Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 15 - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: The Girl’s Wish

She couldn’t allow the boy she yearned for to be lost. Katou Mana clenched her fists tight. She’d always been the one being protected by him. That was exactly why she was capable of standing on her own and setting her mind to things for everyone’s sake.

But that wasn’t enough now. She had to save him on her own. With his death mere seconds away, her thoughts sharpened to a dangerous extent.

She groped for a possibility. The situation was a deadlock. There was no choice whatsoever before her. Having finished putting things in order, that was her first conclusion. As such, if she wanted to find some means of survival...she had to create a new choice that didn’t exist. In other words, she had to tap into her aptitude as a visitor.

“Why...?”

Why was she still powerless? She didn’t know how many tens or hundreds of thousands of times she’d already asked herself that. She had to find the answer right now. Fortunately, she’d gained a clue upon coming to this place. She recalled what Kudou Riku had said to her.

“You’re similar to me. This includes your weakness and your self-destructive disposition. I’ll declare it here and now. When your ability manifests, a horrible thing will happen.

“At the very least, as you are now, all that awaits you is ruin. If your ability isn’t manifesting because you fear that future, then you’re better off not thinking about any stupid ideas.”

He was partially correct. A visitor’s ability was born of their wish. Depending on the contents of said wish, it was entirely possible for it to grant an ability that led to ruin. What’s more, Katou Mana had always known what her wish was. There was no need to think about it. It was so easy to understand; something anyone who knew her would be able to imagine.

As a consequence, she was even capable of predicting what kind of ability would manifest. It would be horrible. In that sense, Kudou Riku was on point. However, the presumption that her ability wasn’t manifesting due to fear of her own destruction was wrong. After all, she was far more scared of losing the boy she loved. It terrified her so much that it would be stupid to even try comparing the two options. So, if there was a reason behind this, she could clearly deduce that it had to be something else. But what? Was her wish actually insufficient?

“No... That’s not it.”

That would leave her at an impasse, but if that were the case, Kudou Riku wouldn’t have given her that warning. There was a part of her that resembled that boy. He’d said so himself. The fact that he gave off an aura of ruin wasn’t something she should be ignoring thoughtlessly.

She couldn’t doubt the strength of her own wish. She had to believe more in this feeling inside her heart. Coming to that conclusion, her thoughts moved on. In other words, what she should be thinking about wasn’t why her ability refused to manifest, but what was obstructing it from doing so when it so obviously should. Realizing that, her understanding deepened as she ascended to the next stage of thought.

“Ah...”

The one who gave her a hint was the boy on the other side of the magic image. The sight of him desperately resisting allowed her to figure it out.

The fight for supremacy between the Dimensional Cornerstone and the Misty Lodge.

Abilities of similar nature.

One that breaks, and one that resists.

A collision of emotions running on opposite vectors, negating each other.

“Is it maybe...?”

Was the same thing happening to her? It wasn’t that her wish was insufficient, preventing it from manifesting. It could manifest, but was being negated. And if there was something obstructing her wish from coming true, then it had to be...

“Another wish?”

What would happen if a visitor harbored two wishes from the bottom of their heart? And what if those two wishes denied each other? Naturally, it was extremely improbable to possess two wishes that were both powerful enough to manifest an ability. But extremely improbable wasn’t enough to discount the possibility.

Maybe it was strange to have wishes that contradicted each other, but it was human to harbor such contradictions.

“So that’s what’s going on...”

It wasn’t difficult for the insightful girl to put the rest of it together.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Heh... Heh heh...”

A quiet laugh slipped from the girl’s lips. The reason Harrison noticed, despite having to concentrate on crushing Majima Takahiro, was maybe because, as one who dedicated his life to battle, he felt impending danger from her.

“What are you laughing at?” he asked.

Naturally, at this point in time, he didn’t really understand the situation. To him, she was but a momentary distraction, a fleeting concern.

“Nothing,” the girl answered, holding back her laughter. “I was just thinking about how pathetic I am.” Her tone was calm—unnaturally so for a captive who was witnessing someone dear to her about to be crushed to death. “I’m truly pathetic.”

