Volume 1 – Following the Maze Drawn With Lines of Blood
Magrat ran into a store nearby.
After expressly showing himself.
He was unmistakably trying to lure Mary in.
She followed him without hesitation.
She could break through his mana with brute force if she had to.
She moved fast.
It was a forceful tactic.
She could gain the upper hand in this battle simply by breaking through her hesitation.
Mary was still cautious, of course.
(There’s no way Magrat doesn’t have a secret tactic or two for this situation.)
She stepped into the store.
There was no presence of anyone else.
Food products were lined up on the shelves, and there was no damage done as of yet.
This was indeed a town where the upper class lived.
The people who visited this store were probably commoners working for the aristocrats, and they were definitely wealthier than the commoners living outside Captis.
Mary looked for signs of Magrat, but she didn’t find any.
Then, she heard a creaking noise from the back of the store.
(The sound of a door opening…… is it the backdoor?)
Mary ran towards the sound.
As she expected, the back door was left open.
“Star, do you hear me?”
“What’s up, Mary?”
Star took the shape of Francis and appeared in front of Mary.
“Can you look for Magrat’s position using your powers?”
“Of course I can. If that is necessary to guide you on your path.”
The arcana raised her hand.
A guiding light extended towards the outside, and stopped on a certain spot.
Mary rushed towards the light in a low posture.
A backstreet.
A cramped street not used by many – Mary swung her scythe at an empty spot there.
She felt no response.
But the air in front of her blurred.
The man’s figure became slightly visible.
“Hey hey, how the fuck did you see me!? It’s not like I killed Francis again this time!”
“It’s simple, I can see you.”
Magrat immediately went invisible and distanced himself from Mary again.
Star’s light extended along with his movements.
It seems he had turned his back and started running at full speed.
“Thousand Corpse Burial Cannon.”
He couldn’t run away from Mary.
The bone bullets Mary shot accurately hit Magrat in the back.
He instantly twisted his body to dodge, but his left shoulder got completely gouged out and his arm was torn to shreds, barely hanging on to his body.
“Gah, aaaaaaaagh!”
He reflexively screamed.
The concealment from his Hermit was undone, and when his face contorting in pain became exposed, Mary couldn’t help but smile.
She wanted to make Magrat suffer as much as possible.
That’s what Mary had decided to do.
“You seriously fucking…… see me. Hehe, you and your sister are both crazy! It’s like you two were born just to kill me!”
Magrat wobbled around as he pushed on his wounds.
Sweat dripped down his forehead, and he smiled because he knew this wasn’t going to be easy.
From the way he spoke, Francis must have also used Star to expose the Hermit when fighting him.
“You awakened this in me, there’s no mistaking that.”
“And you’ve got so much power too. I can’t stand it! Hahahahahahaha!”
But the only attack method Francis had was her water sorcery.
She could have dealt with a lower rank opponent with that, but things did not go that way against an arcana user.
Magrat’s Sorcery Rating was 8,000.
It didn’t seem significant compared to Mary’s 15,000, but 5,000 was enough to consider a sorcerer as top class, so the number 8,000 was enough to make people kneel.
“I’m just glad you’re having fun.”
Mary looked cold while saying this, and swung her scythe again while closing distance with Magrat.
“I ain’t having fun, this is just bravado.”
He groaned when his back hit a wall and spoke in a dark tone of voice.
“But that can’t be helped. Because, because, I was never loved by the world.”
His voice overflowed with a sense of determination.
But that would not sway Mary’s heart.
In fact, it had the opposite effect.
“That’s perfect. Die, then.”
Magrat’s body was cut in two right from the middle.
Mary felt the relief of a stain on this world going away.
Then……
(……That was too quick.)
She felt strange.
Despite appearing so happy to have this rematch, how could he die so easily? Was this really possible?
(Will he transform into an angel……? No, his corpse doesn’t look like it’s going to start moving. But……)
Mary ate the corpse with a mouth she grew from her back.
(It’s already empty. Hermit isn’t here. Perhaps it’s the same as when we last fought. Does that mean I didn’t kill him yet? Or did he resurrect?)
The fight had not ended. Mary started walking with that thought in mind.
She did not even understand if her foe was alive or dead, and did not know where an attack might come from.
Frankly, she doubted how well Star could guide her now.
If Star could warn her about all attacks, Mary wouldn’t have ever gotten hurt until now.
The powers she acquired with Arcana Installation seemed to be weaker versions of the original practitioner’s arcana.
It was enough to be able to eat them.
It would be greedy to wish to have these powers at their full capacity, yet Mary couldn’t help but do so.
“There!”
She sensed Hermit’s power touch the back of her dress.
Mary reacted and turned around, swinging her scythe.
An invisible ball got split in two with a cracking noise.
(Magrat is somewhere I can see!)
She checked the guiding light.
It extended behind her, and when Mary turned around, he disappeared behind a corner while laughing again.
She chased after him into a wide road.
There were people passing by here, unlike the road earlier.
She saw a couple and their young children looking around and trying to find the closest evacuation shelter.
“I can’t believe that the evacuation shelter was full.”
