Volume 3 Chapter 1 (2/2)

——Kill Kill Kill

My heart was immediately buried under the voice's relentless orders I rearrangedreply

”I knoon't run away this time”

I'd save even just onemy sword

It was the ht now But, at the sa htly that the tips of ers had turned white, I realized that the Reiht!”

I trembled It was the advent of a broken time Despair mercilessly poured down fro!”

I turned around and shouted at the people ere all huddling close together in a daze on the ground I didn't want to sacrifice them like I had the woht no matter what!”

To be honest, I wanted to escape frohts and turned my sword to the darkness There was aunearthly drifted over to ht of the lao to where the o too far from the others either I wouldn't be able to help theo inside!”

No one made an attempt to move, maybe because they were bewildered or maybe it was because they weren't fully awake yet I held downfrustration and turned back around to tell theain

”You'll be attacked by the Reiet it already!”

I yelled back a little at theoff about this voice of mine that told me to kill the Reims —not turn them back human

”……I have to focus”

A second of carelessness could rob hts and sharpeneddarkness

Finally, the people behind be began toon the other side of the darkness I didn't hear theed into echoes of glee welcoht They were Rei” and had become complete

”——I want to see Louie and Eru”

The words fell frolad they weren't here

”Please be soun I would be tested to see whether I could survive it

I suddenly remembered about my time in the interworld forest About Louie, ielded his sword all alone

I found it strange that I'd reh the circumstances had been so different fro about the situation or how serious it was at the tiuely nervous, but I was still carefree because I hadn't thought that my ”everyday life” would be completely upturned even in o back to the past…”

I wasn't able to finish that sentence The darkness in front of me had wavered My arms reacted quickly in response —so quickly that I could hardly believe that I'd had the reflexes to move that fast I hit away precisely at the mysterious object that had flown my way

A white skull fell down audibly and rolled next to the lamp

It looked like a Rei

The hand holding led and hurt a lot I felt like the skin of my palms would tear off because I'd decapitated all those Reith alone

When I readjusted lued on It was a strange sensation

And——the back of ely hot

”There is where Olin kissed me……?”

——Delicious

”Delicious?”

I was startled by the outrageous thing the voice echoing in ?”

But, was that really me?

I was so confused I looked down at ain in a different sense

The sword's blade should have been a rusty color But right now, it was changing like it was peeling off a thin layer of skin A crystal-like transparent blade was peeking through behind the rusted layer The inexplicable transparence of the blade was captivating even in the darkness

Delicious, the voice in ain

”No, I didn't think that!”

So why do these strange words keep popping up insucked away from the palm of my hand I stared at the transparent portion of the blade Then, I saw a splash of red, like a drop of blood, getmy blood?”

The back of oosebuorously spread itself along my arm

——Kill Kill, killkillkill!

The cold-hearted voice resounded throughthe skies

It's not just one voice!

It sounded like a bunch of people's voices had ether

”It's not me That isn't my voice!”

The voices' persistent commands made me shudder

”Olin, what's with this sword!?”

——Now, kill!

A large, wall-like Reim blocked my path when the inside ofout of its back like an insect

——Offer up your fear, your pain, as sustenance!

The voices flooded my heart It definitely isn't mine But then……!?

”Whose is it? ……Is it the divine sword's?”

I gulped, and the thin rusty layer peeled off the blade completely at that very moment

The sas transparent, like a red crystal It was so clear that it looked sinister

”What's going on…?”

I forgot to res because I was distracted by rabbed hold of h thatI couldn't even screa onto my sword, but it never left my hand

——Girl, incohout an to tighten It was crushi+ngwhen I panicked

”——Ah, ahh!”

No way It's really burning——

The Rei my body, suddenly burst apart and scattered chunks of flesh everywhere I abruptly fell to the ground because of it But I wasn't in any state to care aboutThe flah, weren't catching fire for so out from under my sleeves and screamed

A thick vein had popped up profusely on my arm

And——numerous small tumors that looked like human faces had risen on my skin

”No……no!!”

