INTERLUDE
The Deathless Monster and a Fleeting Dream I
A pale void stretched as far as the eye could see. That was all that existed in this space. There was nothing else. No objects, no sense of direction, not even gravity existed in this world of nothingness.
It was inside this incomprehensible realm…
…that Ireena found herself when she woke.
The first things she felt were a slight headache and drowsiness.
It took a moment for her to process her surroundings and the strangeness of her circumstances. When it finally clicked in her head, she murmured in confusion, “What…is this place…?”
Nothing about her predicament made sense. Ireena’s most recent memories did nothing to explain why she was here.
As best as she could recall, she had been in the capital of the Asylas Federation, fighting an intense battle against the monster Elzard, known as the Frenzied King of Dragons. The fight had been close, but she and the others had somehow secured victory, and then…
“Then…what happened afterward…?”
Ireena’s memories of what followed were foggy, and she struggled to visualize them with any clarity. A vague sense of foreboding bored through her chest. The anxiety continued to grow, and she was on the verge of venting it in the form of a complaint when…
“You’re inside Al. He absorbed you, and you’ve become part of him.”
…a voice sounded through the white space. It was beautiful, but there was a mechanical quality to its tone, and the moment Ireena heard it, a figure took shape in front of her.
It was a girl. But the moment Ireena saw her, she was gripped with a conviction that this was no ordinary person.
That much was obvious from a single glance. The girl oozed power.
She wore her hair in twin ponytails, and there was a certain artificial grace to the white strands, interrupted only by the red highlights that seemed to pulse with a faint light.
Her appearance was too perfect, reinforcing the impression that someone had created her. What settled that notion was the colorful clothing in the gothic lolita style. The excessive decorations and vivid colors prompted Ireena to blurt out an observation.
“She looks like a doll…”
The moment the words left her mouth, she realized she was uttering nonsense and blushed. Ireena’s statement felt out of place, considering the circumstances. Still, the girl showed no reaction. Instead, she watched Ireena, her face immobile.
“You aren’t wrong,” the girl replied dryly, like she was merely reciting a line.
Ireena shivered in discomfort at the girl’s presence, but decided to see what she could learn.
“Just who are you? What is this place?”
The girl responded to the first question. “I’m Kalmia.”
“…Kalmia?”
The name sounded familiar. Ireena had first heard it during the incident at the Megatholium. Kalmia had been the name of the queen’s agent who had helped Ireena and the others escape the city.
A few months later, they saw Kalmia during their summer vacation. However…
“You look completely different.”
…the Kalmia that Ireena remembered had been beautiful, but soberly dressed. There was no semblance of her in the eccentrically attired beauty who stood in this pale void.
“Appearance is meaningless. That appearance, this appearance, all of them are temporary guises.”
Ireena wasn’t sure what Kalmia was trying to say, but she didn’t feel a particular need to press the issue. There were more important matters to discuss.
“What’s happened to me?”
“As I stated earlier, you’ve been absorbed into Al—”
“Back up. Who is this Al? And what do you mean ‘absorbed’?”
“—Do I have to spell it out for you? I guess you’re not very bright? I don’t understand what they see in you. At the very least, you’re not worthy of being my owner.”
Ireena felt a surge of irritation as Kalmia let out an exasperated sigh.
“No, the problem is your vague explanation! I’m definitely not stupid!”
“…This is the problem with you girls with excessively large breasts. All of the nutrients go to your boobs, and you end up with nothing between your ears. I pity you. To not even have the intelligence to grasp your own lack of smarts.”
“Excuse me?! Are you trying to pick a fight, you washboard?!”
Perhaps it was her imagination, but Ireena thought she saw a trace of anger tinge Kalmia’s sterile expression.
“I am not a washboard. I simply embody modesty and propriety. Such a pity that you can’t even recognize that. Yes, you should remain stuck here forever—”
As Kalmia doled out her observations, a new presence suddenly appeared in the emptiness.
Ireena thought she saw a black fog from the corner of her eye. It rapidly spread through the entire space, staining the pure white with black.
“Huh? W-what’s going on?”
Ireena could do nothing but glance around in confusion. Nearby, Kalmia narrowed her eyes and muttered, “…It’s started.”
A heartbeat later, a new change rippled through the darkened void. An unending fountain of colors erupted and began to fill the place with color. By the time Ireena knew what was happening, she found herself standing in a room made of stone.
It seemed to be some sort of basement. An unsettling room that was dimly lit by a hanging lantern. Kalmia and Ireena were…not the only two who stood there.
“I suppose even I can’t get everything to go as I’d like.”
An elegant voice echoed in the creepily lit room.
The moment Ireena laid eyes upon the source of that voice…
Shudder, shudder, shudder.
…she felt a shiver of terror run up her spine.
