My Vampire Older Sister and Zombie Little Sister Volume 2 Chapter 4

It was beginning.

This 2nd round would pit two Archenemies against each other and throw two girls, who cried and laughed just like the rest of us, into a sea of blood just because they "weren't human".

"Ghhh…!"

I clenched my teeth and dragged my body along which felt so heavy it was like carrying a soaking wet blanket on my back. I propped myself up on the building walls and somehow managed to walk through the nighttime city. I left the collapsible bicycle back at the city library because I doubted I could pedal hard enough to pick up any speed.

…I was an idiot.

Itou Helen was probably experiencing a similar exhaustion. And it would have grown in her each time I spoke to her and gave her inspiration from the Leanan Sídhe's second. And she would actually be betting her life tonight.

I felt like I would pa.s.s out just watching from a seat on the sidelines, but she would have to challenge the Colosseum where even an instantaneous mistake could be fatal.

What was I doing?

Far from supporting her, I had actually tripped her up and stabbed her in the back.

"…Pant, pant!"

"Warning: your health check values have pa.s.sed the acceptable limits. User, I strongly recommend you visit a medical inst.i.tution immediately."

"I don't…have time for that…"

I was only the second, so the Colosseum would begin whether I was there or not. The Bright Cross was trying to reduce the number of Archenemies by having them cannibalize each other. As long as Itou Helen and Hanesaki Minori fought, they wouldn't care about anything else.

I had no idea what I could do after s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up so badly.

But I couldn't leave Itou Helen all alone. I couldn't let it end with me causing her trouble.

I needed a chance to make up for it.

And if that meant wearing away at my life, so be it.

So.

I finally arrived in front of the building containing the special stage. It was not Kukyou 1st Broadcasting. The Bright Cross changed their base for each battle to avoid interference.

I was in the central financial sector of the business district which was full of bright lights at night. An ultra-high rise resort hotel stood 50-stories tall in the nicest area. It was the largest lodging facility in the area and it was meant to capitalize on the sightseeing potential of the scenic ocean and mountains surrounding the city.

It was named the Kukyou Vacation Gate Hotel.

The roundabout out front was illuminated by soft lights and it was full of taxis, hired vehicles, and even long, white limousines.

Now that the Bright Cross had lost their underground base, I had wondered how they had attacked the Archenemies, how and to where they had transported them, and how they kept them confined.

"There are a number of ways."

Back when I was still being led around by the Leanan Sídhe's second disguised as Kuroyama Hinoki, I had asked my sisters about it.

"Even without the underground tunnels, they can create a system that keeps anyone from 'seeing' or 'witnessing' them even as they abduct people in broad daylight. For example, Satori-kun, what about a large tour bus?"

"A bus? Sure, they're big, but would covering the windows with curtains really be enough? I mean, they're abducting people."

"No, Onii-chan. The entire bottom half of a tour bus is luggage s.p.a.ce. That lets them drive around the roads with the Archenemies still in large metal cages. And if they cram a bunch of their soldiers into the top half while disguised as tourists, they can kill 2 birds with 1 stone."

"Although given an Archenemy's strength, they can't just throw them down there and forget about them. But if they stuff the target in a duralumin suitcase, freeze the inside with liquid nitrogen, and line the tour bus's cargo s.p.a.ce with thermoses kept at -195 degrees, don't you think they could safely transport them without any resistance?"

It was not that those girls had devilish minds. Erika and Ayumi knew this because they had been on the receiving end of it.

"If they're using tour buses, they'll have set up their base terminal somewhere where frequent bus visits won't seem suspicious. That means a tourist spot like a temple or shrine. Or they could go the other way and choose a large hotel."

"Hotels are general corporations, but they have strong ties to the executive and justice systems. They always have a hotline to the police to see if any escaped criminals are checking in using a fake name or if sketchy deals are being made in camera-less guest rooms. And if politicians often throw parties there with public funds, they'll have a connection as well. …And that makes a hotel the perfect place for someone like the Bright Cross to be working behind the scenes."

"And the top floors can also be used to confine any Archenemies that can't fly. Just like a princess in a tower."

That was this luxury hotel.

It was an unbelievably fancy and glitzy execution prison.

As I looked up at the building, a large bus full of tourists pa.s.sed by. It was sucked into the roundabout and spat out a great variety of exhausted people. A bus tour guide holding a tiny flag cheerfully took role.

The hotel's doormen loaded the suitcases onto hand-pushed wagons.

And those heavy-looking suitcases seemed big enough to hold a human if they were curled up.

Were there people in there or not?

I slowly sighed, focused on recovering my strength as much as possible, and spoke.

"Let's get to the battlefield. Maxwell, support me."

"Sure."

I stayed focused to ensure my wavering vision did not entirely cut out and somehow managed to step onto the front roundabout. The doormen smiled, placed a hand on the gla.s.s automatic door to open it, and welcomed me in.

"Welcome. Will you be checking in?"

"…No, I'm here for the event."

I was soaked with a cold sweat.

Their smiles remained.

Inside, I found a s.p.a.cious front lobby and a coffee lounge filled with calming music and indirect lighting.

As I looked around, a call reached my smartphone.

"Hi, hiii! It's Karen-chan. Please head to the staff-only door to the left instead of the general elevator. There's a VIP elevator there in addition to the staff elevator."

Was she watching me from somewhere?

No, did the Bright Cross have full authority over the hotel, including its security cameras? Instead of replacing a hotel room's door with a solid steel one, it was more like they were letting the Archenemies stay in an empty room at a prison.

I spoke quietly while obeying the instructions for the time being.

"Maxwell."

"Sure. Gathering and a.n.a.lyzing information concerning Kukyou 1st Broadcasting and this hotel. Checking for sources of funding and visitors in common between the two facilities. If this goes well, I can determine what groups and people are working behind the scenes."

"Take care of it."

There was no guarantee we could catch them that easily, but we had to try every option available.

I stepped through the staff-only door.

