piece shattered and began raining down upon the chessboard. It then changed into fourteen pieces, all lined up. Amid the crowd of pieces shaped like beasts and men, one wore a crown and was bound by chains. "Fourteen people have formed contracts with fourteen demons. They are rankedâ€”the Knight, the Governor, the Grand Governor, the Earl, the Grand Earl, the Duke, the Grand Duke, the Marquis, the Grand Marquis, the Monarch, the Grand Monarch, the King, the Grand King, and the Kaiserâ€”and when people say 'demon,' they refer to these fourteen as well as their contractors. There are also their servants: those who pledge allegiance to them in exchange for a portion of their power." In front of the fourteen strange-looking pieces now stood a row of pawns. As the fourteen placed their hands on the pawns' foreheads, the pawns, too, transformed into hideous monsters. Elisabeth grabbed one of them. "The skinless knight you saw was a servant of the Knight. Calling them 'demon's contractor's servants' is a mouthful, so we call them 'underlings.'" Elisabeth placed the piece back on the board. The fourteen pieces and the grotesque pawns began marching. "Demons derive their power from the lamentations of God's creationsâ€”especially from the suffering of humans. As such, the demons and their followers are responsible for no small number of disasters." All at once, the chess pieces opened their mouths, which were filled with ugly, misshapen teeth. As a new row of pawns materialized, the pieces ran them down and consumed them. Elisabeth snapped her fingers. A piece shaped like a woman appeared on the board. "The Churchâ€”a religious organization that worships an image of God that mankind once relied upon, a framework that guides people in accordance with God's will, and an institution created to preserve our world's long peaceâ€”has tasked me with hunting the thirteen demons excluding the Kaiser, who has already been captured. At the moment, my foe is the Knight." Kaito watched as a piece astride a horse advanced in front of the rest. The twisted suit of armor atop a red piece charged toward him. The female piece turned to face it, wielding a glowing red sword. "The Knight is the weakest of the fourteen. Yet, to a normal person, he would seem like a nightmare made flesh." As she was speaking, the floor shook. Before the sword could reach the Knight, the board and pieces vanished. Thud. Thud. The castle shook once more. Elisabeth rose to her feet, ever graceful. She ignored the baffled Kaito in her advance, her dress swaying with every step. Flustered, Kaito followed after her. Elisabeth left the dining room and continued down the corridor. When she reached the door to the throne room, she cast it wide open. The stench of blood and flesh hit them like a truck. They could hear the barbaric sound of something gorging itself on meat. After a brief hesitation, Kaito gazed through the hole in the wall. Atop the corpse of the skewered patchwork beast stood a new creature. It was gorging itself on the carrion, tearing away large chunks of flesh with its massive mouth. Embedded in its flank were human faces, each weeping as they ripped apart any meat they could reach. Kaito could hardly find his breath as he was absorbed in the horror of the spectacle. Elisabeth turned and spoke with a wicked grin. "This, too, is the work of a demon. I expected as much, but it seems a second has appeared." "I can't believe you expected something like this..." "The beast made it here without decomposing, so its materials likely came from the neighboring village. When a demon attacks a village, he leaves few survivors. But even if as many as a fifth of the villagers escaped, the first beast seemed much too small to be made of the remaining four-fifths. It's only natural to assume that another was forthcoming." How can she make a prediction like that so calmly? Kaito's head swam as he pondered that insanity. As he was thinking, the beast let out a scream. *** Then it leaped, its rows of breasts swaying this way and that. It dug its claws into the side of the castle. The entire castle shuddered, and dust fell from the ceiling. The beast turned its murderous eyes toward Elisabeth. Looking up at the beast, whose head was protruding through the hole, Elisabeth sighed. "Heavens. Even considering you all were dragged into this, it is a pitiable sight indeed." *** "I shall grant you reprieve. Be at peace." Elisabeth snapped her fingers. The ground shattered. Countless iron stakes ripped through the earth and stretched forward. One after another, they pierced the beast's chest. Even with its body torn to shreds, the beast still lunged forward, trying to catch Elisabeth in its maw. But its charge was impeded by over one thousand cold iron stakes. In concert with the sound of stakes piercing their target again and again, a cloud of dust mixed with crimson flower petals billowed forth like a tempest. Once it cleared, the corpses of the two beasts lay side by side. Dark blood began pooling on the ground. Elisabeth turned to face Kaito. A drop of blood painted her cheek, but she barely seemed to notice as she spoke. "There may yet be traces of the Knight in that village. We're leaving. Attend to me." Her dress fluttering, Elisabeth took off. Reining in his trembling legs, Kaito followed after her. Elisabeth descended the stairs to the underground. Mysterious groans echoed throughout the corridor, evoking the sense of a labyrinth containing a monster. In fact, it wouldn't be surprising if there really was a monster down here. She continued at an even pace, finally reaching a door at the end of a hall and kicking it open. Kaito stood beside Elisabeth as he glanced inside. The