Instant Death

"Hm, but the last magic user we met didn"t use a staff."

He already forgot the name, but Yogiri recalled the one time a cla.s.smate destroyed their bus without using anything like a staff.

"I-I"m a Wand Master. I can extract magic power from staves and wands, but casting magic without them is impossible for me."

The cowering Lisa explained timidly but earnestly.

Yogiri turned back to Lisa.

"You look like you"ve got an idea already, but here"s the deal: I can kill someone just by thinking about it. If you try to pull any tricks you die, that"s the position you"re in. If you understand then I"ll be asking some questions. Alright?"

"Understood."

Lisa"s nervousness could be heard in her voice; the air of looking down on some kids she was giving off earlier had disappeared completely. A single misstep meant death, and she could feel it with her whole being.

"If you"re a Wand Master then that earlier staff wasn"t the only one you"ve got on you, was it? Where are your reserves?"

In response to that, Lisa pulled a pen sized stick out of her stout cleavage and placed it on the floor.

"Why hide it there of all places!? And Takatou-kun, don"t take such a thorough look!"

As usual, their emergency situation didn"t stop Tomochika from being the same as always.

"I was just impressed she managed to hide it there."

『But if she has wands of such a size then she might very well be hiding them all over her body. Should we have her strip?』

"Not that I"ve ever tried to, but killing her clothes would make that easy enough."

"Nonono, you"re joking, right?"

There were several things that Tomochika found difficult to believe just now.

"You never complained about killing anyone, but stripping them is a no?"

Yogiri couldn"t quite agree with her viewpoint, but decided it wasn"t a matter to argue over and moved on.

"Alright, next question. You said you were ordered to take along Dannoura-san, and it looks like you"ve given up on that now, but aren"t those orders absolute? I"m pretty sure I heard something about slaves going crazy and throwing away their lives just to fulfill their tasks."

"Only labor slaves, who don"t have any other uses, are made to put their lives on the line like that. High-rank slaves like me are valuable personnel and as such told to worry about staying alive first and foremost."

"How about companions? If you"re the leader of the personal guard group then I"m guessing there are more of you?"

"Why yes of course, there are more alright."

Together with those words, something suddenly dropped from the ceiling. That something appeared to be targeting Tomochika, but instead crashed into the floor: just now, Tomochika had grabbed it mid air and then firmly slammed it to the ground.

『Mhm. I see it"s already proving useful.』

The something that had fallen from the ceiling and landed on the floor turned out to be a young girl, whose neck was now bent at a fatal angle.

In fact, Yogiri and Tomochika were suddenly surrounded by such toys: stuffed animals, figurines, bisque dolls and more, all in different sizes.

　　＊＊＊＊＊

Chelsea, personal guard of Yuuki.

Despite her confusion, Chelsea went into action right away, believing that her dolls would be able to suppress the two candidates.

It didn"t matter if her dolls were destroyed. Because her ability to control them was based on possession -- specifically by inserting soul fragments into them -- those fragments just had to be moved to a new doll whenever one of them broke. Even if all the dolls storming the corridor right now were destroyed, all she had to do was send in new ones.

"What theee! How can a woman even be so brutal!"

"She does have better moves than expected."

Chelsea replied to the shouting, life-sized puppet girl next to her. That puppet itself had been the one in control of the doll that just got smashed by Tomochika. The system of possession had several layers, but was administered by the mother soul residing within Chelsea.

Looking at her own body she could tell very well that while she was certainly adorable, she was lacking in s.e.x appeal. When thinking about possibly being unable to receive Yuuki"s affection with this body of hers she couldn"t help but be jealous of Tomochika. Erika"s conduct was most likely based on jealousy as well, she thought.

"Go."

"Let"s get her moru~!"

Stuffed animals, dolls, robots and more flooded Yogiri and Tomochika all at once. However, they all stopped their movements mid air, flying past them with a swish and lamely dropping to the ground.

Chelsea fell into terror.

Eventually the door to the emergency stairs opened and Yogiri appeared before Chelsea herself.

By the time the two arrived at Chelsea the number of unbroken dolls had gone down to a mere handful.

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Thanks for reading. Next chapter on Tuesday. Special thanks to everyone pointing out typos and mistakes.