his head. He began murmuring like a man possessed. "No, no. That's not it. You finally came... I was finally able to call you, O wounded soul, O pure being from another world, O beacon of our hope, O answer to our prayers, O key to our revolution of the world." The man in black knelt before her. That was when Sara realized. The man was trembling so hard that he couldn't stop. He was crying. Tears were rolling down his emotionless face. He launched into a desperate plea without so much as explaining the situation. "You'll help us, won't you? You'll become our hope? Become our joy? I've been waiting for youâ€”I've been waiting for you for so, so long. O reincarnation from another world. O limitless vessel." I'm truly happy I got to meet you. That was what the man in black was saying. And for Sara Yuuki, that was enough. *** She gently reached out her hands. Then Saraâ€”no, now she was nobody, just a dead girlâ€”embraced the man tight. He went stiff. The girl whispered affectionately so as to wipe away his sorrow. "You did call me, didn't you? You invited me to Wonderland... All right, then, very well. From now on, I'll live for your sake. I'll be your hope, your joy, and anything else you want me to be. But I have one request, if I may. "I'm afraid I don't know much about weapons, so if it's okay, I'd like to be your daughter instead." The girl smiled. "Of course," the man replied. That marked the moment of their meetingâ€”the meeting between the solitary girl and the solitary monster. It's time for a story. I hope you'll be kind enough to remember it. No matter what may come, please remember this truth. It's a story of a girl who was brutally killed by a human, and a story of a monster who was cruelly killed by a human. Or perhaps it's a story of a child who was abandoned by her parents, and an avenger who decided to destroy the world. A story of nothing moreâ€” â€”than repentance, dreams, and hatred. A story of salvation. A Message from Someone (1) Hello. It's nice to meet you. You know, it brings me great joy to have my voice reach you like this. Are you a man? A woman? Either way, I'm very glad, and either way, it doesn't matter in the slightest. After all, you exist in this world. And that means you must be one of God's creations. That's the only thing that matters. As such, I find this miracle all the more delightful. Do you have any idea just how glad I am? I suspect eternity could pass and you still wouldn't be able to fathom the depths of my joy. Ah, that's rightâ€”you don't know anything about me. You don't know what my face looks like, or what my voice sounds like, or what sort of flesh and bone I'm made up of. You don't know how I've lived my life, or how I was loved, or how my deeds were exaggerated, or what they made me out to be. You know nothing. Nor do you have any reason to. And so I say, It's nice to meet you. And thank you for lending an ear to me, me, and me alone. I extend to you my deepest gratitude. But at the same time, I can't help but wonderâ€”is my voice actually reaching you? Perhaps in truth, this message of mine is going unheard. Just like it did all those lifetimes ago. But if so, that's fine, too. At the end of the day, you listening or not doesn't really change anything. After all, this is much like a prayer, and prayer is supposed to be a one-way street. It's the same as when you all prayed. Was I listening? Was I not? Either way, it didn't really matter. Wouldn't you agree? Kaito's Daily Routine (Front Side) Once someone dies, that's it. No amount of weeping and pleading will change the fact that their existence is over. However, Kaito Sena was one of the rare exceptions to that rule. After many years of inhumane abuse at the hands of his father, he died a meaningless death. But instead of fading away, his existence persisted. Even now, he could vividly remember the moment in which he was murdered. His was a rare situation, to be sure. And in many ways, a decidedly unfortunate one. Kaito Sena mused on that fact as he found himself being killed. As the hands tightened around his neck, he realized that it was all just a dream. I gotta say, it's pretty unpleasant having to relive my death in my dreams and not even be able to wake up when I want to. It was something that had already happened. There was no way to stop it. His feeble body had no hope of fighting off the large man who was straddling him. Resisting would only make the despair last longer. And so yet again, he got strangled to death atop that damp tatami mat. His arteries and windpipe gave way. His spine creaked under the pressure. A dry snapping noise echoed out. Then it happened. "Taaaaaaaaaaaake that!" "Hurgh!" An absurdly carefree voice rang through the air, and as it did, an intense blow struck Kaito straight in the chest. The shock from the blow immediately snapped him awake, and his limbs went stiff as he contorted in pain. He blinked, then realized that he was lying on a dry sheet. The solid stone ceiling above him filled his view. It had no fluorescent lights, nor did it have any stains. It wasn't the room he'd lived in when he was alive. Kaito frowned. Where was he, and what was he doing there? Then at long last, he finally remembered the grave, hard-to-believe reality of his situation. Ah, that's right. I... ...reincarnated in another world. He gingerly glanced to his side. Standing beside his bed was the exact person he'd expected. Her black hair was long and