Fremd Torturchen - Volume 1 - Chapter 2

2

A Hellish Game

Having acclimated to his new world and strange situation, Kaito came to a number of realizations.

In order to maintain his soul’s stability, the golem body Elisabeth had created for him automatically translated things into words he was familiar with. As a result, not only could he read and speak this world’s language, but he could understand most of it as well. However, the translation didn’t always follow strict rules.

Sometimes Elisabeth referred to things not by their names in this world’s common tongue but in an archaic dialect. When Kaito heard this, his ears picked it up as a foreign language. Furthermore, there were many objects that had the same name as something he was familiar with yet were completely different.

For example, besides salt, pepper, and sugar, most of the spices in this world had completely different flavors and intensities than their counterparts from his world. When he’d tried to use them in the same fashion, the results had been disastrous.

“…and that’s why my cooking is so bad.”

“Ah, but that can hardly be the only reason. Your technique, too, is wretched.”

Kaito made his appeal while his wrists were strung up in chains from the dining room ceiling like a prisoner. Elisabeth sat in an antique chair, the legs of which ended in clawed feet clutching orbs, shaking her head from side to side as if to say that Kaito was still at fault.

The remains of his grilled pork kidney with garden-fresh salad lay on the floor, skewered by a single sharp spike. If the chains holding him up lowered even a little, Kaito’s right foot would meet the same fate.

It was a simple form of torture yet effective nonetheless. Kaito squirmed as he shouted his displeasure.

“Don’t go giving me that disappointed face, dammit! You’re the asshole who decides if I live or die! Cut it out, please; I’ll do anything!”

“I can never tell if you’re being rebellious or subservient… And you’re far too useless. Your purin is the sole reason your torture is this light; if not for that, I’d have disposed of you a long time ago.”

“Wait, you mean my purin’s the only thing keeping me alive?”

“Indeed. Give thanks to purin.”

This news caused the color to drain from Kaito’s face. Elisabeth nodded once she was sure Kaito understood his position.

It was then that Kaito realized. Even at the best of times, Elisabeth’s attire functioned on a razor’s edge. The leather belts wrapped around her breasts left little to the imagination. The height and angle from which he currently hung only exacerbated that fact.

From his current position, he had a clear view of the valley between them.

“Elisabeth— Er…um…Miss Elisabeth. I couldn’t help but notice your outfit is a bit…risqué.”

“Hmm? What are you saying? I— Oh…I see. Prepare to die!”

“You’re the one practically showing off the goods! Blaming me for pointing that out is tyranny! Tyranny, I say! And hey, as far as my cooking is concerned, you said the dish I made after we got back from the village with the Knight was good, too, didn’t you? You know, the grilled liver, the one I cut up and skewered and added salt and pepper to!”

“In your mind, does that fall under the purview of ‘cooking’?”

“Does it not?”

“No.”

Elisabeth moved to snap her fingers. Kaito made puppy dog eyes, frantically trying to supplicate her, but she just laughed in his face. He braced for impact.

“Hmm? Well, if it isn’t the Butcher.”

“Hwah!”

Suddenly, Elisabeth released the chains binding Kaito’s hands. Rather than pain, he had been prepared for death, but the spike vanished from his landing point. As he rubbed his back, Elisabeth rose elegantly and went to greet someone. Kaito turned toward the entrance and was startled by what he saw.

A man stood there, covered head to toe in black cloth and carrying a bloodstained sack. From the swaying openings in the man’s outfit, Kaito could make out clawed hands and scaled legs.

Elisabeth cast her arms wide as she presented the man to Kaito, who had finally risen to his feet.

“’Tis poor form to discipline a servant in the presence of a guest. Give the Butcher your thanks, Kaito. Butcher, this is my dim-witted servant, the man who continues to disrespect your lovely meat.”

“A pleasure, Mr. Dim-Witted Servant. I am your humble Butcher, friend of gourmands and vagabonds alike. I am grateful for Madam Elisabeth’s continued patronage. I can procure any meat you desire, so long as it is ‘meat.’ I await your instruction.”

“Ah… Uh, nice to meet you, too.”

Kaito replied in kind, his face stiffening slightly. The Butcher’s tone of voice was as unsettling as his appearance. Guessing at Kaito’s thoughts, the Butcher scratched his cloth-laden cheek.

“Ah, well, it is true that I’m a bit mixed even for a demi-human and that my appearance makes it hard to tell what my primary lineage is. But I’m not that different from the fine demi-humans you’re familiar with, so there’s no need to be quite so alarmed.”

“Demi-human… Uh, you mean like…the races from video games and stuff?”

“Ah, so your world didn’t have demi-humans. Pay him no mind, Butcher. He hails from a different world. His soul is as lost as a soul can be. ’Tis best to leave lost children to their own devices.”

“Understood. Then you may make the usual confirmation of the wares at your leisure.”

The Butcher nodded, and as Elisabeth turned to face him, he pulled an assortment of fresh organs from his sack. He showed each to Elisabeth in succession and then returned them to the sack.

“Chicken and pigeon livers, pig intestines, as well as cow tongues and hearts. Assuming they meet your requirements, I can carry them to your ice-spirit fridge for you.”

“Yes, good work. I leave it to you.”

“So like you said, you really don’t eat people, huh?”

“Perish the thought. Human flesh tastes terrible. Why should I pay exorbitant prices for something that isn’t even worth eating?”

“Ah, so your hang-ups are logistical.”

Kaito let out a sigh. The fact that human meat could be bought and sold in the first place was unsettling. But upon hearing his remark, the Butcher hopped up and down as he made his appeal.

“It is true that human meat is quite bitter and also true that it is an acquired taste, but there are many who find it quite enjoyable, you know. If you would like to try some, Sir Butler, it’s relatively cheap at the moment. Perhaps it would open a new culinary door for you.”

“Pretty sure that’s not a door I should be opening.”

“Oh, but are you certain?”

“Very.”

“Very?”

“Hmm? Cheap, you say? I’d not heard of any battles in this region, so from where are you sourcing your corpses?”

“Ah, you see, there’s a territory with a village graveyard and a castle-side river, both overflowing with human corpses. It pains me as a butcher to say that some bodies are recovered with the choice cuts already missing, but as for the rest, the acquisition is quite painless. Would you care for some? The ribs make succulent roasts.”

Upon hearing this, Kaito and Elisabeth turned to look at each other. With a large number of partial corpses showing up, the two could easily deduce the culprit.

“Say, Butcher, does this not reek of a demon’s doing?”

“Ah, well, I am but a butcher, so I care little but for the quality of the meat.”

“I get it. You were so devoted to your interests that you ended up neglecting everything else. I met people like that when I was alive, too.”

Kaito’s eyes were half-closed as he spoke, and for some reason, the Butcher scratched his face like he was embarrassed.

In any case, after asking the Butcher the name of the territory, Kaito and Elisabeth set off.

