The Outcome of the Battle

“H...... haaaaaah? Ihihihihihi!”

“The one who kills, is me. The one who dies, is you.”

A declaration delivered with such utter indifference.

The one who had spat those words was the small cursed child.

An expressionless cursed child, who neither feared nor flinched in the face of this “self.”

An arrogant, insolent cursed child.

A cheeky cursed child.

To that cursed child.

“DON'T FUCK WITH ME, YOU BRAAAAT!!”

Ibrabarleg flew into a rage and screamed!

“Kill the great me!? You damn brat, just 'cause I ain't gotten serious yet, don't you go gettin' cocky!! SCREW YOU, YOU MOOOROOON!!!”

Even as he screamed, the sliver of reason Ibrabarleg had left was startled at how smoothly such rough words, ones he never normally used, came pouring out of his mouth.

Were these his own words?

Could it be that ‘Soul Devourer’ was the one making him speak?

A slight, indefinable anxiety began to stir.

A sense of crisis.

But...... in an instant, such things vanished.

Yes...... he had already accepted ‘Soul Devourer’.

In other words, he was now Ibrabarleg and ‘Soul Devourer’ at the same time.

It was nothing for ‘Soul Devourer’ to speak using Ibrabarleg's mouth.

What had he been so anxious about? How utterly foolish.

Now, he would surrender himself to this passion and kill the fearless, filthy brat before him.

That was all that mattered.

“You went and pissed off the great me, so you little shit, I ain't just gonna kill you!! I'll rip you apart while you're still alive, then slurp down your soul!! Better get ready for iiiiit!?”

“............”

One step, two steps.

Ibrabarleg, having hauled himself up from the pile of rubble, advanced on the cursed child, bellowing and menacing.

The cursed child, in contrast, remained calm.

On the contrary...... she gave Ibrabarleg a snort of laughter, then goaded him.

“Then, hurry up and get serious.”

“Aaaaaah!?”

“Repeat the same thing as before? Next time, I'll kill you.”

Saying so, the cursed child readied her fist.

“You said it, damn you!! Don't come cryin' to me when you regret it!? Haaaaaah!!”

No longer caring how he looked, he decided to go all out.

He consumed the spare souls he'd stored up before falling asleep, all at once, without saving any!

He poured everything into strengthening this body!

“Oaah...... AAAAAAAH!!!”

He screamed louder than ever before.

A shriek, like a scream of agony!

And then, it was in the very next instant!

That his body...... swelled up massively!

Merimeri, bokibokiboki, mekyo!!

Ibrabarleg's physical transformation, as he swelled up with eerie sounds, was no longer a change that could be explained by a simple muscle pump!

His limbs became as thick as logs, and his height grew to about 2 times his original size!

What on earth was happening!?

Where had the law of conservation of mass gone!?

There was no one here to answer such a question, nor anyone who would care about such a thing in the first place!

“Gh, it hurts...... it hurts! Gah, aaah, ah...... Ihihihihi...... ihihihihi......!”

And that physical transformation...... must have been quite reckless.

Now, the skin of the giant Ibrabarleg's body was torn, exposing the muscle.

Blood spurted from various places; moreover, some bones were even jutting out in strange directions.

And yet, he seemed to have gradually grown accustomed to the pain accompanying the change.

At some point his groans turned into eerie laughter; he rolled his eyes, which the pain had turned back to the whites, and with a twisted grin, looked down at the tiny cursed child across the room and glared!

And then......!

“......Huh?”

He let out a foolish little noise.

Because!

At the very moment his body had undergone a dramatic, reckless change for the sole purpose of combat!

A massive change had also occurred in the body of the small cursed child he was facing!

What was this massive change?

It was, in other words!

To put it simply!

Tentacles!!

Instead of the black cloth-like things she had been wearing, 10 black tentacles!

They were extending from around her shoulders, swaying and writhing!!

“Wh, what!? What the hell is thaaaaat!?”

Unable to keep up with what was happening, Ibrabarleg panicked, his eyes bulging wide, his huge body swaying!

But the cursed child facing him remained, as always, calm and expressionless!

“............And?”

