Ugh, my spine’s no longer all wobbly, but the scholar’s already escaped.

I acted like I was enjoying the hunt, chasing after the scholar like Sorciera would—but it was just a plain old mistake.

Hey, Starreader’s Staff-chan, what the hell happened?

『Strange, isn’t it? I had completely seized her mind.』

The plan was to render the scholar a vegetable right there on the stage and bring the curtain down.

But somehow, in a half-mad frenzy, the scholar took off somewhere.

Seriously, what a pain.

Well, chasing her like this is kind of fun too!

“St–stay away… don’t come any closer…!”

The scholar is desperately fleeing from me.

Every now and then, she trips over something, gets up crying, and starts running again.

I follow slowly behind her.

Dragging my scythe on purpose, sparks flying, keeping up my strong-character aura.

『I’d rather you not scrape the floor so much. I’m the one who has to fix the paint if it chips, you know.』

Let me indulge a little, will ya?

Actually, I really want some mysterious weapons besides the scythe that can be used in tighter spaces.

Let’s craft something using angel materials!

『Hmm. What would suit you, I wonder? I’d like to avoid overlap with other melee weapons. And it’d be best if we could craft something that makes full use of that angel’s abilities.』

Sorciera, the wielder of a death-controlling weapon… so cool.

Let’s make a new outfit just for that!

Something like a fishtail dress—more like a lady’s outfit.

A mysterious beautiful girl who elegantly commands death… come on, I’d be invincible and that’d be a real problem!

『……???? Are you the type who conveniently forgets unpleasant memories?』

Forget? I’ve always overwhelmed everyone and kept winning, haven’t I?

I’ve suffered from the loneliness of being the strongest, haven’t I?

Honestly, Starreader’s Staff-chan says the strangest things.

“W–what the hell are you?! What do you want?!”

Still as disgraceful as ever, this scholar.

Time to finish her off soon.

If she’s not a beautiful girl or a main character, I’m not interested.

Scram.

『So in the end, your actions just happened to align with society’s idea of morality. At your core, you’re totally rotten and self-centered, huh?』

And what of it?

『Nothing really? That’s just how people are.』

Then do you like me?

『I like you♥』

Me too♥

“S–stop it! Killing me won’t accomplish anything… s–save me…”

“――I’ll give you a chance.”

I let the scholar use Rei-chan’s ability again.

Maybe she understood instinctively; the scholar looked down at her palm in shock.

I knelt in front of her and tucked my hair behind my ear with a meaningless smile.

Lucky you—you get to see the face of a mysterious beautiful girl before you die.

“Use that power to kill me. Well? What’s wrong?”

“D–don’t mock me!”

Tears streaming down her face, the scholar fired multiple ice attacks at me.

But none of them hit. They all passed me by.

Yeah, this one’s done for.

Not worth a real fight with a mysterious beautiful girl.

“Sigh… I’m done with you. You’re not even fun to toy with.”

I snapped my fingers cooler than she ever could.

A magic circle spread beneath the scholar’s feet.

“Hehe, you’re not allowed to run, okay?”

“S–stop it!”

Silver chains bound the fleeing scholar, suspending her above the magic circle.

Auto-execution device, check!

I approached the scholar hanging midair and whispered:

“This spell interferes with your body and mind, killing you little by little. From your feet upward, slowly and cruelly.”

“…Hii! N–no, no no no! Stop, he–help me!”

“You’ve begged for your life before killing others just like this, haven’t you?”

“No! That was different! It was necessary, for the experiments! They deserved it—they were nobodies! Unlike me, their deaths were justified!”

“…I see.”

This one’s excuses are fluent, but every word is disgusting.

A born villain, through and through!

Total turn-off! Lowest of the low!

『Exactly! People should learn from us—so full of mercy and compassion.』

You’re telling me.

This time no beautiful girl’s gonna be sad over her death, so let’s end her quick!

“From my perspective, you’re just another nobody.”

“…ah”

The scholar, face pale with despair, silently begged for help.

But I turned my heel.

“W–wait! I–I’m not supposed to die! …Ahhhhhhh! Noooooooo!”

Her screams echoed.

So noisy. Maybe I should’ve shut her mouth earlier.

『Well, judging from her state, she’ll be dead in under three minutes. Let her cry her last cries.』

Starreader’s Staff-kun knows best.

Alright, let’s go back and resume our yuri date!

I bet Toa-chan’s hungry by now.

『Hahaha, guess that means we’re starting again from lunch~』

We were totally satisfied, enjoying our rare Super Mysterious Beautiful Girl Time.

Grinning ear to ear, we stepped into the teleportation circle.

■

“Y–you’ve got to be kidding me! Sorciera… you dare kill me!?”

