Because I Am Surtr Chapter 14

All she knew was that the nearly hundred-meter stretch of ground before her collapsed in an instant. Pillars of blazing crimson fire burst through the surface one after another. Then a fiery tornado, whose breath of flame seemed close enough in her eyes to touch the Cataclysm clouds, rapidly gathered and lunged straight at her.

The faint light at hand was swallowed by the flames.

And in the end, all that remained was the pain and despair rushing toward her, enough to crush her sanity in an instant.

—I'm dead.

—I... I don't want to die!

Like an insect, she threw herself to the ground and let out a despairing wail.

"Spare me! I'm still useful to you!"

The flames seemed to halt for an instant.

Yet before she could show any joy at escaping death, the stalled flames surged down like a tide and utterly engulfed her.

"No—!!!"

Miss Surtr emerged from the flames.

Behind her lay a ruined city filled with burning fire. Buildings had melted away, roads were scorched black, and fire and iron flowing up from beneath the earth spilled everywhere, like the mouth of a steadily erupting volcano.

At her feet, the wolf girl from Reunion lay curled up on the ground. Even unconscious, her pretty face wore a timid expression of terror and shock—her tough protective suit, resistant to fire and poison alike, had been burned to tatters. Her feet were bare, and the gelatinous structures melted by the intense heat peeled away from her reddened ankles beneath Miss Surtr's gaze.

Bullying Crownslayer really was one of life's greatest pleasures. But bullying was one thing; while the World-Ending Cup was fun, injuring or killing her would defeat the purpose of being a transmigrator.

She raised her foot and lightly tapped Ludmila's cheek with the tip of her high heel—there had always been a tradition on forums and Tieba: Crownslayer got more miserable with every encore and fanfic. Strictly speaking, Miss Surtr considered this two-dimensional girl, Crownslayer, one of her wives too, but whenever she saw her, she could never resist teasing her.

—Fine. I never expected love, or anything more.

—Whether you fear me or hate me is up to you.

—But I will free you from the chains of hatred and make you understand what you should truly be looking at, what you should truly be fighting against.

The identity of the Ember Demon could not be exposed, at least not to just anyone. She had told Frostnova because she was absolutely certain she could get Frostnova onto Rhodes Island—even if she had to tie her up and drag her there. But as for Miss Ludmila, strictly speaking, she and Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals were not inherently compatible.

—So you will survive. You will learn the truth, but you will still have to pay a price. Because I need you to bring terror to the Reunion Movement, to bring them an omen of disaster grave enough to make them stop before they ever leave Chernobog.

Behind her, the ruined city blazed fiercely. This firelight shooting into the heavens could probably be seen from hundreds of miles away. And the Reunion Movement members surely knew Frostnova's squad would pass through here.

—Even if most of them don't know, Crownslayer will make sure they do.

And when the intelligence that "the organization has provoked the Ember Demon" spread like wildfire, they would hesitate. They would waver. They would stop in their tracks, at least for a while.

That would give Miss Surtr the opportunity to pick them apart one by one and get the people she needed to save out first, lest the aftermath of battle snuff out lives that should not be taken.

"You'll have to work a little harder, Miss Ludmila."

A wisp of flame rose from the fingertips of the flame-haired Sarkaz and touched the shoulder of the wolf girl, who remained curled up in fear like a frozen shrimp even in her sleep—if she was putting on a show, she had to see it through. Insurance and disguises were indispensable. And after that...

The flowing flames slithered like writhing snakes into the wolf girl's nose and mouth.

"...This is an order. Go bring fear to the Reunion Movement."

Sister 42 is so strong... Bringing Twilight to EX8 is just pure brain-dead easy mode.

World-Ending Cup, Perfectly Concluded

Fear.

Fear was ice crystals flowing through the blood vessels.

So scorching, because pain was easily mistaken for burning heat.

So bitterly cold, because shards of ice crystal pierced blood vessels and nerves.

And ice crystals melted in hot blood, just as fear boiled amid panic. When despair gripped the heart, that dense swarm of sharp ice crystals pierced through tissue and burrowed into organs, tearing smooth, flawless flesh into a bloody mess. Their expansion before melting would split the skin, rip apart bone and flesh, and lead life into its end through agony.

And now, fear boiled within Ludmila.

And amid that boiling, she saw a dream.

—"Ludmila, Daddy has arranged a trip to Siracusa for you. Smart children like you need to broaden their horizons. Go on, have fun, see the sights. When you come back, Daddy will take you out for a big meal."

The speaking man had a blurry face. Ludmila no longer remembered what he looked like—or perhaps she did not dare recall what he would eventually become. She only remembered that he always wore a stern expression and made her read many books she could not understand. Yet whenever the young her complained, he would hold her in his arms and explain them to her line by line in that nostalgic voice.

But she had never been able to listen to what he said, because the middle-aged scholar's beard always prickled her face until it itched.

"Daddy..."

She reached out toward the figure in the darkness, wanting to embrace that faceless shadow. Just as she did every night when her dreams returned in the dead of night, her hands—once capable of effortlessly plucking falling petals—could not stop trembling.

Yet the figure silently faded away like a dream. Even with all her strength, she could not make it stay even a little longer.

"No... don't go! Don't leave me behind!"

She caught nothing.

Nothing at all.

And when she collapsed helplessly to the ground, a newspaper page scorched by flames fell around her.

—'The Sicilian Daily: Recently, a fire tragically broke out in Chernobog, Ursus. More than forty renowned scholars died in a gathering at a Core City laboratory. Only the supervisor, Sergei, escaped by chance. The whereabouts of former director Lord Kal'tsit remain unknown.'

She grabbed the newspaper, and then faint, mocking whispers rose around her.

--"Did you see her? I heard her father died."

--"She's a fatherless child. No wonder she has no manners."

--"Oh? Her father didn't commit some crime, did he? You can tell this little brat's no good at a glance."

"Shut up! Shut up!" she roared, and the surroundings fell silent.

Yet soon, another sound arose at her side.

A woman whispered. Perhaps mature, perhaps wise, perhaps strong, perhaps decisive—the woman's voice was impossible to pin down, yet it entered her ears with perfect clarity.

--"Your father was an upright man. He died because he was framed."

--"Of the two who survived, one was the betrayer, and the other was the one who framed him."

--"They wanted to monopolize the secret within the Chernobog Sarcophagus..."