The hole was eventually filled in with corpses, and the underlings advanced over it.
They marched forward with aggressive simplicity, removing any obstacles that stood in their way.
Then a ferocious darkness covered the sky, as though a typhoon was arriving. A dense black cloud violently appeared before Kaito and Elisabeth’s eyes. It was yet more underlings.
The grotesque, winged creatures were soaring through the sky in unison.
Kaito maneuvered his blade, and Elisabeth summoned even more torture devices. But against the numbers they were facing, the ones they slew would amount to nothing more than a drop in the bucket.
Overwhelmed by the waves approaching from land and sky, Kaito recalled the words Elisabeth had once said.
“Numbers beget force. And one can accomplish much through the use of force.”
…So this is what she was talking about.
The black wave and cloud drew near.
Their footsteps shook the earth, and their howls split the sky.
They were like the end of the world given flesh.
“Hmm, now this is a situation where shooting a cannon at a group of ants seems reasonable. But know this, boy. Even if I were to enter the fray, the number I can devour in one go is limited. What would you have me do? It would sully my good name if I were to allow my master to be consumed by cannon fodder. I wouldn’t mind taking you both on my back and leaping over that throng, you know.”
The Kaiser posed an uncharacteristically benevolent question to Kaito. However, Kaito shook his head.
“No… If we let those guys get outside, the knights and nuns will be in danger, never mind the people who haven’t been able to evacuate the city yet.”
“Ha, a splendid jest. The daughter of Vlad and I could keep them in check, but annihilating them is another matter altogether. I told you once before, boy. One who forgets their greatest wish is naught but a fool masquerading as a saint.”
Kaito bit down on his lip at the Kaiser’s words. He knew the Kaiser was right. There was no point to holding back the deadly stream’s flow if it left them unable to advance.
There was still the Grand Monarch and the King to contend with beyond this horde.
Kaito knew that, but he still couldn’t bring himself to agree. He looked toward the Torture Princess, as though imploring her.
“Elisabeth…”
“Enough of that gloomy voice already! While I’d normally advise you that naive thoughts have no place on the battlefield, even I understand. If naught else, we’d best thin out their ranks. If we simply let them roam free like this, the capital’s likely to be annihilated. ’Twould be no laughing matter if we two ended up the sole survivors.”
“See, I knew you’d see it that way.”
“Quit speaking of me in that warm tone!”
Kaito nodded toward Elisabeth, who was infuriated. However, this too was a dangerous gamble.
For the first time, he lamented the fact that the two of them were alone there. Here in that gray world, there was nobody for them to entrust their backs to. Eventually, though, Elisabeth shook her head.
“I suppose we’d best get to it, then. ’Tis no point in expecting things to turn for the better. And regret accomplishes naught.”
“Yeah, you’re right—we’re the only ones here, after all.”
The Torture Princess and the Kaiser’s contractor nodded to each other. The unseemly black dog snorted and pawed at the ground. Vlad shrugged in exasperation.
But as the two of them mustered up their tragic resolution before their oncoming foes, they heard something.
“Get back, you two!”
An unexpected voice rang out.
Kaito looked up as though he’d been slapped. As he confirmed the voice’s owner, his eyes went wide.
A winged, white orb was floating amid the gray sky. It was one of the Church’s communication devices, and Izabella’s voice was coming from within it.
“How—?”
“Don’t just idly stand there, Kaito! Get back!”
The moment Kaito tried to question what was going on, Elisabeth grabbed him by the collar. As she did, she dragged him violently backward at a rapid clip. Then she released him, practically tossing him aside. He turned to look at the place where they’d just been standing.
When he did, his retinas were seared white.
An intense light had burst right in front of him. A group of underlings had been vaporized.
“Oh-ho.”
Vlad raised his voice in interest.
Turning away from the scene for a moment, Kaito frantically recovered his temporarily shattered vision. Then he rechecked the terrible spectacle before him. The underlings had burst into flames and were burning. Among them, a massive bird was turning to ash as well. Kaito identified it.
It’s a summoned beast, the same kind La Mules was summoning!
It was then that the reality of the situation hit Kaito.
The holy bird was what had made the underlings disintegrate.
La Mules should be dead, though…
“Izabella, you fool! You’ll kill yourself!”
The moment that bit of confusion crossed Kaito’s mind, Elisabeth let out a shout.
Beside him, she was staring out beyond the boundary between the worlds of demon and man. As he followed her gaze, Kaito’s eyes widened.
Off in the distance, the apex of the hill was shining silver.
Paladins were gathered there, standing with a group of priests in a strange square formation. At their feet were magical runes so large that Kaito could make them out from where he stood.
He couldn’t tell what they said, but he knew what they meant.
It’s gathering up mana from the priests and the paladins!
With La Mules having passed, the group was now working together as one and forming a single cannon. And Izabella was most likely acting as its launchpad.
Kaito then recalled a certain fact. Izabella’s store of mana was as deep and as placid as the sea and well suited toward healing, protective, and summoning magic.
