–This is a memory of a distant day.
The boy was born in a small village in the eastern part of the holy city of Schmerz.
He was a timid, fidgety kid.
The boy was so timid that even his parents told him he didn’t have enough courage as a boy.
There were many active children in the village, and it was not rare for him to be made fun of.
Unlike others, the boy couldn’t run much and wasn’t able to climb trees.
When asked why he was afraid, the boy didn’t know.
He just knew that he was scared.
At the age of seven, the other kids started to talk about their dreams.
“I want to be an adventurer.”
“I want to be a cool hero like Amatsu.”
In their words, the boy could not find anything he wanted to do nor anything he could relate to.
‘It’s scary to be an adventurer and fight. There is no way I could be a hero’, he thought.
Unable to find his own timid dreams, he spent his days just sitting on a stump and looking at the idyllic landscape.
It happened one day.
“What are you doing over there?”
Someone came to talk to the boy who was sitting on a stump.
She was just as young as him.
“I’m looking at the scenery.”
“Hmm. Are you having fun?”
“… I don’t know.”
“Then listen to me”, she said as she sat down next to him.
Then, the girl spoke to the silent boy unilaterally without minding him.
She kept whining about how tough her parents are, or how she has to read the Bible every day.
Listening to the girl, the boy says what he thinks of it.
Once satisfied by her rant, the girl walked away.
The next day, too, the girl came.
She sat next to the boy and talks to him about this and that.
The boy again utters only a few words of his thoughts.
The day after, and even the day after that, the girl came.
The girl talked again and again to him, who no one else did because ‘he was not fun to play with’.
“…Hey, why are you talking to me?”
One day, the boy asked.
He couldn’t understand why the girl would have a conversation with him when it wouldn’t be any fun at all.
“Why… because you’ll listen to me, I guess.”
“Eh…?”
To the confused boy, the girl said with a grin:
“The other kids in the village like to run and climb trees and stuff, don’t they? I want to talk to them, but they won’t listen to me, but you do.”
“… I just don’t like to work out.”
“Still, you’ll listen to me and respond properly, won’t you?”
“…”
“Besides, talking to you calms me down.”
That’s why I want to talk to you like this.
“No good?”
The boy hurriedly shook his head at the girl, who tilted her head to the side as she said that.
Calming.
It was the first time he had ever been told that.
But the boy also found that talking to the girl calmed him down a lot.
“… Name”
“Hmm?”
“I haven’t heard your name yet.”
“Ah! Come to think of it, I don’t know your name either!”
“That’s so weird! Ahahah!” The girl replied, laughing.
“I’m Kyrie. Kyrie Ursula Avern.”
Nodding at the girl’s words, the boy said:
“…I’m Leo William Disfrender.”
This is a memory of a distant past.
An encounter etched into the memory of a boy and a girl.
◆
“But that was a real letdown…”
While waiting for his visitor in his private room, Marx muttered quietly.
That night, Luzer took the trouble to sneak into my mansion.
It sent a chill down my spine when he told me about the one who killed George and the others, but there were too many other facts to be stupefied by this.
The return of Amatsu who had been killed.
A demon that was acting with him.
I expected it to be much more difficult to trap those two.
I thought they would at least amputate my hand or a leg at the very least, but I never thought I would be able to get out of it completely unscathed.
“I can’t believe you bothered helping those stupid women. So you’re still a hero, even though you’re a rotten one. I’m really stupefied by this amount of stupidity.”
If that was the real Amatsu, he would have known that he had been betrayed 30 years ago.
And yet, he still tries to help people, truly a boundless fool.
“I was prepared to lose a limb before catching him in the trap and yet…”
Somehow, those two stopped in their tracks before lashing out at me.
I took this opportunity to make the floor collapse, but it’s a bit puzzling.
Both were opponents who outperformed me in skill.
If I had been slashed from the front, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything.
From the beginning, I planned to pretend to be weakened by the first hit I receive and take the opportunity to make the floor collapse.
“Either there wasn’t as much difference in skill as I thought… or they were wary of me.”
I would surely have died had they successfully cut off one of my limbs.
I wasted some of the magic items I received from Luzer as ‘protection against demons’ when the floor collapsed.
“If I knew it was going to be like that, I would have just taken the magic items from him without using them for this.”
Even without the collection of magic items created as anti-demon measures, Marx had a secret technique.
The only trump card that could take ‘Hero Amatsu’ and the demon by surprise and drop them into a trap.
“Hmmm… well, that’s okay.”
The ghost of ‘Hero Amatsu’ had lost his power.
He looked like he had high-level skills, but he wasn’t that much trouble in the end.
And even the demon woman, while being contained by the barrier of Luzer, she shouldn’t pose much threat.
The hole had been set up with multiple barriers and some traps to finish those two off.
Some of the traps and barriers were prepared by Luzer personally, but I am fully aware of every one of their effects.
Those two must have fallen into one of the traps by now.
I can take my time to deal with those two tomorrow.
“I guess I was overly cautious after all. I sure went through a lot of trouble to deal with that kind of opponent, how wasteful…”
As he said this, Marx’s lips began to rise as he thought of the two people falling to the bottom of the hole.
“You sure seem joyful, huh.”
A familiar male’s voice echoed through the room.
Marx stood up in a flash.
“Bastard, you’re taking them too lightly.”
“… Luzer?”
Luzer’s voice ran through the room.
Marx lowered his gaze when he realized that the source of the sound was from something hung around his waist.
Without his knowledge a small ring had been attached to the hilt of his sword.
“This is…”
“A useful one. It’s a magical item that conveys voice through magic.
When did he put it there?
Marx held his tongue as he tried to ask such a stupid question.
When did that happen?
It was, of course, the night we first made contact.
