Silent Retribution

The last thing Silver remembered was the absolute collapse of reality around her...

"..."

The space-time continuum had fragmented like shattered glass, a web of luminous cracks devouring existence while the world she knew crumbled into the void.

(¡CRRR-CHK...!)

... But then a sound of compression echoed through the gelid stillness.

(¡SHHHH~!)

The imposing ice statue in which Sonia had been immortalized began to shrink at an accelerated pace, reducing soberly and methodically until it became a small crystalline sphere of deep blue.

"... I have you."

As a result, "Silvia" observed the small frozen gem containing the demonic commander and, with unperturbed serenity, caught it gently between her fingers, concealing it carefully beneath her dark cloak.

"TH... THE GENERAL HAS FALLEN!"

Immediately following that, the harrowing and terrified cry of a vanguard orc shattered the inert atmosphere, echoing with panic from the frost-covered remains of the wall.

"THAT THING FROZE ONE OF THE DEMON GENERALS!"

However, to the hooded figure, the roar of the monsters was nothing more than a distant echo.

"... What I am about to do... goes against my code... But..."

Above the tumult, in Silver's memory, the last thing she had heard before the primal explosion consumed everything in that cataclysm—the very one that brought her back to her world—still echoed with painful clarity...

"Right now, I don't care..."

... And yet, despite the confusion, the pain, or the panic, the only thing that would not stop ringing in her mind...

"I WILL KILL YOU ALL."

... Was the desperate scream of someone calling out for "Mom" amidst the flames.

(¡WSHHHH!)

At that moment, vanishing in a breath, "Silvia" disappeared.

"S-She disappeared! Where did—?!"

Because of that, the harrowing screech of panic from an imp echoed, only to be abruptly cut short mid-sentence by its own cry of agony.

(¡¡BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!)

There was a reason why the hooded figure had deliberately played along with Sonia, backing away and yielding ground to push the combat away from the fortress.

"... You know... I saw it all..."

"Silvia"—knowing she had not yet mastered with complete precision the immense freezing sealing power contained within the dagger, the final gift entrusted to her—needed to calculate the exact distance so that the gelid shockwave would only entrap the fallen paladin and the immediate surroundings, thus purposely avoiding harm to other living beings.

"... You killed everyone... You were stronger..."

Was it consideration, mercy, or perhaps compassion...?

"And yet... why did you take so long to kill them?"

Such considerations were a mistake...

"You tortured them."

... Reality was far colder, and karma collected its due.

"¡¡¡AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!"

As the goblin's screech of agony echoed, in that place—now without the need to measure the scale of her attack—there was no longer any reason to hold back.

(¡¡CRACK-BOOOOM!!)

Vanishing in plain sight before the demonic army with a mere dull hum, the hooded silhouette reappeared behind the imp in a fraction of a second, and with a single impact, crushed its face against the stone flags, carving out a crater that continuously widened beneath her feet.

(¡SPLAAAT!)

Immediately following that, with baffling ease, she made a sharp motion with her hand imbued in a grayish flash...

"An eye for an eye..."

And in an instant, clean slash, she tore off both the arms and legs of the demon, leaving a rain of blood upon the frost.

"... A tooth for a tooth."

In response, breaking out of their trance, the horde of monsters rushed at her en masse.

(¡FSH-FSH-FSH!)

A rain of poisoned arrows streaked through the air from the wall.

"¡¡¡RAAAAARGH...!!!"

Unfazed, the hooded figure raised the imp's dismembered torso with a single hand, using it as a disposable shield to intercept the projectiles that embedded themselves rigidly into the monster's dead flesh.

(¡CRACK!)

Immediately following that, upon noticing the faint and useless spasms remaining in the riddled creature, the hooded figure snapped its neck with a sharp, ruthless twist...

"... Next."

And immediately let the inert corpse drop to the ground before vanishing into thin air.

(¡WSHHHHH!)

Following which a sonic breath echoed across the walls as her silhouette blurred completely.

"¡AAGHH!"

