“Yeah, I agree with you there. But I haven’t hurt anyone, and I plan to keep it that way. The minute I tried to harm an innocent, my master Elisabeth will probably immediately behead me anyway. I haven’t given you guys any reason to criticize me or give me orders…and you don’t have any grounds to punish me.”
“Strong words. However, it is true that we lack pieces to play. If you intend to fight alongside Elisabeth, I shall allow it. However, there is one thing I wish to confirm.”
Godot Deus extended a bony hand.
Then he spoke in a low, husky voice.
“Would you mind letting Vlad out?”
In response to his request, Kaito gently ran mana through the stone in his pocket.
Suddenly, azure rose petals and darkness whirled up within the tent. The paladins let out frantic cries. As he basked in their reactions, Vlad’s phantasmal body knit itself together in the air.
Overflowing with androgynous beauty, he crossed his legs and lorded over his surroundings.
“Hey there, Godot Deus. Long time no see.”
“What are you putting on airs for, you buffoon?”
“You’re trying to make it sound like you showed up after being called for, but you were literally just begging to be let out.”
Elisabeth and Kaito interjected at the same time. The paladins gripped the handles of their swords in unison. However, after realizing that it was just a phantom, they lowered their guards.
Vlad’s black hair fluttered as he smiled at Godot Deus.
“The last time was the inquisition—no, it was the time when you spared no pains in tormenting me? To see one of the Church’s high priests reduced to the same state as me… I never realized the Church was so fond of twisting the natural order. For the first time, I find myself intrigued in you fellows.”
“I suspected that the dregs of your soul were still present in the world. How deplorable. After the Torture Princess’s execution, we’ll have to destroy you posthaste.”
“Oh, you needn’t worry about that. I hear Elisabeth intends to do me in herself before then.”
“Even so, Elisabeth’s servant’s arm aside, things exceeding our expectations seem to be appearing left and right… This, too, must be one of God’s trials.”
Half ignoring what Vlad had to say, Godot Deus shook his head again. After listening to their exchange, Elisabeth suddenly piped up.
“Aye, I was surprised as well. Does the Church not oppose defying death in such a manner?”
“It is as you say. With my soul currently residing with God, by all rights, Godot Deus should cease existing in this world as quickly as possible. However, the people are in a panic. After all, I am the one among the high priests with the authority to command both the Torture Princess and the paladins. A man entrusted with a blade must not be put to his rest alone.”
Godot Deus spoke as though it were a matter that didn’t concern him.
Kaito knew next to nothing about the power structure governing this society. But he’d been able to piece together that command of the Holy Knights, an organization ranked higher than the Royal Knights, rested not with the king but with the Church and that they were an organization specializing in fighting demons.
I guess I’ll have to ask Elisabeth about the specifics later.
As Kaito pondered that, Godot Deus made yet another astonishing proclamation.
“I am not the only Godot Deus who currently exists. Others are stationed all over the capital. All in all, from the shelters scattered about to the escape routes to the places connecting them, the sum total count of me’s in operation comes to twenty.”
“…What?”
Kaito let out a dumbfounded exclamation. He couldn’t help but picture twenty Godot Deuses all gathered in the same room. Filled with instinctive revulsion, he furrowed his brows.
The prospect of having multiple reproductions of the same soul at once was twisted beyond belief.
From beside him, Elisabeth loudly laughed.
“Ha-ha, what a lark! To think of the Church’s head priest sullying providence in such a manner! You lot truly do have your backs against the wall!”
“Watch your mouth, woman!”
One of the paladins launched a sharp rebuke. However, the woman who’d guided Kaito and Elisabeth there lifted a hand to admonish him. After nodding to the woman, Godot Deus turned back toward Elisabeth.
“Once more, the Church calls upon the Torture Princess. Fight alongside the paladins and defeat the demon that invades the capital. Your foe is the final three of the fourteen demons. This shall be your final order.”
With that, Godot Deus paused for a beat.
His gaze pierced Elisabeth with the intensity of a hawk’s.
“Until the day of your death, try to do some good, at least.”
“I’d have done all that had you told me to or not, you senile old man!”
The Torture Princess replied loudly to the Church’s command.
Her answer was accompanied by a truly fiendish smile. Godot Deus nodded, satisfied. Elisabeth scoffed, then tapped the map of the capital with her black-polished index fingernail.
“Now, this battle shall take place in an urban environment, so on the matter of how much I’m allowed to destroy…”
“If I may, we don’t need the Torture Princess’s assistance.”
A clear voice rang out and interrupted Elisabeth’s question. Elisabeth narrowed her eyes in annoyance.
Kaito turned to look at the speaker. It was the female paladin, the one who’d just stopped her underling from chewing out the Torture Princess. He tilted his head to the side at the unforeseen opposition.
On the other side, Elisabeth sneered provocatively.
“That reminds me, we’ve yet to hear your name. Who are you? What gives you the right?”
“My name is Izabella Vicker, commander of the Holy Knights. Godot Deus, please know that I speak with utmost respect. We mustn’t borrow the Torture Princess’s strength. We mustn’t rely on a sinner.”