Luzer profited from the fact the Marx wasn’t vigilant and attached the magic item.
The reason that Marx didn’t realize it before this very moment is probably that it’s an on-off type of item that doesn’t release any magic unless it is used.
“…”
“What, are you mad at me? You should be grateful instead. If it wasn’t for my flying magic, you’d have had your hands and feet chopped off, right?
“… Rather, I had a countermeasure planned, assuming they would do that.”
“Oh. Did I get in the way?”
A vein popped up on Marx’s forehead as he heard the mocking tone of Luzer.
In frustration, he reached for the ring attached to the sword at his waist.
“Hey, are you going to break it? Isn’t that too wasteful?”
“Don’t do whatever you want in my house. I will also break any magic items the moment I find them.”
With a snap, Marx shattered the ring.
Luzer’s voice, which he had been hearing clearly until now, became fuzzy as it mixed with noise.
“All right. I set it all up to this point. Don’t you dare fuck up now – ”
After those words, Luzer’s voice was completely inaudible.
He tosses the ring to the ground and stomps on it with the soles of his shoes in frustration.
“I don’t know how great the ‘Lost Magic’ is supposed to be, but you’re getting carried away. I don’t need you to tell me that.”
He was the man who had set up half the traps in that hole.
Do you think I can’t kill you because of what you’ve done for me?
“… Tsk.”
Or is he flattering himself too much?
Either way, two people of that level won’t be able to break through the traps.
“After all, they will end up being eaten alive.”
I’m going to check the whole room and see if Luzer hasn’t put something else in here…
Apparently, that ring was the only thing that he set up.
“Right now, it doesn’t matter…”
Marx’s chair creaks with a squeak.
He closes his eyes and shifts his thoughts to a different matter.
It’s not about the intruders or Luzer that I’m thinking about.
— Kyrie Ursula Avern.
From the first glance, I knew she was a good woman.
The women in the Holy Order are all dressed up, but the moment they take off their clothes, they are all skinny, slender at best.
But Kyrie is different.
Even without dressing up, she has a beautiful and firm body.
From the very beginning, Marx had been convinced that Kyrie was the best woman he could find.
“If it’s just to play around with her like a toy, a demi-human would be enough…
But there is nothing comparable to breaking a human woman.”
So far, I’ve always got whatever I wanted to have.
I took advantage of George and Lily, who were my bosses, to get money and status.
I used the money and position I had gained to acquire subordinates, a woman to play with, and even power.
And that woman is no exception.
I will definitely get her.
Her body is really nice, but being able to use chanting magic is also important.
And the moment I don’t need her anymore, I can just eat her.
(TN: both meanings work)
“Ahh… Mr. Disfrender. I’m sorry I’m a sinful man.”
Of course, I know that Leo is in love with Kyrie.
Being aware of it made me want Kyrie even more.
“Even though you’re still a kid, you made it to the seat of second-in-command.”
How hard do you think I had to work to get to this position?
There’s no way I could allow that punk-ass kid to be right under me.
“Kuku.”
I wonder what face he would make if he knew how the former captain, whom Leo respected so much, had ended. (EN: This is about the former captain of the Knight’s Order who ‘disappeared’.)
It’s heartbreaking just to imagine.
“… Hmm.”
While I was thinking about such things, the time came.
A little before midnight.
“There’s no sign of those two coming back up. Were their bodies half-eaten after all?”
In that case, let’s take our time here.
A few minutes later, there was a visitor at the mansion.
When he opened the door, Kyrie, dressed in simple clothes, was standing there.
“I’m glad you’re here, Kyrie.”
At the door, Marx warmly welcomed Kyrie.
“… Good evening.”
Kyrie is slightly cowering, her voice quiet and trembling.
I could see the frightened look on her face as she took my hand.
“Come on, what are we doing here? Let’s talk in my room.”
Resisting the urge to burst out laughing, I urged Kyrie to the bedroom.
Keeping her head down, Kyrie wordlessly obeyed.
(Stupid woman.)
In Marx’s opinion, Kyrie is not one of those stupid and dim-witted women you see out there.
Because if she was just an idiot, she would have been swallowed up by the number of conspiracies in the cult and would not have been able to get to where she is now.
(But…)
When Leo is involved, the story changes.
It is because she knows the number of conspiracy techniques in the Order that she knows the horror of “power”.
Power and connections run deep in the Order.
If Marx, who is deeply involved in both the Order and the Knights, gets his hands dirty, he can easily prevent Leo’s ascension.
It would even be possible to transfer him to a remote area where the battle was fierce and invite him to die in battle.
(Although actually, it would take quite the effort to make Disfrender drop out, he who had risen to his current position at such a young age.)
“…”
Fearing that Leo’s future would be cut off, Kyrie accepted her engagement to Marx.
Apparently, this woman is afraid of being dead weight for Leo.
(That’s why it was so easy to get you, Kyrie.)
Marx banished the mockery out of his heart.
That’s why.
“…”
He couldn’t help but notice the breathtaking sight of Kyrie holding her ears and gasping for breath as they walked.
◆
“Alright, let’s make some tea. Just sit there.”
“Yes…”
Marx lets Kyrie sit down in a chair and goes to get a cup of tea.
In the white steaming black tea he sprinkled the brown powder he had taken out of his pocket.
The powder melts quickly and blends into the color of the tea and becomes invisible.
It’s a decoction of a certain herb that is forbidden to use.
If you put just the right amount in a cup of tea, it will get you dazed as if you were drunk.
By the time the powder’s effect wears off, Kyrie will become desperate for another cup of tea.
Once that happens, Kyrie will no longer be able to leave me.
“I’m sorry I kept you waiting.”
When Marx returned to the room with a cup of tea, Kyrie looked up timidly.
