Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume5 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 4===

The distance instantly shrank to zero. Kirika guarded her neck and head using her arms. She must prevent instantaneous causes of death such as severing the neck or penetrating the brain. In that case, where would the enemy target instead?

&mdash;Thump.

Kirika mistook it for the force of her heartbeat, originating deep within her body. A force that seemed to turn her entire body  into a beating heart.

She was pierced. Kirika saw Un Izoey approaching with gliding steps, her cuffed hands touching the ground and raising her right foot, but Kirika did not see the knife held between her toes. This was only natural, because it was already buried inside her.

Within Kirika's field of view that was beginning to shake violently, Un Izoey's emotionless eyes were looking up at her.

(My body... Hurry and move!)

Kirika's body finally moved because it had been waiting for this precise situation to move. Conversely, if this awaited opportunity had not arrived, she would have remained still&mdash;Precisely because it was this kind of action, Un Izoey reacted an instant too late.

There was only one chance. Mobilizing the arms which she had used to protect her neck, Kirika grabbed Un Izoey's right foot hard. The impact caused her heart to scream in pain, but there were more urgent things to attend to.

"Gaha... You stabbed me, right? You stabbed deeply into my body, right? That's good enough..."

Kirika listened to her own voice, delivered with blood, while controlling the «Tragic Black River». Watching Un Izoey's gaze waver with surprise and unease, Kirika could feel the knife in her heart invading deeper. Instead of pulling her right foot back, Un Izoey seemed to have decided it would be quicker to just kill Kirika by pushing the knife further.

Her decision was correct, very clearly correct. Even if Kirika were to use the «Tragic Black River» to entangle Un Izoey at this moment, during the time required to strangle and break her neck, Kirika's heart would suffer even more severe damage, thereby resulting in death.

Hence, Kirika needed a method for seizing victory instantaneously. She needed a method of reversal in the next instant.

Hence&mdash;

Instead of entangling Un Izoey's neck with the «Tragic Black River», she aimed for the handcuffs instead.

Then Kirika pulled, pulling in Un Izoey's hands.

Once she was pulled in, the leather belt's work was done. Kirika released the foot she was gripping then forcefully used her bloodstained hands to grab Un Izoey's wrists&mdash;

And made her touch the hilt of the knife that was buried in her heart.

Un Izoey's eyes widened to a sad degree.

"...Even if... in a few more seconds... I'll be dead..."

Un Izoye's body began to tremble. Staring at her own hands in disbelief, she kept trembling.

Kirika's hands applied more force.

Desperately twisting the knife as though she were pulling it into her body, Kirika made it stab deeper, deeper, ever deeper&mdash;

Letting the blade that Un Izoey was holding violate her body unchecked.

"...But the cause of my death is your pair of hands. According to the rules of your tribe, you are forbidden from staining your hands with the enemy's blood. But now, you've touched it&mdash;Un Izoey!"

"Ah... Ah..."

At this moment, originally icy cold, the girl's eyes now only contained&mdash;

Nothing but pure unadulterated&mdash;

Terror.

Hence, Kirika smiled lightly like a corpse and said:

"A first experience, congratulations."

"&mdash;Ooh, ahhh, ahhhhhhhhh!"

The gray-haired girl desperately struggled, trying to withdraw her hands. Although she easily struggled free, it did not matter anymore, because her foot had let go of the knife, she was sitting collapsed on the floor, her body trembling nonstop. All she could do was stare at her bloodstained hands.

Kirika originally hypothesized that this should be able to create an opening but the results surpassed her expectations. This was probably an imposed belief that had been branded upon Un Izoey's deepest psyche since early childhood. A pathological taboo that went as far as to demand suicide as though it were perfectly logical.
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As the belt wrapped around her neck unhindered, Kirika granted her peace through the loss of consciousness.

Next, the «Tragic Black River» locked onto its next prey, choking the neck of Pakuaki who was crying out in surprise.

"Huff... Guh... Ah... Huff... Fufu... Fufufu. If it weren't for knowing from the start that my clothes would get dirty, I wouldn't have undressed, because it's too embarrassing...!"

