Nidome no Yuusha Volume 2 Chapter 28

Chapter 28: And Then, It Made The Sound Of Breaking

Yumis was staring daggers at me from her position, still p.r.o.ne on the ground. But since I’d smashed her ankles, she wasn’t going anywhere.

“Urgh, ah, you seem to take great pleasure in beating a downed, defenseless woman, Hero. I expect no less from a twisted man who l.u.s.ts for the demon lord-DHH!!”

“Oh, so you get it. That’s right, Leticia was a fine girl. And an ugly b.i.t.c.h like you don’t get to speak of her with that filthy mouth.”

I downed a potion to recover some MP while jostling Yumis’ wounds with my sword. Then I healed those wounds and proceeded to make new ones. Once my MP got low, I’d repeat this.

Yumis, whose family was related to the country’s defense, was a member of high n.o.ble society and had trained in skills to mute pain and the like. I couldn’t expect much reaction from her like this, but in a way, it was better that she was able to take this punishment relatively unfazed.

Any normal person without these pain muters would’ve no doubt had their minds broken from the sheer agony, begging me to kill them already.

That aside, thanks to her resistances, I could enjoy a slice of fun.

So I killed time repeating this for a while. But I did try to keep the taste test to a minimum so as to not ruin the meal.

Minnalis still had some work to do in preparation, and Shuria, I wonder if she enjoyed herself enough? I was thinking about this and that and decided to contact them.

“Minnalis, Shuria, I’m just about done here. How’re things on your end?”

I used the skill, Soul Speak.

I made use of the same method I once used when transferring the information from Mouse No.1 to Minnalis, a communication path using the link provided by the 【Holy Sword of Vengeance】.

Though apparently it becomes useless across long distances, it was much better than any ordinary communications magic item from the fact that it was impossible to intercept.

“Copy that, this is Minnalis. I have around half of half of the task left to do, apologies for the delay, goshujin-sama.”

“No, don’t worry about that. Actually, I’d be surprised if you were done so fast. I know you won’t slack on the job, but I worry you’re forcing yourself.”

And what’s up with ‘half of half of’.

No well, she’s so smart, I sometimes forget that she was originally a normal village girl, so it’s not hard to imagine her being unable to do proper math. I should set aside some time to teach her.

“How about you, Shuria?”

“Okey-dokey on my end, I was actually getting a little bored of playing with them just now.”

“Sounds perfect, you should come over here then. I bet you’ll enjoy the toy here a lot more than the ones there.”

“!!! Thanksies!!”

As soon as I heard her delighted reply, a blue magic circle blipped into existence over a part of the battlefield now desecrated from my fight with Yumis.

“That’s, isn’t that light from one of our teleport gems?”

“Yeah, thought we might as well help ourselves, you know?”

Teleport gems were as the name implied, stones that allowed for instant transportation.

They didn’t expend the user’s mana like my soulblades, but had demerits such as limitations on the capacity, on distance to travel and on the activation time.

These gems were also rare and expensive, but n.o.bles still kept a number of them so that they’d have a means to escape dire situations.

Then, after the teleportation circle let off a bright dazzle of light, Shuria was there, smiling ear to ear. She’d brought along her Kitty-san and Teddy-san, and around 20 people, men and women, young and old, all in their night wear.

The people other than Shuria were all individuals hired by Yumis personally, people who she trusted, and people who respected her. All of them had faces distorted in pain.

“Oi oi, I did tell you to play, but that’s going overboard.”

“Eh~ I believed this much was alright. What I did simply amounted to breaking off some of their fingers, having an ear or an eyelid bitten off, ripping out some hair here and there, not too much. I made sure to not do anything that could kill them so I think I’m safe.”

It’s a bit past safe I think.

Though on closer inspection, I could see that they wouldn’t die from that state, and none of them look broken as of yet.

“And look here, Kaito-sama, you got your little fill of Yumis nee-sama yourself.”

