Crossover anime, starting with Hachiman Hikigaya replacing Subaru Natsuki!

"If you want to do it, I'll do it with you." The odds of success weren't what she cared about most; all the girl expressed was this unwavering support.

700. Traitors should be exterminated.

"A sixth-tier spell is powerful enough to strike like lightning in the middle of a storm, killing the opponent instantly with a speed that they can't even react to. But that would cause quite a commotion and might be observed from a distance."

"If this attracts a higher-ranking undead leader who is stronger than Entoma, it could have unbearable consequences. Therefore, after discussion..."

"In the blink of an eye, with a whoosh, the heads of several eight-fingered traitors fell to the ground, leaving only a dazed and wide-eyed Sylma and the other strongest traitor."

"Like a death sentence, clean and swift, relying on a calculated yet unprepared sneak attack, Ibiruai's melee weapon was stained red in an instant, soaked with the blood gushing from the necks of the traitors."

"In terms of swordsmanship, she is slightly inferior to Brian; in terms of combat strength, having lived for over two hundred years, her physical combat power is never below that of fifth-tier magic, unfathomable, and without any weaknesses."

"How...is this possible! How could anyone dare to rebel against the Sorcerer Kingdom now, especially with this kind of strength? Damn it!"

"In just two seconds, Silma plummeted from a carefree paradise to hell, her body turning ice-cold. The Magic Kingdom certainly wasn't afraid of a mere fifth-tier being; the problem was, she was afraid!"

"He turned his horse around and, without hesitation, abandoned the other traitor. Sylmar was about to rush back to report the news. This was a very good deed and should bring some amusement to the undead adults."

"Secret Technique: Four Lights Consecutive Slashes!"

"The moment she turned around, Kousaka Kyosuke, who had been lying in ambush behind her for a long time, swung his iron sword, killing both the mount and severing Sylma's hands and feet, leaving her with only her life to gather intelligence."

"At the same time, the clanging of metal against metal that vibrated through the air continued incessantly. Unlike the weak Silma, who was only at the second or third rank, the last remaining traitor was very close in strength to Edoma."

"Because he is not an insect, the insect killer cannot target and kill him. Ibiruai can only hold its own and cannot gain the upper hand at all."

After dealing with Sylmar, Kousaka Kyosuke looked at the battlefield. His close combat skills were still not as good as Brian's. Joining in would only make him a weakness that the traitor used to force Evilue to be restrained.

"All he can do is use regular fourth and fifth-tier magic from a distance, seizing any opportunity to weaken the enemy and prevent them from pursuing Ibiruai, who is in danger."

"Rash cooperation is often more harmful than beneficial, but Kyosuke Kosaka doesn't have this worry."

"For some reason, he always paid extra attention to Evilue, and this attentiveness was amplified at this moment, making it impossible for him to accidentally hurt Evilue."

"With the ebb and flow of power, and the tacit cooperation between the near and far forces, the traitor was quickly subdued, helplessly defeated and killed amidst screams."

"But more than the fear of facing death, he seemed to be gloating, as if he had already imagined some good show in his mind, chuckling and cursing Kousaka Kyosuke and Evilue."

"You will die! You will die, hahaha, you will all die, no, no, it's worse than death. I look forward to the day you enter the Terror Lord's room, hee hee hee hee."

"Although he didn't know what was in the room of the terror lord, that didn't stop Kousaka Kyosuke from knowing the meaning of this place. He was so angry that he couldn't bear it any longer, and he stomped down, crushing the head of this traitor."

"The traitor's last words were just ordinary dying words, without any magical effect. Even so, they still made Kousaka Kyosuke unable to help but show his vicious side."

"Cursing him is fine, go ahead, he doesn't care. But cursing Ibiruai is absolutely unacceptable."

After stepping on the person, Kyosuke Kosaka paused, suppressing his emotions, and lowered his head slightly, not daring to look at the person beside him.

"Although Ibiruai has lived for so long and has probably seen all kinds of brutal scenes, he still wants to try his best to maintain the best image in front of her."

"Fortunately, the traitor under my feet has long since transformed from a human into a race like a death knight among the undead. His head is all bones, nothing else. If I crush him, it will just be a pile of bones."

"Since there was no brain matter, it's not too disgusting."

"..."

