Volume 1 – Following the Maze Drawn With Lines of Blood
Cutie went through the elevator shaft, kicked open a closed door, and arrived at the highest floor.
There were faint explosion sounds and the sounds of the barrier being struck coming from the stairs.
The floor with the president’s office was built especially strongly.
Even an arcana user could not get there easily, and Cutie shouted out when she arrived in front of the president’s room.
“Father, are you safe!?”
Normally, the outside could be seen through a monitor inside the room, but considering the circumstances, she shouted very loudly.
Then, the door was immediately unlocked and it opened.
“Thanks for worrying about me and coming to check up on me. I’m safe.”
Noted raised his hand and smiled.
Cutie felt relieved.
“Ahh…… I’m so relieved. It looks like we still have some time until Hanged Man comes here.”
But then, the ground below her feet greatly shook and she heard the walls collapse.
Noted sighed with a grave expression on his face.
“…….But it looks like it’s just a matter of time.”
“I can’t believe he’s hitting that barrier and breaking it! It can withstand even missiles!”
“Let’s just be glad it slowed him down. Are you going to fight him, Cutie?”
“Of course. I’m going to protect you, father!”
“……”
“Father?”
“If you end up dying somehow, I can’t keep on living. Please don’t push yourself too far, okay?”
“My priorities are the other way around. Because it’s all pointless if you die before I do. Run away if you have to, okay?”
“I can’t do that.”
“Father…… The future of the Slava Territory depends on you, doesn’t it? This is no time to say things like that!”
Even after Cutie said that, the complex expression on Noted’s face didn’t go away.
She left the spot after saying, ‘ugh!’, and gathered some pens and documents.
“I have to take as many familia with me as possible…… Father, I’m going to use the stuff here.”
“Yeah…… Cutie, about the arcana that took control of this building.”
“It’s that eerie woman, right? I can’t believe she took control of the entirety of Majoram’s security!”
“I took back control of a few zones of the building and checked the situation, and the security wasn’t broken through.”
“…….What does that mean?”
“She’s overwriting it. Not scientifically, but conceptually, using sorcery.”
Cutie tilted her head, as it was rare for her father to speak in unclear terms.
“Conceptually…..? Say it in terms I can understand too, father.”
“There’s no point to any further explanation. But it’s consistent with previous records. In short, that arcana has the power to ‘take control of a building’. Reason is irrelevant, as long as it’s a building, there’s no escaping its powers.”
“Take control of a building? I don’t remember an arcana like that…… Well, there weren’t many buildings in the old times……”
The conditions were too limited.
Cutie was still worried, and Noted spoke.
“Tower.”
“Wait, does that mean this building counts as a tower!?”
“That’s the only thing I can think of. So, she couldn’t take control of this floor, as its security is independent.”
“You said it’s like a box on top of the building, right? The reason Hanged Man was sent in separately is because Dugan knew about that……!”
While saying that, Cutie kicked open the room’s door, and threw the tools she was holding into the corridor.
“Well, even if we know her true identity, it’s pointless unless it tells us how to defeat her.”
“It does give us a hint.”
“That’s helpful. I’ll see if I can tell the other two about Tower.”
“Yes, and I’ll-”
After throwing the stationeries into the corridor, Cutie took out a chair as well.
The barrier in Hanged Man’s, Kalinga’s way, had only one plate remaining.
“I have to get going by now. Make sure you lock the door, and never open it.”
“……Yeah, I’ll see you soon.”
Noted barely smiled, showing that he did not really want Cutie to go out there.
Cutie was worried, but she left the room.
“Knoooooock!”
At around the same time, the last barrier was broken along with a jarring shout.
Stepping over the rubble around the gap, a sultry looking man appeared before Cutie.
“Finally…… I’ve finally arrived at the dungeon’s end point. And as the protagonist arrives, the boss awaits – Geh, gohoh!”
Kalinga pointed at Cutie…… but started coughing because of the rising smoke.
From the thickness of the smoke, Cutie figured that he could only see a faint figure of her.
Cutie raised her arm, wanting to make her move before Kalinga could see clearly.
(Analyze – His Sorcery Rating is around 11,000. Same level as mine. I can do this!)
The pens and the pieces of paper she threw around softly floated up and a flock of birds surrounded her.
“Good day, savage intruder. And, goodbye.”
She didn’t intend on communicating with him.
The birds tore through the sky and flooded Kalinga, who was covered in wounds.
“Nuuuuuugh!? What are these things, birds!? Guaaaaagh! Such evil power that manipulates animals of nature! As the protagonist, I cannot forgive this! Nuaaaah! Guh, gaaaaah!”
