Chapter 54 - Now, Look at This- (6)

Since it was set in a Japanese school, there were Saturday morning classes.

The academy spread out with a scene of mob students arriving at school.

The Student Council President of the Harem Academy, Gremory, a brown-haired beauty, walked through the academy corridor bathed in fresh sunlight, wearing a soft, mocking smile on her lips.

She thought of the man, Kim Yo-han, who had been dragged here not long ago.

"Huhu~."

After seeing the losers gathered in the old school building, he must have realized that conquering the heroines was impossible.

He had avoided the heroines, stopped coming to school, and given up on the conquest entirely. He never left his house except when doing part-time job content.

He did stop by the school briefly on Friday, but... what could he possibly accomplish in just one day? He must have come trembling, just to scout out the situation.

Laughter came naturally.

It had only been empty flattery when she expressed expectations. She had never truly expected anything.

She never imagined he wouldn't even be able to play the role of a clown properly.

"Hmm~ Should I send the heroines on a home visit event?"

While Gremory was indulging in such thoughts,

"...Hm?"

Her steps halted at the sight outside the corridor window as she passed by.

It wasn't just Gremory.

The mob student aberrations in the school hallways, the courtyard, and on the way to school also froze in place.

"...???"

They saw the 'thing' rapidly approaching the school gates.

Their eyes clearly saw it, but their minds couldn't comprehend it.

Their bodies stiffened and locked up.

The sneer melted from Gremory's face, replaced by a dumbfounded sound.

"Huh?"

Clatter clatter! Da-da-da-da-da...!!

The loud sound of wheels rang out as a cart, no, a chariot charged fearlessly toward the academy.

However, it wasn't horses pulling the chariot.

Pink, blue, green, purple, blonde.

Heroine aberrations with hair of every color ran with smiling faces, pulling the chariot.

At the center of the chariot, Yo-han, who had become the conqueror of the Dating Sim world, stood with a calm expression.

".........."

Si-on, who had boarded the chariot with me and stood demurely at my side, spoke with a complicated expression.

"Um, Yo-han-ssi...."

"What, too slow?"

I immediately purchased a toy whip from the menu shop and cracked it at the Crazy Psycho Heroine aberrations.

Crack~!

"Run faster. You cyber sows."

"Hait☆ Wakarimashita~ Goshujin-sama!" [TL: Japanese for "Yes! Understood, Master!"]

Byong! Byobyobyong!?

Broken machine sounds blared as heart and star mark effects burst out from the Crazy Psycho Heroine aberrations.

".........."

Si-on quietly kept her mouth shut.

The chariot charged on without hesitation, entering through the school gates.

The Student Council President had personally led the mob aberrations out into the courtyard in a swarm to greet us.

At the sight of Gremory, I stopped the chariot and stepped down.

Clatter... tap.

Stepping down from the chariot with a brisk motion, the hem of my white coat fluttered.

As Si-on and I dismounted, the Crazy Psycho Heroine aberrations who had been standing by praised us from both sides.

Completely unhinged, the aberrations' forms flickered with crackling static noise.

"Praise! Dogeza! Praise! Dogeza!" [TL: Dogeza is a Japanese deep bow of prostration]

...It was technically the Pentacle hypnosis magic I had cast, but it was still absurd.

"Dogeza is... say banzai instead."

"Praise! Banzai! Praise! Banzai!"

At that spectacle, wrinkles formed on Gremory's forehead and her eyebrows trembled.

"What is this...."

How? By what method? There had been countless cycles, but something like this had never happened, not even once.

He had come to the academy for a single day and, in less than a week, conquered all the heroines? ...No, he had turned them into slaves entirely. It made no sense.

Right, he must have used some trick. It must be a bug.

Gremory tried to normalize the heroine aberrations and reclaim control, but...

...It was impossible. A stronger magical power blocked her.

She flinched as she looked at the magic pattern [Fifth Pentacle of Venus] etched into the heroine aberrations' eyes and felt the magical power of the being used in the spell.

Vrmmm...

'...Could this be from the original body's...!?'

Student Council President Gremory's face was dyed with shock. Her body trembled.

She stumbled backward without realizing it and commanded the mob aberrations.

"...Block them."

Immediately, Yo-han's voice rang out.

"Deal with them."

The [Fifth Pentacle of Venus] patterns flickering in the heroine aberrations' eyes flashed, and

each of them drew out chainsaws, katanas, chain-sickles, crescent blades, and morning stars, charging forward to

slaughter the mob aberrations.

Vrreee! Slash! Crack! Crunch!

With the aberrations biting and tearing at each other, no more obstacles remained. Just as on the first day we entered the game, when we met in the corridor bathed in sunset, I walked toward Gremory together with Si-on.

Trudge... trudge...

The only difference was that this time, Gremory wasn't the one smiling.

