While Ikki and Edelweiss's battle started, in another direction—
Arisuin finally woke up after receiving damage from Amane's illusionary form attack.
This place… is….
As he woke up slowly, he analyzed his situation.
In his field of view, there was a high ceiling. A high source of illumination. From the sound of air flow, he was lying in a very vast room. And given the season, the chilly air was from being below ground?
"Have you woken up?"
At the voice, Arisuin tried to jump up, and he realized.
My hands and feet are tied….
And not just by regular rope.
It was by threads of magic as thin as piano wire. The 'Pierrot' Reisen Hiraga's Black Widow, then.
"Fool."
To Arisuin who was writhing like a caterpillar, the shadow of a person came into view and spat out a cough. Arisuin looked up at that shadow, and saw a face that was in the prime of life.
"Wallenstein…."
Instantly, the young man—Wallenstein—buried his boot in Arisuin's stomach.
"Guh!"
"It's Wallenstein-sensei."
With the pain like his guts had been gouged out, Arisuin awakened fully.
And so, he knew with confidence.
I messed up, huh?
His own betrayal was known beforehand, and countermeasures had been made.
But it was unfathomable. He didn't remember ever having done anything so incompetent as to give himself away.
"…How did you know I was going to double-cross you… I wonder?"
"There was someone who could tell. That's all."
"…I see."
Arisuin understood with just those words. Blazers could do things beyond the realm of common sense. If there was a human who could do this, it wouldn't be a mystery at all.
…Not being able to know the details of our members, ended up painful after all.
Well, at this point, there was nothing to do but lament, but….
"Even I didn't believe my ears when that guy gave his prediction. You, the member who was the most loyal, the most obedient… would betray us…."
"…I was held in very high regard, I suppose."
"Of course. The one who selected you was none other than me. I hoped it was a lie. I hoped it was a mistake. I wanted to trust you. Today, until the last instant… I believed in you. But despite that…."
Wallenstein's tone slowly began to tremble, and suddenly, he burst into rage.
"Why, why, why!? Why did you betray my expectations!"
"Gah! Gugh!"
Over and over, Arisuin was kicked as he lay on the floor of the training arena below Akatsuki Academy.
"You should've known! You should've understood more than enough! That love is useless in this world full of lies! I taught all of this to you! So why did you make the same mistake! Didn't you throw it away!? Didn't you recognize the same truths we did!?"
"Guggh, ugh! K-Kuh!"
Bones breaking, internal organs ripping. Arisuin coughed up black blood. But Wallenstein's violence didn't end. With fiery anger, Wallenstein continued to strike Arisuin.
Because he knew Arisuin's past, Wallenstein could not comprehend it. Why was the prodigy he personally discovered so foolish as to return to denying power?
"What are you trying to do? Answer me…!"
The kicks stopped, and Wallenstein asked that as he breathed heavily. To that question, Arisuin—twisted his bleeding lips in self-derision.
"…Yes. That's it. That's what I wanted."
Arisuin thought. At the time he lost Yuuri and the others, he was going to throw away everything. For that reason, he had demanded money from Wallenstein. In order to sever all relations with them by giving the Sister enough money to support his little sisters until they became adults.
But—when he was handing over that money, he had told the Sister about annihilating that gang and selling himself as a professional killer, and she went to the shed behind the church and brought out the green alcohol bottle. And with tears spilling out, she said this.
「Take this with you. This is something you as you are now will need. And one of these days, please remember. That you and Yuuri swore over alcohol, to be noble—」
He had no intention of holding on to the thing. It was the remnants of his dream with Yuuri, to love and protect others even though they had not grown up loved and protected by anyone. He didn't even want to see it. He was going to throw it all away and go with Wallenstein. In order to hate everything about the world.
"But—in the end, I couldn't cast it aside."
No matter how much he abandoned common sense, no matter how much he degraded himself as a hitman, he couldn't bring himself to let go of this bottle.
And in not letting it go, he came across someone. A girl he wanted to gamble everything on again to protect.
