Fremd Torturchen - Volume 6 - Chapter 12

12

Kaito Sena’s Story

It’s time for a story.

It’s the story of a boy who was brutally killed by another, and a story of a monster who cruelly killed others.

Or perhaps it’s a story of a child who was abandoned by his parents, and a hero who was abandoned by the world.

Either way, it’s a story of admiration and folly.

It’s a story of love, but not a story of romance.

Someday, it will likely be remembered as a tale from long, long ago.

A horrible, tragic little anecdote.

One that was far too twisted to pass off as a fairy tale.

Kaito Sena raised his hand, extending it straight toward Elisabeth.

He had no intention of exchanging final words of farewell. After all, what he was doing was nothing more than an act of selfishness. Elisabeth was definitely going to be livid. Because of that, he’d completely cast aside his desire to talk to her.

Instead, he just burned her briar-entwined figure into his eyes. Then he prepared to snap his fingers.

But when he did.

He heard a painfully nostalgic voice.

“Ce…ase…this…non…sense…”

“Wha—?”

Kaito let out an involuntary yelp. The captive before him had moved. Normally, that shouldn’t have been possible. Although the pillar was forcibly keeping her alive, she didn’t even currently have a heart. In an absurd display of willpower, though, Elisabeth had opened her eyes.

Their piercing, crimson gaze was directed straight at Kaito.

Naturally, he let out a surprised “uh…” Then in his typical disrespectful tone, he spoke:

“Geez… Dial down the mental fortitude a bit. Or, like, the resilience.”

“You…fool… ’Tis true, I did…give it to you… I even…told you…to save the world…”

“That you did. You even gave me your heart.”

“But I never…told you to…shoulder…such a— Khagh!”

Then Elisabeth coughed. Instead of blood, feathers came pouring from her lungs. As the black feathers fluttered away, she glared at him. Kaito flashed her an awkward smile.

The moment she’d been captured by the pillar, Elisabeth had handed her heart over to him with the following words:

“Drink them down or spit them all up, the choice is yours to make. But do try to live on, Kaito.

“And when you do, save the world. Your strength is equal to the task, as is your needless determination.

“You are the greatest fool this world has to offer—and you are my dim-witted servant, my pride and joy.”

Her voice had been like someone trying to cheer up a dejected child. However, not once had she asked him to rescue her. Much to the contrary, she was probably planning on waiting there for her death, like a monster who’d bequeathed her sword to a hero.

There was no doubt in his mind that she’d expected him to destroy the Diablo pillar. But she’d been naive.

There had never been any chance that Kaito Sena would do as she wished. Even so, she repeated herself.

The only thing powering her desperate movements was the rage his words had inspired in her.

“I told…you…did I not? ’Tis a heavy…thing…to shoulder sins…”

The sins of the various races had cultivated a flower, and its blooming was what had brought about this situation. The punishment for their sloth and their ignorance had finally caught up with them. Flocks of sheep were, fundamentally, stupid. Trying to bear the weight of their original sin on one’s own was rash in the extreme.

Also, living forever was too cruel a fate. Not to mention the fact that Kaito was an outsider to this world. He had no obligation to shoulder the sin that had existed since before the dawn of this world.

Elisabeth closed her eyes as if in prayer. Then in a small voice, she continued:

“…’Tis too great a burden for you.”

“I can bear it.”

Kaito’s response came readily. His voice didn’t have an ounce of hesitation in it. Elisabeth’s eyes shot open as if she’d been slapped. She looked at Kaito’s face. The moment she did, her own face contorted, as though she was on the verge of tears.

She understood. Time’s passage was cruel and unfeeling.

Nothing remained the same forever.

“When did you…become able to…make such an…expression, you fool?”

“Honestly, I don’t know myself. But because I’ve changed, there are things I’m able to protect now.”

Kaito’s expression wasn’t that of the powerless boy he’d once been. It was the calm face of a person filled with resolve. The pain he’d experienced, the countless times he’d died, and the innumerable horrors he’d seen had completely painted over his fear and hopelessness. At this point, no words would make his heart waver.

Elisabeth cast her gaze down. A faint murmur escaped her lips.

“I… This is not what I summoned you to do.”

“…I know.”

“I merely wanted you…to handle my chores.”

“Ah yeah… I never did get the hang of cooking, did I?”

“You did…one unnecessary thing…after another…my dim-witted servant…”

“Yeah, and you’re the only one.”

The only one who’d never called him the Mad King.

And with that, Kaito nodded. He snapped his fingers, and his chest and ribs tore open. Chunks of flesh went flying off into space. His rib cage was in full bloom. A pulsating organ appeared from within.

The organ transformed into crimson flower petals, then leaped into Elisabeth’s mouth.

