Elisabeth jumped a little as she peered behind Kaito. As she landed, the ground around her feet burst with darkness and crimson flower petals. They spiraled toward the ceiling, then formed a large hole over the spider’s head. A massive, thorn-laden weight appeared from the hole.
The weight whirred as it fell and then slammed down on the spider, crushing it.
“Squish it!”
Elisabeth raised a fist. Her attack was so ludicrous, it almost made Kaito want to complain.
She’d squished that terrifying spider as easily as one might squish a cockroach with a slipper. His wrist was now bound by a chain—a rather crude way to stop the blood loss—and he opened his mouth wide. Melanie clutched at his jacket as though in terror.
A heavy silence fell among them, which Elisabeth broke while tilting her head.
“So what happened here?”
At that moment, Kaito felt something inside him release. Elisabeth’s overwhelming strength, as well as her almost nostalgic carefree demeanor, allowed him to finally relax his nerves, which had been pushed to the limit.
He rattled off to Elisabeth everything that had happened.
“Oh, Elisabeth. There was a demon in the annex, and he was like, ‘Welcome, boys and girls, to your very own Grand Guignol! You all are the audience, you all are the scriptwriters, and you all are the actors. So I implore you: Enjoy yourselves to your heart’s content.’ And then there were these crows…”
“Is that so, I see, ah, mm-hmm, is that so, oh.”
Kaito was in a tizzy, and the words spilled from his mouth like a flood. He ended up including a number of unnecessary details. He couldn’t tell if she was listening, as she simply nodded along with a dodgy expression and began walking before he’d even finished speaking. She held both hands behind her head as she walked through the doorway. Passing through the hall, she headed for the right-hand corridor. She then continued unabated, entering a passage marked for servants.
Embracing Melanie’s quivering arms, Kaito followed after her.
“Elisabeth, are you listening to me? I said, the demon’s in the ann—”
“Behold, Kaito!”
Elisabeth stopped in front of an open door. Looking inside, Kaito saw a kitchen.
Atop a cutting board was a noble-looking girl, her dainty dress stained in blood and her ribs savagely removed. Beside her lay a man with a bull’s head wearing a chef’s coat, his groin split in half by a saw. A demon’s underling disguised as a chef. His death was no doubt Elisabeth’s handiwork.
“Just as the Butcher said, the dead girl’s body is missing some bits. Apparently, those of noble bearing taste better than common folk. They dine on the nobles and play with the commoners. After playing with you and the rest of the common children, no doubt he intended to enjoy dinner up here in the main building. Ah, how luxurious.”
Elisabeth nodded approvingly. Kaito clenched his fists. The rage and bloodlust within him had been validated once more. Oblivious to his fury, Elisabeth turned to Kaito and shrugged.
“The fools tried to eat me, and though killing them and making them divulge the location of that hidden door was entertaining, there were so many that some of them were able to flee into the courtyard. Chasing them down was quite the affair.”
“Elisabeth, I understand why it took you so long to get to me. But I don’t give a shit about that. We have to get to the annex. I need you to kill that demon for me.”
“Oh-ho, well, aren’t you fired up? Your wrist… Those who don’t fear pain are few and far between. But Kaito…why is it that you possess the resolve to sever your own wrist and the experience of walking through that bloodbath, yet you are blind to the truth right before your very eyes?”
“What do you mean?”
Instead of responding to his question, Elisabeth began walking. She left the kitchen, made her way down the corridor, and stopped in the center of the main hall. All the nonunderling staff must have fled, because the castle was deathly silent.
Her dark hair swayed beneath the glimmering chandelier light as she looked back over her shoulder.
“It seems the demon here torments people not simply for power but because he enjoys it even more than our friend the Knight did. He takes pleasure in their pain and their screams. But aside from the Grand Guignol, it seems his interests run even deeper. So think. What is the most elaborate form of despair, the form that a twisted man like him would find the most delightful?”
