Fremd Torturchen - Volume 2 - Chapter 3

3

Battle by the Coast

The salty sea breeze mingled with the scent of something rotten.

The town, built within an inlet, spread out like a fan with its back to the mountains. Its plaster walls erected to keep out the sea breeze and roof tiles made of unglazed clay cast the town in magnificent shades of orange and white.

As one got farther from the coastline and approached the mountains, the townscape followed a natural incline and increased in altitude. At the peak of its hundreds of small sets of dogleg stairs, a branch office of the Church had once overlooked the glittering blue sea and all its splendor. However, the building, which was adorned with a statue of an upside-down saint shedding tears of blood, was now tragically flattened beneath a massive flower.

Meaty, tonguelike petals dripping with mucus protruded from the flower. At the ends of its thorny stem, disturbing, flesh-colored roots resembling human genitals extended outward. The roots crept through the town, crushing buildings as they wrapped around everything in their path. Countless corpses were strewn across the streets and atop the stairs. Strangely, all their abdomens were crushed, like so many deflated leather bags. Men and women alike had the aftereffects of prolonged anguish etched onto their faces.

They had been run through by plant roots and had their organs forcefully sucked out.

“This is…horrifying…”

As he whispered in horror, Kaito traced the roots with his gaze. Right before they’d reached the sea, their growth had stopped.

The massive flower had been avoiding the sea, which was dyed red.

It, too, was contaminated.

The stained seawater was violently frothing. The beaches and wharves were covered in piles of dissolved seaweed and dead fish. Out at sea, the corpses of whales and dolphins with distended bellies were also visible.

Abandoned by their passengers, small boats belonging to the local elderly and large commercial ships alike were degrading at abnormal speeds. Their cargo had poured out of ruptured bilges and was floating among the corpses.

And in the middle of that terrible spectacle the vague outline of an enormous island had appeared.

Upon further inspection, it was pulsating.

The island was, in fact, a flesh-colored jellyfish large enough to be mistaken for land. It was as though the sea itself had developed a tumor that leaked pus and rot.

Both the flower and the jellyfish, made to grow without regards for their natural limits, were collapsing. They were too big to get a good view, so it was impossible to confirm whether or not they had needles stuck in the backs of their necks. However, it was clear to see that they had been unable to maintain their egos.

Using the magical runes they’d received from the Church, the three of them had teleported to the bottom of one of the staircases connecting the inlet to the mountains, as teleporting directly to the crushed Church branch office wasn’t an option. From that vantage point, the series of disastrous scenes was right before their eyes.

Her black hair blowing in the sticky sea breeze, Elisabeth pressed down on her forehead.

“…Ah, what a headache. It seems both of them are being controlled. What a pitiful pair they are, yielding to her so readily. Of all the possible situations I foresaw, ’tis easily the worst of the lot.”

“Are you all right, Lady Elisabeth?”

“Exasperation will do little to improve our lot, I suppose… The flower is the Grand Earl, and the jellyfish is the Grand Duke. We’ll take them down starting with the weaker of the two and before they can spit out their hearts.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Bowing deeply, Hina adjusted her grip on her halberd. Kaito silently double-checked the corpses strewn throughout the town. As he did, he spotted a figure moving.

“…A survivor!”

His eyes wide with anticipation, Kaito quickly realized that he’d been off the mark.

It was a grotesque soldier, a servant of the demons, its head now transformed into a flower. The creature was trampling corpses and climbing over roots in search of something.

As Kaito wondered what it was looking for, the answer to that question became clear when a scream rang out from somewhere.

Although they’d been told that the Church had gathered up the survivors and used teleportation circles to evacuate them, apparently not everybody had made it out. The underling was tracking them down and mutely killing them.

Now that I think about it, that makes total sense. With the calamity falling on them so suddenly, of course they weren’t able to get everyone out that fast. Fuck!

Quietly clicking his tongue, Kaito called out to Elisabeth.

“Elisabeth, there are underlings loitering about. We gotta save the survivors.”

“The battlefield shan’t tolerate such naïveté. ’Tis best to overlook the victims—or so I’d like to say, but the Church would have my hide. ‘Do some good for the world,’ or so they tell me…but I haven’t the resources. Kaito, you deal with it.”

“Wait, me?”

“Worry not, I shall give you this.”

Elisabeth snapped her fingers. A sword with rubies spiraling around its blade dropped out of thin air. It was the magical tool they’d found in Vlad’s castle. Kaito hurriedly picked it up.

Kaito looked at the needle-thin sword with bewilderment. Unmoved by his reaction, Elisabeth continued speaking.

“You possess a golem body, a first-rate creation of my own making. Your control over magic surpassed my expectations, so you have a number of tools at your disposal. Fight. As far as I can tell, ’tis what you desire, yes?”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll do it… I can’t just sit back and watch you all the time.”

“Hina, your task is…very well. I’ll allow it. You may stay by Kaito’s side. The prospect of standing alongside one whose expression has surpassed unease and started to become as fierce as yours frightens me, so I’ll refrain from doing so.”

Glancing at Hina’s face as she spoke, Elisabeth heaved a sigh.

Hina, who’d looked so conflicted she seemed to be on the verge of stabbing either herself or Elisabeth, frantically wiped the anguish from her face. As she bowed to Elisabeth, she raised a question.

“Hearing those words fills me with gratitude. It is my greatest wish to stay by the side of my beloved and protect him… However, um, Lady Elisabeth, what shall you—?”

“Ha, don’t make light of the Torture Princess. My current power is more than sufficient to crush the Grand Duke like an ant.”

Elisabeth scoffed. Kaito and Hina, about to express their concern, held their tongues. The Torture Princess wasn’t bluffing. Her expression made that much clear.

Elisabeth wore a smile that was both ferocious and cruel.

“Now then, let us be off—they shall squeal like quartered swine and writhe like stuck caterpillars.”

Darkness and flower petals swirled, and Elisabeth took hold of the Executioner’s Sword of Frankenthal.

She then ascended the stairs with great leaps and bounds.