That was when everyone in the room sensed something ominous. Still, even Harrison had no idea what that was yet. The girl in front of him was powerless, after all. How could he know? Until that special something on the inside came to the surface, there was no way of knowing.

“Majima-senpai has always protected me,” she continued. “The reason I’ve been able to keep living after being broken once already is without a doubt thanks to him. He shouldn’t have had the time to worry about others, but he’s always been considerate to me. Back then, I definitely felt like I touched his heart.”

Her words flowed smoothly. It was no mistake that this came across as a sort of testament.

“I was spurred into action by my love for him,” she said. “I got him to treat me like a companion. It was like a dream. That’s why it turned into my wish.”

“What are you talking about?” Harrison interjected.

“About the wish I wasn’t aware of. I prayed for it. I prayed for this dream to go on forever. The first place he gave me to belong in this world was the position of ‘someone who needs protecting.’ So, I unconsciously believed that I had to keep being that way.”

Enjoyable days. Time spent having fun. Moments of happiness. The desire that things remain that way forever applied to anyone. The same went for her.

Because she’d given up on everything, she was especially happy about what he’d granted her. It was a treasure she wouldn’t exchange for anything. She was happy just to be by his side. Losing it was so frightening that she’d never given it any thought. That was why she’d unconsciously wished for things to remain the same. She’d wished for it strongly enough that it could manifest as an ability.

“But that’s over now.”

She was a coward, but also single-minded. She knew that she had to manifest the power that’d remained suppressed all this time. That was the only way to save the boy she loved. Once she knew what was suppressing it, she didn’t hesitate to shake off her fetters.

Naturally, her desire for things to remain unchanged was still there.

Happy days. Time spent in warmth. A distance that still wasn’t close enough to be lovers, but was definitely closer than friends.

She wanted to spend unchanging days by his side. She was scared of change. It was terrifying.

However, she was far more scared of remaining powerless and losing him in the process. Thus, it was time to say goodbye to the wish that had been tying her down. It was time to awaken her first wish. It was time to unleash the feelings she’d held from the moment she met and fell in love with that boy who kept monsters by his side. Even if that meant her own destruction...

◆ ◆ ◆

“Ottmar!” Harrison shouted.

He sensed the omens. It was as though a dreadfully vast amount of mana was squirming around inside the dainty girl’s body. Sensing danger like never before in his life, he yelled a quick command.

“Kill her!”

Ottmar was closest to Katou Mana. He executed the order as quickly as possible. He swung the sword he’d used to cut down Elena, driving it deep into the petite girl’s shoulder.

It was too late, however.

“What’s this sensation...?”

Ottmar’s eyes shot open. The feedback he felt through his hands was so bizarre it couldn’t have come from cutting a human.

“That won’t do,” the girl said, smiling calmly.

To her, this was nothing to be surprised about. There was no way such a measly attack could impede her. After all, the strength of a visitor’s manifested ability, though displayed in many different ways, was proportional to the strength of the wish behind it.

This wish had always been inside her. From the moment she fell in love, she’d continued wishing for it. The feeling had only grown stronger, never fading for an instant, until it reached this point.

It had simply grown and grown to a maddening extent.

Now, it was time to give voice to the wish she’d been keeping to herself all this time. After all, she could easily declare that the strength of these feelings was indomitable.

“I want to be a monster.”

In that instant, the girl transformed.

◆ ◆ ◆

The first target was Harrison. Something crashed with a sound akin to an explosion. It was questionable whether anyone even realized that a strike had come from above, ignoring any concept of range.

“Wha...?!”

Before anyone in the room knew it, the altar Harrison was standing on had caved in. They had no idea what had happened. They weren’t given the time to come to grips with the situation either. Before the debris could even fall to the ground, a black storm trampled over the entire room.

“Gaah?”!

Something struck Ottmar, sending him flying high up toward the ceiling. He’d been the closest to the enemy. However, because Harrison had been prioritized, he’d had just enough time to try and evade upon noticing the abnormality.