“Skip the sentimentality. State why you feel she is unnecessary.”
“Yes, forgive me. As per the previous meeting, once we finish evacuating the residents, we plan to launch an all-out attack on the demon with the support of the priests. And La Mules, the Shepherd, will be joining us as well.”
“Hey, Elisabeth?”
“Now, of all times? What is it? If it’s some idle nonsense, I shall strike you dead.”
“What’s the Shepherd?”
“A high priest who bears the authority to summon first-class mythical beasts and spirits. It would seem that quite the big shot has been slated to make an appearance.”
Elisabeth answered Kaito’s question. From beside her, he saw her face stiffen a hair. Seeing that, he could tell that this person was the real deal.
The paladin—Izabella—continued talking.
“In particular, the priests possess God’s blessing, a boon that renders them inviolable by the hands of demons. The expanding demon body itself is unguarded, and the effectiveness of a magical beast attack should be obvious. Given those conditions, the Royal Knights and the paladins together should prove to be sufficient to subjugate the demon. We can settle this matter with mankind’s hands alone; to rely on the Torture Princess now would sully the Church’s pride.”
With that, she completed her dignified statement. The paladins around her nodded in assent.
Upon hearing the paladins’ true thoughts, Kaito’s face twitched. The first one to respond, though, was Vlad. Tracing his own lips with his white, gloved hand, he laughed low.
“Strong words from a young maiden who knows nothing of demons nor, I wager, the touch of a man. Go on then, my dear successor, give them a piece of your mind!”
“What are you guys, dumb-asses?”
Not waiting for Vlad to finish speaking, Kaito spoke of his own volition. Vlad’s lips curled. Raising her elegant eyebrows, Izabella turned to face Kaito.
“What did you just
say?”
“That demon is swallowing people up one by one and tormenting them. Even if you guys could defeat it on your own, you should be looking for any help you can get, even if it comes from a monster. That pride of yours can eat shit. If you think you’ve got time to be spewing garbage like that, why don’t you go march outside and take a good, long look at all those faces covering the demon’s surface?”
Despite his rage, Kaito was utterly calm. His mind was cold and clear.
His words themselves were coarse, but he layered them on in a level, icy voice. Then suddenly, he went silent. The gaze he focused on Izabella had no malice in it, simply pure questioning.
“Don’t you want to save them as soon as possible?”
Surprisingly, no counterargument came. Disappointed, Kaito blinked.
Izabella simply stared at him, eyes wide in puzzlement. Her face seemed ever so young and looked like she’d just been struck or like she’d just heard something she hadn’t expected. She opened her mouth to speak.
Before she could, one of the other paladins spoke up.
“Who are you to talk? You’ve got a monster’s arm, and you made a contract with the Kai—”
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, precisely. How very right you are!”
All of a sudden, a lively voice rang though the air.
Elisabeth clapped her hands together and grinned. As if inviting him to dance, she extended a hand toward the paladin about to make his rebuttal.
“And on that note, I shall return home! Good work, everyone!”
“No, wait, that… Godot Deus has to…”
“…And if I were to say that, ’twould be you lot who would regret it. To think that you failed to understand even that much. I’d thought the paladins would be able to at least gauge how outclassed they were. You lot are like children, ignorant of your own limits.”
Elisabeth delivered scathing criticism.
The atmosphere in the room froze over with a loud snap. At least, Kaito felt as though it had. Upon being verbally abused by the Torture Princess, the same woman who’d once slaughtered their comrades, a number of hands reached for swords. As they did, Kaito raised his beastly arm.
Then he openly displayed a terrible bloodlust he’d accumulated from tasting death hundreds of times over.
“Don’t move. If you draw those, I’ll make the first move. And I’m faster than you guys.”
The situation tottered on the precipice. Neither Godot Deus nor Vlad spoke, each surveying the other’s movements.
The paladins’ eyes were filled with rage, and Kaito looked directly into them.
“Please don’t make me use the Kaiser’s power for something as stupid as this.”
Suddenly, Elisabeth moved. Paying no heed to the tension filling the room, she majestically spread her arms wide and stomped the ground.
For some reason, she began twirling, and her dress fluttered behind her.
“God’s blessing, eh? I see, I see. True, the Church’s divine protection is effective against demons. However, demons exist to destroy God’s creations. And that is what you all are. God’s creations doomed to have your prayers dashed by the powers of darkness.”
The black cloth of her dress, the inside of which was dyed scarlet, spun like a pinwheel.
Elisabeth continued in a lilting tone.
“The demons invading the capital are running rampant, drawing their power from the bottomless well that is the suffering of your people. As the mass grows, its collection of pawns continues to multiply.”
She loudly slammed the tip of her heels onto the stone floor. Having gathered the full attention of everyone present, she stopped in her tracks and smoothly extended her arm toward the ceiling.
“Numbers beget force. And one can accomplish much through the use of force.”
Darkness and crimson flower petals swirled at her fingertips, and she drew the Executioner’s Sword of Frankenthal from within the vortex.
Unsure of her intentions, the paladins tightened their grips on the hilts of their swords.
