Chapter 641 — Arc 9, Chapter 53 – “Aldebaran Ⅱ”

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Aldebaran: [――Sorry for rehashing the same punchline, but it’s the return of my trump card.]

Upon declaring so, a boulder of immense mass came hurtling down from straight above.

His plan resigned to be naught more than an unoriginal rehash, Aldebaran watched as Emilia’s expression shifted mid-flight, evading the colossal stone arms reaching out toward her from the cliffsides.

Emilia: [――――]

First widening her eyes at the sight of the massive boulder, then as the regret of having completely allowed Aldebaran to escape at the Royal Capital emerged on her cheeks and her canthi, she firmly held her eyes shut to ensure her heart would not be claimed by the same sense of defeat; after a momentary feeling of weakness spent wondering “Can I really do it…”, the giant boulder was reflected in her reopened sights, and she fired herself up as if to say “I have no choice but to do it!”, facing forward with even more strength in her gaze than there had been before that moment of doubt. ――These many shifts in her expression had transpired over the course of a single second, so it was incredible just how quickly she had regained her composure.

Aldebaran: [But, motivation alone ain’t gonna cut it.]

Scraping and chipping away at the craggy cliffs of the canyon, the giant boulder plummeted.

The first maneuver Emilia attempted with her renewed motivation, was to conjure a massive ice cap in the trajectory of the falling boulder in order to catch its weight. ――However, Aldebaran countered by firing a stone cannonball with his magic, blasting through the canyon wall to nullify her gambit.

With the jagged walls demolished, the ice cap could no longer fit perfectly across the canyon’s breadth, merely becoming another falling obstacle alongside the massive boulder.

Emilia: [In that case――!]

As soon as she saw that the ice cap had failed to catch the boulder, Emilia immediately moved to the next countermeasure.

Once again carrying wings of ice upon her back after they had been purged, she enacted the rebirth of an angel while bending her long legs. Then, positioning the soles of her feet on top of the legs of the ice soldiers kicking up from directly below―― receiving leg strength that the original Natsuki Subaru could never have mustered, she soared through the air.

Emilia: [――――]

Caught off guard by Emilia’s ferocious acceleration, the hundreds of arms emerging from the cliffs all failed to catch her, allowing the angel to escape―― no, allowing her to charge Aldebaran.

While Aldebaran had been diverting his focus to intercepting her, his momentum had fallen, allowing for Emilia’s rush forward to rapidly close the distance.

Yae had been left behind to buy him time, but he had completely forfeited the advantage she had created for him, so he could hear her bitter voice saying “Trying to support you truly is pointless, Al-sama~.”

Aldebaran: [Though, that’s only if I get caught here!]

Retorting to the imaginary words of Yae, Aldebaran met Emilia’s charge with a barrage of stone bullets. But, Emilia sublimely twisted her body through air to avoid the next rehash following the falling boulder.

Aldebaran: [Seriously!?]

The fact that she had accomplished that with artificial wings that by no means should have allowed such freedom of movement, left Aldebaran aghast.

Naturally, the angel wings made of ice could not be flapped. The true origin of Emilia’s three-dimensional maneuver just now, were smaller ice wings that had been added on below the main ice wings―― by overlapping several wings of ice, she had yielded a change in how they sliced the wind, providing functionality that allowed her to apply edge control by tilting her body.

Even that aerodynamic solution was undoubtedly accomplished by her natural senses.

Emilia: [I’ll catch up――!]

Even if she veered side-to-side in order to evade, Emilia kept her loss of speed to a minimum.

As she exclaimed, the distance between the two of them vanished. At that speed, Emilia would likely make it out of the falling boulder’s blast radius in time. With the blow he had intended as a trump card so easily sidestepped, Aldebaran’s situation was truly dire―― or, that was what should have been the mutual perception of the two parties involved.

Emilia: [――Hk.]

Emilia’s large, amethyst eyes opened wide, painted in a color of shock.

From her point of view, Aldebaran had not taken any exceptional action. While he still continued firing a volley of stones that failed to hit her, neither had he deployed any new magic, nor had he performed any extreme maneuvers to evade her.

The same went for his response to Emilia’s flight, momentum bolstered by borrowing the strength of the ice soldiers; at this rate, she would catch up to him, and he would no longer be able to avoid her freezing fingertips.

