Fremd Torturchen - Volume 5 - Chapter 8

8

The Butcher’s Story

Kaito and the others ran atop the narrow pathway that sat between the two fissures. Bottomless abysses lay on either side. One wrong step and they would be swallowed up by the unknowable darkness.

They dashed quickly but carefully. The dark blob in the distance slowly but surely grew closer, eventually revealing the silhouette of a familiar back. In a way, it really did look lonely.

It feels kinda like he’s waiting for someone who’ll never come.

As he quickened his pace even further, Kaito felt a strange pressure coming from ahead. It was like a wind was blowing up from the bottom of the pit. However, the air around him didn’t seem to be moving an inch.

Now that he thought about it, the snow had stopped falling as well. The atmosphere was frozen over and tense.

It felt as though the whole world were holding its breath.

I guess this really is the moment that the world was waiting for.

However, he didn’t know what it was waiting for in particular. He didn’t know what would happen, or what would become clear, once they reached the Saint’s Apostle, either. In fact, he didn’t even have proof that they’d be able to find out where the Saint really was.

Even so, he kept on running. Eventually, as he closed in on the figure’s back, he called out to it.

“Butcher!”

“Why, if it isn’t Mr. Dim-Witted Servant, Madam Elisabeth, and Ms. Lovely Maid! And the rest of you fine people, you’re all here!”

The Butcher did a little hop. His reply was no different from normal, as though he’d been out on a stroll and had just happened to bump into them. It was not a response anyone had expected.

Perplexed, Kaito came to a stop. Everyone else did the same. Hina’s expression was just as confused as his, and Lute scrunched up his snout and made no efforts to hide his wariness. Elisabeth frowned in displeasure.

Jeanne, bringing up the rear, wore a serene expression on her face.

Not looking at the Butcher, her gaze was solidly fixed on the woman she was cradling in her arms.

It was Izabella, with more than 70 percent of her body supplemented with machine parts. She was adrift in a defenseless slumber.

The way Jeanne was carrying Izabella reminded Kaito of a statue from his old world called the Pietà that he’d once caught a glimpse of on television. As the Butcher looked at her, he let out a surprised cry.

“Ah, so that’s what you chose! Goodness gracious, what a surprise! I had a hunch, somehow or other, yet it’s a surprise all the same!”

“You little…”

“Humans really are intriguing creatures, I must say. They have wisdom surpassing any beast, yet at times they find themselves driven by their emotions despite knowing full well how illogical they’re being. I can’t say I hate that contradiction, mind you!”

“You knew this was gonna happen, just like the Grave Keeper did, then?”

Kaito’s voice was full of quiet rage, indicating his revulsion and fury at having been toyed with by the two of them. However, the Butcher’s demeanor didn’t change. His response was clear and prompt.

“Oh no, I just heard bits and pieces of information from my little whelp. So I figured, this is what would happen if the golden, Deus Ex Machina–wielding Torture Princess butted heads with the Grave Keeper, that’s all. She was quite the devout believer, after all, and she had a rather solid head on her shoulders. But, me oh my, I’m just glad that that delightful woman is all right!”

“You don’t get to say that!”

“I’m being entirely sincere! Back when I was trapped in the Gibbet, she was kind enough to show me concern. Wishing death on her was the furthest thing from my mind!”

“Skip the nonsense, Butcher.”

A cold voice interrupted Kaito and the Butcher’s exchange. Slipping adroitly through the group’s ranks, Elisabeth took her place at its head. She then went on, marking the Butcher as an enemy with her gaze.

“You referred to yourself as the enemy of the world. And even had you not, this entire affair began when you sold Vlad that demon meat. Was this nonsense about restructuring your desire as well? Every creature in this world may well die thanks to you. So you can skip the nonsensical rejoicing over a single woman’s survival.”

“Hmm, I must say, calling it my ‘desire’ is really quite off the mark. But I suppose you are right.”

“Yet, at the same time, you invited us here. To what end?”

The Butcher offered no answer. Instead, he began thinking to himself and turning about idly in place. As he did, his usual cross-marked sack dangled from his shoulder. Then he began humming a strange tune.

“Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho, my meats are the finest meats around! Filled with love and bravery, they’ll never let you down! Eat them and your courage will increase one millionfold! As always, I’m your friendly neighborhood Butcher! Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!”

“…!”

Kaito shuddered in spite of himself. The Butcher was acting the same as always. Given their current situation, only madness could account for that. And at the same time, a sort of melancholy struck him as well. It was the kind of pathos one would feel toward a clown atop a stage, the kind of pity one felt toward those who had no choice but to play the part of the comic.

Could it be that none of us has ever known the Butcher for who he really is?

“To the contrary, Mr. Dim-Witted Servant!”

Kaito’s gaze had apparently been enough to convey his sentiment, as the Butcher hopped up and down in protest. When he finally landed, he thrust his finger straight toward Kaito.

“I’m overfond of tall tales, it’s true, but never once have I told a lie! Thank you very much! Okay, well, there’s a small chance that I might have exaggerated a bit from time to time, and I might have told a lie here and there, but… Ahem. But the kind, adorable, lovable Butcher you’ve all come to know and love is the real deal! It merely…wasn’t all there was to me.”