She reached a nearby root and jumped on top of it. She then broke into a gallant run toward the flower’s main body, remaining atop the root as she did. It was as though she was running atop her foe’s arm as a display of her power. The root trembled as it rose into the air. Before it could come crashing down, though, Elisabeth yelled.

“Nail Gun!”

Darkness and crimson flower petals ran across the top of the root in a spiral. Then a thunking noise rang out in succession.

Rusted nails appeared out of the air and nailed the root into the road and buildings. It looked like they’d run through a set of human genitals.

Shuddering in pain, the flower began releasing foamy mucus from the bottom of its sepals. Kaito reflexively scowled. Mercilessly stepping on the nailheads, Elisabeth ran like an obsidian meteor.

Kaito stared at her, entranced. However, Hina called out to him, and he returned to his senses.

“Master Kaito, we must set out as well. Take care not to stray from my side.”

“Oh yeah, right. Let’s go.”

Nodding, Kaito broke into a run. The two of them ran up the stairs, making their way toward the direction they’d just heard the screams come from. The town, wrapped as it was in roots, felt like a ruin that hadn’t been inhabited in a millennium. The fact that signs of life could clearly be seen made the scene feel all the more eerie.

As they continued down the main road and passed a bay window filled with well-maintained houseplants, the two of them discovered an underling. The underling, who was wearing scaly armor made of leaves, slowly turned to look at them.

As it blinked its enlarged eyes, its last remnants of the human it had once been, Hina swung her halberd sharply.

“Hiyah!”

Her aim unerring, she chopped off its flowery head. However, even as it wobbled, it reached out for Hina.

Perhaps because it lacked a brain or a spinal cord, losing its head hadn’t proved fatal.

“Don’t get cheeky with me!”

With a sharp rebuke, Hina chopped off the arm reaching for her. Perhaps sensing the difference in their power, the underling reached out with its other arm and extended a thorny vine toward Kaito.

Hina immediately made to swing her halberd. However, Kaito stopped her with a look.

He then held his sword at the ready, as if to block the underling’s arm.

Calm down and act rationally. If I can’t deal with something of this level, I’ll never stop being baggage.

Right before the ivy could coil around his sword, Kaito focused his senses on the wound on his palm and then called out.

“La (burn)!”

A dazzling blaze burst forth. The magical flame spun in an ominous spiral, latching onto the ivy and devouring it. Its arm burning, the underling let out a cry of anguish.

Seeing the corpses littering the town had actually calmed Kaito down due to his intimate experiences in life involving hating and getting angry at horrible situations. However, his physical tension was another matter. Having seen that his magic worked, he breathed a sigh of relief. His trembling hand finally settled down.

That’s Elisabeth for you, always on the ball. The flaming weapon seems like it’ll be effective against these guys.

The underling ripped off its burning arm and began fleeing with an awkward gait. Kaito made to chase after it. Suddenly, though, it turned around, waving its arm around as its body burst into flames and it charged at Kaito.

“Gah!”

It looked as though Kaito was about to pay for his carelessness. A second later, however, a thunderous noise rang out and the underling went hurtling to the side. After blinking a few times, Kaito finally realized what had just happened.

Hina had mowed down the underling with the reverse side of her halberd, and it had gone flying and slammed into the wall of a building. The fire had largely gone out in the impact, but the underling was twitching and convulsing nevertheless. Merciless attacks were raining down upon it.

“Even! If! Master! Kaito! Himself! Desired! It! Know! That! Being! Beaten! To! Death! Is! A! Light! Punishment! For! Your! Rudeness!”

With the expression of an ogress, Hina shouted as she struck the underling between every word. Her attacks were focused on its chest, and its vegetal body was all but reduced to mincemeat. Her gaze was ice-cold, and after she’d confirmed its death, she gave a light nod.

“…And stay dead, filth.”

Her voice frigid, Hina turned back toward Kaito. When she did, her expression made a complete about-face. She exhaled reverently, a bright smile floating to her face as she sandwiched her halberd between her bountiful breasts and hugged herself tightly.

“Splendid work, Master Kaito! Given your skill, nobody would suspect that this is your first battle since you began learning magic! I would expect nothing less from my beloved! How lovable you are, how gallant, how cool, how I wish to hug you!”

“Th-thanks? Although I’m pretty sure you were the only one who did anything impressive there. Like, for real.”

“Oh my, no, that wasn’t the case at all. How humble you are. But even though these creatures are mere underlings, their resilience is nothing to scoff at… This trash is quite a handful. From here on out, I’d be better off crushing them than cutting them.”

Then they heard a scream. Kaito and Hina looked up with a start and then nodded to each other and ran off.

They ran by some residences and an area near the rock face to the west where the locals would sell fish from carts before reaching a group of buildings made from thick, sturdy walls.

A voice was audible from within an open door to the east.

“There!”

When he charged inside, Kaito witnessed Hell.

What would happen if you tied someone’s limbs together with barbed wire and then pulled on them until they reached their limit?

What would happen if you stuck tentacles into someone’s abdomen while they were still alive and then churned them around?

What would happen if you squeezed someone’s body until their bones broke and they vomited up all their organs?

Within that building, all those questions had been thoroughly answered.

The two underlings had dispassionately slaughtered the family, as if it was just another day on the job.

The remains of the grandfather, father, and mother were stuck to the tiled floor. It looked as though they’d been killed in that order. The room was fairly large, and alongside the wall, harpoons, fishing tackle, boats, and old nets were lined up on sturdy wooden racks. Among them, jars of colorful preserves and heavy-looking sacks were crammed together.

Apparently, this building was a storehouse. Based on the fact that it had no windows, the family within must have missed the Church’s evacuation order and been discovered by the underlings.

That had resulted in the dreadful spectacle before Kaito. However, there were yet survivors hiding among the jars of pickles.

The survivors were a pair of children. A young boy and girl with flushed cheeks were huddled together.

Having just finished crushing flesh, the underlings hadn’t noticed Kaito and Hina yet.

The underlings trampled over the remains of the mother—more specifically, her stomach, which was hanging out of her mouth like a fish pulled up from the deep sea—and reached for the children.

