Chapter 15
"El."
The Nkhilakarn's palm covered the girl's face,
and plasma gathered in it.
The plasma condensed to the size of a pinky nail.
Zing.
It pierced her left eye.
The beam of light branched out inside her.
-Rubedo!
It was a clean display of power control, neither burning nor exploding its target.
Rubedo collapsed to the ground, her head riddled with tiny holes.
…….
"……Did I see that wrong?"
I'm sure she was smiling.
No. A human who hadn't been drenched in divine blood couldn't possibly react to my speed.
Having reached that conclusion, the Nkhilakarn put a hand to their ear.
"El's host has been killed. I'll retrieve the body and return."
Using the World Tree that supported the ceiling of the universe as a medium, they informed the other Elders that the objective had been accomplished, then looked down to collect the corpse, but
"……?"
It was gone.
The host's corpse was nowhere to be seen.
They looked around.
No matter where they looked, there wasn't a trace of the body.
Only the ruins of what had once been a magnificent building, and a human with her lower body melted away.
"Looking for me?"
"……!"
Their head felt heavy.
They knew without even looking up.
The one standing on their head and speaking was undoubtedly……
"El's host!"
They grabbed the ankle above their head with both hands and unleashed plasma.
A pale flash split the Furnace's hazy atmosphere.
But.
"Big Sis Yangyang, are you okay?"
Rubedo was now behind them, not on their head.
She'd clearly felt herself grabbing their ankle with both hands.
While their mind froze for a moment at this impossible contradiction,
she went to the near-death Yangyang and removed the helmet of her power armor.
"Rubedo……."
"Yes, Big Sis. It's me."
"You were definitely dead. Am I seeing things?"
"Shh. Don't say anything else. You might really die."
She leaned close to Yangyang's exposed face.
Smooch.
A kiss.
Blood flowed between their lips, filling the gap.
For a brief moment, they became one.
"……!"
She was briefly startled by the sudden, passionate intimacy so out of place for the situation.
Yangyang felt something flow into her body through her mouth.
Is this…… a tentacle from an octopus?
No, more than that, this slick, unpleasant sensation……
That was as far as her memories went.
Rubedo pulled away from the unconscious Yangyang, wiped the blood from her lips, and glared at the Nkhilakarn who had created this scene of carnage.
"Well, that's frightening. I never thought a human could completely take control of El."
"El?"
"Yes, El. The bug you humans call Mijeong."
The Nkhilakarn pressed a hand to the corner of their eye, as if troubled.
"I was going to kill the host before they took control of El, but a disaster still happened. I have no face to show the Elders."
"……It was a gamble."
Rubedo walked counterclockwise, facing the Nkhilakarn.
The Nkhilakarn also walked slowly, matching her short strides.
"I'm short, so I thought if you targeted me, you'd go for my head first, since it was the easiest to reach. And your goal is to capture Mijeong, so I believed you wouldn't use an attack that would badly damage the corpse."
"You're bolder than you look. I intended to kill you in one blow, but I ended up helping you take control. That was my mistake. But I had no other choice. A shot through the torso wouldn't kill you, so the head was the sure bet."
"I'm useless, but Mijeong is different."
"Since the host has already taken control of El, I won't limit my output any longer."
The Nkhilakarn reached out.
Rubedo immediately hurled herself sideways.
Her untrained, unpracticed body rolled gracelessly across the ground.
The spot where she'd been standing melted red-hot, becoming a deep crater.
When Rubedo raised her head and glared at the Nkhilakarn, dark red tentacles burst from her blood-teared red eyes.
The Nkhilakarn, whose body was enhanced with plasma, met them with a fist.
"According to the records of the Earth Empire, you elves use your heads for decoration and just spew plasma and intense heat indiscriminately, but I've heard Elder-class ones are different."
"I'll give up on retrieving El. Even if this is the first miraculous revival in over a hundred years, I can wait that long five times over."
"An opponent with both strength and wisdom. The target is Mijeong—more precisely, the brain Mijeong has parasitized."
"The Elders will reprimand me…… but it doesn't matter. A weapon I can't wield must be disposed of immediately."
Rubedo charged at the one who'd knocked aside her tentacles.
Her tackle with her small frame didn't look threatening at all, but instinctively sensing danger, they dodged.
When Rubedo stopped pursuing them and clenched her fist, the ruins began to tremble.
"……!"
Prasada Palace, reduced to ashes, was restored as if time had been reversed.
"Mijeong goes berserk when its host's brain is attacked. Though the host loses consciousness."
"That's completely new information to me."
"A berserk Mijeong can unleash enough power to level an entire city, even as a single organism."
"That's new information, too. I'll be sure to record it when I get back……."
Then Prasada Palace folded in half.
The palace, folded together like a thick Bible being closed, buried the Nkhilakarn at its center and folded over and over.
Vroooom.
Prasada Palace, now a sphere, glowed red-hot, then melted, and the uninjured Nkhilakarn walked out from inside.
