Our Fall II

Heart's cut

"..Won't forgive you." The words were spat out like it was blood. Each syllable pained her throat.

[The glass of watered-down milk shattered on the floor. The swing of a heavy club brought a gust of wind. Flames of candles whispered away, and from the dark emerged the woman-in-black. The two curved-knives in her hands glimmered a silver tune, and they sang with the sound of her footsteps.]

"Ahh!" She stabbed her hand between two books on the nearest shelf, and yanked a row of books off its placement. They thudded on the clean floor.

["I'll become your opponent, little girl!" The heavy club came from above.

"A giant? Ah ha ha. How fun~!" The sultry laughter came after the woman had escaped the strike.

The warm arm of the giant thudded on the wooden planks straight after.]

"What you did to old man Rom! T-To him!" She stomped on a book, almost lost her footing, and fell to her knees. Her eyes were blurred, yet the paper in front irritated her.

So she shredded it apart.

[Warm blood showered her face. The chopped off arm was the same one that had consoled her, patted her head on countless occasions, and carried her within its strong embrace.

"Eh?" She had brought this person here. She had brought her, so why was old man Rom paying for it with an arm? Wasn't this unfair?

"Thanks for the milk~!" The second half of the broken ceramic glass was stuck inside old man Rom's neck. The woman-in-black twisted it, and the jagged edges shredded through skin, flesh, blood, and life.

The warm blood of her loved one showered her. The more it emptied out from his neck, the more she remembered her childhood memories with him.

Old man Rom's dead eyes watched her hollowly.]

She screamed. She wanted it to stop. She wanted the sensation of old man Rom's blood to disappear like it should. She needed to forget the gaze of his eyes!

Yet it all stuck to her clean skin.

"Aaaahhh!" Yelling just wasn't enough. That alone wasn't capable of getting it all out of her soul, out of her heart. She rampaged; kicked away the hard work of others, tore apart what did not belong to her, destroyed wooden shelves, and defied the shadows of the infinite library surrounding her.

["You still won't move~?" The woman dug the pointed end of her curved-knife into the pouring blood. The woman–no, the monster brought the blade to her mouth and relished the taste of blood.

"You bitch! You whore! H-How dare you do that to him!" There was no one around her anymore. The last bastion had fallen, and the reason for her ambition had disappeared off to somewhere.

But she still desired to live! She wished to see another day! Was this feeling selfish?

Without knowing the answer, she gathered the sudden burst of strength in her body and acted upon it.

"A divine protection? I see you're loved by this world. How envious!"

The silver-steel sang as the monster brought it down on her body.]

It hurt. It stung. It burned. And it was still the same.

There was a cut down the middle of her body, and it would not go away. It flamed her insides, and held as much pain as it did on the instance of the actual cut.

The curved cut brought by the monster was far from being clean, pretty, or painless. The curvature had dragged down her body, and the force of the monster's arm ignored all resistance.

She was left to slowly bleed out on the wooden floor of the loot-house that had been her childhood abode, and within her sight was the haunted face of old man Rom.

The gradual bleeding poured out everything.

Slowly, slowly, slowly, and slowly.

"I'll make you pay, you bitch! I'll definitely kill you, Elsa!"

The last shout drained her of everything. But she still had the need to keep shouting, to keep cursing, and to keep destroying. For by anchoring her will to vengeance, Felt would remain as Felt.

"Felt-cha~n?"

A familiar voice whispered from behind her. It was familiar, yet its tone and way of speaking irked her heart.

She turned her dry eyes around, wishing to send whoever it was away from her rampage. But then she stopped.

–Braids fluttered within her scope of vision. The color wasn't black, but the style was the exact same! There were the braids that belonged to the monster, Elsa.

"You!" She lashed out her fist and it struck the cheek of a young girl. The strike struck the round and simple face of a young girl. "Huh?"

The girl let out a painful yelp, crashed on the hard ground, and held her stinging cheek.

The girl had green eyes and blue hair with a flower ornament attached on the side of her head. She was the witch beast tamer/user, the one responsible for safe passage across the sand dunes, the girl known as Meili Portroute.

Meili looked at her with a quiver in her eyes and a red mark on her left cheek.

"I…what have I don…what," her teeth clattered, so she forcefully bit her lip and drew blood. "M-Meili, I…s-sorry. I didn't mean to-!"

She moved closer, but Meili shifted back. The girl's green eyes were cautious.

"F-Felt-chan, why did you-?"

"It was a mistake! It's the truth! I would never hurt you for no reason!"

Meili's eyes narrowed, then she said, "You were aiming for my throat just now."

"Wrong! That's not true!"

