5
—Immediately after that malicious broadcast, the situation began to move fluidly, like flowing water.
The appearance of the Witch Cult and someone claiming to be an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins had sown chaos and disorder, but arguably, the citizens of Pristella were still moving in an orderly manner. Even if they were unsettled, they did as the city’s everyday rehearsals trained them; the surrounding people began leading the way toward the nearest shelter.
The citizens guided any outsiders unfamiliar with the procedures. The people close to Garfiel and Mimi called out to them, too, but the pair declined, hurrying to link back up with their comrades.
If they didn’t meet up with Subaru and the others at the Water Raiment and put a stop to the Witch Cult’s tyranny—
“—Ahh, Mr. Gorgeous!”
“!”
The voice made Garfiel reflexively freeze in place.
When he looked back, running down the street behind Garfiel and Mimi was Liara, who was reassured to have found people she knew. Enduring the aching in his chest, Garfiel turned to face her.
“Ms. Mimi, I’m glad you’re safe, too. That broadcast had me worried.”
“Yep, I’m all right! Ah, the Sowarie were delicious! We had a feast!”
Since Garfiel failed to respond immediately, Mimi replied for both of them. Garfiel thought it was pathetic of him even as he rested easier knowing that Liara was unharmed.
“Glad everyone’s safe and sound. Now get movin’ toward the shelter. We’ve gotta…”
“Yes, I am all right… But, um, Mr. Gorgeous…”
Even when Garfiel bid his farewells and tried to extricate himself as quickly as possible, Liara continued still in an awkward voice. Then she clasped both hands together in front of her.
“Have you seen my children? They went out early this morning to play…but neither of them were at the nearest shelter.”
“?!! Those kids?”
Surprised by the unexpected development, Garfiel plucked out one of his own short golden locks in frustration.
“Well, shit, of course you’re worked up about that…”
“Y-yes. Also, that broadcast… The metia required to conduct it is at city hall, where my husband works… I’m worried about whether something happened to him.”
Voicing her concerns, Liara bit her lip as she looked in the direction of the building.
City hall lay at the center of Pristella, which itself was divided into four districts: north, south, east, and west. It was the place that governed all core city functions. It was also the place that Lust had declared to be under her control.
—Just what kind of damage had the perpetrator of such a cruel, deranged broadcast inflicted on the people at city hall?
Deep in his chest, Garfiel’s heartbeat sounded like an alarm bell, and his thoughts were extremely limited.
His unseen younger brother and sister, Galek left behind in a danger zone, Liara running around at that very moment out of concern for her family—where danger to this group was concerned, Garfiel couldn’t just calmly sit back and watch.
“General, Lady Emilia…”
Subaru, Emilia, Beatrice, and Otto all appeared in the back of Garfiel’s mind.
It was none other than them whom Garfiel had come to the Water Gate City to protect. What good was he if he wasn’t at their side then and there? He didn’t offer much beyond his fighting ability.
But simultaneously, his heart could not turn from his newly found younger siblings, Galek, and the sight of his mother standing before his very eyes.
—It was time to choose. A decision pressed upon Garfiel that would determine which path his fate would take.
“I am sorry for troubling you like this… Please forget everything I told you, Mr. Gorgeous.”
“…Ah.”
“I am being exceptionally unfair to you right now. It’s quite all right. Those children hear the city broadcasts every day, too, and since long ago, nothing ever slips by that man…”
Liara put on a brave smile to appease the hesitant Garfiel. But her hands, which were apparently folded in prayer, trembled. Her face had gone pale, seemingly drained of blood.
It was a desperate performance. She was trying not to saddle Garfiel and Mimi with duties they were not obligated to take on.
—Just like she’d tried to do when she left him and his older sister in the Sanctuary to search for his father in the outside world.
His heart had swayed between the two choices, but that throbbing memory made him come to a swift conclusion.
“…I’ll find your children, and your husband.”
“Mr. Gorgeous?”