Very unlike the lobby, I found a cold hallway with white walls lit by pale mercury lamps. After walking a bit, I found the elevator in question.

A worker in a black suit smiled and spoke to me.

However, his smile had an invisible pressure behind it.

"Do you need something, sir?"

My cellphone provided the answer.

The blue bunny girl's voice whispered to me.

"Is the academic forum this way? I heard I could see a rare blue b.u.t.terfly specimen."

That seemed to be the pa.s.sword.

When I repeated it verbatim, the muscular worker's pressure receded.

He pressed the elevator b.u.t.ton.

"Oh, you were invited to that party. My apologies."

That party.

What other secret "parties" were being held?

The elevator door opened to reveal it had its own elevator girl. The general elevators out front had to run more than 100 times as much, but I doubted they had one.

I stepped in, the door closed, and the elevator girl pressed a b.u.t.ton without asking for my destination.

I could barely feel it begin to move and instead suddenly found myself surrounded by a gentle sensation of acceleration. Perhaps because there were no stops along the way, there was no floor counter. All I could do was stand there and lean back into the opposite corner from the control panel where the elevator girl stood.

…How much could I honestly do?

My life force had been sapped by the Leanan Sídhe and Itou Helen's likely had been as well. If the damage to her was the same, she would be so weak that a light shove would cause her to collapse.

I could not let it go any further.

It could pa.s.s simply weakening her and actually kill her. No, it didn't even have to go that far. If she pa.s.sed out in the Colosseum, the enemy could attack her head or heart. There was no giving up or breaking up a match.

However, the weakening would only grow as soon as we gained specific inspiration from the Leanan Sídhe group.

That included information on the enemy, such as fairies being weak to steel or a Leanan Sídhe normally being invisible.

And it included the strategies we could use, such as throwing bags of powdered potion or bottles of ointment potion or combining a witch's potion with a tranquilizer gun.

I was fairly certain we would be fine if we didn't use those.

It wouldn't be a problem if we eliminated them.

But I couldn't help but focus on them now that I was aware of them. Was I already in the palm of the Leanan Sídhe's hand by avoiding those things? I felt horribly restricted.

I had to find something.

No matter what.

"Sorry about the wait. This is your floor: the Celestial Palace multipurpose hall."

"…Thanks."

With the elevator girl's mechanically polite words, the door to the execution ground slid open.

The blue bunny girl was there.

Her slender fingers toyed with the jewel decorations on her chest.

"Now, now. This way, witch's second."

"Why are you here?"

"If you wandered around without any guidance, you would run into the audience. And even if they aren't Archenemies, you wouldn't want to get caught in the middle of that crowd, would you? Plus, you're involved in this gamble with so much money on the line, so who knows when someone will try to attack you to get an advantage. Right?"

She was clearly mocking me for letting someone do precisely that.

She cackled, grabbed my unsteady hand and began walking.

And d.a.m.n. Her hand really did feel like a girl's. It was nice and soft.

The elevator girl had called this the Celestial Palace. Other than the cloak room and powder rooms, the entire floor was probably taken up by a single party hall. It looked like a few inner walls had been set up to create s.p.a.ces for staff, audience, and contestants. The hallway was narrow, but the ceiling was incredibly high up. Did this use 3 or 4 stories' worth of s.p.a.ce?

That would likely provide enough s.p.a.ce for that giant transparent die or bug cage as well as the stepped spectator seating around it.

On the way, we pa.s.sed some broadcast staff carrying bundles of thick cables.

"That is the dressing room for Itou Helen the Witch."

The bunny girl let her glittering blue hair flutter behind her, dynamically wiggled her round b.u.t.t back and forth, and pointed to one of the doors.

She then swept her blue manicured hand in the opposite direction.

"And that is the dressing room for Hanesaki Minori the Fairy."

It was right there. And even if they were hastily built, they were like giant steel boxes.

There was a lot I wanted to say and I wanted to get back at them for deceiving me. But…

…It was too blatant. The defenseless proximity of the rooms felt like they wanted us to fight outside the cage. As long as it reduced the number of Archenemies or caused a serious wound, the Bright Cross clearly did not care.

"Don't even think about it, okay? Don't cause any trouble for us. Can you promise Karen-chan that?"

The blue bunny girl drove the point home with her wicked eyes opened wide.

When the Leanan Sídhe's second had been fooling me into thinking I was discovering the answers, had it been this obvious to everyone but me?

"Okay, okay. That's enough for now. …Really, really don't cause any trouble, okay?"

I watched the blue bunny girl wink, blow me a kiss, and leave through a staff hallway.

Then I glanced over at Hanesaki Minori the Fairy's dressing room.

I threw off the strange temptation and walked to another door: the one to Itou Helen the Witch's dressing room.

I knocked on the unnecessarily thick metal door and heard a quiet voice from the other side.

I could not tell what she said, so I turned the k.n.o.b.

"Ah, no, wait…"

I could not tell with the door m.u.f.fling it, but a fl.u.s.tered voice reached me.

It turned out Itou Helen had been changing. She had removed the ankle-length cape of her witch's outfit, the black dress had the back unzipped, and her bright skin was visible. Ohh, I don't see a bra strap, so does she generally not wear a bra with that thing?

No, that wasn't what I had to focus on.

"Nn…"

My tiny undercla.s.sman was tensing her shoulders, holding her hands to her chest, and groaning as if bearing with something ticklish.

I could see something like an extremely thin film peeling away from the skin below the unzipped back.

…Was that her skin?

But she was not bleeding. In fact, it was like removing dead skin. Brand-new soft skin was visible below it.

What was that?

It was similar to a peeling sunburn, but it was somehow different.

Was she…shedding her skin?

"Please wait… I-I'll be done soon."

Caught off guard by my presence, Itou Helen reached around to her back. It was like she was unhooking a bra or scratching her back. Red-colored nails (which did not suit her at all) dug into her soft skin and then peeled away the rest of the thin film like it was dried glue.

