A Shock to the Cat (5)
- Clank.
"...That was close."
A single greatsword was driven deep into Levinia's back, bearing down on her with a heavy, immovable weight. To anyone watching, it looked like a fatal wound — but against regeneration powers that far surpassed those of an ordinary demon, it achieved little. Still, the name of the greatsword lodged in her back was Severance. Though it could not inflict a true mortal injury, it could halt her movements, if only for a moment.
"Ghh... Kgh... I, I suppose... we can consider this... a successful capture...?"
"No. Her resistance is stronger than I expected. We won't be able to hold this state for long."
It was only because they had forced their way into Levinia's dreamscape and scattered her focus that the effect of Severance had managed to activate at all — and even that was temporary. Inflicting genuine physical damage had proven impossible as well.
"Tch... All of this... all of this because of a single vampire... What in the world is..."
While Bell Ross held Levinia in place, it was the man who had been the first to regenerate his own severed neck and reclaim his voice.
"Didn't I clearly tell you she was not someone to underestimate?"
"Sh-Shut up... A lowly insect dares address an intermediate-ranked demon like me..."
The man had spent quite a long stretch of time watching Levinia alongside Bell Ross, keeping her under strict surveillance. Unlike Bell Ross, who harbored no prejudice between races whatsoever, the man carried an extreme form of discrimination within him, and so he had dismissed Levinia as beneath contempt from beginning to end — a member of a race weaker than his own.
"You watched her all that time, and you still haven't realized?"
"Wh-What are you talking about...?"
"She is no ordinary vampire. She is far too strong for the likes of us to handle."
At Bell Ross's blunt remark, the man's brow knitted at once.
"Absurd... utterly absurd... At the end of the day... she's still just a vampire..."
"And yet your precious Spoken Word didn't work on her, did it?"
"She must have been... hiding something... without a doubt..."
Though his body had already been mangled into rags by Levinia, the man kept denying reality to the very end, spewing one pitiful excuse after another. It seemed he absolutely refused to accept the fact that he, an intermediate-ranked demon, had been reduced to this state by a mere single vampire.
"......"
"In any case... I'll be recovering nearby for a while... In the meantime, you keep that vampire restrained..."
"And what do you intend to do once you've recovered?"
"First... I'll return to the church... and take everyone inside hostage..."
"...Hostages?"
"The enemy struck first with cowardice... so it's only fitting that we respond in kind... don't you think..."
Bell Ross could not take his eyes off the man as he dragged his weakened steps away toward somewhere unseen. The forest filled in an instant with a strange tension, and soon an unsettling silence began to spread.
"My orders were simply to deal with this vampire. Nothing more."
At Bell Ross's quiet words ringing through the still forest, the man stopped mid-stride and let out a long, heavy sigh.
"What does that matter...? In the end, the vampire will be dealt with either way... So there's no problem, is there..."
"You'll gain nothing by touching the children there. You'll only be poking a hornet's nest for no reason."
"How would you know that without even trying...?"
"That's the conclusion of everything I've observed so far. I don't know why, but this vampire treasures those children immensely."
"Then all the more reason... to use them as hostages, no?"
Bell Ross fell silent for a moment. It had been a relatively short time, but he had entered Levinia's dream and seen and confirmed a great deal within it. He could instinctively sense that the man's choice would bring nothing favorable to the demons. And besides—
"...If you're so determined to lay hands on those children, then I'm withdrawing from this mission."
"...?!"
Where the man, true to his demonic nature, could feel no guilt whatsoever for anything, Bell Ross took full responsibility for everything he did. Laying hands on the children here would mean utterly shattering the one personal principle he had barely managed to keep until now. And if the targets were innocent children who knew nothing — all the more reason it was unthinkable.
"......"
"What is this, Bell Ross...? Are you saying you refuse to follow my orders...?"
"Sorry, but I never thought of you as my superior."
With those words, Bell Ross brutally drove his bare fist straight through the dead center of the man's chest.
"G-Gahk...!"
Bell Ross occupied a lower rank only because he had been selective about which orders he obeyed — never because he lacked strength.
"I always wondered. Why is it that you can commit such acts without the slightest hesitation?"
"R-Right now... What is the meaning of this...?"
"It was the same when we stormed the church without warning. You tried to kill innocent children for no reason at all."
"You dare...?"
"The children were never part of my orders."
Bell Ross had lived a long time as one demon among many. To him, Levinia was an exceedingly peculiar presence — and a rather refreshing one at that. Unlike himself, trapped within the frame of "demon" and forced to obey one unreasonable command after another, here was a fellow demon living peacefully alongside human children without any sense of wrongness at all. That alone was enough for him to vaguely grasp how foolish and contradictory his own life had been.
"Therefore, it was not I who disobeyed orders. It was you."
