Chapter 25 (1/2)

Volume 1

Chapter 28: And Then, It Made The Sound Of Breaking

Yumis was staring daggers at me from her position, still prone on the ground . But since I’d smashed her ankles, she wasn’t going anywhere .

“Urgh, ah, you seem to take great pleasure in beating a downed, defenseless woman, Hero . I expect no less from a twisted man who lusts for the demon lord-DHH!!”

“Oh, so you get it . That’s right, Leticia was a fine girl . And an ugly bitch like you don’t get to speak of her with that filthy mouth . ”

I downed a potion to recover some MP while jostling Yumis’ wounds with my sword . Then I healed those wounds and proceeded to make new ones . Once my MP got low, I’d repeat this .

Yumis, whose family was related to the country’s defense, was a member of high noble society and had trained in skills to mute pain and the like . I couldn’t expect much reaction from her like this, but in a way, it was better that she was able to take this punishment relatively unfazed .

Any normal person without these pain muters would’ve no doubt had their minds broken from the sheer agony, begging me to kill them already .

That aside, thanks to her resistances, I could enjoy a slice of fun .

So I killed time repeating this for a while . But I did try to keep the taste test to a minimum so as to not ruin the meal .

Minnalis still had some work to do in preparation, and Shuria, I wonder if she enjoyed herself enough? I was thinking about this and that and decided to contact them .

“Minnalis, Shuria, I’m just about done here . How’re things on your end?”

I used the skill, Soul Speak .

I made use of the same method I once used when transferring the information from Mouse No . 1 to Minnalis, a communication path using the link provided by the 【Holy Sword of Vengeance] .

Though apparently it becomes useless across long distances, it was much better than any ordinary communications magic item from the fact that it was impossible to intercept .

“Copy that, this is Minnalis . I have around half of half of the task left to do, apologies for the delay, goshujin-sama . ”

“No, don’t worry about that . Actually, I’d be surprised if you were done so fast . I know you won’t slack on the job, but I worry you’re forcing yourself . ”

And what’s up with ‘half of half of’ .

No well, she’s so smart, I sometimes forget that she was originally a normal village girl, so it’s not hard to imagine her being unable to do proper math . I should set aside some time to teach her .

“How about you, Shuria?”

“Okey-dokey on my end, I was actually getting a little bored of playing with them just now . ”

“Sounds perfect, you should come over here then . I bet you’ll enjoy the toy here a lot more than the ones there . ”

“!!! Thanksies!!”

As soon as I heard her delighted reply, a blue magic circle blipped into existence over a part of the battlefield now desecrated from my fight with Yumis .

“That’s, isn’t that light from one of our teleport gems?”

“Yeah, thought we might as well help ourselves, you know?”

Teleport gems were as the name implied, stones that allowed for instant transportation .

They didn’t expend the user’s mana like my soulblades, but had demerits such as limitations on the capacity, on distance to travel and on the activation time .

These gems were also rare and expensive, but nobles still kept a number of them so that they’d have a means to escape dire situations .

Then, after the teleportation circle let off a bright dazzle of light, Shuria was there, smiling ear to ear . She’d brought along her Kitty-san and Teddy-san, and around 20 people, men and women, young and old, all in their night wear .

The people other than Shuria were all individuals hired by Yumis personally, people who she trusted, and people who respected her . All of them had faces distorted in pain .

“Oi oi, I did tell you to play, but that’s going overboard . ”

“Eh~ I believed this much was alright . What I did simply amounted to breaking off some of their fingers, having an ear or an eyelid bitten off, ripping out some hair here and there, not too much . I made sure to not do anything that could kill them so I think I’m safe . ”

It’s a bit past safe I think .

Though on closer inspection, I could see that they wouldn’t die from that state, and none of them look broken as of yet .

“And look here, Kaito-sama, you got your little fill of Yumis nee-sama yourself . ”

“Well, that uhm, the fight was over really fast as we’d expected right? And It’s pretty boring just waiting here by myself . ”

That right there was me pigeonholing myself, a special skill of the Japanese .

“That aside, Yumis nee-sama, you look very good like that . I’m amazed how well ‘sprawled in the mud’ suits you . ”

“Shuria… You even dare, involve the servants…”

Yumis glared at the dark little girl, while Shuria simply smiled devilishly .

“Ok then, we’ll be starting now, Yumis . The first event today is: ‘Number 1, who can beat the snot out of Yumis!! No second chances, alright?’ . Everyone, applause!!”

“Clap clap clapsies!!”