That was to say, Emilia had met her victory conditions in this situation. ――Nevertheless, there was no delight or satisfaction to be found in Emilia’s eyes.

That was because――,

Aldebaran: [――Didn’t I tell you? Same punchline.]

A colossal boulder plummeting down; in exchange for the prevention of the damage it would bring about, Aldebaran had been allowed to escape his battle against Emilia in the Royal Capital.

Hence, even if it was uninspired, he carried out a plan that had already proved successful once. However, this time, there were no innocent people here who could get caught up in this. ――Indeed, no innocent people.

Emilia: [――AL!!]

As she shouted, Emilia recklessly reached her hand out toward Aldebaran. ――Toward the sole being other than Emilia who would be caught up in the wrath of the falling stone.

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???: [――That settles it! You’ve done well to survive Sparka! From this point forward, you can count yourself among the gladiators of this Gladiator Island! Welcome him aboard, you damn good-for-nothings!]

The raucous welcome and cheering were indistinguishable from the sound of angry jeers.

Following that reception, Aldebaran fell to his knees and leaned against the massive corpse as coarse and vulgar cheers engulfed the arena.

He was languidly resting against the remains of a Witchbeast, the Guiltilaw that had died from the sword deeply piercing its thick neck. Having lost its right foreleg along with both of its rear legs, the Guiltilaw had died with an expression that conveyed bewilderment and confusion more so than it did agony.

Beholding that pitiful, deathly visage, Aldebaran was taken by a deep sorrow as his shoulders heaved with ragged breaths. ――Though, he was immediately disgusted with himself for how terribly deceitful that sympathy was.

???: [You managed to survive, huh? Color me surprised.]

Greeting the tattered Aldebaran, was a man of shabby appearance―― he was a gladiator of the Gladiator Island, the very one who had found Aldebaran when he had initially woken up.

The man’s expression was complex, likely because he found it utterly incomprehensible that Aldebaran had managed to survive the rite of passage for newcomers―― Sparka. From his perspective, having been ordered to tend to Aldebaran’s needs as the unlucky person who had first discovered him, he might have felt that Aldebaran dying in this Sparka would have prevented those troubles from dragging on for too long.

Regardless, Aldebaran’s survival had been a shock to the man, but he was not the only one who had been surprised.

Aldebaran, too, could not hide his astonishment at his own survival.

――Having suffered defeat in a battle he could not afford to lose, Aldebaran had been left deserted in these foreign surroundings.

An unknown environment, unfamiliar people, and rules lacking sufficient explanation; to Aldebaran, this was certainly an uncivilized land, as if he had been cast into a brand new world.

The only thing of which he could be certain was that he had likely lost all value in his own existence, and that he had probably even lost the only one who would have mourned his loss in worth.

That was why――,

Gladiator: [Even tho’ you said you wanted to die, I guess that was all talk.]

Equal parts sarcasm and spite, the man’s words carved deeply into Aldebaran’s heart.

With the defeat of his first battle, upon realizing that he had survived the end that surely ought to have awaited him, Aldebaran was consumed by unceasing feelings of loss and remorse, yearning for death from the depths of his heart. That was why Sparka, the trial by which newcomers were tested on the Gladiator Island, seemed all too convenient for Aldebaran at the time.

The blunt, offhand explanation had been mercilessly unkind, but in short, they were being forced to put their lives on the line through trial by combat, where for any who failed to prove themselves as gladiators, death alone would await.

For Aldebaran, who could not help but wish to die, it was all far too convenient.

In fact, when Aldebaran was taken to the arena along with four other newcomers in the same circumstances, and thereupon forced to face off against a Guiltilaw, he had fully intended on being killed without offering up any resistance.

But, despite all that, Aldebaran had survived.

The other men fought back, ran away, or pleaded for their lives, only to be slaughtered all the same, leaving Aldebaran as the last man standing. The Witchbeast’s claws tore into him, shattering his ribs as it trampled him underfoot, and he was supposed to have met his death there, blood frothing at the mouth.

And yet――,

???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]

In the instant those words had flashed through his mind, Aldebaran had expanded his Territory.

Compared to the opponent he had challenged hundreds of millions of times, yet still could not overcome, this Sparka, which had only managed to kill him three-hundred and four times, was no agony to Aldebaran whatsoever.

After all, the true agony only came after, in the self-questioning that haunted him for having survived.

