Chapter 233: The Final Problem (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 233: The Final Problem (8)
“Haah… haah…”
“Cough, hack…”
“… Ugh.”
The ragged groans of three women cut through the majestic roar of the waterfall.
“… You’re more skilled in martial arts than I expected.”
“I’m not like those fools who rely solely on magic.”
“If only my body didn’t feel so heavy… I could have overwhelmed you both…”
The Professor, Charlotte, and Lestrade were already covered in wounds from head to toe.
Curiously, one of the easiest targets—their abdomens—remained untouched. It seemed there had been an unspoken agreement among the three regarding the true purpose of this fight.
“Come on. Shall we go again, Professor?”
“… We’re ready, but it seems handling the two of us is proving to be too much for you.”
In the lull of their temporary standoff, Charlotte and Lestrade caught their breath, taunting the Professor, who was also panting heavily.
“You…”
“Surely you’re not about to call us cowards? This is all for the sake of London’s peace, after all.”
“… I’m talking to the Inspector, young detective. Keep your mouth shut.”
“Me? Are you talking to me?”
At that moment, Professor Moriarty, wearing a cold smile, spoke up.
“Are you really okay with how this is going?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that you and Holmes manage to take me down. What do you think will happen to you then?”
“Well… um…”
Lestrade, who looked as if she wanted to ask why Moriarty would even pose such a question, hesitated and began to stammer.
“Right now, you’re weaker than an average person thanks to the energy from the waterfall. However, Holmes, being a mana user, is relatively unharmed, even if she can’t cast magic.”
“…….”
“I know you have a knack for martial arts, but you’ve seen it for yourself, haven’t you? Holmes isn’t an easy opponent either.”
The Professor’s words, laced with subtle manipulation, caused Lestrade’s gaze to waver in the silence.
“What… are you trying to say?”
“It’s simple.”
“… If you’re about to suggest I side with you, I’ll flat-out refuse.”
As Lestrade posed her question in a trembling voice, the Professor let out a faint chuckle, whispering in a low tone filled with schadenfreude.
“I’m not asking you to fight Holmes alongside me. But surely, by now, you’ve realized that you need to keep Holmes in mind as you continue to fight, haven’t you?”
“… Bullshit.”
“It’s a very basic strategy. Right now, I’m the one with the most injuries because I’ve taken the brunt of your combined attacks. In such a situation, shouldn’t the one with the least injuries—namely you, Detective—seize every possible advantage?”
As her words trailed off, a heavy silence fell over the waterfall.
“… Inspector?”
Amid that silence, as Lestrade began glancing at her out of the corner of her eye, Charlotte spoke up with a flustered expression.
“Surely… you’re not actually falling for those ridiculous words, are you…?”
“……”
“Hey. Could you please answer me…?”
However, before Charlotte could even finish her sentence, the Inspector glared back at her and took a step away.
- Swish…
“Are you really being serious right now?”
As Lestrade raised her baton, Charlotte, now visibly baffled, lifted her whip in response.
“… We’re not playing house here.”
“I’m well aware of that. But…”
“To begin with, Adler is my husband!”
Lestrade’s voice rose several octaves as she scowled at Charlotte, whose eyes widened in disbelief.
“Strictly speaking, aren’t you the one having an affair with my husband?”
“… Are you done talking?”
“No, I’m not. But since we’re short on time, I’ll spare you the rest.”
At Lestrade’s cold declaration, Charlotte’s gaze turned icy. She glared back at the Inspector.
“I never expected the embodiment of London’s justice to sink this low.”
“… Sink? Well, let’s settle on that for now. I’m tired of upholding so-called justice anyway.”
Lestrade’s words were delivered with unflinching calmness.
“… But what am I supposed to do when just thinking about Adler makes my heart race?”
“……..”
“I’m a woman before I’m an Inspector, damn it!!”
At her impassioned outburst, Charlotte bit her lip nervously, her expression betraying a hint of unease.
“That’s… the same for me.”
“You were a bloody misandrist just a few months ago!”
“… Hmph.”
Watching the scene unfold, the Professor murmured with a sly smirk.
“So, now it’s a three-way deadlock.”
Her gaze shifted, landing on Adler, who was sitting at the edge of the cliff. He looked pale and frail, struggling to catch his breath.
“… Just wait a bit longer, dear.”
“But this bitch… I’ve had enough of this farce.”
“… Informal speech?”
“I’ll have you for myself soon enough…”
Within seconds, chaos erupted again as the weapons of the three women clashed in a frenzied skirmish.
.
.
.
.
.
“Ugh…”
“Cough… Gah.”
An unknown amount of time later.
- Thud…
“… Finally.”
As Charlotte and Lestrade, gritting their teeth through the chaotic battle, eventually collapsed to the ground simultaneously, Professor Moriarty staggered to her feet.
