I Obtained the Final Boss' Power

Maiden of Blood (2)

The girl who received the order immediately dressed in black and headed toward the region thick with fog.

The artifact was said to be hidden in the ruin existing in that forest, and as soon as the girl entered the forest, she began to search for the ruin.

"This is serious."

The state of the forest was quite grave. She'd heard it was once a lush, green forest, but now there was no trace of that.

Under the influence of the strange fog, the once-green forest had rotted away and turned dreary.

"If I wasn't wearing these clothes..."

Everything had been transformed by the fog. The trees and boulders alike had all decayed at the touch of the fog.

Had she not received the thick black clothes from the instructor, her body would have rotted away just the same.

According to the instructor, these black clothes were special—the only protection against the fog.

The hood now covering her head was made of the same material as the clothes.

"Even this mask."

The mask she was wearing also served to protect her face, but it had another function hidden within.

This dangerous fog was lethal even if inhaled. The mask contained a filter to purify the fog before it entered the body.

She'd heard that this fog wasn't created naturally.

There was once a time when the various Empires of the continent joined forces to conduct a magitechnology experiment, trying to create a weapon, but the attempt ended in a massive failure.

As a result, the fog that decayed everything around it was born. This fog was, in effect, the failed product of that weapon.

'So that's why they could make such protective gear.'

She recalled that the various Empires had cooperated to manufacture it in the past.

That made the creation of this garment more understandable.

Also, it was clear she wasn't the only one infiltrating this place in identical clothing.

"Ugh...!"

As the girl walked through the dense forest, she suddenly felt pain in her shoulder.

While conducting an operation with 77, she had been wounded, taking the attack from an enemy wielding a blunt instrument in his stead.

'It still hasn't fully healed.'

It seemed unwise to take on a new mission while still injured, but it was irrelevant.

Orders were orders; there was no reason for her to refuse.

'But why...'

She remembered the time she'd been injured in the shoulder.

She was hurt while fighting enemies, but it wasn't simply an accident; she'd intentionally taken the blow meant for 77.

'Why did I do that?'

A soldier without emotions wasn't supposed to care about fellow soldiers' safety.

Focusing solely on the battle was the rule for soldiers.

Indeed, up until recently, the girl had been that way, but after being teamed with 77, something had changed.

'And that's not all.'

That mission had been particularly dangerous, and in the end, 77 had also been injured.

He'd been burned by the fire spell cast by mage-soldiers, and the girl herself had treated his burns.

She had torn her own clothes—those bearing her number—to use as bandages.

Was that really necessary? An injured soldier was useless, after all.

"Huh?"

As she pondered, a building finally came into her view.

To the ordinary eye it might have been obscured by fog, but the special vision afforded by her mask let her perceive it clearly.

"Found it."

Like the trees, the building was rotten and decrepit, with a sinister appearance.

Anyone else would have been frightened—a ghost might emerge—but the girl stepped forward calmly.

Thwack!—

At that instant, the girl suddenly took a backstep, and an arrow embedded itself in the ground where she'd just been standing.

In the direction from which the arrow had come stood several people, dressed identically to the girl, though their uniforms were another color.

As the instructor had said, there were indeed other Empires after the spoils, but the girl's task was simple.

Slice—

Dodging the incoming arrows, the girl cut down her opponents without hesitation.

There was no one present who could match her superhuman perception and inborn swordsmanship.

Though there were about twenty in the squad, all were slaughtered by the girl's blade.

"Hmm?"

After disposing of the obstacles, the girl looked puzzled.

The mask was purifying the air, preventing any scent from reaching her nose—so why could she smell the scent of blood from her foes?

"..."

It made no sense logically, but the girl didn't care. A soldier without emotion had no place for common sense, after all.

"Yeah. I found it."

As instructed by her instructor, the spoils to be recovered was a single blueprint.

Since it was just a matter of retrieving a scrap of paper, the girl felt it posed no significant challenge.

She put it in her pocket and stepped out of the building.

"There's another one?"

She spoke dispassionately as another enemy appeared before her. Dressed in identical clothing, the enemy attacked.

This one was more agile than those she'd just dispatched.

They exchanged several blows, but unable to match the girl's skill, the enemy soon dropped his sword.

As his blade bounced out of his hand, the girl unhesitatingly stabbed him in the stomach.

Blood spilled mercilessly from the wound and the enemy collapsed.

"Yeah. That's the end."

She was just about to turn back to complete her mission as usual when—

"..."

Suddenly, she sensed a strange scent. The aroma made her expression stiffen and halted her steps.

Slowly, she approached the soldier she'd just killed.

She felt an ominous premonition as she examined the corpse. The scent was all too familiar, reminiscent of blood she'd smelled before.

She removed the enemy's mask. Beneath it was the bare face of 77, and the girl recoiled in horror.

"No. That can't be."

Such a thing was impossible. Could she really be deceived by so simple a trick?

If this really was her ally, there would be a sign.

She remembered how she'd wrapped a bandage around 77's wound, using her clothing marked with her own number.

She checked for that as she tore at his clothes.

