Boredom. Irritation.
The emotions Shiki Ryougi felt were mostly of that negative variety, but if there was one that truly resonated within her, it was a hollow sense of emptiness and self-loathing.
The one who was practically her other half, 'SHIKI,' had committed suicide. Her memories were like a sponge, riddled with holes, leaving her with nothing concrete to grasp.
The young man named Mikiya Kokutou, who visited every day to change the flowers; the strange woman named Touko Aozaki, who dropped by occasionally to bother her; and her assistant, a self-proclaimed magus—she remembered none of them.
"How tedious."
Fingering the bandages bound tightly around her eyes, she suddenly caught the sound of thick soles scuffing against the floor.
The rhythm of the footsteps indicated three individuals, and they were distinctly different from the soft shuffle of slippers worn by the doctors and patients she usually heard. At least three, perhaps five people were approaching her hospital room.
'Doctors don't wear shoes like that. Touko Aozaki? No, she wears high heels. Then who?'
But her body reacted instinctively, even before her thoughts could reach a conclusion.
She snatched up the fruit knife that the magus's assistant had left behind after peeling fruit earlier. Huddling low on the hospital bed, she assumed a stance to counter an ambush from any direction.
At 그 moment, with a thunderous crash, the window shattered, and something resembling a bizarrely shaped stray dog leaped inside.
Tearing away the bandages covering her eyes, she gazed at the dog's 'lines' and reduced it to pieces. Teeth that looked capable of crushing metal were sliced as easily as tofu by the dull fruit knife; claws that aimed to rend her flesh were torn apart into a mist of blood.
However, there was no time to indulge in the brief victory.
Followed by the dog, grotesque forms of chameleons, birds, and bats flew into the room one after another. She hacked at them with her knife before hurling herself out the window.
After catching herself on several branches, she landed in the flowerbed below. Wielding her knife, she used her left arm to support her creaking, weakened right arm, then drove the blade into the monsters that were scaling the walls.
"...Just like that woman said, it seems these eyes really can see death. But what are these things? Don't tell me this is the 'Magecraft' she was talking about?"
"Why do you seek to know? Knowing would be meaningless for you."
In that instant, an unseen force slammed into her. As she turned her head toward the voice, her body was sent flying through the air.
Forcing her muscles—withered by years of bedrest—to move, she stood up. Six figures had appeared out of nowhere, surrounding her in a circle.
"You... no, what are you?"
"Why do you question us?"
"...What?"
"You wished for death. You held no hope for life, a foolish creature merely yearning for its end. You are a nuisance to us. Therefore, die. Your existence has no value."
The man leading the group suddenly spread his palm, pulling Shiki toward him with an invisible, irresistible force.
As she kicked off the ground to use the momentum to charge, two figures on her left and right reached out for her. The figure on the right transformed his hand into a cluster of blades, while the one on the left reached out with a bare, empty hand.
She sliced through the blade-hand, only to hear the rattling of iron chains. A kusarigama began to spin, whistling through the air toward her legs.
Shiki twisted her body, narrowly avoiding a direct hit, but she couldn't stop the tip of the sickle from grazing her thigh. As she felt a stinging pain like a burn, dozens of arrows suddenly rained down from all directions, encircling her.
Ripping the arrows from her hand and shoulder, she found herself surrounded by a giant chameleon and stray dogs alongside the puppets. The puppet who had wielded the blades and chains had transformed both hands into crossbows, aiming directly at her.
"Ugh..."
"How does it feel? Can you feel the pain? Since it allows you to feel alive, I shall offer you my sincere congratulations. Though, of course, it is an emotion you will no longer feel in a few minutes."
"Ha... You... I'll kill you...!"
"Tough talk for a fake who is neither dead nor alive."
"Ultimately, just a puppet. The death of your other half was nothing but a dog's death as well."
Hearing their exchange, her eyes widened in fury as she screamed.
"You! Do you know who I am?!"
"It is pointless. You are going to die anyway... No, wait. Since it has come to this, perhaps we can enjoy a little show."
One of the figures at the edge stepped forward, chanting an incantation and summoning a giant maw.
The maw, looking like a hideous depiction of the King of Hell, vomited out a hemp sack. Inside was...
"You! How dare you!!!"
"Heh heh heh... Hahaha! Do you see now? Your life is meaningless anyway. You have no value! Just die in vain, leaving nothing behind. Perish worthlessly, Shiki Ryougi!"
He, they—everything surrounding her—burst into a cacophony of mad laughter.
They laughed like lunatics, as if the scene before them was the height of comedy, as if the despair of the woman before them was the ultimate entertainment.
Shiki gripped her fruit knife in a reverse hold and shouted, as if whispering to her own soul.
"I'll kill you... You... all of you. No matter what, I will kill you!!!"
* * * * *
The battle was overwhelming.
It was only natural.
There was no way a rehabilitation patient with a single knife—even one possessing the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception—could match a 'Puppetmaster' who had survived countless battles, training, and even stood against an Evil of Humanity.
She knew it too. Even if she managed to cut down the one provoking her, the one who claimed to have killed Mikiya, she would likely be stabbed in the back and killed by the other five.
'But I'll still fight. I'll kill that bastard...'
"What are you doing? Your movements have slowed. Have you decided you want to die again after all this time!"
Clicking her tongue, she emptied her mind.
First, she sliced through the jagged saw blade coming at her eyes. Then, she used a sharp stone fragment that happened to find its way into her hand to swat away the crossbow bolts flying from behind.
"Bansho Ten'in!"
She began to perceive the invisible force that kept pulling her. Its 'lines' were faint and blurry, making it difficult to target, but if she didn't ignore it and strike, the chains and blades of the puppet who transformed his body would pierce her through.
Dodging and weaving to counter the attacks, a stray dog lunged from her blind spot and bit into her thigh. As she drove her knife into the dog's crown, an arrow pierced her shoulder. In an instant, a puppet approached, transformed its body into a blade, and ran it through her thigh, while a chain coiled around her other leg, pinning her in place.
"What a pathetic sight. Your arm is shattered, and you can't even walk. Why do you resist to this extent? Didn't you say you wanted to die? The Puppetmaster must have told you—your other half is dead. And the one who came to visit you is dead too. So why do you fight me so miserably?"
"...Shut up. You think I need a reason? I'm going to kill you. For that person who died because of me... and for Mikiya...!"
In 그 moment, as she felt a hand rest upon the back of her head, Shiki Ryougi's vision faded into darkness.
"Wow, she really is insane."
Even though I hadn't used the highly lethal abilities like the Asura Path's flaming warhead arrows or the Deva Path's high-output attacks, she had held out for thirty minutes while being ganked by the Animal Path, Asura Path, and Deva Path. A mere human who was supposed to be a patient!
"This is why the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception are such a cheat... To think I have to recruit someone like this. It gives me the chills."
"Can I seriously just hit you once?"
Touko Aozaki lamented the absurdity of the world once again today.
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