‘If it’s now, I might be able to kill Ariel.’

 

After just watching for a few days, a chance finally arose.

 

Iria fiddled with the dagger hidden behind her back.

 

‘If I stab him here, can I return?

 

Will I not become a monster?

 

I don’t know.’

 

It was just that the night was deep when the full moon was deep, and so were the thoughts.

 

The contemplation was long. It’s not that she didn’t want to go back, and it’s not that she didn’t have enough reason to kill him.

 

Even Iria herself was curious as to why she was contemplating this. Isn’t there no reason to hesitate?

 

He will not survive this night. Unfortunately, Ariel, the hero of this generation and the protagonist of this world, was murdered by a back-alley monster passing by.

 

A novel cannot be established without a protagonist. So this world will also naturally collapse.

 

The novel ends with this. Because what is a miserable ending for someone can also be liberation and hope for someone else.

 

“…”

 

Having made up her mind, Iria slowly raised the dagger.

 

Intoxicated by the forest, the full moon, and the dreamy atmosphere, she slowly walked towards Ariel, who was only looking up at the sky.

 

Is this the end?

 

It was a long nightmare.

 

Iria was about to strike down the dagger towards Ariel, but she stopped, feeling threatened.

 

“…Ah.”

 

With a faint cracking sound, a suspicious energy was felt. It was the same as what she saw last time.

 

The autonomous defense of the starlight.

 

If she had struck the dagger now, her arm would have been burned.

 

Around that point, Iria retreated. She had come to her senses. Perhaps it was she who was intoxicated by the moonlight.

 

She wondered what was different from the monster who was afraid of becoming someone who killed people as if under a spell.

 

After coming to her senses due to the threat of autonomous defense, Iria’s thoughts were thoroughly grounded.

 

About what would happen to the people left behind if the world collapses after the hero dies, and what would happen if she fails to kill him.

 

Because his memory could not be erased, killing him was an issue that needed to be considered more carefully.

 

If this is a single novel and the events flow according to the story, what will happen to her who intervenes in the middle?

 

In the first place, whether Ariel, the protagonist, would die from something like this was questionable. He might not die even if she poured out all her magical energy.

 

That’s how the protagonists in novels are.

 

Even when faced with the threat of death, a kind of correction allows them to survive through some intervention or awaken their power. Ariel may be like that, too.

 

After Iria’s mind became clear, she thought about it again, and it seemed wise to give up.

 

Because the probability of success would be low if she swung the sword now when she was not prepared at all.

 

At least, now was not the time. Maybe if she came back after preparing more thoroughly. It didn’t seem like something to be done impulsively.

 

Iria put away the dagger she had taken out.

 

The night was deep.

 

***

 

When a monster closes its eyes and falls asleep, it dreams. It’s often a nightmare, but there are occasional days when it’s not.

 

Today, Iria dreams of a human, not a monster.

 

In the dream, she lived an everyday life that was no different from usual.

 

She had daily conversations with Rena, teased Lucia and Wendy, and even had light sparring matches with Sera and Ariel.

 

In the dream where she was human, she got along with them without any problems. There was no sense of incongruity in that sight.

 

It would have been the everyday life that would have unfolded if Iria were human. What she saw was a world where no one gets hurt. She wishes it had been like that in reality too.

 

Iria, who woke up late and sobered from the dream, thought it was worse than a nightmare.

 

Because it was not reality.

 

It seemed similar to her now, but something was different. She thought it was very different in terms of emotional factors.

 

What she couldn’t feel, the girl in the dream was feeling.

 

Iria looked in the mirror again today.

 

In the mirror was her, no different from usual. Long, silvery hair and red eyes.

 

An overall cold-looking impression and an expressionless face.

 

But today, unlike usual, she tried practicing smiling like other people. Iria used to do it well when she hadn’t been possessed for long, but for some reason, she couldn’t do it at all now.

 

Standing in front of the mirror, she tried to twist the corners of her mouth upward.

 

“Hmm…”

 

As expected, it didn’t look like she was smiling at all. It was an unnatural expression where emotions didn’t stand out.

 

In the end, Iria thought it was meaningless and gave up. Because now there was a bigger problem than that.

 

“…”

 

As expected, her eyes are redder than usual. They were originally red, but they were even redder than that. They were blood-red.