“Well, that uhm, the fight was over really fast as we’d expected right? And It’s pretty boring just waiting here by myself.”

That right there was me pigeonholing myself, a special skill of the j.a.panese.

“That aside, Yumis nee-sama, you look very good like that. I’m amazed how well ‘sprawled in the mud’ suits you.”

“Shuria… You even dare, involve the servants…”

Yumis glared at the dark little girl, while Shuria simply smiled devilishly.

“Ok then, we’ll be starting now, Yumis. The first event today is: ‘Number 1, who can beat the snot out of Yumis!! No second chances, alright?’. Everyone, applause!!”

“Clap clap clapsies!!”

It was like a kindergarten sports event was starting, we clapped our hands dumbly and intentionally.

“Come now you maggots, can’t you see the music has started?”

“AIEE!!” x 3

Shuria commanded, Teddy laughed, and Kitty clanged its fork and knife.

“No, please no more, don’t eat my ears!!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please, I will shave off all my hair, I’ll do anything, so please don’t pull off the skin!!”

Their voices were filled to the brim with terror.

“You over there, aren’t you the head butler. You should be an example to the others, show them what they must do.”

Following Shuria’s ice cold gaze, I could see she was looking at a man who had had all the hair on the right half of his head torn off. The skin in his scalp had bled and coagulated, darkened blood covered his pale blue face, making him look like a caricature out of a horror story.

He looked to have been played with the worst of the bunch. He was using his right hand to hold down his left, which was missing its index, ring and pinky fingers with the wounds cauterized.

“Aiee! My deepest apologies! My apologies for being trash, my apologies for being swine, my apologies for being a filthy maggot!!”

The man was trembling violently, like he was begging for his life, but managed to stand up with his convulsing expression.

“What, did you not understand me? Every f.u.c.king one of you maggots, get ready to work now, or else.”

“!!!” x 3

Stared down by the intense crimson eyes of the laughing girl, the other servants also stood up.

“Here Yumis, this is how you are to them.”

“Guh, ahh!!”

I grabbed Yumis by the arm and dragged her in front of her servants.

“My, apologies, Yumis-sama.”

“What do… GAH!?”

The head butler, now fully under the spell of fear and trepidation, took his own feet and stomped down on Yumis’ back.

And learning from their leader, the rest of them quickly followed suit.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!! I just don’t want to die!! I have a little sister, sick in bed!!”

“I, I’m doing this to protect my family!! Ahh, please forgive me Yumis-sama, please forgive me!!”

“GAH, Uph, GUH!!”

Under the many voices of apology along with the equally many feet trampling her, Yumis’ body was digging into the earth.

“Kukuh, AHAHAHAHAHA!! How’s the feeling of having your loyal servants muddy feet stomping your back? You’re soo pitiful, AHAHAHAHA!!”

“It’s like flies gathering on garbage. Ah, that won’t do, they’re the same as before!”

Of course, compared to these low leveled servants, in addition to the pain muters Yumis had, the mage wouldn’t feel a thing from their continuous barrage of blows. But these were the servants she trusted, the men and women who knew about and protected her relations.h.i.+p with Sori. The level of humiliation she was enduring from undergoing this constant trampling from her servants’ own feet must’ve been devastating.

“Kuh, you vile…!!”

It felt amazing looking at Yumis’ eyes colored in chagrin.

I lost track of how long I kept gazing at the scene. Some time later, Minnalis called me with Soul Speak.

“Goshujin-sama, I’ve readied everything.”

“Alright, we’ll finish up the first program of the night then. Right, you can stop now.”

After I said that, the servants all stopped and looked to me.

Yumis also looked, her face boiling in fury.

“Uhm, uh, what are we to――…”

“Your work is done here, die.”

“Eh,”

I used the 【Soulblade of Origin】 to chop off the man’s head.

His head dropped with a thud and rolled.

“W-why did you! We listened to eve-GAPHH!!”

The maid who tried to raise words of protest had her neck pierced by Kitty’s fork.