What Meili said was most likely the truth. Driven by her rage, she had aimed for the most delicate part that she could quickly glimpse. Perhaps it had been Meili's own quick response that had saved her.

"What am I doing?" All the hatred from before melted away into shame. It disgusted her that her rampaging emotions had blinded her to the point that she would hit a girl. "I am…not like this!"

"Felt-chan?"

She clenched the fist that she had used to hit Meili, and aimed it at the floor.

"Wait. What are you trying to do?"

"Isn't it obvious?! It's justice!" She brought the fist down with nothing held back. Her knuckles struck the floor so hard that a literal vibration traveled through the bone of her arm.

It hurt like hell. But the pain was nothing compared to Elsa's cut, or to the pain of having hit an unrelated child.

She stifled the cry of pain, allowed the effects of the strike to complete its course, and then slumped down holding her fist.

"Ah, goddammit! My arm is tingling all over now."

"...Well that's what happens when you strike the floor," Meili shifted closer. "Are you alrigh~t?"

"What about you? Sorry for suddenly striking you out of nowhere."

"Felt-chan seems really guilt~y, so I'll let it pas~s. But there wasn't any need to hurt yourself like that."

"There was." She slumped her back against a shelf and sharpened her eyes, stating, "No matter what, I can't ever lose myself in my rage. I have to think it through, find it out for myself, and then act."

"Don't understand what you're talking about thoug~h."

"I bet."

The pain dropped a bucket of ice over her blind rage. The cut gouged in the middle of her body still burned and the sight of old man Rom's haunted face appeared upon each blink, but the raged haze over her mind was becoming clearer. It came with many thoughts that rebuked her previous hatred. The first being,

"Old man Rom isn't dead. I am not dead. Both of us are alive. And yet….yet we died. The sensation of death, of losing what makes who I am, and of experiencing that unrecoverable loss was all real. The entire experience was real. Ain't no way it's some well-crafted dream or some bullshit like that."

The scar had been carved directly onto her soul. It was an inhuman experience of death.

"But the current reality doesn't match this new memory at all!" She clutched the sides of her head, applying pressure in the hope that some sort of revelation would come to her. However, life wasn't so simple.

No possible explanation for this bizarre experience came to her. No explanation arrived for the improbable occurrences in the loot house.

"Your face is so paine~d, Felt-chan." Meili's face stared at her from a close proximity.

"Oh!" Meili's braids made her flinch back.

"Felt-chan~?"

"What? Now that I think about it, why exactly are you here?"

"Eh?" Meili put her hands to her waist. "You're the one causing troubl~e for everyone. All the scholars ran out when you starte~d destroying everything, and the soldiers are too scared to do anythin~g about it. Why did you start rampaging in the librar~y?"

"Ah, that's right," she grimaced at all the destruction she had caused. "Honestly, it's mostly a haze in my mind. I know one of the scholars said something to me, but I don't exactly know what."

It had been a haze since she had woken up from this death-dream/memory. Perhaps she had walked to the nearest place, crowded with people, for the sake of company. Or maybe it had all been random luck.

One of the scholars must have seen her state, and probably said something along the lines of, "Felt-sama, you look deathly sick." Or perhaps it was, "The way your expression looks is as if someone died."

Meili said, "And then you were screaming that nam~e. The anger shocked me, you know?" The girl had a perfectly placed smile and an experienced tilt of the head.

It was simple for anyone to perceive that Meili was a socially awkward girl, but now there seemed to be some substance behind the mask she had put on her face.

A realization hit her.

"That's right! You're part of Onee-chan's camp!" She grabbed Meili's hands.

"Yes, I am, technicall~y."

Given that's the case, there was a high chance for Meili to have the information she needed. She knew that the monster–Elsa–was someone who Onee-chan's camp had to deal with. She did not know any more, however.

"Do you know about an assassin who is dressed in black, wields two curved-knives, and has black hair?"

"Without a name, I can't do much to hel~p," the smile on Meili's face was softly frozen there.

"Tch, a name. That monster in human form does not even deserve a name!"

"Uwah, how horribl~e. You would think this person is a witch cultist or somethin~g."

"She ain't much different from them," hatred scoured the insides of her mouth.

"So, a nam~e? Being stubborn will only get you so fa~r." Meili sat by her side, fiddling with her braids.

"So I gotta say it, huh? Fine. That monster's name is Elsa. I don't remember her last name, nor do I give a crap. I am pretty sure she is known as the Bowel hunter, or something. She's just a sick piece of shit, and nothing more." Her entire body shuddered at once.

No matter how much she insulted her killer, the fear of death had already been carved into her body.

"..."

"Do you know what happened to her? All I know is that the Emilia-camp had to deal with her again, but the information regarding what happened with the assassin's attack at their mansion is kept pretty obscure. They didn't even reveal the proper location of where the Great Rabbit had attacked."