The young boy was in shock, and he stood motionless. His ankle was hanging out from the hiding spot, and ivy was about to wrap around it. Right before it could, though, the boy’s body was pulled into the space between a jar and a rack. The young girl was yanking on the boy’s arm and trying to force him to move.

She was probably his older sister. She raised both her arms to try to conceal him and then glared at the underling. However, the brave front she put up soon vanished, like the flame of a candle. Her face scrunched up, and she let out an animalistic moan. Still, though, she never stopped defending the boy.

There was something in her eyes, something surpassing familial love and the resolve of a sister.

Suddenly, a particular memory flashed through Kaito’s mind.

There was a time when a boy with red hair had sacrificed himself to shove Kaito out of harm’s way. Muttering a small curse, that boy had a smile that looked like he was about to burst into tears before he was pulled away by the spider.

Then he was eaten alive.

Even though he hadn’t wanted to die, the boy had wished for Kaito’s happiness and instinctively protected him.

…Neue.

Ever since he’d survived that, not a day had gone by without Kaito recalling that name.

Before he noticed, he had pierced the underling through the back.

Kaito plunged the whole blade, along with the fragile-looking rubies that adorned it, deep into the underling. The underling, dumbfounded, turned around.

As their eyes met, Kaito grinned at it.

“La (burn to death).”

As he spat out the word, his mana burst forth. The sword burst into flames within the underling’s body.

The underling let out an incomprehensible cry and lashed out. Then it turned to charcoal from the inside out.

Kaito, not letting his guard down for a moment, released a second and third burst of flame before ripping his sword free. The remaining underling frantically extended ivy toward him.

Then Hina landed behind it.

“Hiyah!”

After receiving her two-legged kick, the underling crashed headfirst into a rack. A jarful of fish pickled in oil fell down and shattered. The rack swayed and then came collapsing down upon the underling.

Not missing her chance, Hina picked up her halberd and held it aloft. She wielded it like a meat tenderizer, bringing it down on top of the rack and striking the underling again and again and again.

With each loud, rhythmic strike, the rack grew flatter and flatter. A green, foul-smelling liquid spread out, mixing together with the oil and the vinegar.

As the smashed rack came as close to the ground as it would go, Hina stomped on it with one foot before softly snorting.

Kaito, too, kicked the carbonized underling in the stomach. Like a bad joke, it fell into pieces and crumbled to the floor. His anger momentarily abated, Kaito realized that he was trembling.

“Wh-what’s…happening to me?

The underling was dead. There was nothing more to be afraid of. Kaito, trying to suppress his trembling with logic, knelt down on one knee. Trying desperately to feign composure, he called out to the dumbfounded girl.

“Are…are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“…Da…y…”

“Huh?”

A hollow voice leaked forth from the girl’s mouth, and Kaito responded carelessly. His prompting acting as a trigger, the girl suddenly opened her mouth.

Her throat rang a little as a heartfelt scream poured forth.

“Da…ddy… Mommy… Grampa… No, no, nonono, nooooooooooooooooooo! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

“Yeah…right… I’m sorry. We didn’t make it in time, did we?”

As if Kaito, too, was an enemy, the girl lashed out at him and continued screaming like a wounded animal.

Realizing that letting this go on would put her in danger—she might bite her tongue or go into convulsions—Kaito immediately stuck his hand in her mouth.

Her eyes widened as she bit down on his fingers.

“…!”

Hina was about to make a move, but Kaito reined her in with a glance. Kaito was all too familiar with the despair that accompanies events that can’t be undone; in his case, it had been his own untimely death. So he rubbed her back and patiently said the same thing again and again.

“Settle down; you’re okay. You’re gonna be okay, so I need you to settle down.”

Suddenly, the girl’s body went limp. However, it wasn’t because she’d calmed down. It seemed that her spirit had simply been wound too tight and had gone slack.

Even so, they didn’t need to be concerned about her going into a panic anymore. Kaito pulled his bloody, spit-covered fingers from her mouth, wiped them on his shirt, and then extended a hand to the young boy.

The boy’s eyes were dead, but he still reached back and squeezed Kaito’s wet hand. Kaito gave a short nod.

If he could still grab on to proffered hands, he was probably okay.

Picking up the girl and holding the boy’s hand, Kaito stood up. He closed his eyes and then shook his head.

“Yeah, there’s no other way… I’m sure I can manage. Definitely. It’ll be fine.”

Mumbling ambiguously as he thought, Kaito opened his eyes. Nodding once more, he spoke in a voice full of determination, completely unlike the one he’d just used.

“Hina, I need you to take these two to the teleportation circle, the one to the castle, and then come back once you’ve made sure that they’re safe.”

“Wh…? You say that, but that will require a good deal of time! You’ll be in danger!”

“I can’t activate the circle on my own. They’ll be in danger if we take them with while we fight or if we leave them here while we fight…and time’s too precious for us both to take them. Please.”

“…That certainly is a decision overflowing with mercy toward these siblings as well as the people of this town. However, to me, your safety is of the utmost—”

“My body is immortal. As long as I’m careful not to lose too much blood, my soul won’t disappear. No matter how much I get I hurt, I’ll be able to survive. Please. I don’t want to see anybody else die like Neue did.”

Kaito bowed deep. Back when things were peaceful, he’d filled her in about Neue, little by little. He’d told her that the only reason he was still alive was because a boy had sacrificed himself to save him.

Hina sucked in her breath as though she’d been struck.

Kaito’s sense of justice wasn’t particularly on the strong side. He and self-sacrifice didn’t belong in the same sentence. And he knew that he didn’t have the strength to back up his words. However, even if he had to put himself in danger, there were some things he never wanted to see again.

He never wanted to watch someone sacrifice themselves like that again.

Yeah…that’s right. I dunno how many more times I can take that.

And to that end, he had to do whatever he could. His face still pointing toward the ground, he made his request to Hina.

“Could you think of those kids’ lives as my life for me?”

“Please, Master Kaito, raise your head. I’ve been being exceedingly rude.”

Immediately, Hina dropped to one knee. Not having expected that response, Kaito was flustered. As she did, she bowed even deeper before eloquently speaking.