Liara opened her eyes wide with surprise at his unexpected reply.
Nodding firmly in Liara’s direction, Garfiel looked down at Mimi’s hand as it gripped his own. During the time he was thinking and the time he was deciding, she’d simply waited in silence for Garfiel to choose.
She had little brothers and other people she wanted to protect, too. He couldn’t force her to go with his whims any longer.
“From this point on, it’s just me bein’ selfish. You go back and… Owww!!”
“As if!”
In the middle of saying his good-bye, Mimi dug her heel into Garfiel’s foot. Her body was light, but that kick was angled to provide maximum penetrating force. Garfiel groaned from the pain as Mimi puffed out her chest.
“Mimi’s offended that Garf thinks she’ll run away after he said something so cool! Mimi’s coming, too! Totally coming!”
“Why …? Nah, I get it—sorry.”
“—This is where you say thanks!”
“—Yeah, thanks.”
“You are very welcome! Yay!”
When a silly smile came over Mimi’s face, Garfiel smiled back, feeling like a great weight had been lifted.
As Liara watched in astonishment, the pair turned to face her once more.
“We’ll find ’em. You go stay at the nearest shelter. Better to stick with the others and wait for us to take care of this.”
“B-but…why are you going this far for me?”
—Indeed, why was he?
Liara’s shaking eyes pressed Garfiel for the true reason behind his decision. This was not out of worry or doubt. She had a simple misgiving—this was an act of benevolence without any basis that she could think of.
Garfiel clacked his fangs at her words and flashed a fiendish smile.
“Because I’m the golden tiger! I’m Gorgeous! Tiger!!”
“And because Mimi is Gorgeous Mimi!!”
Shouting those words in excessively loud voices, they glanced down at Liara, who blinked in surprise as the pair leaped away as one. With his mother far below, Garfiel turned to face the wind and make full use of his nose.
“Garf, what’ll we do?”
“Track ’em by scent. I remember how they smell just fine!!”
“All righty!”
Settling on a plan while almost yelling to be heard, Garfiel and Mimi practically flew as they raced through the Water Gate City.
Mimi was sticking with him in his moment of recklessness as he put off his duties and prioritized his personal matters—even as various factors tried to convince him to reject that choice.
Wrestling with them all, Garfiel touched the scar on his forehead. He decided he would think it through later and simply followed his heart. In the end, this was just faster. There was no reason to pick and choose when he could take everything.
This was the way of the Emilia faction—something Garfiel had picked up over the past year.
“Garf! This scent! It’s coming from over there!”
“—Yeah, no mistakin’ that! Good work!”
Garfiel belatedly confirmed that Mimi had sniffed out the scents they were searching for. They had found lingering traces of the two siblings. They were leading toward District One—he recalled the conversation he’d had with Fred the night before.
“I get it now! So those two went off to see the Songstress at that park again this mornin’?!”
Meaning the younger brother had risen early after reflecting upon his mistake the previous day, and his foulmouthed sister had ended up going with him as a result. Therefore, he reasoned that they had to be at the shelter located close by.
The park was close to the Water Raiment, and it was a place where they could quickly rendezvous with Subaru and the others—
“—City hall.”
A moment before kicking off the ground, Garfiel had caught a glimpse of city hall. There, at the center of the city, which had fallen to Lust, was the final person he was searching for— Once more, it was time to choose.
“Garf, what’ll we do?”
When Mimi asked, pressing him to decide, Garfiel asked himself that very question.
Just what kind of person should Garfiel peg Galek as?
Should Garfiel think of him as the hateful man who stole his mother away or see him as the great benefactor who saved his mother’s life? Unlike the siblings, who were linked to him through his mother’s blood, he and Garfiel were not connected in any way.
If he was basing his choices on blood connections, Garfiel had no duty to rescue Galek. But what would happen to Liara and the kids if they lost him?
A blank space in a family could never be filled—Garfiel knew that better than anyone.
“…City hall—that’s where the Archbishop who did that damn broadcast earlier is holed up.”