Her face was pale, perhaps from nervousness.
“Don’t be so tense. Here, have some of this tea to help you calm down.”
As I was handing her the teacup, I realized her tension was beginning to fade away.
“… What was that…?”
Kyrie gazed at Marx with a nervous face and asked so in a quivering voice.
The question, slightly agitating Marx, caused impatience to show on his face.
“… Hmm? What’s the matter, Kyrie? For now, calm down…”
“A scream… I can hear screams, there are people screaming.”
“…. wh-what?”
Kyrie tells in a hoarse voice while pressing her hands on her ears.
“Ever since I entered the mansion, I’ve heard a lot of women screaming.”
“… What are you talking about?”
“Jail…drugs…no more…help me…help me…”
At Kyrie’s words, Marx froze.
Those screams and lamentations, don’t reach Marx’s ears.
No matter how good your ears are, there’s no way you can hear the sounds in the basement here.
(Even if you use magic, you shouldn’t be able to hear it….!)
At the word magic, Marx’s eyes widened in surprise.
The name of the magic this woman uses is the famous “Sacred Magic”.
It’s a special kind of magic that recreates the miracles of God in the modern age.
“You’re not… ‘Hearing’…?”
It was recorded in the Bible.
‘The Holy Light God’ Melt didn’t miss the call for help.
People used to call this miracle [Holy Hearing].
If this woman can use it…
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Kyrie. You must be tired. Now, drink this tea and calm down–”
He smiles and offers a cup of tea to Kyrie.
It doesn’t matter whether you have [Holy Hearing] or not, as long as you drink this.
If I can get her to drink this…
“-”
A small painful and numbing sensation ran through Marx’s hand.
The teacup was sent flying and shattered with a clang.
“… Did you put something in the tea?”
“This is …”
“After I heard the scream, I put a barrier on my body… To protect my body from all that is forsworn.”
After a quick glance at the tea seeping into the carpet, Kyrie glared at Marx.
“What have you done …?”
Kyrie’s pair of eyes stared at Marx from the front.
It’s not the same girl’s face from earlier.
It is the face of one who’s determined to cleanse and purify all evil, the face of a clergyman.
“I never thought… I never thought you’d be hiding such a power.”
“… It’s not like I was hiding it. This is the first time I’ve ever heard a scream.”
“It’s a troubling ability”, said Marx while squinting.
Kyrie glares at Marx with a stern expression on her face.
“… You aren’t denying it, huh?”
At Kyrie’s words, Marx lightly sighs.
Then he taps his fingers on the desk three times.
“Because there’s no need to deny it.”
“… Why?”
“It’s a given.”
With a bang, a subordinate, responding to Marx’s signal, rushed into the bedroom.
“It’s because you’re going to die in here.”
He had kept his men on standby in case of unforeseen circumstances, but he hadn’t expected to need them for dealing with Kyrie.
Marx sighs as there is nothing else that can be done.
“Kill her.”
“Are you sure, sir?”
“It’s too bad I can’t break her, but as long as she’s alive, there is no knowing what she could pull off with this magic of hers. Behead her and make sure she’s not breathing.”
It’s a shame, but it can’t be helped.
Let’s eat her body after making sure she died.
“…”
A subordinate draws his sword and slashes at Kyrie.
Unable to cope with the movements of a trained knight, Kyrie’s head is cut off…
“[Flame anthem].”
Marx, who was convinced of that, was suddenly covered in white flames.
Immediately after Marx rushed out, his subordinates who had been swallowed by the flames screamed out.
He staggered and rolled around on the ground, losing consciousness instantly.
“—”
With just one word, Kyrie wielded magic surpassing even advanced magic in power.
Kyrie, standing amidst white flames, her string-bound indigo-blue hair waving.
Despite of the extraordinary amount of heat, the bodies of the burned men were not scorched.
“It’s wonderful. So this is the sacred magic I’ve heard so much about…!”
“I won’t attack you if you don’t try to resist. Marx, tell me what you are doing to these people. I can’t let you commit more sins.”
“I deserve that kind of power!”
Marx is elated at the sight of a miracle being recreated.
Kyrie wordlessly swung her arm down at the approaching Marx with her sword drawn.
No furniture is burned, only white flames gushing out at Marx.
“Its power is impressive but… !”
“…”
The white flame swallowed the helpless trained knight and rushed toward Marx’s torso.
Marx avoids it by leaning heavily on his back.
Kyrie gasped for an instant at the unimaginable flexibility he demonstrated but quickly moved on to the next attack.
In conjunction with Kyrie’s behavior, the blade formed out of white flames attacks Marx, but…
“Unlike you, I’m used to fights!”
Marx avoids it by rolling forward.
With the momentum of his rotation, he closed the distance between him and Kyrie and slashed at the same time as he got up.
Kyrie doesn’t react well to the tricky body move.
“This kind of gift is wasted on you!”
Aiming at her lower abdomen, he trusts his sword.
“[Aegis].”
The moment the sword touched the wall that appeared with Kyrie’s chant, the sword broke into shards.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Marx releases a palm strike, but the wall doesn’t move an inch.
“… The Holy Light God’s defensive magic…”
“Yes. You won’t be able to break through these defenses.” (TN: that’s a quality flag)
With his hands against the wall, Marx droops as if he’s given up.
Seeing that, she lowered her eyes and looked sad.
“Mr. Marx. Do not sin again. God Melt said, ‘Confess your sins and repent.'”
“Kyrie-kun…”
“We all make mistakes. It’s what you do after you’ve wronged that matters. Sir Marx, come with me to the Knights’ quarters. If you explain the situation properly…”
At Kyrie’s words, Marx looked up.