“I failed to consider your resolve and, in doing so, caused you to lower your head… I have been indiscreet and oh so very rude. Later, I shall hand down the punishment for my irredeemable error myself. For now, I shall abide by your orders and momentarily withdraw. However…”

In a flash, Hina brought her head up. She looked directly at Kaito, his reflection cast in her emerald-green eyes. From within them peeked a sense of love and heartbreak and powerful anxiety and concern, like that of a woman leaving her husband alone on the battlefield.

“You asked me to think of these children’s lives as your own. However, I have long since thought of your life as my own.”

“Hina, I told you to stop saying that.”

“Indeed, but to me, it is the absolute truth. Master Kaito, it is precisely because we are in this situation that I tell you this. My place in life is by your side, my love, and should I lose you, then my life, too, would end. In following, if you deign to think of me, then please believe in me—and no matter what the situation may be, all you must do is tell me either to protect you or to fight together by your side.”

“Hina—”

“That is what it means to be companions. Please, if you must remember nothing else, remember that. While I shall now follow your orders and leave your side, I beg that you take care of yourself. All right now, you two, what good children you’ve been. Let us be off.”

Once she’d made her decision, Hina acted quickly. As gently and reliably as a mother, she scooped the two children up in her arms. She looked directly at Kaito, nodded at him, and then took off at a dash.

Taking off through the open door, she ran like the wind.

“…Trust her. Companions, huh?”

Murmuring quietly to himself, Kaito furrowed his brow as he thought. However, he then quickly shook his head and turned to survey the storehouse. With their flesh torn, their innards scrambled, and their bodies squeezed, the corpses could barely be described as human anymore. They’d no doubt endured the pain for far too long.

After a few seconds of silence, Kaito bowed his head low.

“Thanks to you all holding out for so long, the two kids survived. I don’t know much about families or parents, but the fact that you didn’t use the kids as human shields… That’s pretty amazing. At least, I think it is. Rest in peace…and know that the three of us are going to avenge you. Me, Hina, and most of all, the Torture Princess.”

His eyes burned with silent rage as he spoke, and when he was finished, he left the storehouse.

He stopped for a moment and looked around. Dim light was shining down from the cloudy gray sky. The slick, unsettling roots glistened atop the buildings and the pavement. Littered around them here and there were the leather bag–like corpses.

As he gazed at the hellish spectacle, Kaito shook off his nervousness and began making his way back to the main road.

When he did, he heard a hoarse scream from the back of an alleyway.

Kaito looked closely at the space between the buildings. Then, to make sure the blood didn’t stop flowing, he stuck his finger into the wound in his hand and reopened it. The blood flowed down the hilt of his sword and into his pocket. The stone quivered lightly from within.

He could feel a phantasmal hand on his shoulder. Vlad laughed, as if to mock him.

“My, my, my, quite the heavy role you’ve taken upon yourself. Now then, even if your foes are mere underlings, can a man as green as you survive? How do you wish to place your chips?”

“…I’m gonna make it. If I can’t handle this much, then staying by Elisabeth’s side till the end was never going to be possible. And I’ve got to consider what Hina said to me, too. I’m gonna stay alive, no matter what.”

“I see. How gallantly tragic your resolve is and how wonderfully foolish. In that case, out of deference to your obstinance, I too shall place my bet on the side of your survival.”

“Bet? You don’t have squat to bet with.”

“Your words cut like knives. It’s rather difficult to entertain oneself with the body of a dead man, you know. I will have my fun, even if it’s a mere matter of attitude—and I hate to lose. Do take care not to leave me unsatisfied.”

With those threatening words, the phantasmal hand separated from Kaito’s shoulder. Clicking his tongue, Kaito began running again.

He passed by the increasingly sparse buildings and made his way onto a path built into the side of the mountain. Unlike the brick surfaces that had been laid out for buildings—inns, public facilities, and the residences of the wealthy—the bare rock face here sported only a wooden pathway stuck onto it.

It appeared be a hidden shortcut down to the inlet, which looked to be quite a way off.

Perhaps it was only designed to be used by the locals, as it didn’t have any handrails. However, the wood looked sturdy, and the wide pathway seemed stable. Simply walking along it should have been safe enough. However, if one was carrying a baby in one arm and holding an ax in the other while inching backward, that was a different story altogether.

Atop the pathway, a bearded man was holding off a number of approaching underlings in that manner while letting out beastly shouts.

After confirming the count of the underlings attacking the man and the baby—numbering five in total—Kaito’s eyes opened wide in rage.

You’re kidding me! A flaming sword’s not gonna be enough for me to deal with that many!

“Now then, what’s the plan? Luck seems to be against you right from the onset. It would not be wholly reasonable to abandon them to their fate and flee, but… Hmm, if you did that, would that entail a deferment of our bet from earlier? While it would be fun to watch you die, it would also be a bit of a waste.”

Vlad spoke, uninterested. Kaito, frozen in place, clicked his tongue as he racked his brain.

Even without using the sword, I know how to materialize fire. But as to whether or not I can muster enough firepower to reach the five of them… Yeah, I’ve got no confidence in that regard. And if my surprise attack fails, they’ll gang up on me. What can I do that would be effective?

As he was thinking, the underlings were extending their ivy forward. The bearded man swung his ax even more frantically—as he’d apparently been doing up until then—and barely managed to repel the vines. However, he looked dangerously close to stepping off the path.

At this rate, more people were going to die. The negative emotions assailing Kaito’s brain won out over the tension running through his body. As his rage reached its limit and straightened out his thoughts, he came upon an idea.

Then he screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Hey, assholes! Over here! Look this way!”

The underlings turned to look, as did the bearded man. Vlad’s voice rang with exasperation.

“Well, well, well, what exactly do you think you’re doing?”

“Shove it!”

The underlings, unsure of who to attack, stopped for a moment. Kaito, seizing that opportunity, banished Vlad from his thoughts and dove into their midst. He then took the ruby spiral’s edge and pressed it against his throat. The jewels, magically stretched long and thin, were as sharp as razors.

Kaito then spun them once around his neck. Blood splashed in all directions, drenching the underlings.

