Arc 9, Part 51: "Yae Tenzen"

—A shinobi must never set their heart upon anything.

That was the absolute teaching bestowed upon those in the shinobi village of the Vollachian Empire, those permitted no other way of life. It was an ironclad rule to be observed even more strictly than the law of iron and blood rooted in the Empire’s soil.

If one surrenders their heart to something, the polished blade that is a shinobi will easily rust. Therefore, without exception, a shinobi must engrave that ironclad rule upon their soul and obey it. And yet—

"Ain't that just how it is for ya? Just like me, ya can do pretty much anythin', so life lacks a bit of a spark, don't it? Wouldn't it be fine to have just one thing in that heart of yours?"

Yae remembered how she had felt an intense, inexplicable surge of irritation at the Village Head, who had laughed with a mouth full of teeth that remained remarkably clean for his age, wondering where the shinobi’s ironclad rule had gone.

—Including the strong thought that she could never live that way herself.

—"Crimson Cherry Blossom" Yae Tenzen was a once-in-a-century genius shinobi.

That was an unshakeable fact, and one that Yae herself, however humbly, acknowledged. Those around her praised her as a talent the likes of which the shinobi village had not seen since its inception, loudly proclaiming that her potential might even rival the "Praiser" of the Kararagi City-States. To be honest, Yae herself desperately wished they would stop comparing her to such an outrageous opponent, but regardless of her feelings, the people of the village were enthralled by her natural gifts. Indeed, if talent is something that arrogantly shortcuts the immense hardships of a field, then Yae undoubtedly possessed a god-given talent for the way of the shinobi.

However, in contrast to the evaluations of those around her, Yae loathed being treated as "special." It was a physiological rejection, a sense of resistance toward being "special"—something that could be called a "specialness allergy." She didn't mind if others were treated as special, but the moment she herself was treated that way, she was overcome by an unbearable sensation and wanted to throw everything away. It was that kind of rejection.

For Yae, who possessed this intense allergy to being "special," the shinobi’s ironclad rule—the one the Village Head had personally denied at the beginning—was a perfect fit.

To set one's heart on something is to create something "special" within oneself. Since she had an allergy to that "specialness," Yae could observe the shinobi’s ironclad rule without effort. One could say she was a woman born to be a shinobi. Of course, since that was part of the reason why those around her treated her as "special," it was a truly vexing situation.

—Now, to begin with, the path of the shinobi is steep and not easily traversed. The height of the hurdle is such that it's said only one in a thousand apprentices becomes a lower shinobi (Genin), one in a thousand Genin becomes a middle shinobi (Chunin), and finally, one in a thousand Chunin becomes an upper shinobi (Jonin). Every time Yae heard this metaphor, she thought, As if there would ever be a billion aspiring shinobi. Well, it was good that the senior shinobi were aware of the harshness of the journey, even if they used such ridiculous expressions. It’s only human nature to prefer that a torturer has a firm conviction like, "This has the meaning of attacking this specific point," rather than being tortured while wondering, "What is the point of this?"

And in fact, the process of perfecting a shinobi was harsh enough to be called true torture. Since shinobi training begins at an age when one is barely self-aware, Yae considered it more a case of child abuse than torture, but if she started listing the "blackness" of shinobi-making, there would be no end to it, and the story wouldn't progress past the entrance.

First, there were the candidates for shinobi apprentices; these were mostly children kidnapped from elsewhere. As mentioned before, shinobi training begins in early childhood, but because they are tasked with inhumane and irrational training, they die off ruthlessly. Therefore, prioritizing efficiency, they don't take infants, but rather toddlers at the right age to begin training immediately. The way they skip the most troublesome infant stage shows the inhumanity of the shinobi, which is truly disgusting.

And the first thing a kidnapped child receives is, above all else, memory processing. The method is said to be drugs, suggestion, or techniques that directly affect memory, but it is not certain. However, through this, the kidnapped child completely forgets their family and hometown. Yae did not remember her parents' faces, nor did she know her true name. The name "Yae" was given to her later; until then, she was called "Red Number Eight" because of her hair color.

Those without aptitude stumble at this memory processing stage. Either the memory erasure doesn't work well, or it works too well, turning them into useless husks—it's a mess from the very start. And Yae, to a degree she herself thought cold-hearted, forgot her past with startling ease. It fell away so cleanly and without resistance that Fujirou Tenzen, who was in charge of the memory processing, was stunned—or so she was told by the man himself later. —By the way, this Fujirou was the one who later became Yae's namesake, the previous "Tenzen" who passed down his family name. Though she called him her namesake, the relationship was closer to that of a cold, duty-bound instructor and student rather than parent and child. To Yae, Fujirou was merely the person who gave her a name and the one she interacted with most frequently in the village.