"I borrowed a snake's trait," said the girl with wavy blonde hair and a witch hat decorated with a hawk feather. "I figured it would be bad to go into the next fight with the injuries I took from that mermaid…Kuroyama Hinoki-san. So I wondered if there was some way to heal them… A-and when I borrowed the shedding skin of a snake, it hasn't stopped peeling away for a while now…"

Did that mean Itou Helen had been repeatedly "healing" herself all this time?

So she hadn't just been weakened like I had?

…Wow.

I was honestly impressed. She was making better use of this than I had imagined. She could give herself the abilities of different plants and animals, she could transform her opponent into a beast to rob them of their freedom, and she could heal wounds in a short period of time? If this power was that versatile, she might just be on the same level as my vampire older sister or zombie little sister.

I had been left hopelessly weak while the Leanan Sídhe sucked away my life force, but Itou Helen had been shedding her skin over and over to overcome it. A snake shedding its skin was apparently used as a symbol of immortality through a cycle of regaining one's youth, so this might actually be canceling out the invisible force being stolen from her.

In that case, she could fight.

I could barely stand, but she still had the strength to plant her feet firmly on the ground.

Why had I been prepared to give up all on my own like that?

Itou Helen might look slender and frail, but she was an Archenemy. She wasn't just taking the punishment like I was. And this meant we still had a chance of turning this around!

"…I…"

Then a quiet voice escaped my undercla.s.sman who still had the back of her black dress unzipped.

No…

"I can't take it anymore… Why am I fine when you're not? It's like I really am a monster. I can't argue against that anymore…"

She bit her lip.

She tried to hold something in.

But this "weakness" still managed to slip out like a groan.

I got depressed on my own and got excited on my own. All I could do was rejoice and worry, so I was in no place to criticize this tiny undercla.s.sman.

But couldn't I at least support Itou Helen? That was what I had decided to focus on as her second.

"Itou-san."

"Whatever the case, we don't have time. This was entirely my mistake and I feel bad about it. In all seriousness, you can use all your power as an Archenemy to punch me once this match is over."

I got down on one knee to put myself at her eye level and I made a gentle suggestion.

"So focus on surviving this match. Let's leave a chance of reaching the next step. And let's try everything we can to do that. Will you work with me on that?"

She nodded again and again.

Good. Our bond hadn't been severed at least for the time being. As the one who had made the mistake, I had most been afraid of not being given a chance to make up for it.

Now.

What to do?

"I gave this a lot of thought." Itou Helen was the one to speak first. "Our enemy is the Bright Cross, not the Archenemy in the cage. I don't want to change that view. So…"

"Yes, I agree. But there's no way to stop the Colosseum right now. So we have to stay on their rails until we've defeated the fairy named Hanesaki Minori. If we don't manage that, we won't have a chance to try anything else."

"B-but how do we do that…?"

"Well…"

My mind shook when she asked that.

I placed a hand on the wall to just barely avoid collapsing and I took slow, deep breaths to remain conscious.

The fairy was a Leanan Sídhe. Even that fact was an answer they guided me to. Using that information would only accelerate the weakening.

But I didn't care.

Itou Helen had a way of recovering to an extent. So that just meant I had to clench my teeth and bear with it. I took a large step forward as if placing my foot on a landmine. I set things in motion.

"There is a definite way of repelling a Leanan Sídhe. If the person made to be her lover forces the Leanan Sídhe onto another person before they die, they'll be saved. But I have my doubts we can manage that. I doubt she'll listen to us while worked up on a deadly battlefield. Besides, you wouldn't want to have someone else put in danger in your place, right?"

My blonde undercla.s.sman nodded twice.

That was apparently very important to her.

"That means our options are limited."

"We just have to look at it in reverse. The problem is that we're trying to defeat a Leanan Sídhe using the rules of a Leanan Sídhe. That creates a contradiction that we can't solve. But we have the entire species of a witch to work with, so we don't even have to step into her ring. What I mean is-…"

As I mustered what little strength I had to continue the strategy meeting with a cold sweat soaking me, the familiar voice of the blue bunny girl spoke from the speaker attached to the dressing room wall.

"Pin pon pon poooon! It's time. Contestants and their seconds, please move to the special stage. Well, your options are to come voluntarily or be dragged there. Some experts who have grown addicted to handcuffs and cages are standing by just in case. Ah hah hah!!"

"So it's starting."

I slowly breathed out and glared at the speaker. Then we faced the door. Itou Helen zipped up her dress, put her cape back on, and held out her small fist, so I lightly tapped my own fist against it.

We would survive.

We would break through this somehow.

We walked down the hallway and ignored the staff who moved out of the way while staring at us with looks of pure curiosity or irresponsible pity.

The door to the Colosseum's special stage was a double door with large bra.s.s k.n.o.bs.

It reminded me of the entrance to the wedding hall when my dad married my stepmom.

With Itou Helen by my side, the men in black suits standing on either side of the door seemed to focus on their earpieces. They must have received a signal because they waited for the exact right moment and threw open the double doors.

My senses were hit by a deluge of light and noise.

"Now, now! Tonight's one-of-a-kind entertainment has begun! The miraculous return of martial arts!! Expanded consumption, regional economic activity, and a new reason to enjoy life in your old age! The Colosseum has it all!!!!!!"

The fierce spotlights and large speakers were almost enough to crush my unsteady mind.

I wobbled on my feet, but Itou Helen supported me from the side.

How pathetic.

But I wasn't trying to look cool.

I didn't care how pathetic I looked. I would do what I could. I wasn't going to flee toward impossible ideals. If I did, I wouldn't be able to save anyone. When building a stone bridge over a canyon that would mean death to any who fell, you could not mix in some styrofoam blocks just because they looked nice.

Once my eyes adjusted to the light, the scene was so identical to the TV station that I felt déjà vu. The transparent bug cage was surrounded by stepped spectator seats. This was likely enough to gather a few thousand people to watch the deadly entertainment of the Colosseum.

