"Hey."
"What?"
"Why are we even here?"
"I told you the story already."
Yeah, I heard it. I heard it!
But why are we in the middle of a residential district instead of the battlefield?
And with this woman, no less!
"Could you stop glaring at me like that?"
"Don't make me want to glare. And stop looking this way — face the other direction."
"Having you in my line of sight is unpleasant, and having you see me is just as unpleasant."
Well, aren't you a mouthy little thing.
Maybe I should just strangle her right here?
…Yeah, that does sound nice.
"Oh no, don't get any funny ideas. The Master is watching."
So saying, Fermina pulled a tiny white spider from inside her clothes and held it up.
It was unmistakably a split body of the Master.
If I laid a finger on that insolent woman here, the Master wouldn't stay silent.
I shot her an even sharper glare, venting my frustration with nowhere else to go.
As for why we were in a city district in the middle of a battle — the only answer was the Master's orders.
I thought I'd finally get to let loose after so long, and now I've been pulled away from the battlefield. I never saw that coming.
And all to deal with someone who might not even show up.
Ever since my fight with Kyoya, I haven't been able to satisfy my craving for combat.
No — even that fight with Kyoya got ruined by an unwanted interruption, leaving me with unfinished business.
And I'm fairly certain that I'll never find a battle more fulfilling than that one again.
An opponent who was almost exactly my equal.
The thrill of reacting to their unexpected moves and powering through them.
A rush unlike anything I feel when feeding blood.
And I was still in the middle of that rush — so just imagine how incredible the moment of victory would have felt.
The mere thought of it made my body tremble.
And yet that all-black creature or whatever it was ruined everything.
My soaring spirits were crushed flat in an instant.
On top of that, I can't imagine finding another fight with such perfect conditions ever again.
In this world, the only one who can fight me on equal footing is Kyoya.
Everyone else is either weaker than me or so absurdly strong that they're in the Master's camp.
There's no one close enough for a real back-and-forth like with Kyoya.
And now that he's regained his sanity, he won't fight me like before — with genuine intent to kill.
The only opponents left are ones where victory is already certain or defeat is already certain.
So that fight was the first and last battle where I could feel truly satisfied.
I let that opportunity slip through my fingers, which means from now on, the most combat can do is burn off the frustrations I've built up day to day.
All I can do is erase the negative. There's no way to come out ahead.
I thought that was at least better than nothing — and now they've pulled me away from even that battlefield.
Does the Master hate me?
Oh, no. I shouldn't dwell on that too deeply.
If the answer really turned out to be yes, I'd cry.
"It seems they've arrived."
The split body clinging to Fermina started wriggling around, tugging at her as if trying to say something.
Huh — that's actually a little cute.
No. Not cute. Focus.
"Good. Now I can finally let loose a bit."
"It looks like this way."
I followed the direction the split body was indicating.
What I arrived at was a quiet corner of the city.
A sleepy residential area with hardly anyone around.
From one of the houses, a group of hooded men pushed open the door and emerged.
"I can go all out, right?"
I confirmed, and the Master's split body bobbed its little head in a nod.
The moment I saw that, I lunged at the suspicious hooded group.
I brought my sword crashing down on the hooded figure closest to me.
The greatsword-type magic sword that Kyoya had made for me.
My power combined with the magic sword's power, and the hooded man merged with the ground.
I'm not misspeaking.
I guess I used a bit too much force.
I'd meant to cut him, but instead he was reduced to an unrecognizable lump and embedded himself into the pavement.
Hmm. Maybe I went too far?
"Hm. It's a trap after all."
The apparent leader of the hooded group murmured calmly, even watching his companion end up in that state.
"But the bait was real, not a fabrication. Attack."
At the leader's command, the remaining hooded figures all charged at me at once.
I swept them aside with a single swing of the magic sword.
Then a chakram flew in from behind me, hitting one of the hooded men and slicing clean through his neck.
Fermina, it seemed, had been providing covert support from hiding.
The man whose neck had been severed crumpled, and in the process his hood fell away.
The ears that were now exposed were long.
The hallmark of an elf.
The group I'd attacked was made up of elves.
The Master had fed false information to the elves.
That the Demon race would launch a full-scale assault on the Human race, and that I —
The elves who obtained this information had been told that if I did anything, they should come deal with me.
Whether I'd actually show up or not was uncertain, but the elves believed the false intel and obediently walked right into the trap.
Well, I was actually here, so it wasn't entirely false, I suppose.
Even their leader had said the bait was real.
It seemed the Master had gambled on the idea that if information about me — a reincarnator — was leaked, the elves would mobilize.
Because during a critical moment like this,
I swung my magic sword and cut down the elves as they charged.
They were weak.
The instant I thought how boring this was, something smashed into my face.
Huh?
What?
I couldn't process the situation and went blank.
Then, in a flash, the impact of hitting the ground brought me back to my senses.
I scrambled to regain my footing, but a foot was already lunging toward me from point-blank range.
"!?"
I blocked the incoming foot with the magic sword.
I had the blade edge facing up, but the foot didn't cut.
A standoff between the magic sword and the foot.
I looked up to see a face beneath the hood — expressionless, partially hidden.
It was the leader from before.
I put more force into my arms and pushed the leader's foot back.
The leader gave way and retreated.
I can't believe I let someone land a clean hit on me without any defense.
The speed was more than I'd expected, I'll admit.
But the damage was negligible.
I'd simply let my guard down.
That's right — if I hadn't been careless, there was no way I'd have taken a punch from someone like this.
Still — isn't this guy a little too tough?
Why won't the magic sword cut him?
That's weird, isn't it?
I'm starting to get irritated.
I channeled that irritation into my strike and charged the leader.
The leader held up his palm toward me, and a hole opened in it. Something shot out.
Before I could dodge, something pierced straight through my body.
I could tell my HP had dropped without even needing to check with Appraisal.
What was that? A laser?
Doesn't matter.
Ignoring the damage, I raised the magic sword overhead.
Even the leader's expression cracked with faint surprise at that.
The magic sword, swung at full force, slammed into the leader's body.
I felt something hard resist for a moment — and then it crumbled apart.
The leader's body split in two and went flying.
I let out a breath and pursued the flying remains.
There, the bisected leader lay on the ground.
What I could see from the cross-section of the body was mechanical.
No wonder he was so tough and so hard.
This man had half-cyborgized his own body.
I'd heard from the Master that elves possessed highly advanced mechanical technology, but I'd been skeptical until I saw it with my own eyes.
"This is a miscalculation of the highest order. To think I would lose in this body."
"Oh my? You're still alive in that condition?"
Color me surprised.
Losing half your body and still being alive.
Cyborgs really are something.
"Giving you to Ariel was a mistake. Failing to kill you at that time appears to have been a costly error."
"It was. But I'll come exterminate the elves eventually, so look forward to it."
Of course, you won't be alive for that.
I drove the magic sword down and finally ended him for good.
"Are you finished?"
"Yes."
Fermina popped her face out and glanced at the dead leader's remains — or rather, wreckage.
"For now, let's take this with us."
"Agreed."
The Master doesn't say much, but there had to be a reason I was used as bait this time — and it had to be so they could recover this.
To find out just how advanced the elves' machines really were.
Just how far ahead the Master had planned all this.
Even as an ally, it's terrifying.