Swirling dark skies. Countless gravestones jutting from the ground.
Saya Chromiz stood alone in the hammering rain.
This was one of the areas that had existed in the Treasure Hall overlapping with the Imperial Capital—a "Cemetery" zone now easily accessible through a gate in the Decadent District.
Probably the area where the Phantoms of this Treasure Hall could gain the most power, and Saya let out a sigh.
Her ancestral uniform clung to her body, soaked with water. She tightened her grip on the baton in her right hand.
There were no Phantom presences nearby. The Phantoms that had made this place their stronghold had all fled.
The only ones here were the one Saya was tracking, and Saya herself.
Despite the overcast sky, her mood was bright.
For Saya, the relationship with the Visitors was a complicated one.
Entities of aberrant form that lent their power for reasons unknown. Visitors invisible to everyone but Saya, their thoughts inscrutable, unknown.
Until now, Saya had never attacked a Visitor. There had been no need.
But she should have done this sooner.
Now she understood. "Sarasara"—the power that called forth Visitors, interfering in worlds that should never intersect.
Beyond the reach of that ability, expanded by Thousand Transformations, lay a special effectiveness against Visitors—which is to say, the destruction of Visitors.
"Come out. You're the only one left."
That was why the Visitors obeyed Saya.
Without her ability they could not have come to this world, and they knew that her ability could inflict devastating damage upon them— The mysterious power that filled her entire body was something she had first realized when she visited another world during the spirit kidnapping incident and attacked the Phantoms there. The baton was wreathed in black-purple lightning that could kill Visitors.
What Riez and the others had said was rather crude, but it hit the mark.
If you intended to enslave those who would do harm to people, you had to thoroughly establish the hierarchy.
Even if no one else could damage a Visitor, Saya was here.
The graves crumbled and collapsed, and from the ground, black shadows rose.
Until now, Sarasara had summoned increasingly powerful Visitors in proportion to the strength of its opponent. But this time, the one who had betrayed Saya was different from any individual it had ever called forth.
A rustling sound. Countless tentacle-like appendages sprouted from the black mass.
—It was enormous.
Ever since Riez and the others had opened her eyes, Saya had relentlessly destroyed every Phantom that had betrayed her and sided with the Phantoms.
But this individual was stronger, larger, fiercer, and more arrogant than any of them.
It had no eyes, no nose, no mouth—its form bore a slight resemblance to an octopus.
Even without any expression, it radiated intense contempt and mockery.
A born enemy of humanity that had never once helped Saya.
This one was the last. And if she defeated this one, surely the majority of Visitors would never again even think of betraying her.
Without any warning, a tentacle swept out at speeds the eye could not follow.
Its velocity far exceeded the top speed of Tinno Shade that she had seen in their sparring matches.
But the tentacle, launched at supersonic speed, was forcefully deflected around Saya.
It wasn't a Visitor that stopped it. The black-purple lightning that erupted outward from Saya blocked the blow. It resembled a barrier that certain spellcasters could deploy.
Unlike a general barrier, it was a force that affected only Visitors. But that was enough.
Saya's oldest remaining memory. Words spoken to her by family whose faces she could no longer even remember—Saya remembered them well.
Saya's talent was... something unseen even when tracing back through her entire bloodline.
The blocked blow sent a trace of consternation and intense killing intent from the entity.
Riez and the others had wanted to help, but she had asked them to stand back for this last fight.
This was a resolution Saya had to make herself.
Countless tentacles, swaying as they grew, targeted her from every direction.
This traitor. If she had to give it a name—perhaps "Thousand Hands."
Coming to the Imperial Capital had taught Saya many things. If she defeated this one, it would all wrap up neatly.
She could tour the capital without a care in the world and return to Teras with her head held high.
Black light gathered on the baton. Little by little, she was figuring out how to control this power.
Her eyes burned with heat. As if they were on fire. But what Saya felt was exhilaration.
