Gacha Kingdom Building

-This chapter is written using Catherine's POV-

I can never find anything in this place...

Hmph... Why does it have to be so unnecessarily big?

When I ruled my own castle, I could tolerate such things.

I didn't have any obligations to someone else, so I could remain in the throne room and have others serve me.

The number of rooms I had to navigate through a day was quite low.

However, now that I can't afford to keep others waiting, all these rooms seem to do is get in my way.

It truly bothers me to no end...

Lapis: "Ohh~ A vampire's bloodlust! Good thing I came prepared!"

Catherine: "Hm? What's that supposed to-"

Upon the snap of her fingers, an immense concentration of mana left her body.

I was worried for a moment, but thankfully, it wasn't directed at me, just the area around her.

As for all that mana's purpose, well... It was to destroy a spell, more specifically, an illusion she herself had cast.

A waste to be sure, but she seemed to place far more importance on the theatrics.

Lapis: "I never saw Cathy eating, so I arranged the ultimate meal!"

Once the illusion broke, a woman appeared where before there was only empty space.

Catherine: "I'm not particularly hungry... And humans hardly make for a good snack..."

Not to mention, I'd like to avoid being in her debt as much as possible.

Lapis: "Silly... Of course I didn't bring a normal human! This one is a legendary hero! From one of my favorite worlds to boot! I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it~"

...A hero...

She certainly didn't look like one.

Throughout the years, many of such came to claim my head. Although a troublesome bunch, battling them was always entertaining.

They all shared this incomparable determination. Even against despair itself and impossible odds... They tend to push ahead of everyone.

Their bravery inspires even their enemies, and their will cannot be broken.

The only thing I know to rival their determination is a Devil's stubbornness.

When challenged, both will fight until their last breath.

Thanks to that, I had never seen a hero truly defeated.

Until now.

The girl standing in front of me... There wasn't even the faintest trace of hope in her eyes.

If she was truly a hero, it was the first broken one I have ever seen.

Connecting this image to what I've always seen of heroes felt wrong. This was completely out of place.

However, it would be unfair of me to expect otherwise.

Surrounded by beings who grow stronger by absorbing the power of entire worlds every day throughout their lives...

Without any limbs...

In a completely unknown world...

I can only imagine how much she must've suffered until today...

To such a poor thing... I suppose death would be an act of kindness.

Lapis: "There you go!"

Hah...

Unfortunately, I became part of her show.

I suppose it must be truly entertaining for her. I myself never expect to return to such a savage way of drinking blood after becoming a God.

Even back then, I had already outgrown such necessities.

I'd only do something like this if it was a matter of survival...

Especially with such delectable blood.

So hot and pure... Strong...

Every sip feels divine, the flavor invades my mouth like nothing else has ever done...

How I wish I could enjoy it properly...

Lapis: "Did you like it? Am I forgiven? Will you stop avoiding me now? Please?~"

Catherine: "Yes..."

Oh...

For a second, I was intoxicated by it.

With my current standing, this shouldn't be possible.

I drained her completely dry in seconds... I even tasted the skin...

How barbaric...

But the worst was agreeing with Lapis.

I hope she doesn't think this is a promise. I have no desire to be close to her.

No matter how she tries to approach me, I know better than to trust this woman.

Lapis: "And you two? Didn't you bring anything for Cathy?"

Felix: "...Why should we?"

Lapis: "You know why! For cheating! Teaming up against her! Being in cahoots!"

Julie: "Ah... S-sorry Miss Catherine..."

...The two Gods who have ascended together, Felix and Julie... It was pretty obvious they wouldn't attack each other.

However, I'd appreciate it if they at least focused on Lapis' world instead of mine.

Although I can see why they would avoid that.

Blatantly cheating against her could give her grounds to complain.

Or worse, it could truly incur her anger.

It seems like neither of them is dumb enough to believe her act, so they chose the easiest target.