Kaito had no idea what Elisabeth was talking about. But he suddenly recalled the time when his father was strangling him. He’d kept Kaito in a state of dehydration, then given him water. And just when Kaito thought he’d been saved, his father killed him.
The deepest form of despair was to think you’d found salvation only to have your hopes crushed right in front of you.
“…He gives people hope, and just when they think they’ve been saved, he snatches it away.”
“Precisely! Once there are two left, and the only one left to kill before becoming the ‘last one standing’ is a frail little girl, any child would think that survival was well within their grasp—and naught could be more invigorating than killing them right then and there! Of course, your actions posed a flaw in that plan, but I imagine the demon had a good deal of fun nonetheless. Nary a single child managed to escape, after all.”
Understanding her answer, Kaito closed his eyes. The hall was silent. No children could be heard anywhere. Shaking his head, Kaito took a few steps away from Melanie, the sole survivor.
When they’d fled from that deadly game, what monster’s mouth had the children disappeared into?
“And on that note, I doubt you enjoyed assuming such a frail form, even if only temporarily, however…”
Elisabeth smiled affectionately as she gazed as Melanie’s face. But when she questioned the trembling girl, her voice was rife with contempt.
“…Why would an earl’s daughter be selected as a plaything and not as an ingredient?”
At that, the poppy-red dress swelled up like a sarcoma. The sweet little girl’s insides transformed into a mass of meat and cloth, and as her skin tore, it began leaking out like pus.
From within appeared a naked man with spider legs and strange white skin, his body covered in crow feathers.
The fat, bald man clacked his crow beak. After looking at the grotesque colossus and clucking her tongue at his spider legs, Elisabeth stroked her chin.
“The man downstairs is no doubt an underling or an imitator of some sort. So having lost your human form, you can even transform into a young girl, eh…? Although given that young boys were to be killed as well, perhaps you simply enjoy wearing girls’ clothes. Ah, how unpleasant. And though you possess the human title of ‘marquis,’ the demon you fused with is none other than the Earl. And here I’d come expecting a decent fight.”
“Who cares? Just kill that thing already.”
“What’s this, now? You’ve been acting rather oddly, haven’t you? What, do you have a grudge or some such?”
“You’re damn right—I’ll do anything you ask. Just make his death as painful as possible.”
Kaito repeated himself. Bloodlust bubbled up from deep within his heart.
His being the sole survivor was too cruel of a joke for him to handle. The Earl had killed the rest of the children. Kaito couldn’t allow him to live. Even though he’d just been rescued, he wouldn’t mind throwing his life away if it meant a chance to kill the Earl.
He couldn’t bear letting him live.
“…Ha.”
In place of a response, Elisabeth laughed. The next moment, she kicked him, and when he fell over, she planted a foot firmly on his back. There was so much force in her foot, he was afraid his spine would snap.
“Rgh!”
“Do not think for a moment that you can give orders to your master, you cur. Your words do not change the fact that this man is my prey. With or without your request, I aim to make his life my plaything.”
Elisabeth spoke coldly, then sent Kaito flying with a brutal kick to his stomach. As he landed near the wall, he spewed up a mixture of blood and vomit. Elisabeth turned to face the Earl.
“My servant’s manners are lacking. But now, we can proceed without interruption.”
She raised her arms majestically. The darkness and crimson petals swirled through the air, enveloping her body.
After the darkness dispersed and the petals fluttered to the floor, she was clad in her usual black bondage dress. Her slender fingers grasped the handle of the Executioner’s Sword of Frankenthal.
Placing a hand over her half-exposed chest, she gave the Earl a noble bow and offered her own announcement.
“Welcome to my very own Grand Guignol. For I am the audience, I am the scriptwriter, and I am the actor. I have no intention of letting you enjoy yourself in the slightest. I shall make you squeal like a pig and writhe like a caterpillar.”