The faces, which flickered in and out of existence suddenly grinned all as one

A face more pronounced than the rest appeared on the back of, like the rest, and began to move its ain Though, in reality, all that left my throat was a weak, hoarse whi my arm vanished like they had melted away Then, my vision became really clear for soht

——Useless Master, if you won't move on your own, then you will move for us

”Hyaah!”

I pitched forward as if an invisible hand had pulled aton its own The face on the back ofout as if it was trying break free from my skin

It had deter to move on its own I couldn't help but think this

”Stop it!”

I didn't knoas going on But, nodivine Rather, they feltwith sinister feelings

”Ah!”

I let out a short screaht now The Reian sprouting so like acid from its mouth

But I wasn't hit by it My body ed the acid I spun around to change directions, stepped in towards the Reim in a favorable manner, and slashed deeply into the Reim's shoulder Then, I ju outstretched hand

This is iht like this——

——damned monster, we'll devour you

The voice wasn't ether and echoed noisily in ht in the

”Ah!”

I heard the chilling and o from insidefiercely My veins and blood vessels were bulging visibly, and elling alongside the growing struggles of the siven out My left ar into a visibly horrible creature

I stood there in a daze when the large Rei fire at my direction And it wasn't any normal fire The fla I thought that the flames had taken the shape of a e this——”

My arun to move by the tie the fire and beat back at the flames with little difficulty I was saved, but I didn't really have the ti around oosebumps all over Several Rei for their chance There was a Rei mantis, one that looked like a fly, one that looked like a rat……there was an infinite variety of thea surrounded……!”

There were ht It was like the world of man had vanished out of existence

”I can't defeat thisvoice said, 'We'll devour every last one of you,' with great delight in contrast to my pessimistic whisper My arm, which had increased in thickness and creepiness, transforain and stretched out I heard the sound of so to beco, creepy arm shot out like a whip and smacked the Reim at the front of the swars just kept happening Next, my arm sed up the shole and——Ahh, no way, iant mouth monster

”No……, Nooo!!”

——Gross, such unpalatablethe Reims!

My ar apart andspeed

”S, stop……”

It wouldn't stop My arm paid no heed to my pleas and moved only to harm the Reims My body moved on its own like a puppet The sound of the Rei torn apart reverberated in turns None of them had turned back hu its power on purpose so that it could continue tor them

”Please……, just stop…”

My arone up tosounds continued up my arm and eventually reached my shoulder

My arm had now branched off into pieces and taken on a snake-like appearance It looks like a Yaht of it made me feel like my mind would break into pieces

”Just howto turn into?”

——Watch and learn, girl There are ranks to Rei But that one's been refined well

The overbearing voice echoed in my heart The face that had appeared on the back on my hand earlier reappeared on a portion of th It rolled its eyes before looking at led out was the fire-spitting Rei Reiht in a daze

I was about to pass out, unable to accept how

”I e Reied roared a low roar that see around the arms that still remained unharmed on its back in an effort to seal myaround like tentacles I could tell thatfun even if it didn't say anything I could feel its cold-blooded elation at facing a strong enemy

”No, this isn't me”

These swift and unhesitant movements that the normal me could have never e of the convenient ideal that I had drawn up for ht resolutely even in the face of danger

It was me, but at the same time, it wasn't

The version of me that I had wanted to become, that I had looked up to and admired, had now become reality

”But I'm not happy about it at all”

Even if it wasa puppet

”This isn't what I wanted”

My body juorously the very moment II juiant Reim My arm-turned-Yamato-no-Orochi viciously bit at the Reim's shoulder Chunks of flesh flew everywhere As did its lukewar reflected into e

”I don't want to torround

The Reier and fear

——Let us feast Let us feast

No, you can't!

The realconsciousness

You can't eat them I have to turn everybody back human It's not the time to be huddled up in fear!!

Get up and open your eyes

”……Stop it”

Listen to me

I pressed down at my left hand, which tried to ht hand

The other Reiain, possibly because they were afraid of my sinister arm that had sed the divine sword It let iant Reim before me for now

”Stop it, divine sword”

It wouldn't stop even when I begged The giant Reim, who had been bitten at the shoulder, started to spew out black flaain I could see as clearly as if I was equipped with night-vision goggles even though both the moon and the lamp were far away, possibly because ood portion of ht, the lamp!”

