Chapter 26
“Save me.” Those words were enough.
Ashtein muttered coldly.
“No need to warn you three times. You crossed the line all on your own.”
Thud, thud.
He walked.
Toward the cardinal and the bishops.
The Hero’s unexpected appearance plunged the darkroom into chaos.
Mavlov was just as bewildered.
Why had the Hero, who was supposed to take the Holy Sword’s test, arrived here?
Even if he’d finished the test quickly, outsiders were forbidden from entering this place.
And yet the Hero had come here?
What were the Holy Knights, prepared for just such an occasion, doing now?
There was no way the cult’s Holy Knights had all been subdued by a single man.
Thinking he should buy time until they arrived, Mavlov began to speak.
“Hero……?”
Shhk.
Before he knew it, the Hero had closed in and severed Mavlov’s wrist.
It was a decisive, unhesitating act.
Blood spurted from the severed wrist like a fountain.
Mavlov felt a searing burn in his flesh.
Even so, perhaps intending to take Aria beside him hostage, he reached toward her.
But Ashtein wasn’t about to let that happen.
He severed the other wrist as well.
It was an exceptionally clean technique.
Mavlov’s hands rolled futilely across the floor.
He gritted his teeth and stumbled backward.
“Guhhhhh, Hero! What have you done?!”
Ashtein flicked the blood from his sword and replied.
“I think that’s my line.”
Passionate rage coiled within his cold gaze.
It was no immature emotion.
It was restrained, concentrated hostility.
Mavlov tried to regenerate his severed hands using divine arts.
Contrary to his intentions, they didn’t regenerate easily.
It felt as though someone were deliberately delaying his recovery.
He couldn’t help but panic at the unexpected turn of events.
“W-why aren’t they healing……?”
Ashtein walked toward Mavlov with an impassive expression.
“Strong monsters tend to have tough hides and good regenerative abilities. So how do you kill one? Simple. Destroy its brain or keep it from healing.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?!”
At Mavlov’s shout, Ashtein sighed.
“I didn’t make it hard to understand. You’re a little slow on the uptake. I stopped you from regenerating, that’s all.”
Mavlov’s face, usually so confident and triumphant, twisted into a vicious scowl.
Aria found the sight astonishing and surreal.
Cardinal Mavlov, who she’d thought would keep his composure no matter the situation.
This was the first time she’d seen him look so cornered.
“Y-you think you’ll get away with this?!”
At the desperate threat, Ashtein laughed sardonically.
“You think you’ll get away with it?”
“You crazy bastard!”
Ashtein fixed Mavlov with a fierce stare.
It was a look reeking of murderous intent and blood.
“I would’ve stayed quiet if someone hadn’t gone out of their way to drive me mad.”
At his sarcasm, Mavlov shouted in a voice mingled with anger and fear.
“Y-you’re an outsider! What grounds do you have for this outrageous violence?!”
Outrageous violence?
What an absurd thing to say.
Had anything they’d done to Aria been justified?
“And gang-raping the Saintess is morally acceptable?”
“Shut up! There are circumstances that justify it……”
When had it happened?
In an instant, Ashtein stood before Mavlov.
He deftly swept Mavlov’s legs out from under him and mounted him.
“Grrgh!”
Mavlov’s face flushed as he writhed.
But Ashtein didn’t budge, solid as a mighty tree.
“There are no circumstances that justify it. Most of the time, it’s nothing but an excuse.”
His voice was full of ridicule and disgust.
“You insolent, impertinent wretch! How dare you mock me……!”
Wham.
A heavy, dull fist struck Mavlov’s face.
Ashtein looked down at the man pinned beneath him with a doll-like expression.
“Someone was hoping you’d get beaten to a pulp.”
“Who would dare?!”
“Who do you think?”
Bam.
Bam.
Bam.
Ashtein pummeled him mercilessly.
His punches were strong enough to turn Mavlov’s face to mush.
The nearby bishops could only hold their breath and watch.
They were overwhelmed by the atmosphere.
Aria watched it all in a daze, too.
How many blows had he taken?
It was around the time Mavlov was groaning quietly, unable even to cry out.
“………Please stop.”
A young boy’s voice rang through the darkroom.
Ashtein stopped punching and turned his head.
Confronted by the gaze of a wild beast, the boy felt himself shrink back.
The boy, Makarov, was afraid of Ashtein.
There was nothing strange about that.
Even the cult’s finest Holy Knights felt instinctive fear of him.
His wild murderous intent was too much for a young boy to withstand.
Even so, he couldn’t back down here.
