Eternal Journey to Despair

One Month and Twenty-two days since the Last Death (Nine Deaths)

"May I know what you want?" Wilhelm asked, keeping his politeness and… his distance. The man, whose demeanor conveyed an enormous ego, looked at him parsimoniously.

"Me? Are you talking about me? Hmm... If that's the case, I can tell you that I, myself, desire nothing, absolutely and utterly nothing. Why would I? I am the man who has everything... No, let me rephrase that; I am the man who is happy with everything he has, who doesn't need anything else. So why would I need anything? You have nothing I could want; I can assure you of that. That is how great my humility is, the humility of the unselfish man who has everything, the complete man, the man who is content with what his hands can take, and needs nothing more..."

"If that is the case, could you step aside? Where you are standing, you are blocking our way." Tired of the strange man's unending monologue, Wilhelm politely cut him off to ask him to move out from the road; that proved to be a mistake. Suddenly, the man exuded an aura of oppressive hostility, causing Wilhelm to instinctively raise his sword and take up a fighting stance.

"Don't I have the right to convey that which I wish to speak out?!" He exclaimed, frowning. "We are all born with certain rights. Rights are something that we all have, aren't they? So respecting those rights that we are born with is the least a person could do when interacting with another. The least I expect day by day when I wake up is that when I meet other people, they will respect my rights. So why do you violate my right to speak? If you keep me from finishing what I want to say, then you are violating my right to express myself, aren't you? Of course you are! I don't want anything, just respect for my belongings, respect for me as the person of integrity that I am. Therefore, I expect the people I come across to have the minimum of decency to listen to what I have to say. Is that too much to ask? I think not! And I also think I'll have to protect my rights if you continue to violate them that way!"

"You speak of rights, but you are preventing our right to travel on the road, which has been built for the transit of carriages, not people. So I think the one who is in the wrong here is you. The one who is violating the rights of another is you."

"What did you say!?" In response to Wilhelm's statement, the veins in the man's forehead bulged. "My only ambition was to travel this road in the warm light of the sun, and you're telling me I can't satisfy that ambition? No, I won't accept it. I am a person, a man who never asks for too much, just the basics. I want to do something as simple as walking down a road, and this old man dares to say that I can't do it? What kind of sick joke is this? I, I... I think the only thing left for me to do is to fight for the fulfillment of my rights. This old man who did not even have the manners to introduce himself, as the etiquette dictates... No, I must definitely watch over the fulfillment of my rights, it is the right thing to do."

Making exaggerated gestures and swinging his hands frantically, the man spoke and spoke, as if to stop producing words meant his death. At no point during the long performance of the man in white's monologue, Wilhelm had turned his eyes away from him; his sharp swordsman senses were telling him that looking away for even a second could spell his death. And it was because of this that he was able to move in time to avoid whatever the man in white had thrown at him.

It did not appear to be anything special, or it was not until the carriage next to him, and the two behind it, exploded, turning into a shower of debris and blood. Stunned, Wilhelm watched the result of a simple hand movement. But his astonishment was short-lived, for he immediately set about striking the man in white. However, a voice prevented him from doing so.

"Noooo... This is bad, it's awful, it's noxious, it's upsetting, it's terrible, it's dreadful, it's hurtful. Tsu! There were so many gourmet foods in those carriages, there was no need to destroy them... We thought we would eat, taste, relish, savor, lick and gobble up the delicacies that were there. Gluttonous drinking! Gluttony, ~tsu!"

Wilhelm looked sideways at where that voice was coming from, still focusing on the man in white, and what he saw made his anger, which was increasing in intensity, rise to the skies. A short boy who could not exceed fifteen years old, was shuffling towards them. His mouth full of sharp fangs and his tattered garments were only the opening of what was an extremely unpleasant figure to behold.

But that was not what had provoked Wilhelm's ire. In addition to a melancholic smile that could only be described as unsettling, the boy had a pair of emerald eyes that were repulsive and, finally, his long, unkempt brown hair, which reached down to his knees, had blood on its tips; just like the two daggers he wore tied to each wrist. A crimson path preceded him, which came from the back of the convoy; it was obvious what had happened.