Kyrie loosened her guard, thinking he came to an understanding.
But soon after, she froze upon seeing the sneer stuck to Marx’s face.
“You really are a naive woman.”
Marx’s arm, which had touched [Aegis] flashed a reddish-black light.
At the same time that Kyrie took a step back in fright of the light.
“[The usurpation of magic].”
The wall that protected her was swallowed by Marx’s right arm.
Agitation appears on Kyrie’s face as she sees her magic disappear.
“…”
“Too late!”
Quicker than she could release the white flames, Marx’s arm grabbed Kyrie by the throat.
He lifted Kyrie’s delicate body lightly and then violently slammed her against the wall of the room.
The shock almost made Kyrie’s consciousness jump.
“Haa… Ha-a.”
Marx’s arms gripping Kyrie’s neck.
Countless red and black blood vessels were visible on his exposed skin.
At the center of the vessel is a rhombus-shaped crystal that pulsates.
“Does this bother you?”
“…”
“It’s part of the power of the hero Amatsu. I got it in return for my cooperation with George and the others.”
Says Marx with a disgusting grin plastered on his face.
George and Lily have been working to recreate the cells and magic of the hero Amatsu.
In the process, they had succeeded in reproducing to some extent the [magical usurpation] magic that Amatsu had been using.
“As it wasn’t practical, those guys seem to have turned to homunculus research.”
“Kah…h-A…ha…”
With a rumbling sound, parts of Marx’s body began to deform.
What looked like red-black tentacles appeared through the gaps of his clothes.
At the tip of it, a circular mouth with countless teeth clings.
“By eating people with this, I can make some of their powers mine.”
“…”
“Kyrie…… I am going to devour your soft skin, sip your blood, and chew on your bones. By doing so, I will be able to obtain your sacred magic.”
The tentacles wriggled while coming closer to Kyrie.
Kyrie struggles to escape but is unable to even squirm under Marx’s inhuman arm strength.
“If you become my pet, there’s nothing I can’t help you with?”
Marx’s grin, painted with lust, was as vile as could be.
With hazy consciousness…
“…No..I..do-n’t…”
Kyrie refused to comply.
Giving in here would be an insult to the God she believes in, and to those she loves.
She is simply unable to do that.
“Aargh! I hate that! I can’t believe this little bitch dares reject me.”
“…”
“I’ll eat you to the bone.”
The tentacles, widening their mouth pounce on Kyrie.
“What?”
The memory of that distant day ran through her mind like a running lantern.
◆
She was lonely.
Her parents were so obsessed with elevating their status in the Order that they never bothered to look at her.
Not wanting to offend them, Kyrie had no choice but to remain calm and be a good girl.
So all along, she had always wanted someone to listen to her.
I talked about it to friends of my age, but they didn’t seem to understand very well.
I couldn’t help but wryly laugh when I was told by an older boy “Let’s go climb a tree instead”.
There wasn’t an adult to talk to.
It was then that I met a boy.
A shy, timid, and a little dull boy.
Kyrie knew he was being made fun of by the village’s other children.
It was only on a whim that she spoke to him as he was zoning out on the outskirts of the village.
It was just a way to pass time as she was bored.
Kyrie complained unilaterally.
She didn’t think he’d even care about it anyway.
But…
“… Um… let’s see.”
The boy listened to Kyrie and firmly said what he thought.
Though he didn’t talk much,
it made Kyrie happy to see that he had listened to her properly.
Then Kyrie began talking to that boy every day.
It must have been nearly two years since she met the boy.
Having befriended the lively Kyrie, the boy had become somewhat familiar with the children of the village.
“Here we go.”
“But… it’s dangerous.”
“It’s okay!”
That day, the children of the village gathered together and Kyrie and the others went into the forest, which was forbidden to enter.
They wished to explore it, pushed by their curiosity and childish adventurous spirit.
Forcibly pulling the reluctant boy in, Kyrie and the others went deeper and deeper into the forest.
“Ah!”
On the way, Kyrie saw a beautiful field of flowers.
For some reason, she had an uncontrollable desire for the flowers that were growing, so she jumped out of the row and stepped into the field.
While she was engrossed in the most beautiful flowers she had ever seen, Kyrie went deep into the forest by herself.
“… Eh?”
By the time she noticed, there was no one around and the sun was going down.
Alone in the forest, Kyrie wandered for hours.
The sun disappeared from the sky, the surroundings had become dark for a while already now, and she didn’t even know where she was.
She was anxious, scared.
Every time a sound came to her attention, she couldn’t help but be overcome by enough fright to make her cry.
And while she was wandering.
“RRR-”
Finally, Kyrie encountered monsters.
A small wolf-shaped demon pounced on Kyrie while drooling.
Unable to do anything, terrified, she fell down.
“Help me…”
It was right after that.
Someone came between Kyrie and the demon.
“What?”
A dark forest without even the light of the moon.
In the darkness of the night, persuaded that nobody is going to help…
Attacked by monsters, only a few moments from death…
“It’s fine now…”
Her body was trembling, and she was on the verge of crying.
With a wooden stick in hand, a kid rushed over to protect Kyrie.
That boy’s name was…
◆
With a thud, there was the sound of something falling to the ground.
Tentacles that had been cut off could be seen writhing around on the ground.
Marx backed away with an anguished expression on his face.
“You–!”
In addition, her neck, which had been tightened, suddenly became comfortable.
Something warm supported Kyrie’s body as she was collapsing.
It was like a re-enactment of that time.
Apart from the fact that she wasn’t trembling or crying this time.
He is clutching a single sword with an expression of indignation.
“It’s gonna be okay now.”
He spoke with a soft tone.
“Leo…”
Leo William Disfrender.
— He was Kyrie’s precious childhood friend.
