“But no need to worry,” Kaito went on. “This is what I gave you restoratives for. Just eat them, and you’ll be back to your normal strength in no time.” “…” “Oh, yeah, and there’s one other rule I forgot to mention. There are two ways you can lose this game. Two ways in which neither of you get to survive. The first is if you lose all your lives, Leon. If you die and there are no chimeras left, then Lilia here is… Khhrk.” Kaito drew his thumb across his neck. “The other way to lose applies only to Lilia. If she gives up before you win, then both of you die.” “What…?” The sound of that put me on edge. If Lilia gave up? What did that mean? I didn’t have to wonder much longer, for at that point, Nonorick stepped forward. “Ohh, ohh, me first, me first! ,” he said, swinging his swords around. “Whoo-hoo! Finally, I get to do something! Let’s get this party started!” “No…,” I muttered, as Nonorick raised his favorite white blades. “No… You can’t! This is madness! Stop it at once!” “Let’s open you up and see what’s inside!” “Hrgh! Haghh…!!” My words of protest could not stop Nonorick from slicing open Lilia’s abdomen. “Lilia!!” I let out a scream as the images on the pyramid provided a close-up of the blood and gore. “While your fight is going on,” explained Kaito, “we’ll be having a little battle of our own. As soon as Lilia says, ‘Kill me,’ we’ll grant her wish, and you’ll be monster food.” “You monsteeeers!!” “Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! There you go, Leon! You almost sound like a person again! Decided to hop off your pedestal and come join us?” Kaito’s scornful voice echoed around the arena. “Did you really think Leticia and I were just going to leave Lilia alone? What a grade-A moron you are! No, I’m afraid your battle is going to be accompanied by a symphony of her screams! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!!” Laughing, laughing, laughing. Kaito went on laughing from the bottom of his heart. “Of course, just torturing her is no fun, so we’ve made sure Lilia is part of the game as well,” Kaito continued. “Each of us takes turns going to town on her for five minutes each. While that’s going on, Lilia has a magic stone filled with mana in her hand. All she has to do is drop it to activate this magical healing circle on the floor beneath her.” He tapped his foot, and the image on the pyramid changed to show me the circle engraved there. The blood falling onto it caused it to glow, and just as Kaito said, it seemed to be keeping Lilia alive. “Her blood also activates the circle, but only enough to stave off death—and certainly not enough to dull the pain. If Lilia uses the stone, however, we’ll stop torturing her for precisely two minutes. We’ll also give her a two-minute break between each person’s turn. And as a freebie, we’ll even stop during the time it takes for you to eat one of your extra lives. But each time she uses the stone, one of your lives will go bye-bye.” Twisted smiles of purest evil loomed over me like storm clouds. But it wasn’t only Kaito who saw fit to shower me with mockery. His allies, Mai and Yuuto, stood grinning behind him, while Nonorick’s smile seemed as innocent as a child’s. But only Leticia spoke next, her eyes and her laughter sharing the same darkness as Kaito’s. “So romantic, is it not?” she asked. “You and your lover, your fates intertwined. Sharing your lives in the most literal sense of the phrase! Or perhaps, it’s more appropriate to say that each of you is slowly killing the other! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!” They were monsters, every one. ““Now, let the games resume!”” “““Bluuuuuhhh!!””” The orcs, who had proved unnaturally courteous during Kaito’s explanation, began stampeding toward me once more. “Let me try some of your blood, Lilia… Mm, what a shame, this doesn’t taste like virgin blood…” “Ggghh!! Ggggrrrhhh…!” “Curses, curses, curses!” My stats and skills had dropped significantly, but my fighting techniques were ingrained in my memory. Plus, my foes were just ordinary orcs, not variant species or unique monsters. Normally, I wouldn’t even bother with monsters as weak as these, but with my current stats, such a large horde posed a significant problem. On top of that, something else was affecting my concentration… “Hmm? Hey, isn’t it time to switch yet?” “Hee-hee, I don’t think so! It’s still Nono’s fun time!” “Agh! Ggrh! Hgrh…!” “Mrmrmr! Kaito! Should we not do away with this bothersome taking turns nonsense after all?” “Sorry, you’ve got to wait. It’ll be more fun that way, I promise.” “Mix it up! Mix it up! Mix up all your guts! ” “Haah… haah… Hgrrrrg…!” Lilia’s inhuman suffering went on, merely part of some sick game to them. “…Grh! What the…?” I only glanced in her direction for an instant, but the horrifying sight caused me to freeze in terror. The villain who’d sliced