“Isn’t that right? Your damn power can’t win against me, can it?”
She couldn’t win. Those words deeply pierced her heart. It was the brutal, merciless truth. It was as if, in concert with the sound of great thunder off in the distance, storm clouds had gathered over her. The sound of Rajas’s voice made it even worse. His grating laughter made her hate herself.
“Shut... up...”
“Does it vex you? To have a sore spot pressed like that? But you know, you ran away. In spite of that grand declaration about protecting your damned people, you turned tail and fled. Over and over again, no less. You just refused to let go of your own damn life.”
“Shut up... Shut up...! Don’t say another word!”
“Shut up, you say? Do you loathe hearing of your own damned foolishness that much? Your own ignorance born of pride? Heh, that’s it, isn’t it? Nobody ever wants to face their own shame. They don’t want it to be seen. They don’t want it pointed out. Even more so when they already know just how shameful it is. But you still abandoned them and left them to die, didn’t you? You ran away just because you valued your own life more, didn’t you? Am I wrong?”
She wanted that mouth that was mocking her to shut up. He knew nothing. Nothing about her own wishes being denied. Nothing about how she’d died a little on the inside every time it happened. Nothing about the people who’d put their hope in her. Nothing about what she’d suffered because of all of it.
“Let’s see. After running away from your damn country, do you know what happened to the other humans?”
“Wh-What... did you say...?”
“Your comrades, your friends, you family. All those who risked their lives so that you could run. Do you know what fate befell them in the end?”
“Wh-What... did you do...?”
“Nothing much. I just plucked off each and every one of their limbs, and tortured them ever so carefully to death! Why, it was actually quite enjoyable, you know? Those who so bravely sacrificed themselves for the one they believed in were reduced to bawling and screaming in pain and fear. By the end, they were shamefully cursing that damned Goddess you bastards believe in! Although, most of them didn’t make it that long, so it got a bit boring, heh, HAHAHAHAHA!”
His loud, sickening laughter rent her heart asunder. Lefille’s mind turned to the faces of the people she’d lost—the faces of the people who’d been tortured. Just how much pain had they been forced to endure? Just how bitter were they? Just how much despair had they been forced to taste? She saw the vacant eyes of each and every person who died for her staring in her direction. Their resentful, otherworldly voices shook the very depths of her heart.
“No way... Father... Everyone...”
“Do you understand now? About exactly what happen to your damned homeland? About the miserable end of all those you loved? FUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
“You bastard, how dare you... HOW DARE YOU?!”
“Is it vexing?! Does it make you angry, swordswoman of Noshias?! But know this: it’s all on you. This is the sin that a bastard like you who ran away must carry.”
“UAAAAAAAAH!”
As Rajas loudly insisted that she was the root cause of what had transpired, she lashed out at him with everything she had. It was a sword strike with all her body and soul behind it. It didn’t follow proper form. It didn’t keep in mind the balance of her body. It was merely a straightforward, and therefore foolish, yet powerful attack as she lost sight of herself in the extremities of anger and confusion.
“Too soft!”
But alas, it was easily repelled. Rajas’s fist struck out and warded off her blade. Then he mocked and taunted her, telling her she could never reach him. Not with her sword, her feelings, or her screams.
“Grr!”
But Lefille wasn’t done yet. Clenching her jaw so hard that her teeth creaked, she again angrily lashed out with her sword.
“Hmph.”
Like his malignant, stifled laughter coming to the surface, the aura in Rajas’s hand suddenly expanded.
“Urgh... Ah...”
Just then, a despair that felt like it would sap all the power in her body was revived in Lefille.
Seeing Rajas’s gesture, a scene she’d seen many times over replayed itself in her head like a bad movie. With that, her heart that had been temporarily reinforced by her anger, finally crumbled. This was his technique. This was the reason Rajas was called a demon general. It was a tremendous power that no normal demon could wield. She had seen it and the devastation it wrought many times over in their battles. This was his technique that could blow away a fortress without leaving a single trace behind.
A mass of darkness clotted with deep violet swelled up in his hands, and a ball large enough to engulf a single adult human took shape, then stabilized. Like a calm before a storm, it momentarily ceased moving. Rajas then lifted it towards the sky as if preparing to bring it down.
She wouldn’t be able to evade it. She knew this attack had the destructive power to annihilate an entire fortress and leave behind only an empty plot of land. Its range was enormous. There was no escaping it. The only thing she might be able to do was gather as much of the power of the spirits as she could and try to protect her own body with it.
Moments later, she was swallowed by the surging sea of blackness.
“U-UAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
The whole area was swamped by that stagnant darkness. The feeling of having everything destroyed. The feeling of having everything stolen. The feeling that the end was inevitable. The darkness that brought such feelings to the surface suppressed all her other senses.
And then, after hallucinating that she had been drowning in that darkness forever, when she finally opened her eyes, everything else in the area had been blown away. The trees, the rocks, the corpses of the convoy, the corpse of the mage girl... Everything.
“Ug, ha... Urgh...”