It was like a kindergarten sports event was starting, we clapped our hands dumbly and intentionally .

“Come now you maggots, can’t you see the music has started?”

“AIEE!!” x 3

Shuria commanded, Teddy laughed, and Kitty clanged its fork and knife .

“No, please no more, don’t eat my ears!!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please, I will shave off all my hair, I’ll do anything, so please don’t pull off the skin!!”

Their voices were filled to the brim with terror .

“You over there, aren’t you the head butler . You should be an example to the others, show them what they must do . ”

Following Shuria’s ice cold gaze, I could see she was looking at a man who had had all the hair on the right half of his head torn off . The skin in his scalp had bled and coagulated, darkened blood covered his pale blue face, making him look like a caricature out of a horror story .

He looked to have been played with the worst of the bunch . He was using his right hand to hold down his left, which was missing its index, ring and pinky fingers with the wounds cauterized .

“Aiee! My deepest apologies! My apologies for being trash, my apologies for being swine, my apologies for being a filthy maggot!!”

The man was trembling violently, like he was begging for his life, but managed to stand up with his convulsing expression .

“What, did you not understand me? Every fucking one of you maggots, get ready to work now, or else . ”

“!!!” x 3

Stared down by the intense crimson eyes of the laughing girl, the other servants also stood up .

“Here Yumis, this is how you are to them . ”

“Guh, ahh!!”

I grabbed Yumis by the arm and dragged her in front of her servants .

“My, apologies, Yumis-sama . ”

“What do… GAH!?”

The head butler, now fully under the spell of fear and trepidation, took his own feet and stomped down on Yumis’ back .

And learning from their leader, the rest of them quickly followed suit .

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!! I just don’t want to die!! I have a little sister, sick in bed!!”

“I, I’m doing this to protect my family!! Ahh, please forgive me Yumis-sama, please forgive me!!”

“GAH, Uph, GUH!!”

Under the many voices of apology along with the equally many feet trampling her, Yumis’ body was digging into the earth .

“Kukuh, AHAHAHAHAHA!! How’s the feeling of having your loyal servants muddy feet stomping your back? You’re soo pitiful, AHAHAHAHA!!”

“It’s like flies gathering on garbage . Ah, that won’t do, they’re the same as before!”

Of course, compared to these low leveled servants, in addition to the pain muters Yumis had, the mage wouldn’t feel a thing from their continuous barrage of blows . But these were the servants she trusted, the men and women who knew about and protected her relationship with Sori . The level of humiliation she was enduring from undergoing this constant trampling from her servants’ own feet must’ve been devastating .

“Kuh, you vile…!!”

It felt amazing looking at Yumis’ eyes colored in chagrin .

I lost track of how long I kept gazing at the scene . Some time later, Minnalis called me with Soul Speak .

“Goshujin-sama, I’ve readied everything . ”

“Alright, we’ll finish up the first program of the night then .  Right, you can stop now . ”

After I said that, the servants all stopped and looked to me .

Yumis also looked, her face boiling in fury .

“Uhm, uh, what are we to――…”

“Your work is done here, die . ”

“Eh,”

I used the 【Soulblade of Origin] to chop off the man’s head .

His head dropped with a thud and rolled .

“W-why did you! We listened to eve-GAPHH!!”

The maid who tried to raise words of protest had her neck pierced by Kitty’s fork .

“What ever do you mean? The actor of course leaves the stage after their role is done . It’s the commonest of common sense . ”

Shuria said in a small tilt of her head .

“NO, HELP M-GOHH!?”

“Please no, I’ll do anything, anything, just don’t kill m-GYAAHH NO NO NO!!!”

We thus ended the first piece of the performance by denying solace to those who had succumbed under our coercion .

Shuria and I cleaned up the actors who’d had their role done and over with .

“Demons, you’re demons…!!”

“Oh my, Yumis nee-sama . I’m impressed that you could still care for these worms that dared to trample on you . ”

“You, you people with your sinister tastes forced them to do that!!”

Yumis glared at us, grinding hard at her teeth .

“Kukukuh, why so serious? We’re barely at the end of the first act . Now that I’ve destroyed all those you trusted, let’s get started with act 2 . I’ll now be destroying everything you’ve built up, your legacy . ”

I then activated a magic tool I obtained in town . This tool was like a telescope and I’d further modified it with the 【Hookblade of Spellpatching] .

The magic tool worked like a camera, similar to the magic creature I’d ordered from Duphein back when I wanted to confirm how the princess was liking my present .

