My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! - Volume 4 - Chapter 7

Chapter 7 — A Woman From the Past Appears! Tomochika is Shocked! 

Daimon Hanakawa walked through a city that, at first glance, seemed to possess a kind of idyllic beauty, but nevertheless felt somehow warped. It was supposed to be the bottom level of the Underworld, but for some reason, the sun was shining brilliantly, and there was even a well-populated metropolis down there. But he still felt ill at ease. 

The uncomfortable atmosphere must have come from the people who filled the streets. It almost felt like he was watching a crowd of dolls. No individual seemed particularly off, but put together there was a definite strangeness to them. No one seemed to be interacting in any way. There were those who walked through the streets, those who called out from their shops, and those doing sidewalk performances. But each of them seemed to be in a trance, focused entirely on their own tasks and completely uninterested in the others around them. 

The ruler of that city was a beautiful woman who gave off her own air of wrongness. Although she was supposed to be sealed away at the bottom of the Underworld, she was walking around the place freely. 

She was the Dark God Mana, younger sister of the Dark God Albagarma, and the one Hanakawa’s companion, Lute, had come here to find. When Hanakawa had first met Lute, the hellspawn had been in the form of a young boy, but he had changed his appearance to that of a girl since then. Apparently, he could freely alter his form. 

Despite having located the being he was looking for, Lute seemed somewhat depressed. Normally, Hanakawa would tease him about that, but he himself was even more depressed than his companion. Up until that point, he had acted carefree no matter how serious the situation was, but he couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by despair at the problem facing him now. 

There seemed to be no chance at all of him getting out alive. Even if he ran, he was on the lowest level of the Underworld. He didn’t know how he had gotten there, nor did he know much about the place in general. In short, escaping on his own would essentially be impossible. 

The Underworld itself was teeming with monsters who attacked humans on sight, so even trying to find a way out would be dangerous. The only reason he was safe for the time being was Lute and Mana standing by his side, but he could hardly imagine that would last much longer. 

As he walked, the situation felt like it was getting worse and worse. So, rather than just being swept along, he needed some sort of plan to overcome his current circumstances. Unfortunately, he couldn’t think of a single option. His first instinct was to ask Lute, but Lute was similarly distracted and had no reason to want to leave in the first place. 

His next course of action would be to ask Mana, but he hesitated to do that. It was unlikely that anything he said would get through to her. His usual strategy was to behave in a baffling manner to disguise his attempts to force the conversation in a favorable direction, but he doubted she would even react if he stripped down naked and took a dump in front of her. 

How did he get into this situation? He should have fled before they’d reached the Underworld, but there’d been no point at which he could have escaped. Before meeting Lute, he’d been dragged around by Aoi, who’d been similarly impossible to get away from. Before that, he had been living as a slave of the rogue Sage in the Forest of Beasts. If he went back far enough, it seemed like the real mistake had been splitting off from his classmates to do his own thing at the start. 

No, that wasn’t where he’d gone wrong. He’d already been an outcast among the members of his class, so it wouldn’t have been long before they’d sold him out too. The problem was that once he had decided to act on his own, the first person he had come across had been the worst possible opponent to meet. 

Yogiri Takatou. The reason Hanakawa was in this situation was that he had met Yogiri. All of this was because he was Yogiri’s enemy. He was living as Yogiri’s enemy. That realization was far more meaningful to him than he could ever have imagined. 

“Uhh, yeah. I’m sorry. For dragging you all the way down here,” Lute mumbled, pulling Hanakawa out of his thoughts. 

“Hm? Did I mishear? I can’t help but feel like Master Lute just said something noble.” 

“No, you didn’t mishear. I said I’m sorry.” 

“C-Could you stop, please?! I already have a bad enough feeling about this; I don’t need any more death flags!” 

“What are you talking about?” 

“Listen! When a bad person has a change of heart, or shows a little bit of kindness, that’s always a sign of their impending doom!” 

“A sign, huh? Well, that seems about right. I’m sure Lady Mana will kill me before too long.” 

“Wh-Why?!” 

“Because I let my lord die without being able to help. There’s no way she’d forgive me for that.” 

“But he was already dead when the seal was released, right? You weren’t connected to that at all...” 

“Do you think that kind of logic will work on her?” Lute glanced ahead at Mana, prompting Hanakawa to do the same. She was such a bizarre woman, so in love with her own brother that she went through a fake pregnancy to give birth to children she could say were his. Hanakawa couldn’t even begin to guess how her mind worked. 

“Well, I suppose she doesn’t seem like someone who’d have a normal conversation...but! We haven’t told her the Dark God is dead yet, have we?” 