“At last…”
Wiping the blood from her forehead with her sleeve, she advanced.
“This moment has finally come.”
“No…”
“… You’re too late.”
“… Ack.”
Holmes used the last of her strength to grab Moriarty’s leg, but she was kicked away, forced to release her grip.
“Even if I can’t use magic… my very existence is vastly superior to lowly creatures like you.”
“Da… mn it.”
“Even in this state, my body is sturdier than the feeble frames of you inferior beings.”
With a sneer curling her lips, the Professor resumed her steps.
“Wouldn’t you agree? My dear assistant.”
“…….”
Her gaze remained fixed on Adler, whose face had grown far paler than when she had last looked at him.
“The verdict has been rendered. Your prophecy that Reichenbach Falls would be my grave has failed spectacularly.”
“…….”
“Your silence tells me this wasn’t the outcome you anticipated? No matter. The victor is clear, and it is none other than me. As it should be.”
Standing before Adler with a limp in her step, Moriarty offered her hand, flashing a charming smile at her beloved assistant.
“Let’s go home. And live together forever.”
“…….”
“In our very own kingdom of crime…”
It seemed, at that moment, the long and arduous war had finally found its victor.
- Bang!
“…….!”
Suddenly, a compressed air bullet struck the Professor’s outstretched arm just as she was reaching for Adler.
“Ugh…”
The shock left Moriarty momentarily dazed. She clutched her arm in pain and collapsed to the ground.
“The cliff… above.”
“… Professor.”
In this tense moment, Adler, who had raised his hand to signal Moran to stand down and stop the follow-up shot, staggered to his feet.
“I have a question.”
“……?”
“As long as I’m alive, will you inevitably kill Charlotte someday?”
With a barely audible voice, Adler posed the question to the Professor sitting before him.
“Naturally…”
“… And the same goes for you, Miss Holmes, doesn’t it?”
He then turned to address Charlotte, who was crawling forward with fierce determination. The detective nodded with a venomous expression.
“As expected… Well, if that’s how it is, then I suppose there’s nothing I can do.”
Seeing her reaction, Adler let out a sigh and began walking.
“In the end, I think I’ll have to break my contract. I simply can’t choose between any of you.”
“What on earth are you…”
“It’s the kind of statement that invites a beating, I know… but I love all of you equally, so how can I possibly pick just one?”
He walked toward the edge of the waterfall, where the spray swirled like smoke. Adler did not stop; there was no hesitation in his steps.
“And so, the choice I’ve made is this. I can only express my deepest apologies.”
The Professor and Charlotte, watching with anxious expressions, followed Adler’s every move with their eyes.
“What can I say? I just had to find it. Professor, Miss Holmes. A way where both of your hostilities could reach their peak, and yet no one would have to die.”
“Isaac?”
“A way to stop the anomaly that’s devouring this world.”
“Adler, what are you doing?!”
“A way where everyone I love could survive…”
Though their frantic voices called out to him, Adler ignored their pleas. Standing at the very edge of the precipice, he muttered in a trembling voice.
“… Just in case, neither of you should feel guilty, alright?”
“Isaac, get back here!”
“I was already terminal to begin with. There’s no cure for what I have…”
“No!!”
“S-Stop it!!”
At last, realizing what Adler intended to do, the Professor and Charlotte desperately tried to force themselves up.
“… Ugh.”
“Damn it…!”
But like Inspector Lestrade, who was groaning in agony, they were too gravely injured to move in time.
“I didn’t want to say anything that would leave regrets… but there is one last thing I wanted to convey.”
A tearful voice reached them, trembling yet resolute.
“To all of you. For the first time in my life…”
Tears streamed down Adler’s face as he whispered with a smile brighter and sadder than any he had ever worn.
“… I love you. I have always loved all of you.”
The moment those words were spoken—
“With all my heart, soul, and being.”
“Isaac!!!”
“Adler!!!”
His frail body tilted toward the abyss.
“As if I’d let you go like that…!”
The Professor, her face paler than death, forced herself up and hurled her body toward him.
“….. Agh.”
Was it because of the bullet Moran had fired into her shoulder? Though she managed to snag Adler’s clothing for a brief moment, her strength failed her. Her fingers slipped.
“”Ah…””
By the time Charlotte and Inspector Lestrade forced themselves to the cliff’s edge, it was far too late.
- Ssssshhh…
The golden dot, glimmering like the brightest sunlight, plunged down for a long, long time until it was lost in the vehement torrent of the waterfall. He vanished from the world without a single trace.
“””………..”””
The women stared wide-eyed at the churning water. A blank, unnerving silence settled between them—heavy, suffocating, and absolute.
“….. Hah, hah.”
It wasn’t until a few minutes later, when Watson arrived at the edge of the waterfall gasping for breath, that the silence was finally broken.
“So… where the hell is Adler?”