The comments section all think I'm a really good person.

However, in her gray eyes, granulation tissue pierced through the eyeballs and grew rapidly.

"Oh dear... as expected, they're wary of me." Kotomi Sōtoku felt as if she had struck nothing but thin air. With a sigh, the dagger in her hand dissipated into specks of magical energy.

Shiraki Rin leaned against the wall, wary of her.

As Kotomi walked behind her, she kept her [Penetration] ability active. The opponent's dagger couldn't touch her, allowing her to escape unscathed.

"Of course, one must be wary of people with flesh buds planted in their brains," Kita Kirihara said. "Besides, Yotomi Kotomi, if I'm not mistaken, your Soul Gem is black, right?"

Kotomi Ayato still wore a bright and energetic smile. She wasn't surprised by Kita Kirihara's observational skills, and simply smiled and replied, "Yes."

[He really is a heartless bastard.] Kita Kirihara sneered.

241. Nanoha Takamachi's Righteous Explosion

Kita Kirihara would not trust anyone from the three starter families.

No matter how silly or optimistic Kotomi Satoku appeared, she still survived that brutal struggle and escaped the terrifying Yotomi family unscathed.

It's definitely not as simple as it seems on the surface.

As a demon who can see into people's hearts, Kita Kirihara could easily see through Aitoku Kotomi.

Through the lens, Kita Kirihara noticed that Kotomi Sōtoku's Soul Gem was jet black.

It has a clear, pure, obsidian-like color, without any muddiness.

Pure and innate black... In a sense, this is also an impression of Kotomi Sōtoku.

Like innocent children tormenting insects, these evils and cruelties are nothing more than fun and pleasure in their eyes.

The family of the Four Views has many unruly children who lack modern moral values.

Even if she leaves the family, Kotomi Satoku, who lacks certain parts of her mind, will not simply become an ordinary person.

Kita Kirihara understood this very well, because she was that kind of person too.

Besides, there are other obvious points of suspicion.

Kotomi Sōtoku knew the location of the Rose House clearly, and she also had the flesh buds planted by the Four-Faced Eagle People in her mind, which was almost an obvious clue.

This person still maintains certain ties with the family, and may never have actually left the family.

The person who has been implanted with flesh buds by the Four-Faced Eagle Man will not be able to escape from that home so easily. To put it bluntly, it's like being free-range with a tracking device on.

Therefore, Kita Kirihara kept Shiraki Rin on guard from the very beginning, and the latter also became cautious.

[!!! I never would have guessed this woman would betray me!]

[No wonder they gave her a close-up of her soul gem earlier... it was all black, she doesn't look like a good person.]

[And I think her complexion looks a bit strange, sometimes it even looks a little creepy...]

[Were you just trying to have some fun by spreading the news about magical girls before?]

Fortunately, thanks to Ahara's warning, Rin escaped unscathed.

Wait... something feels off?

Despite her failed attempt to betray him, Kotomi Sōtoku did not show much surprise on her face.

After all, based on her experience, things related to Kita Kirihara are generally not easy to succeed.

She had heard of Kita Kirihara when Kotomi was still called Yotomi.

After all, he was a child with potential that was slightly close to that of a god, and it could be said that he was favored by the gods, becoming the hope of the Kitagi family, which had not produced a person with ability for several generations.

Unfortunately, the head of the Kita-Che family was too short-sighted.

Lord Washi once analyzed with himself that if the previous head of the Kita-giri family had been a little more ambitious and used his brain, he would have protected the child with such potential instead of offering him up as a sign of loyalty... perhaps the positions of Kita-giri and Kita-giri would have been successfully switched by now.

The child, who originally possessed the potential to become a god, was sent to a place for servants to be raised, trained, and researched because of the groveling of the branch family head. In the end, he squandered his enviable potential and became a useless person.

When Shimizu mentioned this to Ayatoku Kotomi, he actually told it as a joke, using it as an example of how the Kita-giri family managed to gain a little but lose a lot.

Sesame represents the position of the Kitagi branch family within Kita-gaki, while Watermelon represents Kitagihara, a child with astonishing talent, and the Kitagi family's foreseeable glorious future.

Even when Kita Kiri Chise came along later, she didn't have the same spirituality as Kita Kirihara back then.

The Four-Eagle Man himself is a Child of Purity, and he is most sensitive to such matters.

It's both laughable and pathetic.

"Oh dear... what a pity for such a genius." A deep, magnetic male voice slowly escaped from Kotomi Sōtoku's lips.

In the footage, the once delicate-looking Kotomi Sōtoku gradually began to change beyond recognition.

Beneath her skin, thick, long tubes seemed to bulge and swell, wriggling like earthworms within her blood vessels. Those terrifying tendons bulged densely, clinging to her facial muscles and controlling her speech.

Crimson blood gradually seeped from her eyes and nostrils, as if something was crawling out of her body.

Kita Kirihara immediately understood what was going on.

The four vultures are inside this body.

Or rather, by using flesh buds as a medium, all members of the Yotsumi family were used as their seedbeds, and each person could be devoured in a short time and regrown into a Yotsumi Eagleman.

The person speaking to Kita Kirihara was undoubtedly Yotsumi Washi himself.

That's disgusting.

Kita Kirihara sneered inwardly.

