Iselda's haphazard plan was going reasonably well.
The spirits of the dead were killing, possessing and laying siege to everyone they meet.
It wouldn't be long before they reached their target.
The collecting of magic power was going well.
They would have to fight for it with the dead spirits, but there were still many prey on board.
She manipulate Iselda's offspring with bugs and spread them around where people are.
In this way, the number of people who become active as Iseldas had increased to a certain extent.
Some of them awakened to self-consciousness, and I actively entrusted them with gathering magic power.
In the meantime, a dead spirit who had found the girl she was looking for came to Iselda.
Apparently, they were heading for the Bridge.
Iselda decided to head that way as well.
'It's strange. The spirits of the dead are disappearing one by one.
A self-conscious Iselda sent me a heartbeat.
'Well. Who can resist the spirits of the dead in this environment?
Now that the Gift was unavailable, there was little that could be done against the spirits of death.
'He seems to have disappeared near the woman I want.
It's interesting to see how much power they have without the Gift. You stay here and find out what's going on.
All right.
We let Iselda, who is close to the subject, precede her to see what is happening.
It turns out that the girl has two companions.
A boy and a doll in the shape of a girl.
The spirit of death approaches the boy to attack him, but when he gets a certain distance, he falls down.
The spirits of the dead are gone, and only corpses remain.
'A kind of purification? It is said that a virtuous priest destroys demons by his presence alone, without recourse to gifts."
"You don't look like a priest, and you haven't done anything of the sort."
"Let me, with my low concentration of dead spirits, go to him."
They did it immediately.
But the result was the same.
The result was the same: Iselda's alter-ego collapsed and stopped moving, just like the dead spirit.
However, the alter itself did not die. The only thing that died was the bugs that she was controlling inside.
?What do you mean?"
?I don't know. I don't know. It didn't look like anything had been done to him. He's just dead."
?You go and see."
The next step was to turn to the self-conscious alter.
I tried to get all the information about the situation, but when I went towards the boy, the magical communication was cut off and I couldn't understand anything.
"I just died. I don't understand."
She received a heart-to-heart talk from another alter ego.
As expected, the alter that had gone towards the boy was dead.
The result showed that the boy was aware of the subjects intention to kill.
"Magic that doesn't rely on gifts? Interesting."
"Magic that doesn't rely on gifts? Interesting. "
"Shouldn't we pull her out? If we continue to try to secure the girl, won't that be our enemy?"
"What are you talking about?"
"They are attacking us in an unidentified way. We may not be able to resist them."
?That's not true. I don't care if we can't fight them. Even if they are wiped out, we will have gained valuable data."
Perhaps because of her original personality, the newly awakened Iselda did not seem to understand that the death of an individual was insignificant.
She is just one of countless ways to become the strongest, and if this one doesn't work, she can always find another one.
The women are a valuable source of research material, but we don't necessarily need to secure them here.
It is enough to know that there is such a person.
It would be kept in the collective memory of Iselda, and some other Iselda would remember it and use it to pave the way for the strongest of them all.
After a while, the six of them arrived in front of the wheelhouse.
On the way they met up with others who had the Yserda factor.
Almost as soon as we arrived, the door opened and out from inside came a boy who used a mysterious power.
He was followed by an interesting girl, a doll in the shape of a girl, and a female pirate who used her ability to disable powers.
The bugs that had deprived the female pirate of her freedom had stopped working.
The boy may have killed the bugs.
?You're the one who said you were going to guard the ship, right?"
The boy asked.
Iselda did not answer, but sent for one of her companions.
He was a pirate, and a strong man.
The man drew his sword and attacked the boy from the front.
As soon as he started running, the man fell forward and stopped moving.
He was dead.
And Iselda had no idea what had happened.
?Interesting."
Iselda was impressed by such power.
Even if her other alter egos didn't understand it, she thought that she would be able to understand something.
She knew that the boy was going to do something. She thought that if she paid close attention to the moment, she would be able to catch a glimpse, if not all of it.
But she found nothing.
It was not a system skill and there was no evidence of magic being used.
All she knew was that her heart had stopped without warning.
If she didn't know, she would have no countermeasures.
Iselda was not overconfident.
She believed, that she was incapable of that power.
In other words, she understood that there was nothing she could do if she was subjected to it.