The blue bunny girl stood atop the giant bug cage with mic in hand as she made her usual lip service. She would occasionally focus on her small rabbit earpiece, so she seemed to be receiving opinions from the staff.

"In this corner, we have Itou Helen the Witch who defeated the mermaid to emerge victorious in her first battle! She has signed up for a second battle to follow that. Now, will she be able to double the 10 million she won, or will she lose and pay with her life!? We will find out tonight!!"

The spotlights moved away from us.

The flood of light landed on the opposite corner of the die-like bug cage to illuminate two girls who placed a hand above their eyes as if blocking out the sun.

The blue bunny girl introduced them.

"And in this corner, we have Hanesaki Minori the Fairy who will be challenging the witch! Hee hee. Do any of the gentlemen in the audience feel their heart pounding hearing it's a girl's first time? Will she be able to win the base sum of 10 million!? And is everything about money in this world!? Which one will grasp victory and a stack of cash, and which one will receive divine punishment!? Let's find out!!"

I finally saw the Leanan Sídhe fairy.

Hanesaki Minori.

"…What is that?"

Her clothing looked like someone had cut out the important bits of a school uniform and then added a corset and a thin ap.r.o.n on top. It was a stage costume much like a cultural festival café uniform made from whatever was on hand. But that was not the surprising part.

At first, I thought it was because I was seeing her through the reinforced gla.s.s bug cage with the powerful spotlights shining on her from various angles. Just like a pedestrian could vanish when crossing the street in the evening due to the headlights of a car in the opposite lane.

But that was not it.

Only one of the two girls was clearly "thin". I could see through her. I could only barely see her, just like something from a cliché ghost story.

…Or as her target, were we the only ones that could see her?

However, the spectators were excitedly focusing on her like normal. So did she appear translucent to everyone?

"Maxwell. What does she look like through the cameras?"

"Sure. Hanesaki Minori is detectable in the visible light, infrared, and ultraviolet spectra. The details are unclear, but a certain amount of light appears to be pa.s.sing through her."

It wasn't just people. She looked the same to machines as well.

Well, at least she didn't have the unilateral advantage of being invisible.

The Leanan Sídhe was a gla.s.ses girl with 2 shoulder-length braids. She seemed to be a different type of gla.s.ses girl to my neighbor forehead gla.s.ses Cla.s.s Rep who would speak her mind to anyone: boy, girl, uppercla.s.sman, undercla.s.sman, or teacher. And she did not at all look like someone with a lot of love affairs. Her face was well-formed, but she lacked the charm of someone who was fooling around on a daily basis.

…Perhaps it was the other people who approached her. She may have been the loner type of girl who seemed shy and would probably do anything you asked if you were insistent enough. I could see how she would gather a lot of attention, even if it was not the good kind.

And.

The second girl and I glared at each other. She had been wearing a varsity jacket and pants and giving us hints while disguised as Kuroyama Hinoki the mermaid.

If asked whether I hated her or not, I would of course say I did.

But I did learn something from that crisis. I wasn't taking this seriously. No, I hadn't been taking it seriously enough. I had said I would try everything, but I had still drawn a definite line and refused to cross it. I was no different from the people who expressed their sympathies while only watching the suffering Archenemies from a safe distance.

So in a way, I respected her.

She had taken this seriously enough to cross that line and get her hands dirty. She had gone that far to save the Archenemy she cared for.

But.

Throwing out your normal life for this emergency was the same as the hunter becoming the hunted. If you threw out your "humanity" with a know-it-all look like the Bright Cross, then it was all over. She was the one that had said so much that had no direct connection to guiding me to the Leanan Sídhe's information.

"Okay, okay. Contestants and their seconds, please get in position. There is no field effect like the flooding from last time. Please stand firmly on the ground and draw out every last ounce of strength☆"

While holding the gla.s.s wand that looked like an overly complex siphon coffee maker extended vertically, the witch girl took a step toward the bug cage.

"Senpai, I'll be going…"

"Yeah, I'll give you instructions over your earpiece. If there's anything you want me to investigate, just tell me. Maxwell and I will handle it. Remember: you aren't alone."

"Right."

Itou Helen gave me a thumb's up and shook the bottom of her cape as she walked toward the deadly cage. She stepped in through the entrance opened by a worker. She grabbed the colorful potion bottles on a silver wagon and stuck them into her witch outfit.

"By - the - way. Itou Helen…or should I explain this to your second?"

"The game rules have been updated. Before handing over the defeated opponent's corpse, they will be decapitated to confirm they are dead. Oh, but you will be given both the head and the body afterwards, so don't think too much about it, okay?"

G.o.ddammit!!

I had known something like this was coming, but it still felt like a blow to the chest.

I grabbed my smartphone and spoke through Itou Helen's earpiece.

"We have to a.s.sume knowing the condition will make it easier to come up with a way around it. We just have to find a way that she'll survive even after having her head chopped off."

I knew I was being ridiculous, but I just had to line up the conditions and find a way through their nonsense. A Leanan Sídhe could only be seen by her lover. That meant it was possible we could use an illusion or something to get her through the beheading process.

Whatever the case, we had to win.

That I could not compromise on. I had to focus on the constant risk of a single mistake leading to my undercla.s.sman's death. And I also had to keep in mind that Itou Helen did not want to fight other Archenemies.

"Don't worry. I'll find some kind of ridiculous loophole that overcomes their demonic calculations. So you focus on fighting."

"Right. I'll trust you, Senpai."

Meanwhile, the situation was still underway.

Atop the giant bug cage, the blue bunny girl adjusted her grip on the thick mic with her pinky raised, swept her hair back with her other hand, and made a loud announcement.

"Then let's get to it! Round 2 of the Colosseum where cash flies through the air! Who will win: the witch or the fairy? Tonight, we will find out!! Now ring the bell to begin the match!!!!!!"

A thick, deep buzzer rang like when a cell door opened in a prison.

And it finally began.

The horrific Colosseum began.

Surprisingly, the first attack was made by Itou Helen, my small animal of an undercla.s.sman.

