Violation of Penal Code 252

"Haa...... everyone is so worried...."

Iris walked alone on the street at night as she said this in a muffled voice.

It is not every day that a girl can walk the streets at night, but that is only if she is a normal girl. Iris was no match for any of the thugs and hoodlums in the area. Well, she couldn't just blow them away with magic, so if it was going to be a problem, she would blind them and run away.

Even if Iris can't even escape, it would be an unusual situation if such a person appeared, even if the four of them were together, it would be dangerous.

Iris thought so..., and she was almost right in her self-assessment.

But that night's attacker was something completely beyond her comprehension.

"Nn......?"

Something caught in the corner of her eye. A faint movement of the air.

Almost simultaneously, all sound ceased.

The sound of the wind, the howling of stray dogs, and the drunken brawl coming from somewhere.

--≪Silence≫?

It was a magic spell to block out noises. At the same time as not allowing sounds to be heard from the outside, the sounds inside are not transmitted to the outside.

It is low-class magic, but it can be used in a variety of ridiculous ways. It can be used to break through locked doors, to attack girls, and so on.

Iris immediately waved her staff and cast a spell.

"≪Dispel≫”

This was a spell to cancel a type of magic that had a lasting effect. Light was scattered from the staff, and the area of effect of ≪Silence≫ vaguely floated in the shape of a dome encompassing the entire area.

However, the ≪Dispel≫ that Iris released scattered in vain. The magic was bounced back by the boundary of the silence and disappeared.

--No way...!?

Iris' back was suddenly overflowing with cold sweat.

≪Dispel≫ was ineffective. In other words, ≪Silence≫ was casted by a magician whose magical power was higher than Iris's.

Iris was still a young (She categorically refused to be called "young") magician, but she was already one of a kind in terms of ability. When it came to those with power beyond that of Iris, whether monsters or human beings, the situation would not be mild.

"What...? What is it?"

"Good evening, young lady."

"Kyaa!?"

Iris was startled to the point of jumping up when she heard the voice of a girl younger than herself coming from right behind her.

She jumped forward and turned around to get some distance.

The silver moon, which should have been shining in the night sky, was manifest on the ground.

It was the ghost of a silver-haired, silver-eyed girl who seemed to glow faintly.

"... Or maybe it's more appropriate to call you 'Onee-chan' rather than 'young lady' in this form?"

"Who!"

"I'm someone suspicious."

The girl's ghost laughed merrily.

Iris felt her skin burning and her hair standing on end.

It was similar to the sensation she got when a powerful magic spell exploded nearby. In this case, she was reacting to the magic power being released by her opponent.

"Undead...!"

The ghost in front of her was the caster of ≪Silence≫.

The spiritual undead were troublesome. The means of damaging them are limited.

The fact that this girl had high magical power and rationality, she was probably an artificially generated higher level of undead. Why she was in a place like this, Iris didn't know, but she was a very dangerous opponent.

Iris backed away with her staff at the ready.

Her heart was beating painfully.

--I can't defeat her...! I'm going back to Diana while defending myself!

Holy magic is specialized for healing, defense, and anti-undead.

Even if it is a higher-class monster, it should be able to be repelled if there is a user of holy magic.

She would like to think that if she put all her magic into defense, she could withstand it until she was about to join up with Diana...

"...≪Signal Bomb≫!”

Raising her staff, Iris released a magic spell. It was a magic bomb that shot high into the sky and emitted sound and light.

If the three of them noticed this, it would speed up their arrival.

At the same time, Iris started running. She leapt to the side of the mysterious girl and returned to the Leap Fish Pavilion.

The girl's ghost extended her hand toward Iris.

――Is this ≪Ghost Touch≫?

For the sake of convenience, this attack was classified as a low-level spell. It was a technique used by the spiritual undead to steal the opponent's life force upon contact, slowly and surely causing death. Even an ordinary person can take up to 10 minutes to die.

It was too easy for an enemy with high magical power to attack with.

That was why Iris was alarmed. She thought that the enemy might use some other kind of magic with an extremely short range.