Felix: "We don't have to apologize, there was no rule saying we had to guide our believers to attack each world equally. And also, weren't you the one cheating the most? You said you were going to use a new, less developed world, but there are a bunch of people with levels in the four digits attacking us."

...The older brother doesn't seem to be very patient.

Sadly, types like him tend to die quickly in the hands of types like her.

Lapis: "Hmm?~ What do you mean?~ I obviously have no control over who crosses the Dungeon to my world!"

Hahah. Of course.

And it just so happens that so many incredibly bloodthirsty high-leveled warriors crossed right before the event started.

Coincidences sure seem to work in mysterious ways.

Felix: "And what's your excuse?"

...Hm?

Catherine: "Are you talking to me? What do you mean?"

Felix: "Your world. You said the mean level was below 100, but what about the demon who showed up at Julie's front? And the strange weapons they are using?"

I see... I guess it must seem strange for them since even with two worlds, they haven't been able to get too far.

However, I didn't know that the weapons they used were so effective.

I remember them struggling a lot against monsters of the same level just a few years before even with those same weapons.

Clearly, something had changed, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

Well... I've seen them using those weapons before, but I didn't know they could be so effective.

And then there's that demon... Her level is way higher than anyone else in that world.

The only explanation I can think of is that she came from a Dungeon, but the reason for someone so high-leveled to decide to stay and fight for a low-level world eludes me.

It made me suspicious, and the three of them clearly didn't believe me, but...

I truly had no idea...

Catherine: "Haah... In any case, is there any need for us to continue? The results are pretty obvious already."

It was the midway point, but my world's casualties were already much higher.

They had killed quite a lot too, but with the current pace, they were going to lose.

The only other contender for the loser spot was Julie's, but mine was still way worse than hers and the gap only seemed to be increasing with time.

Since Lapis probably wouldn't be able to get other cheat warriors to her world, and her brother wasn't going to attack her, I was decidedly the loser this time.

Lapis: "Woah~ I wasn't expecting you to be so kind... Poor Cathy... Can't bear to see your people dying, right?"

What?

It was not like that at all.

I couldn't care less. I just wanted the farce to be over so I could get away from you as soon as possible.

Lapis: "But I think it is too soon for you to be giving up!"

For a split second, the aura around her changed.

Her innocent-looking smiler was the same, a normal girl, oblivious to the world, just having fun...

But she failed that act of hers and in that moment, I felt how sinister she truly was.

Repulsive... like a rotting corpse.

There was nothing there to salvage.

If anything, I'm glad I didn't have to feel that for too long.

Especially since... it seemed like she was having honest fun now.

That smile had become genuine...

Lapis: "See, Catherine... Your world has done something very interesting. I don't even know how to register it, but... Maybe you haven't lost yet?"

Catherine: "Hm? Did they bring another demon or something?"

I couldn't imagine them turning the tables.

Their best chance of inflicting casualties should be while other worlds attempted to land.

And while in some places they managed to defend themselves well, in others they didn't have such luck.

Lapis: "Hmmm... You remember when we said that even indirect casualties would count, right? Things like starting a fire that kills a bunch of people in a village, for example."

Right... We decided to use the same basis that experience distribution does.

It helps Lapis not waste as much of her Divinity with the system she uses to register each death, and it also prevents a single death from being registered multiple times if different people are involved with it.

I was sure she was going to use this system to cheat, but she has been incredibly fair.

She's also the one who spends the most time registering casualties.

Catherine: "So... What did they do?"

The last time I had properly checked the situation, they were focusing their efforts on the air battle and doing a spearhead move to invade other worlds.

It felt like a desperate attempt at best, but on most fronts, they were at least able to win the air thanks to the high mobility of their weapons.

Lapis: "Well... They used some kind of spell. Or perhaps another weapon... And they started a fire. Take a look~"

...!

I couldn't believe what I saw.

