Volume 11 Chapter 46 The Cruel Truth
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”I cannot believe it… that Sheryl-sama¹ would actually plot a rebellion…”
Nyx, the First Princess of the Seron Duchy, felt the color drain from her face as she read the dire reports from their allies. The news of the Emperor and Crown Prince’s assassinations was a tectonic shift that no amount of state secrecy could contain. Amidst the spiraling chaos, the grim reality was being broadcast to every corner of the continent.
”It is quite a stroke of luck that your private dealings with Sheryl-sama remained a secret, wouldn’t you say, Princess?” the Adamantine Witch asked.
The witch sipped her tea with practiced grace, popping a delicate pastry into her mouth as if the world weren’t ending outside. She had made a habit of visiting Nyx daily, if only to twist the knife.
”Those dregs down in the streets… tell them they’ll receive a single biscuit and they’d gladly crawl through the muck to lick your heels. It truly is a marvelous sight,” she added with a smirk.
”Adamantine Witch, how can you…!” Nyx cried.
”Oh? Will you follow Sheryl-sama’s lead then? Overthrow the crown and make me your subordinate? Don’t worry, I’m far too ‘soft’ to report you. I’d much rather sit back and watch the fireworks,” the witch replied.
”To even suggest such a thing… it’s unthinkable,” Nyx whispered.
Nyx remained frozen. She knew her own impotence all too well, and that knowledge stripped her of options. She lacked the cold-blooded resolve of Sheryl-sama-she could never force a poisoned chalice upon her own kin, nor could she bear the weight of her family’s blood on her hands.
Besides, the Seron royals were victims in their own right. Their feud with Lesta had been a one-sided slaughter. They hadn’t invited the apocalypse like Emperor Quvar like when he tore open the Underworld. Nyx had no righteous cause to cling to.
”Nyx-sama is truly kind desuwa², isn’t she. I don’t entirely hate that about you,” the witch said.
Before Nyx could respond, a new messenger arrived, bearing news from Lesta that would shatter what little composure she had left.
* * *
”I’m sorry, Lumine-chan. Five people is just too risky for the jump,” Sanada Shiori said.
”It’s fine. I’m used to being on my own anyway. Just come back for me, okay? I still haven’t let Nasu-kun take my ‘final’ prize yet,” Lumine replied.
Sheryl-sama had been plucked from the jaws of death by Shiori’s last-minute summoning magic. Though her wounds had been mortal, Sakasaki Shion’s healing had stabilized her enough for the return to McGaref.
”…I am deeply in your debt,” Sheryl-sama muttered.
”Don’t worry about it, Sheryl-san. Just look after Nasu-kun while I’m gone,” Lumine said.
Nasu Takumi, Sakasaki Shion, Sanada Shiori, and Sheryl-sama were suddenly bathed in the blinding light of a massive geometric array. In a flicker of mana, they vanished.
”Wow, what a spell. So that’s how we teleported… though it looks like a nightmare to redraw that circle every time it burns out,” Lumine mused.
Lumine, now alone, looked back at her classmates sleeping soundly on the bus.
”Just a little longer, guys. Shiori-chan is such a cheat, I think we might actually make it back to Japan after all.”
In that heartbeat, the air turned to ice.
Every nerve in Lumine’s body screamed. An overwhelming sense of predatory malice flooded her brain, triggering every survival instinct she possessed.
”No… not now…!” she gasped.
Lumine knew this sensation. She knew it intimately. The space around her began to warp and buckle, the air curdling like spoiled milk. Only one person possessed the sheer magical density to tear through the dimensions like this-and she only did it when she smelled blood.
”My, my. If it isn’t little Lumine-chan.”
”…Hello, Big sister,” Lumine said, her voice trembling.
The personification of malice stepped into reality. Sakasaki Livia-the ‘Witch of the Turning Heavens’³-stood there with a smile that didn’t reach her predatory eyes. She looked down at her younger sister with a mixture of amusement and utter disdain.