"I met Shizuku, and I finally remembered. What kind of adult I wanted to be. The desire that I myself tried to run away from, to rebel against, to throw away…."
That was why Arisuin decided it. Even if Shizuku knew his real self and never called him her older sister again, he would remember his true desire and protect everything she had! Therefore—
"I'll protect that girl's hopes! I won't let you people do as you like!"
At that moment, Arisuin undid the restraints tying him down, and leaped up. Restraints like this couldn't bind an assassin of Arisuin's level. And he immediately summoned Darkness Hermit, aiming for Wallenstein's shadow—
"Such a waste."
In the instant he tried to throw, Wallenstein's kick penetrated Arisuin's solar plexus yet again. It was a counter so fast that it seemed to have foreknowledge of Arisuin's movement. In reality, Wallenstein knew. The Black Assassin wouldn't be restrained obediently like this. Because he knew, he was able to make the first move.
"G-Gah…!"
Darkness Hermit slipped from Arisuin's hand, and he crumpled down onto the floor again. And looking down on his pupil who was fainting in agony from not being able to breath due to the blow to the diaphragm—
"Now I understand your foolishness thoroughly. …In short, you grew sympathy for that girl?"
—Wallenstein… smiled with a sadistic smile that sent chills down Arisuin's spine.
"In that case, this is the perfect time."
He said this.
"Eh?"
The perfect time. What did that mean? The moment Arisuin was about to ask….
The underground training arena. One part of its ceiling caved in with a crash. At the same time, from the hole, an enormous lump of water fell down to the training arena. And in addition, an undisturbed spherical mass of water descended as well. In the middle of it—
"Sh-Shizuku…!?"
—a petite girl with silver hair.
It was the 'Lorelei', Shizuku Kurogane.
Part 6[]
"I finally found you, Alice."
From the high ceiling, Shizuku descended clad in the mass of water. The instant he saw her form, Arisuin's expression paled to a degree it hadn't reached until now.
"Wh-Why did you come here!? I told you to abandon me, didn't I?"
"Yes, I heard you."
"If you did, then—"
"But I don't remember accepting that."
"Wha…."
At that object, Arisuin became speechless. Certainly he didn't remember her agreeing, but—
Why…?
"Shizuku, I'm a murderer, right? I've always been deceiving you, haven't I?"
Arisuin's mind flashed back to the scene from that day. The frightened faces of his little brothers and sisters as they saw him covered in blood. He was a murderer no one should look at. He didn't deserve Shizuku's help.
"So why…."
Arisuin asked with an anguished expression. At that question, Shizuku answered simply—
"What about it? You're precious to me, so it doesn't matter."
Straightforwardly, fearlessly, without disdain—without any change from before she knew of Arisuin's true nature, she gazed upon him and answered with affection filling her green eyes.
"Whatever secrets you have, Alice. Whatever guilt you carry from the past. As far as I'm concerned, you're stylish, cool, very calming when you're with me, good at fixing my hair and doing my makeup, always seriously listening to my troubles, cheering me up when I'm worried… fighting alongside me and those important to me. You're my most precious friend. That's all it is. Abandoning my gentle big sister, how could I do that?"
"Shizu…ku…."
"Don't think you treasure me and that's it. I treasure you just the same. –Compared to those guys, do they feel anything like that?"
To Shizuku's unshakable determination, Arisuin had nothing to say. The feelings welling in his chest were too big for him to put into words. He thought she would loathe him. He thought she would eventually look at him with the same eyes his little sisters did.
Despite that—Shizuku hadn't changed, and continued to adore him. This reailty, it brought back strong feelings to Arisuin's heart. He hadn't hoped for it, he thought he couldn't wish for it, not the slightest desire—
Shizuku, I….
"That's enough talk."
But at that moment, Wallenstein struck Arisuin's back with his heel.
"Gah!"
The impact sank through his back into his organs, and Arisuin almost fainted in agony. Coughing violently, he curled his body together.
Watching his student with cold eyes, Wallenstein—
"You can lie there, and behold a traitor's reward."
—summoned a longsword to his right hand, slowly turned toward Shizuku, and started walking.
