Chapter 13 - Before we get started: everyone in the back, die

"Mireille! We'll forget about this so just pull back! Despite how Takatou-kun looks he's ridiculously strong! You guys don't stand a chance!"

Tomochika knew very well that the people she was talking to weren't the kind to listen to such words, but she couldn't bear just silently watching on.

"Nyanya? Did you think that kind of bluff would work? Gifts are everything. There's nothing you two major weak ungifted can do, nya."

"I've got a high level analyze, aight? We know you two are ungifted, it's a fact!"

As Mireille and the human leader were talking, five of the beastmen circled around them.

Yogiri took note of his opponents' equipment.

Most of them carried swords. Some were bare-handed, possibly magic users. One of them held a net, or rather a rope with weights attached, so their goal was probably to catch them alive.

"Before we get started: everyone in the back, die."

And all at once the five behind them collapsed — first off all he wanted to somewhat half their number.

This was for the sake of experimenting with going easy on opponents.

On their way to this city they discussed Yogiri's usage of his power and while there were many things about it that still troubled Tomochika, she did agree to using it to kill enemies in self-defense.

However, due to the power's overwhelming strength it wasn't particularly flexible, so they tried coming up with a way to go easy on people.

"You, what just…"

Unlike Hanakawa and his group, the gang's leader instantly grasped that it was Yogiri's doing.

Having arrived at that conclusion one's first thought would be to escape, but he and all the beastmen were frozen still. The situation was too strange for them, their instincts couldn't tell them how to react.

The correct course of action would have been to beg for their lives. There was no guarantee of being spared, but it was most likely their best chance at survival; Yogiri had already decided to kill them whether they rushed up to attack or turned around to escape.

Left over were six and Yogiri decided to go through them in order.

"Half die."

He spoke as he pointed at a beastman with the features of a tiger, who dropped to the ground the moment he finished. His intention was to kill only the tigerman's lower half, one of the ideas for going easy on a target.

Yogiri's power was to order any target to die, so perhaps it was possible to make only half a creature his target? For Yogiri, who had never thought about using his power differently, this was uncharted territory.

"AaAAH—— ＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＃＃＃!"

The demitiger screamed in words they didn't understand. He didn't die instantly, but it didn't take long for his voice to stop.

——Well, that was to be expected. Instantly losing half your body sounds pretty fatal.

It was unclear what exactly happened to the beastman's anatomy, but apparently halving him was overdoing it. Yogiri decided to pinpoint his target further.

"Right ankle."

He released his power at a sheeplike demihuman, but blundered. He wasn't able to focus his power that precisely, possibly due to a lack of practice, and his target suffered instant death.

"Left arm."

His next target had a leopard's face. It worked, but once again his target died soon after.

A sudden occurrence of medical dysfunction in one's left arm: There may be people capable of surviving it, but some might just die from the shock.

"Not working too well compared to just going all out…"

Yogiri mumbled as he began considering simply killing them without further thought.

"Eyeball."

He used his power on a canine beastman, and was successful.

It was a more precise target than an ankle, but perhaps its independence as an organ made it an easier mark.

"OooOO! ＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠!"

The dogman writhed on the ground with his hand covering his eye.

"Nose, ears."

Yogiri continued to use his power on the beastman. If he possessed the same properties as a dog then first his sense of smell and hearing should be eliminated.

His ears and nose also died as intended. However, killing three of the five senses could hardly be called a success as far as going easy on people went.

"Wh-what the! What in the world nyare you!"

Mireille fell into panic.

Before she knew it their number was reduced to three: the Japanese leader, Mireille the catgirl and a lizardlike demihuman of indistinguishable gender.

One of them released killing intent.

It seemed the reptilian demihuman was about to make a move, but Yogiri's counter activated and the attempt was thwarted by instant death.

Two left.

"Does it matter? No point in explaining."

Different from their encounter with Hanakawa, this time it wasn't necessary to collect information. Consequently, there was no need to explain for sake of threatening them.

Yogiri looked to his side.

Tomochika made a pained expression, but didn't try to stop him. It looked like she was prepared to carry the feelings of remorse.

"H-help! Please save me! I-I was forced to work for this Japanese! I have little brothers at home waiting for me with empty stomachs! M-my father went off somewhere with some woman, and my mother is ill with high fever! I had to make money somehow!"

Her verbal tic seemed to have only been an act for the sake of gaining the attraction of men; she must have judged that continuing to use it in this situation would only achieve the opposite effect instead.

The correct course of action. Yogiri had long been tired of her sly nya this nya that.

"Is that so?"

"Y-yes! It's true! So please――"

His reaction gave her a sliver of hope. She quickly separated from her former leader and started walking up to the two sage candidates.

