The Heroines All Want to Kill Me

- Boom!!

"Ah!!" The laser shot from the core of the Dark Golem hit the ground heavily, and Irina was sent flying by the shockwave.

"...Damn it!" Seeing this, I immediately leaped into the air and finally caught her just before she hit the ground.

"...Ugh."

"Ah!" However, due to my exhausted physical strength and numerous injuries all over my body, I rolled on the ground for quite a while with her in my arms before barely managing to stabilize.

- Target locked... Eliminate...

"...Damn Golem brat." The Golem, dragging its heavy body, started approaching us. I cursed while tightening my grip on the sword in my hand.

"Q, quickly escape... That thing... Even you can't defeat it...!"

"...." Irina shouted anxiously at me from the side. Well, I could understand why Irina was so flustered. That Golem was the strategic weapon of the Demon King's Army that had leveled the Rising Sun Academy and severely wounded Isollette. It was precisely because of its terrifying strength that in the last reincarnation, it had taken the entire Royal Knights Regiment a full half - day to subdue it.

- Squeak... Squeak, squeak...

"I... Irina...?" But right now, this wasn't the time to worry about such things. No matter what happened, I had to fight that damned Golem here. Since the Golem had been activated, no matter where we fled, it would chase after us. So, even if we escaped from this forest, the danger would still remain. Even if we managed to avoid it by some luck, the nearby villages would be in danger. If the Golem moved towards the nearby villages, and since the "Ashen Forest" was in a remote area of the empire, it would take at least a few days for the Knights Regiment to come and suppress the Golem... Before that, it was simply immeasurable how much property damage and casualties would occur.

"...Huff."

"Y, you're not thinking of fighting, are you?"

"Miss Irina... Run quickly..." Moreover, if Irina died, things would be troublesome.

"No! If we're going to escape, we escape together!! How could I leave you alone..."

"Run quickly!!!"

"...Woo." I roared loudly. Irina, who had originally wanted to stop me, showed a flustered expression and took a few steps back.

"...Didn't you say you would kill Frey no matter what? Then you must make up your mind."

"B, but..."

"Anyway, ever since my younger brothers were tortured to death, I've already been as good as dead."

"....."

"So... Please, you must escape and avenge me. Then I'll be satisfied." To be able to focus on dealing with the Golem, I had to get Irina to leave first. I endured the embarrassment and forced myself to say these cheesy words. Irina gritted her teeth and said in a low voice,

"...So, I was wrong after all."

"What?"

"Leanne... I will never forget your name until the day I die... Definitely... You must wait for me..."

"...It's my honor." Hearing my vague words, Irina shed tears, then turned around and started running.

"...Huff." If she hadn't left, I even planned to knock her out and take her away, and then face the Golem alone. Thinking of this, I let out a sigh of relief and started walking towards the Golem.

- Identity confirmed... Human... Eliminate...

"Wait, if I take care of this guy here now, will the plot..." Alas.

If I defeated it now, the plot in the prophecy book would be disrupted, which meant there would be variables. But if I didn't take care of it, I was afraid it would be game over for me. What else could I do? Moreover, the plot in the prophecy book itself was...

- Roar!!!

"...Tsk." The Golem started roaring deafeningly. I put aside my thoughts for the time being and began to analyze the Golem in front of me.

'Judging from its current state, it hasn't fully regained its strength... Probably at the upper - middle level among the battle cadres of the Demon King's Army.' Although it had commanded the monsters during the Rising Sun Academy Invasion Incident and was known as the Dark Golem, a strategic weapon in the Demon King's Army, it should be a bit weaker now than when it was the final BOSS. Because the Dark Golem was accidentally awakened by us while it was absorbing magic power in the "Ashen Forest". So, its size was also a bit smaller than during the invasion incident. Of course, even so, it still had the strength at the upper - middle level of a "battle cadre". By the way, the Succubus Queen and Yucarius, whom I easily killed last time, were not "battle cadres". From the very beginning, the battle cadres were not the kind of small fries who would be killed with a single strike even if caught off - guard. Anyway, the important thing was that I still had a certain chance of winning now. All along, to prevent Irina from noticing, I couldn't fully use "starlight magic power" and could only deal with the monsters relying solely on my martial skills. But now that she was gone, as long as I used the power of the Brave to my heart's content, plus the starlight magic power that had been surging in my body since I drank the magic potion yesterday, I should still be able to give it a fight. Of course... Due to the health - point punishment, I had to end the battle quickly, and I was likely to be on the verge of death after the battle.

- Bang!!

- Splat!! The moment I finished thinking, a black laser shot out from the energy core of the Golem. At the same time, the sword qi containing star magic power from the sword I swung flew towards the laser.

- Rumble...!!!shortly afterwards, a huge explosion occurred, and the surroundings were shrouded in smoke. I seized the opportunity and quickly rushed towards the Golem's leg.

