Hinata rose to her feet, gazing at
Her eyes held not a shred of warmth, filled instead with nothing but contempt.
"H-Hinata, are you sure about this? Shouldn't we leave this to Lord Masayuki?"
Nicolaus called out to her, but she ignored him completely.
She paid no mind to the fact that Masayuki himself had gone rigid upon hearing Nicolaus's words.
A faint smile played on Hinata's lips.
It was a thin, cruel smile reminiscent of the Hinata of old.
"There's nothing to worry about. That's right… nothing at all. Everything has gone exactly according to plan."
Rather than answering Nicolaus, Hinata murmured to herself, as if reaffirming that her own judgment had been correct.
In truth, that was likely the case.
Hinata had merely trusted her own intuition and acted on it.
Yes. Hinata had seen everything, right up to this outcome.
In other words, everything had gone according to plan.
Even the part where she was brutalized by Reiner — all of it had been an event within the script.
The truth was, recently Hinata had been struck by intense episodes of déjà vu.
With the accuracy of something she had already experienced, she could see scenes from seconds or minutes into the future.
After several such episodes, she had become convinced these were glimpses of events yet to come.
This time — though "lucky" might not be the right word — she had foreseen the scene of herself being brutalized by Reiner, her limbs severed, her eyes pierced through.
(Well, having my limbs cut off does make recovery difficult, and having my face damaged would be unpleasant —) That was Hinata's assessment.
The fact that her face remained unnaturally unscathed was not because Reiner had held back — it was because Hinata had dodged the blow.
As for her limbs, she had allowed herself to be hit just enough to appear natural, but only to the extent of having her tendons severed.
All of this had been possible only because she had known what the future held.
And for Hinata, the condition for victory was not surviving long enough to expose the truth to the public, but rather preventing any harm to the citizens who had taken refuge in the church.
One of the futures she had glimpsed was that, if she resisted clumsily, the knights under Reiner's command would storm the church.
(Could this be because my soul is connected to Chloe? I can't imagine this is my own ability —) Hinata saw through the facts with terrifying precision.
A small link to Chloe had been feeding her fragmented memories of the future through Chloe's ability.
But none of that mattered to Hinata.
What mattered was the reality that everything had led to the optimal outcome.
Things had unfolded exactly as Hinata had planned, and now Reiner — the object of her contempt — stood before her.
He was a man who had tormented her endlessly, and there was not a shred of pity in her heart.
"Now then. Reiner, was it?
You wanted to fight me, didn't you? Very well. I'll face you with everything I have."
Hinata gazed at Reiner with a smile full of benevolence.
But her eyes remained cold as ice.
"You— damn you! I'll kill you, and I'll kill that Hero too! As long as I am the strongest, the outcome will be the same!
I'll slaughter everyone who knows the truth!"
Screaming with a mind steeped in madness, Reiner charged.
Sword drawn, he rushed straight at Hinata.
Hinata, unfazed, raised her rapier.
Unlike before, when she had been taking his blows one-sidedly, there was no longer any need to hold back.
She slipped past his wild, sweeping slash and pierced his leg without hesitation.
"GAHHHHH!!"
Reiner shrieked.
The intense pain jolted his consciousness back to a sliver of composure.
(What — what is this pain?!)
Grinding his teeth in agony at the abnormal sensation, Reiner was bewildered to find that his
The damage itself wasn't severe, but the pain showed no sign of subsiding.
"Hee hee hee. Did that hurt? Put on a better show for me!"
Hinata's expression turned to ecstasy as she sensually moistened her lips with her tongue.
Nicolaus and
Even Leonard, for his part, "— Hinata, Ma'am… Your public image had been improving so much lately, and now it's ruined…"
lamented — though while it was certainly a disaster for her image, those very gestures of hers had begun to cultivate a fanatically devoted following.
It suited Hinata remarkably well.
It evoked the image of a superior being devouring one beneath it.
Ignoring the reactions around her entirely, Hinata began her pursuit of Reiner.
Terrified of the searing pain even a glancing blow would inflict, Reiner was forced onto the defensive.
"You — you bitch! How cowardly, enchanting your sword with magic!"
Reiner cursed viciously.
But Hinata merely smiled, paying his words no mind.
It was the truth, so she had no reason to deny it. Besides, there was nothing wrong with enchanting her own sword with magic.
This sword was a Special-Grade magic blade.
She had given away her only Holy Spirit Armament to Chloe, and even if she had borrowed one of the mass-produced Spirit Armaments, she no longer had enough power to activate one.
It was then that Rimuru had sent her this rapier.
Its name was engraved upon it: The Phantom Rainbow
It was a blade that could be called the superior successor to the magic sword Hinata had used before.
It could, of course, unleash the Seven-Step Dead End Rainbow — an attack that killed the opponent in seven strikes.
With her previous sword, the seventh strike would destroy the Mental Body.
But the sword gifted by Rimuru could go further still — it could destroy the Astral Body as well.
A weapon that was ordinarily Legendary-grade, Rimuru had re-calibrated it so that even Hinata could wield it.
