sent flying. Before the soldiers could stab themselves, they lost their grips on their swords. Confused shouts rose up in succession. Thanks to the noise and the impact, the soldiers had regained their senses. "Wh-what is it? What's going on?" "What just happened? H-hey, you, what's wrong? Put that down!" The few soldiers who were still deranged were stopped by their comrades. As for the saints, they'd been snatched up in a large net and were currently struggling in confusion. Kaito breathed a heavy sigh of relief. The cannon fire continued incessantly. The relentless, merciless bombardment served to illustrate the stubbornness, or to an extent, the ill nature of the ones unleashing it. "Ready, aim, fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiire!" Thoom, thoom-thoom, thoom, kaboom! The successive impacts shattered the backup "women" as they came in. The repair and transport teams brought new cannonballs with them. As always, the manner in which they were sustaining their continuous fire hardly seemed possible. It was an impressive technique, one that took full advantage of the armies' ability to mass-produce gunpowder and metal. After soothing her steed, Valisisa confirmed the newcomers' identities and let out an astonished shout. "Ha, I never thought you'd actually come, Aguina Elephabred!" "Just Aguina is fine. And what, may I ask, are you talking about? I was told this would be our daybreak. Surely, you heard the same. It isn't as though we merely realized the pureblood sectors would be overrun at this rate or anything." Aguina turned up the corners of his mouth as he adjusted his glasses. Valisisa replied with a scornful laugh. The bombardment went on, its raucous noise rocking the ground. Fragments and eyes from the "women" went flying. Izabella turned toward the titans approaching them from behind and dashed off to stop them in their tracks once more. At long last, the Diablo pillar finally lifted up its vines. Then it brought them crashing down on the beastfolk cannons like massive, thorny whips. "Don't look down on us lower beiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiings!" A group of paladins rushed forward, holding their consecrated shields overhead. With them, they caught the blow from the vines. The force of the impact drove their feet deep into the ice. As they endured the pressure, Hina swung her halberd. With it, she cleaved through a multitude of vines. The Diablo pillar's attention was completely focused on its chaotic battle against the soldiers. "Well, if we want to press on, I daresay now's the time to do it." "Yeah, you're right. Let's go." Kaito and his group made their way toward the Diablo pillar without stopping. The aroma grew even stronger. An azure rose in full bloom grazed his arms. Soon, they'd be able to see the human sacrifice at the pillar's core. Just a little longer until they reached their destination. Then the Kaiser, who'd been silent up until this moment, raised his voice. "Hey, boy." "Oh man, you startled me... What's up all of a sudden?" "Would you mind if I did some killing?" "Huh?" Kaito let out a trite interjection. He couldn't understand what it was he'd just been asked. "What do youâ€”?!" Suddenly, Kaito's vision inverted. Confused as he was, though, he managed to piece together what had happened. He'd been shaken off the black dog's back. Far above his head, he could make out the hound's figure and the hellfire burning in his eyes. Panicking, he tried to cast a spell of flotation. That moment, he was rocked by a sharp impact. It was a different sort of pain than the kind that constantly assailed his body. More delicate. "...Huh?" The supreme hound had sunk its fangs into his chest. The Kaiser bit down hard. "I see, I see. Before you reach the queen, it seems you'll need to go through the king." Vlad murmured to himself as he floated alone in the air. It was unclear what he was thinking; he'd only curled his lips into a disagreeable smile. Blood surged. Organs tumbled out. The Kaiser snorted. And with that, Kaito's contractual partner ripped the bottom half of his body clean off. 11 The Mad King and the Kaiser "Not one to die, then? Hmph, as I thought. You know, Accumulation of Seventeen Years' Pain, you really can't be called 'human' anymore." "Thanks, I guess. So what's up all of a sudden?" As he watched his own flesh get bitten off and swallowed, Kaito gave his calm reply. The bottom half of his body was being eaten as he spoke. However, new flesh rapidly grew forth from the foul cross section. Viscera wriggled and knit together like tentacles. Bones regrew, and skin and muscle fibers pasted themselves onto them. Kaito kicked off against the air with his newly regrown legs so he could face his demon. Back when the Kaiser had first given his opinion of him, Kaito had gotten one of his arms bitten off. Unlike back then, though, he didn't feel an ounce of fear this time. Ah... I get it. Now that things had gotten to this point, a visceral feeling finally hit Kaito. He was on an equal footing with the Kaiser. But a human existing on the same level as a demon was an aberration that the world couldn't permit. In other words, he was beyond salvation. "'What's up,' hmm? Ha, you titter so casually, even when faced with a demon. Isn't that right, boy? O unworthy master of mine? O Accumulation of Seventeen Years' Pain?" "I'm asking you, what's going on? If you've got something on your mind, then out with it already." "I could ask you the sameâ€”just what do you intend to do from here?" The Kaiser narrowed his burning eyes as he posed his question to Kaito. It was similar to the one Izabella had asked him. It was a rebuke, like one asked