Dusttale 02

"Not here... not here either..."

Even after reaching the barrier, the human still hadn't found Murder Sans.

"Damn it...! Where the hell did he go?"

The human was getting frustrated. He had done all this to amuse himself with the changes in these characters, only to be told that Sans had vanished. That instantly killed half his enthusiasm.

"What a coward... no, I need to backtrack. I refuse to believe he can hide from me."

The True Lab, the Core, Waterfall.

There was no trace of Sans anywhere. All he could see was dust filling the air and bones jutting out of the ground.

Eventually, the human arrived in Snowdin.

"Ah-ha, look who we've found here!"

The human, who had grown bored with searching, finally spotted a figure resembling Sans from behind in Snowdin. The figure stood there all alone, piquing his interest. I've finally found that cowardly trash bag who slaughters monsters, he thought.

"A coward who's afraid to fight me?! Sans, this game of cat and mouse has been fun, but it's about time we put an end to it!"

Sans slowly turned her head. Just as the human expected to see a face full of fear, things seemed to take an unexpected turn.

The Sans before him was a short woman with an attractive face and snow-white hair.

She looked no different from an ordinary Sans, but she was covered in far more dust than Murder Sans, and liquid determination kept pouring from her eyes.

"Are you... a human from another universe?"

The apparent "gender swap" left the human struggling to process what he was seeing, but for Sans, it was an opportunity.

The girl-like Sans charged straight at the human. He couldn't keep up with her speed at all. Just as he tried to slash with his knife, Sans knocked it out of his tightly clenched hand with a backhand strike.

Only then did the human notice that this Sans also used a real knife, and that she was even more skilled with it than he was.

"...I don't know where you came from, human,"

Killer's gaze grew a little more serious.

"But I can tell you're a 'monster,' just like me."

With that, Killer's hand moved in a blur. Without a knife to defend himself, the human was a lamb to the slaughter, his body sliced into several large pieces in an instant.

"It's fine, I still have my save-is that what you're thinking?"

Killer noticed the smile at the corner of the human's mouth and smiled back at him.

"Heh heh... you're in my timeline now. Your determination shouldn't be stronger than mine, should it?"

Indeed, with her LV at 999999, how weak could her determination possibly be?

Killer extended her hand. The soul inside her body was shaped like an inverted heart, with concentric rings of red threads making it resemble a heart-shaped target.

"...Hmm... a human from another world?"

That did make her a little curious. She could travel between universes, but she'd never heard of humans being able to do it too. Perhaps something terrible had happened in her world?

Killer gave up on pondering it and decided to go see what was happening. If something unexpected had happened in her world, she could at least find out about it in advance.

"Hmm?"

Even after finishing an entire volume of "Mew Mew Kissy Cutie: The Novel" in the corridor, he still hadn't seen a single soul.

Did the human go get something to eat? Did he fall into the Core? Or is he waiting for me to come find him?

Murder Sans couldn't help rubbing his white hair a little.

"Forget it. I'd better go see what's happening."

Murder Sans took a quick shortcut and arrived back at the Core.

"Huh? What happened to my bones...?"

Murder Sans's powers of observation were as keen as ever, and now he was surprised-the place showed clear signs of a battle, but it obviously hadn't been his doing! There had been very little use of blasters or bones. Instead, there were plenty of marks that looked like knife slashes.

During his earlier encounter with the human in the Core, he had kept the human pinned down throughout the fight. The human shouldn't have had a chance to attack.

Murder Sans had to admit that those knife marks were giving rise to a different kind of suspicion.

"Paps, do you think this place is still our timeline?"

"...SANS, this isn't our timeline."

That exchange of questions and answers with himself reflected Murder Sans's thoughts. Although the situation surprised him a little, it didn't frighten him.

On the contrary, he knew he had to stay calm when faced with something like this.

To find out exactly what had happened, Murder Sans began retracing his steps.