"…Huh?"
I had no idea what Enri just muttered. My head tilted by itself.
Enri smiled like she was calming a crying toddler.
"No worries at all. Now everything clicks, Reiji… or should I say 'Sloth'? That's why you showed zero reaction earlier. We never dreamed a Demon Mark could manifest in a human. This generation truly is overflowing with anomalies."
Her voice was soft, almost syrupy, but the word "Sloth" scraped against my nerves like a rusty nail.
Calling me slothful to my face?
Yeah, I know I'm a hopeless, selfish bum whose life motto is "minimum effort, maximum nap," but hearing it out loud still pissed me off. Just leave me alone.
Enri nodded to herself, completely satisfied.
"If it's Sloth, every irregularity up till now is perfectly explained."
Irregularity my ass.
Everything I have came from hunting monsters until I puked blood and training until my muscles literally tore. I did the exact opposite of sloth, you smug bitch.
She extended one delicate hand like we were about to seal a business deal, looking down at me with the most punchable grin I'd ever seen.
"Sloth, I'll overlook that little attack just now. Become Gluttony's companion. You haven't fully awakened your 'power' yet—I'll teach you everything."
"Why are you talking like the fight's already over?"
Her face twitched as if I'd jabbed her with a needle. Way too easy to read.
"Then… I'll give you anything Sloth desires. As much as you want."
"Don't need it."
Instant rejection.
"W-wait! If you join me, you can spend the rest of your life doing absolutely nothing! I'll prepare anything you ask—status, money, women, whatever. For someone ruled by Sloth, isn't that paradise?"
"Hoo…"
She was getting frantic, throwing out every temptation she could think of.
If even half of it was real, following her would literally be the ultimate NEET dream.
"…Certainly sounds tempting."
Her eyes sparkled like stars. "Then—"
"But," I stepped forward in one burst, "your whole deal looks boring as hell. Hard pass."
I drove my fist straight through her core and shattered her into black dust that could never regenerate.
"…Did I get her?"
Once the last speck vanished, the inner magic (Odo) and outer magic (Mana) that had been devoured slowly trickled back into me.
I cast "Magic Detection" just to be sure—nothing. No trace left.
It's really over.
"Good. Next, release the petrification on Eve and the others, heal this arm… and I can finally sleep."
I sheathed my sword and turned.
Eve was still shouting encouragement to the frozen students and guards, exactly as I'd told her to. None of them had taken stray hits. When my Odo suddenly disappeared mid-fight I'd panicked, but seeing them safe loosened the knot in my chest.
"Ugh… everything hurts… body feels like lead…"
The cursed sword had drained me to the marrow, and the agony from my blown-off left arm throbbed like a war drum. I'd been gritting my teeth for ages, but I was at my absolute limit. I'm going to collapse any second.
I wanted to heal myself right now, but dispelling the petrification on dozens of people would take at least an hour of nonstop casting. They came first.
…God, what a pain. And I'll be bedridden for days after this? Just kill me already.
But I have to do it. Damn it all…
Dragging my half-dead body toward Eve and the students, I managed one step, then another—
"——!?"
A presence shot toward my back at terrifying speed. Pure reflex swung my sword through empty air.
Thud.
A pitch-black, fang-filled maw the size of a human head dropped to the ground—"Predation."
What the hell? I erased Enri completely. So why is her authority still—
"Tch!"
Another transparent jaw flew at me. I bisected it, but a third instantly materialized farther away.
"Shit…!"
I poured every last drop of recovering mana into my legs and bolted. Still too slow. "Predation" was faster.
"Spatial Leap" is sealed inside this otherworld pocket. At this rate—
"Damn it!"
I hurled my longsword at the approaching presence. With "Accelerated Thought" and "Parallel Processing", I calculated the perfect throw in a heartbeat.
Clang!
The materialized jaw was pinned cleanly to the wall, still snapping uselessly.
"Close… okay—"
The instant relief loosened my shoulders—
"Gah—!?"
Something fist-sized punched straight through my back and out my chest.
Blood exploded from my mouth before I could even look down.
"Wha… ha…"
A fist-sized hole gaped where my heart had been a second ago.
My legs buckled. I toppled forward.
Vision darkening, the world tilting sideways, frantic footsteps pounded toward me.
"——REIJI!!!"
Eve's scream was the last thing I heard before everything went black.