“Ugh—!”
Labi kept retching and heaving, her eyes turning red. The physical discomfort left her unable to speak; she could only point a trembling finger at Clara, voicing her silent accusation.
Behind the gas mask, the latter’s smile still bloomed.
At the cost of a small, gnawed-off tentacle, Clara’s treacherous scheme had finally succeeded.
Before this, Clara couldn’t think of a way to deal with Labi until she noticed her trait of “eating anything.” That’s when the idea came to trick her into eating something she “absolutely must not eat.”
Whether it was pretending to be Psycho to remind Labi about the syringe, organizing the Moon Rabbit rebels for a sneak attack, teaming up with Moon Rabbit Jeanne for a righteous two-on-one, or even waiting until the Moon Rabbits attacked the resort to make a move—all of it was for this very moment, to force-feed Labi this bowl of bewitching soup.
Because she was worried Labi wouldn’t eat it, she waited until she was “cornered” before pouncing. What seemed like a desperate, self-abandoning struggle was actually all Clara’s calculation and acting.
It was all to trick Labi into falling for it.
“Kuku-ku~”
Clara let out a laugh like a low-tier villain, sounding somewhat muffled through the gas mask.
For a moment, it was unclear who the real villain was.
“Miss Labi, do you know what you just ate? Oh, you probably can’t speak right now. Well, before you completely lose consciousness, allow me to explain.”
Clara was also being cautious. After rolling to the side, she didn’t approach Labi again.
After all, she was afraid the other might still have some last-ditch ability, so to be safe, she chose to wait for the poison to take effect.
Labi’s gaze began to grow unfocused.
“Anesthetic strong enough to knock out an elephant. Don’t worry, it’s the kind that works orally too… two doses.”
“Virus reagent. If I’m not mistaken, your mutant modification factor is also Moon Rabbit, right? It might not kill you, but Fran’s poison should definitely work on you… two doses.”
Labi’s legs gave way, and she knelt on the ground.
Other Moon Rabbits were infected through low-concentration viruses diffused in the air. But Clara had just fed her an entire vial of virus reagent.
As a control tower, Labi wasn’t controlled by the hive mind and naturally couldn’t synthesize antibodies through it either.
“Next up, a nutrient porridge that somehow conducts electricity and is highly corrosive, made by that Blue Cavalier lady you looked down on… two doses.”
It was android cuisine that would definitely land a normal person in the ICU.
Labi clutched her stomach, her pupils trembling, cold sweat beginning to bead on her forehead.
“And then, another product from Miss Blue Cavalier—the concentrated extract of the stench bullets prepared to track your invisible colleague… two doses.”
This was also the reason she was emitting a nauseating, hard-to-dispel stench.
However, for Clara, who had experienced too much, this smell didn’t seem as terrifying as the odor of fermenting waste at a pollution treatment center.
At least, she couldn’t smell much through the gas mask…
Ten syringes, eight already introduced.
Each one was lethal. If not for Labi’s extraordinary physical constitution as a cadre-level mutant, she wouldn’t have been able to listen to Clara’s introductions until now.
“Ink… that’s just filler. You can simply think of it as my saliva~”
“And finally… these last two… are what I prepared for you… my water~”
This was downright humiliating.
“Me? Me what? Can’t hear you! Speak up! Say something!”
“You…”
Dissatisfaction and resentment overflowed, but she couldn’t voice them.
I can hold on. I can hold on.
The smugness in Clara’s eyes grew more and more punchable, while Labi’s consciousness rapidly crumbled.
First a slap, now feeding her spit.
Labi rolled her eyes at Clara, her head lolled to the side, and she just passed out.
“…Done? Ha, small fry! Cadre-level mutants aren’t so great after all!”
Even though victory seemed assured, Clara didn’t recklessly approach Labi.
A fall into the pit, a gain in your wit.
Who knew if Labi might be feigning unconsciousness like Psycho to fish?
Extracting permissions wasn’t urgent. If that guy was really out, she definitely wouldn’t wake up anytime soon, and might even report directly to the Abyss…
Given her actions of intercepting souls, the Abyssal Administration Bureau would absolutely not let her go.
Clara had other things to do.
Proudly placing her hands on her hips, she walked over to the Moon Rabbit responsible for filming, then snatched the camera from the hands of this Moon Rabbit, who was short even for her.
“Chirp-chirp!!”
“Get lost!”
She kicked the Moon Rabbit into the bushes.
First, she filmed a circle around Labi, then turned the camera lens towards herself, putting on a professional, service-industry smile.
“Yah-ho! Good evening to everyone watching the live stream! I’m one of the heroes attacked by the ‘Fourth Calamity’ this time, Magical Girl Clara~”
That long-unheard, deliberately cute, high-pitched voice.
“The cadre Predator has been taken down by me!”
“As everyone can see, just now…”
She spoke to the camera, but couldn’t confirm the reactions of the live stream audience.
[The live stream is still ongoing.]
[Cannot be terminated.]
[As for the audience’s evaluation of you…]
[No, it’s very polarized. After all, you didn’t win like a hero.]
“Huh? Are you kidding me? Only winning a fair, head-on fight counts as being a hero?”
Although dissatisfied, Clara kept the smile on her face.
“However, the resort is still under attack by Moon Rabbits, so I’ll briefly explain the situation you might be curious about…”
“First, the Fourth Calamity invaded this resort site, entering earlier than our program team and setting up in advance, so… we fell into the enemy’s trap from the start.”
“Second, the Sigma Series members were ambushed, captured, modified, brainwashed, and turned into bunny girls… that one over there is Captain Red Star General. Don’t worry, there will be a way to change them back.”
She swung the camera towards Redscarlet, who was still wrestling with Jeanne.
But the scene of the two bunny girls entangled was slightly suggestive, their clothes torn to shreds. Clara quickly turned the camera back.
[The audience is asking you to turn the camera back.]
Ignoring Nyx’s impossible request, Clara continued her explanation.
“Finally, that enemy cadre just now—the one who looks a lot like a bunny girl. The Moon Rabbits in this incident are biological weapons created by the Fourth Calamity.”
“But this rapidly reproducing, iterating, and evolving race gave birth to an independent self-awareness and attempted to rebel against the Fourth Calamity’s rule.”
“That Moon Rabbit girl is the crystallization of that rebellious spirit.”
As she said this, Jeanne was grabbing a rock and smashing it against Redscarlet’s head.
Clara thought about it but decided not to film that.
“Next, everything will end. This live stream has no reason to continue existing.”
“Goodbye. See you next in the Sigma Heroes’ live stream~”
She turned off the camera, tossed it aside, and ended the broadcast.
Clara looked back at the fallen Labi.
Then, she took out the Inkstained Staff and gave Labi’s head a solid whack.
“Whew—”
She wiped the sweat from her forehead.
That should just about do it.
Clara’s arm transformed into a real Data Extractor as she weighed her options and walked towards Labi, who still reeked and whose forehead was dark.
“Well, time to end this.”