――Why? What for? For what reason… had he not died?

Gladiator: [Hm? You wanna hear about the outside? Even if you ask me, it’s been a long time since I arrived here…]

Recognized as a gladiator, Aldebaran had gained the right to live on this island.

Within the island cut off from the outside world, he had learned that this was a part of the Vollachian Empire, that the gladiators imprisoned here were forced to fight in deathmatches for spectacle, and that public order on the island had collapsed. But, there was still much more he wished to know.

As a result, the one subjected to Aldebaran’s persistent questioning, was the gladiator responsible for taking care of him.

Gladiator: [If you say it’s not about anything recent, but history that you wanna learn about… I don’t know all too much about it either, yeah? Well, if it’s about a Witch… I at least know about the Witch of Envy, but…]

When he had asked just to be sure, he was first surprised that the gladiator had even known about a Witch. And recited as if it were too terrifying to speak aloud, the Witch’s legend as it was known today―― it delivered unto him an even greater shock, for the tale had come to refer to only one: the Witch of Envy.

The Witch of Envy, who, threatening to plunge the world into ruin, had been sealed away at the hands of the Three Heroes.

This world possessed no legends of any other Witch, and records pertaining to the Witches of Sin were nowhere to be found. Moreover, hearing that it had been nearly four-hundred years since those events had transpired, Aldebaran fell into despair.

Four-hundred years; that long, long passage of time had erased any trace of the Witches of Sin from this world, but to think that it would go so far as to even forget the existence of the Witch, the very Witch who had attempted to fulfill her promise even if it meant giving up everything.

But, what was even more cruel――,

Gladiator: [――The Witch of Greed? The hell’s that? Some kinda delusion of yours?]

Aldebaran had no words with which to respond to the man’s suspicions.

There was no way it was a delusion. The days Aldebaran had spent alongside the Witch were certainly present within him; her teachings, the touch of her fingertips, the words she had spoken to him, he remembered all of it.

In this world, against the Witch who concealed dreadful power, there had certainly been another Witch who had attempted to fight back. ――Aldebaran was her student, and he was the Witch’s trump card.

Gladiator: [Shit! The fuck’s wrong with you!? Even tho’ all I did was answer everything you asked me, you start swinging at me outta the blue!]

So spat the man who had been struck by Aldebaran, the latter enraged upon being denied the existence of the Witch.

Having been tossed into this environment―― no, into this brand new world, that was how his relationship ended with the benefactor who had first shown him kindness. With the other gladiators as well, things broke down in a similar fashion, isolating Aldebaran from his fellows.

――A deviant enthralled by the Witch; many times he had heard such rumors about himself. It seemed that his benefactor had taken the initiative to spread them around, but in a sense, it was a valid assessment. He had no intention of correcting it.

However, it aggravated him to be likened to some incomprehensible group known as the Witch Cult.

Upon asking, it seemed like they were a group who heralded the revival of the Witch, going around and committing acts of terrorism all over. Once more, he flew into a rage, demanding them to not lump him in with such individuals, but this only caused his reputation to be tarnished even further.

Gladiator: […A Witch-crazed nut like you… you’ll never die a decent death.]

During the deathmatch arranged at the discretion of the then-Governor of the Gladiator Island, those were the dying words of the first benefactor to show him kindness, slain by the barbarian sword in Aldebaran’s hand.

Wiping the blood of his benefactor off of him, Aldebaran took a moment to ponder those final words of spite, “you’ll never die a decent death”, before nodding deeply in agreement that there was no doubt about those words.

With his Territory going strong, Aldebaran had continued to survive his deathmatches on the Gladiator Island.

Those who had called Aldebaran a Witch-crazed nut were all eventually pitted against him in deathmatches, and without fail, they all fell before his barbarian sword.

He did not care about enacting revenge. Nor did he have any desire to clear the Witch’s dishonor. To begin with, rather than being dishonored, the fate that had befallen the Witches was that of having their very existence erased.

Hence, Aldebaran did not seek a reason for his continued survival from the Witch. ――Only, he wished to learn why he had been allowed to live.

In order to ascertain that reason, he could not afford to die.

Surviving the initial Sparka, and continuing to survive the deathmatches thereafter, it was all for that purpose.

And so, using his Territory, while suffering hundreds of deaths each time he crossed blades with an opponent, he trampled the lives of all sorts of gladiators underfoot, and lived. He lived. And he kept on living.

