Ochita Kuroi Yuusha no Densetsu

It felt like he was looking at death.

Certain death.

As it was clear that he wouldn"t be able to survive, it was pure black despair.

It was as if the death G.o.d"s scythe was before them.

Those who saw that scythe cried out, were petrified, pleaded for help, begged for their life, and then finally gave up.

Because it was pointless to try and escape.

Because no matter where they ran, death would follow, and so everything was pointless because it was all over.

And so with certain death before them, everyone cried, called out, and then finally gave up.

But.

"......"

Despite the mighty death before him, a boy smiled.

The boy—Claugh Klom stared at the worst scene before him.

It was a large, enclosed room.

The children were being killed by a bird monster doused in fire.

One child"s face twitched in fear, as they tried to scream.

But their voice wouldn"t come out.

The fire monster flew into the child"s mouth.

The child"s body burned and then was annihilated. And again the bird flew.

And to the next child.

To the next child.

To the next child.

It was truly the scene of h.e.l.l.

In a place where none could escape, the fire raven rampaged.

It rampaged with abnormal speed.

Claugh"s thinking abilities weren"t enough to come up with a plan to get through this situation at all.

However.

"... Now then, would it be best to slowly escape from that monster?"

The boy standing next to Claugh easily such a thing.

In response, Claugh looked to his side.

Unsurprisingly, there stood a boy his age.

White hair that suffered from a deficiency in pigmentation, and a clear, calm expression even amidst this h.e.l.lish situation.

This boy named Luke Stokkart apparently had a plan to break through these circ.u.mstances.

And for that, he"d apparently chosen Claugh, who seemed to be the strongest one in the room.

"......"

Luke looked his way.

Looking back at him,

"So?"

After saying only that, Claugh again looked at the fire raven. He confirmed the current situation he was in.

As usual, the fire raven swooped down on the children and continued to kill them. With the number of children in the room having gone down considerably, it seemed that sooner or later, the fire raven"s next target would be in this direction.

They were already out of time.

"Hurry up and tell me your plan."

With a nod, Luke—

"No, even if I called it a plan, it"s not quite that much... uuum..."

After saying that, he stopped his words for some reason. Then he stared this way with a slightly troubled face, and said,

"... Come to think of it, I never asked for your name. What should I call you?"

To such a worthless question,

"Haa?"

Claugh said, instinctively frowning.

However, with a light-hearted expression, Luke said,

"No, even though I introduced myself, you haven"t done so, and without that, this conversation is impolite..."

"That doesn"t matter at aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall! Are you an idiot? Wasting time right now with such a stupid..."

It was the instant Claugh said that.

The fire raven turned towards them.

No, more precisely, it seemed to turn towards Luke.

At that, Claugh clicked his tongue, and,

"d.a.m.n it! If it weren"t for your pointless talk, the monster wouldn"t have turned this way, see!?"

He shouted.

However, in response, Luke only knitted his eyebrows in some regret, and,

"Eh? Right now, it was clearly responding to the way you raised your voice, wasn"t it?"

"Are you trying to pa.s.s the blame?"

"I"m only speaking the truth."

"It"s a stupid truth."

"Ah, I like your way of speaking, just a bit. Or rather, a refreshing head is bad?"

"Are you trying to start a fight?"

"Ahaha. How so? Well, putting that aside, it"s true that this isn"t too good."

After saying that, Luke stared at the fire raven.

After killing yet another child, the fire raven looked as if it were going to move this way.

Its movements were abnormally fast.

It was so fast that even if it were Claugh, he"d only be able to dodge at the last moment.

At that.

"Now then,"

Saying that, he contemplated.

Then he looked to the brat beside him who was putting on airs.

Can this guy dodge the fire raven"s attacks?

Though he inwardly muttered that, Luke spoke as if seeing straight through him.

"I wouldn"t be able to dodge it at all?"

"Aan? I didn"t say anything, you know."

"But you were thinking it, correct? This guy"s going to be a burden, isn"t he? Like I thought, I shouldn"t give him a hand? What point is there in helping him out? You were thinking something along those lines, correct?"

At the question,

"......"

Claugh didn"t answer.

Because he was thinking exactly that.

Luke smiled. In this h.e.l.lish place, he smiled cheerfully.

"It"s all right. You"ll think afterwards that there was great merit in helping me. Now then, protect me. With all your strength, put your life on the line to protect me. And if you do, I"ll overcome this situation."

He said such things with a face overflowing with confidence.

Already, he was becoming increasingly agitated.

Dealing with this brat"s frivolous tone that was clearly like that of an expert con man"s, possibly throwing away his life if he were to fight or try to escape—it was a foolish situation.

No, from the beginning, everything that was happening here was foolish.

No matter where you escaped to, death was raging.

And the children who"d been forcibly taken here were crying out and trying to escape.

No, several of them, with resigned expressions, were just sitting on the floor.

This was the general reaction of those with death just before them.

Amidst that, Luke spoke.

With his inferior physical capabilities compared to the other children gathered in this room, the brat who should be the closest to death spoke with a calm expression.

"If you protect me, I"ll overcome this situation."

At that,

"Ah, d.a.m.n it, looks like I"ve gotten involved with a huge braggart."

While saying that, Claugh laughed.

In a situation where they might only be seconds away from death, Claugh seemed to laugh cheerfully.

No, he truly was cheerful.

Right now, with death certainly before him, Claugh felt this way for the first time since he"d been born. And regarding that, just a little, this isn"t good, huh? he thought. Because he could never understand why he existed, because he couldn"t see a reason in spending day after day being beaten by his mother, with death looming before him—in this impending situation where it was necessary to find a solution, he was feeling just a bit satisfied.

There aren"t many things as amusing as this, are there?

He thought about such things.

Then,

"All right, let"s do this,"

He said, to which Luke nodded and then,

"But before that, please tell me your name,"

He asked for that kind of thing.

In response, with a fed up expression, Claugh—

"You"re still saying that? That doesn"t matter."

