Volume Four: Withering in This World - Chapter 357: Cool Your Head (Part Two)

The knee made intimate contact with Nid's handsome face, and the already seriously injured and unprepared Ned let out a comical "ee" and fainted to the ground.

"... Um, Xiao Ye?"

"Huh? Ah, it's just to get rid of those useless young boys, and then it's this guy--"

Having already taken down the Commander-in-Chief, who was no longer a threat and would only be a burden if kept alive, I looked at another troublesome factor.

"Coo... coo... coo... Heavenly Law, Heavenly Law, Heavenly Law--!"

Xiao Wu seemed to have fallen the hardest, slowly got up from the pile of rubble. Her once beautiful and aloof face was now twisted and ferocious with rage. Combined with the bloodstains on her body, her pale skin, and her long fingernails and toenails, she had a bit of Kayako's charm.

"I haven't... lost! I haven't lost yet... Heavenly Law, Heavenly Law..."

She was still muttering something under her breath. I have to say, she's always been a beauty, even her voice after a tantrum is much nicer than Huang Huo's. But her incessant muttering in a frenzied state is really annoying... I told her I needed to calm down, so why is the usually most aloof person always the least calm?

Ugh... This is so annoying. Why does she seem so irritating to me now? But even though I'm really annoyed, I still have to try to communicate with her properly.

"Um, Xiao Wu..."

I watched as she stood up, making strange clattering sounds, like one of the little cuties in Dead Space. To avoid startling this predator, I chose to approach slowly and gently.

"Hi~ Xiao Wu- chan? How are you?"

"I'll kill you... I'll kill you... For Xiao... to avenge her..."

She's still muttering some random thing, ignoring me. What an uncooperative child.

"Xiao Wu- chan, sadness is sadness, but we're facing a formidable enemy right now, so let's calm down, okay?"

"Dead... dead... dead... everything is gone... why... it's all your fault... Heavenly Law... it's all your fault... I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll tear you apart, crush you, dismember you..."

She swayed a few times before regaining her footing. Her eyes, now a cloudy purple, gazed up at the sky, but she ignored me.

"Don't get excited or impulsive, okay? Do it with me: inhale—exhale—repeat this—do you feel your mind calming down?"

I endured the searing pain of the purple lightning and gently reached out my hand to her shoulder.

"Roll!!"

The volcano, which had been dormant for a long time, suddenly erupted.

Sharp, ghostly claws suddenly struck me. If I had been a few milliseconds slower, I would have been disfigured. The demon's eyes were already locked on me; she seemed to be confused and mistook me, who was trying to reason with her, for a bad guy.

"Don't talk to me... in such a relaxed tone...!!"

Huh? Is she talking to me? So she can communicate?

"What were you doing until now! Why did you only show up now! Why did you just stand there and watch the person who killed Xiao live on while Xiao wasn't even a trace left! If, if, if! If you were faster, if I were faster, if she were faster, if he were faster, maybe Xiao wouldn't be dead!!"

Uh... I know what you mean, but the dead can't come back to life. Let's change the subject, shall we? Honestly, I'm pretty annoyed right now too. Talking to me like that is just adding fuel to the fire.

"Why, why, why, why did it have to be Xiao?! Xiao was the most innocent, the kindest, the most harmless, the most blameless person, wasn't she? Why is it always the innocent who die?! Why is it always the kind who are victimized?! Why is it always the one who needs help who doesn't get it?! Lucy is dead, Margarita is dead, Evelynths was captured, and even Xiao is dead!! How many more people around me, around me, around me, how many more people have to die?!!"

At least I can guarantee I won't die for now, okay? But I already said I need to calm down and not annoy me any further...

"Heavenly Law, Heavenly Law, Heavenly Law, Heavenly Law, Heavenly Law, Heavenly Law, Heavenly Law, Heavenly Law, Heavenly Law, Heavenly Law, it was she who did it!" I want, I'm going to kill her! It doesn't matter if I lose my reason, it doesn't matter if I extinguish my humanity, it doesn't matter if I abandon my body. I want to kill her, for Xiao, for Sardinon, for the tens of thousands who have died!! Don't stop me, don't get in my way, don't hinder me, get lost and leave me alone!

"... Don't bother me?"

Grasp! "--!?"

I grabbed her by the back of the head.

"Hey, Xiao Ye-- "

"I was hoping you wouldn't bother me."

Thump!!

The increasingly talkative and garrulous idiot was pinned face down on the ground by me—of course, his face slammed directly onto the rubble, making intimate contact with the inanimate matter.

"Well... are you calmer now?"

I lifted her head and asked tentatively.

"Gulp... Let go... Die--"

"Looks like it hasn't happened yet."

Boom!!

This time it wasn't a thud, but a deafening roar. No wonder, given that the impact caused the surrounding ground to cave in a little.

"Xiao Ye! Wait a minute--"

"Move aside, Haoyue, can't you see I'm busy...? Okay Xiao Wu- chan, are you feeling better now...? No? Then let's try again..."

Boom!!

Dust billowed and rocks flew everywhere. Xiao Wu, whose face was covered in dirt, still didn't change her fierce look and tried to struggle free from my grasp. She really never learned her lesson.

Boom!!

"Have you calmed down yet?"

Boom!!

"Still haven't calmed down?"

Boom!!

"Don't look at me like that."

Boom!!

"I'm much gentler than Nanoha, you know?"

Boom!!

"Don't be like that, be a good boy."

