Elsewhere, Erebus listened to the witch’s cry.
“Hmm. I like the sound of that. That’s a scream only a woman who’s known despair can make.”
A grin formed on his lips.
“Now, Leon. And the rest of you adventurers. Can your justice measure up to that?”
The god wore Eren’s smile. He spoke aloud, though the storm hopelessly obliterated his words.
“Let’s pick up where we last left off,” he said. “With absolute evil awaiting justice’s answer.”
He tore his eyes away from Alfia and the girls to look at the other battlefield, cloaked in sparks and flames, where a single warrior fought a faceless man.
“That woman’s insane!” Kaguya yelled after she heard Alfia’s declaration. “She wants to turn back time and plunge us into the Age of Heroes?!”
But the expression of her opponent, Vito, was calm.
“Is that so wrong?” he asked. “I, too, was surprised at first, but her reasoning is sound, no?”
“Sound?! She wants to bring death and destruction to us all! How could that ever be right?”
“Because her desire is grounded in reality. It’s based on fact.”
“!”
Kaguya inhaled sharply. Vito opened one eye a sliver and continued.
“Facts of which you know nothing, may I remind you? To you, their actions may seem evil, but Glutton and Silence have no doubts their cause is just.”
“Wha—?!”
“They fight to save the world; to protect it. Is that not the same cause you uphold, even though your methods may differ?”
“Grh…! That’s not…”
Kaguya could insult their plan. She could call it foolish and inefficient. But the one thing she couldn’t do was deny the reality that Zald and Alfia knew. The conquerors believed the only path to victory was a path of torment and suffering. Even if Kaguya felt otherwise, she could not dispute the validity of that choice.
“Don’t you people say it all the time? Good and evil are just two sides of the same coin. We all possess our own facts. Our own truths. Each of which persuades the coin to fall one way or the other.”
As Kaguya stood speechless, Vito’s grin widened more and more.
“Let me ask you a question, fair maiden. How do I seem in those eyes of yours? …Oh, don’t give me such a horrid look. I’m all ears.”
“You’re a bloodthirsty, blood-crazed maniac. All you know how to do is murder.”
“I see. You certainly don’t hold back, do you? However, while my murderous habit may be a fact, it is not my truth.”
Beneath Kaguya’s scornful eye, Vito offered a shrug. Then he raised his hand and ran a finger along his eyelid.
“To my eyes, young lady. You are nothing but a loathsome gray.”
“…What?”
Vito fixed his scarlet eye on Kaguya. The red was the red of fresh, still-slick blood, while the light seemed fake, like an empty window.
“I was born with a peculiar defect,” he explained. “Everything I see is colored the same ashy gray.”
“…!”
“Similarly, people’s voices sound like a rasp to my ears. The finest food and drink taste like foul, rotten waste. Never once have I smelled a scent I would call fragrant.”
Vito was not only colorblind—each of his senses was hopelessly impaired, save touch. He was forced to live and experience a different world from everyone else.
“Ah, but if only that were the end of it,” he went on, ignorant to Kaguya’s surprise. “You see, one day, I discovered something.”
Vito still wore the same scornful smile. Only now, his disdain seemed turned upon himself.
“In my canvas of eternal ash, only one color shone true: the vivid red of other people’s blood.”
“!!”
That was Vito’s past. His truth.
To the young Vito, the world was a cold and barren place. His parents spoke of beauty that did not exist to him. His fellow boys wore smiles, but he didn’t understand why. Their happiness was lies. Their love for the world was fake. It had to be, because all he knew was gray.
It was all bland. Tasteless, scentless. Every noise sounded like the wailing of a chained beast.
It was ironic, because Vito’s life was not otherwise a troubled one. The folk of his village were merry and kind, and appreciated the world they lived in. Meanwhile, the mind of that young boy grew more twisted by the day.
The young Vito, however, was shrewd, and canny enough to conceal his defect. He lived a false life among his peers, pretending that he was one of them. An act that only deepened his sorrow.
