Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume10 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 10===

Elsie's shoulders shook as she giggled.

"Absolutely the ''GOODEST''! That's really correct advice, but I have no intention of letting you escape."

"What a joker that man is, how would I know if we don't try? And you, speak properly!"

"Eh~ Elsie-san is speaking properly. In other words, this is ''GOODEST SPEAKING''."

"You don't have to repeat so deliberately! Arghh, how could this airheaded girl be called the strongest&mdash;Mechanism No.19 gouging type, spiral form: «Human-Perforator», Curse Calling!"

"I feel the same way. Try my super move, uh... ''ALWAYS KILL SKILL'' explosion..."

"You don't have to try to compete with her. That makes you look totally like a comedian. In any case&mdash;Haruaki-kun and Ueno-san, please step back. I'll leave Amanda in your hands."

Saying that, Fear and Konoha stepped forward. Kuroe stood behind them to be able to support the two girls while guarding Haruaki and the rest from projectile attacks.

Fear raised the drill up high while Konoha readied her knife hand. Watching these two, the enemy remained unfazed.

"Wow~ ''BRAVE HEART''. How courageous. Then Elsie-san will begin preparations."

She reached into the collar of her t-shirt and pulled out something. Roughly palm-sized, the object was an antique-looking pocket watch on a silver chain. The watch shone with golden luster and intricate engravings could be seen decorating its surface.

Then Elsie grabbed the watch stem and turned it by one revolution.

Quiet ticking started, then in the next instant&mdash;

"Ah, mmm..."

Elsie's shoulders shook as though an electrical current had passed through her entire body. Then she continued to slowly wind the watch, winding, winding, causing her body to tremble nonstop every time.

"Mmm... A-Ah... Kyafuun... Almost... th-here... ''ECSTASY''!"

Her mouth half-open, eyes glazed, she kept winding the watch&mdash;

But after a while, the pocket watch gave off a louder click and the watch stem could no longer be turned further apparently. Elsie suddenly looked normal again.

"Ah, it can only go this far after all? I dunno if it'll be enough... Whatever, anyway, I won't know until I try, yes."

"Is that a cursed pocket watch? At a glance, you don't look like you have other weapons. Neither do I know what abilities you have, but don't think you can defeat us with that thing&mdash;"

"Oh sorry. I don't have time, so here I go."

Instantly, two things happened simultaneously.

First of all, Elsie suddenly vanished from view.

Secondly, Fear's body was sent flying to the side.

"Wha...!"

Konoha readjusted her stance with an expression of shock. Elsie was now beside her where Fear had been standing.

&mdash;A second later, there was a loud crash. Having been sent flying silently, Fear now crashed into the monkey bars directly, instantly deforming the frame. Collapsing sprawled, Fear remained motionless.

"Fear!"

What just happened? Haruaki finally realized what he had sensed vaguely just now, something that he only sensed very vaguely. The reason was simple. Rather than vanishing, Elsie was simply moving fast enough for others to mistake her for vanishing, unnatural speed that was akin to fastforwarding a video, then casually delivering a hook towards Fear's gut. Simply by doing that, she effortlessly sent Fear flying despite what should have been a heavy and sturdy body.

"You... This girl&mdash;"

"A knife hand stance? Compared to the knife hand, Elsie-san prefers the knife finger. Isn't this cooler? Look, ''COOL''!"

Konoha swung her karate chop at close range but Elsie did as claimed and blocked the attack simply by sticking up her index and middle fingers.

"No way... Come on! A mere human's body, how could it be possible... I failed to slice through...!"

Konoha groaned. In contrast, Elsie swung her right hand's knife finger towards Konoha to counterattack. As expected of unnatural speed that was almost impossible for the eye to follow. Haruaki could feel it even when watching from a distance. Surely, Konoha must be experiencing much higher speeds up close.

Thrice. Despite being highly experienced in battles, Konoha only managed to exchange three blows against this level of high speed.

"Wow! To think you're able to exchange blows thrice with Elsie-san, how rare! ''EXCELLENT''!"

