Vol 5 Chapter 4 (1/2)

Despair & Hope Doth Clash

The island of Growerth Don Neuberg

The occurrence was a h to worry the people

“…Is solances

It was already deep into night, and many were already asleep But people awoke to the sound of their s shaking in their fra slightly

Not many noticeable earthquakes occurred in Germany; most people were not used to such tremors

But they were not enough to make the people fear for their lives—yet The sensation of the ground shaking beneath the in their hearts

It was as though the ground itself was afraid of so

<=>

Underground caverns

In the caverns under the castle, Valdred Ivanhoe’s eyes flew open

Because the jester never did go to wake hi on

But he was suddenly jolted awake by a sensation like part of his very body was being torn away He quickly looked down at himself

Soon realizing that he was only looking over his usual illusionary body—that of a young boy—he slowly calaze to his true body—the island of Growerth

“Is so?”

Froreat flower bud next to hiès A vine as thick as a lasses into the petals, and a bespectacled young girl poked her face out of the tip of the bud

She was not the only one; others ere in the caverns, absorbed in a gaathered around curiously

Everyone knew by then that the island was shaking sporadically—they all turned to Val, wondering if perhaps a volcano was erupting

“What… what is this…?”

Val trembled, his eyes closed shut Selim turned to him with a worried look

“Are you all right, Val? What’s going on?”

“…Selim”

Though the body of the boy was just an illusion created by Val’s consciousness, it directly expressed his emotions, just as Gerhardt’s words did for hian running down his body The others around the

What Val said to them was extremely simple:

“I have no idea what’s going on, either But… you should get away from this island as quickly as possible”

<=>

Inside Waldstein Castle

“Oh? An earthquake in Germany? I’m rather surprised”

For Mage, as fro remarkable But his indifference quickly dissipated as the tremors continued for more than thirty seconds

“This is a bit long…” He said with a frown

Having awakened only after dusk, he also sensed another strange thing about his surroundings

“…Where is everyone?”

The reen and his fellow freeloaders were nowhere to be seen or sensed

Wondering if so had happened outside, he quickly turned to a balcony

At that moment, a familiar flock of bats swarmed in and materialized into the form of the mayor

“Ack! Mr Staaaaargh!”

“Good evening to you too, fucking Mage Where’s the princeling and his maids?”

Mage was sent flying with a roundhouse kick The mayor then stomped on his back

As he drove his groaning for was amiss

“…What the hell This castle’s shaking”

“I, I was just wondering about it h there’s anyone in the castle!”

Being the type to yield to authority, Mage chuckled apologetically even as Watt’s shoe dug into his back

“Th, this shaking’s gone on for more than a minute—it’s different from the earthquakes I—“

Ignoring Mage, Watt returned to the balcony he landed at and surveyed the island

A aze reached western Growerth, he took notice of so unusual

Part of the stars over the ere gone

There was a straight line of pitch-black darkness, reaching so far above the ground that he had to crane his neck to see the end

As though a black pillar higher than the atmosphere had suddenly materialized on the island

As Watt squinted for a better look, he realized that the object was indeed a pillar of sorts—

And with the shaking of the ground, he recalled the power of a certain vampire

“Can’t be… Relic?”

<=>

Several minutes earlier

The first to witness the tremors and the disappearance of the stars were the vampires who had followed after Relic from the castle

Unable to catch up to Relic and Watson’s speed, they were slightly late to arrive at the scene

“Where is Master Relic?!”

“Hey! I see the olf girl!” Pirie cried Everyone turned—the silver-haired girl was opening the door of the church

“Hilda’s in there?”

