HOT NOVEL UPDATES

Fremd Torturchen - Volume 6 - Chapter 1




Hint: To Play after pausing the player, use this button

1

A Pact with the Imperial Princess

The location was the joint meeting among the three races, which would shape the fate of the world.

Standing atop the pure-white round table, Kaito Sena lorded over his surroundings. His hundreds of swords were leveled at the noses of those who had assembled here to represent their races. The blades glinted keenly as Kaito carefully kept them suspended in the air with a thought. He’d created each and every one of them with magic.

In his hand, he held but a single jet-black long sword, and he pointed it at the members of the assembly. He slowly opened his mouth to speak.

“Humanity, beastfolk, and demi-humans are all equal. Every living creature is ignorant, every living creature is like a stupid animal, and every living creature is precious. So I’ll promise you this. I’m gonna keep you all alive. I’m gonna save the world. And that’s why…”

Then the boy who had died meaninglessly in another world made his grand declaration.

“…just for now, I’m king. So obey me.”

There was no reply. Some people stared at him in surprise, some people trembled in fear, and some people calmly stared at his blades. While their expressions were varied, their faces all bore the shade of a common mutual understanding.

Kaito could no doubt tell what they were thinking: The moment we oppose him, the blades will end us; if we give the wrong answer, he’ll split open our noses, pierce our brains, and dump our gray matter on the floor; I can tell from the quiet passion and determination in that insurrectionist boy’s face that he’ll do it.

Everyone present was highly capable, and together, they formed the nucleus of society. It made perfect sense that none of them would be stupid enough to mistake his proclamation for a joke.

Kaito himself also realized, in a detached sense, that “he would do it.”

Once you kill someone, they can’t come back. Getting a second chance like I did is an anomaly. But right now, I have to make sure they comply. I’m from another world, so I’m probably the only person who can act without being weighed down worrying about who will have what rights. Or who will have to make which concessions after we deal with the current situation…

Right now, the world was like a sinking ship. But the grudges the various races held against one another were too deep for any one of them to be able to take the helm. To prevent them from being totally annihilated, an outsider needed to steer the ship to shore. And in order to do that, some people might need to be cast overboard. Kaito recognized that much, and he’d made his peace with it. Right now, killing a hundred to save a thousand, or perhaps killing a thousand to save ten times that, was the only option.

It was a stupid, arrogant choice to make. And it resembled the method she had once used.

“What would you do in this situation, Elisabeth?”

Kaito posed his question in a quiet, subdued voice. He received no reply. But that was to be expected.

At the moment, the ebony Torture Princess was bound to the Diablo pillar.

Kaito let out a masochistic laugh. However, a loud thumping noise rang out and interrupted his moment of sentimentality. Without turning around, Kaito snapped his fingers.

Someone else had leaped atop the round table, and the blades went flying toward them. The sound of the weapons whizzing through the air was followed by the sharp ringing of swords meeting.

From the corner of his vision, Kaito could make out sparks flying from where metal had clashed with metal. Each of his blades had been sent flying off in a different direction entirely. One of them had gone spinning toward a high priest from the Church, who screamed. Right before tragedy could occur, however, Kaito transformed the blade back into azure petals.

The woman who’d repelled Kaito’s attack had her vision obscured by the dancing flower petals, but she paid that no heed and charged instead.

As she rushed toward him, Kaito got a better look at her and narrowed his eyes. Her red hair looked like waves of billowing flame as it fluttered through the air.

“Yeah, I figured you’d attack,” Kaito murmured.

The rebellious foe who’d jumped onto the table was a fox beastwoman clad in dignified, masculine clothing: the first imperial princess. Over the course of the meeting, she had not only shamelessly attacked the Church for their actions but had even declared war against all humanity. She thrust her sword forward as she ran, then released a superb strike.

For a moment, Kaito could vividly imagine the edge of her blade being driven into his chest.

Once again, the ringing sound of swords meeting echoed throughout the room.

“Yeesh, that was close. You’ve got a hell of a sword arm.”

