4
“…You’ve become quite ugly in the short time since I last saw you.”
That was Ram’s honest thought after finally ending a nasty game of tag.
Still borrowing Lye’s vision, Ram had dragged along her imperfectly unlocked body in a chase after the battered and beaten ground dragon, and Rem lay beside her.
And standing over Rem was…
“Hideous? That’s so mean, Sister… We care so, so, soooo much about you.”
An unsettled, inarticulate tone, and thoughts that were distorted in all manner of ways.
It was clear at a glance to Ram—or to anyone, really—that this was the result of a warped mind. Lye’s form had become horrifically twisted.
Lye’s trump card was supposed to be molding his body according to the memories he had consumed and freely using their abilities. Apparently, it was taboo for a reason. The Gluttony standing before Ram was a product of all those memories, and none of them.
He was a twisted mess.
Parts of him were the bald old man who leaped through space. Other parts included the big, fat man who had taken no damage from Ram’s wind blade and the martial artist who had reached a level of strength that was practically divine. There were so many distinctive traits from so many people that it resulted in an absolutely repulsive being.
And Lye seemed completely unaware of his twisted state.
“—?”
He was on the verge of becoming something that was none of them.
A being who was optimized for stealing other people’s memories, the powerful ego that was his foundation had grown diluted. And because of that, he was broken.
“And in the end, you became a monster pretending to be Rem? Honestly, I don’t know that I’ve ever been this aggravated.”
Ram looked down at the face of her sister, who she knew was the missing piece in her incomplete home. It made her sick to think that she was actually looking at Lye, who had stolen her sister’s distinctive characteristics and appearance.
“You did well, Patrasche. Take Rem and fall back.”
“Tsss,” came the weak response.
Ram stood protectively in front of Patrasche, who was coughing up blood.
With slow, deliberate movements, Patrasche dragged her big body forward and carefully grabbed the collar of Rem’s dress with her mouth before she started to leave the battlefield. However…
“That’s no good, Sister. That’s an important hors d’oeuvre… Before we can serve the entrée, we need to prepare all the fixings, right?”
“—Die.”
She stepped forward with a foot that was just about the same size as a person’s head and pointed her palm at the face of the person raving like a madman.
The swirling blades of wind she summoned were a small storm that held the force to shred Lye from the neck up. Ram was done holding back.
Her plan to interrogate him instead of killing him to find a way to retrieve consumed memories had put Rem in danger and gotten Patrasche badly wounded, to boot. Given that deranged statement she just heard, Ram concluded the odds of getting a straight answer from Lye were low. On every level, this was the correct choice.
Defeat Lye and relieve Subaru of the burden he was currently carrying for her. Then she would return Patrasche and Rem to the green room before going to aid someone else. That was obviously what she should do.
And as she was thinking that—
“ ”
Ram’s eyes widened just as the storm was about to shred Gluttony’s face.
It was nothing major. Merely a change in Lye’s appearance.
However, it was a change that Ram couldn’t ignore.
The face that had so many different distinguishing traits was now sporting a single white horn on its forehead.
“Sister.”
For a brief moment, Lye spoke in a voice that Rem might have had, with a face that was identical to hers.
Ram’s face froze, and Lye’s massive arm landed a clean hit on her.
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