Not sparing a glance in their direction, Elisabeth clutched her sword and glared at the ceiling as if looking for something.
“As I thought. They’re coming!”
As she spoke, the ceiling of the tent warped like a pool of water struck by a school of fish. A moment later, it teared open.
Kaito’s eyes widened. Cacophonous laughter rang out, and some sort of ominous white mass descended upon them.
Elisabeth swung her sword and reaped several of whatever it was that assailed them in a single swing. She brought her sword around with a backswing, slaying just as many. Even so, the mass had a sizable number of survivors swooping down on Kaito and the rest.
A huge number of feathers filled the air, obscuring their vision.
“—!”
Reflexively, Kaito used his beastly arm to shred something flying in front of him.
Still unclear as to his attacker’s true nature, he frantically fought back against the waves of animosity and bloodlust bearing down on him. The paladins, on the other hand, tried to avoid the initial attack and calmly assess the situation.
The difference in their judgments caused their fates to diverge.
Several of the paladins had their heads torn off with force that would have been unthinkable had their foes been human. Blood gushed and sprayed as their armored bodies spun.
With comically heavy noises, they toppled to the ground.
Scraw, scraw, scraw, scraw, scraw!
Round objects flew through the air to accompany the shrill laughter. The paladins reflexively caught them, then screamed when they realized that the objects were their comrades’ heads.
Amid the chaos, Izabella was the first to react. She quickly drew her sword, then swung it in a semicircle. Its blade glowed white, as the priests had apparently consecrated it, and she sliced open the stomach of one of their assailants.
Kaito turned his gaze toward the collapsed corpse. It was an underling with the body of a dove and the head of a fish. Like some sort of cruel joke, its feathers were white.
Splattered by the underling’s blood and trampling on its guts, Izabella shouted.
“Move! You’ll make yourselves targets if you freeze up!”
“Draw your swords, fools!”
Godot Deus gave a rebuke, as well. The paladins, who’d been caught unawares by the atrocious attack, returned to their senses and drew their blades in succession.
While that was going on, Elisabeth was slaying underlings with gorgeous, dance-like movements. She wasn’t summoning torture devices, likely realizing that the confined space would result in friendly fire.
She was prioritizing the underlings attacking the civil officials. Kaito followed her lead.
Their enemy’s ranks waned quickly. Their grotesque corpses littered the ground.
Other than in the initial attack, none of the paladins had fallen. Making sure they had reclaimed their original presence of mind, Kaito called out.
“Everyone, get down!”
“Get down!”
Izabella echoed his shout. Immediately afterward, Kaito snapped his fingers.
“—La (dance)!”
A massive blade flew through the air, just barely passing over the paladins’ heads. Cleaved in half, the underlings toppled to the ground.
Despite the torrential rain of blood pouring down on them, none of the paladins flinched. They quickly mopped up the underlings who’d evaded the blade.
Eventually, the inside of the tent became quiet again.
As though they’d traded places, screams rang out from outside.
As she aggressively wiped blood off her face, Izabella spoke in astonishment.
“Impossible… The barrier!”
“Your paladins formed a perimeter around the square and maintained the barrier from there. The barrier is hemispherical, and your men form its center. In short, the barrier’s thinnest point is overhead… The underlings must have gathered there, then bro
ken through with sheer numbers. ’Tis no hard task, should they be willing to sacrifice a dozen or so of their forces.”
As she gave her dispassionate analysis, Elisabeth strode forward. Her lustrous black hair fluttered as she turned to briefly look over her shoulder.
“Why are you all standing there so addled? If you wish to protect your allies and kill your foes, you’d best follow me.”
Her dress fluttered as she left the caved-in tent behind her. With Izabella at their head, the paladins snapped into action and went after her.
Kaito was about to be reeled in as well, but he stopped himself. He quickly surveyed his surroundings. The civil officials were trembling, but none of them seemed to be badly injured. At some point, Vlad had vanished.
He probably just got bored… What a carefree— Huh?
Then Kaito realized that Godot Deus was staring at him. After making sure his jewel was undamaged, Kaito nodded. After exchanging a meaningful glance with Godot Deus, Kaito ran outside.
The moment he did, he sucked in his breath.
“—!”
There, he found yet another hellscape spreading out before him.
Just like before, the dove-bodied underlings were lopping people’s heads off one after another. Blood shot out of their dismembered torsos before they spun and toppled over. Their severed heads crashed against the stone ground, popping like overripe fruits.
At the same time, other underlings were grabbing a dozen or so people by the arms and forcibly dragging them toward the mass of flesh.
“Ahhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Desperate screams filled the air as the people’s legs flopped atop the tragic corpses. They looked almost like marionettes, playing out an act in a cruel comedy. However, their crazed screams were no doubt the real deal.
“Heavens above!”
Unable to bear the terrible spectacle, even one of the paladins maintaining the barrier was on the verge of fleeing. Frantically, Kaito went to try and stop him. However, before he could, Izabella admonished the man.
“Stand your ground! Focus your mana on mending the damaged sections! We will deal with the intruders!”
Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 3 Page 4