Her cape fluttered behind her as she inserted several potion bottles into her gla.s.s wand. Colorful liquid raced through the transparent tubes and gathered in the swollen flask portions. Heating, cooling, distillation, and freezing. Various chemical reactions were used to draw out a phenomenon beyond any of those chemical equations or physical laws.

A spear of ice longer than my blonde undercla.s.sman was tall swept across that s.p.a.ce. In fact, 7 of them did. With their ma.s.s and speed, a clean hit from any one of them could smash someone to pieces and they a.s.saulted Hanesaki Minori from every direction.

But the fairy in a school uniform modified into a bare shoulder waitress uniform did not even dodge.

She ignored it. And she walked forward. That was enough for the 7 spears to pa.s.s right through her. She had not used some strange ancient martial art. She had not dodged using superhuman leg strength.

The attacks had simply pa.s.sed through her.

The spears had continued on as if only air had stood in their way.

"…That isn't enough to damage her!"

"Sure. A Leanan Sídhe can only be seen by her lover and cannot be touched by normal people. We should have already a.s.sumed that anything but her target would pa.s.s through her."

"But the Leanan Sídhe shouldn't have any way to attack. She can only sap her lover's life force until they die, and the only way to avoid it is to turn her toward someone else. But she shouldn't have claws that can tear through steel and she shouldn't be able to breathe fire!"

"Sure. But with her 2 hands, she should be able to use a human level of violence. For example, ignoring all of Itou Helen's attacks, knocking her over, and throttling her should be plenty deadly."

"Only the Leanan Sídhe and her target can influence each other. That means Itou Helen should be able to fight back with her own hands."

"Her? Barehanded? You've gotta be kidding me."

I was also an indoor type and I wasn't exactly confident in my physical strength. And yet she seemed so slender that even I could break her if I held her too tight. I had no actual data to back it up, but I was certain that Itou Helen would be overwhelmed even if it was against another girl. She would be strangled and unable to recover.

d.a.m.n.

If any modern weapons would be neutralized because they slipped right through her, then no matter how plain she looked, was this girl an even greater Archenemy than my vampire older sister or my zombie little sister? I couldn't see how to defeat her without any legends to rely on like a cross or holy water!!

"Kh."

I heard a tense breath from my earpiece.

As School Festival Waitress Hanesaki Minori walked closer, Itou Helen was forced to fall back. She was quickly driven to the corner.

Instead of using my smartphone, I spoke directly to her small back which was about to hit the other side of the gla.s.s wall.

"Itou-san, how far can you go with the potions that place ferocious beasts into your body? If it's your hands or feet, you should be able to touch her. You need to arm yourself with beasts and fight back!"

"But…"

"Don't think about the risk of killing her! If you die, there's no chance of saving Hanesaki Minori. She'll just die somewhere else when the Five Battles Precipice catches up to her. If you don't want to abandon her to this cage, then you have to fight!!"

I knew I was saying some awful things.

If she could touch the Leanan Sídhe like normal, the fairy might be no st.u.r.dier than a human girl. If Itou Helen took in the traits of a bear or lion, there was a risk of accidentally tearing her to pieces.

But I said it anyway.

I had nothing to base it on, but I believed this route would take us closest to the "best result".

"Fight. You have to face her. If the only way to save her is to drive her to the very limit and place her in a state of apparent death, you can't hesitate to raise your fists! If you stay on the standard rails, then Hanesaki Minori has no way of escaping certain death. You are the only one that can lower her odds of death, even if it's only to 99% or 98%. So don't let go and face her like you mean it!! Please, pave the way toward saving her!!"

The pure girl responded to my unfair words.

She adjusted the potion bottles in her gla.s.s wand, moved her manicured fingertips at blinding speed, and changed the color of the liquid flowing through the clear tubes.

Even through the thick reinforced gla.s.s, I could clearly hear the small girl's bones and muscles straining from within.

There may not have been much of a difference when looking just at her outward appearance, but the internal structure was definitely changing.

There was only one change I could actually see.

They were not quite claws.

Something like long dark needles extended from each of the fingers on Itou Helen's right hand.

"What are those? Poison stingers?"

"Sure. An image comparison shows they are quite similar to a red-banded sand wasp. Of course, the thickness and length are far greater."

A red-banded sand wasp.

Instead of gathering together to form an obvious "hive", I was fairly certain those were lone wolves. They targeted bugs in the ground, paralyzed the bugs with a p.r.i.c.k from their long stingers, and then fed those bugs to their own larvae.

Unlike a hornet, they were not feared as deadly.

But that was only because they were tiny insects. Once the stinger was enlarged to the size of a knife, it would be able to inject far more of its chemicals at once. That would probably be enough to paralyze an entire human and turn them into a specimen.

Just like with the jellyfish, she had chosen another venomous animal, but perhaps that was because a Circe witch was skilled with potions.

Regardless, this would allow her to fight.

It did not matter how slender she was. Her demonic right hand could stun her target with just a stroke…no, just a touch. And the Leanan Sídhe had set Itou Helen as her lover, so she would be able to touch her without any trouble. And that meant Hanesaki Minori would be helpless!

Or so I thought.

But shortly thereafter, I heard two light popping sounds.

The witch's right hand had been knocked outwards.

Even as I watched from the side, I hadn't been able to fully follow what happened.

Itou Helen herself had to be even more confused on the receiving end.

The Leanan Sídhe had pulled something from the short skirt of her school festival waitress uniform. They were two…sticks?

Were those retractable police batons!?

The docile-looking translucent girl continued to move.

The center of the small witch's chest and her lower stomach.

She accurately struck at least those 2 points. Itou Helen's small body was knocked from the floor and her back slammed into the clear wall right behind her.

"a.n.a.lysis of high resolution video footage complete. User, Hanesaki Minori's movements suggest she has learned some form of martial arts. However, it does not appear to be kendo. Since it includes grabbing and foot techniques, it is most likely based on Southeast Asian staff martial art or a derivation thereof."