I was taken aback The fact that the la about as it pleased even still My greedy arulp It licked its barred fangs with a long tongue as if to say that the fire had been delicious My bodyout of the Reihoutat the Reiony

”Stop……stop it!”

Jeez——you're pissing me off!!

Blood suddenly rushed to my head There was no way that it was okay to hurt the Reirotesque for now, but they were originally ordinary people Just like me

”I don't want my body to be taken over by aon!!”

The faces raised their voices of dissent withinwhat I'd said The way they'd reacted pissed e

”Seriously, what is with this ridiculous turn of events?!”

I, I…

”I'irl, you know!?”

……I exploded in anger over so that had absolutely no relevance to the situation I just couldn't help e At this point, I was going to say everything and anything I want to!

Besides, as their deal with turning a girl's aronna ross, then you could at least cooperate with me a little!”

It was really just too creepy This was just way too much I hadn't coe world where Reio if my arm had turned monstrous out of nowhere while I was still in japan! Plus, it was being super self-righteous about it too!!

”Enough already! Give ainst ainstaround I now hadin pain after having its arirl! What are you planning to do?!

I'ht now!

”Listen to me!”

Voices of refusal immediately rose up from within my heart after I yelled Shut up shut up shut up! they wailed as if they were spitting at me They were so horrible!

”No, if you don't listen——”

I ran to the lairl like you possibly do? the face on my arm mocked Wow, it really looks mad

But still! Just who's body do you think this is?

”If you're gonna borrow someone's body, then you have to be humble and respect the owner's wishes and eain

”Because——I'm thethroughoutincredibly reckless

I took the laainst one of the heads of the Yamato-no-Orochi

I heard the lamp's receptacle break The fire inside it, which should have been weak enough that you could blow it out in one breath, was incredibly effective against the mouth on my arm

”Whoa!”

It was in soabout the potential consequences, was taken aback

With a thunderous noise, the fire from the lamp suddenly flared up like a pillar of flah, I personally didn't feel any heat I only flinched back in surprise because their terrible screahout my body

The pillar of fire vanished the moment I pulled the lamp away

”Huh, it really worked?”

My monstrous arm returned back to normal in the blink of an eye The divine sith the transparent red blade was held tightly in my hand

I stared fixedly at it

You could see through the transparent sword even in the dark It fit into my hand perfectly, now that I'd noticed it

”I, I'll punish you again if you don't do as I say!”

I questionedthe sword in this kind of situation, but, how should I put this, I felt that I absolutely had to exert my dointo a Ya me the silent treatment? It was so childish!+

”Jeez!”

……But noasn't the ti rustling from behind me

”H, hey, lend ht!?”

I shouted as I turned around and was horrified The giant Reiht, Oh, I feel like soue at me, my body had already moved to evade the Reim's attack by a hair's breadth

”That was so reckless!”

Unlike the nie this time was crude and sloppy and permeated with malice It felt horrible!

”Kill it!”

By the tiru at me, by body had leapt into the air like aup Then, without a iant Reim's head

The Reim turned back human with miraculous speed But I didn't have the leisure to watch over and call out to the in the darkness were co off an ominous air

”There's so many……”

Just as I'd wiped off the sweat on ht suddenly shot out froht suddenly exploded, dispersed, and changed into a transparent shi+eld with an incantation engraved within it The Reims were on the other side They couldn't cross over even if they slaainst the transparent shi+eld

”Over here, hurry! It won't last long!”

I turned around, surprised by the sudden call, and found the boy wearing the long robes I'd lent hi at the entrance to the temple with a torch in hand

He was evidently the one who created the shi+eld I guess he really was able to use either ic or sorcery

”Hurry!”

Baan to run across the transparent shi+eld with letters engraved in it as the Reiainst it

I quickly returned the divine sword to its sheath, slung theon top of o to the boy ……Which was fine and all, but he was heavy!