“What ever do you mean? The actor of course leaves the stage after their role is done. It’s the commonest of common sense.”

Shuria said in a small tilt of her head.

“NO, HELP M-GOHH!?”

“Please no, I’ll do anything, anything, just don’t kill m-GYAAHH NO NO NO!!!”

We thus ended the first piece of the performance by denying solace to those who had succ.u.mbed under our coercion.

Shuria and I cleaned up the actors who’d had their role done and over with.

“Demons, you’re demons…!!”

“Oh my, Yumis nee-sama. I’m impressed that you could still care for these worms that dared to trample on you.”

“You, you people with your sinister tastes forced them to do that!!”

Yumis glared at us, grinding hard at her teeth.

“Kukukuh, why so serious? We’re barely at the end of the first act. Now that I’ve destroyed all those you trusted, let’s get started with act 2. I’ll now be destroying everything you’ve built up, your legacy.”

I then activated a magic tool I obtained in town. This tool was like a telescope and I’d further modified it with the 【Hookblade of Spellpatching】.

The magic tool worked like a camera, similar to the magic creature I’d ordered from Duphein back when I wanted to confirm how the princess was liking my present.

I’ve used something like this in the 1st run too, so Yumis should know what’s what.

“This is, a videograph of the town?”

I’d projected a video of Elmia in front of Yumis. She was getting anxious now.

We were now well into the evening, the town was quietly heading off to bed.

“Time for the 2nd round, now. Minnalis, light it up.”

“At once, goshujin-sama.”

Came her reply.

Right after, a boom erupted from the town of Elmia, tearing apart its sleep.

“Wh-!? What did you!?”

The video feed showed intense blue-white flame.

The town was lit up as the dark night sky was cast in flames.

We should’ve been quite far from the town proper, but the actual sounds still reached from the distance.

“W-what in G.o.d’s name…”

“Look at it, those splendid fireworks. Fire that’s burning down everything you are.”

I’d ordered Minnalis to bomb the research inst.i.tute where Yumis made her magic tools.

All her research, all that time she desperately spent trying to make the magic tool that would open the door to her dreams, all of it was burning to ashes.

Onlookers, people who ran out of their houses, alarmed because of the explosive sounds outside, looked on as the famed research building of Elmia was slowly demolished, all the books inside burning to a crisp, and all the gathered research material ruined forever.

It was such a beautiful flame.

The townspeople were in fact trying to put out the blazing flames, but simple water would do nothing to hinder that fire. Minnalis had used Phantom Flame Poison Demon to create a high intensity, highly flammable poison which she mixed into barrels of oil that she spread all over the building to start this grand incineration.

The resulting fire also looked out of this world, with it’s azure tint that made it seem as if it’d be cold to the touch when in reality, it was much hotter than any normal fire, as if these blue flames had burst out straight from h.e.l.l.

After some time, the local mages arrived and had to use magic to douse the flames, but by then, the blue flames had transformed most of the place into white ash without a semblance of its previous grandeur.

All that illuminated the area were the subdued flames, now still burning orange, along with the full moon high in the sky.

“A-ahhh, my, all my, accomplishments…”

“That ends the 2nd act. On to the 3rd now, I’ll be ripping apart your future.”

The video feed transitioned to the main landmark of Elmia, the stone monument.

“Wait…!? No, no you can’t…!!”

“Bang.”

I grinned ear to ear, brought together my hands, and as if I was crus.h.i.+ng something unseen, made a light clap.

At almost the same time, the monument on the projection rumbled, then broke apart.

“No… Our treasured monument…”

Yumis’ voice was soft, trembling.

“Ahh, so good, that face you’re making is soo good Yumis. But fret not, it’s not over yet. I’ve destroyed your loyal servants, burned down all your accomplishments, and crushed your awaited future. Now, I’ll break everything you have now.”

“!? N-now wait, please, wait, I beg you. What more do you plan to ruin!?”

Yumis had an expression of extreme distress. Shuria then grazed her cheek with a hand.

