ERI NAKAMURA

BANG!

The figure leisurely lying in bed had less than a second to respond before getting pinned down. She struggled and was about to let out a scream when a foreign object entered her mouth. Her muffled cries didn't leave the room as three more figures followed behind her attacker.

Felis barricaded the door with furniture and kept an eye on it in case Eri's zombies showed up. Claire backed her up while simultaneously holding one of her twin daggers toward Eri's neck. Ari dutifully bound Eri in her chains under Ivan's instructions.

Eri only stared at the four figures in terror whilst simultaneously struggling to wiggle out of her restraints.

BANG BANG BANG!

The banging on the door incessantly continued as Ivan assumed Eri had a way of telephathizing to her minions that she was in danger. He gazed at the door for a few seconds before snapping his fingers.

Ari, Claire, and Felis ran to his side and gave up on guarding the door. And right before the hundreds of zombies burst through a portal opened up and consumed the group of five.

"Hm…?"

The zombies looked around in confusion, their semi-conscious minds working at full speed in search of their master.

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"That was pretty smooth huh~!" Ivan's portal had brought them back to the inn they were staying in the night before. For now, this would be her place of interrogation, of course, it wouldn't be a permanent location as there was a chance the zombies knew the location of their master at all times.

"So let's get this done quickly, Felis and Ari head outside and watch any of the doors for guards. Canis, Yue, and Tio will watch the inn from afar while simultaneously keeping an eye on the kingdom for any major movements. Only Claire and I will be in charge of the interrogation."

Considering the fate of the girl they had captured, her knowledge of their names didn't matter. It wouldn't change the situation as they were already declared heretics long before they did anything as horrible as this. Not that there was anyone left to punish them with the Holy Church headquarters being demolished and the king a zombie.

"Yes, sir! (Father!)" They accepted their positions before making their moves. As time was of the essence they didn't dare waste a single second refuting anything.

"..."

The girl squirmed on the floor before feeling the gazes of two monsters on top of her.

"Without a doubt, you're the cause of all this, I doubt that shameless king would be so willing as to let some background character of the hero party sleep in his bed." Ivan's words made Eri realize that any hopes of deceiving him were already knocked out the window.

"Master, shall I remove her gag?" Claire crouched down and yanked the rag out of the girl's mouth upon receiving affirmation. Her brash actions led to the captive groaning in pain as she felt her teeth had nearly been ripped out of her mouth.

"Feel any better? How about we go ahead and begin our little conversation~?" A chair materialized out of thin air, Ivan straddled it before laying his head on the backrest. The bottom of his mask retracted to reveal his grin.

"W-What do you want…?" Before possibly revealing any secrets Eri Nakamura spoke with trepidation. She had a sliver of hope within her heart that maybe her captors had just kidnapped her just to hire her as a part of their team.

"Don't play coy with us. We know what you did~" The chair leaned forward closer to Eri's face. Ivan's mask warped into that of a clown's. It was a small result of his progress toward manipulating the space around him.

The floorboard beneath Eri cracked with each passing second she didn't say a word. Wooden planks snapped to form the maw of a dragon, threatening to open up and swallow her before closing her in eternal darkness.

"A-Alright! Alright! Whatever you want I'll help you!" Eri spoke with desperation, she couldn't afford to die here, especially not now. After all her efforts to begin making a move on the object of her obsession. She was so close to obtaining what she had been striving for several years.

Her hysteria grew larger with each passing second, the facade that Ivan took note of before leaving the Kingdom and venturing into the dungeon had completely melted away. In the face of death, Eri began to show her true colors.

"As much as I'd love to get the motive for your actions, we are quite pressed for time. I've brought you here to kindly ask that you relieve that curse you put on the people of this world. Do that and I'll return you right where we picked you up! Not a single scratch on ya'. It'll all just seem like a bad dream…"

Ivan's words were akin to the whisper of the devil, only none of the words he said enticed her in the slightest. Her eyes dotted around the room. To give up and restart from zero– no, she knew everything that he said was bullshit.

If he truly intended on letting her go scot-free then he had no motive to kidnap her as the smartest choice would be to kill her to make sure another situation like this ever came again. That's what the Holy Church did in the past to necromancers, and that was what he should've done to her.

This brought her to a realization.

"...You can't kill me…" Her eyes snapped at the thought. "You can't kill me!" Eri held a triumphant smile on her face as she glared with glee at the figure looming over her. She waited to see his smile fade, and she waited, and she waited—

"Huh?"

CRACK!

"AHHHAUGGH!!!" Eri howled in pain the moment the Azantium-clad foot crushed her face. Her nose bent and blood leaked along with the broken teeth. She attempted to roll away only to be held in place by the creepy maid.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Her screams went unheard.

"What are ya' complaining about? I haven't even done anything to ya' yet~!"

"Huh…?" Eri's eyes snapped open the moment she heard his words. She looked at the hand mirror that had been placed in front of her before sinking deep into her thoughts.

