One Hundred-Third Chapter: The Merits of Insanity
A stinging pain ran through his eye from time to time, yet despite the pain, he could see clearly. This distinct pain was similar to whenever Alus used his special ability, Gra Eater, so in that sense, he was used to it.
It felt like something was swimming in his eyeball.
Alus exhaled and could feel his head clear up like when he shifted gears in his mind. The pain in the eye gradually faded as unnecessary information was being shut down.
It’d been a long while since he’d felt so refreshed.
The clearer his mind became, the more his body moved without hesitation. In fact, compared to before, he was able to effectively kill more enemies now. Alus was fully focused on himself and controlling the chain from his AWR.
He wasn’t going to let go of his last bit of reasoning. If he did, he would be no different from Fiends. But even so, it was a simple process of repeating familiar procedures, just like when dealing with Fiends.
Night Mist’s blade was covered in the Dimension Thrust spell, which was impossible to defend against by normal measures.
Even so, more enemies appeared, climbing over the corpses of their dead allies.
“Ah...it’s easy to deal with enemies who don’t speak,” said Alus.
After cutting down an enemy or two, he casually thrust out his palm, which was covered entirely in mana, and his attack crushed the arm of a man holding a sickle, causing the bone to stick out.
Yet the man didn’t so much as let out a grunt of pain. He just grabbed his sickle with his mouth and attacked once more. Several others followed his lead.
Alus wore a fearless smile, but had a doubtful look in his eyes.
The black-robed assassins attacked from all directions. Alus countered their all-out attack, but in the next moment—
“What are you doing?!” Noir scolded them, causing the black-robed men to stop moving.
In the next moment, they stepped away, and from the center a torn-up body flopped to the ground.
But for some reason it wasn’t Alus... It was the man with a sickle in his mouth, who’d leaped at him first.
“Good work...”
A cold voice rang out that caused Kruelsaith to look behind them. In the next moment, Night Mist’s chain let out a light of mana and formed a circle to surround them all.
Alus used Shuffle to change places with an enemy and followed up by trapping multiple enemies in a barrier. The circular barrier expanded to the sky, trapping enemies in what was like a round tower.
All he needed was a few seconds. Skilled or not, they were mere assassins. It was easy for Alus to create a barrier they would never be able to break.
All that was left was to wipe them all out...
Nobody could stop him. That was the foundation behind the Magicmaster that was Alus.
His emotions had chilled to a freeze. And his cold consciousness swiftly searched for and constructed a more lethal spell.
‹‹Sword of Eclipse››
A massive sword that looked like it was made out of stone suddenly appeared in the sky. As if manipulated by an invisible thread, the tip of the sword turned towards the center of the barrier tower Alus had made.
Next, the massive sword started falling. It crushed the trapped people and barriers all together.
The earth shook from the impact and shot upwards, and a deep low-pitch rumble rang out. The giant sword caused a small earthquake, and once its objective was finished, it dissolved into mana particles.
A metallic smell blew in with a cloud of dust, and only those who’d been on harsh and brutal battlefields might have been able to tell that it was the smell of crushed flesh.
◇◇◇
Loki and Tesfia saw the abnormal battle from the thicket.
It was such a ghastly sight they hesitated to watch. Loki could just barely look. The overwhelming pressure from Alus made her want to cast her eyes down. She barely felt fear when fighting Fiends, but the fear she felt now was like her body was petrified.
The thought of intervening just barely didn’t occur to her. Nobody present wanted to get closer. The battlefield only had one outcome prepared for it.
There was no room to join in and help Alus. It wasn’t the kind of situation where they could cooperate. All they could really do was watch over the fight.
That was why Loki refused to look away. Standing here meant that she was essentially facing a trial where she would witness Alus’s dark side. The awareness that she’d made the choice was what supported her trembling legs.
Loki knew that there was no need for her to help, or rather there was no way for her to help. Alus’s killing intent sent the message loud and clear that he didn’t need any help. Alus himself didn’t say anything, but Loki understood that he was preventing Loki and Tesfia from stepping down this blood-soaked path with him.
Tesfia was likewise quietly watching. Her shoulders were trembling, but she watched the gruesome scene. Alus hadn’t forced her, but she had agreed with Loki.
So no matter how much her intuition rejected it, she couldn’t turn away. In the past, she’d fought against Godma’s Dolls.
She’d killed a few herself, but this was different. Against enemies who’d lost their consciousness and were nothing more than puppets used for evil, she could at least use the excuse that she was showing them mercy.
Tesfia’s brain trembled, and the sight of the teachers at the Institute falling prey to the escaped convicts flashed in her mind. The scene in front of her was similar but different.
It was a one-sided stomp. It wasn’t even a demonstration to make an example. It was just lives being erased. Because of the overwhelming difference in power, Alus had full control over life and death. No matter how brutal the assassins may be, they were nothing but small fry to him.
That much was clear seeing how he’d had Loki retreat and not even called the Fable family or Vizaist for help. With someone as strong as him, there’s no way opponents of this level could touch him.
The Alus she saw right now was far from the Alus Reigin that Tesfia knew.
He didn’t so much as hesitate to take lives. It was like he was a machine, mass-producing death as he quietly continued his slaughter.
If anything, it seemed like he was choosing cruel methods on purpose.
Tesfia’s teeth clattered and she clenched her fists to the point that the skin turned white, but she managed to stay where she was. Even then...she finally unconsciously turned away from the sad sight of lives being taken in front of her.
“So you are like that too,” said Loki.
Loki’s sad voice jolted Tesfia’s mind back.
“So you reject the path Sir Alus walked. This is the true form of the greatest Magicmaster. Were you perhaps seeing a dream? Do you think that a type of strength anyone would be jealous of could be used freely? That everyone would just praise and pamper you? How much black blood has been spilled and how many screams of the decimated has he heard as he walked across the depths of hell... This is reality. This is the truth. Lip service isn’t going to save the world. When we first met, there was something I told you—that you didn’t understand how much Sir Alus has contributed to this country. Did you think Sir Alus could get to where he is now without any sacrifice?”
The words stung Tesfia’s chest, and she bit her lip. She might have vaguely realized that such a world existed, but was carefully and meticulously shielded by the people who lived in peace.
Tesfia was probably facing something that everyone was looking away from. It was true that she probably hadn’t tried to get a deep understanding of Alus. She’d just been satisfied with what she could see.
“...That is just too cruel,” Loki’s sorrowful voice swayed Tesfia.
She might have felt the most heartache in this situation because being at Alus’s side meant accepting everything. Loki refused to look away from Alus’s fight and forced out her words.
“That is too sad... He has carried this all on his own all this time. Nobody wants to kill someone else. That is why I want to lessen the burden on Sir Alus even if it’s only by a little. I want to carry his karma and darkness together with him. But I...”
Loki spoke her mind, holding back her tears with a harsh look in her eyes. Indeed...Loki’s reason for existing was to use her life for him. But she too had feared both Alus’s darkness and his tremendous undertakings.