"I get it now, so you planned on doing this all along? What a reckless strategy&mdash;cough cough, but you didn't break my neck in one go, why is that?"

"Because... there's no value."

"You're already on the verge of death. I'm sorry, but I'll escape once you die."

"...U-Unfortunately for you, my body just barely managed to catch up and will recover from this point onwards. Haha, I didn't expect her to be that gentle&mdash;Besides, I already accounted for the possibility of dying here. I was thinking, as long as Un Izoey was dealt with... Then those guys would help me handle the rest."

Pakuaki turned his gaze lightly.

"You mean them...? The way I see it, they're in a desperate fight. Is it really okay for you to withhold assistance?"

"...Don't worry, they can handle it."

Kirika followed his gaze. Despite the dimming of her vision probably due to excessive blood loss, she was still able to see what was happening over there.

The silver-haired girl was swinging her torture tool. This girl had chosen by her freewill to shed her own blood for Kirika's sake. Hence, Kirika had decided to repay that erroneous yet noble-minded choice. What she came up with was this method of intentionally burying Un Izoey's blade deep within her own body.

The other person over there was the boy wielding the Japanese sword. He had been gazing in Kirika's direction with surprise, but immediately, his eyes showed understanding. Apparently, he had witnessed the instant when Kirika had suffered that wound. He must have been very shocked back then.

Kirika communicated by nodding towards them without saying a word because she no longer had the strength to yell loudly. However, this action was already more than sufficient.

The boy nodded vigorously in response. The Japanese sword's shaking motion probably expressed the same meaning as well.

Then they started taking action, aiming for victory just like her.

Suddenly, Kirika thought of something.

With a slight sense of loneliness and unease, she wondered.

Would he get angry with her as well&mdash;?



Kirika had won. In that case, it was Haruaki's turn.

Fear's loud shouting entered his ears.

"How ludicrous, Oratorie Rabdulmunagh!"

"What... are you saying... ludicrous?"

Haruaki advanced slowly while the Japanese sword in his hand urged him to quicken his pace.

"You and your faction, it's all over already! Abyss is dead and Bivorio is repenting for her sins!"

"That's a so-called big fat lie! Yeah right it's over!"

The silver hair and red hair crossed over, passing by each other, then approached again as though drawn by mutual attraction. Haruaki was also rushing to Fear's side as if attracted by gravity. Fear remained on high alert and entered a stance with «A Hatchet of Lingchi».

"Will it work?"

"Certainly."

Konoha answered briefly. Fear nodded lightly in comprehension.

"However, when should we coordinate the attack?"

"How about the next one? More than likely, the enemy will unleash her strongest attack next."

As soon as Haruaki spoke, Fear glanced sideways at him skeptically.

"How would you know?"

"Just look behind you."

"...I see. I get it now."

Then Fear took a deep breath.

"Listen carefully to me, Oratorie! That whatever belief about us being transcenders, or that joke about the existence of that imposed familial love, it's all meaningless now. Those arguments not only failed to move us, but they also failed to change anything. You are just scum, an ignoramus in search of knowledge who took advantage of today's chaos to sneak in, a common madwoman who could not be any more ordinary!"

"No! My goal is&mdash;"

"To find Bivorio? She's right there!"

"No no! That's a fake!"

"Really? Then in that case, what is she holding in her hands?"

Oratorie stopped moving, apparently stupefied.

Bivorio was standing in front of her gaze, in the corner of the training hall where Kururi had sought refuge.

She was staring straight ahead with a twisted expression.

Held together, her hands were raised up in front of her face.

She simply stood there, holding a white object in her hands.

In fact, anyone could tell with through further examination that those were the remains of a cross.

"Oratorie... Please listen to me. Abyss is already dead. Indeed, he has already died..."



Haruaki did not understand why she had that in her possession. Perhaps she had taken it from the school, or Pakuaki had playfully stuffed it into her pocket, either of those would not be surprising. These were the only two possibilities Haruaki could come up with at this moment.

Oratorie gripped the oar hard, almost enough to create sounds of wood cracking.

