Fremd Torturchen - Volume 6 - Chapter 6

6

Vlad and the Kaiser

The man who had once been burned to death had risen from the ashes.

He had been resurrected through the same method that was keeping Kaito alive. He hadn’t technically come back to life, of course; no method existed in this world that could completely revive the dead. Vlad’s current state was nothing more than that of a degraded replica of the actual man’s soul. He’d simply been transferred from the jewel he’d been sealed in into a golem body like Kaito’s. However, being able to move around freely supposedly felt as if one had been resurrected.

Everything’s more or less in order…or at least, it looks like it is.

After carefully inspecting Vlad, Kaito decided he’d passed muster. The fact of the matter was, Kaito himself was the one who’d given Vlad his body. If there were any problems with it, things could end badly. After all, Vlad Le Fanu was practically a demon himself. If the situation had been any less drastic, the prospect of freeing his soul and giving him a body would have been unthinkable.

Kaito thought back on the details that had caused him to make that insane choice.

The real Vlad had died with the replica of his soul still trapped within that jewel.

He was more powerful than even Elisabeth, yet he hadn’t given his own replica a body.

Kaito suspected the primary reason for that was so that his replica would go undetected during the Church’s investigation after his death. Vlad was probably also concerned about the possibility of having his own replica revolt against him if he ever accidentally activated it while he was still alive.

The replica was a degraded version of Vlad’s soul, designed to pass along Vlad’s will to future generations. It was able to act as an intermediary for the demon he’d once contracted with, but it was inferior to the actual Vlad in a number of respects. However, the two of them thought in exactly the same ways, meaning there was a chance it would betray him. After all, it was Vlad. There was a good chance he’d gleefully seize the opportunity to kill “himself.”

Actually, it was a downright certainty.

The real Vlad had no doubt known that and, as such, had left nothing behind for the replica.

As a result, the Vlad within the jewel couldn’t so much as move around on his own without Kaito’s help.

Just a little bit ago, Kaito had agonized over whether or not it was prudent to change that condition.

Vlad Le Fanu was evil to the bone. Kaito couldn’t let his guard down around him for a moment, something Vlad was well aware of. That said, it was hard to ignore Vlad’s talents, either.

The fact that he’d stood atop all fourteen demons was a testament to his profound leadership skills. Why, the Kaiser himself referred to Vlad as “He Who Rears Hell Within His Mind.” The way he thought was completely divergent from your everyday person. In other words, he was evil incarnate. And just like Vlad, Diablo could easily surpass the limits of human imagination. It was impossible for normal people to anticipate what it would think or do. Sometimes, the only thing that could defeat one evil was another.

Given the current situation, Kaito didn’t have the luxury of worrying about the future. At the moment, they were in dire need of manpower.

If Vlad could move around on his own, his usefulness as a pawn would increase.

And so in the end, Kaito had decided to give Vlad a body.

However, it had come with a condition.

“Make sure you don’t get carried away and try to do anything evil. Your head’ll fly right off.”

“And therein lies the problem! I mean, I must say, I’m impressed with how you think, but still!”

Vlad, seeming strangely excited, pointed at Kaito. The two of them bantered aimlessly as they walked through the forest.

The trees around them looked like miniature versions of the World Tree, each one of them sporting an intricate array of foliage. The farther they went, the more shoe prints started appearing on the soft ground. Pure water seeped up from the earth, filling the indentations halfway.

“Your body is designed such that as long as it doesn’t lose an excess amount of its creator’s, Elisabeth’s, blood, your soul will remain within—in other words, it’s a kind of quasi-immortality. And now that you’ve obtained her heart and can generate limitless mana, that sole weakness of yours has been rendered null. Yet still, you chose to use a different method when you were creating my body. To think you would not transfer my soul but embed the jewel itself within my body! And you even had the gall to set a condition that would cause my head to self-destruct, jewel and all! I must say, my dear successor, you really do play dirty!”

“Are you complaining?”

“Oh, perish the thought! I find it ever so delightful!”