"But I think it does. If we ever need to address each other, it"ll be inconvenient not to know each other"s name. Well, in that case, if you don"t want to introduce yourself, may I call you whatever I want?"

At that, with a "sure", Claugh nodded noncommittally.

Luke made a somewhat thoughtful expression.

"All~ right. That"s how it is. What would be good? Ah! Since you have red hair, how about Baby[1]..."

"What the h.e.l.l is that!?"

"Yes, yes, Baby, don"t get so angr..."

"Shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup! You"re doing this on purpose, aren"t you?"

Claugh said, at which Luke had a face that said that that was obvious, before Claugh then addressed an annoying matter:

"Ah, geez, it"s Claugh! Claugh Klom!? Are you happy now!?"

At that, with a satisfied smile, Luke said,

"Yes. I"m happy. With this, I"ll remember the name of the hero who dies saving me."

"I die!?"

Claugh yelled, to which Luke laughed.

"Exactly? Well, that aside, I"ll be counting on you to do your best, Claugh."

He said, and then.

The fire raven flew towards them.

At that, Luke—

"Yes, yes, now quickly save me!"

"This guy seriously needs to shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup!?"

While exclaiming that, Claugh grabbed the arm of Luke, who was clearly too slow to be able to dodge the fire raven.

He pulled.

In that instant.

The fire raven flew past the side of Luke"s head, with just a paper-thin distance between them.

Despite that, Luke calmly smiled, and,

"Oh~, that was really close. As I thought, I didn"t make a mistake in choosing you, Claugh."

As he said such a thing, the fire raven changed directions and again moved to attack Luke.

However, Luke wasn"t looking at that anymore. Rather than at the fire raven, he was staring at somewhere else in the room, before looking up at the ceiling, and then he looked at the ground.

He seemed that he was searching for something.

At that,

"What are you looking for?"

He asked.

Without looking at him, Luke spoke.

"Something good."

"And what"s "something good?" "

"Something good is something good."

"Huh. Then, if you find that good thing, something good will happen?"

In response, still without looking at him,

"That aside, it"s fun looking..."

Luke began to say, when Claugh kicked his head and sent him flying.

"Gya—"

While screaming, Luke was blown off to the right.

From right behind him, the fire raven against slipped past Luke, and while trying to attack him, it noticed different children, and flew over to them instead.

Again someone died.

Again someone died.

While grimacing at that,

"Stop moving so sluggishly and hurry up and find a way to end this! Right now, two people died in your place!"

Claugh yelled, and then ran.

For the sake of protecting Luke, who was paying no attention to the fire raven.

Luke was clearly searching for something as he looked around the room. He was frantically trying to find something.

However, just what exactly, Claugh didn"t know.

During that time, children died.

Children died.

Once there were no other children left, they wouldn"t be able to escape the fire raven"s attack.

That was why victory had to be achieved before there were no children remaining.

Claugh looked around the room.

He was affirming the number of children left.

"......"

He wanted to clutch his head at the room"s circ.u.mstances.

There were once over a hundred children here, but now, as far as he could see, about twenty children remained. And even now, that number was quickly going down.

There wasn"t any more time.

There clearly wasn"t any more time.

Thus, while running, he asked,

"Hey, Luke. Have you found a solution to this yet?"

Unsurprisingly, without looking his way, Luke—

"Almost."

"What do you mean, "almost!?" Hurry up and find something already!"

He exclaimed, grabbing Luke"s collar. Like that, he continued running. So that they wouldn"t become the fire raven"s target, he began running to where there were as many children as possible.

But then Luke said,

"No, Claugh, not that way. Go to seven o" clock."

At those sudden words,

"Aan!? Seven o" clock behind?"

Claugh turned his head.

And again, he frowned.

After all, there were only three children in that direction.

If they were to go there, it was possible that they wouldn"t be able to avoid the fire raven"s attack.

It was possible that they"d die easily.

Therefore, Claugh said,

"Seven o" clock won"t work."

"But it has to be seven o" clock."

"No matter what?"

"No matter what."

"Ah, geez, it can"t be helped, huh?"

While saying that, Claugh stopped. He turned on his heel. Then, in the direction where death might be awaiting them, he began to run.

"So, where to?"

Claugh asked, to which Luke answered,

"To the wall at the back."

"The wall?"

Asking that back, Claugh looked up at the wall ahead of him. It was a gigantic wall with magic circles drawn all over it. Looking at that,

"Are you gonna tamper with a magic circle to make an exit appear?"

Claugh posed that question, at which Luke struck his hand as if to say you really don"t know anything.

"Wrong."

"Wrong!?"

"Wrong, yes. First, I can"t read the organization of the magic circles drawn here at all. Can you read them, Claugh?"

As he was asked that, Claugh looked at the magic circles drawn within the room. Then, in his head, he went over the knowledge he"d attained from the piles of books in the living room of the house he"d grown up with his mother.

But even if he dug within that knowledge, no images that matched the complex magic circles drawn here arose.

That was why Claugh shook his head.

"I can"t read them either. It looks like what"s drawn here has a pretty different structure from normal magic"s organization, huh?"

As he stated that, Luke, whom he was dragging across the floor, suddenly made a surprised face as he looked up at him.

"Oh? Judging from that statement just now, you can use magic at your age, Claugh? If you can use offensive magic, Claugh, that changes my plan considerably."

However, Claugh shook his head at that as well.

"No, I can"t use it? I know about it because I"ve read about it in books. What about you, can you use it?"

Luke proudly said,

"Of course I can"t!"

"Don"t say that while sticking out your chest. However, your movements are slow, and you"re saying you can"t use magic—you"re a really useless guy, aren"t you?"

Claugh said, to which Luke laughed.

"I really am. But if you"re thought of as a happy-go-lucky failure who"s incompetent at everything, you"re placed in this room... Well, all of it is going according to plan."

Then, Claugh arrived just in front of the wall.

Luke casually stood up. Then, shaking off Claugh"s hand, he looked up at the wall. He knocked on it a few times. He folded his arms, appearing to be deep in thought. Where would be good, he muttered.