open Lilia’s guts reached his arm inside her, causing her to scream out in agony. For some reason, it brought to mind a scene I’d seen once before, of the ghastly corpse of a child who had offended a fairy and met the same grisly fate. My hesitation led to an opening that one of the monsters did not fail to seize. “Grh! Guhhh!” “Bloooogggh…!” The orc’s club connected with my shoulder, throwing me off-balance. Hopelessly outnumbered, I could only stand there and take it as their clubs relentlessly bore down on me. Just when I was no longer able to tell whether the screams I heard were my own or those of my dear Lilia, the beating suddenly stopped. I looked up to see the orcs standing quietly over me, like trained hounds. “Brumuuugh…” “Brbrbr…” “Blaaah…” “Okay, that’s one life gone, I’m afraid. Use your restorative, and the game can continue. Refuse, and your deaths will be boring and swift. What’s it gonna be? Ready to throw in the towel?” Kaito sounded oddly excited as he spoke. Meanwhile, one of the chimeras stepped forward. Do I really have to eat this this…? The thought of it was ludicrous. According to Kaito, all I had to do was bite into the creature’s neck, and I would absorb it as mana. His explanation gave me no peace of mind whatsoever, but I no longer had time to question it. “Hrgh… Hrgh… Ugh…” I heard something crack up in the stands. The magic stone had slipped from Lilia’s powerless hand and shattered on the floor. “Aww, does that mean I have to switch out now?” Like dining knives in a piece of meat, countless white daggers had been stabbed into Lilia’s stomach, which had turned a painful shade of crimson. When she dropped the stone, the magic circle activated, healing her wounds and causing the knives to slide out of her and clatter to the floor. But while the damage to her body had been reversed, the toll on her mind remained. “That means we take away one of Leon’s restoratives. Leticia, would you do the honors?” “Gladly.” One of the chimeras, barrier and all, floated away from my stockpile and into an empty spectator seat. “I’m sorry…Leon… I’ll hold on…tighter…next time…” “L-Lilia…” It was clear to me now. There was no use hesitating. I had made up my mind long ago. I would do whatever needed to be done and pay whatever price. “Damned if I do, and damned if I don’t. The only way out is to keep fighting on.” I had sacrificed much to come this far. I couldn’t give up now. I had to press forward, no matter what that necessitated. I crawled on my belly toward the chimera and clamped my jaws around its leg. “Hrh? Gaaaaaaaghhh?!” In an instant, I swelled with power. It coursed through my body, revitalizing my battered flesh like rainfall on the parched land. But at the same time, it felt like every cell in my body was being torn apart and put back together in an endless cycle. “Heh-heh-heh. Painful, isn’t it?” “Y-you… What have you…? Graaaah!!” The pain was so acute that I lost my bearings. My world spun. I could feel only agony. It was so intense that it obliterated my newfound strength, along with the solace of relief. All I could think was that I had been deceived. “I told you, didn’t I? These creatures aren’t just your restoratives and your power-ups—they’re your penalties. You didn’t think I’d pass up the opportunity to cause you even more suffering, did you?” “I…see,” I panted, as the pain finally subsided. “You truly are the lowest of the low.” “Oh, don’t worry, I know,” replied Kaito. “I couldn’t just rot away in some sad, forgotten corner of the world; to live, I needed to become a monster, like you.” “Haah… Haah… Haah…” Now that I could think straight again, I realized that some of my lost power had returned. Not all of it, unfortunately, but it seemed that each of these creatures contained no small amount of it. “All right, that’s two minutes, on the dot. Time to retry the level.” I saw Kaito’s face in the pyramid. At his announcement, the orcs resumed their attack. “““Bluuuuuuhhh!!””” “Stand aside!” “Bugh?!” I slammed my fist into the first one’s face. That punch already felt more solid than any that had come before it. “You’ll need to do more than this to stop me… To stop us!!” The longer I took, the greater the strain Lilia would endure. To save her, I needed to bring this farce to a close as quickly as possible. And if only one of those creatures contains this much power… Perhaps it wasn’t time to give up hope just yet. “How’s that? Hurts, doesn’t it? Come on, tell me how much it hurts.” “Hrggrrrrrrrhhh!!” Aah, it feels so good to unleash the burning vengeance I was forced to keep hidden this whole time. I can feel myself getting better already. “Next, we shall try tearing off your feet. Did you know? My big brother also had his feet bitten off by that overgrown lizard, after you sent Ardelius to kill him.” When I first came across my brother’s body, I