Chapter 11:
The Shape of Love
JACK SWUNG HIS SWORD from outside Ottilie’s reach. His slash whipped through the air as it reached for her, undulating like a snake.
“I see through you!” Ottilie parried the Justice Arts: Bind Strike that came at her from the right with her sword and immediately assessed the distance between herself and Jack.
Jack disliked close combat, so he retreated while pointing the tip of his sword at Ottilie. This was a step he took to trigger his Shrimp Hold. Ottilie jumped to the side to avoid it, but as a result, she was one step too late in getting close to Jack.
“Things do not always go as we hope, eh, Ottilie?!”
Once again, there came a winding slashing attack from his Bind Strike. Ottilie twisted her body to try to avoid it, but the slash caught her in the side, cutting through her flank. Blood poured forth. The pain caused her to lose her balance and slowed her down even more.
Another Bind Strike was unleashed without a moment’s hesitation. Pitching forward, Ottilie deflected the slash coming at her from the front. However, Jack’s blade bent at the point of contact and pierced her upper arm.
“Agh!”
“A phantasmagoric blade—there is no way a second-rate lieutenant general such as yourself could see through that!” The transformed blade returned to Jack as he boasted of his victory.
In an instant, the blood that clung to the blade rippled outward. Some of it transformed into needles that shot at Jack’s eyeballs.
“What?!” Jack tilted his head, just narrowly managing to react to the attack, but the blood needles grazed his temple. The graze alone was enough to make the blood enter his body. Jack felt a powerful dizziness.
“It is called Carithia.”
Originally, this technique involved spreading blood over a wide area and then having it shoot out needles and thread in order to block an enemy’s movements. Jack had triggered the technique the moment his sword had cut Ottilie. Once the technique had been activated, her blood remained on the blade, almost as though it were coiling around it.
“Tch, can I shake this blasted blood off?!” Jack swung his sword to try and fling the blood off, but to no avail. Ottilie closed the distance once again. Having no other option, Jack thrust his sword into the ground.
“Ishidaki!”
“Are you sure it is all right for you to discard your sword?” The heavy weight of gravity pushed down on Ottilie. However, she moved to stab Jack with her blade first before it came down on her. However, he took a small blade out from his pocket and caught the attack.
“Hmph. What an unusual knife. It suits a small-hearted coward like you perfectly.” The two of them provoked each other at close range, while competing for dominance.
“Well, I should say this is enough to deal with a weak woman.”
“It feels quite good, seeing you play at acting tough with those torture implements in your hands!”
“That is rich, coming from a woman who is about to be crushed any moment from my Ishidaki!” Jack angled his small blade on Ottilie’s blade, as if he were entangling it, pressing down from above. Due to the effects of Ishidaki, she couldn’t move her body as she wished and couldn’t push him back. Then Jack reached out with one arm toward her almost completely exposed torso. When Ottilie instinctively tried to take a step back in that instant, Jack lightly swept her leg, causing her body to tilt. In the next moment, her world was turned upside down and she found herself floating in midair. She had been thrown. Then she felt her back slamming onto the ground as she landed.
“Kuh ha—!”
“I am learned in this manner of fighting as well.” Jack immediately lunged at Ottilie with his short sword. She tried to roll sideways to avoid it, but the weight prevented her from moving as she would’ve wished, and the blade tore up her back. In that moment, Jack took hold of his sword that had been stuck in the ground again and prepared to unleash another Bind Strike. Meanwhile, Ottilie, after getting back up, took a blood cartridge out from her belt and threw it. Jack, who had taken hold of his sword, reflexively slashed at it and cut the cartridge. The blood in the cartridge splattered, filling his field of vision.
“I blind you with a blood cartridge, and then—” Ottilie got in close to Jack, practically leaping at him from a low stance. The tip of her extended sword touched the blood that had been scattered across the arena. “Agarsura! Devour him!”
The blood, which had simply been spreading outward before, now suddenly attacked Jack like a striking snake. He immediately tried to brush it away with his Bind Strike but could only cut into it, unable to repel it.
A membrane of blood coiled around his body. From inside it, blood needles flew out and pierced him, just like with Carithia.
“Blast—it will not let go. How vexing!”
“It isn’t so bad, you know, waiting patiently like a snake, injecting venom into your prey until it weakens.” At this rate, if she waited, Jack would eventually become unable to move and would only be left to convulse on the ground. Ottilie thought this would be amusing to watch, but her goal was to save Henriette. “I have decided that I will only indulge in pleasure with my sister, in bed.”
“Ga ha, verily! Oh, you only pretend to be an innocent maiden!”
“Die right this instant, you perverted, torture-crazed maniac of a man!”
Right before Jack’s eyes, Ottilie raised her sword. Just as she was about to act out her murderous impulse, however…she sensed the presence of her beloved and turned around.
“Sister?”
There stood a monstrous, blood-covered beast. Bleeding profusely, with wet squishing sounds, it raised its sharp claws to tear Ottilie apart.
“Ah—” Ottilie, failing to catch the claws, had her neck ripped apart in spectacular fashion by the attack. Blood gushed from the open wound like a fountain as the Chimera Henriette landed in front of her. The source of her life sprayed forth with such force that it gurgled. A tremendous quantity of blood splashed across the ground, creating puddles.
Her body temperature was dropping rapidly. Her strength was draining. In such a state, it was impossible for her to maintain her Genocide Arts, and Jack was released from Aghasura.
“How wonderful!” Jack, immediately understanding what had happened, gave a hearty belly laugh, his shoulders shaking. “Is this the love you speak of?! Ga ha ha ha ha, verily! How beautiful! Congratulations, Ottilie, Henriette! I have never seen a love come to fruition in such spectacular fashion as this before! Ga ha ha ha ha!”
Had there ever been such a beautiful, betrayed love before? Jack’s only complaint was that he hadn’t created his work of art himself—but compared to the joy of getting to witness this scene with his own eyes, such complaints were insignificant.
Ottilie still couldn’t understand what had just happened, even now. However, she understood that death was approaching.
I understand. No matter what form she may take, she is Sister. Did she do this to me? Oh, I am going to die. I have to stop the bleeding. Sister is right here, in front of me. In that case, I must survive.
She slowly placed her hand on the wound and attempted to stop the bleeding using Genocide Arts. But Jack wasn’t going to let that go unnoticed.
“It is not my wish to add any touches to the finished work, but I am afraid it would be bothersome to let you go. Justice Arts: Strappado.”
The condition for activating this ability was for Jack to continue fighting for a certain amount of time. Originally, it was intended as a final act of torture for those who had already endured torture, sticking it out to the end. Ottilie’s arms were tied behind her back, and she was hoisted up into the air just by her upper body. She felt her entire weight straining against the invisible ropes that bound her, causing her considerable pain, but the bleeding from her neck was also having a significant effect.
I can’t fight back. Ottilie was growing pale. I’m going to die. I’m going to disappear. Even though Sister is right here in front of me… The blood overflowing from her neck eventually made its way into her throat.
She struggled, gurgling and coughing, and spat out large quantities of blood.
That’s right. Before the eyes of Sister, whom I love…
After observing the situation quietly for a while, Henriette sprang into action.
“Guuaauuuu… Otti…li…uaaaaa!” She let out a mournful cry as copious amounts of blood spilled from her spiral-shaped face.
“I see, you wish to deliver the final blow.” Jack was now an uninvolved bystander in this situation. He realized that he was nothing more than an audience waiting in anticipation for the completion of the work. “Very well—show me, then. Show me the course of your love! Ga ha ha, verily!”
He sheathed his sword and waited eagerly for that moment to arrive.