Maleficent's expression, seen through Victoria's eyes, changed dramatically.
Just about to burst with anger, she remembers something and makes an expression of endurance.
But Maleficent couldn't hold back her anger in the end. The erupted anger turned into killing intent and exploded.
"Who!"
Yes. Her reason has completely flown away.
I'm curious about where exactly her reason flew away, but now is not the time to think about that question.
"Who says they're afraid of the likes of you!"
The opposite end of the staff with the yellow jewel embedded. The sharp part pierced through where my heart is.
And she lifts me up from my spot.
I smile at Victoria, who's looking up at me with a shocked face, with the meaning not to worry. Then long fingers cover one side of my vision. Right after, Maleficent's fingers pierced my face.
"I don't know what you are. So what? I am the Queen of Evil! I am Maleficent!"
The staff goes up.
As Maleficent lifts up the staff stuck in my chest, my legs floated in the air.
Even if I'm small and light for a human, it should be difficult to lift easily because of the center of gravity, but she's stronger than I thought.
"No matter what kind of monster, you can't defeat me! Now die."
Maleficent gripped my face with her hand and twisted it just like that.
Crack.
Then my head turned a full circle, and my cervical vertebrae were completely crushed. And the blood vessels leading from my neck to my head were blocked.
An ordinary person would have died instantly. Not just the pain, but it's nearly impossible to survive with no oxygen going to the brain immediately.
If it were a human.
Good job.
I said with my dangling head.
Flap flap.
I tried to speak but no sound comes out.
Right. To make sound, I needed to blow air from my lungs to my throat. It's not coming out because this is blocked. To speak, I just need to put my head back up on my neck.
Oh?
It's hard to stand it up again when the neck has turned and fallen. So I used the hand not holding the branch to grab my head and stand it up.
"Good job. This isn't all, right?"
If you can, do everything.
Maleficent knows I can move even in a situation where my head is smashed.
So I thought she wouldn't be surprised even if my head regenerated, but why is she looking at me with a disgusted expression as if she's seen a terrible bug?
"Right, of course! If you don't die from this, let's see if you can come back to life even if you become ashes!"
Whoosh
Black flames burn my body.
Is the faint greenish light because the phosphorus in the body is burning?
I was going to watch the last struggle, but even if I can regenerate, if my whole body burns up, I might be ejected outward.
Before my body completely burns up, I stole warmth from the witch's light.
He.
Hehe. It's warm.
It's not just simple warmth.
It's not hot enough to call it heat, but there's a warmth that makes the body melt softly.
As expected, a witch is a witch!
Feeling warmth after a long time, I grab the light.
There's a reason I deliberately let myself be hit until now.
I don't intend to leave it at just stealing warmth.
Seeing someone whose warmth I've stolen laughing at me in front of me is enough once.
I press down reality and fold it, grab the witch in front and make her into a lump of meat.
I've already done this in the second world.
And I insert the white branch I'm holding into the middle of it.
Maleficent couldn't even scream, and immediately became a pitch-black crown. And snow-white thorns surround the crown.
I don't know what the standard is for the shape that's created.
In the second world, monsters became backs, and humans became bags.
I thought it would be a similar shape this time too, but it became a crown.
Thinking that if I make many, I'll be able to know the standard someday, I put it on my head.
It's quite painful.
Because it's really a crown of thorns, when I put it on my head, it slowly sinks with weight and the thorns dig into my scalp.
I'll be fine, but if an ordinary person wears it, all their hair would fall out.
I'm not sure, but this. If you wear it with a hat on top, it doesn't work. There's that kind of sensation. A tool that calls for blood, it's really terrible.
Before blood flows from piercing my head too much, I waved my hand.
In an instant, the black thorn trees surrounding the area retreat to the outskirts as if time is running backward.
And at the starting line where the thorn trees had sprung out, they disappeared as if they never existed in the first place.
When the black thorn trees disappear, harvesters open their eyes one by one.
Yes. As expected, it's a tool that can solve what the witch did.
I'm not sure if it has a function to imitate the last action done, or if it can imitate all actions the witch did, but it erased all the black thorn trees.
And before the white thorns dug deep into my skin, I took off the black crown.
"Belle...?"
Victoria calls me carefully from behind. When I turn around, Victoria steps back in fear. Is it that scary?
"Yes. It's Belle. This is hard to take off."
'Maleficent' got tangled on top of my head. Whether her temperament was really applied to the device, my hair got strangely tangled well, so I had to struggle for a while.