And she was well aware that she was still lacking.
It must have started after the Balmes incident—Loki’s desire to save Alus had swelled to the point that she couldn’t stand it. It had grown to the point that she would even defy his intentions.
It was surely some form of ego, but if it could be forgiven, she’d like to call it a form of love. After all, she wanted him to be happy more than anyone.
But she would probably be unable to save him on her own. She wouldn’t be able to support the heavy baggage he carried. The scene playing out before her reminded Loki of how heavy the baggage he carried really was.
That was why she needed someone to help support Alus, someone who had formed a connection and spent time with him at the Institute.
It was frustrating to admit, but it was clearly the truth.
So Tesfia looking like she did now, even for a moment, was very sad to Loki, but she simply continued watching Alus’s fight. She didn’t look over to confirm that Tesfia’s shoulders were still trembling.
Tesfia had to make her decision.
She took a big breath and tried to still her shaking body. Next, she spurred herself on and, as if to copy what Loki was probably doing, slowly opened her closed eyes.
She could feel the weight of her eyelids, and most of all, her heart was hot and hurting. She also felt ashamed of herself.
Following Alus meant seeing the same world he did. But looking away from that meant that she wouldn’t be able to watch his back.
No matter how cruel and merciless the road Alus had walked until now, he was still paving the road, one step at a time.
So this time as she opened her eyes, Tesfia even opened her mind and clearly looked at Alus. She burned his every action into her eyes and recorded his way of life.
Tesfia’s eyes shone with an honest and dedicated will.
She was gazing at the real world and watching his back in the true meaning of the word.
◇◇◇
Wind blew across the bloodstained battlefield. The eerie silence was broken by the merry voice of Noir.
“Ha ha! What did you just do?”
Despite the splatter of blood dancing through the air, she seemed delighted. Despite almost all of her subordinates being wiped out, she was almost certainly insane enough to enjoy the situation.
“Who knows. I have no intention of revealing my tricks,” said Alus.
“Oh, how boring. Still there is one thing I have become certain of after seeing your performance,” said Noir. Clothes rustling, she rapidly closed in and brought her great scythe down on Alus from above. “I am the most suited to killing you!”
Alus immediately blocked the attack with Night Mist. Sparks flew and metal rang as the blades crossed, Noir suddenly looked insane, but Alus brushed it off with utmost serenity.
That was when his right eye started hurting again. Fortunately there was nothing wrong with his vision, but there was definitely something wrong.
Alus lightly backed off from their clash and turned his body to unleash his next slash. Noir skillfully front-flipped through the air and used the centrifugal force to swing down with a follow-up attack, causing another clash between her great scythe and Night Mist.
A metallic screech rang out as the weapons bounced off each other, and a fierce fight ensued. Noir’s great scythe was reminiscent of a crescent moon. At times she made use of its bent form to launch sharp attacks behind Alus.
Yet Alus predicted and dodged even those invisible attacks. That was somewhat unexpected, and Alus felt that something was off, but Noir’s killing intent was simply too pure.
When the opponent was a strong fighter like Alus, who had fought plenty of battles in the past, they could easily read their opponents’ intentions even when they mixed in feints.
Even now Alus used a reverse grip to block an attack from behind, feeling the impact he’d expected. He then sensed the next attack and ducked, and just as expected the deadly blade passed over him.
But when he saw a strand of hair fall, Alus realized that something was off.
That was an attack I should have been able to perfectly avoid three moves ago. Are the attacks gradually getting faster? No.
The distance between them was gradually shrinking. He’d felt she was very honest for an assassin, but that impression was starting to change. Noir was like a veteran hunter that was steadily cornering her prey with each swing.
Their weapons were a great scythe and a short sword. Noir had the longer range, but Alus had made use of the openings he had seen. Despite that, the advantage he’d built up had disappeared at some point, and by the time he noticed he was gradually losing his footing.
Something was wrong.
When he realized that, his mind kicked into high gear and started analyzing the situation.
Alus boldly attempted to close the distance. Noir’s great scythe had a longer range, but that made it less maneuverable. Since it had a heavy blade and spear-like handle, it should be hard to fight someone close.
He realized if he took some sort of magical attack, he might be able to uncover the identity of what was wrong. For some reason, Noir allowed Alus’s approach to go unchallenged.
And that instead made Alus somewhat anxious. There was no way that Noir didn’t know about her disadvantage at such a close range.
As expected, Noir eventually responded to Alus’s move. She changed hands, took a step back, and pulled in the great scythe. Pulling the weapon back directly led to an attack.
The blade gleamed as it approached Alus’s neck from behind. If Alus stayed in place, he would no doubt have his head cut off, but he took more steps forward, sticking close to the retreating Noir, and avoiding the fatal attack.
Noir excelled at close combat, but Alus was better. Alus judged that at best she was around the same skill level as Loki as he bent forward and brandished Night Mist.
A short sword had a clear advantage at this range, so it would be difficult for her to avoid the next attack. Yet when he saw Noir in the corner of his view, she was perfectly calm, neither struggling nor panicking. She showed no sign of regret over being naive...nor any fear of the approaching death.
If Alus were to describe it, it was the face of someone who had completely incorporated life and death into their daily routine.
It was like looking into a mirror.
All kinds of things were missing. She had little attachment to her life. Alus was looking at himself in a way, and he felt something akin to sympathy. But that wasn’t going to make him stop.
Sentimentality was useless in a killing match.
But it was a bit of a shame. Alus was always close enough to never miss, and he wouldn’t slip up. He already knew how easily it would end. His stepping in had just been laying down the groundwork.
Perhaps that was why the blank space in his mind turned into an opening in reality.
His sensation told him he was pulling his right arm back, cutting diagonally upwards, that would cut through Noir and end everything. With that Morwald’s private army would be completely trampled.
The scenario and outcome were blatantly clear. Yet for some reason...Alus’s arm wasn’t moving. Despite becoming aware of the strange phenomenon, Night Mist’s blade wouldn’t move.
His hand had stopped before striking an enemy to be killed. Naturally such a stupid action was a big opening. Alus barely dodged the great scythe’s counterattack, and his forehead was cut.
The blood flowed over his right eye. Alus looked shocked, not from the counterattack but from the bizarre phenomenon.
He backed away, but he was given no time to think as Noir pounced on him. The few survivors from earlier appeared from somewhere and surrounded him.
However, Alus wasn’t perturbed by the adverse circumstances. He just thought, What is this situation...?
Like before, emotions that should never arise in a life-or-death situation were trying to forcibly mix themselves in. It was a sickening sensation, like everything about him had been unexpectedly transformed and his main components had been split into thoughts, heart, and body.
He felt like throwing up. He was sick of it.
He had started losing sight of who he was.