Kaito imagined the pain in his throat transmitting to the blood and then shouted.

“La (burn)!”

The blood burst into flames. The underlings began burning up, and Vlad roared with amused laughter.

“I see, I see, so you had that method available to you! Absurd as it is to wound oneself, I see it was quite effective! You’re an even more forward-thinking fool than I expected!”

Annoyed, Kaito kicked one of the burning underlings in the flank and sent it tumbling down the side of the cliff.

The bearded man, suddenly understanding the situation, brought the back of his ax to bear on the underling closest to him. After watching to make sure it had properly fallen, Kaito turned his blade on an underling who wasn’t burning as bright as the others and ran it through.

Eventually, all that was left of the underlings were scorched corpses.

“Looks like…I pulled it off.”

As blood dripped down his neck, Kaito was overcome by dizziness and knelt on the spot. The bearded man frantically rushed over to him. As he adjusted his grip on the crying baby, he called out to Kaito.

“Hey, you! Are you okay?!”

“Yeah…I’m fine. My soul won’t vanish just from losing this much blood.”

“Can’t say I followed a word of that, but…you saved us! You saved my buddy’s daughter! I wasn’t able to protect her on my own. Thank you, son.”

The man roughly grabbed Kaito’s hand. But as he was about to shake it up and down, he stopped. He seemed to have noticed the deep cut on Kaito’s palm. The man eyes widened as he spoke.

“Son…you’re drenched in blood.”

Kaito didn’t hear him.

A violent, metallic noise like thunder rang out above their heads.

As if he’d been called, Kaito lifted his head and looked toward the top of the mountain. At the location where the Church brand office had once stood, hundreds of chains glittered as they burst forth.

At that moment, admiration and yearning shone in Kaito’s eyes.

As he spoke her name, his tone was like that of a child extolling a hero.

“…Elisabeth.”

The beautiful girl who brought judgment down upon demons was standing in front of the giant flower.

Rusted nails were piercing through the base of the flower, where its roots were the thickest. As she stood atop it, her dress fluttered in the wind.

Chains were wrapped around the body of the flower, encircling it again and again. The tongue in the center of the petals was being crushed by a sturdy iron wheel. The flower trembled, unable to spit out its heart.

From the back of its throat, it let out a bestial moan. The resulting wind pressure blew back Elisabeth’s hair. However, her expression showed no signs of changing. She whispered, her crimson eyes focused on the hideous flower.

“You tyrannized others, took from them, and killed them, and in the end, you had everything taken from you. Ironic, is it not?”

“Elithabebebebebeeeeeeeeeeeth!”

“Worry not, Grand Earl. I, the Torture Princess, shall grant you a punishment and death befitting your life.”

Elisabeth held the Executioner’s Sword of Frankenthal before her face, like a knight.

Likely terrified by the premonition of inescapable death, the flower petals’ sepals writhed as they shot out seeds and saliva-like nectar. While most of them got flicked away by the chains, some of them were saved by their mucus and managed to slip out of the loop. The seed shells closed in on Elisabeth. However, before they could reach her, she leaped high into the air.

As she elegantly glided through the air, Elisabeth swung her sword, as if trying to rend the very sky.

“Pied Piper of Hamelin!”

Crimson flower petals and a vortex of darkness painted over the gray clouds. The sky turned an ominous color, the black and crimson joining at its center. Then something came from within, making a comical whizzing sound as it fell.

A round iron cage plopped down on top of the flower.

Rats began raining down around the cage.

Kaito, not having anticipated that ridiculous sight, instinctively tilted his head to the side.

“…Rats?”

The rats squeaked as they ran about. Some of them were eating the seeds that had fallen about, their eyes glittering with satisfaction. However, none of them were larger than normal, and they seemed rather harmless. Right as that thought went through Kaito’s mind, the sound of a loud pipe became audible.

He then saw Elisabeth sitting atop the cage and playing a transverse flute. From just looking at her closed eyes, serene expression, and elegant finger movements, she was the very image of a proper young lady.

Wait, she knows how to play that? …And for that matter, where’d she pull that from?

As Kaito pondered those questions, the rats looked up in unison, their noses twitching. In tune with the jaunty rhythm, they squeaked and ran up the root in a line with their tails pointed straight up. Their destination was a small heart-shaped door on the side of the cage.

The rats energetically piled in. For some reason, they resembled a mob of children, scrambling to be the first ones into a domed theater.

As the last rat entered, the door closed. Slabs of metal clanged as they barred it and sealed the entrance.

“Now then, it’s showtime!”

Elisabeth spun her pipe in a circle. It transformed into the Executioner’s Sword of Frankenthal.

As she tapped the tip of her sword against the metal cage, a crimson flower garden spread across it. When she tapped the cage a second time, the flowers burst into flames, like candles on a cake.

Elisabeth then shrugged, stood up, and returned from the top of the cage to the head of the nail she’d been on previously.

At first, it was quiet. The flowers quietly continued to burn atop the cage. However, before long, things inside the cage got noisy.

Kaito, finally realizing the comical method by which the torture worked, recoiled in horror.

The heat is circulating through the cage.

The rats, unable to bear the heat from above, began fleeing downward.

They bit and chewed their way through the petals and into the flower.

And the entire flower was made out of the Grand Earl’s flesh.

A scream rang out. The rats gnawed their way farther into the flower. Their tiny mouths ripped into the petals, ripped into the sepals, ripped into the stem, and caused the Grand Earl to faint in agony. Putrid nectar spilled forth from within it. Suddenly, though, something wholly unforeseen followed and came out as well.

It was a naked, elderly man.

The man, drenched in nectar, was no doubt the Grand Earl’s original form. In seemed that in accordance with the Grand King’s orders, he’d caused his fused form to swell up while hiding his proper body within the flower. A needle was stuck in his neck. Even so, he blinked and looked down reverently at his restored body. He tried to thank Elisabeth.

Pitter-patter, pitter-patter. Rats came raining down around him.

“…Huh?”

“Grand Earl, you do realize that this is torture, yes? There will be no saving you. You shall simply die in agony.”