After watching that, Claugh stopped looking at Luke. At any rate, as it seemed that he was starting on his plan, Claugh stood watch for the fire raven.

In the center of the room, the fire raven was rampaging as per usual.

And as it did so, the number of children went down. Already, there was only a small number of children left.

But the rate at which it was killing children was clearly slowing down. From the looks of it, it seemed that the fire raven were fed by the people it burned. Nevertheless, as Claugh was still slower than its movements, things wouldn"t last for very long.

There, the fastest child was killed. Then there was only one child remaining there—one prey left, and then that final person was scorched away.

With this, complete annihilation.

The only ones left were Luke, Claugh, and the three children nearby.

Then suddenly.

"......"

The fire raven flew towards them in search of its remaining spoils.

And Claugh"s red eyes met the same, burning red eyes of the fire raven. When that happened, the bird"s body arranged itself into a posture that indicated that it was going to attack here.

At that, Claugh spoke.

"... Hey, Luke."

"Yes?"

"Are things going well?"

"Ye~s. Almost done. You?"

"... Who knows? Well, things are getting pretty dangerous here..."

He said, looking at Luke, who was holding two narrow stakes that he"d gotten from who-knows-where, which he stuck into the wall composed of stones, before taking off his coat and quickly fastening it to them.

Watching that,

"But, well, if you finish playing house in less than two minutes, I"ll go and earn a little income..."

As Claugh said that, the fire raven flew towards him.

As expected, it was quick.

Abnormally quick.

Looking at that,

"Ah, like I thought, this isn"t good. One minute! Do something within that one minute!"

While yelling, he lowered his entire body like a coiled spring, before releasing.

He sprung to the left.

The fire raven chased him.

Just as it was about to catch up, he kicked the wall to change direction.

The fire raven then reacted to that.

"d.a.m.n it, there are still three other kids, so why me!?"

While exclaiming that, he dropped to the ground.

However, the bird stubbornly continued to follow him.

Claugh dodged.

Dodged.

Dodged...

"s.h.i.t,"

At being attacked three times, Claugh grimaced.

He wouldn"t be able to dodge the next attack. He understood that. Its movements were clearly too fast. He wouldn"t be able to avoid it unscathed forever.

In other words, the next attack would kill him.

At that,

"Ah, geez, this d.a.m.n biiird!"

Claugh yelled, before taking one of his shoes off and holding it in his hand.

And.

"Die!"

He threw the shoe at part of the face of the bird that was just before him.

Then that part of the fire raven"s face turned to smoke and appeared to disperse.

"Uoh, is that effective...?"

Claugh began, but then, instead of dispersing, it was immediately restored, as it glared in his direction. It moved to attack.

"Not effective at aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall!"

He ran away from there.

"Isn"t it unfair that the laws of nature don"t work against it? Then, what to do? Magic? Could magic be effective? In that case..."

He again recalled the information he"d gained from the books, stored in the house he"d grown up in with his mother.

The description of the spell called Misumi that produced water.

How to use it.

How to invoke it.

How to draw the magic circle.

He remembered skimming through that information two years ago.

But as he"d never thought in those days that he"d be attacked by a fire monster, he hadn"t read through it carefully, not to mention that Misumi wasn"t a simple spell to begin with or the fact that Claugh hadn"t learned the foundation of magic, as he never thought that he would have a reason to.

That was why he definitely wouldn"t be able to use it.

Even if he knew how to draw the magic circle and how to invoke it, there was no way he would be able to use it.

He wouldn"t be able to use it, but,

"Unless I use it, I"m gonna die, aren"t I—!?"

While exclaiming that, he began to draw the magic circle.

He focused his consciousness at his fingertip.

The purpose of the magic circle, rearranging the placement of the seirei, was so that he could create light that would have the outside world follow his consciousness, according to what was written in the books—anyhow, he tried to do just that.

He worked hard to have light gather at his fingertip.

Now, concentrate.

Concentrate, me!

And he shifted all the nerves in his body to his fingertip.

"......"

There, his hand was a bit unresponsive.

Br.i.m.m.i.n.g at his fingertip, he could feel something.

At his fingertip, power was gathering...

There, he looked at his finger.

He looked at the tip of his finger.

And he spoke.

"Seriously, it"s not light at aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall!?"

While shouting, he jumped to the left.

The fire raven moved to cut through his side. However, this time, he could no longer avoid it. His right shoulder was burned, as violent pain raced through it. For a moment, he blacked out from the pain.

"Gua—"

While raising his voice in pain, his posture crumbled. With a jerk, his knees collapsed from beneath him, and he fell to the ground.

Nevertheless, he didn"t stop.

After rolling across the ground, he stood up and lifted his head. He began to run again.

By that point, there were no longer any surviving children other than Claugh and Luke.

They"d all been killed.

Regarding the children"s bodies, there weren"t any left whatsoever. As they"d been burned to nothing and utterly destroyed, there were no corpses remaining.

And now, it was Claugh and Luke"s turn.

The bird danced in the air.

Reacting to that, Claugh tried to move one more time.

"... Uah—"

WIth sharp pain running through his right shoulder, his body couldn"t move very well. Because of that, he looked at his shoulder. The skin"s surface had become jet black. It was badly burned. Thanks to the pain, he couldn"t move properly. If his arm moved at all, his balance would collapse. In this situation, he couldn"t keep pace with the fire raven"s speed anymore.

In other words.

"... Looks like I"ve lost."

In other words, there was nothing more that could be done.

The laws of nature weren"t effective.

He couldn"t use magic.

Furthermore, his arm couldn"t move; all he could do was talk.

That was why,

"Hey, Luke. What have you been doing all this time?"

Claugh asked that.

Though he"d said he would wait for a minute, there was no longer any point in that at all.

Claugh would be killed, and then that blockhead Luke would immediately be killed as well, and so it would end.

But in response.

Luke finally looked his way. On his face, his usual smile of putting on airs arose.

He spoke.

"Oh, do you want help?"

"As if. Like I"d wanna be saved by you."

