Chapter 216: The Revenger Turns Back
* * *
How delightful!
Ah, how delightful it is!
Today, a fragment of you.
Emi's soul.
Has achieved a new awakening.
There is nothing more joyous than this!
The black and beautiful radiance increases its intensity and captivates me even more.
It can be said that my past efforts, when I had lost most of my power and stubbornly survived in despair, are now being rewarded.
...That said.
I must brace myself again.
Carefully, very carefully, I expand my soul and fill in the parts that have been torn and holed by this awakening.
I will once again envelop Emi's soul with the membrane formed by my soul.
To block the presence originating from you that leaks out from her soul.
Emi is still like a newly born chick.
If the former you were a single universe, the current her is just a small grain of sand.
That's why we still need to keep her hidden.
Fortunately, this world is still young, and the foolish gods do not know about you.
Ufufu.
Let's raise her in this opportunity.
Greatly, greatly!
Eventually, to the point where she can reach even you!
Ufufu, fufufufu.
Was this a bit presumptuous of me?
Even so.
The power she gained at the end of the awakening is being influenced by the shape of that man's [Invisible Hand].
This is extremely, extremely irritating.
Envious.
However, that is the result of Emi's efforts bearing fruit.
No matter how envious I am, I have no choice but to accept it.
But.
At least the right to name it, please let me have that.
That is no longer something similar to [Invisible Hand], it's a different ability.
It may not even... be similar.
It's arms that are clearly visible to anyone, after all.
Therefore, that is [Black Arms].
Yeah, simple and easy to understand.
It's good.
After the battle, yes, I'll suggest that.
* * *
Eerie.
The first thing the golden bear felt upon seeing the black arms newly extending from the shoulders of the demon, its mortal enemy, was a feeling of disgust that made its soul tremble.
Next, awe.
It wanted to get away from that right now.
It wanted to run away.
It was caught by such emotions.
Ah, why didn't it finish her off earlier, it thought.
Yes, it regretted.
It was completely consumed by the deformed demon in front of it.
But then, the face of its mother crossed its mind.
Its mother who lovingly protected and raised it.
Its mother who strongly and bravely continued to protect it.
Its mother who wisely and with great insight taught and guided it.
Who killed such a respectable lord of the mountain who lived for a long time?
The demon in front of it!
It is the revenger.
It must kill that thing.
It will have its revenge!
The flames of vengeance burn again in the golden bear's eyes!
Bzzt, bzzt!
Its body is filled with fighting spirit, and white lightning begins to run across its surface!
"Ooh! GUOOOOOHHHH!!!"
And [White Lightning] is fired from the golden bear's mouth.
A spear of lightning that pierces and burns the enemy to death faster than anything!
The demon is weakened.
Moreover, this time's [White Lightning] was fired with extra power.
It has twice the power of before!
In other words, the demon will be burned to a crisp and die, helplessly!!
That should have been the case!
That should have been the case, but!
Bzzt!!
Making an intense sound, his [White Lightning] was blocked by the demon's [Black Arms] that moved silently!
It seems those arms have resistance to lightning.
"GUOOOOOHHHH!!!"
Then, the golden bear puts strength into its four legs and begins to run with tremendous momentum!
Where to?
At this point, it is not a coward who would run away.
Of course, standing at its destination is the black demon.
The demon is still in a state of near death.
Although it has both fists raised in front of it, its feet are unsteady and uncertain.
It's plain to see that it's on the verge of death!
If lightning no longer works, it will crush it with physical attacks!!
The golden bear rides the momentum, leaps up, and raises its right arm high in the air.
To crush the demon with its mighty arm imbued with the power of lightning!
But here, once again, its attack is thwarted.
The demon's [Black Arms] showed an unexpected behavior.
It had anticipated two possibilities for the future development.
One was the possibility that its attack would successfully crush the demon and achieve revenge.
And the other was the possibility that its attack would be blocked by the [Black Arms].
In the latter case, it intended to quickly regain its stance, move to the side of the demon, and attack again.
But what actually happened was neither of those.
So what happened?
...They extended.
The demon's [Black Arms]!
The demon's [Black Arms] had palms and parts that looked like elbows.
They were roughly modeled after the human body.
Therefore, the golden bear misjudged.
It mistakenly believed they would move in a way that mimics the human body.
But those [Black Arms] are formed by magic power!
They are an abnormal ability, and to those who are not very knowledgeable, they are magic... anyway, they are something manifested in this world by a strange power!
Even if they can stretch and contract freely, there should be nothing strange about it!
The golden bear didn't consider that possibility!
The demon's [Black Arms] stretched like rubber far beyond the range of motion that had been seen until then.
And they grabbed the golden bear's right arm, which had jumped up and been raised, with tremendous force!
"GUOOOOOHHHH!!?"
The golden bear screams in pain!
But this isn't the end!
Right now, what's crushing the golden bear's right arm is the demon's left arm.
There's no way that demon would leave its right arm idle!
The next moment, the black right arm, which had stretched like the left arm, punched the golden bear's completely exposed belly with tremendous force!
"GUOOAAHH!!?"
Rolling its eyes and spitting blood, the golden bear rotates once around its gripped right arm.
Crack crack crack!!
The bones in its arm break!!
But terrifyingly, the attack still isn't over.
The [Black Arms] gripping the golden bear's right arm slams it into the ground as is!
BADOOOOOM!!!
A resounding roar!
Dust rises!
"Gu... oh..."
The golden bear lies on its back, looking up at the sky.
Its consciousness is hazy, and it can no longer move properly.
When the dust blown by the wind is carried away somewhere.
What flew into its field of vision.
Was a chop by the [Black Arms] swung down from the sky, aiming at its neck.
* * *
Thus, the golden bear's head was chopped off.
However, its tremendous vitality and vast magic power kept it alive even in a state of just a head.
That said, there was nothing it could do.
It could no longer even generate lightning.
It just blankly stared at its severed body.
Ah, ah, ah.
How unreasonable this world is.
It lamented.
Its revered mother was slain, and its own revenge was thwarted just short of success.
Why did it have to suffer such a fate?
What did it, what did its mother, ever do?
No matter how much it regretted, it couldn't regret enough.
That demon was hateful.
Resentful.
While it had become a living head and was spending the rest of its life lamenting resentment and bitterness, the demon's [Black Arms] stretched towards its body and gripped it.
What did it intend to do?
As the golden bear watched, the [Black Arms] gradually, gradually became shorter.
And dragged by the shortening arms, the demon approached its body.
The demon retracted the [Black Arms] into its body and made them disappear, then crawled up to the cut surface of the golden bear's severed head, and there... it began to devour its flesh and blood.
Its flesh was taken into the demon's belly in the blink of an eye.
Even though it was clearly eating more flesh and blood than the demon's body could hold, strangely, her belly didn't swell.
Its own body was getting smaller and smaller.
Seeing this, the golden bear.
Felt like it had suddenly clicked.
Ah, so that's it.
The weak are eaten, and the strong survive.
Its death was, in other words, just that.
It was frustrating.
It was frustrating, but it could accept it.
That was a small salvation for it.
And then, just a little while later.
It passed away.
Emi is a fragment.
And "you."
They are mysterious words also mentioned in Arc 3.
You don't need to pay attention to them.
TL Note: I am also puzzled as to what "you" is here. Original Japanese is あなた様. Arc 3 is where Emi trains with her master and the author appears to be referring to the beginning of Chapter 38 where Extra-sama is marveling at Emi's ability to learn a new ability so fast. あなた様 is used in the line "Your soul" in that segment, which may mean Extra-sama is not talking about Emi specifically. Either way we'll find out in the future probably.