Instant Death

"Aaaaaah!"

『Weird thing to bring up, but can't you make your scream sound a little cuter?』

Yogiri and Tomochika had finished their interrogation of Chelsea and were currently descending past the hotel's second floor, when Tomochika suddenly screamed for her life.

"Oh, a cockroa――"

"Don't say it! If I hear that word now I won't be able to think of anything else so stop!"

Yogiri's observation was frantically interrupted by Tomochika.

Indeed, there was a cockroach sticking to the wall next to them, and a massive number of other insects had gathered around it. The way they were all clinging to the wall without making even the slightest movements made it seem as though they were waiting for something.

"Tachibana mentioned being able to dominate even insects and small animals, so I guess he's using them to keep us under surveillance?"

Yogiri spoke as he looked at the insects on the wall. He couldn't exactly tell which way their eyes were pointing, but somehow he knew that he was being stared at.

"Can't you do something about these!?"

"I could exterminate them all, if that's what you mea――"

"Do that! Now is the time to use your power for good!"

Tomochika's tone went a notch higher, from hectic to hysteric.

"I can kill them no problem, but I'm pretty sure that'll make them drop from the wall and spill all over the stairs."

Killing something meant there would be a corpse left behind, which had a good chance of turning into an obstacle. Yogiri didn't particularly mind stepping over them, but he could imagine that Tomochika would feel different about it.

"That sounds even worse than the current situation, no thanks!"

"Are you sure? They might come flying at us any moment. Wouldn't be surprised if they could kill a human."

"Nonono, they might be super disgusting but surely they can't kill someone!?" f𝐫ee𝘄ℯ𝚋no𝐯𝐞l.c𝘰m

"With this many of them I could see it happening. You know, like by crawling into your mouth and blocking your windpipe, or getting deeper inside you and chewing away at your internal organs."

"…Yuuki Tachibana… You've really done it now!"

Tomochika's tension rose rapidly as she desperately tried to stop herself from imagining those scenarios.

"But it looks like right now we're only being watched, so let's just leave as planned."

"What if they do fly at us?"

"I'll kill them, although that won't stop their flying husks midair."

"If that happens I'll probably lose my mind, sorry in advance."

The two classmates continued their descent down the stairs and, as expected, the bugs followed them in a steady rhythm, confirming Yogiri's suspicion of being spied on. They still didn't appear to be planning an attack.

"I think I'll kill Yuuki Tachibana."

Yogiri talked as if he just thought of it on a whim, but such was the conclusion he reached after considering everything he had found out about Yuuki so far.

"Mhm, sure. Don't let me stop you."

Unexpectedly, Tomochika didn't disagree -- apparently bug warfare was where she drew the line. Yogiri went on to explain his reasoning anyway.

"That Dominator class is really troublesome, at this rate the whole world might turn into our enemies."

After questioning the doll user they had a good idea of how the Dominator class worked: Yuuki's slave count was going to continue increasing exponentially, all the while allowing him to control every single one of them. On top of that he was able to absorb some of the energy his slaves gained from hunting, and able to borrow their skills whenever he felt like it.

It wasn't just an issue for Yogiri and Tomochika, Yuuki was a dreadful existence for this entire world. Due to his class it was very well possible that the majority of this world's residents would be turned into his followers at some point.

Yogiri hadn't intended to go out of his way to protect this world's peoples, but if he was going to kill Yuuki anyway then the sooner the better, because the longer he waited the stronger Yuuki's death would affect this world.

"Tachibana-kun is waiting outside town for us, right? Should we just meet him there?"

"If things go the way I'm thinking then that won't be necessary."

When they arrived at the stair landing between the first and second floor the situation suddenly changed; the insects started bustling.

"Please tell me you're sharing this awful premonition!"

Killing intent. Yogiri could clearly see it rising out from among the bugs, a countless number of thin black lines extending towards him. It felt as if they were all connected to one greater mind, telling them to wait for the synchronized signal.

"Kind of feels like being preyed on by a hunter about to lunge at you."

"Right!? I don't even care anymore, please just kill them already! I'm pretty sure I'll die just by being swarmed by them!"

"Yeah, I don't like the idea of getting swarmed either."

Yogiri no longer had any reason to hesitate in using his power.

The current situation wasn't actually that critical, but if they were going to keep getting targeted in the future then they would have to constantly pay attention to their surroundings. It wouldn't be an impossible task thanks to Yogiri's ability to sense killing intent, but it would certainly be terribly troublesome.

Additionally, the further Yuuki's power extended the more their sphere of action would shrink. Before long they wouldn't be able to freely search this world for a way to return home anymore, and even just meeting up with their classmates could have become become impossible for them.

"Die."

And so he used his power.

However, the insects barely twitched.

"Don't tell me it misfired after all this time!?"

Even her savior Yogiri couldn't save her now -- Tomochika's thoughts could be read from her desperate voice.

"I can't guarantee that misfires aren't possible, but up until now it's never happened, okay?"

"So why aren't they dropping!?"

"Well, if everything went right then Tachibana just died."

"Wait, what?"

Tomochika didn't expect Yogiri to suddenly bring up Yuuki, who wasn't even here, and lost her train of though for a moment.

What Yogiri did was focus his power on the source of all the killing intent towards him, however: Yogiri's power didn't allow him to kill anyone anywhere just because they harbored killing intent towards him. Likewise, if one were to attempt to kill Yogiri by sending in some underlings then Yogiri wouldn't be able to kill the ring leader, only the actual attacker.

The Dominator was an exception to that rule.

In essence, the Dominator class was the power of raising a colony. Yuuki was the head of that colony, and the slaves were his arms and legs. That was why it was possible for him to acquire new slaves through his old ones: they were part of him. That connection between him and his slaves was also the reason his killing intent ended up directly connecting to Yogiri, a connection that could be traced back to its origin.

