The Young Princess Kills Everyone: Re
“May your head be crushed.”
Mary’s head cracked along with a noise that resembled a balloon pop.
Blood covered the ground.
“May your body twist.”
What remained of Mary’s body convulsed and twisted like a dust cloth being squeezed.
Her whole body cracked and popped as blood gushed forth from the tears in her skin.
“What…… What are the conditions for this power……!?)
Mary frantically thought about it using her barely regenerated brain.
But she found no answer.
“Even I can’t seal an arcana, you see. I can’t destroy your body in one go either, so I’m going to have to burn you until there’s nothing left!”
“Gaaaaah!”
“Whoops, you almost got me there. I don’t wanna be counterattacked by Death God, y’know. Since it’s too dangerous to get close to you, maybe I should just keep crushing you with Temperance.”
Philias could eventually break Mary that way.
And even if this continued for a few days, they would eventually run out of time and the world would be destroyed by Mitis’s hands.
Yet neither Philias, nor Mitis, nor Mary desired such a boring conclusion.
“Guuuh, hnng, gah, ooooh!”
Mary groaned from her half-intact throat with a voice that did not resemble a young girl’s, and stood up.
“Whoa, you already did that before, but it’s crazy how you can move by brute force while bound by Temperance. How tenacious.”
“I can’t……! I can’t lose here, not to yoooou!”
“Hehehe, desperation. I pity you, so I shall give you another beating.”
Philias opened her mouth to torture Mary once again.
But a black shadow suddenly obstructed her view.
“A flock of birds! The rubble of the destroyed ground from earlier!? Grrr, you used Empress in advance, didn’t you!?”
Mary had prepared in advance in case she ended up completely unable to move.
The flock of birds rushed down on Philias.
They were too hastily created to be very powerful, and a swing from the sword of flames was enough to mow them down.
However, Temperance was lifted when Philias suffered this surprise attack.
“Ugh…… you got away. You surprise me with your wisdom, princess.”
Having burned everything to a crisp in just a few seconds, Philias began looking for Mary.
♢♢♢
“Phew…… It looks like you can’t use Temperance when I’m out of its range.”
Mary hid in the shadows after activating Hermit, and breathed a sigh of relief.
(Still, though…… It’s too troublesome how just saying the words is enough to activate it. What kind of a condition does it need if I can’t resist it even with this much mana? It should be something simple. Because it doesn’t work on my father. It also doesn’t work on things with no will. Just a small change in awareness is enough to disable that power……)
There were so many hints.
One point in particular felt unnatural.
“Why does Miss. Philias want to say ‘by the name of the angel’? She can use her powers without saying it as well.”
Philias left that part out last time.
Yet her power still worked.
In other words, those words were not actually necessary.
“It activates even if I don’t hear it, so it shouldn’t be a power of suggestion. If there’s no need to make me hear it, then what’s the point other than just trying to show off……?”
Mary would expect that from Philias.
On the other hand however, Mary also thought that Philias was the type of person who would set some kind of a trap in this manner.
“Angel…… Come to think of it, Miss. Philias was a wicked person who acted like a devil while looking like an angel.”
That sudden memory made Mary laugh a little.
Even that wickedness was nostalgic for Mary now.
While Mary immersed herself in nostalgia, an idea suddenly popped up in the back of her mind.
“……Not an angel, but a devil?”
Why was Philias going out of her way to say ‘angel’?
The reason-
“There’s nowhere else you could be hiding in now.”
Then, Mary heard Philias’s voice getting closer.
“Hermit really is trouble. I gotta find you by instinct. But I won’t let you get away again. My Temperance after I became an angel and acquired enormous power cannot be blocked no matter what.”
Mary was convinced after hearing Philias’s words.
(I see…… It’s so simple. I know why Miss. Philias kept saying ‘angel’. It’s because-)
Philias stopped before turning a corner, and said:
“By the name of the angel.”
(When her foe stops recognizing her as an angel, her powers stop working.)
“Do not move from that spot.”
Then, Temperance’s powers activated.
However, it never affected Mary again.
By the name of the angel. Hearing that would make anyone think that the power revolved around an angel.
There was no need to reject that.
It made one think in the back of their head that this had something to do with an angel.
And just the slightest such thought activated Temperance.
In order to reject this, one had to be certain that Philias had nothing to do with angels, and in fact was a devil instead.
Henry knew Philias’s true character because she was an imperial knight.
So Temperance did not work on him.
It was a simple condition.
On the other hand however, it was risky because learning the truth completely stopped this power from working.
That was why Philias’s ability was so powerful.
Mary jumped out of the shadows and went behind Philias.
Then, she swung her scythe.
“……Huh!?”
Philias felt Mary’s bloodlust and frantically reacted right before the scythe’s edge touched her.
She instantly caught the blow with her sword, but she was unprepared and her stance broke as she got pushed onto the wall behind her.
“It will not work any more.”
“Princess. Did you realize what my power is!?”
“A devil who looks like an angel. That’s exactly who you are, Miss. Philias. But I think you’re still a pretty kind person.”
“I don’t need my powers. I have my sword and my skills as the leader of the imperial knights!”
Philias was completely cornered.
But she slipped out as she whirled and her sword glided in the air, and she slashed at Mary with high speed.
Leaving stamina aside, it was obvious that Mary could not beat Philias when it came to ‘technique’.
Mary’s body suffered countless cuts, and her wounds got burned.
At a glance, it seemed like the tables had turned.
However, for Mary, this was the same as being unscathed.
“Your slashes are sharp and beautiful. But you cannot beat me by just chopping me up.”
If that was enough to kill Mary, she’d already be dead.
As long as Philias had no way to destroy Mary in one go, she no longer had any chance at victory.
Mary fired a shell at zero distance as the recoil blew her arm off.
The air shook with a loud thump and the shell pierced the building’s wall.
Philias’s body got destroyed from the chest down, and only a part of her upper body remained intact as she got smashed against the wall.
“Oh!…… Goh, buh!……”
She spat out a lot of blood
Mary immediately got ready for the next shot – but she saw the tranquil look on Philias’s face which contrasted her pitiful appearance, and stopped.
Philias showed no indications of regenerating.
An angel’s body was only given by World.
Mitis decided that Philias had no chance at victory now, and abandoned her.
“Aah…… This feels terrible……”
“Are you sane?”
“Yeah, I guess it’s because I can’t stop you now…… Gehoh!…… In fact, she thinks…… hehe, she thinks that she can buy more time by just making me talk with you……”
“Temperance was very powerful, just like you.”
“Hehe…… right? I really liked it too…… It’s unfortunate it didn’t work on His Majesty the King, though.”
Her voice was the same, but she felt like someone completely different than earlier.
Her dying moment.
For Mary also, it was a precious moment to talk with someone as a human being, and not as Death God.
“Aah…… Thank you, princess.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Hnnh…… I like controlling people, but I hate being controlled. All because I read a popular book…… It wasn’t even that good…… Seriously…… it feels so refreshing…… to be finally released……”
“World must be quite annoyed right now to hear you say that the story wasn’t that good.”
“Hehe, it’s just the honest thoughts of a reader. Aaah…… I regret failing to create a puppet government…… but…… Well, I guess you’ll be the one who knocks out the main culprit…… Maybe I should cozy up to the king of Hell this time”
Philias gradually lost her voice and strength.
“I hope that my Temperance…… comes in handy……”
The light left her eyes, and Philias passed
Mary consumed her remains and briskly walked back to the front of the main office building.
“It’s a fake power just like you, so I know it will be useful.”
With those words as a parting gift.