"Almost instantly after the battle ended, Ibiruai used magic to wash away the blood splattered on her mask, arms, and weapons with water, looking slightly nervous."

"She had never done this before, but... as a woman, isn't it always more appealing to be clean-cut than to be stained with blood?"

Even if she didn't understand women's tactics, she at least tried her best to leave Kousaka Kyosuke with the best image.

"One deliberately lowered his head, and the other deliberately turned his head away. Both of them were nervous. Although they had won a great victory, they did not look like victors at all. Instead, they looked very stiff."

In the end, it was the more experienced Ibiruai who broke free from the tense atmosphere first: "I... um, I'll go interrogate Sylma."

"She's already done a lot of bloody things. Interrogation is fine with her. There's no need to expose Kousaka Kyosuke to more darkness."

"Huh? Well, then I'll go gather the disaster victims." The two parted ways and got to their respective tasks of handling the aftermath. Kousaka Kyosuke let out a breath, feeling his heartbeat slow down as Evilue walked away.

He shook his head and began to focus intently on gathering the disaster victims who were completely bewildered, filled with both anticipation and fear.

"Quick! Quick, quick, quick! Oh no, stop collecting it! Run! Run!"

In the capital of the kingdom, smoke and fire filled the air. One after another, the strongholds of the Eight Fingers were swiftly destroyed, and the faces of the most important leaders were distorted.

Those who value their lives rushed to escape upon seeing their future selves transformed into traitors, while those with a more opportunistic and greedy mindset wanted to take their most valuable possessions with them before fleeing.

But whether it's the former or the latter, neither can escape it.

They had dealings with many nobles, and at this point, the kingdom urgently needed to make an example of them to demonstrate its stance and power. What noble would dare to protect them?

They immediately wrote letters, thoroughly exposing the sale of Bazhi.

With this intelligence, the king immediately sealed off the capital and dispatched experts—the nobles also offered their own experts as collateral, thus securing a promise not to be held accountable for their previous support of the Eight Fingers.

With a tight net and complete knowledge of her background, even Sylma, who was the first to escape without taking anything with her, was stopped as soon as she left the capital and hadn't gone very far.

She was caught up directly by the emperor's most elite personal guards, who grabbed her by the hair, dragged her on the ground, and roughly took her to the palace.

701. Traitors should be exterminated.

In the world of Evilua, the current king of the kingdom is old and somewhat senile, but he is not a bad person.

At least compared to the nobles who were only interested in making money and exploiting the people, although he was more biased towards the nobles, he was also more considerate of the people. In this kind of world, he could barely be considered a half-benevolent ruler.

He had long wanted to eradicate evil forces like the Eight-Finger Six-Armed, which wreaked havoc on the kingdom and indiscriminately slaughtered the people, but he had been powerless to do so for a long time because of the obstruction of the nobles.

Although I have good intentions, I lack the ability.

But things are different now. Under the general trend of uniting against external forces, all of Eight Fingers were executed or imprisoned without exception. Even the nobles who had opposed him for many years now hid and bowed their heads, barely surviving, fearing that their secret support for Eight Fingers would be exposed.

Even the lowest of the lowly are still afraid of the lowliness of the nobles.

But Eight Fingers is already a traitor, and those who support Eight Fingers are also traitors. Since they are traitors, how can they still be nobles?

They would be beaten to death by the rioting commoners.

Now their lives are in the king's hands, and they are very obedient.

The king nodded in satisfaction. He had no intention of exposing the nobles' actions; as long as they cooperated with him and worked together towards a common goal, that was enough.

However, the nobles can be spared, but the Eight Fingers must be completely annihilated.

When Thelma was dragged by her hair and stumbled her into the palace, her heart sank as she looked down at the king and the nobles with whom she had once shared petty squabbles.

He immediately knew what had happened and why he had been caught so quickly.

Now that the kingdom's high command has reached a consensus, it's no use for her to expose the secrets of certain nobles.

Thinking of this, Sylmar knelt down without saying a word and begged for mercy repeatedly: "I'm still useful, I'm still useful! I can atone for my sins with good deeds!"

"Oh?" The king gave her a chance.

"The other members of the Eight Fingers have already been put on trial as a warning to others. I'm terrified of dying. I'm sure Evil will pry my lips open and reveal the secrets of the Sorcerer Kingdom. I'm special; I should be left behind as an example of someone who can reform!"

