Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume10 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 11===

Fear was listening to Haruaki's scream, listening to a scream that made her heart tremble.

She could feel her past memories, a dark presence rearing its head from the depths of her body.

The pulsation of insanity, the thirst for violence. After an instant of boiling, her brain had gone cold after boiling excessively. Amidst these cold thoughts, ''Fear partially accepted her darkness''.

She would not go insane enough to lose sight of her enemy, but she shall allow violence to rule her. After all, the enemy had done something so terrible.

&mdash;Absolutely unforgivable.

She wanted to use the «Iron Maiden» to open large holes in that girl's body. She wanted to use «The Duke of Exeter's Daughter» to stretch that girl's body out for shredding. She wanted to use the «Inquisitional Wheel» to violently crush that girl's spine. She wanted to use «The Flocking Storks» to deprive that girl of her freedom, giving her a long period of time to reflect upon her sins. She wanted to use «The Blessed Virgin Mary's Steel Embrace» to surround that girl with death's embrace. She wanted to use the «Cat's Paw» to carve incomparably ugly scars on that girl's back. She wanted to use the «Spanish Spiders» to hang that girl up like an onion, sun-dried into a dessicated human. She wanted to use «The Teeth» to shave away that girl's limbs while inflicting pain and suffering. She wanted to use the «Judas Cradle» to pierce that girl's crotch, allowing her to die in shame and anger.

Ahhh, not enough. She had already lost several of the violent acts she sought. Irritating.

Even so, what she needed to do remained the same.

Even if the types of pain she could inflict had grown fewer in number, there was still only one end result. Currently, that alone was sufficient.

So, girl. Foolish sinner whose name I've even forgotten. Rejoice all you want.

&mdash;I will kill you.



Muramasa Konoha was looking at Haruaki's blood, looking at the color she absolutely did not wish to see.

Dizziness. Chills. Nausea.

However, she understood very well. Now was not the time to be feeling unwell. Neither was it time for trembling, vomiting, or staying her hand from reaching towards the enemy who had committed an unforgivable crime.

Ice-cold wrath compelled her to steel her determination. It compelled her to steel her determination to admit.

Currently, there was no need.

''No need for that sort of lie''.

Once she admitted it, the color of fresh blood, visible in the surroundings, began to convey other meanings. It became extremely nostalgic, exciting, causing one's heart to leap, and exceptionally&mdash;

Satisfying.

Dizziness, chills and nausea had all vanished. Hence, she simply sprang into action.

Casting away the lie she had been telling since a long long time ago.

She had not lifted her curse at all&mdash;

Neither was she even close to lifting it&mdash;

Her curse, equally deep as that shouldered by the cube of torture and execution, continued to surround herself&mdash;

Her fear of seeing fresh blood was not due to the backlash of almost lifting her curse&mdash;

Rather, it was only because it reminded her of the fact ''that she had simply undergone self-hypnosis in order to stay with him''.

She simply took action.

O fool who intends to take his life. Enemy whom I resent even more than the Tokugawa. Boast all you want.

&mdash;I will kill you.



Haruaki's view was blurred by the tears from the pain, but there were definitely two figures ahead.

Fear and Konoha were closing in on Elsie. Despite clearly lying sprawled on the ground a second ago after being blown away. Despite clearly spinning in the air as a Japanese sword a second ago.

"Mechanism No.3 severance type, descending form: «Guillotine»!"

"!"

Elsie drew her neck back. The iron guillotine made a metallic grating sound right in front of her face. After turning back to human form, Konoha jumped, unconcerned with her full nudity, attacking at high speed with her four limbs in midair. Elsie bit her lip and attacked with her fist in return.

"Guh... Ah... Oahhhhhh!"

Crack! With the sound of something shattering, Elsie and Konoha jumped back from each other. Elsie simply retreated a few steps but the silver chain on her fist had been severed. She made the chain extend from the severed location and wrapped it around her fist once more. In front of her gaze was Konoha who was bent over the ground on all fours like a beast.

Had Fear and Konoha lost their self-awareness? Haruaki was not sure. Fear was not quite the same as the last time when she was devoured by past memories. Konoha was also acting differently from when she lost herself to anger in the past.

But compared to those past occasions, the two of them were even more scary now.

Without any eye contact, they simply spoke quietly:

"''O cube, thou shalt not hinder me''."

"''Cut the crap''."

This short exchange served as some sort of secret signal. Simultaneously, they started taking action in perfect unison.

"Mechanism No.20 slashing type, great blade form: «A Hatchet of Lingchi», Curse Calling!"

Fear held the hatchet up and swung it down forcefully. Unlike previous times, she did not attack with the back of the blade. This time, she swung the front edge as hard as she could, a slashing strike filled with intent to kill. Elsie dodged swiftly. As though having predicted this, Konoha jumped straight over Fear's petite body and rushed at Elsie. After receiving Konoha's attack, «Clockwork Life»'s silver chain was cut and fell apart. Having lost her defense, Elsie's fist began to show minor cuts where blood flew out. Konoha was supposed to be quite afraid of blood&mdash;But for some reason, she did not stop. The instant she landed, she spread both legs to rotate her body and swept her leg, imbued with a sword's sharpness, towards Elsie's lower body. Elsie's body was strengthened to begin with, as a result of time compression, but Konoha in her current state was able to cut her fist even when protected by the silver chain. Elsie had no time to extend the silver chain to her legs for defense. In order to dodge Konoha's sweeping kick, Elsie jumped lightly&mdash;

"!"