"¡UUGHH!"

"¡GYAAAH!"

"¡GAAAH!"

In the seconds that followed, absolute chaos seized the fortress.

"¡GRAAAWRG...!"

"¡KRRRK... GUUURGHL!"

"¡BLURG!"

"¡AGHH!"

Cries of agony, bones snapping, and wails of pain began to cascade through every corner of the city, as a dense, gelid mist spread along the ground, suffocating the demonic army's visibility.

"SHOW YOURSELF, YOU DAMNED SCUM! OR I'LL BREAK THIS TRASH'S NECK!"

As a result, panicked and cornered, a wild orc violently grabbed a beaten human hostage—whose limbs had been torn off and tongue cut out long ago—using him as a bloody human shield in a desperate attempt to force the intruder to reveal herself.

(¡SPEAR SHOT-SPLAAAT!)

However, in a fraction of a second, a demonic spear streaked through the fog at a terrifying speed, cleanly impaling the hostage's chest and embedding itself deep within the torso of the monster holding him.

"¡¡AAAAGH...!!"

The orc roared in pain, but before it could process the impact, "Silvia" emerged from its shadow.

(¡¡¡THUD!!!)

And gripping the shaft of the impaled spear, she instantly imbued it with a subtle membrane of gray ash.

"Fuhh~"

Immediately following that, with a sharp, implacable slash, she severed each and every one of the monster's limbs.

"¡¡¡HUK... KH...!!!"

The cut spilled not a single drop of blood as gray flames ignited on the rough wounds upon contact, instantly sealing the flesh while the spear, consumed by its own power, crumbled into a handful of ashes.

(¡SCHLICK!)

And before the creature could sob or beg for mercy, the intruder ripped out its tongue with a swift, brutal movement of her hand.

(¡¡BOOOOM!!)

Following that, with a crushing kick to the chest, she sent the mutilated orc flying through the air, using it to directly intercept a fireball that a demonic mage had just fired at her.

(¡¡¡SWOOOSH-BOOOOM!!!)

Immediately after, taking advantage of their elevated position, two gigantic ogres charged at the same time from both flanks, letting out bestial roars as they brought down their oversized iron swords in a devastating downward slash.

(¡CLAAANG!)

The impact echoed like thunder, but the blades did not touch the ground.

"¡HMPH!"

"¡HAH!"

With terrifying impassivity, "Silvia" halted the strike of the two massive slabs of metal mid-air, catching the blades directly with her bare hands as if her fingers were forged from pure steel.

(¡CRACK-SHATTER!)

And before the horrified gaze of the beasts, the intruder tightened her grip with colossal strength, shattering both giant swords into dozens of iron shards.

"Hurricane."

Following that, in a fluid and instantaneous motion, she spun on her axis at high speed, catching the broken fragments mid-air and imbuing every piece of metal with a flash of gray flames.

(¡¡FWOOSH–CLACK–THCHRRRKKK!!)

In that manner, with a sharp sweep of her hand, she unleashed the improvised shrapnel in a deadly fan pattern that pierced straight through the skulls and torsos of every monster present in the area, littering the courtyard with shattered corpses.

"¡AAAAAAHHHH!"

(¡CRACK-SPLAAAT!)

A dull burst of bone and flesh echoed as a mallet of shards pierced through the skull of one of the officers, suffocating his panicked cry in an instant.

"¡N-NOOO—!"

A few meters away, a succubus desperately deployed her wings to take flight and escape the slaughterhouse, but before gaining a single meter of height, a piece of gray steel shrapnel cleanly impaled her neck, making her drop like a stone to the ground.

(¡FWOOOOSH!)

Right as she finished her rotation, a flock of harpies swooped down from the sky claws-first, attempting to ambush her from behind.

"Two minutes..."

Yet without even turning her gaze, "Silvia" executed a rising kick of terrifying precision, crushing the leader's skull in mid-air.

(¡CRUNCH-SWISH!)