“And how are we going to get her help with taking revenge if we don’t tell her why? Do you think you can trick her? There’s no way she’ll be misled about anything involving my lord.” 

“Ah, that’s right! I forgot that was your objective!” 

“Here, you can have this,” Lute said, pulling something out of his pocket. It was a sparkling gold tube, twisted and bent in a complicated pattern. Lute had said earlier that it was the key to Mana’s seal. 

“Uh, isn’t that, like, a super important item? Like, something you should never be able to give away?” 

“That’s right. As long as you’re holding it, Lady Mana shouldn’t kill you. She should look at whoever’s holding it as a representative of her brother’s will.” 

“Then why don’t you keep it for yourself? I mean, it’s not like I want to die or anything, but...” 

“I’m sure she’ll kill me whether I have it or not. But if you have it? Who knows. I just figure if I’m going to die, there’s no need to force you to die with me.” 

“Are you sure you don’t wish to live to see your revenge carried out? You were pretty worked up earlier about seeing everyone who was at the tower destroyed.” 

“Once Lady Mana knows about my lord’s death, all of that is guaranteed. She won’t let a single person who was present there escape.” 

“Wait, but doesn’t that include me?” Hanakawa had meant it as a joke, but Lute suddenly went quiet. “Wait, wait, wait, please, wait a second! I was not involved at all, okay?! I was just being dragged around by the Sage, Lady Aoi, so I only showed up after everything had already happened! I had nothing to do with the Dark God himself, remember?!” 

“It would be nice if that logic worked, but...” 

“I’m surprised you seem to think it wouldn’t!” 

“Anyway, just take it. It should keep you safe while you’re here. Once I’ve told her about my lord, my objective will be complete.” 

At Lute’s insistence, Hanakawa reluctantly took the key. “Does this do anything, though? She’s supposed to be locked up, but she’s just walking around here like nothing is wrong.” 

“It’s fine. Hey, traveling with you wasn’t so bad after all. It was the first time I got to experience something like that.” 

“Please stop! Stop raising all these death flags!” 

Still caught up in her own fantasies, Mana still wasn’t paying their conversation any mind. After walking for a while longer, they came to a white palace. It was the biggest building in the city, meaning it was likely their destination. Inside, it was dark but for a half-sphere of dull light. Mana immediately stepped into the sphere, lying down on the luxurious bed set up within. 

“Um, this is...” 

“The strongest seal my brother was capable of creating,” she answered. “He filled it with his own love, to ensure I would always be safe!” 

“But it looks like a normal bedroom to me...you just walked into it like you were walking through a thin curtain.” 

“The keyhole is over there.” 

Looking at where Mana was pointing, Hanakawa saw a pedestal on the edge of the sphere of light with a small keyhole in it. He assumed that if he put the key in and turned it, it would release the seal. 

“I have no idea what opening this up actually accomplishes at this point.” 

Although he wasn’t sure why he was doing any of it, he could feel Lute’s nervousness from beside him. It seemed his companion truly was planning to tell Mana everything. 

There were only a few people in the street: Tomochika, Yogiri, Mokomoko, and the man Yogiri had been looking for. He was staring up at them dumbly from where he sat on the ground. Thanks to Mokomoko’s weird ability to receive electronic signals, she had intercepted his wireless communications. 

When they had approached what looked to be the ringleader’s hideout, he had tried to escape in an aircraft, which was subsequently brought down by Ryouko. When they’d tried to speak to him after his escape attempt, he had summoned all sorts of things to attack them, so there was little doubt he was the culprit they were searching for. 

“To be fair, I get why he’s in shock. Anyone would be in a situation like this...” 

By now, even the chain of impressive-looking enemies appearing and dying one after another wasn’t surprising to Tomochika. She had grown well accustomed to sights like that. She was far more surprised by Yogiri not killing someone who had attacked him. From the looks of it, the girl was someone he recognized, as he had been awfully gentle with her when she stopped moving. 

The man doesn’t seem all that calm to me, Mokomoko observed as she studied the stranger before them. 

“Either way, we have to deal with him before we do anything else.” 

Having seemingly lost the will to resist, the man calling himself Ryousuke Miyanaga answered all the questions that were put to him honestly. As expected, he was the one who’d been targeting them. As the head of an assassin’s guild, he had received a contract to kill Yogiri, but he didn’t know anything about the client who had made the request, nor had he met them. 

“That’s all you wanted, right? I told you everything I know! I’m not going to come after you anymore!” 

“Sorry, but I’m going to have to kill you anyway,” Yogiri said bluntly. This time, it wasn’t a threat to obtain more information; he was simply being honest. 

“But why?!” 