Her teeth chattered in fear. Terrifying. Just terrifying. And yet, she felt an odd kinship with the figure.
“What…is…this…?!” Ireena uttered the words without meaning to do so.
“Hmm?” The figure turned his gaze toward her.
“Ah!” Ireena let out a reflexive gasp. The figure gazed intently in her direction.
Beautiful—that was the only word that could describe the man. His long, floor-length black hair shimmered in the dim lighting and seemed to create an aura around him. His large eyes sparkled like stars in the night sky, drawing in the viewer. His facial features still retained a certain childish innocence, making him look almost angelic… Yet at the same time, he carried the unsettling perfection of a devil.
“Hrrrrm.”
He tilted his head and rubbed at his chin in thought.
“I thought I sensed a presence, but I guess it’s only a fly.”
That was odd. Ireena felt there was something off, even as terror gripped her heart. There was no way he could’ve missed Ireena or Kalmia. So why wasn’t he reacting?”
“We’re in the world of memories. It’s not as though we actually exist here.”
“The world of…? Memories…?”
Ireena still couldn’t quite follow what was happening. Thus, Ireena’s mind tried first to understand the sight before her rather than deduce the exact situation she found herself in.
The scene in this stone room was simply too strange to do otherwise.
An array of tools of unknown purpose hung on the wall. The beautiful and terrifying man stood in the middle of the chamber.
His eyes were fixed on a young child. While still small, the youth had beautiful features that resembled the man’s. Anyone would have assumed they were father and son.
However, if they were, this was no way for a parent to treat their child.
The boy wore dirty, ragged clothes, and he was trapped inside this creepy room. Worst of all, he was chained to the wall.
Day after day, the boy was subjected to gruesome torture.
“—Huh?!”
Ireena realized with a start that her thoughts made no sense. Why did she know the poor youth’s situation with that much clarity? How had she come to understand the situation unfolding before her? It was just as she began to process everything…
…that images began to flood into her mind. They came in a torrent. The hellish days from the boy’s birth to the present scene carved themselves into her head in a matter of seconds.
“Urgh… Ugh…!” It was a miracle that Ireena was able to maintain her composure. “Wha…? What just…happened…?”
“As I noted earlier, you’re currently one with Al. Meaning that his recollections will regularly enter your mind. The fact that you’re in the world of memories is part of that process.”
Ireena slowly began to understand. Something had occurred after the incident at the Megatholium, and she had been absorbed by someone or something.
Al was the name of the person or thing. And…Al was likely the child bound to the wall.
“You exist to give me a method of researching myself. What do I need to break myself? What do I require to drive myself mad? I gave you several of my traits…to check aspects of myself that I have missed until now… Regrettably, the results aren’t…very useful.”
The man’s beautiful features were clouded by disappointment. Ireena wasn’t able to contain her befuddlement at his expression and words.
For the sake of his research? That’s why he tortured the boy and chipped away at his life?
“What does that even…? It makes no sense…”
“It’s pointless to attempt to understand Mephisto Yuu Phegor. No one can comprehend his mind… Even those who are his kin.”
Kalmia’s last words came softly enough that Mephisto’s voice overpowered them.
“Given that it took a fair amount of time and effort to make you, it does feel like a waste, but there’s no point in keeping something that serves no purpose. A pity, but I’m afraid I’ll have to get rid of you.” Mephisto had no trace of hostility as he sighed and shrugged. To him, erasing the child was the same as disposing of garbage.
“S-stop!”
Even though she knew it was pointless, Ireena spoke up and tried to stop Mephisto by tackling him. At the exact same moment…
“If thou hast no need for him, perhaps thou might allow me to have him?”
…a woman’s powerful voice posed a question. The speaker held a kind of energy that inspired awe and respect.
The moment after the woman’s words echoed through the room, an energy field appeared in front of Ireena—and a figure took shape.
“Ahh, it’s you. That’s what I felt earlier,” Mephisto remarked with a smile like he was greeting an old friend. The woman at the end of his gaze was pure crimson.
Crimson hair.
Crimson lips.
Crimson irises.
Crimson nails.
Crimson clothing.
The aura she emitted, her voice, even her very presence itself. All of it was crimson. That was the impression that she left on an observer.
“Well, hello. You’re lovely as always, Luminas wol Croft.”
Ignoring the compliment, the crimson woman Luminas gazed intently at the chained child. Her eyes burned with intense emotion.
“…Yes, he’s lovely.”
A pleased smile formed on Luminas’s face, and she sauntered toward the child, her lengthy hair bobbing side to side.
“Allow me to correct myself. Thou art not giving him to me. This boy is mine. I care not for thy approval.”
“Hah. As self-centered as ever.”
Despite the biting comment, Mephisto’s expression held no hint of displeasure. If anything, he watched the situation with a certain glee, as though he had found a particularly interesting toy.
