Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 4 - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: She Who Crushes Such Empty Power

After ascending from the darkness, my consciousness returned to my body. It felt like I’d been inside that mysterious space for a long time, but it had only been a short while in the real world. I looked over Shiran, her teeth still cutting into my shoulder, and spotted Lily, who had reconstructed her body into that of a human.

“M-Master!”

“I’m fine... It went well.”

Lily looked truly relieved to hear that. I returned my gaze to Shiran. I had embraced her body unconsciously when she attacked me, and she was now leaning against me weakly. From the side, it looked like we were lovers, sharing a hug as she buried her face in my shoulder. In truth, this scene was nowhere near that beautiful. She was in the middle of eating me. It was actually rather grotesque.

“Ow...”

I let out a small groan. Shiran pulled her teeth out of my muscles as a damp sound licked my ear. This pain was of course necessary for her to get away from me. I unwrapped my arms from around her back.

Several seconds later, I was left in confusion. I’d thought Shiran would back off immediately, but she showed no signs of moving. She was no longer biting me, but her arms were still wrapped around me. She had quite the unexpected hold on me too, so I couldn’t get away.

She laid perfectly still, her face still buried in my shoulder. Was something wrong with her? The moment that thought crossed my mind, I felt a lapping sensation near the open wound. I could hear the slight splashing of a sticky liquid as if a cat was drinking milk.

“Huh...?”

I couldn’t tell if the goosebumps running down my back were chills of fear or pleasure. Now we truly looked like lovers. Her tongue crawled along my skin. Diligently. Teasingly. There was an obscenity to her actions, as if she were a seductress, yet also an innocent passion to them, like a puppy. The sound of lapping continued filling the air as she pecked, tasted, and licked away. Yes, Shiran was enthusiastically licking away all the blood flowing out of my wound.

My thoughts came to a complete and utter halt as she gradually drew back. Her glazed eye, her smiling lips, the red blood wetting her mouth...she seemed entranced, an expression unbefitting of this girl’s serious nature. Her pale complexion was almost ghastly, but it was accompanied by a strange sexiness suitable for a girl her age.

Her tongue peeked out from her lips and licked away the blood staining her mouth as if savoring the sweetest of honey.

“Fwah...”

A vacant voice crept into my ear. Even this sounded lustful. If her usual self was a sweet wildflower, then right now she was more of a bewitching flytrap. She had a sweet and alluring beauty paired with a fleeting yet dangerous atmosphere. It felt like she could vanish at any moment, which made it impossible for me to tear my eyes away from her.

“Heh. Heheh...”

Her single eye looked at me with a melted gaze, and then...a switch flipped within her.

“Huh...?”

She sounded perplexed. I could tell from both her expression and the mental path that she had come to her senses. At the same time, my frozen sense of time began moving again. I finally realized I had stopped breathing entirely.

“Sh-Shiran? Are you...awake?”

Shiran blinked a few times, her now clean lips trembling with a twitch.

“Taka...hiro?”

She replied with a slightly childish lisp, but she could at least properly recognize who I was now.

“Wh-Where...?”

Shiran slowly became more levelheaded. She looked down at her own hand as if to confirm her situation.

“It can’t be... Have I truly returned?”

Her lips trembled as she spoke clear and meaningful words. The light of reason dwelled deep within her eye. She was no longer uncertain.

“Thank goodness. You’ve come to,” I said with relief.

Judging from what I saw, she had still been in an ambiguous state where her ego had yet to return, so she was still acting somewhat like a ghoul. It had my blood running cold for a moment, but now it looked like things were okay.

“Takahiro!”

After gazing at her own hand, Shiran raised her face. Her eye shone like a one-of-a-kind jewel. I was now captivated by her radiance in an entirely different way from before.

“Thank you so very much, Takahiro!”

She tightly grasped my hand. I lowered my gaze to her dreadfully cold fingers, spotting a ring with a red gem. This ring was proof she was a knight and also an identifier for whether or not she was a ghoul. When she came back to us, the color had apparently changed. It hadn’t gone back to its original blue, probably because she was still an undead monster, even if not a ghoul.

“With this, I can fight once more. I can protect what I wanted to protect...!”

Nevertheless, it didn’t change that this was Shiran. I finally had a true sense that she had regained her heart. A smile naturally came to me. The precious feelings this girl possessed were no longer lost. For now, that was worth celebrating.

