Chapter 13

As the cherry blossom petals danced in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of the promise written there.

---

When the ogre, far away, slammed his fist into the ground, the earth beneath Flamm's feet distorted and warped.

Crack—Grind—

The sound of something being worn down echoed. Flamm's body shook violently, and her vision dropped bit by bit. She cautiously looked down. There, the ground had transformed into sharp, blade-like shapes, swirling and rotating like the face of the ogre.

And she saw her own feet being sucked in, crushed, and scattered.

"A... E...!?"

It took Flamm a moment to realize that the red fragments flying around were part of her. Her feet, ankles, calves, and thighs were being sucked into the vortex. She tried to pull them out, but her legs were already too weak to exert any force. Regeneration wouldn't be fast enough. If this continued, not just her legs but her entire body would be sucked in and turned into minced meat.

"No, no, my legs... They won't move!?"

"Miss!"

She had no one else to turn to. Sera shouted desperately and pushed Flamm away.

"Ugh... Ugh... Ah, cough...!"

With her thighs halfway gone, Flamm tried to crawl away from the vortex. The vortex, having lost its prey, groaned and continued to rotate, as if in frustration.

"Ha, ah... Ahhhh!"

The intense pain from losing both legs overwhelmed Flamm. While she would regenerate eventually, the pain was far worse this time due to the rough, torn wounds. Blood gushed out, soaking the ground. But she probably wouldn't die from this. If she didn't die, everything would be okay. If she didn't die, she would be fine—Flamm repeated this to herself over and over. Still, pain was pain, and it was excruciating.

"Ugh... Ugh...!"

She couldn't breathe properly, and the contents of her stomach rose and spilled onto the ground. Sera, knowing that Flamm had regenerative abilities, realized that the current injuries were clearly fatal. Flamm would die from shock before she could heal. She rushed over and placed her hands on Flamm.

"Heal!"

It was a well-intentioned act. Light overflowed from Sera's hands and gathered around Flamm's legs, trying to restore them to their original state. The intermediate healing spell, Heal, wasn't powerful enough to heal such severe injuries, but it was an attempt to stop the bleeding. However, a sizzling sound was heard, and the cut on Flamm's thigh began to melt.

"Ahh, ahhh, ahhh! Ah... I, gi, i!"

Flamm, receiving the healing spell, contorted in agony. She clawed at the ground, trying to endure the pain. The force of her claws was so strong that blood seeped between her fingers.

"Why? Why, even though I used a healing spell—"

Sera was confused and flustered. But the intelligent girl quickly realized what was happening.

"Reversed... It's reversed, isn't it? It's reversing the healing... No, Miss, I didn't mean to!"

Flamm understood. Sera was a good girl, genuinely concerned for her and trying to heal her. It was okay, she wanted to tell her, but her consciousness couldn't form words, only groans escaped her mouth. Still, to reassure the teary-eyed Sera, she took deep breaths and forced out words.

"It's... okay... Ugh...!"

"Miss!?"

"A, ha... Ha... Fu, more... important...!"

"More important, what?"

"R... run...!"

"Run?"

Sera, distracted by Flamm's condition, had forgotten that they were still being targeted by the mysterious ogre. The enemy was walking straight toward them. As it got closer, a disturbing sound came from the spiral of flesh on its face. Flamm's legs were beginning to regenerate, gradually returning to their original shape, but it wouldn't be enough to withstand the ogre's next attack.

"I understand!"

Sera decided to follow Flamm's advice and fled, carrying her. Despite the size difference, Sera's enhanced physical abilities made it manageable. They distanced themselves from the ogre. At that moment, the green fist clenched, and the monstrous creature crouched. Another attack was coming—Sera glanced back and braced herself for the ground to warp. But the arm thrust forward, slicing through the air. The target was the air surrounding Sera and Flamm.

"Sera, run...!"

"Ugh...!"

She shouted and ran forward, still holding Flamm. The air was already swirling, and it was easy to imagine that a tornado-like wall of wind would envelop them in seconds. She stumbled and nearly fell but managed to escape.

Zzzzzzzz!

Immediately after, a circular storm raged, shredding and mixing everything in its path.

"Next, to the side...!"

"Another one!?"

The ogre punched the ground without hesitation. Wooooo—

The earth and rocks beneath Sera's feet began to spin and groan. She leaped back to avoid it, but the impact of landing caused Flamm to slip from her arms, and she herself rolled on the ground. Flamm, who had been slammed into the ground, managed to regenerate. She took a defensive stance and used the momentum to stand up, activating her Soul Eater.

