Instant Death

Chapter 29 - Just what kind of battles was my family planning to take on…?

"Hm, but the last magic user we met didn't use a staff."

He already forgot the name, but Yogiri recalled the one time a classmate destroyed their bus without using anything like a staff.

"I-I'm a Wand Master. I can extract magic power from staves and wands, but casting magic without them is impossible for me."

The cowering Lisa explained timidly but earnestly.

Her class could cast many powerful and swift magical attacks, but only as long as the equipped tool had them installed, so to speak.

"Looks like I can render our enemies powerless as long as they depend on some weapon, although I doubt that'll happen that often."

It was unlikely that a lot of their future opponents were going to rely on a tool to such an extent; Yogiri believed they got lucky this time.

『Opponents like these usually have another hidden weapon on them somewhere, might be unsafe to keep her alive.』

Yogiri faced Mokomoko and replied, not giving a care to how strange his sudden response must seem to Lisa, who couldn't see nor hear Mokomoko.

"If I went around killing people just for having the potential to be dangerous there'd soon be no one left alive around me, you know."

He didn't enjoy murder, it was just that using his power for self defense meant the other party's death. He didn't hesitate to kill, but neither did he go out of his way to murder someone.

Yogiri turned back to Lisa.

"You look like you've got an idea already, but here's the deal: I can kill someone just by thinking about it. If you try to pull any tricks you die, that's the position you're in. If you understand then I'll be asking some questions. Alright?"

"Understood."

Lisa's nervousness could be heard in her voice; the air of looking down on some kids she was giving off earlier had disappeared completely. A single misstep meant death, and she could feel it with her whole being.

"If you're a Wand Master then that earlier staff wasn't the only one you've got on you, was it? Where are your reserves?"

In response to that, Lisa pulled a pen sized stick out of her stout cleavage and placed it on the floor.

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"Why hide it there of all places!? And Takatou-kun, don't take such a thorough look!"

As usual, their emergency situation didn't stop Tomochika from being the same as always.

"I was just impressed she managed to hide it there."

『But if she has wands of such a size then she might very well be hiding them all over her body. Should we have her strip?』

"Not that I've ever tried to, but killing her clothes would make that easy enough."

"Nonono, you're joking, right?"

There were several things that Tomochika found difficult to believe just now.

"You never complained about killing anyone, but stripping them is a no?"

Yogiri couldn't quite agree with her viewpoint, but decided it wasn't a matter to argue over and moved on.

"Alright, next question. You said you were ordered to take along Dannoura-san, and it looks like you've given up on that now, but aren't those orders absolute? I'm pretty sure I heard something about slaves going crazy and throwing away their lives just to fulfill their tasks."

"Only labor slaves, who don't have any other uses, are made to put their lives on the line like that. High-rank slaves like me are valuable personnel and as such told to worry about staying alive first and foremost."

"How about companions? If you're the leader of the personal guard group then I'm guessing there are more of you?"

"Why yes of course, there are more alright."

Together with those words, something suddenly dropped from the ceiling. That something appeared to be targeting Tomochika, but instead crashed into the floor: just now, Tomochika had grabbed it mid air and then firmly slammed it to the ground.

『Mhm. I see it's already proving useful.』

The something that had fallen from the ceiling and landed on the floor turned out to be a young girl, whose neck was now bent at a fatal angle.

The technique Tomochika just performed consisted of first getting a hold of the girl's body by driving one hand into her windpipe and the other's fingers into her eye sockets, then jamming her head into the floor.

"Just what kind of battles was my family planning to take on when they invented anti-air techniques…?"

『Being prepared for all possible scenarios is the way of House Dannoura!』

However, the girl was starting to get up despite her broken neck, and upon closer inspection it was no human girl, but a masterfully crafted doll.

In fact, Yogiri and Tomochika were suddenly surrounded by such toys: stuffed animals, figurines, bisque dolls and more, all in different sizes.

Soon the corridor was blocked by such toys both in the front and in the back, even the walls and ceiling had some clinging to them.

"Well, that's one thing explained. I was actually wondering why you were being so obedient."

After judging that she couldn't win on her own she decided to wait for her allies, never actually abandoning her order.