“All of this, every last bit, is thanks to you, Takahiro,” she said, overcome with emotion.

“No, that’s not quite right,” I replied, shaking my head. I looked into her teary eye, then quoted, “‘This is the world where wishes come true.’”

“...?”

“You told me this before, remember? Those were the words left behind by the very first savior, I think.”

Legends told of the first savior saying this to encourage the people not to throw away their dreams in the darkest period of humanity. This was, of course, only an interpretation of that phrase, just as Shiran had said before. It happened so long ago and was such a simple phrase that there was no longer any way of finding out the truth behind it.

However, such a gentle interpretation continued to support this stout-hearted girl to this day as she protected humanity. There was no phrase more appropriate than this here and now.

“The power I had wasn’t enough. Just hoping for it to happen wouldn’t allow me to reach you. But if wishes come true here...then your own wish, as well as those of all the people who tried to protect this fortress, are what made this possible.”

Shiran was right here as a crystallization of everyone’s wishes. It was a little wrong to claim that as my personal accomplishment.

“All of our wishes...” Shiran muttered, closing her eye. Then she joined her hands to mine and looked me in the eyes. “You’re right,” she said with a beautiful smile. “This could be a miracle we all brought forth together... But still, that is exactly why I must thank you, Takahiro.” I could once more see my reflection in her gem-like eye. “Thank you very much for picking up all of our wishes. Thank you for saving mine. You would surely deny it, but at the very least, to me, you are...”

Shiran swallowed her next words and shook her head. Her expression then changed to that of a knight continuing to fight to protect the world.

“For the sake of everybody’s feelings...and to fulfill my own desire, I must fight. Let’s go, Takahiro. Onward to our battlefield.”

With the brilliance of her vow to protect those who’d been hurt remaining just as it was, the knight Shiran was reborn here and now as an undead monster.

◆ ◆ ◆

I wanted to celebrate our reunion. I wanted to better feel what we had retaken. However, the situation wouldn’t allow for that.

“Yeah. Let’s fight together. Do you need an explanation of what’s going on?” I asked Shiran as she let go of my hand.

“No. I have a general grasp of the situation.” Shiran’s eye followed my hand, then she shook her head. “When you held me in your arms in that peculiar world, everything was largely conveyed to me.”

“I guess it’s a little late to ask, but do you remember what happened in there?”

“Yes. Although, it didn’t feel real, almost like a dream... Still, that was no dream, was it? If so, my course of action has already been decided.”

Shiran turned around and looked down the corridor. Beyond the hazy flames and dust in the air, a battle was unfolding as spider threads and fire magic flew about between Gerbera and Juumonji.

Shiran had lost to him once already. After such a cruel defeat, one would typically freeze at the thought of facing the same challenge again. Normally, one would never know what a killing blow to the heart felt like, so it made me worry about her even more.

There was no fear in Shiran’s gaze, however. Her eye remained steadfast and didn’t waver in the least. With this, she wouldn’t have a single problem crossing swords with Juumonji.

“Just as you can see...Gerbera, my servant, the white arachne, is facing off against Juumonji now.”

Even though she knew her threads had little effect against Juumonji’s specialty fire magic, Gerbera still used them frequently as the battle unfolded. This fighting style was something we had discussed beforehand. Our goal was to get Juumonji to use as much fire magic as possible. The plan was going pretty well. With all the explosions and flames about, he hadn’t noticed what we were up to. The walls of the corridor were starting to collapse, though. Maybe she was overdoing it a little. Gerbera’s success was worthy of praise regardless. Still, this couldn’t go on forever.

“It’ll be difficult even for her to defeat Juumonji alone. If the fight keeps going, she might be struck down instead. Sorry to rush you, but can you help Gerbera?”

“Very well,” Shiran said with a nod, smiling slightly. “But to think I will be fighting shoulder to shoulder with a legendary horror. Life is full of unexpected events. Oh, not that I’m alive anymore.”

“She’s my precious companion. She’s actually pretty cute in certain ways.”

“Cute...?”

Shiran’s eye widened like a saucer, apparently finding my comment unexpected. If all I had ever seen of the white arachne was her ferocity and beauty, I would undoubtedly think the same.

“Yeah. Given the opportunity, I hope you can get along with her.”