”I, I can'tthe weight of a fully-grown man

I heard footsteps approach ht

I ht was lifted from my shoulders

”I'll carry him”

I heard the somber voice of a man I'd never met before I understood that one of the people who I'd turned back husaid,clear, likely because I'd re-sheathed the divine sword

”Now, let's go over there”

We hurried over to the te

The tall lady with the reddish-black hair was also there with him

Apparently, she had found clothes so ender She carried a sword in her right hand

Was she a feht? I metaphorically tilted my head to the side when she looked down atat me like that? I then recalled what I'd looked like just earlier just as the question came toholy Maybe she'd seen it Had my arm's transformation been so bizarre even in a world where o back inside,”

the boy holding the torch said curtly His face looked incredibly tense under the light I couldn't tell if he was being wary of me or if he was just afraid of the Rei around next tothe slender man in hisjust been turned back human had fallen in line with ht had truly fallen The sturdy man around his forties with dark blond hair He, too, had a stern look on his face

”……We can't fight against those nuh allies”

I looked down a little to bite down at my lip so no one could see

I turned back around once my facial expression had returned to norainst the transparent shi+eld in the darkness in an atteh

We escaped deeper inside the te resounded in our ears

Reih there weren't as many as there were outside

Rei instinct, or rather, Louie had said that they retained their habits from when they were human They stubbornly adhered to their holy attached to

If this was true, then the Reims that appeared here were undoubtably once people who ly attached to the temple than anywhere else

”They wander around unconsciously even after they've turned into Reims”

If there were a lot of people ere related to the teht be a sorcerer or priest who's fa the torch up at the forefront of the group had used soic to create the shi+eld

The last man I'd killed outside of the teh, he still wasn't fully conscious yet and had to be supported by the uessed this, it was because soht my attention

”Rei about probably didn't refer to social status It probably had to do with someone's character and abilities The unconscious man had spat out intense black flames when he was a Reim There were other Reied the coloring on the ground upon impact, but he was the first one to spit out poisonous fire

”Which is proof that he's just that strong”

I hts My monstrous arm that had sed up the divine souldn't have been able to face off against it if that fire had been norainstus suddenly stopped in his tracks e turned around the corner

”……I hear so in closely, had said, we heard the delighted cry of so It was a Reihtly woman to the boy's left stopped as well and readied her sword The blond man, thebehind them

The two in front of us had stopped, so we did as well

”It's not very easy to see with just the light from the torch……”

The boy placed his hand close to the fire and whispered sohter although the size of the flaht extended all the way to the end of the corridor

It was thanks to this that we could see the Rei it

Noticing us, the Reim turned around It was slender Its waist was so skinny it looked like it had been wrung out, while its lower half was quite fat It was tall, too It's four aro,”

the woman declared curtly and poised herself for battle before the boy stopped her

”Wait They were human once”

”But they will kill us if we don't finish them first”

The boy shook his head at the irritated woht, he's the first person that I resurrected He ained his senses earlier than the others

He was probably the first to have calmly accepted the fact that it was possible to resurrect the Reiht to kill them here……?”

The boy looked hesitant for a uess why

Even if he knew that I could turn the Reiht now he probably couldn't decide if I was a friend or foe

It was also highly likely that he had seen my monstrous arm

”Here it comes!”

The man with the dark blond hair yelled sharply

The slender Rei fro speed

”——I'll go The rest of you stay here and don't an running

My heart was pounding so hard that it hurt, and

After all, ht noas holding the divine sword completely of ht……!”

I prayed as hard as I could as I readjusted rip on my sword The Reim brandished one of its sword-like ared to block it with the divine sword……but it was shockingly strong, and I was easily blasted away My body was flung up into the air like a ball and I slammed into the corridor wall

”Ow, my back!”

I slid down to the floor just as I was froainst the wall

I was in a pathetic state where I was fortunate just to have held on to the divine sword

No way, the divine sword isn't responding!

”I'ht now, since no one else can handle you!”

I said to the divine sword, though I didn't know if I was threatening it or pleading with it

The Reionally just as I thought, Oh, I feel souely feels like extre to rip ht, but in actuality, I'd taken up the barest minimum of defensive measures

My sword arm moved to block the Rei the sheer difference in power between it andback on me, divine sword!”