The dark-skinned girl had on a smile very reminiscent of the one her mage sister once showed her before pus.h.i.+ng her into h.e.l.l.

“Yumis nee-sama, there’s no need for you to be afraid. You simply have to accept these as the fruits of the actions you have committed thus far. You actually don’t have to do anything anymore. All of this is a present to you, from me and my friends ♪”

The video once again changed to the scene of the ruined research inst.i.tute backed by the Elmia house.

Undead goblins and redcap zombies began crawling out from under the debris and ashes.

“GHYARUOHH”“OOBOAHH”

And there weren’t just one or two. The amount of undead creeping out from the nooks and corners had already exceeded 30.

“!! Kyaaa! Undead! Why are there undead monsters inside town!?”

After a woman yelled, as if a beehive had been rattled, the crowd of self-presumed unrelated bystanders that was silent in shock, descended into chaos.

“W-what is the meaning of this!? Where did you get so many undead!?”

“What are you talking about, those are the undead you made from slaughtering Shuria’s village. Remember now?”

For today’s performance, we’d gone to Shuria’s old village.

It was now populated by an expanding number of undead.

They were still increasing under the effects of their collective malice piled up from the cruel way they were unreasonably killed, along with the residual mana left over after Yumis summoned her demon.

“They were all reborn as undead from the sheer suffering you cast on them, nee-sama. It’s just as I’ve said, these are the fruits of the actions you have committed.”

We’d spent several days setting up a teleport circle relay to summon all these undead, as well as grant a bit of revenge to the helpless villagers.

It was possible to activate a magic circle without actually pouring in your own mana.

The teleport circle was draining bottle upon bottles of MP potions, calling forth more and more zombies, that followed markings that I had Minnalis set up to better spread the damage.

“You, you would kill even the innocent civilians!?”

Yumis was getting paler as she spoke.

“Oh yeah, there’s gonna be some casualties, sure.”

I replied to her joyfully.

In reality, the earlier explosion had already made people aware of the zombie dilemma. We’d limited how many we’d summon there, and there were also specialists from the town church who could take charge in the extermination, so I didn’t think there’d be too many deaths. Although, I saw no reason telling Yumis that.

I still estimated a hundred or two casualties among the civilians, but they were necessary sacrifices.

“Look, I need a lot of them to die tonight. Sear it into their memories as a catastrophic event, you know? I know it’s sad, but this is something I need to do to fulfill my dream. I’m sure you know the feeling, don’t you, Yumis.”

“Kh, b.a.s.t.a.r.d… !”

I chuckled, kuh kuh kuh, and continued further,

“Also, what’s with your ‘innocent civilians’? Like you give a d.a.m.n about them. Well, I understand, you don’t want to admit it do you? Whatever will the commoners think after this event, surely you’ve realized?”

“W-what are you…”

“Hey tell me will you, kind Yumis nee-sama? Please teach this innocent Shuria who doesn’t know the ways of the world. A sudden explosion at the research inst.i.tute that my nee-sama personally oversaw, and from within came a horde of undead. What would they think of as the most likely scenario? Whoever will they deem responsible for this madness?”

Kusukusu, Shuria laughed as she played provocateur.

“No, NO! You’d have me put to blame for all this!?”

“Correct, correct, aaaand CORRECT!! AHAHAHAHA!! That’s right, this is what you all did to me in the first world! You put all the evils of the demon lord on to me, the hero who saved your a.s.ses. And just like that, I’ll be tearing down your image as the intelligent, kind fief lord, and expose you as the criminal who did illegal monster experiments to make her magic tools. But look, the big difference is that you actually did all that! AHAHAHAHA!!”

This is so ironic. In my 1st run, I’d helped them fight back the army of undead, but this time, I’m causing the attack.

“Oh, but you won’t be atoning for any of these crimes. You can’t right? Since I’ll be killing you right here. Of course, none of them will know that. You’ll just quietly disappear on this day. Now, who do you think will have to carry that blame once you’re missing indefinitely?”