We had to fight now so that such an opportunity would present itself in the future. I faced the battlefield, and then...

“H-Huh...?”

My vision warped as I felt the world spinning around me. I was suddenly assaulted by a serious dizzy spell. I couldn’t even keep to my feet.

“Master?!”

“Takahiro!”

I fell to my butt as their screams resounded around me. A strange lethargy assaulted my entire body. I wasn’t able to get back to my feet right away. Lily ran over in a fluster and began casting healing magic. The blood coming out of the bite wound on my shoulder stopped. A few seconds later, my dizziness subsided.

“Master. What happened...?” Lily asked with a worried expression.

“Aah, it’s nothing... I might’ve pushed myself too hard is all.”

I recalled the cracks running down my projection within that mysterious space. I didn’t know what exactly they were, but making Shiran into my servant through abnormal means definitely put some sort of burden on my very existence. It wasn’t all that strange for this to manifest as dizziness.

Or perhaps this was caused by my stamina depleting? Even though I’d learned to use mana and could handle some overexertion, today had been a nonstop series of events. There was also the blood loss from my shoulder wound. It seemed reasonable that I’d hit my limit here.

I borrowed Lily’s hand to stand back up as Shiran turned an anxious gaze my way.

“Takahiro. Please leave the rest to me. You should—”

“No, I can’t back down now.”

I was grateful for her consideration, but I shook my head. I wasn’t just being stubborn. The only ones who could face off directly against Juumonji were Shiran and Gerbera. Still, I was a little worried about how well they could work together on the spot. They needed someone who could connect them.

“More importantly, Shiran.” Fortunately, my sudden dizzy attack was fleeting. I could stand on my own. I refused Lily’s hand as she gave me a worried look, then continued to confirm what I needed to. “Can you fight properly? Your circumstances are...a little different from before, I think.”

“That’s true.”

Shiran traced her right hand down the scar on her left arm and then touched her face as if covering the deep cut that had destroyed her right eye. She brought her palm back down and opened and closed her hands a few times. After tightly clenching her fists, she stopped repeating the action.

“My once severed arm shows no hindrance in movement. The great elevation of my physical strength seems to have remained. The balance is pretty poor, but if I move with the same senses as when I borrow the help of the four sprites, I should be able to manage. As for magic...especially my power as a spiritualist, it seems it’d be better not to use any. The nature of my mana has changed, after all. I don’t know what will happen as I am now.”

“Can you fight...?” I asked in a worried tone.

Shiran smiled. “Of course. It is for that purpose that I received your help and returned from the land of the dead.” Her words were reassuring. I had asked a foolish question. “Please leave it to me... No, that’s not quite the right way to put it, is it now? Let’s fight together, Takahiro.”

“You got it, Shiran. Let’s end this tragedy right here.”

Many lives had been lost in this conflict that began with the invasion of a large monster army. The main cause behind it all, Juumonji, definitely needed to be stopped right here and now. To do that, we each had to muster the last of our strength. This was to be the last battle to take place here in Fort Tilia.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Onward then.”

Shiran stepped forth, picked up her fallen sword, and ran down the corridor. She was headed straight toward the battlefield where a boy armed with a broadsword clashed against the Great White Spider.

Gerbera quickly noticed her fellow servant approaching and smiled slightly.

“So you’ve come, little girl.”

“I shall lend you my support!”

Shiran charged in and slashed horizontally at Juumonji. Just as she’d claimed, there was no uncertainty in her movements from her first step to the swing of her blade. She could wield her sword without being unbalanced by her sudden elevation in physical strength.

Juumonji blocked the blow, but his eyes shot open in shock. “What the...?! Y-You again?! You’re completely different?!” He took a large leap back, utterly confused.

“Indeed. I have died once already, but I’ve come to help put an end to your meaningless violence!”

“What the hell...? How is a ghoul...? No way!” Juumonji groaned, but then he realized I was standing a little further away. “Majima! Your spider barging in was to buy time for this?!”

“Gerbera! Leave the front to Shiran!” I said, not caring about Juumonji’s rambling.

“Mrgh... If that is My Lord’s command, then so shall it be.” She looked reluctant, but she obeyed my instructions and took a step back. “Muster your courage, little girl, for you are the shining star of this battle.”

“That goes without saying!”