(This is incomparably better than the old one. With this, I can handle it even in my weakened state.)
Hinata marveled quietly, satisfied with the sword's performance.
Then she narrowed her eyes and directed a cruel smile at Reiner.
She had already landed five strikes on him.
She could kill him with two more, but she decided that would be far too boring.
And even in this situation, the sword offered room for improvisation.
"Well then, let's bring this to an end. I've grown rather tired of looking at that ugly face of yours."
Hinata declared, raising her sword.
"D-Don't look down on me, you vixen! Someone like you could never beat me!"
Reiner screamed, spinning his blade wildly and letting out an inhuman shriek.
"You showed mercy because I'm a woman? Don't flatter yourself — turn to minced flesh! Demolishing Slash Wave!"
The full rotational force of Reiner's honed physique was channeled into his blade, and the resulting shockwave could shatter anything it struck.
It was the ultimate technique in Reiner's arsenal — an attack that would reduce any who received it to nothing but shreds of meat.
But — "How naïve. That won't be enough —"
With a cold sneer, Hinata dodged Reiner's devastating blow.
It was nothing but an afterimage.
Blood rushing to his head, Reiner had fallen into Hinata's trap from the very first exchange.
"I-Impossible!"
"Goodbye. Over the course of three minutes, you will experience an eternity of suffering before you die.
Six Illusory Death Pain Domination!!"
Reiner had underestimated Hinata, assuming she was beneath him, and had held back his true power.
Panicked by the failure of his strongest technique, he couldn't react to Hinata's counterattack.
Her strike pierced Reiner's heart with pinpoint accuracy.
(This is nothing! With my Body Recovery EX, I can regenerate even my heart — And now, I'll show you no mercy. I'll kill you, you vixen!)
He cursed his own carelessness and swore to finish Hinata off for real this time.
But — (Huh? What — why is the pain…?)
Reiner tried to activate Body Recovery EX to heal his wound, but the ability wouldn't activate…
Worse still, every body-regulation skill he possessed — Pain Blocker, Physical Condition Management, and the rest — had been completely nullified.
"GYAAAAAAGH!!"
Reiner writhed on the ground, gasping in agony.
The pain that Pain Blocker had shielded him from for so long was now battering him with ferocious terror and suffering.
This was the true power of Hinata's weapon.
At the sixth strike, the technique known as Dead End Pain activates.
It seals the opponent's abilities and proceeds to destroy their Mental Body over the course of three minutes.
It allowed no madness to grant escape — it killed while forcing the victim to experience pain and despair. A truly horrifying ability.
The pain of having one's Mental Body destroyed was beyond the comparison of any physical wound.
For whoever received this attack, three minutes would feel like an eternity.
"Sleep now. Dream sweet dreams."
Hinata spoke to Reiner in a gentle voice, as though coaxing a child to sleep.
Then she watched his writhing, suffering form with quiet satisfaction.
(Well, that's fine. I returned to him ten thousand times the pain I received.)
She accepted it, and her interest in Reiner vanished.
The actual multiplier was somewhat less than ten thousandfold, but that was an utterly trivial detail as far as Hinata was concerned.
In any case, the desperate situation had been averted.
That was all that truly mattered.
Reiner rolled across the ground, screaming.
But no one moved to help him.
The soldiers who had been incited by Reiner and the Prince were growing more confused by the second as they tried to understand the situation.
With the arrival of Hero Masayuki — the hero of the people — public sentiment had swung entirely away from Reiner and his faction.
The Prince's confession had been the final blow.
For the Royal Knights, protecting the royal family was their duty, but there was no obligation to shield a royal who had murdered the King.
Not a single person in that place pledged loyalty to Prince Elric.
Similarly, it was plain for all to see that Reiner, their commander, had no claim to justice.
"W-What are we supposed to do…?"
The knights and soldiers wavered.
Seeing their indecision, Masayuki sensed his moment and stood.
"Everyone! I'm sure you can see at a glance what is right and what is wrong in this scene.
Those of you who are wise surely already know the correct answer without me saying a word — Please, have faith in that answer. I, too, want to believe in all of you!"
In truth, Masayuki was still full of doubt.
Everything had happened too fast, and he hadn't caught up with the situation.
But his instincts told him this was the biggest opportunity to win over the crowd.
So, making sure not to commit to anything definitive, he guided the crowd with carefully ambiguous wording.
(Perfect. That way, even if I'm wrong, I won't be the one who gets blamed.)
He congratulated himself internally.
"Oh, Master Masayuki believes in us…"
"What have we been doing all this time?"
"We must live up to Master Masayuki's expectations…"
Roused by Masayuki's words, the knights threw down their swords and knelt.
They showed that they bore no hostility toward Masayuki.
Seeing this, a wave of relief washed through the crowd.
And then — "It seems the Hero has resolved the whole matter…"
"The Prince killed the King —"
"But we have Hero Masayuki on our side!"
"The mastermind was the Knight Commander, Reiner, they say."
"And that's why Hinata, Ma'am…"
"But it was Masayuki who saw through it all and saved Hinata, Ma'am from her plight!"