Konoha was unable to block the fourth strike. Piercing Konoha's defense, Elsie stabbed her upper arm. In the next instant, Konoha's clothing was dyed by the red color she abhorred.

"Guh... Ah...!"

"Here's another!"

Immediately, Elsie swung her fist at the stomach of the immobilized Konoha. With abnormal speed and power, the petite fist made a depression in Konoha's belly, causing her to moan even more painfully before flying backwards, getting caught up in the chains of the swing where Amanda was sitting earlier.

"That child asked just now, what abilities I have, right? But it's hard to answer because it's too simple. Basically, Elsie-san is strong because Elsie-san is strong!"

Elsie spoke while her miniskirt fluttered as she jumped towards the collapsed Konoha. Then using the speed of the descent, she swung both her fists together. Alarmed, Konoha yelled out:

"Guh... Sever... completely!"

Manifesting a blade's sharpness all over her body, Konoha severed all the chains of the swing she was entangled in. Caught in the effects, her uniform was instantly shredded but there was no time to be concerned about that. Konoha swiftly rolled to the side and evaded Elsie's hammering fists. In her stead, the ground suffered an absurd depression.

Just as Elsie was about to attack in pursuit, taking advantage of Konoha losing balance&mdash;

"Mode: «Penetrator Yoshimasa»!"

Kuroe's hair extended like spears, attacking mercilessly. If her attack landed, she could probably gouge holes into the enemy's body with penetrative power rivaling Fear's drill, but&mdash;

"Hey! Because there's no time, you're becoming quite an eyesore!"

"...!"

Elsie agilely dodged the spears of hair, but not only that, she also clamped a bundle of hair under her arm and leaned back, pulling the hair forcefully. Then with a mighty swing, she sent Kuroe flying, hair and all. Probably too fast for Kuroe to disable the hardening, the hair acted as the string of a pendulum in sending Kuroe flying into the air, vanishing into a forest outside the park. Then came the sound of branches breaking and leaves rustling before silence returned. Only after the spear-shaped hair lost its hardness did it fall to the ground like black ribbons.

"I can't believe... even Kuroe-san..!"

"I don't think you have time to worry about others right now~!"

Elsie spoke energetically and attacked Konoha who was getting up unsteadily. This time, Konoha only managed to block her attack once. The reason was obvious. After blocking once, Konoha turned towards Haruaki as though her face was desperately saying "there are more important things than defense"&mdash;Yelling loudly:

"P-Please hurry and escape! Haruaki-kun, Ueno-san!"

"To think you'd do this in the middle of battle... This is totally your ''MISTAKE''!"

Elsie unleashed a spinning kick faster than the eye could follow, striking Konoha in the head and sending her entire body flying far away, creating a cloud of dust. With such apparent destructive power, Konoha was unable to get up at all&mdash;

Watching in stunned disbelief, Kirika suddenly regained her senses and spoke to Haruaki. Shoving the wheelchair's handles into Haruaki's hands, she stepped forward to protect them.

"Yachi! You hurry and go, leave it to me to stop&mdash;"

"&mdash;You can't stop me."

Stab.

Haruaki heard such a sound.

Ahhh, Kirika was standing there, maintaining the same pose as when she took her step forward. Elsie was right in front of her. However, why&mdash;''Why was Elsie's arm piercing out of Kirika's back''?

"Ah... Huh...?"

After approaching with unnatural speed, Elsie spoke in an inexplicably gentle voice:

"No matter what, human cannot do it. You cannot keep up with Elsie-san's movements while Elsie-san's power can penetrate even a Wathe's defense to damage the Wathe. Of course you should have expected this with just an ordinary human body."

"Hurry... Escape..."

"Oh my?"

Kirika extended the belt slowly from her right arm, entangling Elsie's arm that was piercing her body. Then she reached out with a trembling hand and grabbed Elsie's wrist.

"C-Class Rep..."

"Haha, you want to let him and Mummy Maker escape together? Amazing. Amazing. Also, I already know. You're wearing a Wathe of immortality, right? That's why you intended to do this... But is it really okay? A simple thrust already skewered your body like this. If Elsie-san moves this arm downwards, your body will be split into half to the crotch. At the same time, your clothes will break along with it... You could very well die."

