I gathered the flames and glared at Ellen.
"This is a mountain. If you keep using fire like that, you’ll start a forest fire."
"Hah. Since when did you care about something like that?"
People like her killed others without the slightest hesitation, so there was no way I was falling for that crap.
Still, if a forest fire started, it would draw unnecessary attention, so I compressed the flames.
Whoosh-
The flames gradually died down at my will.
To anyone else, it would look like I’d put them out.
"Giving up?"
"As if."
I compressed those flames inside my body, over and over, gathering them to the limit.
Before long, the temperature inside my body rose beyond what any human could endure, and that heat was then released outward.
Then I gathered even that heat together and kept it wrapped only around me.
'Incarnation of Kings――[Compression]'
"How do you expect to deal with me without your flames―"
Ssshhh-!
The ground beneath my feet melted into magma from the flames and smoke compressed to the limit, and the air around us grew so hot it looked like space itself was warping.
Ellen’s expression twisted into something ugly, like she’d been caught off guard, which was very satisfying to see.
"Come on, Ellen. If you want to fight me here, go ahead. Same goes for you wizard girls up there."
"Hmph! You think we’d fall for something like that!"
The courage of the weak is arrogance. It’s recklessness.
Bravery and ignorance are only a hair apart, and the wizards who didn’t know that opened fire on me with shells.
"I’ll take that as a yes."
I raised the Spiral Sword and drew a straight line through the shells flying toward me.
Red haze bloomed from the tip of the Spiral Sword, and every incoming shell exploded on the spot.
KWA-KA-KA-BOOM!
"What the―!"
"I realized something."
As I swung the Spiral Sword and changed its form, I delivered my verdict in a low voice.
"A beating is good medicine for people."
I took the Spiral Sword, now transformed into a spear, and set my stance.
"Tch! Everyone, dodge!"
"Too late."
One of them sensed the danger and tried to retreat, but it was already too late.
I kicked off the ground and swung the spear.
From the tip of the spear came several flames. They were the fire of chaos, what people called pyromancy.
The Fire of Chaos was a flame completely different from the First Flame, a fire that devoured everything.
Those flames shot from the spearhead toward the CR-Units of the wizards in the air.
"What the hell!"
The wizards, scrambling this way and that to avoid the Fire of Chaos, were stunned.
They moved to dodge it, but they couldn’t escape it.
Like it wanted to eat their CR-Units, the fire tracked their movements and followed them.
"Hi. This is revenge for last time, Ellen."
"Kuh!"
And my attack didn’t stop there.
I thrust the spear straight toward Ellen’s stomach.
But she dodged by a hair’s breadth.
For all that she was rotten, the title of strongest wizard still hadn’t gone anywhere. She really was disgustingly good at dodging.
"You’re good at dodging like a rat!"
Taunting Ellen, I changed the Spiral Sword again, turning it into a curved sword and swinging it.
"Damn it!"
Ellen’s sword, which tried to block it, melted away, and even the barrier she threw up in a last-ditch effort shattered in a single blow.
"Damn it! We’ll settle this later!"
Maybe she’d decided she couldn’t beat me anymore. Saying that, Ellen flew up into the air and tried to escape.
Nice of her to use such a good CR-Unit all by herself. Even while it was melting, it was still working fine.
"And when did I say you could go?"
I said that, but I didn’t have much time either.
It wasn’t like I didn’t want to burn that woman to ashes right now. I’d be plenty satisfied if I could just chew her up and spit her out.
But right now, I couldn’t afford to waste time because of Natsumi.
So, as both a parting gift and revenge, I sent the Fire of Chaos after her.
"Go on, keep running."
If it caught her, she’d be writhing in unbearable agony.
"Now then, the rest of the wizards... already passed out."
Because their CR-Units had all melted from the Fire of Chaos, they’d fallen to the ground and collapsed unconscious.
They seemed to have come here because of orders from their superiors, so I didn’t feel much of anything toward them.
Still, they were trying to kill Natsumi, which pissed me off enough to give them a punishment.
Who the hell do they think they are, touching prey someone else already claimed?
"Simple. I’ll just zap them."
If anyone else heard that, they’d probably be horrified, but it was only a zap in name. It wasn’t actually that bad.
Think of it as a simple electric massage.
I released Incarnation of Kings and equipped a talisman.
Then I raised one finger, and with a crackling sound, a lightning spear formed there.
My original miracle: a small, compressed, weakened lightning spear.
I call this one the Electric Lawyer.
"Hitting people is a crime, so please discuss it with your lawyer."
Saying that, I stuck the Electric Lawyer into the wizards’ bodies.
It wouldn’t kill them, but when they woke up, they’d probably be suffering from some serious muscle pain.
"That should take care of it. Time to put the intercom on."
I’d put the intercom into my inventory as soon as I checked on Natsumi.
I was going to use Incarnation of Kings, so I couldn’t let it burn up then.
"Found it."
I took the intercom out of my inventory and put it on my ear.
[Hi. Natsumi is already here. Thanks to the medicine Hi gave her, she doesn’t have any injuries.]
Maria’s voice came through the intercom, and I felt relieved.
That meant Natsumi’s health was fine.
