*WHAAAAM*

The clean hit caused a massive cloud of dust to shoot up into the sky.

​​

/Warning

/Ultimate route active

/Road to rule active

/Heretic title detected

/Annihilation bash skill available

/Master and servant engaged in a fight with the avatar of sin

/Attack exceeds the system's calculation

/Unable to calculate the damage

/Error

/Error

/Error

/Cal€ula¤•±€%%%...

/Targets title reduced

Avatar of wrath (+1) »»» Avatar of wrath

"On no! I got him too hard! Zombie, heal him!"

Cranberry stopped half her step and trembled, staring at the broken twitching mass of flesh.

"Right away, don't worry. By the way - that message doesn't look too good, just like your road to rule quest,..."

Zombie assured her and then furrowed his brows, shaking off the dust from his shoulders before he crouched, but the index and middle fingers to his lips and then lead the thin trail of smoke from his mouth all the way to the forehead of the massacred man right by his feet.

"Ha? Ah! R-right!"

The red-haired girl gasped and nodded as if only now did she realize that multiple system messages had popped up in her vision.

"It does... Oh...! I-it worked! Zombie, it worked! The level of his title got reduced and he's still alive!"

The red-haired girl gasped and a hopeful smile bloomed on her face as she lowered her black baseball bat while the dark red smoke surrounding the avatar of wrath got sucked in by her blue undead.

/Warning

/Servant became damaged

/Servant has insufficient mana to heal

/Permission to use Master's mana required

"...ghaaaa...!"

...and soon she got the confirmation in form of both the system message and the loud gasp of freshly healed ashen-haired man.

*SLUSH*

"Whoa! Did you hear that? Completely broken! Maybe try hitting him a little softer next time or he might die before I'll heal him."

Zombie moved his torso around causing a plentiful of liquids inside of him to slosh as he turned towards Cranberry.

"...true... do I even need to hit him in the first place? I wonder if a tap would be enough... system, heal my Zombie."

The red-haired girl nodded, furrowing her brows gave the system permission.

/Permission received

/Healing in progress...

/Healing completed

The black and red smoke left her body and sipped into the blue undead restoring any and all damages to his body.

With that done Cranberry activated her skill again and her black baseball bat turned white from the intense light.

She then approached the avatar of wrath held up by the serious-looking blue undead and lightly touched the man's stomach.

...

But nothing happened.

"Haa... well, I should have expected that it needs to be an attack after all... I will try again."

The red-haired villainess sighed in disappointment and slowly raised her hand just a bit.

*tap*

...

Nothing.

"Haa..."

*bonk*

/Attack exceeds the system's calculation

/Unable to calculate the damage

/Error

/Error

/Error

/Cal€ula¤•±€%%%...

/Avatar of wrath »»» -erased-

/Calculating...

/Warning

/Title of the avatar of wrath was deleted from the system database

/The avatar of wrath has been %-erased-%

With a soft whack that could barely be called a hit by even the most sensitive person, the attack got registered and a whole series of messages popped up.

"I...I think we have our solution...! There is a way for is a to complete the quest without killing...!"

Cranberry's face lighted up and she looked at Zombie with an overjoyed smile, resting the baseball bat on her shoulder.

...but then...

/Administrator entered a console command

/Error

/Adjusting the story

"Aargh...! AAAAAAUUUURRRRGGGGHH!"

"!!!"

With the arrival of new messages, it became clear that the red-haired villainess had celebrated far too early, as lord Pomegranate Wrath suddenly spat out blood and started screaming, clawing at his chest in terrible pain.

"What the...?!"

"Zombie, do something! HEAL HIM!"

The blue undead gasped and stared at the ex-avatar's agony and only the red-haired girl's shout pushed him into action.

"On it...!"

He put his index and middle fingers to his lips and hurriedly lead the thin trail of dark red smoke to...

*SPLAT*

Before the blue undead could touch the man's forehead, lord Pomegranate Wrath's body EXPLODED into a fountain of blood and gore at their very eyes.

/High-level player defeated

/Error

/Administrator's interference caused the system to be unable to grant Master the experience points

/The avatar of wrath has been slain

/Title transfer impossible

The wheels of fate continue to spin

Road to rule quest progression

4/7

The new series of messages popped up after the system detected and dealt with the unwanted variable.

"..."

*catch*

Cranberry's eyes widened in shock and she would have fallen to her knees if not for the bloodied blue undead who hurriedly stood up and supported her.

"It looks like the experiment has ended up in a failure."

Zombie sighed watchfully observing the silent girl in his arms.

"...y-yes..."

Her voice trembled and rested her forehead against his chest.

"...and it ended in the worst way possible. But it wasn't your fault that he died...! You didn't miscalculate the strength or anything... it was that damned Patience - he has done something! You've seen the messages! This is the absolute worst..."

Zombie breathed out and locked the red-haired villainess into a protective embrace.

"..."

Cranberry said nothing, she simply clung to Zombie with all her might while her shoulders continued to tremble.

"I... I don't want to kill Claymore...!"

Cranberry's weak voice barely reached Zombie's ears.

"Say... it looks like the avatars will have to die anyway... but that doesn't mean that your friend has to too...

"...wh... what do you mean...?"

Zombie's unexpected suggestion was strange enough to make Cranberry flinch - but even so, she didn't show him her face.

"We just have to transfer the title to someone else, we know it's possible right? Why don't we ask your father for help?"

Zombie nodded and asked casually.

"!!!!!!!"

...making Cranberry flinch in shock as if she was struck by thunder.

"You-you're right...! My father was the original avatar of pride of his generation, but he used lady Goji's help and transfer the title to my mother! And when she died and the title of avatar of pride got eresed, the system didn't do anything to him! If we do the same thing as he did and transfer Claymore's title to someone else someone without an essential role, we won't have to worry about a thing!"

She gasped, looking up at Zombie with her reddened eyes while clinging onto his shirt-turned-armor.

"We were supposed to go back to our mansion anyway! Zombie! Let's go right now!"

She asked, shedding all of the weakness and hesitation she showed up just a moment ago and grabbing onto the new option as if it was a lifeline.

"That's more like it!"

Zombie smiled brightly, and since he already had her in his arm, he just needed to lift her up before he could activate his skills and...

*BOOOOOOOM*

...launch himself in the correct direction to the sound of the deafening explosion.

---

Two of the seemingly unconscious bodyguards from the Wrath family that got knocked out by the initial attack suddenly stood up, dusting themselves off.

Both of their bodies begun glowing with a faint green light and after a second their faces changed completely.

"...that was... something..."

The shorter man sighed and shook his head.

"Do you think that the queen would stop trying to get that girl on her side after we'll report what had transpired here?"

The taller one asked.

"Are you crazy? The greed of Greed knows no bounds - the girl is strong and we basically have an idea about her weak point."

The shorter one waved his hand dismissively and refuted the question.

"Whew... I'm relieved that we've confirmed that this girl isn't just killing everyone because she's crazy."

"Yeah, sure, she just wants to get rid of all the avatars of sin - it's not very reassuring if you ask me..."

"..."

"...:

The two of them went silent for a moment.

"...well, we better get back and report regardless."

The sorter one sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"Wait. That one. It's Ti, isn't she?"

The taller one pointed at the platinum-haired woman lying amongst the rubble of the broken mansion only a few steps away from the gory remains of the former head of the Wrath family.

"Let's take her with us before the others arrive to cover up this whole mess."

"Fine, she should have some useful information."