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Chapter 57
I can guess why it’s heading to the capital.
It’s the nearest city—and overflowing with life force.
If it absorbs all that vitality…
People will die, and even fighting the beast will become impossible. Things would spiral out of control instantly.
“Why does everything always get so damn big and messy?!”
Celia roared in fury, shouting to somehow distract the monster.
“Hey! Bird-brain!”
Whirr—
The beast turned its head at her voice, spinning midair until it began to fly upside down.
“You think that will make me fall?”
Celia nimbly shoved Feriet, her sword, into her side for leverage. As she infused it with mana, the blade glowed hot. She could feel the beast screaming in pain beneath her. Its movements grew wilder, more erratic—but she could still manage to climb up and slash its neck.
Just as she gathered more mana and readied herself to leap—
Crack.
“…Crack?”
A fissure spread across the center of Feriet, the same spot that hadn’t fully mended. The small split widened into a deep groove.
“Hey!”
The moment she shouted, the monster went into a steep dive.
Craaaack!
Her sword snapped. The force threw Celia’s body backward at incredible speed. Instead of resisting the wind, she surrendered to it and cast a defensive spell.
Boom!
The ground cratered where she landed. Thanks to her magic barrier, she was mostly unharmed—but her hands throbbed painfully. Blood was seeping again beneath the bandages Fleer had wrapped earlier. She clicked her tongue and rose to her feet.
“…Shit.”
The beast was already speeding toward the capital.
“Damn it.”
She kicked off the ground at nearly the same instant.
“You filthy little brat!”
“Ow!”
“Hey!”
Jerry shielded her younger sister from the flying stone. The drunken guards laughed as they picked up more rocks.
“Crawling around in the dark like rats.”
On the eastern side of the capital’s walls lay the slums—narrow alleys packed tight with houses like grains of sand, filled with those pushed out of everywhere else.
Jerry didn’t hate their home, but she hated the people who sneered and called them unlucky every time they went into the city. Her little sister whimpered.
“W-We were just passing by!”
“Just looking at you pisses me off!”
Thud. Another stone struck the ground near them. Her sister was on the verge of tears. Jerry hugged her close, trembling with anger.
“You’re the annoying ones here!”
“What? You snot-nosed brat!”
A large guard staggered toward them, reeking of alcohol—easily five times Jerry’s size.
“How dare you talk back to those who protect you!”
The guard raised his hand. Jerry braced herself for pain—
BOOM!
A tremendous sound split the air. Everyone nearby was thrown off their feet. Somewhere, a guard screamed.
“My leg! My leg!”
“AAAAHHH!”
“Help me!”
Jerry opened her eyes slowly. Flames and smoke poured from a collapsed building nearby. The guard who had tried to hit her was trapped under rubble, clutching his crushed leg in agony.
“What… is this?”
Kieeeek!
Jerry froze. A horrible, alien screech came from directly above her.
Her sister sobbed in her arms.
“Sis, I’m scared…”
Jerry held her tightly and forced herself to look up. She had to be brave—for her sister. She had to understand what was happening and get them to safety.
Kieeeek!
What she saw was a massive beak descending toward her, ready to devour them whole. Her short life flashed before her eyes like a lantern reel. Her final words came out as a whisper.
“I don’t… want to die…”
Life had been hard, but she didn’t want it to end like this. She wanted to keep working, buy a house for her family, see her sister go to school. The beak loomed inches away—
Crunch!
When she opened her eyes again, all she saw was red. Not the orange of nearby flames—but something deeper, brighter, almost beautiful in its terror.
“You’re okay, kid.”
Crack.
“It’s scary, I know. Of course it is.”
Despite the sharp tone of the voice, the words were gentle—comforting.
“But you can do it. Get up, and run. Don’t look back.”
“B-but…”
“The one in your arms—is that your little sister? What’s her name?”
“Jen…”
“Right. You’ve got Jen. You have to protect her, yeah? She’s family.”
Jerry nodded without thinking, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“It’s okay. You can do this.”
“Who… are you?”
“You planning to stay and watch my performance? That’s sweet—but I could use some help instead.”
“H-how?”