“The world is filled with light,” they would say. To Vito, those words were nonsense. But fearing ostracization, he played along. He lived as though he believed it, while inwardly cursing his kinsmen’s lies.
The smile on his face and the thoughts in his mind were ever at odds, grinding against each other like sandpaper, whittling down the young boy’s sanity until one day, he’d had enough.
He turned his fists on a girl of his village—a sweet young thing who greatly admired him.
In his rage, he spilled her blood—a sight the peace of his village had so far denied him.
For the first time, Vito beheld the nectar of the gods. A fresh wine that surpassed all others in its sweetness.
“Never shall I forget that day! Oh, how I wished to see it once more!” howled Vito, giddy with reminiscence, before his voice strained in grief. “Alas, no matter how much of my own blood I shed, that vibrant hue would not reveal itself.”
He locked eyes with Kaguya.
“For as twisted luck would have it,” he said, “only the blood of others suited my needs.”
The Far Eastern girl could not believe what she was hearing.
“You see, I tried everything,” Vito went on. “Yet without fear, without grief, without pain and despair—without any of these negative emotions, the blood looked just like everything else.”
“What…?!”
Kaguya’s eyes went wide. She searched his expression for some trace—anything—that would expose his tale as a twisted joke, but she failed. The look in the man’s eyes told her everything he said was the truth.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha! And once I realized that, I couldn’t help myself! What if I cut someone, I thought? What if I beat them with a stone? What if I kill them?!”
Heinous acts beyond description.
“From that point on, my world had color! Life returned to my withered heart, and I gave myself over to the demands of my broken mind!”
Passion gripped his voice.
“When people screamed, I heard it! When people bled, I saw it! When people burned, I smelled it! Oh, and the smell! It was like nothing else!”
Passion, and a disgust for the flaws that made him who he was.
“Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh! How could the world be this way? How could I be cursed only to gain humanity through inhumane acts?!”
“!!”
“What is this, if not a paradox of creation? What is this, if not some divine comedy of errors? Should I be expected to kill myself and erase the gods’ mistake?”
Vito paused, as if lending the conundrum ample thought. But soon, any semblance of sorrow was washed away and replaced with anger.
“No,” he said. “That cannot be the way! The people of this world don’t know their privilege! They go ignorant about their lives, experiencing pleasure, while I have to kill for it! Is that not an injustice that ought to be addressed?! If I am a defect this world produced, then is this world not at fault for producing me?!”
The man weaved his indignant tirade, arriving at last at his noble conclusion. He threw his arms wide and bared it for the world to see.
“There is only one way to strike back at this imperfect universe,” he said. “And that is to destroy the world of mortal men! The great error must be corrected! That is my purpose!”
Kaguya shot the man a dirty glare.
“…And that is why you stand with evil?” she asked.
“Yes. Because to proclaim my truth, I must first disprove what you girls call justice. Then, in order to stop this world creating any more poor victims like me, it must be remade.”
The winds of war carried the words of the dark follower’s quest to his master’s ears. Sitting atop his precipice, Erebus listened in silence. Vito turned and shot him a smile both loving and scornful.
“Those detestable gods shall see their creation destroyed, and I can only hope a new and perfect world will be born in its place.”
But Kaguya was not convinced.
“So what? You expect me to pity you?” she spat.
“Not at all,” said Vito dismissively. “I simply wanted you to understand the difference between facts and truth.”
He flicked his wrist, and his bloodstained knife appeared once more in palm of his right hand.
“Who knows, maybe some small part of you will agree with me…and make you stand still while I cut you down!”
He flew toward her without warning. Kaguya blocked his brutal blade with the steel of her own sword.
“You cannot become good just by willing it! You cannot be a hero through intent alone!”
“Grh…?!”
“I am living proof! I am cursed to be reviled! That is why I must kill you!”
This was his truth. His ash and his defect. Anger and ironclad faith drove his blade. His strikes rained down on Kaguya without mercy, forcing her to give all she had just to block them. Her clothes, her skin, all grew ragged with cuts.
“This is my evil!” he roared. “This is my justice!!”