Anyway, once a white canvas was created—a toddler who had lost their past and could be painted over at will with the black brush of a shinobi—the true essence of the shinobi village, the "inhuman training facility," began: not just physical training, but human modification.

Breaking and resetting bones to acquire superhuman flexibility and acrobatics, poison resistance training by gradually increasing doses from small amounts to lethal ones, and daily routines of learning the dangers of martial arts and shinobi tools through physical pain. Quotas were set for the number of broken bones, torn flesh, and the amount of blood spilled. It was common to find peers who had turned cold, unable to reach the next morning, but even they were not allowed burial, serving as teaching materials for the training of "getting used to death." Many lost their sanity, their hearts broken by the sight and stench of the daily rotting corpses.

Yae was able to handle these so-called terrifying training sessions without difficulty. —No, "without difficulty" is a lie. Yae struggled in her own way. However, she felt that her struggle was only a ten-thousandth of the struggle her peers tasted.

If that is called talent, then it was surely talent. She could flip the switch for pain within herself during the breaking and resetting of bones; her bloody urine and stool from the agony of poison that felt like it was stirring her melted organs were kept to a minimum; once she touched a shinobi tool, she could master it as if it were a partner she had used for ten years; and once she experienced a martial art, she would use it to beat down opponents larger than herself and never be hit by it again. Only the smell of the corpses was difficult, but she eventually got used to that too.

And so, the young Yae became one of the first "one in a thousand" at an unprecedented speed.

"—From this day forth, call yourself Yae Tenzen."

That was the day she was recognized as a Genin and named by Fujirou. Unfortunately, she felt no particular emotion. After all, even as "Red Number Eight," she had been treated differently from her peers, and the presence or absence of a name didn't particularly affect Yae's self-awareness. She simply thought that being treated as "special" was itchy and bothersome.

—To this day, she still didn't know why Fujirou had named her Yae.

She missed the chance to ask. Now, she quite liked it, and "Tenzen" had a good ring to it. It was much better than, by some mistake, becoming "Yae Dunkelkenn." Even Yae's irony was laughed off by the Village Head: "Kakahaka! You sure talk big, don't ya!" Come to think of it, there wasn't a single shinobi in the village with the same family name as the Village Head. Was that because he was bad at teaching, or because he abandoned his duties? Yae suspected the former was more likely.

In any case, whether she was called "Red Number Eight" or "Yae Tenzen," the texture of the world and the way she walked as a shinobi did not change. —What changed was not Yae, but the environment surrounding her.

—And that was the primary reason why Yae came to loathe being "special."

—Now, as already mentioned, Yae had a "specialness allergy," and an incident occurred that accelerated this allergy after she was promoted to Genin at the youngest age and in the shortest time on record.

Eventually, everyone in the village would come to recognize Yae's talent and strength, but at the moment she was recognized as a Genin, there was someone who was captivated by that brilliant future. —Fujirou Tenzen. Fujirou, her namesake and the senior who instructed her, was completely captivated by Yae's talent, as she absorbed the "one" he taught and turned it into not just ten, but a hundred or a thousand.

That was, in other words, an act that went against the shinobi’s ironclad rule of never setting one's heart on anything.

I must, with my own hands, finish Yae Tenzen, the once-in-a-century genius, into an extraordinary shinobi. —Fujirou became possessed by such a blind sense of mission.

"You have that much talent. Why can't you understand that!?"

Fujirou, who spat those words with bloodshot eyes, believed fanatically in Yae's talent. She felt his gaze upon her growing more feverish by the day, but the damage caused by that explosion far exceeded Yae's imagination.

Fujirou, whose brain had been fried by Yae's "specialness," prepared a "Kodoku"—a ritual with the same mechanism as the "Selection Ceremony" used to decide the Emperor of the Vollachian Empire. It was a foolish rampage that involved thirty other Genin of the same rank as Yae and could have threatened the very existence of the village.

Led out to a forest far from the village and ordered to kill each other until only one remained, the Genin wasted their lives without questioning the orders from their superior. Just as Fujirou, who had orchestrated the ritual, expected, the last one standing was Yae Tenzen. However, he was extremely displeased by the fact that she never initiated an attack, only counterattacking those who came at her, and by the conclusion where she spared the last peer who begged for his life.

—No, correctly, it wasn't just "him," but "them."

Fujirou wasn't the only one who had fallen in love with Yae Tenzen's talent and strayed from the path. There were many who were influenced by his words or witnessed Yae's growth and sought to burden her with distorted expectations by executing the "Kodoku" ritual. Even though Yae had betrayed the expectations of those who blindly believed in her, their fever did not cool; instead, it became more convoluted and only burned more intensely.

If they had intended to dispose of Yae for betraying their expectations and then commit suicide, it might have been almost charming. But there was no cure for those who had made the wrong resolve to repeat the "Kodoku" as many times as it took until Yae established the image of the shinobi they desired.

