It did not take long. Under Roswaal's overwhelming magical bombardment, Meili was neutralized and brought back to the manor. While her ability to command Mabeasts was specialized, her direct combat capacity was negligible. Against the Kingdom's Chief Mage, whose area-of-effect spells perfectly countered her swarms, she was powerless.
"You! You're the one who killed Rem!" The grief and fury within Ram erupted the moment she saw the child. She lunged forward, intent on tearing Meili apart.
Ayanokoji's hand shot out, clamping around Ram's wrist like an iron shackle. "Apologies, Ram. You cannot kill her yet."
Ram thrashed, but the boy's grip was absolute—a surprising display of raw strength from someone who appeared so physically unassuming.
"We need the intelligence she carries," Ayanokoji stated, his voice flat and devoid of command, as if stating a simple law of physics. "If she dies now, we lose the chance to know if there are other threats waiting in the shadows."
Roswaal joined them, his tone sing-song but firm. "Lord Ayanokoji is correct, Ram."
The fury in Ram's eyes dissolved into a torrent of tears. The weight of her sister's death and the frustration of being denied her revenge merged into a hollow, jagged sorrow. Ayanokoji released her, patting her shoulder with mechanical precision.
"Rest easy. I will give you the opportunity for vengeance soon enough."
The Calculus of Loyalty
Ayanokoji had weighed the variables. Keeping Meili alive might have allowed him to sway Elsa into his camp, but it would have permanently alienated Ram. Between a Tier-1 assassin who was difficult to control and a loyal maid with Clairvoyance and high standing in the Emilia camp, the choice was structural. Ram's utility was higher.
He turned to the trembling Meili. To her, Elsa was the only anchor in a world of blades. Using that attachment, Ayanokoji dismantled her defenses. He promised her a meeting with her "sister" in exchange for the truth.
The child spilled everything. He learned the Assassination Guild's protocol: if all members of a specific mission fail, the contract is considered scrubbed. Elsa and Meili were the only ones assigned.
"I've told you everything! Can I see Elsa now?" Meili asked, her eyes filled with a naive, desperate hope.
Ayanokoji narrowed his eyes. By revealing her secrets to see her sister, the child had discarded her only leverage. To Ayanokoji, emotion was the ultimate poison to decision-making. He had no intention of letting them meet; the risk of a secret code or a joint escape was too high.
"Yes," he said tonelessly, stepping aside. "It's your turn."
Ram stepped into the room, her eyes burning with an unholy fire. The door closed, followed by the screaming howl of wind magic.
The Final Incineration
Ayanokoji did not stay to watch the revenge. He walked to the cellar to deal with the primary threat: Elsa.
He had realized that as long as Elsa lived, she was a ticking bomb. Even a 1% chance of escape was an unacceptable variable. She had become a roadblock, and roadblocks must be cleared.
He entered the damp cellar. Elsa looked up, her smile unchanged. "Was that your partner making all that noise?" Ayanokoji asked flatly.
"Is that so?" Elsa tilted her head, her smile masking a flicker of doubt.
"She's dead," Ayanokoji said, producing a scrap of Meili's cloak from his pocket. The sight caused Elsa's smile to twitch—a confirmation of her bond with the child.
"What a foolish child," Elsa whispered, her voice laced with a strange, tragic warmth. "So, why are you here?"
"To remove a threat."
Elsa didn't scream. She didn't beg. She looked at him with an expression that bordered on adoration. "How wonderful."
Hours later, Ayanokoji stood in the center of the cellar, the light of a massive blaze reflecting in his amber eyes. Elsa's form had been swallowed by fire. Physical trauma was insufficient for her regeneration, but total molecular destruction was a different matter.
"Ram," Ayanokoji commanded once the inferno had peaked. The maid, her eyes red from her own dark work, unleashed a gale that extinguished the flames. Where Elsa had been, only a pile of black ash remained.
Ayanokoji waited twenty minutes. The ash did not stir.
'Fire is the solution for regenerative assets,' he noted internally, before turning to leave.
The Reality Check: ANHS
"What a terrifying person..." Honami Ichinose whispered in the coffee shop, her eyes fixed on the screen.
This was the first time they had seen Ayanokoji kill. The lack of hesitation, the clinical nature of the incineration, and the cold way he used Meili to break Elsa—it was a psychological horror.
She looked at the boy sitting a few feet away, who was calmly sipping his coffee as if he hadn't just watched himself burn a woman alive. The Ayanokoji in the seat and the Ayanokoji in the ash were indistinguishable in their silence.