"Malley, is…?"
"This."
I lifted the crown I barely untangled. It's an object that looks like a crown of thorns with white thorn trees entangled on top of a black crown.
However, it's not real thorn trees, it has a texture like cold metal.
"Is she dead?"
"It's hard to call this alive."
Victoria, who was staring at it, suddenly collapsed on the floor.
We've been fighting here for quite a long time, so it's understandable to lose consciousness.
I grabbed Victoria's arms and legs, rolled once on the ground, and piggybacked her. It's the method firefighters use when moving people.
And I kicked up the crown on the floor, loaded it on top, and headed towards the dormitory where Victoria lives.
As I walk with Victoria on my shoulder and look around, people who have woken up from sleep are coming out of their houses and looking around.
Not everyone is like that.
Among them, there are people crying while holding shattered meat fragments with scratches all over their bodies.
People on wide roads were crushed when the thorn trees grew and were split just like that.
I can't revive people who are already dead.
I helplessly watch the warmth of the dead being drained as I carry Victoria back.
The damage was quite big.
All the areas I've passed through look similar. There are traces of something digging into buildings, and long bloodstains on the roads.
The stench of blood and meat vibrates from all directions, and there's a faint rotten smell too.
But the trail of blood stops in front of the Royal Academy.
Seeing traces of thorn trees bouncing off as if hitting an invisible wall, it seems the Royal Academy also put up a barrier like in my lodging.
Maybe that's why there's no blood on the road leading from the main gate to the classrooms.
Victoria will be a little less hurt mentally.
I moved Victoria to the room where she lives. As soon as I entered, I put her down and grabbed her cheeks with my hands to stretch them.
"Oww, uwoop!"
Victoria opens her eyes, startled.
"Wake up."
"Belle? Huh? Eh? This is, my, room?"
She stares at me with a surprised expression, then looks around and gets up from her seat hesitantly.
"Yes. That's right. Take a shower right now. Here's a towel."
I push Victoria, who's looking at me with a dumbfounded expression, into the bathroom, and take out new clothes from the closet. Then I opened the bathroom door.
"Kyaaaah!"
Victoria, in the middle of undressing, covers her body in surprise.
Are all girls this age like this?
By the way, I don't mind at all now whether it's a naked man or woman, as I only see them as warmth carriers.
"Why are you surprised? Here's underwear to change into. I know you have scratches on your arms and legs, but wash properly."
"Is Belle my mom!?"
"Victoria is just too careless."
I bring the tattered clothes from inside and bundle them in one corner, then look at the room. It's a mess, perhaps because thorn trees invaded.
I left the damaged parts as they were, and cleaned up what I could.
By the time I finished tidying up to some extent, Victoria opened the bathroom door and came out. She comes out soaking wet with just a towel roughly draped over her.
"Victoria. Dry yourself."
"I'm too hungry to have strength..."
Come to think of it, she lost a lot of blood and used her superpower for a long time. When you become a harvester, your body becomes sturdy, so an ordinary person would probably be bedridden, but she's fine except for being a bit tired.
Watching Soo-oh, I learned directly how much is painful and okay, so Victoria will probably be similar.
I sit Victoria down and dry her hair with a towel.
"Your touch is delicate, have you dried someone before?"
As I'm gently patting, Victoria turns her head to look at me and asks. So I turn her head back forward with my hand, then answered.
"Yes, I have."
"Who? A child? Come to think of it, Belle. You weren't married, were you?"
"Are you crazy, human?"
At my words, Victoria wiggles her feet and grumbles.
"But, sometimes Belle is like an auntie. Like now too."
Is that so?
"I'm 4 months old."
"I mean the person inside."
If you say that, I have aged quite a bit. But I say this.
"There's no person inside. Victoria. It's forbidden to try to take the red pill."
"Red pill?"
"Ah, that wasn't a phrase used in this world. It means secrets are beautiful when they remain secrets."
The blue pill was seeing beautiful lies, and the red pill was seeing ugly truths.
I guess the influence of dredging up faded memories yesterday remains.
I made Victoria into a state where she can rest comfortably. Then I pointed at the door.
"Apply medicine and eat on your own."
"Yes, mom-"
Leaving Victoria making an expression saying she doesn't like nagging, I picked up Maleficent that I had stuck in one side of the entrance.
"See you tomorrow."
And I greeted Victoria and left the room.
Now, it's time for me to return to my lodging too.