"Elsa, huh," Meili muttered. "Before I tell you anything, I want to know how Felt-chan knows this Elsa person and why you're so angry at her. I won't say anything otherwis~e."

Answering that question was harder than expected. She wanted to scream about her death and old man Rom's unreasonable demise. But the truth was that she was alive and so was old man Rom.

It was an unparalleled dilemma, especially because she did not understand the nature of what she had even experienced.

So, for now, she answered with, "I had a deal with her, but she betrayed me. She killed some people dear to me. Of course, she also caused a great deal of trouble for Onii-chan and Onee-chan."

"When did that happe~n?"

"A long time ago, before I even became a candidate for the Throne."

"Huh~? What, what? Isn't that strange? If Elsa harmed Felt-chan a long time ago, then why are you acting as if it happened right now? Why didn't you seek out Onii-san earlier? Why now? Isn't it strang~e? It's strange, right? How strange."

"That's…"

"-Felt-chan, aren't you lying to me~?"

Darkness crawled within each word.

"You're purposely deceivin~g me. It's a blunt lie. Everything is on purpose."

It sent a sick drop of dread into her stomach. Her throat was uncomfortably dry, her palm sweaty, and irritating tingles ran all over her back.

Meili's face was set straight and her lips held a smile, but the undertone of her voice screamed otherwise.

"To such a lying Felt-chan, I will-"

"..."

"I will not tell anything to her." Meili got up, and silently walked away.

"Ah! Wait, sister! If you're still mad about me striking you then-!"

"Sorry, but I am not your sister, Felt-chan."

Meili walked towards the entrance of the library, and then called out, "Everyon~e! Felt-chan's rampage has calme~d down now. You can get back to work, and than~k me later. Ah, also, Felt-chan said that she'll stay up all night to help fix the library!"

"What?! I didn't say anything like that! A lie!"

"She said that she wants to properly repent for having caused so much trouble for everybody!"

"I have been trapped!"

Given her stubborn nature, it was certain that she would not use a pathetic excuse to escape from this. And because she had indeed caused this mess, there was no choice but to grit her teeth and clean it all up.

As the group of footsteps approached, their whispers became clearer.

"What a troublesome girl." "Right? She's a candidate to the throne?" "Who even cares about the selection right now!" "Yeah, what matters is the state of our library!" "She just had to ramage at the section where our research was centered at."

"The task of fixing everything becomes harder because of the way the books within the shelves continue to shift around the entire library, right?" "What about the torn apart books? Can those even be fixed?" "That might be an area for a new experiment. We can find out whether a book of the dead can still be read even if it's been destroyed, I suppose."

"A-At least those books of the 'undead' person are safe, right?!" "Yeah, don't worry. The obsessed head teacher keeps them right next to his chest now."

This and that. That and this. Whispers made for the keen listener's ears kept filling her mind. The pressure brought by each made her eyes aim at her feet.

The back of Meili became smaller, leaving her alone in the destroyed section of her own making. The loss brought by a slow death ached her soul, and now the rebuking gazes of others were upon her small shoulders.

Yet she had to keep her head held high. Even within death, loneliness, anxiety, pressure, and rage, Felt had to keep her head high.

However,

"At times like these I wish you were here, you idiot knight."

Around the Same day….

Reinhard's day off.

He waited within the field of white lilies. The gorgeous white blooms blanketed the ground, and flowed along the waves of wind. The flung off petals flew around his casual uniform.

He ran a hand over the lilies, and quietly spoke, "I apologize for having chosen this spot for their end. The other choices were less ideal. Well, given how bright your blossoms are, I suppose the color will definitely fade given enough time."

A gentle wind answered him, and then the ground below him erupted.

The giant eyeless shape of a sand earthworm emerged from below, threatening to swallow him. However, having already observed the arrival of the earthworm, it was easy for the Sword Saint to deal with the enemy.

He jumped up right before the earthworm's teeth closed around his body. The creature's saliva did not even graze his clothes.

"I shall have you stop your starving ramage right now."

He concentrated strength within his right hand, aimed a vertical chop with it, and brought it down on the earthworm. A gust of wind exploded way before the earthworm's body was cut in half. Its shape was lost, its cry of pain was negated before it even began, and it died with a single strike of the hand.

Blood showered the white lilies, but did not touch him.

He directed his eyes to the blue sky. There, witch beasts that had bat-like wings and the body of rats flew towards him in a cluster.

"It would be problematic if any survivors touched the village," stating that, he unsheathed one of the simple steel swords strapped to his belt. "I will have to ask a lot of you. I have to thank all of the villagers for allowing me to use such a brilliant sword. And I personally thank you for your service." Such was his simple prayer.