"Ahhh... Fake... Damn fake... Do you really think you could deceive me by preparing a little prop like that!?"

"N-No, this is real. Right before my eyes, Abyss really was..."

"Shut up&mdash;!"

She's coming. With a face like a demon's, Oratorie came.

Just as predicted, it was an attack, unprecedentedly simpler than before yet more powerful than ever.

This was the very moment they had been desperately waiting for.

Haruaki exchanged glances with Fear and they sprang into action. Very likely, Fear and Konoha's minds were connected at this moment.

Hence, all that was left was to move.

Haruaki and Konoha shifted slightly left while Fear moved right as though to exchange positions. Then they waited for the instant when Oratorie's oar was swung down.

"Fear, Konoha!"

This was the technique that Muramasa Konoha had discovered in her quest to abstain from killing. Raising observation, judgment and instinct to their highest limits to approach prescience for but an instant. Thereafter, the sword knew. The sword knew the location of the opposing weapon's heart and how to pierce that heart with one stroke of the sword&mdash;!

The sword trembled slightly in Haruaki's hand and exuded an aura of sharpness and clarity that seemed to release her accumulated sighs all at once. In one natural movement, his left hand gripped the scabbard gently.

Then&mdash;

Faced against the expected attack of Oratorie's wooden oar, the true blade pulsed and slid out of the black scabbard&mdash;

"Sword-Kill&mdash;Counter!"

"Tsk! «Tragedy Method»!"

Perhaps warned by her sixth sense regarding the mission borne by Konoha's blade, Oratorie reflexively invoked her oar's power of penetration.

"Take this&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;!"

However, Fear also unleashed her axe's attack at the exact moment of Konoha's strike.

Had the attacks simply been performed simultaneously, failure would have resulted if the oar blocked them. Whether a barehanded chop partnered with a torture tool, or the combination of a simple black scabbard with a torture tool, the result would have been the same. More explicitly, this approach used Konoha's secret technique as bait&mdash;Followed by a simultaneous attack that could only work with the Sword-Kill Counter as bait.

Like Konoha's blade, Fear's axe flew past Oratorie's oar. The blade struck Oratorie mercilessly in the chest. Fear could not help but feel goosebumps on her back, accompanied by a strange cracking sound. It was the sound of certain hard objects breaking one after another, and not just one or two.

"Gah... Haa...!"

The impact caused the cursed oar to fall from Oratorie's hand. It became as vulnerable as a bundle of straw used for testing out a blade's sharpness. Before the oar could reach the floor&mdash;

"Counter&mdash;Second Strike!"

The scabbard sung again. As the noise that greatly matched the surrounding training hall atmosphere subsided, the oar was no more, leaving behind nothing but two tragically severed fragments of timber.

Oratorie spat out stomach acid, unconscious with her eyes rolled up. Meanwhile, Bivorio murmured:

"Ahhh... I don't understand. Steeped heavily in sin, what should I do&mdash;"

Kneeling on the floor, she was holding that cross fragment in her hands. Kururi bowed her head and stared at the fragment.

"Success... finally. Phew&mdash;This took a ton of effort on my part..."

"Nice combination. You two can do it as long as you put your minds to it, see? You two work very well together."

Fear was originally so tired that she was supporting her chin on her axe hilt. Despite Haruaki's sincere praise, she suddenly straightened her body.

"W-What are you talking about!? D-Don't say something so embarrassing, okay? Who wants to work well with this Cow Tits here... Good grief, that's so disgusting! This is coincidence, only coincidence!"

"Do you really need to describe it as disgusting!? To think I almost praised you as well, but now I'm really glad I never said it out loud!"

"I won't feel happy at all to be praised by you! Now that would be truly disgusting!"

"What did you say again!?"

"Fear, don't swing that axe around! And you, Konoha, could you stop leaning your body against me!?"

Haruaki desperately resisted Konoha's movements as he turned his gaze over to Kirika who was the first to conclude her battle.

Although she was all covered in wounds, she smiled wryly as usual&mdash;

And made a slight thumbs up gesture.

Naturally, Haruaki responded with the same gesture.