I looked up at the sky.

The numerous lights descending from the sky, enriched by the high concentration of mana, looked so beautiful that it felt like watching stars embroidered across the night sky.

If this were happening during a festival, I would have honestly admired it.

But this was a battlefield.

Such occurrences were not a good omen.

“What on earth…”

Rushing to the operational site, ready to be scolded for oversleeping, I was greeted with utter chaos.

Everyone was frantically preparing something, a stark contrast to the calmness of yesterday.

The reason for their frantic actions was obvious even to me, who had just arrived.

…The swarm of spiders approaching like a tidal wave.

It must be because of them.

“…Author? Did you mess up again?”

But I didn’t panic and sighed instead.

I had experienced these ridiculous situations many times before.

Such absurd quantities of beasts…

If the frontline had to deal with such a number of beasts daily, this world would have perished long ago.

There was only one cause for such improbable events.

[Oh, what? What is this…?]

“…?”

The author’s voice was thick with confusion.

Could it be that the author wasn’t behind this?

A creeping sense of unease began to rise.

But only for a moment. The author’s ridiculous explanation made me clutch my head again.

[No, that’s not it… Why are there so many?]

“What do you mean…?”

[I planned to have a surprise attack event… but there are too many!]

Oh, damn it. Not again?

I was growing weary of the author’s behavior, showing no signs of remorse.

It’s been almost a year since we’ve been together, yet nothing has changed.

It’s just one disaster after another.

“I was wondering why things had been quiet lately…”

[What! Don’t talk like I’m always causing trouble!]

“…So, you’re not?”

[…]

Seeing the author unable to refute my words, it seemed they knew they were at fault.

Come to think of it, the reason there hadn’t been any trouble lately was simply because they hadn’t done anything.

The author’s embarrassed reaction made me sigh in exasperation.

[But…! I set it up correctly this time!]

“…What?”

[The spiders are correct, and the surprise attack is set correctly, but…! There aren’t supposed to be that many! I just set it so the mother spider laid eggs before dying…! But…!]

They thought it was manageable.

Sure, if the story was just about spiders hatching from eggs laid before the mother died, there wouldn’t be much issue.

The problem was the author never anticipated such a massive number of spiders.

…Anyway, the author’s insistence on being innocent meant they had set it up correctly.

So how?

Where did it go wrong?

[No matter how much I think, there shouldn’t have been a problem…! From where…!]

The author started to groan in distress.

…What’s done is done.

They say sighing shortens your life, but that’s definitely a lie.

How many times have I sighed because of the author?

If that were true, I should have died long ago.

“…So?”

[Yes?]

“How many are there?”

The only way to handle this mess was to reduce the number quietly.

Luckily, with so many, the distance between the front and rear would be considerable.

Even if I used all my strength, no one would notice.

As for the clothes…

…If I hide well, it should be fine.

Or I could ask the author for help.

I glanced around and saw that everyone was still too busy to notice anything else.

No one had even realized I had joined late.

If I slipped away, no one would notice.

[Well, I don’t know.]

“…Sigh.”

[…]

The author couldn’t argue against my exasperated sigh.

Of course, they couldn’t.

It was clearly their fault.

Looking at those spiders made it obvious.

The author had admitted to setting up the spider attack.

“I guess I have to check them all one by one…”

[Heh, heh…]

“Be quiet.”

[Yes, sir…]

Moving through the rear unnoticed by such a massive number of beasts was already a daunting task.

…No, it’s more like my future is bleak.

“Siwoo seems… to be okay.”

I saw him rushing to join the main unit.

That meant there shouldn’t be any major problems.

The heroes here were veterans among veterans.

This place was filled with the strongest humans.

They had spent years cutting down beasts.

Handling this many beasts without any damage would be difficult.

This was likely their first time facing such a horde.

…But what if Siwoo was there?

In such critical situations, the protagonist and their allies always managed to solve things stylishly.

If I could just reduce the number of beasts a bit from behind, it should be fine.

Luckily, my ability is specialized for mass destruction.

Especially against such low-intelligence beasts.

It wasn’t an insurmountable task.

“Author, you really need to reflect on this. You keep causing incidents every day.”