“Truth, lies, they make little difference. The point where such things mattered has long since passed.”

Elisabeth offered no reaction to the gloomier words the Butcher had ended his speech with. She stepped forward, as though to demonstrate how fed up she was. Executioner’s Sword of Frankenthal glittered in her hand.

“Now, I’ve but one question for you. Where is the Saint?”

With each step she took forward, the Butcher took one back. The heel of his foot struck a hard, frozen snowflake. It slid backward a smidgen, then was soundlessly swallowed up by the darkness. The Butcher had nowhere left to run.

Elisabeth thrust Executioner’s Sword of Frankenthal toward him, then continued pressing him for answers.

“Talk. We’ve come to kill her. All the way here to the World’s End.”

“And how well you’ve done to make it here. Ah, the efficiency of your questions…how very like you, Madam Elisabeth.”

“You’d do well to understand this, Butcher: The time for buffoonery is over.”

Elisabeth’s calm retort shut the Butcher down. His glib remarks came to a complete stop. Tilting his head a smidgen to the side, the Butcher let out a docile murmur.

“…It’s over, is it?”

“We are those who know what goes on behind the stage. Never again can we return to the audience. Not even you would keep performing to no end, I suspect. Isn’t it about time to put an end to this farce?”

Elisabeth laid out her question dispassionately. But deep in her voice was a faint hint of sympathy, a fact that caused Kaito no small amount of shock. Hearing Elisabeth show sentiment toward an enemy was a rarity among rarities.

Maybe…maybe Elisabeth appreciates where he’s coming from.

Like a faithful jester, the Butcher had continued playing out his role. But perhaps he wasn’t the only one who’d chosen to become something instead of just being someone.

As he stood before the Torture Princess, the Butcher gently scratched his chin.

“I see, I see. Time to close up shop, is it? Yes, well, I suppose it is.”

“It is, isn’t it? And in following, enough playing around. Tell us what your duty was.”

“In that case, allow me to start by sharing a serious little anecdote with you.”

“Very well. Speak.”

Still training her sword on him, Elisabeth jerked her chin. The Butcher nodded, then gave a bow.

Then, as though he were laying his heart bare, he began narrating.

“Did you know, Madam Elisabeth? Fairy tales are always born from the smallest of things.”

“More of your tall tales, even now?”

“Destiny is much the same way, you see… The very shortest of memories can come to define a man’s whole life.”

Although his story seemed to have little to do with their current situation, the Butcher persisted in telling it. Serious to the last, he spoke his truth. His voice sounded strangely old and hoarse, and his tone was firm and inflexible.

Although he should have already known it, Kaito realized something all over again.

The Butcher is the Saint’s Apostle.

In other words, he’d been alive since before the world had even finished forming. In a sense, he was literally the oldest person in existence. He’d lived for far too long for the word lifetime to even begin to cover it.

In spite of that, though, the age of the memory he was laying out hadn’t worn it away in the slightest.

“Madam Elisabeth, do you have memories of your mother?”

Elisabeth replied with silence. Kaito suddenly thought back on the facts he knew. Elisabeth’s parents had died in an “unfortunate accident.” Right before it, though, there had been sightings of a massive black dog.

The Butcher peeked around behind Elisabeth. His gaze landed on Kaito and Hina.

“Mr. Dim-Witted Servant and Ms. Lovely Maid, what about…? No, I suppose not. My apologies. Whether or not one has such memories varies from person to person. It’s neither a good thing nor a bad one. But I…I have them. Not that she could truly be called my mother, that is.”

“You mean…?”

“The moment I attained consciousness in her arms, the very first things I saw… Over the course of my long, long life, not once have I ever forgotten that memory. Not once could I forget that memory.”

The Butcher’s voice was calm and quiet. Kaito sucked in his breath.

The person who created him was the Saint.

When he spoke about her, his tone remained light, but his voice grew weighty. Contained within it were hatred; grief; a vast, untarnished amount of love; and a frightening amount of passion and emotion. The scant few decades of a human’s life could never even come close to attaining such sentiment, nor were they sufficient in understanding such a feeling.

The only thing capable of swallowing up the Butcher’s emotions was the crystal-clear air.

At long last, Kaito realized something—why the snow had stopped and why the wind wasn’t blowing.

The world is waiting for the Apostle to tell his story.

“In the end, I was but a single seed of evil. A pawn without even a name to his name. And I’ve understood that fact for a long, long time.”

The Butcher took a deep breath, then exhaled. He clutched at his tattered clothes.

Then he went on, forcing the words out of his throat.

“But I saw that smile… I saw that smile.”

Just what was he saying about that expression he’d seen?

He spoke with alarming speed as he elaborated on his answer.

“It was the smile of one who had, for the first time, obtained a companion in a desolate, lonely world. It was the desperate smile of one whose absolute solitude had been broken. In that moment, she greeted me with unmistakable love. That smile was more than enough to prove that to me. And…through her tears, she spoke…”

Then, just for a moment, the Butcher trailed off. When he spoke again, it was in a voice steeped with nostalgia for a time long gone by, or perhaps one filled with the exhaustion of countless ages.

