[I am Ein.]
But the monster denies it.
Still, I shake my head as well.
"No, no. You're Firvis. Without a doubt, Miss Firvis. The deputy commander of Dionysus Familia, a woman ostracized by everyone around her because of ominous rumors. And the black-haired, lovely fairy girl who shares a beautiful friendship with Miss Lefiya of Loki Familia."
[... Tch.]
At my confident declaration, the masked monster quietly removed her mask.
And beneath it was a woman's bare face.
The identity of that familiar face was unmistakably Firvis.
"You're doing something pointless, Magus."
The look she gave me was chillingly cold.
To put it more bluntly, her eyes looked worn down by every kind of suffering and exhaustion, dead and lifeless with not a trace of light left in them.
The eyes of a fish laid out on a seaside market stall probably looked far more lively than she did now.
Eyes like a corpse that had long since given up on life.
In other words, a banshee—an elf of death—through and through.
At this point, she was so eerie that the ice doll she'd been on the surface almost felt more human by comparison.
But instead of being intimidated by that stare, I found myself smiling.
It wasn't just the satisfaction of having been right.
More than that, I suppose it was the kind of look that got more exciting the longer you stared at it.
No, that doesn't mean I'm particularly into being abused or anything.
I just like sturdy, strong, dependable older-sister types.
Cheerful, boyish tomboys are fine too.
But monkey-chimpanzee-like baka girls are absolutely out of the question.
So my tastes are perfectly normal.
Anyway, that's how it is.
Mm, yes, indeed.
"How did you figure it out?"
"You mean your identity? One of my [Inner Eye]s is a little special, that's all. You can think of it as thanks to that."
"I see. Some kind of skill or ability, then. In that case... why did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"I'm asking about what happened on the surface."
"Ah, that?"
At her question, I answered lightly, as if she were asking something obvious.
My attitude only made her stare sharpen even more.
At this rate, I wondered if she might eventually kill someone with nothing but her eyes.
Actually, she probably could, just like some horse-tribe spearman from somewhere.
"Would you believe me if I said it was just because?"
"Just... because?"
"Yes. But I have a question too. Are you really Miss Firvis?"
"What do you mean?"
She looked confused by my words.
Had she misunderstood the intent of my question?
But this was a pretty important question.
"Exactly what it sounds like. I was probing with a fair bit of confidence, but now that I've seen you in person, something does feel different. You're definitely exactly the same, and yet... no matter how I look at it, the feeling is different from when I saw you on the surface."
Could it be a twin?
No, that was absolutely impossible.
I hadn't exactly seen that many twins over the course of my three lives, but I could still say this with confidence.
Nowhere in this world could there be two people whose souls, and even the characteristics of the magical energy inside their bodies, were perfectly identical.
In a sense, that was almost a law—something close to truth itself.
Even if someone used another person's cells to create a clone, the original and the clone would become separate beings.
I can say that with 100 percent reliability, because I'm the one who personally conducted research and experiments related to that for private reasons.
Then the only remaining possibility was...
"A doppelganger? Or a split?"
"Should I say your instincts are good? Or that you're just a strange weirdo."
Anyway, I'd hit the mark exactly.
The moment her words ended, I sensed another presence behind me.
When I turned around, sure enough, the Firvis I'd seen and parted with on the surface not long ago had appeared behind me and was glaring at me as if she wanted to kill me.
Hmm, this one still has some life in her eyes.
Which means there's only one answer left.
"Something closer to a split than a doppelganger, then. The method is magecraft through Falna, I assume? Since two of your magecrafts are already known to others, this must be the effect of a third magecraft you obtained afterward but never revealed.
And the one behind me is probably the usual you, the Miss Firvis who still has a bit more emotional room to spare. That version of you seems to be the blackened Firvis who's taken on the minus side of your original self... roughly speaking, the negative emotions you were supposed to have.
How's that for my deduction?"
"... Terrifying. Not completely, but. You're almost right."
"I'll gratefully accept the praise."
I casually rolled my eyes and surveyed the surroundings.
Firvis in front and behind.
And the many presences slowly gathering from all directions.
They were probably the new-type monsters I'd seen up until now.
"Then shall we have a calm, civilized talk time? I actually have a lot I want to ask you... no, ask you both. For example, Enyo's plan—more specifically, the sequence and process of it.