"You are an existence that will overturn the very way of the shinobi...!"

Saying so until the very end when he fell, Fujirou died believing in Yae's potential. Petals of the white snow cherry blossoms fell fluttering, ironically beautiful, upon the namesake and the foolish comrades who lay in pools of blood, their throats gouged out for repeating their grating claims. Yae remembered those blood-stained petals with an indescribable sense of futility.

"—Ho ho, this is quite somethin'. A little girl with a pale backside went and took out everyone, even the Jonin."

The Village Head, who arrived late to the scene, leaked such a carefree comment as he looked at the corpses of the young men and Yae surrounded by them. Apparently, the secret maneuvers of Fujirou and his comrades had been detected by the village elders, and regardless of the success of the "Kodoku," they would have had no future. She didn't want to cynically guess that the reason they were so slow to move despite knowing that much was because they had dumped the disposal of the village's restless elements onto Yae.

"So, did everyone die?"

It wasn't because of that cynical guess, but Yae lied in response to the Village Head's question. The cause of Fujirou and the others' displeasure—the peer who begged for his life whom Yae had spared. —She concealed the fact that she had let him escape not just from the "Kodoku," but from the shinobi village itself.

The peer had suggested, "Ah, well, do you want to escape with me?" but Yae flatly refused. It wasn't that she wanted to stay in the village; she just didn't want to stand beside him. Yae was far superior in strength and talent. And yet, her instincts were screaming. —If Yae were to have a moment of death, it would be when she stood next to him.

"—Failure, failure."

She felt the intent from the peer who left those words and departed that he wanted to erase everyone who knew of his survival, but thanks to him being rational enough to abandon that goal, only Yae and that peer survived this "Kodoku." She wondered if her "specialness" might fade even a little, just by not being the sole survivor.

"Well then, let's head back. —'Crimson Cherry Blossom' (Benizakura)."

The Village Head, who had turned his back, called Yae by a title she was hearing for the first time. She never understood why Fujirou had named her Yae. But she understood without being told why the Village Head called her that.

—Because on the night too many shinobi died, the full-bloomed white snow cherry blossoms had been grandly dyed in blood.

—"Crimson Cherry Blossom" Yae Tenzen was a once-in-a-century genius shinobi.

By the time she was promoted to Jonin at the youngest age and that perception was widely recognized as unshakeable, Yae's convoluted "specialness allergy" had become incurable.

To be treated as "special" by others was, for Yae, a curse, a threat, and a loathsome interference that brought only negative influences to her life. Because things like expectations and hope have a strong positive impression, there are too many people in the world who swing them around without realizing they can become blades that deeply gouge others. Moreover, unconscious blades are particularly nasty because neither the perpetrator nor the victim easily notices the wound. Having her life tossed about greatly by such things, Yae had become completely exhausted.

"Ain't that just how it is for ya? Just like me, ya can do pretty much anythin', so life lacks a bit of a spark, don't it? Wouldn't it be fine to have just one thing in that heart of yours?"

To Yae, the Village Head, who suggested such a thing despite being aware of the blade's existence, was hateful. The Village Head himself was encouraging her to break the shinobi’s ironclad rule. It seemed insane. In the first place, Yae was not seeking a "spark" in life. Such a thing was unnecessary. A "spark" meant having expectations for one's own abilities or holding hope for the future. —It was nothing other than believing in one's own "specialness," and it was unmistakably Yae's landmine.

Therefore, Yae deliberately distanced herself from the image of the shinobi that everyone expected and hoped for. It was the exact opposite of the shinobi image that Fujirou Tenzen and the others had risked their lives to complete—a frivolous attitude, elusive speech and conduct, a friendly but never familiar stance. As the possessor of such a light and superficial personality, the persona of Yae Tenzen was formed.

To avoid misunderstanding, let it be stated clearly: this was a natural consequence for Yae, who loathed being "special," and it was absolutely not modeled after the Village Head's personality. Never delving deep into anyone's life, never facing anyone head-on, and never being thought of as important by anyone. That was the survival tactic and life philosophy reached by "Crimson Cherry Blossom" Yae Tenzen—

"—Surely you do not think such an unsightly way of being is your natural talent?"

When she was spoken to like that while they were alone, Yae caught her breath at the crimson beauty. Yae, with her convoluted "specialness allergy," hated being treated as "special" by others, but at the same time, she had a sharp nose for the "specialness" of others. In that regard, the woman Yae was currently in close contact with was a person who was a mass of "specialness," from her inner being to her outer presence. Of course, regarding her special nature, it was so obvious to anyone that a "sharp nose" wasn't even necessary as a criterion.

—"The Blood-Stained Bride," Priscilla Barielle.

