The Making Of A Broken Character Part 1

It was night.

I, Takane Ruri, was one of several in the hunting arena―and I was holding my breath inside a deserted house.

Due to some kind of curse cast onto me, my soul was wearing thin.

 

―There were 6 hours left.

 

Although I had killed two already, killing fellow humans…is still something that I’m reluctant to do.

However, it was the same for everyone else. It’s kill or be killed.

Right, it was the same for everyone else.

With few hours remaining―the bloodthirsty would probably gather in this location.
And, on that day.

―I came across the one person I didn’t want to meet here.

Unfortunately, it seems the person had been dragged into this shitty otherworldly transportation.

A former middle school classmate…a friend…that I used to know.

 

 

There was huge single-story building.

For 2000 meters in all directions from the deserted house, the smell of gunpowder smoke enveloped.

A girl adorning short hair and some dirtied light armor had kneeled with tears in her eyes.

“Ruri? I don’t want to, I don’t want to…do this anymore…We’re friends, right? Friends, that’s us, right?”

She had a grim face towards Takane Ruri, who was just a meter before her eyes.

However, Ruri got in position to launch a blow to the girl’s head.

―Now then, how will you handle this?

Losing herself in this struggle for life or death, she had unleashed lethal attacks without any sympathy for the other party, but even then the match had already been decided.

The status of the girl in front of Ruri’s eyes was too low to compare.

It’s likely that all of her stats were only at 3 digits.

The only threat of the girl was her skill, Skill: Material Summoning.

The girl had summoned a modern-era item, a Rifle (Anti-Tank Rifle): Barrett M82.

Although it was indeed a weapon meant to deal in long-distance firing, the power of her skill level had nonetheless summoned a fine item.

The research facility had inflated the status of those participating in this game, so equipment was not relied on that much. But even so, things had developed into a situation where Ruri couldn’t smile even if she were to deal a direct blow to the head.

Well, it would be easy to avoid the opponent’s attacks as long as she wasn’t negligent towards the opponents’ line of sight, their muscle movements, their finger, their gun’s muzzle, and now their visible killing intent.

Her journey to the Demon Realm had caused her to level up until reaching the max limit―her agility stat as of now had reached 65535, so just based on sight, she was able to dodge those lead balls moving at the speed of sound.

 

At any rate, the match had already been decided.

 

Here’s the rundown of what happened.

The gunfire had began. While avoiding the semi-automatic firing of 12.7 millimeter rounds, she began to charge at the girl.

She had managed to kick away that weapon, and when she was about to go all out on a body blow, she had then realized that the girl was a former classmate.

She had adjusted her attack to only neutralize the girl. And then, the girl began pleading for her life.

“Hey, Ruri? We’re…friends, right?”

“Motoko…look here…in that other world―we may have been friends…However, weren’t you just trying to attack me?

“Ruri…that’s cruel…really cruel…I was firing my rifle because it was dark and I couldn’t recognize you…”

Ruri kept silent for a while.

And in the far off distance, she sent a glance towards where the Barrett M82 was.

“…Motoko, I understand―but…don’t appear before me again.”

With an indescribable expression, Ruri had pointed towards the direction opposite to where the rifle had fallen.

At those words, the girl made a lively smile, stood up, and began walking.

“Thank you, Ruri.”

Once the girl had advanced for about 20 meters, Ruri once again confirmed the position of the unclaimed weapon in the distance.

“This may be a rough world, but even so…there are some things that I believe you can’t abandon. But from here on out…we can’t afford to be friends.”

“Thank you, Ruri, thank you so much…”

With her cheeks dyed a bit like cherry blossoms, Ruri made a gentle expression.

“Down the road, both of us…are destined to suffer a cruel fate…but I pray for your success.”

“You’re really kind, aren’t you, Ruri? For allowing me to keep living―I really thank you.”

 

Beneath her light armor, she was concealing a holster.

From there, the girl took out a revolver, drawing and firing it at a quick speed.

In a blink, half of Ruri’s vision was dominated by darkness.