found the evil dragon nibbling on his leg. The power of the arcstone still lingered, and the dragon was feeding on this. That had led me to believe that overgrown lizard had been the one to kill him, but my investigations alongside Lilia revealed that it was actually Ardelius who dealt the killing blow. I had always thought those two were the only objects of my revenge. It was only after Kaito left that I realized I had been misled. Leon and Lilia stole the arcstone, and the roots consumed me. I’d died at the hands of the woman who was behind everything, and Kaito could do nothing to save me. For so long have I awaited this moment. “He was a good man, my brother. Terribly unfit to be the demon lord. He liked reading, was a picky eater, was good with children, and hated war. He was like a warm ray of sunshine.” “Grgh!! Uuurghhh!!” After the world was at rest, my consciousness was taken from Kaito by Guren and brought back to me. As a result, I started to reconsider what Lilia had been saying. It was clear she had been feeding me incomplete information from the very beginning, and as I filled in the blanks, I came to learn that not only had Lilia been the one to kill my brother, but she had also masterminded the whole thing. “Brother knew and accepted you were going to kill him. Did you know that? Yes, he must have known, or else he wouldn’t have gifted me this knife.” On the day of his murder, Brother had summoned Lilia to speak with her privately, one-on-one. I produced a softly glowing dagger. It was the focus for a ritual to transfer the arcstone before its incubation was complete. Supposedly, the hero had made peace with the demon lord of two generations ago, our grandfather, and gifted our family this knife before returning home. However, because time was short, the ritual was rushed, and the knife lost its power as a result. Now, it only served as a memento of my brother. “Big Brother knew you would try to take the arcstone, but he also knew there was far more power in it than you could manage. You couldn’t possibly absorb it all, so the excess would spiral out of control. That’s why he gave it to me.” “Grhhhhh!! Aaaaaahhh!!” The knife was nothing but a relic now, but it was more than sharp enough to pierce Lilia’s eyes. Eyes that could see magic. They made a watery squelch as I plunged the blade into them. “Why?!” I screamed. “Why did you kill him?! Why did my brother have to die?! It doesn’t make sense!!” “Haah… Hgh… Hgh… Gh…” Before she could even catch her breath, I unleashed my uncontainable fury and slashed at her free arm with my knife. “Haah… Haah… Haah… And then, after slaying him, you betrayed me, killed me, and then killed Kaito for good measure, using the very power you stole from me.” I could no longer control my lungs. My fingers tightened around the knife in my hand. “Aah, ignorance truly is bliss, is it not? Were I not cursed with this knowledge, I could go on living in peace and happiness…right up until the moment I outlived my usefulness to you.” “Grh… Agh…” When I pulled out the knife, so much blood had pooled in the wound that some of it spurted out and stained my cheek. “But there’s no point in wishing for a life like that now. Because I want to live. I want him to live, too. So I can’t forget what I know. I have tasted loss. Tasted death. And I cannot go back to that pain I know so well.” Perhaps Kaito wouldn’t have died if I had caught on to Lilia’s deception the first time. I could have spared him the pain of his own betrayals. “I care not for the good of the world. I care not for the fate of the gods. You killed me, Lilia. You violated my trust. My dear brother and my darling Kaito both died at your hand. That’s the only thing that matters to me now.” I flicked the blood off the knife and sheathed it, then caused my palm to glow with flame. “You will pay. You will pay. You will pay. You will pay. You will pay. You will pay. You will pay. You will pay. You will pay. You will pay. You will pay. You will pay. You will pay. You will pay.” “Mgyaaaaaaaaaaaghhh!!” Placing my hand to her skin, I seared the flesh of her face. “How does it feel, Lilia? For the one who came running in your time of need to turn on you? To know that someone you trusted was never on your side in the first place? Seeing the one you love most suffering, and knowing there’s nothing you can do to stop it?” The scent of roasting flesh and scorched hair filled my nostrils. I tightened my grip on her face. “It…it hurds…helb…” So strangled was her voice that it sounded as if she were drowning. Once more, the stone in her hand slipped from her weakened grasp and cracked on the ground. “Phhah! Ahh…” Lilia let out a gasp of relief paired with regret as the power of my magic circle washed over her, swiftly regenerating her burned face, her stab wounds, and even her punctured eyes. Now I was to