"I conquered all the heroines, just as you wanted. How's that?"

I stood before Gremory with a gentle smile.

"Am I qualified to conquer you now?"

Gremory smiled with a distorted face, forcing it.

"Haha... More than enough."

Then she snapped her fingers and shifted the location.

Snap.

We were transported to the Student Council President's office, a game ending event location that had never once been used until now.

Gremory sat leaning against the luxurious-looking student council room desk.

"Well~ Even if you used shortcuts, you two are the first to ever conquer the heroines."

She glared at Si-on and me again with a composed expression.

"In that spirit, I'll tell you something nice."

Gremory spoke with a smile in her eyes.

"What would you do if the people who died here didn't really die?"

"Right now, that's..."

At Si-on's reaction, I raised one arm to stop her and gave her a look.

"I'll leave it to Yo-han-ssi."

Si-on nodded. Good that she was quick on the uptake. Easy to work with.

I spoke to Gremory.

"That is interesting. So where are the people who died here?"

"Who knows~ If you clear this game, will they live? Or die? I'm not so sure myself."

"That so? Then I don't need to know either."

Gremory's and Si-on's eyes widened at the same time.

I paid it no mind and spoke to Si-on.

"The ones we agreed to save are the twenty-five who are alive. As for the people who aren't here now, who may be dead or alive, you don't need to feel responsible for their lives, and you don't need to put yourself in danger over them."

More precisely, I was the one who didn't need to.

"...And there's never anything good that comes from listening to a demon's proposal."

I narrowed my eyes and took a step forward. Gremory's shoulders flinched.

"......!"

The mask of composure she had painstakingly put back on cracked.

In a coquettish voice, she made a new offer.

"Haha... But you know what? That woman, maybe, but do you really need to go back?"

"Hmm~."

When I stopped at those words, Gremory spoke seductively.

"You've conquered all the heroines and seen the game's ending. Now this place belongs to you. The academy is your toy box.

You can enjoy every pleasure you desire? ...And you can do whatever you want with me too."

Gremory untied the ribbon at her collar and revealed her cleavage.

A demon through and through. I had just said nothing good comes from listening to them.

It was a rather amusing proposal, and I had carelessly listened.

I resumed walking.

"Go on then, turn stones into bread."

Gremory's face hardened.

"...Don't come closer."

"Throw yourself from a cliff and emerge without a single scratch."

I grabbed the staggering Gremory by the neck and laid her down on the desk.

Crash!

"Agh...!"

Brown hair scattered and her ample chest heaved.

"Try to tempt me, demon."

Yo-han's mockery and ridicule echoed through the room.

"Ahhh...."

She tried everything to push Yo-han away, but the robe's magic protected him. And so...

Gremory's arms stretched out, seductively stroking Yo-han's back. Her legs wrapped around his waist.

"...I'll become your servant. I'll love you. I'll lick away your wounds and loneliness."

I laughed. How were demons all so alike?

They mock, they ridicule, they threaten, then they beg for just one chance.

...Well, I suppose people are the same way.

I smiled faintly.

"Thank you."

I whispered softly into Gremory's ear, then pressed my forehead against hers and pushed her away.

"But no thanks. I've got plenty of love."

".........!!"

Well, receiving love from others would be nice too.

But there was something more important than love from others whose existence one couldn't even be sure of.

The heart that cherishes and values itself.

I pulled a lead Pentacle from my coat.

The good thing about Friday was that the next day was Saturday.

[Second Pentacle of Saturn]

The destructive Pentacle magic that had ground Edward's zombie army to dust.

Honestly, after seeing its power, I liked it so much that I studied and memorized every Pentacle spell that looked useful.

And the Magic Circles had been drawn all over the academy yesterday, by the Crazy Psycho Heroines I had hypnotized.

It wasn't a nationwide transmutation circle or anything... just an academy-wide Magic Circle.

"Aaaaagh!"

Gremory's nails grew long, aiming for Yo-han's back, but Si-on immediately caught her.

Tap.

Budget-model Grizzly was doing good work.

Pinning down the wide-eyed Gremory, I chanted the incantation.

"O king who rides the dragon, o crone who leans upon her servant, pig, dragon, owl."

My voice rang out, shaking the building.

"O spirits of Saturn, answer my call."

I declared: shatter, O world.

Light burst from the Pentacle.

It destroyed the false world standing in the caster's way.

Boom, rumble...

The academy and the students' bodies crumbled and scattered.

And then...

Back in Yo-han's small studio apartment in the outside world, <The Lesser Key of Solomon> still recognized him as its master, even apart from him, and joyfully opened its pages in response.

Light emanated from the open pages.

Whoosh...!

It sent its magical power through the gap Yo-han had created, assisting his spell.

And then...

Vrmm... vrmm...!

Sulking over why its magic was not used,

<De Vermis Mysteriis> vibrated intensely on the bed.