“You’re selfish,” he spat. “All you ever think about is yourself. The reason you wanted to kill me wasn’t atonement; it was masturbation. You never cared about saving me or any of that shit.”
A sword appeared in Rheinhardt’s hand. But he wasn’t going to bring it down yet. First came the sword of words.
“I’m ashamed I ever thought of you as my brother.”
Leon could no longer move a muscle. He didn’t deserve to be a savior, nor to be forgiven. Not ever since he let the two of them die that day. There was only one thing he could do for Rheinhardt, and that was to hope his own death brought some small measure of satisfaction to his friend’s furious heart.
“Now then, partner.”
Leon closed his eyes. He was fully at peace with whatever happened next. He heard the sound of parting air as Rheinhardt’s sword began to swing. Not long now…
“You really are a handful, new kid.”
“I don’t mind children who take a bit more work. It’s cuter that way.”
At the moment of his impending death, Leon saw his life flash before his eyes. So this was what that was like. Right up until the end, God was intent on tormenting him.
“I’m only gonna say this once, partner… Thanks.”
“Tee-hee. Isn’t that cute? When’s the last time we saw Rheina smile like that, I wonder?”
It was happy. They were happy. Happy times, happy memories.
And Leon destroyed them. He turned those happy memories into painful ones.
At least by dying, he thought he could consign all that pain to nothingness. But God wasn’t willing to let Leon off the hook that easily.
“Who cares what other people think of you?”
“Rheina’s right, Leon. You’re not just a ghoul anymore. You’re family.”
Stop it.
Please, stop it.
Just…
Just kill me alread—
“T…e…r.”
…A voice.
Someone’s voice, ringing in his mind.
At first, it was so quiet, he could barely make out the words. But it grew and grew until it blotted out Leon’s reminiscing completely, eliminating his longing for death.
For that voice was none other than…
“Master!”
Alice. Alice Campbell.
Her voice. Her smile. Memories he thought he had thrown away, rewriting his past before his very eyes.
“I came because I…”
“I don’t care about your life story.”
At first, she had just been trouble. Someone to be rid of as soon as possible. But then…
“…You’ll get blood on you.”
“I don’t mind.”
There wasn’t anybody else like her. She was a ray of light in the darkness. A light Leon could do without, he thought. As far as he was concerned, the two needed to stay far away from each other, but he never asked how she felt about it.
“Don’t just throw me away!”
In some ways, she was his sin made manifest. To her, Leon was both the man who saved her life and the man who killed her mother. Perhaps it would have been better if Leon had died alongside his target that day.
But then Alice came into his life, and with her, a new way for Leon to atone: to do what her mother no longer could and make the girl happy. Leon devoted himself to that excuse.
His life had never been more peaceful than the days after he accepted his own weakness. For the first time in so long…
…Yes. I see. That’s why I…
Once he realized it, he heard the voices again.
“L-Leon is not a monster!”
“I won’t leave you. Ever.”
“I was nothing but a burden once again, wasn’t I, Master?”
“I…I want…to fix you, Leon.”
All he could think about was her.
“I…want to live.”
At last, this foolish ghoul realized the truth. The real reason he had failed to blow himself up moments ago.
He hadn’t thrown it all away. He couldn’t.
Alice. His affection for her. His fixation. His love.
He couldn’t save his fellow apprentice because he still had hope. And its name was Alice Campbell.
“I don’t want to die. I don’t. I want to live.”
Leon begged. Begged for his life. It wasn’t shameful or disgusting. It was proof she was important to him. With his family’s death, Leon felt as though he had woken from a dream he could never regain, but he was wrong. He had entered another one without even realizing it. A dream called Alice.
“I still want to live!”
He wanted to live with her. Watch what she became. Watch what she did.
He wanted to see her smile.
Leon didn’t care if he didn’t deserve it. To him, Alice was… She was…
“Nice, partner, very nice.”
Rheinhardt’s voice was dripping with glee.
“I didn’t want to kill you, you know… Not like that, at least.”
His smirk twisted into a revolting grin.
“I always wanted you to beg for your life. Thanks for making it come true!”
The blade loomed. His death loomed. Leon had no means to defy it.
But just then…
“MAAAAASTEEEEEEEEEER!”
A shout.
That voice…was no delusion. It was hers.
“…Alice.”
As he answered, a cutting sound reached his ears. Its source: a swiftly flying arrow, white as snow. It screamed through the air, piercing Rheinhardt’s sword arm and flinging the weapon aside at the very last second.
“…Hey. What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” muttered Rheinhardt with unconcealed rage. But the source of his anger was not Leon’s stay of execution. Leon followed the angel’s gaze, and there he saw it.
A small figure was hurtling this way, whom Leon could only assume was Alice. The reason for his uncertainty was that she was clad from head to toe in crimson armor.
Leon recognized it at once. It was the very same plate that his own master once wore. After Claire’s death, Leon gave it to Emilia, claiming he had no right to use it.
“You scum! That’s hers!”
Closer, closer, closer. Alice sprinted toward Rheinhardt, changing her bow into twin blades. Then, just at the moment she entered melee range…
“That belongs to Master! Get your dirty hands off it!”
His anger exploded into violent fury. A pair of swords appeared, one in his newly regenerated right arm and another silver one in his left. His wild and careless slashes were still leagues beyond what any normal adventurer would be capable of dodging. And despite wearing the armor of the previous Hero of Salvation…or perhaps because of it, Alice seemed doomed to meet the same fate as Claire four years ago.
However, at that moment…
“You! Big! Idiooooooooot!”
Alice yelled and flung herself aside with a tempestuous speed no one was expecting. The blade headed her way passed her by without injury, and in one swift counterattack, Alice sliced off both of Rheinhardt’s arms at the shoulders.
“Tch…!”
Rheinhardt scowled. For once, he seemed truly angry. But Alice wasted no time in running past him.
“Master!”