Chapter 46
[Woof! Woof! Graaar!]
Sebastian charged forward, swinging his forepaw, and five Malice Wraiths were sent flying. The struck Wraiths collapsed, unable to rise, disintegrating into dark residue.
I unleashed a scattershot. The Malice Wraiths hit by the holy-infused pellets writhed in agony before crumbling into ash on the ground.
[Graaar!]
Sebastian rampaged, swinging his paws and tearing into the Wraiths with his jaws, rapidly reducing their numbers until not a single one remained.
“Lilac!”
Leaping off Sebastian, I imdiately embraced Lilac.
“Thank goodness. Truly, thank goodness… I-I thought sothing had happened to you…!”
“I’m okay. I’m fine. I’m right here. Lilac is here in Master’s arms.”
It felt as if we were lost in eternity; the mont in my arms seed infinite.
But Lilac suppressed her wish for this mont to last forever.
“Manager Nerjin is fighting alone. Master, you have to go help him.”
“…Right. I need to assist him.”
It must be the site of the massive explosion.
If I cherished Lilac, I had to honor Nerjin’s sacrifice for her safety.
As I prepared to leave, I recalled one thing that needed addressing.
“Lilac, you…”
What should I do? It was too dangerous to bring her along, but leaving her behind made uneasy. The lack of trustworthy allies was never so vexing as now.
“Please allow to co with you. I’ll cling tightly to Sebastian’s back.”
Lilac spoke as if reading my mind.
“…Hold on tight.”
I lifted Lilac with both hands, kicked off Sebastian’s body like a wall, and climbed onto his back.
***
The ground glowed red, radiating heat, with haze rising across the area. This was the aftermath of ‘Big Bang,’ created by the Cosmos Empire’s greatest alchemist.
“Ugh, cough! Cough, cough!”
Nerjin, spitting blood, slowly raised his head. His first concern was the formal suit he wore proudly.
‘The clothes are ruined…’
The suit, enchanted with defensive magic passed down to the Cosmos Empire’s chief researchers, was torn to rags.
‘Where did that girl go?’
With trembling hands from mana exhaustion, he pressed against the ground. As he tried to stand—
A cadet’s shoe stomped on his head.
“Guh!”
His face slamd into the scorching earth. It was hot. The pain of burning flesh made him dizzy.
‘I didn’t kill her…!’
Without looking up, he knew who it was.
The mastermind controlling the Malice Wraiths, the gentle ivory-haired cadet, Helaine.
“You survived… that…!”
“How dare… how dare… how dare…!”
The shoe rcilessly stomped and kicked his head. His neck twisted, and in his vision, he saw a woman covered in severe burns.
She could hardly be called a woman. Her gender was indistinguishable. Her hair was gone, her voice a horrific rasp like clashing iron. From head to toe, she was riddled with burns.
Yet, Nerjin harbored strong doubts about her survival. His doubts led to a hypothesis, then a conclusion.
“…You didn’t summon a demon…”
A chilling conclusion.
“You grafted it… into your body…”
A story Gilbert told him ca to mind. In Dr. Keren’s lab, there were monstrous creatures made from children as ‘sacrifices.’
He’d hypothesized that Malice Wraiths were fused with children.
The chira before him confird it.
“You turned yourself… into a chira…”
“Chira? I’m nothing like those lowly things. I’ve… transcended.”
“Transcended…?”
“Yes! I beca the demon humans fear!”
“…Hmph.”
If she thought that way, there was no need to correct her.
“Right… Luri?”
Nerjin doubted his eyes at the figure that appeared.
Unlike Helaine, whose flowing ivory hair was burned and body lted, Luri’s pink twin-tails were untouched by even a speck of soot.
It was obvious who protected Luri. Helaine.
“What… are you? Why are you…”
“Oh, I’m not like that maid. I don’t abandon friends to flee alone.”
“Friends… friends…”
Could soone whose soul was suppressed by demonic power and used like a puppet be called a friend?
Yet, she endured her body burning to protect her, so perhaps she could be called a friend.
Still, he understood. The reason Helaine went mad.
“Were you betrayed?”
“…What?”
“I asked if your friend Luri betrayed you.”
“….”
Her burn-ravaged face twisted into an indescribable, grotesque expression of rage and pain.
“Shut up!”
As Helaine raised her hand, demonic power surged.
Nerjin sensed his end.
‘Ah, Bianca.’
Forgive your grandfather for going first. I’m sorry I couldn’t leave you a proper inheritance. But I hope the knowledge I passed on will light your path…
‘Master…’
The hope has surely been delivered.
Nerjin closed his eyes.
At that mont, a loud crash! The sound of tal hitting the ground, cratering and splitting it, rang out.
Then—
“Kyaaaaa!”
A sharp, guttural scream, like being torn apart by a beast’s jaws, pierced his ears along with the sound of rending flesh.
Yet, Nerjin couldn’t open his eyes. His soul and consciousness teetered on the edge of a cliff leading to hell.
But a powerful white light pierced through his closed eyelids, forcing his eyes open.
‘Ah, this is…’
What was it like when people first saw it? Young Nerjin in his 20s was no different. No evil survived this radiance, and darkness vanished before it like facing the sun. So called it divine punishnt.