Kaito reflexively knit his brows. It would appear that Vlad was thoroughly enjoying his current situation. He was as inscrutable a man as ever. Perhaps sensing Kaito’s doubts, Vlad curled his lips slightly.

“Up until now, I’ve stood on the side that toys with the lives of others. I’ve held their flimsy hearts in my hands, caressing them as long as I pleased. Now that I find myself a victim of that same treatment, I’m hardly in any position to complain. Being able to experience sensations yet untasted in an unforeseen way is a delicacy, no matter what kind of sensation that may be.”

“So in other words, you’re not just a sadist, but a masochist, too?”

“Ha-ha, a crude way to put it, perhaps, but wholly accurate!”

“You weren’t supposed to agree, dude. That’s creepy.”

“Perhaps you find that difficult to understand, my dear successor. Normally, the two dispositions are at odds. But while I consider ruling to be my natural role, being forced to yield and made to bow my head is hardly unpleasant, either. Without supping on hardship myself, I would never know its true flavor. And what is life if not a constant voyage of learning?”

“Didn’t you die, like, forever ago?”

“That’s precisely what makes it so interesting. Compared with who I am now, the living ‘me’ lacked a certain sense of playfulness. Hmm, you can hardly blame him, though, given that he’d been betrayed by his beloved daughter, captured by the Church, and only just made his escape. Why, I feel downright sympathetic toward the man.”

Vlad shrugged aloofly. Not even his old, actual self was safe from his mockery. It was truly impossible to figure out how his mind worked. Astounded as he was, though, Kaito closed his mouth, offering little in the way of a response. And there was a good reason for that.

The sound of swords. The sound of flesh tearing. The sound of magical flames surging upward.

The tumult of the battlefield had come into earshot.

…Almost there, huh?

The main body of the World Tree was surrounded by both a deep forest composed of younger trees, as well as a strangely circular river, which was filtered and circulated through the roots. Those two lines of defense served to separate the World Tree’s hallowed ground from the rest of the world.

However, therein lay a fatal weakness.

The river’s full circumference was too vast for the soldiers to patrol it. And because of how erratic the underlings’ arrival locations and flight paths were, it was difficult to carry out a more focused defense strategy, too. Furthermore, it took four soldiers to safely kill a single underling, so a spread-out battle could well lead to them getting completely wiped out.

Given all those facts, establishing a defensive line turned out to be a major challenge. However, Vlad had come up with a diabolical plan to break through the deadlock. He’d inflicted massive, linear damage to the forest surrounding the World Tree.

In fact, he’d burned down enough trees to make a path right to it.

The underlings weren’t capable of complex thought, so they naturally flocked to the opening in order to avoid the forest’s sacred aura. It then became possible to defend against these foes, but the plan drew an understandable amount of backlash. The beastfolk in the army practically started an insurrection.

If things had gone poorly, we’d have had bloodshed on our hands…and probably worse. Good thing Vyade worked so hard to back us up. If Valisisa had been the one to find out, there’s a good chance she woulda killed me.

After they’d gotten help from the second imperial princess and suppressed the rioting, the defensive front had solidly held the line. That said, showing up directly at the front line would have been dangerous. Instead, Kaito had teleported to the forest’s outer limits and walked to the battlefield on foot. Vlad must have sensed that Kaito would stop by to check up on the war efforts. Then he’d come and fetched Kaito from where the man had predicted he’d arrive.

The front line should have been coming into view any moment. As he walked restlessly, Kaito shot Vlad a question.

“Anyway, given that you came all the way over to pick me up, I guess things are probably going okay… The fourth wave was different than the other ones. How are things on the ground?”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha, how very like you. Always so quick to change the topic. As for your question…”

Suddenly, Vlad stopped talking and snapped his fingers. Azure petals and darkness whirled violently around his elegant palm and the white glove surrounding it. Then the trees in front of them toppled over. Their branches were cleaved up, like they’d been struck down by blades.

All at once, Kaito’s field of vision expanded. A wide riverbank burst into view. After taking a moment to catch his breath, Kaito whipped his head around. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Vlad, who for some reason was puffing out his chest proudly.