He knew that most of the swords did not have a will of their own, and they were made for the sake of being used by someone. But it had been his Father who had taught him to respect, honor, and love each sword.

It was his Father's gentle guidance that allowed him to glimpse the beauty of each sword, and then it had been his divine protection that taught him how to become one with the blade.

He absorbed pure mana from the air into the sword itself, and allowed its brilliant light to shine above the pure white blanket of the lilies.

He brought his left foot back, placed his right foot forwards, and held the glowing sword in a sideways stance.

The torrent of light warped around the sword itself, and then the light burst along the horizontal cut he struck. The cut scoured the sky itself, producing a violent sound that engulfed everything into it.

Clouds were swept apart, the beasts were incinerated, and the light brought by the swordplay of the Astrea family birthed a second sun if only for a moment. It was a violent display of power, one that a normal human could not bring about.

"Good work," he whispered to the sword as it shattered away into dust, whispering its last words.

A calm wind returned to the flower-field and the task was complete. He put a light foot to the air, kicked it, and launched himself in the direction of the village.

# #

"Thank you. Thank you."

"No, no, you don't have to thank me that much. I am just glad I could help."

"What a truly kind man you are, Reinhard-sama. Thank you. Thank you."

The village chief bowed his head over and over. There was no need to show such profuse gratitude, but this time he had no choice but to accept it honorably.

The village itself was a small stopping point for travelers and merchants heading to the Capital. It was situated near the corners of the major Towns, and it was only due to pure luck that he had come across the request on a notice board and had arrived here right before the sudden attack of the witch beasts.

"Please, Reinhard-sama. We don't have much to give, but please take a stay in our inn."

"Ah, no, that is fine." He could make it back to his estate before dinner time.

"It's late evening already, and we can't just let you leave without giving anything in return for your service. Honor us, Reinhard-sama."

Now it was truly hard to refuse such a request.

"By the way, Reinhard-sama," the chief put a hand near his mouth, hushed his voice, and continued, "You don't need to worry about food, but if you also desire a woman to keep you company then there are many in this village that would be more than willing to do so."

"-I'll take a room in the inn."

"Thank you very much!"

It was decided then. Nevertheless, it wasn't a bad idea to spend time under the same roof as them. Felt-sama was away from the estate, after all.

Just then, some of the gathered villagers turned their eyes elsewhere. Some of them tilted their heads, while others put a hand over their mouth. The reason for their distraction was a tall man with flaming red eyes and blue eyes.

"-! Father?"

The currently suspended deputy commander of the Knights, Heinkel Astrea, was here in this village. Strapped to his waist was his notable sword, and glued to his lips was a gourd filled with alcohol. His facial hair was unkempt, and his visage did not inspire hope.

"Huh?" Father muttered. "What? Looking at me in such a way? Don't you all have some witch beast problems to deal with? Considering that, all of you are quite relaxed."

"Did Father hear about the problem and come here?"

The chief looked at him for help, so he called out, drawing attention,

"Uh, that has been—"

His words stopped the moment Father looked at him. Those blue eyes were dark and the sudden hostility within them was unreserved. He knew the way of calling which was about to leave his lips. He knew that he was about to call Father with a word that he would not like to hear.

So he addressed his Father as such,

"Heinkel-sama, the witch beasts have already been taken care off."

"Ah," Heinkel Astrea put a finger to his ear. "Already killed, huh? So I came all the way here for no reason, Sword Saint?"

He bowed his head, then said, "I am sure the villagers are all rejoiced to have your presence here, Heinkel-sama."

Heinkel Astrea's eyes were vacant as they looked at him. No, those eyes were looking through him.

After his performance during the battle of Pristella, Heinkel Astrea wasn't looked at with a good light by the sage council. He still held the position of the deputy commander and was ultimately the head of house Astrea, but was given a temporary 'break' from his duties as the deputy commander.

It appeared that Priscilla-sama had found him uninteresting, but she still kept him under her camp, albeit without guidance. That is to say that Heinkel Astrea was also on a 'break' from Priscilla-sama's camp.

"Hmm," Heinkel Astrea eyed the chief. "Do you have alcohol?"

"Eh? Ah, yes! Of course we do, Sir. You are welcome to stay the night and enjoy our finest alcohol."

"Then I'll do that," just like that, Heinkel Astrea walked into the inn.

The chief looked back at him and he gave him a wry smile.

"Don't worry. The promise has been made and I shall stay the night as well," he assured him.

….

"What a strange day," Reinhard wondered atop the bed stuffed with straw. Dinner had been chicken soup, honeyed bread, vintage wine, and dessert had been a pudding made from bananas.