–This is a memory of a distant day.
The boy was born in a small village in the eastern part of the holy city of Schmerz.
He was a timid, fidgety kid.
The boy was so timid that even his parents told him he didn’t have enough courage as a boy.
There were many active children in the village, and it was not rare for him to be made fun of.
Unlike others, the boy couldn’t run much and wasn’t able to climb trees.
When asked why he was afraid, the boy didn’t know.
He just knew that he was scared.
At the age of seven, the other kids started to talk about their dreams.
“I want to be an adventurer.”
“I want to be a cool hero like Amatsu.”
In their words, the boy could not find anything he wanted to do nor anything he could relate to.
‘It’s scary to be an adventurer and fight. There is no way I could be a hero’, he thought.
Unable to find his own timid dreams, he spent his days just sitting on a stump and looking at the idyllic landscape.
It happened one day.
“What are you doing over there?”
Someone came to talk to the boy who was sitting on a stump.
She was just as young as him.
“I’m looking at the scenery.”
“Hmm. Are you having fun?”
“… I don’t know.”
“Then listen to me”, she said as she sat down next to him.
Then, the girl spoke to the silent boy unilaterally without minding him.
She kept whining about how tough her parents are, or how she has to read the Bible every day.
Listening to the girl, the boy says what he thinks of it.
Once satisfied by her rant, the girl walked away.
The next day, too, the girl came.
She sat next to the boy and talks to him about this and that.
The boy again utters only a few words of his thoughts.
The day after, and even the day after that, the girl came.
The girl talked again and again to him, who no one else did because ‘he was not fun to play with’.
“…Hey, why are you talking to me?”
One day, the boy asked.
He couldn’t understand why the girl would have a conversation with him when it wouldn’t be any fun at all.
“Why… because you’ll listen to me, I guess.”
“Eh…?”
To the confused boy, the girl said with a grin:
“The other kids in the village like to run and climb trees and stuff, don’t they? I want to talk to them, but they won’t listen to me, but you do.”
“… I just don’t like to work out.”
“Still, you’ll listen to me and respond properly, won’t you?”
“…”
“Besides, talking to you calms me down.”
That’s why I want to talk to you like this.
“No good?”
The boy hurriedly shook his head at the girl, who tilted her head to the side as she said that.
Calming.
It was the first time he had ever been told that.
But the boy also found that talking to the girl calmed him down a lot.
“… Name”
“Hmm?”
“I haven’t heard your name yet.”
“Ah! Come to think of it, I don’t know your name either!”
“That’s so weird! Ahahah!” The girl replied, laughing.
“I’m Kyrie. Kyrie Ursula Avern.”
Nodding at the girl’s words, the boy said:
“…I’m Leo William Disfrender.”
This is a memory of a distant past.
An encounter etched into the memory of a boy and a girl.
◆
“But that was a real letdown…”
While waiting for his visitor in his private room, Marx muttered quietly.
That night, Luzer took the trouble to sneak into my mansion.
It sent a chill down my spine when he told me about the one who killed George and the others, but there were too many other facts to be stupefied by this.
The return of Amatsu who had been killed.
A demon that was acting with him.
I expected it to be much more difficult to trap those two.
I thought they would at least amputate my hand or a leg at the very least, but I never thought I would be able to get out of it completely unscathed.
“I can’t believe you bothered helping those stupid women. So you’re still a hero, even though you’re a rotten one. I’m really stupefied by this amount of stupidity.”
If that was the real Amatsu, he would have known that he had been betrayed 30 years ago.
And yet, he still tries to help people, truly a boundless fool.
“I was prepared to lose a limb before catching him in the trap and yet…”
Somehow, those two stopped in their tracks before lashing out at me.
I took this opportunity to make the floor collapse, but it’s a bit puzzling.
Both were opponents who outperformed me in skill.
If I had been slashed from the front, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything.
From the beginning, I planned to pretend to be weakened by the first hit I receive and take the opportunity to make the floor collapse.
“Either there wasn’t as much difference in skill as I thought… or they were wary of me.”
I would surely have died had they successfully cut off one of my limbs.
I wasted some of the magic items I received from Luzer as ‘protection against demons’ when the floor collapsed.
“If I knew it was going to be like that, I would have just taken the magic items from him without using them for this.”
Even without the collection of magic items created as anti-demon measures, Marx had a secret technique.
The only trump card that could take ‘Hero Amatsu’ and the demon by surprise and drop them into a trap.
“Hmmm… well, that’s okay.”
The ghost of ‘Hero Amatsu’ had lost his power.
He looked like he had high-level skills, but he wasn’t that much trouble in the end.
And even the demon woman, while being contained by the barrier of Luzer, she shouldn’t pose much threat.
The hole had been set up with multiple barriers and some traps to finish those two off.
Some of the traps and barriers were prepared by Luzer personally, but I am fully aware of every one of their effects.
Those two must have fallen into one of the traps by now.
I can take my time to deal with those two tomorrow.
“I guess I was overly cautious after all. I sure went through a lot of trouble to deal with that kind of opponent, how wasteful…”
As he said this, Marx’s lips began to rise as he thought of the two people falling to the bottom of the hole.
“You sure seem joyful, huh.”
A familiar male’s voice echoed through the room.
Marx stood up in a flash.
“Bastard, you’re taking them too lightly.”
“… Luzer?”
Luzer’s voice ran through the room.
Marx lowered his gaze when he realized that the source of the sound was from something hung around his waist.
Without his knowledge a small ring had been attached to the hilt of his sword.
“This is…”
“A useful one. It’s a magical item that conveys voice through magic.
When did he put it there?
Marx held his tongue as he tried to ask such a stupid question.
When did that happen?
It was, of course, the night we first made contact.