It was for his own sake, and for Aria’s.
“Why should I?”
It was a fierce question.
Makarov steadied his trembling body and looked at the Hero.
“……Otherwise, you would kill my father—no, His Eminence the Cardinal.”
“Probably.”
Ashtein made his living killing monsters, but he could kill people as well if the situation called for it.
And the present situation gave him ample reason to kill.
“That is not the right path. If you let a moment of anger make you ruin everything, the reputation and trust you and the Saintess have will hit rock bottom. That is why His Eminence the Cardinal must be held accountable through proper legal procedures and receive the punishment he deserves.”
Ashtein looked coldly at Makarov, who was trembling.
“Those are pretty words.”
Makarov struggled to open his mouth.
“Yes, I know.”
“Pretty words are usually empty. Like the flattery merchants are always spouting.”
It was a harsh, skeptical thing to say, but it was the reality.
Makarov understood that, too.
That was why he had to argue all the more strongly.
“But this kind of slapdash revenge won’t improve the Saintess’s situation. If anything, things will only get worse. You know how important it is to have justification, don’t you, Hero?”
The golden-haired boy stood his ground and argued back.
His eyes were utterly steadfast.
Ashtein admired him inwardly and shook his head.
“Aria asked me to help her.”
“She asked you to save her, not to kill everyone here.”
That, too, was a reasonable argument.
Momentarily at a loss for words, Ashtein slowly looked at the boy.
“Why are you so desperately sticking up for this man? Is it because he’s your father?”
Makarov bit his lip.
“I can’t claim that has nothing to do with it. And even if I did, I doubt you’d believe me completely. But the biggest reason is that I don’t think the victim, the Saintess, should be turned into the perpetrator.”
It wasn’t a smoothly delivered answer.
His voice trembled here and there, and sometimes it cracked.
But Ashtein sensed a strange force in his words.
The victim shouldn’t be turned into the perpetrator.
For a child, those were remarkably moving words.
“Aria.”
So Ashtein called Aria.
He wanted to give her the final say.
“Yes, Mr. Ashtein.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Me?”
“Yes. I want to hear your opinion.”
Aria fell silent.
Then she looked around at the people nearby.
Apart from Ashtein and Makarov, everyone here had ignored her will and forced themselves on her.
There was no way she could feel any goodwill toward them.
“………I—I want the Cardinal to die. I want everyone here to die, too. Because it was hard, because it hurt, because I suffered.”
With every word she spoke, Ashtein’s presence grew more savage, while the bishops’ faces grew paler in equal measure.
Makarov listened to Aria with a pained expression.
Aria continued.
“But…… I shouldn’t do that, should I? I’d be indulging myself. Because I’m not the Saintess that Believer Makarov admires. A Saintess who wishes for everyone to die—that’s a contradiction.”
Ashtein stood up and looked at Aria.
“Don’t worry about that. Do whatever you want.”
At Ashtein’s seemingly indifferent yet considerate words, Aria’s lips curved into a thin crescent.
“Do you know that makes me even more certain of what I want?”
“……?”
“I want to stay by your side, kind Mr. Ashtein. To do that, I need the title of Saintess.”
“I don’t care if you’re not a Saintess.”
“I want to help you as much as I can.”
Ashtein looked at the Cardinal he’d beaten.
He wanted to kill him.
But Aria didn’t want that.
“You’re lucky.”
Shhk.
Ashtein swept his sword horizontally, slicing both of Mavlov’s eyes.
“I won’t kill you, but taking your sight is acceptable.”
He had taken away Mavlov’s hands and eyes.
Since the wounds had been deliberately inflicted, even divine arts would have trouble healing them.
They would be a major impediment for the rest of his life.
Ashtein sighed.
Was it over, for now?
Just as he was about to feel relieved—
“Kyaa!”
“Oh my, it seems the Hero let his guard down.”
It happened in an instant.
Bishop Ronin grabbed Aria around the waist and held a dagger to her throat.
He was skilled at concealing his presence, so Ashtein’s reaction was delayed.
Ashtein glared at Ronin with a growl.
“You sure do love pulling the same boring shit to the very end, religious fanatic.”
“You’re hardly one to talk, after ruining the plan I’d so carefully laid out.”
Bishop Ronin’s face was twisted horribly.
Like someone who’d realized the feast he’d been looking forward to was nothing but chaff.
“That’s what being a Hero is. Ruining a perfectly good meal is part of the job.”
“What a hateful way to put it.”
Hostility.
The two men stared each other down, their eyes filled with hostility.
