Knights and soldiers lay scattered in every direction, broken amidst the mansion. Those in black uniforms stood still like grim reapers.

At the center was a lord, paralyzed with fear.

As an extension of the “Nest Entrance Closure Operation,” the Annihilation Squad questioned the lord of Elmest territory about any anomalies and the occurrence of succubi within his lands, were attacked, and emerged victorious.

The lord, now at a disadvantage, denied all related suspicions and vehemently refused the Annihilation Squad’s thorough investigation of his territory.

Even when presented with the Second Prince’s decree, he shook his head, suspecting forgery, stating he wouldn’t believe it unless the prince came and spoke directly.

He was being obstinate.

The lord was sweating profusely. He seemed to feel intense pressure from the Annihilation Squad members, lined up neatly on either side.

If he’s this stubborn, there’s a high chance he’s in league with the succubi. It’s safe to assume so, about ninety percent sure, from the moment he attacked the Annihilation Squad.

But without evidence, it remains a possibility. The opponent is a noble, and the authority granted to the Annihilation Squad is not extensive. Any further pressure could lead to problems.

Seris asked quietly.

“What shall we do… senior?”

“Seems we need some spontaneous solo action. Any volunteers?”

At Yuri Lannister’s words, several members of the Annihilation Squad raised their hands. Among them was the one-eyed old man who had left advice for the boy.

He pointed to him and said.

“Rat. Are you ready to retire?”

“Yeah, I’ve already accomplished everything, so it was getting boring. Tired of babysitting the juniors as a side job. It’s time to leave.”

The one-eyed old man drew his dagger and stepped forward.

He lost his family to a brutal serial killer and succeeded in avenging them by taking the murderer’s life about a decade ago. What remained for him, having fulfilled his long-held desire, was only the lengthy and heavy time he had to live through without his family.

He had no energy left to build new relationships or grasp happiness. No fire ignites in the ashes left after everything has burned down. The one-eyed old man was exhausted.

But even in the most painful times, there comes an end. It seems the time to finish has arrived. Approaching the Lord of Elmest, he left some advice for his junior.

“Pink-haired Lancer.”

“Yes, Rat.”

“You… once went out with the Annihilation Squad. It was remarkable. The most vicious among us, to have escaped from here… I felt joy at that fact.”

It was also a sign of hope for them.

If the fiercest Yuri Lancer could return to the path of light, filled with peace and happiness, it meant that all the others in the Annihilation Squad could do the same.

Even for those who had abandoned themselves for revenge, if given another chance… they could pick themselves up again. They could regain happiness. It seemed to say so.

“But… you’ve come back here. Why did you return?”

“Because an opportunity arose.”

“You should have stayed away. Seeing your face again makes me loathe life.”

“I won’t apologize. Everyone, turn around.”

Click.

The ones in black uniforms turned around in unison. Then, they looked like a thick black curtain.

Behind the curtain, the one-eyed old man began his ‘sudden solo action.’

“What, what are you trying to do…?!”

“Spill everything you know, relinquish all your authority, and before you become light enough to leave this world, let’s start with the fingers.”

From noble mtl dot come

“You, you dare touch a noble! Stop, stop him! Stop this b*stard! This kind of, blindfolded nonsense…!!”

Screams echoed.

While the Annihilation Squad members were defenselessly resting, before they could even notice, the former member, the one-eyed old man, gruesomely murdered the Lord of Elmest.

When the Annihilation Squad discovered the crime scene, it was drenched in blood from all sides.

“Why did you do this?”

“I’ve always hated the nobles.”

He cackled with laughter.

The one-eyed old man confessed to committing the crime out of blind hatred for the nobility and turned himself in. The Annihilation Squad arrested him and took him into temporary custody.

Evidence was steadily uncovered that the Lord of Elmest had been closely cooperating with the forces of dark magic. This could be enough justification, but it might not be.

The nobles could collectively denounce it, trying to suppress even a bit of the royal authority. They could be outraged, claiming that drawing a sword without proper investigation is an insult to the nobility.

When entangled in the potential controversy over responsibility, the one-eyed old man would hang himself. He would close his eyes in peace.

It was the Annihilation Squad’s way of cutting off the tail.

Methods and means were not chosen, so the work progressed swiftly.

After torturing the lord for information, it was discovered that the entrance to “The Nest” was located beneath the Elmerst Goddess Church’s building. The Annihilation Squad stormed in without delay.

Pushing aside the nuns and parishioners who were attending the service, they first subdued the priest, who was flailing his arms in panic.

“Do you even know where you are… In the sight of the Goddess, ack!”

“Team 1, proceed with the interrogation. Team 2, break through with me.”

“Yes!”

