there are no brakes on the suffering train

//from arc 5 ch 71: Sword Demon VS Former Sword Saint
//http://ncode.syosetu.com/n2267be/390/

Dropping the sword he held, Wilhelm pressed a hand against his wound.
He had lost, and would bleed out and die eventually, but he had no intention of pitifully waiting for that to happen. It was only a formality, but he refused to meet his end from something like blood loss.

He had fought as a knight, resisted as a knight, and lost as a knight.
Therefore, as the loser, his life was meant for the winner's blade to take.

"Theresia, I..."

"――――"

The red swordswoman, shouldering her longsword, looked down at Wilhelm.
As expected, there was no feeling in those eyes. She was a sword-wielding reaper who would reap Wilhelm's life, and go on remembering and feeling nothing right to the end.

She raised her charmingly beautiful face.
Quietly, Theresia raised her sword above Wilhelm. Once that sword descended, Wilhelm's life would fall away with it.
But――.

"At least, I won't go alone...!"

In the same moment the sword fell, Wilhelm extended his right hand. In reach lay one of a pair of twin blades――the sword Theresia had dropped.
Wilhelm picked it up with his fingers, stubbornly struggling all the way to the end.

He was fine with losing. That couldn't be helped.
But he couldn't leave Theresia alone here.

He couldn't allow himself to pass before Crusch and Subaru, who he owed a lot to, without even stopping his wife who had been forced to wield a sword against her will.
If even burning out his life wasn't enough, then he didn't mind destroying his soul after death too.

――But that realization only lasted a moment.

"――――"

"Theresia...?"

Still holding her sword ready, Theresia took a huge leap backwards.
Putting a distance between them that Wilhelm could not reach even if he thrusted with the sword in his right hand. From a position he could not reach, Theresia inclined her head faintly.

Seeing her emotionless eyes, filled with their painfully empty color, Wilhelm felt fear for the first time.
That fear was instinctual. As a swordsman, Wilhelm's instincts were telling him to fear.

That there was no need to pointlessly deal the final blow to a prey who had already been fatally wounded.
That was the judgement laid down by this icy reaper, devoid of anything resembling a swordsman's pride.

"Wait... wait, Theresia!!"

Afraid that he would be left, Wilhelm shouted.
His legs no longer hurt. Forgetting the pain in his right leg, Wilhelm began to run towards the distant Theresia. But even if he ignored the pain, the wound remained. Unable to put any strength into his legs, he fell. He hit the ground hard on his shoulder, but raised his head, as if daring it to bother him.

Theresia stood in the distance, her long red hair fluttering.
Just beyond her was Heinkel, having pushed himself into a standing position.

The longsword that had yet to tire of battle locked on to him as its next victim.
Having cut the man its wielder did not recognize as her husband, it would next but the man she did not recognize as her son, and for that――

"Stop, Theresia! I won't... Do you think I'll allow something like that!? Fight me! Look at... look at me, dammit! Look at me, Theresiaaa!!"

Shouting so loudly he coughed up blood, Wilhlem called to Theresia.
Over and over again, with the name he had wanted to say to her so many times, but with a completely different meaning. Instead of love, he called it with anger. Instead of passion, with madness.

But she did not turn back.
Wielding her reaper's sword, she slowly moved towards Heinkel. Swallowing, Heinkel moved to meet her halfway, unsheathing his own knight's sword with trembling hands.

"W-wait, just wait. Y-You're Theresia... that's a lie, right? There's no way that... no way, you could be my mother..."

"――――"

"No, even if you're not my mother... that's not the point! You did that to my father, and then... Dammit! What's all this! What the hell is with all this, what's going on!"

In front of him was Theresia as she had been in her youth.
Heinkel could not reconcile that form with his image of his mother. He shook his head from side to side, as if desperately trying to deny what he saw, incoherent words spilling from his mouth.

His knees shook, his gaze going distant, his form frail.
Facing off against the former Sword Saint like that, he stood not even the slightest chance.

Like that, Heinkel would without a doubt be killed by Theresia.
That alone he coudl not allow.

"Theresia! Look here! I'm still alive! If you want to kill someone, kill me first! Heinkel, you don't stand a chance! Hurry up and run!!"

Gritting his teeth, Wilhelm stood up, using his sword as support. Without anything to press against the wound in his leg, and with him putting his weight on it, more blood spurted out.
The stones had already been stained red with his blood, and leaving a trail of blood in his wake, Wilhelm moved to chase after Theresia.

Far. Too far.
Slow. Too slow.
Once again, Wilhelm would not make it. Once again, Wilhelm would fail to reach her.

「ひっ……」

「――――」

　テレシアの長剣が弧を描き、肩をすくめたハインケルの騎士剣がそれを受ける。
　わずかな停滞もなく、呆気なく騎士剣はハインケルの手を離れ、甲高い音を立てながら石畳の上を跳ねていった。

「や、やめて……やめてくれよ、か、母さん……っ」

　無手になり、怯えたハインケルがその場に尻餅をついた。必死に手足を動かして、這いずるようにしてハインケルは逃れようとする。
　だが、震える指先が、怯える心が、テレシアの無感情の瞳が、ハインケルの心と体を恐怖で縛りつけて、その場からほとんど動かさない。

　喉が引きつり、大量の冷や汗を掻き、ハインケルは顔を蒼白にしていた。
　ひょっとしたら失禁もしていたかもしれない。ただ、それを恥に思うほどの余裕すらも奪い去られて、ハインケルは掲げられる長剣の切っ先を見つめていた。

　――月を割るように、直剣が真っ直ぐ天へと伸びる。

　命の瀬戸際で、ヴィルヘルムは為す術もなく、妻に息子が斬られる瞬間を目の当たりにさせられようとしていた。

　声を上げる。届かない。
　手を伸ばす。届かない。

「テレシア――！！」

　剣に全てを込められなかった剣鬼の、ただ叫ぶだけの声に力はない。
　長剣は無情にも、ハインケルの命を絶つために振り下ろされ――。


「――そこまでだ」


　その声は唐突に、しかし明確に、そのひりつくような緊迫感を切り裂いた。
　凛とした声色には欠片の躊躇もなく、一切の容赦も含まれていない。聞くものにただ圧倒的な存在感を叩きつけ、その意思を伝わせる天性の代物だ。

　ヴィルヘルムが、ハインケルが、そしてテレシアさえも動きが止まった。
　三者の視線の向く先に、一人の青年が立っている。

　燃え上がる炎のような赤い頭髪、澄み渡り、輝く蒼穹を閉じ込めた青い瞳。
　白い装いを血と泥に汚しながらも、真っ直ぐ在る立ち姿は勇壮以外に装飾する言葉の一切を必要としていない。

　青年はゆっくりと、その場に歩みを進めてくる。
　その手には深々と鋭い傷の刻まれた鞘と、その鞘から抜き放たれた騎士剣。

　異常なまでに刀身の磨き上げられた、龍剣レイドが握られていた。




　――剣神の笑い声が、剣鬼の耳元でうるさいほど聞こえた気がした。