The Cosmos Empire’s highest authorities were the emperor and pope, but the people’s hero was another. The leader of the Peacemaker, now a lone warrior cleansing the empire’s lingering evils.
The creator of the holy Diamond Bullet.
‘Star Child, is it you…?’
In his fading consciousness and vision blurred by divine grace, he saw Martin, descending on a giant dog.
‘Hope… it was you…’
Nerjin closed his eyes, relieved.
***
Nothing remained.
Where the finest holy Diamond Bullet passed, only a woman’s lower half—below the knees—remained, burning away in holy white flas.
“Manager Nerjin!”
As I stepped toward Nerjin, collapsed in a ss—
‘?!’
Suddenly, the defensive magic in my cadet shoes activated. The ground was a red-hot mass of stone.
Thankfully, to Sebastian, it was rely warm, and he seed unbothered.
I approached Nerjin and lifted him.
“Stay with !”
He was scalding, like touching heated stone. Thanks to traces of defensive magic in his torn clothes, he seed unhard.
‘Damn.’
His face was entirely burned. He needed urgent treatnt.
But first—
I turned to the woman, now just two legs, reduced to ankles by ash.
Know-It-All (Lv 2) accesses the registry. Information on Cadet Helaine has been collected.
Her na, age, status, and abilities were gathered instantly. I thought the scant remains—only below the knees—would delay the process, but Know-It-All handled it faster than expected.
As soon as it finished, the legs were consud by white flas and vanished.
‘So that’s her na.’
Helaine. The reason I struggled so much to find the serial killer was that her na never appeared in the original. Nor did her appearance.
Because the demon she thought she’d absorbed had consud her mind. By the ti the protagonist party found her in the original, she was fully transford into a demon, even in appearance.
Her na was never ntioned after the case’s resolution.
Honestly, it was odd. If it were , I’d have recalled her na and past appearance to evoke emotion. Every novelist would do the sa.
It was truly strange. Almost as if it was hidden, knowing this would happen to .
But now, I really had to go. To get treatnt as soon as possible…
“…?”
A sizzling sound made turn. Soone stood there. The noise ca from protective magic activating on the scorching ground.
Pink twin-tails, cadet uniform.
Know-It-All analyzed her information, and I quickly decided.
‘I need to take her.’
Carrying both, I climbed onto Sebastian.
***
You’ve defeated the demon summoner Helaine! The future of terrorizing the capital and causing massive damage has been brilliantly altered!
The protagonist party will rember this. They feel great favor toward you.
Princess Adela acquires your information.
Helaine’s friend, Luri, feels imnse gratitude toward you.
Nerjin vows to serve you for life.
You’ve beco the hope of alchemist Nerjin! An ‘Extra Privilege Item’ exclusive to Nerjin is unlocked!
You’ve earned 2,000 points.
In the original, the ‘serial killer incident’ plagued the capital for two weeks before barely being resolved.
This ended entirely differently.
Not even public sentint was affected. The Imperial Intelligence Departnt didn’t even know such an incident was occurring, only rushing in shock at the sudden strategic-magic-level explosion.
Naturally, no traces remained. Big Bang and the holy Diamond Bullet erased everything.
The concern lay elsewhere. I’d beaten up the sewer guards and ridden a giant Sebastian through the capital. My na hitting the dia seed unavoidable.
But—
I sighed, recalling the debt I’d incurred.
‘…They didn’t even have to.’
Surprisingly, the protagonist party handled the dia. The uproar was attributed to a demon summoner’s appearance, and Big Bang was explained as an explosion from an overloaded top-grade mana stone.
The front-page story claid Mary’s staff, embedded with a top-grade mana stone, exploded after a struggle with the demon. I sighed again.
‘A top-grade mana stone… Rarer than a Platinum Knight.’
As I recalled, only two existed in the Imperium Empire—one with the imperial family, one with the Deminiyan Ducal Family.
Since it didn’t actually explode, the protagonist party likely hid it sowhere, but the issue was elsewhere.
Imagine the criticism Mary would face from her ducal family. Despite being the eldest daughter, her timid nature made her the family’s outcast.
“…Hah!”
I couldn’t help but sigh. I’d incurred a debt and couldn’t let it slide.
“Master?”
“Oh, yeah?”
Turning, I saw Lilac peeking through a slightly open door. Now that I thought about it, I might’ve heard a knock.
“Sorry. I was lost in thought.”
“I’m sorry for disturbing Master’s contemplation…”
“It’s fine.”
“You’ll be late if you don’t leave now.”
“Oh… Already?”
Checking the clock, I saw the ti. I stood, grabbing my bag.
Following Lilac downstairs, I glanced through an open door. Bianca was tending to Nerjin with utmost care.
With our house destroyed in the demon chaos, Lilac and I took temporary shelter at Nerjin’s alchemy workshop. We hadn’t gotten Nerjin’s permission, but Bianca allowed it, so we were staying. The workshop was wrecked by the Malice Wraiths, but it was still livable.
‘The shop’s an issue. We’ll need to move.’
With this incident, custors wouldn’t co.
“Master, take this.”
“Thanks.”
I took a bottle of Lilac’s homade lemonade and stepped outside.
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