“…it would be fastest for you to see for yourself.”

“Well, that doesn’t look good.”

Before he had time to think, Kaito let out his honest impression.

The spectacle spread out before them was rather grim.

A clear river flowed calmly on the other side of the riverbank surrounding the forest. Or at least, it was supposed to. Now, though, parts of it had hardened into blotchy red-and-black chunks. Compared with the holiness of the World Tree proper, the water wasn’t nearly as powerful. Apparently, the underlings had enough resources to pollute the river, and a considerable number of them were crawling atop its contaminated surface. Slowly but steadily, the blasphemous creatures were making their way forward.

As Kaito watched, the seemingly sluggish masses of flesh leaped at several of the soldiers at an alarming speed. They didn’t even have time to scream before they were consumed. It was the very image of Hell.

Suddenly, a bloodcurdling shriek rang out from nearby. Kaito turned to look toward where it had come from.

“…!”

“Ack, gah, ah—”

A priest, who was supposed to have been strengthening the squad’s defenses, was violently convulsing. An underling had been traveling beneath the ground and, as distasteful as it was, had thrust its arm through his groin. Burrowing through the moist earth had caused its hideous fingers to burn and fester from the pure waters underground. Now those same fingers had burst up through the priest’s mouth and were squirming amid his yellowed teeth.

“Gah, geh— Ah…”

Then the underling abruptly drew its arm free, and the priest collapsed to the ground. Blood and excreta gushed from his body.

The underling then waved its sullied hand about and started looking for its next prey. An instant later, it found itself run through with a sword. The eyeball hidden amid its organs crushed, the underling’s body crumpled.

“You monster… You monster, monster, monster, monster!”

Spittle flew as the soldier shouted and brought his sword down on the underling over and over. He sounded deranged, but his aim was true. He hadn’t been misled by the underling’s repulsive exterior. Vlad must have given them instructions regarding their weak points. That said, the squad’s coordination had completely fallen apart. Friends and foes were all jumbled together, and the battlefield was a free-for-all.

Vlad stroked his chin, then shrugged in exasperation.

“I never imagined the situation would degrade so badly in my brief absence. The defensive squads were supposed to be continuously deployed, and the mages were supposed to set the opposite shore on fire in a massive, raging blaze. Anyone who broke through would be surrounded by the soldiers, battered, then allowed to escape once they’d sustained heavy damage, only to explode from the power of the World Tree. That process should have been more than enough to deal with the fourth wave, but… Perhaps their replacements fled on them, and the cowardice of a few sent everything into disarray. Ha-ha, what are they, children cowering at monsters? Well now, this is unfortunate.”

“Given the situation, what the hell did you think would happen when you sent their commanding officer, not to mention their strongest teammate, over to pick me up?”

“Ha-ha-ha, you say that, my dear successor, but it’s really quite hard for me to grasp just how frail these people’s spirits—”

“…Vlad.”

Kaito moved his lips as little as possible as he barked out Vlad’s name. Vlad was still smiling, but he went silent.

He looked down at his petite master, then spoke in a stubbornly calm tone.

“Yes?”

“Don’t screw around.”

The rebuke was like a blade pressed against the back of his neck.

Another scream rose up from the soldiers’ ranks. Blood sprayed violently across the ground. However, even though he was right beside the tragedy, Kaito kept his gaze fixed on Vlad. The only thing reflected in his clear eyes was his wicked servant.

“Why did I give you a body? I brought you back for one reason: You’re useful. If you’re not being helpful, then you’re in the way. If you can’t show off your power, you’re just weak. If you fight without information, you’re just a fool, and if you whine pointlessly, you’re just incompetent. And hey, if your life has no value, you’re no better than a pig. So which one are you? Incompetent or a pig?”

Vlad didn’t answer. However, he didn’t talk back, either. He just kept smiling.

“Get it together! Dammit, don’t let them escape!”

