262 If you wish to proceed, defeat me.

It is natural that Oni-kun is startled.

Oni-kun has, in anger, lost himself and slaughtered before — but that was not by his own will.

It was controlled by rage.

But in my case, I did it of my own volition.

I acted out of fury.

Yet I feel no regret. No remorse.

Compared to what I will do from now on, everything I have done until now is trivial.

Oni-kun opens his mouth, hesitates, closes it — unable to find words.

The Vampire Child shifts uncomfortably, aware of the awkward atmosphere created by his own words.

Hmm.

Perhaps it is time to state my position clearly.

Whatever path the two of you choose from now on — that is your decision.

I will not interfere.

But only if you do not obstruct my path.

"I will continue to massacre."

This is certain.

I will not act directly, but I am one of the masterminds behind the large-scale war between the demon race and humanity.

The death toll will be incomparable to the conflict I caused in Saliera and the Church of the Divine Word.

Likely, I will kill the hero of this age with my own hands.

This requires system intervention—no other method is reliable.

If the hero leads an army, I will kill them all.

It is not unlikely that I will eliminate the entire force alone.

Massacre.

Regardless, whether direct or indirect, the outcome remains the same: I am the cause of the slaughter.

“How you perceive it is your own affair. But if you interfere, I will not spare you. If you do not interfere, you may live as you wish.”

Opening one eye, she declares, eyes flicking between the Vampire Child and Oni-kun.

My gaze alone instills fear in others.

Perhaps only the Demon King and the Black can resist it in this world.

If you challenge me knowing that fear, your resolve is genuine.

Then I will respect that resolve—by crushing you without mercy.

I show no leniency to adversaries.

Even if the power disparity is insurmountable, I will not spare a single fragment of strength.

I know of cases where the weak survived despite overwhelming odds, eventually rising to become overwhelming forces.

Not someone else—myself.

Therefore, I do not grow careless just because I am weak.

The weak can still slay the strong.

That is precisely why I proceed with calm detachment.

Regardless of strength or weakness—until there is no way out.

To meet my victory conditions.

I am a spider, after all.

Once prey is caught in my thread, the outcome is already decided—preparing the trap in advance.

This is the stage of weaving my web.

Expanding it, spreading my threads across the world.

Arranging the stage as I see fit.

“Though I won’t demand a conclusion immediately, consider how you will act.”

How the Vampire Child and Oni-kun will choose.

The scenario must be adjusted accordingly.

To perfect the stage further.

Any potential disruptions must be removed early, to avoid hindering the plan even slightly.

The Vampire Child appears unlikely to act in opposition, judging by current signs.

But Oni-kun—uncertain.

From memories of his past life as Wakaba-hime, his true nature remains unclear.

Much has occurred in this life—how he has changed, remains unknown.

Advised.

Will observe how actions proceed next.

Ah.

Speaking tired me.

More precisely, have I been speaking too much lately?

If this continues, my throat will collapse from overuse.

My throat is not designed to handle more than ten words per day.

Perhaps I should buy throat lozenges in Japan.

For hydration, something to drink is needed.

Ah, there's a large quantity of coffee cans at D's residence.

Come to think of it, I haven't drunk coffee at all yet.

Though coffee is not ideal for hydration, it will do.

Retrieve a coffee can from storage space.

Pull tab opens. One sip.

Puhah.

Black coffee.

D preferred black, I see.

"Wait—what? A can? Coffee?"

Ah.

Mistake.

Should not have consumed this in front of the Vampire Child or Oni-kun.

The constant chatter had clearly impaired normal cognitive function.

How to cover this up, then?

Hm?

Gon!

"Wha—? What? What's wrong!?"

Meow?

Nyaa, e-eh, a-ah, m-m-mmm…?

"Wait—! Master! Are you alright!?"

Can't—can't… speak… can't… breathe… no… no…

Emergency protocol activated.

Primary consciousness severely degraded.

Abnormal physical state detected.

Due to abnormality, external intervention to remove anomaly from secondary body to primary body initiated.

Confirmed presence of specific substance affecting primary body.

Removal operation commenced.

Removal operation halted.

Secondary body assigned to removal also showing adverse effects.

No critical functional failure detected.

Recovery expected with time.

Primary body temporarily isolated in extradimensional space.

Strategy changed to wait for recovery.

"Hey… it disappeared."

Space magic or something like that?

What was that, anyway?

It looked like it went crazy after drinking coffee.

Coffee. I think I heard somewhere in trivia that spiders get drunk from coffee. Could it really be that?

No way. Not something that would make someone stagger like that.

I was startled by how suddenly it collapsed. But if it managed to use spatial magic on its own, it should be fine, right?

Who knows?

D "Going to self-destruct before I even get there. Always throws our predictions completely off course."