The two went past the surprised sentry soldiers because of their breakneck speed. They couldn't react fast enough to stop them. Even if they did, these soldiers were used to slacking off during their night shifts as the entertainment district known as Siesta City. They knew that this place was relatively safe and protected by the adventurers' frequent visits into the wilderness nearby.

Thus Soma and White could get past without a hiccup. As they left the walls of the city, White revealed an expression as if he had noticed a detail that had been missed.

He stretched out his fingers and started to count.

"...Six... Seven... ..."

Soma noticed that the boy he was carrying had been muttering numbers in sequence for a while now. Although she didn't show much interest in a weakling like him, Soma had to do something else to distract herself from the pain seeping into her leg.

"Hey, what are you counting?"

Yet, White continued to list the numbers for some reason, ignoring Soma deliberately.

"...Ten... Eleven..."

This made her a little ticked off. The guy she had saved did not even say a word of thanks. Let alone respond to her questions. She had half a mind to drop him off at this point, but she quickly remembered something similar that had happened in the past and let it go after biting down her lips strongly.

"... ...You... do you know what you've gotten into? You would have died if I hadn't intervened!"

...There was no response. Only the sound of wind brushing against their faces with Soma's incredible agility.

"...Oi! Say something, you useless guy! Did I save a mute?! Hey, are you listeni-"

It was at this time when White felt his mood worsen a little from Soma's shouts. Even if they were being chipped off by the wind pressure acting against them, he still felt a headache from it.

"...Oh shut up will you."

"!!!"

Soma suddenly felt that if she finished her sentence, she would very well be a corpse at this moment. Even though it was clearly illogical. She had already seen White's Status Window, White was a talentless Level 1.

In any case, Soma had to obey her natural instincts and decided to stop, although she was still using all her strength to get away from Ru'Ah.

...It was fear that continued to keep Soma from looking back at the mysterious boy who also seemed to come from Earth like her. There were many questions she would have to ask in the future, but now wasn't the time to.

Incidentally, Soma felt a discharge of pleasure from the boy she had been carrying on her shoulders. His voice seemed to have an effect on her mentality, besides from the clear and unnatural threat of fear. Of course, Soma thought that it might have just been her imagination so she quickly forgot about it.

Clearly pleased by the newfound silence, White found some time to analyze a few other things while still counting something.

He knew that the girl who was called "Vlad Red" by others was not an ordinary person, judging from the various powerful skills she had unleashed previously at the inn. She looked to be very prepared facing against the parasites as well, stocking up on things that stung at their weaknesses like that vial of 'larvicide'. But why "Vlad Red"? Was it an alias? She had only been using her sword the entire time, and there was not even a tint of red during that short confrontation with Ru'Ah. It was but a stray thought, so White had left it aside for the time being.

Next. The enemy.

...The parasite's Mind Manipulation, was probably a short ranged and temporary one. And it probably could only affect up to 1 or 2 people at once. There was never an instance where I felt anything wrong with more than that amount from the time I entered the city to now. ...It was always with one individual, maybe two with the incident at the slavehouse.

...Or could it have known that I would escape and have already taken this into consideration...? ...No, that is most definitely its upper limit. Its prideful personality would definitely make her go all out for someone like me who's about to die.

Before he knew it, the two had arrived at the open plains.

"...Forty six. ...Looks like it's increasing even after we've entered this place. Kukuku...No, should I say, it's precisely because we're here."

Soma had already receded into a more docile state knowing that the individual known as White Shigaraki was clearly more than an ordinary boy. Yet in a world dominated by levels and skills, she couldn't tell what exactly was bugging her about White who was merely a Level 1 without a class, job or skill. Still, it was plausible that he had just used some kind of ability like Status Protection to hide his status. And if that was the case, then White was very possibly an extremely high-leveled person.

Although she wanted to ask what the 'forty six' meant, Soma decided to withhold that question. For now, she had the responsibility to protect the weak. Catching her breath as they stopped, Soma squeezed out a question of concern.

"Haah... haah... haah... Are you alright...White Shigaraki?"

She stuck to using the boy's full name in the Status Window to show respect, but it seemed that this had caught White's attention.

"! How do you know my name..."

"...Eh?"

This simple question made Soma slightly dubious of White. It was simple knowledge that there was a column for the character's name in the Status Window. Did the boy not know of the existence of Status Windows?

