Instant Death

Chapter 30 - I just need to kill him before he can use it

Underground Ruins - First Floor

Yuuki was currently on his way to the exit when he sensed the sudden death of Lisa.

"Master, is something the matter?"

The two personal guards next to Yuuki, Euphemia and Stefanie, immediately noticed that their master had just sensed something.

Ignoring them, Yuuki called up Lisa's action log and saw the mysterious crumbling of her magic, then her death. Shortly after that Chelsea joined the battle only for her dolls to be rendered useless, upon which she lost her will to fight. Still alive, Chelsea told the two classmates all the information she had regarding Yuuki's side.

"Well, not like I ordered her to keep things secret."

The degree of mind control his personal guards were under was exceedingly small, for the simple reason that living dolls that could only say yes wouldn't have been very interesting companions. Furthermore, Yuuki didn't consider it a problem for the Dominator class' mechanics to be leaked. There was no weakness for his enemies to discover, and the more they would find out about his class the deeper they would fall into despair.

However, the current situation was simply unpleasant. So far he had considered the kidnapping of Tomochika a trifling matter, but with the way things were going he now decided to go all out with it.

He ordered all the insects in that hotel's vicinity to search for Yogiri and Tomochika, soon finding them still in the middle of going down the emergency staircase. Yuuki decided to keep watch on them in real time from now on, so that wherever they may go, thousands of eyes would follow them.

"He says he can kill people just by thinking about it, what do you think?"

Yuuki told Euphemia about what happened and asked for her opinion. He didn't feel like remembering all the details of this world's inner workings, so whenever he was curios about something he would ask one of his personal guards.

"It's a rather absurd claim, but I suppose it could be achieved in a handful of ways. One possibility is the interference of an individual that ranks higher in the hierarchy of the Sages' blessing."

The system, called the sages' blessing by this world's natives, was continuously passed on over the generations, beginning at the maintainers of this world. This inheritance essentially was the same as the install that the students had undergone, making people awaken to special powers but in return locking them into a power relation that strictly placed them below the sage their power originated from.

"Is that related to how the sages can restrict my skills?"

"Yes. When receiving the Sages' blessing a kind of restraint is placed upon you, making it impossible to go against them. That restraint is also what makes it possible for them to render skills unusable, or even lower one's resistance to instant death magic to zero. That said, I believe it's highly doubtful that either of these two might rank above Lisa and Chelsea in terms of hierarchy."

"Yeah, even if they were lying about being ungifted, at best they should be in the same position as me. Or wait, is it possible to upgrade your blessing's standing or something?"

"It's certainly possible for a person's blessing to be altered, but even so I can't imagine them somehow ending up with one that puts them above Lisa and Chelsea."

"Alright, so what other explanation is there?"

"An extreme difference in level would make it possible. In that case, making a fight look like the opponent's magic had been rendered useless and killing them so one-sidedly it looks like instant death wouldn't be difficult. However, on top of their regular strength the girls received additional power from you, Lord. I don't see how they could possibly outlevel both Lisa at level 70 and Chelsea at level 56 to such a degree."

"True, without using a leveling method like mine rapidly increasing their levels like that shouldn't be possible."

One's level represents the aggregate amount of energy one's existence holds. That energy is necessary whenever one tries to make use of the system, and absorbed when killing a being that also has the system installed in them. As such, in order to quickly raise one's level it was necessary to kill as strong as possible enemies at an as fast as possible rate.

There was no way for Yogiri and Tomochika to achieve such a feat, so it was impossible for them to outlevel Lisa and Chelsea in the few days they had been in this world. Under normal circumstances gaining a small handful of levels in that time was already the best one could do.

"The third possibility would be the use of an unknown power. I suppose this is the most likely explanation."

"That's hardly an explanation, is it?"

"You are absolutely right, but doesn't it suffice as a reason to give up on Dannoura-sama? There is no need to go head to head with a power we don't understand. In your case, Lord, further contact with them would be easily avoidable."

"Are you telling me to sneak around hiding from someone? No way that's gonna happen."

Although he kept his jesting tone, Yuuki did get a little irritated by that. It just wasn't what a true ruler would do, he believed.

"Well, doesn't matter what kind of amazing offensive power he claims to have, I just need to kill him before he can use it. So, any ideas?"

"Hm, in Lisa's case her reliance on magic is what doomed her, and in Chelsea's case it was her reliance on dolls. After all, as far as physical ability went they weren't that much stronger than a normal person. I believe that sending in someone with a class that excels in melee combat may prove successful, someone at level 50 that can move at a speed faster than a normal person could perceive."

"That doesn't sound like someone very easily preparable."

At present, nearly all of his military power was busy with hunting. His first priority was the collection of resources, and he still believed that to have been the right course of action. After all, a fight within the city could hardly have been anticipated.

"Guess I'll start by ordering everyone that seems useful to head to the city. Actually, do I really have to bother with something roundabout like melee combat? Can't I just blow him away with some flashy long range magic?"

"Within the area of celestial protection it will be difficult to use any large scale extermination magic, but if we can get them to come outside then that may be possible indeed. We would run the risk of Dannoura-sama getting caught up in it, however."

"Eh, I wouldn't want that to happen. Alright, let's just chase them around for a while then, shouldn't take long until they give up."

Thankfully his supply of slaves was near endless; for each one that died he could just send in two new ones. Even if Yogiri really could kill people just by thinking about it, there had to be some limit to how long he could keep going. The strength of numbers was bound to make him crack eventually.

"This is an order to everyone in the vicinity of Hayabusa. Kill Yogiri Takatou and capture Tomochika Dannoura."

In his whole life, Yuuki Tachibana had never known the feeling of regret, because he had never experienced true failure.

While there were some ups and downs, in the end everything had always turned out the way he wanted.

That was the source of his optimism: His continuous success had him convinced that in the future, too, he would always end up victorious.

His confidence in being unable to lose, based on no concrete evidence whatsoever, turned into one of the reasons for his success, further cementing his conviction.

That was why he viewed Yogiri's power so optimistically.

He was certain that he was currently at a safe distance from him, and even if his plan failed he could easily recover and attempt a different approach -- with that mindset Yuuki gave the order to kill Yogiri.

One couldn't blame him for his decision. To first get rid of the unknown variable and then carry out the abduction as originally intended was a reasonable strategy.

But that was a fatal error.

He acted on his intent to kill, through which his killing intent formed a concrete connection to Yogiri.

However, Yuuki wasn't given the chance to realize his mistake. In the end he never once had the opportunity to taste the feeling of regret in his life.

Stefanie's reaction was proof of her simple nature, breaking into tears as she witnessed the sudden event before her and requiring several moments to realize what it implied:

An existence that mercilessly went against their understanding of this world had appeared.

At this time, the only one to have come to that realization and tremble in terror was Euphemia.