Sharpening his senses, he’d taken a leap backward, creating angel puppets to protect him. He’d also been trained well enough to use his own shield to defend himself. That was why he got off lightly, only flying all the way to the other end of the massive room—all three of the defending puppets broken and a shudder of pain running up his shield arm.

However, that didn’t go for everyone else in the room. Together, members of the special forces and First Company made up around fifty people. All of them were the highest class of knights.

Of them, sixty percent died instantly.

Thirty percent avoided dying on the spot, but wouldn’t live for more than a few minutes.

The remaining ten percent were broken shambles, far from being safe and sound.

“What the hell is that...?” Ottmar mumbled in a daze.

He looked up at something dreadful. At a glance, it was like a pitch-black tree with branches stretching in every direction. However, upon closer inspection, he realized it was something else entirely.

“A monster...?”

It was a monster whose body was made up of a black, half-liquid substance. What looked like branches were in fact feelers reaching out in all directions. This was what had crashed down on Harrison before pulverizing everyone in the room.

“A slime variant...?”

Ottmar immediately referred to what knowledge he had. One could say he was trying to apply a layer of common sense to this so that he could understand. It did in fact look similar, but that was a mere illusion of similarity.

The black feelers swayed about in the air. Ottmar couldn’t help but feel sheer dread at this. Just looking at it made it feel as though something important inside him was being shaved away. He gritted his teeth hard to maintain his sanity.

“Is that...the girl?” he mumbled. Uncharacteristically, the puppetlike man’s voice quivered. “What kind of repulsive wish did she have to turn into such an abomination?”

He simply couldn’t understand. He just felt chills at how terrifying the thought was.

◆ ◆ ◆

As such, he would never be able to imagine it. Why had this delicate girl turned into such a repulsive monster? Anyone who knew her would find it so easy to understand. She’d even spoken of it before.

This was back when her journey had just begun. Deep inside the Woodlands, she’d spoken to the white spider who still hadn’t been given a name.

“There’s a lot I want to say to you servants. Thinking back on it, Lily was the same. Why be jealous of someone like me? Even if the lawn is greener on the other side, don’t you think it’s far too cruel? I’m the one who’s jealous.

“Aren’t you the same? You have something I could never obtain within your reach, and yet you don’t even realize it. Isn’t it obvious that I’d like to at least complain about it?”

Lily once had a complex about being a repulsive monster, feeling jealous of Katou Mana, who was a human just like her master. However, from the other side of the pond, such jealousy was far too cruel. After all, a repulsive monster was exactly what the girl wanted to become.

She’d always been so helplessly envious of them. Enough for her to turn into this abomination now. In truth, it was astounding that she’d maintained a human form for so long. That was a situation only made possible because of Majima Takahiro and Katou Mana.

He was a sincere boy, and she was a clever girl. In that situation, she properly understood the worth of being accepted as one of his companions while still human. Despite being tormented by his trauma, he’d accepted Katou Mana as a human. How could she possibly do anything to disregard that?

As a result, she’d maintained her humanity. She was jealous of his servants, but had never begrudged them what they had. She was satisfied to simply be by his side. In truth, even inside the Misty Lodge, where all dreams became reality, she’d been one of the few who hadn’t changed at all. Her maddening wish to become a monster hadn’t vanished, but she’d been satisfied with her situation.

In all likelihood, if not for a crisis like the one she’d found herself in today, she would never have awakened to her power. Harrison had forced her hand. Once it was released, her wish had turned into power, and there was no keeping its strength in check.

Much like how Majima Takahiro was losing his memories of their old world, Katou Mana lost all reason bestowed by her humanity. She was the world’s ultimate monster. The only thing she remembered was the one objective of wanting to protect the boy she was in love with.

In accordance with that objective, she acted like a monster. With all certainty, this abomination was sure to eliminate all obstructions in his path.

However, what he lost in exchange was tremendous.

It was far too much.

That said, if there was anything that could be done about this, it would be just one thing...