Okay.
You can officially call me evil now.
Even I consider this to be cruel, I just can't stop!
Please forgive me.
~
~
20 minutes before the explosion in Meropide
Neuvillette's POV
"According to the judgment of the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale, Mr Almer is guilty."
I pronounced the verdict followed by the man's sentence.
Phew...
That should be the last one for a while.
Now I have an hour to myself.
Before I would have just gone to go through the files required for the next trials but now...
Should I go visit Wrio?
I really miss him.
Or maybe I should see the girls.
...
No.
I shouldn't interrupt their gathering. Especially considering they told me not to come close at all.
I do wonder what they are talking about so secretly. Especially since Claude, that child, was still allowed to go.
Hmm...
I should go see Wrio, after all.
Maybe I could ask him to join a trial or two if he has time.
Even if not today, at least at some point this week. I would love to see him more.
...
On second thought, perhaps that would be a bit too distracting.
Even without him here my mind wanders off to him from time to time.
If he sat around here with that teasing smirk on his lips I might lose my mind.
Ugh...
But I really miss him.
How troubling this situation is.
"Oh my. Does my dear Iudex miss his husband already? We are barely halfway through the day?" Furina's teasing voice sounded behind me.
She appeared in front of me within seconds, smirking.
"If you want to go see your husband, you should hurry up, Neuvillette." She teased.
I couldn't help but blush slightly.
"What? Now, you're getting bashful? You didn't seem this shy when you bluntly declared Duke Wriothesley to be your husband when the prosecution asked during the first trial."
That-
"I was simply..."
"Simply what?"
"That question was inappropriate for Court. I merely wanted to get it out of the way as soon as possible."
"Are you sure you weren't claiming ownership?"
I-
"I was most definitely doing nothing of the sort."
How could I possibly do something so immature and childish?!
"I was only clarifying the situation, nothing more." I repeated.
"Sure you were."
"Furina-"
"I'm busy."
"Furina-"
"I seem to have become deaf to nonsense."
She grinned before disappearing
"Furina come back here!"
But of course, she didn't come back.
This brat of an archon!
"I was not claiming ownership!"
Tsk!
I really want to see Wrio now.
He would probably be in his office, right?
I was just about to teleport to Wriothesley's office when a sense of dread shot through me.
The seal?
He can't possibly be taking out his frustration on it again, right?
I concentrated a bit more on it, trying to figure out what was happening and-
Oh.
Oh?
How amusing.
Well, that's one way to ruin my mood.
First, they try to kill my mate while I'm right next to him and now they dare to touch my things as well.
Courting death much?
Or are they looking down on me?
But fine.
If they want to die so badly I can make their wishes come through.
Last time with that thing in his office I held back purely because we still needed information and I didn't want to shock Wrio too much. There is no need for that this time, though.
Instead of Wriothesley's office, I teleported down to the seal only to-
BOOM!
...
Well.
That's certainly a warm welcome.
I quickly blocked the explosion from doing too much damage and put out the fires that had started.
Hmm...
They ruined my coat.
...
"Wha-"
"The- The Chief Justice!"
"What is the Iudex doing down here?"
Tsk!
What a useless bunch.
I have yet to even take a step and they are already so frightened.
To think they came down here with such attitudes.
Just as I was contemplating in what order I should knock this useless bunch out, the world around me turned slightly blue and everything froze.
"Leave." I said, not even turning to look at his figure.
"Nah. I think I'm good right here." He smirked.
" You really have no reason to be here right now."
My instincts have nothing to do with knocking a bunch of idiots out.
"Are you sure?"
"Quite sure."
"Then you should stop clenching your fist before you ruin your gloves more than you already have."
My gloves?
I looked down to find my claws piercing through my gloves.
What the-
"It's pretty clear why, no?"
Yes...
I suppose it is, isn't it?
"If you want to kill them, just kill them."
"I do not wish to frighten Wrio."
"I didn't say rip them limb from limb." He scoffed.
"Aren't you the instinctual side?"