“Mmm, probably, yeah.”
“She shook the city all up, and between the general and your little bros, there’s lots to worry about… But a mettore’s heart is in its head. If we smash the cause of everythin’, we can settle this real fast.”
“! You mean we can save everybody! Amazing! That’s amazing!” Mimi leaped at Garfiel as he explained the logic behind his decision. But her long tail immediately rose up, its tip pointing toward city hall. “But is that really all right? I’m getting a sort of bad feeling that’s making my hair stand up.”
“Can’t underestimate intuition. My ears got tired from how many times the general told me that the Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins are bad news. Still…”
The only person Garfiel knew who was connected to Witches was the Witch who had a foul personality and was slumbering in the Sanctuary’s tomb.
It was a fact that she was imbued with incredible power. But Garfiel never, ever had felt like he’d lose to her in a contest of strength.
Whatever the case, the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins had to be taken down for the city to be freed.
“It’d be great if we could just shut her up. At the very least, I wanna get a good look at the enemy’s face.”
“You mean ree-con? Mm…okay! Let’s go do some ree-con!”
Though Mimi had seemed initially cautious about the dangers, she agreed with Garfiel’s plan in the end.
Mimi readied the beloved staff that she carried on her back, and Garfiel slipped his silvery shields onto both arms. After giving his gear a final check and confirming that the steel was wrapped around his thick arms, Garfiel was ready for combat.
“Let’s go.”
With that brief declaration, the two broke into a run toward city hall.
The Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins Subaru’d beaten a year earlier apparently had a considerable number of followers with him. The combat power of the disciples had been middling at best, but at any rate, there’d been a lot of them. And of course, they were good at blending into crowds.
They’d have to deal with that on the fly and take back city hall by force. Garfiel had presented it as reconnaissance to Mimi for expediency’s sake, but in his heart, he intended to overwhelm the enemy with speed and violence.
—At least, that was the plan until he picked up the exceptionally dense odor of blood seeping from city hall.
“ ”
As the pair stopped, that thick stench of iron was wafting over from the street right in front of them. If they went straight ahead and turned the corner, city hall would be right in front of their noses. There was no doubting from whence the scent hailed.
“Garf, don’t! Don’t…!”
The instant Garfiel tried to advance toward the scent of blood, Mimi grasped his loincloth. She shook her head in rejection, almost in tears as she repeated, “Don’t.”
But he couldn’t turn back. If he retreated, he wouldn’t be able to fulfill Liara’s—Lisha’s wish.
“If you don’t wanna go, stay here. Me, I’ll rip this asshole’s head off alone if I have to!”
“Garf!”
Shaking off Mimi’s grip, Garfiel raced down the street. Rounding the corner, his vision opened up. City hall was right before him, and when he laid eyes on the square that led to the building—a tragedy awaited him.
“?!!”
The scent of blood was so strong that it made him crinkle his nose, and a single glance was enough for him to recognize the traces of a gruesome slaughter. The square in front of city hall, which was surrounded by waterways on three sides, was overflowing with so much blood that it was almost impossible to tell what color the paving stones used to be.
A great many had already perished, their corpses tumbled into pools of their own blood—based on their equipment, these victims had been Pristellan guardsmen. They’d likely heard the broadcast and had valiantly come running in defense of their city.
Then their lives were savagely torn asunder.
The corpses numbered thirty or so, but even that grisly detail was not what attracted Garfiel’s attention most.
—Rather, it was the two figures standing side by side at the center of the square, surrounded by those corpses.
“ ”
The first was a huge man, large enough that Garfiel had to look up to stare at him. He was gripping large swords in both hands, calmly gazing toward Garfiel’s way. The other was a figure with a slender, feminine physique, and this one held a long, slim, single-edged blade, her stance exhibiting such beauty that it made Garfiel tremble.
Both were dressed in black outfits from head to foot. Garfiel couldn’t get a good look at their faces.
