The existence of the Danger Beasts lent this world an unusual color.
So, although the setting was close to a medieval style, the thugs Zeroy had just met were all wearing suits.
Still, despite the distinctiveness, Zeroy did not recognize this world.
Unlike Black Bullet and Highschool of the Dead, she didn't seem to have encountered works about this world in her past life.
Anyhow, that didn't matter—kill them all the same.
As long as she killed, that was enough.
"As for that—what is it?"
"People?"
"Girls?"
At that moment, in the alleyways and boulevards of the Imperial Capital, people looked up in puzzlement and curiosity at the golden-haired figure standing above the city.
Then they noticed an immense magic circle enveloping the entire capital.
In the next second, everyone was teleported.
Most were sent to the East City; a smaller portion to the West City.
Then a giant moving projection unfolded in the sky, showing the terrified people in East City—no, the pests.
They were the protagonists for what came next.
This world differed from the previous two. The other worlds were special environments—one already apocalyptic, the other near‑apocalypse.
This world was not special; it was simply a normal, ordinary medieval world.
In such a normal environment, the innocent victims were by far the majority; the pests—the perpetrators—were a small minority, those who held power, strength, and wealth.
So in principle, the pests to be cleansed should have been the minority.
But this was the Imperial Capital, the empire's most prosperous city and center of power.
Every year, many common folk came here, but it was mostly populated by the powerful.
And living here, holding onto goodness without committing evil, was difficult.
That was why pests outnumbered ordinary people here.
"Sigh... humanity has become filthy again."
At that moment, the figure in the sky shifted.
Storm clouds gathered, and a man wrapped in lightning and clad in armor charged the figure.
"Attacker! How dare you violate the dignity of the Empire!"
"..."
Zeroy drew her Striker Blade and casually cut down the man's furious strike.
Her brow creased—Evil Slayer and Hellfire's verdict on him was complicated.
He carried a lot of white mist and some black mist, woven into a pale gray haze.
That meant he had done a fair number of good deeds; he was likely someone to be disciplined rather than exterminated.
As for why he attacked her—Zeroy had already guessed, and even suspected his identity.
In her perception, he was the strongest individual in the capital.
This must be the empire's greatest general—General Budo.
So it was natural he would attack her.
"Explanations are tedious. Just watch what I'm about to do."
Zeroy said as she mentally contacted Patchouli and laid a binding on him.
He fought for the Empire, and Zeroy intended to root out its pests; nearly ninety‑five percent of officials and nobles would die.
With so many deaths looming, she could not convince him to lower his weapon with mere words like "I'm killing pests" or "They are beyond redemption."
Often, without laying out the facts plainly, people would not accept the truth.
Zeroy then categorized the pests gathered in East City.
She separated commoners from nobles.
Then the slaughter began—
Under the dimming dusk sky, Zeroy blurred into a silver streak and plunged into the crowd.
Her movements exceeded what the eye could track; the Striker Blade flashed countless cold arcs. The air tore with sharp detonations.
She raced through the crowd with wind‑raising speed, her figure a series of afterimages. Blade lights rained like a storm; cutting sounds overlapped endlessly.
—Dashing Iai!
Where she passed, the crowd instantly collapsed.
Flesh and blood were shredded into countless fragments and devoured by crimson Hellfire before hitting the ground.
These flames were no ordinary fire—even in the instant of death, Hellfire itself burrowed into souls and delivered tearing torment.
Physical death did not instantly free the soul; as long as the blade was quick and the method targeted souls, the dead could still be burned as if they never realized.
Severed limbs and torn meat burned; screams, wails, blood and char filled the capital.
The projection magic in the sky showed the massacre in full to every citizen—blood gushing like a burst dam, burning limbs scattered across the streets, and in the flames silhouettes of twisted, suffering souls.
Commoners clutched their mouths and collapsed.
Soldiers dropped their weapons, eyes wide with terror.
Even battle‑hardened General Budo stood frozen, pupils constricted by shock.
The empire's pillar of strength twitched uncontrollably; lightning danced over his armor, his hands trembled not from fear but with pure fury.
His fists clenched until his knuckles whitened.
"What... is this..."
Budo's voice was low and trembling.
A volcano of wrath erupted inside him.
The empire he had protected, its people, were being slaughtered before him.
A beastly roar tore from his throat; electric light flared across his body and the thunderclouds boomed.
However, Patchouli's binding held him.
Had Zeroy bound him, he might have a chance to break free—she was not a master of binding magic.
Regardless, against Patchouli's spell, no amount of fury mattered.
He could only watch the empire's people be mercilessly butchered and sliced into ugly fragments.
The slaughter was swift; in the blink of an eye most pests lay dead beneath Zeroy's blade.
Next came the other group she had singled out before acting.
Those she killed first were the ordinary people—the pests who had assimilated into the capital and whose natures had been twisted to harm the innocent.
What remained were the nobles, including the young emperor and Minister Ernest.
She put them aside, not out of mercy, not because of noble status, nor due to some fear that killing them would destabilize the empire.
Only because they must die in a manner more miserable and agonizing.
...
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