Chapter 46: Battle 2 — Revenge Against the Traitor (Part 1)

“We need to stay alert for whatever comes next. Remember, the next one to appear will be that damned traitor, Kori. When I see her, I’ll kill her. Don’t hold back just because ‘we used to be friends in the past.’ She doesn’t deserve to live after what she did to us. All traitors deserve to suffer for such a disgusting act. The moment I get the chance to kill her, I’ll do it.”

We said this while fused, as Ranma’s fusion and her friends, along with the other three fused teams, remained silent and watchful of everything around us.

Then we noticed a staircase and carefully began to climb. Suddenly, we heard the voice of the Demon Queen again.

“I see you’re climbing to the second floor. I hope you enjoy meeting your old friend again. Let’s just hope you don’t have relationship problems with her, hahaha! You still hold a grudge, don’t you? But why shouldn’t you? After all, she betrayed you to grow stronger, to take the correct side — my side — not the side of some arrogant so-called goddess who thinks she’s superior just because of her power. I hate her, but I’ll enjoy knowing she’ll suffer while watching her precious magical girls die horrible deaths at the hands of my soldiers.

Seven of your twelve have already fallen. Only five fused magical girls remain… or should I say, twenty-five useless whores who won’t even make it past Kori. She’ll slaughter you slowly, painfully, cruelly. I hope you suffer so much that when you finally die, I can take your souls and force you to witness horrors beyond your imagination. Enough talk — I’ll let you suffer at the hands of your old friend. Have a slow, painful, miserable death, you pathetic brats! Hahahahahahaha!”

Her words carried no emotion at all, only madness. She was a lunatic, bloodthirsty and cruel. But of course, she was the Demon Queen. If ordinary demons were already pure evil, then their queen was far worse.

As we neared the top, Ranma’s fusion spoke to us all.

“Stay sharp. Soon we’ll face Kori — and whatever else might be with her. Don’t let your guard down, no matter what. She’ll use the dirtiest tricks she can, even pretending to surrender or acting regretful. Don’t believe her. It will only be a trap to make us lower our guard so she can kill us more easily. Remember, she’s a demon now — all she wants is for humanity to suffer. She cares for no one but herself.”

Akane, Rem, Mizuki, Mizu, and I were ready. No matter what manipulations that bitch tried, it wouldn’t stop us. We would kill her, and when we did, she would pay for everything she had done.

When we finally stepped onto the second floor, the place looked like pure terror. Human and animal skulls lay scattered everywhere, corpses hung from hooks, flames burned in the corners, and bloodstains covered the walls — handprints, severed heads, decapitated bodies. It was a museum of death and suffering. I couldn’t even imagine how many people had died here. That damned traitor was insane. Completely insane. Whether she had once been human or never at all, it didn’t matter. She couldn’t go on living. I swore I’d kill her.

We kept walking until we reached the center of the corridor, where the space opened up. And there she was.

“Well, well. You finally arrived, my old friends. Why don’t we talk about our problems… with a little pain? Or maybe I’ll just make you suffer. How about we share a cup of tea while I cut your bodies apart? Oh, right, I forgot — I hate you and want you to suffer. Nothing matters to me but myself. I embraced the true path, the correct one. You’ll never defeat me. Why don’t you join our kingdom instead? You’ll have all the power, food, and luxuries you could ever want. Come on, it’ll be fun. You’ll never have to worry about anything again. You can abandon that pathetic goddess and serve the great Queen Eien no Shi — the only true ruler of this and every world across the multiverse. Deep down, I know you want to. Let’s make it fun. Stop being chained to the filthy weakness of being human.”

She spoke as though everything was meaningless, as though betraying our people was nothing. She wanted us to join the darkness, believing it was the true path. She was utterly insane.

Fury burst from our mouths as we answered.

“Shut up, Kori! We don’t care about your excuses, your reasons, or anything else for what you’ve done. Just fight us, and let’s finish this quickly! We will never join that filthy, disgusting Demon Queen! The moment you betrayed humanity, the goddess, and us — your friends — to side with the Demon Queen, your fate was sealed. We will kill you. Your head already has a price — and that price is your death. Say goodbye to this world, because this is your end!”

We nearly shouted the words in pure rage, but after letting it out, we steadied our breath and calmed ourselves slightly.

Then Ranma’s fusion and her friends spoke up.

“Enough words. Enough nonsense. It’s time to fight to the death, you damned bitch.”