[666]

Around the waist of the now-bare corpse was a strip of cloth, as if someone had fashioned it into a bandage, bearing a number all too familiar to the girl.

"..."

Seeing it, the girl fell into silence.

"For now... healing..."

Right, she had attacked her ally by mistake.

If she treated him immediately, she could remedy the blunder. The more power on the ally's side, the better.

But he could not be saved.

By now, not only had 77's breath stopped, but the corpse had touched the fog and was already rotting away.

Even the face exposed as the mask was removed was twisted grotesquely.

"..."

Witnessing this in real time, the girl felt an unfamiliar emotion welling up.

Though it was a feeling she thought long forgotten, she surrendered to it without realizing.

As the emotion surged, a crimson pillar of ki burst from the girl's body and shot into the sky.

The pillar of blood that soared skyward from the girl, now devoid of reason, would one day come to be known as the most terrible power in the world.

****

"So, you've finally returned, number 666."

The girl, having returned from her mission, handed the spoils directly to her instructor.

The instructor, seeming as though he'd been waiting, passed the spoil to a magitechnologist.

Before the scholar, a large magic array was spread out. Scholar, holding the spoil, chanted an incantation at the center of the array.

"What's wrong with your expression?"

"..."

The instructor was perplexed by the odd look on the girl's face. She looked like a child who'd just witnessed the death of a family member—utterly lost.

"That's not like you."

"There's something I want to ask..."

"What is it?"

Breaking the silence, the girl spoke.

"What is it that's 'like me'?"

Was she really asking because she didn't know? Finding it ridiculous, the instructor clicked his tongue.

"You follow our orders. Have you already forgotten that?"

"Of course. If told to kill, I kill. If told to die, I die."

So why ask?

"But what's the expression on my face right now?"

"..."

"Is this the face of the soldier you wanted, instructor?"

"..."

Now it was the instructor's turn to fall silent.

From his lack of response, the girl realized her most ominous suspicion was correct.

"You sent another soldier, didn't you?"

She had been told it was a solo mission. Contrary to the order, another soldier she was familiar with had been sent.

"So it was a lie."

"..."

"You made me waste manpower for nothing—what were you thinking?"

The girl stared at him with utter contempt—not just disdain for a thoughtless officer, but naked hostility.

"What is it you're trying to say?"

"Why did you do that?"

The girl didn't bother to hide her enmity. The instructor sighed.

"Number 666."

And then a smile spread across his lips.

"Are those 'emotions' permitted here?"

In that instant, the girl's face twisted in fury as she swung her sword.

Though such an act should be unthinkable, the instructor did not change his expression.

In fact, the blade never even touched his neck.

"Kuh... ugh!"

Suddenly, the girl staggered in agony, dropping her sword.

"Fortunately, it's not too late."

At the same time, the magitechnologist in the magic array's center stepped forward.

"Kahahaha! It's finally complete!"

"What... what have you done..."

Groaning in pain, the girl asked, and the instructor, trampling her head, answered,

"This is what was created from the spoil you brought back on your mission."

"What?"

"You've already noticed—you soldiers all have numbers engraved on your backs. But that isn't just a stigma; it's a magitechnological spell for controlling you!"

The kids brought here had a stigma engraved on their backs before being converted into soldiers.

Other than the pain of being branded, it brought no issues, so no one paid it much mind.

"Then, don't tell me..."

The girl felt as if poison had filled her body. The sensation of her organs rotting was identical to the feeling of the fog.

"That's right. You already know the fog was the failed product made by our Empire and the other nations—but do you realize what it was meant for?"

"Ugh..."

Unable to resist the poison, the girl collapsed. Her eyelids fluttered, but—fortunately—she didn't die.

"Naturally, there is an antidote. What we've just done—killing and reviving you—proves your fate lies in our hands."

"..."

"Consider yourself lucky, 666. An order from the upper echelons has come to keep you alive."

Originally, they intended to kill her.

No matter how skilled, the moment a soldier began regaining emotion, they were instantly marked for elimination.

That was why 77 had been sent to make her kill him.

But why not just execute them outright? This, too, was the command from above.

"They saw you raise that crimson pillar... and the upper ranks were beside themselves with glee."

The instructor, too, was intensely curious.

"What is the true nature of that red power in you?"

He received no answer from the girl, who was nearly unconscious. Even so, he smiled.

"Well, we'll figure that out in due course."

Afterward, the girl found herself unable to rebel, even if she wanted to.

No matter how much fury drove her, the poison would render her powerless in an instant.

What's more, she was whipped again, her mind forcibly rewritten. Perhaps it was because the only source of her emotion—her comrade—was gone.

So much so that even the faces of her parents vanished from her memory as she underwent torture.

Thus, a monster, exactly as the instructor and the upper echelons desired, was born.

From then on, the girl acted only by order, like a machine, and when she wielded her blood-sword, she appeared as a fiend rising from hell itself.

In time, the girl would, under orders alone, unite the entire East Continent.

With that, the chaotic times that gripped the whole continent finally came to an end.