leave her in peace for two minutes, though even that solace was merely temporary and woefully insufficient for Lilia to recover fully. This truly is a well-designed game. These two minutes imbue her with a reason to go on. It was just enough time for her to watch Leon, reminding her of her purpose and ensuring the torture would not break her so easily. So long as he was down there, fighting in the very arena that I constructed, Lilia would find the strength to go on. I couldn’t help but smile at seeing her exhausted state. This was my second turn torturing her, and since I had caused her to drop the stone, it would become my turn again soon enough. The fun would go on until Lilia could endure all five of us back-to-back. Sooner or later, one of them will reach the end. And when that happened… “Leon… I’m sorry…” Yes, suffer. Suffer, suffer, suffer. Glimpse the light at the end of the tunnel, and then… “Heh-heh-heh. I hope you’re not ready to give up yet, dear sister. We’ve only just begun.” How much time had passed? I didn’t know. How many times had I dropped the stone? I couldn’t remember. Three whole rounds had passed before I finally held out for five minutes against a single person. One down, only four more to go. “Haah… Haah… Haah…” “I know I don’t have any personal beef with you,” the young man standing before me said, “but don’t think that means I can let you off easy.” “Ugh…” The second. This was still only the second. “I wonder if you could comprehend my pain. The agony of watching your loved one disappear before your very eyes. Watching them scream for your help, even though there’s nothing you can do. It’s a bit like what you’re going through now, isn’t it? So how does it feel?” Being a vampire, Nonorick delighted in shedding my blood. By his third turn, I was so used to the pain that I was able to keep the stone firmly in my grasp until the time was up, even though he fileted my arms and legs like a fish. “…” “Don’t feel like talking, huh?” The boy who stood before me now had the appearance of a mild-mannered youth, but he was no less sick-minded than the rest of them. “I…did nothing to you…” “True. But nonetheless…” “Rgh!! Agh… Gh…” After tearing my sleeve open, he transformed his arm into frozen slime and pressed it against the bare skin of my arm. The chill seemed to sap away what little vitality I possessed, spreading across my limb and crawling up my shoulder to my face. “You betrayed Kaito, my best friend, and Leticia, his girlfriend. Why would I ever show mercy to you?” With a cold smile on his lips, he threw back his arm, ripping the skin from my flesh. “Rghhhhhhh!!” My arm seared with such excruciating agony that I wanted to end it all. But far more lay in store for me yet. “Agh… Ugh…” “That’s enough, Mai. It’s my turn next.” “Haah… Haah… Really, dear brother? I’m out of time already?” Three. I finally made it past three. After experiencing everyone’s torture twice, I gradually started becoming accustomed to the pain, gaining the ability to endure it enough to avoid dropping the stone. I wasn’t sure whether to be glad that I’d passed the halfway point or to despair that there was almost half left to go. I couldn’t even recall what I’d been through or estimate how much longer I could hold out. Even with my body healed, my scars screamed. But despite the agony coursing through my veins, the stone remained firmly in my grasp. “I’ve gotta say, I’m impressed. I really didn’t think you’d last this long.” According to the rules I had been told in the beginning, each person would torture me for a maximum of five minutes. I was to endure every session without dropping the magic stone in my hand. If I failed, the count was reset. Each time I survived a round of torture, I was given a two-minute healing break. That was a poisoned chalice, for it cleansed my nerves and reset my sensitivity to pain. And the worst part was… “Geh-heh-heh-heh!” “Gee-hee-hee-hee!” “Gah-hah-hah-hah!” “Grh… Gah… Guhhh!!!” Leon… Through it all, I was forced to behold the suffering of my beloved. A one-man war against cruel and overwhelming odds. At this moment, he was facing off against an Ogre King and its many minions. Needless to say, he was hopelessly outnumbered. Even with his training, it was not enough. My tormentors forced me to watch until Leon was beaten senseless and unmoving, then tossed into the Fairy Spring like a forgotten rag. “Oh dear, Leon. That makes twenty deaths, on the nose. Lilia’s only used her stone eight times. What are you doing?” “Gh… Hah… Hah…” Leon crawled toward one of the repulsive creatures our captors had created. Fighting back his disgust, he sank his teeth into its flesh and immediately let out a bloodcurdling yell. “Gaaaaaaaghhh!!” With my eyes restored, I could see the worldforce pushing its way into Leon, tearing him apart from the inside out. It was true that