”Oh? Did you kill yourself just to crawl back here? I didn’t even notice. Though, you always did have a sense of dramatic timing,” Livia said.
”Liar. You’re only here because you felt me, didn’t you?” Lumine countered.
Lumine’s heart hammered against her ribs. If Takumi and the others had stayed a second longer, this would have been a slaughterhouse. She knew Livia’s obsession with Shiori; she knew the witch wouldn’t stop until she had Shiori’s head.
”Guilty as charged. But honestly, ever since Yoshizaki-san made off with my ‘God,’ my senses have been so dull. I really need to kill that girl soon to get my edge back. Tell me, sister-do you think it’s better to have her ravished before she dies, or while she’s dying? I simply can’t decide,” Livia asked playfully.
”…I don’t see the difference. They’re both disgusting,” Lumine said.
”Still so prickly! But I’m in such a wonderful mood today, I’ll let your rudeness slide,” Livia laughed.
Lumine hadn’t seen Livia this giddy in years. She was practically vibrating with the need to share her “good news.”
”Did you hear? Little Sheryl finally snapped. She staged a coup, butchered her father and brother, and then vanished into thin air. I’ve been summoned back to court, but I’m torn. I’m so close to breaking Floria’s mind over in the Theocracy… it would be such a waste to stop now. Maybe I’ll just trick them into invading Quvar instead? Imagine the chaos!” Livia exclaimed.
Livia looked out over the world as if it were a chessboard she was about to flip. Destruction was her only true muse.
”Sheryl acting out of character was a delicious surprise, but it makes things so much more fun. Now, I just need to find Nasu-kun. Why don’t you be a good girl and tell me where he is?”
Livia hadn’t realized Nasu Takumi was just here. Lumine carefully began weaving a web of half-truths, keeping her voice steady enough to avoid suspicion.
(If she catches a single lie, I’m dead.)
She fed Livia a story about Takumi currying favor with Councilor Anne and taking over Merchant Guild Katarina⁴ through sheer luck and chaos. Livia listened, nodding with a dark, satisfied grin.
”This is going to be a masterpiece of despair. Truly exquisite,” Livia whispered.
”A masterpiece… of despair?” Lumine asked.
”Based on what you’ve told me, it seems our little Nasu-kun is developing that ‘Discount Skill’⁵ of his quite nicely-just like the First Emperor did. I assume he ‘bought’ that guild with his little cheat power?”
Lumine felt a chill. She remembered the legends of the First Emperor-the golden age he built, and the horrific, blood-soaked purges that followed. She thought of the wars Takumi had already fought. The two men were starting to look like mirror images.
”Are you… are you going to use your poison to puppet him again?” Lumine asked.
”Oh, Lumine-chan. You can’t puppet a man that far with mere magic.”
Livia tilted her head, her smile widening into something jagged and demonic. The thought seemed to physically arouse her; her hand drifted to her chest, her breathing hitching with dark delight. Her lips curled into a wicked sneer.
She began to map out the board, wondering how to use the ‘Witch of the Four Seas’ and the ‘Witch of the Firmament’ as sacrificial pawns. At that moment, her plan for Takumi changed. He was no longer a nuisance to be removed. He was a seed to be watered with blood.
”I want this Nasu-kun to be a true Demon King. Maybe I’ll even help him become a God so he can suffer for eternity. He’ll be a much more terrifying God than I ever was. I can’t wait to see what he becomes when he’s ‘fully grown,’” Livia said.
”Stop it! Nasu-kun isn’t like that! He’s a good person!” Lumine shouted.
Livia’s giggling sharpened into a mocking laugh. She began to touch herself through her robes, her eyes glazed with a sick, euphoric light as she looked at her sister’s trembling form.
”Oh, you poor, sweet fool. Didn’t you realize it back when he was the First Emperor?”
Lumine felt the world tilt. There was a fundamental truth she had missed-a rot at the center of everything.
”What are you talking about, Livia? Tell me!”
”Fine. Since I’m in such a good mood, I’ll let you in on the secret,” Livia said, leaning in close.