?It's no fun for me. I've been attacked all day. Did you do this to me?"
?That's right."
?Well, that's easy for you to say. My power is to kill a target instantly. If you've been attacking me, you already know that, don't you?"
?Oh! Very interesting. So I've decided to make you all my subjects."
?I have a feeling we're not geting through to her, Takato-kun!"
"What research?"
"Hmm. I will confiscate the ancient relics and take you to my base. The woman will breed with me and give birth to a child. This women is rare, and the pirates are royalty. Bringing in her blood will aid in my research. I want her to use my power to my full potential. I want to analyse the source of that power."
"There's no room for understanding!
"I don't want to crossbreed with Dannoura."
"Nothing you want will come true. You know you can't beat me, so what are you doing here?"
"You'll never get what you want. You know you can't beat me, so what are you doing here?"
"I don't know. Well, if I had to guess, I'd say I've come to play the overture to despair."
It was Iselda's bad habit…
She wanted to see their face contorted in despair.
She wanted to hear them gasp in pain.
She wanted to see them shaking and wailing.
She want to see them tremble with fear and sh*t themselves.
She wanted to feel the sorrow, the despair, the terror of the people with all her being.
In a nutshell, she had a taste for cruelty, and that's why Iselda had become a great mage.
It takes an overwhelming amount of power to cause despair in people, and the result of her quest for power was the pinnacle of magic.
"Despair or not, ... what can you do? We just want to get out of here, so can you please step aside?"
It was true that Iselda is incapable of inspiring fear in this boy.
But she can give him a sense of unease, a foreboding of fear.
She could tell him of the never-ending despair that was about to begin.
"All of them here are me, Iselda."
A boy, a young girl, a pirate, an old woman, a middle-aged man. All of them, of different ages, genders, and identities, were Iselda.
?It's not just this. I am all over the world."
?It's taken over a thousand years to spread."
?It doesn't matter so much if you kill me here."
?I know your face."
?I know your smell. I know the resonance of your soul."
?You will not escape."
"No matter how strong you are."
"Will you be able to cope with us coming at you from all over the world"
"From all corners of the globe?"
?Can you believe that?"
?You don't have to believe."
?You'll understand."
If she just explained it here, they would think she was delusional.
But they would have to understand.
There would come a time when they would understand that this is where their days of fear began.
＊＊＊＊＊
"That's not what I was told. ...
Yogiri was very confused.
Those who call themselves Iselda were self-indulgent and rambling on about things he didn't understand.
"Takoto-kun, this is the most confusing thing I've ever seen…"
"I don't know either. It would be better if she attacked us."
?But since she's standing in our way, don't you think we should eliminate her?"
?All right, then. She's an enemy."
They have shown hostile intent and have said they intend to continue to harm them.
If that's the case, Yogiri decided, they should be eliminated here and now.
?Die."
Yogiri killed the mercenary boy.
"Huh. I still don't understand anything. What's going on with that? Can't you show me more?"
The young girl began to speak in an unsuitable tone.
Yogiri thought that killing the boy would break the brainwashing, but it seemed that this was not the case.
He killed them one by one.
Everyone said the same thing in the same tone.
Finally, an old woman remained.
?It is an arrogant power. But I look forward to the day when you will bow down before me. This is the moment when your torment begins!"
"Die"
And all who stood in their way fell.
?There's something not quite right about that. ..."
"Hmm. They're not afraid of death, are they?
?Well, where's the pirate?"
He should have been beside her when she went out into the corridor, but he couldn't see her.
The corridor was blocked, so there was no way they could go on, and curious, he looked into the wheelhouse.
There was no one there.
?Did she go out of the window?"
Tomochika said, looking into the room.
Well, it's the only way she could think of.
?Well, if they'll just withdraw, that's fine."
It's not like they're going to be accompanying pirates forever, and this was probably for the best.
As Yogiri thought about this, the ship shook violently.
The hull of the ship creaked and made a loud noise.
He looked out the window and saw that the tentacles that had been wrapped around them were about to come apart.
The pirates seemed to have started to withdraw as promised.
The tentacles were gone, and the ship was now free.
However, the ship was beginning to tilt.
"Hmm? This is ..."
"You mean it was held up by tentacles? The damage to the ship must have been considerable when it got wrapped around."