"As expected of the Hero!"
In this way, credit naturally continued to pile onto Masayuki.
The cheer spread through the crowd in an instant: "MA—SA—YUKI! MA—SA—YUKIIII!!"
It did not take long for the usual thunderous roar of support to erupt.
Masayuki raised one hand stiffly, his cheek twitching, as he responded to the crowd.
Inside, he was on the verge of tears.
But that, too, was nothing new.
When the noise finally died down, Hinata approached Masayuki.
She extended her right hand.
"It's been quite the ordeal. Thank you."
She requested a handshake.
Seeing Hinata up close, Masayuki tensed at her beauty.
The Monster Kingdom had its share of beautiful women, but Hinata possessed a unique charm all her own.
Hurriedly wiping his palm on his clothes, Masayuki reached out to accept her hand.
But — Gazing at Hinata, lost in her beauty, Masayuki's foot caught on a small pebble, and he stumbled.
The result…
His right hand felt something soft and yielding.
Then silky, pleasant hair tickled his cheek…
And a sweet, intoxicating fragrance assaulted his senses, threatening to melt his brain.
(Wh-What just happened…?)
Overwhelmed, Masayuki lost all sense of reality for a moment.
(Wait — this soft feeling under my right hand, and what feels like an exquisite cushion pressing against me… could it be…?)
Yes.
Having tripped, Masayuki had toppled straight into Hinata and knocked her flat on the ground.
And his right hand was, with exquisite precision, pressing firmly into her ample chest.
It was a stroke of outrageous, world-class good fortune.
Though Masayuki was terrified of what the consequences might be.
Just as he went pale and scrambled to stand, trying to stammer out an excuse — (Hm? Did something just…?)
Masayuki noticed something pass over his head.
He felt a shock, as though something had cut right through the back of his skull.
(WHOA! Was I just sniped from somewhere!?)
But the reality was slightly different from what he imagined.
What Masayuki noticed was not the attack itself, but the shockwave that arrived a fraction late.
In other words, the actual projectile had passed through the space where he had been, missing by only the narrowest margin thanks to his fall.
If Masayuki hadn't stumbled, he would have been killed.
"Tch. You mean to tell me — you dodged my Sure-Kill Assassination!?"
A single figure appeared before Masayuki and the others, letting out a cry of astonishment.
A man draped in black sacred vestments, with pure-white wings sprouting from his back.
It was
Masayuki stared in confusion at the unfamiliar man, completely out of his depth.
But
"Well done — that's Masayuki for you. I was on alert too, but my bad! I couldn't pick up a single trace of that guy. Good catch, Masayuki."
Venom said this as he stepped forward to shield Masayuki.
He didn't notice that Masayuki had gone white as a sheet upon hearing those words.
In truth, Venom had been guarding Masayuki this entire time while searching for any sign of a threat.
He hadn't let his guard down, but he had detected absolutely nothing. Which meant the man before them was dangerous enough to evade even Venom's senses.
"I don't know what your goal is, but if you're after Masayuki, you'll have to go through me. Sound good, Masayuki?"
"Huh? Ah, yes —"
Masayuki nodded instinctively.
There was simply no way he could face someone like this on his own.
If Venom was offering to take his place, there was no reason to refuse.
And then, a reassuring voice reached the still-confused Masayuki.
"Big brother Masayuki, we're here too! Let us show you how much we've grown!"
"If Masayuki-san is watching, we'll feel confident too!"
"Big Brother! Watch Alice and the others shine!"
Masayuki agonized over how to respond to the children.
Sending children to fight while he watched from the sidelines — even he knew that didn't sit right.
(But in reality, the kids are stronger than I am… I guess there's no helping it!)
In the end, he convinced himself to let it go.
"So — how long do you intend to keep groping my chest?"
At those words, Masayuki leaped back in a panic.
"S-Sorry! I-I swear it wasn't on purpose…"
He couldn't think of a good excuse, but before he could finish, Hinata cut him off.
"I know. On the contrary, let me thank you. That man was targeting me, wasn't he?"
So saying, Hinata bowed her head to Masayuki.
(Well, targeting you — I honestly have no idea what's going on…)
He wanted to say it, but something told him that admitting it would lead to ruin, so Masayuki kept his mouth shut.
In truth, Arios's target had been Hinata.
There was one reason.
Yūki had once shown concern for Hinata.
Even though she seemed like someone of little consequence, it had been enough to bother him.
He had decided to eliminate her precisely because she was insignificant — better to dispose of her quickly.
Having learned of Reiner's plan, he had been waiting for an opening to assassinate Hinata.
Since Veldora had declared they would not attack the capital, Arios had preferred to avoid direct involvement — but Reiner's plan had failed.
So Arios had decided to assassinate her in one swift stroke and retreat.
But he had failed.
Masayuki's uncanny luck had ruined Arios's scheme at the critical moment.
"Since it's come to this, there's nothing for it. I'm sorry, but all of you will die!"
"Draw your blades! I'm strong, you know — and Masayuki's here with me!"
Venom responded fearlessly to Arios's declaration.
And quietly, the battle began.