"I'll punish you. No one else will get hurt here. One on one—let's settle this."
§ § § Good grief—why was it that, after lazing around so much during suspension, going outside just once left her this exhausted?
The human body was truly a mystery.
Having finished a tense event for the first time in a while, she returned to the Clan House.
Eva offered words of comfort as Klye settled into his usual seat in the Clan Master's office with a sigh.
"Good work, Klye-san. How did it go?"
"Hmm... well, it was a tricky situation, but... I think the mission was accomplished. The rest will sort itself out."
He had answered the summons in order to grovel for what he'd done.
Whether he'd be forgiven or not wasn't really the issue. He had done what he could—that was what mattered.
Most of the events in the world were made up of things beyond one's own control.
For starters, he had pressed the button, but he hadn't known what it actually did. The notifications on his phone had cut off abruptly, and besides, he'd been under suspension and knew almost nothing about the spirit kidnapping incident Lucia had been investigating.
"Seriously, why would someone send an email to my phone... that's just cheating, isn't it?"
The phone was a rare Treasure Weapon—a versatile Treasure Weapon with a multitude of functions. When an email was sent to a Treasure Weapon like that, most people wouldn't suspect a trap.
His love for Treasure Weapons had been exploited plain and simple. Absolutely outrageous.
Klye twirled the only item left in his possession—a crown that had been stored in the innermost chamber of a hidden room—and spoke.
"This crown doesn't seem to be a Treasure Weapon either."
It was easy to distinguish whether an item found in the Treasure Hall was a Treasure Weapon or not.
Treasure Weapons expended charged magical energy to activate their effects—if you couldn't charge magical energy into something in the first place, it wasn't a Treasure Weapon. And by that standard, this crown was not a Treasure Weapon.
He had been overjoyed when he heard he'd obtained a desired Treasure Weapon, and this was the result of being kicked while down.
"...You seem a bit down," Eva said.
"Well, I did take quite a risk this time."
Even though no Phantoms had appeared, infiltrating the Treasure Hall without an escort was nothing if not risky.
Klye beckoned Eva over, and when she drew close, he placed the crown on her head.
She let him, then furrowed her brows.
"...What is this?"
"Search me."
It probably had no value as a precious metal, at least. Precious metals didn't drop in the Treasure Hall...
Well, this time was truly a colossal failure in a long while. He understood his own incompetence, but making such a fool of himself was genuinely dispiriting. He was undoubtedly the reverse MVP of this whole affair.
And every time he made a mistake like this, he thought to himself: Maybe it was about time to call it quits.
Why hadn't he retired from being a Hunter yet?
He felt like being on suspension forever. Unpaid was fine too.
As he let out a forlorn sigh, the commotion outside the room suddenly grew loud. Without even knocking, the door burst open and Luke and the others poured in, chattering away.
The whole capital was in an uproar, and here you all were, full of energy.
"Klye! This is the best! Can you believe this capital turned into a Treasure Hall?! Well, all the Phantoms are running away, but... next time I definitely won't let them escape!"
"It's not as impressive as you'd think, but being able to absorb Mana Materials while staying in the city is pretty convenient. The downside is it's probably going to spawn a ton of naive Hunters."
You're probably the only ones in the world happy about the capital becoming a Treasure Hall.
Well, the Mourning Specter had always slept and stayed inside the Treasure Hall without issue, so...
There, Citry—who had eyes just as brilliant as Luke's and Riez's, if not more so—raised a single finger and said: "Klye-san, Treasure Weapons might also appear throughout the city!!"
"!! Yeah, yeah, that's right!"
"Don't be happy about it!"
Lucia's immediate retort flew in. How annoying... he wasn't happy about it. Just a little, maybe.
Treasure Weapons appearing wasn't the problem—losing all safe zones was the worst-case scenario. With his luck, a Phantom could manifest right in the Clan Master's office.