“‘Thank you for being born unto me,’ she said. That was all. And that was enough.”

In his entire monologue, not once had he explained why he’d sold the demon meat. At the same time, though, it was more than sufficient as a confession of motive.

Because he’d heard those words, the Butcher had carried out the Saint’s mad wish.

Despite knowing that it would destroy the world, he had taken the demon meat, and he had sold it.

Kaito narrowed his eyes. The Saint’s words to the Butcher had been a blessing, one filled with joy and gratitude. At the end of the day, though, he’d spent his whole life bound by them, and they’d turned him into the entire world’s enemy.

In that sense, weren’t they more like a curse, then?

Kaito was about to say as much aloud, but he stopped himself. The Butcher didn’t need to be told that. He knew. Yet, even so, those few words of hers had given his whole life meaning. If they hadn’t, he would have stopped walking down this path long ago. He had ascended past the point where regrets were still relevant.

Suddenly, the Butcher took a small breath. Then he set down the white bag on his back.

When he did, it made a small sound. Having cast aside the goods he’d carried around for so long, he spoke in a whimsical voice.

“I had fun, Madam Elisabeth, Mr. Dim-Witted Servant, Ms. Lovely Maid, really, truly, and deeply. The living cannot live without finding enjoyment in their days. And when I watched you all fight back, my, how radiant you looked. Yet… Yet, knowing full well how mad it is, there is a request I need to fulfill.”

For that shall be the evidence of my existence, the sole proof of my love for her.

As Kaito listened to the Butcher’s cryptic declaration, a certain quote resounded within his chest.

It’s a nonsensical little fairy tale, and one that’s gone on for a very, very long time.

Was the story a tragedy or a comedy? Kaito and the others had no way of knowing.

And how is the Butcher planning on bringing it to an end?

What was the mad request he was trying to fulfill?

Elisabeth shifted her sword vertically a hair. She asked her next question in a voice fully devoid of emotion.

“So? Where is this dear Saint of yours?”

“Madam Elisabeth, it brought me such joy when you saw fit to voice how delicious something was. Mr. Dim-Witted Servant… No, Mr. Kaito. The fact that you, a mere human, made it this far on conviction alone is something to be proud of. Ms. Lovely Maid…Ms. Hina. Thank you for preparing my meats so exquisitely. And congratulations on your wedding.”

The Butcher’s voice was light as he obstinately ignored Elisabeth’s question.

Her irritation was about to show on her face, but at the last moment, the corners of Elisabeth’s mouth froze. Kaito and Hina rapidly went pale as well. Lute looked around restlessly. Jeanne offered no response.

Of all the people present, those who knew the Butcher well were the only ones who realized.

Kaito and Hina took off at a dash. Elisabeth reached out with her sword-free hand.

“Butcher, no!”

“The time has come to close up shop. This marks my final task as a merchant: delivering meat.”

The Butcher didn’t, in fact, stop, instead taking off at a dash himself.

The way he ran wasn’t forward but backward. Yet, nothing lay there except darkness.

“I said so, did I not? The fairy tale must come to an end.”

Kaito’s eyes practically bulged out of their sockets.

Just as he’d thought, the last thing the Butcher had said had been his final testament.

“Tch!”

Elisabeth snapped her fingers. Having seen that her arm wouldn’t reach far enough, she summoned forth a vortex of crimson petals and darkness from the air. Her aim was unsteady, perhaps due to her agitation. However, the chains just barely managed to wrap around the Butcher’s arm.

Kaito breathed a sigh of relief. The next moment, though, blood billowed forth.

“Wh—?”

“And finally, thank you so much for your many years of patronage.”

The Butcher’s clawed left arm remained bound by the chains.

It, and it alone, dangled in the air.

The Butcher had drawn a knife from the many folds of his cloak, then severed his own arm. His body fell, as though it were being sucked in. Ribbons of blood followed him down as the abyss consumed him.

In the end, all that remained was that one arm.

Elisabeth stopped at the edge of the cliff. Hina came to an abrupt halt, too. Kaito, on the other hand, didn’t.

His momentum practically carried him over and into the abyss. Then, with his arm still outstretched, he got ready to leap into the vast darkness. Elisabeth and Hina frantically wrapped their arms around him.

They nearly ended up slipping as well, but the two of them narrowly managed to maintain their footing. They both cried out in unison.

“Get back, you dullard!”

“Master Kaito, please step back!”

“…This isn’t right.”

The words tumbled from Kaito’s mouth. As he scooted backward little by little, he tried to get his jumbled thoughts in order.

Not even he knew what he was trying to say. He didn’t know what it was he found so wrong, so abhorrent. But then, all of a sudden, he realized what it was that was filling him with such sorrow and vexation.

“Thank you for being born unto me,” she said.

No doubt it had been a happy, joyful thing. Until he met Hina, Kaito had never had anyone tell him that, either. But in the end, the Butcher had died imprisoned by his role as a seed of evil.