Meanwhile, Luminas had reached the boy. “Now, allow me to release thee. Thou will live with me from this day on.”
Luminas snapped her fingers, a gentleness softening her primal beauty. In response, the chains binding the boy disintegrated into dust.
Without a sound, without hesitation, the boy immediately pounced on Luminas, his eyes swirling pools of chaos.
There was no meaning behind the attack. Ireena, who was now linked to him, understood that well. The child was the very manifestation of malice.
He had been exposed to nothing but pain and suffering since he was born. He knew nothing else—no common sense or ethics. All he wanted was to survive. There was no time for intelligence or reason.
Despite enduring agony that would break anyone, he still wanted to live. This was why he’d sought a method to survive, to overcome the pain. And his answer was to pool his malice and hatred.
To bear suffering that was enough to drive him insane, he’d had to fill his heart with the madness of indignance and rage. The boy, whose heart and mind were filled with nothing but murderous fury, had suddenly been freed from his binds.
It was only natural that he would lash out. Raw fury drove him.
But Luminas wol Croft wasn’t equipped with the sanity required to panic or hesitate when faced with that sort of madness.
“Oh my. Such a lovely creature thou art, my boy.” Her crimson lips curled in a wicked smile.
It happened in an instant. Yes, in the blink of an eye.
Ireena and the boy couldn’t grasp what had occurred because of how quickly it came.
Luminas dodged the pouncing boy and broke his arms and legs.
“…!”
Unable to maintain his balance, the freed boy crumpled to the ground. Luminas then picked him up.
“A fine lunge. Make sure thou never forget what drove you to it.”
A compassionate smile. A sweet scent. The warmth of her touch. The beating of her heart.
Such curious sensations.
The boy howled in pain over his snapped limbs, and the one responsible was holding him. However, he found himself incapable of mustering any rage. No, the boy felt something else. It was a wholly unfamiliar emotion.
He was melting into some kind of warmth.
“Tell me. Does this child have a name?”
“No. You can call him whatever you like.”
“Truly? Then…” The woman fell silent in thought as she held the slender child.
As he watched her, the boy finally understood. The hellish days of suffering and torture, why he had clung to life, and why he had wanted to survive… It was all so that he could meet this woman.
“…Mmm, all right. Yes. Thy name from this day forward is Alvarto.”
Alvarto Egzex. After naming him, Luminas gently patted his head.
“The first and last man that I once loved. Thou art worthy of that name.”
Luminas leaned in and, without a moment’s hesitation, placed a kiss on Alvarto’s dirty forehead.
Alvarto’s emotions abruptly flooded into Ireena’s heart.
It was the love that a child had for his mother.
That was the moment the boy had gained a semblance of normalcy.
The scene Ireena was watching suddenly lost its color.
After a moment, the environment returned to the infinite white space.
“…Alvarto. That’s one of the Four Heavenly Kings.”
Everyone in the modern era knew that name. He was the greatest asset of the Demon Lord’s army…and an extremely mysterious figure.
His portrayal and his history were fragmentary and contradictory, leaving no consistent image.
While the other members of the Four Heavenly Kings were well-known public figures, Alvarto was considered to have gone missing, furthering the sense of mystery.
He was their enemy.
“…Lord Alvarto is behind this entire mess, isn’t he?”
“Yes. He absorbed you, changed the world, and is currently at war with Ard Meteor and the others.”
Ireena didn’t yet understand every detail, but she had pieced together the vital information.
Alvarto Egzex, once one of the Four Heavenly Kings, was plotting something, and his scheme involved inciting the recent incident at the Megatholium. Ireena and the others had resolved that problem, but as a result, she had fallen into Alvarto’s trap and his grasp.
Undoubtedly, Ard and the others were working hard to free her, even at this very moment.
“…Guess I’m causing them more problems.”
Ireena disliked the idea of being a damsel in distress. That was the reason she’d worked so hard to grow stronger.
Unfortunately, there was little she could do now. Ireena bit her lower lip in frustration. Kalmia, standing next to her, spoke up.
“There is no need to be upset. You can still turn things around. If not, I wouldn’t have made contact with you.”
Ireena cast the doll-like young woman a questioning look. “…Whose side are you on? What’s your goal?” She had the vague feeling that Kalmia was allied with Alvarto, but if that was the case, her actions seemed out of place. There was no reason for Kalmia to interact with Ireena. “Are you pretending to be on his side while planning to betray him?”
“No. I am always by his side. I’d choose destruction over betraying him,” Kalmia stated firmly, leaving Ireena no reason to doubt her resolve.
“Then why are you talking to me? Just killing time?”
Kalmia shook her head. If that wasn’t it, then Ireena was at a complete loss.
“I have a single goal.”
The words she uttered next compounded Ireena’s confusion.
“Ireena Olhyde, I want you to save Al.”
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