Using Nameless, the jet-black long sword in his right hand, Kaito had blocked the first imperial princess’s blow. As he did, he snapped the fingers on his left hand and summoned blades all around her position.

In response, the first imperial princess sprang off the table, spinning diagonally through the air with characteristic beastfolk flexibility. After narrowly weaving her way through the slashes, she landed unharmed, then twirled to swat away the blades that had pursued her.

An instrumental noise rang out, and azure flower petals cascaded down.

Amid the storm of blossoms, the first imperial princess spoke in a curt tone.

“Ha, what a joke. You can drop the forced compliments, human. You haven’t called in a single one of your subordinates, and you’re blatantly pulling your punches. Do you really think me so simple a vixen as to rejoice at your hollow words?”

She thrust forward again. Kaito tilted his head back on instinct alone, losing a chunk of his faded-brown hair for his troubles.

“How dare you cut Master Kaito’s precious hair!”

Hina, Kaito’s automaton bride, dashed across the table, halberd in hand. However, Kaito called her off with a glance. Hina somehow managed to stop herself, although she cracked the table’s surface in the process.

“Good heavens, what a restless bunch they are. I must say, though, cracking the table with one’s feet alone is quite impressive.”

“I agree that for a mere human, the boy never seems to know when to shut up. None of them respect the value of silence.”

Off to the side, Vlad and the Kaiser continued observing, as though they were mere spectators at a show.

That was precisely why Kaito had frowned when he’d heard the first imperial princess’s rebuke.

“I mean…see for yourself. Even if I told them to help, only one of them ever actually does what I say.”

“Be that as it may. If you were fighting for real, my head would’ve been parted from my body long ago.”

“You’re giving me a lot of credit, aren’t you? You could just put away the sword, then.”

“Hmph. I fail to understand your intentions, but you don’t look eager to bare your fangs any time soon. So I thought I’d kill you while you rested on your laurels—that’s the plan anyway. What do you make of it?”

“Seems like a pretty reasonable strategy.”

“Wearing away at my patience appears to be a hobby of yours. Now I’m determined to kill you.”

“Okay, in all honesty, I feel like you could tone down the aggression a little.”

“I don’t want to hear that from someone who came in and seized control by force! What a thoroughly infuriating human you are!”

The first imperial princess laughed as she swung her sword again. Over the course of their conversation, the two of them had exchanged several blows.

Everyone else present still had blades pressed against their noses, and they were all watching the exchange, flabbergasted.

It was a completely understandable reaction, and Kaito nodded. As he did, he deployed a set of blades in a fan formation, then shot them at the first imperial princess. She slashed each and every one of them away. As azure flower petals rained down on them, the two of them continued pacing atop the round table.

They looked almost like a pair of dancers, caught up in the mood of a festival.

Right now, this princess is probably the only one who’d go against me head-on, huh.

Kaito’s thoughts raced as he and his foe restlessly circled each other and traded places.

He began working through his shock, all the while intentionally angling himself so that it would be difficult for the other beastfolk to aid the first imperial princess once they’d come to their senses. He hadn’t expected anyone to respond to him with anything except rejection or surrender. And the fact that they’d been able to have a conversation midbattle made the situation all the stranger.

After gauging the onlookers’ reactions, though, Kaito realized his current exchange was critical.

Based on their expressions now and what they said a minute ago, my guess is that the second imperial princess of the beastfolk, Vyade Ula Forstlast, and the representative from the Church’s saints, La Christoph, think of me as a way to avoid interracial conflict and are leaning toward obeying my decree… As for the demi-humans, they’re fence-sitting like always.

The young human king no longer seemed to possess the willpower to resist much of anything. Thanks to the Church’s meddling, the aristocrats who would normally serve as his advisers had been excluded from the meeting. That meant if Kaito pressed him, he’d undoubtedly cave.

All he had to do was convince the first imperial princess, and the situation would rapidly tilt in his favor. Bearing that in mind, Kaito spoke again.