“To think that I would remember a town as remote as this. Marvel at my mental prowess!”

“More than anything, I’m surprised you had enough self-awareness to realize how out of place your usual outfit would be.”

They’d teleported to a back alley of the aforementioned castle town, and Elisabeth held her hands at her sides as she praised herself. To Kaito’s surprise, her outfit had transformed into a conventional dress.

Her slim waist was fixed in a corset, and her draping skirt was fashioned with a number of flamboyant ribbons. She wore her hair up and had even added a flower to complete the look.

Kaito almost wanted to call the combination of the snow-white dress and the only-pleasant-on-the-outside face a scam.

Elisabeth, who now presented the image of a lovely young lady, stuck out her chest proudly.

“Indeed, I am most sensible. As the demon has not made his appearance yet, I understand full well the necessity of an outfit that blends in with the common folk. Yet, for all the effort I have made to style myself as the innocent daughter of a nobleman, your butler uniform makes you look like quite the hoodlum. Hee-hee.”

“Oh, shut up! If it’s such a problem, just give me something better to wear… Hey, Elisabeth!”

Ignoring Kaito’s complaints, Elisabeth walked on, heading out of the dark alleyway and nearing the main thoroughfare. Kaito hurried after her. Before long, he was struck by the wall of sound that was the unmistakable hustle and bustle of people going about their business, complete with barking merchants.

As he stepped out of the alley, Kaito found himself in the town of a foreign country.

While it was technically a foreign world, the vivid spectacle, the voices of the crowd, and the diverse aromas all reminded Kaito of the exotic land he’d once felt from the other side of a television screen long ago.

Turning to face the dumbfounded Kaito, Elisabeth twirled her decorative flower and grinned.

“And now, the line you’ve been waiting for. ‘Welcome…to another world.’”

The people walking by had all manner of hair and eye colors: gold and blue, black and gray, red and green. A man wearing a shirt and a pair of suspenders passed a woman wearing a loose shawl. A girl wearing a dirndl was selling flowers, and a man wearing a frock coat smoked a pipe.

Lined up in the shops and stalls were various goods for sale, some familiar to Kaito but many unfamiliar. There was a semitranslucent potion vial with an artistic shape. A pink leaf with a saccharine aroma, packed with what looked like tobacco. An egg-shaped fruit being sold beside some apples.

A massive gong rang out, and a black-haired youth with lizard arms began ladling fried rice with pale-red lumps of meat to his line of hungry customers. While it looked tasty, it gave off a pungent odor, and most of the customers standing around eating it had dog ears and tails.

“Wait, lizard arms and dog ears?”

“Demi-human–beastfolk crossbreeds. Not an uncommon sight, particularly with the influx of various races in low-class towns. They make up about thirty percent of slum dwellers, and in the north, it exceeds forty percent. Visibly pure-blooded demi-humans and beastfolk are generally in the nobility, though, so they’re rarely seen in human settlements. Get used to it already. ’Tis a bother for you to gawk at every little thing.”

“Man…this really is another world, huh?”

“Oh, and the fruit samples aren’t free, so do avoid taking them carelessly.”

Flustered, Kaito drew back from the honey-pickled grape an old lady was offering to him. Elisabeth, on the other hand, plucked a juicy-looking berry and popped it in her mouth. She flipped a copper coin to the vendor.

She then continued making her way through the crowd. Amid the throng of hawkers calling out to passersby, customers haggling like their lives depended on it, and scraggly dogs and rats scurrying about underfoot, her luxurious snow-white dress stood out like the lone star against a midnight sky. But she seemed to pay that fact little mind. The crowd, too, passed her by.

“Hey, Elisabeth, where are you going?”

“You need not worry about it. Just keep quiet and follow me.”

Kaito continued after her obediently. Just as he began worrying that she was wandering aimlessly, the nature of the buildings around them began to change.

There were no more shops, nor were there stand-up food carts or large-roofed stalls. What surrounded them now were shabby little huts. The nature of the products being sold became more illicit. It seemed that this area, far off from the main stretch, was where you could buy spoiled goods, illegal drugs, and weapons of various sorts.

Upon seeing a group of people slurping up some soup of dubious make between stone warehouses, Elisabeth stopped. When she did, Kaito overheard their comments.

“They say the Bloody Marquis is looking for employees again.”

With a start, Kaito turned to look at the old gray-haired woman. She was talking with a group of friends, a box of medicinal herbs she’d no doubt been hawking sitting beside her.

“There isn’t anyone who’d sell him kids anymore, right? They say a cannibal owns that castle.”

“I hear Anna over from the corner did. Sold her fourth son for a silver coin, they say.”

“Sounds like she drove a hard bargain, but even so, to sell your own child like that… Well, that’s a whore for you. Betcha she gets a gold coin for her fifth.”

“Better than tossing them in the brothel, I say. Word is that Marquis fella is even buying up the kids of bankrupt aristocrats to use as servants. I’ll pass on being eaten, but if it’s just changing bedpans, I could get behind that if it meant getting to drink warm soup for a change.”

“The lady in charge of collecting people is supposed to come around in her carriage today. Heh, if only I were a bit younger…”

“You’ve got the looks of a monster, and you probably taste like one, too. Who’d pay any kind of coin for you?”

The younger of the two women laughed raucously, her long ears swaying and her yellowed teeth on full display.

Elisabeth nodded, then set off again. Hearing the sound of her high heels, the women looked her way with a start. Their gazes pierced Elisabeth like they were looking at something monstrous. Sensing their hostility, Kaito quickly chased after her white form.

“Wait up, Elisabeth. I wanna know where you’re going.”

“The corpses have been piling up, yet the town is not in a panic. In short, the poor must comprise the bulk of the victims. After all, they have a tendency to drop dead on their own, be it from freezing, drowning, starving, or sickness. A few dozen of them going missing would hardly be grounds for a panic.”

“You don’t mince words, do you…?”

“Ha. Whether I mince them or spit them out, it changes nothing. I came to this district in search of information, and just as I suspected, a rather juicy tidbit came and landed on my plate. Though it would be convenient to have something more substantial… Ah.”

Elisabeth stopped at the corner of the road. In front of the row of brick houses stood a black carriage. A well-dressed old woman who appeared to be its owner was grabbing the arm of another woman accompanied by a young girl and fervently arguing with her. The second woman wrenched her arm free, climbed a short set of stairs, and took refuge past the door at the top. The old woman clicked her tongue and walked back toward the carriage.

Before Kaito could stop Elisabeth, she dashed out in front of the old woman. Kaito had no idea what she was thinking.

“This is Lord Marquis’s carriage, right? Oh, thank goodness! My name is Flora. I came from the main road because I heard you were looking for maids. I got into a fight with my father, who’s a wealthy landowner, so I’m here in secret for a bit of fun. But I never thought I’d get this lucky! I want to live like a real lady. Would you be so kind as to take me and my servant to see the lord marquis?”