"How was this not in her data? Did we not know she was attending a gym or something!?"

"No. There is no history of her doing so. However…please wait. There are payment records of her second, Yuubari Setsuna, attending a kickboxing gym. If I expand the search to include foreigners who visit that gym, the variation grows to include a Southeast Asian cook and language teacher. One of them might be trained in using staffs."

"…So we just weren't searching wide enough. d.a.m.n."

The bunny girl had only given us the name of our opponent. The second had remained hidden. Their second, Yuubari Setsuna who had disguised herself as Kuroyama Hinoki, had learned this from a foreigner at the gym she visited and she had taught that to Hanesaki Minori.

And this was not something you could learn overnight. She could not have started training only after being abducted by the Bright Cross and knowing she had to fight us.

But.

"There were rumors that Hanesaki Minori had a lot of love affairs, but it's possible she was only really known for having a lot of people approach her. So if Yuubari Setsuna was teaching her this as a means of self-defense…"

This meant Hanesaki Minori did not need to let attacks pa.s.s through her.

She had powerful technique beyond the simple potential of her species.

And with her translucent body, it was hard to grasp her exact distance while moving around so quickly.

Then I finally remembered something.

To keep things somewhat fair in the battle between Itou Helen and Kuroyama Hinoki, the witch had been given those chemicals and the mermaid had been given a bunch of water.

Then what about this time?

I seriously doubted the Bright Cross would give us those potion bottles for free. After all, more damage would be done to both sides if the battle entered an extremely-close dead heat. The Five Battles Precipice existed precisely because there was no such thing as a flawless victory.

Then had Hanesaki Minori been hiding something equal to those potion bottles?

"Wait a second! Isn't this supposed to be a battle between Archenemies!? Can she really bring in a human weapon like a police baton!?"

"Hanyaaaan?"

The blue bunny girl tilted her head and spoke in a way that would've made me punch her if she wasn't a woman.

"Um, what do you think Itou Helen's gla.s.s wand is? Why would you think anything like fair play exists in a deadly battle between monsters?"

G.o.ddammit!

Itou Helen was a witch. She could not fight without tools. But if they used that as an excuse, could they let our opponent bring in a handgun or a bomb!? That was like adding on an extra option on top of their power as Archenemies!

"What's this!? Hanesaki Minori looked like a shy librarian, but was she actually a surprisingly active girl!? Is this the beginning of a counterattack by the capable girl!?"

Oh, no.

It did not matter how many wasp or scorpion stingers the witch could wield if School Festival Waitress Hanesaki Minori could strike with weapons that did not require her to directly touch her. She could swing the batons to crush the poison stingers. We could not hope she would pa.s.s out first while Itou Helen took damage.

I quickly directed a message to the girl's earpiece using my smartphone.

"Itou-san, you can't just increase your own power. You're going to have to throw some potions at her to wear down her stre-…!"

The words caught in my throat.

I felt a shock like a horse had kicked me in the heart.

"Cough, cough cough!!"

This was the Leanan Sídhe's penalty.

d.a.m.n, was even this too much? Throwing bags or bottles of potion was out of the question? And Yuubari Setsuna had said a lot of other things as well: filling the entire cage with gas as long as we had an antidote or putting a liquid potion into a tranquilizer gun.

And that sealed off those options.

We would have to get the witch's potion into Hanesaki Minori the Leanan Sídhe some other way. We did have a surefire technique, but it hurt that we had no other options. It was like being told to win 10 games of rock-paper-scissors in a row while only able to play scissors. It was theoretically possible, but it was nearly impossible in practice.

Meanwhile, the Leanan Sídhe approached Itou Helen whose back was pressed against the reinforced gla.s.s wall.

As soon as she got close, she began a fierce flurry of attacks with the twin clubs.

"Itou-san!!"

This was the perfect example of something being hard to watch.

She desperately avoided falling over and covered her face and gut with her hands, but that wasn't enough. A knee dug into her side, the intense pain and oxygen deprivation caused her hands to hover up, and the alloy clubs swung mercilessly toward her jaw and the center of her chest. It was like receiving concentrated fire from the 180 degrees in front of her so even rolling to either side to put some distance between them was difficult.

The blue bunny girl moved the thick mic to her hot lips and intentionally accelerated my impatience.

"Is it already over? Itou Helen is in dire trouble! Is she receiving divine punishment for greedily going for double prize money!?"

Shut up, shut up.

Whatever the case, we only had one option. The only question was when to play that card.

"Wait…Senpai…"

"Itou-san!"

"Something…isn't right."

Of course something wasn't right. We hadn't expected our opponent to bring a weapon into the Colosseum and pummel her like this.

But.

That was not what Itou Helen was talking about.

"This person looks…on the verge of tears…!!"

"Ah."

That meaningless syllable escaped my lips.

I had made a fundamental misunderstanding. I hadn't known how to look at the trick artwork.

And I received the answer while ignoring the weight of the penalty bearing down on my body.

A Leanan Sídhe was only visible to her lover.

And in exchange for providing that lover with talent and inspiration, she stole their life force and lifespan until she killed them.

In that case…

"Why…?"

My words finally regained meaning.

"Why can we see Hanesaki Minori?"

Her second, Yuubari Setsuna, made sense. They had trusted each other from the beginning.

I could understand Itou Helen inside the bug cage as well. As the target, she would have been intentionally given mistaken love.

But what about me?

And what about the blue bunny girl and the spectators? Was her love really that indiscriminate? Or was there more to it? I should have thought about it more. If Hanesaki Minori was really a Leanan Sídhe…

Then her lover was doomed to die.

And the odds were good that lover was Yuubari Setsuna, the second who was fighting alongside her despite the risk.

The only way to escape a Leanan Sídhe's curse was to give her another human lover.

The only way to save Yuubari Setsuna was to abandon her and move on to someone else.

That was the crux of the issue.