He’d abandoned everything he’d enjoyed, canceled out all the memories he’d collected, and swallowed up the pain of cutting away the feelings of those who’d shouted at him not to die as well as his own arm.

Could the words that had bound him really be described as love?

Hadn’t the Butcher just died after being used up without ever truly being loved by a parent?

He hadn’t even been able to live for his own sake.

And the Butcher would never get another chance at life.

“This isn’t right, goddammit!”

Kaito screamed from the depths of his soul. Tears began spilling out from the corners of his eyes.

No matter how many times he’d lost his humanity, no matter how many times he’d tasted the pain of death, Kaito hadn’t shed a single tear. But for the Butcher’s sake, he cried. He let out animalistic wails. But he received no response.

Hina gently stroked his back. Elisabeth said nothing. She merely snapped her fingers. The silver chain transformed into petals, then vanished. The Butcher’s arm descended, accompanied by crimson.

When it did, Kaito felt a faint pressure in his eardrums. He looked up with a start. Then he heard it.

“GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

A roar reverberated up from the depths of the pit, one that tore the heavens and cracked the earth.

The World’s End quaked at the terrible cry. Following the vibration of the atmosphere, cracks began running along the surface of the ice. Spiderweb-like white patterns began polluting the silvery ground. As they did, the darkness of the abyss inverted.

Something ominous was glowing at the bottom. Upon seeing it, Kaito was struck speechless.

A massive golden eyeball was floating amid the blackness. And it was staring straight at Kaito and the others.

They were peering into the abyss, and it was gazing back at them. Eventually, Kaito realized just what it was he was looking at.

There’s a monster down at the bottom.

It was a colossal creature, one that defied all reason and providence.

The monster then shifted its body, and its eye disappeared from sight. In its place, a giant jaw jutted up from the pit. As it did, Kaito understood what meat the Butcher had meant to deliver and to whom.

When he fell, he wasn’t carrying his bag.

In other words, the Butcher himself was the meat.

The Butcher had delivered his own flesh to the gigantic, presumably draconic creature.

“It awakened by consuming the Apostle? What in the blazes is it?”

Elisabeth murmured, her voice low. As she did, a massive pair of wings extended up from the pit to the sky. They were like massive, fleshy flower buds reaching for the heavens. Then, like a flower blooming, the wings unfurled.

Rejecting all constraints of gravity and volume, the dragon softly flapped them and took off into the sky.

When it did, its entire monstrous body came into view. Compared to its wings and body, its limbs were comparatively stubby. It also had no scales, which was unusual for a dragon. Its pale, pinkish flesh was fully exposed. Between that and its round shape, it called a human fetus to mind. The thin red membrane swimming in the air behind its neck made it look like it was on fire.

Jeanne narrowed her eyes. As she regarded the strange dragon, she said in almost a whisper:

“Why, if it isn’t the Legend Dragon, the supreme flesh drake… According to the literature, the male was hunted by a group spearheaded by the merchant of legend. That must be the female, then. Who’da thunk it’d survived by staying out here. Now, this, this is a fairy tale.”

“Man… Looks like those tall tales of yours were true after all.”

Kaito muttered in disbelief. He thought back to all the stories the Butcher had told seemingly half in jest. One of those stories had been about the battle against the Legend Dragon.

Although he’d dressed them up as tall tales, the Butcher had shared no small number of his memories with them.

At that moment, though, harsh winds began to blow and knocked Kaito out of his reverie.

The Legend Dragon had begun softly bending her crooked wings again. In open defiance of her own mass, she was floating gently in the air like a balloon. She cast a vast shadow atop the icy ground as she drifted.

The way she did made her look almost like a floating island. It made for a grand spectacle, one that surpassed the realm of human comprehension.

The way her reddish flesh pulsated also made it look as though she were the beating heart of the very world.

Kaito found himself once more in the harsh grip of bewilderment.

What reason did the Butcher have to want to wake up the Legend Dragon?

He probably was planning to have the Legend Dragon destroy the world, and in doing so spur on the restructuring. Massive as she was, though, she was as docile as a whale. She showed no signs of wanting to attack her surroundings. And considering their descriptor, the reason the merchants had hunted down the male probably hadn’t been to exterminate a threat but to harvest his flesh.

And the Legend Dragon just kept drifting along.

Then she slowly began turning her massive body over. Eventually, her chest entered Kaito’s frame of vision.

“Wh—?”

As it did, he let out a dumbfounded noise. He finally understood why the Butcher had woken her up.

A hard crystal had been forcibly embedded in her soft flesh.

And in the Legend Dragon’s chest, encased in the red crystal, something was sleeping.

A naked woman was floating within.

She looked as though she’d been buried within a coffin suspended in midair. She was horribly defenseless, frozen upside down and submerged naked in the bloodred liquid. Its red crisply offset her white skin.

Hina held down her hair, which was being blown about by the wind. She blinked and whispered in puzzlement:

“Is that…the Saint?”

“Man… I guess it makes sense why no one could find her.”

With that, Kaito nodded. The Saint had been hidden away in the belly of a sleeping dragon at the bottom of an abyss in a pit at the World’s End. There was no way any ordinary search party could have turned her up.