?Yeah, the stairs were crushed and everything."
"Then…"
?Maybe it'll sink."
"It's going to sink after all!
Tomochikas tsukkomi echoed throughout the rocking ship.
＊＊＊＊＊
It was a place that could be called the seat of Iselda.
It was a world separated from this world, a world that only Iselda could reach.
It was a place where the best of Iselda were kept.
The best Iseldas of the moment were gathered here.
?Hornet is dead. I thought we were off to a good start."
?Is that so? It would have been wasteful to be both a hero and a swordsman. I think it would have been better to seek the power of another lineage.
?I heard you found the royal family of the Manny Kingdom."
"It's convenient that I'm a straggler. We don't have to worry about Iglesia."
?What does Iglesia matter to us now?"
?There is no need to make enemies. There are countless other things we can do."
?You said you had an interesting woman."
"The performance of the body is so isolated. It doesn't seem to have come about naturally.
?They must have been systematically bred and improved, just as we have been."
?We've been so neglectful of our physical capabilities."
?If we can incorporate it, it might fit in nicely."
?Yeah. Some skills have a base value of performance."
"As for the man with the strange power.
?I mean, we don't know anything about it. We'll have to continue to investigate."
?Interesting. I'd love to find out the source of his power."
Several Iseldas were activated and talking.
This was an empty space, just for storing Iseldas.
They were usually asleep, as being awake all the time would only make them bored.
It was only when something noteworthy happened that they would be activated and talk to each other.
Basically, it was just a discussion.
There was no policy to be decided or instructions to be given here.
What happened in this world should be solved by Iselda in her world.
This place was nothing more than a storage facility.
If anything were to change here, it would be the arrival of a new Iselda, but that was unlikely to happen for a while.
After a long conversation, the Iselda's tried to fall asleep again.
Then, eyes appeared.
"What?"
The eyes appeared in a space that was supposed to be empty and unaccesable to anyone but Iselda.
A line ran through the space, and it opened up and down.
It was like the movement of an eyelid opening, and what appeared was a pair of slit eyes.
They appeared one after another, filling the space.
"What the hell is this ...?
"How did you get here ...?
?You're the guy from the ... ship."
It was only a hunch, but they could sense the boy's mood in his eyes.
"I see. You've come to kill us. "
?I didn't expect you to find us here."
?But what does it matter?"
?You think this is the center?"
?We're here, and we're dead, and it doesn't matter much."
?We're all over the world."
"It is not only that which takes human form."
"It's not just what takes human form, it's what's invisible, microscopic, like bugs, that's me."
?The power that brings you here is astounding. I'll give you that."
?But do you really think you can destroy us with that kind of power?"
?No matter how many you kill, you will never be able to kill us."
?There are plenty of us. We're dispersed all over the world."
"No matter how many people you kill, if there are survivors, there will always be more."
?Even mass extinction is a given."
This was an important storage facility.
But it was not the center.
Even if everyone in there was killed, it would not matter.
An immortal system had been constructed that dispersed itself countless times, ensured redundancy, and constantly replicated itself.
Iselda checked the situation in that world.
No response came back.
It was abnormal.
Iselda had a mutual monitoring system in place. The purpose is to be prepared for any eventuality, and if something happens, an alarm should be issued immediately.
Yet, there was no alarm, and the Iseldas of this world were silent.
What does that mean? Iselda could not understand immediately.
The simple and obvious answer was right there, but she could not face it.
?What the hell is going on here? ..."
?I mean, there must have been a million humans alone. ..."
?If even one of them survived, there would be an alert."
?You idiot… Most of them are just people without my consciousness. ..."
Most of the ones with the Iselda factor went through life without incident.
It was reserved for a surplus in case of crisis, and for the diversity that chance can create.
There was no way to know that it included Iselda, and no way to find out.
In the unlikely event that she was noticed, she would be just a human being at that point.
A normal human being would not be able to kill them just because they might be potentially dangerous.
In this respect, Iselda trusted humanity. She believed that humanity as a whole would be good.
But.
This boy was different.
She didn't know how he found out, or how he did it, but he killed all of Iseldas in that world.
He slaughtered not only over a million humans, but also livestock, wild animals, insects, plants, and even microscopic bacteria, all of which contained the Iselda factor.