Her heart had returned to its rightful place.

“I’m giving it back.”

“…!”

Kaito’s body didn’t require a heart anymore. Such was the realm he now stood in.

Elisabeth shuddered at that fact. As he was now, he was a fitting vessel to bear both God and Diablo. But…

…he was still Kaito Sena.

He was just Kaito Sena. He’d completely changed, but he was still her same dull, kindhearted, foolish servant as ever. Yet he spoke in the voice of a grizzled veteran.

“Thank you, Elisabeth.”

“What do you intend to do about your promise?!”

Suddenly, Elisabeth let out an articulate shout. She turned up her downcast face. She hadn’t been crying. She glared at Kaito with eyes full of anger and indignation.

“You told me, did you not?! You said you would remain by my side! You and you alone!”

“And hey, you bringing me back to life and summoning me here must have been some kind of fate… So until you start walking the road to Hell, I’ll try and stick by your side for as long as I can, even if I’m the only one.”

It was a promise the two of them had exchanged long ago.

Kaito had sworn it to her back in her castle, right after they’d finished subjugating the Kaiser.

Throughout Elisabeth Le Fanu’s bloody life, she was accompanied by a single foolish servant.

Kaito thought that sounded just fine.

Neither of them had mentioned the promise out loud. But both of them knew.

They both knew the other had thought it.

“Don’t worry, I plan on keeping it.”

Kaito spoke with complete composure. Elisabeth opened her mouth, as though to say, How? How do you intend on keeping it? But as she did, she suddenly realized the foolishness of the question she was about to ask.

After the last rebuilding, the Saint had slumbered away inside a crystal.

One who had taken that burden upon themself lost the ability to die.

For the full span of Elisabeth Le Fanu’s bloody life—

—that foolish servant of hers would never leave.

“YOUUUUUUUU IDIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!”

“Elisabeth. This foolish servant of yours will be by your side to the very end.”

Elisabeth extended a trembling arm. Kaito held his hand aloft. The Torture Princess struggled, trying desperately to grasp at his distant palm. But briars rose up one after another to stop her.

Her already-broken fingers tore even further. She retched up blood. Yet just as she once had, she continued resisting.

However, Kaito’s figure remained distant.

A smile crossed his face, and he got ready to snap his fingers.

But suddenly, as if he’d just thought of something, he opened his mouth and spoke:

“That reminds me—I told you once in a dream, but…I never said it to you in real life.”

“What is it…? What…is it…?”

“I love you, Elisabeth.”

His words pierced her like a long sword.

There was a brutal, kind truth to them.

Heartbroken, Elisabeth stared at Kaito. She studied his face.

He was smiling like a child—

—his eyes still glittering as though gazing upon a revered hero.

“For your sake, I could do or become anything.”

“—You can’t! You mustn’t!”

Elisabeth tried to scream. But Kaito wasn’t listening anymore. He hadn’t been looking to coerce a response out of her; he’d merely said what he wanted to say. He gently waved his other hand at her.

“Good-bye, Elisabeth.”

“’Twould be far better it were—”

And without hearing her shout—

“’Twould be far better it were I—”

—Kaito Sena snapped his fingers.

Countless invisible shackles clattered as they successively came undone.

The ebony princess fell, as though she’d been struck by an arrow.

She’d been extending her hand until the very end.

She tried to shout something. Diamond-like tears glistened as they descended through the air.

Lute successfully managed to catch her. As he watched over her, Kaito let out a quiet murmur.

“…It’s unusual to see you cry, Elisabeth.”

For some reason, she started struggling. As he gazed down at her, another faint smile crossed Kaito’s face. However, smiling naturally like that was now beyond him. Black feathers had sprouted from his cheek. He immediately grabbed them and ripped them out. The twin powers of rebirth and destruction were whirling within him. A detached thought crossed his mind.

Summoning God without the proper conditions having been met would have been hard, even for me. But now, given that the summoning’s already completed, using His power in ways God Himself wants me to is pretty doable.

At the moment, two inhuman emotions were bubbling up inside him. One was a fierce desire to destroy everything and swallow it all up. To put it in human terms, it resembled hunger. The other was a fierce determination to confine the destruction. To put it in human terms, it was like a sense of obligation. Kaito intentionally chose to amplify the latter. Little by little, Diablo’s power began settling down.

The underlings’ cries stopped. A silence returned to the world below, one it had nearly forgotten.

And at the same time, it began.

A clear snapping noise rang out.

“Yeah…I figured.”

The day of rebuilding was far in the future, so God was returning to His slumber. The Saint had been encased in a crystal.

Now the same thing was happening to Kaito. A transparent layer had begun surrounding his still-living body. The snapping noise continued. Kaito murmured to himself.