Kaito had no words; he merely looked up at the drifting dragon. The stone in his pocket containing Vlad squirmed, but he ignored it. He didn’t have time to worry about Vlad right now. The Saint they’d been seeking was floating right before their eyes.

However, Kaito didn’t have the first clue as to what to do.

So what are we supposed to do with her?

The being before them was simply too far removed from mankind’s sense of scale. Kaito gazed up at the shadow-casting giant and the woman lodged in its chest in bewilderment. And the Legend Dragon continued to drift.

However, it was then that the calm, peaceful atmosphere came to a violent end.

A low, merciless voice rang out.

“Reenactment of the Plain of Skewers: Impaled Victim.”

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!

Innumerable crimson petals scattered through the air, and countless stakes fired out from them. The silence was shattered, and blood flew through the air.

Easily over a thousand iron stakes had buried themselves in the Legend Dragon’s body.

The air violently trembled. Kaito was certain that the Legend Dragon had let out a scream, but he couldn’t hear it. It must have been at a frequency that human ears were unable to perceive.

The Legend Dragon contorted her body through the air in anguish. Stakes fell out from her trembling flesh in succession. They roared through the sky as they toppled to the ground and pierced the frozen earth. At the same time, massive amounts of blood gushed forth from the Legend Dragon’s wounds.

The fresh blood pooled wide atop the ground like a lake. However, a few of the humongous drops twitched, then halted in the air. Several orbs of blood hovered in place.

“Huh?”

“Hmph.”

The next moment, the bloody spheres shot toward Elisabeth. The path was narrow—she had nowhere to run.

At this rate, Kaito and the others would get taken down as well. But Elisabeth was the very image of composure. As she swung Executioner’s Sword of Frankenthal, darkness and crimson flower petals spread out over the chasm.

When they vanished, they left behind a web of chains that covered the hole.

Elisabeth cracked her neck in displeasure.

“I first thought of this as I watched the Butcher fall. I must say, I’m disappointed it didn’t occur to me sooner. Ho!”

Elisabeth took an acrobatic leap and landed atop the chains. Then, despite her high heels, she effortlessly dashed across their delicate iron loops. Seemingly uninterested in harming anyone except their foe, the dragon’s bloody spheres took off in pursuit. The countless crimson orbs snapped at her heels like a pack of beasts.

Elisabeth weaved a graceful, nimble dance atop the chains.

As they grazed her afterimages, the blood pellets fell down. When they came into contact with the chains, they burst into steam and then vanished into the pit.

The Legend Dragon lurched unsteadily as she let out a groan. Many of the stakes were still embedded in her flesh. In her current state, she was nothing more than a target. Kaito thought back on the story he’d just been told.

The male Legend Dragon was once hunted down by a group of merchants.

If that was the case, then there was no reason why the Torture Princess shouldn’t be able to kill the female.

Grabbing a chain, Elisabeth hoisted herself upside down. After avoiding the blood that had been aiming for her foot, she arched her back and made a soft landing. Then she mercilessly snapped her fingers once more.

“Arachnophobia.”

A new swirl of crimson and black appeared high in the sky. Two iron claws shot out of it.

Then, like the hands of a long-fingernailed woman, they each split into four and reached for the Legend Dragon.

When they did, they snatched her massive wings up by their bases, much like an innocent child would to a small animal. Their pointed tips dug into her draconic flesh as they lifted her high into the air.

Another violent tremor ran through the air, the echoes of an inaudible scream. Blood gushed forth and melted the icy ground.

The claws froze in the air, almost as though they’d heard the scream. They were finished moving. But the Legend Dragon’s weight caused her to begin sagging. Each time she did, her wings tore from their bases where the claws remained lodged. She gradually started falling faster and faster.

Then the Legend Dragon fell, her wings shredded to pieces.

When her fleshy body impacted the ground, its weight caused the earth to quake.

Tremors ran through the World’s End. This, of course, caused the skinny path Kaito and the others were standing atop to shake.

If not for the fact that they’d immediately grabbed on to the chains stretched out atop it, they very well could have toppled into the abyss. Lute collapsed onto the chains, then frantically crawled back to the path. Kaito broke out in a cold sweat and wiped it away with his fist.

“Looks…looks like we made it.”

“’Twill only get worse from here, fool! Make haste!”

Elisabeth’s angry voice rose up to meet him. Kaito blinked in astonishment.

As he did, he heard a faint popping noise. A chill ran down his spine before he even understood what it signified. The next moment, he discovered that his ominous premonition had been on the mark.

Fatal cracks had begun loudly winding across their narrow walkway.

Kaito looked up in shock. At some point, Elisabeth had finished making her way across the chains and had reached the side of the cliff opposite them. She was waving her arms atop the solid ground and shouting.

“Hurry! At this rate, you’ll be caught up when it collapses!”

“Oh, now you tell me all of a sudden!”

“It was hardly sudden, mister. That much weight comes crashin’ down, even you should be able to put two and two together.”

“Pardon me, my beloved Master Kaito! But I have no intentions of giving you up to that abyss!”

Jeanne was cradling Izabella in her arms and had already begun running. Kaito, on the other hand, had gotten a late start, so Hina scooped him up.

