Arc 7, Chapter 56 - 'The Great Disaster”

Arc 7, Chapter 56 - “The Great Disaster”

――Abandon the city and beat a retreat.

In response to the declaration of the man in the oni mask, Yorna’s cheeks stiffened and her gaze sharpened.

She had just now decided to respect the opinion of the man in front of her, because Yorna believed it was the best way to protect her domain, Chaosflame.

But contrary to Yorna’s resolution, the man spoke of the abandonment of the city,

Yorna: [I cannot possibly accept such an opinion.]

Abel: [Ho. Why is that?]

Yorna: [Is it not obvious? This is the Demon City of Chaosflame, the last place for those who have been pursued by the Empire and have no one to turn to, nowhere to go... To throw that away...]

Abel: [Is unacceptable, is it? ――Worthless sentimentality.]

Yorna: [――Hk, Vincent Vollachia...!]

Gritting her teeth and the coldhearted words spoken by the man crossing his arms, the ruler of the Empire, Yorna called out his name, accompanied by a stern gaze. In reply, the man touched the oni mask with his hand.

And once the black eyes, visible even through the oni mask, reflected Yorna,

Abel: [I go by the name of Abel now, so it is inappropriate to call me that. And if you are planning on begging benevolence from the Emperor, that would be quite thoughtless.]

Yorna: [――. The people of the Empire must be strong, is it?]

Abel: [Indeed.]

The Emperor―― or rather, the man who called himself Abel, proclaimed that that exactly was the way of the Empire.

The Emperor, the pinnacle of the Vollachian Empire, must be the embodiment of the iron-blooded code which the people of the Empire believed in, revered. Whether it was true or not, the Emperor had to affirm it.

With Abel’s assertion, Yorna admonished herself for wrongfully making a request.

Was Abel aware of the identity of that shadow to begin with? Of the titanic blackness that had engulfed Crimson Lapis Castle whole?

Was that why he had come to the callous decision to abandon the city?

Yorna: [Do you deem it so dangerous that we have to flee immediately? What in the world is that?] [1]

Abel: [――The Great Disaster.]

Yorna: [Great, Disaster...?]

What followed to Yorna’s spree of questions were a scant few hushed words.

However, running opposite to the quietness of his tone, the weight of the words he had spun was enough to stir bewilderment in Yorna. ――A large tragedy, it meant.

Yorna: [By “Great Disaster”, what exactly do you mean?]

Abel: [Something that endangers the existence of the Empire, and brings about ruin that not even the light of the sun can reach... That was what the Stargazer spoke of it. When I first heard it, I assessed it as an overstatement.]

Yorna: [――――]

Abel: [Looking at that thing, you will find that there was not the least bit of exaggeration in the expression used.]

Pointing at it with his chin, at the manifested darkness―― at the Great Disaster that brought about ruin, as Abel had named it.

Yorna could not help but feel some bitterness inside as the word “Stargazer” echoed, spoken by his mouth. The existence of the Stargazer was one of the Vollachian Empire’s evil practices.

At least, that was the only way Yorna could describe it.

To begin with, the genesis of Yorna’s strong, fervent wish was by no means unrelated to the Stargazer.

Anyway――,

Yorna: [So, will you take the Stargazer’s word for it and turn tail and run away? If so, that’d surely be an expression of gutlessness. I think you’re the embodiment of the Empire’s way of doing things... A very, very good example of it.]

Abel: [If you believe you are able to sway me with some cheap provocation, you would do better to correct that misconception post-haste. First of all, I was not the one who took the Stargazer’s words at face value, and perpetrated this outrage.]

Yorna: [...I see that you also have some thoughts on what the Stargazer foretold.]

Abel: [Any owner of sound judgment would have no pleasant thoughts of it. But even if those are unnecessary and ignored, more shall follow. That is the troublesome thing about them. ――Hm.]

Louis: [Uu!]

As he spoke, Abel’s words were interrupted by the eager Louis’s growl.

She seemed to be reproaching Abel and Yorna for having a conversation not directly related to how the Great Disaster would be quelled.

That would be only natural. The Great Disaster had――,

Louis: [Uau!]

Abel: [――.Yorna Mishigure, I want to make sure of one thing.]

Yorna: [...What, is it?]

Narrowing his eyes at Louis’s strong appeal, Abel pointed to the Great Disaster wriggling about wildly. Once he directed his question at her, Yorna narrowed her almond-shaped eyes.

She could roughly envision what words would follow, and what questions would be asked.

That was――,

Abel: [If you and this girl are together, there must be one more person, a black-haired child. Where has that one vanished to?]

Yorna: [――. If you mean that child...]

As she took a glance, Yorna’s gaze conveyed the answer to the question far more eloquently than words would.