I was pathetically blasted away yet again Well, I', but…!

”And that Reiht, my nimble movements from before were only possible thanks to this selfish divine sword

The only reason that I'd been able to turn the boy and the others back human before the divine sword had awakened was because the Reims had hardly resisted because they hadn't been coht now!”

Just as I panicked and tried to hurry back up to my feet

”I'll back you up!”

The boy's voice resounded through the air

”Back me up?!”

I didn't have the ti its sword-like arh it put oodness”

But it seemed like it was too early for me to soothe down er, and its arain at where I had escaped to

”Wh, whoa, ahh!”

I was fortunate to have been aardly positioned I stuet up and plopped down backwards instead and coincidentally ed to evade the next attack as I did I Reirazed past my head

”That was clo……!”

I was taken aback Evenfor ain, how should I put this,combat abilities proved to be et back up in a panic, the tip of the divine sword got caught in a crack in the floor and lurchedthrough the air co froonna back me up then do it fast!”

I probably wouldn't be able to dodge the next one When I'd finally ed to hastily pick myself up, I found that the Reim was about to thrust all four of its arot to run away as I froze in place

Then, just as the Reim's sharp, sword-like extreh ht wrapped around the Reim's arm and sealed its movements

”Move over here!”

the boy called out to me forcefully I couldn't respond i earnestly at the Reiht It looked like a thread at a first glance, but it wasn't It was actually a string of tiny shi+ning letters

The boy had blocked the Reirip on h the spell soon Hurry!”

”Okay, thanks!”

The thin ring of words looked like it would shatter at any ainst it

”Divine sword Let's bring this person back to life”

I swiftly circled behind the Rei ainst its ar down the divine sword

I felt the horrible crunching —soet used to no h my hands

”I don't believe this,”

whispered theHis gaze thenman to me

”This is really difficult to believe,”

he repeated again eht now, I didn't have the time to answer the aze

”Where are the others?”

I asked the boy The only people here were me, the boy, the soirl around e and a man in his fifties

The boy and the others probably had anyone eren't suited to fighting hide so to rescue me But the temple wasn't exactly safe either I orried if they were okay

”The others are somewhere where we put up a barrier We'll take you there”

The boy let out a soft sigh and brushed aside his dark grey hair fro briefly without saying anything superfluous Well, it wasn't as if I'd knohere it was even if he had explained it to me It was for the best that he took me there directly The boy continued,

”only, it's a si”

I see, so we should hurry then

”Got it Let's go to where the other five are I'll fight the Reims If you can, can you please back me up like you did just now?”

The boy nodded obediently and turned to the wo at me with obvious caution He ordered her to, ”Take care of hiested she couldn't say no

The woht about her, looked like she wanted to say so, but she obeyed the boy's co man who had just turned back huht that he was the youngest out of all the people I'd resurrected, but he wasn't ti people around

That, and the others didn't seem to mind his attitude in particular either

”This way Let us hurry”

The boy rolled up the sleeves of the robes I'd given hian to walk down the corridor at a brisk pace

He looked a little hesitant when I followed after hihtly

”……Are you unhurt?”

”I'm okay”

When I quietly replied back and smiled, the boy jerked his shoulders a little like he'd seeaze

He was such a strange child He'd treated the other woman like he was her master, but he was respectful toward me and even see me like this only because I was creepy and scary to him

”How about you?”

”Yes I' down

I was relieved ……There really was a ”person” walking next to me And I could hear the wo froht now, it was a sound that her than even beautiful music could

”Your footstepsyour pardon?”

”No, it's nothing”

It was so heartening to know that I wasn't alone

It was still painful and scary to have to kill the Reims But the fact that soave e that was a bit different fro desire to ”absolutely do soent ……The divine sword had fallen silent like it was sulking, though

I turned five more people back human by the time we made it to where the barrier was It wouldn't have been possible if the boy hadn't helped ht shadowed ed and supported the people who had just been resurrected

”I wonder where Louie and Eru are right now?”

↑ Yaht-tailed snake/dragon from japanese folklore