“…But judgin’ by the way you carry yourself like a warrior and that smell of blood comin’ off ya, you two are the ones who did this, right?”
Garfiel clacked his fangs as he spoke to the two standing boldly in that bloody square. But neither opponent responded to his provocations. He felt the scar on his forehead throb.
“Garf… Those two—they’re reaaally strong!”
With a pattering of footsteps, Mimi caught up with Garfiel and stood alongside him. As he had expected, she, too, was floored by the gruesome state of the square, but her tiny form was taut with caution that exceeded her surprise.
His earlier impression that their opponents had shown no reaction had been in error—the moment Garfiel and Mimi stepped into the square, they were struck by a ghastly, malevolent atmosphere and a cutting aura that seemed sharp as a blade itself.
The pair waiting in the square were so dangerous and hostile that it was immediately obvious they were exceedingly difficult foes. Garfiel felt so threatened that his throat suddenly went dry; it was as if the point of a sword was resting against his beating heart.
Their enemies were clearly masters who had stepped beyond the realm of mere mortals—and unless he surpassed these sentinels, he could not fulfill his oath.
“Ha, this is gettin’ interestin’…!”
Smiling, Garfiel banged together the shields covering his arms before his chest in an attempt to rouse himself. The screech of metal on metal and a shower of sparks illuminated the beast contained within his timid heart.
But even as Garfiel worked himself up, Mimi spread both arms wide and stood in front of him as she shouted.
“D-don’t! Garf! Not these two! They’re too strong! Mimi and Garf can’t take them alone! Stop!”
“! Can’t know till we try it. Ain’t no way I’m acceptin’ absolutes as set in stone.” The words that Mimi used in an attempt to stop Garfiel stabbed at the cracks in Garfiel’s heart. Clicking his tongue at his sore insecurities, Garfiel indicated the pair with his chin. “Besides, even if we tuck our tails and run, those two ain’t gonna just let us walk outta here. Someone’s gotta do this.”
“Th-then only once! We go clang, pull back, and run. Anything else is no good! Just Mimi and Garf aren’t enough! It’s hopeless without the captain and Julius!”
Seeing that Mimi still wanted to run, Garfiel firmly dug in and refused.
Mimi’s pleas were the right call. Each of the two before them possessed superhuman might—their danger level was equal to, if not greater than, that of the Bowel Hunter. Garfiel largely agreed that facing them unprepared was suicidal.
Or at least, he agreed in theory, but accepting it as fact was a different story.
The two before his eyes were a wall. Blocking his path with overwhelming power, they represented a wall that he had to challenge and overcome. Having lost to Reinhard without a fight, could he really bear to run from his opponents twice over?
He yearned to be the strongest. He had pride in himself. He was aware that he was the shield for his precious comrades. And in a different form than he had wished, he’d reunited with his mother and her new family. To his mother, the safety or peril of the man who had saved her was—
“ ”
Mimi gave Garfiel a concerned stare as these bewildering emotions whirled about inside him. The sight of her waiting for his decision made him recall the night he had spent protected by her warmth.
Instantly, Garfiel shook his head as the obstinacy that held him in place had melted away.
“…All right. We’ll do like you said. Give it all we got for just one hit, then we pull out. We’ll gather our crew and then come back to mount our real attack—that’s fine, right?”
“Mm! Yeah! Let’s go and do our best-best!”
Mimi looked relieved that Garfiel had reined in his recklessness.
Now on the same page, they turned as one to face their enemies. The pair opposing them had watched their exchange in silence. It wouldn’t have been strange for them to attack during Garfiel and Mimi’s debate, but they had not, be it out of pride, mercy, or composure— Garfiel and Mimi would make them regret that.
“!!”
Without any signal, Garfiel and Mimi simultaneously launched themselves at their opponents.
Garfiel ended up matched up against the woman with his strength, and Mimi, the big man with her maneuverability.
