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While losing the pursuing imperial knights, Eisuke and the others decided to attack the castle immediately. Since all the people in this city regarded Marielle as an enemy, they could not find peace without defeating the Hero. There was no other choice.
Eisuke kicked through the door at the other back end of the castle. Amidst the dust, Eisuke’s voice was heard in the distance.
“Well, could the wonderful Hero come out to play…?”
The dust disappeared and the scenery cleared.
It was a room with a red carpet and luxurious decoration. And the person who was sitting on the throne of that room worthy of a king, was…
“For someone who wants to play, you have pretty bad manners, don’t you think?”
A golden armor, dazzling and shining. The haughty and regal demeanor of a man who at no time changed his arrogant tone. His eyes sparkled with amusement, showing no sign of alarm to Eisuke and the others. Even if they didn’t want to admit it, he had the air of a king.
Marielle spoke with trembling lips.
“You are…”
“Right. I am the Hero and “king” of this imperial city, Kaito. Is this the first time we’ve met, rebellious girl?”
Kaito leaned his cheekbones against his hand and announced himself in a pompous tone. Marielle couldn’t stand such provocation and inquired fiercely.
“W-What have you done with the people of this country, what is your purpose?”
Looking up into Marielle’s desperate face, Kaito cracked a small smile.
“To free them.”
“Free… them?
“What are you talking about, are you crazy?”
Ignoring Serika’s sullen tone, Kaito slowly rose from his seat and began to speak with the tone of a speech.
“I am freeing people from the chains of suffering and giving them what they should have. The root of all human suffering is memory.”
“Memory…?”
Rukino raised an eyebrow. Kaito then looked at Marielle and smirked.
“Princess Marielle, you were the one who had to disappear from his memories.”
“Huh……?”
“Since by your actions summoning the Heroes, they have invaded various parts of this country. After all, it was all your fault, wasn’t it?”
“………!?”
Marielle’s face contorted at Kaito’s words. Rukino raised her voice in fiery fury.
“How dare you! You’re the real culprits! You can’t just shift the blame onto us!”
“That kind of logic won’t work with a crowd. Crowds are the ones who humiliate those who are weaker than they are. They must have developed a hatred for Princess Marielle, because they couldn’t even stand up to me. I freed them from that chain of bad feelings. …Just like I will do now.” He snapped. Kaito snapped his fingers sharply.
…At that moment, a huge magic circle unfolded all over the floor of the room.
“Don’t tell me that…!” Eisuke felt his blood run cold. A few moments before he could shout, a crimson light flashed at his feet. He jumped up as fast as he could.
“My lady!”
“Huh? Kyaah…!”
The moment Rukino shoved Marielle….
Boom! and light exploded all over the room.
When Marielle fell to the floor, the light had already dimmed. Eisuke, who had jumped, landed on the floor and ran to her.
“Are you all right, Marielle?”
“Y-Yes…”
“Hey, girls…” Eisuke turned around and was about to call the other three.
Something passed by Eisuke’s side at high speed. With amazing reflexes, he grabbed it and caught it. Feeling the coldness of the metal in the palm of his hand, Eisuke stared at the attacker with a sharp glare.
“What are you doing, Rukino…!?”
What Eisuke caught in his hand was a sharp rapier.
…The person who aimed at Marielle’s forehead and delivered a merciless thrust was Rukino.
“The girl over there is a rebel. If you plan to protect her, I will show no mercy.”
Rukino looked at Marielle with cold eyes. Marielle despaired at Rukino’s merciless gaze, which she had never seen before. As if to support her, this time the sound of gunshots rang out.
Eisuke threw down the thin sword with the toe of his foot and kicked the ground, holding Marielle in his arms. A bullet exploded at his feet, sending sparks flying. A shadow took advantage of the gap and approached Eisuke.
“Damn it…!”
A series of kicks was unleashed down like rain. Using all his dynamic vision, Eisuke controlled it with one hand and returned a high kick as a counterattack. The shadow fell backwards significantly.
“Don’t tell me…?!”
Marielle’s voice trembled. Eisuke gritted his teeth and glared at the new enemies that appeared before him.
“He’s a pretty tough opponent, can we handle this?”
“I won’t miss next time.”
…Yui, Serika and Rukino, stood before them.
“Yui, Serika…!”
“Huh? Who are you? Don’t call us by our first names.”
“Don’t talk to me so casually.”
Eisuke felt a slight pang of sadness at their unfriendly reaction. The displeased attitude they showed towards Eisuke was not something that could even be called something from a first meeting. They even considered Eisuke as an enemy.
Kaito sat on the throne behind them and rested his cheek on his hand. His sarcastic smile made Eisuke’s blood boil.
