Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume16 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 2===

Haruaki felt his face shake on its own as though it were laughing.

"You... What are you talking about? It doesn't make any sense. You... created Fear?"

"Indeed."

Behind the gates, the man sitting in the wheelchair&mdash;the Knights Dominion Lord who called himself Trinac Agana&mdash;nodded without smiling at all.

"Absolutely ridiculous. Fear was created during the time of the Inquisition&mdash;That's already centuries ago. Ordinary humans cannot possibly live that long. Or are you a Wathe?"

"Lowly and deplorable peasants! How dare you keep addressing our lord directly as 'you,' what utter insolence!"

Turning her helmet towards them, Sleif scolded but the Dominion Lord raised his hand lightly to stop her.

"Foolish action&mdash;They are merely ignorant children. No matter."

"...Yes, my lord."

Sleif nodded reluctantly. Then the Dominion Lord cast his gaze towards them again.

"I am no foolish Wathe. I am human."

While keeping Satsuko and Fourteen under watch, Konoha spoke:

"Fair enough. It is already surprising that a cursed tool could become a knight. I doubt if the organization could be established if even the leader were one as well. Since you are human, it means that what you just claimed, that you created Fear-san, was a lie after all? Ordinary humans cannot possibly live for multiple centuries."

"This is a ''curse''."

Haruaki's group gasped in great surprise. Just by one sentence, the truth was conveyed.

The Dominion Lord turned his head lightly as though gesturing towards what was behind him.

Behind the wheelchair he was seated.

Planted upright was a rod-shaped object. It seemed familiar in appearance&mdash;

"«Dieu le veut» curses its owner with death as soon as one steps out of the defined territory. At the same time, so long as the owner remains within the territory, it will confer eternal longevity. It will force the owner to remain as the land's king forever."

"What...!?"

Haruaki was rendered speechless. Indeed, given that type of curse&mdash;Everything then made sense. However, did this man truly accept that curse willingly to live all this time? Living all this time till now, without taking a step outside his territory, without aging at all?

&mdash;It really was true, Haruaki thought.

He could only believe.

...After seeing Fear's appearance&mdash;shaking with clattering, various components popping out from her body, her breaths sounding like suffocated sobbing and vomiting.

"Th-Then you really..."

"It was my foolish act from the past. In search of authority, wealth and fame, I created numerous objects at the orders of nobles. One of them&mdash;rather, the most abominable yet outstanding masterpiece I created using the most time, labor and skills&mdash;was Fear-in-Cube."

"B-But... Why did someone like you found an organization like the Knights Dominion...!?"

"Foolish question. My past self did not know this was a sin, but now I know. This is the answer."

Kirika groaned after asking her question. The Dominion Lord answered simply. Then drumming his fingertips on the wheelchair's armrest, he said:

"Things that knows only to hurt, injure, kill and violate human beings, should they exist? No, they should not. Because they are cursed. Only hurting, injuring, killing, violating human beings, should they exist? No, they should not. Because they will continue to hurt, injure, kill and violate human beings."

"Ooh... Ah..."

Fear groaned. She was listening even though she did not want to listen.

"What have my creations done? What did they represent? When I became old, when authority, wealth and fame were no longer useful, I finally understood the answers to these questions. Then I realized my sin&mdash;namely, the foolish behavior of spreading curses all over the world."

The wrinkled face exhaled a sigh. Still unchanging in expression, his face was very calm.

"Hence, I vowed to use what little remained of my life to rectify my sin. To destroy all cursed tools in the world... In other words, Wathes. To gather and destroy all Wathes, regardless of whether they were created by my hand or not."

Then during his wanderings across the world, he presumably obtained «Dieu le veut». Gathering and destroying all Wathes in the world was undoubtedly beyond a single man's ability. Hence, he assembled like-minded comrades to create a "domain" to establish a organization whose sole goal was gathering and destroying Wathes&mdash;

Haruaki moved his stiff throat, only succeeding in forcing out dry laughter.

"Haha... Then several hundred years later, things turned out like this? The scale is too great, frankly speaking, it doesn't feel real to me at all. It's like listening to a fairy tale."

"&mdash;Precisely. The Knights Dominion was very weak in the beginning."

The Dominion Lord seemed to narrow his eyes slightly. He turned his gaze towards Sleif who was waiting on the side.

She looked up with her visored helmet to face the Dominion Lord's gaze.

"Through the long passage of time, although the quantity and quality of knights have changed&mdash;Only the Dominion's true nature has remained constant and unwavering."