Ah, as for the objective, I already know that much, so you don't need to answer seriously. The alias itself already implies that meaning, so the goal is pretty obvious. What I'm curious about is the method.
I once got bored and ran a simulation on that sort of topic out of curiosity, and there were surprisingly few methods available to choose from. Most of the reason for that was just the limits of my practical ability.
In that sense, I'm quite curious about Enyo... no, about the plan of your god, Dionysus. Just what kind of novel and grotesque scheme did you design? I'd almost like to humbly ask this lowly mortal for a lesson."
But I kept spouting whatever I wanted without the slightest concern.
That was because, after all, no matter how many of them there were now, they weren't even an obstacle to me anymore.
"You were like this on the 24th Floor too. You talk way too much for no reason."
"It's an occupational disease. It's my preference. Please respect it?"
"Shut up."
This time, it was the white Firvis behind me—the one who, of the two, still had a little more humanity left in her voice.
"Stop wasting time and trying tricks, Magus. Your ending has already been decided. Until that approaching 'day'... you learned Dionysus-sama's identity, something no one was ever supposed to know. You figured it out. That alone is reason enough for you to die."
"Is that so? How unexpected. I thought you were worried I might accidentally say something foolish to Lefiya, or something like that."
"You... die!"
KuoOOOOOO!
At her shout, the hidden cannibalized monsters all lunged at me at once.
Whether she had deliberately gathered them or not, there were so many that they were impossible to count, even if they weren't quite as numerous as on the 24th Floor.
The wide passages around us were packed full of them.
"My, my. You really are underestimating me."
My countermeasure was simple.
Of course.
With just this one guy, the difference in numbers meant nothing anymore.
"[Bankai]."
Golden Hōsatsu Jizō.
Waaahhh!
Once again, a six-pointed magic circle appeared in the air before me.
From its center crawled out a huge golden baby larva.
Then, with a thunderous cry, the baby spewed a torrent of purple breath from its mouth, flooding the surrounding space.
The moment that purple mist met the charging cannibalized monsters—
KuoOOO...
Thud!
""What?!""
More than a hundred cannibalized monsters all collapsed where they stood and turned to dust, never to rise again.
They had been wiped out all at once.
Witnessing that unbelievable sight, the two women hurriedly backed away from me, doing their best to avoid the purple mist spreading farther and farther.
"Poison...? That's impossible!"
"A poison that works even on monsters from the Deep Levels?"
Seeing that they still couldn't believe what was right in front of them, I kindly explained the reason as clearly as I could.
First, about this [Bankai] I'd reproduced.
"As you heard earlier, this guy is called Golden Hōsatsu Jizō. A magical life-form I painstakingly created over a long period by culturing and reconstructing the cells of various monsters I collected. In other words, an artificial monster."
"An artificial monster? You made something that absurd...!"
I smiled at the stunned Firvis.
Well, that's the normal reaction, but... so what?
It's not like there's some law explicitly saying you can't do that.
Of course, by ordinary common sense, if anyone found out, the cleanup afterward would be a nightmare... but that's exactly why I sealed it away in secret inside a space of the Imaginary Numbers space, and made it summonable only through a specific keyword.
You could call it a kind of familiar.
Originally I'd wanted to make it in the form of a magic sword, like a real [Bankai], but I hit the limits of my technical skill and had no choice but to settle for this method.
Unlike some doctor's famous quote, there are things in this world that can't be made possible no matter how much time and budget you pour into them.
And no, that's not because making excuses is a sin.
"And the poison breath this guy emits is an improved version of [Hōsatsu Jizō No. 5], which I used once on Miss Revis on the 24th Floor. In other words, this is No. 6.
It still focuses more on paralysis and anesthesia than unnecessary killing power, for the sake of smoother sample collection. But I made a special exception for your new-type monsters.
After all, when they rush at me, there are usually plenty of them. And since I've collected so many samples, producing that toxin was easy enough.
More than anything, I've already learned pretty much everything there is to know about cannibalized monsters and acid larvae, so I've lost interest in them.
So unless it's a new kind of new-type monster, for this expedition I focused a little more on convenience to beat back my laziness.
More importantly, what do you think? Isn't this guy kind of cute? Especially these baby cheeks—I put a lot of effort into those."
"... You're insane."
"... What a disgusting hobby."
