"Yato-chan!"
Kiara ran over to Ayato in tears. She hugged him tightly. Shoya followed behind her.
"You're okay!"
"Yeah... I just went to the toilet."
Although, a lot had happened between the time he went to the toilet and now. But the thing he was most worried about was...
Ayato nervously turned back at the door.
"I'm sorry I couldn't do anything."
Mumei said, kneeling.
"Mother? What're you talking about?"
Shoya asked.
"Hm... Mumei, where's Mother?"
"She's... outside the door."
The woman said in a disappointed tone. She looked to be in despair. She clenched her fists, reluctantly listening to the sinister chuckles of the concubines.
"Your mother is outside that door. She's probably already dead. Hehe..."
One of the other concubines chuckled. Kiara snapped.
"What?! Open that door! Let Mother into the room!"
"No, that Vixen gets what she deserves."
"How could you say that?!"
Mumei gritted her teeth and screamed at the top of her lungs.
"The lot of you are simply jealous because she's the one the patriarch loves the most! So what?! You'd take a life?! Are you all that petty?!"
It was a friend. A friend. A sister. That's what Saya was to Mumei. It should've been what she was to everyone. However, they were all scumbags. Women who wanted to be loved but not in the purest manner. They were nobles. They wanted the best man possible. But Goto Kyouya spent the most time with Saya, the woman he loved truly.
"Don't lie, you have thought about getting rid of Saya too, Mumei."
Rika sneered. Mumei scowled.
"I haven't. Because we concubines were never meant to be. Before us, the Kyouya Family wasn't prosperous. It was because of the patriarch and Saya's decision that we ended up here together."
"It's true, I don't think it's right that we're doing this."
Another woman said. It was a woman named Kaguya. She was accompanied by Hayami, another concubine.
"It's disgusting that you all fell into your deepest desires. Haven't you thought about the future of the Kyouya Family if you do this?"
Hayami commented.
"Hm? The quiet introvert, Hayami is talking?"
Rika chuckled, teasing the woman. Hayami glowered.
"All of you are stupid."
She bluntly announced. The whole room started arguing but Hayami continued despite this fact.
"Perhaps you hate Saya and there's nothing we can do about that, however, you're focusing on the present. Not the future."
"Meaning?"
"If Saya Kyouya dies, not only will the patriarch be in grief, but the very structure of the family will fall."
Hayami explained to all of them. They finally quieted down, glaring straight at the woman.
"We all came after Saya Kyouya. She was already the main wife. However, if Saya Kyouya dies, all of you fools will fight amongst yourselves for that spot next to the patriarch. It will spark a war among us. In the end, we'll destroy ourselves, ultimately destroying the patriarch's dream."
"We can think about that when we get there!"
"Saya Kyouya's life comes first!"
They shouted mindlessly. Hayami grabbed her head in frustration.
"You mindless monkeys...!"
"She's a mother of two children. Will you truly kill her in front of her children?"
Kaguya muttered.
"It's a price."
A smoking woman said. Her name was Arisu.
"They still have another parent."
"You all are so...!"
Mumei growled.
No one listened. It was final. There was nothing that these concubines would listen to. It was a lost game. They refused.
"Mother..."
Ayato called out, processing the information that he was given. It was shock. He was aimlessly walking toward the door.
"They left her to die..."
He muttered.
"Why...? Why, why?!"
The boy cried. He banged on the door.
·———·
There were faint shouts.
"Mother! Mother!"
It sounded hazed but Saya could still hear it. The woman didn't answer. She felt the light reverberation of the door. Saya didn't answer.
If she did, the boy would be consumed by a greater sadness.
"Found someone!"
A bunch of people in black outfits rushed up the stairs. Saya stood up in a rush.
"Shit!"
"That's Saya Kyouya! Shoot to kill!"
"Dual Barrier!"
Two thin green walls appeared in front of Saya Kyouya. They blocked the barrage of bullets coming at her. A few scraped through the barrier, eroding it.
Saya ran behind the wall, the staircase at the end of the corridor. (The Noir soldiers went up the stairs in the middle of the corridor.)
"Shit... They have Necrosis Bullets?"
Necrosis. It referred to an element which specialised in rotting. It was mostly used for destroying the molecular structure of spells. A magician's worst enemy.
If a magician was hit by a Necrosis Bullet, their mana circuits would temporarily short circuit. During this short circuit, they couldn't control the mana they would expel.
"Fuck..."
She couldn't do anything. They had anti-magician equipment so normal spells wouldn't work. Blue Eyes had no advantage against them.
"Is this... how I die?"
"No, it's not, Saya!"
A woman dashed up the stairs behind her. In the pure white suit she was in, she could've only been a single person.
"Maenis!"
"Don't run from me!"
Another woman jumped from the middle stairs. It was a black-haired woman with crimson eyes. Both she and Maenis looked injured.
"Orfan?!"
