Chapter 143

It belonged to a massive executioner’s ax. Lewis then struck with it so quickly and brutally it would have been challenging even to block. And that was when it happened. Lewis’s neck split open. “Ah… Gack…” Unable to even scream, Lewis let out an agonized gasp. It took everything he had just to stay upright. Vlad looked down at him with an icy glare. He dismissed the steel wire he was holding and shook his head. “You talked a good game about being a practiced assassin, but at the end of the day, you’re nothing but a rank amateur. All it takes to down a man is a tiny cut to a single artery, so what do you need a weapon that large for? Come now, don’t get caught dancing to my tune over some dramatic flair and a little monologue or two.” “Father!” “Stay back, Alice!” Alice cried out and made to rush over, but Lewis quickly stopped her. He staggered back a bit and summoned a swarm of azure petals and black miasma to converge on his wound. Realizing how difficult it would be to efficiently heal it, he elected instead just to cauterize it. After forcibly stopping the bleeding, he spoke. “I’m…fine. There’s no need for you…to be concerned. The blow was…a far cry…from fatal.” “Well, that’s certainly true enough. It was never meant to kill you, after all. My son and my daughter both had rebellious streaks, and they never listened to what I had to say. Why deprive myself of the perfect audience?” “And one…other thing…” “Oh?” Vlad obediently cupped his ear, and Lewis raised his head. His mask and skin were both stained with his blood, and the visible half of his face was violently grimacing. Now his eye burned with clear, unbridled malice. Vlad observed the change with great pleasure. Lewis let out a triumphant laugh in reply. “It’s over.” “What is?” And with that, the right half of Vlad’s grinning face vanished into nothing. What had just happened? Vlad blinked his one remaining eye in puzzlement. The next moment, though, his body crumpled to the ground, toppling unceremoniously forward like a marionette with its strings cut. Alice looked down at his unseemly state. When she spoke, her voice was cold. “I didn’t move, you know. Just like Father told me.” Sure enough, she was telling the truth. She had her hands clasped behind her back like a good little girl. No, the change had taken place in the courtyard itself. An attack whose pitch lay beyond audible perception had burned the temple half to the ground. Its courtyard, a precious patch of green amid the vast arid desert, was gone. Searing temperatures had burned away the ground and transfigured it into some sort of smooth material. Vlad scrunched his face up a little. Not even he grasped the reason behind the change. Seriously, what had just happened? Alice, who had seen the whole thing, glared at him. Her white rabbit ribbons bobbed from side to side, yet it was the Red Queen she resembled most as she gazed down at the broken man. Taking mercy on him, she deigned to answer his unspoken question. “But despair did.” Her voice rang with ridicule as though mocking him for expecting anything more of the world. Off in the distance, a new roar rose up. Countless voices screamed, yet they were all one and the same. Die. Die. Die. The time has come. I have found you with my eyes. The heavens and earth shall be moved, and thou shalt come to judge the world by fire. This day, day of wrath calamity and misery day of great and exceeding bitterness. This day our master is resurrected. “…The Sand Queen.” Vlad didn’t look at the figure shifting in the flames, but he reached his conclusion all the same. The one being who could stand on equal footing with the Three Kings was on the move. To be more precise, she hadn’t actually been resurrected. Her corpse was simply moving. However, there was no shortage of legends about the Sand Queen going to battle, and now even her skin had become crystallized. No blade or magic could pierce it. Lifeless as she was, she posed just as much of a threat as she had when she was alive. As he listened to the excited hubbub coming from outside, Vlad let out a low laugh. “Heh… I see… So you weren’t tricking the demi-humans after all.” “That’s right. They, too, had a victory they sought. With the help of our magical resources and expertise, the demi-humans came to a realization—that there was a massive store of mana preserved within the Sand Queen’s body. From there, all they had to do was apply the same method to it one did when animating a stone golem. They awakened the reactor and turned her perfectly preserved corpse into a weapon.” Lewis gave his answer matter-of-factly. To the demi-humans, the Sand Queen was no doubt their final trump card, one they had wanted to avoid playing unless absolutely necessary. In all likelihood, having the teleportation circle on her tongue analyzed was probably the trigger that activated her. Then, once the demi-humans learned of the Three Kings’ march, they must have sent her to the settlement in much the same way the beastfolk sent the Three Kings. From the sound of it, her appearance had caught the Three Kings off guard, and they had suffered injuries. That fact was evidenced by the sounds of beastfolk shrieking and screaming. However, before their wails had a chance to turn to angry shouts, the grief-stricken voices went silent one after another. They must have been burned away or perhaps simply crushed. Vlad glanced around, his eyeball practically hanging out of its socket. The world was burning red and crimson and scarlet. Everything was dying. It was ironic really. Out of rage, the beastfolk had spurred the Three Kings of the Forest into action, and to oppose them, the demi-humans had summoned the Sand Queen. One act of revenge was being piled atop another. Everyone was screaming that their enemies were the sinful ones. Vlad let out a small chuckle. All anyone wanted was a reason to seek revenge. They needed to scream from the rooftops that justice was on their side. Because if they didn’t, all that would await them would be their own broken souls. All this, everything that was happening, was