But their train of thought ended there. Trees behind them started to topple down, leaving dust clouds in its wake. From within the hazy scene, a shadow began to surface. The consistent rattling of its feelers at its sides left nothing but distaste and a repulsive feeling in one's chest.

"...She's here."

"What?! Tch! A speed-type...!!!"

Soma frowned with displeasure, as the pain crawled up to her legs cursed by the Petrification Gaze. White observed Soma for a brief moment, and then opened his mouth again.

"...Do you have countermeasures to mind control?"

"Huh?"

White spoke a little more impatiently.

"You're used to fighting against them right? Petrification Gaze, can you fix yourself?"

"Th- UGH!!!"

Soma couldn't even fully complete a word, as she instinctively moved her left hand down to touch her legs. There was a sandy texture to it, as something chipped off from where her fingers were. Realising the severity of the curse, Soma's face paled. She was starting to panick.

"It's already this bad huh... ...Put me down first. You need to do something about your legs..."

"Nngh... ..."

Of course, Soma knew that. But seeing that it couldn't be ignored anymore and that her speed had been cut in half due to the petrified state, Soma decided to do something to act in place of running normally. Grinding her teeth together to bear the pain temporarily, she stopped in her tracks for a brief moment and then leaped up three meters into the air, momentarily stunning White at the back.

"Sword Summon."

[Skill Glossary: Sword Summon - Active Skill. Can only be used by a Sword Mage. Consumes MP to manifest the physical form of a copy of the user's currently equipped sword at a specific location around the user.]

A look of pain showed up on her face again as she did so. A copy of her sword appeared horizontally below her butt and she made a soft landing onto it while White was still on her back. Once she had settled onto it like a witch on a broomstick, Soma used another Sword Skill.

"Blade Current.“

Before the two crash landed onto the floor, Soma briefly moved the handle of the sword, making the blade surf in the air as if being thrown like a projectile. Her legs dangled in the air, and it slowly lost the flexibility to do so as it completely turned rock solid.

Continuing with an answer, Soma was the first to break the sudden silence.

"...I can't fix my legs... it... it was folly of me. I didn't expect it to use something like this... I have no treatment methods against a Chaos Alignment."

Sword Summon has expired after 22 seconds.

Blade Current has expired after 25 seconds.

Leaving White aside who was suddenly confused about the term "Chaos Alignment", Soma lost control over her skill over the summoned blade and fell down to the ground with White painfully. One of her legs cracked and broke under the pressure as a result.

"UAAAAAARGHHHHH!!! Khhh!!!"

Soma bit her lips in order to endure the pain from losing one of her legs. White who was generally untouched aside from the rough landing, stood up slowly and narrowed his eyes in displeasure. He was already thinking about ditching the girl in front of him in order to escape. After all, this girl was probably done for.

Under the moonlight, the approaching figure of a disfigured monster crept towards the two rapidly.

Soma looked at her right leg. It was already completely gone, she tried to stabilize herself with one leg but it was a pitiful attempt. She had to kneel down after trying a few times. This was a huge disadvantage to her mobility as any extreme impact would also destroy the stone on the other which had already begun to turn grey as well, incapacitating her permanently this fight.

Clear Eyes of a Saint has expired after 513 seconds.

"...Haha... ha... looks like this is the limit..."

A tear was welling up at the corner of her eyes, a look of helplessness could be seen. Even the all-seeing skill had been disabled at the worst possible timing. The two were greeted with a saliva-spitting creature, which had been chasing them relentlessly the entire time.

"YH'U FH'U'ING BH'CH', H' DH'A YH'U DH'O DH'ISH TH'O M'H BH'EAUT'FH' FH'ASHE! I'LL H'AV YH'U DH'I THE MH'OSH GH'UESH'OM WH'AY PH'OSSH'IBH'!"

"I WH'ON SH'TOP AH'T JH'US THA', I'LL RH'EVH'IVE YH'U AN' TH'ORTH'UR YH'U OH'VHR AN' OH'VHR AHGH'N!!!"

The calm and whimsical atmosphere of the parasite was no longer there. Half of her face was disfigured by the larvicide solution that was applied on her face before. Smoke was still coming out of her face.

"GH'RRRAHHHH!"

Ru'Ah made another dissonant screech as her battlecry and galloped towards the two of them who could no longer run.

