Chapter 112

As technology advanced, humans were able to build increasingly taller structures. Thus, skyscrapers came to symbolize technological progress.

Therefore, the scene unfolding in a certain city of a nation could be seen as the antithesis of human development.

Buildings taller than two stories had all collapsed. Not a single one of the one-story buildings remained intact, and the fires were spreading as if to engulf the entire city.

In contemporary South Korea, fire preparedness is highly advanced. Even if a building or two were to catch fire due to improper response, it would be impossible for an entire city to burn down due to a single individual’s mistake.

Naturally, considering the dead in the city, one might think of a war between nations. However, this incident, compared to such a war, was on a much smaller scale.

Indeed, it was a war—but not between nations. This was a war waged by one person against an entire nation.

A lone individual who couldn’t be felled even when the entire city attacked, who wiped out reinforcements from other cities when they arrived—this was the war that individual had started.

The nation had abandoned this city in order to k*ll this person, starting fires everywhere.

Yet, stepping boldly into the city engulfed in flames, moving forward without hesitation, was also just one person—a woman. She was another individual seeking to end the already hopeless conflict.

As she advanced, the flaming buildings collapsed around her, but she pushed them aside without injury and continued forward.

Had it not been for the bl**d that spread across the ground, forming into human shapes to attack her, she could have continued unimpeded.

Supernatural abilities represent power that transcends human limitations. It’s nearly impossible for an ordinary individual to defeat thousands of users of such powers.

But, if that individual could create their own army of followers through supernatural abilities, they could stand against even thousands of users.

One of the armies wielded by the one responsible for this catastrophe—bl**d bodies—are monstrous creatures that won’t cease reviving unless their bl**d is completely incinerated.

Though the city was destroyed by flames, the survival of these bl**d bodies indicated their uniqueness. Yet, the woman appeared to disregard this special bl**d body after only a brief glance and continued her advance.

Did the bl**d body take offense at being ignored? Its hands transformed, attempting to slash her, but suddenly, a fist-like form burst through its chest. A beam of light formed within it, causing the bl**d body to explode.

Nothing of the exploded bl**d body fell to the ground; it all evaporated mid-air.

The woman moved with such terrifying speed that even the bl**d body, created for battle, did not notice her strike.

If she had this kind of speed, why had she been moving so slowly all along? Her pace, slow enough to seem like walking, was arrested shortly thereafter.

“Hmph, I’ve finally been found out.”

The bl**d pooling at the woman’s feet bubbled, forming humanoid shapes that surrounded her.

Even though the nation had bombed the city, the war between it and this individual was not yet over. And so, the woman had rushed into this crumbling city to end it.

In other words, even after the city had been abandoned and bombed by the nation, the individual responsible for all this chaos was still alive somewhere in the city.

The reason the woman had been moving so cautiously was to remain undetected by the individual. After all, all the bl**d scattered outside her body served as the individual’s eyes and ears.

“Still, since you seem to know it’s me, let me say a word as a friend—stop here before it’s too late. Things are already bad, but it’s still within my power to resolve.”

It was a suggestion she had originally wanted to convey in person to this individual, but circumstances forced her to deliver it remotely.

This city was already beyond saving. Many people had perished. Even if she convinced the individual, the nation would not forgive them.

Still, if the individual showed remorse and wished to return to being an ordinary student, she would use all her power to aid them. And if the nation attempted to interfere, she would prepare to protect them.

Though this individual could create bl**d bodies, they were not the only one capable of standing against a nation. Should two such forces unite, even a nation could not oppose them indefinitely.

Of course, making such a suggestion could make her an enemy of the state, but all of this had been considered before extending the offer.

“…Yeah, as always, you’ve never liked me much.”

The bl**d bodies had mouths but did not respond. Either because they were incapable of complex language as they were made of bl**d or because they chose not to answer.

Still, when the bl**d bodies shaped their hands into blades or formed guns made of bl**d, the woman understood their reply—a complete refusal to dialogue, only to fight.

She had known from the start that this would be the response, hence her original intention to silently approach the one controlling the bl**d bodies undiscovered.

“Aah, but it’s impersonal to finish things without even showing your face once. So how about showing yourself before we finalize this.”

The bl**d bodies surrounding her were not the end. More of them were gathering from behind the flickering flames.

They had been called in to block her advance—bl**d bodies that had survived the bombings around her.

Though eliminating them would not take her long, she had no idea how many more there were, so how long the delay would stretch was uncertain.

“…Load.”

There was, then, no reason not to choose the non-combative route. Her figure disappeared.

She hadn’t moved at light speed.

With those words, she vanished from the place where she had been surrounded by bl**d bodies and reappeared in a different location, equally enshrouded in flames, where a girl with crimson-dyed hair stood.

“I figured you’d be here. I know this place is special to you.”