The Noir members shouted in shock. Without hesitation, Orfan knocked them out of her way. Her fist clashed with Maenis'.
"I'll kill that mistress of yours if you're not willing to fight. No, I'll do it anyway!"
The woman shouted with a menacing smile on her face.
"Shit...!"
Maenis lost in a contest of strength. She followed up with a swift kick to Orfan's head. The woman managed to block it.
"—!"
Orfan was still knocked away despite her blocking. Maenis didn't let up. Her leg cut through the air, narrowly missing the woman. Orfan punched her stomach.
"Ngh?!"
It was an unexpectedly heavy blow. Orfan hadn't been using her full power when fighting Maenis before. Even this wasn't her full power.
"Stay there, while I kill your mistress."
"No, you don't!"
Maenis stuck her arm out, lariating Orfan as she ran toward Saya. As she was airborne, Maenis hit her with a mana-infused punch. Once again, she blocked, however...
"Ack!"
She still felt the brunt of the impact. Maenis smiled.
This was because of a special skill, being able to duplicate certain things. In this case, the impact of a punch. She could create doubles of the impact of her punch and erase the original, making the copy the original. To put it into simpler terms, she erased the concept of the punch by making a copy and replaced it directly after.
In essence, a delayed impact.
"Now, your guard is down..."
She muttered at Orfan.
She clenched her fingers, causing Orfan to be held in place. The space around her was being crushed along with her. She was standing but barely.
"Oi? Gravity, are you serious? That's a cheat code."
"Max Zone Gravity."
Maenis said.
Orfan dropped into the ground, being crushed by the increase in gravity. It was a painful thing to bear for Orfan and a difficult thing for Maenis to keep active.
"Do better than that. Divine Tool—Ignite."
A flash of mana. The Max Zone Gravity was dissipated and Maenis' hand was knocked back.
"Divine Tool...?!"
Orfan slowly stood up with her body being engulfed in plates of sable armour. Before long her entire body was donned in it. The armour that was...
"Black Aegis."
The ultimate shield.
"Gravity Collaps—!"
With a single swing of her arm, Maenis' Magic Seal was deflected and she smashed into the wall. The dark-skinned girl vomited, becoming limp against the wall.
The cheat known as the Divine Tool, Black Aegis. The unreasonable and illogical weapons that were known as Divine Tools.
Black Aegis' special ability was to dissipate spells that had an unconcentrated mana structure. (Basically, spells that weren't Magic Seals.) It also nullified the effects of mana of spells naturally. This included Magic Seals.
Without a doubt, it was a magician's worst nightmare.
"...Maenis!"
Saya shouted.
"After we kill you, we'll have the preparations done."
Orfan's voice reverberated through her black helmet. The spaces between her armour burned amber like lava.
"You... how do you have that? That Divine Tool is..."
Saya's voice trailed off in shock. So much so that she had forgotten to protect herself. Orfan giggled slightly.
"What? Does that mean you know the original owner of this Divine Tool? Perhaps, a white-haired lady approaching her 50s?"
The woman glowered in an intense rage. She didn't lose control but she was practically killing Orfan with her stare.
"Oh? Scary?"
"You killed her... You killed her. You bastard. You killed her."
Almost as if it were a trivial task, Orfan stuck her hand through Saya's chest. Her hand was drenched in her blood.
"Sa... Sa..."
Maenis couldn't move. Her entire body felt numb. She couldn't do anything but faintly call.
"Yes, I killed her. Hate me. Resent me. Detest me. I love all of those negative emotions. Hate me. Resent me. Detest me. Loathe me. Despise me."
"..."
Saya stared at Orfan. It wasn't a look of hatred but rather...
"Hey, what's with that look? You're dying. Make it more fierce. You know, like an alligator."
"..."
Orfan was starting to lose her patience. That look on Saya's face. It was a look of pity.
"What's with that look? Don't you hate me?! So—"
"That's stupid... I mean..."
Saya started talking. Her voice was hoarse.
"You're a pitiful person... You aren't loved so..."
Before she could finish, Saya's body slid off of Orfan's hand. Her body was on the ground, bathing in its own pool of blood.
"You... You died before you finished? What's this bullshit about not being loved?! What sort of delusions do you have?! You don't know me!"
The armoured woman shouted at the woman. Well, it was a corpse now. Orfan realised that what she was talking to was a corpse. She clicked her tongue.
"Oi! You guys, contact Ryan and tell him that we're leaving! I'm in a bad mood so don't fuck around!"
She was talking to the other Noir members on the floor.
"Y-yes!"
They shouted.
They left without a disturbance. Maenis was shocked. She couldn't move from her spot. Although her body had already recovered. Tears were flowing uncontrollably.
"Sa..."
She couldn't finish her sentence. Saya's dead body was something that she didn't want to see. Yet, she didn't look away.
Saya Kyouya was dead. Orfan Ainsworth had killed her.