[Sniff…]

I quietly left the main unit, making sure no one noticed my absence, and felt a pang of regret for what was to come.

I’d have to say goodbye to these clothes.

Even though no one would see me, the thought of running around naked outdoors already felt overwhelming.

It would be good if Siwoo didn’t catch me.

As I absentmindedly fiddled with my bracelet, a sharp pain suddenly struck, and my vision blurred as if I were watching the scenery from a speeding train.

…What happened?

Oh, I got kicked in the side.

The force of the impact had slammed me into a building.

That’s why I hurt so much.

“Ugh…”

[Reader?! Are you okay?!]

The author’s frantic voice echoed in my ear.

This wasn’t the author’s doing.

If it were their doing, they wouldn’t be this surprised.

It wasn’t a beast either. If it were a beast, it would have torn me apart.

They don’t launch ambushes that send you flying into buildings.

Suppressing the pain coursing through my body, I forced myself to look up and see who had ambushed me.

“Hello. Do you remember me?”

[…Oh? You’re alive…?]

“…!”

I was shocked.

Standing there was someone I recognized.

That day.

The day I realized Siwoo was the only human.

The sole survivor of the Übermensch I had let live because I was distracted by Siwoo.

The last remaining member of the Twelve Zodiac.

She stood before me.

She looked horrible, but it wasn’t hard to recognize her.

I thought she was dead.

“…How are you…”

“You remember me?”

“Answer my question! Why are you here…!”

“I was surprised too. I never expected to see you here. I was planning to use the spiders to escape, but then I saw you.”

“…!”

…So that’s it.

The reason there were so many spiders that even the author was baffled.

It was her.

Because of this girl the author had forgotten, the situation had escalated.

“…You used to look pretty nice, but you’ve gotten uglier than I expected.”

“Ugly? No way. I think I look great. I like how I look now. Right, Annie?”

“Yes, Mir. Everyone thinks so. Our comrades think so too.”

“See? Even Mir says so.”

…Who was she talking to?

Had she lost her mind?

“You killed Mir.”

“I don’t know who that is.”

“Haha, don’t lie. You know.”

“…”

“Tell me. Why did you kill Mir?”

At some point.

I had thought that one day I would be asked this question.

If I kept killing dolls, wouldn’t someone eventually ask me this?

I had thought about it.

What would I say in such a moment?

…Oh, no.

My head isn’t working properly because of the pain.

“…Because it was a doll.”

“A doll?”

“It’s all a doll. Everything in this world. Except for Siwoo and me, everything is a doll.”

Yes. Everything is a doll.

As long as the author manipulated this world as they pleased, this world was nothing but a grand puppet show.

In such a place, what else would you call the moving people but dolls?

I decided to think that way.

Otherwise, I felt like I couldn’t bear it.

“…It’s not just a doll.”

“No, it is a doll.”

“…So Mir died because of a liar like you.”

The survivor’s cold eyes glared at me with burning hatred.

…I’ve been caught.

I’ve been found out.

Yes, I knew the truth.

It wasn’t just dolls.

They were all humans living and moving in this world.

I hadn’t killed dolls; I had killed real people.

But I had to think of them as dolls to cope.

That day.

The day everything changed.

The corpses split in half before my eyes, the red blood gushing out.

When I trembled in fear at the horrific scene I had caused, the bodies disappeared as if nothing had happened.

The vanished corpses seemed to tell me I wasn’t guilty.

They seemed to say they weren’t real people.

So I ignored my guilt, and so I killed the dolls.

The girl shed her rags and stared at me.

Besides her hideously altered face, her body was twisted in every direction.

Rat, sheep, cow, pig, rabbit, horse, tiger, monkey, rooster… and dragon.

Distinctive body parts I had seen before.

“…Hey, do you remember this?”

I remembered. There was no way I could forget.

The bodies of the Übermensch members. Their body parts were grafted onto her.

“…So, you remember.”

I realized.

This last survivor, with the bodies of those I had killed stitched onto her, had come to judge me.

She had come to avenge them.

For the crimes I had committed here.

To make me pay for my sins.

My karma had come to find me.