Kaito’s eyes widened at the stupidity of it all. But Elisabeth just tilted her head to the side, her expression so pure that it made him want to ask who the hell she was and what she’d done with Elisabeth. The old woman responded with a hard, skeptical gaze. Elisabeth then gave a beautiful smile and continued without a care.

“Oh, I almost forgot. Back on the main road, Miss Anna told me to tell you that she was the one who sent me. She’s awfully nice.”

Upon hearing this, the old woman smiled broadly and nodded. After asking Elisabeth the landowner’s full name and whether or not her absence had gone noted, she cast open the carriage’s door eagerly.

As she stood beside the sneering old lady, an even wickeder sneer found Elisabeth’s face.

After leaving the town, the carriage passed a wheat field on its right before making its way along a riverside road. As it continued on, a castle came into view beside the narrow shore.

The castle was built out of an uneven mixture of gray stone and yellow sandstone and enclosed by black ramparts. The thick, heavy walls were supported by cylindrical steeples and stretched out far from east to west. The shadow it cast on the water was the very image of a massive crow, gazing into the river with its wings spread wide.

The carriage traversed the deep moat with the aid of a drawbridge, then it arrived at the castle proper.

And so Kaito and Elisabeth reached the Bloody Marquis’s castle.

Perhaps corresponding to the tastes of its current lord, the castle’s resplendent interior stood in stark contrast to its simple, ominous exterior. Chandeliers sparkled over the main hall’s grand stairwell, and vast carpets of gold and silver thread lay across its floor. It was clear that each of the etched handrails on the stairs and plaster grapevines on the walls took no small amount of artistic prowess to create.

Every element of the house looked both elaborate and expensive.

Rich-people houses really are something else, thought Kaito with a squint. Following Elisabeth, he made his way across the hall and tried to cut through to the passage on his right. When he did, a large man forcefully grabbed his shoulder.

“You don’t look like a noble. Servants go this way.”

“Wait, hold up, Elisa— Mistress Flora!”

Kaito shouted as he was being dragged off. Elisabeth turned and gave him a thumbs-up. In other words, Figure it out yourself. You’re immortal, so do your best and don’t lose. You’re a clever boy, after all, or something along those lines. Though he hated to admit it, Kaito was used to her attitude by now.

At this point, he didn’t have much choice. His expression stiffened as he gave up and followed the man. Upon reaching the end of the passage on the left, the man raised a large flag with a coat of arms on it. The hidden door behind it opened, and the man prodded Kaito down a set of stairs leading underground. A sense of foreboding welled up within him. The feeling only got worse as he continued down the flame-lit stone corridor.

Finally, the man stopped before what was most definitely a prison.

“Get in.”

“What, you’re just gonna treat me like a prisoner out of nowhere?”

Kaito had been hoping for the ruse to last a bit longer. Unfortunately, his complaints were in vain as the man kicked him into the cell. A small scream could be heard coming from deeper inside. As he looked around the surprisingly spacious prison, he saw a crowd of young boys and girls, human and demi-human and beastfolk alike.

Their ages, genders, and races were varied, but the fear on each of their faces was evident. The scene was one of bitter nostalgia for Kaito, and he wasn’t sure how to react. After agonizing over his options for a moment, he waved a hand to try to calm them down.

“H-hey, guys.”

“Eep!”

Suddenly, a new prisoner was kicked into the prison. A young girl wearing a poppy-red dress bumped into Kaito and fell over. His quick reflexes allowed him to catch her before she hit the ground. Her chestnut eyes paired well with her curly brown hair, and they gazed up at Kaito in fear. Hers was a modest beauty, her plain features standing out against the diversity of the demi-human and beastfolk captives. Her cheeks reddened when she realized that Kaito was holding her, and she straightened herself out.

“My… My deepest apologies. My name is Melanie Eskrow, daughter of Earl Eskrow. Where…is this? My aunt sent me here to become a proper lady.”

“I’m Kaito Sena… This is gonna sound kinda rude, but by any chance did your dad pass away and leave you in your aunt’s care recently?”

“My, how did you know? Might you be an acquaintance of my aunt’s, Sir Kaito?”

“Um, well, that’s— Okay, y’know what? It feels mean to tell you this, but you’re better off knowing. The situation we’re in right now is super dangerous. I think you should prepare yourself to make a run for it if you see an opening. There’s no telling what kind of horrible stuff is about to happen.”

“Whatever do you—? Might I ask what’s going on? What’s going to happen to us and these children?”

“Beats me. I really don’t know, but when people go into shock, they tend to freeze up. You should emotionally brace—”

“Get out there. You’re being called.”

Someone cut Kaito off, and the door swung open. A group of men led Kaito and the scared, sobbing children out of the prison. In order to keep them from resisting, they held a blade to Kaito’s neck. A red-haired boy about his age and one of the younger kids received the same treatment. Kaito himself was immortal, but if he wasn’t careful, the other two might wind up becoming victims. He clicked his tongue in frustration, then continued on without putting up a fight.

Eventually, the door at the end of the underground hallway came into view. It was made of wood marked with carved images of spiders and crows and lit on each side by a flaming brazier. The wood design featured the crows circling overhead as the spiders weaved webs to catch them underneath. It was in rather poor taste. The men threw open the double doors and kicked Kaito and the rest inside. Kaito expected the men to follow them in, but they simply stayed put and closed the door.

“Good luck.”

Why do we need luck? As Kaito contemplated the ominous words of encouragement, he heard the click of the door locking.

When he turned around, his heart stopped in his throat.

Within the room, a bizarre spectacle spread out before him.

The ceiling was extremely high and domed like a cathedral. Its center was decorated with a floral piece of stained glass. But the intricate, kaleidoscopic light it cast was marred by the barbed wire lining the ceiling. The unsettling effect was exacerbated by the murder of crows perched on the wire. The crows watched over Kaito and the others in silent vigil.

What’s the deal with all these crows? …I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

Disgust and anxiety welling up within him, Kaito looked at the ground. The marble floor was cracked and missing pieces. Soil peeked out from the holes, and from the soil, massive trees grew.

Among other things, the room appeared to house a miniature forest. This, too, was an enigma.

Suppressing his unease, Kaito directed his attention to the middle of the room.

Atop a circular stage lay a rotund, snoring man dressed in a tailcoat. He awoke with a start, gradually rising to his feet as he scratched his plump behind. He looked at Kaito and the children. When he saw the man’s face, Kaito was startled.

Covering the man’s face was a bone-like white crow mask.

“Weeeeeeeeeeeelcome, boys and girls, to your very own Grand Guignol!”

The man’s grating voice cracked as he shouted with over-the-top enthusiasm. Kaito broke out in a cold sweat. The man was cheerful, eerie, and revolting. Every instinct in Kaito’s body screamed in fear, calling to his attention one fact.

