Eriri was furious.
Absolutely furious.
Why had she started the livestream in the first place?
Obviously because she wanted a certain bastard group owner to see how cool she looked in a real fight!
And what happened instead?
The battle had not even started before the idiot’s attention wandered straight to another woman.
He even had the nerve to start raving about how “no man could survive thighs like that in black stockings.”
What was so great about black stockings anyway?!
And Kasumigaoka Utaha was nothing special!
She was only a little taller than Eriri, had a bigger chest, and maybe her ass was a little more—
That was all superficial!
None of those things reflected a person’s true inner quality!
Stupid men understood nothing.
Whoosh!
A violent gust of wind snapped Eriri out of her thoughts.
The mantis-shaped Calamity Beast had launched its attack, sweeping one of its scythe-like forelimbs toward her.
Eriri reacted instantly.
She dropped her center of gravity, planted her left foot hard against the ground, and shot backward just before the blade passed through the space where she had been standing.
The Calamity Beast missed, but clearly had no intention of letting her escape.
Its dark green compound eyes locked onto Eriri as the wings on its back spread wide, ready to pursue.
“Now!”
Kasumigaoka Utaha, dressed in a black magical-girl combat outfit, saw the opening and immediately gave the order.
Yukinoshita Yukino brought both hands together, gathering brilliant blue light between her palms.
A spear of condensed energy took shape and shot toward the Calamity Beast.
Squelch!
Dark green blood sprayed through the air as the spear punched straight through the creature’s exposed abdomen.
“Servant of the night, accept the fate that awaits you here—destruction!”
Gokou Ruri followed with an attack of her own, delivering the declaration with complete commitment to the role as black lightning erupted from her palm.
Boom!
Already badly wounded, the Calamity Beast convulsed as the black lightning coursed through it.
Its body charred under the attack, and the resulting paralysis left it barely able to move.
Eriri immediately closed the distance.
She raised her right hand and drove her palm directly into the center of the creature’s head.
It was one of the martial arts recorded in the Nine Yin Manual—the Heart-Shattering Palm.
Internal energy surged through the point of impact and penetrated deep into the Calamity Beast’s body.
The mantis-like monster never even had the chance to scream before its head burst apart like an overripe watermelon.
[Current Merit Points: 445]
Eriri’s eyes lit up.
As expected, hunting Calamity Beasts was far more profitable than beating up ordinary delinquents.
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: LOOK OUT!
[Deathwish Count]: Behind you!
Before Eriri could share her excitement with the group, the warnings flashed across the livestream.
Confused, she turned around.
Then she froze.
A colossal figure stood behind them, so enormous it looked like a small mountain.
Two pale yellow eyes stared down at the four girls with naked bloodlust.
Utaha noticed the sudden change in Eriri’s expression and followed her gaze.
Her eyes gradually widened.
“Th-That’s…”
Yukino took one look at the creature and drew a sharp breath.
“RUN!”
There was no need for an assessment.
The thing before them was a monster in every possible sense.
Its sheer size alone made it obvious that their four-person team had no chance of fighting it.
Something like this would require—
BOOM!
The thought ended there.
The surrounding ground suddenly heaved as cracks spread through the earth like a spiderweb.
Massive fractures tore across the terrain, completely cutting off their escape route.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Heavy footsteps drew closer.
Moonlight spilled across the creature, finally revealing its full form.
It stood more than fifty meters tall and vaguely resembled a hairless gorilla, except that it had four arms and two heads.
Its skin was a sickly blue-gray, large fangs protruded from its mouth, and an oppressive black energy rolled from its body in waves.
“At least A-rank…” Utaha stared in disbelief.
“It could even be S-rank.”
“A servant of the Evil God…” Ruri swallowed, genuine fear breaking through her usual dramatic persona.
ROAR!
The enormous Calamity Beast threw back both heads and bellowed.
Then one massive hand rose into the air and came crashing down toward the nearest target.
Eriri.
Its five spread fingers seemed large enough to blot out the sky.
Even the lines crossing its palm were clearly visible from below.
“ERIRI!”
Utaha screamed her name, eyes reddening.
The monster did not care about the cries of something it regarded as an insect.
Its enormous palm descended like a collapsing mountain, brutally compressing the air beneath it while black energy churned around the strike.
BOOOOM!
The ground shook violently and dust exploded into the air.
Then the Calamity Beast’s eyes widened.
A strangely human expression of confusion appeared across both of its faces.
As the dust slowly cleared, Eriri was revealed standing exactly where she had been.
Completely unharmed.
Her left arm was raised above her head, holding back the monster’s enormous palm.
“She…
stopped it?” Yukino’s mouth fell open.
The difference in size between them was absurd.
It was like watching an ant hold up a collapsing mountain with one arm, yet that was exactly what was happening before their eyes. Follow the newest chapters on novelping.com.
The sight was so impossible that none of them knew what to say.
“Her clothes…” Ruri whispered.
Eriri’s light-blue combat outfit had begun moving as though it were alive.
The fabric twisted and shifted across her body until it transformed into a long black leather coat.
Black ribbons had also appeared around both of her twin-tails, fluttering in the wind.
“Even the way she carries herself is different,” Utaha murmured.
The Eriri they knew had always come across as a fiercely competitive tsundere who hated losing.
The girl standing in front of them now felt completely different.
Calm.
Cold.
Utterly confident.
Like a professional killer who knew exactly how the fight would end.
What had happened to her?
A split personality?
Of course not.
The consciousness currently controlling Eriri’s body belonged to a certain young man from the shinobi world.
This was one of the group owner’s privileges: Possession.
Once Riku possessed a group member, he gained complete control of their body, while all of his own strength and abilities were temporarily added to theirs.
The person being possessed did not lose consciousness.
Instead, they remained awake inside their own mind, forced into the role of observer while Riku operated their body.
As for what that actually felt like…
Eriri could only describe it as strange, exciting, and far more intimate than she had expected.
Especially when she looked inward and saw Riku’s figure occupying the center of her consciousness.
A few inappropriate thoughts had already begun stirring in the back of her mind.
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: What kind of inappropriate thoughts?
[Doujin Artist]: ?
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: Don’t play dumb.
I can read your thoughts while I’m possessing you.
[Doujin Artist]: FUCK!
GET OUT OF ME!
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: If I leave right now, you’re going to become Eriri jam.
Controlling Eriri’s body, Riku smiled and raised her right hand.
His fingers reached into empty space and drew out Kyōka Suigetsu.
Whoosh!
The blade swept downward in a brilliant silver arc.
Slash!
The enormous Calamity Beast suddenly went still.
A thin line of blood appeared at its waist and extended upward through its entire body.
Riku calmly sheathed the sword, then turned away with a smile.
BOOM!
The monster’s body separated cleanly into two halves and crashed to the ground behind him, the force of the impact sending a powerful gust through the area and whipping Eriri’s hair around her face.
Beyond the corpse, an enormous sword scar stretched for several kilometers.
The entire forest had been split neatly in two.
Utaha, Ruri, and Yukino all swallowed at the same time.
The three girls could only stare at Eriri in stunned silence, their faces filled with disbelief.