Iselda was beginning to feel fear.
It wasn't about the power.
She was beginning to fear that she might die.
Until now, there was no need to fear the death of an individual.
When they died, their memories would be passed on to another individual.
The memories were dispersed and held in various Iseldas, and would be increased as much as possible.
But now there was no more surplus.
When she dies, it's over.
Everything will disappear.
All her efforts, all her hard work, would be wasted.
For the first time in a thousand years, Iselda remembered how terrifying it was to know that there was no more time left.
Up until now, Iselda had never had to deal with death.
And yet, now, death had come so suddenly.
An inevitable death was looming before her eyes.
"You killed them! Innocent civilians! And you don't think anything of it?"
The last thing that came out of her mouth were such words that she had no room for.
She hoped that would make him feel a little guilty, but she couldn't see any agitation in the crowd of eyes.
He didn't have the kind of spirit to be shaken by something like this.
"Help me! You have no reason to kill me!"
?I know what you're capable of! I will have nothing to do with you!"
?You have no idea how long I've been working to create this environment!"
?If you've come all this way, then what do you want from me?"
?What do you want, money? A woman? I'll give you everything! I'll give you everything! I have everything!"
What he was thinking, Iselda did not know until the end.
＊＊＊＊＊
Iselda was eradicated.
There was not even a shred of genetic information left.
＊＊＊＊＊
Yogiri and the others came out onto the deck.
The ship was tilting more and more.
There seemed to be no doubt that it was sinking.
?But she's kept her promise to clear out."
?It would have been better if I hadn't asked them to leave."
?Let's just get out of here! You can build a ship, can't you, Mokomoko?"
?I know it's a little late to say this, but even if we take the boat, where are we supposed to go?"
"What? To the east?" (Note probably a joke I don't get)
Tomochika didn't seem to think anything of it.
"An island nation to the east? I think it's still far from here. I've got some food in my backpack, so I think we can last for a while."
"Then what do we do?
?I think we should aim for the nearest land, but we'll have to see where that is."
When Tomochika was told this, she looked around.
But even Tomochika, who had good eyesight, could not find land.
?Should we go back for the map?"
?Hmm. I don't think we can afford that."
?I guess we'll just have to build a boat and go out to sea."
They didn't have much time left.
As Mokomoko said, they would have to escape first.
"Are you in trouble?"
Yogiri turned toward the direction of the voice.
A boy he recognized was smiling at him.
?Who are you?"
He looked familiar. But Yogiri couldn't remember his name.
He thought it was Fururyu-san.
Tomochika seemed to remember.
?Yeah, that's the guy."
?What? You were on the boat with us?"
?I asked your permission to come with you, didn't I?"
When he said that, Yogiri remembered that he had allowed it.
"So, if I'm in trouble, you'll help me?"
"Yes. I can fly, you know."
?Oh! I remember you said something like that!"
?I'm a dragon."
?You are?"
Tomochika was surprised, and Yogiri somehow remembered what he had said.
?I thought I tried to introduce myself with impact…"
"Didn't you say something about why you can't fly?
"You said that flying is a way to get caught in the Sage's security net. But that's only a problem if you intercept them, right?"
?That's none of your business"
"That's all I know."
"Well, it's an emergency. We could use a ride."
There wassome concern.
If he senses an attack and kills the Sages, there is a good chance that the Philosopher's Stone will lose its power. That would be pointless when they were looking for the Philosopher's Stones.
However, rather than worrying about that, Yogiri thought that the first priority should be to escape the ship.
"Oh, so dragons are the long, thin kind."(Note: eastern/Chinese dragons)
The transformation of Koryuu was instantaneous.
The next thing they knew, he was a dragon.
As Tomochika said, in their original world he looked like an oriental style dragon.
"Where can I find… upside-down scales?"
Yogiri remembered the story that dragons have only one scale that is upside down.
"In Monster hunter, you peel it off the tail."
"Don't touch me!"
Yogiri, Tomochika, and Mokomoko as Enju rode on the dragon's back.
"Let's go then."
He moved forward easily and did not feel any wind pressure.
He was worried that they might be knocked off, but at this rate they would be fine.
?And I can't fly very far, so don't worry."
?You should have told us that before you took off!"
Their future was very uncertain.