Sure, there had been a lot of pains with his new life at the Institute, but even with that his experiences had been new and refreshing. He couldn’t deny that there had been moments where he’d felt that the Institute life might have been a portion of fun and happiness appropriate for his age.
But now they seemed like a hindrance. They must have been what created this situation.
Had it ever been like this before?
“No, that’s wrong,” Alus said, denying it.
Fiends were one thing, but when Alus had claimed his first human life, he might have felt something at first. After that...he tried not to think about it. He found no point in thinking about it.
Alus dove into himself and scooped up his essence of a Magicmaster from the mire of emotions.
Eventually, the atmosphere began to change. It was a sting even the non-Magicmasters could feel. Everyone present had goose bumps and cold sweat ran down their backs.
The pressure they felt was different from hostility or bloodlust. It was like they weren’t even allowed to stand in the ring of life and death. It was like they were nothing more than dishes on a plate, waiting to be consumed, not even allowed to shrink back in fear. It was an absolute superiority.
“Loki...you’re still here, aren’t you? Take her with you and fall back a little more.”
Loki’s shoulders jumped at Alus’s voice. “O-Okay!” she quietly replied by reflex, but fortunately her voice didn’t reach the enemy’s ears.
At the same time, the overwhelming killing intent around Alus swelled up. And Loki, who’d heard his voice, cold and sharp as a blade, was freed from the spell that bound her, and got moving. She picked up Tesfia next to her while leaping away.
As she ran away at full speed, Loki was very shaken. For the first time, she felt an unbelievable fear of Alus. That unknown side of him scared her out of her mind.
That fact was a source of shame, and Loki looked back, even when running.
The enemy was still staring at Alus and Alus alone. Swallowed by his overwhelming killing intent even the murderous Kruelsaith were unable to move.
In the next moment, his killing intent finally turned to reality as an extremely low temperature was released.
‹‹Despair Execute››
It was an indiscriminate and cold stampede of death. Space itself iced over, and the compressed chilling air was turned into countless icicles. As if exploding, the icicles fell like rain and mowed down the enemies even as they collapsed, pinning them to the ground.
When the polar wind mixed with red blood blew past, Loki looked at the center of the storm and felt like her heart was being crushed.
His eyes were like a void, and looking into them was chilling.
Alus’s black eyes paid no heed to his dead opponents whatsoever. In them was a coldheartedness that was out of this world.
He had assimilated with the darkness so much that Kruelsaith looked cute in comparison. He was like a death-dealing angel that proclaimed the end of everything.
The ice storm of death blew as Loki and Tesfia watched, holding their breaths. Then Frose and Vizaist arrived. Although late, they had sensed the unsettling atmosphere. Before seeing Alus, Frose noticed the raging spell.
“Th-That’s...Despair Execute?!” Frose exclaimed with wide eyes. “H-However, it is a little different from what is recorded in the spell encyclopedia...”
As a former commander and skilled ice Magicmaster, Frose knew what that meant.
“Did he change the construct halfway through?! To think that spell could be so perfectly arranged.”
It was there that she finally spotted Alus upon the gruesome battlefield, she shivered with dread and pulled at the outfit she was wearing.
Selva furrowed his brow. “Is that Sir Alus? I did think it would turn out like this eventually, but...”
Alus’s appearance far exceeded Selva’s expectations, and he held his breath.
“I knew that kid was extraordinary...but that goes beyond what a human can do. Or rather, it is like he has given up on being human,” Miltria, who’d slowly followed behind, said with a shrug.
“Even so, this situation is no good... Mr. Alus!”
Frose tried to step into the chaos when Vizaist stopped her, his tone sharp.
“Hold it, Frose! If you get close to him now you will only get caught up in this!”
While his words did stop her, she didn’t bother to hide her displeasure as she asked him, “Do you know what’s happening? Vizaist, what did you do to him?!”
She had vaguely guessed as much. Ever since he’d appeared as her daughter’s friend, she had looked into and learned about Alus quite a bit.
But to think it was to this degree.
The elderly butler beside her had once belonged in the darkness that was Aferka, yet he had managed to return to the sun. But compared to Selva, the shadow Alus was wrapped up in was far darker. It was like something inside of him was shattered in a way that it would never return to normal.
“It is just as you imagine. Neither Berwick nor I have any justifications,” Vizaist said in sorrow.
In a way, it was inevitable that underhanded work had come Alus’s way. There were very few Magicmasters that could deal with not just Fiends but criminals as well.
It all started when dirty jobs were given to the boys and girls of the military’s secret training program. Some even ventured into inhumane taboo experiments and used test subjects as hunters.
All of that had come to light when Berwick became Governor-General, but Alpha still hadn’t fully cut its ties with those dark conventions. Berwick’s inauguration also coincided with a large invasion of Fiends, so it was considered a small sacrifice that had to be made.
Nobody in their right mind would want children to become murderers, but Alus was just too exceptional, even as a child...so he was perfectly suited for the job.
He was near perfect, and the completion rate for his jobs was nearly one hundred percent. Even Berwick’s political enemies, who detested his creepy existence, had no choice but to acknowledge his worth and give up on trying to get rid of him.
Which was why they could never truly put the brakes on using him.
In the end, Berwick had pushed him into the Institute out of a sort of parental affection, hoping it would be good for him. It came under the condition that he would still be sent out on missions, but if Alus were to reclaim what he’d lost, this would be his last chance.
However, it might already have been too late.
Alus had once been Vizaist’s subordinate, and he’d seen Alus smile several times. But as time passed his smile was lost, and a void started taking its place. But had he really not noticed?
Vizaist answered his own question.
No, that was why he’d once spat out a clichéd line about Alus becoming more human while being unconsciously relieved, feeling like the weight of his sins had become a little lighter.
Frose looked like she wanted to shoot Vizaist, and he quietly accepted it.
She had retired in part because of her daughter. And as a mother, she had been particularly against the Magicmaster training program. Thinking about it, she seemed to naturally have avoided the topic during any meeting between the Three Pillars.
“He just had too much talent. Not that it is much of an excuse.” Vizaist spoke his mind, filling his expression with anguish.
“Is that so... I see.” Frose was clever and that was enough for her to understand. “But cleaning up afterwards will be a pain. Especially since ‘he’ is involved.”
Glancing over, Frose spotted a bitter-faced man with sweat dripping down his fat face. He was protected by a handful of guards, but it was rather impressive how he was still so arrogant, considering the predicament he was in.
“You sure made a foolish blunder, Morwald. But it’s over now. Have your troops fall back before they’re wiped out,” said Vizaist.
“Don’t be stupid!” Morwald fiercely retorted. “That mutt you and Berwick have been keeping is the one who jumped my men and is going wild! So many of my elites have lost their lives here, and how are you going to make up for it?!”
His obstinate insistence on being the wronged party exasperated not only Vizaist but Frose and the others as well.