Haruaki could not see Kirika's face. However&mdash;After hearing Elsie's words, he felt his heart stop for an instant. No way. That absolutely cannot be allowed!

"S-Stop it&mdash;I beg you, stop!"

"Yes. I understand how you feel. But sorry, no can do."

Elsie crushed Haruaki's pleas without mincing any words. Haruaki felt his view darken as something heavy weighed down on him. He wanted to scream but no sound came out. This overwhelming wish of the highest priority prevented Haruaki from thinking about anything else, causing his mind to short circuit. Once the circuits stopped, he could no longer lend voice to his wish, so the thought simply kept spinning in his mind, spinning repeatedly nonstop. Stop, stop, stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop&mdash;

He could see Elsie apply more force through her shoulder.

He could also see Kirika fall unconscious, her arm sliding down, the «Tragic Black River» dangling limply without control.

Then... Then&mdash;


"''Hmm~ It wasn't enough after all, huh... Time's up''."


Elsie pulled her arm out from Kirika's body, dyed completely with Kirika's blood. At the same time, while watching in fascination as the blood squirmed and returned into Kirika's body, she said:

"However, with only an ordinary human left, at least I should be able to take care of the Mummy Maker who is no different from a cripple? ...That's what I was thinking originally, but forget it~"

Elsie turned her gaze to the side. Ahead was&mdash;

"Guh, ah, huff...!"

Fear was stumbling while unsteadily getting up. Attacked completely unexpectedly, Fear definitely took heavy damage. Breathing with difficulty, she used her drill as a crutch, but her eyes shone with determination as she shakily tried to stand up, her whole body covered with injuries. Judging from the power displayed so far, Elsie probably did not regard Fear as a threat but she said:

"You're more durable than expected. Can't be helped, I'm retreating for today. I'll be back once preparations are done. Before that, you guys just wait patiently&mdash;Oh right, say, Elsie-san has no sense of direction. May I ask a question, is this area the busiest part of town?"

Haruaki did not know why she asked this question. Neither was he obliged to answer. Nevertheless&mdash;

Haruaki secretly looked down towards the girl in the wheelchair. Expressionless. Despite the appearance of a former comrade who planned to kill her, a former comrade hurting Fear and the others again, Amanda remained completely unresponsive. The girl who had lost her cognition still remained in a state of lost cognition.

&mdash;Right now, I'm the only one standing by Amanda's side. Why doesn't the enemy rush over to attack? Why is she concerned about Fear who's all wounded and even going to retreat? Despite being completely puzzled, Haruaki decided that he had to protect Amanda as best as he could, so he answered honestly, in an effort to avoid reckless lying that might cause the enemy to change her mind.

"I guess... that's correct."

"Yes~ Then as expected, I'll need to do it in this town... Thanks! Seeya next time~"

Completely unconcerned with the wary Haruaki, Elsie turned around and strode away, leaving the park in this manner. Haruaki observed for a while, but there were no signs of her returning.

"Damn... it...!"

"Fear!"

Thud! Haruaki then heard the sound of Fear pushing her hand against the ground, still trying to get up. Fear was panting and holding the flank of her abdomen where Elsie had punched. Haruaki pushed the wheelchair and ran towards her but there was nothing he could do.

He surveyed the park and saw the deformed monkey bars and the broken swing. Thrown into the forest earlier, Kuroe seemed to have sprained an ankle and was hobbling back to the park. Konoha was moaning in pain, clenching her fists on the ground. On the other hand, Kirika had a massive hole in the center of her body, making no sound, she looked like she was dead.

Haruaki could not understand why the enemy had left without delivering the final deathblow.

However, he had no choice but to admit.

Counting from when she first made her move, only a mere two minutes or so had elapsed.

During this duration&mdash;

Within these short two minutes&mdash;


Hinai Elsie had thoroughly crushed their entire group.

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==Translator's Notes and References==
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