Claugh said, to which Luke laughed again. It seemed that he"d completed his task one way or another.

"Then, everything"s going to plan?"

Claugh asked, to which Luke nodded.

"Of course. From the start to up until now, my plan"s been moving along well."

At those words, Claughed stared at the typical clear, calm expression of Luke"s.

Then he looked behind him.

Over there, for whatever reason, were two stakes driven into the wall, with Luke"s coat tied around one.

He had no idea what they"re for, but it looked like they were a part of that guy"s plan.

"So, what now?"

At the same time Claugh asked that, the bird again started its attack.

It intended to kill the two who"d survived until the end.

And this time, its target wasn"t Claugh.

The bird moved.

Towards Luke.

Claugh was idly staring at that. There was nothing he could do anymore, as with his right arm the way it was, he couldn"t even protect himself.

That was why he spoke.

"If you die, I"m gonna laugh."

Luke also laughed, and,

"I"m not going to die."

After saying that, he grabbed the item of clothing tied around one of the stakes behind him. And he tied the cloth around the other stake. As if creating a bridge between the two stakes, he tied the coat between them.

That was the only thing he did.

But with only that, the room"s situation suddenly changed.

All of a sudden, the magic circles that covered the room shone with intense light, as a high-pitched sound started to tear through one"s ears.

Immediately surprised at that,

"Uo—"

Claugh moaned.

Following that, as if being absorbed by the magic circles, the fire raven"s form began to disperse.

The rampaging fire raven"s body rapidly became smaller, until finally it vanished.

As the fire raven disappeared, the light of the magic circles disappeared with it.

"......"

Silence returned once more to the room.

The painful sound emitted by the magic circles and the noise of children screaming could no longer be heard.

It was over.

Luke"s plan was a success, and they"d managed to survive.

Regarding that.

"......"

Claugh narrowed his eyes.

He looked around in the room that had n.o.body left, and then looked at the wall with the two stakes driven in it and the tied coat.

And.

"......"

He looked towards Luke, and his unsurprisingly calm and gentle expression.

Noticing his gaze,

"Well? Aren"t you glad you went along with my plan?"

Luke smiled with an innocent face.

However, to that,

"......"

Claugh didn"t respond.

Without saying anything, he gathered power in his entire body. He sharpened his consciousness.

To prepare for the next development.

To prepare for the next attack.

For the next enemy—

"......"

To prepare for the next attack from this supposedly incompetent, frivolously laughing Luke Stokkart.

At that, Luke tilted his head to one side in a curious manner.

"What"s wrong?"

"......"

However, unsurprisingly, Claugh didn"t answer.

His thoughts whirling, he was confirming the situation left behind right now.

Why had they been put into this kind of room?

This, judging by the words of the one who brought Claugh here, Rei Stokkart, had been expected.

What Rei told Claugh was this.

- All of the children in this test site, like Claugh, have undergone treatment.

- The chances that you won"t be accepted are zero.

- If you"re able to survive, she, Rei Stokkart, will become your teacher.

Those three factors led to these conclusions.

As this test site was where Rei carried out human experiments, those who were able to accept the fire raven were, from then on, able to live for Rei"s experiment.

In other words, this room had been made such that if one couldn"t survive taking in the fire raven, they couldn"t escape from here.

They should be able to ensure that there wouldn"t suddenly be a kid who could easily discover a way to get rid of the fire raven.

Despite that.

"......"

Luke got rid of that fire raven.

It seemed that he entirely knew of a way to get rid of the fire raven.

But why did that guy know that?

How did he find a way to get rid of that fire raven?

There were three possibilities.

First:

This annoying brat called Luke Stokkart was truly a genius and suddenly came up with the way to escape.

Second:

This annoying brat who possessed the same surname as Rei Stokkart was a spy sent by the Emirel Private Forces who was here to ensure that this experiment was completed.

If he had to choose one of those two possibilities,

"The latter, huh?"

Claugh muttered, to which Luke again had a curious expression, and,

"Eh? The latter? What are you talking about?"

He said, but as expected, Claugh didn"t reply.

Instead, he remembered the words Luke had said earlier.

This was what he said.

"First, I can"t read the organization of the magic circles drawn here at all. Can you read them, Claugh?"

Idiot.

Someone uninformed got rid of the fire raven by tampering with magic circles?

In other words, he"d been lying.

He"d read about the magic circles drawn here. On top of that, he understood the contents of these obviously complex magic circles that were different from normal ones.

In other words, he was something like one of the staff behind this test site.

But if that was the case.

If he was a member of the Emirel Private Forces,

"Why did you save me?"

Claugh asked.

Again, Luke made a surprised face.

"Like I told you..."

However, Claugh interrupted and spoke.

"Don"t play dumb. Since you understand these complex magic circles, you"re one of the staff behind this experiment, aren"t you? You were here to observe this experiment that brought forth the fire raven, right? And all of the children here were failures. I"m the only one left. If I"d been burned to death by that fire raven, this experiment would be complete. Despite that, for some reason you got rid of the fire raven before it killed me. Why the h.e.l.l..."

He began, but then he stopped.

As he then realized the reason why Luke had spared him.

No, it wasn"t that Luke spared him. There was nothing to gain from that.

Claugh thought back to when the fire raven disappeared.

Back then, the bird"s target hadn"t been Claugh, but rather, Luke. That was why he got rid of it. If the bird had targetted not him, but Claugh, then he wouldn"t have made it disappear.

Essentially, in this place, this guy was to observe that the children were able to take in the fire raven, but if the danger extended to himself, he was able to get rid of the fire raven.

Then, with this, the experiment was now over.

Then that means...

But then Luke smiled, and,

"That"s a good line of thought, but it"s only about sixty percent correct. Though I admit that I was mostly aware of the structure of the magic circles drawn here and used for the experiment, I"m no longer a member of the Emirel Private Forces by this point."

He said that.

Claugh glared at Luke in response.

"What do you mean, you"re not a member?"

"I mean that I"m a traitor?"