After making her grandiose declaration, she swung her sword. Chains appeared out of thin air and traveled to savage the place the Earl had been a moment prior. But the Earl’s eight spider legs allowed him to dodge them easily. He leaped back, felling chandeliers in his wake. He exerted his pale, naked body, and crow feathers began shooting forth from it. At the same time, he shot spider thread out of his mouth. Countless attacks rained down on Elisabeth.
“Ha! Too weak; too slow!”
Elisabeth ran about, nimbly avoiding the projectiles. The ceiling and floor became riddled with holes, but Elisabeth didn’t have so much as a scratch on her. Even so, she didn’t seem to have any openings to launch a counterattack. No new chains were summoned. Noticing this, the Earl laughed with a sneer, and his attacks surged like a wave.
He had yet to notice the darkness and crimson flower petals coalescing at his feet and above his head.
Suddenly, the floor and ceiling made loud gong noises and began squeezing him.
Or, to be more specific, the gargantuan, flat stones that burst out from them did.
The Earl was pressed between two large stone slabs. A golden rod that looked like a barrel organ’s handle protruded from their center.
Kaito noticed Elisabeth sitting down by the pole’s grip. She turned to the blinking Earl, who had yet to comprehend the situation he was in, and beamed at him.
“The Wheel of Death. I squished your familiar, you know—but you, perhaps, I’ll take my time shaving down.”
Grr, grr, grr. The round stones made an ominous noise as they began rotating. As she spun the handle, the slabs turned like wheels. One turned to the left, and the other turned right. The Earl’s body was being audibly scraped away. Feathers tore off in time with the rotating, and his pale, flabby flesh began to chafe. Blood, fat, and flesh began dripping onto the floor.
The Earl let out a bloodcurdling scream. His beak went flying across the room, and the human mouth it had been covering quivered in pain and fear. His earlobes tore, and his temporal muscles began being flattened. He cried out in desperation.
“E-E-E-ELISABETH, ELISABEEEEEEEETH!”
“What is it, O Earl? Ah, your voice is as unpleasant as a pig’s squeal. Can you not retain a little of your dignity and have the decency to caw like a crow?”
“I—I can make you a deal! I can make you a deeeeeeal!”
“Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?”
The wheels clicked as they came to a stop. Kaito’s eyes burned fiercely, and his voice was low.
“…We’re not going to take any deal you have to offer.”
“I—I heard that when you finish hunting the thirteen demonsh, y-you’ll be burned at the shtake. I-if you leave m-me alive, you, you won’t have to die, either. Am I wrong? Our goalsh are in alignment. P-pleash don’t kill me.”
His face was caught by the sides, and the Earl’s vertical mouth drooled spit and blood as he made his plea. Elisabeth muttered “I see” to herself, then she hopped down from the handle. She smiled sweetly to the unseemly creature between the wheels. Shivering in fear, the Earl pitifully returned her smile.
“You imbecile!”
Grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind.
With a sharp roar, the wheels began turning again. Waving his limbs frantically, the Earl let out an incomprehensible scream. But those arms were plucked from his sides, and his shoulders were shaved flat. He was crushed like a nut. The blood pooling on the ground grew more and more viscous.
Her eyes glowed with absolute coldness, and Elisabeth looked down at the man.
“Despots are killed, tyrants are hung, and slaughterers are slaughtered. Such is the way of the world. The demise of torturers should be garnished with their own screams as they sink to Hell with no chance for salvation. Only at such a time is a torturer’s life truly complete. Yet, you tortured, not understanding that in the slightest? You embarrass yourself, Earl.”
Elisabeth’s voice was thick with hate and indignation. Kaito had never seen her display such bald-faced rage. With a loud gong, the two wheels finally lay on top of each other. Blood oozed from the crack between them. They’d finished crushing the Earl, and Elisabeth placed a foot on them as she murmured.
“You and I—we are fated to die, forsaken by all of creation.”
She softly lifted her foot. As she did, the pool of blood transformed into black feathers. They whirled into the air, stopped for a moment, then drifted to the floor.