—Passivity won't win, she had to attack.

Flamm gripped the massive black sword in one hand and charged straight ahead. Behind her, Sera, having regained her footing, shouldered her mace and began to move around to the ogre's back, drawing an arc. The ogre's gaze was on Flamm, as the status indicated, it was targeting her.

The green fist clenched again. This time, it thrust forward. A punch aimed at the air. Flamm, sensing the danger, jumped to the right.

Crack!

An invisible force sliced through the space in front of the fist, cutting everything it touched. The far wall of earth was cleanly cut out, as if a tool had been used to drill a hole. If she had been hit, Flamm's body would have been shattered into pieces. The previous attacks had a delay before activation, but this one was immediate and showed overwhelming destructive power. The duration of the effect was extremely short, meaning that reducing the rotation speed would shorten the preparation time. Either way, it was more than enough power to kill a person. For Flamm, who couldn't use magic, and Sera, who used a mace as her main weapon, fighting at a distance was disadvantageous. Therefore, they had to bring the fight to close combat.

Flamm landed, rolled to the side, and immediately resumed her sprint. The ogre launched the same attack again, but Flamm dodged it by jumping to the side. Sera, moving faster, took position behind the monster.

"Sera here!"

She jumped to head height, swung her mace with all her might, and struck the ogre's skull with the heaviest part of the weapon.

Crash!

The collision of the skull and the metal block shook the air.

"How's that, my hit!"

Landing and taking a step back, Sera rubbed her nose and smiled smugly. She felt the impact. A critical hit that would have knocked out a regular ogre. However, the ogre didn't flinch and slowly turned to look at Sera. Bloop, bloop. A red vortex spewed blood more forcefully than before, as if showing its anger.

"It didn't work...?"

"Then how about this!?"

Maybe it was resistant to physical attacks, but a slashing attack might cause damage. With that hope, Flamm swung her sword. She gathered the momentum and held the Soul Eater horizontally, delivering a powerful slash at the ogre's leg. But it stopped without cutting through the ogre's flesh, only making a dull sound.

"This thing... Its body is completely different from an ogre...!"

Even with its strange abilities, if its stats were the same as an ogre's, such hope was easily shattered. The ogre raised its fist to crush it.

"Miss, watch out!"

"Ugh!?"

She took a step back to avoid it. The ground where Flamm had been was deeply gouged by the aftereffects of the punch. The arm was wrapped in an invisible force, and being hit would have been fatal. She retreated further, and they faced each other from a distance.

She had thought that close combat might work, but it didn't. Sera's mace had no effect, and Flamm's Soul Eater was useless. They couldn't defeat this monster.

Flamm made eye contact with Sera, who was on the other side of the ogre, and nodded. They both ran toward the back of the square. The enemy started to pursue them, but the speed difference between the ogre and them wasn't significant, and the distance quickly increased.

"What do we do?"

"For now, we can only run!"

If the hole they had blocked earlier was still intact, they could reach the exit quickly. As they continued deeper, they found a large hole in the trees. Given its size, the ogre probably emerged from here. Was it safe to enter its lair? But the monster was closing in from behind. They had no time to hesitate.

"Should we go in?"

"Let's go. If it doesn't work, we'll deal with it then."

If worse came to worst, she could use herself as a decoy to let Sera escape. With that resolve, they stepped into the new cave. The passage continued straight ahead. The walls looked artificially dug. Flamm glanced back—

"Wha...!"

"What's wrong...? Ahh!?"

A regular ogre, due to its massive size, couldn't move quickly. But this one was different. It ran with a human-like form, approaching with large strides. Its body was pushing its limits, and the sound of muscles tearing and turning black with blood could be heard. Still, it ignored the pain, stomping the ground with a heavy, relentless pace. It was acting without any biological limits. Flamm felt that a different will was inhabiting its body. But now wasn't the time for speculation. They had to run for their lives. The distance was closing rapidly. In the narrow cave, they couldn't maneuver as freely as before. Just then, a wall appeared before them, and a bottomless pit opened up below.

"Dead end...!"

"No, there's still this hole... but"

"Do we have to go in...?"

