Fremd Torturchen - Volume 9 - Chapter 6

6

A Promise to Play

I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I was a bad girl I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m bad and wrong and I’m a spoiled little brat whose brain is more rotten than garbage, please don’t hit me I’ll do anything I swear so

so?

I have to say I’m sorry.

Until they forgive me.

But see, there was one person who said I wasn’t bad.

So I’m not scared anymore. You promised, remember? You said that I was your daughter.

That’s right. There was someone who told me stories. Someone who stroked my hair.

But now there isn’t.

Father died. Father was killed. Father asked me for something.

Please, daughter, carry out my dream for me.

I know. I know, you know? I know that really and truly, Father hated everything. He thought everything hurt, and everything was awful, and everything was horrible, and everything was scary. It’s okay. Only I know. And I know that Father put up with it anyway. He endured for such a very long time.

So it’s all right.

It’s all right, right?

There was someone who loved me. There was someone who stroked my hair. There was someone who forgave me. He was the first person in all the world who did that. And this is what he wanted.

This is what I want.

So,

please, everyone, let’s all please die together.

There was a place, and in that place, there was a peerless sinner.

She tortured the entire population of her fiefdom and killed them. In the end, her sins reached even the nobles.

Everyone cast stones at her. They resented, hated, and despised her.

Loathsome Elisabeth, repulsive Elisabeth, cruel, hideous Elisabeth!

A curse upon you, a curse upon you, a curse, a curse, an eternal curse upon you, Elisabeth!

It made complete sense. No matter how many good deeds she racked up, it meant nothing to the dead.

No day would ever come where her sins would be washed clean.

But there was a boy who told her he loved her,

and a simple beastman who called her his beloved captain.

They didn’t call the Torture Princess “the Torture Princess.”

To them, the Torture Princess was just Elisabeth.

And now

both of them were gone.

In the grander scheme of things, it meant nothing.

That was all that the story had to it.

Elisabeth slowly sat up.

Her body was in pretty rough shape. Due to the venom, her body was corroded all over. Her skin was covered in open wounds, and her black hair lay in uneven tatters. All of her usual beauty had been marred with injuries.

Furthermore, her mana reserves were greatly diminished. Fortunately, she had enough left to support her demon meat-infused body, but that was all. Compared to the mana she normally had at her disposal, she was all but running on empty.

It was almost like that time in the Capital, right after she’d finished defeating the three merged demons.

This time, though, things were different. This time, there were people she knew among the fallen.

Over half of the people who’d looked up to her had perished. However, that wasn’t for the Torture Princess to lament. She had no right to value some of the dead more than others. Knowing that, she allowed herself one small utterance. “Ha, some heartless killer I turned out to be. I couldn’t even kill the one who needed killing on my own.”

After a few moments of silence, Elisabeth spat out the chunk of flesh lodged in her throat. During her flight, she had accidentally bit the inside of her mouth. She silently looked at the sky.

The Sand Queen was dead. Off in the distance, Elisabeth could hear the white deer and colossal hawk wailing. Both of them had survived. However, it was unclear whether or not they would recover from their wounds. The beastfolk joined their lament. They had enough sorrow to go around.

Then Elisabeth heard her name.

“Captain Elisabeth!”

“Are you all right, Cap…tain?”

It was her surviving men. The four haggard beastfolk rushed over to her, but when they saw the state she was in, her subordinates went silent. They exchanged glances with each other.

When they spoke next, it was all at once, and with renewed passion.

“““We won, Captain Elisabeth!”””

“We did it… We did it! With this, those we lost will have their reward. Hold your head high, ma’am. We fought, and we won. Surely this is an occasion for joy.”

Their voices rang with enthusiasm, but Elisabeth could tell. The things they were saying weren’t coming from the heart. They were just trying to cheer her up.

It made her wonder—up until then, had she ever been in as sorry a state as she was at the moment?

And at the same time, there was something she was painfully aware of.

The dead receive no reward.

Once someone died, that was it for them. Absolute as that truth was, though, Elisabeth didn’t give voice to it.

There were things the dead had accomplished, and that fact was just as irrefutable. Denying that aspect of it would do nothing to change what had happened. Also, Elisabeth wasn’t nearly so tactless as to shut down her subordinates when they were going out of their way to try to encourage her.

And even if she was, there was no time

She looked straight forward and brought up a different topic altogether. “The Three Kings should still be able to serve as shields… You lot, take the beastfolk and demi-human survivors and have the Kings give you cover as you flee. Go now, and don’t tarry.”

“What? Captain, what’s going on? Using the Three Kings of the Forest as shields… What are you talking about?”