And then――,

Governor: [――You’ve done well to survive. I take my hat off to the devilish luck that allowed you to best even one so far above yourself.]

Indeed, upon witnessing the triumph of Aldebaran, who had grasped even the most infinitesimal chance of victory in order to slay an opponent who had utterly outclassed him, the Governor voiced words of praise that were not quite discernible as either astonishment or admiration.

Casting aside his broken barbarian sword, Aldebaran turned his back to the arena, scarce on cheer as it was.

――From the moment of his awakening, his first decade on the Gladiator Island went by in a flash.

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???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]

Those ten years were long, relentlessly scraping away at Aldebaran’s humanity.

The face, voice, and warmth that he ought to have vividly recalled whenever he closed his eyes were instead being painted over by the deathly visages, death throes, and cold blood of those he had killed with his own hands.

???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]

That was correct. Those words were correct. Certainly, nobody could kill Aldebaran.

Over his past ten years on the Gladiator Island, he had been summoned to Sparka on many occasions, faced countless brushes with death in the arena matches, and had come to kill many of the experts and inhuman beings who utterly outmatched him.

In response to Aldebaran’s repeated upsets, it was not merely once or twice that deathmatches were arranged to try to kill him, and since there was always a promising gladiator killed on those occasions, Aldebaran had begun to acquire somewhat of an untouchable status.

???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]

After a decade, the faces on the Gladiator Island were completely different than when he had first arrived.

Aldebaran had long since become one of its oldest members, and there no longer remained a single person aware of the rumors that he was a deviant enthralled by the Witch. Ever since Aldebaran had learned of the taboo regarding the subject of the Witch, and the fact that most people did not know anything beyond the surface of the legend, he had completely stopped bringing the topic up.

However, that was not a change brought about by things such as disappointment or resignation from not getting any of the answers he desired; rather, it was something far more serious.

???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]

For ten years, forced to fight to the death while stranded on the Gladiator Island, in that place where transactions of life and death were repeated ad nauseum, what had consumed Aldebaran was a sense of immense despair.

Had the Witch truly existed? It was a despair that called her very existence into question.

???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]

If he closed his eyes, he could certainly hear that voice. He remembered it being spoken to him.

But, even so, was that truly something that had happened?

???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]

The Witch’s face, he could no longer recall.

The Witch’s voice, he could no longer recall.

The Witch’s warmth, he could no longer recall.

For ten years, his recollections wore thin, like a videotape he would watch back whenever he had a moment to spare. Even if he tried to splice the torn tape back together, playback remained impossible, with even the tape itself eventually turning to dust.

When the memories themselves scattered away in such a manner, and the dust completely fell through the gaps between his fingers, Aldebaran was no longer able to tell.

――Had the Witch truly existed?

――Were Aldebaran’s memories events that had actually happened?

???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]

At times, he would feel an overwhelming urge to destroy his own existence.

Whenever that happened, Aldebaran would enter a deathmatch whilst deliberately undoing his Territory, and by allowing himself to be thoroughly beaten up with his life truly at stake, he would attempt to gaze into the abyss of death. ――No, not only did he gaze, he would even think about just letting himself fall in.

However, only on such occasions, the Territory would save Aldebaran by taking on an unexpected form.

???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]

As if to validate the words of the Witch who possibly did not exist, there were several times when an opponent on the verge of killing Aldebaran abruptly succumbed to mental collapse right before his eyes.

Each time an opponent’s eyes went white, having lost both sanity and fighting spirit alike, Aldebaran would feel as if there were some invisible force keeping him alive, and overcome with frustration, he would lop off the opponent’s head.

Even after a decade, Aldebaran still did not understand the purpose for which he had been kept alive.

On the contrary, he was not even sure if there really was anything that had tried to keep him alive.

???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]

Only, he was terrified.

That everything that had shaped him was a lie, that the Witch’s efforts and words had never truly existed, that Aldebaran truly was just a lunatic enthralled by the Witch; with such self-doubt gnawing at his heart, he endured many years of sleepless nights.

???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]

Those words once served as Aldebaran’s lifeline, the very foundation upon which his being had been shaped, but now, they were terrifying beyond recognition.

That this was all just a product of his delusions, that the duty Aldebaran had carried, the encounters and partings he ought to have had, might never have existed at all; such doubts only continued to haunt him.