Soma had a skill that recovered herself from the petrification state called Status Cure, but it didn't work against a status effect cast by someone aligned with the Chaos Element.

Chaos Element belonged to inherently evil beings in this world while the Holy Element is the attribute that belonged to believers of the Goddess of this World. There is also the True Neutral Element, which belonged to the majority of the people in this world; One which did mostly good things but were not true worshippers of a Goddess. Holy Element is the attribute which follows the doctrine of Sharing and For Others, while Chaos Element is the attribute which adheres to the natural state of Chaos; To Manipulate and For Oneself. One shares power, while the other stockpiles power.

[Skill Glossary: Status Cure - Active Skill. Cures a target's status ailments based on their alignment. Does not have party member limitations.]

Soma could not use Status Cure (+) against someone that counteracts against goodwill (-), which was why she discarded the thought of using it immediately. It would just expend her mana without meaning. In the first place, she was a master of the sword. All of her abilities were derived from her swordplay befitting of a Sword Saint. But she did have a few tricks up her sleeve as an adventurer of this world. Among her skills in her skill window, she had the ability Singular Skill Manipulation. It was an ability that consumed unused skill points and converted them into a one-time skill that she could use when in a pinch.

However, there were no skills that were useful against this creature. She had memorized them before. Ru'Ah didn't give Soma time to think.

"Yh'u mh'y haff' th' uh'pr hang' in ch'rosh ch'ombh't, bh'u wh't wh'ill yh'u dh'u ah'gh'ainsh thishhh? Invisibility Cloak!"

Despite having Soma disabled on one leg, she could still use her sword and kill Ru'Ah if she is within range. Even though it could sit out and wait for Petrification Gaze to take full effect, the parasite was now brimming with anger from having its pride wounded by the acid attack earlier.

But it was still thinking logically. In order to avoid another tactic involving the acid, Ru'Ah decided to change approach.

"!!!" Soma realized something.

That's why I didn't see this parasite the whole day!!! Invisibility?! This thing also had invisibility!

She had always felt its presence close by but could never see it. The parasite disappeared from the surroundings, but she could still hear her.

"WHAT NOW, SWORD SAINT? How do you plan to hit me if you can't s-"

The voice became more recognizable when she had used Invisibility Cloak, it echoed in the open grass plains. Soma was being provoked, but she couldn't afford to get careless. She was boiling with hatred, but she was trying to keep her calm in battle. After all, her mobility advantage was long gone.

But... it couldn't finish her sentence.

Soma swung her sword upwards behind her, as if she had a pair of eyes that could still see where Ru'Ah was. Even though the voice had bounced off far away from Ru'Ah's actual position...-

"-Cutting Edge!"

[Skill Glossary: Cutting Edge - Active Skill. The enhanced version of Harden Sword (Can only be used by a sword-type class and when wielding a sword. Increases the lethality of a sword multiplicatively to deal more damage but increases the weight of the sword). Increases Cutting Edge's piercing damage by 10% at LV MAX.]

The blade swung right above White's head, slicing off a few strands of his hair. But he didn't flinch at all. As expected, a feedback response from the blade could be felt. Soma felt that she had sliced off another piece of the parasite who had turned invisible.

The Invisiblity Cloak lost its use after being attacked, revealing Ru'Ah behind the two. White was thinking hard about something just as this happened, yet all he did was moved a little back behind Soma again to secure his own safety for the time being.

"GYAAAAAAA!!! Yh'u FH'UCH'ING BH'ICH, 'M GH'ONNA KH'ILL YH'U!!!"

The voice returned to normal; A distorted sound.

Ru'Ah, realizing that invisibility did not work as well, lost her patience and pounced.

...But someone joined the fray suddenly, throwing Ru'Ah off balance as she diverted part of her attention to it. The figure knocked Ru'Ah away halfway from her pounce.

"BU-AAHHHHH! Wh' dh'ares?!"

"You stupid thing, you'd have been cut to pieces before you even came in contact with her. Look at her stance. Have you forgotten about perception abilities... She definitely has one of them."

"Wh-? Har'lus?"

The figure called Har'Lus appeared in front of Soma and White.

"Geez, look at yourself. Getting hurt by some child's toy. Aren't you too old for these kinds of things?"

"..."

He was a gentleman-looking man looking like he was in his 20s, wearing a butler uniform. His standing posture as he got back up from the leap made him seem very experienced, yet there were no wrinkles on his face. His eyes were closed but slanted downwards, but it felt like he could still see like that. His light colored hair, which wasn't discernible under the moonlight, gave him a very radiant appearance.