"Yah!!!" In the blink of an eye, my sword cut off the right leg of the Dark Golem. The Golem instantly lost its balance and fell heavily to the ground.

- Beep... Balance system... Severe error... Repair in progress...

"...How can it repair itself with a broken leg?"

- Repair... Failed...

"Huff... That's a relief. I thought it would have spare legs." I was startled by the Golem's words at first. Just as I was sighing in relief and about to step forward to end the battle,

- Searching for counter - measures... Results generated... Flight power activated...

"...Are you kidding me?" The Golem suddenly spread its wings and flew up. I was momentarily speechless and could only stare blankly at the sky.

"...Is it already going into desperate mode?" This was a miscalculation. Clearly, this Golem only spread its wings when it was making its final resistance or self - destructing. I didn't expect that just by losing one leg, it would directly activate the flight mode.

"...Damn it." I looked at the Golem in the sky blankly, like a dog that had been teased by a chicken while trying to chase it. Then a sharp pain came from my chest, and I slumped to the ground.

"Damn... I can only swing two more times..." The starlight magic power was still surging in my body, but due to the insufficient vitality caused by the punishment, I was afraid I could only use the slashes containing the power of the Brave at most two more times. Of course, having endured this kind of pain and torture since yesterday, I shouldn't be disappointed but rather grateful that I could still make two slashes... But the current situation was so desperate that it was really hard to simply feel fortunate.

- Target locked... Magic missiles deployed...

"...I'm really going crazy." The situation became even more severe. Countless small muzzles emerged all over the Dark Golem's body and were all aimed at me. It seemed that this crazy Golem was about to pour all those magic missiles that had once destroyed the academy onto me.

'...Something's wrong. Why is it so eager to kill me?' Thanks to this, I gradually started to be suspicious. Even if I had disturbed its dream, it wouldn't be like this... In its eyes, I was just a passing ant. Why go to such great lengths? Suddenly entering a berserk mode might be because it was angered when its power hadn't fully recovered, so it made its own judgment. That was still understandable. But pouring all those magic missiles, which were comparable to killing moves, onto a mere ant was really too much.

- Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Just as I was breaking out in a cold sweat due to this strange situation, a large number of magic missiles were launched from the Golem's body.

"...What on earth is going on?" I had wanted to avoid using slashes as much as possible and tried to dodge the attacks, but the opponent launched enough magic missiles at once to destroy half of the academy. I watched this scene in disbelief, tightened the hilt of my sword, took a deep breath, and then swung my sword violently.

- Rumble!!! In an instant, the magic missiles flying towards me exploded in the air, triggering a spectacular explosion. The screams of the terrified magical beasts began to come from all over the Ashen Forest.

"Cough, cough...! Ugh..." At the same time, I covered my heart, which felt like it was about to burst, and rolled on the ground. Judging from my physical condition, the moment I made the last strike, I was afraid I would collapse. So, I had to deal with that Golem in one move.

- Sizzle... Sizzle, sizzle... Just as I was thinking, the Dark Golem suspended in the air suddenly shook and then crashed to the ground. I was wondering what had happened. Looking closely, I found that the left arm and wing of the Dark Golem were in pieces. It seemed that the slash I had made had just hit the missiles it was about to launch, causing the missiles to explode and affecting it as well.

- Tactical adjustment... First - level dangerous target... Must be eliminated immediately... However, something was wrong. Thick smoke suddenly started to billow from all over the Dark Golem. My heart was pounding, thinking that it might completely collapse due to the accumulated damage. Just as I was nervously staring at it, a shocking prompt suddenly came to my ears.

- Final resort... Self - destruct program activated...

"...Damn it!" As soon as I heard that voice, I staggered towards the Dark Golem.

- Squeak, squeak, squeak... At the same time, thick smoke started to billow from all over the Dark Golem, and the core in the center gradually turned red.

"...Damn it, no!" If the Dark Golem self - destructed, that area would be completely reduced to ruins. In that case, the monsters in the "Ashen Forest" would swarm out... The nearby villages and territories would turn into a wasteland. So, I had to stop it at all costs.

"Yah!!" Enduring the intense pain all over my body, I leaped up and stabbed my sword into the core of the Dark Golem.

"Ugh, ah...!"

- Detection of abnormal energy injection... Immediate elimination required... At that moment, I started injecting starlight magic power into the core of the Golem, and the Golem, not to be outdone, started injecting the demonic energy in its core into my body.

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!!!" I, who had originally planned to destroy the core with the power of the Brave, started to tremble violently due to the intense pain. At the same time, the Golem started to condense the energy in its core to launch a laser.

- Creak... Creak, creak...! Seeing this, I hurriedly twisted the sword inserted in the core, trying to pierce it deeper. Just before being attacked, I touched the center of the core and successfully reduced its output power.