“Looks like it’s over, huh…? I guess I did it.”

He quietly raised his arm. Azure petals and black darkness whirled atop his palm, and he drew a jet-black long sword from within them. The runes inscribed on its slender blade flashed, and he affirmed their meaning.

All things are pardoned unto me. But I am ruled by none.

“La (your job is done).”

The moment Kaito whispered, cracks ran across the blade. Then Nameless, the sword without a name that was birthed from the wish to save a single woman, shattered completely.

At the same time, Kaito’s uniform transformed as well. At times, clothes made by magic could change based on their owner’s influence. As the nature of Kaito’s volition and magic shifted away from battle, so, too, did his outfit.

Its end state was that of the butler uniform he’d constantly decried as unbecoming. He’d completed his transformation back into a foolish servant.

Kaito slowly exhaled, then closed his eyes. The Mad King had appeared like a tempest and had vanished just as suddenly. And the massive amounts of mana he’d obtained knew that as well. There was truly nothing left that he needed to do.

He’d completed everything that he’d set out to. And so Kaito Sena got to thinking.

Specifically, it was during the time right before his body was fully enclosed.

Hypothetically, if Elisabeth hadn’t summoned me, what would have become of me?

He certainly wouldn’t have had to repeatedly experience the pain of death. He wouldn’t have seen all those horrible, gruesome things he’d seen, either. However, he also would have gone his whole life without ever having been glad he was alive.

Then like an empty bowl being filled with water—

—memories of the various things he’d experienced in this new world swirled within his mind.

The Torture Princess, laughing innocently. And tumbling toward the ground while shedding tears like diamonds.

Hina, smiling gently. And drifting peacefully in and out of sleep atop a warm bed.

The Butcher. Izabella. Jeanne. Lute. Ain. Vyade.

All the people he’d met, all the expressions they’d made, and all the things they’d said to him.

They had all been there—

—and Kaito had lived within each of them.

And Kaito hadn’t forgotten the words Neue had said to him as he’d stood on death’s door.

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

Even now, I’m still not totally sure what happiness is supposed to look like. But there’s one thing I do know.

The first time he’d wept with joy at having been born—

—his death had gained meaning for the very first time.

And even if he’d ended up under the same curse the Butcher had been bound by—

—no matter how foolish the decision had been, Kaito didn’t regret it at all.

He had no regrets.

If he had but one, though…

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

A crisp noise rang out as the crystal shattered. Somebody had used all their might to rip open part of the film surrounding him. Of course, it would quickly reform. Who would have done such a silly thing? And why?

Flustered, Kaito turned around. Outside the gap in the crystal, he could see a black spot in the sky. It was the Kaiser. It was unclear what he’d come for, but he was wordlessly beating his wings. However, the reason for his arrival soon became clear.

The Kaiser had been carrying someone.

“MASTER KAITO!”

Kaito’s bride was before his very eyes.

His beloved bride had flown up to meet him.

“Hi…na—”

“You did as you pleased, Master Kaito, and now I intend to do the same!”

Her maid uniform fluttering, Hina beamed. She had already cast aside the halberd she’d used to break the crystal. She was simply reaching out her arms. She embraced him, as any would a deeply loved one.

“I won’t let you be alone.”

“Hina—”

“After all, we’re a family.”

Her smile was as radiant as a flower in bloom.

Kaito trembled in surprise. He knew. He had to hurry.

The crystal’s opening still hadn’t closed yet. If he shoved Hina away, he could still make it in time. He couldn’t drag her into this. He needed to let her be free. With that thought in mind, he reached out his arms.

And with all his strength—

—he hugged his wife tight.

Holding your beloved in your arms. That had to be one of the purest forms that happiness came in, Kaito Sena mused.

She’s warm, she’s lovely, and I don’t want to let go of her. For if we separate, I will surely die.

And he was certain she felt the same way.

Kaito Sena was terrifyingly free of regrets.

If he had but one regret, though…

…it was in regard to his bride.

And thus, Kaito now turned to his wife with a teary smile on his face.

“Hina…will you stay with me forever?”

“Yes, gladly. In sickness and in health, till death do us part. I shall be by your side forevermore!”

They pressed their lips together, as resolutely as when they’d exchanged their vows.

Then they smiled at each other like always. Kaito hugged Hina tight. The crystal snapped and popped as it closed up. Their bodies were steadily being surrounded. As they rubbed their cheeks affectionately against each other, Hina whispered:

“Master Kaito, I’m very, very happy right now.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Their field of view gradually shrank and shrank. They were being cut off from the outside world.

Despite the unfathomable pain and pressure invading his body, Kaito Sena whispered from the bottom of his heart as well.

“I’m so glad…that I was born.”

And then with a snap—

—the crystal sealed completely.