Directing those black eyes, from which no emotion could be read, straight at the unsightly giant!

The cursed child......

The traveler Emi Rune, said!

“Can I, kill you, now?”

In the next instant, Emi's 【Black Tentacles】 extended with terrifying speed, lunging at Ibrabarleg's massive body!

One, two, three!

Ibrabarleg's muscles, which by rights had gained a frightening toughness for a living body, were pierced one after another by the tentacles!

“Ih!? Gih!? Agaga, d, don't underestimate meeeee!!”

Enduring the pain, Ibrabarleg grabbed the tentacles, trying to pull them out!

But that was a bad move!

A truly bad move!

By spending time on such an action, he had created a needlessly large opening!

......And Emi was not one to let such an opening go to waste!

“RAAAAAAAAAH!!”

After letting out an especially loud roar, Emi swung her tentacles with all her might...... three tentacles, bundled together into one especially sturdy mass...... bringing them crashing down upon Ibrabarleg.

The target was Ibrabarleg's right arm.

The right arm gripping the demon sword ‘Soul Devourer’!

“Ah!?”

......The speed was tremendous.

By the time Ibrabarleg noticed, his right arm.

had already been severed below the elbow.

He had no way of knowing, but this was a combined technique of the multiple special abilities Emi possessed.

In other words, it was the result of cladding 【Black Tentacles】 in the special ability for cutting, 【Mantis】.

Her tireless training of her special abilities.

Here and now, it had borne fruit, cutting clean through even the arm of a hardened giant turned monstrous!

And then.

Karan, ko......

The demon sword ‘Soul Devourer’, having slipped from Ibrabarleg's hand, bounced twice on the floor of the ruins.

......And then, it rolled away, falling into the great hole that had opened earlier, leading even deeper into the ruins.

In that instant, Ibrabarleg's thoughts, which had felt as if they were shrouded in a fog, suddenly cleared.

Ibrabarleg snapped back to his senses.

And in his mind, countless questions surfaced.

What on earth had that been, the way he'd fought until just now, swayed by his emotions like a total amateur!?

Why was he fighting down in such dangerous ruins without even securing a way out!?

What good was making his body so huge!?

How did he intend to get outside!?

Why had he made those decisions!?

These were his own choices; surely, if he thought it over, he would understand.

So he thought, but somehow, it just wouldn't come to him.

The reasoning behind those decisions could not be found, as if it had rolled away somewhere.

“A, aaah!? Agaaaaaah!?”

And what was more!

The pain of his transformation, which until a moment ago he had been able to bear!

The pain of the wounds inflicted by Emi's tentacles!

Began to assault Ibrabarleg all at once!

“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!?”

Ibrabarleg could no longer even stand.

He collapsed on the spot, rolling across the floor while continuing to groan in agony.

Emi, looking down at that pitiful monstrous giant...... gathered her tentacles into a pair of giant arms.

It was 【Black Arms】.

She laced together the fingers of those two rugged, hard, ghastly arms, forming a shape as if in prayer.

And then, at the head of Ibrabarleg, writhing in pain.

With all her might...... she brought them down.

......No further description is necessary.

Ibrabarleg, died.

◇ ◇ ◇

“............”

The enemy was dead.

Yet, the collapse of the ruins did not end.

Zuzun, mishi, mishimishi, zuzaaaaa!

With a thunderous roar, stones and sand continued to rain down from the ceiling one after another.

It was as if this roar were the death throes of these spiteful ruins.

That was the carefree thought running through Emi's head.

“............”

Now, amidst the collapsing ruins, Emi looked around her.

The stairs leading out of the ruins had been blocked quite early on, and by now there was no telling where those stairs had even been.

No matter how fast Emi's feet were, getting back to the surface by the regular route from here would be impossible, too.

In other words, Emi had been completely trapped deep underground.

Yet, she remained expressionless.

Without showing the slightest agitation, she simply stood there, watching as this underground space was gradually buried.

Just as the body of the monstrous giant was completely buried in the debris.

The ceiling above Emi's head finally gave way, and a massive amount of earth and stone came crashing down toward her.

She, at that sight.

Simply kept watching.