She imagined her body was covered with magic power.

Iris strengthened her will and increased her resistance to magic.

And.

--Ehh……!?

And then, the girl's hand slipped into Iris's body and she was able to see the magic in the girl's hand.

Although she did not know what kind of magic it was, it was magic, and she felt that her resistance was easily broken, as if someone had stepped on a fallen leaf and broken it open.

It was not a level of 'better than Iris'. This undead girl's magic power was 'a whole different order of magnitude' from Iris's.

No damage. But the girl's ghost reached out to the fatal parts of Iris.

The feeling of helpless fear, as if the core of her soul had been grabbed, and the prospect of irrevocable doom.

Iris fell over. Her body unable to move. Her breath caught in her throat. The cold in the pit of her stomach.

"Wha-what are you doing...ki...!"

"I'm borrowing you. Well, I won't give it back forever...!"

"Ah... Ah, Ah...!!"

As if slipping into a nightmare, Iris's consciousness was plastered in darkness.

＊ ＊ ＊

“Iris, what's wrong!? Didn't you use «Signal Bomb»!?"

Diana, running out of breath, shouted.

"Uh-huh, I didn't do anything."

"That wound is..."

"I just fell down a little."

Smiling shyly, Iris (René) hid her grazed palms.

"It's fine ... Oh, man, I think I've had a little too much to drink.

"You still want some?"

"Hmm, I think I'll stop now. But I've got to tell Benedict and Hugh that nothing happened before I go back to the inn... Oh no, I'm definitely going to have to drink again."

Diana shook her head helplessly.

It seemed that the option of going back to the bar and coming back without drinking did not exist in her mind.

"I'm going back first, so, uh..., don't drink too much, okay?

"I'll do my best."

Waving her hand behind her back, Diana staggered away.

Iris (René) watched her back as she checked the sensations in her body.

The heaviness of bone and flesh. The coldness of the wind. The feet stamping on the ground. The feeling of holding her hands.

--I love the feeling of being alive! I don't like the way a spiritual body feels because it doesn't really respond to anything.

Iris (René) stretched.

The body of the girl Iris was possessed by René, who took over her body.

To René, the Dullahan was only a temporary form. She was merely attached to her own corpse and transformed it into the form of a Dullahan.

René's body is a spiritual body. If classified as a monster, it is a further mutation of the Abyss Spirit, the highest spiritual undead.

The power that René had obtained by the Divine Protection of the Evil God was, first of all, enormous magical power. Even at the moment, she could compete with the best magicians of the human race.

But what was even more impressive was the fact that René was a "growing undead".

She could make a contract with a soul that has died with resentment, and then feed on the soul by clearing up that resentment.

It was different from just sucking out the life force. This was what the Evil God was talking about when she said, "In theory, you could eventually become stronger than a Demon Lord".

When it came to becoming strong by capturing souls, the Undead called Legions were famous, but that was just a swarm of evil spirits on a larger scale. René's ability to make herself powerful was almost unique among the undead.

A woman named Miriam caught René's eye. She held a grudge against the Night Pythons, the organization that ran the underworld of Ciel-Terra.

It may have seemed like overwork for the sake of a single soul, but René still didn't want to let Miriam go.

Quality was more important than quantity.

Incidentally, possessing a person and taking over his or her mind was something that most high-ranking spiritual undead could do, but in René's case, there was one more special option.

However, there is a restriction that she must possess a girl of her own age to use that power...

--Lucky me. Luckily, I was able to secure a convenient body. Now, how to proceed from here?

For René, Iris was an ideal candidate for possession.

First of all, she was a girl of the same age. She wanted to get involved with the Night Pythons, her current target. And above all, she was an adventurer and a magician, and could use her own magic to fool the others.

If she cannot overcome that Lawrence, she will not be able to take revenge on the Pretender Hilbert. Self-enhancement by eating souls was a must. For that purpose, Iris's body and Iris's friends would be of great help to her.

As Iris, René hurried on her way back to the inn where she was staying.