"Although I did believe I would be able to settle this myself."

Lisa replied with a haughty smile and died. Yogiri used his power since there wasn't much merit in keeping her alive now the enemy count increased.

『A puppet master, eh?』

They didn't look very strong individually, but it seemed their plan was to overrun Yogiri and Tomochika with numbers.

＊＊＊＊＊

A small girl in a black, frilled dress was sitting on one of the emergency stairs' landings. As if to demonstrate her hobby, all around her stuffed animals and dolls were lined up.

Chelsea, personal guard of Yuuki.

Originally she wasn't supposed to take action, both her and Lisa being under the belief that one of them would be more than enough to handle two ungifted on her own. Lisa, the captain of Yuuki's personal guards went out to collect most of the credit while Chelsea stayed on standby just in case, but things had taken a turn far beyond the unexpected: Lisa's magic was rendered useless.

Despite her confusion, Chelsea went into action right away, believing that her dolls would be able to suppress the two candidates.

It didn't matter if her dolls were destroyed. Because her ability to control them was based on possession -- specifically by inserting soul fragments into them -- those fragments just had to be moved to a new doll whenever one of them broke. Even if all the dolls storming the corridor right now were destroyed, all she had to do was send in new ones.

"What theee! How can a woman even be so brutal!"

"She does have better moves than expected."

Chelsea replied to the shouting, life-sized puppet girl next to her. That puppet itself had been the one in control of the doll that just got smashed by Tomochika. The system of possession had several layers, but was administered by the mother soul residing within Chelsea.

They went in with the intention to quickly abduct Tomochika and settle the matter, but it looked like things wouldn't go that smoothly.

"Moru~! First of all kill that Yogiri guy moru~!"

The cute little teddy bear Chelsea was holding in her arms uttered some not so cute words.

"Good idea, even if they're athletic they don't look like they've got the strength to resist."

"Gehehehe, we can go ahead and chop off one or two limbs, right? Just gotta make sure she stays alive!"

Now a boy doll spoke, swinging around a knife with a wicked smile on its face.

"Of course, that won't be a problem. After all, kidnapping her is all we've been ordered."

Chelsea said so despite understanding Yuuki's intentions behind their current mission.

Looking at her own body she could tell very well that while she was certainly adorable, she was lacking in sex appeal. When thinking about possibly being unable to receive Yuuki's affection with this body of hers she couldn't help but be jealous of Tomochika. Erika's conduct was most likely based on jealousy as well, she thought.

"Go."

"Let's get her moru~!"

Stuffed animals, dolls, robots and more flooded Yogiri and Tomochika all at once. However, they all stopped their movements mid air, flying past them with a swish and lamely dropping to the ground.

That much was still within calculations.

"Alright, nex… huh?"

Feeling a sudden sense of unease, Chelsea took a long look at the teddy bear she was hugging, and what she saw was just that: a teddy bear.

"Morulun!?"

In a panic she shook her toy, but the stuffed animal didn't respond nor move.

"Jennifer! Jacky!"

The girl doll next to her fell to her knees and limply tumbled down the emergency staircase, while the knife wielding boy doll simply fell over and stopped moving.

"No… no! What's wrong!? Morulun, Jennifer, Jacky! Move! Come on, hey!"

Those dolls could have been considered their own selves, irreplaceable to Chelsea. And yet, they all stopped moving one after the other.

Chelsea fell into terror.

Using the dolls that could still move for vision, all she could see was Yogiri walking towards the stairs. The dolls attacked him just like she ordered, then fell to the ground lifelessly the moment they got close to him.

Eventually the door to the emergency stairs opened and Yogiri appeared before Chelsea herself.

The dolls that could still move went into attack mode immediately, intending to defend Chelsea.

"Stop! Please, stop! No more killing! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Chelsea finally made her dolls stop, although it could hardly be called a conscious order to them given the turmoil she was in.

"Takatou-kun… is it just me or do we look like the bad guys here…?"

"Hey, all I did was protect us."

The puppet master and her puppets had gone silent and the only thing that could be heard now were two perplexed voices.

By the time the two arrived at Chelsea the number of unbroken dolls had gone down to a mere handful.