“To be honest, I’ about this”

The lances,

“——————————————————————————“

A cry that shook the very air around them filled their ears

But it was only for the first few seconds that they could tell that the sound was co from the ruined church

There was ashattering at once Black fog began spilling outside

But that sight, too, lasted for only the blink of an eye

The fog instantly turned into a powerful shockwave as it sed the entire church in a dark mist

“What?! What?! What’s going on here?!” Pirie yelled, losing her balance in a state of half-fog

Though they were not very close to the church, the icy wave had crashed over them as well The olf called Watson just barely avoided being engulfed, quickly backing away from the church

When the gale stopped, the vaed Those ere running on foot realized that the ground underneath was shaking

“H, hey… this is crazy…”

Unlike the humans, ondered if the island was struck by an earthquake, the vampires witnessed the source of the tremor

The ground was disappearing under the from the place where the church used to be

The stone building was already nowhere to be seen, and the blacka maelstrom in the center

The maelstrom was only the size of two tennis courts, but as it ate away at the ground, it grew larger and larger In the very reat black pillar of mist, so tall that it erased a line of stars from the sky

“What is this mist…?” One of the , replied with her eyes wide

“Hey… you know? This doesn’t look like fog… what… what is that?”

She was not the only one to notice Soht noticed the true nature of the black pillar

It looked like the fog had condensed into water, flowing in a vicious strea inside the pillar

The current and the bats siftly, shi+fting frora entity

One of the va terrifying and looked aithout thinking

“Hey, what’s wrong?!”

“What did you see?!”

As the other freeloaders pressed for answers, the vampire frowned

“…Those bats… they don’t have eyes”

Countless bats without eyes flew into the night sky in a pitch-black current

As though they were refusing to look upon the world

<=>

Several minutes later

‘What is this…?!’

Dorrikey only noticed the disaster as he flew to northern Growerth in the form of a flock of bats

The black pillar was threatening to topple Everest in height If not for the night vision inherent in his vaht that the stars had disappeared

Dorrikey could tell immediately that the pillar was no cloud or twister

‘This is outrageous I’m a detective, not a superhero

‘This isn’t a deduction, but… it feels as though Watson may be involved!’

With that thought, he carefully approached the pillar—

(Correct Your partner’s involved somewhat I should have expected as much from an ace detective)

A familiar voice spoke in his head

(Mirald?! Where are you?!)

Although his friend was a telepath, unlike Hawking, his range was li that Mirald must be nearby

Then, he spotted the silhouette standing on a trans it in bat-form

“So you foundless”

(This is no ti?! And is it true that Watson is involved? She can’t be trapped inside, can she?! Why are you hanging back here? We must hurry and rescue her!)

In less than a second Dorrikey transmitted countless questions to Mirald, but the latter answered the

“All right I’ll answer one at a time That pillar over there is Relic—Mr Gerhardt’s son Your partner ith hiround and is talking to the vampires from Waldstein Castle They’re too far forheld prisoner”

With a shrug, Mirald continued

“In other words, your partner is in absolutely no need of assistance Relax”

(Preposterous! What is going on over there? You mean that the pillar of bats over there is Mr Gerhardt’s son?! Why would helike this on the island? I know you’ve already read his thoughts—I demand answers!)

“Of course I have I turned into thin fog and crept into range to read the details of his thoughts Although Watson alht my scent” Mirald chuckled A flock of bats swarmed around his face

“Hey, Dorrikey, stop that! Telepathy doesn’t give me the power to avoid your attacks! Do you have any idea how —“

As so on one of his ears, Mirald nearly cried out in pain And as though focusing all his thoughts into the ear, Dorrikey let his heart shout as loudly as he wanted

(Stop dawdling and get to the point!)

“All right, all right It’s siirlfriend’s heart was carved out By the serial killer everyone’s been talking about these days”

(What…?!)

Dorrikey’s thoughts cahed

“You want to knohy Mr Gerhardt’s son is doing that? No reason, really He’s just in despair at the world All of that? It’s his anger at the world and himself It was so human of him that it hit me—yes, he really must be Mr Gerhardt’s son”

<=>

“Hey—Watson, right? What just happened here?!” Pirie asked, half-flying over to Watson The silver-haired girl looked down and replied plainly

“Hilda was covered in blood A hole in her chest She won’t move Hilda’s friend screamed”

Though her words were simple, all who listened instantly realized what Relic lances

“It can’t be…”

Unable to believe that Hilda was dead, Pirie made to scold Watson—but the olf didn’t seem the type to lie

“And? And? What about Relic?” She asked instead

Watson sniffed the air Then, she pointed up at the great black pillar

“All of that It’s Hilda’s friend”

Then, she lowered her hand to the bottoinal size

“Hilda… is somewhere there”

<=>

At the base of the pillar of bats, in the reat maelstrom that expanded as it ate away at the island, Hilda’s body was floating without a sound

Relic’s body was nowhere

To be specific, his body had already transfor with the island and transforantic

But his consciousness—the hazy sense of reason that could no longer control his actions—reled around Hilda

‘Hilda

‘…I’m so sorry

‘Ho did this happen?’

