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CHAPTER 423: JUST ONE STEP AWAY…… PART 2

Of course, there was no way that I would have ever taken such a far-fetched story at a face value.

There was just no way that I would believe any of that, not after all that we have been through.

However, for some reason my anger was not surging in response to Rin’s words.

The only thing that I was feeling right now was a tremendous disappointment mixed with some extreme fatigue.

Although they have now been stripped of their titles, at one time those guys had the greatest of honors assigned to them: being part of the Hero Party.

There must have been a sense of both pride and demeanor that was appropriate for that title and which they were feeling, but……

But Rin just continued to unashamedly dish out lies and deception, going as far as making some lame excuses for herself and her behavior.

I would have really liked for her to at least feel bad about the thing that she did and maybe for her to be ready to make amends for that, but I could see that right now it was just impossible.

Honestly, I could see that when compared to before, nothing really changed.

「For someone to be this shameless and unsightly…… Really now, why don’t I just burn her away on the spot so that we can be done with her?」

Elfin-san also seemed to feel a great deal of discomfort from looking at Rin at the current moment, and she said something like that completely seriously.

Rin let out a small scream and trembled upon hearing that.

She was also trying to break free out of the shackles on her hands and feet, but she was not really the kind of person who could accomplish something like that, no matter how hard and how desperately she would struggle.

Since those shackles were created by the Phoenix Tribe, there was nothing that Rin, a mere human, could do about them.

What’s more, right now all of her equipment has been taken away from her.

「N-No, no way…… I…… in a place like this…… No, not like this…… I was…… I was going to have so much more fun in the future…… Monika, you bitch! Help me! Save me! Surely you can do something about this, can’t you!?」
「……………」

「Hey, did you even hear me, you bitch! Come on, don’t be all silent like that! If you have something to say, then say it, god damn it!」

Rin somehow forced her bound and immobilized body to move closer towards Monika and bump right into her shoulder, as if to force some kind of response out of her.

But then, Monika’s body simply collapsed to the ground.

And once her body hit the floor…… It simply turned into a thick trail of mist and disappeared into nothingness.

「…… Huh?」

Suddenly, Rin’s eyes grew wider in shock.

Unable to understand what had happened, we too were simply stunned and speechless.

「Could it be……?」

After a while, I came to my senses enough to start thinking and realize a certain possibility.

「Could it be that…… Monika created an illusion of herself that she used as a decoy the moment the two of them were captured?」

「What do you mean?」

「I don’t know exactly how it is supposed to work, but Monika can apparently create illusions at will. What’s more, she can manipulate them at will, and from a far remote location as well. So it is entirely possible that while we thought that we were able to capture the real Monika alongside Rin, the one that we took into custody was an illusion all along.」

「Hmm, I see. That is certainly a troublesome ability to go against. So, is it possible that this other woman is also just an illusion?」

「Fufufu, no need to worry about that. You see, Rin-san over there is the genuine article, I assure you.」

「Huh!?」

A voice echoed from somewhere around us.

「That voice, is that…… Monika!?」

「Yes, that’s right. You see, I just came here to see what was going on here, and it seems like the timing of my arrival was just right.」

I don’t know how long she’s been there, but now I could see Monika casually standing in the corner of the room.

Seeing her, Kanade and my companions assumed the battle-ready positions, and the Phoenix Tribe’s warriors did the same.

However, Elfin-san did not issue any orders to attack Monika or to capture her.

Since Monika was able to appear here so completely out of the blue like that, she must have been wary of her.

「Monika! Since when did you sneak out on me!? How dare you leave me alone and use me as a decoy, you absolute bitch!」

「Oh my, but I had no intention of using you as a decoy from the very beginning, Rin-san. It’s just that, since it did not seem that there was anything I could do here, I decided to just let you do your job as it was assigned to you, while I was only doing the job that was assigned to me. That’s all.」

「Uuuhhh! Kuuuhhhh!!! Uuuhhh!!! W-Well, anyways! Move your ass and save me! You hear me!? You have to save me!!!」

「Oh my, I am terribly sorry. Now that things have gone this far off the rails, I am genuinely at a loss as to what to do. You see, I have a magic tool with me that acts as a portable teleportation spell, but I only have one such tool, and I don’t have the one that you could use, Rin-san.」

「T-The fuck is this!? You bitch! Are you saying that you are going to just abandon me!? We are supposed to be friends, right!?」

「Yes, that’s right. We are friends, indeed. That’s why I came to lend you a helping hand one last time.」

「A helping hand……?」

「Honestly, I didn’t expect you to be cornered to this extent. At best, I thought you would be able to pit the two new Ultimate Species against one another and make them kill each other. At worst, I expected you to be able to prevent Rein-san from forging a friendly relationship with the Phoenix Tribe. That’s what I expected out of you. But…… You actually managed to fail at both of those things, and that is a rather frustrating turn of events, if I do say so myself. So, I decided to play the final trump card. And that’s…… you yourself, Rin-san.」

「Are you…… Are you fucking shitting me!? In my current state, I can’t even move or use my magic, so what am I even supposed to do here!?」

「Please don’t worry about that. That is precisely why I took the liberty of retrieving your equipment from Rein-san’s custody.」
Monika then grabbed the glass-made long staff that she had hidden behind her back this entire time.

「So, what can I possibly do in my current state, you absolute dumbass!? There’s no point in having the Rainbow Crystal here if I can’t move to control it properly!」

「Oh, if that is your current worry, then please, do not fret. I promised that I will support you, Rin-san, and that is exactly what I’m going to do…… Just like this.」

Monica smiles gently as she disappeared into thin air.

Was that the magic tool that allowed her to teleport around at will?

I hurriedly started to look all over the place for the spot where Monika would reemerge, and it was only after a moment that I realized that she moved precisely behind Rin’s back.

I then hurriedly moved forward in hopes of detaining her before she would be able to do anything.

However, Monika made her move before I was able to do that.

「Now then, Rin-san. Please show us the power that you are always boasting about so much.」

With that said, Monika thrust the glass-made staff right into the middle of Rin’s chest.