before making a final judgment. Far below them, the fierce battle raged on. The three races were putting up a solid fight, but it was clear that the scales would eventually tilt against them. The favorable position they held was temporary. At the moment, time was a treasure more precious than diamonds or gold. However, Kaito gave no answer. He simply smiled a silent smile. The supreme hound let out a low growl. "Is it something you can't say, O master of mine?" *** "Something you can't say to me?" Kaito persisted in his silence. In a way, that made perfect sense. It was just like that time with Hina. In fact, it might have been worse. He had nothing he could say to his hound, no excuse left to make. ...It's time for a story. It's the story of a boy who was brutally killed by another, and a story of a monster who cruelly killed others. Or perhaps it's a story of a child who was abandoned by his parents, and a hero who was abandoned by the world. Either way, it's a story of admiration and folly. It's a story of love, but not a story of romance. And it certainly isn't a story that demons have any place in. Consequently, the next words that came out of Kaito Sena's mouth hardly served as an answer. "Sorry, Kaiser, but I'm gonna be making use of you until the bitter end." "This marks the first time, boy. The first time I, the supreme Kaiser, have ever experienced hatred." The Kaiser bared his fangs. The flames burning in his eyes had changed color ever so slightly. For the first time, they bore the hue of true rage. Yet surprisingly, they also seemed somehow pleased. Perhaps it was the result of him bearing the influence of not just his mediator, but his master as well. The Kaiser let out a passionate roar. "I took a liking to you. That madness, that perversion, the foolishness with which you seized despair in hope's name! Watching you fall was to be quite the show. But youâ€”youâ€”you would sink to such depths?!" "Yup. And I'm gonna do what I need to do, whether you like it or not." "You think I would allow such a thing?" "Not a chance, right?" "Then there remains but one path for me to take." The Kaiser opened his jaw wide. His neatly lined-up teeth flashed, and his vast oral cavity looked almost like a coffin. The smell of blood and carrion flooded the air. Kaito silently sighed. He knew what would come of this. Welp, this is gonna be unproductive. After all, no fight between the two of them would ever be settled. Whenever Kaito gathered pain, the Kaiser's mana was restored as well. In other words, the two of them were only growing stronger. All that would happen would be that they'd eternally shred each other to pieces and revive back to life. The Kaiser was no fool. He undoubtedly was already aware of that fact. Yet even so, he made no moves to temper his bloodlust. Despite himself, Kaito let out a chuckle. He called out to the higher entity in sheer amusement. "Hey, Kaiser, have you noticed yet?" "Noticed what, O fool who proclaims himself a Mad King?" "You're acting just like a human." The beast's eyes burned bright. At least, it looked that way to Kaito. Then with no warning, the Kaiser launched himself like a meteor. The black streak ignored its muscles' limits as it descended on Kaito. The Mad King braced himself. When he did, though, he suddenly found another figure standing before him. "Huh?" "Come now, this should hardly come as that much of a surprise." No, thought Kaito, this is definitely surprising. However, he didn't have time to put that thought to words. The black meteor was drawing nearer. The man standing before Kaito calmly thrust out his arm. Black darkness and azure flower petals billowed from his white-gloved palm, then transformed into a host of blades. But the Kaiser didn't stop. He just plowed right through them. His jaws were almost upon them. "Hmm." Vlad Le Fanu muttered, seeming greatly interested. That was the only reaction he gave. Then a moment later, Vlad's right arm was bitten in Kaito's place. "I see, so this is what it's like to have a dulled sense of pain. I knew about the whole getting burned alive thing, but still, this is most intriguing. And it's awfully convenient to be able to avoid dying merely by stopping the bleeding. Using that to render attacks invalid... My, you are strong." "What are you playing at, Vlad? Buffoonery has its limits, you know." The Kaiser growled menacingly. Vlad, on the other hand, just waved his right arm. The bleeding had stopped. The hem of his aristocrat's coat rustled. Strangely unconcerned, he responded in an affected, operatic manner. "You know, Kaiser, you and I were supposed to rule the world, once. But dashed as our dreams may have been, the vicissitudes of fate have led us here. Given that fact, isn't there something more pressing we should be doing than whiling away the hours killing each other in vain?" "What are you babbling about, He Who Rears Hell Within His Mind? Has your own hell finally consumed that mind of yours?" "Oh, please. Hell is but a placeâ€”one you can find just about anywhere. How could such a thing possibly hope to consume me?" A twisted grin crept across Vlad's face. However, he made no moves to step away from his place before Kaito. Instead, he spread his arms wide, leaving the gnawed chunk of his arm as it was. He tilted his head to the side in the same strangely childish manner as he always did. Suddenly, though, his expression flooded with unbridled hatred. Kaito was taken aback. He hadn't seen him make that face in a long while. When Vlad next spoke, his voice was icy cold. "I am a hedonist, capable of enjoying even the most bitter of hardships. But I was not born to lose." "Just what exactly are you