His divine protections had assisted him greatly in relishing, discerning, and memorizing the recipes of every dish. He'll be sure to make them for Felt-sama.

The dining quarters of the inn had been the location of a rowdy celebration. The villagers showered him with love and celebrated the joy of being alive.

Meanwhile, Heinkel Astrea had sat in a corner and chugged down consecutive cups of alcohol. They had not talked even once.

That's how it was. That's how it was supposed to be. It was the product of his actions, nothing more, nothing less.

"I hope Felt-sama is safe. I'll go check on her tomorrow, just in case. Maybe I should visit Ferris. I believe he should be in Pristella, ready to leave for the Capital. I do need to congratulate Crusch-sama as well, and if there is anything I could do to help the City more than that will be great. Then there is also Subaru. I already greeted him together with Felt-sama after he returned, but it would be great to maintain friendly relations."

There was a lot to do. The state of the Royal election, the relations with the Empire of Vollachia, and the recovery of the victims in Pristella. There was even the task of getting to learn more about the mysterious knight known as Julius, who was most definitely a friend.

–None of the tasks needed an interaction with both Wilhelm Van Astrea and Heinkel Astrea.

He shut his eyes, letting himself escape into a dream.

Strand of Memory

"Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!"

Something was odd. The crowd was in a state of frenzy. Their faces were twisted and their chants were synchronous. Something was odd, but he could not allow himself to be distracted within this battle.

The Archbishop's strange power was effectless on him, but it wasn't nulled completely. The stinging at the corners of his head was the proof.

"Joining feelings into one…this is surely love, correct?"

The Archbishop continued her empty words. She was unarmed and had reached a dead end. It was a pity that these individuals had to go down such a dark path, one that made them incompatible with humanity.

"Are there any last words you want to say?" He asked her courteously.

"Thank you. Then allow me to offer you a piece of advice. The other archbishops might not be so docile as me, so if you want to ask their last words, you might suffer for it."

"I will keep that in mind."

His tool of execution was his hand alone.

The crowd continued their chants. Sirius tried her rhetoric, but he moved closer to end her in one slash. That's when the hidden chains were ejected from her coat and she tried to escape.

But it was all too late for her.

"Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!"

She would surely die by his hand.

"Reinhard!" Subaru's voice yelled from the side. Perhaps he wanted to tell him something right before he killed her.

However, the surprising words that came out of his mouth were simply,

"Kill her!"

It was a bit odd that Subaru would suddenly say that with such malice, but perhaps Sirius was deserving of it.

The slash swept from her left shoulder to her right flank. The cut was sharp enough that it took her body a while for it to register.

The sensation was—!

What was this sensation? The texture on his fingers, the lining against his palm, and the weight. He had cut one person….a single person! Not two! Not…..not…

"Ah…this gentle world…"

Her body was cleaved in half and her organs spilled out with it. It was a true death, one that should have been given to a single person. However, her physical body wasn't the only one cleaved in half.

The second sensation of another person—a young girl—was right in his hand.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No

From within Sirius' coat, the blond curly hair of a young girl peeked out. The chained up hidden hostage that had also taken the slash.

…Of course, there was more than just these two.

His heart refused what his hand had registered upon impact. His heart refused the reality of what had happened, but his ears took in the deathly silence of his surroundings.

No. No. No. No. No. Don't.

"..It can't be."

Why had his lips just sprouted those words? Saying them was the same as accepting this reality!

His entire body shook underneath the depths of grief. A desperate shadow painted over his face, begging for someone to tell him that he was simply day-dreaming.

Yet his eyes forced himself to turn towards the silent crowd.

–The crowd had been scattered into cleaved sections. Organs, blood, and gore painted the floor into a scene from hell itself. The eyes were vacant, the faces haunted, and each eyeball was mindlessly pointed towards Reinhard Van Astrea.

The cleaved section twisted its remembrance on his hand.

Subaru was here as well. There was a small kid by his side, and that kid….that kid was…

No. No. No. No. No. It wasn't me who did this!

Two kids, the crowd, and a friend. What a monster. What a monster. Nothing but a monster.

Subaru's arm reached out towards him, but then his eyes went blank.

The world collapsed away. The world was struck dead.

Natsuki Subaru died, and the world collapsed away.

Or was it because Natsuki Subaru died that the world collapsed away?

He remained there as it collapsed, and he would surely remain there forever, waiting and waiting.

…But then….

# #

Reinhard's eyes opened up to reality. They had been shut for an eternity. They had been gone into a long fever-dream.

"..."

Birds squeaked outside the window. The bed creaked. There was little dust near the corner of the room. The desk was unused. The wooden floor had been unrefined for years. The chair was sturdy, the cushion flat. The bed did not have fleas. Maybe one or two. The ceiling was low.