As Garfiel drew near with the speed of an arrow, the woman remained calmly poised, not moving a muscle. The distance between them vanished in the blink of an eye, and at five to four paces out, Garfiel initiated the first attack, swinging up with a bestial claw.
—Instantly, a sword flashed with such entrancing beauty, it was enough to make anyone watching lose themselves in it.
“—Gah!”
That moment, Garfiel threw his right shield up to intercept the sword as he kicked toward the woman’s open chest. She dodged it without even the slightest wasted movement. As her body twisted away, her blade, which had been caught on his shield, was freed for a renewed attack.
Neck, shoulder, arm—the longsword twisted like a snake to defend them all as a chorus of sword meeting shield rang out. Evading a strike, Garfiel instantaneously retaliated with another kick; the woman blocked this with her scabbard as she was sent flying back.
“The hell?”
Garfiel raised an eyebrow at how light the woman felt.
To his right, Mimi ran circles around her huge opponent and slipped under his massive greatswords, waving her staff to conduct a magic attack. When a blue explosion rocked her opponent and put him on the back foot, it seemed like that was as good a time as any for them to evacuate from the square.
The huge, tottering man wouldn’t be able to catch Mimi. It shouldn’t be difficult for her to escape unscathed. As for the woman he’d driven back, she was in no position to withstand a follow-up attack from Garfiel.
“For starters, we’ll take one down!!”
Therefore, he decided it was time to strike. Garfiel bared his fangs and leaped toward the woman.
With her blade still where the shield had last deflected it, he whipped his claw toward the woman’s wide-open torso.
“You’re min—!”
He had her right where he wanted her—the instant he was certain of this, death closed in on him from behind.
“ ”
The distance between him and the giant vanished. That ghastly aura was the only warning Garfiel got. Curtailing his attack, he flipped his body back and leaped up. Not a moment later, a greatsword swung downward and smashed his body into the ground.
“Gah, arghhh?!”
Caught up in the shock wave, the force blew Garfiel’s thoughts away as he hacked up a clump of blood.
After bouncing off the ground, he felt another blow close in on him from the side. He was lucky that his arm made it just in time to catch the greatsword with his shield. Even with the lessened impact, he was still sent skipping across the ground and the surface of the water.
Pursuing Garfiel as he soared through the air, the giant and the woman simultaneously leaped up. Death was near.
Aiming to catch him in a merciless pincer attack, they came in from both sides, keeping Garfiel pinned in the middle.
He deflected the longsword coming from the front with a shield and evaded a savage greatsword swing from behind by kicking the weapon away at the last moment. Guessing the path the sword would take, Garfiel miraculously managed to parry it. But as a shower of sparks scorched his cheeks, Garfiel’s body was crushed by greatsword swings that came from above and below.
“Gwuh!”
His hip bones and ribs strained, then snapped. The blunt trauma alone left his vision bloodred as he was pushed to the brink of death.
Even as groans of pain and globules of blood spilled from his mouth, he never stopped searching for a path that would lead him to survival. However, these two powerful foes would permit no such thing.
Still speechless, his attackers turned their soundless slashes into heartless bloodlust as they continued to assail Garfiel.
The woman’s swordsmanship was sharp, representing the epitome of how beautiful death could be. The weight of her individual blows could not compare with that of the giant, but the skilled footwork and technique with which she wielded her long blade meant that the slightest misstep on Garfiel’s part would inevitably result in a lethal blow slipping past his guard.
The large man’s fighting style was crude and violent, but the chaos and lack of polish served to optimize its destructiveness. He swung swords that a normal person would struggle to lift up even with two arms, while he wielded them with a single hand each, raging like an implacable storm of destruction incarnate.
“Ngh! Aaaaaah!!”
On one side, there were dazzling sword slashes that flowed like water. On the other, there were destructive sword swings that would crush anything that stood in their path, like an implacable maelstrom.
Battered by these two very different styles of swordsmanship that sat at the opposite extremes of sound and motion, Garfiel’s mind was reaching its limit. He was avoiding and parrying death on pure instinct, only narrowly escaping from multiple fatal blows.