This man was probably a demon.

There was no way Kaito could deal with him alone. But unfortunately, Elisabeth wasn’t here.

“Whoa, hold up… You didn’t tell me I’d get stuck with the real deal, Elisabeth.”

“You all are the audience, you all are the scriptwriters, and you all are the actors. So I imploooore you: Enjoy yourselves to your heart’s content. You may try to escape this annex, if you so desire. But only the last one standing will be saved, you seeEEeeeEee. Until then, I don’t even mind if you all thin out the numbers on your owwwWwwwWWwn.”

His voice cracked even more. Once he finished speaking, he fell back and collapsed. But before they’d had time to think about the meaning of his words, a single crow descended from the wire.

Kaito’s eyes widened. The crow spread its wings as it swooped down, revealing a wingspan about the length of an adult man. It flew down to meet them. The wind pressure created by its wings was considerable, and, unable to endure it, Kaito had to close his eyes. When he did, he heard a scream from close by.

“No, no, noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

The boy in front of Kaito had been snatched up. Clutching the boy in its talons, the crow carried him up toward the roof. It then approached the arches at the sides of the ceiling. Focusing on the arches, Kaito could see spears sticking out of the wall.

But…why?

As if to answer Kaito’s question, the crow impaled the boy on a spike.

Like a shrike skewering its prey, the bird gored the boy through the stomach and left him to hang from the ceiling. After letting out a gut-wrenching shriek, his body bent backward at a sharp angle and resembled a curled shrimp. He then started convulsing and coughing up a huge amount of foamy blood. All the while, his chest continued heaving.

Kaito lost his voice in shock.

He hadn’t noticed them at first due to being distracted by the crows, but a number of children decorated the ceiling like lab specimens. They’d long since lost the will to scream. They simply writhed in agony, skewered alive in ceaseless torment.

Kaito felt a bead of sweat travel across his forehead. My immortality means nothing here. If he got trapped up there, he was done for.

A mass of crows took flight. The children froze in terror. Kaito screamed.

“Everyone! Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!”

As if his voice had broken a spell, the children all began moving at once.

Kaito knew that, like it or not, the curtain had risen on a fresh hell.

Some of the children were wrestling with the door to the underground passage. But it was locked firmly.

“That’s not going to work; just give it up and run!”

Kaito called out to the boy who was pounding on the door and sobbing, then he took off running with the rest of the children. Someone pushed Melanie, and she fell over. Amid the chaos, Kaito grabbed her pale hand.

“Melanie, this way!”

“Sir Kaito!”

“No, help! I want my mommy. I want my mooooooooooommy!”

A crow had seized the demi-human girl in front of Kaito by the shoulder. Acting fast, Kaito grabbed her leg as it dangled in midair. Her body stretched, and she waved her arms helplessly as snot and tears streamed from her face.

“Help, help, get it off me, it hurts, get it off me, don’t let go, I want my mommy, I want my mommy!”

“Just hang in there!”

Kaito swung the girl’s leg from side to side as hard as he could. The crow dug its talons in deep, and the girl let out a high-pitched scream. Then the crow collided with one of its neighbors, and just as Kaito had hoped, it released its hold on her.

“Rgh—”

Kaito barely managed to catch the falling demi-human girl, then he took off at a run alongside Melanie. His shoulder grew wet with the girl’s tears. Around them, children were being snatched up one by one.

Fluttering black feathers filled his vision, and heartrending wails assaulted his ears. Droplets of blood rained from the ceiling to add to the chaos.

No matter how hard the children cried and screamed, nobody came to save them. They were left to drown in their hopelessness. His stomach churned, and Kaito felt like he was going to vomit. He spat a single word from the bottom of his heart.

“FUCK!”

With Melanie and the demi-human in tow, Kaito slipped into the forest’s shade. Beneath the patchwork of trees, the branches afforded them temporary reprieve from the crows’ line of sight.

It seemed the demon had placed the trees there to prolong the game. Revolting as it was, Kaito was thankful for that particular gimmick. After inspecting the wound on the sobbing demi-human girl’s shoulder, Kaito turned to Melanie, who was sitting beside him, and ripped the hem of her dress with as much force as he could muster.

“I’m sorry, Melanie, but I’m going to need this!”

“S-sir Kaito, what exactly are you doing?”

“Bind her arm, would you? From here to here. I’m counting on you!”

“Ah, I—I see. I understand. I can do it!”

Clenching her fist, Melanie clumsily stopped the girl’s bleeding. As she worked, Kaito peered among the gaps in the tree line to check on the crows. It seemed they hadn’t noticed them yet. However, a group of crows grabbed another boy who was cutting through the middle of the room and carried him up to the spikes.

“Dammit…”

Averting his eyes from the horrifying spectacle, Kaito noticed something odd. Stuck in the trees were an ax and a sword, each with a cutesy ribbon tied around them. After a moment, he understood why they were there, and he felt the blood drain from his face.

“Only the last one standing will be saved, you see. Until then, I don’t even mind if you all thin out the numbers on your own,” the demon had said.

In other words, the demon wanted them to kill one another.

“……………………………………This is so fucked up.”

Kaito whispered to himself, his heart full of rage. At the same time, he felt as though a switch inside him had been flipped. What he felt now was the same as the peak anger, hatred, and fear he had felt at times in life, and they acted as a trigger to return him to a state of lucidity.

He looked at the weapons again and realized there was no need to let things play out the way the organizer had intended.

With these, he might even be able to turn this hopeless situation on its head.

“Hey, Melanie, can I ask you something?”

He called out to Melanie. When she turned to him, her eyes suddenly widened as her attention was captured by something behind him. A chill ran down Kaito’s spine. Trusting his intuition, he dived forward.

As he did, he heard something slice through the air behind him.

“Hey, you’re—”

“…!”

When Kaito turned around, he found himself staring at the red-haired boy his age, one of the other two who’d been at sword-point a bit earlier. The boy was trembling, and he was clutching a long sword in both hands. There was no telling what he’d do.

Kaito raised his hands in a gesture of peace, then slowly began talking to the boy.

“C’mon, settle down. Don’t fall for the demon’s—our enemy’s plan that easily. Why would you believe what the bad guys tell you in a messed-up situation like this?”

“…Sniff… Hic.”

“Is there any proof they’ll actually rescue you if you’re the last one left? Don’t focus on killing the rest of us—focus on figuring out how to escape and call for help.”

“Shut up! Nobody’s coming to save us!”

The boy suddenly cried out in anger. He waved the sharp sword. Kaito raised his hands again and tried to pacify the boy.

“Settle down, okay? Settle down. Just take a deep breath. What makes you think that?”

“O-of course nobody’s going to save us! My mom told me I should just go die! She told me to die for the rest of the family’s sake. She begged me to die. So why would anyone come to help me? Who the hell’s going to save us?! And if that’s the case… If that’s the case, what other choice do I have?!”

