lose you, then my life, too, would end. In following, if you deign to think of me, then please believe in meâ€”and no matter what the situation may be, all you must do is tell me either to protect you or to fight together by your side." "Hinaâ€”" "That is what it means to be companions. Please, if you must remember nothing else, remember that. While I shall now follow your orders and leave your side, I beg that you take care of yourself. All right now, you two, what good children you've been. Let us be off." Once she'd made her decision, Hina acted quickly. As gently and reliably as a mother, she scooped the two children up in her arms. She looked directly at Kaito, nodded at him, and then took off at a dash. Taking off through the open door, she ran like the wind. "...Trust her. Companions, huh?" Murmuring quietly to himself, Kaito furrowed his brow as he thought. However, he then quickly shook his head and turned to survey the storehouse. With their flesh torn, their innards scrambled, and their bodies squeezed, the corpses could barely be described as human anymore. They'd no doubt endured the pain for far too long. After a few seconds of silence, Kaito bowed his head low. "Thanks to you all holding out for so long, the two kids survived. I don't know much about families or parents, but the fact that you didn't use the kids as human shields... That's pretty amazing. At least, I think it is. Rest in peace...and know that the three of us are going to avenge you. Me, Hina, and most of all, the Torture Princess." His eyes burned with silent rage as he spoke, and when he was finished, he left the storehouse. He stopped for a moment and looked around. Dim light was shining down from the cloudy gray sky. The slick, unsettling roots glistened atop the buildings and the pavement. Littered around them here and there were the leather bagâ€“like corpses. As he gazed at the hellish spectacle, Kaito shook off his nervousness and began making his way back to the main road. When he did, he heard a hoarse scream from the back of an alleyway. Kaito looked closely at the space between the buildings. Then, to make sure the blood didn't stop flowing, he stuck his finger into the wound in his hand and reopened it. The blood flowed down the hilt of his sword and into his pocket. The stone quivered lightly from within. He could feel a phantasmal hand on his shoulder. Vlad laughed, as if to mock him. "My, my, my, quite the heavy role you've taken upon yourself. Now then, even if your foes are mere underlings, can a man as green as you survive? How do you wish to place your chips?" "...I'm gonna make it. If I can't handle this much, then staying by Elisabeth's side till the end was never going to be possible. And I've got to consider what Hina said to me, too. I'm gonna stay alive, no matter what." "I see. How gallantly tragic your resolve is and how wonderfully foolish. In that case, out of deference to your obstinance, I too shall place my bet on the side of your survival." "Bet? You don't have squat to bet with." "Your words cut like knives. It's rather difficult to entertain oneself with the body of a dead man, you know. I will have my fun, even if it's a mere matter of attitudeâ€”and I hate to lose. Do take care not to leave me unsatisfied." With those threatening words, the phantasmal hand separated from Kaito's shoulder. Clicking his tongue, Kaito began running again. He passed by the increasingly sparse buildings and made his way onto a path built into the side of the mountain. Unlike the brick surfaces that had been laid out for buildingsâ€”inns, public facilities, and the residences of the wealthyâ€”the bare rock face here sported only a wooden pathway stuck onto it. It appeared be a hidden shortcut down to the inlet, which looked to be quite a way off. Perhaps it was only designed to be used by the locals, as it didn't have any handrails. However, the wood looked sturdy, and the wide pathway seemed stable. Simply walking along it should have been safe enough. However, if one was carrying a baby in one arm and holding an ax in the other while inching backward, that was a different story altogether. Atop the pathway, a bearded man was holding off a number of approaching underlings in that manner while letting out beastly shouts. After confirming the count of the underlings attacking the man and the babyâ€”numbering five in totalâ€”Kaito's eyes opened wide in rage. You're kidding me! A flaming sword's not gonna be enough for me to deal with that many! "Now then, what's the plan? Luck seems to be against you right from the onset. It would not be wholly reasonable to abandon them to their fate and flee, but... Hmm, if you did that, would that entail a deferment of our bet from earlier? While it would be fun to watch you die, it would also be a bit of a waste." Vlad spoke, uninterested. Kaito, frozen in place, clicked his tongue as he racked his brain. Even without using the sword, I know how to materialize fire. But as to whether or not I can muster enough firepower to reach the five of them... Yeah, I've got no confidence in that regard. And if my surprise attack fails, they'll gang up on me. What can I do that would be effective? As he was thinking, the underlings were extending their ivy forward. The bearded man swung his ax even more franticallyâ€”as he'd apparently been doing up until thenâ€”and barely managed to repel the vines. However, he looked dangerously close to stepping off the path. At this rate, more people were going to die. The negative emotions assailing Kaito's brain won out over the tension running through his body. As his rage