“Good grief, is this some sort of fight between blood-starved pups? From what I can tell, that girl fighting Alus uses the dark element, or more specifically, mental interference magic... Is that not so, Major General?” Miltria casually pointed out while rubbing her shoulders. “Just because you are unhappy with the results of the Tenbram doesn’t mean you can sic someone strange on him. Sure, with mental interference it might still be possible to turn this around, but you picked the wrong opponent. Don’t confuse your dirty little chess game for reality. Have you forgotten even the bare minimum of how to make your way through life?”
Morwald clicked his tongue as if he’d been seen through, but Vizaist nodded. “I see how it is.”
He’d had a vague understanding, but with Miltria’s explanation he finally realized that he’d fallen for Noir’s trap in their previous meeting.
Irritated, Morwald roared, “Hmph, Miltria Tristen, I see you are still alive, you old hag! Even if you’ve realized the truth, you can’t break Noir’s spell. Besides, reinforcements have just arrived. Go!”
Morwald snapped his fat fingers. In response, a group in black robes appeared from between the trees. Part of them moved to assist Noir and surround Alus. And the rest...
“It doesn’t matter what happens anymore! This is a good opportunity, so wipe out the witnesses as well!”
Kruelsaith’s reinforcements rushed Vizaist, Frose, Selva, and Miltria. Despite the enemies coming to kill her, Miltria shrugged like it had nothing to do with her.
“Good grief, people like these are still clinging on to the military?”
“So it would seem,” Selva answered in resignation as he was the first to move. “I will handle this.”
Selva swung his arms towards the Kruelsaith attackers that had jumped up high. For a split second they were suspended in the air by something invisible, and in the next moment, lumps of their flesh fell to the ground.
A sharp sound rang out as Selva retracted his mana steel threads and wiped the blood off on a handkerchief.
“Now that is the Fable family’s butler for you. It would seem that decline means nothing to you,” said Vizaist.
“Oho ho ho, I am honored by your compliments. However, my skills have dulled.” Selva humbly received Vizaist’s praise, but Miltria had a different opinion.
“You could say that again. When you were in your prime you could have taken them down more brilliantly. You have gotten old.”
“I have nothing I could say in return. It took a little too much effort to protect Master Frose and our esteemed guests from these dirty thugs,” Selva said and spread his handkerchief, having wiped not just the mana steel thread, but also the blood that had scattered into the air.
Thanks to that, there was not a speck of blood on Frose, Vizaist, or Miltria’s clothes.
“...Damn it!”
Morwald alone was covered in the blood of his subordinates, and he pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his face, and then threw it to the ground.
“Grrr...” Morwald ground his teeth and glared at Vizaist and the others while shouting, “Noir! Finish that brat off already and come back to me!”
However, Miltria answered almost out of pity.
“It’s no use. Don’t you get it? Now that the kid is like that, this fight is all but over.”
“Wh-What?! Don’t be stupid, Noir’s technique is still—” Morwald looked over at the battlefield with a dumbfounded expression. “Th-The reinforcements are all wiped out...?!”
“That’s what we told you. Now that Alus is like that, it would even be dangerous for us to get close,” Vizaist said solemnly, and Morwald’s face twisted.
◇◇◇
It was what would be described as an instant kill.
Night Mist’s blade flashed, a dull trail of light followed its chain, and ran through the dark forest. In the next instant, the black-robed group trying to surround Alus once more all collapsed with the exception of Noir.
Alus exhaled slightly. His expression was that of a void. There was no emotion to be seen, like all life were pebbles on the road.
In reality, Alus was basking in a thrilling sensation he hadn’t felt in a long time—how to bring an end to an enemy as effectively as possible. Being in a state of mind where he could fully focus on everything was even somewhat pleasant.
Alus then turned his gaze on Noir and spoke.
“Now then, the nuisance is gone. So...what did you do to me?”
Having those emotionless eyes turned on her, Noir desperately ignored the urge to step back. Even as she realized that her opponent was far above her, she was still convinced of a certain something.
If not, he would not be worth killing.
If not, there would be no point in determining who was superior.
Seeing how Noir didn’t care that her allies were killed, she was also in the same realm of insanity as Alus.
Instead it was praise that rose up in her mind, and the beautiful girl’s lips lifted up into a twisted smile. She blushed and let out a sweet sigh.
“Haah, haah... This is good. You’re the best.”
Noir rubbed her cheek against her great scythe’s handle and obscenely writhed. Cheeks still heated, she looked directly at Alus with passionate eyes.
“Before, you said you wouldn’t reveal your tricks. But I will give you special service. Please accept it as the greatest kindness.” Noir poked the side of her head. “It is dark magic. That said, it is different from Temptation that is not much different from plain hypnosis. This is one step above that. I call it Lost Paradise. I have entered your ‘here,’” she said with a mischievous smile.
Her composure came from knowing that there was no way to block the spell even if you knew about it.
It had first begun quite a while, during the campus festival, where she had met him as her junior. Having sensed Alus’s powers, Noir had so very carefully begun laying the groundwork. She began with a little bit of his sight and hearing. She let her impression slowly creep in, like moonlight through a door.
Humans created a picture of people based on the information that they had. Who they were and what they thought, their appearance and their voice. All kinds of information entered their eyes and ears, and they analyzed that before storing it as information. When a person was shown to be favorable or safe, either through beneficial actions or easy-to-understand rewards or through love and trust, they were input into memory. It was an instinct of animals that lived in groups that was hard to go against.
Simply put, Lost Paradise interfered with that sort of memory. It puts the target’s image of the caster on the same level of trust as their parents, siblings, or loved ones.
It had been particularly effective against Vizaist because he had a wife and daughter he loved who meant more to him than his own life.
Having dove deep into his psyche, Noir had placed herself above Vizaist’s wife or Felinella, so his body unconsciously rejected attacking her. On top of that, he even lost his resistance to revealing secrets as he completely fell for Noir’s spell.
And it wasn’t just Vizaist. Once Noir had reached that part of someone, any person was unable to kill her.
So even if Alus noticed, it was too late. Even after exposing her method, Noir knew with certainty that Alus was still in her clutches.
This is goodbye, my dear senior.
Noir said her farewells to Alus who was quietly standing motionless. Behind him, black mist, which embodied her magic, took on the form of a ghostly reaper. When she pulled back her great scythe she quietly muttered the spell’s name.
“‹‹Crescent Reaper››”
A scythe of death was swung down behind Alus, a soundless strike from a blind spot cut a few strands of hair.
But that was all. Alus had seemingly seen through the attack and closed in on Noir.
“Oh? Did you see that coming? I was hoping to painlessly put you to rest,” Noir said in a detached manner. She continued as a matter of course, “But you won’t be able to kill me.”
Alus remained silent.
The only things in his black eyes were Noir. It was like a confession of his intent to kill, and she became aware of the thrill she was feeling. It was a fleeting but dense moment of exchanging thoughts and feelings through life. It made her ecstatic in a way that numbed her body.