"..."

The hallway was wide. Plenty of windows. Plenty of light. Nary a bug. Exquisite presentation. The texture of the wood was fresh and new. Too many people. Why so many?

"..."

Ah, that's right. This was an inn in a village. He had defeated some witch beasts. When?

He was outside before he even knew it, and the light of an existing sun blinded his eyes. The heat was burning through his skull.

"What happened? I was..yes…in Pristella. The mass murder. I did it? I did it. The kids? Subaru? Crowd? All me. Then the world. Slow, it was so slow. It went by so slowly. I thought and thought and thought. That's all I did."

"Ha ha…ha ha. I thought I would never return."

The air was refreshing now, unlike the stifling existence of utter collapse. Things were alive. Things existed. And now that he had returned, the fact also existed.

The fact that it was all him. It was him who had cleaved the blonde young girl and the archbishop. It was him who doomed the crowd. It was him who killed Natsuki Subaru.

The world had withered because of it. It had withered because Reinhard Van Astrea had touched it. People had died because Reinhard Van Astrea had touched them. In trying to save them, he had killed them all.

Subaru would have done it perfectly. Grandfather wouldn't have killed a young girl with his slash. Ferris would have saved them all. Even a rival, Cecilus Segmunt, would not have been so slow. Grandma would have been a better Sword Saint.

"The truth is the truth. That's all there is to it. That's all."

He hoped that his heart would simply accept everything for what it was. He hoped that his heart would not assign values such as good or bad to everything. If he wasn't human, then he hoped that his heart would stop acting like it was.

The reason why his knees weren't collapsing was surely because he wasn't a person. That would explain why tears did not come to his eyes as well.

Just then, a flutter of flaming-red hair passed by his peripheral vision. The tangled up hair brought a sudden warmth to his cold heart. It made everything else white in his vision.

The back of the person looked a little crooked, but it was undoubtedly the same as it had been during his childhood. Strong, reliant, and kind more than anything in this world.

Reinhard's arms were by his side, his hair falling down on his face, and his lips opened and closed in perpetual motion. His heart was supposed to be accepting the cold truth, but now it yearned after the back of Heinkel Astrea.

It sought guidance, grasping after any flicker of light.

"Don't say it. Don't let it get out of your mouth."

The back of Heinkel Astrea went further away. If he waited for only a little while longer, then the yearning would subside.

—His lips were too startled and his mouth was too impatient.

"-Please wait! Wait, please..just wait." His words grasped for straws.

"I want to know. I want you to tell me what to do. What should I do? If you listen, then I know you can guide me."

The familiar words–the sentence that he had used countless times came to him naturally.

"Please guide me, Dad!"

Feet stopped, and his face turned around. That face did not have the nostalgic kind eyes, and neither did it have a gentle smile. That face did not welcome him and pamper him like it used to.

That kind face was twisted with repulsion and sick with hostility.

"Sword Saint, I think you might have some sort of a misunderstanding."

"Don't say it. Please don't say anything more. I was wrong. It was me who was wrong. That's why, please stop."

"With all due respect, I don't remember having raised a murdering monster as a son. If that's all, then I'll be taking my leave now. Be sure to never mix up your Father for someone else again."

"..Yeah, yeah. That is right, isn't it? What was I thinking?"

"U-Um?!" One of the villagers approached him. "Are you alright, Reinhard-sama?!"

"No, I am completely alright. There is nothing to worry about," he smiled at her.

"Ah, but…your face."

"My face? Is there something wrong about it?"

The villager woman looked troubled, but then she smiled a little and pointed at his eyes, stating, "You're crying, Reinhard-sama."

"Eh?"

He reached out his hands towards his cheeks, and felt it. There were warm drops of liquid going downwards without stopping.

"You're right. Aha, I see. So I can at least cry, I suppose."

"R-Reinhard-sama? I don't know what happened, but please come inside and we'll treat you to a warm breakfast. A little bit of good food and I am sure it will all be alright!"

"Thank you for your offer. However, I shall be taking my leave now."

The woman called out after him, but he stepped onto empty air and flung himself upwards. The power of being able to casually kick empty air, walk, and run on it was yet another proof of him being a murdering monster.

And now the heart of this monster looked to grab onto another pile of straws.

A Portroute problem II

Liars. Liars were everywhere. They hid within each corner, waived their schemes right in front of her face, and even appeared in her dreams. They would stuff her ears with sweet words, and then betray her behind her back.

Felt-chan was a liar. Figuring that out caused a certain urge to rile up in her heart again. Only by biting her own thumb could she stop it.

