CH 158

「Stop, Pochi.」

At that moment, not only Cerberus but also Elsa stopped moving. An extraordinary murderous intent poured down from above their heads. A sense of oppression that was no less oppressive than that of the female swordsman from earlier. Despite his cheerful tone, his voice had a weight that resonated in the pit of one’s stomach, and even Pochi, who had almost lost all sense of reason, stopped moving.

「Sit down, Pochi.」

At the command heard again, Pochi jumped off Eliza’s top and sat down with a sad cry. Pochi turns his nose ruefully toward Eliza, but it seems he’s absolutely obedient to orders.

Elsa, on the other hand, was unable to raise her head. The voice above her head had that much power. It’s not normal to take one’s eyes off the enemy in the midst of battle, but Elsa could no longer do anything but stand there under the pressure from above.

「（Above… I can’t look above!）」

Elsa struggled to repel the pressure from above. But while Elsa was struggling, the owner of the voice came down to the ground. Apparently, he was using some kind of levitation magic. Then she saw in her vision a man with the same face as Anomaly, whom Elsa had beaten up so much. Further behind him was Titania, the dark-haired female swordswoman she mentioned earlier.

「Yah, Sister. We meet again.」

「…」

His speech is as light and witty as ever. Yet, she could feel the pressure of his every word, as if he was putting a curse on her. Elsa understood. The individual in front of her is the main body.

And suddenly, as if Anomaly’s body had disappeared, it appears before Elsa’s eyes.

「!」

「Oh, my God, what’s wrong? You look so surprised.」

Short-distance transference is not easy. Transference is a magic that is usually performed between two points with a formula. Otherwise, the metastasized destination will be displaced, and there’s a risk that it will be buried in the soil or, worse, overlap with someone else and metastasize. For this reason, the magic circle is equipped with a device that only the person who originally drew the magic circle can enter.

Fortunately, the magic used in the transfer is very difficult and uses a great deal of magical power. Therefore, it’s rare for individuals to use transference, and even rarer for it to be used simply, as is the case with Elsa. Even Elsa, with her natural talent, can only perform this trick with special magic tools and magic power many times greater than that of ordinary people. Of course, she’s always aware of the dangers, so she doesn’t use it all the time.

And yet the Anomaly in front of her had the painless use of ultra-short-range transference without any technique. This was an event that defied the theory of transference as far as Elsa knew.

「Just now, the transfer…」

「What? Is this the first time you’ve seen a short-range transition without chanting? It’s easy once you understand the logic.」

「That’s absurd! There is no such theory like that!」

「If you don’t have it, just make it.」

Elsa is immensely impressed by Anomaly, who says it so simply. It is true, but how is that possible? But as if to say that he understood Elsa’s question, Anomaly continued to speak.

「Well, I don’t think I can beat you with my mouth. Good thing I just proved that it’s true that you can’t beat a woman with your mouth. But when it comes to the theory of magic, who else in the world can match me? Well, I am a genius, so I can do everything from biology to medicine to pharmacology. But I couldn’t just get the elixir though～! I knew the materials, but not the proportions or the manufacturing process, and nowadays, with such precious materials, it is impossible to test even the most minimal patterns. That was a product of an era blessed with materials, wasn’t it? Oops, you want to know the theory of transition?」

Elsa listens silently as Anomaly makes an impassioned speech, as if he is good at what he does.

「Transference is, by nature, much easier to perform. But the magic of transmigration is very dangerous. A slight misalignment of the transfer destination would be a catastrophe, and the world would be in chaos if ordinary people were to use such a thing with impunity. And if it’s used too well, there will be no personal freedom at all. Even assassination would be easy. That is why the first transition is to humans, or before that, elves. The family of『True Dragons』who passed it on intentionally made the shifting formula difficult and inefficient. Well, it would be impossible for a person who has just been taught the technique to understand the true meaning of the technique, and it would be a blessing to know how to use it.」

「…You talk a lot.」

「Ahhaha. Well, I just got excited because you are using a rare transition. And it’s been a long time since I’ve met someone who is smarter than me, even if it’s only momentarily. I like smart people, men and women alike.」

Anomaly laughs with amusement. Apparently, he is truly grateful for his encounter with Elsa. Elsa, on the other hand, expressed her displeasure. But for Elsa, who no longer had any magic power and whose fist was on the verge of breaking, such hostility was the best she could do to resist.

Knowing this, Anomaly must’ve been able to afford it. But just as Anomaly was about to say something more, someone else appeared from further behind him.

「Anomaly, what the hell is this all about?」

「Ahh, Silence. You came.」

Before she knew it, a beautiful red-faced young man was standing beside Titania. Even Elsa was taken aback by his quiet demeanor and beautiful appearance, but when she looked into his eyes, she realized she was mistaken. His inorganic eyes, which show no emotion, are like glass beads. He saw Elsa and the others, but he never saw a human being. At best, he recognized a winged insect. Definitely the same kind of person as Anomaly—— at least that was Elsa’s impression.