this energy made him stronger, but at the same time, the process of his body breaking down and regenerating caused him excruciating pain. We’re almost there, Leon. Don’t give up. You cannot give up. According to the counter above the arena, there were already fewer than five hundred monsters remaining. I had no doubt that Leon would eventually defeat every last one, so all I needed to do was to hold out until then. Two more. Just two more. The pain meant little to me by now. Only the hero and Leticia were left. “All right, break time’s over. Now it’s my turn.” But he was no hero, just a monster. He turned from appreciating the sound of Leon’s screams and cast me a smile. “Hurry up and get it over with…” I gripped the stone tightly in my hand. I wasn’t going to lose. Leon and I would overcome this together. And even if I died and Leon lived on, he would carry on my will, our mission. “Oh? I see you’re actually able to talk now instead of just screaming. Does that mean you’re getting used to the pain?” “Nothing you can dish out affects me anymore. I will never break—! Urgh!!” He grabbed my hair and pulled up my head. His lips were parted in a horrific grin. “That’s where you’re wrong, I’m afraid,” he sneered. “You haven’t gotten used to the pain in the slightest. You’ve only learned how to deal with it. Lying to ourselves already, are we? How sad.” “Grh… Urgh…” He jerked my head back and forth, tearing at my roots. Then he suddenly stopped. “All of you are scum,” he said. “Dirty, rotten bastards. Villains of the highest order. But unlike the others, you seem to actually have a heart that feels guilt. I want to ask you something.” He stared deep into my eyes, as though looking right through me. “Leticia told me why you did it. You needed to eliminate our roles to stop this world from bleeding dry, was that it? I guess it’s as noble a cause as any. So tell me, did you pity us? Did you feel sorry for us, forced to bet our life together on a miracle? Did you sympathize with us? Weep for us? Yet still saw fit to kick us while we were down?” I thought back to how things had gone the first time. “It’s true,” I said. “What we did was cruel—there’s no arguing that. But we had no choice. We were fighting to save the world. You understand that, too, don’t you, Hero? We were all fighting for the same thing.” “Hmm, I see. Yeah, I figured.” It seemed my words resonated with him, so I went on. “Even Leticia. She may have lived for revenge, but she loved this world. She wanted to separate the human and demon realms, so that war could never again bring tragedy to—” “Shut the fuck up!” “Agh!!” “Don’t pretend our love was the same as yours!” He tugged my hair again. “It’s…true…,” I choked out. “Our paths…may have differed… May have run…counter to each other… But all we both wanted…was to save the world…” “No, you’re wrong! The world you’re talking about is something far, far away! That wasn’t what we wanted to save!!” “Agh!!” All of a sudden, he released my hair and clasped his fingers around my throat instead. “The world we wanted… The world we fought for was something very close and dear to us! It contained our friends, our family—everything that made us happy. It isn’t anything like what you’re talking about!!” “Ghh… Agh…!” “Listen to me very carefully, because I told Leon this as well: There’s only one thing that’s real, and it’s everything you two turned your backs on. You cut us off, shunned us, betrayed us!!” “Pah!!” Just as I thought he was going to snap my neck, the pressure of his fingers eased, and he withdrew his hand. “You killed us. And for what? A world you know nothing about.” His voice had become weak, tragic. As though I were the torturer and he the victim. However, I didn’t have time to dwell on it, for the next moment, I was racked with a burning pain. “Aaaaaaaaaggghhhhhhhhhh!!” The next thing I knew, my wings and tail had been shredded. My torturers had severed them multiple times by now, but in this instance, they were torn into thin strands, hanging limply from me like hair. “Oh, why am I even telling you this? I know there’s no point. What a waste of precious time.” His moment of weakness receded into distant memory. Where once stood a man, there was now only a demon. “The game continues,” it said. “Let’s see you scream, howl, weep and wail, sinking into a swamp of despair all the while.” I reaffirmed my grip on the magic stone. I was determined not to drop it, lest my oath to safeguard this world’s future be in vain. After what seemed like an eternity, the end of my prolonged torment came into view. The excruciating torture extinguished my memories, my thoughts and feelings, and just as I started to forget who I was or what I was even doing here, I realized that I’d managed to reach the last of my five captors. The fact that I’d managed to keep my grip on the magic stone was