[Erasure!!!]
[Extirpation!!!]
"Tyranny!!!"
The roaring Sword of Erasure timidly glanced back at the girl who wielded it.
She was truly afraid.
The kind of fear that made even her toes and her tailbone go weak.
In terms of era... she was Yuzu's senior.
She was a relic left behind by a rule-type ability user from several eras ago.
When she sensed she was about to become corrupted, the girl of Erasure sealed away both herself and the Abyss, burying herself beneath the ancient cherry tree.
Yet she never imagined... that she would leave behind an "evil relic" as the crystallization of her will.
The "evil relic" inherited the evil side of the girl's will, greedily drawing upon the physical strength and lifespan of generation after generation of the Sakura family's swordbearers to grow ever stronger.
Yet she never expected... to capsize on such an adorable little thing.
Those tyrannical thorns left an indelible brand upon her.
Like a rising sun, or perhaps... a fragrant citron sliced open crosswise.
Or, by another name——
[Yuzu].
So it was that, in the very instant of its roar, the Sword of Erasure suddenly remembered to timidly glance back. Only after receiving the girl's permission did it blaze up in raging flames, its sword-light devouring toward the mermaid.
Erasure! Extirpation! Tyranny!
There was no such logic as "redemption makes you three points weaker" at all; even after devouring its evil power, the Sword of Erasure's might did not diminish. It was just that... Sakura Mai, leaning against the cabin as she watched Sister Yuzu and her own family's Sword of Erasure, somehow felt that the blade's momentum seemed brimming with shame and indignation.
Exactly like herself at this moment.
The Sword of Erasure was drawn from a most peculiar position.
The hilt sat practically at a girl's greatest weak point.
Drawing the sword herself was already shameful enough... yet each and every time it was Sister Yuzu who drew it with her own hands. Sakura Mai only felt her whole body trembling, her tailbone shuddering as though electrified.
The leading mermaid was still struggling with all her might to resist Soga Yura's "Domination."
The gap between the Fourth Sequence and anything below the Fourth Sequence was immense.
All the more so with one like Soga Yura, who within the same tier was practically a resplendent, godlike existence.
"Aaaaaa——" The mermaid roared in Su Yuzu's direction.
In the pitch-black, fathomless seabed, a figure stood wavering amid a canopy of steel; Dark golden vertical pupils lifted coldly, gazing upward.
"Aaaaaa!!!" Su Yuzu suddenly sensed something amiss.
The Catastrophe Domain that Soga Yura had wiped away with "Domination" suddenly spread anew in a pattern like growing metallic crystals, dyeing the night an even deeper, gloomier shade.
"Sister Yura!!!" The little rabbit's panicked voice suddenly came from behind.
Even though she knew that in battle one must absolutely—absolutely—never take one's eyes off the enemy, upon hearing something concerning Soga Yura, Su Yuzu still instinctively turned her head to look toward Soga Yura's direction.
Soga Yura had stumbled and was kneeling on the deck, and Senior Tsukiyomi Fuya already stood beside her with a grave expression.
And it was just then... that Su Yuzu suddenly caught a whiff of an alluring fragrance on the wind.
It smelled like some spice drawn from the sea.
The intestinal secretions of a sperm whale—ambergris, or something of the sort.
Yet within this fragrant breeze, Su Yuzu could faintly detect a hint of the effect of some secret medicine—something along the lines of 'computer components, a girl drawn together by the red thread of Fate, a gift for her sister.'
Su Yuzu didn't even turn around; she swept her sword across in a horizontal slash, cutting straight back.
Clang——
A crisp clash of metal upon metal.
The mermaid, who had originally been stark naked, had at some unknown point suddenly donned a suit of pitch-black armor—though the armor covered very little.
Between the scant plates of armor, fair white skin was faintly revealed, and those half-hidden, half-seen glimpses were all the more enticing.
It was probably that so-called principle: if you're already naked, but you'd like to expose just a little bit more, then you might as well put on some socks.
In the mermaid leader's hands were two serpentine longswords, dual-wielded.
The mermaid, infinitely close to the Fourth Sequence, could nonetheless barely fend off the sword of the Second Sequence Su Yuzu.
Apart from the mermaid herself excelling at mental attacks, this also had to do with the two radiant Holy Relics upon the girl's body.
"Immaculate Pure Land" granted the girl the ability to walk upon the sea's surface as if on solid ground, while the "Sword of Erasure"... was a top-tier "evil relic" whose might could rank alongside the "Godmother's Laurel."
Su Yuzu needed to deal with this school of mermaids as quickly as possible.
Sister's "Domination" had, for some unknown reason, suddenly lost its effect.
Su Yuzu guessed it might be connected to the armor that had suddenly appeared on these mermaids.
Behind this school of mermaids, there had to be some even more dangerous existence—otherwise it wouldn't have made Senior Tsukiyomi Fuya so tense.
Brandishing the Sword of Erasure, she swiftly charged at the mermaid.
Not the slightest mind for playing around, not the slightest hint of mercy.
The originally blazing flames, once the girl grew serious, suddenly withdrew their brightness, transforming into a terrifying form that would devour even light itself.
In this world, the gap between Espers, Aberrants, and Catastrophe Beasts of differing tiers was vast.
A high-tier "Beast" could crush an ordinary Esper to death with a single glance.
But... they weren't quite as invincible as one might imagine.
Take the Leviathan and the mermaid, both likewise infinitely close to the Fourth Sequence: the Leviathan, with its incomparably massive frame, gave Su Yuzu far, far more trouble.
Whether in attack power or defense, it was nothing a mermaid—or even an armored mermaid—could ever compare to.
Su Yuzu swiftly broke through the serpent swords.
The Sword of Erasure struck the mermaid almost cruelly.
The mermaids had cast aside their agility advantage in the sea; choosing to tread the waves and confront Su Yuzu head-on was their greatest blunder.
The Sword of Erasure left no blood-drenched wound on the mermaid; on the contrary... that chunk of flesh and rib seemed simply rubbed out, as if by an eraser.
And then——
The surging sword-light devoured the mermaid utterly.
[Ding——]
[Congratulations, you have unlocked a new rule.]
[Congratulations, you have attained a new achievement: Collector.]
Su Yuzu seemed to see a jigsaw puzzle, and at this moment... the puzzle was already nearly half complete.
Twist, Word of Command, Erasure... and what was the last one?
Side of the Abyss———
A lively, thrashing mermaid stared blankly at the terrifying Abyss behind her, at the vast expanse of scorched earth all around.
Why... why had she not returned to the Abyss?
The girl who stood propped on her sword at the Side of the Abyss gazed at that mermaid with grief and fury in her Dark golden vertical pupils, and as if to vent her frustration, she kicked the mermaid viciously several times before finally booting her into the Abyss.
And then... she lowered her head to look at her own lower belly.
Orange-red lines traced out a shape like a newborn sun, or like... a fragrant citron sliced open crosswise.
The girl's voice echoed by her ear.
"See? Isn't that so?"
"Devouring Sister Mai's power is so dull."
"Isn't this just as filling?"
The Dark golden vertical pupils quivered with rage; the girl's mouth opened and opened again, and finally, trembling... as if about to burst into tears, "...Yes."
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