Shiran slashed at Juumonji, her strikes fierce. Her steps broke the stone floor underneath her, and her blade ran through the air as if to cut the world itself. She had more pure strength as a mindless ghoul, but her physical abilities still surpassed those of any human. They were far beyond what she was capable of in life. She had shortened the huge gap between herself and Juumonji in terms of simple specs.

She was even adjusting to her delicate sword skills. She hadn’t fully regained them, but she could still wield a sword better than Juumonji could. Furthermore, Shiran had one other major advantage over Juumonji: her wounds were recovering rapidly.

As an undead monster, Shiran’s regeneration abilities went well beyond the norm. In contrast, Juumonji was still suffering from multiple wounds, including the missing chunk of his arm that Shiran had bitten off. He was perfectly capable of using healing magic, but it seemed he wasn’t good enough to treat himself in the midst of battle.

Juumonji likely never considered anyone would put up this much resistance after he killed Watanabe. There weren’t supposed to be any humans here who could withstand the harsh reality of a savior turned traitor, and any being capable of opposing his rule-breaking combat strength was beyond rare. It was rather unfortunate for Juumonji to have two such beings before him, but it was an exceptional stroke of luck for us.

“Haaah!”

Now that Juumonji’s strength was somewhat sapped, Shiran could fight him head-on. It was taking everything she had to hang in there, but that was enough. She wasn’t alone.

“Get around him, Gerbera!” I commanded.

“Understood. Leave it to me, My Lord.”

The tyrant of the Depths, the Great White Spider of legend, could handle this level of carnage. With eight legs, Gerbera easily surpassed the mobility of those present. She ran along the walls and ceiling to attack Juumonji.

This was the reason I had Gerbera pull back while Shiran took the front. Shiran could keep Juumonji pinned in battle while Gerbera swooped down from every direction. Such an onslaught was difficult for even a cheater to handle.

“Ugh... Fuck!” Juumonji cursed as he leaped away from both of them without hesitation.

Shiran took caution not to approach carelessly and kept her sword at the ready, whereas Gerbera spun about and descended from the ceiling next to her. The two of them stood side by side before Juumonji. One was the northern Woodlands’ strongest knight, who had continuously protected the realm of humanity from monsters; the other was the Great White Spider, who prided herself as the strongest monster from the Depths. Considering their backgrounds, they normally would never, could never combine forces like this.

Creating such an impossible scene and serving as the connection between them was my job. I was the only one who could control Gerbera’s ferocity in battle without ruining her momentum while also maintaining a bond of trust with Shiran. As such, they cooperated seamlessly. They were definitively running Juumonji into a corner. This had to be unpleasant for him.

“The hell is with all of you?!” he roared, his temper exploding as he struck the floor with his broadsword. “You’re all nothing but trash, my EXP so I can gain power! You’re just disposable monsters meant for me to make my name as a hero!”

He pulled his sword back out of the floor and pointed its tip at Shiran, then Gerbera.

“Why do you measly little shits have to defy me?!”

At last, Juumonji glared my way as Lily nestled up to my side.

“You’re nothing but food for me to get back home alive, goddammit!”

Juumonji saw us as nothing more than objects. Perhaps he was even jealous. Despite possessing so much power, Juumonji felt danger all around him. He was anxious about how long he would be able to survive in this world. This was perfectly normal.

Anxieties had a tendency to accumulate. Not everyone could dispel such feelings either. When one looked at their surroundings while spurred by anxiety, everything looked harmful. This was also natural.

Our circumstances were different, but I’d also been on guard with everything around me when I had first come to the fortress. I could understand why he felt that way. Such a state tore his mind apart. But I had Lily, Ayame, and Asarina with me. With those trustworthy girls by my side, I was able to quell my anxieties.

What if I’d had nothing of the sort, though? I didn’t even need to consider it. The world would have been hell. Perhaps I too would only see others as mere objects if I were in that situation.

This was just a guess, of course. Maybe Juumonji had such a disposition to begin with, or maybe something else entirely drove him to be this way. I...or in fact, nobody, could speak for the human known as Juumonji Tatsuya.

Besides, no matter his circumstances, it didn’t change the fact that many victims had fallen prey to Juumonji’s conceited behavior. His sins couldn’t be forgiven. He’d become too dangerous for this world. Be that as it may, when I looked at Juumonji now, a certain thought came to mind.

“Just maybe, you would’ve been better off without that power.”