At this rate, he would inevitably be sliced to death or crushed by the sheer weight of heavy sword strokes—
It is because you will kill me that you are my first love, Garfiel Tinzel.
The instant death entered his thoughts, that sweet, dark invitation to what lay beyond life echoed loudly within him.
Instantly, his head seethed as he abandoned those clouded musings. He roared:
“Graaaaaah!!”
His explosive increase in aggression diminished the ferocity of the incoming attacks ever so slightly. The skeletal structure of Garfiel’s face audibly changed, and both of his muscular arms bulged in size as golden fur began covering all his exposed skin.
Transforming only his upper body usually lowered his ability to reason and replaced it with an animallike combativeness, but if anything, his thoughts grew clearer.
Roaring at the silent pair, he used his blessing of the earth spirit to make the ground beneath his feet explode. Sending blood and gravel flying as he flew across the gore-drenched battlefield helped interfere with the enemy’s coordination.
The sudden change in footing had caused the woman to lose her balance because of her light weight. A bestial claw, sharp as any blade, didn’t miss this opportunity. Just before the blow struck the woman’s windpipe, the giant got in between to shield her.
A single blow from the mighty tiger was about to rend that thick mass of flesh—
“?!!”
An explosive sound rang out, leaving Garfiel thunderstruck.
Garfiel’s blow had been halted by the massive man’s arms. However, these were not the same arms carrying the greatswords. Opening up his outfit, the giant had used additional, hidden arms to stop Garfiel’s attack with brute force.
All told, four arms were now out, leaving no obvious openings. This overwhelming combination of attack and defense completely stymied Garfiel’s counterattack. Instantly, the mighty tiger that should have been the epitome of aggression was brought to a standstill.
In other words, in a battlefield where life and death were decided from moment to moment, his life was unguarded and exposed.
Circling around from behind the towering man, the female attacker closed in on Garfiel from his blind spot, sword at the ready.
Her attack almost seemed like a beautiful sword dance. And in his current state, she could easily lop off Garfiel’s head like he was a scarecrow. Even as death approached from behind, Garfiel had no moves to make.
Sensing death coming from the front and the back, he caught a shadowy figure in the corner of his vision flashing him a bloody smile as she laughed—
“Choyasaaa!!”
A powerful shout interrupted, summoning a blue magic wall that blocked the woman’s sword.
The wall made a sound like ice cracking as the blade slid across the barrier’s surface and thrust harmlessly toward the ground. Mimi had returned to the field of battle, saving Garfiel in the nick of time.
“Garf, you said you’d run right away!”
As Mimi clutched her staff, her first words were a blunt criticism of Garfiel’s refusal to follow their plan.
Hearing her voice coming from behind his back in his half-transformed state, Garfiel realized what a fool he had been.
Desperate for results, he’d courted death by misjudging how formidable his opponents were. If Mimi hadn’t been there, Garfiel would have undoubtedly met a grisly end—his life cut short without ever achieving his dream of becoming the strongest.
“—Ohooooaaaaagh!!”
Pushing aside the relief that he felt at being saved, Garfiel howled and yanked his arm free from his grappling opponent. Kicking the giant in the chest, he didn’t bother to see the results as he leaped clear to rejoin Mimi.
Putting an arm around her slender waist, he poured strength into his legs. It was time to take Mimi and retreat. Following her initial suggestion, they’d gather their comrades and return in force.
“ ”
Right before he could jump, the woman pursued him in a low stance. Mimi turned her staff toward the approaching woman, deploying a triple-layered magical barrier surpassing what she’d summoned before and using the thick walls to bar the woman’s path.
Garfiel was glad he had Mimi here with him. She’d saved him time and again.
As that thought occurred to him, Garfiel was already flexing his legs, and—
“—Ah.”
There was a soft, strained cry and a light impact. He heard something that sounded like ice breaking.