Yorna’s line of sight turned towards the Great Disaster, to which Louis was franticly pointing at. The boy was present when the darkness that had swallowed up the Crimson Lapis Castle first poured out.

――No, from what Yorna had seen, the Great Disaster had apparently overflowed from within the boy.

Abel: [As I expected.]

In response to Yorna’s silent reply, Abel placed the last piece of the puzzle, in his mind.

It sounded like an ultimatum, and Yorna looked at Abel, calling out, “You...”. But at the call, Abel gave a slow sideways shake of his head. [2]

Abel: [Though our intentions have gone awry, there is no way around it. No point in obsessing over plans, if ultimately no results are obtained.]

Yorna: [So, that means?]

Abel: [The strategy is yet the same. Abandon the Demon City and beat a retreat. ――But damage shall still occur. We shan’t be able to avoid it wholly.]

Yorna: [――Hk, I can’t agree to someth...]

And, at the moment Yorna was about to tell him that she could not accept such a decision, something happened.

Louis: [Aa, uh!]

Abel: [Guh...!]

Letting out a cry of pain, Abel fell to his knees on the spot, clutching his stomach in his hands.

Faster than Yorna could close the distance between him and herself, Louis rushed into the gap, driving a palm strike into him with her short little arm.

She threw a glare at the one who had made a ruthless decision, Abel, and growled in her throat with a violent snort,

Louis: [Uau... Uau!]

Exclaiming this, she turned around and disappeared from sight in the blink of an eye.

It was the instantaneous teleport that she had displayed during the battle atop the castle tower against Olbart. Not being able to teleport long distances, Louis teleported repeatedly, returning once more to the battlefield dominated by the Great Disaster.

Far in the distance, Kafma was stalling the Great Disaster using the insects within his own body.

For Yorna, it was hard to believe that the girl possessed anything that could deal a decisive blow against the Great Disaster.

If she did, they would have tried to rescue that boy on their own, instead of relying on Abel. So she was without a trump card.

If there was such a thing as a trump card, it would be――,

Yorna: [――Wouldn’t it be possible to oppose it with the Flame of the Yang Sword?]

Abel: [――――]

Yorna: [You!]

Abel: [――. Over there.]

Freed from Taritta’s arms, Medium directed a question at Abel as she descended onto the rooftop, to which Abel cocked his chin. Ahead of them, skipping about in midair, Yorna attacked the Great Disaster with physical strikes repeatedly by freely manipulating buildings.

In addition, Yorna was assisted in her challenge against the Great Disaster by another, by Kafma, who likewise had the means of using long-ranged attacks.

However, since Kafma’s thorn vines were also “insects” raised inside his body, it was not a good idea to let them be swallowed up by the inexhaustible Great Disaster.

In addition, the residents of Chaosflame had assembled, each of them dismantling the buildings in their environs, then attacking by having several people throw chunks of buildings like cannonballs into the Great Disaster.

In the past, at the time Yorna had raised the banner of revolt against the Imperial Capital, the very city itself had been wielded as a weapon. A fearsome collective tactic that had caused great distress to the Imperial Soldiers to gain total control of the city.

However, it was unclear whether that tactic, which had been effective against a group of hostiles, would be effective against a Great Disaster whose strength was unfathomable.

To begin with, he could see from a distance――,

Taritta: [The Great Disaster, is it getting bigger...?]

Medium: [That thing, we can’t leave it be!? Abel-chin, what should we do?]

As they witnessed the Great Disaster spread slowly but surely, Medium and Taritta requested for Abel’s decision.

Originally, the goal was to withdraw and abandon the Demon City with Yorna’s assistance, but that would go unfilled due to Yorna’s obsession with the Demon City.

In that case, the tide would change depending on what Vincent did. ――No,

Abel: [――Or, before that, can you change the situation, Taritta?]

Taritta: [Eh...?]

With Abel having mentioned her by name in his question, Taritta opened her narrow eyes in surprise, at a loss for words.

However, that surprise was not because she had no clue as to what he was talking about, but rather because she had not expected that to be told to her at this time.

In other words, she had an idea of what Abel had just pointed out.

Medium: [T-the way you said that was kinda strange, wasn’t it? What do you mean?]

Abel: [It concerns you not. Taritta, what did you call that thing?]

Taritta: [W-what are you talking about...]

Abel: [――The Great Disaster, that is what you called it. Where did you obtain knowledge of that name?]

To Abel’s pressing words, Taritta gasped.

The exchange between the two of them left the dumbfounded Medium wide-eyed, letting out a “Grate Disastur...?”, as that was a term unfamiliar to her. [3]

But Medium’s response was natural.

Laying eyes upon the existence of an unknown being such as that, and calling it a “Great Disaster”, did not mesh well. Only those who knew of its existence could rightfully call it the Great Disaster.

In other words――,

Abel: [Have the stars taught you how to escape annihilation?]

