and blood trickled down. The wedges dug into him, tearing his flesh. His arms ripped apart as he extended a hand forward, and his legs were severed as he began to walk. As he didâ€”insane as his actions wereâ€”he made his promise in a bright, cheery voice. "I'll make sure to protect the promise I made with you, as well." As his body tore, Kaito extended his hand toward hope. Then, in the deep darkness, he grabbed on to a black dog's tail. Geh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh, fu-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh, geh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh. "Very well, very well, very well, very well! Very well! I have taken a liking to you! Your blind devotion to hope, your madness! Your unnatural familiarity with pain! O glass marble, hurled about and horribly twisted, yet remaining clear all the while! Very well! You possess the capacity to entertain me, to entertain the Kaiser!" An azure flame roared to life. The black dog kicked at the stone floor with his graceful paws. Each time he leaped, the smell of wild beasts filled the area, and the whole room shook. Vlad's eyes were twinkling, and he laughed as his coat and hair were blown about by the wind. Before he'd realized it, Kaito was standing back in the room at the end of the underground corridor. His left hand was still gone, and he was covered in blood. Even so, he cast his fierce, antagonistic gaze at the Kaiser. The summoning circle shined blue atop the floor. Azure flower petals and black feathers danced vigorously through the air, as though giving their blessings. Amid the hymnal-like roar of countless beasts, the Kaiser made his declaration. "Henceforth, you shall be my master! Kaito Sena! O Accumulation of Seventeen Years' Pain!" Then everything went quiet. With a whiff, everything vanished from the room. The Kaiser, Vlad, and the madly dancing feathers and petals all disappeared. All that was left was Kaito. Nothing about the room was different from when he'd entered it. He surveyed its rocky walls in amazement. It was like it had all been just a bad dream. That was no dream, though. Kaito gingerly lifted his left arm. There, at the severed end, sat the massive, pitch-black forepaw of a beast. He turned his lips up into a faint smile. Then he closed his eyes and inspected the amount of mana within his body. The power of a demon dwelled deep within his heart. However, it didn't seem like he'd be able to freely use it just yet. The aggregate sum of all the pain he'd experienced to date was far from sufficient. What to do next? Kaito began analyzing the initial plan he'd put forth to Vlad. It was right when he'd just finished putting that thought in order. The door shook. Someone was shouting from outside it. Suddenly, the blade end of a halberd split through its heavy planks. The door shattered, and splinters of wood went flying. Hina stood on the other side. She'd probably heard something, whether it was Kaito's screams or the Kaiser's roars. She shouted out in a tense voice. "Master Kaito, are you alâ€”?" "Hina." As she heard him say her name, Hina's eyes went wide and she lost her voice. She stared at him. After checking his left wrist, she grimaced faintly as though she'd understood something. Kaito smiled back at her. ...There's the face I missed. He had missed her so much and loved her so dearly. With all the trust and affection that he could muster, Kaito stared at Hina as if trying to sear her image into his mind. Then he deliberately opened his mouth. "If even then you still love me, then please fight by my side. "You said that no matter what happened, you would stand in the way of all my enemies. And you told me that if I thought anything of you, that I should tell you either to protect me or to fight together by my side... If you don't mind me taking you up on that, if you don't mind me believing in you, then I'll do everything in my power to live up to those feelings of yours...and if you don't think that I'm worthy of your love anymore after I've changed, then so be it. But even if that happens, there's one thing I want you to remember. "I love you, Hina... Ah, I see. So this is what love is like." Then he met her emerald gaze and asked a question of the woman he'd once professed his love for, the person he'd asked to fight alongside himâ€”his eternal companion, who had then nodded in agreement. "Hina, could you die for me?" Hina stared back at him. Her face slackened. A warm smile spread across her face. It was filled with true delight and possessed not a shred of lies or falsehood. "Yes, gladly." Hina answered and then knelt before him. Kaito simply nodded in response. 6 The Bride's Mortal Struggle A solemn procession wound its way through the deep mountains surrounding Elisabeth's castle, looking like guests bound for a funeral. They knocked down trees and tore up their roots as they went. Familiars made of flesh bound together by barbed wire swung axes with untiring arms, clearing a path for their mistress. The trees had taken centuries to grow, and now they were being mercilessly chopped down by sullied hands. Whenever the trees groaned and were about to topple over, a man floating in the air wearing black, cylindrical clothes and a mask modeled after a crow's head breathed fire out from his beak and burned them to ash. The man's majestic conduct was steeped in dignity. However, the very act of a demon going out of his way to tidy up a path somehow resembled a street performance. The demon, the Grand Marquis, had a needle shaped like a brain glittering in the nape of his neck, and he worked obediently to serve his mistress. At his feet, the Marquis gasped as he was