Luzer profited from the fact the Marx wasn’t vigilant and attached the magic item.
The reason that Marx didn’t realize it before this very moment is probably that it’s an on-off type of item that doesn’t release any magic unless it is used.
“…”
“What, are you mad at me? You should be grateful instead. If it wasn’t for my flying magic, you’d have had your hands and feet chopped off, right?
“… Rather, I had a countermeasure planned, assuming they would do that.”
“Oh. Did I get in the way?”
A vein popped up on Marx’s forehead as he heard the mocking tone of Luzer.
In frustration, he reached for the ring attached to the sword at his waist.
“Hey, are you going to break it? Isn’t that too wasteful?”
“Don’t do whatever you want in my house. I will also break any magic items the moment I find them.”
With a snap, Marx shattered the ring.
Luzer’s voice, which he had been hearing clearly until now, became fuzzy as it mixed with noise.
“All right. I set it all up to this point. Don’t you dare fuck up now – ”
After those words, Luzer’s voice was completely inaudible.
He tosses the ring to the ground and stomps on it with the soles of his shoes in frustration.
“I don’t know how great the ‘Lost Magic’ is supposed to be, but you’re getting carried away. I don’t need you to tell me that.”
He was the man who had set up half the traps in that hole.
Do you think I can’t kill you because of what you’ve done for me?
“… Tsk.”
Or is he flattering himself too much?
Either way, two people of that level won’t be able to break through the traps.
“After all, they will end up being eaten alive.”
I’m going to check the whole room and see if Luzer hasn’t put something else in here…
Apparently, that ring was the only thing that he set up.
“Right now, it doesn’t matter…”
Marx’s chair creaks with a squeak.
He closes his eyes and shifts his thoughts to a different matter.
It’s not about the intruders or Luzer that I’m thinking about.
— Kyrie Ursula Avern.
From the first glance, I knew she was a good woman.
The women in the Holy Order are all dressed up, but the moment they take off their clothes, they are all skinny, slender at best.
But Kyrie is different.
Even without dressing up, she has a beautiful and firm body.
From the very beginning, Marx had been convinced that Kyrie was the best woman he could find.
“If it’s just to play around with her like a toy, a demi-human would be enough…
But there is nothing comparable to breaking a human woman.”
So far, I’ve always got whatever I wanted to have.
I took advantage of George and Lily, who were my bosses, to get money and status.
I used the money and position I had gained to acquire subordinates, a woman to play with, and even power.
And that woman is no exception.
I will definitely get her.
Her body is really nice, but being able to use chanting magic is also important.
And the moment I don’t need her anymore, I can just eat her.
(TN: both meanings work)
“Ahh… Mr. Disfrender. I’m sorry I’m a sinful man.”
Of course, I know that Leo is in love with Kyrie.
Being aware of it made me want Kyrie even more.
“Even though you’re still a kid, you made it to the seat of second-in-command.”
How hard do you think I had to work to get to this position?
There’s no way I could allow that punk-ass kid to be right under me.
“Kuku.”
I wonder what face he would make if he knew how the former captain, whom Leo respected so much, had ended. (EN: This is about the former captain of the Knight’s Order who ‘disappeared’.)
It’s heartbreaking just to imagine.
“… Hmm.”
While I was thinking about such things, the time came.
A little before midnight.
“There’s no sign of those two coming back up. Were their bodies half-eaten after all?”
In that case, let’s take our time here.
A few minutes later, there was a visitor at the mansion.
When he opened the door, Kyrie, dressed in simple clothes, was standing there.
“I’m glad you’re here, Kyrie.”
At the door, Marx warmly welcomed Kyrie.
“… Good evening.”
Kyrie is slightly cowering, her voice quiet and trembling.
I could see the frightened look on her face as she took my hand.
“Come on, what are we doing here? Let’s talk in my room.”
Resisting the urge to burst out laughing, I urged Kyrie to the bedroom.
Keeping her head down, Kyrie wordlessly obeyed.
(Stupid woman.)
In Marx’s opinion, Kyrie is not one of those stupid and dim-witted women you see out there.
Because if she was just an idiot, she would have been swallowed up by the number of conspiracies in the cult and would not have been able to get to where she is now.
(But…)
When Leo is involved, the story changes.
It is because she knows the number of conspiracy techniques in the Order that she knows the horror of “power”.
Power and connections run deep in the Order.
If Marx, who is deeply involved in both the Order and the Knights, gets his hands dirty, he can easily prevent Leo’s ascension.
It would even be possible to transfer him to a remote area where the battle was fierce and invite him to die in battle.
(Although actually, it would take quite the effort to make Disfrender drop out, he who had risen to his current position at such a young age.)
“…”
Fearing that Leo’s future would be cut off, Kyrie accepted her engagement to Marx.
Apparently, this woman is afraid of being dead weight for Leo.
(That’s why it was so easy to get you, Kyrie.)
Marx banished the mockery out of his heart.
That’s why.
“…”
He couldn’t help but notice the breathtaking sight of Kyrie holding her ears and gasping for breath as they walked.
◆
“Alright, let’s make some tea. Just sit there.”
“Yes…”
Marx lets Kyrie sit down in a chair and goes to get a cup of tea.
In the white steaming black tea he sprinkled the brown powder he had taken out of his pocket.
The powder melts quickly and blends into the color of the tea and becomes invisible.
It’s a decoction of a certain herb that is forbidden to use.
If you put just the right amount in a cup of tea, it will get you dazed as if you were drunk.
By the time the powder’s effect wears off, Kyrie will become desperate for another cup of tea.
Once that happens, Kyrie will no longer be able to leave me.
“I’m sorry I kept you waiting.”
When Marx returned to the room with a cup of tea, Kyrie looked up timidly.