I’d been worried she might get hurt if she was nearby when she entered the Incarnation of Kings state, but it turned out to be a needless worry, which was a huge relief.
She has to be healthy if I’m going to feed her disgusting food.
[But because of the shock from Ellen’s attack, she still can’t use her angel.]
"So the effect really was reduced."
What I’d given Natsumi was something called a Goddess’s Tear. Its original effect was to fully restore HP and cure status ailments.
But if an immortal used it, I wasn’t sure, but when ordinary people used it, the effect weakened.
Maybe the body just couldn’t fully accept the effect.
"That’s a shame, but it’s also kind of a relief."
If Natsumi could use her angel, who knew what kind of chaos she’d cause aboard [Fraxinus].
Maybe not being able to use her angel was a blessing for [Fraxinus].
[Oh, and the ability wore off, so everything’s back to normal.]
"That’s the best news I’ve heard all day."
Overcome with emotion at finally escaping that childcare hell, I moved to [Fraxinus].
******
When I got to [Fraxinus], the commander and Itsuka-kun both had injuries on their faces that looked like a cat had scratched them.
"Oh, you’re here?"
"What are those injuries?"
"These are... you’ll find out later."
Itsuka-kun said that after hesitating for a moment.
I was curious what in the world had happened to leave those kinds of marks, but since he said I’d find out soon enough, I put the question away and headed toward the commander.
"Maria and Marina already told you everything, right?"
"Yeah. You said her body’s fine, but she can’t use her angel because of the shock?"
"That’s right. So please approach her carefully."
"Of course."
I nodded at the commander’s words and looked at the monitor.
On the screen was the isolation room where Natsumi was being held.
Inside the isolation room was Natsumi in her original childlike form, not the feminine version I’d first met.
Because the shock had kept her from using her angel, the ability she’d used on herself had also worn off.
"By the way, Itsuka-kun has those same injuries too. What happened to him?"
"Oh, that? Go see Natsumi. Then you’ll understand."
"Really?"
The commander sounded reluctant, which made me feel a little uneasy.
Still, I had to meet Natsumi first, so I swallowed my unease and headed for the isolation room where she was.
Bzzzz-!
The door opened automatically when I arrived.
Beyond it was Natsumi, the spirit with green hair.
"Hey, Natsumi!"
Along with my greeting came something pink flying at me.
It smacked into my face, and I felt a soft, fluffy texture.
Apparently, she’d thrown a pillow at me.
"What the hell are you doing all of a sudden!"
"Don’t look at me!"
Natsumi turned away completely, making it clear she had no intention of meeting my eyes.
At her behavior, I sighed inwardly and opened my mouth.
"Why are you doing this?"
"...Why did you save me? Someone like me..."
Natsumi asked why I’d saved her, and my answer was simple.
"Why? Because you were getting hurt."
"That’s not what I meant! I, I turned into you and kept playing pranks on everyone and making you all tired, didn’t I?!"
"Even if you say that..."
As for the pranks where she turned into me and ran around causing trouble, the misunderstanding had already been cleared up. As for the other pranks, they were just exhausting, but they hadn’t caused any real harm.
In other words, none of the excuses Natsumi was throwing at me gave me a reason not to save her.
"If someone’s about to die in front of you and you can save them, then you save them. That’s just how it is, right?"
"Don’t be ridiculous! I’m not falling for that kind of lip service!"
"Fine, think whatever you want. I meant what I said."
"Ughhh...!"
When I shrugged and said that, Natsumi glared at me like she was wary of me.
She looked like a cat suspicious of people.
'What the hell am I thinking right now?'
I shoved the personal impressions aside and decided to ask the thing I needed to ask first, straight out.
"But, Natsumi."
"What!"
"Why did you keep playing pranks by turning into me, turning into the others, or even changing the house and stuff?"
"...Because you saw my secret, didn’t you?"
"Secret...?"
"M-my real form."
I couldn’t understand what Natsumi was saying.
Was she really that ashamed of showing her true self?
At least to my eyes, Natsumi seemed to fall into the cute category, just like Yoshino.
"No, what’s wrong with your real form...? How does that even lead to this?"
"How can you ask that!? I, I was exposed like this, and you expect me to be fine with it!?"
"...Huh?"
Natsumi, as it turned out, had surprisingly poor self-awareness.
"When we first met, you said I was pretty too, didn’t you!? If I’d looked like this from the start, would you have reacted the same way!? You might have even pretended not to know me if I’d tried to talk to you first!"
"Come on, no way..."
"No way, my ass! In fact, nobody around here would even talk to me when I looked like this! Anyway! I can’t forgive anyone who knows my real form, so you’d better get out now that you know!"
Natsumi spat out a flood of words without even taking a breath.
At this point, she could probably go on a rap show.
[...Hi. Is this really the time to be thinking weird stuff?]
"Ahem."
I put the random thoughts aside and leaned forward a little to study Natsumi’s real form more carefully.
"Hmm... your hair’s still a mess, but that can be fixed if you tidy it up. Your face is cute too, I think. Aren’t you being way too hard on yourself?"
"...Eeeek!"
Pffft-!
So that’s what those cat-scratch-looking injuries were from.
I’d learned the secret behind the scratches.
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