C8 Realization

The atrocity roared into the air to slowly shrink as the transformation finished, the great and imposing roar turned into Maple's sweet laugh.

After a few moments of self-satisfaction, Maple sank to the ground with one last smile.

The two divination spells on that battle watched as the girl turned into an angel, then a demon, and back to a girl who laughed innocently at the "game": The thousand Leagues Astrologer who was watching Ningun and Demiurge from Nazarick both watched expectantly the next step of this possible threat to the world.

The threat-to-the-world Maple sighed letting everything out leaving her alone with a deep nostalgia, the truth is that this battle was not even a challenge, perhaps the most difficult thing was not to damage her allies but hey, right now she didn't care. Her memories of Ainz Ooal Gown came back in this battle hitting with a force of three trucks, her confrontations against them could best be summed up as: They hit me hard, but I liked it.

She still had raiding the great underground tomb of Nazarick on her to-do list, but… Maple gave a brief glance at the chaos she had just caused… but for now it was a good time to log out.

Logout… Wait a second, where was the status panel?! Maple sat up in a panic yelling into the air:

"Log out, shot down, emergency shot down…."

Maple's panic only increased with time, she stood up a little terrified, this must be some kind of mistake, right? Had she been trapped inside the game?! Or was this some kind of Isekai like the ones in the manga and anime?!

A pitiful sound caught her attention, standing up a moment later Maple saw him, dissolving into poison as if he were acid, Gazef was barely conscious and seemed to be clinging to life through sheer force of will.

Panicking Maple immediately activated [Loving Sacrifice] on him and all the soldiers…or the few who survived long enough from the poison and weren't accidentally hit by Maple's transformation.

Maple ran up to Gazef and knelt beside him, the sight was disastrous: nasty burns that ate into muscle and bone in places, pieces of armor fully fused with his skin, blood pouring out of every orifice on his body, one arm bent in an impossible direction, a rib protruded from his chest. Was he even alive to begin with?

This was so unreal that it only confirmed to Maple that this was still a game... But no, that was a lie, on the contrary this was extremely real, there were too many details for it to be just a video game, Maple felt everything with a intensity unbecoming of a video game: the smell that spread over the ground, the warm blood on her hands, the dead around her.

Maple became hyper-aware of all the details that surrounded her, her senses hit her with the force of an avalanche, her whole body screamed at her that what she was feeling was real but still Maple's mind denied it, it was impossible, simply impossible , this couldn't be true no matter how much she thought about it.

Maple stood up as she shook her head and took a few steps back taking in a broader view of the chaos she had caused. A more detailed look that she hadn't taken before, all the power that she had unleashed... Where before she had seen that disaster with pride, Maple experienced reality firsthand, the sweet smell of the poison that she always liked and the blood that she approved of as a good seasoning a few hours ago, corpses in pools of blood and poison, full of burns and melting armor giving off a burning smell that Maple couldn't describe as really unpleasant, those weird things that she might get to enjoy to some degree when this was a game but not now, she suddenly became nauseous and dizzy.

The clouds of poison that were displaced by the angel's arrival were pushed back onto the field by the wind covering the sun and bringing down a second wave of screams of fear from the few survivors.

Maple's stomach lurched at the sight and smell, an unpleasant sensation made her stomach contract making her vomit, spitting blood on her hand but not her own blood but the blood of her victims, in a second contraction Maple vomited again this time an eye and some flesh appeared on her hands, that eye belonged to Ningun.

Maple stared at the eye in terror for a couple of seconds in complete shock.

Th-this must be a bug doesn't it? Some weird kind of Bug from this new version surely, there was no way this was reality, that is, they had even summoned fire archangels from Yggdrasil and used spells from it. P-probably the console was broken and that's why she couldn't disconnect, i-in that case there shouldn't be any problem if she just played as usual eating everything that was put in front of her.

Maple didn't break eye contact with Ningun's eye.

T-There shouldn't be any problem with eating this, right?

With trembling hands, Maple placed the eye back in her mouth and chewed on it a few times. [Bizarre Eater] seemed pleased to have this new flavor back. Maple chewed a few more times before falling to her knees and starting to spit it out in panic.

Why?! Why the hell did it taste so damn good?! Maple put her hands on her head as she hyperventilated.

It was the fucking eye of a human being! w-was she really a man-eating monster? Had she really done it? Had she been eating real humans? B-but, if they were so delicious they couldn't be real humans right? B-Besides, Maple had no choice but to eat them, they were attacking the village. What other option was besides eating them? None!... right?

What a big lie, it was impossible to deny the reality that she was living.