"Precisely."

The Dominion Lord's voice carried a slight increase in emphasis. Not due to anger or excitement, but it seemed more like he was ruminating his own words. The pressure exerted by his voice seemed to leave definite weight in the listener's heart.

"We of the Frontline Gathering Knights Dominion will gather and destroy Wathes, whether past, present, or henceforth. This is undoubtedly true ''justice''."

Haruaki glared at him and retorted:

"That's really something to decide on your own. I do happen to know what you guys have been doing till now. Honestly, it's impossible to agree that it's justice...!"

"No, considering the tragedies born from curses, there is no question that we are ''right''. You people should know, shouldn't you? The foolish behavior brought by Wathes and the consequences of foolish behavior."

"That's..."

Of course he knew. The results caused by cursed tools were bizarre and terrifying, disrupting the lifes of the owners and the people around them. However...

Haruaki was also aware of what the Knights Dominion had been doing all this time.

Peavey Barowoi. The knight who used to be Aiko's owner. The knights who had appeared at the school's welcoming festival. Neto the Avenger. Lilyhowell Kilmister. They had a committed numerous atrocities that were utterly inhumane. Things were the same now as well, to think they would seize completely innocent students to serve as hostages...

"Even if curses did not exist in this world, people will still murder. But curses will affect curses. There is meaning in stopping these chain reactions, so as to reduce the total number of future deaths."

"But there are also those who are working hard to stop themselves from letting such things happen!"

"In the meantime, people still die. Truly naive optimism. Your&mdash;"

Lifting a finger, the Dominion Lord pointed at Haruaki.

As though pursuing the issue, as though condemning, as though accusing.

"''Your fingers were only lost due to a curse left to roam free out of optimism, weren't they''?"

"...!"

Haruaki groaned and hid his left hand behind his right. He hid the amputation wound that was suddenly as painful as though struck by lightning because he had subconsciously clenched his fist tightly.

He really did not want to hear it from this man. What do you know? &mdash;Haruaki thought.

At the same time, a strange clattering of sounds were heard. Fear's body of steel was shaking genuinely, so dramatically that one could not help but wonder if she might scatter into pieces.

"Ahhh... Ahhhhhhhhh...!"

"Fear!"

The words, coming from the man who allegedly created her in the past, also reached her ears. A gaze of pity and regret was cast upon her.

Probably due to hearing her cry out in pain, the Dominion Lord addressed Fear directly next:

"Fear-in-Cube, your existence is my greatest pain. Perhaps refusing to let anyone else take his precious belonging, that castle lord hid you during his downfall. You could not be found even after his execution, remaining missing over the long years&mdash;You are precisely the pinnacle of my folly and greatest taint."

Ahhh, what a great shock this produced. Her creator, a being akin to God to her. A reunion after centuries with someone akin to her father. The words uttered from his mouth were&mdash;

Unmistakably, rejecting her existence.

"Wait for me all you like. Once the Second Knights Dominion is completely established, I will surely gather and destroy you. This is my responsibility as your creator."

"Ahhh, ooh, ah... N-No, don't..."

Fear moaned to form words, trying to resist with her entire body and mind. However&mdash;

"Foolish opinion. You have no right to refuse. Since you are unable to understand, as the father who created you, I shall tell you in no uncertain terms&mdash;"

Don't say it, Haruaki thought, but he was unable to stop the Dominion Lord from continuing to speak. If the Dominion Lord was right in front of him, without the cold bars of the gate blocking him, no matter how many knights there were beside the Dominion Lord, even if it meant rushing in punching and kicking, Haruaki would still try to stop him.

However, those words were mercilessly delivered into Fear's constantly trembling ears.


"''You should not have been born in this world''."


"Ahhh&mdash;Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Fear listened to her own screaming. A world without color. Her field of view shook, causing nausea. Her ears were ringing unpleasantly. However, only the voices nearby could be heard clearly. Including what she did not want to hear, and her own murmurs.

Sure enough, the fact of her existence itself, was it a mistake?

The fact she had thought she could do something, was it a mistake?

In the end, she was ultimately the cube created for torture and execution. These immoral uses were not meant to exist. But at least, it was true that someone had created her out of anticipation for making use of her functions. However, if the one who created her rejected her existence... Indeed, that meant that she was undoubtedly something that should not exist in the first place. It meant that before making use of her functions, the root of her being, the origin of all causality for her as a tool, should not have existed in the first place.