“If the attacks come, they’re the only ones who’ll be able to protect you! Enough questions, just go!” Elisabeth shouted.

Her flustered subordinates sprang into action, following her orders and passing the message along to what remained of the army. The four of them were skilled professionals. They would be able to get the survivors to safety.

Instead of watching them go, Elisabeth glared at the ground.

There was a rose blooming atop it—a peculiar little flower interspersed with azure and crimson petals both.

Clear droplets sat atop it like little tears. Then the petals all fell off, as though the flower had used up the last of its strength. The bits of azure and crimson rose drifted slowly toward the ground, then melted away before they could land.

Elisabeth knew. Like it or not, she understood exactly what it meant.

It meant the Saint was dead.

The Torture Princess’s crimson eyes darkened, and she let out a low murmur.

“Despair is on the move.”

Her voice rang with ridicule,

as though mocking herself for expecting anything more of the world.

Deep in an abyss at the World’s End,

the Saint died by Alice’s hand. However, the Saint’s quick defeat hadn’t been caused by her own strength running out.

There was a different reason behind it.

Now, after the fact, Elisabeth realized what that was.

The Sand Queen was a corpse, and corpses couldn’t feel pain. But feel it or not, the wounds inflicted on her flesh were converted into pain anyway. And all of it, along with all the pain she inflicted on others, was transmitted right on over to Alice, and it had caused Alice’s power to grow tremendously.

Not only was the Sand Queen a powerful weapon, she had also served as a trap.

By fighting her, Elisabeth and the others had been all but strangling the Saint themselves.

Still, there was no other way.

The three races had no strength to spare. If they hadn’t dealt with the Sand Queen, the blow she would have dealt them would have been lethal.

Furthermore, Alice was always going to show up sooner or later, and there was no way they could’ve taken on her and the Sand Queen at the same time. Even as things actually played out, there was a good chance they would’ve lost if not for Randgrof and Lute. However…

…the fact remains that a person died because of what we did.

That tragic woman hadn’t even given them her name.

Had better options been available to them? There was no way of knowing.

Elisabeth shook her head. She gave her fingers a harsh snap—in part to clear her mind—and drew Executioner’s Sword of Frankenthal from the air once more.

She thrust its blade into the ground to help herself rise to her feet. Then she heard a new pair of voices calling her from behind.

“Madam Elisabeth!”

“You’re in an even worse state than I expected. Don’t you go keeling over on me now, girl.”

Izabella and Jeanne rushed over to her. Their Waltz was a technique designed for fighting in close quarters, so they would have been poorly matched against the flesh blob. Upon determining that, Elisabeth had chosen not to call on their aid during the battle. Now that she looked at them, though, she noticed that both of their mana reserves were a bit lower than she’d expected. On top of that, they were both splattered with blood.

It begged the question—why? Izabella was quick to explain. “A couple of the saints hit their limits during that last bombardment. We immediately teleported them out and gave them emergency treatment, but their conditions are still critical. Jeanne and I gave them blood and mana transfusions, and that was enough to get them stable, but still… But then! Just now there was a rose!”

“Ah, I see… You got one, too, then,” Elisabeth replied to Izabella’s puzzled outburst. By the sound of it, a rose had sprouted at her location, too. The Saint must have wanted to inform Izabella of her death as well.

Elisabeth brushed her shredded black hair back off her shoulder. Her finger grazed the bit of white bone peeking out from her jaw.

Still looking like death on two legs, she closed her eyes. She thought back over all the stories Alice had told her up until then. As she ruminated on the scattered bits and pieces she knew about the Wonderland tale, she realized something.

Our game with the Queen is over. Now the protagonist—Alice—will make her return.

Alice knew exactly how the Sand Queen fought, and she probably knew exactly where she was, too. There was no doubt in Elisabeth’s mind that Alice would make her way to the same spot, destroying towns and villages on her way like she was skipping stones.

Alice was pure and innocent, and she’d been fixated on Elisabeth for some time now. There was no reason to assume that had changed. In short, she was going to show up at any moment. Knowing that, Elisabeth did something very unlike her and opened her mouth up wide.

Her voice rang beautiful and sonorous as she recited the poem she’d since memorized.

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall! Humpty Dumpty had a great fall!

“All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.”

There was something that couldn’t be put back together.

Something broken that was coming their way.

To. Fro. Chitter. Chatter.

There were voices.

Throngs of people sobbing and screaming and trembling. Someone was loudly screaming. Their voice rang with terror. Someone else lamented the incoming calamity, their tone that of a person dashing through a field with deranged abandon and laughing their head off. “It’s the end of days all over again.”