"I don't think we can avoid its attacks here, and we have to run anyway. We can't defeat it—"

As they hesitated, the ogre continued to close in. If they were going to die, they would choose their own path. She remembered the cage where she met Milkit and the choice she made. Her memories pushed her forward. She closed her eyes, exhaled, slapped her cheeks, and said, "Okay," but her heart was still screaming in fear. She took a step forward and jumped into the unknown hole. Sera followed, diving in after her.

The ogre stopped at the edge of the hole and stared into the darkness below with its fleshy face.

---

Thud.

After a brief floating sensation, Flamm's body hit something slightly soft. Sera landed beside her and immediately got up to look around. The space was dark, but faintly visible.

"Where are we...?"

"It seems to be another artificial space... but, ugh, the smell is terrible..."

Flamm looked down and, upon realizing what had caught them, quickly pulled Sera close.

"Ugh!? Mmm!?"

"Sera, close your eyes."

"..."

"Just do it! Don't open them until I say it's okay."

Sera nodded. Flamm carried her down the hill. The pile of bones and decayed bodies was overwhelming. Among them were both monsters and humans, twisted and deformed in various ways. The walls, too, were twisted in places, just like the ogre.

"What is this place...?"

She blocked Sera's view of the bodies, but only until they left the room. But did it really matter if she didn't see them now? Flamm questioned herself as she approached the room's exit and pushed the slightly ajar, undistorted door open with her shoulder.

Once outside, she immediately closed the door and released Sera. Finally able to touch the ground, Sera exhaled and looked around. The corridor was dark. Sera spotted a crystal embedded in the wall.

"Can I turn on the light?"

It was a magic-powered lamp. She gathered magic in her palm to activate it. The shape was different from what they saw in the capital, but it should function the same. Flamm nodded, and the corridor was illuminated by the ceiling lamps. The facility's appearance, now clearly visible, left them speechless.

"Wow, we ended up in a pretty amazing place. Is this futuristic or something?"

"Yeah, the ogre doesn't seem to be following, but we've found something even more incredible?"

Flamm touched the cold wall, as if to confirm its existence. She had never seen a building made of such metal, and being underground made it even more extraordinary. The room with the piled bodies was quite large. Building such a facility underground required incredible technology and resources.

"Let's look for an exit."

"Right, there are a lot of things to be curious about, but our lives come first."

The right side of the room was a dead end, so they headed left. They soon reached a T-intersection, where the left was a dead end and the right was a long corridor. The right side was still dark, and they needed to find a lamp activation device. There was one room before the dead end on the left. They decided to explore it first. Flamm pressed her ear to the door to check if anyone was inside, then slowly pushed it open with her Soul Eater. She felt for a crystal on the wall near the entrance and activated it. It was her first time using such a device, but it was simple—just gather magic in your palm. The room lit up. Inside were a high desk, a cabinet, two bookshelves, and a sofa and table facing each other, likely for reception. It was a decent-sized room, and it felt like it was used by someone important.

"The shelves are all empty."

"..."

While Sera searched the shelves, Flamm looked around the walls. She noticed several twisted areas. They varied in size but were all "rotating."

"Miss, what's going on with these?"

"I'm not sure, but I saw the same thing in the previous room. And the ogre that attacked us was like that too."

"Rotating...?"

Clockwise twists in the walls, bodies, and the monster. This facility seemed to deal with that phenomenon or such entities. While searching for a map, she found a drawer that was locked.

"Can we break it? No one's here, right?"

Sera suggested casually, but it was an emergency. Flamm destroyed the lock with her greatsword. The drawer opened easily, as if it wasn't designed to withstand such force. Inside was a notebook. Flamm picked it up and opened it, and Sera peered over her shoulder.

"Two days have passed since we lost control. Finally, we received a message from above, instructing us to destroy all the documents. I asked if rescue was on the way, but it was ignored. It seems we've been abandoned."

The writing was hasty, and the date was not mentioned, but the condition of the notebook suggested it was at least ten years old.

"Hereditary succession is no good. I never wanted to be in such a place. I just wanted to work hard and rise through the ranks. But why? The subject was locked in a room, but the leaked energy began to distort the surroundings. There were casualties. Are we doomed?"

The writing was filled with despair. The word "subject" made Flamm think of the twisted bodies.

"So, they were experimenting here, and the ogre...?"

"Maybe it's artificial. But from the notebook, it seems they couldn't control it."

The writing became increasingly messy, and the lines began to waver.

"What is divine revelation? What is for the country? I don't care about such things. I just wanted to do the right thing. Is the country not made of people? Am I