"Hmm, so it really isn't a popular taste. Well, I was already expecting that, so let's move on."
I pointed at the two women standing far away.
At my command, Golden Hōsatsu Jizō began twisting its massive body and moving.
For reference, this guy's size was almost on par with the original.
In other words, its sheer bulk alone made it a threatening weapon.
"Surely that isn't all? If it really is, I'm going to be terribly disappointed."
"Kuh!"
"Then... go."
Waaahhhhhh!
At my order, Golden Hōsatsu Jizō surged forward and charged.
Its momentum was nothing short of a runaway locomotive.
Firvis thrust out a hand toward it.
"[Sweep away. Growth of the Evil Path, Dio Thyrsos]!"
Bang!
With her incantation, a bolt of lightning shot out.
Its target was the face of the charging Golden Hōsatsu Jizō.
Since the target was so huge, her magecraft struck without any trouble.
But.
Waaahhhhhh!
Her magecraft was completely useless.
Not even a scratch, not even a scorch mark appeared on the baby's face, and its charging speed didn't slow down in the slightest.
In the end, all they could do was dodge quickly.
Thud!
"Ghk!"
The baby larva slammed its head straight into the wall of the empty passage.
The sturdy wall didn't collapse, but it was left covered in spiderweb-like cracks.
By contrast, only a few fragments of debris clung to the baby's head and slid off.
There was no damage at all.
At this point, it was practically no different from a floor boss monster.
Firvis's face twisted further and further with frustration and irritation.
And yet she was still so beautiful to look at.
As expected of an elf.
In many ways, they really are a race that's fun to tease... no, a race that's pleasant to look at and appreciate.
"Tch. So it won't work after all."
"Foolish Firvis. What are you still hesitating for like an idiot? The answer is already clear. If you want to continue that ridiculous little friendship game of yours, then that man has to die here!"
"... Yes. I suppose so."
At the black Firvis's words, the white Firvis hardened her expression.
Hmm, so now something new is finally about to happen.
Come on then, let's see what they're going to show me.
"Don't resent me, Magus. This is all your own carelessness coming back to haunt you."
"That's strange. I never thought I'd be the defendant. I always assumed I was the perfectly pitiful victim. When did the standards of law change? How fascinating."
"Enough! That worthless nonsense ends here!"
Then, facing each other, the two Firvises tightly clasped each other's hands.
And between them, an incantation flowed out like a song.
""[Illusion that ends, soul that returns. An unbreakable bond].""
It was the dispelling incantation for the doppelganger magecraft.
Through that song, Firvis finally merged back into one.
But the figure that emerged was neither the white Firvis nor even the black Firvis.
It was like green branches and vines sprouting and growing over the elf named Firvis.
To put it another way, she looked like...
"Huh? Ooh, that is—?!"
... an "inhuman monster" in the truest sense.
"That form is... don't tell me?!"
For a brief moment, I made a shocked face.
"[Sweep away. Growth of the Evil Path, Dio Thyrsos]."
After dispelling the magic and merging back into one to return to her original self, Firvis used the lightning magecraft from before once more.
But the result was on an entirely different level.
KWAANG!
Waaahhh...
A single bolt of lightning, this time black rather than white, shot forth.
Her black lightning pierced straight through Golden Hōsatsu Jizō's head with no trouble at all, completely unlike before.
And even after that, it still had enough power left to punch through the dungeon walls behind it as well.
It was an attack on a completely different level from before.
Thanks to that, my face had no choice but to be doubly shocked.
Firvis smiled slyly at me.
I never would have imagined her original power was this great.
But why?
"So even the power you had was split exactly in half? And that's your real strength?"
"Heh. Why? Are you so shocked because this was unexpected? That an elf who looked so insignificant was actually stronger than a first-class adventurer?"
She sneered at me with a dark, shadowed smile.
She laughed at the stupidity of someone who had clearly mistaken herself for a strong one.
She rejoiced at imagining the miserable end of the man who had troubled her.
Nowhere in her face could I find even a trace of the noble, proud woman I'd glimpsed on the surface just a little while ago.
She was nothing but cruel evil.
In other words, a filthy monster.
And toward that woman, I...
"Bear my child!"
"Huh?"
With shining eyes and in complete sincerity, utterly enraptured, I blurted out a proposal before I knew it.
... Hehe?