"Tachibana tried killing me with the bugs, so I killed him first, basically."

"Are you telling me that power works even if you have no clue where your target actually is!?"

"I mean, if he can reach me then it's only logical that I could reach him as well. Life's harsh, whenever you try to harm someone you risk being harmed yourself."

"Isn't life exceptionally soft on you alone though!?"

"I don't know about that, life wasn't particularly easy back in Japan."

"Ahh, more importantly than that, these guys are starting to move again!"

As the two were talking the bugs right next to them started scrambling about chaotically. Yogiri couldn't sense any more killing intent from them and judged that it was just the bustling of regular bugs.

"Looks like they're free from the mind control now that Tachibana has died."

Yogiri was relieved seeing that. He considered the possibility of the insects carrying out the last order they had received before being liberated, but it looked like the Dominator's death voided all active orders.

"But that's terrible!"

Tomochika responded with a shrill scream as she watched the clump of bugs unfold, scattering in all directions and starting to fly all over the place. Sadly, their liberation from mind control didn't make them any more pleasant to look at.

"Yeah, let's get away from here."

"Aren't you going to kill them!?"

"Killing things just for being gross sounds a little unacceptable if you ask me."

"Why are you always so reasonable in these situations!?"

Doing the emergency staircase justice the two candidates hurried down the steps and, at long last, arrived at the hotel's exit.

＊＊＊＊＊

When they stepped through the hotel's emergency door they found themselves in one of the side alleys next to the hotel. The high buildings' shadows made everything seem fairly gloomy, but it was still several hours until sunset.

Tomochika quickly shut the door behind them, escaping from the bugs for good. Then gain, it wasn't like the bugs were going to attack humans at random. In reality there probably wasn't much reason to rush outside like that.

"Now that I think about it, do we still have a reason to run away from here?"

Tomochika raised her voice after finally recovering from the bug scare.

"You mean because Tachibana's died? I don't know, some of his followers might attack us for revenge."

Perhaps there were people among Yuuki's slaves that would have become his followers even without his Dominator class. With that in mind Yogiri decided that continuing their escape was for the best, even if it was only switching hotels.

"Alright, so running away it is?"

"I'd say so, yeah. Actually we might as well start heading for the capital already."

That route sounded the most likely to spare them any future trouble with fanatic Yuuki followers, so that's the one they both chose, and after deciding to start their journey to the capital right away Yogiri and Tomochika went out on Hayabusa's main street, where they ran into the gruesome after-effects of the earlier armored vehicles' rampage.

Several carriages had been flipped over and some of them appeared to still have passengers inside, locked in by the wreckage or unable to crawl out on their own. Rescue operations were already in process.

"I wonder what that was about. I don't know if you saw it, but earlier some massive trucks sent a bunch of pedestrians and carriages flying when they drove through here."

『Mhm, we shouldn't get too involved. Better get away from here quickly.』

They were just about to hurry up their pace when suddenly a loud voice could be heard.

『Ah, everyone hear me? All of you townfolk I mean. Masayuki here, acolyte of sage Lain and captain of the Anti-Death Battalion. Kinda sudden, but I'm on a manhunt right now and could really use your cooperation.』

The voice seemed to come from a radio broadcast, judging by its occasional cracks.

『More specifically, I'm looking for a guy called Yogiri Takatou and a girl called Tomochika Dannoura. Uhh, apparently they're both roughly 17 year old Japanese brats, black hair, black eyes. Bring 'em out to the main square for me, dead or alive, whatever. And I know what you're thinking, 'you seriously expect us to care?'. Yeah well for your information I just sent out a couple Anti-Death units who were ordered to assault random people in set time intervals, so if you don't want to get mauled to death you better get me those kids quick.』

"Where did that manic come from suddenly!?"

"He does sound a little weird in the head."

Tomochika's reaction to the broadcast was certainly understandable.

『Now you might think that just fleeing from the town is going to be enough for you to survive, but I allowed myself to lock you all up in this city. Fiddled with the sages' barrier a little and now it's impossible to pass through it. Also, while I was at it I made it so that anyone that dies within the barrier gets turned into an undead. Must be your lucky day because the Anti-Death Battalion is currently recruiting, aye! Young and old, male and female, anyone's welcome y'all!』

"And he even has a plan, continuing to make new undead until the whole town is swarming with them and we have nowhere to go! Wait, maybe he's just crazy?" 𝐟𝙧ee𝔀e𝐛𝓃𝐨𝚟𝑒𝗹.c𝗼𝚖

Tomochika voiced her thoughts. Indeed, if Masayuki was positive that her and Yogiri were in Hayabusa then it would have been a solid plan, but if he was conducting such a manhunt without definite evidence of their presence then it could only be called madness.

『So yeah, good luck with that.』

And with one last crack the broadcast cut off.

"…And now?"

Overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events Tomochika looked to Yogiri, who didn't have much to say either.

"Time to run?"

Either way, the town square was now a danger zone.

They decided to slip back into a side-alley, but before they could do so one of the demolished horse carriages suddenly flew through the air. Dazed by the sudden flying cart they watched on until it eventually landed with a loud crash, breaking down even further.

Looking back at the spot where the carriage began its flight there now stood a strange man in its place.

With his head bashed in he seemed like a dead man no matter how one looked at it, but despite that he was standing upright on his own two feet -- albeit in a rather unnatural manner. He was most likely the one that sent the carriage flying, and as if to follow his example the whole main street was suddenly swirling with flying vehicles, the same thing happening all over the town.

"I'd just like to point out that we somehow stumbled from a fantasy adventure into a zombie apocalypse!"

The people that were supposed to be in need of rescue had suddenly started attacking the people that were supposed to rescue them.