A mistake starting from the very first step. She had simply failed to realize it until now.

Not supposed to exist, not allowed to exist.

Should not... have been born in this world...

"Ahhhh, ah, ah...!"

Her consciousness was overflowing like hyperventilation. Her thoughts were out of control. About to breakdown. About to breakdown.

She did not want to look at anything, hear anything, or think anything anymore.

Hence, she was unable to resist the onslaught of the second wave.

No, instead, she accepted it willingly&mdash;

"Ah..."

Her consciousness suddenly disconnected.



Fear's shuddering body suddenly stopped unnaturally. Silent. No moaning or screaming. Had she fainted?

"You bastard...!"

Haruaki glared at the Dominion Lord furiously, clenching his fist hard.

The Dominion Lord only stared back at him with calm eyes of pity. However, Sleif swiftly stood up from her kneeling position, taking a step forward to come between Haruaki and the Dominion Lord. The iron bars, entwined with the cursed barbed wire, still stood before Haruaki's group. Even with throwing weapons in hand, it was probably impossible to hit him. Did she forbade even murderous gazes from reaching her master?

However, Sleif's action seemed to carry other significance. Haruaki noticed that her eyes beneath the helmet were not directly towards him but further back. Behind him, Satsuko was currently observing the Dominion Lord with interest while muttering quietly to herself.

"Hmm~ This is so deep. With advanced age, gentlemanliness equals or surpasses the Commander in every way... If his strength is also on the Commander's level, perhaps the secret to strength is about gentlemanliness. If Satsuko puts on a fake moustache, perhaps..."

However, instead of addressing Satsuko, Sleif was talking to her surroundings.

"Have you arrived? All humans and Wathes present are enemies. Wipe them out swiftly."

"Satsuko!"

Alarm appeared on Satsuko's face while Fourteen yelled at the same time as the two of them jumped apart in opposite directions. By the time they realized, a number of similarly dressed people were present.

"A detachment... from the Knights Dominion?"

"Speaking of which, she was apparently calling them earlier. I almost forgot."

Haruaki asked quietly and Konoha closed in while answering him.

Of course, Haruaki did not remember their faces clearly, but he gathered the impression that this group was different from the knights who had attacked their home. Was that group still fighting Pendragon? Or had the battle concluded already?

"Satsuko, what's the next move?"

"Right~ Let's practice by watching a group fight. It's the first time after obtaining this «Karma Speed»."

"Understood. But what about them?"

"Let's save the main course to enjoy later. Also, Fear-san cannot fight right now."

Satsuko slowly blocked a knight's attack while looking at Haruaki's group with a smile. Konoha and Kotetsu were likewise intercepting the attacking knights while exchanging brief glances at the same time.

"Is there any point in fighting now, Muramasa-sama?"

"Of course not. The main gates cannot be broken through whereas the enemies are durable pawns. We should regroup."

Konoha and Kotetsu nodded lightly at each other then sent their opponents flying at the same time. Then without following up the attacks, they swiftly turned around.

"Let us retreat for now while leaving those two to handle them, Haruaki-kun!"

"Agreed. Fear-kun also looks very weird... There's no point staying here any longer."

"But..."

Kirika agreed with Konoha and Kotetsu. However, Haruaki was unable to tear his gaze away from the people behind the gates.

The people who had taken the students hostage. The people who intended to completely destroy the Yachi house and this town. The people who rejected Fear's existence on a fundamental level.

Haruaki did not want to agree. He could not agree either. He still had many things he wanted to say, many rebuttals he wanted to offer&mdash;

"Tsk... Truth be told, you are man who can't read the situation. Time is of the essence!"

"Uwah!"

Kotetsu forcibly picked him up in his arms, loading him on his shoulder like a sack of rice.

"W-Wait!"

"No."

"That is a bit forceful, but it can't be helped! Let's go!"

"Yes, I'll push Fear-kun!"

The group ran as fast as they could. The knights outside the gates seemed to rush the belligerent Satsuko and Fourteen all at once, leaving only a few to chase Haruaki and friends. Konoha fought and repelled them as necessary.

While on Kotetsu's shoulder, Haruaki saw the final moment.

Behind the gates, Sleif&mdash;as well as the Dominion Lord sitting in wheelchair.

They completely lacked the anxiety to hunt them down at all costs, simply showing calm composure.

(Damn it...)

Then Haruaki's group managed to escape the area in front of the school gates.

Haruaki did not want to know at all how many times they had been fleeing today.