Hearing her gentle warning, the man’s eyes went flush with shock. As they did, the rats began gnawing at his shoulders, gnawing at his ears, and gnawing at his nose.

One after another, the rats filled the man’s body with holes as they burrowed deeper.

He grabbed rats like mad and hurled them away. However, their numbers proved far too great for him.

As the rats rained down in succession, they gnawed at him as if he were a block of cheese.

“Aah! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

The Grand Earl’s screams were hoarse and monosyllabic. He began dancing like a madman at the pain. His urine, blood, and chunks of flesh spilled out and mixed with the nectar at his feet. However, Elisabeth showed no signs of granting him pity.

Just as she’d said, there would be no salvation for him.

Eventually, the Grand Earl collapsed where he stood.

A few rats made their way into his exposed stomach. One dug out his eyeballs, and another made its way inside his skull. The rats had eaten through almost the entirety of both his body and the flower. Having eaten their fill, they rolled about, their original task all but forgotten. All at once, black feathers scattered into the air.

The roots, which had crept throughout the town, were all transforming into feathers. The underlings loitering among them, having lost the support of their demonic master’s mana, collapsed one after another, their innards having likely caved in.

Like an out-of-season snowfall, the black feathers poured down upon the seaside town.

One woman stood as she basked in them, as fiercely sinister as she was beautiful.

The bearded man rubbed his eyes repeatedly. Beside him, Kaito removed his gaze from Elisabeth and surveyed his surroundings. Seeing that the underlings’ corpses had crumbled into dust, a smile spread across his face. But then something he saw out of the corner of his eye made his face freeze.

As Kaito’s entire body stiffened, the bearded man murmured in shock.

“What…what in the world…? What could that…? I mean, what’s happening?”

“Don’t worry about it… Just take that kid and run for the remains of the Church’s office! Now that the demon’s dead, the land should be safe. Just hurry and get as high up as you can!”

“Wait, but what are you going to do, son? You’re covered in blood…”

“Don’t worry about me, just go! Hurry, before…”

Struggling against the dizziness that still ate at his mind, Kaito rose to his feet. He glared at the putrid crimson sea.

Either due to having noticed the Grand Earl’s death or due to having received prior orders from the Grand King, a change was occurring in the corpse-filled sea. Kaito spoke, his expression grim.

“…before the tsunami hits.”

The crimson sea was slowly receding.

The flesh-colored jellyfish, the Grand Duke, smiled at its center.

“Hey, Elisabeth! Did you see what’s going on with the sea? What’re we gonna do?!”

“Master Kaito, Lady Elisabeth! Are you two all right?”

“Good job finding us, Hina! How were the kids?”

“I used floral scents to calm them down and get them to sleep. Then, Master Kaito, I followed the smell of your blood and arrived here! Your blood has a sweet smell to it, you see.”

“The fact that you know what my blood smells like is convenient but also kinda creepy.”

“Eeeeeeeeeeeek! Master Kaito, your wounds! You’re even more wounded than before! Damn you, demons, even if you all fell into Hell, I would never forgive you! May you all die another two thousand deaths! If they had graves, then I should like to go defile them right—”

“Settle down, you lot. You’re worsening my headache, which is no mean feat.”

Hearing Kaito and Hina’s vigorous exchange, Elisabeth was pressing down on her forehead.

There was nothing to block their view. The only thing before them was the crimson sea, transformed as it was into a pulpy corpse soup.

The three of them had gathered at the lighthouse overlooking the sea from the edge of the cape.

The first floor of the building, which had been constructed from pure-white stone, contained the lighthouse keeper’s lodging. The second floor was where the fuel was kept, and atop the cylindrical building was long iron scaffolding where the fire was lit. Seashells and colored tiles were embedded in the spiral staircase winding around the tower, and a statue of a holy woman shedding tears of blood hung beside the fire basket.

Based on how tall and decorative it was, that lighthouse was likely one of the town’s symbolic buildings.

After watching Elisabeth leave behind the remains of the flower to travel there, Kaito had hurriedly followed her. Hina arrived right as he did.

The situation was chaotic, and as the two of them hurried after Elisabeth, she studied the sea’s transformation. The jellyfish was sucking in the viscous seawater, causing it to recede. Each time it did, its translucent cap swelled even further past its limit.

“Ah…so that’s it.”

Elisabeth crossed her arms. The runes stretching across her pale skin, up from her wrist to her shoulder and exposed sides, were an even deeper shade of crimson than they’d been before her fight with the Grand Earl.

“No demon with the power to cause a natural disaster has yet descended to our world. This tsunami shan’t be caused by a tectonic shift; rather, that rotting jellyfish, the Grand Earl, plans to store seawater within its body and then violently release everything at once.”

“Is there any way we can stop it?”

“If we kill it before then, the water it’s stored shall likely still result in great waves, but the damage can be minimized. However, if it’s able to expel the water as planned, a town of this size will be washed away.”

“All the more reason to kill it right away.”

“However, therein lies the problem. The jellyfish is far out at sea, and any ship we could use to reach it has long since degraded. Attacking it directly is impossible. Even launching missiles with a catapult would not be effective at this range, and given my current mana situation, the odds it could repel such an attack are high. That being the case, our best option is execution by animal.”

Elisabeth snapped her fingers. Darkness and crimson flower petals swirled in the air.

The black and crimson converged and then burst. From there, a large, beautiful raven spread its wings. The wise, sly-eyed bird sat respectfully atop the metal fixtures on Elisabeth’s arm.

“With this, our ability to damage it is assured. However, using this method will take time. Transforming even a few of these to be able to inflict instant death would require more mana than I currently possess… Truly, this design is infuriating. Now then, what to do.”

Elisabeth lightly bit her lip. While she did, the tide was receding farther, and the jellyfish continued to swell.

Glaring at the sea with her emerald eyes, Hina raised her voice.

“If it is as you say, would it not be best to withdraw to the castle for now? Most of the town’s residents have already evacuated. Even if the buildings are washed away and destroyed, the loss of life will be minimal. We could even use the ruins as footing. If we left now and returned later, we could obtain much better conditions for our rematch.”