“Did the Student Council President tell you that? Or maybe your younger sister?”

Responding to the woman’s offer of another chance, the girl, with hair dyed crimson either from artificial dyes or from bl**d, or perhaps born with it red, turned around, her tone rather sharp.

Her delicate appearance seemed incongruous with the events that had prompted the nation to abandon an entire city. Nonetheless, the woman tensed her body, which had been relaxed until encountering the bl**d bodies.

One bl**d body could match a single supernatural ability user, but the young girl who created these bl**d bodies possessed a supernatural ability different from the one she used to summon them.

And that supernatural ability, apart from the bl**d bodies, was powerful enough to rival the woman.

“If you had such abilities, you could have come here sooner.”

“There were certain restrictions that made that impossible. This journey wouldn’t have been possible if you hadn’t sent so many of those bl**d bodies that are practically extensions of yourself.”

“Do you think I wouldn’t send so many if I knew how you travel?”

“Well, that’s part of it, but there’s also the other reason—you wouldn’t have been able to reach me if, deep down, you hadn’t allowed it.”

Even upon hearing about her teleportation ability, the girl’s eyes weren’t impressed. Back when she might have exclaimed with awe at such a power, how much must she have changed during their months apart?

The woman, observing the redhead with a bittersweet feeling, noticed the difference in the quality of light emitted by this red-haired girl compared to the student council president, though they were similar.

“I might have allowed it; I sought a resolution with your sister, in some way.”

“…I thought we were friends, at least before that incident and even after. Was there a reason for you to want a resolution?”

The girl’s lover had been stolen by her sibling through an act of NTR.

As this conversation began to delve into that matter, the woman seemed somewhat more cautious, while the girl absently polished her unnaturally long, sharp fingernails, though they weren’t false nails.

This action communicated her lack of interest in continuing the dialogue. Perhaps it was also a way of indicating that she did not wish to talk further about her sibling.

Amidst the flames that continued to burn a large structure behind her, the girl pointed her nails at the woman who had come to save her.

“With that story done, let’s finish this. I can’t possibly let a monster like me roam this world, can I?”

“You’ve been saying you can’t let it roam since the beginning… do you want to fight me?”

“It’s not that I dislike you to the point of wanting to fight. We’re not close enough for me to readily accept your help, even though you came to help. If not close enough to either dislike or accept help, then you have to follow the situation, right? Now that it’s reached this point, we can’t avoid fighting.”

The flames that scorched the city could not touch either woman conversing there.

However, they weren’t immune to the heat either.

In this stiflingly hot situation,

the woman finally gathered light around her hands, following the girl’s lead.

“Fine, if things were different from the start, I would’ve prevented this situation. That’s why I have the ability to shape the flow of this world.”

With one resolve on her lips,

*

“…Was it all a dream?”

The school trip had ended.

The girl didn’t know if the events she had experienced were a strange dream or one of those typical video game or anime-style glimpses into a possible future.

After rising from the bed, she prepared to go to school as always.

[Bad Ending 0th – Laughing in the bl**d-red World.]

Or maybe the aftereffects of the last Bad Ending appeared in this form of a dream. Was Erica in this body the one who had experienced the Bad Ending in a parallel world, or was she merely a bystander?

If this was a true vision of the future, who among the presumed Iska and herself, drenched in the erosion of bl**d, had emerged victorious?

“Hmm? Wait, it wasn’t a dream?”

“You, please, my bed’s too narrow, go back to your room and sleep.”

“I don’t want to. It’s too cold sleeping alone.”

Although Erica, deep in thought about the dream as she moved toward the bathroom, felt annoyed by the girl who clung to her like a weight, she couldn’t shake her off.

Not because she didn’t try, but because she couldn’t. Kang Yu-ri was far stronger than her, and the weight was unevenly distributed.

Certainly, by using the Erosion of bl**d to strengthen her body after the Busan incident or employing her protection in a negative mental state, Erica could have easily shrugged off this degree of weight.

The problem was the penalty that followed.

The penalty, yes. Enhancing physical abilities by overworking the body with the Erosion of bl**d and temporarily empowering oneself through protection by reflecting on one’s situation, even when not in an emergency.

Even though Kang Yu-ri’s pranks were more akin to children’s teasing, Erica was still concerned about the repercussions of using the Erosion of bl**d. And while she could use the temporary method of protection to dispel the weight, it came at a cost of overwhelming depression afterward.

The subtle level of harassment was just enough to occasionally make Erica question her decisions—why had she let this parasite come into her home?

She knew that if not having an enemy as skilled as the Former Queen was advantageous, enduring minor harassment or even inviting her into her home was a small price to pay. After all, she couldn’t confine someone like that anyway.

Acknowledgement and acceptance, however, are different matters. While washing her hair, naturally joined by the Former Queen under the shower’s water, Erica continually reminded herself to have patience…