Tomochika mentally echoed the man’s response, even more surprised than Ryousuke himself. She’d been sure that Yogiri would let him go after getting what they needed out of him. Ryousuke had completely given up on fighting back, and had already played all of his cards. He was unlikely to be a danger at this point. 

“I don’t want any more Enju-types running around. I want them to be able to rest. As long as you’re alive, you can make as many as you want, right?” 

“B-But, it’s not just me! There are tons of people in this world with cheat powers like that! There are probably lots of people who can —” the mercenary’s words were abruptly cut off. 

“Maybe, but in the end, I’m just sick of you.” 

There was no chance that the fallen Ryousuke would respond, but Yogiri had answered him anyway. Tomochika watched silently as the man dropped lifelessly to the ground. 

“Let’s go somewhere else,” Yogiri suggested. “We need to think about what to do next.” 

Everyone else had long since fled the scene, but investigators would likely arrive at any moment. So the two of them left the street behind as fast as possible. 

“Wait, why am I carrying her?! If she’s your friend, why aren’t you doing it?!” Tomochika was lugging the girl Yogiri had referred to as an “Enju-type” over her shoulders. 

“Well, she’s a girl, right? I figured a girl should carry her.” 

“She’s pretty heavy, you know!” 

But seeing you carry a lifeless body around so easily is encouraging as a potential instructor for the Dannoura School, Mokomoko offered, sounding pleased. 

Tomochika was using a variant of the fireman’s carry, a technique used to pull unconscious people out of disaster situations. Although...in her case it was closer to the positioning of a Judo throw, getting ready to smash an opponent’s head into the ground. 

Then again, I suppose if all you’re doing is carrying her, the strength given by the battle suit would make it too easy. 

“Whoa!” Tomochika’s outfit suddenly transformed back into her normal clothes as Mokomoko decided the battle suit was unnecessary. 

What’s wrong? Carrying a single girl should be easy enough to do with your own strength! 

They hurried into the heart of the city and secured a room at a nearby inn. Tomochika went inside and laid the girl down on the bed. 

“So, you said you’d explain about her later,” Tomochika prompted as she sat down on the bed beside her. 

“Her name is Enju Sumeragi. She was a friend of mine when I was little.” 

Hearing that, Tomochika glanced at the girl again. She looked to be a bit younger than the two of them. Her red dress and gloves gave the impression that she was from some sort of aristocratic family. Her well-featured face put Tomochika in a bit of a bad mood. 

“How is she here in this world? Did that Ryousuke guy do something? I didn’t hear all the details.” 

“He had the ability to reproduce anything from our world. He can search a sort of database for anything that might be useful to him and then create it out of nowhere, even if he never knew it existed before.” 

“Any...thing?” 

“Yeah. He couldn’t make any living being, apparently. So this Enju is a robot. All of them were disabled and put under strict security back home, though. I never thought I would see one of them here, of all places.” 

“So, she’s a robot...wait, since when can they make robots this lifelike?!” Even after carrying her all the way there, Tomochika hadn’t once considered that the girl might be a machine. 

“They can. The technology that reaches ordinary people is only the tip of the iceberg. Even things that most of the world can hardly imagine are being used by research labs and militaries.” 

“That’s fair. But why does one of them look like your friend?” 

“There are a few people I absolutely never want to kill. Enju is one of them. So someone made robots that look like her for the sole purpose of attacking me. It’s a pretty straightforward plan, don’t you think?” 

Tomochika remembered that Yogiri hadn’t used his power to stop the attack. Normally, he would reflexively kill anyone or anything who decided to attack him. 

“Wait, isn’t that, like...really bad?! I thought you responded automatically to killing intent.” 

“If my power worked automatically, I couldn’t make special exceptions for people I liked being brainwashed to attack me, could I?” 

“So...if someone saw what happened earlier...” 

“They may have noticed.” 

“Again, isn’t that bad?!” 

Yogiri’s greatest strength was his seemingly automatic response to killing intent. If someone could work around that, it would actually be possible to take him down. 

“It’s fine. Before, I might have just let myself die, but now I’ve got a different set of priorities.” 

Seeing that she was concerned, Yogiri gave Tomochika a relaxed smile. He really didn’t seem to be worried at all, so Tomochika could do nothing but trust him. 

“All right,” he continued, “what do we do with her now?” 

“Hmm, yeah, what to do...what do we do with her?” 

They couldn’t just throw her in the garbage, but carrying her around or keeping her with them didn’t seem like great options either. 

Very well, then. Allow me to teach you the Dannoura School method of disposing of a body! If she is built based on humans, it should be useful in this situation! 

“Why does our family keep seeming more and more terrifying?!” 

Unable to come up with a good idea right away, they decided to leave her in the room for the time being.