- Sizzle!

"Ugh!!" But perhaps because the core was, after all, the core, or because I was focused on piercing the core and failed to defend well, even though the output power was reduced, the damage from the laser was still quite considerable. Since I was directly hit by the laser in the core, I grabbed the sword inserted in the core, and my body went limp.

- Eliminate... Eliminate... The Dark Puppet grabbed my limp body with its right hand and at the same time started to re - heat the energy source in the core. Just as the entire area was about to be completely destroyed,

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!!!" I gathered my last bit of strength and violently swung the sword I had been holding tightly.

- Crack, crack!! Although this was an attack I barely launched as my consciousness was gradually fading and couldn't split the puppet in half, fortunately, the core was completely shattered.

- Insufficient power... Fatal problem... Emergency state... Emerg... As the core shattered, a large amount of demonic energy started to gush out. The tottering Dark Puppet finally released me weakly, fell backward, and stopped operating.

"...Ugh, ugh." I looked at this scene and suddenly felt a sense of emptiness. I hurriedly touched my face and found that the mask had been hit by the laser and was broken.

"...Ah, this is bad." Worried about being discovered and exposed by those who came upon hearing the commotion, I forced myself to hold on to my fading consciousness and crawled into the grass with all my might to hide. However,

"O, over there!!! It's over there!!!"

"We're the First - Level Crime Investigation Team of the Rising Sun Empire! Are you injured?"

"...Quickly call the Royal Knights Regiment! The situation is serious!" Hearing the voices of Irina and the imperial investigation team suddenly coming from the forest exit, I fell into despair.

'Damn it... This place is hundreds of kilometers away from the academy... How did they find this place so quickly?' I panicked for a moment, but soon saw a group of mages with the marks of the Magic Tower stumbling into the forest. My intuition told me that something was wrong.

'...They traced the scroll in reverse. Damn it...' It seemed that the Magic Tower had also intervened in this incident. Only the Magic Tower could complete the magical reverse - tracking that should have taken several days in just one day. But if that was the case, things became a bit strange. The Magic Tower had power no less than that of the duke families and the Sun God Order. However, due to the arrogance and eccentric personality of the Tower Master, no matter how major an event occurred, as long as it couldn't arouse their interest, they would never get involved. It was said that even when an incident occurred in the imperial family due to a curse, the Magic Tower didn't intervene until the emperor personally requested it. This shows how it is. So... What on earth was going on? If it was Lionel, the dean who regarded my safety as the top priority, who took action, his ability was too insufficient. If it was that unpredictable and eccentric Tower Master who became interested in this incident, the number of mages sent was too small. Moreover, seeing the frowns on the faces of those mages, it seemed that they didn't come here voluntarily. So,in the end...

"There are traces of magic power over there!!"

"...Hm?" In my gradually blurring consciousness, I racked my brains. The investigators pointed in my direction and started approaching slowly.

"Ah, no..." I tried to break free from them, but unfortunately, the consciousness that was supporting me started to collapse. Just as I was watching the investigation team that had already approached me with trembling eyes,

- Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...! Suddenly, a large amount of black demonic energy gushed out from the Dark Golem and instantly dyed the surroundings pitch - black.

"W, what's going on?"

"Light! Use light - based magic quickly!"

"Ugh... I can't breathe..." The people struggling in that thick magic power started to fall one by one. Even those experienced Magic Tower mages were in a panic, unfolding thick protective shields and looking around vigilantly.

- Footsteps Footsteps In the chaos, suddenly, the sound of footsteps came. I, in a panic, covered my face with my trembling hands and lowered my head...

「Please rest assured, Young Master...」

「Ca, Ca...」

「...Your confidant is here.」

「Kania...?」When Kania broke through the thick magic power and appeared in front of me with a pitying expression, I called her name in a weak voice.

「...So you can rest assured.」Subsequently, Kania gently picked me up and started to blend into the darkness. I watched her and finally lost consciousness.

「...Thank you.」I managed to leave her with just one sentence.

.....

- Clatter, clatter, clatter!

"Hmm..."

"Are you awake, Young Master...?" When I opened my eyes again, I found myself sitting in a speeding carriage. Intense pain came from all over my body. I reluctantly sat up and saw the sunset outside the window through the carriage window. It seemed that quite some time had passed.

"...Kania, are you okay?" Roughly understanding what had happened, I first asked about Kania, who had used dark magic regardless of the consequences to save me.

"...Are you concerned about my safety now?" Kania asked with an incredulous expression.

"You used a huge dark magic that would trouble even the mages of the Magic Tower. Of course I'm worried. Are you okay...?"

"...This was using the evil demonic power inside the Dark Golem, so it's not a big deal. So, please don't worry about me anymore." Kania interrupted me decisively, took out ointment from her bag, and started applying it to me.