"Hoh. A traitor, huh? Then if you"re a traitor, I guess there"s nothing more to ask, is there?"

While saying that, Claugh didn"t release any of the strength in his body. Staring straight at Luke, he gave him a sharp look.

At that, Luke knit his brow in a troubled manner.

"Uwa, what amazing killing intent. Even though you can barely move on top of that, your gaze isn"t wavering at all. Despite that it wouldn"t be strange to let your guard down once the fire raven monster disappeared, you began to suspect me immediately after? That"s just a bit troubling. This is my mistake. The person I asked to be my protector wasn"t supposed to be this competent..."

With those words, Claugh could see Luke had been trying to do.

That is, he was a member of the Emirel Private Forces from the beginning. However, that was an act, and he was plotting to escape using the structure of the magic circles in this room or something like that—

Then Claugh again recalled Luke"s earlier words.

Claugh had said, "Your movements are slow, and you"re saying you can"t use magic—you"re a really useless guy, aren"t you?"

He remembered what Luke had said in reply back then.

"I really am. But if you"re thought of as a happy-go-lucky failure who"s incompetent at everything, you"re placed in this room... Well, all of it is going according to plan."

Right.

All had gone according to plan.

From the beginning, he"d penetrated into the Emirel Private Forces as a member and worked on this testing site.

And then he"d made himself look incompetent, and so was sent here to be disposed of. He was sent to this test site with an abnormally high mortality rate, but whose structure he already knew how to unravel for the sake of escaping.

It was a fairly elaborate, well-thought out plan that he"d polished well.

"In other words, you"re gonna betray the Emirel Private Forces and escape to the outside?"

Claugh asked, to which Luke nodded.

"Well, something like that."

"On top of that, so that you wouldn"t have any pursuers, you intended to have everyone who knew you vanished disappear. Specifically, you intended to have the fire raven kill everyone and then escape."

At that, Luke"s expression became somewhat remorseful.

"If I could, I would"ve liked to save everyone, but right now, my power isn"t enough for that. After all, even if everyone were to escape, we"d immediately be killed by pursuers, right?"

As he said that, his expression truly was remorseful. He truly wanted to save everyone, but it seemed that he was chagrinned over his inability to do so.

But.

"......"

So what?

Claugh thought.

This guy made the correct choice.

If a way to save everyone existed, then that would be the correct choice. But it wasn"t necessary to let himself die because that wasn"t possible.

If a way to save himself existed, then he should do it.

That was why the problem right now was how he intended to escape from here.

Claugh glared at Luke and continued.

"But if that"s the case, then you weren"t able to get rid of the fire raven until it killed all the children who could potentially be a witness. In other words, until everyone else had been killed, you had to survive. How cold-hearted. How cold-hearted to stand around while that monster killed everyone else. And so that you could be protected, it was necessary to have a single idiot as your partner."

"If he really was an idiot, then things would be better off."

However, Claugh ignored that.

"So, you chose me. With me backing you up, you waited until everyone had been killed. And, at the very end, after the fire raven had killed me as well, you"d casually invoke the magic circle... That was your plan..."

"Not everything went as I"d hoped, though."

Luke again smiled in a troubled manner.

But Claugh didn"t smile.

Rather, his entire body became tense.

The situation was, unsurprisingly, extraordinarly bad.

He remembered his conversation with Luke one more time.

What Luke had asked.

"Oh? Judging from that statement just now, you can use magic at your age, Claugh? If you can use offensive magic, Claugh, that changes my plan considerably."

That guy had asked that.

However, what was the point of that question?

If he knew of a way to to get rid of the fire raven, what point was there in confirming whether Claugh could use magic or not?

Claugh stared at Luke.

And then he asked,

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d... you use magic, don"t you?"

At that,

"Didn"t I tell you otherwise before? I don"t use it,"

While saying that, contrary to his words, his finger began to dance through the air.

What he was doing was already clear.

It was magic.

He was using magic.

Furthermore, it was magic for the sake of killing Claugh.

Magic for the sake of killing the final witness who knew that Luke survived.

But.

"Like I"d let you!"

Claugh yelled as he ran.

However, Luke didn"t move at all. He indifferently drew a magic circle with the light at his fingertip.

"It"s futile, Claugh. The reason I so easily got rid of the fire raven was because I concluded that, with your injured right arm, you weren"t a threat to me. Well, if possible, I didn"t want to do this directly... though it"s selfish to talk about escaping alone without staining my own hands, isn"t it... and so—"

There, he completed his magic circle.

What it was the magic circle for and what the invocation was, he didn"t know. But it was undoubtedly magic meant to kill Claugh.

And Luke spoke.

"And so, please die."

After saying that, he pointed at him.

He chanted the spell.

"WHAT I SEEK IS BURNING FIELDS >>> KURENAI!"

In that instant.

From the magic circle Luke constructed, numerous fire bullets were released, attacking Claugh.

He dodged one.

He dodged another one.

He dodged another one, and then one struck his right arm that had already lost all feeling.

Furthermore, one hit his left arm as he wasn"t able to dodge.

"Gua—"

Claugh grimaced in intense pain.

With this, his left arm couldn"t move either.

His chances of victory were again being destroyed.

But he didn"t stop.

He ran straight towards Luke.

While moving away to escape that,

"Not even stopping after that—you honestly are a bit frightening. Well, either way, it"ll end with the next one,"

Luke said, after which he began to draw another magic circle.

Before that magic circle was completed, it was necessary to reach Luke.

He no longer had the strength to dodge the next spell. If the next spell hit him, he would die.

That was why, no matter what it took, he had to catch up with Luke before the next spell, and end his life...

"......"

However, that seemed impossible.

Claugh realized that Luke"s movements were faster than his. With his injuries, he likely wouldn"t be able to chase him.

Furthermore, it seemed that his new magic circle was already finished.

Looking at that.

Looking at that,

"......"

Claugh stopped moving.

And quietly,

"Ah, this is useless,"

He muttered.

At that, Luke stopped his hand at his completed magic circle.

