“This is Master’s love, isn’t it?”

Aluka’s head lay in a pool of blood, a tranquil smile spreading across her face as though she had just grasped some profound truth. She looked joyful.

“Master truly lives up to your name. I thought I’d tried hard enough, yet Master always manages to surpass me when it comes to understanding love.”

“What… is this…”

Ann stepped back into the corner of the room, unable to suppress the terror filling her heart.

Could it really be possible in this world for someone to keep living with just a severed head?

“Oh, this?”

As if noticing the fear and confusion in Ann’s eyes, Aluka’s head began to move, rolling closer and closer to Ann's feet. Then, squinting her eyes, the head gazed at Ann and let out cheerful laughter:

“Master, don’t be scared. This is the power of love! With love, absolutely anything is possible!”

“Anything possible… more like the power of a dark god.”

Forcing herself to stay calm, Ann gritted her teeth and said, “Are you really willing to let yourself become like this, Aluka?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? Isn’t this state of mine wonderful? I’ve never felt better!”

“…Fine, since Master has put so much effort into showing me the true meaning of love, how could I possibly let you down?”

Suddenly, Aluka’s mouth widened into a grotesque grin, her eyes glimmering with eerie and unnatural light:

“Master, let me show you my love too!!”

Gurgle.

Gurgle.

As her words fell, the severed remnants of Aluka’s limbs began to writhe, regenerating visibly.

But the newly grown flesh and bone didn’t seamlessly align with her old body.

Instead, horribly twisted limbs grew from the bloodied wounds, fusing bits of broken flesh and bone chunks together into something inhuman—a “monster.”

The “monster” picked up Aluka’s head but didn’t return it to rest upon the neck.

Instead, it shoved that beautiful head into the grotesque, bloated form that could no longer be called the body of a girl.

The flesh began to squirm, sucking the head in until it was fully embedded, yet below where Aluka’s face now dwelled, two other faces also slowly emerged—those of her parents.

Three faces together, grotesquely positioned at the monster’s belly, created an unspeakable sensation of chilling disgust.

A true family, united in perfect completeness.

“Ah, I can feel it… A love unlike anything I've ever felt before!”

Aluka’s distorted face glowed with a twisted redness as the monstrous abomination extended limbs tipped with more than a dozen fingers to snatch at Ann.

“I love you, Master!”

“Don’t touch me!”

Ann snapped, her voice trembling yet icy.

A massive metallic scythe materialized in her hand, slashing instantaneously through the grotesque limb that reached for her.

At the same moment, a metallic pillar pierced into the monster’s torso. Under Ann’s control, it fractured into countless hair-thin spikes, stabbing outward from within and skewering the flesh.

The sight left the monster looking like a potted cactus with tangled limbs.

Yet, even with its inside-and-out flesh pierced repeatedly, the creature’s vitality showed no signs of relenting. Aluka’s eyes, fully impaled by the metallic spikes, still shifted restlessly.

“Ah… Somehow… it seems insufficient…”

“This love… isn’t enough…”

“I need more. Much, much more…”

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Suddenly, knocks sounded from the window outside the room.

Aggressively loud knocking.

Crack.

Without warning, the window shattered with a loud snap.

Figures dressed in ordinary villager attire began filing in through the broken window.

Through gaps in the crowd, Ann could clearly see, one house after another in the tranquil fishing village sprang open. Figures shuffled and swayed out eerily, like zombies, staggeringly making their way closer.

Their faces were pale—expressionless at times, crying in torment at others—but all their lips curled up in smiles of bliss.

“I love you…”

They smiled, speaking those words.

Then—

Like fish stranded ashore longing for the sea, they struggled, writhed, and squeezed their way through the broken window, hurling themselves desperately into the monster’s swelling flesh.

Old limbs fused with new limbs, twisting into a single, indescribable mass.

“Woof.”

Ann heard a familiar canine bark.

Turning toward the sound, that nude man crawled in through the doorway outside the room, creeping closer step by step toward the monster.

“No.”

Ann reflexively reached out, trying to stop him.

But the man suddenly ducked away, avoiding the grasp. Then he turned back.

“Growl…”

Baring his teeth, he snarled at Ann like a real dog, warning against her interference.

Seizing the moment when Ann was halted by the threat, Rod bounded forward on all fours into the monster’s flesh.

“Ah, my dear, you’re here!”

Aluka’s voice rang with delighted ecstasy:

“Let us… become one.”

“How… can it be…”

Ann stared in dawning realization: there was nothing she could do.

She couldn’t kill Aluka, nor stop any of this from happening.

All she could do was watch as the monstrous entity swelled, blood and flesh filling the space until it began pressing against the room’s walls.

Soon, the creature overtook the entire room, morphing into the embodiment of Aluka’s boundless, seemingly endless desire to consume everything with—

Love.

...

...

“Ah, this mountain.”

“Ah, this river.”

“Ah, the warm sunlight of early autumn.”

“Ah, and this sense of utter freedom.”

“Isn’t it just glorious?”

Beneath the azure sky, beside the crystal-clear stream, Moen sat atop a flat boulder. Holding his homemade fishing rod, he lazily enjoyed peace in a rare moment of leisure.

“No crazy yandere maids chasing me, no disgusting perverted men pestering me, no fear of poisons, ambushes, or imprisonment—life like this, how incredibly beautiful! I almost wish things could stay this way forever.”

“Maybe I should just retire and live in the mountains from now on.”

Moen nibbled a bite of a wild fruit he’d plucked casually from a nearby tree. The sweet flavor spread across his tongue, so blissful it nearly brought tears to his eyes.

“Oh, a fish has taken the bait.”

The makeshift rod in his hand suddenly tugged with weight.

Tossing the wild fruit aside, Moen focused his strength, bracing himself in the exhilarating life-or-death struggle between man and fish.

Soon enough, the fish emerged from the river.

“If only I had a camera. I’d love to take a picture to mark this moment.”

Moen looked upon the fish in hand—a few kilos at least—and felt a swelling sense of accomplishment.

For a fishing enthusiast, nothing could surpass the thrill of catching a fish this big.

“Let’s grill it.”

After a brief contemplation, Moen resolved the fate of this fish.

Soon, a fire roared to life, and the fish skewered on a tree branch began to roast.

As the flames brushed the fish's flesh and the aroma began to spread, a wave of fullness flooded Moen’s chest, his happiness nearly overflowing.

Time like this seemed tender and still.

Moen hummed softly, unable to suppress the upward tug at the corners of his mouth.

“Right now, I think not even if a meteor landed here would it ruin this joy within my heart.”

——The moment he spoke those words aloud.

A loud crash echoed in the distance.

Something suddenly hurtled over, striking the hillside behind Moen.

Dust billowed densely around the impact site.

“…”

Moen froze, turning stiffly toward the noise, his face twitching.

No way, Meteor! I was joking—did you actually crash here?!