???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]

An unending spiral of self-questioning.

A sensation as if he were mired in a swamp of unanswerable, bottomless despair, sunk up to his chest and unable to move.

And so, that time in which only the manner of his death remained unsettled seemed as though it would stretch on forever. ――However, on a certain day, Aldebaran’s long days of stagnation quite suddenly arrived at a turning point.

That turning point being――,

???: [――Hear me, rabble scattered across Gladiator Island!]

――Booming through the speaking tubes across the island was the voice of a young girl, tinged with heat as fierce as flame.

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――The simultaneous revolt of the gladiators, and the plot to assassinate the new Emperor by using that revolt as a diversion.

That seemed to have been the reality of the turning point that had befallen Aldebaran.

Be that as it may, there was no way all the details would have been granted to a mere gladiator of the Gladiator Island, nor did Aldebaran even want to know any further details. For the time being, since there had been no change in the management of the island, he simply assumed that the administration had not been overthrown either.

At the very least, a change of Emperor at this point in time was not something Aldebaran had known about.

But if there was just one thing during this incident that had caused Aldebaran to truly feel a profound transformation within himself, it was obvious―― he had rescued a silver-haired girl who had fallen into dire straits.

Of course, that incident had nothing to do with Aldebaran’s original objective.

The silver-haired girl was a young dogperson whom he had happened across, and she had no connection whatsoever to the silver-haired individual with whom Aldebaran had been involved. However, the fact that he had saved that girl, and the voice of the flame-like girl amidst the revolt that had demonstrated an attitude of selfishly following one’s own path, had allowed Aldebaran to make up his mind.

――He would venture beyond this closed off world, in order to verify the existence of the Witch.

???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]

After being killed over and over again by the aquatic Witchbeasts let loose in the lake, Aldebaran finally escaped the island which had held him captive for over ten years, and disembarked on a land that was not surrounded by water. ――Strictly speaking, the world as a whole was encircled by the Great Waterfall, so it could be said that there was actually no land that was not surrounded by water; the fact that he could come up with a quip like that showed that he was still able to at least fake some cheer.

???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]

To Aldebaran, those words were a malediction, a consolation, a binding, and a forgiveness.

In order to discern the color, the heat, the uncertain certainty of that ambiguous and directionless wellspring of such overwhelming emotion, Aldebaran had decided to pursue the traces of the Witch.

There was not much time to spare. During the decade he had spent on the closed off island, the world Aldebaran walked had unexpectedly been drawing closer to the world Aldebaran remembered.

All that remained, was to ascertain whether the things within Aldebaran were genuine or not. And so, what was required to ascertain that, was evidence of the Witch――,

???: [――For what reason, does the Gospel hold no account of your existence?]

Speaking those words was a Sin Archbishop of the Witch Cult who tilted his head far more than was necessary; although Aldebaran had a rough idea as to the reason why, he fiddled with the metal fixtures of his helmet and gave an evasive comment.

The jet-black steel helmet he had begun to wear in those days was a parting gift he had taken with him from the Gladiator Island, and he found that its sturdiness and full-face cover often came in handy.

It seemed like this profusely loud and animated Sin Archbishop did not take kindly to the fact that there was not a single account of such a conspicuous person in his oh-so-precious Gospel.

Sin Archbishop: [――You are truly Slothful, aren’t you?]

In all honesty, the battle against this Sin Archbishop was among the most challenging encounters of Aldebaran’s life.

To begin with, winning without dying a single time was something he lacked experience in, but even so, this was a formidable enemy who made it difficult to seize any chance of victory. In the end, while he might have satisfied the conditions for victory, he did not win.

Even when compared to the Witches of Sin―― to the women who, just like the Witch, potentially did not exist, his viciousness seemed to stack up favorably.

Anyhow――,

???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]

With his honor preserved by those words, and having secured the information he desired, Aldebaran had pondered. ――In order to ascertain the existence of the Witch, the ones most likely to possess the information he sought were the members of the heretical organization he had often heard about even on the Gladiator Island, the Witch Cult.

They seemed to be a group who hid themselves away in places completely unknown, but that was only if one was attempting to track them down, as luring them out was not particularly difficult. ――Certainly, if rumors were to be spread about the Witch of Envy so worshipped by the Witch Cult, there were some who would come rushing to the scene.