She’d endured, but at a heavy toll. After using such a large part of her power, she was only an old rag of herself. It was like he said—a repeat of before. Thanks to the power of the spirits, she was the sole survivor. That was the pain and guilt that she carried.
Seized by the lingering darkness of the attack, her body trembled as it convulsed repeatedly. Unfazed, Rajas drew nearer. She panicked with each of his approaching steps, but her numb body offered no resistance as Rajas grabbed her by the hair. He lifted her up into the air, letting her body hang, and then...
“What are... Ugh!”
She was struck by a hard blow to the stomach. That single heavy strike from an arm the size of a log pierced through the trivial amount of spirit protection she could muster, and racked her body with a sharp pain.
“There’s still more.”
Rajas raised the corners of his mouth into a sick grin, and the battering began. One blow, then another and another without pause. His fists crashed into her like boulders. Each and every time, sounds of anguish leaked from her lips. But instead of begging for it to stop, all she could do was gasp and cough in pain.
“Gah―Hahh... ack...”
Finally, after one last blow to her abdomen, he tossed her aside like trash.
“Ah, hahh, ah...”
Writhing and groveling with her drooling mouth gasping for air, she was like a worm. No, even below that. It hurt. It was painful. But more than her body, her heart was in agony. It was mental and physical anguish. Her heart laid bare by Rajas, she could no longer move. She couldn’t put any strength into her body. She couldn’t think of anything. She wanted it to end already.
And yet, even still, Rajas continued to torment her.
“How unsightly.”
“H-Hnngh...”
“Looking like this... What would those pitiful fools you wanted to protect think?”
As Lefille was trying to stand herself up by leaning on her sword, that question hit her like a barrel of bricks. She pondered his question, but there was no need for that. There was no reason to think about it. After all...
“You couldn’t even save anyone if you wanted to like this, could you?”
She already knew the answer.
“If you could go back again, nothing would change, would it?”
She already knew. That’s why...
“Isn’t that right? You can’t protect anything. Not a single person.”
She just wished he would stop.
“Urrgh...”
Everything was just as Rajas said. It wasn’t just her countrymen from her homeland, she’d been unable to protect anyone from the trade corps. Even if she could return to the invasion of Noshias, nothing would be any different. And when that realization set in, she was no longer able to hold back her screams and tears.
That’s why she couldn’t win against this demon. Not ever. It was painful. Worse than her wounds, the cruel reality that was thrust before her was what hurt. The bitterness of not being able to do anything. Of being helpless. That’s why she wanted those words to stop.
“Admit it. No, you’ve already started to admit it, haven’t you? That you yourself are just that worthless.”
“I... I am...”
“It’s your damn fault. Everything. With no exception. Because a bastard like you exists, everyone died.”
“Ah―”
“Isn’t that right?”
“A-AAAAAAAAAAAH!”
The sword that was supporting her fell, and her knees feebly buckled beneath her. She stuck her arms out awkwardly to catch herself, but even her shoulders were frozen now. The strength and willpower to even hold her sword had all vanished from her body.
“So you’ve finally broken.”
That judgment inspired almost a hint of joy in Lefille. He was right. She was already broken. It was just as Rajas said. She no longer had the will or the power to fight. She’d lost everything. Her loved ones, her pride... It was all stolen from her. What happened to her body now hardly mattered.
“Hmph, a bastard like you is no longer worthy of even being killed by my hand. Just like those fools you loved, I think tormenting you to death will do nicely.”
As he said that, Lefille could see Rajas signaling to his subordinates. When he did, there was a surge in the dark power that protected the demons’ bodies.
At the ends of her distorted field of vision, she could see the warped figures of demons closing in. They were all scrambling to be the first to kill her. What she could see clearly were the claws all ready to reap her life. The demons’ filthy appearances. Their vulgar laughter. Their eyes filled with nothing but evil. She perceived it all as if time had slowed down.
“Aah...”
But all she could do was sigh a single sound.
Why was it? Why did it have to end like this? Having everything important stolen from her, being smeared in humiliation... It wasn’t just that she’d lost. Why did even her heart have to be so twisted and crushed too?
Up until now, she’d lived righteously. She should be living a righteous life still, but things just hadn’t gone that way. Why was that? Why had it all led to such a miserable end? There was no hope. Who’d invented such a silly word? Why was there a name for something that didn’t exist?
That’s right. It was useless to just wish for that kind of thing. Just clinging onto it was meaningless. In the end, it was nothing but a cruel deception that dragged people further into the depths of despair. And for someone like Lefille who’d believed in it all the way up until now, just how much of a fool did that make her?
What poured out along with her tears were curses at the injustice of the world. And then...
“Someone... save me...”
What escaped her lips was the same desperate cry a little girl might make for help. After all this time, did she still think someone might save her? Did she still have hope? That the terrible thing that she’d just learned wasn’t real?
And as death approached, just when she shut her eyes, the lightning making a ruckus in the skies flashed right in front of her with a thunderous roar. A torrent of pale light blinded her and everything was swallowed by bright light. The demons who were swooping down on her, the sky sealed in darkness, the vast empty plot of devastated land, Rajas... Everything was swallowed in white.