"I never expected to hear your voice here again, Kita Kirihara. It's been a long time." The Wedge-Man of Yotsumi controlled Kotomi's body. He raised his hand and pressed it against the back of his neck, moving his shoulders and neck slightly, making a crisp sound.

The granulation tissue grew rapidly in a short period of time, covering her body like vines under her skin, making the petite Kotomi Sōtoku appear as if she had suddenly grown a lot larger.

He grinned, revealing sharp teeth that looked somewhat terrifying: "Did you come back to continue the experiments? Or did you just deliver this precious magical girl material to my door? Actually, I'm glad to see you again. After all, the little bit of cerebral cortex I left behind isn't enough. Could I cut off a little more...?"

As it spoke, the monster tried to approach Shiraki Rin, who instinctively took a step back.

Shiraki Rin's alert nerves were practically screaming, her mind going completely blank.

She was, after all, a living being, and instinctively felt threatened and almost nauseatingly oppressed by something as incomprehensible as the Four-Eyed Vulture.

Certain fragments of his genes were screaming for danger and death. Shiraki Rin was naturally overwhelmed by the strange creature in front of her, and before she could even react, she began to tremble.

[Don't panic.] Kita Kirihara's calm tone brought Shiraki Rin a sense of reassurance at this moment. [It's normal to feel scared. To living beings, the Yotsumi Whaleman is a completely incomprehensible natural enemy and monster. Your instincts will warn you to run away... This is normal and has nothing to do with the difference in strength.]

Shiraki Rin's teeth were still chattering, but she tried her best to calm herself down from her panic.

[Calm down, pay attention to when you use your ability, and be careful not to get any of the Four-Eyed Eagle's body tissue on you. Don't worry, he can't hurt you.] Kitakiri said nonchalantly, [I'll use my ability to avoid damage after a count of three, don't panic. One, two...]

"Flashimpact!"

Almost at the same time that Kita Kirihara was counting to the third number, Shiraki Rin saw a shimmering cherry-pink light in the narrow distance of the sky.

Like teleportation, someone flying at high speed was propelled by abundant magic power and arrived in front of you in the next instant, bursting out with a violent flash of light.

[three.]

Shiraki Rin subconsciously used her ability to avoid injury before Kita Kirihara counted to three, thus escaping unscathed.

Nevertheless, the sensation of the aftershocks carrying bits of flesh and bone through his body still made Shiraki Rin pale.

A moment later, the jet-black soul gem rolled to Shiraki Rin's feet.

"Are you alright?" The other person extended their hand to her.

Seemingly to reduce the use of magic and prevent the surrounding guards from noticing the commotion, they simply used the laws of physics to kill their opponents, resulting in a rather gruesome scene, like a MAX-upgraded version of smashing people into mincemeat with a blunt weapon or exploding watermelons.

So much so that the man's face was stained with a lot of bright red blood, and his outstretched palm was covered with bits of flesh.

But her smile was flawless and full of energy.

The stark contrast in the scene caused Shiraki Rin's legs to buckle.

Kita Kirihara had said that there were Silver Garden members in the association who could meet her, but Shiraki Rin didn't have a deep enough impression of the Silver Garden, and she had never seen the chestnut-haired, purple-eyed woman in front of her.

The other person has a gentle and energetic face. Just looking at her, you can tell she must be a reliable and good person, and you feel very safe.

But this kind person, right in front of Shiraki Rin, actually smashed someone to... ugh...

Shiraki Rin felt like vomiting; something was stuck in her throat.

Even if the four-eyed vulture was a monster, the human body that the monster parasitized was still human-shaped, yet the other party killed it without any mercy.

...and still in such an impactful way.

[Don't worry.] Kitakirihara's voice was calm, almost cold. [For magical girls, the Soul Gem is their true form. Even if their body is destroyed, as long as the Soul Gem remains, they can be resurrected.]

Shiraki Rin instinctively clenched the Soul Gem in her hand, feeling utterly helpless.

[Take the gem from Kotomi Sōtoku; she will be resurrected later. Using that body all the time is also a limitation for her.] Kita Kirihara explained that Shiraki Rin wasn't as aligned with him as the character card, and communication was indeed somewhat problematic.

Nanoha Takamachi crushed the body along with all the fleshy buds on it. Although it looked like a horrific serial killer, it was a relief for Kotomi Satoku.

Shiraki Rin is still too soft-hearted.

Despite having betrayed her before, Kotomi still felt guilty about the death of her enemy.

Yes, among the complex emotions emanating from Shiraki Rin's heart was a portion of self-blame.

As expected of someone who joined a high school and became a hero in other timelines... she's still kind-hearted to the point of being a bit of a saint.

Kita Kirihara's assessment was quite harsh.

However, because Shiraki Rin is kind enough, she is easier to manipulate.

Nanoha Takamachi wiped the bloodstains from her face, smiled, and said to Rin Shiraki, "Let's go in."

Let's go in now while we can.

The four vultures clicked their tongues in regret.

A granulation tissue was destroyed.

In the brightly lit, almost blindingly bright laboratory, a gray-haired humanoid figure, dressed only in a white lab coat, propped his feet up on the table, his glassy eyes gazing into the air.

He appeared somewhat empty.

It's not entirely accurate to call it "he," but it also can't be called "she."