Thud. Yuri Lancer rolled her foot. She heightened her senses to the extreme, feeling the vibrations resonate with the space. It was below the statue of the Goddess.

Surely, there must be a secret mechanism nearby. Turning a candlestick in a designated direction would reveal an underground passage. But there was a simpler method.

“Prepare for detonation.”

“Detonation ready!”

Several members of the Annihilation Squad peeled off the self-destruct scrolls they had been carrying and attached them to the statue of the Goddess. There was no hesitation in destroying the idol.

The parishioners, initially stunned by the sudden intrusion of the men in black uniforms, began to flee, sensing a strong crisis.

After counting down, they activated the scroll.

Boom!

The benevolent face of the Goddess shattered into dozens of pieces. A few frail nuns even fainted from the dizzying blasphemy.

Yuri Lancer kicked away the remaining parts of the Goddess statue and rolled her foot, revealing the underground passage with a thud. She frowned at the musty smell that brushed past her nose.

She descended.

Walking down the dark staircase without a single torch, relying on her keen senses. It was a critical facility for the black mage and the succubus. She knew all too well how powerful a mage could become in a prepared space.

Even the mad mage, in his own constructed world of the laboratory, had boasted an almost divine omnipotence. Yuri Lancer still remembered that vivid virtual world.

Even in her immature days, she had deceived Elaine Crown, who had reached the ripe stage of a mature fable. Had he harbored malice, she wouldn’t have dared to resist.

So, there must be dozens of traps here, and the danger would be dizzying.

A long, brick-built corridor appeared.

“Senior, there’s an artifact reaction. It’s a high-level trap that our equipment can’t disarm.”

“Is that so.”

Yuri Lancer turned her head to look at the boy who was half-crushed. Wrapped in bandages all over his body, the boy trembled with the fear etched into him.

She spoke with her eyes.

If you hate cowards who flee life, it’s time to prove that you’re not one yourself.

“……”

The boy gasped for breath. He was being told to move forward through the trap-detected corridor. It was as good as being told to die.

My body trembles like a leaf in the wind. A chilling fear climbs up my spine. To the hesitating boy, Yuri Lancer asked quietly,

“Are you lacking courage?”

“…I, I am, I…”

Seeing his state, Seris was infuriated. Was he now regretting his own life after all that big talk? She snapped at him venomously,

“To hesitate now, after all your bluster, is utterly pathetic. You dared to shout and stand up to your senior… Shall I throw you in?”

Yuri Lancer raised his hand to stop Seris and said indifferently,

“You may take off your uniform and go up. My friend used to say, everyone deserves a second chance.”

The meaning was clear. If you can’t do it, leave the Annihilation Squad.

“Uh, ugh… aaahhh-!!”

The boy, with his scratched pride, fear, trepidation, and rage, gave up thinking and dashed towards the passage.

Before he could take a few steps, the magic circle engraved in the passage glowed red and activated. The magic seeped into the boy’s mind, and caught in the trap, he began to thrash about wildly, as if dancing.

The mental barrier artifact pre-set on the boy’s wrist emitted a continuous light. Even with defenses, if the trap was this powerful, it was certainly formidable.

The Annihilation Squad members calmly observed and analyzed the situation.

“Rage, amplification of lust… It seems to be mostly mental traps, senior.”

“No physical traps have been observed. Perhaps they didn’t want to risk collapsing the facility?”

“Quite fitting for a succubus’s lair.”

If the analysis showed a preponderance of mental traps, then the story becomes simple. It would be easy to pass through. If only she steps forward.

Yuri Lancer dyed her soul with emotion, reflecting on past memories.

On that day, when the villagers, once loving and happy, were stabbing each other with laughter amidst the ruin. The day when a small curiosity drove everything to destruction.

In the midst of everyone drowning in pleasure and dying, she made a vow.

Suppress it.

Suppress it. Do not sorrow, do not rejoice. Bind the dreams with chains, weigh them down with corpses, and sink them deep into the heart.

Until the day the queen is killed…

“Metamorphosis – ‘Desire Restraint: Prelude.'”

Chains leisurely bound Yuri Lancer’s heart. The cacophony of emotions in her head settled below the surface, and the lake became clear, without a single ripple.

She walked.

Various magic circles activated, targeting Yuri Lancer’s mind with venomous stabs. They disoriented and provoked.

They shook guilt at her. You used the boy to figure out the traps. How is that different from what the queen does? You have no right to condemn anyone. Yuri Lancer.

She quelled it.

Passion surged through her, driving her to crave intimacy with her hidden desires, curiosity, and excitement. She couldn’t help but feel that way. She didn’t need to hold back. She could just let her instincts take over. Yuriru Ranshuter.

She sank down.

