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ED Note: Suzuki’s ability has a wide range of possible applications. And it feels like it’s evolving even now. Does this mean… Suzuki is evolving…? …My bad.
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A woman's voice echoed in her head, and Duma growled.
(M-My head… i-is breaking…!)
The sensation of reality and hallucination constantly clashing with each other in her mind caused a stir in Duma's chest.
(P-Painful! W-What, is this!?)
As soon as Suzuki invoked some strange technique called "Pritis," she became disoriented as if her own consciousness had split apart.
(H-How could such an inexplicable skill exist in the world!? I-I underestimated him! Suzuki's ability to rise to the rank of Thunder-Lance Charge Commander's Adjutant in such a short period of time was real!)
Duma opened her mouth. Soon, all of her fine, needle-like fangs retracted into her mouth cavity. Instead, they ripped through Duma's dress, and countless needles protruded from her body below the neck.
Duma, with the appearance of a hedgehog, glared at Suzuki.
(F-For real! I-I have to take him down!)
The Immortal Fleet Commander Duma's special move, "Puppet Doll Flying Needle Fang," which shoots out with great speed hundreds of highly powerful fangs from her body—— if used, will turn all the enemies around her into miserable, hole-riddled corpses.
"Kike Ke ke! I'll sew up your t-torn skin together later!"
Excella raised her voice in impatience in place of Suzuki, who was still hanging his head down.
"Perhaps, she is going to send those countless needles flying!? Lord Hero, it's dangerous!?”
(I-Idiot! It's NOT merely "dangerous!" If I activate it, I-I will also skewer every one of the undead and puppets on deck! Y-You'll die instantly!)
"Ke ke ke…! 'P-Puppet Doll Flying Needle Fang'…!"
The countless needles were on the verge of shooting out of her body. Duma, who had been watching out for Suzuki's reaction for a moment, was horrified.
(Wha…–!?)
"e-hic, a-hic, i-hic!"
…Suzuki was still crying. He was still hanging down his face, spilling tears and wiping them with his arm. He was crying so hard he was practically hiccupping in a crying fit.
(H-He'd been crying, since earlier a while ago!? How LONG, has he been crying!?)
As expected, from inside her chest, a "thrusting" sound could be heard. At the time she had a strange hallucination and was thinking stuff like, "Who is that man?" or like, "His face is similar to the undead I have collected so far!" or "Did I meet him somewhere by any chance...?"
(You've been sobbing your eyes out the whole time!? No, no, it's not true!? You're crying too much!!)
"A–phu! i-hic! u-hic!"
And all he did was cry and do nothing.
(W-What is going on?)
Duma's chest area began to feel painful.
"U-U-Until when, a-are you going to keep crying!?"
"L-Lord Hero!! Duma's technique is incoming!! Please stop crying!!"
Excella seemed to be getting anxious and was rubbing the hero's back. Even so, Suzuki just kept fretting around, "Gusu–! Hau–!"—continuously crying.
"Hang in there! Lord Hero! There, there! Oh, there, there!"
(I-Is this a battle… it is, right?)
As Duma watched pitiful Suzuki sobbing as the woman rubbed her back, her will to attack withers away. The Puppet Doll Flying Needle Fangs, which were about to leave Duma's body, retracted into her body in response.
"Lord Hero! Don't cry anymore! Because you are a boy! Ok–?"
"Y-yea… afuu–! I can't stop…! Gush–!"
(What the hell is this? Even babies don't cry like this. It's really too pathetic. Ah… if you put it like that…)
Duma looked at Suzuki with blank eyes.
(I-I think I've seen someone as p-pathetic as this before…)
At that moment, Duma noticed that Suzuki's tear-stained eyes were fixed on her. The hero's eyes glistened sharply as they were filled with more tears.
"Pritis's 48 Gestures—Thirty-second Gesture, 'Hiccoughing Tears'!" A moment later, after she believed Suzuki had said something, Duma found herself in a different space once again.
(Tsk! N-Not again…!)
An old bed. A musty smell. Duma immediately recognized the room as the one from the hallucination she had been shown earlier. However, the arrangement of the furniture was slightly different. And then———
(I-It's that guy…!)
The man sitting in the chair near Duma was the same. He now had a mustache and wrinkles etched into his forehead. It seemed several years had passed since the last time she had just seen him.
(T-That woman called him "Elmer.")
When she looked closely at the man named Elmer, she noticed it was not only his appearance that had changed. He was currently tied to a chair with a rope and a pained expression on his face.
Suddenly, a loud voice echoed through the room.
"There is no money, nothing— at— all!"
Behind Duma, a strong-looking man with a scar on his cheek said while kicking a wooden chest of drawers as he spoke. Next to him, a man with slanted eyes twirling a long-bladed knife was looking around.
Elmer was tied up, and next to him were some men with evil looks in their eyes——— Immediately, Duma grasped the situation.
(R-Robbers?)
Humans were no different from demons. They oppress and rob those who are weaker than themselves.
Elmer was restrained against the chair, and Duma looked at him with widened eyes as if she were watching Suzuki.
(W-When I think about it, this guy, i-is even more pathetic than Suzuki. He lost the woman he loved to illness, and on top of that, h-he was robbed by burglars! Ke ke! Kike ke ke ke!)
She was in a joyful mood, and she was laughing inside her heart—
"…Boss. How about that?"
One of the men pointed in Duma's direction. A bald man who appears to be the leader of a band of thieves that they had called "boss" approached Duma.
"Aah—? I don't see how this creepy doll will sell!"
(W-What—? A-Are you looking at me…? Ah… AAH…–!)
Behind the bald man was a full-body mirror. Seeing this, Duma began to breathe heavily.
In the mirror, Duma was reflected. This time, it was not a human woman. It was, without a doubt, her puppet doll self. However, instead of her patchwork skin, this one looked like it was just freshly made with white waxed skin and was sitting quietly in a chair.
Elmer's blood ran cold as he shouted.
"Please stop! Anything but that doll!"