This caught him by surprise, and he wondered what had happened as he finished leaping away. Paving stones shattered as the half-beast sailed into the sky, seemingly streaming a trail of fresh blood in his wake.
—Fresh blood… Where the hell was it coming from?
“Hey, shorty?”
The moment he called out to her, Garfiel swiftly released his half-transfiguration and returned to human form. However, the chill that ran up his spine was all that occupied him, to the point that he didn’t even notice the unsettling feeling of his fur falling out.
Mimi was limp in his arms. When he looked down, he saw that the woman was peering up at Garfiel in the sky, pulling back the longsword she had thrust at them.
He noticed that the longsword was stained in blood along half its length.
“ ”
He could feel something warm spreading across his stomach. The girl in his arms was not moving. Her staff…was falling to the ground.
He landed, then bounded once more. Leaping onto the roof of the nearest building, Garfiel fled without regard for anything else. There was no pursuit. The two foes simply watched as the wounded weaklings escaped.
What their enemies thought of them and their abilities wasn’t important at the moment. Jumping five more times to distance them from the square, Garfiel broke the roof of the building that he picked to land on, then set down the girl in his arms.
Mimi’s eyes were closed. A great deal of blood was still coursing out of her pierced chest.
Hastily, he stripped away her clothes around the source of bleeding and checked the wound. Fortunately, it apparently missed her vitals. Of course, she was in danger if she wasn’t treated immediately, but a user of healing magic was right there with her.
Pressing a hand to the wound, Garfiel poured magic energy into Mimi’s body.
Well aware that he wasn’t cut out for the role, he’d put his soul into learning healing magic. He wanted the power so that he could manage if something happened to anyone in the Sanctuary. That was why Garfiel had focused his efforts on studying healing magic, and in the process, he had learned a decent amount about treating the wounded in general.
It was time to put all that hard work to use. It was an opportunity to show how far he’d come. This was surely the exact situation he’d wanted to prepare for.
Even a wound this serious would close up in a flash with some healing mana. Touching his palm to the open wound, he could sense the blood coursing beneath the skin, the flesh, the innards, and the healing magic he was pouring in. He poured and poured, but—
—the wound… It wasn’t closing.
“Why won’t…?”
He heard someone speaking in a very frail voice.
He wanted to kill whoever was speaking in such a pathetic voice at a time like this. Lifting his face, he looked around. There was no one else there. He immediately realized that the voice…had been his own.
I was the one who sounded that weak? Why did I let out a voice like that?
That’s just… That’s just like…like—
“!! Close! Close, close, damn it! Heal, heal, healhealheal!!!”
He kept pouring all the mana his body could muster into the healing magic. Ignoring his own wounds, he sent waves of healing energy into Mimi’s battered body, filling it with gentle power.
And yet the wound that needed to close would not.
“…No…way.”
Unable to accept the reality before him, Garfiel spat out in a frail voice once more.
Then he slugged his own cheek, cutting his lip with his own fangs, and used the pain to rouse himself. This wasn’t the time to wallow in despair. There had to be a way. There just had to.
He knew it existed. Of course it did. He was just too stupid to realize it.
He had to think. Not knowing was no reason to give up. At any rate, he had to do something to save this girl.
She was the one who’d helped Garfiel cry.
It wasn’t right for this girl to die for his sake.
“ ”
Clacking his fangs, Garfiel was still in a daze as he leaped off that roof. Keeping pressure on the girl’s wound, he tried to stop the bleeding as he continued attempting his ineffective healing magic.
There was a scent of blood, and death, hanging over the city. He didn’t spot another soul as he reviewed all available information in his mind.
I’ll take anyone who can help. Please just save this girl. Someone, somewhere, please show me a miracle. Please tell me. If there’s anything that I can do, then tell me how to save this girl.
He was so desperate that he was even willing to trade his life for hers if it came to it. Garfiel focused everything on his sense of smell.
