Industrial Strength Magic - Chapter 45: The Highlight Reel

Getting abandoned after a revolution is this game’s ending, so why should I do it?Do your own revolution. I’ll live my own life.

On one spring evening when I was eight years old, I, Erica, Duke of Aurelia’s daughter, realized something.

Huh, I have reincarnated into a fantasy world, haven’t I?

Moreover, it was the romance-fantasy girl game that had the reputation of being bloody, 『Liber Monstrorum ~Phantom Beasts and the Winter Princess~』

The face reflected in the mirror was that of the villainess character of that game.

After repeatedly harassing many characters, including the heroine, she would die without exception, signaling the beginning of an event called the bizarre incident. She was a villain who deserved to get the consequences!

—I absolutely don’t want a destiny like that, though?

No, for me who has remembered the memory of my previous life, there would be no such thing.

In my previous life, I was harassed immensely by an irrationally angry yandere man who proclaimed ‘She is absolutely in love with me.’

My cause of death, too, was from being stabbed by another yandere man who I only had talked with a few times……

Now that I have become the haughty villainess Erica, I shouldn’t encounter more misunderstandings like with the previous life’s yandere men anymore, right……?

In that case, it will be fine as long as I deal with the death flags that I may have raised myself.

All right! First of all, before the bizarre incident begins at the Magic Academy, I will strike down the death flags accordingly!!

—Or so I thought, but it seems that I am about to die.

Eeh, how did this happen—!?

# CRYBABY

A stranger! Lu An’an married a stranger! She heard that the man was extremely ugly and was a sex masochist despite his old age, but she could not reject him for the sake of her family.

On their wedding night, she thought about how she would leave her parents and brother completely in the future and spend the rest of her life living with the rumored sexual abuse…

The more Lu An’an thought about it, the more worried she became and the more terrified she became.

Her tears started gushing out even more violently. At this moment, a coarse and warm hand gently lifted her face.

“So beautiful, how did you know I like to see others cry?”

Oh, my god! He— he was truly a pervert! Lu An’an shivered.

Although he looked very young and good-looking, with deep-set eyes and thick eyelashes, and he had a smile like a sun, she would never tolerate such a terrifying hobby, much less cooperate with it!

“It’s just a business marriage between us. I hope we can… respect each other after we get married,” said Lu An’an after mustering up all her courage. Her tears turned the handsome man’s features blurry. However, Yan Yunge merely chuckled and kissed her tears away.

“Don’t worry, you’ll like it.”

Looking at the huge object that was as thick as a forearm staring straight at her with its head held high and chest puffed out, Lu An’an could not help but shake her head. Yan Yunge whipped out his pocket-sized pistol and looked at her with a cheeky smile.

“One of these guns is going to enter your body. Choose it yourself.” She—she did not want to choose any of them. She wanted a divorce! Yan Yunge’s breathing became heavier.

“Then, can I choose for you? Why don’t we put both of them in?”

Welcome to the world that has shed its old skin.

It's an age of avant-garde technologies that break common sense. Science that transcends fantasy. And yet, it has lost its charm in the face of something even more fantastical.

The presence of mana is for those who are blessed by their origins. The Rankers are the true elites of their circles.

A long lifespan is possible. Gaining superhuman powers is feasible. But what use is personal power when the entire existence of your species is on the line?

Things on Earth are much more serious than the general populace is aware of. A threat of the unknown looms over the existence of everything living and otherwise.

Humanity may soon need to leave the only place it calls home. And seek shelter somewhere else in the infinite universe.

Who would find the Oasis for humans who have never been so powerful or as helpless as they are now? Will it be the hero they asked for? Or will it be the not-a-hero they need?

What happens when that not-a-hero gains one of the most broken powers?

===

I am lost and found

In the world of dreams

My serenity awaits

Amid the banshee screams!

Within mayhem, I'll find my reason

Within sorrows, my bliss

In the darkness, I'll see my light

In the desert, my oasis!

- Grayback