“It’s hard to fight when people are still around. Run and shout that there’s a fire. As loud as you can. Tell everyone to escape. Got it?”
“Y-yes.”
Drop. A bead of blood hit the ground. Jerry’s body shook, but she stood. Somehow, she knew helping this person meant standing up.
“Th-thank y—”
“RUN!”
Jerry sprinted away, shouting at the top of her lungs. “FIRE!” And indeed, flames were spreading everywhere. “Fire! Everyone run!”
She worried for the person she’d left behind—but strangely, not too much.
That red glow didn’t seem like something the fire could ever consume. If anything, it would burn brighter.
“You’re not even pretending to be a sword anymore, are you?”
Celia glared at the shattered Feriet. Her left arm was clamped in the monster’s beak, while her right hand still held the broken blade that buzzed resentfully. Even so, it kept slowly digging into the monster’s neck.
The beast convulsed, gnawing viciously as if to tear her apart. Anyone else would’ve been ripped to pieces instantly.
“Yeah. I bet to you my arm tastes like a gourmet meal.”
She looked at the blood flowing down and smirked. It had been a while since she’d seen her own blood—but it didn’t faze her. She’d suffered far worse.
I’ve even died once before.
“One arm for one neck—fair trade, right?”
Crunch!
The monster suddenly spasmed and flung her aside. Celia crashed down beside a guard pinned under debris, screaming in pain. The stench of alcohol hit her nose. She clicked her tongue.
“Useless drunk.”
“S-spare me…”
“Hey!”
Another guard stood nearby, trembling but still intact. Celia smashed the rubble apart with her fist, freeing the trapped man.
“Pull yourself together! Get to your unit and call for backup! Move him!”
“Y-yes!”
The terrified soldier rushed over to help his comrade. Meanwhile, the beast’s slimy eyes locked onto Celia again—the wound she’d inflicted was already gone.
“…You healed by eating my flesh?”
Her voice dripped with disbelief. The beast licked its lips.
“Figures. Once you’ve had a taste of me, nothing else will satisfy you.”
That wasn’t a bad sign—it meant it would focus on her instead of attacking others.
Celia grinned and dropped her sword.
“Buffet’s open right here.”
The monster lunged instantly. Celia rammed her other arm—the one it hadn’t bitten yet—straight into its mouth. As it thrashed to bite down—
Thud!
She kicked off the ground, launching herself upward with her arm still lodged in its jaws. Below, the capital burned.
“You know, you just reminded me of something I wanted to try.”
It was the trick she’d prepared in case a monster ever swallowed her—channeling her mana inward to make it explode from within.
A confident smile glimmered between strands of her red hair.
“I’ve only ever seen someone else do it. Wonder if it’ll really work?”
The beast blinked slowly, confused.
Then—whoomph. Immense mana poured from her. It filled the creature, mending wounds and empowering it beyond reason.
The beast accepted the gift greedily. The remaining energy even flowed into the half-buried shard of Feriet in its leg, making the fragments hum and glow.
More. More.
It spread its wings wide in elation—
—but the mana was too vast. A tidal wave it could never contain.
“……!”
Celia coughed blood from the backlash but grinned straight at it.
“You ever heard the saying? Bite off more than you can chew, and it’ll kill you.”
Gulp.
BOOOOM!
The monster couldn’t withstand the surge. Its body shattered into pieces, scattering across the night sky in a blinding explosion.
“…Huh?”
And then Celia saw something. That feeling again—the strange sense from when she’d glimpsed Ilrod’s memories.
But his regressions were only three times. I confirmed them all…
In the next instant, a memory from a previous life unfolded.
It was early in the Great Monster War. Ilrod sat motionless at the edge of the battlefield, staring blankly into space after an especially brutal fight. No one approached him. They only whispered as they passed.
Then—
Clink.
Someone placed a bowl of warm soup beside him. The person said nothing and turned to leave. Ilrod stared after them, unaware that he was being watched.
And that person… was her.
“Think only of yourself.”
“You bastard…”
“I gave you that, hoping you would.”
It hadn’t just been empty words.
He didn’t stab some random person in his way.
It wasn’t because she’d been the only survivor.
“…He aimed for me from the start.”