The scent of water, the scent of blood, the scent of violence fanned by emotions run amok, the scent of scorched flesh—amid those countless smells, Garfiel’s nose picked out the one he wanted.
He knew this one. And it was the one that Garfiel had been searching for.
Leaping over obstacles, racing forward, Garfiel was feverish by the time he finally reached his destination. He arrived at the same building he had visited just the day before and rushed into one of the rooms inside. A large number of people were shocked to see his bloodied form. He had no time to explain. Swiveling his head, Garfiel searched for the man he could rely on.
“Garfiel?!”
Someone called his name. Turning, he spotted the one he was looking for.
He lifted his head. Straight ahead at the back of the room, he saw Subaru. Subaru Natsuki.
To Garfiel, this man symbolized miracles; he was the personification of the ray of light that revealed hope in the direst of situations.
With tottering feet and a heavy head, he raced toward his hope while carrying an all-too-light weight in his arms. Subaru’s cheeks stiffened as he got a good look at Garfiel. He had noticed Mimi’s limp body in his arms.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, General!! I’m…! I’m useless! Worthless…!!”
Dropping to his knees in front of Subaru, he held up Mimi. Then he despaired, cursing his own foolishness.
He hadn’t protected his family. He’d failed to fulfill his oath to serve as a shield. He’d challenged the enemy on his own judgment and been routed, and as a result, this kindhearted girl was now on the brink of death.
“Garfiel, what did…? No, we’ll leave that for later! Ferris!”
“I know! Quick, lay her down!”
Taking Mimi from Garfiel’s arms, Subaru set her down on the long table. Garfiel simply watched as the nearby, pretty cat-eared girl put a hand upon Mimi’s wound.
The next instant, an overwhelming amount of healing mana swelled up. This was incomparable with what Garfiel could wield. If Garfiel’s healing magic was a drop of rain, this person’s power was a thundering waterfall.
It was so great that even bringing the dead back to life seemed within reach. Garfiel felt like his soul slipped out of his body as he gazed upon such godlike healing power in a daze.
Then Subaru gently rested a hand upon his shoulder. When Garfiel slowly looked up at him, Subaru nodded. He only noticed now that Subaru’s leg was heavily bandaged.
“Not gonna sugarcoat it and call this a good situation, but you did well getting this far. With Ferris here, it’s the best place you could’ve brought her. We’ll be able to save Mimi thanks to you.”
“Thanks…to me…?”
What was Subaru saying?
Thanks to Garfiel, Mimi would be saved? What was he even talking about? Wasn’t it Garfiel’s fault that Mimi had ended up like this to begin with?
Even so, Subaru had naturally arrived at the conclusion that she’d been saved by Garfiel’s good judgment. But that was all wrong.
He felt lost. His thoughts were empty and hollow. The disgust and guilt tortured him and seemed like they would never stop. There was a persistent ringing in his ears that wouldn’t go away. He found the insistent pain of his own wounds laughable and out of place.
I want blame. I want pain. I don’t want anyone to forgive me for my stupidity.
Garfiel’s wish was one that would be granted. After all, the world was not so forgiving.
There would be a price to pay for his errors—but the bill would come in the most loathsome way possible.
“Ferris, what’s the matter…?”
Sensing that something was wrong, Subaru suddenly asked a tentative question.
In front of him, the treatment to save Mimi’s life was still underway. An incredible stream of mana was flowing. It was so awesome that even the residual energy seemed powerful enough to cure all ills.
And yet the girl employing this breathtaking power had a desperate look about her as she shook her head.
“Why…? The wound…isn’t closing! I can’t help her like this! I don’t understand!!”
As that pained report echoed through the room, Garfiel slumped against the wall and crumpled to the ground. The wall was cold. The floor was cold. He was covered in blood. The wound would not heal.
“ ”
As Garfiel hung his head, the phantom woman in black gazed upon him.
She said nothing. She didn’t make a sound. She didn’t even smile. Her black, hollow eyes told him nothing.
Nothing except that the price for his mistake was being repaid in blood.
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