“I see… So that’s what’s been driving you.”

The boy was on the verge of tears as he spoke, and when Kaito heard his reasoning, he understood.

When a person believed there was only one path to survival, they’d take it by any means necessary. Unfortunately, such a path was often paved with regret. After deciding not to think and simply going along with the dirty work thrust upon him, Kaito had ended up getting strangled to death. He didn’t think the boy would listen if he tried explaining that now, though.

Inching toward the weapons he’d seen earlier, Kaito forced himself to keep talking.

“So you’ve made up your mind and decided to kill me. But do I really look like I’d go down without a fight?”

“Shut up! With those fancy clothes you’ve got there, I bet you’ve been living on easy street up till now! Can’t you just do me a favor and die? Consider it charity!”

“What kind of idiot would die for someone out of sympathy?! And if I’d been living on easy street, why the hell would I end up here?”

A little farther, and he’d be able to reach the weapon. But the boy had drawn near as well, and he brandished the sword with a warped look on his face. Just as the words Oh no passed through Kaito’s mind, he heard the beating of wings.

—Caw!

A crow had seen them from the ceiling, and it swooped down. The boy let out a strange squeal and began waving his sword in a panic. Kaito slid past him, well aware of the danger, and grabbed the ax. Glancing between Kaito and the bird, the boy let out a scream of despair. The crow swooped toward the boy. Kaito raised his ax.

And with a thunk, Kaito cleaved the crow’s head in two.

The crow fell to the ground. Kaito brought down the ax again and again. His foe was no normal crow. He had to make sure it was dead. If he didn’t, he was likely to end up dead himself.

He hacked at its guts, knowing full well that it was overkill. Once finished, he turned to the boy, who was cowering in fear on the ground, and raised the bloody ax high.

“See, this is how we should be using these weapons.”

The boy’s face scrunched up, and tears began leaking from his eyes. Seeing that he was scaring the boy, Kaito quickly shook his head and lowered the ax.

“The thing is, uh, if we use this ax, we might be able to smash the lock on that door. And the underground passage is narrow, so the crows shouldn’t be able to follow us easily. If we make it that far, we have a pretty decent shot at getting out alive. Leaving us these weapons in hopes that we’d kill one another was a big mistake. Let’s show ’em that.”

“…B-but I—”

“Well, don’t just stay there all day quivering. Come on; get up. I’m not mad or anything.”

After all, Kaito had already been killed once before. He could overlook a half-hearted attempt.

He extended his hand and motioned for the boy to get up. At his lighthearted gesture, the boy finally stopped shaking. Extending a tentative hand, the boy accepted Kaito’s help.

And then, Kaito and the rest began their counterattack.

Grabbing the arm of a beastfolk boy who had been hiding in the forest, a crow gave its wings a strong flap.

Kaito sidled up behind the crow, and as he jumped out in front of it, he hacked horizontally at its black wings in a single motion.

The crow fell to the ground with a muted thud, and the red-haired boy stabbed it a few times with his sword. Melanie hugged the crying beastfolk boy. Kaito wiped some sweat off his chin and looked over his shoulder.

“Is that everyone?”

Behind him stood the eight children they’d managed to gather while dashing from thicket to thicket. Kaito was disappointed at how few had survived. But he had no time to waste on shock.

The group had remained hidden by the shade of the trees and killed each of the crows with a single attack, so the main group of crows hadn’t noticed anything unusual yet. Thinking their hunt over, the rest of the crows simply rested on the wire. Now was the group’s chance to escape.

Kaito pulled a fresh ax and short sword from beneath a tree. The short sword looked easy to handle, so he gave it to the beastfolk boy before crouching down. He looked the rest of the group in the eyes, then whispered his instructions.

“Listen, we’re going to make a run for the door. If the crows come after us, just stick to the plan and swing your weapons around like crazy. You don’t have to kill them. Just make sure to keep yourselves safe. We’re going to survive this. Now go!”

The children in tow, Kaito broke into a dash. The floor they had to cross held no cover, and it felt like it stretched on for eternity. Somehow they managed to cross it and finally closed the gap to the door.

Looking behind them, they saw the crows were in hot pursuit. Kaito swung his ax at the door.

“Remember, just do what he said. Spread out from there to there!”

The children fanned out in accordance with the red-haired boy’s orders, then began swinging their weapons at the crows. Kaito knew this wouldn’t buy much time. Ignoring the pain of the talons scratching at his shoulder, he repeatedly struck the doorknob with his ax. The lock went flying. Surrounded by a torrent of bird cries, he kicked open the door.

“It’s open! We can—”

Just then, a scream rang out from behind him. He turned to look and saw a scimitar-wielding boy drop his weapon as a crow pecked at his eyes. The crow then grabbed the boy from behind and carried him up high. But the crow’s sharp talons caused the boy’s shirt to tear, and he fell. His tiny head burst like a melon as it collided with the ground. He died instantly.

His vision dyed red with rage, Kaito moved. Sparing no concern for his ragged arm muscles, he hefted his ax and threw it with all his might. The crow had moved on from the boy and made for the other children, but the ax caught it clean in the chest. It slammed into another crow and began spiraling to the ground. Kaito shouted:

“Run!”

The children responded to Kaito’s scream and stampeded for the door. The red-haired boy followed after them.

As Kaito picked up the scimitar, he sunk the blade deep into another crow’s head, then flung its corpse at the rest of the throng. They ascended to avoid the body, and Kaito used that opening to bolt through the door. He then grabbed the brazier from beside the door and threw it at the dead body. The flame spread easily. That should buy them a little more time.

The crows flapped their wings to evade the smoke, and Kaito returned through the door. Melanie and the children had already gone ahead. For some reason, though, the red-haired boy was waiting for him. Kaito blinked, then raised his voice.

“Hey, what are you waiting around for? Get a move on!”

“R-right!”

The red-haired boy started running alongside Kaito. The sound of crows cawing became distant. It seemed the fire had served as a potent deterrent. Kaito prayed that the crows would stay away.

The dark corridor was silent save for the echo of their footsteps. The red-haired boy spoke through the aftershocks of the event.

“My… My name is Neue. What’s yours, mister?”

“I’m Kaito. Kaito Sena.”

“Kaito Sena… I’m sorry, Kaito.”

“What for?”

“I tried to kill you. I said that you’d been living on easy street.”

“Don’t worry about it. Anything I heard in that messed-up situation is already a distant memory.”

“But you were so much calmer than the rest of us, and you saved us by killing those crows. You’re amazing. How were you so bra—?”

Neue was suddenly silent. The two of them looked over their shoulders. They could feel some kind of hideous presence behind them. There was a strange rustling noise, and they could see a black shape squirming around.

A vertical line of insect eyes emitted a sinister glow. Eight thick legs scratched at the rocky walls.

