Extermination

What had happened? What was going on? Why had so many people died? Who were these people?!

Subaru's thoughts flew apart. Just a few hours ago, this had been a peaceful village, but now every sound had been swallowed by the flames.

Houses burned, streets and alleys collapsed, and a dark red pool of blood spread beneath him.

In his haste, Subaru grabbed all the weapons and other things by his bed and rushed out of the house. His body shook violently with fear and anger, but he still couldn't stop himself from shouting at the black-robed figures moving through the flames.

"Stop it, all of you-!!!"

The black-robed figures stopped what they were doing. They turned their heads in unison, their strange robes wrapping their bodies completely, their faces hidden in the shadows of their hoods.

They raised their weapons and were about to point them at Subaru when they all suddenly froze.

"Who... who are you?! Why are you doing this?!"

Subaru's foot suddenly touched something. A hulking corpse lay not far outside his house.

The corpse was completely charred, and beside its hand lay a great blade taller than the man himself. The forging patterns on the blade were achingly familiar to Subaru.

"...Uncle Baren?"

"Are you... 'that kind of being'?"

Yet the black-robed figures who had just been slaughtering villagers indiscriminately were addressing him in respectful tones.

"What... don't screw with me!"

"Why... why the hell are you doing this?! Who the hell are you?!"

Subaru's reaction seemed to give the black-robed figures their answer. Their respect vanished, their hesitation faded, and they raised their weapons once more. A fireball trailed a long tail of flame as it hurtled straight at Subaru's face.

"Anta!"

The red Lesser Spirit appeared before Subaru in response.

A thick wall of ice shot up from the ground. The moment the fireball struck its surface, a tremendous hiss erupted, and steam swept outward like the shock wave of an explosion.

"Bang!"

A magic bullet pierced the heart of the black-robed figure at the front. He looked down at the charred hole in his chest, swayed, and fell onto his back. The others didn't stop.

"Kill him."

The black-robed figures charged from every direction. Subaru's muzzle flashed again. One tried to block with his blade, but the bullet exploded the moment it struck, turning into a fierce fireball that swallowed him whole. His screams twisted in the flames.

"Rem?! Where's Rem-?!"

Subaru roared as he fired, unable to shake the image in his mind-the blue-haired girl who had clung to him, lying on a path as a charred corpse.

Subaru couldn't accept that image.

"Anta? What's wrong?!"

Antares conveyed a rapid flurry of emotions. The Mana in the air tasted strange.

It was exactly like the time Antares had accidentally absorbed some before and started to stink, earning the disgust and rejection of the other Lesser Spirits.

But Antares could still use magic. To Antares, the Mana just tasted a little strange; it was usable.

Subaru had no time to think it over. He fired another bullet, and another black-robed figure fell. But there were simply too many enemies.

He fired as he retreated, and the black-robed figures pressed forward as their ranks fell. Still, the circle around him kept shrinking. At last, someone reached him.

Subaru formed an ice sword in his hand and barely managed to block the curved blade slashing toward him. Ice crystals and steel collided with a grating screech.

At the same time, another fireball came whistling in from the side.

"Why?! Why the hell is this happening?!"

He couldn't understand what was happening. Why? Why had the place he had finally grown familiar with been wiped out overnight?

Antares formed another ice barrier, barely blocking the fireball. But too many black-robed figures had already reached Subaru.

Flames exploded against the edge of the barrier, and the impact made him stagger. In that opening, a sword stabbed into his shoulder.

It hurt. Blood poured from the wound, but the pain made Subaru's mind instantly clear. Anger overwhelmed everything, burning his fear to ashes.

Subaru raised his gun, aimed it at the head of the black-robed figure still gripping the sword's hilt, and pulled the trigger.

The Mana energy bullet exploded at point-blank range. The man didn't even have time to scream. His entire head was blown off, and Subaru didn't even realize he was killing people one after another.

He was killing the perpetrators of the indiscriminate slaughter; anger made Subaru forget the madness of the moment.

"Ah!"

A fireball exploded beside Subaru. His sleeve caught fire, and flames licked at his skin as Antares desperately unleashed ice magic to put them out.