And there, in that place that seemed halfway between a nightmare and reality, a young girl appeared.

She spoke with a voice like an angel’s.

“Come now, let’s be good girls and sing a song.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!”

That mysterious monster, surely, had to be Alice herself.

Sara Yuuki had become Alice, and now she was the Jabberwock.

Right as the observation began tickling Elisabeth’s brain, Alice landed and did a little twirl. She stopped singing and faced Elisabeth. The white rabbit-ear-like ribbons attached to her oversized hat swayed from side to side.

Just like Alice had once before, she bent one knee and gave Elisabeth an elegant curtsy.

“Welcome, Elisabeth. Welcome to Wonderland.”

It was an odd thing for her to say. After all, she was the person who’d arrived latest out of anyone there. Yet she said it loudly and proudly. Alice was there, and that was what made it Wonderland. She raised her voice.

“Come on, Elisabeth! Let’s play!”

She sounded positively bubbly.

It was like she didn’t have a care in the world.

Elisabeth pursed her lips at the irony of it all. Then she replied in a voice heavy with exhaustion. “Is that truly what you want? To destroy the world?”

Alice blinked at the question. Drops of blood trickled down her eyelashes.

Due perhaps to some odd fastidiousness of hers, her hair, hat, and ribbons were as white as ever. However, the rest of her body was drenched in the Saint’s blood. The crimson little girl gave the question some serious thought.

Eventually, she came up with an answer. “There’s nothing I myself want to do, no. Nope, not a single thing. The one thing I want is to carry out Father’s wish. But…there is one thing I want to ask, maybe.”

Alice looked straight at Elisabeth, and Elisabeth found herself reflected in the girl’s ruby eyes.

Eventually, Alice hacked her question up like so much blood. “Why should I have to be the only one who loses Father? Kaito Sena’s Elisabeth is still alive, isn’t she?!”

The pained question hung in the air. Alice spread her arms out wide. She was facing the Torture Princess, but the question wasn’t directed at Elisabeth. Alice had directed it at Kaito Sena, or perhaps even at the world itself.

“Why me?! We’re the same, we’re both reincarnations! We both came from another world! So why?!”

Her face contorted like she was about to cry. However, the very question was absurd. Those weren’t the words of someone trying to destroy the world. Plus, the fixed batteries had been reincarnations as well, and that hadn’t stopped her from using them the way she had.

But whether Elisabeth wanted to or not, she understood. This wasn’t about sin and punishment.

Alice is… Sara Yuuki is but a child.

Her death had filled her with a profound hopelessness, but it was still unclear how well she understood just how tragic her life had truly been. Despite the deep void in her heart, most of what she’d done and said had been happy.

In all likelihood, Alice had honestly enjoyed herself.

It was just like how Kaito Sena had found a family in his new world.

She, too, had found a father. She had found someone who loved her.

But now he’s gone.

Lewis was dead. Alice was alive.

That cruel truth was her everything.

And Elisabeth realized something. Sure enough, the reason for Alice’s animosity toward the world was the simplest thing imaginable, yet was rooted in a heavy truth.

“Someone she wished was alive had been killed.”

That, as always, was what gave rise to the flag called revenge.

However, Alice wasn’t the only one who’d lost people.

’Tis but a tale from long, long ago.

Once upon a time, there was a boy who was brutally killed by another and a monster who brutally killed others.

Or perhaps there was a child who was abandoned by his parents and a sinner who was abandoned by the world.

Then the child disappeared.

Only the sinner remained.

“I am your reverse, then. Kaito Sena did not lose Elisabeth, true. But I lost Kaito Sena. The child is gone, and the monster remains alone. And yet, even so. He tried to protect everything, so I have a duty to protect it in his…stead. Ah. So… So that’s it.” Elisabeth trailed off. Another realization had just dawned on her.

Perhaps…we’re the same.

Alice was trying to carry out Lewis’s wish.

And Elisabeth was trying to protect those who Kaito had left behind.

That was all. They were the same, she and her. The only difference was whether the person they cared about had loved the world or hated it. And unlike Alice, Elisabeth realized something.

By now, there was nobody left who knew how they had spent their days. But the sinner was fine with that.

No matter what happened, no matter how tough things got, she was fine with that.

The sinner and the boy used to be together.

That was enough for her.

“In short, what I’m saying is—your grief means nothing to me.”

“…Is this some sort of joke?”

Alice’s red eyes went wide at Elisabeth’s reply, and the force from the mana surging within her caused her white hair to floof outward. One of the blood drops that fell off her took on the shape of a small mouse, and it looked up at Elisabeth with a sleepy-looking grin.

