Chapter 35

Episode 35: A Beautiful Girl Can Make It In Time For Any Tragedy

When Rinka next awoke, she found herself in hell.

An endless sea of flames stretched to the edges of her vision.

The burnt corpses of people were twisted and curled in on themselves from the heat.

There was much death there.

“…What is this?”

Attempting to move her body, Rinka instead saw a massive tentacle moving in the corner of her vision.

It swung carelessly, destroying amusement park structures with ease.

“No! I can’t!”

Sweeping through the area and clearing away the bodies of people, the tentacle finally stopped.

At the same time, she understood.

This was the body of the Ouroboros created by Silver Twilight.

She had become the Ouroboros.

“I remember now.”

It was a memory of defeat.

Her resolve as a girl seemed meaningless in the face of it, a memory of despair that mocked her.

“I lost to the professor… and then…”

Pushed forward by a mysterious girl, Rinka returned to the professor, prepared to kill him even if it meant dying herself.

But it didn’t come to that.

To the entity known as the professor, Rinka’s betrayal was an insignificant variable unworthy of consideration.

“That’s right, Tourak and the others!”

Every movement Rinka made caused the tentacles to destroy their surroundings, but she had no time to worry about that now.

“If what the professor said is true, Tourak and the others must be coming after me… they were here.”

Searching with the eyes of a monster, Rinka spotted Tourak and Mihaya.

They appeared much smaller than her now, each holding their weapons and looking at her. There was no kindness for comrades in their eyes.

“…I see. So, I’ve become a monster.”

Because she was part of the organization, Rinka understood what she must look like now. The dungeon had already consumed her human form, transforming her into a monster.

Still, Rinka faced forward.

“What I want to do…!”

The Ouroboros was originally a backup plan for the Demon’s Gear project, designed to counter the impending calamity. Rinka knew that its artificial god-like body could be controlled to some extent.

Thus, Rinka hesitated not a moment.

“To master this body and let myself be killed without causing any more harm!”

Allowing herself to be killed by Tourak and the others.

This answer, something far too tragic and selfless to simply be what the girl wanted to do, was the most appropriate solution under the circumstances.

■

“―Tourak, its movements have suddenly slowed,” Lutra, armed and ready, informed Tourak.

As she said, the Ouroboros’ movements had become sluggish compared to before.

The tentacles that emerged from the shadows were still active, but the Ouroboros itself, after swinging its massive tentacles once, had ceased all motion.

“Did something happen?” Mihaya asked, firing shots at the tentacles emerging from the shadows.

“I don’t know. All we know is that this thing was in the underground lab,” Lutra replied.

“That professor guy should’ve been chased down and killed. He seemed to know where Rinka was,” Mihaya added, recalling the middle-aged man they had encountered.

The senior member of Silver Twilight had seemed suspicious and had escaped with a mocking laugh, proving his capabilities by successfully fleeing even in the presence of a Demon’s Gear contractor.

“Rinka, please be safe…!” Tourak could only hope upon seeing the grim scene before him. He prayed that his friend wasn’t among the many bodies scattered on the ground.

“Anyway, she wasn’t in the lab. Maybe she managed to escape already,” Mihaya offered, sensing Tourak’s anxiety. Though it was only a small comfort, it was better than nothing.

“Yeah… probably,” Tourak agreed.

Having infiltrated the underground lab in search of Rinka, Tourak and the others could consider their mission accomplished in a way.

But one concern lingered.

Had they failed to realize that the monstrous creature before them was what remained of Rinka?

“Let’s quickly take down this beast and find Rinka,” Mihaya suggested.

“Yeah, let’s go, Lutra,” Tourak responded, and Lutra nodded.

With the attack of the tentacles, Tourak and Mihaya charged forward again, dodging, slashing, and shooting.

Though the regeneration abilities were untouchable with normal attacks, Lutra’s power allowed for limited suppression. Moreover, the Ouroboros’ attacks were lackluster, giving them the upper hand.

(Strange. Its movements have changed suddenly. It’s almost as if it’s letting us cut it…)

It reminded him of how his old swordsmanship teacher would deliberately lose to him. A clear sense of wrongness, gleaned from experience in discerning strength, existed between observation and actual action. But there was no time to ponder why.

“…Is this our chance?”

“Lutra, I’m ready whenever you are.”

Lutra amplified her power in response to her wielder, a source of raw magical energy before it takes form. Its essence was an interference that severed all concepts.

“Miha, step back.”

“Got it.”

Mihaya nodded and leaped backward, while simultaneously Tourak took a stance with Lutra transformed into a white blade, ready for iaido combat.

“Hmm―――”

With deep breathing as the starting point, Tourak’s consciousness merged with Lutra’s. At that moment, Tourak and Lutra became one, wielding a perfect single blade despite being two entities.

“!”

A strike faster than the speed of sound.

The culmination of inherited and honed swordsmanship techniques combined with the pinnacle of modern supernatural abilities, represented by the Demon’s Gear, creating theoretically the fastest and strongest blow possible.

The slash, imbued with the concept of cutting, shot forth like an arrow. The white flash headed toward the Ouroboros.

Numerous tentacles sprang forth from the shadows to shield it, but they were all torn apart. The slash reached the main body in less than a second.

And yet, in front of the Ouroboros…

“Haha, impressive!”

Laughing innocently, it spread its tentacles as if welcoming the attack, knowing full well that it would be split apart but offering no resistance.

“Thank you for giving me a place to belong.”

Words spoken by Rinka who had abandoned her human form were beyond comprehension. Instead, a harsh, ear-piercing roar echoed throughout the park, signifying something undeniably monstrous.

The slash approached it.

And then…

“―How foolish.”

The pristine slash was crushed from above.

A silver light descended from the sky.

Like a meteor whose brilliance never faded as it fell to earth, shining and impacting with force.

“Wh-what is this?!”

Silver light enveloped the area. When Tourak opened his eyes again, the Ouroboros stood unscathed before him.

“Our attack was blocked…?” Tourak wondered aloud.

“Tourak, above!” Lutra’s urgent voice prompted him to look up.

There stood a girl.

Her azure-silver hair fluttered in the wind, her fairytale-like attire contrasting with the immense scythe that was blackest against the night sky.

And centered around her, a colossal magic circle expanded across the sky, glowing with a violet-blue light that covered the entire amusement park—a magic circle unlike anything they’d ever seen.

“Solciera,” Mihaya called out beside him.

Ah, yes, she was called that, Tourak recalled dazedly. In his hands, the pristine blade trembled.

“Tourak, we must flee. We cannot fight her. She is stronger than anything in my data. She… she is our nemesis,” Lutra warned urgently.

“Sister…?”

Before Tourak could question further, a silver light arrived before them, allowing no time for evasion. It instantly gouged and melted the ground before them. The asphalt bubbled and sizzled from the intense heat.

Tourak understood.

If that had hit them, death would have been unavoidable. This was a warning. It was intentionally missed.

“You must not make the wrong choice,” Solciera declared solemnly, pointing the tip of her scythe at Tourak.

“This is the selection of the stars.”