The Sword of Erasure's will held a thousand grievances, yet before that girl whose smile was like a devil's, it could only swallow them down.
Bowing to the inevitable, it trembled its blade in answer, agreeing that the girl was right.
Those wildly sprawling thorns of Tyranny had left the Sword of Erasure with a shadow it could never erase.
But... afterward, the Sword of Erasure still found itself, at times, missing those thorns.
After all, that joy so fierce it felt like her very consciousness might evaporate was something she never seemed able to find again.
It was just... just... if it were possible. She still wished Su Yuzu could be a little bit gentler.
Up on the sea's surface, after clearing away the first mermaid, Su Yuzu turned her gaze to the ones that remained.
Was this proof that the Sword of Erasure truly deserved its name as the foremost "evil relic"?
With the Sword of Erasure in hand, even a child could deal lethal wounds to a high-ranking "Beast."
And most crucial of all—
Su Yuzu could sense that a "Beast" cut down by the Sword of Erasure did not, in death, dissolve into a sky full of Catastrophe aura and return to the Abyss.
On the contrary—
It seemed to vanish utterly.
Becoming fuel to drive the Sword of Erasure.
Su Yuzu grasped, with keen instinct, where the Sword of Erasure's true power lay.
So this was the "evil relic" left behind after a rule-type ability user became a "Throne"?
If a mere "evil relic" was already this formidable, then... the Master of the Sword of Erasure at the height of her prime.
That swordswoman who had swept away an entire era—just how powerful must she have been?
The mermaids watched Su Yuzu nervously.
Ever since Su Yuzu erased their leader, the mermaids had, in truth, wanted to turn and retreat.
They were not stupid.
They had already realized this ship was no succulent slab of meat—on the contrary, this ship was a trap, the Bait dangling from a fisher's hook.
And they... were already tangled inside someone else's net.
Yet, of all things, they could not flee.
The armor upon their bodies granted them shelter, sparing them from being "Dominated" by that mental power so far beyond their own.
But it also imprisoned and shackled them, forcing them to serve like guards of the Royal Court—to offer up one last handful of blood for their king's will.
They could only clench their weapons tight, eyeing Su Yuzu with wariness, watching the girl aboard that ship—one who resembled the girl before them, only far slighter in frame.
That girl was practically a monster!
How could any human will overcome Catastrophe, could Dominate Catastrophe!?
These two girls... were both dangerous.
And in that instant, the weapons in their hands dissolved away.
As if sensing something, the mermaids all twisted round and dove into the seawater at once.
Beyond slashing at the sea a few times, there seemed little Su Yuzu could do.
The "Immaculate Pure Land" had granted her the power to stride across the waves as if walking level ground, yet it could not let Su Yuzu move freely beneath the water.
In the sea... it was still the mermaids' territory.
And most important of all—Su Yuzu looked at the Catastrophe Domain crumbling apart around her at last.
Within that domain, Su Yuzu seemed to catch a rather familiar scent.
Su Yuzu stepped across the silver ripples, returned to the fishing boat, found a corner, and stuffed the Sword of Erasure back to Sister Mai.
Sakura Mai, who had only just caught her breath, looked ready to fall apart all over again.
She braced herself against the wall and inched her feet along.
Su Yuzu hurried to Soga Yura's side. "Sister?"
Tsukiyomi Fuya was tending to Soga Yura, the woman's expression grave.
Ms. Unohana Chiyo wore the same look—both of their faces were grave.
"That Catastrophe Domain just now..." Su Yuzu helped Soga Yura up, holding her and letting her rest against her chest.
Soga Yura's small hand gripped Su Yuzu's clothes tightly, the color of her lips looking somewhat pale.
"That was not something that band of mermaids could ever have unfolded." Tsukiyomi Fuya gazed out at the pitch-black sea in the distance.
"And..." she hesitated, "the feel of that Catastrophe Domain—it strikes me as somehow familiar."
"Almost like... Iruka?" Tsukiyomi Fuya turned her gaze to Unohana Chiyo, as if hoping to draw a confirmation from her.
The little rabbit blinked, watching the interaction between Teacher Tsukiyomi Fuya and Ms. Unohana Chiyo.
Teacher Tsukiyomi Fuya, of the Fifth Sequence... was actually seeking confirmation from Ms. Unohana Chiyo?
Ms. Unohana Chiyo was only of the Second Sequence.
No wonder her family always warned her: at school, never make Director Saionji angry, never anger the researchers of the Technology Division, and never anger Ms. Unohana Chiyo.
Unohana Chiyo shook her head. "It's not Kujou Iruka."
"The Catastrophe Domain just now was a touch heavier than the one Kujou Iruka unfolds."
"And not as... flashy as Kujou Iruka's, either."
Unohana Chiyo recalled that Catastrophe Domain, as though it had been heaped together from black feathers falling like snow.
"And besides..."
"Kujou Iruka's Catastrophe Domain—from the moment she first unfolded it, there has never been any record of her closing it."
"If it were her, the Catastrophe just now would have moved here, not been unfolded anew."
Tsukiyomi Fuya nodded.
For all her formidable power, Tsukiyomi Fuya felt she was really more of an ordinary "celestial researcher."
When it came to combat, a professional like Unohana Chiyo was the more reliable one.
"Still..." Unohana Chiyo hesitated, "one thing is certain—the Catastrophe Domain just now shares some trait in common with Kujou Iruka's domain."
She extended her hand, her faintly oddly-colored eyes fixed on those newly reborn hands.
"I can feel it..."
"Unlike the Catastrophe Domains unfolded by ordinary Aberrants or by 'Beasts.'"
"That which dwells within it—"
"an oppression and weight so heavy it feels as if even the blood would congeal."
Su Yuzu blinked.
She gazed out at the pitch-black sea, as if trying to glimpse the abyssal deep that should not exist below the seabed.
Su Yuzu had already realized... who the master of that Catastrophe Domain was, and why it was unlike all the rest.
"That is a domain unfolded by a 'Throne.'"
"To be precise, it is her world."
Su Yuzu possessed a world of the very same kind.
Concealing none of this crucial information, Su Yuzu looked toward the sea.
It was as if she met someone's eyes.
On the pitch-black, fathomless seabed, a figure stood alone within an iron Throne, its dark-gold vertical pupils lifting to meet her gaze.
"—the Seat of Evil."
"What!?" Both Tsukiyomi Fuya and Unohana Chiyo froze stiff.
And at that very moment, Akiyama Yo, who had been steering the fishing boat, came stumbling out.
The instant the Catastrophe Domain dispersed, she had also restored contact with the survey ship.
"This is bad—"
"The survey ship over there... it's been attacked by mermaids."
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