries.
Nonetheless, with her vast knowledge and mastery of alchemy, Patchouli had unraveled the secrets of their creation and replication.
They had also hunted plenty of rare materials. Naturally, everything needed to be catalogued.
And during that process, Zeroy couldn't hold back her curiosity.
"No special reason. While making something I wanted, I happened to have inspiration. So I also made something you wanted." Patchouli replied.
"Something you wanted? What was that?"
"…"
Patchouli produced a set of fangs.
"Drinking others' blood to temporarily strengthen oneself. The effect even works on the curse in my bloodline."
"Uh…"
Zeroy blinked at the vampire-like dentures, her expression growing a bit strange, tinged with unease and distaste.
"That Imperial Arm had such a strong effect? But… this was already used by someone else, wasn't it?"
Even disinfected, it still felt gross.
After all, it was basically a pair of dentures. Hardly the sort of thing that should be shared.
"What are you thinking?"
Patchouli gave her a deadpan look, then pulled out another set.
"This is the one we seized. And no, it wasn't powerful enough to counter my curse. I just used it as a reference to craft a new magical tool."
"I see… that's a relief."
Zeroy let out a sigh.
Patchouli herself might not care, but she sure did!
"…"
Quietly, Patchouli noted Zeroy's reaction, a faint smile tugging at her lips where Zeroy couldn't see.
"By the way, I haven't tested this tool yet. So—let me take a bite and try it out?"
...
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