Boom!! Boom!! Boom!! Boom!!

"Xiao Ye, stop!!"

A pair of warm arms pulled me back. Honestly, Haoyue, don't you know that when a teacher punishes a student, everyone else is supposed to stand quietly to the side?

"Xiao Ye, please, stop... your hand—"

"Huh? My hand? I know." I looked at the scarlet, menacing Demonic Claw covered in armor-like barbs gripping the back of Xiao Wu's head. There didn't seem to be anything that could scare Haoyue like this. Pretty cool, wasn't it?

Compared to those--

Boom!!

This wasn't corporal punishment; it was a real, hard slam. You could hear the sound of a skull cracking. Seriously, I'm not responsible for this mess, you know? Anyway, your self-healing ability is way too strong.

So... what should I do? Since the evil spirit is a monster full of Killing Intent, should I inject some of it to neutralize it?

Thinking this, the scarlet, menacing aura emanating from her arm seeped into Xiao Wu's body through her hand. Still pinned to the ground, she thrashed about like a catfish, then her whole body convulsed. Was it really that painful?

"Gurgle... gaa...!! Ye... gurgle... stop..."

"Xiao Ye! Please, stop! She's recovered!!"

The figure in the white cheongsam shoved me aside. What did she say?

Has it been restored?

It seems there is such a thing.

I scooped Xiao Wu up with a flick of my wrist, and sure enough, the look on her face was genuine pain, not a ferocious, predatory expression. I tossed her to the ground with a gentle toss, and looking at her kneeling there, coughing, I felt a strange allure. The aloof, strong-willed seme had suddenly become a weak, submissive one—was she learning from the versatile Tsuki-chan?

"Haa... haa... you fucking want to kill me--uh?"

She cursed as she looked at me—then froze.

His eyes widened, and he held that position for a second or two before suddenly stepping back and assuming a fighting stance!

"Damn it! How could you let the Qipao Woman turn out like this!"

"You just do whatever you want, so what right do you have to criticize me!"

Haoyue had appeared beside Xiao Wu at some point, her Snow Moon -shaped handheld weapon pointing at me.

"No wonder I couldn't fight back when she slammed me to the ground; the evil spirit's ferocity was restrained by that Killing Intent..."

"Why are you talking so much now, you delinquent? Aren't you going to calm her down?"

"That's something you're good at, isn't it!?"

"Hey, hey, you two..."

"--!!"

As soon as they heard me speak, they reacted as if facing a formidable enemy, looking as if they were ready to sacrifice themselves for the cause.

Hey guys... don't get so excited! The Heavenly Law is about to launch!

And--

"Don't get too excited... I feel like I can control myself a little."

""Ah!?""

I looked down at my right arm, which had turned into a scarlet Demonic Claw, covered with countless sharp barbs, a twisted and grotesque giant claw, and strange patterns floating with a red glow... Hmm, it does look pretty scary.

But--

I focused my consciousness into my right arm, experiencing that familiar sensation of being impacted by a malevolent aura. But this time, it felt more like I was peering through a pane of glass, and I even had an intuition to control it. To put it another way, it was like being able to control a computer screen without being able to touch the images inside, but still being able to control it through the keyboard.

"Spread..."

The moment the command was given, the abnormally swollen right arm shrank like a deflated balloon, with a large amount of scarlet gas seeping out. The barbs, claws, and patterns also shrank and faded. The seeping gas—no, it was less like gas and more like ink spreading in an inkstone basin or silk fluttering in a gentle breeze, thin, floating, yet sticking together.

"... condense."

The Killing Intent that had surrounded my arm condensed and formed an exoskeleton-like "bone armor" about a decimeter above my skin. Its structure resembled an arm bone, something that undead monsters might have.

"Xiao Ye, what's wrong with you...?"

"God knows how we managed to do it, but it's only 'somewhat,' and that's about it. Compared to this—"

I looked up at the extinguished flames that filled the sky, and at the silhouette of the Sword of God that appeared in my peripheral vision.

The murderer who killed the person who should have been a member of my harem is right there.

Holy light shone upon her, as if she were the absolute embodiment of justice.

When did it start?

It probably started when they sensed something was seriously wrong.

The anger of not witnessing the killing of his comrade.

There is no sadness from losing someone.

There was no lamentation over the defeat.

There was no strong urge to vent.

There was no resentment or complaint about being unwilling to accept defeat.

There was no despair or resentment.

Aside from a sense of irritability and a slight feeling of indifference, I felt nothing else.

His body moved with absolute rationality and a madness that had been reduced to an extreme.

Perhaps that's why I was able to unleash the Rakshasa True Word once again without it immediately taking away my consciousness.

Even so, it's probably nearing its limit.

Before reverting to that helpless self, action must be taken, and results must be achieved.

Death is incredibly powerful and omnipotent; it can sever all bonds, turn all possibilities into impossibilities, and change everything and everyone you can imagine.

Xiao's death must have "changed" something.

The question is, "Does what has been changed have any corresponding meaning?"

This is the standard by which we measure whether the passing of a life has value.

"Let the Revolutionary Army take Nid and Si Nan Ying with them. Haoyue, Xiao Wu, come with me—"

He cracked his knuckles, and his body trembled slightly.

"--Intercept the Heavenly Law!"

If the deceased cannot determine whether their death was worthwhile...

Let the living make it valuable.

So, everyone, let's all have a laugh.

Do you really want her death to bring only sorrow?