"Ah, are you surrendering?"

Claugh simply nodded at that.

"Yeah. It"s your victory. Looks like it"s impossible for me to win in this situation, huh?"

After saying that, he let his arms that could no longer move dangle at his side.

Luke"s expression clouded up at that, and,

"... I really didn"t want this,"

He said such a thing.

But Claugh shrugged.

"It"s fine. Or better said, you"re not in the wrong, you know? At any rate, if it weren"t for you, I"d have been killed by that bird monster immediately."

"... I"m sorry."

"I said, you don"t have to apologize."

After saying that, Claugh took in a small breath, and then let it out.

And he contemplated.

Growing up with being continuously beaten by his mother.

Now that he"d finally left all that, he was already going to die?

Well, at least I managed to find some amus.e.m.e.nt in the end, huh? He thought about such things.

Then those words echoed in his head once more. The words of his drug-addicted, insane mother echoed.

—You"re special, after all.

—A special child, after all.

But regarding that, Claugh looked at Luke and smiled wryly. He wasn"t necessarily more advanced for his age than Claugh, and furthermore his physical capabilities also weren"t very high, but he"d exhausted all of his plans and in the end had driven Claugh into a corner like this.

If it were this guy before him,

"It looks like I"m not that special, Mom,"

Claughed muttered while smiling wryly.

Nevertheless, his mother"s words echoed in his head.

—You"re special, after all.

—A special child, after all, so live, live, keep living, and...

Get revenge against this rotten world.

At that.

"......"

Claugh closed his eyes.

Looking at that, Luke again said in an apologetic tone,

"... If you don"t try and avoid it, it won"t hurt."

After saying that, the magic circle he"d drawn disappeared. And he began drawing a different one.

Perhaps it was magic that could kill Claugh in one blow and give him a painless death.

Izuchi, or Kuuri.

He opened his eyes.

Luke"s magic circle was complete.

Looking at that.

Claugh spoke.

"Hey, Luke."

Luke looked at him and said,

"What is it?"

"The thing is, I want you to listen to my last proposal just for a bit."

"Proposal?"

"Yeah."

Claugh nodded.

During those moments, those words wrapped themselves around in his mind.

—You"re special.

—You"re special.

"What"s your proposal?"

"Well, you seeee, if something like begging for my life would be shameful and no good here, would it be possible to integrate me into your escape plan?"

"......"

"See, if it"s two people escaping, there wouldn"t be any pursuers either, so there shouldn"t be a problem."

"......"

"Yeah, it wouldn"t work if a hundred people tried to escape, but if it"s only you and me—two people—then we wouldn"t be noticed by pursuers, or at least that"s what I think... Is it no good?"

"......"

However, there was no answer.

Claugh shrugged at that, and,

"Ah, so it really is no good? Then at this point..."

Luke nodded.

"Yes. There"s an obstacle in place to permit no more than one to escape, so any more..."

There, Claugh shook his head to indicate that no more explanation was needed.

As Luke had only meant for himself to escape, he couldn"t prepare for any more than one person to run away.

This guy had a pointlessly sad expression that said if he could"ve prepared for a hundred people, then a hundred people would escape.

But that wouldn"t work.

Even if someone with a sharp mind like him had the time to prepare, it took him everything he had just for him to be able to escape.

Regarding that, Claugh looked up at the wide ceiling.

"I see. Like I thought, this really is an elaborate place, huh? Then, it"s impossible for the both of us to escape together."

"I"m sorry."

"No, no, like I said, you don"t need to apologize. If it"s impossible, then that"s how it is, isn"t it?"

"......"

Nevertheless, Luke wore a pained expression as if he were about to cry.

No, he might truly feel that way from the bottom of his heart. While watching the children in this room die, he might be blaming himself like a fool.

Because my power isn"t enough, I can"t save anyone.

Because my power isn"t enough, I can"t change anything.

But.

"Why do you want to escape so badly?"

Claugh asked, to which Luke only smiled sadly and said nothing.

It seemed that there was something he had to do, no matter what.

It seemed that there was something he had to escape for at all cost.

And to that,

"But unfortunately, it has nothing to do with me, huh?"

Claugh said.

At that, Luke again—

"I"m sorry,"

He apologized, at which Claugh smiled.

"Liiike I said, stop apologizing. Since there"s apparently something you gotta do no matter what, it can"t be helped."

"......"

"So, we"re both trying to do what we can to avoid death. That"s why I asked if there was a way so that both of us could survive, but you said that there isn"t. Now then. So, what to do?"

At that, Luke lifted his finger. He completed his magic circle. And,

"Please die,"

He said with a sad expression.

Claugh stared at that magic circle, and,

"Looks like it. If it"s to grant your wish, there"s no other option, huh?"

"......"

"But then what should be done to grant my wish? I need to survive too. Even if it means sacrificing your life. Because I vowed to struggle, to squirm, and somehow survive, in order to kill him... to kill that idiot n.o.ble called Emirel... That"s why I need to survive too. That"s why I"m gonna apologize too...

Is it fine if I disregard your life?"

At Claugh"s words.

With a surprised face,

"Eh?"

Luke leaked such a voice.

Then he immediately understood what Claugh meant, as his expression changed.

"I-It can"t be,"

He murmured.

But it was already too late.

Luke had made a big mistake.

Right now, the place Claugh was at.

A wall covered in magic circles.

In that wall, two stakes had been driven in, and as if connecting the two stakes, Luke"s coat was tied between them.

And from the beginning, Claugh had been moving towards this place. Even if, as his left shoulder had been hit by the Homura Luke released, he couldn"t move his arm, he"d calculated that he could approach this place before Luke, and so moved for that sake.

For just what reason?

There, for the first time, Luke made a trembling expression, and,

"D-Don"t be absurd! If you do that, both of us will die!"

He cried out.

Right. Claugh was going to do something as absurd as this. If the clothing connecting the two stakes were to be removed, the fire raven would be born once more.

And this time there would be no escape.