Her face was pale, perhaps from nervousness.
“Don’t be so tense. Here, have some of this tea to help you calm down.”
As I was handing her the teacup, I realized her tension was beginning to fade away.
“… What was that…?”
Kyrie gazed at Marx with a nervous face and asked so in a quivering voice.
The question, slightly agitating Marx, caused impatience to show on his face.
“… Hmm? What’s the matter, Kyrie? For now, calm down…”
“A scream… I can hear screams, there are people screaming.”
“…. wh-what?”
Kyrie tells in a hoarse voice while pressing her hands on her ears.
“Ever since I entered the mansion, I’ve heard a lot of women screaming.”
“… What are you talking about?”
“Jail…drugs…no more…help me…help me…”
At Kyrie’s words, Marx froze.
Those screams and lamentations, don’t reach Marx’s ears.
No matter how good your ears are, there’s no way you can hear the sounds in the basement here.
(Even if you use magic, you shouldn’t be able to hear it….!)
At the word magic, Marx’s eyes widened in surprise.
The name of the magic this woman uses is the famous “Sacred Magic”.
It’s a special kind of magic that recreates the miracles of God in the modern age.
“You’re not… ‘Hearing’…?”
It was recorded in the Bible.
‘The Holy Light God’ Melt didn’t miss the call for help.
People used to call this miracle [Holy Hearing].
If this woman can use it…
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Kyrie. You must be tired. Now, drink this tea and calm down–”
He smiles and offers a cup of tea to Kyrie.
It doesn’t matter whether you have [Holy Hearing] or not, as long as you drink this.
If I can get her to drink this…
“-”
A small painful and numbing sensation ran through Marx’s hand.
The teacup was sent flying and shattered with a clang.
“… Did you put something in the tea?”
“This is …”
“After I heard the scream, I put a barrier on my body… To protect my body from all that is forsworn.”
After a quick glance at the tea seeping into the carpet, Kyrie glared at Marx.
“What have you done …?”
Kyrie’s pair of eyes stared at Marx from the front.
It’s not the same girl’s face from earlier.
It is the face of one who’s determined to cleanse and purify all evil, the face of a clergyman.
“I never thought… I never thought you’d be hiding such a power.”
“… It’s not like I was hiding it. This is the first time I’ve ever heard a scream.”
“It’s a troubling ability”, said Marx while squinting.
Kyrie glares at Marx with a stern expression on her face.
“… You aren’t denying it, huh?”
At Kyrie’s words, Marx lightly sighs.
Then he taps his fingers on the desk three times.
“Because there’s no need to deny it.”
“… Why?”
“It’s a given.”
With a bang, a subordinate, responding to Marx’s signal, rushed into the bedroom.
“It’s because you’re going to die in here.”
He had kept his men on standby in case of unforeseen circumstances, but he hadn’t expected to need them for dealing with Kyrie.
Marx sighs as there is nothing else that can be done.
“Kill her.”
“Are you sure, sir?”
“It’s too bad I can’t break her, but as long as she’s alive, there is no knowing what she could pull off with this magic of hers. Behead her and make sure she’s not breathing.”
It’s a shame, but it can’t be helped.
Let’s eat her body after making sure she died.
“…”
A subordinate draws his sword and slashes at Kyrie.
Unable to cope with the movements of a trained knight, Kyrie’s head is cut off…
“[Flame anthem].”
Marx, who was convinced of that, was suddenly covered in white flames.
Immediately after Marx rushed out, his subordinates who had been swallowed by the flames screamed out.
He staggered and rolled around on the ground, losing consciousness instantly.
“—”
With just one word, Kyrie wielded magic surpassing even advanced magic in power.
Kyrie, standing amidst white flames, her string-bound indigo-blue hair waving.
Despite of the extraordinary amount of heat, the bodies of the burned men were not scorched.
“It’s wonderful. So this is the sacred magic I’ve heard so much about…!”
“I won’t attack you if you don’t try to resist. Marx, tell me what you are doing to these people. I can’t let you commit more sins.”
“I deserve that kind of power!”
Marx is elated at the sight of a miracle being recreated.
Kyrie wordlessly swung her arm down at the approaching Marx with her sword drawn.
No furniture is burned, only white flames gushing out at Marx.
“Its power is impressive but… !”
“…”
The white flame swallowed the helpless trained knight and rushed toward Marx’s torso.
Marx avoids it by leaning heavily on his back.
Kyrie gasped for an instant at the unimaginable flexibility he demonstrated but quickly moved on to the next attack.
In conjunction with Kyrie’s behavior, the blade formed out of white flames attacks Marx, but…
“Unlike you, I’m used to fights!”
Marx avoids it by rolling forward.
With the momentum of his rotation, he closed the distance between him and Kyrie and slashed at the same time as he got up.
Kyrie doesn’t react well to the tricky body move.
“This kind of gift is wasted on you!”
Aiming at her lower abdomen, he trusts his sword.
“[Aegis].”
The moment the sword touched the wall that appeared with Kyrie’s chant, the sword broke into shards.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Marx releases a palm strike, but the wall doesn’t move an inch.
“… The Holy Light God’s defensive magic…”
“Yes. You won’t be able to break through these defenses.” (TN: that’s a quality flag)
With his hands against the wall, Marx droops as if he’s given up.
Seeing that, she lowered her eyes and looked sad.
“Mr. Marx. Do not sin again. God Melt said, ‘Confess your sins and repent.'”
“Kyrie-kun…”
“We all make mistakes. It’s what you do after you’ve wronged that matters. Sir Marx, come with me to the Knights’ quarters. If you explain the situation properly…”
At Kyrie’s words, Marx looked up.