She made eye contact with Fear who was looking up at her from almost directly underneath. Crouching on one knee on the ground next to Konoha, Fear had withdrawn her hatchet that was buried in the paved path, ordering the hatchet to transform.

"Mechanism No.5 impaling type, upright form: «A Skewer Loved by Vlad Tepes»!"

Fear twisted her body and shot the execution stake upwards at a very steep angle, in other words, straight into the air where Elsie had jumped.

Extremely close range. Despite being unable to brake in midair, Elsie still yelled loudly:

"Don't think... you can hit me&mdash;!"
[[image:C3 10-275.jpg|thumb]]

She twisted her head forcefully. Originally going to pierce her face, the execution stake shaved off a large chuck of flesh instead, brushing past her neck and flying towards the school building behind, stabbing high up the outer wall, causing concrete to shatter and fall with a clatter.

Immediately, the vector of Elsie's jump turned to descent, intending to crush Konoha and Fear with the speed of her falling momentum, but the two girls dodged the attack at the very last moment. Due to rolling on the ground to evade the attack, they both lost balance. Elsie must have found it an excellent opportunity. As soon as she landed, she raised both arms, intending to swing them towards the two girls at the same time&mdash;

"&mdash;Don't you think that I'm much cooler like this, compared to that itty bitty pocket watch?"

"What... the...?"

"I can measure time too. I will use this pendulum to measure out the time for extinguishing life! Mechanism No.4 swinging type, oscillatory form: «The Pendulum», Curse Calling!"

The chain of cubes held in Fear's hand seemed to rattle. Connected to that chain was the execution stake she had just launched, currently stuck to the school building's external wall. But now, it was no longer an execution stake. With the portion buried in the school building as the pivot, a long steel chain extended from there with a massive scythe blade attached to its swinging end&mdash;A killing pendulum.

The scythe traced out beautiful curves while swaying. Elsie lowered her body to escape the silently approaching pendulum of death. The giant scythe pendulum measured the unit of time known as intent to kill while sliding slowly. Elsie's rabbit cap was slashed open.

"Do you really think you'll be safe just by bending over? How excessively naive. Of course my mechanism can extend and shorten freely with just a change in chain length. This mechanism's chain was designed to extend according to time to begin with&mdash;In other words, this is a form of execution taking delight in the way people watched in terror as the blade gradually approached their head. Also&mdash;"

"Ooh! M-My feet...!"

"Mode: «Sargasso Tsunemori». You shouldn't limit your attention to above."

"«Tragic Black River»... Did you really think that Fear-kun and Konoha-kun are the only ones who posed a threat...? Literally dragged down by your feet... Absolutely ridiculous."

Kuroe was supporting herself, pushing with her arms against the ground. Probably rupturing her wound due to forcibly getting up, Kirika was using her right hand to press her half-severed left arm against her shoulder. Elsie's feet were entangled by black hair and the belt, deprived of her freedom. As much as Elsie tried to escape with all her might, it should take her some time.

The killing pendulum swung to its highest point on one end, stopping momentarily, then the scythe was about to return to its original location in accordance with pendulum motion. Towards Elsie ahead on its trajectory, towards Elsie who could not move.

In that instant&mdash;

"No, no, no! Elsie... Elsie must complete the mission&mdash;! Thus, thus, thus&mdash;«Clockwork Life»!"

Elsie neither dodged nor intended to block the swinging pendulum.

Instead, she shot the pocket watch's chain towards Haruaki.

Haruaki had almost lost consciousness from the intense pain and was unable to move, only watching blankly as this scene unfolded. The chain was flying at high speed. The chain whose power could could penetrate the school building's concrete. It was flying straight towards Haruaki's face&mdash;

However, mere centimeters from his face, the silver chain was deflected simultaneously with a clang. Missing its target, the chain flew past Haruaki's face, stabbing into the ground behind him. That silver chain was definitely fired towards me, Haruaki thought. What happened?

However, he had no time to think further. Fear's killing pendulum was tracing out curves with delightful speed while descending. Konoha was charging like a wild beast, intending to kill Elsie once and twice again.

"Jeez&mdash;That scared me! By this point already! But it's over, I won't allow you to beg for mercy or leave any last words. Just go and die!"

At this moment, Haruaki saw in the corner of his eye.

The silver chain, slowly withdrawn from his side&mdash;

As though losing all its strength, it plopped down on the ground.

Haruaki's eyes widened with surprise as he opened his mouth to yell:


"Time's up! We won! So&mdash;Don't kill her! Fear, Konoha&mdash;!"


However, the life-taking pendulum did not stop moving.