killed. Upon seeing the chains rage like a many-headed snake, Hina praised her master's master. "Well done, Lady Elisabeth! I should have expected nothing less. However, this is... Look out! Pardon me, Master Kaito!" "Hwah!" Hina returned to him at top speed, then scooped him up in her arms before taking off again. Not a second later, the place where they'd been standing was assaulted by chains. A half-destroyed house appeared in their path, and the chains brought it crumbling down. Ash and charred splinters went flying. Once the impressive cloud of dust settled, Elisabeth stood alone. She breathed heavily, like a cat with its hair standing on end. The Executioner's Sword of Frankenthal burned in her hand. Marianne took a step back. The few remaining Knights lined up in front of her. Before they could charge, though, Elisabeth thrust the Executioner's Sword of Frankenthal into the ground. "Hellhole!" As she spoke, the earth rumbled. A large cone-shaped cavity yawned in the middle of the road, and the Knights all fell in. At the bottom of the giant hole, an endless sea of insects wriggled and squirmed. They had lustrous, metallic black shells, and they looked otherworldly. The bugs swarmed the Knights, and their tiny teeth made sickening noises as they chewed on the Knights' rotting flesh. They seemed overjoyed at the generous offering of prey. *** Marianne slowly backpedaled. But all around her, chains shot out of the ground like serpents. They bound her from head to toe, slim frame, supple breasts, and all. She hung in the air much like Elisabeth once had. She stared straight at her, as if waiting for an answer to her earlier cries. Elisabeth stood before her, both hands placed on the hilt of her sword. She bore a serious expression. "My apologies, Marianne. I've understood that for a long, long time." Marianne's eyes widened slightly. Elisabeth returned her ashen-blue gaze. "I had no right to take the light of a single person in this world. Every person I killed led a vigorous life, a life they had every right to carry out as they pleased. They were innocent, and I murdered them. I killed them cruelly, gruesomely, mercilessly, and unreasonably. 'Tis as you say, Marianne. Not even my death will be punishment enough." Elisabeth's voice was sincere as she tendered her confession. Yet, as she gave it, she spat on the ground. Confessing and acknowledging her sins yet not regretting them in the slightest, Elisabeth stood firm as she made her declaration. "I became the Torture Princess with full knowledge of what that entailed." Elisabeth offered no further reasoning. Her black hair wafted on the hollow wind, a wind that seemed to carry heat from the fire of old, a wind that moaned like the wailing of the vengeful dead. Loathsome Elisabeth, repulsive Elisabeth, cruel, hideous Elisabeth! A curse upon you, a curse upon you, a curse, a curse, an eternal curse upon you, Elisabeth! Taking in all the hatred and the malice of the dead, Elisabeth carried on. "I shan't ask for forgiveness, nor shall I ask for sympathy. For it is true that I delighted in their screams and bathed in their despair. You should hold me in contempt as you die. Disparage me and curse my name... My apologies, Marianne." "...Young miss..." "I intend to follow you shortly. Quite shortly indeed." Elisabeth's lips betrayed a quiver. For a fleeting second, she wore the face of a defenseless little girl. She gathered strength in the hand that bore the Executioner's Sword of Frankenthal. Marianne, watching her, shook her head. She pressed her eyes shut, reopened them, then spoke with the gentle demeanor of a tutor. "Young miss, I know the Executioner's Sword of Frankenthal is a powerful catalyst, capable of summoning chains and torture devices. But I also know that the sword itself was made to allow executioners to behead criminals painlessly before they were put to the stake. A weapon crafted out of kindness. Is that what you intend to kill me with?" "Indeed, Marianne. With this blade, I shall take the head of a mad, unremarkable woman." "That won't do, young miss. It's unlike you. You mustn't show even a single person kindness. If you intend to walk down your warped path to the end, you must torture me to death." Elisabeth's face stiffened a little. As she rebuked Elisabeth, Marianne looked at her with eyes burning with determination. "If you reject me through pain, kill me through pain, and then the world will finally be free of any who could damage your resolve. If you wish to retain your tyrannical nature now that you've been captured and made the Church's hound, then that is what you must do." Marianne closed her eyes, then opened them gently. The expression she showed Elisabeth was stern, the childhood teacher within awake at last. "If you turn a blind eye to even one person, it will weaken your resolve. That's just the way things are." Elisabeth didn't respond. But Marianne's expression changed once more, from that of a stern instructor to that of an adult speaking to a willful child. Her eyes were full of kindness. "I loved you from the bottom of my heart, young miss. Even now, I adore you just as much as I did when you were a child." She smiled gently. Her next words were steeped in sorrow. "Once you've killed me, I imagine there will be no one left in this world who truly loves you." "Yes... I will have no one. Not a single person for the rest of eternity." Elisabeth quietly affirmed Marianne's declaration. Marianne nodded, then inclined her head as if awaiting judgment. Elisabeth let go of the Executioner's Sword of Frankenthal. Her long, sleek black hair fluttered as Elisabeth looked up at the sky. Her