you, boy." "...You were watching that?" "And laughing all the while. You put on quite the unpleasant, unseemly show." The Kaiser snorted mockingly again, blowing fumes in Kaito's face that smelled distinctly of blood. Kaito clenched his fists as he cast his gaze down. The Kaiser was right. Given his power and situation, his actions were contradictory beyond belief. As Kaito mulled over that, the Kaiser went on. "In time, that contradiction will become as a stake and pierce through your chest. Not unlike that woman destined for the stake." "Elisabeth." Kaito responded to that part alone. He turned his thoughts to her inescapable fate. After they overcame their current predicament, Elisabeth would be burned at the stake. And given that he was her servant and contractor to the Kaiser, the fact that he hadn't hurt anyone wouldn't be enough to let Kaito escape being executed as well. No matter how many good deeds she piled up, it was too late for the Torture Princess to be forgiven. Kaito bit down on his lip a little. The Kaiser, watching him, laughed in a low voice. "The power of demons is supreme, and it is first attained when one extends their hand past the limits of avarice and desire. Do not mistake that, boy. One who forgets their greatest wish is naught but a fool masquerading as a saint. Accumulation of Seventeen Years' Pain, Iâ€” Hmm? It would be inconvenient were I seen, as I care little for the squeaking of mice." The Kaiser said no more as his silhouette collapsed and his steely muscles and fine fur gently dissolved. He then vanished into a spiral of darkness, the afterglow of his hellfire the last to go. Wait, what just happened? Furrowing his brow, Kaito looked up in surprise. He saw a crooked shadow approaching from the end of the road. Worried that it was an underling, Kaito put up his guard. However, the shadow turned out to belong to two paladins. Due to the fact that one of them had been supporting the other's shoulder, the pair collectively appeared to be a monster for a split second. Their gait was unsteady. Did somehow aiding in the evacuation efforts get them injured and force them to come back early? With that as his hypothesis, Kaito began calling out to the two. "Are you okaâ€”?" "Come on, walk... I get how you feel, but we can't avoid headquarters forever. And unless you want someone to find us, you gotta stop that crying." "Dammit...dammit, dammit... Dammit all to hell!" Hearing their conversation, Kaito frantically shut up. Apparently, the two of them had temporarily slipped away from the square. On top of that, the one being supported was wailing and striking himself in the head with the hand not wrapped around his partner's shoulder. He was clearly in some sort of addled state. Ah, shit, that's not good. Glancing around, Kaito slipped through a gate someone had left open during their escape. Squatting behind a hedge, he balled his body up as small as he could. After all, there was no shortage of people who would bear animosity toward the Torture Princess's servant. And I doubt that guy wants anyone to hear him crying. Cautiously peeking through the hedge, Kaito looked out toward the road. Of all the places the two could have chosen, the two paladins ended up stopping almost directly in front of him. Kaito held his breath to avoid being discovered. Not noticing him, one of the paladins whispered as he tried to stop his coworker from harming himself. "Come on, we can get them to let you rest with the injured. At least head to the first aid station until you've settledâ€”" "Don't be an idiot! The new kids would be anxious even in the best of situations; I can't let them see me like this! ...Goddammit, dammit... That was horrible... Dammit, I'm sorry, I'm sorry... Ahhhhhh, forgive me... I can't... I can't keep this up..." After regaining his senses, the paladin's cries grew even fiercer. As he sobbed, his legs got tangled up and he toppled over. However, his panic didn't abate. Crawling along the ground as he cried, he curled into a ball and began vomiting. Kaito couldn't blame him. He really couldn't. The reason he feels so guilty is probably because of what happened at the end of the search-and-rescue operation in the area around the fleshy mass. That was Kaito's hypothesis. The search-and-rescue operation for the people who hadn't been able to get out in time had finished around sundown. Although that mission had concluded, their work was far from over. If they'd looked between the buildings a bit more, they probably would have been able to find many more of the residents. In spite of that, though, the mission had been aborted. The reasoning was the fact that too many of the rescuers had been exhausted. Kaito, too, had participated in the mission, and he thought back to the events that had taken place midway through it. Most people who fell victim to demons met fates that were beyond description. The Church's staffers were well aware of that, and the paladins had likely made peace with that fact beforehand. However, the way the victims in the capital had been transformed was ghastlier than anyone had imagined. What had been particularly horrific was the state of the small theater designed for the children of wealthy merchants to hold singing recitals at. The Church had invested in the construction of the buildingâ€”and as a result, had been able to place restrictions on what could be performed thereâ€”which boasted a grand design. Its delicate stained-glass windows cast vivid lights onto the stage. When the mass of flesh had burst through the wall behind the boys and girls lined up on the stage, it had devoured them from the waists down and merged all their brains and organs together. They'd been transformed into blasphemous, repulsive objets d'art, completely unrecognizable as human. Heightening the horror of the scene was a statue of the bloody tearâ€“shedding Saint hanging from the domed ceiling, symbolically watching