Following that, catching the ankles of the creatures' corpses before they touched the ground, she used their own disarticulated bodies as lethal nunchucks, spinning them at a blinding speed as she charged head-on and completely exposed into the bulk of the horde.

(¡SPLASH! ¡CRACK! ¡BOOM!)

However, while one by one the monsters fell, utterly unable to so much as touch that hooded figure...

"Hah... hah... I-Impossible...! She's a monster...!"

... Atop the wall, the demonic emissary contemplated the massacre with pupils dilated in absolute horror.

"I-I have to... I have to report this to the other Commanders immediately—!"

Trembling like a leaf and dripping cold sweat, he dragged himself backward across the frozen stone flags.

(¡¡¡BOOOOOOOM...!!!)

But at that moment, a thunderous explosion shook the wall as the colossal corpse of a cyclops collapsed heavily right beside him, cracking the stone flags.

"¡HIIIEEEE...!"

The demonic emissary scrambled backward, engulfed in absolute panic.

"Th-this shouldn't be happening...?!"

He watched in horror as blood sprouted and spilled in pools across the ground, while a dense, nauseating stench of charred flesh began to rise to his nostrils.

"... Found you."

Yet it was at that point, in the middle of his desperate retreat, when his trembling hands bumped abruptly against the cold steel of metallic boots.

"Time's up."

The emissary turned slowly, his pupils dilated in horror.

(¡CLACK!)

In a state of shock, he raised his gaze only to meet cold, soulless electric-blue eyes staring fixedly at him from the shadows of a hood stained with black blood.

"H-Hiii... W-Wait! Please, wait!"

It was before that figure that the demon, fully aware of what was about to happen, let out an audible whine of pure terror, desperately trying to negotiate anything that might save his life.

(CLANK... CLANK... CLANK...)

While seeking to buy time by any means necessary, he continued scrambling backward, staining his skin and robes with the warm blood flooding the floor.

"¡O-Ouuh... w-wait... w-wait...!"

It was in that instant when he noticed a chilling detail...

(...Clank... ...Clank... ...Clank...)

Except for the metallic footsteps the hooded figure took as she approached him, everything around had been plunged into a sepulchral silence.

"I-I can take you to the Demon King!"

Because of that, pushing his mind to its absolute limit, he recalled the conversation that figure had had at the beginning, blurting out those words...

"I can present you before him!"

As a result, the metallic footsteps that had been echoing with the inexorable cadence of a grim reaper came to a sudden halt.

"...."

The hooded figure remained motionless, observing him from above in dead silence.

"F-From what I heard during your fight against General Sonia...! Don't you want to know who granted her that power over the black flames?!"

Noticing he had managed to catch her attention, the emissary screeched with renewed desperation, trying to cling to the single thread of life he had left.

"I know it! I can tell you!"

The monster's plan was transparent: he intended to use that valuable information as a bargaining chip to strike a deal and preserve his miserable existence.

"Demon King...?"

The demon was fully convinced that attempting to face the almighty lord he served was pure suicide.

"Th-That's right... The almighty lord of demons who rules over all...!!"

In his mind, he harbored the twisted hope that, if that intruder turned out to be a woman, she would end up suffering the same fate of subjugation and despair as the other heroines who had once challenged the demonic sovereign...

(¡CRUNCH-SPLAAAT!)

However, before he could even form a smile of relief, the hooded figure's response arrived without a single drop of mercy.

"Shut up."

With a motion imperceptible to the eye, her boot came down like a guillotine, shattering the emissary's skull and silencing his dark intentions forever.

"With that, two minutes have passed..."

She had obtained the confirmation she needed. There was no reason to negotiate.

"... Before I look for Mom... I must settle accounts..."

The massacre had ended. The entire outpost had been eradicated in the exact same amount of time it had taken the demons to slaughter the original inhabitants of that town.

"... Demon King."

In the end, in that place, a gelid whisper was lost to the wind.

"..."

And without looking back, the valkyrie turned her back on the bloody fortress and stepped into the gloom of the frozen wasteland, leaving behind a deserted town plunged into eternal silence.