She had intentionally revealed her weakness in order to hide her true intention from Yuubari Setsuna. She had needed to camouflage it by saying she had a plan. Otherwise, Yuubari Setsuna never would have obeyed her instructions.

Meaning.

Hanesaki Minori had wanted to save Yuubari Setsuna from the Leanan Sídhe's curse.

And so she had placed her trust in the wicked outer world.

She had intentionally pa.s.sed her weakness to us, her opponents, and trusted that we would take care of it.

In that case…

I see. Did Hanesaki Minori want us to kill her?

With that, it all made sense.

There had been a hole in their interference. It hadn't been clear if the Leanan Sídhe's power would reach us through the second. They could have directly taken my parents hostage and had me give Itou Helen mistaken instructions during the match.

But she had concealed her true intention.

She had deceived Yuubari Setsuna to save Yuubari Setsuna.

…Was this a form of salvation gained through the Colosseum?

In her desire to protect someone she cared for, she did not lose hope in the face of this malicious world, faced it with courage, and then died as the kindest one of us all. That would save Yuubari Setsuna and allow us to overcome this awful night for a happy ending.

Was that really okay?

I couldn't let this terrible atmosphere get to me!!

"Itou-san."

I breathed in and out.

There was a lot to deal with: the Leanan Sídhe's curse, the physical battle using the alloy clubs, and the decapitation kill confirmation made by the blue bunny girl.

But I still chose to challenge this horrific situation.

"…I want to save Hanesaki Minori. There's only one way to do that. I'll handle the timing. Will you work with me?"

"Yes. What exactly do I need to do?"

"Maxwell. Hanesaki Minori's combat techniques are only human ones and they shouldn't be using any Archenemy supernatural phenomena. That means they can be simulated using nothing more than the laws of physics. How well can you a.n.a.lyze her movement patterns?"

"Sure. Given 60 seconds, I can do so perfectly. But a full minute is a long time in the ring."

"Itou-san, last just a minute longer however you can! Then we can see through her timing!"

The impressive blows continued.

Itou Helen's already slender body looked like it would break at any moment.

I knew this was hardly efficient.

And I knew this wasted injury would only sharpen the fangs of the demon of statistics, leading to the absolute jinx of the Five Battles Precipice. But…

We won't abandon you.

Hanesaki Minori, you're more "human" than any of us, so we won't let anyone call you a monster.

I glanced over at the progress bar on the screen. Something was wrong with my heart, my head felt like it was going to burst, and I felt like I was going to drown in the air.

That was when I heard a horrific sound.

The fairy's club had dug into the witch's side. But something was different this time. Itou Helen was moving oddly, just like a toy doll that was slammed into the ground and had its gears knocked out of place!

"Oh, my! Was that a clean hit!? Did that take out the witch's ribs!?"

I clenched my teeth so hard I thought they would break.

But.

Even so.

"Task complete. I have successfully a.n.a.lyzed Hanesaki Minori's combat pattern based on the two clubs. User, please hold your smartphone up toward the fairy. Predictions of her future actions will be displayed using arrows."

"Itou-san!! Now!!"

I just about screamed the instruction.

Hanesaki Minori's short skirt and ap.r.o.n fluttered as she horizontally swung her two clubs together like a bat, but the small blonde girl's cape fluttered behind her as she ducked down below the attack.

That created the first opening.

The fairy would be killed if she lost, so this may have been the moment she had most hoped for.

They were already right in front of each other and Itou Helen moved in even closer as if forcing herself between Hanesaki Minori's arms.

They were so close that the girl could not use the full force of her blows.

But martial arts were not where our strengths lay.

Itou Helen was a potion-using witch and she specialized in poison.

The fairy was most focused on the red-banded sand wasp stingers extending from the 5 fingers of the witch's right hand. Still holding the club, she grabbed the back of Itou Helen's hand and applied pressure. That was enough to prevent my undercla.s.sman from moving her wrist.

Hanesaki Minori did the same to the left hand, sealing off both hands.

But that did not matter. It was fine.

A moment later, Itou Helen moved in as if to headb.u.t.t Hanesaki Minori.

No, she was moving her lips in close.

"W-will that…actually work…?"

Before the match, Itou Helen had cowered down like a small animal in her black dress and asked me that question in the dressing room.

"Yes," I had confirmed. "If the Leanan Sídhe is too frightening, we only have to remake Hanesaki Minori onto a different Archenemy. And Itou-san, if you really are a Circe witch, you should be able to do that."

The most notable trait of Circe was the magic potion that remade humans into animals by recreating the G.o.ds' divine punishment using human techniques.

And the girl who fell victim to Circe became the Scylla sea monster which had 3 dog heads and 12 legs and had killed 6 heroes who were recognized by the G.o.ds.

That meant it was not restricted to existing animals. Circe's transformations would include Archenemies.

"It's true this is essentially cheating," I said. "Humans and Archenemies are entirely different and cannot coexist. Archenemies must be managed to prevent the risk of human infection and they must be swiftly killed and disposed of otherwise. That is the foundational principle of the Bright Cross. But Circe's potion can fundamentally overturn that. For example…what if you could create a potion that remade an Archenemy into a human or animal?"

"Ah."

"The Bright Cross would lose their excuse for oppressing Archenemies. And it would not eliminate the threat either. If they were permanently stuck as human, that would be one thing, but if they can freely switch back and forth with a potion, they're no different from a werewolf mixed into the crowd during the day. And since they truly are human while human, they can slip past any test. …That's why the Bright Cross sees you as a threat. They want to prevent the completion of Circe's potion so that doesn't happen."

And.

If Hanesaki Minori lost her traits as an Archenemy, we would be able to take advantage of all the weaknesses that were currently off limits thanks to the Leanan Sídhe's penalty. With that freedom restored, there was no way we would lose. That was our plan.

Hanesaki Minori had turned out to be plenty strong on her own, but the problem remained the same.

Giving her the witch's potion and redesigning her body would solve everything. Not only would she lose her power as a Leanan Sídhe, but if she could not even move properly, she could no longer fight at all.