expression was calm. A heavy silence bore down on them. Neither woman, not the one judging nor the one awaiting judgment, moved a hair. Just then, the space around Kaito froze over. "...What...the hell?" The sound of shattering glass faded, and after a few seconds, Kaito realized how odd his surroundings were. Everything, as far as the eye could see, was frozen over in a light shade of blue. Not just Elisabeth and Hina but the fragments of bone blowing in the wind and the clouds of dust were still as well. He reached his hand out timidly, but there was some sort of transparent film keeping him from touching any of the frozen objects. "What's going on? Hey, Elisabeth! Hina!" He called out to them, but it seemed that his voice couldn't reach them, as they didn't respond. In his confusion, he suddenly sensed someone behind him. He spun around in a panic. "A pleasure to meet you, Sinless Soul." "A pleasure to meet you, Pure Soul." Two girls bowed before him, holding the hems of their dresses in polite curtsies. The maid outfits they wore were even more old-fashioned than Hina's. One carried a box tied with a ribbon in an arm, and the other held a clock with a stopped needle. They both had long, draping hair made of tangled gold thread, and for eyes they each bore scuffed-up purple gems. Looking at their artificial parts, Kaito could tell: They weren't human. The two girls were dolls. They remained expressionless as they spoke, only their lips moving. "Do you think Elisabeth will kill her?" "Do you think the Torture Princess can kill her?" "What? What the hell are you two talking about?" "What a painful thing it is, to kill a loved one." "What a sad thing it is, to kill one you adore." "I mean, you're right. But it's not like I can stop her." Kaito clenched his fists hard. He didn't know anything about Marianne and Elisabeth's relationship or their bonds. He had no way of knowing what memories they shared or what was currently going through their minds. The decision rested on Elisabeth's shoulders. And Kaito certainly wouldn't be permitted to weigh in on it, especially not with his limited understanding of the situation. But the maids shook their heads in unison. "No one said to stop her." "We said nothing of the sort." ""The question we wish to pose is not about Elisabeth but about you."" "...What?" Kaito had no idea what the two were talking about. Who were they anyway? The maid carrying the box gave a mechanical "Ahem," then slowly stepped forward. Kaito, on his guard, stepped back. But the maid simply unfastened the ribbon, then opened the box and displayed its contents to him with a flourish. Kaito covered his mouth, assailed by a strong urge to vomit. "...Rghâ€”" Inside the box squirmed a pile of spiders with crow feathers growing all over their bodies. They crawled over one another as they paced about on their eight feathered legs. And there, buried beneath the pile of diminutive horrors, was a baby. Just as he was about to reach his hands into the box of spiders to save it, Kaito gasped. "It can't be." "Oh my, did he notice?" "Indeed, did he understand?" At a second glance, Kaito noticed the spider legs growing out from the plump baby's waist. The baby had already teethed, and its toothy grin seemed oddly cruel. A shock ran through Kaito's brain as he comprehended what he saw. "Is... Is that thing the Earl?" Now that he thought about it, the Earl had been absent from the group of revived demons who had attacked them a moment ago. Reeling with disgust, he took a step back. As he did, the maids spoke. "Marianne possessed the soul of the Earl, as well." "We placed it in the body of this child." ""As things are, it will grow up to be just like that grotesque man."" The baby stroked the spiders with its fat hand as one would stroke a pet. A cunning intellect lurked in its eyes, and it grinned contentedly as it looked down upon the spiders. Kaito raised a fist. But he couldn't convince himself to bring it down. If he'd been facing the original Earl, he would have killed him in a heartbeat. He would no doubt have torn him limb from limb. But even if the creature before him possessed the same nature as the Earl, it was just a baby. Hitting it wouldn't be enough to kill it. And strangling a baby would make him no better than his father. He forced himself to unclench his fist, then gently rubbed his own pale face. The maids, having watched him, looked at each other once before nodding. "Ah, it was too hard a choice to make in the spur of the moment." "Well, we can wait for him to live up to our expectations." ""This will do for now."" Suddenly, the maid raised the box in the air. Then, without a shred of hesitation, she threw it hard against the ground. Panicking, the spiders fled from the cracks in the box. The baby crawled out, crushing the spiders as it went. The maid who previously held the box knocked the baby down with her foot, then stomped on it with all her might. "Whâ€”!" Her strength was inhuman, and the baby's stomach warped before bursting open. Its entrails, structurally different from a human's, came spilling out. The baby convulsed in the pool of its own blue blood for a while before growing still. Kaito found himself at a loss for words, and the maids shrugged. "Now it's been crushed. Do you feel better?" "Now it's been dealt with. Do you feel relieved?" "Why would Iâ€”? Well, that's not true. I do feel relieved, dammit. God! You guys made that thing in the first place, didn't you? Why would you do something likeâ€”?" "Precisely. We made it. And even though we crushed it, we can still make more." "As long as Marianne, the necromancer who holds his soul in her