transported around in an iron birdcage. Each time the familiar shoved the sideways birdcage forward, the Marquis within tumbled about and let out an ear-curdling scream as the skin beneath his bandages was scraped. Trampling over the bizarrely colored jet-black ash, they made their way forward. Far behind them, collared underlings were shouldering an extravagant palanquin. Atop the golden palanquin were an elegant throne and a white wolf's pelt, and atop the throne sat a beautiful, haughty woman. As she exposed her long legs from beneath her scarlet crinoline dress, the Grand King fanned herself with that crow-feather fan she loved so much. She occasionally let out a yawn as she gracefully rode along. The way the thousand troops advanced was oddly quiet yet lively. As ominous as a nightmare yet as flashy as a parade, they made their way toward the mountain peak that the castle rested upon. Eventually, they made it through the tree line. A barren hill stood beyond the trees' end. Their destination, the fortresslike castle that overlooked the trees in every direction, stood atop its bare rock surface. The procession's aim was the tightly sealed castle gate and the head of the castle's lord, Elisabeth. However, the procession was beset by an unexpected commotion and the underlings swayed on their feet as they stopped in their tracks. A bride stood before them. A beautiful bride who looked like she'd just been plucked from a wedding hall. The snow-white figure she cast was nonsensically comical, irregular, and out of place. "...Now whatever might that be?" The Grand King involuntarily frowned at how bizarre it was. But no matter how many times she double-checked, the figure in front of the castle was still there. The girl wearing a lovely wedding dress was standing in their way like a gatekeeper. Her silver hair was covered in a delicately embroidered veil. Her beautiful, pale cheeks cast a soft shadow. Her dress was simple yet elegant and made entirely out of white cloth, and her exposed shoulders were adorned with charming flowers. She wore long silk gloves that covered her slender, graceful forearms. And her skirt, which was comprised of many layers of lace, tidily covered her down to her ankles. She was standing atop the barren hill as though she were waiting for her bridegroom. For her to stand like that before a thousand troops seemed downright comical. However, the object she clasped in her dainty fingers in place of a bouquet served to prove that her proper place was, in fact, a battlefield and not a wedding hall. The bride was carrying a peculiar halberd, one that looked almost like an executioner's ax. Its matted jet-black metal handle had a tassel made from an animal's tail attached to it, and its massive, vicious blade evoked the image of a carnivore's jaw. Squinting at the girl's whimsyâ€”for what else could one call a bride who stood upon a battlefield carrying an executioner's ax but whimsical?â€”the Grand King, driven by curiosity, advanced to the front of her troops, palanquin and all. As if to greet her, the bride slowly opened her closed eyes. She fixed her emerald gaze on the embodiment of death, the Grand King, who stood before her. Recognizing the fierce will burning in her eyes, the Grand King snapped her fan shut. "I see. I suppose this is no farce or idle whim." Murmuring softly, the Grand King concluded that the absurdly dressed person before her was, without a doubt, her enemy. She'd acknowledged that the girl in her wedding dress was fit to stand upon the battlefield, even more so than a knight clad in armor would have been. Without pause, she called out to the brideâ€”Hinaâ€”in a quizzical voice. "Ah, I remember you. You're the young automaton lass, the one who was so fond of that feeble little lover boy, right? What might you be playing at? While you don't seem to have mistaken this for a wedding hall, you seem to be short a bridegroom. Have you come to die alone?" "Precisely. I have come here to die." Without a shred of hesitation, Hina flatly returned the Grand King's words. The Grand King frowned. She twisted her lips and then asked Hina a question from beneath her crow-feather fan's shade. "You've come to die? On Elisabeth's orders? How tragic it is, you pup, to be used as a sacrificial pawn. And what of your attire? A manifestation of your lingering regrets?" "Don't make baseless assumptions. Master Kaito was kind enough to fulfill my final wish and prepare this dress for me. It is the manifestation of my will and of my feelings for him. Master Kaito was the one who ordered me to stand here, for he is my beloved and my one and only master." "For that lover boy?!" The Grand King's eyes went wide. After a moment, a derisive smile spread across her face. She shook her head and spoke in a voice as though she were consoling a cat. "How pitiable indeed. I weep for you, girl. Make no mistake, you're being used as a sacrificial pawn. If he told you to stay here, to protect Elisabeth, then he may well have told you to die for the sake of another woman. As a woman myself, I can't help but sympathize with you." The Grand King commiserated with Hina, her voice full of earnest compassion. However, the corners of her mouth were curved into a wicked, muddy smile. She whispered to Hina with a truly unpleasant expression on her face. "Say, lass. Elisabeth may have refused to surrender, but would you have any interest in becoming my subordinate? While you aren't as valuable as Elisabeth, the fact remains that you're a rare specimen, a doll of Vlad's creation. I would polish your gears for you every day, so you'd never have to fear rusting. There's no need for you to be used up and ruined by a