Antagonist Protection Service

Before anyone knew it, the two familiars were shot, a total of three holes digging into them.

Two for the white stag, a larger target, and one for the swordfish.

Needless to say, there was no blood that spilt from those purely spiritual beings, however, immediately upon impact, the 'flesh' of the two around the bullet wounds rapidly blackened, causing them both to fall.

'What, no, but how--'

In the first place, an ordinary gun wouldn't have been able to even interact with a spirit.

Clearly, that weapon that was summoned from thin air must have also had its ammunition infused with magic, or otherwise have been created through magic itself.

Then, something else must also have been done to cause such damage with so few shots.

Unlike the stag, which only had one of its front legs buckle at the tanking of the two bullets, the fish, grounded pathetically, was a vastly smaller spirit.

Even if it was only shot once, the projectile appeared to have pierced it all the way through, and with the insides of its spiritual body being 'infected' by that opponent's blatantly evil magic, there really was not much it could do.

And thus, quicker than anyone realised it, one of John Pierce's precious three familiars burst into a cloud of blue shards which almost instantly disintegrated.

"..."

"...Guess there's no reason to call you Pierce anymore, is there."

Unexpectedly, the masked figure spoke.

Perhaps he simply couldn't hold himself back, but regardless, that much, combined with the loss of his most iconic familiar, was enough to send the target of his ridicule over the edge.

"Pisces... Pisces! You...! How could you...!? What the hell do you want from me, damn it, why are you here, why are you doing this...?!"

"..."

There was no real need for the masked figure to provide an answer.

However, as if giving it some thought, maybe he was feeling generous.

"...We all have our responsibilities."

"Gh-! This?! This is what you call responsibili--"

BANG-! BANG BANG BANG--!!

Interrupting his words, a flurry of shots made reverberations around the chamber.

"Cervus...!! Shit, you, stop it!"

――Interestingly, three of the four were directed towards the resilient white stag.

Naturally, John Pierce reached his arm out towards his precious familiar, but that was only reactionary.

Riddled with holes, one directed to each of its four legs and the rest pumped into the main meat of its body, that spirit, too, was unable to remain upright.

The black corruption emanating from the impact points of the magic bullets rendered the spirit incapable of defending itself, regardless of means.

Still, laying on the ground, uselessly enduring, it too died until it was dead.

"CER--"

Both John Pierce's weapon and armour were now gone. Dealt with.

Of course, they were spirits, so it wasn't like they were permanently dead. But, for the length of time it would take for them to recover even just enough to be summonable, such a detail was irrelevant.

In the current situation, they may as well have been deleted from existence.

So then.

With just the pair of red chakrams in his only hand, could he still win?

The enemy was acting as though he hadn't even sustained a scratch this entire time, whilst he on the other hand...

Such pessimistic thoughts never entered his mind.

Simply, he trusted in the last surviving of his three familiars, and with only a consideration of how to best avenge those spirits, which he saw on the same level as best friends―

"Go, Phoenix...!!"

―He welled up all the power left inside him, and threw the chakrams as hard as he could one after the other.

The instant they changed locations from his grasp to the open air, they burst into flames. Now, resembling a pair of blazing birds, the chakrams flew surprisingly fast towards the enemy, hoping to perhaps catch him off guard―――

Shatter~!

However, with two simple flicks of his wrist, the sleek edge of that black blade made contact, and instantaneously, the chakrams shattered like glass, hundreds of flaming shards littering the ground at his feet.

"..."

Were they fragile because the familiar hadn't the opportunity to amply recover?

Regardless, in such a sad manner, the third spirit of the Protagonist was killed.

"GROOOAAAAAHH--!!"

Meanwhile, the Infected Yeti was still around. It didn't seem to care for the Challengers' plight, as expected of a mindless beast, and only started heavily thumping again towards the masked figure when it realised he was standing there thanks to all the noise.

"..."

Seemingly glancing at the Area Boss, the black pistol again vanished from his hand, alongside the black blade being, the two weapons immediately replaced by something much larger, and unexpectedly bearing a hue akin to that of a pure snowfield.

'...Wait. Isn't that...?!'

Her eyes instinctively widening, Sophie swiftly recognised it as the thing she recalled him holding during his very first appearance.

To put it simply, a beefy, seemingly heavy-duty sniper rifle.

Thinking back to what happened around that time, she realised.

"...! Quick, dodge it...!"

She was about to activate her ability, but before she even had the chance―

BANG-!

―It had already been fired.

"Eek!"