As Livia spoke, the missing pieces of the puzzle slammed into place. Lumine looked back at the space where the bus had been, a desperate, silent plea for Shiori to find a way to stop what was coming.
Everything made sense now. The First Emperor’s sudden descent into cruelty. Takumi’s own cold efficiency in the war for McGaref. It wasn’t a choice. It was the price. Lumine whispered the horrific realization to herself, the words tasting like ash.
”The side effect of his ‘Discount Skill’… it’s an insatiable hunger for ruin.”
—
Summary:
Following the assassination of the Quvarian Emperor, Princess Nyx of the Seron Duchy struggles with her own powerlessness and the realization that her ally Sheryl-sama has committed matricide and regicide. In another realm, Lumine is left behind as Takumi and the others teleport away, only to be confronted by her sadistic sister, the Witch Livia. Livia reveals the horrific hidden cost of Takumi’s ‘Discount Skill’: it creates an uncontrollable urge for destruction in the user.
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Trivia:
- Sheryl-sama was actually rescued and teleported to McGaref; Livia thinks she just vanished.
- Livia’s powers are currently dulled because a character named Yoshizaki took her ‘God’.
- The ‘Discount Skill’ is a hereditary or recurring cheat power shared by the First Emperor.
- Lumine is actually Livia’s biological younger sister.
- The Seron royals consider themselves victims of a one-sided invasion by Lesta
—
Character Insight:
Livia’s motive shifts from wanting to eliminate Takumi to wanting to ‘cultivate’ him into a Demon King, finding his latent destructive impulses far more entertaining than his death. Lumine demonstrates quick thinking by providing half-truths to Livia, though she is now mentally broken by the revelation of Takumi’s true nature.
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Behind the Scenes:
The ‘Discount Skill’ is revealed here as a classic ‘cursed cheat’ trope, where the power’s efficiency is balanced by psychological erosion.
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TL Notes:
Notes:
• Sheryl – Second Princess of the Quvarian Empire, a striking beauty with red hair. Initially appears as a diplomatic envoy, but she is a reformer within the empire, seeking to atone for Quvar’s past betrayals, particularly the destruction of the Northern Kingdom. Sheryl is highly intelligent and politically savvy, using her position to gather secrets and undermine the empire’s plans to destroy McGaref. She is also a slave to Takumi, bound by enslavement magic, and tasked with sowing chaos within Quvar. Despite her circumstances, she maintains a sense of duty and hopes to bring about change. First appears in v6c26.
• Nyx – The First Princess of Celon Dukedom, who escapes to McGaref; next in line to the throne after the Queen’s expected death.
• Adamantine Witch – Beria. Ex-Seron court witch, slain and revived in the Ghost Army but still herself. Aristocratic, cruel to subordinates, yet hopelessly devoted to her sister Scaya—defecting mid-battle to rejoin her. Wields adamantine barrier magic, proud and scornful of ‘paupers.’ First appears v9c11. Reminder: Noble witch whose pride hides desperate love for Scaya.
• Lumine – A human student and Sakasaki Livia’s sister, first seen at McGaref’s gate after a reset to the past, returning from a barren labyrinth run with Nagai Kahoru after their party called them “dead weight.” Takumi meets her there; because she committed suicide in the prior timeline, he and friends watch her; she’s best friends with Kahoru and Date Haruka, and she speaks in hollow aphorisms.
• McGaref – Fortress city, adventurer hub.
• Shion – Ginga’s GF. Archery, healing.
• Livia – 8th-ranked imperial witch, heir of Cartera and friend of Lilus (Neige’s sister), whose death drove her to hate Quvar. Austere, sharp, and feared, she opposed the Ghost Army and toppled Emperor by using then betraying Gritch, secretly backing Princess Sheryl. First appears v9c3. Reminder: Brilliant witch who twists loyalties to save the world.
• Anne – Grandmother of the councilor representing the Market in McGaref.
• Quvarian Empire – Ruling kingdom. Harsh world, restricted freedom.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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