Earth got rid of its spot for the first time ever since we started this Divine Event.

It was just barely, but Lapis' world had surpassed mine in the number of casualties.

Felix and Julie's were also rising quickly, potentially overtaking hers in the future.

As for the reason... As Lapis explained, something caused a huge number of initial deaths.

If I had to guess, those initial deaths were caused by the spell or the weapon itself.

And after that... indirect deaths started to appear everywhere.

Lapis specified a bunch of reasons, which she wasn't bothering to do for most deaths.

Her list included death by fire...

Death by suffocation...

Death by... poison...

And...

Felix: "What do you mean by 'Death by side effects'?"

Lapis: "Hm... Well, it's hard to explain... You certainly know those very strong spells, right? The ones that even if you evade, can sometimes destroy the body from within."

Julie: "Eh? But that's... Not possible for their levels... R-Right...?"

Lapis: "It shouldn't be. Unless they somehow managed to create a system that used the mana of hundreds of thousands... However, you can see for yourselves."

She grabbed a small quartz tablet.

Images started to appear in it. We were seeing through the eyes of a weapons merchant, traveling to a port city to supply another invasion.

Then, he saw a few black spots in the sky.

The next moment, a gigantic explosion destroyed everything in sight.

...Lapis wasn't lying.

The magic barrier didn't do anything. It was destroyed almost instantly.

The ships, the port, the castle, and the walls... Everything was pulverized.

Including the people... Even the warriors with high levels that she brought died without putting up a fight.

As for the merchant whose eyes we were seeing from... Even though he had yet to reach the city, moments after the explosion, his body was launched away with incredible power.

His skin burned completely, and even his bones seemed to have suffered as well.

He died without even reaching the city.

However, it was very intriguing.

Even if they had someone at level 100. With a powerful Gift... And being pushed to their limits...

I find it hard to believe they would be capable of doing something like that.

Their world is simply not versed enough in the ways of magic. They lack spells, control, and everything else.

A blast like that... Capable of reaching so far away...

I couldn't imagine anyone in that world being capable of doing something like that.

It was likely that magic wasn't responsible for this.

Lapis: "And that's not all. The sudden twist made me super interested, so I tried to look at some people close to the cities... However, I couldn't take the eyes of anyone for too long..."

She decided to show us a few examples...

And suddenly, it made sense why she slipped up earlier.

Why she was genuinely happy.

And why she seemed to like me a little bit more now.

The hero she brought... It was not meant as an apology gift.

It was congratulatory.

She was happy with what she saw...

And she probably wanted to see even more of it...

It's probably the reason why she was being so meticulous.

As for me...

Julie: "Ugh..."

I shared Julie's reaction.

It was an utterly disgusting sight.

I couldn't bear to look at it for long.

I didn't want to imagine the same fate.

Dying like that... It would be horrible.

But still... I couldn't help but get a little excited.

So this was the power they were hiding, huh?

Lapis: "Isn't it amazing? I knew Cathy had a trick up her sleeve, but I wasn't expecting this!"

Catherine: "Yeah..."

She was keeping an eye on me...

I imagined this might have been the case since she was quite forceful with her approach, but thankfully, it seems like her opinion of me has genuinely changed a little after this.

It would've been a good thing before, but since I already decided to get as far away from her as possible, it's just more trouble.

I suppose I should have expected this from that world.

They don't give me anything without caveats...

However, this time... Good job, little ones.

Please, be sure to show me even more of your pathetic, disgusting selves.

Prove your usefulness, and I'll be sure to use you properly from now on.

Lapis: "A vampire's bloodlust! Was it not enough? Do you feel like going for another meal?"

With the snap of her finger, dozens of people appeared in the room.

Their blood felt as strong as the girl from before...

Catherine: "...I'll bring wine and glass."

I hate that this place is so unnecessarily big.

My appetite had grown so much that every second felt like an eternity.

Curse this girl... She should've started with this show instead.