"And you thought that'd justify mugging people and selling them off?"

But hearing that, all hope drained from Mireille's face and revealed despair in its place. Her legs froze.

"You, just what are you… an ungifted shouldn't…"

The leader's face was twisted by terror as he stumbled backwards.

"It does feel like I'm getting somewhere with this, but it sure is inefficient. Not really seeing any benefits either."

All he achieved was terrorizing them, which wasn't his goal at all.

"W-we're both Japanese, aren't we? Aye? Come on, spare me, eh? This is the only way to survive in this world!"

"Would you mind not lumping me in with you?"

In the end, these kinds of people don't reflect on their actions; they'd just repeat their crimes. Nothing good would come from letting them live.

"Die."

He used his power on both of them. Even if it wasn't his taste, the experiment had to be completed.

But nothing happened.

"Hah, haha! A misfire, ain't it!"

"Quick, now!"

Both of them dashed away, driven by panic.

"Huh? Wait, is it fine to let them get away!?

Tomochika didn't want to encourage Yogiri's killing, but she still understood the risk of letting them run.

"I'm not letting them get away, though?"

Yet they continued to run at full speed and soon escaped into the maze of alleys.

＊＊＊＊＊

Mireille ran for her life.

She lowered her posture all the way to running on all fours and made full use of her body as she dashed over the stone paving.

"Hey! Don't run ahead―――!"

The leader shouted something, but Mireille paid him no heed. Under no circumstances would she stop and wait for him or anyone.

She turned through more alleys than she could count, kicked walls to climb, dashed over roofs and continued to flee. Only after she was convinced of having taken more than enough distance did she stop her flight.

She settled to rest on who knows which building's roof, but because she exerted her body to its absolute limit her heartbeat wouldn't calm down.

"Wh-what the hell… …was that monster…"

It was entirely beyond her understanding.

Yogiri spoke little more than single words, but each time he did, one of her comrades would collapse as if a joke. The sight was too absurd for her sense of reality to keep up, but that only intensified the feeling that death was coming down upon them against all reason.

They should have been mere worthless ungifted.

Without any power whatsoever, an existence below even slaves in this world.

On top of that, they were incredibly rare Japanese ungifted.

When she saw them at the weapons shop Mireille blessed her luck.

It was all supposed to end after capturing them, taking their money and selling them to some nobles.

Yet why did it turn out this way?

No matter how she looked at it, she couldn't accept reality.

But it didn't matter anymore.

She escaped. A reason for joy, Mireille thought.

――First, wait for your senses to calm down.

She had made up her mind, but that was when she noticed that her surroundings were far too silent.

There was no sound at all.

It didn't take long for her to realize what it meant and a shiver of fear to tear through her.

Her heartbeat that throbbed in panic only a few moments ago was now barely noticeable.

"a…"

She groaned, but hardly made a noise before she ran out of air. She could no longer breathe.

Her heart was coming to a halt.

Her vision was rapidly turning black.

In desperation she stretched out her claws, scratched at the roof as if to take hold of reality, but her actions served no purpose.

Slowly, the strength she could gather dwindled, and consciousness faded.

.…approaching them was a mistake...

Before long, Mireille quietly ceased to live.

＊＊＊＊＊

"I think I mentioned it on our way here, but my power is irreversible. After activating it there's no way to stop it, the target always dies."

"Hm, you did say that."

"But as for how long it takes the target to die there's some leeway. Well, it can't really be called going easy on someone, but I've barely used it so I went ahead and gave it a test."

"Which means…"

"They should be dying somewhere right about now."

From Yogiri's standpoint all he did was deal with a criminal before the criminal dealt with them.

Tomochika understood where he was coming from, but she didn't appear happy about just calling it settled like that.

"Anyway, let's get away from here. Even without evidence, we wouldn't want to be seen in such a scene."

"Right, true! If someone were to see us here we'd totally look like criminals, wouldn't we!"

The sooner they got away from here the better.

So they thought as they were about to walk out of the alley, when suddenly a figure appeared to block their path.

"Halt."

The sudden stranger spoke Japanese and ordered them to stop in a stern voice.

"What might be the matter?"

Yogiri did as he was told and returned a question.

"I am a guard. I have some questions regarding this situation."

A female knight cut off their exit. Given the soldiers on standby behind her she was most likely a troop leader.

"Then I'm afraid we can't help you. We got lost in these alleys and when we got here it already looked like this."

He looked around him while calmly answering her.

"That's a lie."

The guard scoffed at his words and continued.

"I would know, because I witnessed it all from start to finish."

So she declared with ample confidence.

"Now we really are being seen as the criminals!"

And Tomochika's lament was loud and clear.