My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! - Volume 4 - Chapter 12

Chapter 12 — I Never Thought I’d See You in a Place Like This 

The Garula Canyon was a dry, rocky region surrounding the meandering Garula River. Among the twisting cliffs walked a woman in a worn-out cloak, a hood covering her face: the half-demon, Theodisia. 

She was searching for her missing sister, Euphemia. “Missing” in this case could have meant any number of things, but as far as Theodisia was concerned, this was the worst possible scenario. 

When Theodisia had returned from her journey, she’d found their village destroyed. Most of her people had been killed, including her own family, with only the young women of the tribe being unaccounted for. Knowing that, she felt it likely that Euphemia had been kidnapped. Holding on to that last ray of hope, she continued to search for her sister. 

During her journey, she had met Yogiri and Tomochika. They had heard Euphemia’s name at some point on their own travels, which had taken them from the Dragon Plains to the city of Quenza. From there, they’d traveled by train to Hanabusa before heading to the canyon where she had run into them. So, if she wanted to search for Euphemia, she had to go to Quenza or Hanabusa. 

She’d decided to head to Hanabusa first, as it was closer. She knew she was unlikely to find her sister there, but rather than searching blindly, she at least had something to go on: the information network of the criminal underworld. 

Theodisia’s people, the half-demons, were known for their silver hair and dark skin, and more importantly, the enormous amount of magical energy they possessed. Countless people sought to use that power for their own ends, so half-demons were considered a valuable commodity. Theodisia had gone to the canyon in the first place because she had heard the Swordmaster’s people had been buying up her own kind. 

Although she’d had no idea where the Swordmaster was hiding, she had learned that he occasionally held a selection for Knights of the Divine King, and so had infiltrated the pool of applicants. With Yogiri’s help, she had determined that half-demons had indeed been captured and abused by the Swordmaster, but her sister wasn’t among them. So that had been a dead end for her, but if she could get in contact with the information network in Hanabusa or Quenza, she might be able to find a new lead. 

Deciding to start in Hanabusa, she didn’t expect things to go as well this time around. Before, she’d had a magical disguise to hide the fact that she was a half-demon, but as that was something a friend of hers had provided, she had no way of putting the disguise back on now that it had been removed. Making contact with the criminal underworld as a half-demon was effectively suicide. So if she wanted to gather information, she would have to find another way. 

Without any concrete ideas, she’d decided to return to the site of her destroyed village in the forest. If any of her people were alive and had managed to free themselves, there was a chance they would return there. However, something had been amiss. Now that she thought about it, there had been a number of oddities concerning the destruction of her village. 

In order to avoid strangers, it had been built deep in the forest, and was even hidden by magic. It wasn’t a place that was easy for others to find. Furthermore, it was strange that most of the villagers had been killed. If the attackers were after half-demons, there was no reason to murder so many of them. Even if they killed those who resisted, the attackers should have tried to capture most of them instead, and would have come prepared to do just that. 

On top of that, only the young women were missing. Based on the circumstances, it sounded like someone who didn’t understand the value of half-demons had come across the village by chance and, seeing the half-demon women famous for their beauty across the world, took them away and simply killed everyone else. 

Perhaps it would be best to adjust her methods. Up until then, she’d been searching places where half-demons might be traded for their high value, but perhaps she would have better luck looking in areas where women were sold in general. Maybe Hanabusa’s red-light district, or a nearby slave market, if she could find one. 

As she was walking, she became aware of the presence of others. A number of people were coming along the path in front of her. It was rare for anyone to visit the canyon — the selection of Knights of the Divine King was an exception. 

Theodisia leaped on top of a nearby boulder. It was suspicious for people to be out here, so avoiding them entirely would be best. But upon observing them, she sensed that some of her own people were among the group. 

Dropping low to hide atop the boulder, she waited. Five armed men came into view, guarding a horse-drawn cart. Theodisia was barely able to suppress the urge to attack them in a rage. These men weren’t her people, so it was likely that her kinsmen were imprisoned in the four barrels that were sitting on the cart. Images of the pathetic state of the Swordmaster’s victims in the tower flashed through her mind. That tower had needed the magic of the half-demons to operate. The Swordmaster himself couldn’t leave, though, so he would have needed someone else to supply him. That must be who these people were. They probably felt they were doing some great deed to save the world. 