room had no furniture or windows, and a massive magic circle was painted on the floor. As he looked closely, he realized how intricate the design was. The air was thick with the rusting-iron scent of shed uterine lining. He then realized that the magic circle was painted in blood. "A teleportation circle, etched in my own blood. It takes me wherever I please, as long as I can remember being there." "Not a huge fan of the medium, but that does seem pretty convenient. We didn't have these back where I come from." "Ah yes, you come from a world of machines. You would do well not to make light of magic. As my servant, even you could use your blood to summon something to your side." "What, you want me to shed this much blood?" "You should try it sometime." "I humbly decline." Kaito nervously stood next to Elisabeth atop the magic circle. She clicked her heels. With a sound like a flare, crimson flower petals began dancing along the outer circumference of the circle. As they spun, so did their surroundings. The motes of red then melted together, eventually forming thick cylindrical walls. The smell of iron assailed Kaito's nostrils once more. In an instant, the flower petals had transformed into blood. Elisabeth clicked her heels a second time and the walls of blood collapsed to the ground like stage curtains. The scenery the walls had been concealing came into view. They stood over the remains of a battlefield. That was the only way Kaito could describe the scene before him. There was fire stretching as far as the eye could see, and countless corpses dotted the ground among the burning buildings. The only thing Kaito could think to compare it to was a photograph of a battlefield in a far-off country he'd seen long ago. Two hours had passed between the creation of the first beast and Kaito and Elisabeth's arrival, but the flames showed no signs of abating. As he glanced over the burning corpses, Kaito could feel sweat trickling down his forehead while the stench of charred flesh filled his nostrils and the heat radiated across his skin. There was a man whose top half was fully carbonized. An old woman with not only her head but her entire spine ripped out. A woman with her breasts cut off. A young boy whose face had been torn clean off. A half-dead child with their arms severed who had likely been trying to crawl away. None of them retained so much as a shred of human dignity. All their deaths were gruesome. Unlike the beast, their corpses were comprehendible. That was precisely why the spectacle was so horrific, why the cruelty of it sank into one's brain. The urge to retch welled up in Kaito's throat before he finally managed to swallow it down. There was no mistaking it. This was Hell. This was a place filled with the worst things one could imagine. "I mentioned it before, but this is a demon's doing." Beside Kaito, who had lost the will to speak, Elisabeth whispered. She stepped forward, then turned to face him, the fire at her back and her black hair dancing against the blazing breeze. "Demons draw their power from the suffering of men, from the discord in their souls that suffering brings. This is the result. The methods used here are...cute, I suppose. Even now, much darker horrors are being produced elsewhere." Kaito was taken aback by her words. He was used to pain and suffering. He was all too familiar with fear and with the unbelievable tragedies that occasionally befell people. But there was no way he could be okay with a spectacle as ghastly as this, with people being killed in a manner that lacked mercy or meaning. "You call this cute? Quit screwing with me! No matter how you look at it, this is Hell!" "Even Hell has its layers. And this is a shallow one. As far as I'm concerned, this might as well be a field of flowers. Demons give birth to much crueler tragedies than this... 'Tis why the Church left dealing with pigs like them to a sow such as myself." *** She was cut off by a furious scream. At that signal, a group of villagers emerged from behind a half-caved-in animal pen. The nervous men, clothes stained with soot, brandished farming implements as they surrounded Kaito and Elisabeth. An armored knight atop a horse strode up beside them. Kaito froze when he saw him. However, the knight appeared to be a legitimate member of this world's armed forces. He wore a plumed helmet, and his horse and silver armor were adorned with a coat of arms in the shape of a lily. There was a metallic schwing as the knight unsheathed his sword. Elisabeth sighed. "Well, if it isn't a Royal Knight. I strung up those useless colossi, so what business have you with me?" "Don't play dumb with me! I was dispatched to this village from the Capital, and I've been keeping an eye on you up in your castle. But now you finally show your true nature! I've known what you were all along. This horrible affair, all of it is your doing!" "Are you dull? You gaze upon the Knight's work. Then again, I suppose those who've not witnessed it firsthand may have difficulty understanding it as such. Regardless, take care not to foist your incompetence on my shoulders. The Church has tasked me with hunting demons. I am not in a position to kill humans...for now." "Silence your lying tongue! Who would believe such a tale?!" The knight's voice grew harsh, and Kaito cringed. The knight pointed his sword at Elisabeth and spoke, his voice quivering with rage. "Don't think that I've forgotten what you've done." Elisabeth simply stood there, her face the picture of apathy, and made no attempt to refute the accusation. Her demeanor caused the knight to lose what little patience he had left. He fired off a frenzied account of her past deeds. "You tortured