Maple clenched her teeth in suppressed anger, she wanted to cry so hard, she was furious at her naivety, furious at acting like a spoiled child who wanted to return to those fun days in Yggdrasil, furious at ignoring the details her senses gave her that told her that what she was experiencing was reality, furious at having killed so many people with an innocent smile in her face.

Maple slammed her hands against the ground as she screamed whit all her lungs, a shiny metallic material fell from her waist capturing Maple's attention, she took the short sword with trembling hands, she looked at it for a couple of seconds without breathe, true, she had a sword, but she didn't really use it other than to paralyze her enemies, paralyze but not kill… the terrified face of one of the soldiers who was eaten alive appeared in Maple's mind as she looked at the sword. Her face twisted in fury as Maple tightened her grip on the short sword. She didn't want to kill anyone! She didn't want to hurt anyone! This was only supposed to be a game! A damn game! Not anymore though, her face twisted as Maple brought the sword with trembling hands to her neck, she began to breathe heavily as her hand trembled refusing to take the next step.

She had done it, not only had she killed them all but she had also eaten them, people, humans like her, as alive, as full of dreams and hopes as her, people with friends and family, just like her... with as much desire to live as she… just as her… Her hand trembled nonstop, the blade just inches from her skin. She had killed all those people… So why? Why couldn't she end her own life? She just needed a cut and she would be done, no one else would need to suffer… Sally's face flashed through Maple's mind causing Maple to start crying. This would be the best for everyone, she would kill a monster of this world, true, she was not a human being, she was just a monster that ate everything that was put in front of her and that enjoyed eating humans, she would do the world a favor by killing herself right here, besides, there was the possibility that if she died she could return to her world, p-perhaps this was just a dream and she would wake up as soon as she died.

She just needed to cut her throat… her hands trembled non-stop as the blade came closer touching her skin. Everything would end, no one else would suffer in this world because of her, she would not steal anyone else's life...

Maple let out a cry of despair and sadness.

Then her hand moved at full speed, Maple threw the blade away from her reach, she was unable to cut her own neck.

Maple screamed and hit the ground with all her might, she screamed and cried nonstop until she ran out of breath to scream anymore, only silent tears fell to the ground.

How had she come to this? Why had she eaten all those people? She just wanted to get back together with Momonga and play just one last time like old times.

Maple's tears turned silent as she began to accept reality; despite not feeling really tired Maple had no more energy to continue. Then a pitiful groan brought her back to reality, an attempt to speak full of suffering, it was Gazef Stronoff, it seemed that he wanted to say something, he attempt to drag himself with his healthy arm towards Maple.

Maple's eyes suddenly widened as she rushed towards Gazef seeing once again the horrible condition she had left him in, with a worried face Maple quickly reached her hand into a black vortex pulling out a healing potion and one antidote, uncapping them with trembling hands and forcing Gazef to drink them.

Maple's face was a worried mess, filled with guilt and regret.

Gazef raised his hand and caressed Maple's cheek, as he tried with all his will to say something to Maple but the blood clogged up his throat only made an unpleasant sound escape from his throat.

Maple met Gazef's eyes for a moment and her crying stopped, forcing herself to smile Maple apologized.

"Sorry, I told you no one will die but it seems I lied."

With a sorrowful smile, Maple took Gazef's hand from her cheek and caressed it for a moment before laying it on Gazef's chest.

Maple stood up and turned her back on him after making sure his HP was going up and the antidote had taken effect.

"At least, I'm going to try to save as many as I can, rest for now."

Gazef was unable to see Maple's face, her white wings disappeared from his vision as Maple quickly moved towards the surviving soldiers with [Cover Move] taking out various healing and antidote potions from her inventory.

Gazef slowly lost consciousness as he tried once more to vocalize the words he wanted to say to Maple through the blood that was slowly beginning to subside as the potions healed him.

"Please, don't cry, don't dirty your pretty face with tears, you are not a monster, Maple you have a beautiful heart."

However Maple could not hear these words.

Well, what can I say apart from the fact that the chapter got out of hand. I spent several days thinking how this scene would happen and I think I chose the most painful moment for Maple to realize she wasn't in a game, my intention when writing was never something so heavy but I sincerely believe that the happiest moments can only come after the most tragic situations.

In another order of things, would it be very strange to do Maple x Gazef in this story?

Atte.

"Writing this chapter hurt me a lot, luckily I'm a masochist"

J More

P.S. Should I change the "humor" genre for the story? Or should I do black joke to said it still humor? XD (btw don't take this seriously)