Then she can guess how capable he was. It was clear that there was no way to escape from the situation. Elsa wanted to drop everything and collapse on the spot, but was held back by the presence of Eliza, who was clawing at her torn clothes and curled up in a small, shivering ball. A sense of responsibility toward her had managed to put Elsa on the spot.

Despite Elsa’s desperate struggle, Anomaly and others ignored her and proceeded with their conversation.

「That was fast, Silence.」

「Yes, I got the job done quicker than I expected. What’s more, what’s this all about? The workshop seems to be destroyed. Don’t tell me it’s those people over there?」

Silence glanced at Elsa with emotionless eyes. Elsa jerked away, but Silence seemed to realize everything by that gesture.

「…It seems not. Well, not with people of this caliber.」

「I cut it. Of course, I got permission from Anomaly, didn’t I?」

Titania answers clerically. Titania answers in a matter-of-fact way, as if she has done the right thing. Silence, on the other hand, is not surprised.

「That’s all well and good, but since you could have destroyed a vital base?」

「It’s alright. This was already old anyway, and we were already ready to move. I was going to crush them after you guys joined us anyway. The sisters there helped me with the magic, too, so it was extra easy.」

「So, a new workshop?」

「Yes, yes, the new workshop will be completed soon, and we plan to move there. Right, Sister?」

Anomaly spun around and turned toward Elsa. Elsa glared at the anomaly.

「Don’t look so scared. I’ll tell you something good as a reward for making it this far. We have more than 10 workshops to produce our Archfiends. Once these are in full operation, it is possible to produce over a thousand Archfiends in no time. I know it’s too late to do anything about it now, but will you tell Miliazar to hang in there at her best?」

Anomaly then snickered with pride. Both Titania and Silence looked at each other and wondered if they’re allowed to say so much, but as the person in charge of the workshop, Anomaly had the advantage here, so they kept quiet.

Elsa was also a bit amused by the unexpected information. Although she didn’t think he would go out of his way to make a joke in a situation like this, and she couldn’t gauge his intentions, she asked the crucial question.

「You’re not going to… kill us?」

「I won’t kill you, you know?」

Anomaly, a really easy answer to Elsa’s question that she had to squeeze out. It’s such an easy way to respond that it’s almost disconcerting.

「Why…」

「There are 2 reasons. First of all, we need to make sure that we get the word now to Miliazar. We need a reliable messenger. The other is that I like you. I don’t care about the knight over there.」

Elsa looked at Eliza in surprise. Eliza, too, was startled by the sudden turn of events.

「Titania, what do you want? Give her to Pochi? Or kill her?」

「Let’s see…」

Titania walked up to her. Seeing this, Elsa held Eliza protectively in her arms, but Titania had nothing to do with it. She easily pulls Elsa off and grabs Eliza by the chin to look into her eyes.

「Uuh…」

「Hmm…」

Titania peeks around for a moment, then quickly removes her hand, and Elsa, who has lost her balance, falls down with a thud.

「How’s the girl?」

「I thought her heart was broken because she was about to be raped by a mere magical beast…but her eyes aren’t dead yet. This girl will still be strong. It would be a shame to kill her now.」

「I see, then let’s keep her alive. It would be better to keep her alive to be used as a base for an Archfiend.」

Elsa was deeply offended by those who decide whether a person lives or dies for a mere reason, but there was nothing she could do about it. Silently, she held Eliza in her arms, her hand in hers, and glared at her, and that was as far as she would go. Eliza also had no desire to resist at all, but remained held still, staring at the clasped hands.

「Well, everyone. I’m very sorry to leave you, but I’m also very busy. I’ll leave you now. I would like to look forward to seeing you again… but unfortunately, I see no reason to keep you alive except for the two young ladies there. So, to the rest of you, let’s just let you die.」

「Wha…」

Just as Elsa was about to jump up at those words, Anomaly’s hand suddenly reached out like a rope and restrained her.

「Guuh! Stop! 」

「Pochi, kill everyone except these two.」

「Wan!」

With that command, Pochi, who had been sitting quietly, popped out like a bullet. The scene was suddenly transformed into a scene of carnage, and the knights and sisters, who hadn’t been able to keep up with the development, were unable to resist and were quickly eaten to death by Pochi.

「Watch closely, Sister. Close your eyes and I’ll kill that lady knight there.」

「Kuh…」

Anomaly senses that Elsa is watching her allies die with tears of frustration and an ecstatic smile on her face.

「Fufufu, nice face. Ah—ahh, if you had more power, these children wouldn’t have died, right? It’s sad that you don’t have power.」

「You!! I’ll kill you!」

「A dog can only bark. You must know what you’re capable of when you’re deprived of your freedom by my arm. If you want, I can strangle or rape you as they are. Besides, in war, it is natural to kill and be killed. It’s wrong to hold a grudge.」

「Which mouth you’re pointing that!?」

「This mouth～」

Anomaly shows a little pointing to her own mouth. Elsa, who was not calm at such a cheap provocation, turned red and got angry, but she couldn’t help it if she couldn’t even move.

A sword that had left the knight’s hand tumbled at Eliza’s feet in such a state of abandonment, but just as she reflexively reached for it, Cerberus glared at Eliza.