The fire raven would enter his body, and like that, his body would be accepted. Rei Stokkart"s experiment would come to a complete end.

Luke spoke.

"Stop acting like a fool. Already, over three thousand people were sacrificed for this experiment..."

He began, but Claugh laughed at that.

"What? Only three thousand? Then, my turn might go well."

"That"s impossible."

"You don"t know if it"s impossible until you try, you know? Anyhow, I"m special."

After saying that, Claugh grabbed the cloth tied between the two stakes with his mouth, and then pulled.

"Stop!"

Crying out, Luke moved to chant his spell.

In order to kill Claugh.

In order to stop the fire raven from being reborn.

But already, he was too late.

Claugh smiled. And then he pulled Luke"s coat apart from the stakes. Furthermore, he then quickly threw it away with all the strength he had.

In that instant, again the magic circles within the room began to glow.

The room"s temperature went up a few degrees.

In the center of the room, fire began to gather.

At that,

"d.a.m.n it!"

Luke cried, stopping his magic, before running over this way. Again, in order to stop the fire raven.

At the same time, Claugh began to run. In order to receive the fire raven.

And already, the two of them understood.

If Claugh failed to absorb the fire raven, Luke would be killed.

Luke had to arrive at the wall, pick up the coat, and then tie it once more to the stakes before the fire raven could go after him. Before it could kill him. The time Luke had spent preparing this plan had all come to nothing.

Thus, while running, Claugh spoke.

"Just in case I happen to die... sorry."

In response, Luke looked at him while running, and with an astounded expression,

"What do you mean, "just in case"!? Ten thousand times, ten thousand deaths, honestly! Good grief, I can"t believe it came down to this."

"Haa, my bad."

"At any rate, could you please somehow stall your death? Though you were the one who did something foolish, I no longer have the time to earn income and alter the magic circle."

"I dunno~"

"Please!"

Saying that, the two of them pa.s.sed each other.

In the center of the room, the fire raven was already being born.

The bird turned in a circle once like a dance, before it gazed this way.

And it headed in this direction with amazing speed.

At that,

"Oh~"

He let a voice leak out without thinking.

Then he turned around once. It"d still be several seconds before Luke managed to reach the wall with the stakes.

That would be enough time for the fire raven to kill Claugh, and then go after Luke and kill him as well.

In other words, if Claugh failed to take in the fire raven, the two of them would die here.

And this fire raven had apparently killed over three thousand people already. That was to say, the chances that one would survive where three thousand hadn"t were next to none.

To say it plainly, it was a despairing statistic.

But nevertheless, a smile arose in Claugh"s face. Smiling like that,

"Now then, will I live or die?"

He murmured.

"If I survive,"

He murmured.

"If I somehow survive this..."

The fire raven was already just before his eyes. Nevertheless, with a smile spread across his face, Claugh said,

"If I survive... then I really am special..."

And thus, he would prove that his drug-addicted mother"s life had meaning...

There.

The fire raven forcibly opened Claugh"s mouth and flew inside.

Uah, he tried to moan, but he no longer had a voice. Travelling down his throat, it felt like something severely unpleasant had entered his body, and that moment—

Everything was dyed a bright red.

It was as if his eyes were burning and melting, as he became unable to see anything.

Then immediately it felt like his body was being hideously burned, before everything became as cold as ice.

There was the sensation of his arms and legs were being torn off, and then, like that, crushed under pressure.

In response, immediately, ah, this is no good, he thought.

This is no good, he thought.

I died.

I clearly died.

Just like every other child in this room, his organs were failing and he"d be annihilated.

He"d hoped that somehow his willpower would be enough to make it through this, but it seemed that he wasn"t at that level.

At that, uwa, with this, I have to apologize to Luke, Claugh thought. If he was going to die like this no matter what, then it would be good if he could somehow let Luke escape.

But it was already too late. Like this, Claugh would be annihilated, and Luke would be ki...

"......"

But then, at that point, his vague thoughts gradually faded away.

And it felt as if his entire body was being destroyed by some kind of strong power.

And everywhere, there was deep, pitch black darkness.

Unable to see anything, he felt like he was sinking into a black swamp.

Claugh was pa.s.sing deeper, deeper into this darkness.

And.

"......"

He opened his eyes.

Again, he was in that room.

Luke was still running. He had yet to reach the wall.

It felt as if he"d been sinking in that deep darkness for an eternity; however, it seemed that only a couple of seconds had actually pa.s.sed.

Claugh spoke.

"... Luke."

Immediately.

With a bursting reaction, Luke turned around, and,

"... Eh!?"

He said.

And looking at Claugh, who should"ve been destroyed but was alive, his eyes widened.

"Heh? Eh? Heh? No way—!?"

He exclaimed.

While staring fixatedly at Claugh,

"Uwa, uwa, you must be kidding me. You survived?"

At that, Claugh grinned broadly, and,

"I ended up surviving,"

He said, in a joking way.

In response,

"Uwa, amaziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing,"

Luke said, raising his voice in admiration, but he made no move to approach him.

It was only natural.

He"d been trying to kill him up until this point.

He couldn"t approach him so carelessly.

Luke stared at him fixatedly with a troubled face.

"Uwaa... uwaa, what"s this? This... what is this? The plan I spent so long working on was turned upside down by such a foolish method without any consideration... After wracking my brain each day as much as I did, I feel like quite the idiot now, you know."

He said such a thing.

At that, Claugh shrugged.

"You"re actually an idiot, don"t you know?"

"I don"t want to be told that by the genuine article."

"Do you wanna be killed, a.s.shole?"

"Haha. But right now, that"s not possible for you."

Saying that, Luke again held up his finger. He readied himself to draw a magic circle. And,

"Right now, with both of your arms injured, you"re not capable of killing me."

At that,

"Well, I guess so,"

Claugh easily nodded.

It wasn"t even just his injured arms, but thanks to the backlash from back when his body took in the fire raven, his entire body hurt badly, and it seemed that he could no longer move properly.

"Then, are you going to kill me?"

He asked, but Luke shook his head.

