Claymore's body shook as if she had a fever.

"...that is my spot...!"

She growled at the vision she saw in her head.

/Skill level up

Jealous rage (level 2) »»» Jealous rage (level 10[max])

Claymore's body shone with a bright blue light and she gritted her teeth so hard that they made an unpleasant creaky sound.

"Kopia...! You will infiltrate the Sloth territory - find and kill that wretched bitch calling herself the heroine...! I want Mary Hope dead at all cost...!"

Claymore's anger seemed to be physically manifested thanks to the amount of blue light that she was emanating.

A stray tuft of hair raised up from her head and formed the shape of a reaper's scythe.

Her voice was barely audible, but it would be far less frightening if she was screaming her lungs out...

"What...? My lady, what are you talking about?! What did miss Hope ever do to y..."

"You will kill that wretched girl that will be accompanying them."

Claymore demanded glaring coldly at Kopia, without acknowledging Kopia's opinion.

"My lady, calm down, saying stuff like that isn't like you. And, murder isn't really my cup of tea eith..."

"Do it or I will hate you forever."

Kopia's attempt to refuse met with an immediate and deadly serious answer.

"..."

The word 'hate' made the androgynous bodyguard tremble uncontrollably and they clenched their fists so hard that their fingernails pierced the skin of their palms causing bleeding.

The next moment Kopia ran out of the room as if their life depended on it, shutting the door with a loud noise.

*SLAM*

"...eh...?"

That very noise seemed to snap Claymore back to reality.

She deactivated her skill and shook her head - the tuft of hair went back down as if it never emerged- as if living its own life.

"What did I just...?"

Claymore trembled and reached for the top of her head in search of the wild tuft.

"Why would I ever tell Kopia something like that...?!"

The girl gasped, getting teary-eyed.

Then she looked at the bed where Kopia was sitting just a moment ago.

The sheets were stained with the drops of blood that fell from Kopia's wounded hands.

"...!"

Claymore trembled covering her mouth with both hands.

"Kopia! KOPIA! STOP! I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I WAS SAYING!"

She then immediately threw herself at the door and ran out of her room screaming after her bodyguard who has already disappeared from the hallway.

"Kopia! Come back! I didn't mean what I've said...!"

Claymore cried out in panic, desperately running through the mansion, searching for any trace of the bodyguard.

"I would never hate you! Come back! I'm sorry...! You don't have to attack anyone!"

She cried and cried but she only managed to get the attention of the worried servants - and neither of them was the one she was calling for.

"Kopia...! Ah! The future sight!"

Claymore sniffled and flinched in a sudden realization.

If she uses her new skill she might see where Kopia will go and she will be able to send someone to bring them back!

"..."

She closed her glowing eyes, concentrating on the androgynous bodyguard.

The vision she saw was completely different than before!

The first one was showing three people walking out from a thick fog entered a small village.

The red-haired girl with a black bat in one hand and half of a blue arm in the other, a short brown-haired big breasted girl, and a tall blue undead with his right hand missing.

They were laughing having a casual conversation.

They all looked like good friends, maybe even more.

The heroine was in a spot that belonged to Claymore!

...she was in a spot the Claymore wanted more than anything...

...she stole it from her...

But the new vision that the avatar of lust saw, presented her something completely different!

A grand ballroom decorated so pompously that it must have costed a fortune...

The crowd of splendidly dresses people - many of whom Claymore had recognized as the members of various noble houses, big and small, from across the whole Fruit Salad - and Kopia was amongst them!

They weren't even disguising themselves as someone else and just stood there in the form they felt the most comfortable in - the short androgynous body with long red hair and piercing blue eyes.

Kopia was standing amongst some rather unusual characters too - the confused light-brown-haired girl, the scared tall gray-skinned man in a tuxedo, the horrified tall dark-skinned woman in a black dress with two long daggers on both sides of her waist, the panicked ashen-haired girl in a crimson dress, and the trembling young white-haired child - the child that was reaching out their shaking hand towards something that shouldn't have been there...

Because despite the marvelous location and their beautiful clothes, the people gathered there weren't dancing nor enjoying themselves.

They were all standing around a giant blackened crater - the very crater that the child was reaching their tiny hand towards - right in the middle of the ballroom staring in horror at something at the bottom.

"...!"

Claymore trembled but didn't open her eyes, she needed to know what would happen.

The people must have been talking, she saw them moving their mouth but the vision was silent - the only thing revealed by the future sight was only that, the sight, no sound.

"..."

Claymore trembled and breathed out trying to calm herself down, and then she focused on what the people in her vision were staring at a monster...

A monster that Claymore had never read nor heard about...

The monster surrounded by such an immense aura of hate, violence, and death, that it simply couldn't have been a creature from this world.

The monstrosity looked as if it was completely made out of red and black smoke, constantly swirling and expanding, but still staying in a humanoid shape.

The creature didn't have any facial features or anything, but its body language had shown that it was in denial - it had its head down as if staring at its empty hands... as if something most important to it was supposed to be there - but wasn't...

The smoke monster slowly raised its featureless head and even without eyes, it stared straight at the group that included Claymore's shape-shifting bodyguard, and then it...

")(*&*&^*%#@%$**&*(&(^$#$^@^%^()*)(*^$%^#%#@%$&*&)*^%^$%"

Even though there was supposed to be no sound, the horrifying inhuman roar of the beast that didn't have a mouth almost blew Claymore's ears off and made her drop to the floor with no strength in her limbs.

"KOPIA! COME BACK! YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!"

Claymore, pale as a freshly washed sheet, screamed on top of her lungs while shaking horribly.

Why did she lose control because of the surge of jealousy and said those words to Kopia...?!

WHAT IN THE SYSTEM'S NAME WAS THAT ABHORRENT MONSTROSITY AND WHY WAS IT UNLEASHED ONTO THE WORLD?!

Did the vision changed because she, Claymore, ordered poor Kopia to kill the heroine?!

Claymore felt her stomach twist into a knot in horror - she was sure that the small bodyguard will fulfill the mission she has given them...

Kopia wasn't a part of the Lust family - they didn't have any resistance to the charm skill.

When Kopia said that they were madly in love with Claymore, they meant it.

Always.

But they still managed to keep their sanity around the fickle avatar of lust for most of the time...

...that is, until Claymore would threaten to hate them - after hearing something like that Kopia was completely unable to refuse any request made by Claymore.

The avatar of lust swore to never extort the bodyguard with that method, but that promise went down the drain so easily...

...but that also meant that the appearance of the otherworldly monstrosity was also her fault...

"What have I done...?!"

Claymore cried, shivering at the mere memory of the roar of the smoke beast from her vision.

"My lady...?"

Someone approached the worried girl and offered her their hand.

"Ah! Kopia! You didn't-...eh...?"

Claymore gasped, momentarily grabbing onto her last hope, that Kopia hasn't left yet and the appearance of the smoke monster can be prevented - and looked up at the person...

"N-no...!"

She yelped in desperation.

Needless to say, the one who approached her wasn't Kopia, but just a random servant...