But even then the outcome was decided from the start.
As long as Lost Paradise was functioning, Alus would be unable to kill Noir, even if he could turn his blade on her.
Noir was a little reluctant but she wanted to wrap things up quickly. Any more might cast him in a bad light as the greatest Magicmaster.
On top of that. If she could successfully finish off Alus here...
Noir was enraptured at the thought. If she was successful, she could reach that place she had imagined. She would become acknowledged by herself and others, and her life would truly begin.
She had been trapped in a cage in the darkness, but despite having been empty for so long, she would finally have a reason to exist. That was surely what it meant to stand at the top.
Because of their predecessors, the children of the Magicmaster training program were wandering the shady streets.
Noir might have been the only one who felt that way, but she had felt ashamed. Why would she, who was better than anyone else at killing, be unable to surpass him in the underworld?
While they had different chains of command, Noir and Alus both lived in the same world of shady jobs. It was a surprisingly small world, like a small village enclosed by a wall. Fear was like a plague, and the name of the person responsible spread like wildfire.
Alus Reigin was a massive wall for Noir, both as a fellow Magicmaster from the training program and as someone working in the shadows.
As someone who displayed her worth through killing, Noir, who could only live in the shadows, couldn’t stand having Alus above her. That was why her obsession with Alus became greater than anything else in her mind. So now was the time for her to surpass a living legend, and she was the one holding the reins.
The blade of Alus’s Night Mist would stop just before taking her life. She was convinced of that.
However...
Alus’s black eyes seemed to be seeing through all of Noir and staring into the depths of her heart. Suddenly, a chill of dread ran down her spine before spreading through her entire body. Reacting to the intuition screaming at her, she jumped backward with her great scythe.
In the next moment, a streak of blood dripped down from her cheek.
What...? This has never happened before...!
The tingling sensation she felt was definitely that of a wound exposed to the air, the blood running down to her chin was real and warm.
And then—
“It hurts...it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurtsss!!!”
Noir’s senses had been dulled, but in the confusion, they came back to life with a clear fear. It was the first pain she’d felt in years.
While she’d bled from the wounds Morwald had inflicted during her torture, she had never felt pain. Yet the injury on her cheek from Alus’s blade spread an abnormal amount of pain through her body.
It wasn’t much more than a scratch, which wouldn’t even elicit a reaction from a trained assassin, yet Noir screamed out loud and squirmed.
“H-How?! How could you injure me...?! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!”
How had he done it? Under her spell, he should have stopped. He shouldn’t have even been able to move his AWR towards her.
While Lost Paradise was working, it should be very difficult to hurt her.
In the next moment, Noir saw the emotionless expression on Alus and muttered in shock, “D-Don’t tell me...?! No, there’s no doubt. Ha ha, so that’s what it is...”
Noir then let out an insane laugh.
“Heh heh, aha ha ha ha! To think you had such a simple weak point! No, that’s to be expected from you... You exceed all expectations.”
In contrast to Noir, Alus said nothing.
She turned to him with a bewitching smile.
“You can kill people important to you without batting an eyelid. That is all. You kill like it’s nothing, without feeling anything. How wonderful. I can’t help but be captivated—I’ll fall in love.”
Alus finally replied, but there was no arrogance or scorn in his eyes.
“...So what?”
There were no emotions whatsoever. He was like a machine.
When she sensed that true void, Noir felt almost refreshed. And the loneliness that had never completely gone away disappeared. It was the sadness of a heretic who would be alone in the world no matter where she went.
But she wasn’t the only one who was insane. In fact, Alus might be even crazier...
Feeling that, Noir wiped away the blood on her cheek. This was the first existence she’d discovered that held the same darkness.
Yet his welcome appearance might spell her own end.
As Alus moved once more with his black blade, Noir stated what she truly felt.
“Wonderful...” Noir said as fresh blood spilled from the slash she took on her upper arm. “This is amazing. The pain, the heat from this wound! This ferocity, these weapons! It is all sheer madness. We’re crazy, both me and youuuu!!!”
In a pool of blood from herself and her allies, Noir let out sweet sighs between shouting.
“Enough talking. Just die already!”
“Aha! Heh heh heh, do it if you can, that is!”
Mana turned into black mist and spread out around Noir. Two illusions of a god of death, Crescent Reaper, wielding scythes appeared.
She could create a total of three Crescent Reapers at the same time, and the remaining one silently appeared behind Alus and swung its scythe down.
But it was impossible. It was common practice for assassins to attack from a blind spot, so Alus easily saw through it and dodged.
Without even looking behind him, Alus swung his AWR backward and slashed the Crescent Reaper.
Noir grinned in her mind.
As expected... But it’s no use!
As a spiritual body, its physical body was very undefined. It was a form of summoning magic, and the core that was its weak spot was too small to be seen with the eye, so just as it was pointless to swing at mist, physical attacks wouldn’t work against it, which was its greatest advantage.
Yet contrary to her expectations, the cut Crescent Reaper had changed from its mist form into an ice statue.
He used ice mana to freeze it and then cut it?!
The composure left Noir’s expression. Before her very eyes, the spiritual body of the Crescent Reaper crumbled into pieces of ice.
Taking advantage of that opening, Alus vanished.
Noir’s eye moved at tremendous speed in an attempt to find him. She feinted to the sides before stepping back, but his approach was imminent.
Oh no!
She had a Crescent Reaper move in the way to fend off Alus. He would surely use the same method to deal with this one. So she predicted that and swung down her great scythe. She would cut down the reaper and opponent with a single swing.
“That seems like something you’d think of,” Alus sarcastically said, sounding ominous.
He ignored the reaper and stabbed his blade at Noir from its side. She realized that while she thought she was leading him, he’d been leading her.
She’d led on countless opponents by the nose, but this was the first time the same happened to her.
Noir used all the strength she had to twist her wrist and move the great scythe. As if taking out her panic and anger on her swing, she swung to slash through the Crescent Reaper and Alus once more.
“Fuuuuck! Just die, die, dieeee!!!”
However, that was an unexpectedly bad move, as the particles of the scattered spiritual body blocked her view instead. Panic and fear welled up as she recklessly swung her great scythe around.
“...Ugh?!”
Suddenly a blade was thrust towards the base of Noir’s throat at the bottom of her view. She repelled it with her handle and jumped back, but Alus had already sprang forward and was in range.
She tried to get distance, but the continuous attacks kept her on the defensive. Even so, Noir handled it well with her great scythe and avoided any fatal wounds.
However, she was barely dodging, and eventually the wounds she took became worse than just scratches. Her arms, legs, knees, shoulders... Blood stained her black clothes, and the bleeding gradually got worse.
“It hurts, it hurts, it huuuurts!” Noir screamed while swinging her great scythe.
Stinging pain ran through her body, but contrary to her words, there was a strange smile on her lips. The insanity filling the broken girl was blurring all sorts of borders. Not even she could tell if she felt pain or pleasure.