A massive spider was standing behind them.

Upon closer inspection, it was blanketed by a thick coat of crow feathers, and its mouth extended into a sharp beak. Kaito realized why the crows had stopped chasing them.

Being naive enough to think the fire served as any sort of diversion could very well have gotten them killed.

The crows had understood how disadvantaged they were in the narrow underground corridor and so coalesced, then they mutated into the spider now bearing down on them.

The spider spat out a thread. Kaito reflexively blocked with his scimitar. The very next moment, the scimitar went flying backward. It slammed into the spider, but the blade found no hold and simply slid along its thick feathers. The spider let out a frustrated roar and shot out more thread. Neue was right in the line of fire, and his face contorted in fear. Kaito saw some of his old self in that expression.

The boy in front of him had been ordered to die by his own parent, then cast into a desperate situation without an ounce of hope.

Unable to help himself, Kaito gave in. With a sigh, he thrust out his left arm.

The spider’s thread wrapped around his wrist. Kaito immediately snatched Neue’s sword from him. Based on its texture, the thread was likely as strong as steel. Giving up on cutting it, Kaito elected to instead lop off his own hand. With a dissatisfied cry, the spider reeled in the thread and began feasting on the hand with eerily non-insect movements.

The pain fired sparks through his brain. But Kaito was more than familiar with pain, and on top of that, his body was immortal. He could deal with this much. After all, if he didn’t, he would die.

He returned the sword to Neue, then firmly applied pressure to his wrist as he started running again. Tears welled up in Neue’s eyes as he ran beside him.

“Why would you do something like that? Why?! What reason did you have?!”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m already dead.”

“What?! Are you stupid or something?”

“Wow, rude. The thing is, I’m not originally from this world.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t worry about it—just listen. My dad worked me to the bone back in my old world, and eventually he murdered me like I was little more than garbage. It was a pretty shitty life. Just when I thought it was all over, the Tortur—er, I guess you’d call her a sorcerer— She summoned me and shoved my soul into this fake body.”

His tongue oddly loosened, Kaito found himself oversharing. The spider had finished eating Kaito’s hand, bones and all, and it began shooting thread again. Neue brought the sword to his chest to protect himself. But this caused the sword to be wrapped in thread and snatched away by the spider. Seeing his face stiffen, Kaito sighed and made a decision. He didn’t want to do this. But if it was the only card he had left to play, then he would play it. He took a deep breath, then gave Neue an order.

“I’m just some random dead guy. The next time the spider shoots its thread, you need to escape while it eats me.”

“Again, what are you talking about?! You really are an idiot!”

“Again, rude. Sure, I’ll die if it eats me completely, but it’s not like I even wanted to be brought back to life in the first place. This is the end for me. If only one of us can survive, it should be the guy who hasn’t died yet, right?”

Kaito looked at Neue, who suddenly seemed to him rather young. Neue looked back at him, his eyes watery with tears. This was the way to go. Kaito was satisfied that he was making the right choice.

Crying children didn’t deserve to be in a place like this. And Kaito hadn’t shed a single tear.

“You haven’t died yet, so the world is your oyster. Good luck.”

Kaito made his cheerful declaration. As the spider let out a hideous cry, Kaito bit his lip.

He really was afraid to die a second time. The fear he’d lost bubbled back up inside him. The pain of his desire to cling to life was unbearable. But he had no other choice. He exhaled softly.

He was going to die saving someone who reminded him of his old self.

And in doing so, he would become the kind of hero he had always hoped would save him.

If he thought about it that way, at least the absurd bonus chapter of his life would have a meaningful conclusion. As Kaito reflected on his decision with satisfaction, the spider shot its thread. He made no attempt to dodge. And then it happened.

“…Huh?”

Neue shoved Kaito aside with a thud.

The thread wrapped its way around Neue’s slim back. Kaito looked up from the ground, dumbfounded. He stretched his hand out to Neue as a stupid question made its way across his lips.

“Wh-why?”

“Huh, I wonder.”

Neue himself was unsure, and his voice was pure confusion. The spider reeled in the thread. The next moment, Neue’s face froze up as he whispered.

“I guess…I was just hoping you could find happiness in this world.”

Kaito swore under his breath. Neue gave a pained smile, and then he was taken.

A horrible scream rang out. Kaito scrambled to his feet. The spider could be heard tearing into something ravenously. Not wanting to understand what those sounds meant, Kaito charged at the spider. But as he heard the crunch of a collarbone being snapped, his thoughts were painted over with rage and hatred, returning him to a strange state of lucidity. He stopped, then muttered in a monotone.

“Ah……… I guess there’s no use trying to save a dead man.”

The next instant, he turned on his heel and ran. He was calm enough that it surprised even himself. His face was expressionless. But the fire in his eyes gradually roared to life. He voiced a single thought again and again, almost in a groan.

“I’m gonna kill that thing. I’m gonna kill that thing. I’m gonna crush it. I’m gonna kill it, kill it, kill it, kill it.”

His voice dripping with bloodlust, he continued his retreat. If the spider caught him here, Neue’s sacrifice would have been for nothing. He wouldn’t let Neue die in vain. That was the sole thought that propelled him as he ran.

The door at the other end of the passage eventually came into view. He’d expected the hidden door to be locked as well, so he’d given one of the older children an ax. After this much time had passed, they should have been able to break it down. Kaito narrowed his eyes. The door was completely unmarred. Maybe it hadn’t been locked after all.

As doubts crossed his mind, the door swung open, and from it, a poppy-red dress appeared. Beyond the door stood Melanie. Calling in a sweet voice, she ran to him as fast as her legs could carry her.

“Sir Kaito!”

“Melanie?! Wait, don’t come this way! You have to run!”

Ignoring his warnings, Melanie wrapped him in an embrace. She twined her soft arms around his neck. Her pink lips hung alongside his ear, and she let out a sweet breath as she started to whisper.

Before she could, though, the door burst open once more. A vivid color ran across Kaito’s field of vision.

It was a dress far redder than Melanie’s, a dress that had once been snow-white.

“Oh, if it isn’t Kaito!”

The voice that rang out was so indifferent to the situation, it seemed out of place.

There stood Elisabeth, drenched in blood and energetically waving at him.

“Why, I was just thinking of coming to meet you, so this turn of events is rather convenient. Quite sensible of you to come on your own… Oh? You’re covered in blood, I see… And on the verge of dying from blood loss, by the looks of it. You seem to have dropped your hand somewhere. Was it the removable type? At any rate, I’d best bind the wound with chains…… Is that a bug? Ahhh! It most certainly is a bug! I despise bugs! Spiders are most unpleasant!”

Elisabeth jumped a little as she peered behind Kaito. As she landed, the ground around her feet burst with darkness and crimson flower petals. They spiraled toward the ceiling, then formed a large hole over the spider’s head. A massive, thorn-laden weight appeared from the hole.