“Tell me, do you honestly believe you’ll be able to go up against humanity and wipe out all of Diablo’s underlings at the same time? No, never mind, you definitely do. And you’re strong enough to be able to say it confidently, too.”

“Self-absorbed, aren’t we? Small wonder your subordinates have such little trust in you.”

“All right, let me give you a warning, then. You’re looking at this way too optimistically.”

Clang.

Nameless and the first imperial princess’s blade met each other again a hair away from Kaito’s right cheek.

After retreating a step, Kaito snapped his fingers and sent a blade flying toward her wrist. She drew a knife from behind her back with her free hand and batted it away. Kaito nodded. He’d expected her to block it.

“The curtain has only just risen on the end-time. The underlings won’t stop—they’ll just keep coming and coming, with more of them spawning each wave. In order to prevent the apocalypse, you’ll need to defeat them all, then topple the God and Diablo pillars. If the three races mobilized as one, you still wouldn’t have the manpower to pull it off.”

“…Go on.”

“Even with the demi-humans on your side, choosing to fight while turning your back on a hostile race is a terrible move. The risks outweigh the rewards. But you already know that, right? You certainly don’t look stupid enough not to have realized that by now.”

“I understand full well how harsh an ordeal it will be. But now is our only chance. It has to be now.”

“What do you mean, ‘It has to be now’?”

After repelling another fierce blow from the first imperial princess, Kaito came to an abrupt stop. He had been pushed to the very edge of the round table. There was nowhere left behind him to stand.

A bear beastman seized the opportunity to aim his bow at Kaito’s back. But Kaito just sent a blade to silently sever its bowstring. The beastfolk stared, aghast, at his now-useless weapon.

As Kaito traded places with the first imperial princess once more, the hem of his black outfit waved in the air as though nothing had happened.

The two of them faced the center of the table as they resumed their dance. The first imperial princess murmured in a melodic voice:

“Let’s think about what will happen after we get through this crisis. Even now, the beastfolk and demi-humans combined can’t compare with humanity’s numbers. If we assume the underlings will attack all three races in kind, then after Diablo’s threat has passed, when we take the respective damages into account, the gap in power between humanity and the rest of ours will likely only grow. Even though they were the ones who brought this calamity upon us in the first place. Territory, population, resources… If we ever want to overtake them, then it has to be now, while their saints are preoccupied with defeating the underlings and the mistrust toward the Church has caused them internal strife. If we pass up this final opportunity, then things will undoubtedly come to a head once more. After all, humanity has shown they cannot be trusted.”

“Ah, I get it. You’re worried that someday, humanity will decide to exclude the other two races.”

Kaito nodded. The first imperial princess threw concealed knives at him and leveled countless thrusts his way, all the while confirming his assessment.

“They will. It may not happen for decades, or even centuries, but what kind of ruler would I be if I didn’t consider the future of my people? Humanity is fundamentally xenophobic, and they consider themselves special, whether they realize it or not. They will bring about another tragedy, mark my words.”

Kaito repelled her sword again and again. Clear, ringing noises filled the air, and he came to realize a certain fact.

The first imperial princess hadn’t been appointed by mistake. The Three Kings of the Forest, the ones who’d appointed the imperial family, had known exactly what they were doing. Unlike the second imperial princess, Vyade the Wise Wolf, she was belligerent, but she, too, had the makings of a ruler. In order for the beastfolk to survive, they needed both moderates and extremists.

The only problem was that if they followed her lead and acted against humanity while they could, then the world would be destroyed.

Is she just misjudging her own strength? No…if anything, it’s that her imagination is lacking.

Realizing that, Kaito frowned. After all, the beastfolk had never seen what Diablo and the demons were capable of. Some of their people had been massacred by paladins who’d consumed demon meat, but they’d managed to avoid ever being attacked by a full-fledged demon. And the hellscapes that demons created were beyond what any normal person could imagine. As a result, the first imperial princess had no way of knowing the horrors that awaited them. However, Kaito couldn’t bring himself to blame her for her ignorance. For one thing, not even the Church, the people who’d caused their predicament, fully grasped the true situation. It was nigh impossible for the living to comprehend just what it meant for the world to be approaching its demise. But right now, Kaito needed to impress that impossibility on everyone present.