Suddenly, a panicked shout pierced the air. Most of the underlings had made their way through the free-for-all and were finally surging toward the burned path to the World Tree. The soldiers who’d been able to keep their composure were rallying the troops and getting ready to pursue them. However, the underlings spat venom at them from their thick lips, the majority of which were attached to female buttocks.

“La (send it back).”

Without so much as sparing them a glance, Kaito snapped his fingers. Black darkness and azure petals knit together into a massive shield. It gently caught the venom, then launched it back. Upon being drenched headfirst in the viscous, purple liquid, the underlings collapsed.

The soldiers let out cries of surprise and relief. Having finally noticed Kaito, they sent pleading glances his way. But Kaito himself was still glaring at Vlad. His next question was posed in a voice that left no room for argument.

“As I am now, you’re a fitting minion for me—right?”

“Yes, my lord. It is as you say.”

Placing his hand atop his chest, Vlad abruptly hung his head obediently.

His androgynous, black hair shook as he performed his graceful bow. His head still hung, he spoke in a voice that was the very image of a loyal servant’s. It was so courteous, he sounded almost suspicious and affected.

“It’s true; I myself made the choice to become the Mad King’s pawn. And that being the case, it’s only logical I should carry out your will. Right now, Vlad Le Fanu’s madness exists for your sake—ah, what a new form of humiliation that is, and what a pleasurable one.”

Vlad contorted his lips into something that definitely wasn’t a smile. It was an unpleasant expression, one that incited fear in any who viewed it.

The next moment, his body vanished. The soldiers let out restless shouts. With utmost composure, Kaito alone turned his gaze overhead. There, he saw an aristocratic, black coat fluttering in the wind.

Vlad Le Fanu was suspended in the sky.

He was sitting on someone’s back, with both legs to one side. Right beside him, bat-like membranes cleaved through the air. Two wings were growing out of the fine, black fur Vlad was riding atop.

Extended out from the body was a malevolent head. And resting in that head was a pair of eyes burning with hellfire.

The creature’s identity was that of a massive, winged hound, and Vlad was mounted elegantly atop its back.

They fit together so well, it seemed almost as though each had been born to pair with the other.

“You sure took your sweet time.”

Kaito let out a low murmur. Vlad deepened his unpleasant smile.

The current Vlad was nothing more than an inferior replica. However, in addition to the way he thought, he had one other forte left to him. He could work together with the prideful Kaiser.

The Kaiser, the apex of the fourteen demons, was a beast who could test a thousand men and then devour all of them.

The trials he imposed on his contractor were harsh, and most of the candidates had died horribly. That said, though, once he’d acknowledged his partner’s madness as one to his liking, he was willing to forgive slights that would otherwise have warranted tearing them limb from limb. And Vlad Le Fanu was the first man to ever earn that right.

By losing to Elisabeth and meeting a disgraceful death at her hands, Vlad had earned himself the Kaiser’s wrath for quite some time. However, it was also thanks to his help that the Kaiser had been able to remanifest, and at the moment, the two of them possessed similar attributes. From an outside perspective, Vlad and the Kaiser seemed to click.

If nothing else, the supreme hound was allowing Vlad to ride atop his back.

That’s another reason I gave him a body.

In Kaito’s current state, he didn’t need a demon to protect him. In other words, it would be more efficient to have the Kaiser fighting independently rather than acting as his escort. However, to do that, another individual was necessary. Left to his own devices, the Kaiser would refuse to act on anyone else’s behalf. The temperamental hound needed a hunter to rein him in. That was Vlad’s job, and the reason Kaito had given him a body.

When Kaito had done so, he’d magically set up the artificial body to allow him to observe what Vlad did and said. At the moment, he could clearly make out the wicked way Vlad’s lips were curling.

Vlad was calling out affectionately to the Kaiser.

“Now then, my former companion. O proud, supreme hound. Are you ready?”

“Ha! Ready for what? This whole affair is laughably ludicrous! Telling a demon to help stop the end-time is contradictory beyond repair! The Accumulation of Seventeen Years’ Pain must have finally gone mad.”

“See, you say that, dear Kaiser, but you’re the one who agreed to fight in this war, aren’t you?”