Left alone, the scholar kept screaming in a frenzy.

Meanwhile, the spell continued to eat away at her feet, turning her into particles of light.

In just a few more minutes, only a cloud of magical residue would remain.

“Wh–why… why is this happening to me…?”

The scholar struggled desperately to break free, but Sorciera’s silver chains weren’t the kind of thing that mere humans could break.

The more she thrashed and resisted, the more she felt death creeping up.

As the villain neared her miserable end—

Something appeared before her eyes.

“Yo, Scholar-san. Still hanging in there~?”

“…!”

Her head snapped up like a spring.

Her face twisted with both relief and joy as she shouted:

“Nameless!”

“Yep yep, it’s Nameless. …Looks like things are getting dicey. Should I help you?”

“Of course! Help me!”

The scholar pleaded desperately.

Nameless, meanwhile, casually pulled a familiar chair from her expanded domain and sat down.

“Phew, I’m beat.”

“You fool! What are you doing?! Hurry and help me!”

“Hey, doesn’t this chair look familiar? I brought it with me. Ehehe, still kinda warm~”

“Who cares about that?! Just help me already!”

The scholar begged desperately, but Nameless simply smiled and conjured a black chain.

“I was talking about the chair.”

“Gi…!”

The chain wrapped around the scholar’s neck.

She tried to cry out, but could barely breathe—only groans escaped her lips.

“Oops, pulled too tight.”

“Gasp… pant…”

Nameless loosened the chain, saying “whoopsie,” and tilted her head still seated.

“Want to live?”

“Y–yeah!”

The scholar nodded over and over.

Even she now understood who held the power.

(I can’t defy her. She’ll kill me without hesitation!)

It wasn’t her first time groveling before someone stronger.

Just like always, she began flattering the one more powerful than her.

“H–help me! I’ll win next time, just give me another chance!”

“Hmmm.”

“I’ll kill Watarai Ryuuko, kill Sorciera, I’ll wipe them all out! So please—heh?”

Suddenly, she felt a searing pain in her chest.

She looked down—there was a sword lodged deep in her.

“Wha–what—“Act 1”—gaaahhhh!”

Black flames burst from the wound and consumed her body.

It felt like being burned by the fires of hell.

“I’m carefully burning every last nerve ending. Hurts, huh?”

“Wh–why?”

“Why? Maybe because you tried to kill her? Mocked her? Well, either way, this was always the plan.”

Smiling cheerfully, Nameless popped a tart into her mouth.

The scholar screamed:

“Y–you’ve got to be kidding me!”

“I’m not. I’ve always been serious. Ah—forgot the tea. …Should’ve brought a cup too.”

“You! You’re the one who gave her to me! The Original Hyououdou Rei! You helped me!”

“Did I? Eh, I just want the fact of your death. S-rank cloning tech isn’t needed anymore, so I’ll erase it all. That stuff’s dangerous—people start making disposable Dive Gears that use S-rank powers.”

“You speak nonsense! That doesn’t exist!”

The flames enveloped her whole.

And yet, the only reason she could still scream was because Nameless let her.

Nameless listened to the screams with a satisfied look.

“You’ve caused me enough trouble. Gotta nip this in the bud.”

Saying so, Nameless summoned a single black frog.

It hopped once—and clung to the scholar’s neck.

“Wh–what is this?”

“A bomb. Guaranteed to kill you alone.”

“Wha—”

Shocked and silent, the scholar stared.

Nameless clapped her hands once, still seated, and said:

“Here’s your chance. Answer my question correctly and I’ll save you. Got it?”

“Y–yeah.”

Nameless’s whim was a single thread of salvation.

“Alright, question. What is Sorciera to me?”

“………What?”

“Hurry up—3, 2—”

Flustered, the scholar shouted:

“An enemy! That’s why we teamed up—to kill her—”

“Wrong, you’re done.”

“Wa–wait! I get it! You wanted to make her a puppet for your plan—”

She never finished.

Because midway through, her head exploded in a blast.

The human perished before Nameless’s eyes.

And Nameless simply laughed.

“The correct answer—my lovely girlfriend~!”

There was no one left to respond to the mad declaration.

Black flames consumed the body, the silver chains, and the magic circle.

Watching it burn, Nameless gave a few claps and reached for her tart again—

But stopped.

“…Huh? Maybe that was too gory. Will I puke if I eat this now?”

Tilting her head as if asking someone, Nameless smiled softly, tossed the tart into her expanded domain, and put away the chair.

“Alright then, let’s head out.”

A black teleportation circle appeared, and Nameless vanished into it.

All that remained in that place—

Were soot and the faintest trace of ash.