“It’s alright now, don’t be afraid.” Shiro tore off the restraints from the girl’s hands and feet, softly comforting her.
His warm smile seemed completely out of place in this atmosphere.
Seeing such a bloody scene for the first time, Shiro felt some physiological discomfort.
The Ethereals he had killed before couldn’t feel pain, so it wasn’t nearly as bloody.
No, these people didn’t deserve to be called human at all.
“Waaah—!” The girl wailed and threw herself into Shiro’s embrace, her tears streaming down his combat suit.
At her age, she could clearly feel fear and helplessness.
Shiro’s appearance was like a light shining into the cold darkness—without warning, without sound.
The anxiety and fear surging in her heart gradually melted away like snow meeting the sun.
To her, Shiro’s eyes were very gentle and warm, possessing a light that the people here lacked.
Hearing the crying in his ears, Shiro sighed in his heart.
*Kaka—* These people really weren’t acting like humans.
Shiro changed his mind about letting this Black Doctor fend for himself.
He exhaled a breath of frost, freezing the wound on the Black Doctor’s severed arm.
“Ah!” The sudden extreme cold stimulated a rapid secretion of hormones, and the Black Doctor woke up instantly, his pale face filled with terror.
“Don’t…
don’t kill me.
I’ll surrender, I want to stand trial.” The Black Doctor’s teeth chattered.
“Stalling for time?
Hoping someone will bail you out?” Shiro grinned, his teeth glinting with a cold light.
In the Black Doctor’s eyes, it looked like a demon’s smile.
An insignificant pawn—no one would care if there was one more or one less.
“You heartless vermin, even if you beg me, I won’t let you go.” Black Doctor: “…” Aren’t you a righteous person who came here to eradicate evil and act on behalf of heaven?
Is this something a righteous person would say?
“The Black Market doesn’t have the regulations of New Eridu.
Here, I am the truth.” “You beast…
your sins are unforgivable!” Shiro’s Super Vision caught a glimpse of a diary written by this beast on the table.
His gaze turned even colder, a red light shimmering as he used Super Speed to disappear.
*Thud!* “Ah!!!” Summoning her courage, the girl gritted her teeth and stomped hard toward the Black Doctor’s stomach.
However, her aim was off, and she stomped directly between his legs.
The agonizing pain nearly caused the Black Doctor to pass out again.
*Thud!* “Ah!
Stop it, you little brat!” “…” Realizing that this bad guy could also feel pain, the last trace of fear disappeared from the girl’s face.
Hearing him still cursing her, she continued to kick him in retaliation.
When Shiro reappeared, a paw appeared in his palm, holding a red, transparent bear-paw bubble.
“Big brother…” The girl seemed tired from kicking and walked obediently to Shiro’s side.
“Heh.” Seeing the Black Doctor who had suffered a “fatal blow to the junk,” Shiro laughed.
He could only say the man deserved it; he brought it on himself.
However, this girl did impress him a little.
The best way to overcome fear is to face it.
“I was wrong, please let me go!” The Black Doctor shook his head in resistance.
He could feel the danger of that thing; he didn’t want to die.
Shiro didn’t have an ounce of pity for such a person.
Although the Black Doctor looked quite miserable, in Shiro’s eyes, it wasn’t miserable enough.
“You don’t regret what you did; you just regret that you’re about to die.” “Now…
feel the pain.” Using the Paw-Paw Fruit to extract the injuries and pain from the bodies of those victims, Shiro shoved all that suffering into the Black Doctor’s body in one go.
(In the manga and anime, during the few lines of dialogue between Kuma and Ginny, it’s mentioned that extracted pain needs someone to receive it, otherwise it returns to the original owner.) (But simply saying someone must receive it is vague; there doesn’t seem to be a requirement for the recipient to be [willing].) (Presumably, besides voluntary acceptance, a strong person could resist it, but someone weaker than Kuma or someone heavily injured with no ability to resist should be able to have it forced into their body.) (Given Kuma’s personality, he wouldn’t let an innocent person bear the pain, which is why he chose to bear it himself at the church.) “Aaaaaah!” A shrill scream erupted from the Black Doctor’s mouth, as if he were suffering a thousand cuts and a shredded heart.
Tons of pain instantly overwhelmed his consciousness, devouring his senses like a swarm of locusts.
It was a feeling worse than death.
His constantly trembling body began to split open with cracks, and countless tiny fountains of blood erupted from the wounds.
The Black Doctor soon became a complete man of blood.
Shiro covered the girl’s ears and eyes.
His Super Brain whirred as his indifferent gaze watched the Black Doctor gradually stop struggling, finally losing all signs of life.
“Tch, so much trash!” “Fallen into Mara—Must be Purged!” *Thud, thud, thud…* Senti snorted coldly, a red light flashing in her eyes.
An invisible ripple exploded, and the sounds of bodies hitting the floor echoed one after another.
Except for the innocent victims, everyone else died.
Their consciousnesses were wiped clean, leaving behind nothing but empty shells.
“You sure moved fast,” Shiro said with some surprise.
He knew why no one had come just now, even when the Black Doctor was screaming like that—it was because Senti had invaded everyone’s consciousness, leaving them motionless like wooden puppets.
Senti, as the Herrscher of Sentience born in the Current Era, hadn’t caused any exaggerated casualties in the plot and mostly used martial arts-style moves, but she was still the Herrscher of Sentience, possessing terrifying authority over consciousness.
Consciousness Damage (×) Physical Damage (✓) Look at the Herrscher of Sentience from the Previous Era: by spreading memetic pollution through the internet, they caused millions to be infected and fall into a coma, left to wait for death quietly in their dreams.
“You have no idea what I saw.
Ptui!
Not a shred of conscience.
Was it all eaten by Otto?” Senti spat in disgust.
After reading these people’s consciousnesses, she somewhat understood why Rin hated humans so much.
This group of people had absolutely no human conscience; they were thoroughly evil and knew no reverence.
“Don’t compare Otto to these people.
At least Otto made contributions; do these people have any?” Shiro corrected her.
Schicksal, led by Otto, did conduct human experiments and cloning, but at least Schicksal was fighting the Honkai.
These people were purely blinded by greed and accomplished nothing.
How could they be compared to Otto?
If Otto were lying in a coffin, Shiro would go and offer a glass of wine.
If Otto tried to come back out, Shiro would use the wine bottle to smash him back in.
Shiro conveniently released the other captured victims as well.
“Store Manager shiro, only this girl is your commission.
Why do such extra things?” Rin asked in confusion, referring to the others.
“Because of conscience?” “I wanted to do it, that’s all,” Shiro said without a second thought.
“I have desires, I have selfishness, and I have the seven emotions and six sensory pleasures that a human should have.” “I feel indignation and the urge to fight against the injustices I see.
If innocent victims ask for help, I won’t turn a deaf ear.
Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you…” This wasn’t within the scope of the commission, and no one forced him to do it.
One could call it meddling, or one could call it empathy born of kindness and his original intentions.
As humans, everyone should have a bit of conscience and humanity.
Even with this kind of power, if one doesn’t even have a bottom line, would the’self’ even still exist?
Maybe it’s not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
“And If you’re enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!”