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Good grief, another Moon-Oil-tier Familiar!
I'd never heard mages these days could be this strong. Weren't Magecraft users supposed to get weaker the more modern the era? Having just experienced how powerful a Moon-Oil being is, Ryoji now harbored a deep dread of that patch of white mist.
"Wait a moment, you can move?" Aozaki Aoko looked at Ryoji beside her, who was barely keeping his footing.
"Not fully." Ryoji leaned against her body and answered seriously.
"Oh." Aozaki Aoko mercilessly let go and shoved him away.
Ryoji almost stumbled to the ground; fortunately, his body had recovered quite a bit, and he managed to remain standing. On the field, the white fog spread outward, filling the air with a terrible, murderous intent.
This was absolutely not something that belonged in this age.
The puppet's eyes darted about, as if frightened; the many legs on its torso began to move unconsciously, trying to flee this space that could be called an other-world.
But the white fog had no intention of letting it go. The mist flowed out like ripples and in the blink of an eye, covered the puppet entirely.
"Creak!"
"Ssshh!"
For a moment, the nauseating sounds of flesh being torn and teeth gnawing rang out.
Aozaki Aoko subconsciously smoothed her arm; every hair on her body stood on end, and her expression of disgust deepened compared to before.
"Pft!"
Within half a minute, the white fog spat out an empty head, which bounced a few times on the ground. It was obviously the puppet that had been swallowed by the fog; apart from the head, the entire body was gone.
The white fog, having sated itself, drifted back to Kuonji Alice's side and dissolved as if it were the first snow under the morning sun.
Unlike the Moon-Oil's ability, which creates worlds by rewriting rules, the Rose Hound favored direct, frontal slaughter and was ferociously vicious by nature.
"Eh, Aoko, that's your face!" Ryoji's eyesight let him spot the head at once; his face registered surprise.
"Huh? How could that even happen…? Is that for real?" Aozaki Aoko stepped forward two paces. At first she hadn't taken it seriously, but seeing it clearly made her eyes widen and her mouth drop open in disbelief.
"What a sick sense of humor."
Indeed, the puppet's face was an exact match for Aoko's: same features and the same long brown hair. It could be called a perfect copy of Aoko. Too bad only the head remained; even the crystal that served as the eyes had been consumed by the white fog, otherwise it would've been worth a pretty penny, in more ways than one.
Aoko's face soured.
Alice, who had retracted the Rose Hound, suddenly frowned as if she had noticed something.
But she didn't elaborate there and then; instead she turned her gaze toward the two of them.
"Alice, I think we've been set up!" Aozaki Aoko strode ahead and stood in front of Ryoji.
"...Are you planning to cover for him?"
"Who said I'd cover for this guy!" Aoko looked slightly embarrassed, purposely took a few steps sideways to put distance between herself and Ryoji, then pretended to be cold and swung a fist.
"I'd be happier if he were dead! But our real enemy isn't him, if we start fighting him to the death, it'll only please whoever's hiding behind all this!"
In theory, only Alice had actually been tricked.
Aoko had from the start felt that Ryoji wasn't a bad person... thinking back to the time she'd been spanked earlier, she suddenly regretted drawing that conclusion!
She really should've teamed up with Alice to finish this guy off!
"I know." Alice replied lightly to Aoko's earnest attempts at persuasion.
"You know?" This time Aoko was the one frozen.
"This puppet's body has a somewhat familiar scent." Alice's eyes swept over the empty skull on the ground; her tone remained indifferent.
"From that, we can conclude that a far greater enemy is nearby. It wouldn't be wise to keep fighting among ourselves."
"I'm glad you understand."
Aoko let out a relieved sigh.
As much as she wanted to give Ryoji a good beating, continuing their infighting would only hurt their own side and please their enemies, completely not worth it.
"So… can we talk about forming an alliance now?" Ryoji raised his hand.
Finally, after all that chaos, they might actually discuss something serious.
"No need." But the girl named Alice immediately shot down his proposal, leaving him momentarily dumbfounded.
"Please don't misunderstand," she said coldly. "The only reason I stopped fighting you is because another enemy takes higher priority right now."
In other words, Alice still regarded Ryoji as an enemy, she simply intended to deal with someone else first, then come back to him later.
"Haa…" Ryoji took a deep breath, calmed his emotions, and then let out a long sigh. "Aoko, your roommate really isn't the brightest, huh?"
'I seriously worry about your future.'
That expression was written all over his face. The black-haired girl immediately shot him a knife-like glare.
"Oh, for crying out loud…"
Aoko felt a pounding headache coming on. They'd just stopped fighting; couldn't these two take one step back? Did they have to be at each other's throats again?
Do they have any idea how exhausted she feels right now?
"Think about it, right now, I'm a third party, right?" Ryoji clearly had no intention of backing down and even shook his head with mock solemnity. "Throughout history, whenever you fight another faction, the third party is always someone you try to win over, isn't that right? I mean, what if the third party sides with your enemy instead, wouldn't that be a disaster?"
"Ahh…" Aoko groaned in frustration.
As expected, this man was absolutely not someone who'd let things slide easily! The atmosphere instantly turned freezing cold, like the air in midsummer's oppressive heat suddenly dropping to subzero.
A heavy pressure radiated from Alice's body. Her indifferent eyes glimmered with a chilling hostility, the girl made no effort to hide her killing intent.
"You're saying… you'd side with them?"
"Depends on you." Ryoji remained calm, even nonchalant.
Yet quietly, his right hand tightened slightly, ready to summon Vrring Blade at a moment's notice.
Alice fell silent.
But her gaze stayed dark and heavy.
That other enemy was certainly dangerous, but Ryoji was no less troublesome. If those two ever teamed up, the resulting disaster would be beyond imagination.
Aoko, meanwhile, kept her mouth shut.
She'd already realized Ryoji was the kind who refused to take losses, while Alice was as stubborn as they come. No matter what she said now, it would only pour oil on the fire, better to let them sort it out themselves.
"…A non-aggression pact."
Alice was silent for a long time before she let out an almost imperceptible sigh and chose to compromise.
"Until that enemy is dealt with, we can form a non-aggression pact. What happens afterward can be decided then."
"Sounds good to me."
Ryoji replied calmly.
Then he extended his palm toward Alice and gave a little wave.
"But since you attacked your would-be ally, shouldn't you offer some compensation?"
"Relax, I don't ask for much, just toss me, say, one or two months' worth of Moon Oil, and we'll call it even."
(End of Chapter)