Administrator's consciousness hovered on the verge of passing out, but it had not collapsed.
She knew the excruciating pain coursing through her body was not caused by some anomaly during the transfer of her Fluctlight data.
She was under attack.
It felt as though lightning were surging through every part of her body. The agony was so intense that she wanted to die immediately, yet death refused to come.
Damn you, Cardinal!
Cardinal must have left behind some hidden program.
Administrator was certain Cardinal was responsible because the attack was clearly a form of data assault that could only have come from an entity like herself.
"Wrong. Cardinal isn't the one attacking you. I am."
A playful, mocking voice rang out.
Administrator turned and discovered that another figure had appeared inside the storage space—a girl with pinkish-white hair.
At first glance, Administrator immediately recognized her as an existence similar to Cardinal.
After taking a closer look and realizing what the girl truly was, Administrator's expression changed dramatically.
She immediately attempted to escape from the vessel, only to discover that the exit had been completely sealed.
Worse, she could no longer control the vessel at all.
"Control?" the girl echoed. "Did you honestly believe you were controlling anything? We were merely playing along with you."
"Playing along with me?"
"That's right. Did you seriously think someone like you could control Lord Kain? Every operation performed by your consciousness and every command you issued was first relayed through me. Lord Kain simply cooperated by moving and speaking as you instructed. Hee-hee!"
Strea giggled as she looked at Administrator as though she were a clown.
Administrator's face twisted with rage. A moment later, she glared at Strea with boundless malice and lunged at her.
Strea responded by deactivating her function as a simulator.
The artificial environment around Administrator vanished, leaving her fully exposed within Lord Kain's soul-space—a world over which he held absolute dominion.
"Wh-What is this?!"
Administrator, who had been about to tear Strea apart, froze and cried out in bewildered terror.
Until that moment, she had occupied an enormous space whose walls, floor, and ceiling were all pure white.
Now those white surfaces were disappearing, revealing a sight beyond her comprehension.
The only way she could describe it was as an immense universe almost entirely devoid of starlight.
No—there was starlight.
She could see a rotating galaxy.
But why were those points of light drifting out of her own body?
Administrator stared blankly for a moment. Then her pupils dilated as fear began spreading through her.
Rather than standing in outer space, it felt as though she had entered the stomach of some incomprehensible monster.
And now that monster was devouring and digesting her.
Administrator desperately tried to seize the evaporating motes of light, but nothing she did had any effect.
"No! Don't devour me! Don't kill me! I'm useful! I'll do anything you want. You can have this body if you desire it!"
Administrator immediately made her clothing disappear, revealing the flawless form she had meticulously created.
She attempted to use her beauty to prove that she still possessed value.
Strangely, the disintegration stopped once she exposed herself completely.
Then a pair of eyes appeared, shining like twin stars as they gazed down at her.
Under that gaze, Administrator felt her fear increasing at an unimaginable rate.
She had already erased most of her emotions. There should have been little left capable of inspiring fear in her.
Yet the terror she now experienced was a hundred times greater than when she had come closest to death.
No—a thousand times greater.
Her fear soon began to fade, however, because those enormous eyes truly seemed to be studying her body, almost as though they had become captivated by it.
So that was all it took!
In the end, men simply could not resist the allure of a beautiful woman. They were fools controlled by their basest desires.
Their brains might as well have been filled with filth.
"My body is far more beautiful than hers, isn't it? You may do whatever you wish with me."
As Administrator spoke, she sensed the owner of those eyes displaying even stronger desire toward her.
Naturally, "her" referred to the pinkish-white-haired woman.
Strea appeared to panic when she realized the owner of the eyes had been captivated by Administrator. She began urging Kain to take her instead.
That only seemed to make the owner of the eyes impatient with Strea.
"You see? I'm far more useful than that woman. I'll obey you completely and become your docile slave. She's disobedient, and she isn't as beautiful as I am. Why not delete her?"
Administrator boldly offered her "suggestion."
The owner of the eyes appeared to consider it, causing Strea to panic even more.
A docile slave?
Administrator sneered inwardly.
Someone who could not control his own desires would be easy to manipulate. In time, it remained to be seen who would truly become the slave.
"Then what kind of torture do you think would be best for making her disappear?"
The voice shook Administrator's entire soul. She felt as though she had nearly been dispersed by its mere vibrations.
But he had truly accepted her suggestion.
Excellent.
"Fishhooks. Drive countless fishhooks into her body, then pull on all the lines at once and tear her apart."
After Administrator proposed that vicious punishment, countless fishhooks materialized throughout the surrounding space.
Terror covered Strea's face. Her legs gave way beneath her, leaving her looking as though she were about to lose control of herself.
Perfect.
Now hook that woman and tear her into—
"Huh?"
Administrator stared blankly.
The countless fishhooks suddenly flew toward her instead.
In an instant, hooks pierced every part of her body, both inside and out.
Agony beyond death tore through her, making her convulse uncontrollably.
She reached out and tried to rip the hooks free, but the pain produced by removing even one nearly made her lose consciousness.
Then she noticed that Strea was no longer afraid.
The girl was looking at her mockingly.
At that moment, Administrator finally understood.
They had been toying with her from the beginning.
They had given her hope and allowed her to believe that everything was returning to her control—only to cast her into absolute despair.
"You demo—"
Administrator's desperate scream was cut off before she could finish the word.
The hooks tore her apart instantly. Her consciousness shattered into countless particles of light that were absorbed by the surrounding space.
"Strea, help Cardinal escape from her prison."
The demon who had toyed with Administrator's mind—Kain—issued the order.
Once Strea left his soul-space, he carefully examined what he had absorbed.
Now he understood, at least to some extent, why a certain catlike creature enjoyed deceiving young girls into becoming magical girls and harvesting their emotional energy.
The "nourishment" produced when Administrator died at the absolute depths of despair was a hundred times greater than what she would have provided if she had died while experiencing ordinary emotions.
And when nourishment was that rich, it could, in a certain sense, be described as delicious.
That was probably why evil gods and demons sometimes described a person's soul as delectable.
(End of Chapter)
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