Vlad calmly rebutted the Kaiser’s scornful words. Then he gestured with his chin toward the underling troops.

As the hideous masses of flesh ferociously charged forward, they looked as vulgar as half-finished platters of sloppily eaten food.

“I understand you, you know. You don’t retain underlings. You’re too proud a beast to bear even looking at their hideous forms. And you demons are solitary entities—unless your contractor calls on you, you cooperate with no one, even if your goals are aligned. How could you allow the world to be destroyed at the hands of not just another, but Diablo, who exists only to prepare the world for God to rebuild it, who lurks in a human’s body with neither pride nor will?”

As he whispered, Vlad stroked the black dog’s back. If he’d been in range of the Kaiser’s fangs, he would assuredly have lost his arm. Fortunately for him, though, his seat on the Kaiser’s back was out of reach. He went on in a casual tone.

“You and I were supposed to rule the world, once. But dashed as our dreams may have been, the vicissitudes of fate have led us here. And seeing one’s half-eaten meat snatched away before one’s eyes is unpleasant, no?”

“Listening to you prattle is far more unpleasant, I say. Cease your tittering; you test my patience. But your thoughts on consumption are apt.”

The Kaiser let out a deep howl. He curled up the corners of his mouth like a human.

Then, without warning, he soared through the air.

The black dog descended upon the underlings like a raptor hunting its prey. The hellfire in his eyes traced a searing trail through the air. The force of the wind would have shredded any normal person to bits, but Vlad merely snapped his fingers, unfazed.

“La (become).”

Black darkness and azure flower petals caressed the ground, and iron bear traps began sprouting up like flowers in bloom.

They weren’t nearly powerful enough to kill the underlings. However, thanks to their simple construction, they were well suited toward stopping the many-limbed fiends in their tracks. Then sure enough, the Kaiser swooped in upon the captured pack.

He descended on them, in every sense of the word.

He was like a black star, falling through the sky by divine prophecy. The darkness silently blanketed his landing point. For a moment, the area was cast into absolute silence. A few seconds later, though, the darkness transformed into black feathers, then exploded in a shower of azure petals. Starting from the explosion’s center, the underlings had been eviscerated.

Tongues and genitalia crashed into the trees, then crumbled into dust.

The beast’s landing alone had been enough to cause serious bloodshed, and he laughed in a voice that sounded almost human.

“Gaaaah-ha-ha-ha, baaaah-ha-ha-ha, gaaaah-ha-ha-ha.

“Those lumps of meat don’t even comprehend the difference in our ranks. Why, even making me kill them is irreverent. Know your place and die already.”

His proclamation was haughty and arrogant. Upon hearing it, the underlings opened their mouths. Even without brains, their instincts were telling them the hound was cut from the same cloth as they.

Countless mouths moved in unison, weaving together words of protest.

The things posed questions. (And they were lamenting, too.)

The things made a supplication. (And they were bewildered, too.)

The things begged for mercy. (And they were angry, too.)

The things  (And then they were torn to shreds.)

“I told you, you’re annoying.”

The Kaiser stomped down on the nearest underling. Unable to withstand the pressure, it burst, collapsing as though its sutures had been ruptured. The Kaiser continued chomping down on several others before spitting them out in disgust.

Despite the fact that they were trembling in primal fear, a few of the underlings bravely asked the same question.

“““Why? Why? Why, why, why, why, why?””” The sheer quantity of their questions caused the very air to shake.

Amid the echoes of their pitiful voice, the supreme hound made his dignified declaration.

“You lot are hideous. Annoying. And boring. Your lives don’t bear a shred of worth.”

His answer certainly wasn’t a proper justification to kill someone. But in a sense, it was more than adequate.

To a king, the fact that the common folk displeased him was more than enough reason to crush them.

“…Looks like that just about does it.”

Over on the riverbank, Kaito was finishing up his own task.

The river was already free of black and red. Instead, the water’s surface was now blanketed with silver.

The river was packed so tightly with needles that the flow of the water was no longer visible. All the underlings that had been crossing it had been run through on their sharp points. However, no small number of them had managed to escape to the shore.