Right, no left. Next is...bottom, right...
She was fully focused purely on Alus’s blade, but that wasn’t going to improve the situation. While barely fending off the attacks, she suddenly looked at Alus’s face when he’d stepped in close.
She was in so much pain—and having so much fun—yet there was no emotion in his expression. He wasn’t thinking of anything at all.
With more dread crawling up her spine, Noir glanced at Alus’s shoulder and manifested another spell. It took less than a second to secretly construct Hell’s Cry, a spell more powerful than Crescent Reaper.
Suddenly, a small baby appeared to cling on to Alus’s left shoulder. It had clear, white skin and black eyes in endless sockets. It opened its mouth with an innocent smile, but even its mouth was pitch black.
Before long, a loud cry would ring out from its black mouth that would destroy the brain with its vibrations. Like Crescent Reaper, it used a spiritual body as a medium, so it was difficult to perceive by the enemy if manifested from a blind spot. Its effective range was somewhat large, so even Noir wouldn’t escape unscathed, but she was prepared to pay the price.
It’ll be too late once you notice, my dear senior.
The baby smiled and opened its mouth wide—
In the next instant, Night Mist stabbed through the forehead of the baby born from Hell’s Cry. A vibration created from the blade shook the space before being swung up.
Space itself was separated and Hell’s Cry’s construction was severed. The cursed baby split in half and dispersed into mana particles, a smile still on its face.
“What?! How? It’s impossible to detect that!”
Noir followed Alus’s gaze and had a realization. Her glance at the top of Alus’s shoulder just before manifesting the spell had backfired.
“No way! Just by following my glance...? Th-Th-That’s not possible!”
Alus had no answer to give aside from another slash, this time diagonal, cutting into her shoulder.
“Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!! It huuurts, it hurts, it hurts so muuuuch!!!”
Noir instinctively covered her mouth, and seeing the amount of blood on her palm, she gritted her teeth.
Even as unsteady on her feet as she was, she forced herself to move despite the pain. Though she wielded the great scythe deliriously, she adhered to the form ingrained to her, so her attacks were anything but monotone.
Yet—
“Why! Why can’t I hit you? It’s unfair that I am the only one in pain! You should be in pain with me, or it’s not fun! Why am I the only one in so much pain—”
Her voice cut out as the tendon of the arm holding the great scythe was cut and spewed blood. Unable to withstand it, she dropped her weapon, stepped back, and escaped into the air. She held her cut wrist while watching as Alus didn’t hesitate to close in.
In his hand was a vicious blade, gleaming black. He took a stance that only had the goal of piercing her heart.
With her spell overcome and her great scythe lost, she had no way of resisting.
“Ehe...”
Noir smiled calmly, like she’d become someone else. She opened her clenched right hand. In it was a black seed.
She spoke the spell’s name in a chirpy tone.
“‹‹Dark Lotus››”
“Ha ha!!!”
A beat later it burst open. A crack formed in the seed, and red smoke spewed out from within, covering them both.
It spread fast, but not beyond a certain distance.
Before anyone realized, a wild rose that likely grew from the seed was spreading its roots into the ground, and more red smoke started spraying from its plump bud.
In the red smoke, Noir knelt and picked up the great scythe with her left hand. She wasn’t used to handling it with her left, but it would have to do.
In the process she inhaled some of the smoke and let out a cough.
“Even though I have some tolerance, this is really effective. Although I’m sure my senior is in a little pain.”
Dark Lotus was a spell that spread poison using a seed. Poison smoke was sealed in a shell of magic, allowing it to be stored for long-term. The smoke held a form of mana virus that was parasitic and multiplied through its victim’s mana. It spread through the bloodstream to infect and destroy the entire body.
Though Alus was holding his breath, he had several injuries, and the virus was sure to spread through those.
You won’t be able to block this. After all, I have been putting mana into that seed every night while thinking about you.
Dark Lotus didn’t have the usual deterioration of the mana body, so preparation took more time. It especially took a lot of effort to multiply the virus inside of the seed, but because of that it could be activated like a surprise attack without relying on an AWR.
Noir scanned for Alus’s silhouette within the smoke.
“Heh heh, where are you, my dear senior? It’s time for you to vomit black blood. Please show me your twitching body as you are on death’s door.”
She madly longed to hear Alus’s death throes and to see him die. Just the thought of it put her in a fantastic mood. So what would she do if she actually saw it?
The smoke started to clear after she picked up her great scythe, allowing her to see. The deterioration caused by the virus should start kicking in by now.
However...the smoke started swirling in front of Noir and gathered in a single spot. It was like the scene of the Dark Lotus being released was played in reverse.
In the center of the swirling smoke, Alus held Night Mist aloft. His expression was exactly the same as it had been before she’d manifested Dark Lotus. Or rather, he looked more refreshed than before.
“Wha...?!”
Before she could even ask what happened he thrust his blade forward. Noir used her nondominant left hand to thrust out the great scythe’s handle to block the fatal thrust, but surprise had ruined her posture. Plus, she was unused to handling her weapon with the other hand.
She used all the power she could muster to prepare for the incoming impact, but she could still make it.
She didn’t want any more pain than this. Especially not when it was so one-sided. But that fear was a fatal mistake.
“Oh no—”
The tip of Alus’s sword was enchanted with Dimension Thrust, the spell to separate space. It was impossible to block physically. She should have focused on dodging rather than blocking it.
She had misread the situation, or rather, she had been dancing on the palm of Alus’s hand, being driven into a corner and forced to play a losing move. If she’d dodged instead, he probably would have used an attack suited for that instead.
Alus’s Night Mist easily gouged through the great scythe’s handle and headed straight to pierce through Noir’s body.
Ahh...! This is wonderful in its own way...the world doesn’t need two people at the top. But...it is a little frustrating.
She felt almost relieved. In this moment, the pain in her body seemed to fade away, and the fear completely vanished.
Would she be seeing her life flashing before her eyes? For some reason, time seemed to extend.
She never imagined waiting for death would take so long. Even so, there was a dense instant of bliss. She felt like was submerged in a warm liquid as something filled her empty insides.
Rather than despair, she felt a twisted sense of happiness.
She slowly closed her eyes, with an innocent smile on her face.
However, just before the death in the form of a short sword touched her body, it unexpectedly stopped.
“—Ugh!”
Instead, she was assailed by an immense impact into her left flank. As she flew through the air, she realized she had been kicked away. She heard a few ribs break as she hit the ground and rolled like a rag doll.
Holding her body and cowering, she let out an anguished cry as she rubbed her face against the ground.
“Urk...aaaaahhhh! Can’t...breathe...!”
She coughed, unable to properly speak or breathe. Blood and saliva leaked from the corners of her mouth.
While she squirmed in pain, Alus stood on one leg, still in his kicking posture, staring at her wordlessly.