"Why? Why would you lie like this? Even though I thought I could trust you! Now you've just gone and broken my trust."

Felt wanted to know about Elsa, but her reasons were shrouded and obscure. Felt-chan's words were shady, her mannerisms suspicious, and her feelings were not sincere. For all she knew, this could very well be a trap.

Her identity as a previous assassin had been thoroughly covered by the members of Onee-san's camp, but it would not be a surprise if someone were to doubt her origins, or use her to act against the Emilia-camp.

Yet she hadn't thought that Felt-chan would be the one.

"Only an idiot would ignore all the signs you gave me, Felt-chan. But you're not the only one who's a liar here."

Liars were everywhere, after all. Even her dream of pushing off Onii-san had been a complete lie. Yes, it had felt too real to be just a dream, yet that did not change the fact that reality was reality and a dream was nothing but a dream.

"This place is the mysterious Pleiades tower. Could it be that this place fabricated that dream for some reason? It did cause Onii-san his whole amnesia problem, in a way, so it would not be that strange."

She dangled her feet off the edge of her bed. Her body was restless, and she constantly had the need to fidget, move, think, and to do something or the other.

The situation was precarious and she did not know how to act. Her shoulders were quivering from all the liars around her.

She looked towards the door to her living quarters and made sure that it was properly barricaded. She would not allow for someone to sneak in and push her down a spiral stair–

She shook her head.

"Just forget about it alread~y. It was a lie, and nothing mor~e. The reality in that dream was a li~e. Huff," she let out a long breath.

What would Elsa say if she saw her in this state? The answer wasn't present in her head. Despite having spent so much time with Elsa, she still did not know what she would say.

What would Onii-san say if he saw her? Well it would probably be something very stupid, very stubborn, and very selfish. He would weave the fiber of logic to his convenience and say something that sounds sweet to the ears. Whether those sweet words would be true or not was hard to decipher.

"Ha ha. How ridiculous," thinking about it had somehow loosened a bit of her tension.

"Come here, scorpion-chan. Let's just go to sleep. We'll decide how to act in front of Felt-chan tomorrow. She'll be sleep-deprived, so it might be easier to get the answers I need. Oh, do make sure to wake me up if someone intrudes, okay~? I don't have weapons, but I won't allow myself to be taken out that easil~y."

She blew all the candles in this room, and shut her eyes against the backdrop of black.

Strand of Memory

"Not here. Let's change places."

The suggestion from Onii-san was convenient. She needed to talk with him in private anyways. They entered a lonely room, and the excitement in her heart grew.

Now she would get to learn the true meaning behind his words in the library. She would understand how to set her heart on her desires, to follow them, and to understand the sort of guidance Elsa would have given her.

"Sorry, Meili."

Those words had a sort of sick desire behind them. Those words were whispered directly into her ears, and then her body lost balance.

She struck the floor, but could not let out a dumbfounded yelp.

What? What is going on? Why?

Onii-san was suddenly on top of her. He was pushing her down, and the smile on his face was the most repulsive one she had ever seen.

"Asking that directly is against the rules."

He stated something as if it was a matter of course.

What are you doing, Onii-san? Hurry up and get off of me. It's disgusting. It makes me feel sick. Stop this strange game.

The hopeful thought that this was a game was turned away the moment Onii-san's hands gripped around her neck. He was choking her. Choking her. Breath wasn't coming.

What? What? What? Why? Why? Stop it. Stop it.

Her heart was betrayed, her soul disgraced, and it felt like her body was being violated by a force she could not resist. She tried. She dug her nails on his hands. She kicked and kicked. She tried to fight back, but Onii-san was an adult and she was a child. The child was easily pushed down, and then choked.

Hurts. Hurts. Hurts!

If only she wasn't Meili. If she was Elsa then this piece of shit on top of her would have lost his head. This ginning maniac that was deriving his sick pleasure would never be able to touch her. If only she wasn't weak, poor Meili.

"This time it was a loss because of breaking the rules, but I hope you act even bolder next time. Do your best as you always have."

What is he saying? Why is he doing this? Why is he killing me? Killed? Being killed?

Helpless. Unable to do anything. Writhing. Struggling. Choking. Dying. Meaningless. Elsa died. Now she will too.

Stop it. Please stop it. Don't kill me.

She had heard those pleas from many of the people she had killed. They had always begged her like that. Now she did the same, but her neck was being choked and so she could not even say those words.

I am being killed. Killed. Killed. Killed by Onii-san. Killed by this person. Killed by him. Killed by this murderer.

Her skin was numb, her limbs failed, and her vision turned vacant. She was still inside the vessel, but the vessel was slowly dying, leaving her astray.

Onii-san is the murderer.