“It, would be…”

If the main culprit of this disaster on Elmia, that is, Yumis, is missing, what then?

Yumis’ crimes are her family’s crimes.

Nevertheless, they could settle the matter by offering only Yumis’ head. Even if all her family were blamed, the damages were minimal, so if they offered up the fief lord’s only child, the rest could get away unscathed. But if it turns out that Yumis had gone into hiding, the blame would pour down on anyone related to her.

First of all, her relatives would be executed. I don’t know how much of her extended family this’ll effect, but her parents, the mother and father she respected and wanted approval from, would both be on the chopping block, definitely.

“You, d.a.m.ned, monster!!”

“KUHAHAHAHA!! This is something you all did to me. Since you have your old memories, you have to know how this country killed my family and friends to summon me here. You heard from that f.u.c.king princess didn’t you? You hunted me down and tried so hard to make me slip up by bringing that up over and over again. How’s it feel now? How’s it feel to have the same happen to you? How’s it f.u.c.king feel to have your past, your future, and everyone, everything important to you, tarnished, stolen, destroyed!! Ahah~♪ AAHAHAHAHA!!”

I can’t stop, I can’t stop, I can’t stop.

It’s so fun, so much fun, I just can’t stop laughing.

I still remember all those miserable days I spent wanted and hunted.

Burning in anger and humiliation, but still packing it inside, all that rage, all that unbearable rage. It was all for today.

“You, insane hero…! I’ll never forgive you, go to h.e.l.l!”

Burning in anger and humiliation, Yumis directed all her unbearable rage at us.

“Die, you need to die!! You as well, Shuria you wench!! Why are you two even alive!? Ghosts of the past should stay in your place in h.e.l.l!!”

Her eyes were dyed in wrath.

The best proof that Yumis was truly suffering.

“Kyahah! KyahahaHAHAHAHA!! You’re talking nonsense now, Yumis nee-sama. We’re already in h.e.l.l, the very bottom of it. If we weren’t, how else could we drag you down to its depths?”

“Oh, that one’s pretty good, Shuria, AHAHAHAHA!!”

That’s right, we’d been sent to the pits of h.e.l.l, and chose to live in it.

Rather than escaping from it with how scarred we are, we decided to get everyone to join us.

Yumis had it right. The moment we decided to embrace the idea of exacting revenge, we’d become ghosts, demons of the past.

“You’re, you’re all mad…!!”

Our mad cackling overlapped and resonated with each other.

I couldn’t get enough of Yumis who still put up a strong front despite being scared s.h.i.+tless.

“Yes yes, yeshyesyesYES!! Get ready for the climax now! This’ll be the final act! The main course today is your dream, Yumis! Shuria, I believe you’re ready?”

“All in order♪ Nee-sama, let me have the honor of presenting to you our final actress. Metal-san, come on in.”

Shuria called on her third familiar.

And with Metal-san moving her body, the woman who started off tonight’s festivities once again dragged herself out of the forest. This time, it was indeed the real Sori.

She was still in her usual long skirt maid uniform. She looked to be walking alone, but hidden inside her bones lay a sinister trap. It was Metal-san, a joint creation by me and Shuria, where I melted some highly pure mithril using the firevenom of the 【Fire Spider’s Leg Blade】 and Shuria gave it life with her Spirit Puppetry.

“You won’t trick me-No, that’s, SORI!!”

“Yumis -sama...”

Upon seeing Sori’s terrified face, this time, Yumis really did have all the blood drain from her expression, she became white as a sheet of paper.

Her strong front, which was in the end, only a front, was rapidly breaking apart.

Now I was sure, this woman was everything that signified that b.i.t.c.h’s dream.

“No, please no, please don’t, not her, not my Sori…!!!”

She began to quiver intensely.

“This last act is called Dream Balloon. Shuria here’s implanted her familiar within this maid’s body. Just like we showed you, night after night.”