Taritta: [――Hk! W-wait a moment, I...!]

Abel: [――――]

Taritta: [I...]

Taritta advanced a single step, putting a hand over her chest, yet words beyond those got stuck.

Her face was pale, her eyes began moving frantically; Taritta’s appearance became an unusual one for her, and Medium rushed to stand beside her, to support her body with a “Taritta-chan!”.

However, Taritta did not have the luxury to respond to Medium’s compassion.

Perhaps she had believed she could hide it all along. She had believed that, just maybe, she could have remained silent forevermore.

Abel: [Fool.]

There was no such thing as a well-kept secret or an unexposed truth.

At the very least, if no effort was made whatsoever to cover up that secret or truth, the day when it would be revealed would surely come. All one could do, was to delay the inevitable.

Or perhaps, it could be delayed till death; the way she perceived it, she could keep it as a secret as long as she remained in the world of the living.

Abel: [Taritta, if you do know about the Great Disaster, do you regret it?]

Medium: [Regret? Regret what... Abel-chin! What are you talking about!? What’s Taritta-chan...]

Abel: [Is it not obvious. ――I am speaking of how, back in that forest, you failed to kill me with an arrow.]

Taritta: [――――]

Aghast, all color now drained from Taritta’s face, the light in her eyes wavering feebly.

Looking straight into her two eyes, Abel paused, let out a sigh, and continued.

Abel: [Or, shall you respond to that commandment above from this moment on, hunter of the jungle. No, should I instead approach you in this manner?]

Taritta: [――――]

Abel: [The one who has inherited the commandment to prevent the Great Disaster, the one to become the new Stargazer.]

△▼△▼△▼△

The tempestuous rumbling of the earth, the reverberation of howls, it was as if they were clamoring for the end of the world.

???: [Uh, uhh, uhhh... Hk!]

If he were to try holding his head and covering his ears, he would be unable to do so.

It was the curse of possessing only a sole arm. He was unable to use both his hands to cover his own ears, as to completely dissociate his consciousness from this end of the world.

Putting his right ear against his lifted shoulder, he stuck the fingers of his outstretched hand into his left ear, attempting to counter with an inadequate earplug. It was impossible.

The ground trembled. The air was terrified. The world was dying.

All of them were symbolic of the horror that was eating away at Al and robbing his whole body of strength.

Al: [Why... Why, here... Hk!]

His voice trailed off, as he cursed and cursed all the despairing events that had taken place until this moment.

Of course, such cursing meant naught. Because that was no curse at all. He was merely being a poor loser, doing nothing more than comforting himself after the game was over, saying that it would have been better to do it like this or like that.

He was prepared for this to happen, or so he had believed.

――No, he did not. He had never been prepared for it. He had just averted his eyes from it, pretending to be optimistic that it would not come to pass, even when the possibility crossed his mind.

The danger that this would happen, as long as he was working with Natsuki Subaru, was plenty. Not just a little, but more than enough.

Rather, this situation would not have occurred had he acted alongside anyone besides Natsuki Subaru.

Even so, it could not be helped. Because he could not leave him alone. There was no way he could have left him alone. Back then, Natsuki Subaru should not have given in.

As a result of that, because it was necessary, was why he himself――,

???: [――Mymy, I was wonderin’ who was cryin’, turns out it’s ya.]

Al: [――Hk!?]

???: [Kakakakka! Look at how ya jumped just now! Ya were like a caterpillar, so funny, so darn funny!]

Hearing a sudden voice in the middle of the room, he jolted his body in a panic and turned his head.

Witnessing his overwhelmingly uncouth appearance, the other party clapped their hands―― Nay, stomped their feet, as they let out a burst of laughter.

Unfortunately, clapping their hands was apparently not something the other person was likely to ever do again.

Because――,

???: [Geez, the right hand that’s been with me for more than ninety years went on ahead without me. I’m screwed. How am I ever gonna make ration balls from now on? Kakakakka!]

Having said that, a cheerfully laughing, monstruous old man―― Olbart Dunkelkenn, was waving, showing his right hand which had vanished from the wrist down.

Notes:

[1] Yorna usually employs “主さん” as a second-person pronoun, which has been translated as a simple “you”, however, from this point onwards, she always uses just “主” (removing the “san” honorific) to refer to Abel. The implication is that she sees differently from others, possibly to signify that she has recognized him as the Emperor.

[2] The nuance usually conveyed with “You...” or “You!” is usually one of anger, but you should picture these lines as using Abel’s name, rather than that. The only reason we have not used that is because it feels awfully tone-deaf as to the relationship between Yorna and Abel.

[3] The change here is to represent Medium “misspelling” it. “Great Disaster” is usually written as “大災”, whereas Medium here is using the Katakana spelling, “タイサイ”, to signify that she’s slightly mispronouncing it.