I'll kill you!

That was the last bit of her desire.

# # #

"Ugh! Uk! Guh!"

Vomit overflowed.

Choked, she was being choked. That's how she had been killed. She had died. She had truly died. Those large hands were wrapped around her tiny neck. That large frame had pushed her down.

"Som..eone…help…"

Words broke free from her mouth. She could speak. What a surprise. Onii-san's hands weren't around her neck anymore. But they were there! They were definitely there. He was killing her and had killed her. That grin….

"Help. Please."

She fell off the bed, and her back hit the floor the same way it had when the murderer had pushed her against her will.

"No! No, no, no!" Raising her hands in front of her face, she crawled away with a complete lack of dignity.

She wormed around in the backdrop of nothingness, until her back was to a wall.

Was this the afterlife? Was the murderer going to come here as well? Was the liar going to push her down, and choke her to death?

Not again. She would break if it happened again. She would not be murdered again.

Her body shuddered under the cold air brought by death. An irritating urge made her scratch away at her neck. She huddled against the wall, making sure her eyes would get used to the dark.

Her knees were brought up to her chest, her arms hugged them, and her eyes looked around into the empty darkness. The image of the murderer's sadistic grin was everywhere. His casual words were inside her head. And her mouth could only repeat,

"Help me. Save me from him. The murderer. The liar. Save me from Onii-san. He's the one who killed me. Save me from Natsuki Subaru."

Under the cold arms of death was the spark of hate.

Extra: Felt-chan's strange find!

Fate was a cycle. It went round and round and round. It moved under the fabric of preordained webs and free paths. It dropped right into the hands of some people and fell out of the hands of others.

It was just like this book, held within her hands. The book wasn't trembling, it was her hands instead. Truly, it was a strange and unlikely phenomenon, and even the blessed girl did not know how to deal with it.

Read it? Discard it? Tell someone? Throw it away?

She would have to register this finding in her mind first, which was a difficult task considering the book that was in front of her eyes.

—Fate was strange, after all. A book that a certain unguided girl was looking for had now fallen perfectly into the hands of someone else.

The book of the dead was simply titled,

[Elsa Granhiert.]

Author note: Should be one more short chapter to wrap up this perspective.

In truth, the book that Felt found was supposed to be a different one, but then I realized that a certain person's name isn't actually their real name and that put a sudden damper on things. But eh, it happens.

This next part is for readers who are only on :

You all might be wondering about what happened. The fic was deleted off that site suddenly, and maybe you missed the last chapter entirely. Well, as you can see, the review section was botted suddenly.

At first I thought to deal with it by simply opting out of all notifications. But the outdated piece of crap site known as was so slow that it did not register my change in settings. Notifications continued to be bombarded while I was busy, and I forgot that I could just block the bot that sends the emails, so the best way to deal with it was to delete the fic temporarily.

Now it is something I can ignore because I won't be notified and won't get any emails from . Which brings me to my biggest suggestion to those who choose to stick only to .

I suggest that you all move over to Ao3. The only thing good about is the fact that you can private message people, and that's literally it.

Ao3 is objectively the better site for both reading and uploading at this point. It's faster to upload, edit, respond to comments as necessary, and moderate as much as the writer wants. On , you can only moderate 5 guest reviews per page, which is useless when you get spammed. You don't have any moderation abilities and this site will probably continue to remain in this outdated format.

The more the problems on continue to become so apparent, the less incentives I have to continue to crosspost everything. For now, when it comes to this fic, I plan to crosspost the chapters on as well. But in the future? Probably not.

The main reason I am doing so is because I know that many readers will probably just stay on this site and this site alone, for whatever reason. But as the incentives decrease, the less reasons I have.

Also note that if you are a follower of some of my other fics then the recent updates happened only on Ao3. Shudrak's wild women received two chapters with one more to come, and Interwoven into the Multiverse received another with a second one on the way.

That's going to be the case for the majority of my other ongoing fics and new ones as well.

Side note: I won't be notified of your reviews on , but I will be checking here and then to see what you all have written. Naturally, if you want to make sure that your review truly gets to me, then, well—Just convert to Ao3!

Lastly because this author's note has gone on for longer than I usually like to do, I also want to say thank you for all of the support. This doesn't just apply to all the great reviews/comments(small or big) but also to all the forms of silent engagement such as kudos, subscriptions, bookmarks, follows, favs, etc.

I consider myself to mainly be a smut fic writer for this fandom, so it's kinda insane how often I have updated this non-smut fic ever since we started about three months ago. I think a large part of it has been due to all the engagement, motivation, and support. So thank you very much.

Anway, this A.N was tooooo long, but I hope you enjoyed the chapter and see you in the next one.