she would stretch that moment out into nearly two weeks. In short, that was all there was to it. "She cared little for her own survival, nor for the fate of the world. She merely wanted to set down her burden, even if but for a moment. There was nothing more to it, I'd wager." She intended to cast aside all the blame and responsibility she'd once shouldered. Back when she'd been carrying out the original restructuring atop the blank canvas of the world, loathing toward all of creation and fear of her own deathlessness must have swelled inside her and eventually turned into madness. That was why she'd set up a time bomb in the new world she'd created. "The Butcher worked ceaselessly toward bringing about that promised day, deftly manipulating us all the while." While Vlad laid out his theory, Kaito didn't offer a single interjection. His head was nestled in Hina's lap, and the rest of his body was lying atop the solemn stone floor. They had already left the World's End. Now they were back at Elisabeth's castle. Hina, Lute, and Izabella were resting in the castle's owner's empty bedroom. Lute, still cradling Izabella in his arms, didn't stir. He seemed absentminded. The Kaiser had yet to show his form. Vlad was floating in front of the three of them. His legs were crossed gracefully, and he was silent, his lecture now complete. Kaito remained on his side, not saying anything. Beads of cold sweat were welling up on his forehead. His teeth were clenched tight as he tried to endure the waves of pain coursing through his body. Every few minutes, he lapsed into violent coughs and spat up blood. As Hina wiped the blood away so it wouldn't flow back into his trachea, she stroked his brow. "Please, Master Kaito, get ahold of yourself. Oh, whatever am I to do...?" "Are you quite all right, my dear successor? Or did perhaps my explanation go to waste?" "...Don't worry...about that... I heard...it allâ€”Gah!" Kaito let out another pained cry. Hina helplessly mopped the sweat off his forehead. Kaito tried to suppress the pain gushing from within him so he could think Vlad's explanation over. As he did, another thought faintly drifted to the forefront of his mind. It was what he'd been thinking about as Jeanne wavered over her choice. Elisabeth, the black Torture Princess, showed no signs of bearing regrets, nor did she ever try to cast aside her sins. But what about Jeanne? If she did bear regrets, what would she be left with after the world was saved? If she won't have anything left, then... ...then at that point, what had she really even saved? This was no doubt an example of someone who'd erred in their choice, just like he'd said. The Saint had carried out restructuring while unable to cast aside her regrets. And because of that, she'd dragged the whole world in and crumbled it. No person could become the Suffering Saint out of a sense of duty and obligation alone. But... She doesn't deserve my sympathy. Screw sympathy, and screw her, goddammit! Spitting up another mouthful of blood, Kaito scratched at the stone floor. His fingernails split as he roared within his head. *** There was, of course, no way that his scathing, soundless scream could reach her. The World's End was distant. However, a different voice rose up as though in reply. The cliff-top castle was surrounded by trees and far from any human settlements. Yet, in spite of that, screams and laughter filled the air around it. However, it wasn't humans that the voices were coming from. The world outside had become a living hell. Demonic underlings laughed as they soared past the window. One monkey-like underling peeked inside. Kaito's eyes were still closed as he snapped his fingers. His blade swung precisely, cleaving off the underling's wings. It let out a loud scream as it began tumbling down. In the space of an instant, Kaito forgot all about it. Elisabeth... As he continued coughing up blood, his thoughts turned to the events that had just occurred. The gut-wrenching spectacle played out once more before his eyes. First, the petals engulfing Elisabeth and Jeanne all vanished. The two of them suddenly found themselves free. And at a glance, their bodies seemed the same as ever. Their faces contorted in confusion. Then, though, without warning, the horrible transformation began. "...Rgh!" "What's the matter, miss? Iâ€”Ow!" A single strand of dark-red blood had begun running down Elisabeth's shoulder, and the same had happened to Jeanne's arm. It was like they'd each been stabbed with a sharp needle. But no one had attacked them. Their skin had been impaled by something hard and pointy yet, at the same time, also soft from within. A black feather peeked out from Elisabeth's skin, and a white feather did the same from Jeanne's. It was immediately clear that something was wrong. After all, feathers had just sprouted from human flesh. "This is..." "...Impossible." The two of them exchanged a glance. But they didn't have time to leisurely discuss the phenomenon assailing them. Accompanied by a loud popping noise, another feather protruded out from each of them. It was as though the two of them were down pillows, and their stuffing was bursting through their cloth. Feathers began tearing out from within them, one after another. Streaks of red blood once more made their way across the Torture Princesses' bodies. Kaito was struck with an ominous premonition. A moment later, that premonition came to pass. Pop! Pop! Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop! Pop! Just hearing it was enough to evoke the image of goose bumps rising up in succession. The patterns of erosion resembled vegetation budding. Feathers began sprouting from all over their bodies, like carelessly strewn seeds indiscriminately tearing apart the earth. They flew out from their cheeks, their backs, their eyes, their lips, and even their gums. Elisabeth's and Jeanne's bodies wordlessly writhed. They were clearly in incredible pain. In the blink of an eye, the two Torture Princesses had come to resemble newborn chicks. Elisabeth and Jeanne were being forcibly turned into something foreign. The moment that fact hit him, Kaito recovered from his state of shock. The same seemed to be true of Hina. Letting out loud cries, the two of them dashed forward. "Elisabeth!" "Lady Elisabeth!" "Stay awaaaaaaaaaaaay!" When they did, they were met with a bestial roar. As she rebuked them, Elisabeth coughed up blood. Kaito and Hina reflexively froze in place. The next moment, the countless feathers sprouting from the Torture Princesses extended with explosive force, each one of the black and white quills growing to massive proportions. Then the two sets merged together, and they formed a pair of contrasting wings. However, the wings slumped to the ground, unable to support their own weight. They writhed there grotesquely. Eventually, they gave up on trying to fly. Instead, the two damp wings pushed off against the ground like a set of arms. At their center, Elisabeth and Jeanne rose into the air. Then, supported by the inverted wings, they hung there, suspended. As they did, crimson and gold flower petals began gently descending. They spread out through the air, as though they had come to replace the no-longer-falling snow. As he gazed upon the cruelly beautiful spectacle, Kaito's eyes widened. The petals were pouring out from within the Torture Princesses' lips. Several of the thin red and gold sheets wound together, taking on the shape of full flowers and decorating Elisabeth and Jeanne. Then thorny briars wound around their bodies like snakes, binding their masters' bodies and refusing to let them go. Finally, the thorns wrapped around their heads like crowns. The two of them hung in the air, crucified. They looked almost noble. And at the same time, they looked like sinners, kings who lorded over all of creation. The Saint still hadn't stopped laughing. With her maddened fit as a backdrop, Kaito was reminded of what the Grave Keeper had said. "Hallelujah." So this transformation's what she was alluding to? As he watched the changes the two Torture Princesses were going through, Kaito came to understand just how outstanding of a vessel the Saint had been. The fact that she'd been able to put Diablo to sleep, shelter God within her body, and still maintain her human form was nothing short of a miracle. In truth, her ability to keep the two of them from running amok was a feat so impressive, no words could do it justice. But now, she'd given up on doing so, and the result was the scene before them. Whether he wanted to or not, Kaito immediately understood. What he was looking at was calamity incarnate. Those two pillars of black and crimson, white and gold, would bring about an end to everything. There's no way... The world can't just be ending before my eyes...can it? For the first time in over a decade, Kaito was struck by an urge to scream and cry at his own powerlessness. The despair of it all made him want to just topple to his knees, tremble, and start wailing. Terror that no living creature could overcome seized him and refused to let go. But Kaito gritted his teeth and forced down all those emotions. He took a step forward. When he did, Hina called out in a panic. "Master Kaito, you mustn't! It's dangerous!" "I know that. But I can't just watch this happen." Wallowing in terror and despair would accomplish nothing. Even in the face of his all-encompassing demise, he refused to stand by powerlessly and grieve. After all... ...Just who is it in the middle of all that? Kaito looked up high in the sky. A single woman was hanging there, her eyes closed. The person who'd saved him, the girl who had laughed so innocently, was being crucified. She wasn't the Saint. In the beginning, she hadn't even been the Torture Princess. She was Elisabeth Le Fanu. The woman Kaito Sena admired most. "Elisabeth!" Kaito screamed her name. Then, after shaking off the trepidation running through his body, he dashed toward the pillar. Because Kaito knew something. Screw terror. Despair? And the end of the world? So what? The thought of losing you is way scarier than any of that. Kaito Sena had sworn that, until the day he died, he would stay by Elisabeth Le Fanu's side. And he had no intention of breaking that promise. Kaito finally arrived at the base of Elisabeth's pillar. He reached out to grab one of the briars winding around her wing. His skin tore, and pain shot through his body. It felt like he was clutching at barbed wire. But he didn't let go. Lifting his feet up onto the briar, he began trying to climb the wing. His beastly hand and his human both ran red as he tried to get closer to the captured woman. "Elisabeth! ...Rgh!" Suddenly, the feathers and thorns proliferated, nearly swallowing Kaito up. At the last moment, though, someone yanked him backward by the nape of his neck and saved him. Kaito was about to call out Hina's name. But he was mistaken. When he turned around, he found someone wholly unexpected there. "...Kaiser?" "Your foe may be the eminent Diablo, but so long as you are my contractor, I forbid you from allowing yourself to be unceremoniously consumed, O unworthy master of mine! To think, though, that it would come to this... I'd stayed on the sidelines, thinking the situation trifling, but this, truly, is proof that I was a fool! Ah, how vexing!" As he bayed, the Kaiser flung Kaito into the air. Then the supreme hound vanished. Hina, who'd rushed up close, barely managed to catch Kaito. Large tears were welling up in her emerald eyes. Because she'd understood how he felt, she'd been too slow to stop him. She