The Making Of A Broken Character Part 2

Ruri had a transplanted monkey arm for her right arm, and for Saori a horse leg.

Needless to say, their physical abilities were abnormal.

They could dash through the ground at the speed of sound. They could form a crater with a 10 meter radius using their fists. An ordinary blade wouldn’t be able to pierce them.

The very composition of their bodies had deviated from humans. They had gained the power to confront high-ranking demons.

Originally, in Japan…they just barely reached the point where people acknowledged them as gorillas.

When humans cross over―and teleport this other world…they reincarnate at that point into an inhabitant of that world.

Yes, everyone in the facility, not just the heroes, had magical abilities that Earthlings normally wouldn’t have, such as Clairvoyance or Drop Rate x10.

 

The Noranouk Laboratory of Forbidden Arts.

This laboratory took drastic measures to study the possibility of artificially recreating the god’s reincarnation system.

 

Back to the subject at hand.

Why were animal parts transplanted into Ruri and Saori?

The girls had gained an abnormal, magic-like power and the compositions of their muscles and nerves were no longer the same as that of a regular human. That was the guess of how their power worked.

In order to verify that guess, they added replacements to the parts of their bodies that had been lost.

After landing here, they were provided the body parts that they didn’t have, and the difference in their strength output was checked for.

The results of their study were that the girls’ power did not change even with a monkey arm or horse leg.

The source of a hero’s power was not the material composition of their body, so now the theory was that it was due to the soul that resided within those heroes.

 

 

Let’s turn back the time a bit to the day the start of the game was declared, or more specifically, the moment just before it was declared.

Ruri and Saori were gathered into a large room just like the other heroes.

It was a large room of about 40 meters, with a white interior that lacked furniture or windows. In the center of the room, the heroes were whispering to each other in uneasy voices.

They all had frightened expressions―each of them had their bodies tampered with in some manner.

There was a person who had their hair shaved, revealing a large scar on their head that resulted from some kind of operation.

There was a tragic one―half of their face was coated in blonde hair, their right arm had warped into that of an ogre’s, and their lower body had become that of a fish’s.

It was a sight Ruri had become familiar to, but she nonetheless still felt a bit woozy from it.

―This is…the culmination of humans reaching territories that no human should ever approach.

At that moment, a front door had opened.

There was a thin, youthful man who had dyed his black-hair blonde.

His age seemed like that of a college student’s, and was wearing a black turtleneck with blue jeans.

He was a man with a piercing glint in his eye that gave a cold impression.

Gazing at everyone who had gathered, he enthusiastically began to speak,

“Well then, by journeying to the Demon Lord and ending up as experiment-fodder in this laboratory, your incompetencies have been made clear.”

Getting the chills, everyone’s trembling began to widen.

“Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Higure Takeshi. Now onto our main discussion―you are all pieces of trash, but be at peace. You’re here to hone in on your statuses. We will utilize practical measures.”

The rustling grew louder.

“Everyone here, including me, has already died once. Your statuses were assigned according to your soul’s level at the time of being transported to this world, leading to where we are as of present. I’ll say it once more…I’ve brought you all here. Understand? Well, at this moment, your very souls have the capability to grant bonus points for myself.”

“What I suppose I should say is…” the man continued,

“From hence forward, let’s all seek to kill each other, alright~?♪”

And so started his slightly long speech.

According to Higure, there’s this theory that when one is granted bonus points during their travel to this world, those points are actually are a polished-up version of their soul from Earth, and that they then given new souls for this world.

And, he said that this laboratory is attempting to recreate that reincarnation encounter with god.

When a person dies in this facility, their soul is once again converted into bonus points.

However, this time, they will not receive a new body―Higure will absorb the entirety of those souls.

“Now, since you understand that, you all have no authority to refuse. Including me, everyone’s no longer a part of the kingdom. Although it wouldn’t be strange if you wanted to end your life by your own hands, it would inconvenient for us if we have to force you to kill others. Now then, the purity of your souls are starting to fade and so are the amount of points they’re worth. What I’m looking for is a battle to the very limits. Your souls will begin to shine upon killing another, so for that reason―”

Higure snapped his fingers.

“Be glad, you trash heaps. There can only be one winner. It’s a struggle to the death―so let’s dance.”

While everyone was frozen, Saori began to speak,

“Could you hold up for a moment? Just a while ago you were talking away as you pleased…but to call everyone piles of trash…at the very least Ruri and I…”

With the cracking of his knuckles, the man let out a grin.

“Let’s see, Takane Saori, was it? In the beginning, the kingdom was also expecting many a great things from you two sisters.”

“But even then…we…lost to the Demon Lord…”

“Hmm, have nearly all of your stats really reached their maximum limit?”

“That’s right. So what’s with…calling us trash?”

Higure began bursting with laughter.

“You girls had no particular aptitude with skills. That’s why.” (TLN: He’s talking about the fantasy/rpg-like ‘skills’, not ‘skills’ in terms of expertise)

“No aptitude to skills, is it…?”

“Well, it goes without saying that you two are just a bunch of meatheads, but do you even have a brain in there at all? Little Miss Gorilla?”

With the sound of a snap, Ruri lost her temper.

“Okay, you’ve just signed your death warrant…You’ve gone and said the words you shouldn’t have said…towards my older sister…Even if my sister lets you off, I wouldn’t be able to keep still about this.”

An extreme swiftness.

Ruri leapt towards the man at the speed of sound, and threw a left hook towards his jaw.

It was a direct hit.

She sent a right high-kick, and used her momentum to launch herself upwards.

Like a comet in mid-air, she dove her left heel into his face.

The slim man was blown away, and thrown against the wall―as was expected.

However, even after 3 blows by Ruri, the man got up with a cheeky grin.

“Huh…? Those were…direct hits…so why…?”

Through her fists, she felt the same sensation she had when she kept trying to land blows on the Demon Lord, Natasha Erigaul.

There was a unmistakably a hit, but there was no damage dealt.

Like throwing stones into the deep ocean, everything was just absorbed―it was an ominous feeling.

That’s how it was.

“The Spiritual Body skill…?”

Higure shook his head sideways.

“There’s Spiritual Bodies, Body Barriers, Freezing Barriers, Scorching Barriers, Draconic Protection, and so on, but it’s a pain teaching the nuances of each and every single one. I’ve got 255 skills related to protection, and I’ve also allocated 200,000 bonus points to my defense stat.”

“200,000…points…?”

When all was said and done, Ruri gazed at the man with a cold look.

“Up to this point, I’ve ended many lives with these hands. As a result, I’ve kept on assigning the bonus points I’ve obtained into my defense stat. My defense has transcended the limit of 65535…it’s of an immeasurable scale now. With an aptitude to skills, you could very well exceed the imposed status limits. Understand?”

“An area beyond the status limit…such a concept…is absurd.”

“Indeed, this is my special skill―an unbreakable, absolute defense. No matter what any of you do, I’ll never receive even a scratch.”

The man struck his palm with his fist.

“That being said, everybody! Let’s continue on with this nightmare. As of this moment, everyone’s ownership has been transferred from the kingdom to me. Well, I received you all to consume your souls.”

And, he continued,

“From this point onward, your soul shall gradually diminish. If you do not replenish it, you will die. If you wish to avoid death, then you must kill others and absorb their souls. Without further ado―let us…start this dance party!”

And so opened one nightmarish month for Ruri.

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Author’s Note:

Just a thought, but how many blows from Yuuki could Higure endure?

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