Every living being needed to know. For their own sakes.

Nobody’s gonna come save us.

He couldn’t leave them with any leeway to consider what would come afterward.

“If things go on like this, we’ll all die.”

Kaito’s declaration was simple and to the point. The first imperial princess opened her mouth, then closed it again. The sharp certainty of his words must have sparked something in her. Her sword was pressing against his Nameless, and she put her strength into it, then leaped backward. After putting some distance between herself and Kaito, she shot another piercing gaze his way.

Kaito looked straight back into her golden eyes. He opened his mouth once more.

But the moment he did, it came without warning.

“…!”

It came with a thump.

Kaito’s heart pounded violently, and he vomited up a large amount of blood.

The pure-white round table was painted a vivid shade of red. A stir spread through the present dignitaries. However, nobody made to stand up. The sole person who was quick to react was Hina.

“Master Kaito!”

When she dashed across the table this time, she didn’t stop. The hem of her maid outfit fluttered as she rushed to Kaito’s side. She knelt in the pool of blood without hesitation.

“…Hi…na…”

“My dear Master Kaito, are you all right? Oh, how it pains my heart to see you so. If only I could take your place… Here, try to calm your breathing.”

Hina’s clothes and feet were stained wet and red. But she rubbed Kaito’s back, paying that fact little heed.

The dignitaries remained in their seats. The rebel was coughing up blood. Now was their chance, yet nobody moved. To the contrary, their faces were all frozen. Even the people with no magical training were stiffening up.

As he looked out over them, Kaito’s thoughts took a self-deprecating turn.

Am I…really that abnormal?

At the same time, though, he understood. His mana was both causing the very air to shake ominously and also exploding in volume. Anyone watching his bizarre development would find it warped.

“Hmm. I take it the second bugle has blown, then?”

“The garbage has been released, like a swarm of locusts.”

An unpleasant grin spread across Vlad’s face as he propped his chin up with his finger. The Kaiser’s tone was curt and displeased.

La Christoph was facing straight ahead, and he spoke with a calmness rarely found in saints.

“Is it here?”

“Yeah. It is.”

The question was concise, and Kaito replied in kind.

He pressed his cheek softly against Hina’s and rose to his feet. The first imperial princess cocked her head in confusion. Before her eyes, Kaito thrust out his hand. Then he ran mana through the pool of blood that had accumulated in the table’s depression.

“La (reflect).”

With a whoosh, the crimson surface began glowing. Light knit together in the air, forming an image. Even using one of the Church’s communication devices, projecting a clear picture of events that were taking place far away was difficult. As he was now, though, Kaito could do it like it was second nature.

The image expanded out over the round table, revealing what was happening at the World’s End in real time.

Several people let out cries of terror.

The sky in the image was stained jet-black.

Normally, the sky at the World’s End was empty, with nothing there but oily, rainbow-colored lights drifting amid a smooth, gray backdrop. Now, though, it was sullied by an endless night. And to make things even more unbelievable, the blackness was growing endlessly blacker. Its true identity was a massive swarm of freshly released underlings.

The tiny shadows had gathered together and, in doing so, had dyed the sky black. It was like looking at ruin incarnate.

The throng was communicating a single malevolent will.

The world shall end.

For that is what   decided.

“The second wave.”

Upon hearing Kaito’s declaration, the first imperial princess gazed at the image in wonderment, wordlessly glaring at the countless figures. Then suddenly, she closed her eyes. Her voice sounded parched, yet it came across clear and crisp.

“You say there will be even more?”

“The third wave will come tomorrow at sunset, and the fourth wave should be released the day after, at around noon.”

Kaito’s reply was dispassionate. Because he’d received Elisabeth’s heart, he was connected to her and Diablo’s pillar as a result. Thanks to that, he had a clear grasp on how the doomsday needle was moving.