Ashtein said,
“Get that blade away from Aria’s throat if you don’t want to die.”
“Then please step aside.”
“I’ll step aside if you let Aria go.”
Ronin clicked his tongue and replied in a contemptuous tone.
“Negotiations are over, then.”
Stab.
Ronin plunged the dagger into the back of Aria’s neck.
Metal tore through skin, cutting muscle tissue and blood vessels.
Blood flowed.
Aria’s eyes flew wide, but she couldn’t even scream.
Then her head drooped.
Dead?
Aria?
Ashtein’s relaxed face turned vicious in an instant.
He prepared to charge immediately, but Ronin pulled the dagger from Aria’s nape and, holding the bloodied blade, wagged his index finger.
“Stop. She’s still alive.”
“………Don’t give me that bullshit, you bastard.”
His voice trembled with barely contained rage, ready to burst at any moment.
Ronin replied, having recovered some of his composure.
“I’m not lying. Ah, just so there’s no misunderstanding, the Saintess has exceptional divine power, so a cut like this won’t kill her. She has a tenacious life force. Still, she is human, so a few more stabs would put her in danger.”
Ashtein was frantic.
Aria’s throat was still gushing blood.
“Let Aria go. Now.”
“Haha, do you think I’d willingly let go of my lifeline?”
It was a truly vile feeling.
In Ronin, Ashtein glimpsed the noble boy who had taken his sister away from him.
The Hero spat out his words to Ronin.
“You’re the one person I have to kill.”
“How frightening, Hero.”
Ronin slowly made his way toward the door of the darkroom Ashtein had smashed open.
“But you must be frightened, too, at the thought of Aria dying.”
Ashtein wanted to refute him, but it was true.
He didn’t want to lose someone precious to him so pointlessly.
“I expected you to be disillusioned by Aria’s appearance, but I’m disappointed by how strong your resolve is. Ah, if only I’d had a little more time, this story might have become a little more entertaining. Who knew time would be so tight?”
Ashtein followed the retreating Ronin and asked,
“What are you going to do with Aria?”
“Hmm, I plan to confine her in a secluded place and remind her of despair all over again. Given her current state, she’d be better off avoiding public appearances. Things have gone somewhat differently from the plan I’d drawn up, but I still intend to squeeze out whatever I can……”
Ashtein furrowed his brow.
“As disgusting as you are, even your ideas are revolting.”
Ronin laughed at Ashtein’s insult and spun the dagger around.
“You flatter me. How long do you plan on following me?”
“Until you let Aria go.”
Ronin’s serpentine, sinister eyes curved into crescents.
“Do you truly want Aria to die?”
“The way you talk, you sound pretty attached to Aria yourself. Can you really kill her?”
Suddenly, Ronin burst out laughing.
It was the kind of laughter that came from being unable to contain his delight.
“Ah, that’s right. Attachment. I’m very attached to her.”
Ronin paused for a couple of breaths, then continued.
“But if I can’t have her, wouldn’t it be better to break her?”
Ashtein felt a chill.
The other man’s eyes were utterly serious.
What filled them could only be called madness.
He was the sort of man who would actually do what he’d just said.
‘Damn it.’
His own carelessness had put him in checkmate.
There was no way out.
Was he supposed to stand by and let Aria be abducted like this?
After making such a big promise to save her?
He couldn’t be more pathetic.
-You seem to be in a bind.
Suddenly, a voice rang out.
“………Guh?”
Ronin let out an unexpected groan and lost his hold on Aria.
At some point, the Holy Sword had flown in from behind and pierced Ronin’s shoulder blade.
How the Holy Sword had flown all the way here wasn’t important.
It had created an opening.
Ashtein wasn’t about to miss it.
He gripped his sword.
He compressed and concentrated his power, his mana.
He gathered the greatest force he could muster in an instant.
The sword pulsed like a beating heart.
A black aura gathered around the sword.
It looked like a black star burning.
This was all because of you.
Aria hurting herself.
Aria watching everyone for their reactions.
Aria acting as though she’d given up on something.
All of it had happened because you existed.
Because you had suppressed her freedom.
So I will erase you.
So she can move forward.
So she won’t be bound by the past.
“Vanish, you damned specter.”
Ashtein reached Ronin’s side at high speed.
With the Holy Sword piercing him, Ronin had no means of resisting.
Ashtein swung his sword.
Ronin could only watch.
The scene seemed to unfold in slow motion.
He thought,
‘Aria, I wanted to see you suffer in anguish a little longer.’
A black flash descended upon Ronin.
That was the last thing he saw.