But the black-robed figures charged again. Subaru raised his gun, fired, raised his sword, and blocked. Every movement drained his strength beyond its limits.

But fighting so many at once was simply too much for Subaru as he was now.

"Don't touch him-!!"

It was the roar of a demon. An instant later, icicles tore through the air, their cold gleam cutting across the scorching night sky as they pierced the black-robed figures before Subaru one after another.

Rem stood amid the flames and ruins, her face full of madness.

The sight of Subaru under attack had provoked Rem, and the single horn had appeared on her head once again.

"El Goa!"

Given a moment to breathe, Subaru didn't waste the opening Rem had created. A fireball roared forth, swallowing the black-robed figures before they could react.

The black-robed figures who had attacked Subaru, seven or eight of them, were now all dead.

"Subaru!!"

Rem rushed to Subaru. Her little hands frantically felt his shoulder, her face filled with suffocating fear. Her life had only just found light, and she had only just begun to look forward to a future growing up alongside Subaru, yet the flames staining the night sky red had nearly burned all those hopes to ashes.

"...What happened...? Why?! Why did things turn out like this?!"

"It's the Witch Cult! They're... Witch Cultists!"

Rem recognized the group for what they were. With those clothes and their indiscriminate slaughter, there was no other possibility in this world besides the Witch Cult.

"What the... You've got to be kidding me... Is everyone dead?"

"Subaru, hurry and come with Rem to find Sister! As long as we find Sister, everything will be all right!"

Rem pulled Subaru to his feet, quickly wiped away the tears she had shed at the sight of her parents' deaths with her sleeve, and dragged him toward the scent of her sister.

Subaru stumbled through the burning village as she pulled him along.

His gaze swept over corpse after corpse along the way, and breathing grew harder and harder.

Something was wrong.

Why were most of the corpses charred? Only a few bodies with intact faces were scattered among them, most of them elderly people and children.

"...Rem, why are so many of the bodies burned?"

"Rem doesn't know! After Rem woke up, Rem came looking for Subaru!"

Rem's voice was full of fear. A child who had seen so many familiar people reduced to cold corpses, she was more afraid than anyone.

She was afraid this would be her future too. She had only just grasped happiness! Why was heaven playing such a joke on her?!

Suddenly, a beastlike roar came from nearby.

Rem led Subaru through the burning houses to the village's central square.

There they saw the second strongest person in the village-the village chief, Setanta.

Two dazzling horns had grown from the white-haired old Oni's head. Muscles bulged across his sinewy old body as he swung a great blade. Every flash of the blade split a black-robed figure and his weapon in two.

The Witch Cultists surged forward like a tide, but before the old village chief, they were like sheep charging a lion, torn to pieces the moment they met him.

Extreme anger burned in Setanta's eyes as his great blade cut down the Witch Cultists one after another.

Seeing this, Rem's taut nerves eased slightly. At least the village chief was here; for now, there was no need to worry.

She took Subaru's hand, intending to continue looking for Ram. But Subaru's feet seemed nailed to the ground, his pupils trembling violently.

Something was wrong. Very wrong. The sense that something didn't add up was far too strong!

The Witch Cultists weren't strong individually. Even Subaru could kill several of them.

If they had attacked the village with people only this strong, they would have had no chance against the Oni. So why had so many people died? Why were most of the corpses charred? Where had those flames come from-

"...Heh... heh heh..."

Suddenly, a sound like that came from somewhere.

The next moment, the white-haired old Oni who had been cutting down Witch Cultists like vegetables was abruptly engulfed in flames!

Fire spurted from his mouth, his nose, and his ears. All his internal organs ignited at once.

The great blade slipped from the old Oni's hand, and his burning eyes went dim. Just like the villagers they had seen everywhere along the way.

Setanta fell to the ground, his massive body reduced to a charred corpse whose face was beyond recognition.

(As for why the Witch Cult's grunts could exterminate the Oni and cut off Ram's horn)

(That bastard Nagatsuki really likes stuffing important bits of lore into incredibly obscure side stories.)

(The Oni fight by using the horns on their heads to absorb Mana from the air. According to a side story, the Witch Cult contaminated all the Mana in the air. If an Oni overused their horn, their body would spontaneously combust and they would die. Sloth was not involved here.)