The weight whirred as it fell and then slammed down on the spider, crushing it.

“Squish it!”

Elisabeth raised a fist. Her attack was so ludicrous, it almost made Kaito want to complain.

She’d squished that terrifying spider as easily as one might squish a cockroach with a slipper. His wrist was now bound by a chain—a rather crude way to stop the blood loss—and he opened his mouth wide. Melanie clutched at his jacket as though in terror.

A heavy silence fell among them, which Elisabeth broke while tilting her head.

“So what happened here?”

At that moment, Kaito felt something inside him release. Elisabeth’s overwhelming strength, as well as her almost nostalgic carefree demeanor, allowed him to finally relax his nerves, which had been pushed to the limit.

He rattled off to Elisabeth everything that had happened.

“Oh, Elisabeth. There was a demon in the annex, and he was like, ‘Welcome, boys and girls, to your very own Grand Guignol! You all are the audience, you all are the scriptwriters, and you all are the actors. So I implore you: Enjoy yourselves to your heart’s content.’ And then there were these crows…”

“Is that so, I see, ah, mm-hmm, is that so, oh.”

Kaito was in a tizzy, and the words spilled from his mouth like a flood. He ended up including a number of unnecessary details. He couldn’t tell if she was listening, as she simply nodded along with a dodgy expression and began walking before he’d even finished speaking. She held both hands behind her head as she walked through the doorway. Passing through the hall, she headed for the right-hand corridor. She then continued unabated, entering a passage marked for servants.

Embracing Melanie’s quivering arms, Kaito followed after her.

“Elisabeth, are you listening to me? I said, the demon’s in the ann—”

“Behold, Kaito!”

Elisabeth stopped in front of an open door. Looking inside, Kaito saw a kitchen.

Atop a cutting board was a noble-looking girl, her dainty dress stained in blood and her ribs savagely removed. Beside her lay a man with a bull’s head wearing a chef’s coat, his groin split in half by a saw. A demon’s underling disguised as a chef. His death was no doubt Elisabeth’s handiwork.

“Just as the Butcher said, the dead girl’s body is missing some bits. Apparently, those of noble bearing taste better than common folk. They dine on the nobles and play with the commoners. After playing with you and the rest of the common children, no doubt he intended to enjoy dinner up here in the main building. Ah, how luxurious.”

Elisabeth nodded approvingly. Kaito clenched his fists. The rage and bloodlust within him had been validated once more. Oblivious to his fury, Elisabeth turned to Kaito and shrugged.

“The fools tried to eat me, and though killing them and making them divulge the location of that hidden door was entertaining, there were so many that some of them were able to flee into the courtyard. Chasing them down was quite the affair.”

“Elisabeth, I understand why it took you so long to get to me. But I don’t give a shit about that. We have to get to the annex. I need you to kill that demon for me.”

“Oh-ho, well, aren’t you fired up? Your wrist… Those who don’t fear pain are few and far between. But Kaito…why is it that you possess the resolve to sever your own wrist and the experience of walking through that bloodbath, yet you are blind to the truth right before your very eyes?”

“What do you mean?”

Instead of responding to his question, Elisabeth began walking. She left the kitchen, made her way down the corridor, and stopped in the center of the main hall. All the nonunderling staff must have fled, because the castle was deathly silent.

Her dark hair swayed beneath the glimmering chandelier light as she looked back over her shoulder.

“It seems the demon here torments people not simply for power but because he enjoys it even more than our friend the Knight did. He takes pleasure in their pain and their screams. But aside from the Grand Guignol, it seems his interests run even deeper. So think. What is the most elaborate form of despair, the form that a twisted man like him would find the most delightful?”

Kaito had no idea what Elisabeth was talking about. But he suddenly recalled the time when his father was strangling him. He’d kept Kaito in a state of dehydration, then given him water. And just when Kaito thought he’d been saved, his father killed him.

The deepest form of despair was to think you’d found salvation only to have your hopes crushed right in front of you.

“…He gives people hope, and just when they think they’ve been saved, he snatches it away.”

“Precisely! Once there are two left, and the only one left to kill before becoming the ‘last one standing’ is a frail little girl, any child would think that survival was well within their grasp—and naught could be more invigorating than killing them right then and there! Of course, your actions posed a flaw in that plan, but I imagine the demon had a good deal of fun nonetheless. Nary a single child managed to escape, after all.”

Understanding her answer, Kaito closed his eyes. The hall was silent. No children could be heard anywhere. Shaking his head, Kaito took a few steps away from Melanie, the sole survivor.

When they’d fled from that deadly game, what monster’s mouth had the children disappeared into?

“And on that note, I doubt you enjoyed assuming such a frail form, even if only temporarily, however…”

Elisabeth smiled affectionately as she gazed as Melanie’s face. But when she questioned the trembling girl, her voice was rife with contempt.

“…Why would an earl’s daughter be selected as a plaything and not as an ingredient?”

At that, the poppy-red dress swelled up like a sarcoma. The sweet little girl’s insides transformed into a mass of meat and cloth, and as her skin tore, it began leaking out like pus.

From within appeared a naked man with spider legs and strange white skin, his body covered in crow feathers.

The fat, bald man clacked his crow beak. After looking at the grotesque colossus and clucking her tongue at his spider legs, Elisabeth stroked her chin.

“The man downstairs is no doubt an underling or an imitator of some sort. So having lost your human form, you can even transform into a young girl, eh…? Although given that young boys were to be killed as well, perhaps you simply enjoy wearing girls’ clothes. Ah, how unpleasant. And though you possess the human title of ‘marquis,’ the demon you fused with is none other than the Earl. And here I’d come expecting a decent fight.”

“Who cares? Just kill that thing already.”

“What’s this, now? You’ve been acting rather oddly, haven’t you? What, do you have a grudge or some such?”

“You’re damn right—I’ll do anything you ask. Just make his death as painful as possible.”

Kaito repeated himself. Bloodlust bubbled up from deep within his heart.

His being the sole survivor was too cruel of a joke for him to handle. The Earl had killed the rest of the children. Kaito couldn’t allow him to live. Even though he’d just been rescued, he wouldn’t mind throwing his life away if it meant a chance to kill the Earl.

He couldn’t bear letting him live.

“…Ha.”

In place of a response, Elisabeth laughed. The next moment, she kicked him, and when he fell over, she planted a foot firmly on his back. There was so much force in her foot, he was afraid his spine would snap.

“Rgh!”

“Do not think for a moment that you can give orders to your master, you cur. Your words do not change the fact that this man is my prey. With or without your request, I aim to make his life my plaything.”

Elisabeth spoke coldly, then sent Kaito flying with a brutal kick to his stomach. As he landed near the wall, he spewed up a mixture of blood and vomit. Elisabeth turned to face the Earl.