“Aye, if only we could. But should I overlook so much as the destruction of one little town, I would likely be estranged by the Church. Such are the restrictions placed on a shackled hound. ’Tis most troubling indeed.”

As he listened to Elisabeth and Hina talk, Kaito turned his eyes down and ruminated. Everything about the situation was terrible. The Church was placing unreasonable demands on Elisabeth. However, as far as the matter of fleeing went, Kaito too was against it.

If we flee now, even though the damages will be minimal, people will still die.

Kaito had told the man from before to escape to high ground. However, there were likely others who hadn’t made it to shelter. There were probably also people who were injured and unable to leave. That said, though, even Kaito could tell that Elisabeth was running low on mana. She couldn’t do the impossible.

What to do, what to do, what to do…? Think. At the end of the day, is there anything I can do here?

Or was he simply as powerless as always, unable to do anything?

The sea roared.

As it did, Kaito felt his eardrums tensing up. All sounds seemed distant to him. The change in his surroundings wasn’t due to any spiritual abnormality on his part. His consciousness was growing dim due to blood loss. He felt the blood dripping down his neck and sticking to his clothes, and his skin grew oddly hot.

Kaito instinctively turned his attention to the unpleasant heat. It crawled along his body and reached the stone in his pocket, and the blue roses within began burning. Right as he realized what the sensation was, the phantasmal hand landed on his shoulder once more. He could distinctly feel the hand’s cold weight.

“Now then, what to do indeed, my dear successor?”

The sweet, honeyed whisper reverberated in Kaito’s ear.

The hand snapped its fingers.

Before he knew it, Kaito was standing alone in the darkness. Before him sat the extravagant beast-bone chair, replete with pelts.

Vlad sat upon it, gently stroking the skull armrests with the arrogance of a king.

His nobleman’s coat fluttered as he rose from the chair. As the soles of his shoes clicked against the ground, he spoke in a familiar yet dignified voice.

“Given the situation you’re in, shall I continue my lecture? I believe I mentioned it to you already. You can use your own pain as a fulcrum to ignite the mana within your body, but the magic that method will unlock for you is tragically limited. Creating mana itself from the pain of others is far more efficient. In order to do that, you must either consume the meat of a demon…or summon one yourself.”

Vlad looked at Kaito, gauging his response. However, Kaito offered no answer. Vlad shrugged and then resumed walking.

He waved his white gloved hands in the air like a conductor.

“Hearing that all of a sudden no doubt leaves a vague impression. To that end, I’m going to give you a chance to test it out. After all, I am something akin to your teacher. And what is a teacher if not one who looks after their pupils?”

“…”

“I and he no longer have any relation to each other. However, even without a contract and even with my death having caused him to return to a higher dimension, we spent enough time united that I can at least reach his tail. Demons feast on the pain of men. Using him, even if all you can manage is to reduce the pain you just felt into mana, it should prove rather interesting indeed. Now then, time for your real practical exam!”

Vlad stopped in his tracks and then clapped his hands loudly. Sparing not a thought to the possibility of Kaito refusing him, Vlad turned to him and made his theatrical declaration.

“At this moment, you shall take your first step toward greatness!”

“Man, you just love the sound of your own voice, don’t ya?”

For the first time since he’d arrived in the darkness, Kaito spoke. His voice was low and hollow.

As he looked at Vlad, Kaito’s eyes were full of fierce animosity. Vlad smiled and then tilted his head as if to ask Kaito what he planned to do.

Of course, Kaito had already made up his mind.

He took a step forward. He felt as though the young red-haired boy who had wished him happiness was watching him. The boy looked at him with eyes that questioned whether or not Kaito was really okay with this and a gaze full of worry and reproach.

Yeah, Neue, I know. This is a mistake.

Understanding that, Kaito spoke.

“If you’ve got something I can use, then hand it over already. I need it, for the sake of my future.”

“A most splendid answer!”

The next moment, Vlad reached out his hand and thrust it inside Kaito, into his very soul.

Kaito could feel a hand squish around in his abdomen.

He was assailed by a sharp pain as azure flower petals and darkness swirled around his organs.

A sinister light flashed behind his eyes, and his nasal cavity was filled with a sharp animal stench. A roar rang in his ears, and his leg brushed against high-quality fur. He could feel canine footsteps vibrate throughout his whole body, as they were causing the ground to shake and the air to vibrate.

Finally, he felt damp, rusty breaths near his face.

Is it sniffing me?

The first-rate hound was appraising the being before it.

It was checking to see if it was a person or if it was food.

…And then…

“Congratulations. You passed the first test.”

Before he’d noticed, Vlad had vanished from the darkness. A black dog’s tail, unconnected to anything, was dangling in the air in front of Kaito.

Dumbfounded, he raised his palm. Then, using the pain gathered within it—not just his but the pain he’d magically caused in the underlings, as well—Kaito grabbed onto the tail.

Geh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh, fu-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh, geh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh.

He could hear humanlike laughter.

Then Kaito opened his eyes.

“…Huh?”

When he came to his senses, Kaito found himself back on the roof of the lighthouse.

The crimson sea was still spread out before him. There was nearly no change in the position of the tide. Apparently, not much time had passed. Elisabeth and Hina, their faces grim, were still carrying on their discussion.

“Then, what if we were to develop the animal execution and the catapult simultaneously?”

“It will be rough, but that seems to be the best option… Failure is a possibility, but there’s nothing to be done for that.”

As he blinked, Kaito looked Elisabeth over. The force within her body was definitely weakened. However, it still boasted a thorny, dark, roselike beauty to it.

When I look closely, I can see that even now she has enough mana that I wouldn’t normally even be in the same league as her… That’s the Torture Princess for you. Now, as for me…

Kaito looked down at his hand. He could still clearly feel the velvety sensation of the black dog’s tail in it. Furthermore, there were sticky black hairs mixed in with blood pouring out from the wound.

Huh…I guess that really wasn’t a dream.

Frowning, he focused his attention on the uncomfortable sensation and checked the quantity of new mana swirling within his body. His calculations functionally amounted to sticking his hand in a pool of water to tell how deep it was. When he was finished, he nodded.

All right, with this, I can pull it off.