He spoke with complete confidence, something that lent additional persuasion to an already powerful proclamation.

The first imperial princess nodded, then clicked her tongue again. Kaito could easily tell what was going through her mind.

The beastfolk excel at single combat, I bet. They don’t have any saints at their disposal, and they’re not great at magic. There’s no way they can show off their true strength against that insane number of underlings.

From the beastfolk’s perspective, humanity had ceased to be their friendly neighbors and were now nothing more than a fearsome threat. But without their help, it was unlikely they’d be able to wipe out all the underlings.

At the same time, Kaito saw something in the first imperial princess’s expression.

Good. She realizes it, too.

Kaito had already known.

Once the second wave hit, even humanity’s help wouldn’t be enough to mount a complete defense.

After all, the whole reason the Church had entrusted the subjugation of the fourteen demons to the Torture Princess, a peerless sinner, was because they themselves lacked the power to do so. Their supply of saints was limited, and even then, not only did the saints lack mobility, but they also suffered considerable exhaustion from each shot they fired.

Furthermore, thanks to the repeated demon battles and the hasty actions of the reconstruction sect, the Church had lost many of their best paladins. In short, the tools they could fight Diablo with were extremely lacking.

At the end of the day, whether the beastfolk chose to fight against humanity or alongside them, the result would be the same.

Every living creature would die.

However, even so, there remained one way to fight back against the end.

For a monster existed in this world.

The first imperial princess cast a stern gaze toward Kaito. As she appraised him with her eyes, she asked him a question.

“…Can you kill them?”

“Damn right I can.”

Kaito wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth as he gave his answer. There was one thing that he was confident of.

The Torture Princess isn’t around for humanity to rely on anymore. Which means…

At the moment, there existed no one more suited to subjugate demons than Kaito Sena.

The truth was, his mana was increasing violently because of the pain the underlings were causing. That perverse fact, combined with his immortal body, meant wiping out the underlings was no mere pipe dream.

The first imperial princess took stock of the ominous trembling in the air. Then she clicked her tongue a third time.

“Tch.”

Clink.

After that she mixed in a sharper noise. Of all things, she’d sheathed her sword.

Her subordinates let out agitated cries. Her back turned to them, she proudly introduced herself.

“My name is Valisisa Ula Forstlast.”

Kaito nodded. In that moment, by him learning her name—one other than the first imperial princess, that is—she’d become more familiar to him. Valisisa accompanied her self-introduction with a graceful bow.

“I’ll admit I acted somewhat hastily. The world after this will be ours, but for now, it seems we must leave it in your hands. We beastfolk value results. Show us who you are, Mad King.”

The assembled congregation gasped. Somebody tried to raise an objection, but Vyade Ula Forstlast rose from her seat and silently cut them off. Following her sister’s lead, she, too, gave a courteous bow.

Upon seeing that, the first imperial prince of the beastfolk twitched the tip of his panther nose. He hurriedly corrected his posture.

At that very moment, a mere human had earned the backing of both Valisisa Ula Forstlast, the first imperial princess, and Vyade Ula Forstlast, the second imperial princess.

Given the first imperial princess’s statement, it was only natural that the beastfolk came under Kaito’s command. The demi-humans nodded and gave their assent. In contrast to her obedient words, though, Valisisa’s next remark was tinged with naked bloodlust.

“However, if you fail, I will personally take your head.”

“Oh yeah. If that happens, then I don’t deserve to live. No complaints here.”

When Kaito returned her threat, there was no fervor in his voice. He meant every word he’d said.

The two of them stared at each other a moment longer. Valisisa took a few steps forward. Then she wordlessly drew her weapon. Kaito naturally followed her lead and brandished Nameless in kind.

A loud, sharp ringing sound filled the air as they struck their swords against each other.

In place of a handshake, the Mad King and the first imperial princess of the beastfolk had crossed their blades.

And on that note, with the boy from another world at its center—

—the unified three-race defensive front began to move.



Share This :


COMMENTS

No Comments Yet

Post a new comment

Register or Login