“My servant’s manners are lacking. But now, we can proceed without interruption.”

She raised her arms majestically. The darkness and crimson petals swirled through the air, enveloping her body.

After the darkness dispersed and the petals fluttered to the floor, she was clad in her usual black bondage dress. Her slender fingers grasped the handle of the Executioner’s Sword of Frankenthal.

Placing a hand over her half-exposed chest, she gave the Earl a noble bow and offered her own announcement.

“Welcome to my very own Grand Guignol. For I am the audience, I am the scriptwriter, and I am the actor. I have no intention of letting you enjoy yourself in the slightest. I shall make you squeal like a pig and writhe like a caterpillar.”

After making her grandiose declaration, she swung her sword. Chains appeared out of thin air and traveled to savage the place the Earl had been a moment prior. But the Earl’s eight spider legs allowed him to dodge them easily. He leaped back, felling chandeliers in his wake. He exerted his pale, naked body, and crow feathers began shooting forth from it. At the same time, he shot spider thread out of his mouth. Countless attacks rained down on Elisabeth.

“Ha! Too weak; too slow!”

Elisabeth ran about, nimbly avoiding the projectiles. The ceiling and floor became riddled with holes, but Elisabeth didn’t have so much as a scratch on her. Even so, she didn’t seem to have any openings to launch a counterattack. No new chains were summoned. Noticing this, the Earl laughed with a sneer, and his attacks surged like a wave.

He had yet to notice the darkness and crimson flower petals coalescing at his feet and above his head.

Suddenly, the floor and ceiling made loud gong noises and began squeezing him.

Or, to be more specific, the gargantuan, flat stones that burst out from them did.

The Earl was pressed between two large stone slabs. A golden rod that looked like a barrel organ’s handle protruded from their center.

Kaito noticed Elisabeth sitting down by the pole’s grip. She turned to the blinking Earl, who had yet to comprehend the situation he was in, and beamed at him.

“The Wheel of Death. I squished your familiar, you know—but you, perhaps, I’ll take my time shaving down.”

Grr, grr, grr. The round stones made an ominous noise as they began rotating. As she spun the handle, the slabs turned like wheels. One turned to the left, and the other turned right. The Earl’s body was being audibly scraped away. Feathers tore off in time with the rotating, and his pale, flabby flesh began to chafe. Blood, fat, and flesh began dripping onto the floor.

The Earl let out a bloodcurdling scream. His beak went flying across the room, and the human mouth it had been covering quivered in pain and fear. His earlobes tore, and his temporal muscles began being flattened. He cried out in desperation.

“E-E-E-ELISABETH, ELISABEEEEEEEETH!”

“What is it, O Earl? Ah, your voice is as unpleasant as a pig’s squeal. Can you not retain a little of your dignity and have the decency to caw like a crow?”

“I—I can make you a deal! I can make you a deeeeeeal!”

“Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?”

The wheels clicked as they came to a stop. Kaito’s eyes burned fiercely, and his voice was low.

“…We’re not going to take any deal you have to offer.”

“I—I heard that when you finish hunting the thirteen demonsh, y-you’ll be burned at the shtake. I-if you leave m-me alive, you, you won’t have to die, either. Am I wrong? Our goalsh are in alignment. P-pleash don’t kill me.”

His face was caught by the sides, and the Earl’s vertical mouth drooled spit and blood as he made his plea. Elisabeth muttered “I see” to herself, then she hopped down from the handle. She smiled sweetly to the unseemly creature between the wheels. Shivering in fear, the Earl pitifully returned her smile.

“You imbecile!”

Grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind.

With a sharp roar, the wheels began turning again. Waving his limbs frantically, the Earl let out an incomprehensible scream. But those arms were plucked from his sides, and his shoulders were shaved flat. He was crushed like a nut. The blood pooling on the ground grew more and more viscous.

Her eyes glowed with absolute coldness, and Elisabeth looked down at the man.

“Despots are killed, tyrants are hung, and slaughterers are slaughtered. Such is the way of the world. The demise of torturers should be garnished with their own screams as they sink to Hell with no chance for salvation. Only at such a time is a torturer’s life truly complete. Yet, you tortured, not understanding that in the slightest? You embarrass yourself, Earl.”

Elisabeth’s voice was thick with hate and indignation. Kaito had never seen her display such bald-faced rage. With a loud gong, the two wheels finally lay on top of each other. Blood oozed from the crack between them. They’d finished crushing the Earl, and Elisabeth placed a foot on them as she murmured.

“You and I—we are fated to die, forsaken by all of creation.”

She softly lifted her foot. As she did, the pool of blood transformed into black feathers. They whirled into the air, stopped for a moment, then drifted to the floor.

They fell silently and beautifully, like so many black snowflakes, and Kaito clenched his fists as he watched them.

“…Hey, what about the kids up on the spikes in the rafters? Weren’t some of them still alive?”

“If they were, the Earl was merely keeping them alive with magic. They would have died along with him.”

“…I see…”

“What’s the matter? ’Tis much more preferable than an eternity of suffering.”

Elisabeth sighed, seeming bored. Kaito looked at her in a daze. Once, Elisabeth had carried out the same atrocities the demons were conducting now. Yet, somehow, she seemed fundamentally different from them. At the very least, Kaito saw a large gulf between the two.

He stood up, ignoring the pain, and called out to her.

“Thanks for that, Elisabeth.”

“Why thank me? I merely did with him as I pleased. To thank me for such an act surpasses buffoonery and strays into the realm of misunderstanding, does it not?”

“You’re going to die after you kill the thirteen demons, right? But you killed him anyway.”

“I care little about that. And I certainly didn’t do it for you. After I’ve tormented the thirteen demons, or, in short, the last thirteen victims the Church has officially permitted me to torture, I shall think little of death. The people suffered many casualties to capture me, so if they desire my death, then burning alive is my duty.”

She clicked her heels, then began walking. Her black dress fluttered as she spoke.

“Having lived the cruel and haughty life of a wolf, I shall die like a lowly sow.”

Elisabeth grew distant. She muttered in a low voice.

“…For that is the choice I made.”

Kaito, left alone, stared off into space. The black feathers caressed his face, as if grieving.

He thought of Neue and of the other dead children. He’d been the only one to survive. The end of their prison break was so tragic, it was almost laughable. But no matter how much he lamented it, reality cruelly refused to change.

Because he’d survived, he supposed there was something he needed to do.

Recalling Neue’s last words, he spoke quietly to himself.

“Don’t know how much luck I’m gonna have finding happiness in this world, though.”

But he would do everything he could.

Clutching the stump of his wrist, he strode forth. As he did, one of the falling feathers burst into blue flame. One by one, the rest of the feathers followed suit.

Eventually, the blue flames took to the castle as well.

That place had been home to countless deaths. As the flames lapped at the stone walls, it almost seemed as though they were in mourning.