But then again, if one could not handle whatever came rushing their way, they would simply suffer through the world’s most foolish way to die, being mercilessly robbed of their life.

Sin Archbishop: [You must cease at ONCE! That is BLASPHEMY! Satella! Any other than Satella! To speak of any Witch other than the Witch of Envy! It is the height of SACRILEGE! As the one who graces me with the favor of her love, she is the only one worthy of once more descending upon this world, HER ALONE!!]

He knew not just how much credence he could give to the utterances of the Sin Archbishop whose aberrant demeanor and conduct bereft of sanity had accumulated to an extremely vast amount.

But, even if that madman’s ramblings held no meaning to anybody else, they held meaning to Aldebaran.

???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]

Tenaciously retrying his encounter with the Sin Archbishop, he would draw out the words, engage in the necessary back and forth, and give up his life each time he triggered a fit of rage, then back to the beginning―― by single-mindedly accreting that process, Aldebaran obtained the information he desired from the Sin Archbishop.

Then, passing right by the Sin Archbishop who had come rushing to the scene, he had made it so that their encounter had never happened.

Sin Archbishop: [Ahh! Ahhhh! AHHHHHH! SLOTH SLOTH SLOTH SLOTH SLOOOOOOOOOTH――!!]

As Aldebaran evaded the Witch Cult’s encirclement and absconded, he pictured the Sin Archbishop letting out a bloodcurdling shriek after failing to catch him, but that no longer mattered to him.

At this moment, there existed but one desire within Aldebaran―― the confirmation of the Witch’s existence.

Of how the lives of the Witches of Sin had been extinguished, he was aware.

The Witch of Wrath had perished in madness after being caught in a trap, the Witch of Lust had been immolated in a great fire, the Witch of Gluttony had withered to death in the sea of sand, the Witch of Pride had drowned in a great flood, and the Witch of Sloth had fallen into the Great Waterfall as she massacred the Dragon.

Then, the Witch of Envy had been sealed away at the edge of the world, and the final Witch――,

???: [――I see. The ability to enter this place from outside the tomb is quite the structural flaw indeed. Just like the mechanisms of the Sanctuary, the finishing touches are rather lacking. Though, I suppose some aspects of that were unavoidable.]

A plain of lush, verdant grass beneath an unrealistic blue sky, stretching out as far as the eye could see. As a cool breeze blew across, a white table and parasol were placed atop a small hill.

Unmistakably, that was the scene of the memories which had been on the verge of fading from within Aldebaran.

Present right at the heart of it all, was a beautiful being who could be described with just the colors of white and black――,

???: [――Why, must love fade?]

After many twists and turns, he had finally made his homecoming to the Castle of Dreams.

Doubting his own sanity, Aldebaran had almost believed that it might have even been an illusion.

A reunion which spanned over a decade for the student, and across four centuries for the other party; with her existence verified, the Witch―― nay, the Witch of Greed, wearing a smile bereft of blood, voiced that celebratory remark.

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Aldebaran: [――――]

Aldebaran had lived life with one arm longer than he ever had with two.

Hence, he hardly ever felt much of a handicap for only having his right arm, but regardless, he still found it to be an inconvenience on extremely rare occasions.

For instance, the times when he had no choice but to carry an unconscious person.

Aldebaran: [Please bear with the ruggedness.]

Carried in Aldebaran’s arm as he uttered so―― held together with the magic stone-forged prosthesis, was the limp, unconscious body of Emilia.

Emilia’s aerial chase of Aldebaran that had commenced in the vast canyon had come to a conclusion with Emilia collapsing due to Aldebaran’s use of foul play.

It was nothing substantial. The trump card was the same one that he had played in order to escape Emilia’s clutches back in the Royal Capital.

Emilia, kindhearted as she was, could not allow anybody to be lost in the midst of battle. ――She too was one who, with the passing of Priscilla during the Empire’s Great Disaster, had sustained a deep wound to her heart.

Therefore, in order to protect Aldebaran, who had remained in the trajectory on course to receive a direct hit from the falling boulder, she did not hesitate to throw herself in harm’s way.

Aldebaran: [Even though there wasn’t any other way to reliably land an attack on her, it’s a scummy strategy even for me.]

Of course, that was Aldebaran’s conclusion after having attempted various other stratagems in trial and error.