So it came down to that one attack.

If we could just get in that one attack!

Scattering a powder, rubbing an ointment on a blade, throwing a bottle of liquid, and firing a tranquilizer gun had all been sealed off.

So the problem was how to administer the potion.

And I had recalled that there was still an opening.

Yes, all of Yuubari Setsuna's ideas while disguised as Kuroyama Hinoki had used tools.

She had not touched on any ideas that used Itou Helen's body to administer the potion.

So.

"Gh…!?"

A girl groaned.

But it was not Hanesaki Minori in her school festival waitress uniform.

"Bhah!!"

It was Itou Helen. She stopped moving just before completing the kiss. I could tell Hanesaki Minori had twisted the other girl's wrists along with the clubs. The sudden pain had shocked Itou Helen and she spat out the prized potion.

Some got on the fairy's face, but the potion in our plan needed to be swallowed. Merely touching her skin would not do anything.

And then Hanesaki Minori's counterattack began.

Still holding Itou Helen's hands, her twin braids raged as she threw a fierce headb.u.t.t. My blonde undercla.s.sman staggered from the powerful blow to the head, but the small animal of a blonde girl had moved right up to her foe. The headb.u.t.t must not have felt like enough since Itou Helen was staying too close for the rush of physical blows to do real damage, so Hanesaki Minori buried her face in the neck visible through a gap in the cape.

No.

Was she biting her!?

"Khah!?"

The cry sounded like she was prying open her burned-shut throat.

And then the girl's body wobbled.

Yes.

Hanesaki Minori's body did.

Potions came in many forms.

They could also be administered in a number of ways: a tranquilizer gun, a powder a gas, etc.

But.

"The most definite method is to create a situation in which she will put it in her own mouth."

"Let's inject the potion into your bloodstream. Then if you create a situation where she'll bite you, it should get into her body."

The transformation began with the girl's entire body seeming to bubble up.

The mouth-to-mouth potion had not been the real one. That had been a trap meant to be stopped so she would get carried away. I mean, I wasn't about to waste a girl's lips in battle.

Hanesaki Minori the Fairy's silhouette collapsed. Her subdued and docile but attractive face fell apart. Incredibly violent dog faces jutted out and octopus or squid tentacles grew from her.

It was impossible to tell where the 2 clubs had gone. In fact, the slender hands holding them were nowhere to be seen.

She lost all traces of humanity.

She became a true monster.

As her body changed so drastically, Hanesaki Minori seemed unable to support herself. No, maybe she couldn't even breathe on her own. She became no more than a giant hunk of flesh and blood that continued to grow as it filled up the giant die-shaped bug cage.

This was Circe's potion.

That bizarre potion irreverently recreated the divine punishment of the G.o.ds using human techniques.

The entire arena fell silent.

For a brief moment, even that blasphemous blue bunny and the audience may not have known how to react.

And a few seconds later…

A dark cheer grew into a frightening rumble that shook the entire high-rise hotel.

"Dreadful! Such dreadful destructive power!! What did Itou Helen even do? At the very least, there's no explaining this using radiation or genetic alterations! Truly a monster! Truly an Archenemy!! This is what you call a one-hit win! This shocking scene is sure to change the outcome of so many 'worst way to die' arguments!!"

Itou Helen looked up at the grotesque mountain while the malicious mic performance and cheers washed over her. Her back looked so very small and about ready to break.

Someone even shouted "murderer".

It was Yuubari Setsuna who fell to her knees on the other side of the die-shaped bug cage

There was little I could do while observing this from a position of safety.

So I at least made sure not to let Itou Helen bear it alone.

I faced the blue bunny girl who was working up everyone's excitement with mic in hand atop the bug cage.

"As promised, we'll be taking the corpse."

"Go right ahead! You surely have some, well, niche interests. But don't forget that we'll be confirming she really is dea-…"

That demon trailed off when she finally caught on.

Yes, Hanesaki Minori's current body was not human. She was a mountainous mishmash. Several giant dog heads stuck out and there was a veritable forest of octopus or squid tentacles. This was a monster one would never find in the natural world.

Meaning…

"If you want a head, choose whichever one you like and chop it off."

Even the legendary Scylla had not died just from losing one of its dog heads. Those were no more than a decoration for that monster.

So would they search that mountain for the beautiful girl's face? But would that really kill her? The only one who knew was Itou Helen who had made the potion for this redesign. It was like having an important file encrypted by a third party.

So I would challenge the Bright Cross.

I would take on that awful international organization using this chance that Itou Helen had risked her life to give me!

"Once you've taken one of the heads, we'll be taking the rest. …You can't complain about that, can you?"

"Minori!"

The match was over.

The boy and girl returned to their dressing room while everyone glared at them. Then Yuubari Setsuna, the second, charged in after the "corpse".

The mountain of flesh and blood had already been stripped away, leaving only the original beautiful girl.

And more importantly, Hanesaki Minori was not translucent. She had lost the Leanan Sídhe trait that meant only her lover could see her.

"It's okay. It's okay now, Setsuna-chan…" said the former Leanan Sídhe who looked like she could hardly believe it herself as she pulled the thin sheet up to her chest. "I haven't fully returned to being human yet, but they say they can redirect the Leanan Sídhe ability that kills her lover so it won't have any effect. So now I don't have to worry about killing someone I care for…"

Hearing that, Yuubari Setsuna finally realized the witch and fairy had been fighting on another dimension entirely. She had been the only one choosing to mercilessly kill in order to survive.

She quickly turned around.

But the witch and her second were no longer there. Only a cracked door.

The legends concerning fairies say that the victims taken away by fairies will lose their humanity and become a fairy themselves. But there is a way for those victims to regain their humanity.

If you see a familiar face in the fairy parade, immediately run up to them. And no matter what awful things the fairies do to you, never give up and continue to hold them in your arms.

If your courage and love are real and you do not give up to the very, very end, that person who became a fairy will be freed and return to their human life once more.