Reflexively closing her eyes at the exceptionally loud sound, all she knew was that she wasn't hit, her loudly ringing ears temporarily blocking out all else.

Thud-!

For a moment, she thought that heavy sound was her hearing snapping back to normal, quickly correcting herself as she spotted the Yeti on the ground, apparently having been met with the full force of the shot.

"GH-- Gaaah... hh..."

Puny death rattles were all to leave the giant monster's mouth.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be the case that the suspiciously large crystal taking up the centre of the Yeti's chest had a tremendous hole put through it, letting one see out the other side unobstructed.

Was that its weakness after all?

Regardless of how true that assumption was, it certainly seemed to have a bigger effect than any of the other attacks it had received, and moreover, it wasn't a wound that started to recover itself through crystallisation either.

Sophie glanced back at the main enemy, unsure as to what to do now that her party leader was rendered to such a pitiful state, not to mention her own magic energy gradually running out, but he had already dismissed the larger gun and resummoned the same black blade and pistol from before.

"...Please stop now. Please..."

She didn't know what to do, so she pleaded.

"Don't kill us. You don't have to do this."

"..."

Slowly, and giving no verbal response, the masked figure stepped closer.

"N-no! Ah, uh, get away... Don't come near me, please..."

"..."

And he continued to silently step closer.

"Stop...!"

"..."

Sophie screamed as she fell on her backside, dropping the singular katar she had left beside her.

At the same time, he paused.

He was already standing just two feet before her.

Staring down at her for a moment, he raised the black blade.

"No...!!"

Shrieking, she drastically flinched, desperately covering her face with her arms.

This was it.

Her life, this was its end.

...And yet.

Shatter~!

Rather than the sensation of having her body split in two, she heard the sound of shattered metal.

Somehow, she remained alive.

Rather, it seemed he had brought his blade down onto her dropped weapon, destroying that katar too.

"Ah..."

Like that, he stepped past her, walking onwards behind her as if he had done everything he had meant to.

Just listening to the cold, gradual echo of his steps, growing ever distant, eventually, they paused.

"...You will come to regret this."

Following, the low rumble of John Pierce's voice sounded.

If she could only have had control of her body right now, Sophie may have been able to witness the final moments of her best friend's life.

If so, perhaps it was for the best.

Perhaps it was for the best that she could not see his current self, visibly drained of all life, all hope, and stuck on his ass, leaning back against the cold hard crystal wall of the cavern.

"You are evil... an evil man."

"...Am I?"

Hearing that uncanny, unnatural distorted voice, John Pierce momentarily flinched, but that was all.

On the contrary, a mocking smirk curved up just one side of his lips.

"Yeah. You'll die a dog's death, you son of a bitch. Sad, alone... Just what a villain like you deserves."

"Does that make you a hero?"

"Hah."

Snorting a ridiculing laugh completely unlike the him that was known to the rest of the world, he tilted his head back, resting it against the cavern wall and sighed.

"...I can't wait to see you be dragged down to hell."

"It's a good thing you won't have to."

"..."

Feeling the sharp tip of the blade press into the bottom of his chin, forcing him to keep his head against the wall, John Pierce naturally had his mouth shut.

He was surprisingly calm, considering his situation. Even compared to his state just five or ten minutes ago, he was completely different.

Maybe that was just a demonstration of how resigned to his fate he truly was.

"...Kill me."

Despite the risk of impaling himself on his enemy's sword, he squeezed out a voice.

"You want to die?"

"I don't want this needlessly dragged out. Just don't kill them."

He truly was in no position to make demands.

Yet, as if he didn't particularly care either way, the masked villain only responded as if shrugging.

"Sure. One thing. You called me a villain, but really, there'd be no use for a hero if it weren't for people like me."

"What kind of crazy bull--"

"..."

Something sharp cut off John Pierce's words.

'Ah...'

At the same time, the runes along the edge of the black blade illuminated, and the very last of the masked figure's wounds were healed.

Thud.

The dull sound of a severed head rolling off one's shoulders, flatly onto the ground.

'...Finally.'

Then.

To his ears and his ears only, the words he had been dying to hear for so, so long.

In the voice he had been desperate to hear again for so long.

[The Protagonist, 'John Charleston Pierce, the Chosen One', has been dispatched!]

[Contract complete!]

[Yaaaay, finally! Con~gratulations, Enki~! Hehehehe, you know what this means~!?]

'...Oh. Yeah.'

The Tenth Protagonist has been slain.

That meant he was due for another promotion, right?