However, the Torture Princess was unmoved. She stomped the mouse flat.

“I assure you, it isn’t. Go on, look back. Just once will do. You’ve piled up mountains of corpses and inflicted pain upon countless people. If anyone has a right to call this situation nonsensical, surely it’s those you’ve made victims of.”

“See, I knew you were joking. Why, what could it have been but a joke?”

Elisabeth was all too aware that in Alice’s eyes, there was nothing wrong with what Lewis had asked her to do. She simply had no grasp of the gravity of the sins she was committing. She was pitiable, in a sense, but there was no way to save her now.

In all likelihood, Alice herself probably didn’t even want to be saved. There was only one person who had ever loved and accepted her. Maybe she could have found more, but at this point, Alice would probably deny the possibility if anyone pointed it out to her.

Knowing that, Elisabeth’s tone remained cold. “I shall say one more thing, then. You said that you and he were ‘the same,’ but what similarities can you even claim to have? What of this world did you ever love? What did you protect? No, ’tis you and I who are the same. But Kaito Sena is different. He tried to protect everything. He loved everyone, knowing full well how foolish it was to do so. Why, he gave himself up to save a wretch like me. You are nothing like that fool, and I shan’t suffer you to say otherwise.”

“Oh, is that so? I wasn’t even given a chance to save Father. So you’ve got a lot of nerve, ma’am. We’re the exact same, can’t you see?! Elisabeth, Kaito Sena, and I—we’re all the same!”

All of a sudden, Alice’s voice rose to a bellow. Tears streamed from her eyes, but it wasn’t sadness that colored her expression. It was plainly rage. She was putting her hatred toward the world on display for all to see.

She cried harder and harder as she went on. “Our fates were a little different, that’s all! You could have become just like I did! So…so why? Why should I be the only one who has to suffer?! Why?! Why?!”

Elisabeth nodded. “True enough. You represent a future that could well have been ours, I grant you that.”

There was a certain logic to Alice’s claim. If Elisabeth had died for nothing, Kaito Sena might have come to hate the world as well—and that went doubly so if Hina hadn’t been around.

Plus, the same could be said of Elisabeth, too. Who knows what she might have done if Kaito had died cursing the world.

It was as one would their confidante, or their brother, or their savior.

As one would a kind, incorrigible fool—

As one would any whom they ought to love—

Elisabeth Le Fanu loved Kaito Sena.

And Alice Carroll loved Lewis.

Hers was another form Kaito and Elisabeth might have taken.

And yet, even so…

“Don’t you dare dream that your pain serves as justification for those you’re trying to kill.”

I’m hurting / So I’m going to kill you / I’m hateful / I’m going to kill you / I’m sad / Kill you

By all rights, that line of reasoning was unforgivable. Elisabeth brandished her sword.

“Cease in this path of yours. Elsewise, I shall slay you.”

Alice gave her a majestic smile. Elisabeth laughed right back at her. Then a duo of silver and gold took their places by her side. It was Izabella and Jeanne. The two of them moved in to help keep Elisabeth’s battered body upright.

“Don’t forget, we’re here as well.”

“That we are. Win or lose, this here’s our fight, too.”

The two of them were no match for Alice. However, neither Izabella nor Jeanne showed any signs of backing down.

The three of them and the Fremd Torturchen squared off.

And when they did, a stillness descended that seemed to last for an eternity.

Eventually, Alice broke the silence. She spoke softly. “That’s very bold of you. You know you’re weaker than me. Bold indeed, I say.”

“Aye,” Elisabeth replied. “We are weak. But if we fail to stop you, ’twill be our heads that roll. That’s all there is to it.”

“I suppose you’re right. You’re doing the same thing I am.”

Alice gave them a cherubic smile and crossed her hands behind her back.

Then she gave her head a little tilt, swaying from side to side as she went on in a singsong voice. “I’m going to kill you and lop your sinful heads right off. I’ll make rivers of blood and mountains of bodies and burn everything to ash. And once I’m done killing…I’m going to go smash Kaito Sena’s crystal.”

Alice opened her red eyes disconcertingly wide. However, her gaze itself was serene and unclouded.

The look in her eyes was fair, but the words coming from her mouth were anything but.

“Kaito Sena has God and Diablo in him, but… But I don’t need them as a deterrent anymore. So the best thing to do is to break them. And when Kaito Sena dies, the world will come to an end. What do you think, Elisabeth? Doesn’t that sound lovely?”

“You plan on destroying the crystal, releasing God and Diablo, and bringing about the reconstruction? How very efficient of you.”