That moment, the ground at her feet shattered. As she carried him bridal-style, Kaito turned to look behind them. The path had started to crumble. The ice sounded like a mirror as it shattered.

The fragments glittered as they descended into the darkness.

Kaito succumbed to his primal fear and gulped. Hina shot forward, accelerating like a bullet.

Lute had originally been behind her, which meant that he was now in front as they ran for dear life. However, due to the weight of his winter gear, his footsteps were sluggish. Hina caught up with him in the blink of an eye.

After thinking for a moment, she shifted Kaito to under her arm.

“Master Kaito, this may be somewhat uncomfortable, but I ask that you bear with me! And, Mr. Lute, pardon me!”

“Oh my!”

Hina reached her free arm out and snatched Lute up by his burly back. Surprised by her strength, Lute let out a little yelp. Then he reflexively flattened his ears and tucked in his tail.

The walkway continued loudly crumbling. If they slowed down even a little, the abyss would swallow them up.

“Ha!”

Hina kicked off hard against the ground. The hem of her maid uniform flared out, and the glimmering ice beneath her feet shattered. She skidded as she landed, scattering snowflakes in her wake.

The two adult men in her arms screamed. However, their screams were drowned out by a loud clattering noise.

Kaito and Lute cautiously looked backward.

The thin path between the two crevices had vanished without a trace. Now that the obstruction was gone, the two ravines had joined together like a single vast river. Beyond it was the pit with the chains stretched over the parts of it still visible.

Lute shook his entire body, and the fur on his cheeks stood up straight.

“Th-that was a rather close shave… To think that Ms. Hina would end up having to carry me. Good gracious, how embarrassing. I do thank you, though. Never shall I forget this debt I owe you.”

“Th-thanks, Hina… Seems like you’re always saving my ass, doesn’t it? Now…”

Kaito stared hard, trying to make out what was happening on the other side of the pit.

The Legend Dragon was over there, writhing in a lake of her own blood. Eventually, the fierce convulsions running through her body stopped. The red gem in her chest continued glowing unabated.

The pale woman was still sleeping inside, like an insect trapped in amber.

In a daze, Kaito thought back to what Jeanne had once told him.

“Our salvation lies in murdering Diablo, murdering God, and, yes, murdering a human.”

“Is it…is it time?”

For now, the Saint had fallen to a place where they could kill her.

As he stood atop the World’s End, Kaito Sena thought to himself.

The end was finally upon them. All they had to do was kill the Saint, just like they’d originally planned.

Ever since he’d heard the Butcher’s lonely soliloquy, every positive thought he’d had about the Saint had vanished. The very fact that the person who’d destroyed the world and built it anew still lived was unnatural.

Now, mankind would lose the Saint, and the world would avoid destruction. And they would all live happily ever after.

The fairy tale would finally end.

Will it, though?

“Now, then, I aim to proceed! Feel free to stay there, you lot; you’d be hindrances at best!”

“Please wait. I, too, shall come… Or rather, allow me to join you, Torture Princess!”

Elisabeth called out from the opposite cliffside, and Jeanne replied. Despite her expressionless visage, though, she seemed troubled as she cast her gaze down at the woman in her arms. Izabella was sleeping like a baby.

Jeanne gently stroked her mostly metal cheek. Then she whispered quietly.

“My dear little lady.”

Then, lifting her head, Jeanne looked at Lute. He’d gotten down from Hina’s arm and was currently sitting cross-legged on the ground. Jeanne slowly approached him. He quickly stood up, his fur standing on end to illustrate his wariness. Jeanne stopped directly in front of him, then quietly held out Izabella.

Lute seemed bewildered. However, his fur settled down, and he took Izabella from her.

Jeanne softly brushed Izabella’s silver hair from her face. Then she gave Lute her quiet request.

“Of the three of you, your arms seem the thickest and most comfortable, mister. I leave her in your hands. Please do not let her go. She is very precious to me. Not that she herself knows, mind you. Hell, she’d probably find it a bother! But hey, that’s first love for ya, am I right?”

“Precious…you say. I understand. Then on my name as Lute, I shall protect her to the last! Hmm?”

Being a devoted husband himself, Lute must have been moved by Jeanne’s words. His ears and tail sprang up as he acquiesced. At the very end, though, it seemed like he remembered the fact that Jeanne had severely wounded him not long ago.

Lute hmmed to himself and scrunched up his snout. As he did, Jeanne faced him and bowed deeply.

“You have my sincere thanks.”

Kaito and Hina felt a slight shock. It was the first time they’d ever seen the golden Torture Princess act so admirably. Lute’s voice got caught in his throat for a moment before he replied with a docile nod.

“Think nothing of it. I may bear resentment toward you, but that has nothing to do with Madam Izabella. And grudge or not, I can hardly forsake another’s beloved. If you would entrust her to me, then I will see to it that she remains safe.”

“Again, you have my gratitude. Thanks a million, li’l pupper.”

“Learn when to stop talking, will you?!”