At the same time, an old scene flashed back through his mind.
That night, Izabella hadn’t hesitated in taking his beastly hand, the proof of his demonic contract, and shaking it with her gauntlet. They’d looked each other in the eyes and sworn an oath.
““Let’s take out that demon together.””
But in the end, the Torture Princess had ended up shouldering the decisive battle alone. After talking with Elisabeth, Kaito had attacked Izabella’s conscience, both for the sake of his ulterior motive and out of indignation.
“La Mules is dead. If the Torture Princess screws up, who do you think’s next in line to fight?”
“Who the hell do you think is gonna end up getting sacrificed for the sake of all the heretics and people who call him a monster?”
At the time, Izabella hadn’t responded. But at present, she was trying to fulfill her promise to Kaito with her own hands. She’d chosen to fight alongside him and the Torture Princess.
But she’s taking too big of a risk.
Izabella’s method of attack differed from the way La Mules used the summoning circles inside her own body. Additionally, because she was splitting the burden with the paladins, there was little chance she’d lose her sanity. But the amount of mana they’d amassed was too much for a mere human’s body to handle.
Furthermore, the other paladins were in danger as well. Even though they weren’t going to enter the demon’s world themselves, they would have nowhere to run if the King launched his long-range attack on them. And above all, the strain on their bodies and their mana would be intense no matter what else happened.
They clearly had no intention of preserving their strength.
But Godot Deus’s decision was correct!
“What in the world do you think you’re doing?! Don’t be rash!”
“I should be the one telling you not to say such foolish things! We are the sw
ords of the Church, the blades of the Saint, and the shields of the people. If we do not save the innocent who suffer, then who exactly are we expecting to bear that burden?”
“We’re handling it just fine! What, are you worried about that stuff I said to you? My bad. That was just me running my mouth! Please just forget about it! Think about your responsibilities!”
“This is our city! We will aid you, and we will protect it! I have no intention of foisting those I am duty bound to protect onto you two!”
“But…!”
“Just how long do you think it took me to convince the priests?! Leave this to us and advance!”
Loud, fierce shouts came from within the white orb. For a moment, they were overlaid with the sound of someone coughing up blood. As he heard Izabella let out a clear groan of pain, Kaito clenched his fists.
As he did, another summoned beast came soaring in. Exploding underlings filled the horizon.
Kaito inhaled sharply. He knew he needed to stop her.
Before he could speak, though, Izabella stole a lead on him.
“Don’t give me that nonsense, Kaito Sena! Enough is enough! You should be looking for any help you can get, even if it comes from a monster! Don’t you want to save the suffering people as soon as possible?”
Her voice was like a slap in the face.
In that moment, Izabella had completely and utterly defeated Kaito.
He found himself at a loss for words. Still speechless, he practically spasmed as he bowed deeply to the white orb. After biting down hard on his lip, he turned to Elisabeth.
“Elisabeth…”
Her crimson eyes were fixated on the orb.
For a second, Kaito felt as though the gazes of those two women, who stood at opposite ends of evil and holiness, had met.
Eventually, Elisabeth said a few words.
“You could have merely cracked your whip at me and amused yourself as a spectator… I’m surrounded by fools, the lot of you.”
“Elisabeth…”
“We’re leaving, Kaito! Don’t fall behind now! Chop-chop!”
The next moment, Elisabeth kicked off the ground hard. She took off like an arrow, leaving deep footprints in the gray earth as she ran. Flustered, Kaito took after her. Vlad and the Kaiser followed along as well.
The orb remained behind, perhaps in order to survey the underlings’ positions.
Then Izabella’s pained shouts chased after them.
“Go, Torture Princess, O reviled sinner who slaughtered countless innocents, knights, and my brother!”
For a second, intense hatred leaked through into her voice. Izabella was aiming her vivid resentment at Elisabeth like an arrow. But with power strong enough even to crush her negative emotions, Izabella continued on.
“Please save the capital!”
Her tone sounded almost like a prayer.
White light surged forward. It drowned out Elisabeth’s expression, so Kaito couldn’t see it. He just single-mindedly advanced, surrounded by flying underling corpses.
Burdened with Izabella’s sincere plea, Kaito and Elisabeth dashed across the plain. It was practically like a battlefield that was under bombardment. The light burst forth several more times. Though their vision was blasted away time and time again, they unceasingly made their way through the stream of death.
Leaving the sound of bombardment behind them, they pressed deeper into the gray world.
Eventually, all the noise faded into the distance.
Once again, they were engulfed in a heavy silence.
The air was thick with the presence of death as the mass of flesh towered in front of them.
The looming mass was adorned with innumerable holes. Its damp red surface was covered in cavities, like a leaf that had been chewed through by a caterpillar. It was almost impressive how viscerally repugnant it was.
Kaito felt goose bumps run all the way down his body. He looked up fixedly at the mass’s unseemly surface.
Those holes are probably from when its victims’ faces came out.
They’d been uniformly transformed into underlings, then expelled.