 

Iria vaguely knew the reason. It was because she was hungry.

 

The energy she had gained by absorbing the Demon King’s fragments had run out.

 

And today, for the first time in a long time, she wanted to eat human blood. Beyond simply wanting to eat, her body was craving it.

 

Iria could satisfy her hunger with seeds, but they couldn’t fundamentally relieve her bloodthirst. So she had to suffer from extremely severe bloodthirst to the point of being mentally hazy.

 

She had endured for a long time without eating.

 

But she couldn’t go to the academy in this physical condition. Iria decided to be absent today.

 

‘Should I go to the back alley? It’s been a while’

 

Iria was also curious about how the place she hadn’t been to recently was like now.

 

She took off her pajamas and changed into outdoor clothes.

 

Although she woke up from sleep, it was still dawn. The morning air was cold.

 

***

 

The back alley in the late dawn.

 

Few people live there, and public order is not good. Recently, there have even been rumors that a monster has appeared, so people’s visits have been cut off even more.

 

Iria was walking in such a place.

 

Of course, she wasn’t afraid.

 

She was the monster after all.

 

In the back alleys of the Central Empire, a man-eating monster appears. And that’s Iria.

 

As a man-eating back-alley monster, she’s just looking for today’s prey.

 

“… It’s been a while here too.”

 

The back alley was created when one area of the vast Central Empire collapsed.

 

The place is called Dusty Rain.

 

She walks, recalling the name for the first time in a while. Well, the public order was bad here even before it collapsed.

 

It was a street full of homeless people starving to death and all kinds of garbage and filth.

 

But even considering those things, it was a strangely endearing place. Is it because it was the first place she stayed after setting foot in the Central Empire?

 

This place is full of magical energy. It was because the residual magical energy still had an effect, as it was a place that had collapsed due to a monster.

 

So, it’s not noticeable even if Iria used her magical energy around here. Even if it is detected, the Empire and its people will think it’s the magical energy that originally remained here.

 

So she released it.

 

The magical energy from her body is like a part of it, so she can sense people who come into contact with it and read their memories.

 

What originally required eye contact, she could do just by contacting magical energy, limited to humans with low resistance.

 

“Hmm…”

 

She couldn’t find anyone today.

 

It’s unusual.

 

It’s natural for there to be few people in a place like this, but it’s not that there are no people at all.

 

‘What happened to all the rumors I recently heard?’

 

Like a crazy lesbian criminal wandering around, becoming a site for illegal drug trafficking, or the knight’s order taking on patrol duties.

 

Usually, there is always someone, but it seems she was unlucky today.

 

Iria lay down on the ground, feeling drained. She felt like she had become street garbage, starving.

 

‘I think I should eat something, but I don’t have the strength to move my body.’

 

She decided to lie down like this for a while.

 

Lying down and looking at the sky, Iria decided to think about what she really wanted.

 

‘…What I want.’

 

What she wants most is to live as an ordinary human without killing anyone. In any world. But it’s impossible, so she didn’t include it as a candidate.

 

‘The current me had forgotten memories before the first day of enrollment. At this rate, I might destroy the Empire soon.’

 

Iria was like a spark of disaster.

 

Perhaps she was a creature that shouldn’t exist in this world.

 

But she couldn’t die.

 

It’s not because she’s selfish; she possesses a body that doesn’t die.

 

Even if stabbed with a sword, she doesn’t die, and she has a strong resistance to magic.

 

With a body with high regenerative power, she couldn’t kill the monster named ‘Iria.’ She’s tried several times, but they all failed.

 

Of course, it’s not theoretically impossible to die. Even she couldn’t regenerate indefinitely. In the end, when she gets exhausted to the point where she can’t regenerate her wounds, she will probably die.

 

But she would lose my reason faster than she would die. This body seemed to have magical energy go out of control regardless of will when its stamina was somewhat exhausted.

 

If that happens, a big disaster will occur again in the end. She has yet to see a being strong enough to kill her.

 

If anything, it’s Ariel. Because he was the protagonist of this world. He has high potential in many ways.

 

That’s why Iria was betting on the possibility of him.

 

In the end, to prevent disaster, one of the two, Ariel or Iria, had to die.

 

Only then will this nightmare end.