He had tried adjusting the positioning of the boulder’s fall, smashing the boulder to create a rock avalanche, setting its trajectory with a barrage of stone projectiles, and incorporating all sorts of different magic, but outside the stratagem of using himself as a hostage, Emilia always managed to find a flash of inspiration and intuitive judgement for the circumstance, admirably surmounting all of them.

None of the foolish Aldebarans who had enacted those other stratagems had managed to avoid a future of being frozen by Emilia’s fingertips, so it could be said that he had no other means but to rely on such a desperate measure.

Aldebaran: [Though, that doesn’t make the guilt go away, nor does it mean I’ll be forgiven.]

An excuse for no ears save his own, so childish that not even Emilia would forgive it.

Shielding Aldebaran, Emilia defenselessly brushed the mass of the huge crag, and as the powerful impact ran through her entire body, even she would let go of her consciousness. From what he could tell from appearances, it did not seem like she had sustained any lasting injuries, just a strong concussion at worst. ――To ensure that was the case, many careful adjustments had been made.

Aldebaran: [Seems like I’ve been put on quite the detour… Waiting on Yae wouldn’t exactly be the smartest move, now would it?]

Now that the fall from high-altitude and chase sequence with Emilia had ended, he finally had enough leeway to ascertain his surroundings. What he had gleaned by doing so, was that this place was likely the Agzadd Canyon, the largest canyon in the entire world, and the fact that he had been placed at a significantly different elevation from his destination of the Grand Mogolade Geyser.

They were already past the national border with the Kingdom of Lugunica, and were well into the Kararagi City-States, but it would take a considerable amount of time to climb back up the thousands of meters he had fallen so that he could return to his original route.

Besides――,

Aldebaran: [Setting Alter aside, is it even possible to reconvene with Roy and the old man…?]

Amongst the henchmen he had pulled ahead from, he had no anxiety regarding “Aldebaran’s” strength, but he was greatly concerned about the abilities and humanity of Roy Alphard and Heinkel. Of course, Roy’s actions were restricted by the curse mark, so he would not break the rules if he valued his own life.

Aldebaran: [Either way, the best I can do is expect everyone to gather at the meeting spot.]

The maximum priority for Aldebaran was reaching the Grand Mogolade Geyser, and accomplishing his objective.

He would need to borrow “Aldebaran’s” strength for that objective, but in the worst case, it was not as though he had no means by which to do something about it even without “Aldebaran”. In addition, the power of Roy’s Authority of Gluttony was indispensable to dealing with the aftermath of the calamity he had employed for the sake of this plan.

Hence, he would need to find a way to reconvene after he fulfilled his objective, and somehow get them to follow his instructions.

Aldebaran: [Trying to avert secondary damages only to cause tertiary and quaternary damages, some help I am.]

Spilling those words, Aldebaran inclined the wings of stone on his back, and while maintaining his speed he slowly descended towards the bottom of the canyon, and by the bank of the great river running through, he somehow managed to make a smooth landing. ――That was a lie. He had crashed and burned six times while carrying Emilia, and on the seventh attempt he finally succeeded in landing.

Aldebaran: [It’d be a laughing matter if I became unable to get back on my feet here.]

One time, he had been incapacitated not only in his legs, but from the waist down, which brought him dangerously close to total paralysis and made him incapable of gulping down his poison. He had managed to roll himself into the river and drown to death, but he did not wish to repeat the same failure.

In any case――,

Aldebaran: [I’m sorry, Emilia… lil’ miss.]

To ensure she would not drown if the water in the great river rose for some reason, Aldebaran laid Emilia down not on the ground, but in a cavity of the cliff face that was a bit higher up.

And in his final comment before leaving her there, he slightly hesitated on how to call her. Hesitating, he ultimately settled on referring to her as he usually did, as Aldebaran. ――Now that their relationship had lost its rightful form, he did not have the courage to address her in any way that pertained to the true relationship between the two of them.

Aldebaran: [――Hk.]

Right after cursing his cowardly self, Aldebaran was struck by a dizzying headache, clenching his teeth.

Having overcome a difficult situation, the moment he let his mind relax, the debts he had accumulated began threatening to erupt. Doing his best to hold that back, he gave himself ten seconds to take deep breaths before gulping down his poison―― repeating that over and over, he stabilized his mind.