"...Ah." Only then did I notice that my upper clothes had been taken off.

"Were all these injuries received today?"

"...Some are from the previous time."

"...I see." I briefly answered Kania's question, and a regretful expression appeared on her face. In the bumpy carriage, I silently accepted her care and then asked in a low voice,

"...So, what on earth happened?" Hearing this, Kania stopped applying the ointment, lowered her head, and was silent for a moment. Finally, she said,

"...The head of the family intervened." These words made me freeze instantly.

"Father...?"

"Yes, please don't be alarmed. The head of the family... has collapsed."

"...What!?" Hearing this, I froze instantly and then suddenly jumped up. Kania hurriedly grabbed me.

"Please calm down. You need to stay composed..."

"Ah, why did Father collapse...!"

"That's because..." Then, upon hearing what she said next, I was left speechless. It turned out that after Irina and I disappeared from the training ground, Father flew into a rage and personally went to the Master of the Magic Tower to entrust a task. I learned from Kania that Father and the Master of the Magic Tower had once been extremely close friends. I was completely unaware of this in the previous timeline, which really took me by surprise. Anyway, after Father submitted the entrustment to the Tower Master, he suddenly collapsed on his way back due to excessive excitement, and the Starlight Family was thus thrown into chaos overnight. It was only natural that the family would be in turmoil with both the head of the family and the eldest son encountering accidents simultaneously.

"The head of the family is currently in a coma. Therefore, once you return to the empire and complete the survival report, according to the imperial decree, you will immediately become the interim head of the family."

"...." After hearing these words, I was stunned for a long time. It was only after a while that I managed to speak reluctantly.

"What about Ariana?"

"...She's been imprisoned in the imperial prison."

"...Sigh." I lowered my head and then gave Kania instructions in a low voice.

"Do everything possible to minimize the impact of this incident. At the same time, secretly spread rumors so that everyone knows I'm the mastermind behind this, but they have to keep silent about it."

"Understood."

"As for Ariana... You go and propose to Dean Lionel that I hope this matter can be dealt with quietly and see if it can be resolved with her being acquitted. If it really doesn't work, use bribery. Also, let her vaguely know that I swapped the magic scrolls."

"Yes, sir."

"I'll entrust the authority of the interim head of the family to you. With your abilities, you can handle it properly, right...?"

"...Leave it to me." After explaining to Kania how to deal with this incident, I started to ask about the next important thing.

"...What was the result of the duel?"

"According to the majority vote of the supervisors, you won, Young Master."

"...I really didn't expect that." Soon, I realized that a rather thorny situation had occurred and couldn't help but murmur in a low voice.

"...In that case, the attacker becomes random."

"What?"

"I'll explain it to you later. Anyway... Finally, about Father..." I tried hard to maintain a calm expression and attempted to turn the conversation to Father, but in the end, I couldn't continue and lowered my head deeply.

"Young Master... Please don't worry too much. The head of the family will wake up soon..."

"...This is a special case."

"What?" Kania tilted her head and asked. I choked up and answered her with difficulty.

"After Father collapsed out of anger because of my evil deeds... Before I kill the Demon King... He will never... wake up..."

"....." Before I could finish my words, I bit my lip and was silent for a while, then muttered in a low voice.

"...Hug me, Kania." Kania heard my request, got up from her seat, gently hugged me, and said in a low voice.

"...Anytime." Just like that, Kania and I embraced for a short time. Of course, due to the dull pain of the wounds all over my body, we had to let go of each other soon.

.....

"...Disappearing without a trace. It's really suspicious." At the same time, Irina, who was on the carriage of the investigation team on her way back to the capital, thought.

"Although it was only a brief contact... The body shape I felt when hugging was definitely not that of a woman. And the faint glittering magic power remaining at the scene is also very suspicious. Most importantly..." She looked down at the shriveled and distorted fruit in her hand with sharp eyes and whispered softly.

"...The nickname 'Ice Dragon' I gave myself. How could a maid who has nothing to do with me possibly know that?"

.....

Just as the kidnapping incident at the training ground came to an end and the empire was shrouded in deep darkness, a woman was lying on the bed, muttering to herself.

"Stomach, my stomach... Why does it hurt so much... And what on earth is a cat's tail? Why does the Saint keep bringing it up and refuse to treat me..." Isabelle, who had humiliated Kania in front of Frey a few days ago and was now suffering terribly from diarrhea due to Kania's curse, covered her stomach and muttered.

"No, it must be... that damned Frey... That bitch is taking revenge out of spite... No matter what... No matter what, I must get revenge..."

- Gurgle!

"...Ugh!" But soon, her stomach sent a signal, and with tears in her eyes, she rushed to the toilet in a hurry.

"...Pfft." And her in a sorry plight appearance was quietly watched by a crow perched on the window sill.