"I did what I had to do. That old man violated not only my right to speak, but also my right to free movement. If I had stood by, I would've-"

"Who are you?" Wilhelm asked, holding his sword in front of him. Before starting the impending battle, he wanted to corroborate the identities of those he would face. The man in white glared daggers at him because of the interruption, but Wilhelm paid him no heed.

"Hmm… Sin Archbishop of the Witch Cult, representing gluttony, we are Lye Batenkaitos… Tsu!" The disturbing-looking boy recited, referring to himself as "we"; a detail that gave a glimpse of the boy's unstable mental state. And it's not like Wilhelm hadn't suspected what his identity was after the earlier mention of gluttony, and if the pattern held, the man in white was...

"So now you are interested in introductions? I will do it to prove that I am the best man here, the one who's right… Sin Archbishop of the Witch Cult, representing greed, Regulus Corneas."

"The Witch Cult…" Wilhelm muttered thoughtfully. "What are you doing here?"

"Us? We were just curious to meet the person responsible for killing the White Whale. Our pet roamed this world for four hundred years, so we thought that the person who ended its life must be someone interesting, surprising, awesome, incredible, amazing, extraordinary. A true delicacy! Gluttony Gourmet! Gluttony-! "

"Your pet…?" What Wilhelm didn't expect was to find so soon a person to whom he could pour the anger and disappointment that had taken hold of him. His sword moved a thousandth of an inch and then disappeared, and before Lye Batenkaitos could finish speaking, his torso was pierced from side to side. A piece of steel was visible protruding from his back, and before he could utter the last word of his speech, the crimson liquid replaced each letter...

The Sin Archbishop of Gluttony, Lye Batenkaitos, was able to capture the swift movement of the old man's sword. His ominous emerald eyes lay on the brightness of the steel dancing under the hot noon sun. Instinctively, the Sin Archbishop moved his hands, so that he could use his daggers with the purpose of covering himself.

He might not have had decades of actual combat experience, but the memories he had ingested, since he gained part of the Authority of Gluttony from the mysterious platinum-haired lady, certainly did. Thanks to the set of skills imprinted on those memoirs, Lye Batenkaitos had defeated several of the continent's most prolific warriors without much trouble.

Due to those memories, his existence was nothing more than a whisper that could only be heard in the darkest nooks and crannies of society. He was a ghost, a myth, as were the other bearers of the Authority of Gluttony. No one who had met him, or his brother, had been able to relate the events that took place. Some died, and one could consider that those who made up this group were the most fortunate, since those who survived the encounter with an Archbishop of Gluttony, were robbed of their complete identity or the totality of their memories... or both.

Even so, in order for Lye Batenkaitos to make full use of the inherent abilities of these memories, he first had to activate his own ability; one of the main abilities of his authority. Eclipse, the ace up Gluttony's sleeve. While with the Lunar Eclipse he was able to make use of the memories he consumed. With the Solar Eclipse he was able to put the consumed names to use and… become, almost literally, the person whose name he had stolen. Although he preferred to avoid using the latter, because it always caused him to feel lost within himself, the sensation that his own consciousness was fading; as if another existence other than his own were swallowing him up.

Nevertheless, for a moment he considered using it; the speed at which the old man was moving was not normal, it was not something he had seen in years, and he was not prepared to react in time. Still, in the end he discarded the decision to utilize Solar Eclipse and tried to use Lunar Eclipse instead. But Lye Batenkaitos had been careless; he had become overconfident.

Since a bearer of the Authority of Gluttony leaves no witnesses to his actions behind, Lye Batenkaitos had never experienced what it meant to face a person who genuinely hated him from the heart. Throughout his existence as Sin Archbishop, never had a person thirsting for revenge appeared before him, he had never been pursued; this had made him negligent. He had assumed that something like this would never happen, and thus he leisurely wandered about in those places that were to become his next dining room.

He never foresaw that a swordsman with the superhuman ability of Wilhelm Van Astrea, who in his younger years snatched up the sword from the former Sword Saint, would lunge at him with the sole intention of ending his life. The fire that had been burning within Wilhelm had finally found an outlet, and this was the careless Lye Batenkaitos.