As the light and thunderous roar faded, she saw that the demons swooping at her had vanished without a trace. Looking around suspiciously, she realized that the intense sorrow limiting her sight had been gently wiped away. With fresh eyes, she saw...
“Bastard, who are you?”
He flipped open his coat as he landed with a thud.
Right before Lefille’s eyes was certainly someone that she recognized. It was a young man in dark clothes she’d never seen before.
★
The reason Suimei wasn’t also blinded by the brilliant, scorching white light was because he was prepared. He’d known exactly what was going to happen and closed his eyes.
And the moment the light vanished, quietly and quickly, he threw open his eyelids. And then, seeing the disastrous scene before him, somewhere between exasperated and fed up, he let his anger seethe.
Man, even here there are real villains, huh? Laughing at those living nobly and calling them foolish, trampling on the already downtrodden, casting the miserable into further depths of grief and despair... There are shameless assholes who really think that’s okay.
There were people who tried to live righteously, and there were those that tried to tear them down in the name of pride. They had no idea what it meant to be selfless or work hard for others. To Suimei, those people could never be forgiven. Stealing away that modest hope called happiness was pure evil. And these beings were the incarnation of that.
As the remnants of the lightning crackled in the air, Suimei briskly walked over to the girl. Incessant tears streamed from her lightless eyes. It was like a fountain of emotion, and he tried to stem their tide with his finger. This time for sure. Tears begone, just this time, begone. Her eyes were red and swollen. Her body was beaten like a rag. It was painful to even look at, so he could only imagine how much she was hurting. And quietly, he apologized for being late.
“Ah...”
A fragile voice leaked out from within her heart that had yet to recover. Fleeting like a sigh, it was none other than the dim, dim flicker right before her heart crumbled.
This was a girl who’d been struggling under the weight of grief, always blaming herself. This was a girl who’d never been able to forgive herself. Why was it that someone like her had to go through this kind of suffering? She’d lived more honorably than anyone else, stayed true to her ideals more than anyone else. So why was she forced to walk this road with no salvation at the end? Why was it that the world continued to push her down further into the depths of misfortune?
“Aah...”
Those under the weight of tears, remember. In this world, there is no rain of sorrow that cannot be cleared away.
Those who carry anguish, remember. In this world, there is no blaze of pain that cannot be extinguished.
Those intoxicated with villainy, do not forget. In this world, there is not a single speck of land for scum like you.
“Bastard, who are you?”
“Magician Yakagi Suimei.”
Right here, right now, as a modern magician, Suimei would definitively prove that.
★
A gust of wind swept through the area. Was it called by the quiet voice of the young man beside her, or was his voice itself the gust of wind? Within the heated air, that voice accompanied by a clear wind shook her, but in a different way than Rajas’s had.
“A mag... ician, you say?”
Rajas was scowling with a sharp expression as he repeated Suimei’s words. Because he was wearing different clothes from before, it seemed Rajas didn’t recognize him, but he seemed to recall eventually as a look of understanding came over his face.
“I see... You’re that bastard mage boy who got in my way last time, aren’t you?”
In response, Suimei stood back up
while remaining silent, and directed a harsh gaze his way. Seeing him like that, Rajas sneered as if admiring him.
“You have some nerve to struggle all the way here as a mere mage. There were quite a few of my subordinates around, right? Hmm?”
“Yeah, pointlessly many. You’ve got some nerve to gather such filth. I don’t even know how many times I felt like puking.”
“When someone in such shabby shape after wading through such filth says so, it’s nearly believable! HAHAHAHAHA!”
Rajas laughed out as he ridiculed him sarcastically. Certainly, Suimei was visibly worse for wear. There weren’t any serious wounds that were obvious, but his black clothes were battered and frayed, and based on the reserved way he was behaving, he already seemed to be plenty drained. His breathing was ragged, he lacked energy, and there was a shallow cut across his face. As expected, the path he must have taken to get here was a difficult one.
Judging the compromised state Suimei was in, Rajas was still smirking after laughing at him. He then questioned Suimei in the same irritating tone as always.
“So, bastard, how did you get all the way here? With their numbers, did the demons chase you here?”
“All I did was brush aside anyone who stood in my way.”
“Oh? You’d dare risk such foolish prattle in your condition?”
Rajas laughed once more. Did he only see Suimei’s declaration as an injured man’s bravado? Certainly, Suimei making such a claim in his current predicament seemed like nothing more than a bluff.
“Then let me ask you this: what drove you to come here that you would put yourself in that state?”
“I don’t think that’s something you really need to ask at this point, is it?”
“Impossible. Are you saying that you came to save that woman?”
“What makes that impossible?”
Suimei returned Rajas’s question. He had indeed come all this way to save her. He came all this way to be her strength. Even though she’d brushed away the hand he held out for her. Even though nothing said he had to be here. Even though nothing more could be done. Suimei stood there resolute and dignified. After missing a beat, Rajas let out a remarkably loud laugh.
The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! Volume 2 Page 24