They fell silently and beautifully, like so many black snowflakes, and Kaito clenched his fists as he watched them.
“…Hey, what about the kids up on the spikes in the rafters? Weren’t some of them still alive?”
“If they were, the Earl was merely keeping them alive with magic. They would have died along with him.”
“…I see…”
“What’s the matter? ’Tis much more preferable than an eternity of suffering.”
Elisabeth sighed, seeming bored. Kaito looked at her in a daze. Once, Elisabeth had carried out the same atrocities the demons were conducting now. Yet, somehow, she seemed fundamentally different from them. At the very least, Kaito saw a large gulf between the two.
He stood up, ignoring the pain, and called out to her.
“Thanks for that, Elisabeth.”
“Why thank me? I merely did with him as I pleased. To thank me for such an act surpasses buffoonery and strays into the realm of misunderstanding, does it not?”
“You’re going to die after you kill the thirteen demons, right? But you killed him anyway.”
“I care little about that. And I certainly didn’t do it for you. After I’ve tormented the thirteen demons, or, in short, the last thirteen victims the Church has officially permitted me to torture, I shall think little of death. The people suffered many casualties to capture me, so if they desire my death, then burning alive is my duty.”
She clicked her heels, then began walking. Her black dress fluttered as she spoke.
“Having lived the cruel and haughty life of a wolf, I shall die like a lowly sow.”
Elisabeth grew distant. She muttered in a low voice.
“…For that is the choice I made.”
Kaito, left alone, stared off into space. The black feathers caressed his face, as if grieving.
He thought of Neue and of the other dead children. He’d been the only one to survive. The end of their prison break was so tragic, it was almost laughable. But no matter how much he lamented it, reality cruelly refused to change.
Because he’d survived, he supposed there was something he needed to do.
Recalling Neue’s last words, he spoke quietly to himself.
“Don’t know how much luck I’m gonna have finding happiness in this world, though.”
But he would do everything he could.
Clutching the stump of his wrist, he strode forth. As he did, one of the falling feathers burst into blue flame. One by one, the rest of the feathers followed suit.
Eventually, the blue flames took to the castle as well.
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That place had been home to countless deaths. As the flames lapped at the stone walls, it almost seemed as though they were in mourning.
3
Treasury Hunt
The wild deer liver sauté with raisin marinade went flying across the room.
Kaito held up a silver tray to protect himself from the rain of food. He then skillfully blocked the knife that followed after it. It made a clang as it bounced off the tray.
“I. Keep. Telling you. Stop throwing the food!”
This manner of exchange had been going on for about two weeks now. He was more than used to it.
It alarmed him how acclimated he was.
At any rate, he finished blocking the attacks and fastened his gaze on the culprit. Elisabeth.
She had planted one foot on the table, and she was pressing down on her trembling brow with her index finger. The wineglass beside her that he’d so faithfully prepared was on its side. Magnificent tears welled up in her eyes as she shouted.
“It’s vile! The sweetness and sourness of the raisin marinade… The liver that manages to fill the mouth with the taste of blood despite being dry as a bone… Both flavors combine so poorly, I’m convinced you have a gift for vile cuisine!”
“It is with great honor that I accept your compliment.”
“That was no compliment!”
She threw her fork at him. In an impressive show of aim, the fork flew just a few inches above the tray and buried itself in Kaito’s forehead. He yanked it out. Blood spurted from the wound.
“Miss Elisabeth, O Miss Elisabeth. I appear to be bleeding.”
“Why should I care?! A servant of mine should be able to plug a hole of that severity with willpower alone.”
“Not sure how far willpower’s gonna get me.”
Kaito pressed down on his wound and sighed. In truth, wounds of this caliber no longer fazed him. He’d been used to pain from the get-go, after all, and after having his lost hand replaced and reattached, he didn’t sweat the little things anymore.
Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 1 Page 7