But even having realized such a truth only now, it meant nothing to Bell Ross, who had already carved out a certain position within the demon realm.
- Clank...
"What a strange feeling—."
"We... we did it...!!"
The Tin Can had already exhausted every last ounce of his strength in the battle against me. Demon or not, with nothing left but an empty husk of a body, even children at Level 1 were more than he could handle.
"We defeated a demon...!!"
What was more, in the heat of their desperate struggle against the Tin Can, each of the children had subconsciously manifested a skill of their own. Eisen's Valiant One, presumed to bolster his own physical abilities. Ellie's Heal, which slightly restored a target's stamina. Iris's Fireball, which conjured and launched a small flame. At a glance they were such basic skills that anyone else would have found them laughable — but having lived alongside these children, there was no moment more moving to me than this.
"Sister...!! We did it!!"
"I cast magic!"
The instant they confirmed the Tin Can had stopped moving, the children came sprinting straight toward me, bouncing this way and that in their excitement. I looked on at them with quiet pride and patted each of their heads in turn.
"It seems your hard work paid off. You all fought wonderfully."
"See that, Levie?! Do we still look weak to you now?!"
I slowly shook my head at Eisen's confident question.
"No. You've gone past dependable — I couldn't be prouder."
"As leader of this party, I'm going to protect you, Levie, Ellie, and Iris no matter what! Just count on me!"
Eisen's shoulders puffed up as if they might pierce the sky. Apparently, the fact that he was the party's official leader was a source of immense pride for him as well. Though I honestly couldn't tell why I'd been so casually folded into that party of his.
"...I see."
Just as I was basking in the children's triumph, showering them with praise — a faint, exhausted voice drifted over from far away.
"Huh...?! He's still alive?!"
"Wh-How...!!"
"But I was sure we finished him..."
The two arms he had been barely clinging with dropped limply to the ground, and the Tin Can stood forlorn and shabbier than ever in that desolate spot. Soon his head creaked laboriously around until his gaze met mine.
"I'd like to have a word. As promised, I'll give you one piece of useful information."
The instant the Tin Can finished speaking, the children hurriedly squared their stances. But I roughly sensed the mood, and calmly soothed the children down as I sorted through the situation at my own pace.
"Priscilla, could you watch the children for a moment?"
"Y-Yes...?"
"There's something I need to discuss with him."
The children — and even Priscilla — wore bewildered expressions, but I stepped forward resolutely all the same and drew near the Tin Can. At length I stood right in front of him, facing his badly dented face as he gazed at me blankly.
"The sun will be rising soon. So I'll keep this brief and get straight to the point."
"Please do."
The Tin Can drew a slow breath, then, calmer now, resumed in his flat, matter-of-fact tone.
"From this day forward, the demons will invade this forest — not to reclaim it, but for the sole purpose of dealing with you."
"...I'm sorry?"
"The Demon King already knows you exist. Even if not immediately, as long as you remain in that forest, burdens too heavy for one person to bear will only keep piling up."
It was a shocking piece of news, enough to make my brow furrow on its own. It wasn't that I hadn't anticipated it might come to this — but still, the timing felt far too soon.
"But don't worry. With power like yours, you should be able to endure it to some extent."
"If they all come swarming at once, even I..."
"You have the children, don't you?"
The Tin Can's words cut in so abruptly that, for a moment, I was struck speechless.
"That battle just now made it quite clear. You weren't cherishing those children for nothing."
"What is that supposed to..."
"In all my existence, I have never once seen children manifest magic at such a young age."
The more of the Tin Can's words I heard, the more a strange bewilderment swelled within me. I couldn't understand at all what he was trying to say.
"You must have recognized those children's potential long ago."
"......"
"Splendid. And worthy of respect."
With that final remark, the Tin Can seemed to reach his limit at last, his head beginning to droop lower and lower.
"There isn't enough time to understand you completely. Even so, it was a rather meaningful stretch of time."
"...Is it time, then?"
"I can feel my magic core slowly cracking."
The Tin Can's magic core served as his heart. For it to crack meant, in short, his death.
"...Thinking back on it now, you were quite a cheerful sort — for a demon. It's strangely bittersweet, all of a sudden."
"Hmph. How tedious. Even talking has grown tiresome. My business is finished, so return to the children now."
If I'm being honest, I still didn't trust this Tin Can all that much. We had never been given enough time to fully understand one another, after all. Perhaps the way he acted toward me in that short span had been so two-faced, it made me all the more guarded.
"Rest well."
"You too."
With those final words, a sound of something shattering rang out, and the Tin Can collapsed limply to the ground. And so I confirmed the Tin Can's last moments with my own two eyes.
Just as a peculiar, bittersweet ache settled in my chest and I slowly turned to walk back toward the children—
.
.
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【Active Skill】New!
A notification window announcing a new skill had suddenly popped up before me.