nothing short of a miracle. If I could hold out for just five more minutes, it would all be over. “So, this duty falls to me, does it? I must say, Lilia, I’m starting to get a tad emotional. I never imagined vengeance would feel so satisfying. It’s all thanks to Kaito and the others that we came up with so many wonderful ideas.” “Leticia…” I’d survived the hero’s torture, my wounds had been refreshed, and now I faced my final challenge. Leticia, the demon lord. I would be subjected to the most agonizing pain the queen of demonkind could command. “Five minutes,” she said. “I shall take the time to mutilate each part of you in painstaking detail. Let us start with those demonic wings upon your back.” “Grh! Gaaaaaaghhh!!” A light appeared in her hand—the glow of purification. It was a demon’s worst nightmare, as light was the most effective of the attributes against our kind. No ordinary demon could command that power, which burned my wings not with heat but with an indescribable cleansing pain. “For one minute, I shall carefully deconstruct those wings of yours.” Agony. Unbridled, unfiltered agony. It hurt so much, I felt I was losing my sanity. And after that hellish minute passed, my wings dissolved away from the base. “Next, your arm. We don’t want you to drop the stone just yet, so I’ll make do with just your left.” With her sharp nails, cloaked in a violet aura, she made a small scratch on my left hand. “Hgh… Gh… Ah… Ah… Ah…” The poison entered my body, searing its way up my arm. As it advanced, my fingers turned purple, and my flesh began to rot. After another agonizing minute, my entire left arm decayed away into nothing. “Now for your tail.” Leticia waggled her finger, and a hole appeared in midair, through which countless small insects emerged. The swarm of bugs bit into my tail, tearing it to pieces. “Grh…! Gggh! Stop…! Please stop…!” After another minute, my tail disappeared from the base up. “Next, your right leg.” The next moment, a sour-smelling liquid engulfed my limb. “Rgh… Rgh… Ugh…” The acid slowly melted my leg away. One minute later, and it was completely gone. “And finally, your left.” Two stone columns appeared out of thin air. They slammed together, trapping my leg between them and shattering the bone. “Grh…! Agh… Ggh…” The pillars slowly rotated, grinding my leg to dust. When another minute had finally passed, the stone pillars tore off the limp flesh completely. “Yes, yes. That’s exactly what my brother looked like after you manipulated Ardelius to kill him, tore out his heart, and left his corpse for the evil dragon. The only difference is that you are still alive. Well, and that you are a tad larger than him.” By this point, I had lost everything except the arm that still gripped the magic stone. “…Agh…… Ugh…” My withered throat could not even muster up a scream, yet still I did not drop it. “Well done, dear sister. I truly mean that. I’m deeply proud of you. You have passed our test and satisfied the conditions. You know what you must do now, do you not?” “Gh… Cough! Cough!” Leticia smiled a sweet and charming smile, just like old times, and placed a hand imbued with healing power to my throat. “I am not a monster. I shall allow you to talk, right here at the end.” When she said those words, it finally felt real. I had passed her torture and survived her vengeance. “Leon…” “Lion’s Warblow!” From down in the colosseum, I heard his voice. He had been battling dragons of each element, and now only the fire one remained. The scoreboard indicated only thirty-eight monsters were left, while from what I could tell, there remained around ten of the creatures called “Fairy-Eaters” that restored his health. “Gruuuugh!!” At last, the final dragon fell to Leon’s fists. By now, he seemed to have recovered much of his lost strength. He still stood at perhaps 70 percent of his full power, but it was such a relief to see him in good health again. “Haah… Haah… Haah… Bring out the next one!” Leon appeared weary and only half-aware of his surroundings. But that was fine, as I didn’t want this humiliating state to be how he remembered me. “Do you remember our promise, Leon?” “Haah… Haah… Haah… What is it? Bring out the next foe so I can end this!” Alas, Leon could not hear me. How saddening. “I leave the world in your hands, my love. You must protect their future…” Still, I could not help myself from spilling out my heart. “Now,” I said. “I have survived your trials. I have weathered your vengeance.” Our task may have elicited only scornful laughter from those who heard it, but we considered it our life’s mission. “Uphold our promise!” I screamed. “Kill me, and free Leon from this place!” I demanded the execution of our pact. Our captors had told me that if I survived five rounds of consecutive torture without dropping the magic stone, then I could offer up my life to save