He had found the master puppeteer behind the White Whale that had taken so much from him, that had humiliated him so much; the being that had not only harmed him, but also all his loved ones, the being that had probably killed an important person for him, and that neither he nor Felix could ever remember. Wilhelm would not hesitate to pierce him with his sword; and so it was. The Archbishop of Gluttony raised his daggers, but the tempered blade of the old man went through them, breaking them in the process, and went on without losing an ounce of his momentum.

The sword was buried in the middle of the Archbishop's chest and, as if there were nothing to stop it, it went ahead until its tip found the exit right on the back of the ragged-looking boy. Lye Batenkaitos stared at Wilhelm, stunned, blood gushing from his mouth, nose, chest, and back. There was nothing that could stop his demise, the sword had pierced his heart right down the middle.

"Blergh! ~Tsu…" He exclaimed, vomiting blood in exaggerated amounts. His frenzied gaze then returned to Wilhelm's serious face, who was still holding the handle of his sword. He needed to activate the Lunar Eclipse, he needed to use some of his best skills, he needed to escape in order to recover. He was not complete, there was still a long way to go. He had a good set of skills, but it still wasn't enough; if only his brother didn't consume so many of them...

"The time has come for you to leave this world, you witch cultist." Wilhelm declared with anger burning in his gaze, to immediately twist the handle of his sword and completely grind the lacerated heart of the Archbishop.

Every thread of thoughts in the mind of Lye Batenkaitos snapped, and he was no longer even able to feel the pain in his chest, for it was totally numbed by the embrace of death. Everything had happened in less than a second, and everything would have been avoided if he had had Lunar Eclipse activated. For an insignificant lapse of time, Lye could swear that he heard his sister's voice rebuking him from her prison of memories; I could have done better...

Lye's desperate eyes fixed on those terrible eyes of the old man, then he dropped to his knees in a pool of his own blood. Their gazes remained locked until Lye's small body could not stand it any longer and collapsed completely into the sea of blood that had previously kept it alive.

I want it, thought Batenkaitos... I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it , I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it. ~Tsu!

If perhaps he had possessed the experience of that old man, if perhaps he had managed to steal the memories of that steeled warrior, if he had consumed the name of that perilous gentleman... Perhaps he would finally have achieved the completeness he so longed for. Perhaps in the head of the man who had pierced his heart, was the answer he had sought so long.

"I... w-a-n-t i-t... I… d-e-s-i-r-e i-t… I… n-e-e-d i-t... I… c-r-a-v-e i-t..." He needed to know his name, he needed to make room to store his name, he needed to consume his name, he needed to taste his name. But first he needed to get rid of the poor-quality memories he had ingested. Yes… Now that he had found someone with the right experience and skill, he realized that for years he had set his quality bar very low. He needed to be more gourmet, a real gourmet demanded high quality and he would do just that. " I… n-o… l-o-n-g-e-r… n-e-e-d… t-h-o-s-e…"

Wilhelm watched in silence as Gluttony murmured deliriously amidst bloody retches. The boy was seconds away from death, and yet he seemed determined to do something, whatever it was. Then Gluttony began to "vomit" some of the memories and names he had ingested, those he no longer considered worthy of a true gourmet dish. Nothing came out of Gluttony's mouth, not even blood, but Wilhelm felt the change; it was almost imperceptible, but his keen instincts allowed him to detect it: people who were not in his memory before began to appear in his mind; no, they began to return.

They had been comrades with whom he fought years ago, and who had now returned to help him face the whale. How could he have forgotten them...? Wilhelm soon understood what was happening, and although there were certain aspects that still escaped him, the truth was that he had gained a good understanding of the situation.

"Do you seek to consume my memories? Is the Authority of Gluttony similar to that of the whale...?" The Archbishop of Gluttony had said that the mabeast had been his pet, so that conclusion was not without meaning. "He is vomiting out the memories... Does killing him cause the memories to be brought back?" And yet his final conclusion was not entirely accurate. Before the old man could get an answer, Lye Batenkaitos looked at him one last time from the ground.

"S-i-s-t-e-r… G-l-u-t-t-o-n-o-u-s d-r-i-n-k-i-n-g… G-l-u-t-t-o-n-y... g-o-u-r-m-e-t... tsu..." With an extremely choppy and muffled voice, Gluttony recited his last words before he died. Sister... It was the last thought that crossed her mind, before it went out.