Kyrie loosened her guard, thinking he came to an understanding.
But soon after, she froze upon seeing the sneer stuck to Marx’s face.
“You really are a naive woman.”
Marx’s arm, which had touched [Aegis] flashed a reddish-black light.
At the same time that Kyrie took a step back in fright of the light.
“[The usurpation of magic].”
The wall that protected her was swallowed by Marx’s right arm.
Agitation appears on Kyrie’s face as she sees her magic disappear.
“…”
“Too late!”
Quicker than she could release the white flames, Marx’s arm grabbed Kyrie by the throat.
He lifted Kyrie’s delicate body lightly and then violently slammed her against the wall of the room.
The shock almost made Kyrie’s consciousness jump.
“Haa… Ha-a.”
Marx’s arms gripping Kyrie’s neck.
Countless red and black blood vessels were visible on his exposed skin.
At the center of the vessel is a rhombus-shaped crystal that pulsates.
“Does this bother you?”
“…”
“It’s part of the power of the hero Amatsu. I got it in return for my cooperation with George and the others.”
Says Marx with a disgusting grin plastered on his face.
George and Lily have been working to recreate the cells and magic of the hero Amatsu.
In the process, they had succeeded in reproducing to some extent the [magical usurpation] magic that Amatsu had been using.
“As it wasn’t practical, those guys seem to have turned to homunculus research.”
“Kah…h-A…ha…”
With a rumbling sound, parts of Marx’s body began to deform.
What looked like red-black tentacles appeared through the gaps of his clothes.
At the tip of it, a circular mouth with countless teeth clings.
“By eating people with this, I can make some of their powers mine.”
“…”
“Kyrie…… I am going to devour your soft skin, sip your blood, and chew on your bones. By doing so, I will be able to obtain your sacred magic.”
The tentacles wriggled while coming closer to Kyrie.
Kyrie struggles to escape but is unable to even squirm under Marx’s inhuman arm strength.
“If you become my pet, there’s nothing I can’t help you with?”
Marx’s grin, painted with lust, was as vile as could be.
With hazy consciousness…
“…No..I..do-n’t…”
Kyrie refused to comply.
Giving in here would be an insult to the God she believes in, and to those she loves.
She is simply unable to do that.
“Aargh! I hate that! I can’t believe this little bitch dares reject me.”
“…”
“I’ll eat you to the bone.”
The tentacles, widening their mouth pounce on Kyrie.
“What?”
The memory of that distant day ran through her mind like a running lantern.
◆
She was lonely.
Her parents were so obsessed with elevating their status in the Order that they never bothered to look at her.
Not wanting to offend them, Kyrie had no choice but to remain calm and be a good girl.
So all along, she had always wanted someone to listen to her.
I talked about it to friends of my age, but they didn’t seem to understand very well.
I couldn’t help but wryly laugh when I was told by an older boy “Let’s go climb a tree instead”.
There wasn’t an adult to talk to.
It was then that I met a boy.
A shy, timid, and a little dull boy.
Kyrie knew he was being made fun of by the village’s other children.
It was only on a whim that she spoke to him as he was zoning out on the outskirts of the village.
It was just a way to pass time as she was bored.
Kyrie complained unilaterally.
She didn’t think he’d even care about it anyway.
But…
“… Um… let’s see.”
The boy listened to Kyrie and firmly said what he thought.
Though he didn’t talk much,
it made Kyrie happy to see that he had listened to her properly.
Then Kyrie began talking to that boy every day.
It must have been nearly two years since she met the boy.
Having befriended the lively Kyrie, the boy had become somewhat familiar with the children of the village.
“Here we go.”
“But… it’s dangerous.”
“It’s okay!”
That day, the children of the village gathered together and Kyrie and the others went into the forest, which was forbidden to enter.
They wished to explore it, pushed by their curiosity and childish adventurous spirit.
Forcibly pulling the reluctant boy in, Kyrie and the others went deeper and deeper into the forest.
“Ah!”
On the way, Kyrie saw a beautiful field of flowers.
For some reason, she had an uncontrollable desire for the flowers that were growing, so she jumped out of the row and stepped into the field.
While she was engrossed in the most beautiful flowers she had ever seen, Kyrie went deep into the forest by herself.
“… Eh?”
By the time she noticed, there was no one around and the sun was going down.
Alone in the forest, Kyrie wandered for hours.
The sun disappeared from the sky, the surroundings had become dark for a while already now, and she didn’t even know where she was.
She was anxious, scared.
Every time a sound came to her attention, she couldn’t help but be overcome by enough fright to make her cry.
And while she was wandering.
“RRR-”
Finally, Kyrie encountered monsters.
A small wolf-shaped demon pounced on Kyrie while drooling.
Unable to do anything, terrified, she fell down.
“Help me…”
It was right after that.
Someone came between Kyrie and the demon.
“What?”
A dark forest without even the light of the moon.
In the darkness of the night, persuaded that nobody is going to help…
Attacked by monsters, only a few moments from death…
“It’s fine now…”
Her body was trembling, and she was on the verge of crying.
With a wooden stick in hand, a kid rushed over to protect Kyrie.
That boy’s name was…
◆
With a thud, there was the sound of something falling to the ground.
Tentacles that had been cut off could be seen writhing around on the ground.
Marx backed away with an anguished expression on his face.
“You–!”
In addition, her neck, which had been tightened, suddenly became comfortable.
Something warm supported Kyrie’s body as she was collapsing.
It was like a re-enactment of that time.
Apart from the fact that she wasn’t trembling or crying this time.
He is clutching a single sword with an expression of indignation.
“It’s gonna be okay now.”
He spoke with a soft tone.
“Leo…”
Leo William Disfrender.
— He was Kyrie’s precious childhood friend.