But Theodisia didn’t care about any of that. The fact that her people were being targeted merely because they possessed magical energy was deplorable to her. But what could she do? Her opponents were five armed men. Two in front of the cart, one to each side, and one in the back. Each of them wore light armor and a sword. Attacking alone would be dangerous, but she couldn’t just let them go. She would have to rescue her people no matter the cost. 

Raising herself up halfway, she drew her sword. Holding it in a reverse grip down by her waist, she began pulling energy into it, darkness spilling from her arm to wrap around the blade. Once it was stained totally black, she swung the sword at the men, unleashing the power inside. Of course, her blade couldn’t possibly reach them, but the dark flash that shot out from her sword easily split two of the men in half. 

With the guards in front defeated, she began concentrating her magic on the blade again. Ideally, she would have been able to take them down without much of a fight from there. But nothing was ever easy. 

The man behind the cart unleashed a similar attack of his own, smashing the boulder she was hiding on. Jumping down from the destroyed stone, she landed in front of him. 

“A half-demon, huh? Never would have thought they’d be attacking us,” he said. 

“You looking down on us?” sneered another. “You think you can take a group of half-demon-hunters on your own?” 

“She’s already killed two of us. Don’t let your guard down.” 

The men guarding the sides of the cart approached, weapons ready. Three against one. If all of them were as strong as the first, things could get tricky. If they attacked simultaneously, it would be difficult to dodge everything. 

“I always wondered,” Theodisia said, “if we’re half-demons, are there full demons walking around somewhere?” The term “half-demon” was something of a slur. She didn’t particularly care one way or the other what humans chose to call them, but she had always wondered why they’d picked such a term. 

“How should I —” 

Theodisia swung her sword. Even after a second swing, the power absorbed by the blade wasn’t fully exhausted. In order to avoid hitting the people in the cart, she had aimed for the men’s legs. But just before reaching them, the blade of darkness vanished. 

“What?!” 

It wasn’t hard to accept the attack had been blocked. It wasn’t an immensely powerful strike, so there were any number of ways to stop it. What had shocked her was that her own people’s magic was responsible. 

“That was dangerous, wasn’t it? Attacking in the middle of a conversation is just the kind of cowardice I’d expect from a half-demon.” 

“We specialize in hunting half-demons. Of course we have some unique measures in place.” The man who was speaking carried a staff. Clearly, he could use magic. A cable ran from the end of the staff to the cart. 

“You bastard!” Theodisia was so full of rage that she felt she might explode. 

“Half-demons have so much magical energy, but they aren’t very good at using it, y’know? We’re much better at putting it to work.” 

“We have four half-demons’ worth of magical energy here. What do you think you can do on your own?” 

“I see.” 

Suppressing her anger, she focused her energy. Darkness swelled around the blade once again, more than doubling its size. She swung it casually from the side. The blade stopped just short of the smirking men, but Theodisia poured her strength into it. 

Even greater power flowed into the blade. A dull sound, like metal crumpling, filled the air. The men must have thought it was the sound of her blade buckling, as they laughed mockingly at her without even trying to flee. And then one of them was suddenly split in two. 

“What—?!” Caught off guard, the remaining men leaped backwards. 

“What happened?!” 

“I suppose it didn’t occur to you that I might be stronger than the other four put together?” 

She stepped forward. As she sliced the second man apart, the third used the opening to throw aside his staff and make a break for it. He was the one who had destroyed the boulder, so he seemed to be the strongest. She threw another attack at his back. There wasn’t much strength behind it, as any kind of contact would have been enough to stop him, but he turned and launched an attack of his own, intercepting the coming blow and nullifying both. He then turned and continued to run full tilt. His ability to recognize just how outclassed he was and flee probably meant that he was a skilled fighter. 

Theodisia didn’t pursue him. Rescuing her people came first. Jumping up onto the cart, she steeled herself before opening the first barrel and was met with a wave of relief. The woman inside wasn’t in the same horrific condition as those in the tower had been. Although she had been stuffed into a barrel, she appeared to be more or less healthy and unharmed. 

Opening the rest of the containers, Theodisia found that all of the captured half-demons were women. But they weren’t from her own village. She was happy to have saved some of her kind, but she couldn’t help but feel disappointed as well. 

