[Ding—]
[The Sixth Sequence "Seat of Evil" has been defeated by you.]
[Congratulations, you have obtained a spoils reward — Tattered Fishnet Stocking.]
[Congratulations, you have obtained a spoils reward — The Godmother's Handwritten Letters.]
[Tattered Fishnet Stocking: A ruined fishnet stocking, only one of the pair.]
[It was the little secret hidden beneath the Rebellious Throne's heavy armor, and it witnessed her pain and her struggle.]
[The Godmother's Handwritten Letters: Letters Kirishika wrote in her occasional lucid moments after leaving the "Holy Royal Court," sealed away in the past.]
[Delivering them to the "Holy Royal Court" may earn a substantial renown reward.]
[Congratulations, you have unlocked an achievement — Throne Rider.]
[Congratulations, you have unlocked an achievement — Abyss Knight.]
[Your ability "Hand of Paradox" has gained experience.]
[Level.24 "Hand of Paradox" - Level.30 "Hand of Paradox"]
[Part.5 - "The Flowers of Evil" fully complete.]
[Congratulations, you have obtained a quest reward: Ten-Pull Search Voucher.]
[Congratulations, you have obtained a quest reward: Tempering Medal.]
[Tempering Medal: A handmade medal, rather crude in appearance. A somewhat blurred name has been stamped into its reverse side.]
[Tsukimisato...]
[—Some merits and honors need no outsider's approval.]
Yuzu, recovered now, listened to the Nano-machines' feminine voice chiming away in her ear, ding after ding after ding.
After successfully devouring the "Seat of Evil," she seemed to have come into a mountain of rewards all at once.
She was even... a little too full.
Back when she'd eaten Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi, it had taken so many mouthfuls.
And in the end it had felt like nothing at all, barely enough to catch between her teeth.
Like a few licks of sugar water.
But... Su Yuzu lowered her head and looked at the frail, slender bare figure curled up in her arms.
The Sixth Sequence "Seat of Evil" had left her nearly stuffed.
The level of "Hand of Paradox" had been dragged bodily upward until it sat infinitesimally short of the Third Sequence.
And the overflow experience had been converted into a heap of "Advanced Combat Records" as compensation.
Though—
For Su Yuzu, Combat Records were the sort of thing where, once she had the first one, she could draw an endless supply out of girls.
Every girl was, to Su Yuzu, a walking "Combat Record Production Princess."
It was just... Su Yuzu studied the pale pink, gilt-edged letter between her fingers.
It looked exactly like a carefully sealed Valentine's Day confession envelope.
A doubt surfaced in her: could the little rabbit and the others actually survive this?
The "Intermediate Combat Records" alone had been enough to strip a Saintess tempered by years of hardship of her armor and leave her sobbing.
Judging by the Sequences, these ought to be Combat Records meant for Third Sequence Espers... and the girls didn't even have the Third Sequence yet. Some of them might only be First Sequence.
Wouldn't this be an outright massacre?
But how did the saying go?
Only by swallowing the bitterest of bitterness does one rise above other people.
Besides, this wasn't bitterness at all. This was a letter of pure bliss.
Hiss... The more she thought about it, the stranger Su Yuzu's expression grew as she looked at the "Advanced Combat Records" between her fingers.
Whatever.
She'd slip one to Soga Yura later and find out what it did.
See how good she was to Soga Yura?
Whenever something nice turned up, Soga Yura was the first name that came to mind.
A pity... Sister Mai had already had her Combat Record for the day. Otherwise, with Sister Mai's constitution, she'd have made the best test subject.
Oh, right.
She still had Teacher Chiyo.
When Teacher Chiyo had taken the "Intermediate Combat Records," she'd barely reacted at all.
Only the corners of her eyes had tilted up a fraction, a lovely flush of scarlet rising there.
She wondered whether the "Advanced Combat Records" could break through Teacher Chiyo's defenses.
Unfortunately... Su Yuzu hadn't obtained a "Third Sequence Promotion Emblem."
Though—
For Su Yuzu, stepping over the shackles between Sequences wasn't difficult in the slightest.
But... Su Yuzu understood something perfectly well.
Once she broke through to the Third Sequence for real, the "Third Sequence Promotion Emblem" would probably stop appearing in her quest rewards altogether.
She needed that thing.
Little Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi, who had undergone Aberration and then returned once more from the Abyss, needed that thing.
Su Yuzu might look excessively wicked at times, but she treated the girls around her very well.
Attentively, even. Down to the smallest detail.
Little things like the little cat preferring apples over strawberries — Su Yuzu had worked that out while holding the little cat in her arms, feeling the rise and fall of that soft body as the little cat licked the sweets from her palm.
Though Su Yuzu also used that keen perception of hers to tease girls until they wanted to cry and were too flustered to dare, until they sat trembling and obedient at her side, watching the crowds pass by and pressing their lips together in silence.
She carried the "Seat of Evil" across her arms.
Su Yuzu pulled a coat out of her Material Inventory at random and wrapped the "Seat of Evil" in it.
She walked out over the fine ripples.
Silver ripples spread with each step the girl took, opening outward through the silence of the long night.
In the distance—
A woman sat on a fishing boat with her arms braced on her knees, watching Su Yuzu in silence. Watching... the "Seat of Evil" in Su Yuzu's arms.
She covered her right ear with one hand.
A faint blue glow leaked out from between her fingers.
That was the shimmer of a memory module at work. She had carefully wound light-blocking tape around it as well, to hide it.
Su Yuzu turned her head.
She had the sense that someone was watching her, but when she looked, the sea — lit by a red sun sinking toward its own dusk — held no trace of a living soul.
Only a few broken fishing boats and speedboats, drifting alone on the water.
The woman pressed herself low, holding that yoga-like posture, her breathing thinned down until it was inaudible.
She didn't dare lift her head.
Not until Su Yuzu had been gone an hour... two hours... did she finally dare to push her stiffened body upright.
Yuzu-hime's senses... or rather, her instincts.
"Far sharper than anyone imagines."
Su Yuzu carried the "Seat of Evil" back to shore.
Her expression turned odd when she saw Kirishika gathered up in her own sister's arms. Kirishika had only been there to watch the show, and yet somehow she wore a look about as pitiful as the "Seat of Evil" in Su Yuzu's arms.
Mm... it looked exactly like the face Sister Mai made after being thoroughly bullied.
Kirishika looked at Yuzu and at the "Seat of Evil," wounded and conflicted all at once.
Her lips parted like she wanted to say something, but after struggling with it for a long while, nothing came out at all.
Still... she looked at the "Seat of Evil" in Su Yuzu's arms, seemingly drained of every last scrap of power.
As though returned to the state she'd been in before she fled to the "Holy Royal Court" — no power, and none of the troubles that came with it.
How absurd.
So rebellious a "Seat of Evil," reduced back to the shape of an ordinary person.
While she herself, an alluring fantasy, a hollow shell, still wore the skin of an Aberrant.
But... if you asked Kirishika to go through it again, to have her power eaten by Yuzu in person—
She — well, it wasn't that she'd refuse, exactly. It was just... she'd need a moment first.
Just then—
The voices of the instructors from the base came calling from the distance.
Su Yuzu looked at Unohana Chiyo at the head of the group, and a sense of foreboding rose in her.
Where was Tsukiyomi-senpai?
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