After Sylma finished speaking hastily, the king and the nobles looked at each other.

The king thought there was some truth to it, but it wasn't enough to justify not sentencing her to death.

The nobles, seeing Selma's alluring figure and face, and her deliberately pitiful demeanor, all wanted to protect her.

After all, with beauties of this caliber, the loss of one is a loss, and it's hard to find a replacement.

So they all tried to persuade the king, pretending to be righteous and acting as if they were doing it for the good of the kingdom. The old, senile king, who had always been good at compromising with the nobles, was persuaded and gave Silma a chance.

"..."

Upon seeing this, Gerdav and Brian, who had just returned from capturing other fourth- and fifth-tier powerhouses, said nothing. The latter, however, turned away, showing no respect to any nobles, and left with a cold snort.

Soldier Captain Gazef sighed, apologized to the king, and hurriedly followed Brian away.

The king, left in the palace, smiled bitterly. The nobles denounced and insulted Gerdav and Brian one by one... but the two of them were unaware of these things.

Back at the training ground, Brian, ever outspoken, launched into a tirade: "I only did this to get stronger and because I can't stand traitors. I'd rather die than help this lousy country again."

“I also can’t stand the faces of those nobles, but His Majesty has his reasons,” Gerdoff comforted. “Kousaka Kyosuke hates evil and once he arrives and grows up, he should be able to wipe out those parasitic nobles.”

Brian remained silent, downed a large jug of wine, and resumed practicing his swordplay, secretly hoping that Kyosuke Kousaka would arrive soon.

The Blue Roses originally intended to mobilize and capture Sylma and the others to be executed, but seeing the kingdom outside mobilizing all its resources, they knew they didn't need them and decided to stay put.

Even though they stayed quietly and didn't help, they still received a lot of gifts from the kingdom.

"Is this because of Evilai's formidable strength, or is it an attempt to invest in advance and befriend Kyosuke?"

Captain Lajus glared at him coldly, "It's ridiculous. Even though I didn't go to the palace, I know they didn't reward Brian much. They neglect those who have contributed, but only do this to those who need it... It's shameless."

She exchanged glances with Ibirue, Gaglan, Tia, and Tina, and through their eyes they understood that none of them intended to accept the gifts, so they firmly demanded that the gifts be taken back.

The people who gave the gifts were clearly subordinates of nobles who often bullied their inferiors and fawned over their superiors. They tried to refuse to take the gifts back to avoid being punished by the nobles, but instead, they were directly controlled and taken back by magic.

“What a filthy country, filthy upper echelons, filthy nobles.” Like Lajus, Ibiruai looked down on them. “Even at a time like this, they’re still scheming and xenophobic.”

They knew the kingdom had given Brian little reward, and certainly not because they had clairvoyance.

Rather, it's because if the kingdom had any great reward for such a hero, it would have already publicized it extensively, instead of keeping it hidden.

But so far, apart from hearing that the King sent Brian some gifts, there has been no other news.

This is because although Brian was strong, his corpse showed that he was an upright and unyielding person, and such a person could not be won over by nobles and used by them.

If that's the case, what's the use of being strong? Why bother with rewards? A few words of condescending praise are enough to acknowledge his achievements.

Oh, right, we also need to limit the king; we can't give him too many or too good things, otherwise the more powerful such a person is, the worse it will be for the nobles.

As Lajus said, even at this point, the cowardly and unscrupulous nobles simply stopped rejecting cooperation and assistance, but they still prioritized their own interests.

Giving Brian a reward would be like throwing good money after bad, with no return whatsoever. But giving a gift to Blue Rose would be much more beneficial, since the latter is more flexible in her dealings with people and less righteous and stubborn.

This is precisely why the kingdom's leadership treats the two differently.

Through this differential treatment, Lajus grew extremely disgusted with the kingdom.

"……call."

Unaware of the turmoil brewing in the capital, the Third Princess, who had already fled far away, breathed a sigh of relief.

She didn't know, but she could imagine it. She was far smarter than Thelma and the others, and she was willing to give up her wealth, which is why she was the only one who successfully escaped and became a winner in life.

Even though she hasn't appeared yet, she knows she must be a traitor.

I wonder what choice her little dog, Clem, will make when that scene unfolds? Hehe.