"Hmm... It seems to be that annoying midget has already expired. I was always curious about how the Authority of Gluttony worked, and it seems that killing its bearer is not enough to bring back the memories... Well, whatever. It's not a matter that suits me, after all, I don't need anything I can't have. If I weren't-" Regulus Corneas, not at all moved by the death of his companion, started another lengthy monologue. But was interrupted by the sword of Wilhelm, who, just as he lunged viciously at Lye Batenkaitos, approached him at lightning speed, ignoring entirely the Archbishop's speech. He was already tired of listening to him and considered that nothing he said could be of value... Undoubtedly, one of the few errors of the wise old swordsman.

"Your life must also be severed, so that the world can regain some of its peace. The terrible deeds of Greed are well known, and I will take care of putting an end to them right now!" With a roar of determination, Wilhelm thrust his sword into the chest of Regulus Corneas, finally ending the life of the second Sin Archbishop... Or at least that would have happened if his sword had not bounced off his enemy's clothing, pushing him away from the man in white.

"It seems that all my words were wasted on deaf ears, old man. Is it that no matter how much I claim for my right to speak, you will still violate my freedom? No… I already know the answer is affirmative, therefore I must take charge of ending your life immediately. After all, I would only be acting in self-defense." Thus justifying his own actions, the twisted-minded man slightly waved his hand.

The old warrior moved away just in time to avoid the rain of explosive projectiles, but was unable to escape the blast wave caused by the sonic boom and was thrown into the air. "Arghh!" Wilhelm fell hard to the ground, but immediately got to his feet and charged at his target, now towards his back. Maybe he had used a technique to stop his attack before, but if he didn't see it...

"It seems that waiting for a simple statement of apology is too much to ask. Shouldn't you have realized that there is no way to break the spirit of the man who has everything, old man? When you first went for Batenkaitos, I thought I saw a bit of sense in you, but I have been completely disappointed by your mindless stubbornness." Speaking as if he could never be wrong, Regulus Corneas rebuked Wilhelm as he attacked him with his sword; the sword bounced off again and Wilhelm was forced to retreat once more.

What is the ability of Greed? This was the recurring question posed by the aging warrior. And so the "combat" proceeded for a couple more minutes. Regulus Corneas waved his hand slightly, causing an explosion of debris to cover the entire area, while Wilhelm dodged and counterattacked. Since Wilhelm had moved the battle to an area farther away from the convoy, the remaining carriages, with possible survivors, were not being affected by the debris explosions.

"I'm still waiting to hear your apology, old man. Admit you were in the wrong, admit I am in the right at this moment, and I will give you a painless death."

"I shall admit nothing. Hya!" The old man's sword struck the white man's head, and then ricocheted... No, it was being repelled. Once again, William's sword was deflected by whatever ability his enemy had. An ability of invulnerability? Wilhelm thought, with growing frustration. If it were something like that, it was possible that there was no way he could defeat him...

The Archbishop of Greed was not particularly skilled or agile, that was true. One could say that he was in the skill rank of a civilian. However, if he did not have a weak point, a vulnerable zone, then that explained why every time his name was mentioned, it implied the total obliteration of his enemy. Even so, Wilhelm could not give up, or else he would be killed, of that there was no doubt.

"I've had enough of this..." Regulus Corneas then murmured, and subsequently made a simple movement of his other hand, thus creating powerful gusts of wind capable of tearing off pieces of earth.

The wind blades grazed his body, leaving deep cuts, but Wilhelm had still managed to successfully dodge the attack. Regulus snorted, and then resumed his attack. He threw three air knives in front of him and three more behind. Wilhelm, noticing this, jumped up, then turned around and dodged three more blades that came from below.

The man in white created lethal attacks with the simple movement of his hands, but lacked the dexterity to use them masterfully. Wilhelm descended and lunged at the Archbishop of Greed. The latter, with a sly smile, launched another explosion of debris; exactly what the old man was expecting. Swerving sideways, Wilhelm dodged the murderous rain and charged at Regulus with his sword high.