reached its limit and straightened out his thoughts, he came upon an idea. Then he screamed at the top of his lungs. "Hey, assholes! Over here! Look this way!" The underlings turned to look, as did the bearded man. Vlad's voice rang with exasperation. "Well, well, well, what exactly do you think you're doing?" "Shove it!" The underlings, unsure of who to attack, stopped for a moment. Kaito, seizing that opportunity, banished Vlad from his thoughts and dove into their midst. He then took the ruby spiral's edge and pressed it against his throat. The jewels, magically stretched long and thin, were as sharp as razors. Kaito then spun them once around his neck. Blood splashed in all directions, drenching the underlings. Kaito imagined the pain in his throat transmitting to the blood and then shouted. "La (burn)!" The blood burst into flames. The underlings began burning up, and Vlad roared with amused laughter. "I see, I see, so you had that method available to you! Absurd as it is to wound oneself, I see it was quite effective! You're an even more forward-thinking fool than I expected!" Annoyed, Kaito kicked one of the burning underlings in the flank and sent it tumbling down the side of the cliff. The bearded man, suddenly understanding the situation, brought the back of his ax to bear on the underling closest to him. After watching to make sure it had properly fallen, Kaito turned his blade on an underling who wasn't burning as bright as the others and ran it through. Eventually, all that was left of the underlings were scorched corpses. "Looks like...I pulled it off." As blood dripped down his neck, Kaito was overcome by dizziness and knelt on the spot. The bearded man frantically rushed over to him. As he adjusted his grip on the crying baby, he called out to Kaito. "Hey, you! Are you okay?!" "Yeah...I'm fine. My soul won't vanish just from losing this much blood." "Can't say I followed a word of that, but...you saved us! You saved my buddy's daughter! I wasn't able to protect her on my own. Thank you, son." The man roughly grabbed Kaito's hand. But as he was about to shake it up and down, he stopped. He seemed to have noticed the deep cut on Kaito's palm. The man eyes widened as he spoke. "Son...you're drenched in blood." Kaito didn't hear him. A violent, metallic noise like thunder rang out above their heads. As if he'd been called, Kaito lifted his head and looked toward the top of the mountain. At the location where the Church brand office had once stood, hundreds of chains glittered as they burst forth. At that moment, admiration and yearning shone in Kaito's eyes. As he spoke her name, his tone was like that of a child extolling a hero. "...Elisabeth." The beautiful girl who brought judgment down upon demons was standing in front of the giant flower. Rusted nails were piercing through the base of the flower, where its roots were the thickest. As she stood atop it, her dress fluttered in the wind. Chains were wrapped around the body of the flower, encircling it again and again. The tongue in the center of the petals was being crushed by a sturdy iron wheel. The flower trembled, unable to spit out its heart. From the back of its throat, it let out a bestial moan. The resulting wind pressure blew back Elisabeth's hair. However, her expression showed no signs of changing. She whispered, her crimson eyes focused on the hideous flower. "You tyrannized others, took from them, and killed them, and in the end, you had everything taken from you. Ironic, is it not?" "Elithabebebebebeeeeeeeeeeeth!" "Worry not, Grand Earl. I, the Torture Princess, shall grant you a punishment and death befitting your life." Elisabeth held the Executioner's Sword of Frankenthal before her face, like a knight. Likely terrified by the premonition of inescapable death, the flower petals' sepals writhed as they shot out seeds and saliva-like nectar. While most of them got flicked away by the chains, some of them were saved by their mucus and managed to slip out of the loop. The seed shells closed in on Elisabeth. However, before they could reach her, she leaped high into the air. As she elegantly glided through the air, Elisabeth swung her sword, as if trying to rend the very sky. "Pied Piper of Hamelin!" Crimson flower petals and a vortex of darkness painted over the gray clouds. The sky turned an ominous color, the black and crimson joining at its center. Then something came from within, making a comical whizzing sound as it fell. A round iron cage plopped down on top of the flower. Rats began raining down around the cage. Kaito, not having anticipated that ridiculous sight, instinctively tilted his head to the side. "...Rats?" The rats squeaked as they ran about. Some of them were eating the seeds that had fallen about, their eyes glittering with satisfaction. However, none of them were larger than normal, and they seemed rather harmless. Right as that thought went through Kaito's mind, the sound of a loud pipe became audible. He then saw Elisabeth sitting atop the cage and playing a transverse flute. From just looking at her closed eyes, serene expression, and elegant finger movements, she was the very image of a proper young lady. Wait, she knows how to play that? ...And for that matter, where'd she pull that from? As Kaito pondered those questions, the rats looked up in unison, their noses twitching. In tune with the jaunty rhythm, they squeaked and ran up the root in a line with their tails pointed straight up. Their destination was a small heart-shaped door on the side of the cage. The rats energetically piled in. For some reason, they resembled a mob of