Twilight of the Endless Nine
Battler stood in disbelief... the culprit that should have been dead, was mocking him…
The culprit that should have been filled with bullets… was guffawing at Battler…
George turned away from Natsuhi's tragic body and also looked in the direction Maria had run off to. Then there was only the sound of the footsteps growing nearer, and the youngest Ushiromiya's 'kihihihihi' laugh. Battler shook off his fear and shot off the gun in the darkness at where a head must have been... It should have hit...!
"Kehihihihihihihi... Didn't I tell you Battler? 'At the ninth twilight, the witch shall revive and none shall be left alive'! This game is already over for us." Maria pointed out that all efforts to defeat her master were utterly useless.
Jessica had noticed the sudden quiet and when Battler fired the rifle, she had stopped her pitiable sobbing for the moment to—but she was late in her execution.
She was just about to stand up and charge in the direction of where this culprit had appeared when a bullet drove directly into her forehead; so perfectly, that it was identical to her mother's beside.
It happened within mere seconds: the moment Battler fired his gun, 'Beatrice' simultaneously fired 'hers' and Jessica was killed instantly... it conceived the illusion that Battler had fired the shot to finish Jessica's futile rebellion.
Before Battler could even register what happened to Jessica, gunfire cracked through the cold air, and-
George... slowly dropped to his knees and the same crimson diamond as Jessica's decorated his features as well. And, at that moment Battler swore that their entire world had slowed, George fell onto his face in a grace that only the dead could accomplish.
The eldest Ushiromiya's Winchester slipped from the hold of his hands along with any hope he had of seeing the seagulls cry once again.
"Who... who are you?" He barely managed to inquire.
In the darkness, there was a sound of clanking, as though the killer had dropped their weapon as well. Battler slumped to his knees and hands and let his tears of despair fall as the criminal and Maria came closer.
"Why is Battler still so afraid?" Maria asked in a small voice.
"Because he does not believe..." The killer answered her back.
When the teen looked up again, he was surprised to find himself looking at black combat boots, and he instinctively realized something...
"Battler... It's Beatrice-sama...-Uuu..." Maria came completely out of the darkness and clung to him in a creepy fashion. It would have been adorable if there weren't three dead bodies directly behind them.
"Is that so?" He replied with a voice that did not suit him.
"Uu! See?" She gestured to the person who was just standing there. Battler had the odd premonition that the killer was watching the scene like a wonderful masterpiece. And then the criminal began to walk forward...
*clunk clunk* The hard foot steps hit the floor. It was the sound of Battler's demise.
"Maria," The person said in a light voice.
"Won't you wait for us in the rose garden? If you sing a lot of pretty songs, Battler will be very happy!"
The foot steps came to a halt, and Battler was rendered unable exhale.
"Okay! I'll go check on Rose-san!" Maria skipped off in the direction behind them, unfazed by the amount of blood that gathered onto her pretty shoes from her family below. Battler's suspicions that he realized earlier when he looked at those boots were instantly confirmed.
Battler was looking into the eyes of a man.
Surely, the only Ushiromiya in the mansion had gone insane. Maria had been... talking to a woman... hadn't she? The 'woman in the portrait' was the Golden witch.
Blonde Woman= Beatrice, therefore: Beatrice=Blonde Woman.
~Blonde Woman=Beatrice? This created an illogical argument. But there wasn't anytime left in Battler's world to contemplate this.
That's right. The sound of Battler's demise was not this man's boots; no, it was something far, far simpler. But at the moment, 'Beatrice' stared at him with calculating, steel-blue eyes. The young man, who looked to be about Battler's age, simply smoothed a hand through his silver hair in a tired way.
"What a naive person..." He said in an exasperated tone, and the far-away look in his eyes made Battler wonder who was that directed to. The cold-blooded teen walked past him, and knelt at Natsuhi's body.
In a very childish manner, he flicked a finger across her right cheek as though to wake a friend who'd fallen asleep in a foolish place. "What the hell are you doing to Natsuhi oba-san!" Battler had suddenly regained his old fire back and yelled.
And with a smile that sent chills up Battler's spine, he replied: "Why, I just wanted to see Mother asleep one last time... She really is silly; I kept telling her to get some rest today, and all she could do was worry about Father Krauss... and this one..." He looked down at Jessica's body casually.
"Until the end, she was willing to die for this bitch. Did she honestly think I'll allow that? Just like how she didn't allow for me to live… "His eyes seemed to portray an emotion entirely different from the cruel smile on his face.
"Are you so surprised to see me, Sister...?" He stepped over Natsuhi's corpse and hover over Jessica's, her face wearing what truly did looked to be a shocked expression. His current mood made the last agonizing expression appear to be an outright lie."Well you should be! I'm like ya older brother!" He patted her on the forehead as if she had given a cute reply, stepped away from her body, and stood in front of Battler.
"Stand up," he ordered Battler in an entirely different tone from earlier. There wasn't a trace of playfulness as he held up a medium sized pistol that was strapped to the side of his leg either. "Don't think that I would trust any of you Ushiromiyas for a minute. I bet you were planning to run down the hall and get the gun I dropped earlier, ne?"
Battler's eyes widened at how deadly perceptive the person before him was. It was exactly what he wanted an opportunity for. It wasn't in his nature to give up yet. Knowing that he was correct, the killer gave Battler a look as though he was leftover trash. "Just as I expected, but something tells me you are different from the others. That is why I have something special planned."
"Let's play a game... Battler..."
He suddenly stepped in close proximity of the other's face which caused him to back away automatically. As if anticipating this, the other threw an arm around his waist, preventing any further movement Battler may attempt.
"Are you... afraid of me?" The killer really did have the audacity to ask such a question as he used his left hand to grasp Battler right. Although the other's teen's expression was furious, his face began to redden at the sudden contact. The assailant tied his hands together with a rather thin type of rope, and then Battler was being tugged along like a puppy by his tie.
They walked through the pool of blood from the three victims on the floor, then past the next three that will stay forever in the parlor, and out of that damned mansion.
Battler would soon come to recognize that they were the lucky ones...
The sound of Battler's demise activated as he was dragged through the mansion's doors: it was the grandfather clock in the hall.
It was announcing to the dead that it was 0:00.