simply a means to that end. “See, this is why I can’t stand ordinary people. They’re such headaches.” As the words dribbled from Vlad’s mouth, he shut his one remaining eyelid, as though unable to bear the weight of his exhaustion. An executioner’s sword fell out of the air into Lewis’s hand. Much like Elisabeth’s, it was a weapon designed for beheadings. One final act of compassion. With the merciful blade in hand, Lewis approached his fool of an opponent. “It’s over, Vlad Le Fanu. You were a wicked man, vulgar through and through. But I do respect that love of yours, egotistical as it was… You were right—it’s a father’s duty to protect his children.” “So…it is… But, you know…you’re the last…person…I want telling…me that…” Vlad curled his nearly shredded lips into a smile. He opened his eye once more, casting a gaze Lewis’s way that seemed to be laying some secret of his bare. Lewis offered him silence in return. He raised the executioner’s sword aloft. This would mark the farce’s end. Vlad vomited an ugly mess of blood, flesh, and teeth. As an organ-laden mass fell out the side of his throat, he let out a faint murmur. “Ah…it’s over… It’s over…isn’t it?” “It is. It’s over. Now, go to your rest.” “It is, O He Who Rears Hell Within His Mind. And be thankful for that. I was just getting bored of watching the performance. “Geh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh, fu-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh, geh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh.” The laugh that boomed out sounded almost human. Lewis, caught off guard, stared in blank shock. For there was something he had never realized. There wasn’t a person alive who truly understood Vlad Le Fanu. Few and far between were the people who would even think of sympathizing with a villain such as he. And there was no way that a man like that would ever see his promise through to the end. Then, with an absurd spurting noise a certain chest clad in a black, doctorly outfit got torn apart like tissue paper. “See, this is why I called you an amateur. What possessed you to think I would keep my word?” It defied explanation, but Vlad’s voice rang with a brazen pride. As the words left his mouth, Alice let out a stupefied cry. “…Huh? Hmm? What?! …F-Father? Father… Father, Father!” She screamed and ran over to Lewis. Utterly indifferent to the state her foe was in, she reached out her young arms as far as they would go. Thanks to her efforts, she was able to catch Lewis’s body right before it toppled over. She propped him up, trying desperately to keep his guts from spilling out. “Oh, thank goodness—I made it in time. Please, Father, you have to pull yourself…together…” Suddenly, something toppled to the ground between them. It was small. Something she’d never seen before. It was a small lump of flesh that resembled a small ashen sack— —and it was in the exact same shape as a heart. “…F-Father? No… No, no, this can’t be happening. This isn’t happening, is it?” The words spilled from Alice’s mouth as a shocked whisper. Lewis tried to answer her, but all he got for his trouble was a mouthful of blood. He was still alive, but his wounds were far too serious to be healed. He didn’t have much time. Vlad gazed over at them and let out a cruel laugh. Beside him, the supreme hound slapped the ground with his tail. “Now then, O contractor of mine, what to do? I could seize the opportunity to flee with you in my mouth, but not only would your brains fall out, your self-destruct device is going to go off. I feel we’re out of options. I imagine you’d taste vile, but nonetheless, how would you feel about me eating you?” “No, better not. Didn’t you get tired of eating human flesh? And besides, I have a favor to ask of you.” Vlad’s voice rang with an unusual degree of sincerity. The Kaiser turned his snout up with unconcealed disgust. Hellfire burned in the black dog’s eyes as he let out a low groan. “Your tone sickens me, O He Who Rears Hell Within His Mind. Yet at the same time, I’m curious as to what sort of legacy you aim to leave. Speak your piece.” “I need you to give my dear daughter a message—‘I really did love you from the bottom of my heart.’” “Is that truly the sort of thing a villain ought to be saying?” The Kaiser sounded utterly exasperated. Meanwhile, Alice sat as motionless as if her soul had left her body. The man and the dog, on the other hand, were sharing a conversation like they didn’t have a care in the world. Vlad spat out a chunk of his tongue, then explained himself with great amusement. “Oh, but that’th prethithely why… Hmm, my words aren’t coming out quite right. I said, that’s precisely why! This way, I can leave her with a wound that’ll never heal. And the best part is it’s completely true! Because at the end of the day, isn’t wanting to be remembered the most human desire there is?” “Oh, please. Don’t go talking yourself up now. Besides, I’m sure she is already well aware.” The Kaiser snorted. Vlad gave his one remaining hand a little wave to no one in particular, and the blue ring on his middle finger gleamed. The black dog shook his tail from side to side as though to mock Vlad’s foolishness. However, he then cocked his head. “Wait a minute. You’re my contractor. If you die, won’t I vanish with you?” “Ha-ha… I guess that is a problem… Hey now, don’t go biting me!” “How dare you. HOW DARE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUU!” Suddenly, a scream split the air. Still holding Lewis, Alice was looking Vlad’s way. The rage and bloodlust burning in her eyes were so intense they seemed liable to spill out from within. They almost resembled the supreme hound’s hellfire. Vlad replied by flashing a smile. Alice raised her arm aloft. This time, the farce was truly, truly over. And oh, what a long, flippant, cruel, delightfully bothersome performance it had been. Then Vlad’s eye shifted…and he let out a peaceful murmur. “Oh… It’s you.” A single, incomprehensible tear fell. Then a cloud of azure petals and black darkness swallowed even that up as Vlad Le Fanu made his final exit from the world.