The birds pecked at him with their beaks and cut him up with their sharp wings, and the man frantically swung his arms to shake them off, but as the birds were former pens or pieces of paper, they easily dodged him.
Their lethality was modest, but more than enough to kill a person.
“I won’t hesitate this time. Time to die, you invader pretending to be a hero!”
Cutie had plenty of determination.
But Kalinga did not seem like he would die any time soon, because he was simply too strong.
(How troublesome. The small animals aren’t dealing him much damage, and I feel like he’s getting tougher as they attack him…… What’s this man’s power?)
The only things Cutie knew were the words Hanged Man, and that his method of attacking was to use his fists.
If these were arcana powers, Cutie knew there had to be more to it than this.
“I can hear…… I can hear the animals’ voices of sorrow!”
“They’re just stationeries!”
“They’re being controlled by a woman who looks at precious life and sees nothing but tools – aaaaaagh! I can’t forgive this! My fists! They will save you!”
He clenched his right fist.
Cutie felt a great volume of mana collecting there.
(Here it comes…..!)
“Zealous Whirlwind! Tornado Knoooooock!”
Bwooom, a fierce wind blew through the room.
“Ugh…… Such power…..!”
The tempest was powerful enough to blow Cutie away even if she held onto handrails.
She made her familia anchor her body, and somehow endured.
The anti-mana windows distorted and warped, cracked up, and finally broke.
The familia attacking Kalinga were also mercilessly cut apart and turned into unmoving objects, scattering on the floor.
“Do you see…..? This is the power of justice!”
He striked a pose and heroically shouted.
(He said he’d save them, but he broke them all……)
His clothes were torn apart, he was stained with blood and his body was full of fresh wounds, but his fighting spirit did not diminish, and instead burned even hotter.
“Not yet, wolf Familia, bite him apart!”
The objects Cutie had thrown into the corridor transformed into a few silver wolves.
The beasts all assaulted Kalinga at once.
(He may blow off the small ones, but middle sized beasts will work!)
They were clearly more threatening than the birds from earlier.
Then, Kalinga lowered his hips and clenched his fist.
“Sorry, this is the only way I can save you! Fighting Spirit Gale! Machine Gun Knock!”
Almost simultaneously, numerous fists hit the wolves leaping at him.
The Familia that died stopped moving, rather, they were torn apart and their remains fell to the floor.
“But there’s not even that much difference in our mana!”
“You have bad eyes.”
“What?”
“I constantly grow. Because I’m the protagonist. I fight with my life on the line for the sake of this beautiful world, and the more my soul burns up, the stronger I become!”
What an idiot, Cutie thought, and she activated Analyze.
“18,000…… H-How? How did it get so high in such a short time!?”
It was 11,000 just earlier.
What if he had not grown, and this was just the Hanged Man’s special characteristic?
(This man invaded the grounds from the front while taking on attacks intentionally…… He wanted to be full of wounds and pretend to be a hero! Is that it?)
The man wasn’t doing this to show off, or because of his eccentricity.
It was necessary.
“Your mana increases when you take damage……”
“That’s right, that’s Hanged Man’s power, Hero’s Pride. The more I fight, and the more I endure, the stronger I become. You still haven’t seen my limits, you know?”
“You haven’t seen my limits either! Familia!”
“Too slow.”
“!?”
Kalinga disappeared, and Cutie heard his voice behind her.
She turned around, and he punched her in the chest area.
“Gah, agh, ugh…..!”
Cutie staggered while breathing out the air in her lungs.
“You’re strong too – no, you transformed your fucking coat into animals!”
“Ugh…… B-Birds…..!”
“Impudent!”
The remaining bird-type familia were burned to nothing by mana.
Then, while blasting away the scraps of paper falling around, Kalinga hit Cutie with a serious punch.
“Zealous Pulverization! Burning Knock!”
“Ugh, puh…… gah!”
Normally, it was powerful enough to easily penetrate a human body, but Cutie avoided instant death thanks to the fact that she transformed her clothes into animals.
But her overcoat was penetrated, her abdomen was gouged and Kalinga’s face was stained with a spurt of blood.
Her internal organs were injured due to the shock, and Cutie spat blood as she was launched like a bullet and hit a wall behind her.
“Agh…… Uh…… Ah…… Ah, aah……”
She limply fell to the floor and groaned in a weak voice.
Her consciousness was dim after she hit her head.
“Good game.”
Kalinga slowly approached her, his fist covered in blood.
“You’re a user of the mere shadow of the former World Destruction, right? I’ll tell you about us to give you a pleasant memory to take to the afterlife……”
He spoke to Cutie with empty eyes and a cold voice.
“Rather, since you earned power by using us as a stepping stone, you have a duty to know.”
Then, while reminiscing, Kalinga started talking.