It seemed like the two knew each other, for better or for worse.

"Tch." Soma, having her plans foiled clicked her tongue.

She needed to end this fight quickly, the corruption had spread to her lower waist. She could no longer move. But when she laid eyes on Har'Lus, her eyes turned extremely hostile.

The gradual change in expression was being observed by White. He quickly registered the man called "Har'Lus" as another enemy.

Just as he had thought, Soma let out an agitated scream.

"YOU! I'VE FINALLY FOUND YOU, YOU FIENDDD!!! WHERE IS SHE?! WHERE IS RIENNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!"

"You're a loud woman as usual heh?"

"...You know this girl?"

Ru'Ah squinted its eyes. It returned to a discernable tone and spat out in disgust, but its temper did not subside with his appearance. Instead, it fueled up even more.

"Yes, you see. She's my possession I've raised for quite some time now. I've just dropped by to see how she's doing after laying out some bait for her. I mean, she's my possession after all~ I've got to raise her properly... Oh? She looks more well-fed than usual? That's surprising."

The man called Har'Lus said 'Possession' twice with an ecstatic face while licking his lips. He was clearly not normal too.

Irked that she was being ignored, Soma wanted to dash forward and cut the two into pieces because she knew who he was. But she couldn't do it in this state, she was close to death from the Petrification Gaze earlier.

That man, Har'Lus, he was also a parasite.

"CURSE YOU!!!! DON'T YOU DARE IGNORE ME, WHERE IS SHE?! WHERE IS RIEN?!"

As if listening to the gripes of a madman calling out the same name over and over again, the man called Har'Lus just let out a cold laugh, further aggravating Soma.

...Rien?

White was at the edge of recalling something in his past world, but he could not put his finger on it.

"Her? Kuku-... You mean, this person?"

Upon saying those words, Dah'Lus 's back exploded dramatically. What came out was a similar grotesque scene that transpired before.

The wretched scene of a parasite transforming before one's eyes would give any person who saw it for the first time, recurring nightmares.

No, not just the first time. One would never get used to this disturbing and gore-filled 'transformation'. Just like watching a human being skinned alive, burned and deprived of their internal organs one by one. It had such an effect. The drastic change in form begun, as several spider-like legs appeared from the larvae which was within the human-like body. The larvae opened up it's mouth, revealing a girl contained inside.

"...A...ahh...ahhh... ahhhhhhh.... AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! WHAT... WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER...!!!"

Despair filled Soma's chest as she saw Rien being compressed into Har'Lus's insides like a refridgerator. Her bones were probably all misplaced inside her body, ...if she was still alive that is. There was no way that was possible, as Rien's eyes were open, yet completely dead and lifeless. Even the sight of that unrecognizable 'cube' of flesh made White frown.

As tears continued streaming down Soma's face, the male Parasite just continued making an ecstatic face with its human face.

"AAAAAHHHH, THAT'S IT, THAT'S THE EXPRESSION I WANTED TO SEE~ AHHH, I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE, I'VE RESISTED FOR A YEAR, IT'S OKAY IF I DINE IN FOR TODAY RIGHT? YOU CAN'T BLAME ME FOR THIS RIGHT? RIGHT?!!?!"

"...I was planning to anyway, so I don't really mind. But Har'Lus... I didn't need your help, and you should explain things after we clean them up."

It seemed like the two was ignoring Soma and White. They were already being treated like cuisine food. Soma's body was almost turned to stone fully, it was approaching her neck.

...It's helpless. We're not going to make it. Aah... White Shigaraki is here too.

Haha...ha...

In the end... I couldn't save someone right before me again...What Sword Saint, I'm just... some nerdy highschool girl on Earth who just happened to have her wish granted... to come to another world. I am...

So pathetic...

White was saying something to her, but Soma could no longer register sound in her head. Her eyes slowly closed...

The girl collapsed onto the ground with the petrification almost reaching its complete state. The armor made a strong thud onto the ground as nothing was left to hold its weight. Soma could not hold her own weight any longer, neither could she feel the pain from broken bones inside her body that followed the crash.

Fainting like this, she entered a world of revolving lanterns. Moving images of her past began to fill her sight in the void. She began to reminisce her life in her original world.