As Lute shouted angrily at her, Jeanne turned around and broke into a run. Hurrying toward Elisabeth, she dashed alongside the rim of the hole. Her radiant honey-blond splendor gradually grew distant. Kaito remained where he stood.

If he went, he’d probably just be in the way. All that was left was for the two of them to lower the curtain.

The Kaiser was silent, seemingly having lost interest in the way things were proceeding. The stone in Kaito’s pocket was flaring up as usual, but now wasn’t a great time to have a conversation with Vlad.

Kaito’s gaze was fixed firmly on the woman within the red jewel.

She was still far away, but thanks to the Legend Dragon’s collapse, she was now a good deal closer. She looked utterly defenseless. All they had to do was kill her, and the nightmarish turmoil regarding the world’s restructuring would finally come to an end.

Will it, though?

However, doubt still welled up unbidden in Kaito’s mind.

All of a sudden, he noticed that his heart was palpitating strangely. Sweat was dripping from his entire body. Discomfited, he lost track of his thoughts. Then he pressed down against his forehead.

“Master Kaito? My dear Master Kaito, whatever is the matter? Your face is ever so pale.”

“No, no… I’m fine. It’s nothing… I think it’s nothing.”

Hina worriedly stroked his brow. As he felt the soft sensation of her fingertips, Kaito replied. Deep in his mind, though, his childish self was asking his rational self an innocent question.

Will it really, really, really, though?

No, you’re right. Something’s off. But what?

Kaito couldn’t really put his finger on it. But his discomfort raged on, beating incessantly against the inside of his skull. He found himself lost in the strange sensation. It wasn’t that he wanted to stop them from killing the Saint. At the moment, it was the correct choice to make. But something was off.

Will this really, really, really bring everything to a close? Do I really believe that?

You’re a big dumb-dumb! his inner child crowed.

Think about it carefully, the rational part of his brain murmured.

And now that he considered it, there were a number of questions that he and the others had more or less ignored.

Why did the Grave Keeper bring Izabella to us like that? Why did she give Elisabeth her blessings, then offer no resistance and practically kill herself off? Why did the Butcher invite us here? Why did he specifically wait for us to arrive before waking up the Legend Dragon?

Then, upon noticing another fact he’d overlooked, Kaito went pale.

The various races had each received a letter, and in the letter had been a certain phrase.

“The beginning, the middle, and the end all lie in the palm of His hand. If you wish to reject those words, make for the World’s End.”

But we were the only ones the Butcher didn’t send it to.

Perhaps that fact signified something truly terrible.

And at the same time, a question he had failed to consider up until then crossed Kaito’s mind.

The Butcher had claimed that the whole uproar about restructuring hadn’t been his desire. The Apostle and the fanatics had simply been trying to grant the Saint’s wish. But had anyone ever said that the restructuring itself was what the Saint had been wishing for?

That fundamental problem now pierced through Kaito’s brain. He frantically dug through his memories.

That’s right—it was the Grave Keeper!

She’d said that “God and the Saint have been seeking this restructuring for many ages.” But was the restructuring itself really her true desire? Wasn’t it also a possibility that the reconstructing was simply a natural part of the process involved in granting her true wish?

If that was the case, though, then what did the Saint actually wish for?

“Ah!”

At that moment, Kaito’s thoughts were forcefully interrupted. An incredible amount of heat was coming off the stone in his pocket. He was about to click his tongue in annoyance, but then he realized something.

Vlad’s never been this insistent about wanting to come out before.

So what could it be that Vlad wanted to tell him?

Kaito hurriedly ran mana through the stone. Azure petals and black darkness fluttered up through the air. When they vanished, they left behind a man in aristocratic attire. Unlike usual, he didn’t move to strike a dramatic pose.

Vlad’s limbs dangled loose as he turned to face Kaito. Upon getting a look at Vlad’s crimson eyes, Kaito gulped. Fierce madness and burning thoughts were swirling within Vlad’s gaze.

“…Why?”

“Um…”

“Why did you so obstinately refuse to let me out until now, my dear successor?”

“M-my bad. I had no idea you actually had something you wanted to tell me.”

“Well, what’s done is done. And perhaps it’s fine. I’ve yet to get all my thoughts in order.”

Vlad ignored Kaito’s apology and began mumbling to himself. He clutched at his raven locks like a man possessed. As he ruined his normally impeccable hairdo, he started laying out his thoughts.

“If one is lost, they need but retrace their steps. Where did the malaise originate? Right, from the Grave Keeper’s words and deeds. It seems that we’ve all been dancing atop the Saint’s palm. Since when, though? The golden Torture Princess was created to stave off the restructuring. Was that part of her design? Or was it not?”

Another chill ran down Kaito’s spine. That wasn’t something he had even considered.

There were those who’d worked to bring about the restructuring and those who’d worked to prevent it. What had the Saint thought of each of the groups?

“When the alchemists created their golden Torture Princess, they were aware of the black Torture Princess and used her as a reference. However, there was no need for there to be two of them. The alchemists could just as easily have gone to the ebony Torture Princess and sought out her aid. They hadn’t expected her to exist, and they chose not to rely on her. They had their pride, after all; it was the sole end their clan had been living toward. Instead, they tried to have their golden Torture Princess take the black Torture Princess on as a follower, and in doing so make it so their creation was the primary force to prevent the restructuring. But what if, say, she anticipated their pride?”