“! No, then, that dream…!!”

“Yes, I especially asked Teddy-san to show you those dreams. How were they? Good fun, right?”

Sneered Shuria, to which Yumis reacted with even more apprehension.

“Ah~ that’s it, I love that face. It appears there is value in poking at this filthy worm ♪”

“Kyah!! ghuhh!!”

“SORII!!”

Making Metal-san manipulate Sori’s body to make her grovel in the dirt, Shuria stomped down on her back and laughed.

“The rules are simple. Our Metal-san is inside your f.u.c.kmaid here, and once Shuria gives the signal, the little guy will start expanding out. Now, you don’t want that to happen, since…”

I intentionally cut off my explanation, and did a quiet chuckle.

“Nooo, please don’t kill me… Hic, uuh.”

“… …”

Sori wept in fear of death, while Yumis was close to doing the same as she imagined what I cut off describing.

“But alas, I am kind. I’ll tell you the one way you can save her. Pour your mana inside the maid. Shuria’s familiar happens to be a magic creature, and those, as you should know, tend to stop working if they get overloaded with mana, don’t they?”

The momentary light of hope on Yumis’ face when I told her that was dyed back into despair just as fast.

Since she realized that she’d used up a lot of that MP during her fight with me.

I then removed her mana sealing shackles.

As for Shuria she also removed her foot off Sori by kicking her away.

“OK, start. Do be careful now, or your dream balloon will get too big and pop.”

“Wh-, n-, please wai-…!?”

“That’s a no♪ There!”

Shuria cut the tape commemorating the start of the game without a care for what Yumis had to say.

“Ah, AaAAAAHHH! Stop, no, STOP IIIT!!! It hurts id hurdsidhrdshh!!”

“SORI!!”

Metal-san started expanding right away, and Sori wailed in pain from having her bones start rupturing from the inside.

Yumis desperately dragged her feet hearing the cries of her beloved, and started her task of filling her with the little remaining mana she had.

“Khhhuuuuuu!!!”

“Ghhhhuuu!! Help me, Yumis-sama, id hurds zoo mujj!!”

“You’ll, be fine, I’ll save you right now!!”

Yumis was clearly giving her all in this. However, she was hardly at full strength, and basically, she just didn’t have enough to overload the magic creature that Shuria took lots of time and effort to manifest.

“Ghha, ahhh, AAAAHHHH!!!”

Yumis had, as expected, quickly run out, and then began forcibly squeezing out even more mana, something I’d also done once. As a result, lesions started popping up all over her body.

―― ―― But even that wasn’t quite enough.

“Ghh, gah, Ah, AAAH!!”

Sori’s body convulsed violently, her tears mixing with the blood dripping off from Yumis. And then, even that last surge of mana gained at blood price fizzled into nothing.

“No, NonoNOnOnNOOOOO!! I beg you, I BEG OF YOU, oh great hero, Shuria my love, I’m sorry, I was the fool, I’ll do anything I swear, please, pleaseplease forgive me!! Please don’t kill Sori!!”

Yumis pleaded while descending into tears.

That Yumis who despised me, used me, betrayed me, was now in such a deplorable state.

“HAHAHA! Can’t do that, b.i.t.c.h!! You said it right, we’re ‘ghosts’, we’re ‘dead’ already, how are we supposed to listen to living people!”

“Are you mocking us? See here Yumis nee-sama, I chose this path to h.e.l.l just to have my revenge. So… ―― Please rest a.s.sured, you WILL suffer, kyahahaha!!”

“!!! You, d.a.m.ned, DEEEMOOONNSS!!”

We were beginning to hear the creaks and cracks of Yumis’ dream bursting apart.

“Ah, gahh, uah…”

“Sori!! SoriSoriSori!!”

“Yu mis -sama… a…”

It ended like a water balloon, filled far over capacity.

With a splas.h.i.+ng sound, like something that would really make you think about how the human body is mostly water, Sori’s body became nothing but a lump, no, lumps of meat.