over them. Each time they were cut, the children cried out, occasionally lending their youthful voices to cherubic, haphazard songs. That was more than enough to stay the hands of the warriors sent to dispatch them, especially the paladins, the Holy Knights. The experience shattered their resolve. In the end, the duty of butchering the children fell to Elisabeth. She was the only one who never averted her eyes from the children's tragic figures. After that, no small number of young knights had fallen into critical states of psychological agitation. There were probably still survivors out there, hiding and trembling after having witnessed scenes of comparable atrocity. However, given the fact that the fighting was slated to grow only more severe going forward, they couldn't risk using up any remaining personnel. As a result, the search-and-rescue mission had been aborted. Even Kaito agreed that decision had needed to be made. However, there were still people like the paladins he had spotted who were weighed down with unbearable guilt. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Arghhhhhhhh!" Even so, apologizing isn't going to make any difference. If I were one of the residents, nothing they said could make me forgive them. No matter how much they asked for forgiveness, to the people who'd been abandoned, the decision to stop searching for survivors meant everything. There was no doubt that those people resented the world as much as Kaito had in his past life, if not many times more. Kaito understood all that, so much so that it hurt. However, he could also appreciate the feelings of those who couldn't abide by not apologizing. As if to comfort him, the other paladin rubbed his vomiting colleague's back. "...Yeah, man. That was horrible, all right. I'd never seen a place as close to Hell as that." "People...people looking like that... Ahhhhhhh! It's sacrilege. Sacrilege, all of it. Saint, God, why didn't you protect them? So cruel; it's too cruel... And on top of that, why did we have to be the ones to do it? With our own hands, our own swords! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Clutching his head, the paladin screamed. He banged his head against the stone pavement over and over. "This isn't what our swords are meant for. It isn't, it isn't, it isn't. No, no, ahhhh. Don't look at me; don't look at me like that!" "Come on, settle down. I understand how you feel, but you have to get a grip. Please, you have to stop." The other paladin held him, though his shoulders were trembling as well. Kaito found himself on the verge of leaping out from behind the hedge. Wanting to tell them that they'd done nothing wrong, he spontaneously gathered strength in his knees. As he did, though, the paladin rubbing his screaming comrade's backâ€”with questionable effect, as they were both wearing armorâ€”spoke up again. "I can't accept our commander's decisionâ€”why not just make the Torture Princess handle the underlings?" Wait...what'd he just say? Kaito could feel a chill spreading through his head. Because of the abuse he'd suffered in life, anytime his negative emotions crossed a certain threshold, their intensity would decline. In their place, he would regain his presence of mind and become calm. Kaito pictured the expression on Elisabeth's face back at the theater. "How pitiable you all are. Go now to your rest." As she ruthlessly finished them off as gently as she could, Elisabeth had been the only one who never averted her eyes. The Torture Princess was the only one who'd witnessed that tragedy in its entirety. "This isn't what our swords are meant for! We should just leave stuff like that to the person already burdened with sin!" Geh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh, fu-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh, geh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh. The Kaiser's laughter echoed inside Kaito's ears. His voice sounded both contemptuous and disturbingly human. The fur on Kaito's left arm bristled, and the hem of his long black outfit rustled as he stood. He tore across the lawn with magically enhanced strides, reaching the gate in an instant. As he did, a dull strike rang out. "...Huh?" Kaito reflexively stopped in his tracks. Hiding himself behind the gatepost, he peered out into the street. There, he saw something wholly unexpected. The paladin who'd suggested they should leave killing the underlings to the Torture Princess had collapsed onto the pavement, and blood was running from his nose. A beautiful woman with silver hair and red drops dripping from her gauntleted fist was standing in front of him. Izabella Vicker resembled a sharp, refined sword as she spoke in a low voice. "Is that all you had to say?" "...C-commander!" "We are the swords of the Church, the blades of the Saint, and the shields of the people. If we do not save the innocent who suffer, if we do not kill the underlings...then who exactly do we expect to bear that burden?" "Like I said, the Torture Princessâ€”" "You would have us entrust those we ought save to another?!" Izabella roared at the fallen paladin. Her cold, blazing rebuke echoed loudly. Timidly gulping, the paladin shook his head. However, he continued his complaint, his voice practically a shriek. "But killing civilians...it's horrible. This isâ€”" "What the hell did I tell you?!" Izabella grabbed the man's collar through a gap in his armor. He was taller and brawnier than her, yet she hoisted him into the air with ease. His internal turmoil must have bubbled over, as tears began trailing down his face alongside the blood from his nose. Facing his emotional gaze head-on, Izabella shouted. "You all should feel no guilt in slaying those warped people! If there is any blame to be had, then as the one who gave the order, I shall bear it, and I alone! When the time comes, the Saint's forgiveness will guide you to God's side. The people you slew could surely