Alus couldn’t believe the hesitation he felt. He didn’t know what he did. It wasn’t intended as a feint either. Seeing how his victory was guaranteed there was no need for that.
He thrust his right hand out with the intent to kill, but just before he could finish the job he was stopped, by his own left hand.
And that wasn’t all. Contrary to his killing intent, his legs moved on their own as if to let her escape. Naturally, it wasn’t a gentle push, it was a mercilessly sharp kick, but it showed his intent not to kill her.
What exactly was the reason?
If he were to say, he wouldn’t even need to search his memories. He could clearly remember the expression Noir had shown him. Alus must have still been under the influence of Lost Paradise, and that was what stopped his blade.
In his head, she hadn’t worn the twisted face of an assassin with a broken mind but that of a sad girl with a future ahead of her. For some reason, to him it felt no different from Tesfia or Alice.
Like Alus, she had gone as far as she could even though there was no bright future supposed to be waiting for her.
While he knew that, Alus hesitated to kill her at the very end. Perhaps it was a wretched display of his own desires.
But it was all too late. Prolonging either of their lives would only end up with them killing someone else in the future.
Despite that, Alus hoped for a road for atonement. If he were to thrust his sword into that girl’s body, he would likely never be able to return to that lively place where Tesfia and the others were.
At least that was how he felt.
Alus closed and opened his hand to confirm any physical anomalies. Even though he knew that there was no point, it was a decision he’d made himself as a result of the new life he’d cultivated at the Institute.
Thinking of it that way, he realized that he felt somewhat satisfied. But how much would any of that matter against someone completely twisted like Noir.
Suddenly, a shout thundered, breaking the silence.
“Noir! What are you doing! Finish him off already!”
“Ugh...haah, haah, haah...”
Noir had been blown away and rolled near Morwald, who was angrily walking up to her.
“What are you doing? That’s enough playing around! When you kill him, you will be number one! And I will take over as the top of the military. Everything will work out!” Morwald hysterically screamed at Noir, who was writhing in agony.
“Haah, haah. Urk?!”
“Do you get it?! Are you listening?! There is no way you could feel pain, I made you that way! Those scummy parents, trying to sabotage me!”
Morwald pulled his foot back and then kicked at Noir’s flank with the sharp tip of his foot.
“Aaaaaaaaaaahhh! Ugh!”
Blood spilled from her mouth. An intense sharp pain caused her to shut her eyes, tears pooled around them and ran down her cheeks as if being squeezed out.
He mercilessly kicked her another two, three times.
Blood flew out of her mouth, and she couldn’t even properly scream as Morwald grabbed her by the hair and forcibly raised her head.
“Aaahhhh...”
“You can still fight, can’t you, Noir? You’re just happy as always, aren’t you? What a bad girl you are!”
Morwald smashed Noir’s face into the ground over and over again... And by the time Morwald was roughly breathing, Noir could no longer even scream, having been reduced to a puppet that could only spit blood from her mouth.
Only the faint breathing escaping from her lips was the sign that she was still alive.
“You should know when to give up! Morwald, if you put pride in being a major general in Alpha, then know your place!”
Vizaist had a daughter around the same age as Noir, so he wouldn’t overlook the pointless acts of violence.
“Haah, haah...hmm?!”
Either from his extreme agitation or exhaustion, Morwald’s next kick missed. And when he tried to kick once again—
“...Huh?”
A strange vibration shook Morwald and his fat body started to tilt. Surprised, he looked at his right shoulder. A black blade had been stabbed through it.
An unbelievable pain ran through his mind, and he let out an unpleasant scream.
“Uaaargh!!! M-My aaarrmm!!!”
Blood spilled without pause, staining his military uniform. Night Mist was so deep in his shoulder that it was a miracle that Morwald’s arm was still attached.
Morwald fell to his knees, and soundlessly opened and closed his mouth like a fish on land. He wanted to get the short sword removed from his shoulder right away, but the extreme pain and panic prevented him from doing anything. In fact, any movements he made only hurt him even more.
He was used to hurting others, but he had not really felt pain himself. Especially not to such a serious degree.
Blood spilled out from his fat body as if it were pus. He desperately put his left hand over the blade to try and stop the bleeding, but it was like trying to use cotton to stop a broken faucet.
His body gradually grew colder. Before long he couldn’t feel the tip of his fingers.
“Haaaargh! H-Hurry and call for a rescue team! H-Heal me right now!!!” exclaimed Morwald.
“Alus!” Vizaist shouted, using his judgment. Morwald was irredeemable scum, but they couldn’t ignore the law and kill him here.
Yet his voice didn’t shake Alus in the slightest. Morwald trembled as his eyes met Alus’s cold stare.
“No?! W-Wait. I-I-I-I didn’t do anything wrong...! I swear, I won’t do anything again. So, okay? J-Just pull this out, help me, heal me. V-Vizaist, you say something too! Protect me!”
He begged for help. He had lost all sensation in his right arm. He was frothing at the mouth, desperately pleading.
Vizaist looked at the pathetic man as if there were nothing more he could say. He didn’t feel much pity for the man, instead he felt self-loathing.
How much had Berwick predicted that Alus would enter this state and awaken his inner nature. Throwing him into the Institute should have prevented the worst from happening...but in the end, he’d failed to do anything to help this young man.
Vizaist clenched his fist.
“How unpleasant.”
A chilling declaration made so low it was hard to believe that it was a person’s voice. However, despite how quiet it was, everyone could hear it.
The killing intent was purely directed towards a single man, but everyone present was on guard.
Vizaist spoke out with surprise.
“—Hey!”
He and Morwald weren’t seeing a spell, and for that reason even the foolish Morwald could understand. He instinctively rejected the killing intent and an appeal left his trembling lips.
“S-Stop...it...” cried Morwald.
The chain undulating in Alus’s hand was a death sentence. He was going to pour vast amounts of mana into the chain. If that went through the chain into Night Mist stuck in Morwald’s body, the blade would easily bite through his flesh and his body would be torn apart.
A vibration prying open the wound in the shoulder was gradually getting stronger, and Morwald groaned in pain.
His teeth clattered in fear and his body turned stiff as his eyes shut. The dread he felt pushed him to his limit.
The biggest regrets always came in the worst situations. For the first time in his life, the arrogant man finally regretted his rash actions, and he prayed to God to spare his life.
In the next moment, mana mercilessly poured through the chain, and the sounds of the jangling chain rings rang out.
However—
As the undulation of the chain moved towards Night Mist’s blade, a massive figure moved to Morwald’s side.
It was Vizaist with his right fist pulled back, and he swung at a point in the chain. The mana-infused impact put a stop to the wave of death and also knocked Night Mist out of Morwald’s shoulder.
He then firmly grabbed hold of the chain and yelled out, “That’s enough!!!”
The feat opened up the injury in his side, causing Vizaist to clench his teeth and exhale before he spoke to Alus.