Albeit, even if he could give his heart a breather through this method, it was unable to grant a rest to his body―― and in particular, to his brain.

In real time, he had already kept his brain constantly running for nearly a hundred hours.

Along their journey, “Aldebaran” had used its healing magic on him to conceal that reality from his mind, but until his body and mind completely shut down, this overheating would likely not subside.

Be that as it may, he persuaded himself to just hold out for a little bit longer.

???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]

Aldebaran: [Ahh, that’s right, Teacher. ――Nobody, can defeat me. That’s right. That’s precisely right.]

When he closed his eyes, those words were resurrected within Aldebaran’s mind.

Using that as support, Aldebaran would――,

???: [――Look at that, it is…]

Aldebaran: [――――]

???: [It is mine――]

Aldebaran: [――――]

???: [Mine――]

Fragmented and indistinct, a voice sounded within him.

To whom it had belonged, when those words had been spoken, and just how deeply they would scorch his soul; since he knew the answers to all of those questions, Aldebaran closed off the ears of his heart.

He would not halt his tracks. So he had decided. His mind was made up.

After all, he could not afford to halt his tracks, so he had decided.

His mind was made up, and so――,

△▼△▼△▼△

――The moment was just after Aldebaran, having closed his heart’s ears, had at last managed to climb out of the canyon, resuming his hurried march towards the Grand Mogolade Geyser.

Aldebaran: [Wha…]

And thus, what had escaped from Aldebaran’s lips, was a husky exhale.

It was only natural that he had let such a voice spill. After all, it was an accident that had flown in from outside his consciousness, an unforeseen event he had dismissed as impossible in the back of his mind. ――In Aldebaran’s path, around two meters ahead of him, a behemoth of an icicle had been pierced.

Aldebaran: [――――]

Swallowing his saliva, Aldebaran looked back down at the bottom of the canyon―― he understood that Emilia, the one left down there, had been the one to plunge this extremity of ice here.

But, the damage she had taken was severe. It would still be a few hours before Emilia regained consciousness, so in other words, this was a hail mary she had delivered whilst unconscious.

Aldebaran: [That’s some outrageous persistence…]

Regardless, considering that, if Aldebaran had climbed up only five seconds faster, he would have been crushed under this ice pillar just now, it could be said that he had evaded tragedy in two senses.

Of course, even if he suffered a direct hit, Aldebaran would redo it with his Authority, and draw out the result of not getting hit, but for both Emilia’s sake, and for Aldebaran’s peace of mind, it would be best if she did not have the chance to intervene from here on out.

Even so――,

Aldebaran: [In battles, it’s something that’ll crop up every so often, but it’s damn frightening.]

Even in the Sparkas of the Gladiator Island, in the midst of life-or-death battles, there were times when an opponent who had sustained a fatal wound would muster all of the life force left within them, unleashing an attack that aimed to bring him down with them. Among Aldebaran’s experiences, there was even someone who had tried to kill him after having their head sliced off.

Actions with the resolve to accomplish what they set out to do, such that even if one’s consciousness or life were lost, the vestiges of their feelings left behind in their limbs would attempt to carry out their will.

Emilia’s hail mary just now, was the form taken by her feelings of wishing to stop Aldebaran no matter what, and so――,

Aldebaran: [――Wait.]

As he attempted to praise her force of will, Aldebaran held his breath.

Before his eyes, the ice pillar had barely missed Aldebaran to thrust itself into the ground―― that was a colossal spear of ice, one that seemed like it might be wielded by a giant from legend. But, for that to have been fired with the objective of killing Aldebaran, was far too much of an exaggeration, no matter how one might see it.

Something this massive, it was just as if――,

Aldebaran: [――An anchor.]

Indeed, it happened right after he let that mutter slip. ――With the ice spear Emilia had fired as a landmark, new assassins were dispatched to Aldebaran as he attempted to push on towards the Grand Mogolade Geyser.

That was――,

???: [――Yo, helmet bastard, looks like you got roughed up pretty badly while I wasn’t looking.]

Aldebaran: […I could say the same for you, and it also seems like you’ve wound up with quite the foul-mouth, haven’t you, Filóre-chan?]

Having each surmounted their preliminary battlefields, they were fellows who had risen to the next stage.

The Combined Forces headed by Filóre Lugunica―― no, by Felt; just like when they had hit him with a flash grenade of Memories, they now stood in his way once more.