However, Kaito didn’t even need to snap his fingers.

At some point, a pair of red and white maidens had taken up his flanks and were practically snuggled up to him.

One of them bore a bewitching smile, and the other held its eyes neatly closed. The beauties sported hair of gold and silver, and where one of them clad itself in an air of allure, the other bore a modest appearance. However, neither of them seemed ordinary in the slightest.

The two women—or more accurately, the two puppets—were an Iron Maiden and a La Guillotine.

Both of them had been part of the Torture Princess’s regular roster of torture and execution devices.

IiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeEEEEEEEE!

If you didn’t kill them, they would kill you.

That was simply their purpose.

The underlings seemed to instinctively understand the threat the two women posed. They charged toward the maidens. They all spit out venom in unison as they extended their various appendages.

That moment, the gold and silver beauties transformed. One’s stomach, adorned in a red dress, opened up, and mechanical arms reached out from within. The dress adorning the other’s body was white, and after it crossed its arms, it spread them out and launched rectangular blades from them.

Blood sprayed. The cuts in the chunks of flesh that tumbled to the ground were clean and sharp.

There was a kind of perverse beauty in the maidens’ interwoven massacre.

The soldiers stood still in abject horror. A new type of fear filled the air, different from the sort that the underlings had inspired. However, the maidens didn’t pay them the slightest heed. They just kept carrying out their slaughter.

The black hound continued his macabre dance unabated as well. Vlad, still sitting atop his back, nodded with a strange sense of satisfaction.

“You know, I only just realized it myself, but isn’t this our first time working together as father and son?”

“That is…not how I’d describe it.”

Kaito offered a quick retort, unconsciously breaking the silence.

The Kaiser closed his jaw. The red maiden gently rubbed its womb. The white maiden closed its arms, as though in prayer.

It was over.

All that was left were scraps of flesh.

“…He’s a monster.”

Someone quietly murmured, practically spitting out the words.

Kaito Sena offered no response.

As far the World Tree’s defensive line was concerned, the fourth wave had been successfully eradicated.

“Looks like the wounded got back safely, and the shift change went down without a hitch, so… Good work; I’m out!”

“This is just a supposition, my dear successor, but is this what you’ve been doing this whole time?”

As Kaito was waving good-bye, Vlad called out to him.

Kaito blinked a few times. Then he delayed the teleportation circle’s activation and turned to face Vlad.

All around them, the war front was being rearranged. The wounded were being split between the infirmaries at the World Tree and the Capital, and at Kaito’s direction, they’d put in a request for more people who could help transport the injured and provide backup. Even without reinforcements, though, Vlad and the Kaiser should be able to hold the line on their own. Although he wanted to make his next stop as soon as possible, Kaito replied to the question with a nod.

For some reason, that prompted a heavy sigh from Vlad, who also gave his shoulders a light shrug.

“Well, I suppose it’s a sensible decision. Right now, you’re wanted most for your powers as a living weapon. Traveling to the various fronts is no doubt the best way for you to meet expectations. Still, that aside…”

“That aside… What?”

“…No, perhaps I’d best stop there. It’s not something fit to say with a straight face. Forget I said anything.”

“I dunno if this is some sort of weird bashfulness or if you’re trying to be considerate, but either way, you’re creeping me out.”

“Heh, my successor and king’s rebellious phase grows ever longer. Actually, given our relationship, is rebellious phase even the right phrase to use? I have to say, I’m not sure myself.”

The question was of no importance whatsoever, but Vlad began seriously turning it over in his mind.

Kaito narrowed his eyes as he retrieved his glass orb from his pocket. This time, he dropped it for real. A blue design began etching itself atop the bloodstained ground. A great mass of petals and darkness rushed up.

Then the azure hardened into a cylinder.

From the other side, Vlad’s laughter-filled voice rang out.

“It’s just… The way you are now, you remind me of a dying beast prowling the land.”

Well, he was right about one thing.

It wasn’t something one could say with a straight face.