Arisuin could already understand what he meant by "the perfect time". Killing intent. He would kill Shizuku. In front of Arisuin's eyes.
"S-Stop…. *cough*"
As if to hold him back, Arisuin's spasming diaphragm didn't let him make the words. So he could only pray.
Get away, Shizuku…!
They weren't teacher and student just for show. Arisuin knew. Wallenstein's strength, such that he was called "master swordsman" despite only having one arm.
The Blazer known as the One-Armed Swordsman who none who could match in offense and defense during battle.
Your water powers won't do anything against this man! Hurry and run!
The hammer of ice struck violently without mercy, breaking the training arena floor with a cloud of dust and a thunderous roar. However—
"What a fine disposition, little girl."
The icy hammer had fallen slightly to Wallenstein's side. Wallenstein was currently uninjured, and slowly walking toward Shizuku.
If the hammer had hit, a human would've been smashed to pieces. Whatever words Shizuku had used, she must have also been hesitant?
—No. Shizuku wasn't like that. Among Ikki's group, she was unmistakably the most ruthless and merciless. Shizuku was surely serious. Right now, she was definitely swinging the ice hammer to crush Wallenstein.
Despite that, the ice hammer had missed.
What happened?
It wasn't that Wallenstein had moved. However, it was difficult to think that one who had magic control at the highest level among humanity had missed. Some ability must have been used to influence this. Shizuku thought this far, and—
…Well, whatever.
She didn't know what trick he had used, but—
"Toudo Heigen."
It would be best to use excessive bullets and avoid physical contact with her opponent. Shizuku thought this, and first froze the battlefield to deprive him of footing. It would greatly reduce the opponent's agility, and more than that—
"Keppu San'u."
Churning the enormous mass of water, she had it form spikes like a hedgehog.
"Fire volley."
The thorns of water fired in all directions without any attempt at aim. In a second, many thousands of high pressure water bullets drilled through the entire battlefield, cutting through concrete.
It was a quantity of water incomparably greater than what she used in the fight against Raikiri some time ago. But it was no wonder. Raikiri used lightning. In order for Shizuku, who used water, to fight against that, she would have to make all of her water pure in order to insulate herself from electricity. Because of that, the quantity of water she could use at the same time was limited.
However, right now there was no similar limit. The amount of water Shizuku could use was several hundred times greater than in the fight with Raikiri. The floor of Akatsuki Academy's underground training arena, the walls, the ceiling—every nook and cranny, had been filled with holes!
It was surely a masterful burst of projectiles that came down like hail. In the closed space of this underground arena, there had been no place to escape. Wallenstein must also have had his body soaked by this barrage—
As Shizuku planned, the bullets from Keppu San'u had struck Wallenstein directly.
But… even though… that was true.
Wallenstein did not stop. To say nothing of being made ground meat by the barrage, it had not even disturbed his calm stride. Indeed, he was walking calmly over the frozen ground.
What is this? Toudo Heigen and Keppu San'u aren't doing anything at all!?
In the middle of the surroundings that were without exception transformed into wreckage, blowing up dust and haze. Wallenstein had not taken any damage. On the contrary, not a spot of water could even be seen on his clothes.
Just what was this? Shizuku was definitely perplexed. And to the perplexed Shizuku, Wallenstein gave a low laugh.
"How regrettable. If I had no grudge against you, I would find this quite favorable. Well, this is also the whim of fate."
Casually, with ten meters of distance between them, he took up a stance with his enormous sword in his left hand resting on his shoulder. The instant she saw this manifestation, Shizuku's whole body shivered. There was no mistake. She could instinctively sense that this stance was for the 'One-Armed Swordsman' Wallenstein's true deadly technique.
Something is coming!
Shizuku immediately ended the rain of projectiles from Keppu San'u, and protected herself with the frozen mass of water. With permafrost that had an excellent protective strength, she formed a castle wall. With what should be called a stronghold, she had prepared a defense with perfect readiness—
"Shizuku—don't guard against that!"
In that moment.
"Bergschneiden."
Everything that protected her body was easily cut away.