But even his sense of reason was not enough to stop the flood of despair

A part of Relic’sover and over—why did he have to lose Hilda? But , cornered Relic with unstoppable fury and despair

With no intention in particular,

The boy created to reign over all vampires decided to leave all his powers to his emotions

Just like a frustrated child banging on the wall until even his hand turned bloody,

Perhaps he —at full force

Not realizing just how much power he held in his hands

<=>

(Then is our only option to wait for his anger to abate?) Dorrikey asked Mirald shrugged

“I could cal monster if it had any sense of reason left in its head I could try directly showing an illusion of his girlfriend in his ht now, I can’t exactly read histrouble holding backaround him, raised his voice in his head

(Wait! I thought you said you’d last until—)

“Sorry I lied Actually, no At that point I wasn’t lying, but I overestimated myself”

(damn you!…!)

“Hey, there’s an interesting thought I can read other people’s h about myself It’s like one of those twists in those detective novels you like Although I don’t think you’d ever find a detective or a criminal who can read h he had nothing to do with the unfolding disaster Dorrikey finally made up his mind to call the ancient shark vampire to s Mirald whole

Reading his friend’s thoughts, Mirald continued as nonchalantly as ever

“I don’t really want to end up in George’s stoet sliced between his teeth? …Anyway, I’ve heard that Relic could turn entire chunks of the island into a gigantic wolf But look at him now, coeration Relic’s only affecting a tiny portion of the island”

(This is no time for casual observations!) Dorrikey cried, just about ready to swear at Mirald

But suddenly, the laughter iped off Mirald’s face as his brow and lips began twitching

(What What is it)

It took several seconds for Mirald to finally respond and sain

But there was so off about his smile

“This isn’t good”

(Details!)

“Well, I just had a long talk with Hawking”

(…)

Although it had only been several seconds, the passage of time had little effect on the dense conversations that telepaths could have

But orried Dorrikey more was the fact that Mirald looked like he was at a co, he waited for him to continue

“Hawking’s been watching the island from there, too And, well…”

Mirald paused, closing his rew bitter as he resumed

“Apparently the earth is in danger”

(………What?)

For a moment, Dorrikey’s mind went blank

“Well, you knoking’s good at calculations and analysis He gave this situation of ours a little thought, and… he says that Relic’s not using his powers… yet”

(…’Yet’?)

“In other words, he’s just pulling back his fist In archery tero Just like holding down a spring, he’s compressed all his power to the lio”

The flock of bats co Dorrikey’s body simultaneously turned to the black pillar

(Wait You antic mass over there is Relic’s power compressed to its limit?)

“It already feels like there’s aran calculations on it for fun, too He wanted to see ould happen if Relic really lashed out with that fist”

With his right hand, Mirald pushed up his glasses and sighed

“About the size of the moon”

“The moon?”

“In other words… so the size of the s or wolves or so—it’ll become a part of him”

This was no time for jokes, Dorrikey wanted to think, but he knew that Mirald wouldn’t so far as to bring Hawking into a joke

So shocked was he that Dorrikey could do little but keep his bats flapping in the air

Meanwhile, Mirald cracked his neck, sounding surprised that he was finally a part of the i catastrophe

“God help us all Wonder what it’ll be The ht call even that entertainment, but to be honest, I’d prefer if the earth wasn’t destroyed I hate the sun and it’d be pretty irritating to have no one but Hawking to talk to” Mirald worried, as though confident that he could survive the destruction of the earth

He began to look around the ground from atop the transmission tower Then,

“There”

(What? Where?) Dorrikey asked Mirald replied indifferently

“I found your serial killer”

(…What?!)