Elisabeth simply gave Alice’s suggestion the nod. There was no denying it—if she wanted to destroy the world, that was the logical way to go about it. Alice went on with great delight.

“I even know where the crystal is already. You either put it back at the World’s End or you moved it to your castle, right? It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me. Wherever it is, I’ll destroy it.”

“’Tis at the World’s End, in the cave where Ragnarok was fought. I returned it from whence it came.”

“Goodness me, how forthcoming you’re being. Very well. Whether you’re lying or telling the truth, it’ll all end the same way.”

“One thing, though, Alice. You say you intend to enact slaughter on a grand scale. How about we play a game first?” Elisabeth asked offhandedly. Alice squinted at her.

Then she laughed, as though mocking Elisabeth for even suggesting such a thing. She replied haughtily and with as sinister of an expression as could be. “But I just have to kill you and everyone else, Elisabeth. You’re not even the Queen of Hearts, and you think you have the right to challenge me to a game?”

“I do. For I intend to bet my whole self. For Kaito’s sake, I cast myself onto the scales. Are you so base as to ignore such an act? O daughter of Lewis?”

One of Alice’s eyebrows sprang up. She put a stop to the spell she was about to unleash.

Then she asked Elisabeth to elaborate.

“All right, then… Tell me the rules. I’ll hear you out, Elisabeth.”

“I shall be the White Rabbit. You shall be Alice. Your goal is to pursue me. I, and I alone, shall fight you all the way to the World’s End. If I kill you on the way there, the win is mine. If you kill me and reach the crystal, the win is yours. In exchange, though, you shan’t lay a hand on another living soul.”

“Ah, I see. Well, that’s fine. I’ll just kill them later. What about the people who help you, though?”

“…Any who choose to involve themselves of their own volition are fair game. If you wish to kill them, then so be it. But you have to agree to leave everything else until afterward.”

That was the promise Elisabeth hoped to get out of Alice. And there was a pressing reason behind her proposal.

Once Alice began her massacre, the world was done for. The Fremd Torturchen had finally become everything Lewis had hoped she would. It was similar to what would happen if Kaito Sena had wanted to destroy the world. Alice might not have been quite on his level, but what she’d been on the verge of starting was certainly in the same ballpark.

For now, Elisabeth needed to delay Alice’s rampage for as long as she could.

“As the Torture Princess, I’ve gone all in—how could the Fremd Torturchen possibly reject my wager?”

“All right, Elisabeth. If you’re willing to insist that hard, I’ll play with you. I do want to give you an extra-special death, after all. For starters, you should go on back to the Capital—and when the time comes, I’ll chase you.”

And with that, Alice accepted Elisabeth’s invitation to the stage.

Then she vanished.

Leaving behind nothing but a promise to play a twisted game.

Alice was gone. All that remained where she’d stood was a vast, devastated wasteland.

Elisabeth let out a small exhale. She surreptitiously wiped away her sweat.

That was close… It could all have ended right then and there.

She was running on empty at the moment, and Izabella and Jeanne didn’t stand a chance against Alice on their own. If Alice had killed Elisabeth, then turned her attention to the others—Izabella and Jeanne, the beastfolk, the Three Kings of the Forest, and the backup saints—and began her slaughter, they would all have been done for. The mere fact that Elisabeth had managed to secure that promise from her had been a stroke of good fortune.

If nothing else, they had gained the new leeway that the game afforded them. At the same time, though, all that had done was delay their execution.

Jeanne narrowed her eyes a bit, then tilted her head with the same expressionless look on her face as always. “What are you up to, you inscrutable lady? Buyin’ us time ain’t gonna be enough for us to take Alice down. It doesn’t make much difference when we get smoked, you feel me? You got some sorta idea cookin’ in that head of yours?”

“Nay. But in a way, you could say I do.”

It was kind of an absurd thing for Elisabeth to say, given the imminent peril they were in. The women of gold and silver exchanged a glance.

Elisabeth squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them back up.

The words were all but impossible to believe in.

At the moment, there were so few sureties in that world of theirs.

Justice had perished long ago. Nothing was truly “good.” Everyone was flying the flag of revenge. Places all over had been turned into hells on earth. It was so impossibly hard to find anything worth believing in.

And yet even so, Elisabeth spoke.

“That woman told me Kaito Sena’s True Message.”

The Saint had stubbornly refused to give them her name. In the end, she’d only opened her mouth a single time more.

And from her soft lips, the True Message had come.

The Torture Princess relayed it.

“‘Do whatever you can to buy some time. Even a little will do.’”

Just a little longer, Elisabeth.

The words were clumsy, and they were fleeting,

but at the same time, they represented a definite source of hope.