“… Eh, ah, e?”

Yumis muttered blankly after that sudden gush of blood got coated all over her.

She could be trying to deny the reality in front of her, or maybe she just can’t fathom what just happened.

The thing called Yumis was, right now, something like a loose house of cards.

So, I went to her, brought my mouth to her ear as she kept sitting there, and said the words I’d been dying to say to her, all this time,

“Hey, Yumis. Just now, just like me, your precious dream, it broke. Just one last time, I want to hear it from your mouth, how does it feel?”

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHH. NOO NOO NOOO!! WHY, WHY, NOO, WHY, NONONONONOOO!!!”

“AHHAHAHAHA!!! YESSH, That’s it, that’s just what I neeeded Yumis!!”

“Kyahah♪ Cry more, scream more, suffer more!! Loud enough that even mother and Shelmy can hear from heaven, cry, scream!! Kyahahahahaha!!”

1 scream to 2 joys.

Ahh, this is it. THIS is it.

This is everything I wanted, and more!!

I live for this, I started life a second time for THIS!!

“Well then, that’d be the end of everything we prepared for you. You’re welcome, Yumis, glad you enjoyed it.”

“Nee-sama, you yourself raised the curtain that started this play. Now we will be the ones to drop it.”

Let’s conclude this charade of idiots and fools.

Shuria and I each took out a simple, unadorned sword from our respective round pouches.

“NO, no, I don’t want this!! This has to be a lie, it’s all fake!! Tell me it’s all fake, tell me!!”

Yumis reeled, scratching at her head like a child throwing a temper tantrum.

She wailed as if to deny anything and everything.

“Ahahah, see ya, Yumis.”

“Farewell, Yumis nee-sama.”

We both raised high our blades of revenge.

“NOOOO-GAHH,Bgh!”

As if we were one of heart, both blades sunk deep into the mage’s heart.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! AHAH, AHAHAHAHA!!”

“KYAHAH! KYAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

Again, and again, and again, and again, and again, andagainandagainandagainandagain ――― ―― .

Within the chilled night air, that one place raged in heat.

My crazed laughter in resonance with that of Shuria’s appeared as if we were playing a piano duet together.

We lost track of time and just kept stabbing her.

By the time we stopped, we were only going at what could be called minced meat.

The swords in our hands weren’t just covered in ample blood, they even had small chunks of meat sticking to them.

There sat, covered head to toe in the blood of another, a boy who could only be described as unique thanks to his black hair and black eyes, and a girl who looked like a dark skinned elf. They sat together, each leaning their backs on one another.

All around them were meat, blood and fragmented bones in disarray.

There lay a corpse, that is, something that was a corpse, but was now disfigured beyond all recognition as one. One couldn’t tell at a glance if that thing was even alive at one point.

“Shuria, your personal revenge should be over with this, so what now? Are you staying here?”

“I can’t say I’m fond of such jokes. My revenge won’t be over with only this.”

The girl said, pouting,

“The grudge that you and Minnalis-san have shared with me is now mine as well. It’s a fact that the target of my first revenge has been dealt with, but I now have many more. I could say that my revenge has yet to begin even. So no, you will not leave me out of it.”

“Huh, you’re right. Sorry, I said something dumb.”

Within him, the boy now felt a new rage from the girl, one she hadn’t had before.

Though the origin of this hate may be his, what he felt now was fully a part of the girl.

Guess I got a little sentimental now that I had the first of my revenge, whispered the boy as he glanced up to the sky.

“Sure was fun, that. Wonder when I’ll have my next one.”

The girl kept silent at that, but as a reply, leaned just slightly more on the boy.

They dreamed.

They dreamed that someday, they would drag every last person that wronged them into the pits of h.e.l.l, they dreamed that after that, they would finally rest in peace.

The moon too silently cast its light upon them, accepting them for all they were as dawn arrived.

― ―… Their vengeance had yet to end.

For it was a pitch black flame that could even blot out the sun.