Yes, the disfigured face, out-of-place teeth, and botched-up nose, all of the harm done to her with a single stop of Ivan's boot had completely vanished, as though she was only having a nightmare.

"As much as I'd love to get the motive for your actions, we are quite pressed for time. I've brought you here to kindly ask that you relieve that curse you put on the people of this world. Do that and I'll return you right where we picked you up! Not a single scratch on ya'. It'll all just seem like a bad dream…"

"W-What?" Eri asked back subconsciously if she wasn't remembering things incorrectly her face had been smashed in a moment ago. Not only that but these were the exact words the masked man had asked her two minutes ago.

"You went deaf? I asked you to deactivate that necromancy spell you cast on the kingdom. It's really creepy y'know…" The man spoke with faint irritation, it seemed he wasn't exactly a fan of having to repeat himself.

"N-No I-I-I!"

CRACK!

"OH, GOD! WHYYY?!"

Eri tried again to roll away, only to once be met with the restraining arms of an abnormal maid.

"What are ya' complaining about? I haven't even done anything to ya' yet~!"

The cycle repeated itself, again, again, again, again, and again.

Eri Nakamura had concluded that time had been repeating itself. The pain continued endlessly. No matter how much she tried to appease the masked man, her face met the boot every single time. Then again she never once agreed to his demands, always asking for an alternative route instead.

"What are ya' complaining about? I haven't even done anything to ya' yet~!"

'Ah, that's right… Nothing has happened yet… If there's never a conclusion to this torture did it ever occur… Is this my punishment? Kouki… help me…"

The eyes full of hysteria had regressed to the point where they had lost their luster. She muttered aloud 'Kouki' louder and louder as each loop occurred. Ivan prod her on this, whispering that all she had to do to return to her beloved's side was release the spell.

"What are ya' complaining about? I haven't even done anything to ya' yet~!"

'...I g ive u p…' The expression of defeat marred her face, and the boot hurtling toward her face came to an abrupt stop.

"Oya, that expression… Something tells me you've come around to the idea~! Ivan's words were met with a despondent nod. He brought the girl to her feet, holding her up by an arm as she lacked the mental fortitude to even stand.

WHOOSH!

With a snap of his fingers, the mana restricting cuffs had disappeared from Eri's wrists. Even then she didn't make a single movement. She tried neither to launch a spell nor make way for escape. She just stood there, with dull eyes and a face covered in dry tears.

Claire stood with readied daggers, prepared for the slight possibility that Eri might rebel.

"....."

Very faintly Eri spoke the undoing of her spell, her mana flared beneath her feet with each passing word. As if in a trance, Eri complied with the demands and after five minutes of whispering finished it.

"So, how is it, Yue?" Ivan held a hand to his mask, asking Yue how the situation was within the Kingdom.

"Mhm…They all fell over…" She responded with audible glee, the plan had succeeded.

"Phew, it took 60 loops but we finally made it, to the worldline where—" Ivan looked up at the sky as if to thank the gods, his speech cut off as Claire firmly pressed the heel of her shoe onto Ivan's right foot.

"Hmph, what the hell was that all about!? Couldn't you have at least told me what the plan was before locking us in the room with this psychopath?" Claire wasn't having any of it.

"Hehehe, sorry but it was something I thought up during the moment~ But thanks as always for going along with it!"

The whole time looping thing had been a little trick of Ivan's to break down Eri, using restoration magic to act as if he never harmed her in the first place. Repeating his lines over and over to wear her down.

"And it's also because it was you with me that I went ahead with the idea." The real reason he sent Felis and Ari out was to spare them the scene. He wouldn't know how they would have reacted but he was glad Claire was so understanding. In the end, he put all of his faith into the dutiful maid that killed for his sake.

"Yeah right, you had no other choice! Felis would've broken the trick immediately and Ari would have gotten bored after 12 loops!"

Ignoring the very correct complaints behind him, Ivan opened up a portal and tossed Eri into it without another thought.

"Hm? Where did you send her?" Claire regained her composure before questioning Ivan. In her mind, the initial plan was to kill her after they got the result they wanted to make sure there weren't any loose ends left behind.

"It's fine, it's fine. She's in good hands now~" His mysterious words brought her to a nod, putting faith in her master Claire cleaned the scene of the blood and wreckage their little play had accumulated. The inn owner was probably going to return soon and the last thing they wanted was for him to discover that the people who exclusively rented the inn for a night had used it to commit a crime.

Meanwhile back at where the students had held the meeting with Ivan—

"Whoah-!" The white-blue portal appeared right in the center of the room before a bundled-up body shot out of it like a cannonball, right into the nearest wall.

"E-Eri?!"

The students crowded around the bundled figure before exclaiming aloud.

Today was going to be another busy day for the students of another world.

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I'm so tired! It's way later right now than when I usually write. I've been quite busy today. I really hope I'll be rewarded for today's hard work with a better tomorrow. Now if you excuse me my eyelids are incredibly heavy, not to mention my brain feels so muddled that it's hard to form words.

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