Chapter 131: Monster Showdown (5)
"Who''s there?"
"........."
"Why aren''t you answering?"
Jill the Ripper, who was about to move forward with Adler in her arms, scrutinized the figure blocking her path before speaking.
"Given the unusual attire, you''re clearly not a member of the royal knights..."
"... Ah."
At that moment, the interfering figure smirked before opening her mouth to speak.
"Turns out it''s none other than the Princess of the British Empire~"
"..... Hmm?""Well, it seems like I unknowingly blocked the way of such an esteemed person..."
As she intentionally shouted those words in a raised voice, murmuring voices began to emerge from behind.
"Did you just, do that on purpose…?"
"But you see, Princess."
Jill the Ripper asked with a mildly annoyed expression, to which the girl merely smirked while fiddling with her monocle for some time and then… finally responded in a lighthearted tone.
"The item you have in your hands actually belongs to me."
"That''s quite an amusing statement.”
Hearing her, Jill the Ripper''s eyes began to sparkle with a sense of unbridled interest.
"... I am not an item."
"Why is this item yours?"
"We have a bit of a history, you see. And I prefer treasures with history and connections over mere expensive ones."
Adler''s dissatisfied voice resonated in the background but was utterly ignored as the conversation between the two continued.
"I have my own history with this item too."
"... No matter how I think about it, I don’t believe it’s a treasure that can be squandered just for the whims of an impulsive and immature princess.”
Hearing the voice tinged withughter, Jill the Ripper stared down at her obstructer with a fierce gaze— a gaze so intense that most would be intimidated enough to not even dare make eye contact with her.
"You, you really have a way with words."
"Ah, that''s the second mostmon thing people say to me right before I take their treasures."
"And what''s the first?"
Unfazed, the girl shed her a yful grin before replying in a soft voice,
"... Phantom Thief Lupin?"
"Ha, figures."
Realizing the identity of her obstructer, Jill the Ripper leaked out a coldugh before shifting her gaze to Adler, held in the confines of her arms.
"So you''ve even seduced the notorious female thief in advance, huh?"
"No, really, I didn''t do anything."
"... Really?"
"Uh, well..."
Adler looked genuinely aggrieved by her usation. However, under Jill the Ripper''s cold questioning, he paused for a moment to think things through.
"I just… wrapped the jewel she was trying to steal with a note, a cute doodle too, and presented it as a gift, nothing more."
"What?"
"Ah, and I did steal her first kiss... but that was more like, I was the one being taken advantage of…?”
After a moment, Adler’s cheerful expression faded and he began to trail off, seemingly realizing the oddity of his own words.
"Why did you leave out the part where you beat me up so badly that I still have bruises?"
Lupin, showing a cold smile, slightly lifted the gentleman''s suit she was wearing to reveal the bruises that still scarred her stomach, even to this day.
"... Didn''t you say you did nothing?"
"..... Teehee~"
"So, you gave her a jewel as a gift, stole her first kiss, and went on to beat her till she got longsting bruises, and you still think that''s nothing?"
Jill the Ripper murmured coldly to Adler, still confined in her arms, before suddenly looking forward with a puzzled expression.
"Then why did that bitche to save you?"
"Uh..."
"Don''t people usually hate getting beaten up?"
To her confused murmurs, Adler whispered in a low voice while looking straight at her.
"Actually, she didn''te to save me; she came to kidnap me too."
"Ah."
Finally, Jill the Ripper nodded, somewhat convinced.
"But I still don''t quite get it."
"What do you not understand?"
"... Do French people call someone who beats them up ?"
However, as she was engulfed in doubt once again, Adler kindly answered.
"Ah, that''s because that person is a masochist."
"Masochist? What''s that?"
"... How do you feel when you stab me with a knife?"
Jill the Ripper tilted her head thoughtfully for a moment.
"It sends a thrill all over my body, making it hard for me to breathe from all the excitement. Soon, I’m filled with a desire to stab you several more times."
"A masochist feels the same way when they get beaten up."
"What? No way."
Hearing his response, Jill the Ripper shuddered as if she had heard the most disgusting thing of her life and soon muttered,
"How can anyone feel that way while getting beaten up? Is she insane?"
"... That''s riching from you."
"Hey, that''s a bit rude, don’t you think?"
While Adler countered in a timid voice, Lupin stepped forward, her expression still rxed and nonchnt.
"I never said that I felt sexually aroused while being beaten up like a dog by a man, and yet you nder m..."
All of a sudden, she trailed off, her expression turning nk in an instant.
"... What, that?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"What are you doing to him with, that?"
It was only at this moment… that she noticed the blood dripping out of Adler’s chest, as well as the brutal act of Jill the Ripper repeatedly twisting the knife that she herself had plunged into him not long ago.