She took on every challenge with her body, advancing with reckless abandon. The chains tightened around her. She wrapped her arms and legs around herself like a snake, binding herself tightly until it felt like her blood wouldn’t flow properly.

And then, she reached the altar of silence.

On the large altar, hundreds of people were lying down, dreaming. They smiled happily, their eyes half-closed.

In the center of the altar, a gateway to the “Nest” pulsed with a gentle light, like a gap in the air. Beyond the gap, a paradise filled with pink hues was visible.

The cherubs, their faces full of joy, each grasped a person and flew off into the sky, laughing. Geometric structures that defied the laws of physics stood side by side, intricate and complex.

Beyond that gap was the land of dreams. That gap was the bridge between dreams and reality.

Were they using their dreams to open the gate? They weren’t just lying there for nothing. They existed because they were necessary for the sorcery of the cherubs.

Then, the most straightforward and efficient solution became clear. Yuriru Ranshuter made her decision. She declared it with a fierce determination.

“I’ll block the gate, everyone! I’ll kill all the dormant objects.”

“What are you doing? These people are innocent, and you’re going to kill them? Yuriru.”

“…”

Yuriru Ranshuter’s eyes flashed with power. Her voice was like a gentle hum, like honey dripping into her ear, as if something was stirring in the depths of her soul.

Slowly, she turned her body around, her toes curled.

Suddenly, a white woman sat cross-legged on the back of the serpent-like Seiris, her legs wrapped around herself. Just looking at her made my lower back ache, and my body felt like it was on fire.

I didn’t expect her to appear.

This is a crucial operation that targets the most important facilities of the cherubs. If she’s not careful, the queen will naturally reveal herself.

So, she prepared in advance. She equipped the mental barrier artifacts that the boy had given her with the others who were about to be sacrificed. Even so…

“Ah, oh, oh…”

The sounds of people gasping for air began to echo around her.

The white woman’s appearance alone had rendered most of the altar ineffective. Only a few, including Yuriru Ranshuter, were still able to maintain their sanity.

Kkwaak.

She bound herself a little tighter with the chains. She didn’t want to get swept away by the waves.

That pitiful resistance was cute, like a flower blooming. The queen of the cherubs smiled, her eyes twinkling with amusement. She spoke to her closest friend, her voice warm and intimate.

“I thought you’d forgotten me, Yuriru.”

“Not even a moment.”

“Ah, but Yuriru hasn’t come to see me for a long time, has she?”

“You were hiding in a place like this.”

She was hiding, yes. That was a true statement. The queen nodded, her eyes gleaming with amusement, as she stroked Seiris’s throat, her voice soft and gentle.

Yuri Lannister clenched her fist tightly. She was looking for an opening to attack. But no vulnerability was in sight. The queen’s surroundings were filled with an eerie sense of pressure.

It was strange.

Her metamorphosis… “Essence Constraint” was undoubtedly the queen’s counter.

A metamorphosis that could resist all mental magic. For a succubus with almost no physical abilities except for mental disruption, it was a perfect match.

If she engaged in close combat now, she could snap the queen’s neck in less than a minute.

Why then, was she hesitating…?

A bead of cold sweat trickled down Yuri Lannister’s jawline and dropped. Then she saw it. The queen was holding something dearly… a statue stained pitch black.

Why had she only noticed such a conspicuous object now? The queen’s body was all white, so if she had been holding a black statue, it should have been spotted from the start.

“…That, thing.”

She realized.

It wasn’t that the queen had hidden it with illusion magic. Yuri Lannister’s instincts had been deliberately ignoring that ominous statue. Like an ostrich encountering a predator and burying its head in a hole in the ground.

She had been unconsciously fleeing from the chilling sense of doom.

The queen continued to speak.

“I’ve been making this interesting object. It’s truly magnificent and beautiful… Yuri will surely like it too.”

“……..”

“The Statue of the Evil Deity of Pleasure, one of the four faces of the evil god. Hehehe… With this, I can finally become a person, not a puppet. I can escape from fate.”

The queen caressed the Statue of the Evil Deity with an expression close to ecstasy. It wasn’t just a powerful artifact; perhaps it held some greater significance.

Move. Move, Yuri Lannister.

You must move.

Before she commits something with that artifact, you must move. You must stop her. This is no time to be frozen.

You’ve lived for this moment. For this moment, you’ve put off even the happiness that was meant to be. You’ve left the side of your friend. What are you hesitating for?

Considering the weight of what you’ve given up, out of regret if nothing else. This is no time to stand still.

──Hurry!

“Uh… Ah, aaaH──!!”

Yuri Lannister shouted as she swung her fist. And the queen, she murmured lightly.

“Succession Sublimation – ‘Cogwheel: Heroine’.”

Click.

Something massive clicked into place.