Leon. Leticia had sworn a magical oath, so I knew it was no lie. But Leon looked aghast. “W…wait. What? That’s not what you told me! What is the meaning of this?!” “Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Oh, did I not mention? We gave you both the same offer! It all came down to who completed their trial first!” The hero chuckled with glee. “N-no… That can’t be… You’re lying! I only have fifty-four left to go! You can’t just end it! Wait! Waaaaait!!” Leon dashed over to the barrier and began pounding his fists against it. It was strange. Leon was always so stoic, and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen him so distraught. He would be sad after I was gone. Of course he would. But I had faith. Faith that he would find the strength to carry on. Even if I died here, Leon could live. And so long as he was alive… “It’s okay, Leon. You will carry on our task without me…” “Hmm? I wouldn’t be so sure about that, dear sister.” A chill suffused me, like pouring ice into my blood through a stab wound. It froze my mind to the core. “Y-you mean you aren’t going to uphold our deal?!” Leticia came up and hugged me gently from behind. She whispered into my ear, so softly that only I could hear her, in a horrifying voice that made it feel as though hundreds of insects were crawling down my spine. “No, no, of course not. I went to all that trouble to prove my oath with magic, did I not?” “Then…what do you mean?” “Heh-heh-heh. Tell me, Sister. What do you think is really healing your precious Leon? Restoration magic works because of the mana contained within the spell. Healing potions work by accelerating the body’s natural recovery rate. So how do you think Leon is able to recover and grow more powerful by eating monsters?” “I…I suppose he’s taking their life-force into himself? I’m afraid I don’t see the—” “Correct. You can work out the rest on your own, can you not? He’s taking their power into himself. Replacing his own body with that of the fairies.” “…” I didn’t understand. I just didn’t understand. The gears in my head turned, but no answer was forthcoming, leaving me with only a terrible feeling about what was to come. “Still hasn’t clicked yet? Silly sister. Then let me explain it to you, slowly. After we kill you, I will dispel the barrier, as agreed. Without anything to block it, all the ley-line energy—the very same energy that the Fairy Tree was previously using to produce fairies—will flow into Leon. And just like a fairy, Leon’s body is mostly made up of mana.” “…Ah.” At last, the gears clicked smoothly into place. Without the Fairy Tree, the ley-line energy would steadily build up. Right now, it would be pooling outside the barrier, in far greater concentrations than a single body could contain. Leon’s corporeal form was almost nonexistent at this point, consisting almost entirely of mana. If he were exposed to the ley-line energy, he would be unable to resist absorbing it into himself. And then… “He’ll grow bigger and bigger, and finally…” “…Pop.” “Rgggggghhhh!!” “Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!! And that’s not all! Remember how I said Leon has taken those monsters’ mana into himself? Well, those monsters are called ‘Fairy-Eaters’ for a reason, you know! They possess a skill called ‘Cannibalism.’ Do you know what that does? It activates automatically when the bearer is near death and a valid target is nearby. Even if the stream of ley-line energy knocks Leon unconscious, he will be able to go on devouring the Fairy-Eaters and increasing his capacity to hold mana.” With that, Leticia got up, walked around in front of me, and began gathering mana in her hands. First, she would kill me. Then, without her lifting so much as a finger, Leon would die, too. “Aaaaaaaah!! Pleeease! Please, don’t! Please! Stop! Don’t kill me! Please, please, please don’t kill meeee!!” “Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!! It was all for nothing! All that time you spent desperately holding out like a complete and utter moron!! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!” “No, no, please! I’m begging you, Leticia, don’t do it! I was wrong! I’m sorry! Just please don’t kill me!” “Sorry! Have you forgotten what I said already? You are going to die. And it will be me who kills you. No matter what, I shall be the one to end your life with my own hands! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!!” Leticia’s mad voice bounced off the walls of my mind as everything flickered black and white. I felt my consciousness fading, and everything blurred, except for the image of Leon frantically striking his fist against the barrier. “Stop it! I demand you stop this insanity, Hero! This is not what you promised! You promised if I endured your gauntlet, I could offer my life to let Lilia go free! I was so close!”
Chapter 109
31 min read