The scarlet petals of blood and grey matter bloomed out from her head.

In other words, from her eye, all the way to the back―her cerebrum had been pierced.

“Hey…”

One after another, she let out a series of dry sounds. Her entire cranium had been blown. In that instant, Ruri had lost a majority of her combat capability and collapsed.

“You were always like a monster from the beginning, but…you’ve really become a true monster after having been transported to this other world, haven’t you? Even when your noggin’s been pierced, you’re still alive, huh. Does this have to do with your HP of 65535?”

In her hazy consciousness, Ruri was sent thinking.

Even if taking a direct hit from the rifle…her defense of 65535…would have made her an impenetrable fortress…she wouldn’t have been able to receive damage from that.

And yet, an ordinary pistol, a peashooter of a gun, had taken out her brain tissue.

With a sneer and a smile, the girl had addressed Ruri’s doubts.

“They’ve tampered with my brain in this facility, right? The circuit of my magical ability was strengthened. If you reinforce the bullets with your magical ability, doing something like what I did just now is possible, you know…Whether it’s in Japan or on a trip through another world…just because you’re the strongest, doesn’t mean that you can think it’ll stay that way forever, you know.”

Now, as she muttered that, the girl was slowly heading towards Ruri, who was on her hands and knees.

“Well, I’ll just smash your heart, then.”

And, she continued on with a wink,

“It was really nice being your friend.”

The girl had set her aim on the back of Ruri, who lying on the ground, and with the trigger―

“…Sister…?”

―then there was a splat.

Takane Saori, who had an attack stat of 65335, had unleashed her maxed out martial arts skill and made a direct hit right to the pistol-wielding girl.

Her skull was crushed, and grey matter scattered as it was being blown away.

“Ruri? Are you being overly sympathetic during our final home stretch? Do not hesitate, at the drop of the dime―you must be ready to kill. I’ve said that before, didn’t I? In this place, we are not the strongest. Yeah…we’re not the strongest. We no longer carry…the leeway that the strong can have.”

 

Like Ruri, she had a sleek ponytail that fluttered.

It was like this as well when they were in Japan―but in light of the fact that the two were endowed with abnormal capabilities―neither science nor sports can explain how they turned out to become such beauties.

They were not muscular monsters.

While maintaining the figure of normal middle school or high school students, they were nevertheless strong, graceful, and beautiful―they were Valkyries.

 

And so, while unsteadily getting up, Ruri walked towards the direction of the girl who had died.

She brandished a fist towards the girl who was lying face-down.

She broke through her spine, and grabbed a hold of the girl’s heart inside the body.

And then―she crushed it with all of her strength.

The girl’s soul dispersed. A majority of it had already disappeared, but a portion of it was taken to replenish Ruri’s worn-out soul.

“This…for the time being…will last me for a few days.”

 

 

―The place had been taken over by violence

It was a world of bloody conflict.

Girls were attacking each other, and killing each other.

That was how things worked. When a girl kills another, she absorbs their soul, and will be able to survive for another week before her soul burns away.

 

A life-or-death matter of soul stealing.

The girls had received a curse that was draining their soul little by little, and in order to restore it―they had to target the hearts of others, so they all had no choice but to fight.

 

Staying alive.

That was the most important desire of humans. To satisfy that desire in this system, they had to fight for their lives in a game.

 

 

 

―That’s how things went.

By being in close proximity to each other, my sister and I managed to survive.

Even if you made allies, in this war-zone, you don’t know when you’ll ever be back-stabbed. For that reason, everyone has gone solo, moving on their own accord.

So, for this world, us working as a two-man team turned out to be a miraculous formation.

At the very least, the last line of a blood-related kinship was certainly present between us.

 

However, even if we are to survive until the last…I fear that my sister and I are having the same thoughts.

The rules were simple.

There could only be one victor. The time period was one month. The limit would be within 5 square kilometers of the laboratory facility.

And―there could only be one victor.

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Author’s Note:

Although things are quite serious, the tone here will be similar to the a medusa arc.

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