“What do we do? Do you know where else we can go?”
“Papa, mamaaa……”
“It’ll be okay. I promise I’ll take you somewhere safe.”
The family tried to support each other amidst the chaos.
The gunshots had stopped, perhaps thanks to Cutie and the others, but there were still explosion sounds.
It was only natural for the children to shake in fear.
But, Magrat was close by.
He was just as dangerous as the center of the explosions. Mary hurriedly looked around and saw him standing in a spot some distance away.
He put his hands in his pockets and grinned.
“I thought I killed you earlier. What kind of a trick is this?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’m still tiny. I’m still a kid, so I don’t know! Hahahahahahaha!”
He covered his face with his right hand, looked at the sky and laughed.
He was just showing off and talking, not attacking or defending.
It was an act of suicide.
Mary wanted to get rid of his laughter as quickly as possible, and immediately closed distance with him.
“You’re fast.”
Magrat muttered with no interest, and while he appeared to be trying to defend, he did not make it in time and was cut in half.
Blood scattered around, his flesh was exposed, and his entrails danced as his corpse rolled around.
Mary quickly devoured him.
There was no arcana reaction.
(So he’s going to come out from somewhere again.)
Was he trying to buy some time?
Even so, he was still too forward and unprotected.
If this was going to go on for much longer, Mary thought that she might as well ignore him and link up with Cutie and the others instead.
But Mary felt that this wasn’t a fight that would end so simply.
Then, Star activated again and a light stretched out.
The light, which only Mary could see, pointed to the child from earlier.
“Papaaa…… My body hurts……”
“What’s wrong!?”
“Wait, that medicine from earlier……”
“That was an antidote, right? Let’s just get to a doctor!”
The father tried to hold his child, but his appearance quickly changed.
“It hurts…… It hurts…… Uaaaaagh! Aaaaargh! Aaaaaaaagh! Heeeelp!”
The child’s body started bubbling.
It was as if a different creature was moving inside him.
His skeletal structure twisted, and the child’s body started swelling.
“No, nooooo! Uh, aaaaaaagh!”
His high-pitched voice changed to a low, thick one. His face, body, and even his clothes completely transformed.
“Ah…… Aaah…… No way……”
“W-What’s wrong!? The child? Where did the child go!?”
“Oh no, it’s me, me. As you can see, I’m your child. Hmm…… I guess it was my growth period?”
Indeed, it was Magrat himself.
“The child transformed into Magrat……!?”
“Aaaa? Papa, mama, why are you looking at me like that? I’m your child. You can’t abandon your child. Do you know? Do you know the punishment for abandoning a child? Deaaaaaaaath!”
Magrat held his hand up towards the scared parents.
Mary couldn’t let it happen.
“Ugh, damn yoouuu!”
“Ah…… hih! ♪”
Mary’s attack cut the man’s body in half again.
Magrat’s face twisted in pain, but he sounded like he was enjoying himself as he died.
Then, the body of the mother started to transform.
“Hiih, hiiiih! Noo, I’m changing too…… It hurts! Ah, it’s inside me! Something is inside me!”
“W-What can we do…… My Princess!? You’re Princess Mary, aren’t you!? Please do something with your arcana power!”
“I want to stop it too, but it’s-”
She clenched while holding her scythe, but couldn’t do anything.
Mary’s Death God did not have the power to stop this, and she did not even know how this was happening.
Was it Magrat’s Hermit?
Or, was it a different arcana power, like the one that created angels?
At any rate, if Mary killed this woman, her husband would clearly be the next target.
“……Please run. As far as you can, that’s all I can tell you to do!”
“No! My wife, my child…… Ugh…… uuh…… uaaaaaargh!”
The man started to run while crying.
Far away, without ever turning back.
(The least I can do is buy some time until that person is far enough that I can’t see him!)
She did not know if she could save him like that.
But it was better than not doing anything.
“What a horrible husband. I’ll never forgive him for leaving me, his wife behind.☆”
Magrat jokingly said so and put his hand over his face.
“Wait!?”
Mary brandished her scythe.
But it was meaningless.
If her foe was trying to attack the man running away, or Mary, she would have stopped him.
But, Magrat’s aim was……
“Time for a pretty flower to bloom!”
……to suicide by beheading himself.
His spinal fluid spilled out of his body.
Then, the man who was running away started to transform.
“Uh, guagh…… Why, why me too…… Aaaaaaagh!”
He stopped, crouched, and his body continued transforming.
Mary’s hands shook in anger as she held her scythe’s grip.
“Magrat, damn you……!”
“Hahaha, are you having fun? Be amazed by the new model homunculus, Magrat (2)! What an eeexciiiitiiing trick! Yes, yes, yeeeeees!”
Magrat was fired up like the first time he had fought Mary, and leaped up while making a victory pose.
That definitely wasn’t a performance, but his real nature.
But his real nature really rubbed Mary’s nerves the wrong way.
Magrat pointed at Mary, as if to pour salt on the wound, and:
“Now, Mary, be a good Death God and try to expose it! The secret of this trick, that is!”
Speaking in a pompous tone of voice, Magrat eloquently smiled while showing his white teeth.