Drawing an arc with the tip of his sword and imbuing the handle with all the strength of his fiery spirit, Wilhelm thrust the sword into the left wrist of the white man. But the sword stopped before it could even cut the cloth; he had failed, not even an attack with all his strength had been enough to cut him.

Regulus then malevolently smirked and spun his wrist, throwing air knives in all directions. The old man drew away from the man in white with the edge of the road in his gaze. By this point, Wilhelm was already beginning to feel exhausted. Not only had age taken its toll on his stamina, which was not comparable to that of his younger days, but he had not yet fully recovered from the fight against the White Whale. For this reason, although he was able to dodge the first three wind blades that rained down on him, dodging the fourth one proved impossible.

Without complaining, the old warrior fell to the ground, having lost one of his legs, which was cut from the knee down. Regulus, who had to accept that he somewhat admired the old man's determination, did not show any interest in further testing his vast experience in combat. With a movement of his right hand, debris rained down again.

Wilhelm, still unable to run, got up on his one foot and tried to escape; but immediately he knew it would be useless. Regulus Corneas had grown tired of playing the game of cat and mouse. "I love you, Teresia..." The old man whispered.

He wanted to continue with "I will see you soon", but that wound that his wife had inflicted on him years ago had reopened; a wound made with the Divine Protection of the Death God, and that therefore would never close while the one with the blessing was near... Unable to understand the reason behind the wound reopening, and unable to look for it, Wilhelm "Trias" Van Astrea was hit by debris. The Sword Demon, who lived for the sword, was buried along with it.

"Well, it seems that this old man will no longer be able to invalidate my rights and freedoms... I think I'm done with what we came here to do. Aren't I, Pandora-sama?" Regulus looked at the dust cloud and was satisfied not to notice any signs of life, so he spoke to someone who had so far been kept out of the picture.

"Yes, you are indeed correct, Regulus-san. Therefore you are right now in your mansion, with your wives." Before Regulus Corneas could say anything else, his presence vanished into thin air, leaving behind no other evidence of his existence but a sea of debris and blood; not even a set of footprints.

In his place there was a figure that only resembled that of the Archbishop of Greed in the disturbing aura he exuded; although hers also conveyed the feeling that this was someone of great importance. There, where Regulus Corneas had been before, stood a girl. A woman with a small body, whose beautiful platinum hair, almost transparent in tone, descended until it was about to touch the ground, but without doing so completely.

Her small frame, which was only covered by a white cloth, could even be considered a work of art that not even the best artisans could have imagined. Beauty that not even a god would dare touch out of fear of spoiling it, that was the best way to define the mysterious woman who had just emerged on the scene.

With her beautiful eyes of a mesmerizing dark blue, the girl scanned what, until a moment ago, had been a battlefield. Within a moment, her gaze fell on the corpse of the one who was feared in life as the Archbishop of Gluttony. The girl approached the body, and then stared at it for a while.

"It appears to me that you will serve me better by staying dead, Lye Batenkaitos." And after stating this, the girl looked up. "Now your portion of the Authority of Gluttony has merged with your brother's. I wonder what shall happen now..." The girl then moved away from the body and watched the dismembered and half-buried body of the old man who fought until his last breath against Regulus Corneas. "I guess he could never manage to get over her, poor man.." And leaving that remark hanging in the air, the girl moved away from the devastated road, to stop several meters away from it and turn back towards it. With her dignified gaze, the girl scanned the place for the last time, to then leave behind a statement that the wind took away without anyone being able to hear; a statement that carried the weight of a promise. "Hmm... It seems that the flow of destiny has once again deviated from its original course. At this point, the Book of Wisdom is going to lose all its value. Would this result satisfy you, Echidna?" The woman of beautiful figure carefully observed the white book that now rested in her hands."… I believe it is high time that I present myself before him."

Hi! Geisterivain here! Just two things. First, as always, I want to thank you for the support you are giving to the story, it definitely gives me that necessary boost when writing/translating the chapters. Second, the publication schedule is going to be back on Wednesdays; for those of you who are observant, you'll notice that I'm doing it because it's the day that the chapters of the Re:Zero anime (my favorite light novel and one of my favorite anime) are released, so in honor to the anime, I'm going to publish again on Wednesdays. That's it! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, both the fic and the Anime hehe.