Kaito silently drew near Elisabeth and then touched the back of the large raven roosting on her arm. He ran his hand along its beautiful feathers, as if he were comforting it. His blood stained its feathers, and the dog hairs extending from his palm twined around its wings.

As he did, its spine began to warp.

As the violent magical energy forced its way inside, the raven underwent a transformation.

“Hmm? …Wh—?!”

Elisabeth looked up with a start. When she saw how the raven had mutated, she looked as though she’d been punched in the gut. After she looked doubtfully at Kaito, her eyes gradually filled with comprehension and rage.

“Kaito, you wretch…!”

Elisabeth’s arm shot out like an arrow, and she grabbed Kaito by the collar.

As she did, the raven’s transformation continued. For an instant, hellfire burned in its jet-black eyes. Its small, slender face burbled and squirmed horrifically and transformed into that of a hound.

The raven was on the verge of resembling a gargoyle, with the head and torso of a beast and the wings of a bird. However, the transformation settled into a gentler configuration. At the end, the raven was left several times larger than it had been originally, with enormous wings, cruel talons, and a sharp beak.

It was a creature without peer, one who readily resembled raven royalty.

The raven flapped its wings boastfully. Elisabeth, on the other hand, was trembling with anger. She raised her arms, and Kaito’s toes dangled in the air. She screamed in rage.

“What have you done?! What is that power?! Where did you obtain it?!”

“Wait, Elisabeth…more importantly… Could you make three more of the base birds? With my technique, I can strengthen them, but I can’t make them from scra—”

“You fool! There are some things you mustn’t involve yourself with. Who knew you were so insipid?!”

“I haven’t…obtained it…yet… It’s supposed to be…a trial…”

“This is preposterous… Vlad should be dead! Why, then?”

“Elisa…beth… We can talk later. Now, we should focus on the ravens. At this rate, both of us are gonna be in deep shit.”

Kaito made his argument dispassionately. As she looked at his calm—and in a sense, insane—demeanor, Elisabeth ground her teeth and roughly set him down.

Coughing, Kaito gave a light nod.

Yeah, that makes sense… I expected her to be pissed.

Everything, including Elisabeth’s reaction, was unfolding within the bounds of his expectations. He had no reason to be afraid. Feeling another pair of eyes on him, Kaito turned. For some reason, Hina looked to be on the verge of tears. Unsure of how to respond to her, he elected to wave to her.

He then turned his gaze back to Elisabeth, serious. She was clicking her tongue, her face twisted in anger. However, frustrated as her expression was, she once more called forth the swirl of darkness and petals.

“After this, I expect you to tell me everything. And should you refuse to talk, I’ll break out the thumbscrews.”

As she made her furious declaration, Elisabeth created ravens one after another. Insisting that he’d confess without need for torture, Kaito touched their backs as though baptizing them.

Eventually, the four kingly ravens were completed.

“Sky Burial.”

As Elisabeth spoke, the four birds took off in a circular formation. They flapped their wings harder than any raven should have been able to, crossing the sea and closing in on the jellyfish.

The four of them perched atop its translucent flesh and then dug their talons in and grabbed. They then each flew off in a cardinal direction.

The jellyfish’s skin tore, and seawater and bodily fluids came spilling out.

“Urgh… Ah, ahhhhhhhhh, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

The jellyfish screamed as it writhed in agony. However, even with the flesh pulled to its limit and starting to rip, the ravens showed no signs of stopping. As the jellyfish lost more and more seawater and fluid, it eventually ripped open into four sections resembling flower petals.

Massive decomposing chunks of flesh were expelled and floated gently on the water’s surface.

At the same time, the seawater it had vomited out rushed violently toward the lighthouse.

“Hold tight! ’Tis every man for himself!”

On Elisabeth’s mark, the three of them leaped into action.

The wave of seawater that had billowed forth from the jellyfish was taller than the lighthouse. If they’d been ordinary people, they would have had no choice but to simply be engulfed and swept away.

All three of them grabbed hold of the sturdy saint statue and used their mana to help fix themselves in place. Countless corpses washed by them as the bloody water rushed up and surrounded them.

Hey, if this is all there is, then we’ll probably get away with only a couple of the buildings on the coastline getting washed away!

As he desperately held his breath, Kaito felt relieved at that.

Then a fish locked eyes with him.

Upon further inspection, while it was indeed a fish, it was also not. It was swimming easily against the current, and it looked at Kaito and the others with a solemn male human face.

In fact, human faces were sprouting all over its fat body.

There was no vitality whatsoever in its dull eyes. It slowly opened its plump, odious lips.

Then the human-faced fish spat out its heart.

“……………Huh?”

A certain scene flashed back across Kaito’s mind.

A naked man had been inside the Grand Earl’s flower. He’d hidden his real body within the petals. However, after the Grand Duke’s jellyfish had been ripped open, nothing like that was there.

If the Grand King had forced the Grand Duke to change even his form and ordered him to vomit out his heart…

And if the flashy show the Grand Earl and Grand Duke put on had all been a trap…

“Elisabeth!”

The heart ruptured. Hundreds of arms passed through the wave and swam through the water.

The crimson arms latched onto Elisabeth. All the power went out of her body. Kaito quickly grabbed her from behind before she was swept away by the wave. However, his own hand was about to slip off the saint statue.

“Master Kaito!”

With astounding reflexes and grip strength, Hina caught him by the collar with one hand.

Before long, the torrent of water passed. The rooftop was riddled with crimson puddles and piles of dead fish. Kaito shook Elisabeth’s limp body as it lay slumped over on the ground. As Hina ran her drainage systems, she knelt beside them.

“Elisabeth! Elisabeth, c’mon, snap out of it!”

“Lady Elisabeth, please respond! Lady Elisabeth!”

She didn’t reply. She had fought so heroically, yet she gave no response to their cries.

The jellyfish’s body, torn but not collapsed, was transforming into black feathers. Eventually, they collapsed in a surge and floated gently down onto the crimson sea. Azure flames burned atop the waves.

The subjugation of the Grand Earl and Grand Duke was complete.

And as for the result of the battle, Kaito and company had lost.