“If the Saint predicted that another Torture Princess would be created… Then what?”

“Then there would be ‘two.’ The Grave Keeper even said it! What we need to pay attention to is the resulting number!”

Vlad shouted like a madman. Hina reacted to his menacing demeanor by positioning herself in front of Kaito.

Kaito, shocked, ruminated on what the Grave Keeper had told him.

“The fact that the whelp served as a guide was proof. The fact that he sought ‘two’ was proof.”

“In the end, those who sought to prevent the restructuring and those who sought to bring it about arrived at the same method—‘finding the Saint.’ And the Butcher said that the black Torture Princess’s resistance was unexpected. Up until she arrived, he probably was simply aiming for the world’s restructuring. But if his objective changed upon the arrival of the black Torture Princess and the creation of the golden Torture Princess that accompanied it, if it took on a form closer to that of the Saint’s true desire… Oh, oh, that’s it!”

“What is?”

“The ‘significance of the two.’”

Vlad’s eyes widened, and his words served as the trigger that set Kaito’s thoughts into overdrive. Why had the Butcher, and the Saint, needed two people? What was the meaning behind that number?

What will happen when she assembles those two unbelievably powerful women? What will she be able to do?

Kaito spun around. Elisabeth and Jeanne had just reached the crystal. The two of them smoothly raised their arms, and gold and crimson flower petals began swirling.

As he gazed at their elegant backs, Vlad spoke in a hoarse voice.

“The two Torture Princesses. God and Diablo.”

Kaito didn’t fully understand what those words signified, but their ominous nature was all too clear. Vlad’s murmur had an almost prophetic ring to it. Dull as he was, Kaito could understand that much. Something irreparably wrong was happening, here and now. And once it occurred, it could never be undone.

It was something he had to stop at all costs.

“Stop, stop, run, get away from there! Elisabeeeeeeeeth!”

Kaito screamed, driven by impulse alone. His voice tore violently through the still, quiet air.

Elisabeth’s black hair fluttered as she turned. Her beautiful crimson eyes landed on Kaito.

Her expression was annoyed, confused, and a little bit listless.

It was the same face as it had always been, yet, for some reason, it seared itself into Kaito’s eyes.

And then, suddenly, something grabbed her wrist from behind.

Kaito was sure of what he’d seen. Two white arms had extended out from the red crystal.

Fingers so pale that they seemed almost dead wrapped tightly around the ebony and golden Torture Princesses’ wrists.

Elisabeth’s and Jeanne’s eyes opened wide. At some point, the surface of the crystal had turned soft and blurry and begun vibrating. After the arms came out, they were followed by a head.

The woman slid out from within the crystal as though it were birthing her. Then she toppled awkwardly to the ground. She shook her head, spraying red droplets around her. Kaito immediately realized: They were the tears that had been running down her cheeks.

The Saint then lifted her head. The whisper that came from her lips had a strangely sweet echo to it, and it traveled like a wave, reaching all the way to Kaito.

“Ahhh…you’ve finally come.”

My new Saints.

* * *

It was a declaration pregnant with unfathomable madness and a terrifying degree of volition.

In the next instant, crimson and gold flower petals began pouring out from her palms. The two hues swallowed up the Torture Princesses.

Elisabeth tried to summon a torture device, but petals rushed at her hands and lips, sealing them off. Jeanne’s eyes began wandering. She was searching for Deus Ex Machina. Right now, though, it was serving as parts of Izabella’s body. No longer could it come to its master’s aid.

“I see. This falls outside my expectations.”

As she murmured, Jeanne gave a faint laugh.

Those proved to be her final words.

The crimson and gold petals completely engulfed the two Torture Princesses.

Even so, the naked woman refused to release their wrists. Red, capillary-vessel-like tubes tore as she wrenched even the tips of her toes free from the crystal.

Now fully free, she looked up and parted her lips.

Her rows of startlingly white, well-formed teeth came into view.

“Ha-ha… Ah-ha-ha-ha, ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

The Saint began laughing uproariously. The sound of her mad laughs tore through the air.

As he shuddered, Kaito got ready to level an attack at her. However, he stopped. He couldn’t sense any power coming from the cackling woman.

She’s just…a normal woman.

She had already transferred the things that had made her into the Suffering Saint.

She’d transferred them into the two Torture Princesses.

The next moment, Kaito heard a voice deep in his eardrum. Hina pressed down on her ears, and Lute gave a small yelp.

It was being conveyed in every imaginable language, in the words of men, of demi-humans, of beastfolk, of animals, of fish, of bugs, even in languages from other worlds. It was transmitted to every living creature in a mysterious form they could all comprehend.

The voice belonged to one who’d been sleeping far, far away, deep in the bowels beneath the Capital.

“Good morning.”

Kaito understood on instinct alone. Freed from its contractor’s order, the first demon had vanished from its cradle.

And when it had, it had transferred into the body of its new contractor: Elisabeth Le Fanu.