29 Chapter 29 — Dead Harem

Far away, Rubia was hiding in a secret room. However, if Ichigo saw her now, he would be terrified. Rubia's face was covered with a lovingly obsessive expression. Her pupils rapidly expanded and contracted.

[Ichigo… You don't need all the other girls… You just need me]

Ichigo had sent the girls away and sneaked out to fight the Space Marines by himself. He didn't want to implicate them, but…

Rubia had leaked his location to the harem and the girls had rushed over. This was despite Rubia having watched the battle through a soul imprint she had secretly placed on Ichigo. She knew how powerful the Space Marines were. She did not have good intentions.

[Ever since I came to this world… I knew you were the one]

Around her sat a large magic circle that she had secretly been building for months. The spell only had one target: Ichigo.

[Hehe… I will show you how much I love you! We'll be together forever!]

Meanwhile, seeing the Space Marines ignoring them, the harem bravely attacked with all kinds of abilities from all over the continent. There were bows, swords, axes, magic, throwing knives and guns. A girl dressed like a marksman with a feather hat aimed and fired her matchlock gun with impeccable accuracy. The bullet travelled and pinged harmlessly off the helmet of a Space Marine. Another girl continuously threw throwing knives, her hands turning into afterimages. Somehow, Ichigo had a stunningly beautiful elf girl in there and she levitated above the ground, drawing and shooting an exquisite bow.

The harem looked very powerful, but Ichigo knew the exact power levels of each member. They were no match to the Space Marines. The captain of the Space Marine squad came forward to Ichigo and delivered an ultimatum, ignoring the attacks pinging off his armour.

[Mr Ichigo, you should know best what will happen if we attack them. Surrender now, or we will kill them one by one]

A young girl waving a rapier instantly spoke up.

[Ichigo, don't listen to his lies! With us here, we can defeat them]

The captain didn't even look at her and raised his gun with one hand behind his back. Using cameras on the back of his power armour, the gun aimed and fired accurately. From the girl's perspective, she felt an immense sense of danger as she looked down the barrel of the gun. She desperately tried to move, but her body simply wasn't fast enough. A 30mm bullet penetrated and exploded right in the middle of her chest, covering the ground with a rain of flesh and blood.

The harem stood there, stunned. They could not comprehend how their friend, whom they had spent countless adventures and experiences with, had just died like that.

[YOU MONSTER! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO SERENIA? I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!]

In response, the commander only shrugged. He didn't care if they surrendered or not, he would have still killed them even if they did.

[Oh, her name was Serenia? Well, she's dead anyways]

The harem charged towards the Space Marines in a fit of rage. Sadness and anger consumed Ichigo's mind as he lost all reason and attacked the Space Marine captain with all his strength.

Compared to his previous calm and skilled swordplay, this time he was like a mad berserker, not caring how much of his soul power he used up. However, this time the Space Marines had learnt their lesson and kept their distance from him while pumping him full of 30mm rounds. Every time Ichigo tried to approach one of them, they would quickly speed backwards using their rocket packs. Their rocket packs weren't powerful enough to make them fly or levitate, but they could boost their speed for a short distance.

Realising his helplessness, Ichigo slowed down and looked back to where his harem was. Looking at the previously lively and friendly group, he was stunned and traumatised by what he saw. His girls had been turned into corpses; their bodies mutilated by 30mm rounds. A few bodies were cut in half and had obvious blunt force trauma, showing their failed attempts at close-quarters combat. Ichigo felt their pale and lifeless eyes look into his soul, blaming him for their deaths. He collapsed on his knees as he knew there was no hope. He regretted it. He regretted everything.

The only survivor was the elf girl who had survived with her wind powers and expensive magical items. However, she had run out of mana and her body was captured by a Space Marine. He pulled out a knife, ready to decapitate her.

[Noo! You can't kill me! I'm the princess of the Elves! I can represent the Elven Kingdom!]

A moment passed and the princess sighed in relief as she saw the Space Marine stop moving. No country would ever want to provoke the elves. She had been hesitant to reveal her identity as the elf kingdom would face serious backlash if it was exposed that their princess was running around the continent. The countries of the world were only not willing to fight the Elves, but they weren't scared of them. An alliance of the continent's strongest empires would prove troublesome. Therefore, an agreement had been made that the elves would stay in their country and not interfere with the rest of the world. If this matter spread, it would be a major political scandal.

However, the princess had no choice. Seeing the Space Marine not moving, her arrogance and superiority as an elf came back.

[Hmph! Take your hands off me, filthy human! Stop attacking Ichigo and just wait for the wrath of the Elves!]

[How dare you disrespect me, I-]

She spat out blood and she looked down horrifiedly. The Space Marine had speared his giant knife straight into her chest. She tried to open her mouth with disbelief, not able to comprehend why this country would dare declare war on the Elves.

The knife twisted, completely destroying her chest cavity. With a swipe upwards, her head burst open as her mutilated body collapsed onto the ground. The beautiful and arrogant princess was dead.

She had made a crucial miscalculation. In the eyes of the Space Marines, she wasn't an elf, she wasn't a princess, she was only one thing: an enemy.