“It’s not the time for that yet. Don’t forget that you are still partially in the military, and as a Magicmaster of Alpha, even you won’t be able to get away with treason against a superior officer. You have to put up with it, Alus.”
Alus said nothing, but Vizaist pointed to Morwald with his thumb.
“Don’t worry, I will move to deal with him. This incident is especially decisive... Hmm, he passed out? He really lacks guts,” Vizaist said with an exasperated expression and then glanced over to the edge of the forest. “That aside, Alus you’ve shown a little too much to them this time. It’s not like you to slip up like this. Just back off from this. My subordinates and I will handle the rest.”
At those words, the light returned to Alus’s eyes.
After seeing that, Vizaist threw the chain of Night Mist, including the sword on the other end to Alus. When Alus quietly returned it to its sheath by his waist, it felt like the frozen time started moving once more.
Holding his flank, Vizaist looked over to Noir.
“Hmm? This girl still draws breath. If she gets medical treatment she might still...”
He gave Alus a glance telling him he’d take care of it, and he began examining Noir. From what he could tell, the kicks from the now-pathetically passed out Morwald, had caused the broken ribs to injure her organs.
He wasn’t an expert on healing magic, but it was clearly an emergency. Vizaist groaned and wrinkled his rugged face. It was about time for the subordinates he’d called for to arrive at the scene.
◇◇◇
Alus felt distant, like he wasn’t there, as he returned Night Mist to his sheath. But his mind began to cool down from the heat of battle, and before long, everything inside him returned to “normal.”
Still unable to settle down, Alus checked his surroundings.
They saw too much, huh? I see.
Vizaist wasn’t talking about Frose or Tesfia and Loki. Someone else had witnessed the entire thing. Vizaist’s look and attitude told Alus that the uninvited witness wasn’t someone to let your guard down around.
Since they ignored the dilemma Morwald was in, it’s not a subordinate of his or Kruelsaith. And considering Lord Vizaist’s reaction, they’re not from Womruina either. So who could it be? They might even have been watching since the Tenbram...
As Alus started to think, the observer’s presence suddenly disappeared.
Seeing how they so skillfully stepped away, they weren’t anyone ordinary.
Tsk, that really might have been a blunder.
Normally that was impossible, but this time Alus had been too focused on battle. Scratching the back of his head, Alus spoke to Loki, who was standing in silence.
“It’s okay. Let’s go.”
He was left with a bad aftertaste he couldn’t explain.
Normally she’d run right up to him after battle, but until Alus spoke to her, she’d been standing next to Tesfia. The two of them had seen everything from beginning to end.
Of course Tesfia hadn’t realized Morwald’s involvement until the battle against Noir was over.
Tesfia was wiping away tears she hadn’t realized she’d shed with her sleeve, and Loki was taking deep breaths to calm herself down.
“Do you understand now, Ms. Tesfia? This is as far as you can stay by Sir Alus’s side without any resolve. You live in different worlds. That’s why...”
Loki’s words faded out. She struggled to say those decisive words.
Tesfia and Alice had already learned so much from Alus. Even though they might not be disciples, they had a connection.
But if Tesfia was trying to go beyond her position as just a student, there was a line she had to cross. She had to get a deeper understanding of Alus. Even if the result was shocking, and she learned of the darkness of the world.
The past Loki wouldn’t have been so vague. She would have no doubt coldly told Tesfia not to stay by Alus’s side.
Loki was convinced of that. She used to be a faithful follower and arbiter, drawing a strict line between the ignorant girls and Alus.
But she could sense that was no longer the case.
During her stay at the Fable mansion, she had come to realize that the looks Tesfia would give Alus were that of a girl, not just a student, and they were similar to Loki’s own.
So if Tesfia were to have even some romantic feelings for him, as someone who had equally wicked thoughts, she couldn’t stop her. She had no right to do so. If anything, another person who could understand him was something that should be welcomed.
Still, there was one thing she had to say to the redhead who looked much more frail than normal. Those who couldn’t take that final last step still had a form of happiness from being left behind.
“Well then, Ms. Tesfia. Goodbye.”
Tesfia was unable to say anything in reply to those cold parting words. She knew what she must say and what she wanted to do, but the horrible nightmare she just witnessed had blotted out everything else on her mind.
Tesfia could only watch as Loki ran over to Alus’s side. She lost all strength in her legs and collapsed on the spot.
Minasha and Theresia noticed that and called out to her from behind as they ran over, but their voices sounded so distant now.
“Ha ha...ugh...”
The chills she felt turned into a sickening mass, surging up from her chest. It felt like it might spout from her mouth, and she blocked her mouth with her palm and crouched.
She just wanted to let it all out and be at ease. But she was rejecting that idea even as her face turned pale.
In the end she was just putting up some resistance. She knew it was too late to do anything. But what she would lose, what she would discard, was more than just a terrible feeling in her chest.
And she would never be able to forgive herself.
The meaning of Loki’s unspoken rejection wouldn’t leave her mind. She was correct. That rejection was the reason her emotions were tormenting her now.
She knew that. She understood that it was a betrayal against herself.
Seeing only what she wanted to see and rejecting what she didn’t want to see was human nature, and she could comprehend that.
In the end, she was just a lousy human basking in the peace she had been given. She was just a foolish chick who couldn’t leave her temporary bird cage, even after learning half of the world’s important secrets.
Thinking about it, the days she had spent with him had been fulfilling.
She had thought that they would stand side by side against difficulties and the harsh world together. But that was only a trivial piece in the puzzle of getting to know the true Alus.
She couldn’t understand how he could emotionlessly kill people, how he could stand in the center of a storm of slaughter like it was nothing.
It was beyond her comprehension.
And what she’d seen now was probably not all of him. In the end, the Alus she saw at the Institute hadn’t been the whole picture of him.
Tesfia was so very frustrated. She felt like self-deprecatingly trampling over the shallow feelings of love she’d finally become aware of.
The tears pooled in her eyes blurred her view, and she could only vaguely see the boy standing in the distance.
Alus cast a glance back as he left, looking melancholic. But he would likely never speak with Tesfia again. And with just cause. He himself was well aware of the bliss of not knowing the world’s darkness.
Tesfia could clearly tell that Alus felt that she was better off in the light.
So who could blame her if she traveled a different path from him. It was her natural right, and the proper way of life for a normal person.
However——
Still crouched down, Tesfia grabbed the ground with her trembling hand. Her nails dug into the mud and she firmly grasped it.
How pathetic can I get...?! Just what did I think I was doing...
Tesfia had thought she knew quite a bit about Alus. Yet when she saw a glimpse of his true self, she was in this state. She really felt that she was a small person.
All kinds of emotions swirled together in her chest, and she couldn’t breathe. Her regret overflowed, turning into warm tears that ran down her cheeks.
That was a sin by the name of innocence, and she was a criminal who didn’t try to see the true appearance of the world. She was no longer allowed to chase after the parting back, nor reach out her hand towards it.
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