"Oh, this? I''m in the process of killing Isaac Adler."
"........"
"Oddly enough, this is quite fun. No matter how much I kill him, he doesn''t die, you know?"
In the midst of her brutal act, Jill the Ripper began to exin the situation in a casual tone.
"... But you, can you really do this to him? Won’t everyone witness everything?"
Her eyes darkened ominously.
"The shadows obscure the surroundings, most people can’t see what’s happening..."
"I was wondering why a princess would show up in such a dangerous ce like this..."
Simrly, Lupin''s gaze turned serious, sweeping aside all of the yfulness she had been showing.
"... It seems you weren''t just relying on your authority now, were you?"
"Fufu~"
A chilly silence began hovering between the two.
"But, whatever your identity might be, isn’t it dangerous to reveal yourself here?"
"Yes, it''s indeed dangerous. I’d hate to discard the identity I''ve protected for decades."
In that silence, Jill the Ripper subtly began exuding an unparalleled murderous aura.
"I don''t like killing girls, but..."
"Do you like magic tricks?"
<i>- Swish...</i>
As she drew out her knife from Adler''s chest, the blood-soaked de glistening in the rays of moonlight… decks of cards began to rise from Lupin’s hand, manifested out of thin air.
"... Excuse me."
In this tense moment, the profusely sweating Adler somehow managed to get a word out to the two menacing women.
"Could you untie me first, ple..."
But before he could finish his sentence, a loud noise suddenly echoed in the paved footpath.
.
.
.
.
.
"Ugh..."
Several minutes after the battle between Jill the Ripper and Lupinmenced,
"... I wonder how things turned out."
Hidden in between the bushes in a remote area – far from the entrance to the walkway where the fight between the two dangerous women had erupted – Isaac Adler cautiously peeked out and muttered to himself.
"Seeing that the vision has gonepletely dark, the clone has most likely reached its limit…”
Indeed,
Surprisingly, what had been roaming the park without any escorts, attracting monsters from all around, was a clone created and controlled by Adler through his unique magic.
"... But it''s too risky to check it out in person."
Adler''s n to lure and make the supernatural entities from various parts of Britain destroy each other had almost reached fruition.
"It seems Moran’sms were cut off due to the royal knights..."
However, that didn''t mean everything was over.
"Is there no safe way to check in on the battle?”
As there was another crucial n remaining— a n that was as significant as the n of pitting the monsters against each other, leading to their mutual destruction.
<strong>『Phantom Thief''s Treasure』</strong>
<strong>– Description:</strong> Get kidnapped by Phantom Thief Lupin
"If Lupin loses, things will getplicated..."
That n was to embark on the final main quest from the early stages that hadn''t progressed yet.
More precisely, it was to ensure Lupin''s victory in this monster showdown and to get kidnapped by her.
<i>… Sure enough, I need to head to the scene, no matter what. Just need to be as stealthy as possible.</i>
Thus, risking danger, Isaac Adler decided to move himself instead of creating another time-consuming clone.
<i>- Rustle...</i>
".........?"
Just as he was silently trying to get up, he heard a noise from behind.
"Who, who''s there...?"
"........."
Adler, startled and fearing that a monster had discovered his hiding spot, turned around with a terrified expression.
"Uh...?"
In the next moment, however, his head tilted in confusion.
"M, Master."
Because standing before him was someone who shouldn''t have been in this ce right now.
"What are you doing here?"
"... Miss ze?"
Out of Adler''s three closest subordinates, Silver ze was the only one who had the height and build for Lupin to perfectly disguise herself into; that’s why she was excluded from this mission.
"No..."
Then, there was only one possibility left.
"Miss Thief, have you already finished the fight?"
"... Pardon?"
Having made his one-sided assessment, Adler began acting cute, flirting with the confused woman.
"So, will you kidnap me now?"
.
.
.
.
.
<i>...What did the master just say?</i>
Despite the unexpected appearance of Jill the Ripper, Adler''s n had been almost wless. However, in this very instance, his perfect n began going awry.
<i>... Did he just ask me to kidnap him?</i>
The person before him was not the victorious and disguised Phantom Thief Lupin.
<i>Kidnap... kidnap master...?</i>
It was actually Silver ze herself. In charge of guarding their all alone, she hade out for a night walk in the park to cool down her body which had already gone in heat, given it was her mating cycle.
"... Aren''t you going to do it?"
<i>.......?</i>
And her brain, which had momentarily frozen due to the shocking words, rapidly began filling up with hearts at hearing Adler’s shy and timid voice.
"... Don''t regret it now… /genesisforsaken