Instant Death

Chapter 7 - Eternal Force Blizzard, target dies

"Die."

Yogiri channeled his power.

"Gehah! Die, he says, can your vocabulary be any more limite――"

Hanakawa regarded Yogiri's remark as nothing more than some hopeless resistance and spat out a scoff-like mock, but he quickly noticed the anomaly next to him.

Higashida's knees gave in and his body collapsed. With his torso tipping forward he fell flat to the ground, where he stopped moving entirely.

"Higashida-dono? What might be the matter?"

Hanakawa was dumbfounded.

"I said die and he died, guess the relation there and this will be quick. Make a move and another one dies."

Yogiri declared his warning, but Fukuhara paid no heed to it and walked over to Higashida. Yogiri pointed at him with a 'die.'

Fukuhara probably had the best intentions towards Higashida, but it should not be. He collapsed onto Higashida and ceased moving.

"Didn't I tell you not to move? Move and you die. Understand?"

"A, ah, wha-"

Hanakawa froze.

He didn't seem capable of understanding nor accepting his situation.

However, he did seem to understand that something abnormal happened, and that the one responsible for it was Yogiri.

Yogiri determined the current circumstances were enough for a discussion to form.

"Alright, I'll explain my power now."

"Wait, what!? I could sort of guess you had something to do with what happened to the dragon, but I saw that you didn't want to talk about it so I avoided asking you about it! Isn't it some secret!?"

It seemed Tomochika had some curiosity pent up.

"Not really a secret, explaining it just seemed like a bother earlier."

"Seemed like a bother he says, oi!"

"Hanakawa doesn't look very bright, if I don't explain it properly he'll come asking for a fight again, don't you think?"

"Okay, okay. Fine then, let's hear about your power."

Yogiri was prepared to be reproached for suddenly killing two of them--not that he felt unjustified in his actions, he just thought Tomochika would be against it.

However, that wasn't what bothered Tomochika.

"Before I begin, Hanakawa, can you go and check whether they're actually dead? Don't worry, you can move."

It was necessary to make him acknowledge reality and let it go through his head. If he wasn't convinced they were dead he would just interpret the situation in some conveniently hopeful way, maybe even attack them.

Hanakawa crouched down next to them and timidly shook their corpses.

Neither of them showed a reaction.

"Heal!"

He shouted something like a magic spell.

It sounded like restoration magic, but there wasn't much effect it could have on the dead. The two bodies emitted light for a moment, but that was all he achieved.

"Heal! Heal! Heal! Fuhaha! I'm a healer, alright?! No matter what kind of injury or illness, everything's healed in a single moment! Such is the cheat tier restoration magic that allowed me to survive in this world despite being clubbed, ripped, tattered,… but they aren't moving, what!?"

"Do you get it?"

"Y-you monster! Randomly killing people, that's not normal!"

"You're not one to talk."

Yogiri knocked on the bus behind him.

"That was pretty dangerous, earlier. Might've missed on purpose, but you don't have a right to complain about being paid back after firing a lethal attack like that."

"E-even so, Fukuhara-dono didn't do anything! And (this is important) neither did I――!"

"You're saying that despite realizing it's not going to work, right? No matter how you look at it, you three teamed up and both of you approved of Higashida's conduct, didn't you?"

Hanakawa was at a loss for words. He said no more and Yogiri began his explanation.

"My power is basically 'instantly kill any target.' Just by thinking about wanting to kill someone they die."

"That's way too ridiculous! H u h!? Are we talking about Eternal Force Blizzard, target dies!!?"

Hanakawa raised his voice in a shriek.

"T-that's too cheaty! Normally you'd avoid phrasing something like that so straightforwardly! Are you making fun of parallel universes!? How does that even work without a status!"

"Not like I know what this status would look like in the first place. Actually, I'm the one wondering whether you really have something like that."

From Yogiri's point of view the whole talk about a system and statuses seemed exceedingly suspicious.

"So that's what killed the dragon, huh. But was it really a good idea to tell him about your power?"

Tomochika asked; keeping it a secret seemed more advantageous.

"For the threat. I need to make the other party understand the circumstances or they won't cooperate, but they won't understand unless I explain it. Even if I demonstrated it, comprehending what happened would be difficult for them."

"True, personally I find it hard to believe as well…"

Yogiri turned back towards Hanakawa.

"So, do you understand now? If no then I'll be killing you, that seems the least like a bother."

"I have reached comprehension! Please stop looking at me with those 'yare yare' kind of cool protagonists' eyes like you're seriously about to kill me!"

He looked like he thought he was moments from being killed and screamed for his life.

"Alright, come closer then. Talking across such a distance is weird."

Yogiri sat down on the grass with his back leaned on the bus.

Tomochika leisurely sat down next to him.

Hanakawa started trudging towards the two.

"Stop."

But Yogiri halted him right after he set into motion.

"I-is something the matter?"

"You were about to do something right now, weren't you?"

"Wha-whattatat, what mighteth thee be talking about?"

It was impressive how suspicious he appeared.

"There's something I didn't mention about my power. Here's the thing, I also have the power of perceiving people's killing intent."

"Excuse me?"

"Like I said, it's a two-in-one. Automatically making people die for wanting to kill me is also doable."

"Are you freaking kidding me, dude! Isn't there n o t h i n g to counter that!?"

"I wouldn't say that. If a master assassin capable of killing someone without leaking the slightest sense of bloodlust attacked me at a speed faster than I could perceive then that would be the end. Anyway, I recommend paying very careful attention from here on out."

And so Hanakawa obediently walked up to his classmates and timidly knelt down with his buttocks on his heels.

"Alright, there's a lot of things I want to ask."

"I get it, I'll tell you about whatever you ask, even the things you didn't ask for…"

"Just the things I asked for is fine."

Hanakawa was completely seized with fear, there wasn't a shred of rebellion left inside him.

"Why were you guys that full of yourselves? It hasn't been that long since the system or whatever was installed in you, has it?"

Yogiri was suspicious. Even if they were given some kind of absurd power by the sage, they shouldn't have been able to master it in such a short time.

On top of that there was their ability to fly and the way they incinerated the bus, he couldn't imagine that being the power of a low level.

"Well actually, the other two and me, we weren't summoned to this world for the first time. It's our New Game+…"

Bit by bit, Hanakawa's story unfolded.