"I'm not an idiot. Leaving a bloodbath for my husband to see isn't the best thing to do right after getting married. Hmm. My husband. That sounds pleasant. Human traditions have some use, after all."
"He is my husband, not yours."
"We are the same person."
"Wrio clearly doesn't consider it as such. He called you a teasing pervert."
He scoffed, letting out a short laugh before a smirk returned to his face.
"Well isn't that ironic? I am the one blamed for your perverted thoughts."
"They are yours as well. We are the same person." I retorted.
"Why do I feel like you only acknowledge that fact when it's convenient for you?"
"Oh? You finally caught on?"
"You son of a- Fuck!"
This is amusing.
Maybe we should talk more often.
"I can feel you having fun, you bastard!"
"You just cursed at yourself."
"Look who's talking! How many times have you thought of me as a useless bastard?!"
"You have a use?"
"You- You son of a- Damn it!"
He kicked a box at the side in frustration only for his foot to go right through it. This naturally only drove him to be even more frustrated without anywhere to vent.
So of course he would turn back to me.
"You- Just get on with it and get rid of these useless things, will you? Explosives, guns, Primordial Seawater. Three things quite capable of hurting Wrio, all of which they have on their person. So stop acting all good-natured and innocent and instead act on that thought that just flashed through your mind."
"I really had no such thoughts."
"Sure. And I'm the hydro archon." He mumbled.
A short silence fell.
"That is disgraceful." I finally said.
"Yeah, yeah. I realized it too, okay?"
He mumbled a few more words of frustration before snapping at me again.
Do I have something against myself?
"If you don't get on with it and get rid of this useless bunch, I will use the rest of my strength to push you out of your own body and do it myself." He threatened.
His figure soon faded away and the world returned to its original color once more.
Yeah, yeah. Sure you will.
But there was some truth to his words.
"I really should clean up the trash before Wrio gets here."
There is no way he didn't hear that explosion.
I should take care of this as quickly as possible then.
"Trash?"
"What the hell is he talking about."
It was only now that they reacted to my words.
Sigh...
Really nothing compared to my Wrio.
No. That's not right.
I shouldn't even compare them to Wrio. That would be far too insulting.
Hmm...
I shouldn't cause a mess.
Sigh!
I took a step forward as I started speaking.
"On average, about 60% of the human body is made up of water. A human's blood, in particular, is over 90% water."
That's why humans could never stand against me.
Their situation is simply too pitiful.
With a snap of my fingers...
"I can easily stop the flow of your blood altogether. You would be able to live for at most 8 minutes, I believe."
That isn't even all of it.
"I can make any organ within your body explode with just a simple wave of my hand. That would lead to a much quicker death."
But.
"You tried to hurt my mate and destroy things I consider mine. You don't deserve a quick death."
Even my patience runs out at some point.
This is that point.
Besides, having them bleed because their insides exploded would still cause a mess, albeit a much smaller one than ripping them apart.
"So."
Snap.
"You should just drop dead now."
They dropped down within seconds, not quite dead yet, but that was fine.
Now, for the last thing.
"You lot are sure having a lot of fun with these waters huh?"
I grabbed one of them by the neck, lifting them up.
"You are already dying, but shall I make it a bit more painful?"
Hmm...
"Let's have you die a bit slower then. Maybe I'll even let you see how your friends dissolve in-"
"Neuvillette?"
As soon as I heard that voice I dropped the man from shock.
It appears I got too absorbed.
It took me a moment to compose myself enough to smile at him.
"Wrio? You're down here as well?"
Why so soon?
How did he get down here so quickly?
Oh dear!
I can't have these useless things suffering a slow death right in front of him.
That would be most disturbing.
Hiding one hand behind my back, I slowly drew a small circle, making sure all of them died as quietly as possible one by one. Just before I could complete the circle, however-
"Neuv! Neuvillette! You need to go back! You need to go, right now! The girls are in danger! They rigged their meeting room with Primordial Seawater! I'll take care of this place so just go!"
I saw red.
What?!
They dare?!
How dare they touch my children?!
~
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Next chapter. Okay?
It really is the next one.
At least as far as my current plans go.