Listening to the sound of his friend’s thoughts falling into disarray, Mirald looked down—there was the TV crew, fil the pillar of bats from a different location than Watson and the others

“I’ll drop down over there for a bit Gotta let off a bit of steam for both me and Relic”

(What do you lasses, but the usual smile had returned to his lips

“I’ht quench a bit of my thirst”

(da idly What exactly are you planning?) Asked the self-proclai, replied,

(I’ht direction Help the confused kid find the heartless killer who irlfriend)

<=>

The western side of the island was far fronificant tourist attractions, and after the church burned down, had very few residences

In other words, the only ‘hued to the members of the ZZZ Network TV crew

The sound recordist bit his tongue again and again, wondering if he was drea But with each sharp pain he became more and more certain that the scene before them was reality

A chilling breeze had suddenly engulfed them

When the black pillar had first appeared, the wind had bloard them from it

But now, the as blowing in the opposite direction—froh the air around the sucked into it

The apocalypse

Although the disaster only engulfed a part of the island, and they alone itness to the sight, it seemed very much like the end was near

‘The hell… the hell’s going on here?!’ The recordist wondered

Until not too long ago, he and the other crew members were in what he was sure was reality But his an to approach the supposed olf for an interview, and when they opened their eyes, they were in a parking lot halfway up the mountain

And a blond-haired boy transforht before their eyes, taking to the skies

The sound recordist had wondered if he was still half-asleep But the other crew members said that they saw it as well, and his superior—Juna, the bespectacled reporter—was already engaged in an excited intervieith the girl who had been standing there

‘And… and… I don’t re…’

As his senses caain looked forward

Only after dozens of seconds of staring at the sight did an incredible sense of unease well up in hi

“…What is this… What the hell is this, Juna…?!”

Juna shot him a stern look

“Cut the crap and get back to work! We’re witnessing history in the ic itself fall to bits!”

Dumbstruck by Juna’s deterlances The cameraman silently continued to shoot the pillar and the maelstrom, his expression inscrutable

“If you want to run, then go ahead I’ll just take the cae myself”

There was a glint of h the story of the century was close at hand

There was no talking her out of it, the sound recordist thought, and turned to the other crew members

The cameraman’s eyes were hidden, but the others were clearly just as worried and hesitant as he was

‘We’ve gotta get out of here…’

The others were probably thinking the sa “I want to leave” and “I can’t take this anymore”

One of the crewto see his little sister back home—

‘…Wait’

At that point, the

‘A little sister? What?’

There was no voice The face of another crew member’s little sister forced its way into his h he had heard her speak

And for soirl before, he was certain that she was the sister of his friend

‘What is this… what’s going on here?’

Flowing into his confused thoughts was one powerful sequence of ies

Sensing the current ofhis mind, the man paled and shook his head

‘A now?!’

(I’irl from before…)

When he looked around, the other crewto the in his head In fact, upon closer inspection, he realized that none of theirclear in his head

‘Right Let’s just get out of here’

The sound recordist made up his mind, and slowly backed away—

“AAARGH!”

So him scream

The other crew , as they were all also crying out or curled up on the ground Juna was also clearly scared, but her eyes would not leave the pillar of bats

‘No’

That was the only word that came to mind

What flowed into his thoughts was not a sound, and not an ie

It felt like raw emotions had forced themselves into his heart

Though there were no words to the e—and came to a conclusion

The emotion was a reaction to the decision he had just made earlier

‘I won’t let you escape’

‘Not you, not anyone’

<=>

Dozens of seconds earlier

Darkness

At the time, there was no consciousness within Relic

To be specific, though he knew that he was doing so in the deep darkness, he did not knohat he was doing, or what he wanted

It was the sensation of his bodythat only bordered on the waking world—both conscious and unconscious

His despair overshadowed any anger or grief he ht have had—and his emotions, ruled by that despair, united with his power and beca Hilda’s body

The consciousness of Relic the individual, and the incredible power of Relic the vampire

The two factors, which should noran le as they distorted Relic’s very identity

Though his consciousness was spreading to the world, his poas slowly gathering

His hazy consciousness ept up in the currents of power

Though he had no clear sense of self, once in a while, a piece of his consciousness bobbed to the surface of the current and disappeared again

Floating like ular streay

I’m sorry, Hilda

I… couldn’t protect you

I’m sorry, Mihail