"No, that"s not necessary. In the end, due to your absurd actions, a new option that I hadn"t been willing to think of has been born. If that"s the case, then you and me—both of us can be saved."

In other words, this kind of thing.

As Claugh had survived taking in the fire raven, the experiment was a success, and with this, surviving was also a success.

And if he stayed behind and lied, saying that Luke had been killed by the fire raven and destroyed, then Luke would be able to escape from here.

Both of them would survive, and everything should end happily ever after.

"Well, that"s only if I don"t tattle and tell the people here that you escaped, huh?"

At that, Luke smiled.

"You won"t tell them."

"No, I could unexpectedly be a blabbermouth?"

"That"s nothing but a lie."

"It"s the truth."

However, Luke smiled further, and,

"No. You wouldn"t give the Emirel Private Forces anything. I understood that the moment you entered this room. You had strong-willed eyes that burned with hatred. I had hopes that maybe, just maybe, if it was you, you would survive even after accepting the fire raven..."

He began, to which,

"Liar. You didn"t hope for anything like that."

Luke smiled at that.

"Well, certainly, that was a lie."

"Everything you"ve said from the start up until now has been a lie. Geez, that"s enough with the bulls.h.i.t, so hurry up and get to the point. Okay?"

Claugh asked,

"What are you gonna do?"

Luke tilted his head to one side.

At that, Claugh continued.

"Ah? Don"t play dumb. Are you really still hesitating in killing me? Then you should"ve escaped from here a long time ago. If you think there"s a chance I"ll tattle, then hurry up and kill me. But you were wasting time before with all that super sluggish idle talk... so? Thanks to taking in that fire raven, I"m somehow reaaaaaaaaaaaally tired, y"know? All this chatter is really dull, so could you just make a decision already?"

At those words, Luke looked at him with a slightly intrigued expression.

"Hoh! After taking in the fire raven, you"re tired..."

"Like I said, quit it with the useless talk!"

"Eh~. As I was also somewhat involved with the study, I"m a bit intrigued..."

While saying such things, Luke also moved. He took the stakes out of the wall, picked up his fallen coat, and then put it on.

It seemed like he was preparing to make his escape.

Nevertheless, Claugh couldn"t afford to let his guard down. Before escaping, there was the possibility that Luke would attack.

He was that kind of person.

Though he hadn"t known him for very long, as this was the guy who had carefully stretched his plan like a cloth around everything, would he make the mistake of letting Claugh, a witness, survive?

"......"

He won"t, Claugh thought.

If he made that kind of mistake.

If he was someone who would save someone based on his feelings, then that was his level as a person.

There, Luke looked at him. Placing the stakes in his pockets, he smoothed out the wrinkles in his coat, and then,

"... You likely misunderstand, Claugh. My troubles have already shifted away from the idea of killing you."

"Liar."

"No, unusually, this is the truth."

"Do you expect me to believe that?"

"Well, that"s up to you..."

Then Luke stopped his words, looking around the room as if checking for something. Then again, looking this way,

"More importantly, as we"re already out of time, could you please be quiet for a bit and listen to what I have to say?"

"I don"t wanna."

"Don"t say that."

"What merit is there in it for me?"

With a troubled expression,

"I think there"s merit in it only for you,"

Luke said such a thing.

At those words, the complexion of Claugh"s face changed. With all his heart, he grimaced, and,

"Uwa, this is kinda disgusting. Don"t tell me you"ve fallen madly in love with me?"

"... Er, well, to be frank, that"s not what this is about at all."

"Is that so?"

"It is."

"Then, talk. Make it short."

"If you don"t interrupt, I will."

Claugh nodded at that.

Luke again looked around the room as if to confirm their situation, before he began to talk.

"What I was troubled about before was if I could somehow take you out of here."

Claugh narrowed his eyes in response.

"Haa? What"s with that? Didn"t you say before that only one person could escape from here?"

"That"s correct."

"Then wouldn"t it be bad if I tried to escape together with you?"

"It would be bad, yes."

"Then what the h.e.l.l have you started talking about?"

Claugh asked with a puzzled expression, to which Luke looked slightly thoughtful about, as if thinking over the circ.u.mstances, before,

"... As I was saying, my new troubles are now me wondering if I should die here and allow you to escape."

He said such a thing.

At that, Claugh made an increasingly suspicious face, and,

"Haa!? What the h.e.l.l are you saying?"

He raised his voice in a manner that indicated that he didn"t understand, to which Luke spoke in a controlled tone.

"Well, well, anyhow, please listen to me to the very end."

"No, but listening... but seriously, is your head okay? Even though there"s the option where you escape separately and I stay here so that the both of us can be saved, why would you specifically die here?"

That, he didn"t understand at all. That said, from the beginning up until now, he couldn"t predict what this guy was thinking whatsoever.

With eyes that said you"re an idiot, aren"t you?, Claugh stared at Luke, at which the latter smiled wryly while speaking.

"No, though I think that I"m being an overly soft-hearted idiot as well... After witnessing your absurd actions from before, I"ve begun to think that it would be better for you to survive here..."

He began, but Claugh interrupted.

"Haaaaaaaa? That"s why you need to properly explain what you"re talking about. Despite the fact that we"ve established a million times that if you escape and I stay here, we"ll both be saved, why do you keep acting like dying for my sake is supposed to be some kind of favour? Instead of it being better if I survive, if both of us survive..."

However, this time it was Luke who interrupted.

"No, if you remain here, you"ll definitely die,"

He said quietly.

At that.

"... Huuh~?"

Claugh stopped talking.

Then Luke finally began to explain without any of his idle chatter.

"You took in that fire raven. But that was only the beginning, and from here, the foundation of further research. Well, there isn"t enough time to explain the full details, but that fire raven was constructed with a complex malediction, and so a human who can take in it possesses an abnormally high resistance to curses. That"s, well, the basis of this experiment. In other words, it was an experiment to create a st.u.r.dy human who wouldn"t die even after receiving the curse. Thus, you are its result. But the experiment doesn"t end here. As should go without