"Do you even understand whose fault this situation is? Anthem-san has been working nonstop at the church for three days and nights??"
"Now, now, Lucia-chan. Klye-chan probably had his reasons, and Anthem big brother doesn't bat an eye at three all-nighters."
Riez was, remarkably, the one calming Lucia down... Wait, he absolutely did not do this on purpose!
Could you please stop phrasing it like I did this intentionally?!
"That's right, Lucia. Think about it calmly. The capital becoming a Treasure Hall—the benefits outweigh the risks. Right, Klye?"
This was bad. He was starting to sound like one of Riez and Luke's kind.
Eva's look of utter exasperation cut right to his heart.
"N-no, no, no! Turning the capital into a Treasure Hall is absolutely unacceptable. It's probably a crime under Imperial law too."
"Not 'probably'—doing something like that would definitely earn you the death penalty."
"The Zebuldia Empire doesn't do flexibility. I put up impressive results and still got my Level reduced even with no evidence."
Eva spoke with a look of disbelief.
She didn't yet know that Klye was the cause of this chaos (or at least had a small possibility of being so). On the other hand, Citry and the others had probably heard the full story from Lucia.
"But Klye-san's contributions are on a completely different scale. There's Yggdrasil too—the Empire couldn't just hand down the death penalty that easily."
"...Klye-san, what did you do?"
"Exactly! Calling Saya-chan was basically Klye-chan's doing too!"
Citry was fundamentally on Klye's side. The fact that she was phrasing it this way meant... his situation might be worse than he thought. Not that it mattered at this point.
Seeing that Klye couldn't even manage his usual cool smile, Citry said brightly: "It's fine! If you get the death penalty, we'll just flee the capital right away! The Zebuldia Empire isn't the only great nation out there—any country would take us in!"
"Hey, Cit! Enough with the jokes! It's okay, Leader. The death penalty is virtually impossible. Gaark the Branch Chief would protect you too, probably."
"That's right, Klye! If I'm not getting the death penalty, you won't either!"
Luke probably should reflect on himself a bit more. Though, surprisingly, he did seem self-aware.
Somehow, this silly back-and-forth was loosening the tension in his shoulders.
As Klye sighed, Riez suddenly lit up and spoke as though remembering something: "That's right! Klye-chan, did you meet Saya-chan? Just like you said, she's an incredible ability user. She was so strong she'd never really been in a pinch, but it looks like this incident strengthened her abilities even more."
"My new gas should be able to take her down, probably."
"I'm going to fight her next. I've already promised."
"Me too! I'm gonna fight her too! Haven't promised yet though!"
...Saya had it tough too. But well, they seemed surprisingly compatible—this was its own kind of friendship, right?
Watching his childhood friends argue back and forth, Klye felt as though he'd returned to the old days, and everything stopped mattering.
This time he had certainly made a major mistake. But he had made countless mistakes before too, and with everyone's help he had always managed to push through.
This time would be the same—as long as he had everyone, things would work out.
It was true he didn't have the strength of a Level 8. But regardless of his conduct, the strength of the Mourning Specter, cultivated over more than five years as a Hunter, had indeed reached the Level 8 threshold.
There was no point in agonizing any further. He swept every worry from his mind.
In the end, there was nothing he could do. Everything would work out the way it was meant to.
Klye yawned widely, finally flashed a hard-boiled smile, and closed his eyes.
§ —And when he next opened his eyes, Klye found himself in an unfamiliar room.
The furnishings were as lavish as a nobleman's bedroom.
Confused, he sat up on the plush bed and blinked—then, with a clank of a lock being turned, the door opened without any knock.
The person who entered was a knight in recognizable Zebuldia Empire armor.
Looking down at Klye, the knight proclaimed in a clear, resonant voice: "Klye Andrich. You are being detained on suspicion of sedition against the state. Per Imperial law, you are obligated to submit to interrogation. I am aware of your abilities, so let me advise you—refrain from any rash actions."
...What?