lustrous, her skin was so fair that it seemed almost translucent, and her eyes were as red as jewels. She was wearing a bondage dress composed of leather straps that just barely covered her breasts, and her arms were crossed in front of her. And as for her shapely, high-heeled leg, it was buried in Kaito's stomach. Now Kaito had a clearer picture of what was going on. That impact from a moment ago had been her giving him an ax kick. He almost voiced a complaint but stopped the moment before the words left his mouth. His self-preservation instincts were screaming at him to shut up. He shifted his gaze over to the window. Golden light was leaking in through its shutters. Gears turned in Kaito's head as he sorted through the new information. Dawn had long since broken. At the moment, he was working as a butler, despite his protests. And his master was none other than the young woman who had just struck him in the chest. The proud wolf and the lowly sow. The peerless sinner. The Torture Princessâ€”Elisabeth Le Fanu. She was already up and dressed, and he was still lying on his bed. It was becoming clear to Kaito why she had kicked him. "I see you're up early, Miss Elisabeth... No, yeah, I'm just up late." "Ah, so you're aware you've overslept, then, Kaito? 'Tis some nerve you have, indulging yourself in indolence beyond even that of your master." Elisabeth's smile was as malevolent as it was beautiful. Kaito's face blanched. Now he'd gone and done it. And with that, Kaito Sena greeted the morningâ€” â€”part of a long series of cruel, bizarre days. Elisabeth Le Fanu, the Torture Princess, was a peerless sinner. She had murdered countless people, starting with the population of her own fiefdom. But that tyranny of hers didn't last long. The Church captured her. By all rights, she should have been put to death on the spot. However, her execution was delayed. Her order was to do some good for the world before she was to be killed at the stake. And so began the Torture Princess's crusade against the remaining thirteen demons and their contractors, leaving aside the already-captured Kaiser. Demons were higher entities that destroyed the world and fed on the pain of God's creations. And Kaito himself had already gotten a glimpse of how horrifying they could be. He'd seen the work of the Knight, weakest of the fourteen, firsthand. Everything was still fresh in his mind, how the Knight had attacked the innocent villagers with atrocities so vile that they had made Kaito want to avert his eyes. But perhaps the most gruesome atrocity of all had been the demon getting Drawn and Quarteredâ€”the punishment that Elisabeth inflicted on the Knight for his sins. No matter which side Kaito looked at, hell was all that awaited his gaze. Outside the battles, though, Kaito's life was actually fairly peaceful. Well, under some definitions of the word, at least. Can you really call a life with this many flying plates in it "peaceful," though? Not sure about that one. "This! Is! Viiiiiiiiiiiiiile!" Kaito crossed his arms and pondered that thought. As he did, some stewed tongue with mashed potatoes came hurtling toward him. He didn't even have to look to know that Elisabeth was the culprit. The crime fit her MO. The plate then turned around like a boomerang and began miraculously making its way back. Kaito caught it as it sprayed sauce through the air. He shook his head in exasperation. "You know, I tried to make the menu as idiotproof as possible. Don't tell me I screwed even that up." "I have a taste, as I'm sure you're aware. A preference for organ meat. But I'll have you know that even I have my limits! I bite in, expecting the sumptuous harmony of meat and vegetables to fill my mouth, and what I receive instead is the hellish flavor of blood! The vegetables are so mushy that they've lost any semblance of texture, yet somehow, the tongue manages to be hard as a rock! Is your aim to shatter my teeth?! This meal is an affront to all five senses!" "I'm sure your teeth are gonna be fine. And also, I feel like I say this a lot, but you've got a crazy knack for food criticism, you know that?" "This is no time to be idly admiring my talents! Haven't you even a shred of remorse, you dullard?!" Elisabeth hurled her fork at him, and it buried itself smack-dab in the middle of his forehead. Its handle bobbed up and down. Kaito calmly withdrew the utensil from his brow. Blood comically gushed out like a fountain. However, that was of little concern. Thanks to the fact that he had the body of a golem, Kaito was more or less immortal, and his experiences back in life had left him well accustomed to pain. "Good grief," he muttered as he pressed the cuff of his unbecoming butler outfit against the wound. Elisabeth trembled with tears in her eyes. Kaito took the plate that he'd put off to the side ahead of time and handed it to her. "Y'know, I figured that organs might be a little heavy for breakfast anyway, so I made this as well." "Thanks to your sloth, it's already well past time for lunch, but I do appreciate the rare display of competen... Well now. What exactly is this supposed to be?" "I made those shish kebabs last time, so I figured that frying an egg would be a piece of cake, but, uh...I kinda figured out a way to screw it up." "'Tis pitch-black, this egg! Nothing but crisp! Apologize to the yolk, the white, and the chick they could have been!" As she shouted her oddly specific instructions, Elisabeth