Juumonji scowled at me, at the words that had spilled from my mouth. But that scowl changed to a sneer in an instant.

“What’s this all of a sudden? I’m sure that would’ve been nice for you, huh?”

“No, I mean for you. You might not get it, though...”

My power was filled with the feelings and bonds I shared with my servants. However, if no such feelings existed, perhaps it would only be a source of misfortune to the surrounding people...and maybe to the wielder themself.

If not for his cheat, Juumonji would never have become a devil. The same applied to the Colony’s destruction. Nobody could deny that immature students had been swept along by their thoughtless powers. It was easy for them to make hasty decisions and go with the flow.

So, what was this power we had, exactly? Didn’t we need to cultivate a better understanding of it? Although, it was far too late for any of that...

“It’s over, Juumonji,” I said as he stared back at me in shock.

“D-Don’t fuck with me! Not like this! Not like this dammit! Like hell I’ll die here! I’ll be the last survivor! Once I eat the rest of you, I’ll return home! It should be possible with this power within me! This power exists for that very purpose! So that means you were all sent to this world to be eaten by me!”

He ranted and raved, rationalizing things by only considering his own person. The composed look of the “savior” had long vanished from his face.

“All of you just shut up and become my nourishment!”

Juumonji dashed forward with his broadsword in hand. His target, as expected, was me. He deployed a red glyph. It was grade 3 fire magic. I narrowed my gaze after confirming this. Juumonji’s attack was exactly the same as before. His rage made him predictable.

“Intercept him, Lily.”

Lily activated the magic she had on standby. Countless exploding fireballs met dancing blades of wind. The magics smashed and sliced and killed each other off. It was the same scene as before, but there was something closing in on Juumonji this time.

“Gerbera!”

“Shyaaah!”

Despite exploding flames and windy blades running rampant, the Great White Spider attacked Juumonji. She disregarded any injuries she might suffer, catching him off guard. Yet Juumonji could still handle this.

“Ugh! Outta the way, you monster!”

His steel blade swept back at Gerbera as she charged through the flames. One of her legs broke with a sharp clang. Gerbera lost her balance and fell to the floor. Even so, a satisfied smile peeked through the opening in her disheveled hair.

“U-Urgh! D-Dammit...?!”

Gerbera’s attack, which paid no heed to her broken leg, had enough force to it that Juumonji lost his grip on his sword. The blade fluttered in the air as the magic flames and winds died down. That was when Shiran stepped forth.

The elf’s body was ever so fragile compared to Juumonji and Gerbera. The explosive flames and biting winds were like the gates of hell to her. Considering how she couldn’t use magic right now, she had no way of dealing with it either. That was why she chose to charge in now. Gerbera’s attack bought the perfect amount of time for Shiran to catch him off guard. There was no dodging her now.

“Haaaah!”

Juumonji threw up his arm in defense, catching Shiran’s horizontal slash. Her strike cleanly severed his arm, and it went flying into the air. His block was enough to dull her strike, however. With just a little more reach, she would’ve cut his throat. Her blade missed by just a few centimeters.

“Gaaaaargh?!”

Juumonji screamed at the intense pain that followed. Shiran didn’t pause and instead followed through with another strike.

“It’s over!”

“Like hell it is!”

Juumonji roared with a forward kick. His foot sank into Shiran’s stomach before she could take her second swing. By all rights, this was nothing more than a desperate attack, but with the power of a cheater, it became a peerless blow.

Shiran’s armor crumpled and her innards burst. Her knees buckled as she choked on her own blood, sending crimson droplets down her jaw and onto the floor. Juumonji laughed as he watched this and stretched his hand out to his broadsword still flailing in the air.

Now that Shiran was an undead monster, this wasn’t enough to immobilize her, but she still required a moment to breathe before taking action once more. And in that space of time, Juumonji grabbed his sword and—

“Huh...?”

The stretching parasite creeper snatched that future away from him. Juumonji’s hand grabbed nothing but air as his eyes chased the creeper to her source.

“Y-You...?!”

I met his eyes. To the very end, he didn’t look at me as a fellow human.

“Now, Shiran!” I screamed, before Juumonji could start his wailing.

Still kneeling on the floor, Shiran readied her sword at her waist.

“Yaaaah!”

And as she stood up, she unleashed a single strike. The diagonal slash tore deeply through Juumonji’s body.