“Your skill… is it “Memory Forgery”?”
Memory Forgery. That was the cheating ability Hero Kaito had acquired through the “Seed of Imagination”. It rewrote and implanted specific memories in the target. That is why the people of this country did not forget Marielle, but believed her to be a rebel, and instead worshipped Hero Kaito as their king.
“…Who knows, will that really be it?” Kaito shrugged his shoulders deliberately. In front of him were Yui, Serika and Rukino, whose memories had been falsified.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
Eisuke raged, with a burst, lunged forward at Kaito’s chest all at once. …But a gust of wind blew through and blocked it.
“Damn it…!”
“Isn’t it against the rules to go after the king first?”
Serika intersected Eisuke with a flying kick. She threw him with her nimble movements and didn’t allow him to get close to Kaito. Eisuke was immediately forced into a defensive stance. Serika’s voice rose in frustration as she let out a kick.
“Now what, you’re not attacking because I’m a woman?!”
“You sure are kidding…! Why do I have to fight you over and over again?”
“Huh!? What are you talking about!?”
Serika’s memories of Marielle had been falsified and she no longer remembered them. And if that was the case, of course, the memories of the last few days she spent with Eisuke would have disappeared as well. He felt more pain in his heart than in his kicked arm.
Eisuke looked at Yui out of the corner of his eye. …Yui’s emotionally unreadable eyes and her guns were pointed… mercilessly at Marielle.
“F̲u̲c̲k̲, it’s always the same…!” Eisuke quickly turned away from Serika and lunged in a tackle towards Marielle.
“Kyaah!”
Marielle’s scream overlapped with the sound of gunfire. The bullet Yui released hit Eisuke in the back and bruised his skin.
“Ngh…?!”
The steel body, impervious to blades, was not pierced by the bullet, but it did feel the pain. Marielle covered her mouth as Eisuke gritted his teeth. He stood up straight and glared back at Yui.
“…I thought I’d hit her. Then, next time I’ll aim for the brain.”
She was, as always, expressionless and unconcerned. But her face was harsher than usual, stern… full of hostility. The lovesick maiden who had clung so tightly to Eisuke was nowhere to be found. Kaito declared loudly to Eisuke, who gritted his teeth.
“If you want to defeat me, you must go through them first. But… they are the two I summoned as excellent guards who will protect me even at the cost of their own lives.”
“Son of a b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲…!”
Eisuke’s temples ticked. Kaito laughed.
“Why are you looking at me like that? It’s not me that torments you. It’s the memories in your mind. It’s those memories that keep you from attacking them. You’re tormented by the memory of what you’ve done together. If you want, I can redeem you too…”
Eisuke couldn’t say anything. He could only look at him with bloodshot eyes. …Because what he said was also true. It was true that, if he hadn’t met them, he would have been able to fight without hesitation. But the reason he doubted was… the smiles they had given Eisuke and now it was burned into his mind.
“So what would happen?”
“Well, it’s simple. She is the devil’s daughter intent on seducing the Heroes of this world and bringing it to its ruin. If she is not stopped, this world and even the world you came from will be conquered. The only one who can stop her… is you.”
“…I understand…”
“I never thought that my power would save the world.”
They believed the lies exposed by Kaito and took a fighting stance against Marielle. Eisuke shouted to Rukino, who was standing next to him, looking calm.
“Hey, Rukino! Who was that master of yours that you’ve been calling “my lady” all along?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, rebel. I’ve never called anyone that.”
“Then who have you been working for all these years?”
“For King Kaito.”
Without a second’s hesitation, Rukino answered. Marielle, who was in Eisuke’s arms, had tears in the corners of her eyes.
“Rukino…” Marielle muttered under her breath. The hand holding Eisuke’s arm tightened its grip. At that moment, she began to shake as if she was possessed. “Rukino! Rukino! Ruki… no…! Rukino, Rukino…!”
Marielle cried out repeatedly between sobs. Eisuke bit his lip and put all his strength into his arms to prevent Marielle from running away. He was frustrated by the girls’ coldness towards Marielle’s crying face.
“Hey, can’t you see what you’re doing? You should see yourselves in a mirror right now!”
“Mirror?? I don’t know what that means.”
“Don’t go around saying things that I don’t understand.”
“…F̲u̲c̲k̲!”
Eisuke kicked angrily and smashed the wall behind him. The wall, reduced to rubble, raised a cloud of dust that blinded everyone. Eisuke moved sideways with Marielle in his arms. Fortunately, all the windows in the room had been removed and to make a sort of atrium. Eisuke jumped out the window with Marielle in his arms and escaped from the hero.