As she freed the women, she heard a blood-curdling scream from some distance away. Looking up, she saw the man who had fled moments before now running back towards them. Not having expected him to return, Theodisia was caught off guard. It would have been one thing if he had tried to sneak up on them, and she had been ready for such a threat, but she was startled by his loud, blundering approach. 

Even more surprising was what happened next. The presence of another half-demon suddenly arrived as an arm punched straight through the man’s chest. Someone had stabbed through him with their bare hand from behind. 

The man slid to the ground, revealing the person behind him. 

Euphemia. 

“I mean...if you could do that so easily, you should have taken him alive. I still needed to talk to him. I was hoping he’d know where my sister was...” Her thoughts in total chaos, Theodisia mumbled nonsense to herself. There was no need to search for her sister anymore. She was right there in front of her. 

“Are you...really Euphemia?” While Theodisia should have been able to tell just by looking at her, her sister’s presence seemed entirely different from what she remembered. And that attack...Euphemia wasn’t especially good at fighting. There was no way she could punch through someone’s body bare-handed. 

“That’s right, Theo. I never thought I’d see you in a place like this.” A number of large carriages rolled up behind her. 

“What on earth is going on?!” Theodisia exclaimed. 

At Euphemia’s invitation, Theodisia boarded one of the carriages. Inside was a luxurious room, where a girl who looked about twelve years old was sitting. It appeared to be the person Euphemia was serving. 

As they took a seat, her sister recounted the experiences that had brought her to that point. 

“So, basically, you became a vampire, and your new senses allowed you to find our people?” 

“That’s right.” 

It was a hard story to swallow. A boy from another world, Yuuki Tachibana, had attacked the village and taken away all the young women. Among them, Euphemia was one of the most attractive, so she had been assigned to his personal bodyguard unit. 

Yuuki had possessed the Gift with a class of Dominator, so no one could disobey him, but when he tried to kill Yogiri Takatou, he was killed in turn. Freed after Yuuki’s death, Euphemia was soon placed under the control of Sage Lain. Lain was a vampire known as an Origin Blood, and she had drunk Euphemia’s blood, turning her into a vampire as well. 

Lain was then killed by Yogiri too, and Euphemia fled once again. Returning to their village, another member of Lain’s lineage had attacked her. After killing the assassin, Euphemia herself had become an Origin Blood. With nowhere else to go, she went to Lain’s hidden dwelling, where she found Risley, a girl who seemed to be associated with Lain in some way. 

Feeling a sense of reverence for the girl, Euphemia had decided to join her on her journey, and they’d set off for the capital. 

“Euphemia said she felt some of her friends nearby, so we went looking for them,” Risley explained. Euphemia had been pained at the thought of leaving her people in danger while they journeyed on, so thankfully, Risley had acceded to her request to help them. 

“I understand the situation.” Euphemia had suffered so much, and had even been turned into a vampire, so it was difficult for Theodisia to be entirely happy. But at least she had found her sister. That was a relief, and relief was what she should have been feeling most just then. “My current objective is to save our people, and I believe Euphemia’s power would be very useful in that endeavor. Would you allow me to travel with you?” 

“Of course! We’d love to have you!” Risley answered instantly. 

“But you’re going to the capital. Making it through the canyon seems like it will be a challenge.” 

“Don’t worry. Once I became an Origin Blood, I gained a portion of the knowledge my predecessor held. As such, I am well acquainted with this area.” 

“I suppose we’ll manage, then. But due to a recent incident, the landscape around here has changed significantly. I recommend you keep that in mind.” Describing exactly what had happened in the canyon would be a bit challenging, but thanks to a certain goddess going berserk, the region had seen quite a bit of destruction. “By the way, why exactly are you heading for the capital? If you don’t mind telling me.” 

“Not at all! We’re going to meet Yogiri! Oh, I don’t know where he actually is, but that’s where I was told to go look.” 

“Well, that should be a good start. Sir Takatou was also heading there when I saw him.” Even though his name had come up numerous times, hearing that their objective was to find him took her by surprise. 

“Wait, have you met him?!” 

“It’s a long story.” 

It was Theodisia’s turn to share a tale of her own.