Kaito racked his brain as to how they were supposed to deal with that thing. But without laying a finger on the writhing mass in front of her, let alone attacking it, Elisabeth quickened her pace. Tilting his head to the side, Kaito followed her. Although he hadn’t said anything, she must have sensed his confusion as she spoke.
“’Tis too great a task to cut it down from the outside. I said I’d be striking their true bodies directly, did I not? It just released that great mass of underlings. There should be a hole somewhere that leads to its core. I aim to find it.”
“A hole that leads to its core?”
“Indeed, I would say that her prediction is right on the mark.”
Vlad gently floated up to walk beside Elisabeth. As Kaito turned to look at him, he exaggeratedly propped up his chin with his finger.
“All-out war has a nice ring to it, but putting all their cards on the table like that was base foolishness. The King and the Grand Monarch expelled everything they had. Because of that, you should be able to make it past where they were storing the underlings inside themselves. Making such a choice causes me to wonder if their very brains had turned to mere lumps of flesh… Hmm, even though it may give rise to abnormal power, it seems that having demons run rampant carries few benefits with it.”
“You just be quiet, Vlad, and cease your twittering. Nobody asked you.”
Elisabeth clicked her tongue. Vlad shrugged and obediently shut up.
After nodding at her explanation, Kaito began circling the mass’s perimeter. The footing was poor, and the area was covered in blood and tallow. The two of them noisily trudged through the muck as they looked for a suitable opening.
Before long, Kaito stopped in front of an unsettling fold of flesh that hung conspicuously over the ground.
“Elisabeth.”
“…I see; this must be it.”
Behind the soft, womanly flesh was a massive, tunnel-like hole. Its insides had been trampled flat by underlings. It was the remnants of the path that deadly procession had taken.
Elisabeth cast a sharp gaze inside.
“There.”
“Wait, there’s still more of them?”
Three underlings sat at the edge of her crimson glare. They were lined up horizontally, guarding the hole like overly diligent gatekeepers.
Kaito looked their new foes over from head to toe. From the left on, he cast his gaze at each of their peculiar figures in turn.
There was a woman wearing a tattered dress.
There was a man wearing a gray wolf headdress.
And there was a man dressed in stern, full-body armor.
Out of the three of them, it was the woman’s strangeness that gave Kaito pause. She had proper eyes, lips, and a nose, yet her face was decidedly inhuman. Her skin was made out of some smooth material, like glass or porcelain. Her clothes, too, gave her the appearance of some sort of half-finished cloth puppet.
Their faces are covered up by the helmet and the headdress, but the two guys probably look the same way.
Even so, they looked more human than the underlings who’d been forcibly transformed. And above all else, the amount of power emanating from them was far greater than that of the small fry they had seen so far.
Remaining wary of the three, Kaito spoke.
“Hey, Elisabeth… Is it just me, or are those guys way stronger than the other underlings?”
“Indeed, they are. ’Tis the Grand Monarch’s ability—birthing unique underlings through Duplication. Those three are copies of the King, the Grand Monarch, and the late Monarch. While they are far weaker than their demonic counterparts, ’tis true that they far surpass ordinary—huh?”
As she spoke, the armor-clad man strode directly toward Elisabeth.
He grabbed the handle of the long sword strapped to his back, then drew it from its sheath with one hand. He swung its blade d
ownward, parting the muddy gray air with great force. Kaito felt a powerful gust of wind blow across his entire body.
The armored figure then pointed the tip of his fiendish blade at Elisabeth, as though provoking her.
Her eyes widened a hair, and the corners of her ruby lips curled up.
“I see; he truly is a copy of the King. So you wish to trade blows with me? Very well.”
In response, Elisabeth raised a pale hand overhand and drew the Executioner’s Sword of Frankenthal from a swirl of darkness and crimson flower petals. After spinning its handle once around in her palm, she turned it toward her armored foe. Its tip came to a sudden stop in the air.
“Come. I shall face you.”
Their blades in hand, the two squared off.
A stillness rife with bloodlust filled the space.
The next moment, the armored man roared. The air around him froze over, then shattered like glass. He charged with a glorious scream.
As the ferocious mass of bloodlust approached her, Elisabeth shouted as well.
“Wicker Man!”
Darkness and petals exploded from the Executioner’s Sword of Frankenthal. Defenseless, the armored man rushed directly into them. The dancing black and crimson swallowed up the other two replicants as well.
A dry popping noise rang out, and the darkness split to become countless boughs. Before Kaito’s eyes, a massive, birdcage-like figure knit itself together. The replicants found themselves sealed within its hollow torso.
They raged, demanding to be let out. As they did, the figure’s twisted limbs caught fire. The blaze grew to a tempest.
As he faced the radiant scarlet mass, Kaito spoke up in confusion.
“W-weren’t you going to face off against him?”
“Your honesty is going to get you killed one of these days, boy.”
“I really must agree, my dear successor. Take this as a lesson. At times, victory demands one to abandon their scruples.”
Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 3 Page 14