"……It's a little strange to call that taking control of El. It's too volatile."
"Just as expected of one of the Elder-class elves. You're perceptive. Then what would happen if the host died while Mijeong was going berserk, and their consciousness could awaken, even if only for a moment?"
"Don't tell me……"
"You can directly affect reality without limit until Mijeong's rampage subsides. I survived because you riddled my head with holes. Thanks, huh?"
"……So it wasn't control, but something even worse."
"I just went completely insane."
"Hmm. Good."
The Nkhilakarn lowered their hand.
They flew into the sky and prepared for a long-range jump.
"I'm not an idiot who'd risk my life for pride and dignity. I'm getting out of here."
"No. You can't."
"Pfft, pffhahahahaha!"
Space split open, and a jump gate like the ones opened by the Sindalot Multistar System appeared.
The Nkhilakarn plunged into the jump gate.
"The choice is mine, not yours. I'll see you again, El's host."
"……Didn't I say you can't go?"
At those words,
the jump gate closed.
Slice.
The Nkhilakarn, their body severed when the space closed,
thumped.
plunged to the ground.
"?"
"Mijeong affects reality based on its host's imagination."
Rubedo looked down at the fallen Nkhilakarn with a sneer.
"I'm a kid, and kids have vivid imaginations. If space can be opened at will by the Sindalot Multistar System or a superintelligence, shouldn't it obviously be possible to close it, too?"
"Damn it……!"
Plasma boiled at the Nkhilakarn's severed torso as they tried to regenerate, but
Click.
Rubedo had already formed a coilgun and pressed its muzzle to their head.
Bang!
"Kaaagh!"
Rubedo, unable to withstand the recoil, was flung far away.
Even an Elder-class Nkhilakarn would be injured if shot in the head at point-blank range by a coilgun without any defenses.
Blue blood sprayed from the Nkhilakarn's head.
"One more time."
Click.
Rubedo immediately recovered her stance with a short-range jump and pulled the trigger again.
Bang!
"Graaaagh!"
Knocked back, short-range jump, reload, fire.
Knocked back, short-range jump, reload, fire.
"S-stop……!"
"No."
Knocked back, short-range jump, reload, fire.
Knocked back, short-range jump, reload, fire.
"I can't die without leaving my name behind……!"
Click.
Bang!
Splatter.
"……There are so many people who disappear from the world without leaving their names behind."
After repeated point-blank shots, the Elder-class Nkhilakarn's head was blown to pieces.
"……For some reason, I'm a little sleepy."
The massacre of Bahati's planetary marshal, the stationed Federal garrison platoon, and four Task Force 42 members by Yata, an Elder-class Nkhilakarn.
Situation resolved.
Task Force 42 member Second Lieutenant Yangyang: critical condition.
Task Force 42 member Private Rubedo: unconscious.
Elder-class Nkhilakarn Yata.
Killed.
…….
…….
…….
Theodore, captain of the Razangriff, followed the trail left by the hover bike.
He'd been stunned when Rubedo said she was going to Prasada Palace.
But when their eyes met, he could read her firm resolve in them.
It was a look he knew well, one he'd seen many times, so he couldn't bring himself to stop her.
-The trail…… ends here.
But it wasn't difficult to follow Rubedo's whereabouts.
After all, right in front of where the trail ended—
that is, the site where Prasada Palace had stood—
was a ruin so terrible it was hard to look at.
He wasn't a fool, and was certain an Elder-class Nkhilakarn had carried out a terrorist attack here.
-She must have been in quite a hurry…….
The hover bike was left unattended in autonomous mode, with no sign of the owner who'd ridden it here.
When he wheeled the bike deeper into the ruins,
-……! Lieutenant! Miss Rubedo!
The captain found Rubedo, unconscious, and Yangyang, partially paralyzed.
-Are there no other survivors……? The stationed Federal garrison and the other members were all killed?
Not even their corpses remained.
It was heartbreaking and sickening, but from the moment they'd expected an Elder-class to show up, it had been something they'd anticipated to some extent.
And then.
-This can't be……
The corpse of a Nkhilakarn with no head or lower body.
Judging by the circumstances, this was undoubtedly an Elder-class Nkhilakarn.
Who on earth had killed this being, a natural disaster in its own right, so horrifically?
An Elder-class one who commanded Capitano-class warriors capable of fighting on par with a destroyer?
An Elder-class one who'd fought to mutual destruction with the mighty Earth Empire warrior who had single-handedly crippled a Human Federation aircraft carrier?
Second Lieutenant Yangyang? No way.
……Rubedo? Come on, you're joking.
But no matter how hard he pinched his own cheeks and thighs, the corpse didn't disappear from view.
-……Let's take it with us for now.
The captain loaded the two squad members and the Nkhilakarn's corpse onto the hover bike.
The bike picked up speed.
Second Lieutenant Yangyang's condition was, quite literally, very bad.
They had to put her in a hibernation pod as soon as possible to keep her from deteriorating, then take her to Mars.