I’ve used something like this in the 1st run too, so Yumis should know what’s what .

“This is, a videograph of the town?”

I’d projected a video of Elmia in front of Yumis . She was getting anxious now .

We were now well into the evening, the town was quietly heading off to bed .

“Time for the 2nd round, now .  Minnalis, light it up . ”

“At once, goshujin-sama . ”

Came her reply .

Right after, a boom erupted from the town of Elmia, tearing apart its sleep .

“Wh-!? What did you!?”

The video feed showed intense blue-white flame .

The town was lit up as the dark night sky was cast in flames .

We should’ve been quite far from the town proper, but the actual sounds still reached from the distance .

“W-what in god’s name…”

“Look at it, those splendid fireworks . Fire that’s burning down everything you are . ”

I’d ordered Minnalis to bomb the research institute where Yumis made her magic tools .

All her research, all that time she desperately spent trying to make the magic tool that would open the door to her dreams, all of it was burning to ashes .

Onlookers, people who ran out of their houses, alarmed because of the explosive sounds outside, looked on as the famed research building of Elmia was slowly demolished, all the books inside burning to a crisp, and all the gathered research material ruined forever .

It was such a beautiful flame .

The townspeople were in fact trying to put out the blazing flames, but simple water would do nothing to hinder that fire . Minnalis had used Phantom Flame Poison Demon to create a high intensity, highly flammable poison which she mixed into barrels of oil that she spread all over the building to start this grand incineration .

The resulting fire also looked out of this world, with it’s azure tint that made it seem as if it’d be cold to the touch when in reality, it was much hotter than any normal fire, as if these blue flames had burst out straight from hell .

After some time, the local mages arrived and had to use magic to douse the flames, but by then, the blue flames had transformed most of the place into white ash without a semblance of its previous grandeur .

All that illuminated the area were the subdued flames, now still burning orange, along with the full moon high in the sky .

“A-ahhh, my, all my, accomplishments…”

“That ends the 2nd act . On to the 3rd now, I’ll be ripping apart your future . ”

The video feed transitioned to the main landmark of Elmia, the stone monument .

“Wait…!? No, no you can’t…!!”

“Bang . ”

I grinned ear to ear, brought together my hands, and as if I was crushing something unseen, made a light clap .

At almost the same time, the monument on the projection rumbled, then broke apart .

“No… Our treasured monument…”

Yumis’ voice was soft, trembling .

“Ahh, so good, that face you’re making is soo good Yumis . But fret not, it’s not over yet . I’ve destroyed your loyal servants, burned down all your accomplishments, and crushed your awaited future . Now, I’ll break everything you have now . ”

“!? N-now wait, please, wait, I beg you . What more do you plan to ruin!?”

Yumis had an expression of extreme distress . Shuria then grazed her cheek with a hand .

The dark-skinned girl had on a smile very reminiscent of the one her mage sister once showed her before pushing her into hell .

“Yumis nee-sama, there’s no need for you to be afraid . You simply have to accept these as the fruits of the actions you have committed thus far . You actually don’t have to do anything anymore . All of this is a present to you, from me and my friends ♪”

The video once again changed to the scene of the ruined research institute backed by the Elmia house .

Undead goblins and redcap zombies began crawling out from under the debris and ashes .

“GHYARUOHH” “OOBOAHH”

And there weren’t just one or two . The amount of undead creeping out from the nooks and corners had already exceeded 30 .

“!! Kyaaa! Undead! Why are there undead monsters inside town!?”

After a woman yelled, as if a beehive had been rattled, the crowd of self-presumed unrelated bystanders that was silent in shock, descended into chaos .

“W-what is the meaning of this!? Where did you get so many undead!?”

“What are you talking about, those are the undead you made from slaughtering Shuria’s village . Remember now?”

For today’s performance, we’d gone to Shuria’s old village .

It was now populated by an expanding number of undead .

They were still increasing under the effects of their collective malice piled up from the cruel way they were unreasonably killed, along with the residual mana left over after Yumis summoned her demon .

“They were all reborn as undead from the sheer suffering you cast on them, nee-sama . It’s just as I’ve said, these are the fruits of the actions you have committed . ”

We’d spent several days setting up a teleport circle relay to summon all these undead, as well as grant a bit of revenge to the helpless villagers .

It was possible to activate a magic circle without actually pouring in your own mana .

The teleport circle was draining bottle upon bottles of MP potions, calling forth more and more zombies, that followed markings that I had Minnalis set up to better spread the damage .

“You, you would kill even the innocent civilians!?”