The days spent with her, who was also beloved by her people as the "Sun Princess," were vivid and memorable even for Yae, who had performed various missions as a shinobi.

Originally, Yae's infiltration of Priscilla's household as a maid was at the instigation of Chisha Gold, one of the Empire's "Nine Divine Generals." Yae had not been told, nor did she intend to ask, what kind of significance her participation in the Royal Selection in the distant Kingdom of Lugunica held for the Empire. It is the true duty of a shinobi to obey orders without asking much; Yae accepted that. The only one who openly defied that was the Village Head, and since Yae was different from him, she was obedient.

That said, it was an irrational and mysterious mission. Basically, it was monitoring the target and reporting her movements; she had received no instructions for sabotage or obstruction, nor was there any talk of a quick assassination. Granted, since Yae was specifically requested for the mission, it was undoubtedly because her corresponding strength and ability to return alive were valued, but for a while after sneaking into the mansion, her days as a mere maid continued uneventfully. —To put it bluntly, it seemed like a waste of the genius shinobi "Crimson Cherry Blossom."

In fact, the natural talent Yae was blessed with was not limited to being a shinobi; she had a versatility that allowed her to handle most other things smoothly. Therefore, for Yae, who could perform maid duties flawlessly, the infiltration mission into the Barielle estate was an easy job, just like her previous missions. However, only when interacting with Priscilla did she need to exercise the utmost caution.

Due to her profession, Yae had various opportunities to see important people. The "White Spider" who ordered her on this mission was one, and the Village Head, the "Vile Old Man," was also one of the Empire's key figures. She had even seen His Majesty the Emperor from a distance—at that time, she had made eye contact with the "Blue Lightning" standing next to the Emperor, who even waved at her, making her tremble with the realization that there was always someone better. Even to Yae, who had interacted with such prominent figures, Priscilla's insight was unfathomable, and she had no idea what Priscilla was seeing through.

There were many times she wondered if her identity as an assassin from the Empire had been seen through, even though that should have been impossible. However, if that suspicion were true, there should be no reason for Yae to be overlooked, so she must not have been noticed. —Or was she? Priscilla had that kind of elusiveness where she might overlook it even if she noticed.

One could call it a nature that favored danger, not even sparing her own life, or one could simply conclude it was a delusional disorder, as she often said, believing without hesitation that the world would go exactly as she wished.

In any case—Yae pitied the "special" Priscilla, thinking it was a misfortune.

Not to mention her rare beauty, Priscilla, who possessed a demonic charm that captivated others even in her demeanor, speech, and the way she breathed, would, whether she wished it or not, touch the eyes, lives, and emotions of all kinds of people with that "specialness." Many would expect things from her, hold hope, and be dominated by wicked wishes and emotions. —Because even this pity Yae felt was something triggered by her "specialness."

The words at the beginning were spoken as if seeing through Yae's heart. Just when Yae thought Priscilla was looking down at the book in her hand in her private room, not giving a single glance to Yae as she prepared the tea, she suddenly said such a thing without any sign. However, as mentioned before, Yae was always on guard when interacting with Priscilla. So even then, while feeling a slight surprise, she was able to respond lightheartedly as usual.

She acted playfully and lightly, as if she had no intention of taking it seriously, and put on a smile. At Yae's unchanging attitude, Priscilla closed one eye—

"—Eventually, the time will come when you too must expend your entire being. Keep my words in your heart. Be prepared 'perfectly,' understood?"

Yae was unable to ask the true meaning of those words. Partly because her shinobi intuition told her that asking back might make her suspicious. But perhaps more than that, Yae loathed it. The idea of inconvenient words being thrown at her from the mouth of the "special" Priscilla.

That is why Yae does not know the true meaning of Priscilla's words. Nor the reason why Fujirou named her Yae, nor the intentions of the Village Head, who worked endlessly to make her break the shinobi’s ironclad rule to the point where she thought it was harassment. Nothing.

To avoid being treated as "special" by others, she continues to plug her ears and turn her eyes away.

—Because that is Yae Tenzen's life philosophy: to not desire "specialness" and to not have "specialness" desired of her.

In the end, Yae's thinking was correct. Priscilla, who had shone so brightly and captivated so many with her flame-like "special" way of being, also fell upon the cruel and merciless soil of the Empire, her life scattered. And those who yearned for her lost "specialness," their souls scorched by a passion that had nowhere to go, were still burning through their lives, wanting to repay that "specialness."

Yae Tenzen does not desire a way of life tossed about by such "specialness." That is why, that is why.

That is why, as quickly as possible, she will erase the "specialness" that makes her hold an ill-advised obsession from this world. That is the only reason Yae cooperates with him, who was forsaken by the "specialness" he loved, as if staking her life—

"—!"

Ice discs rotating at high speed, regardless of vertical, horizontal, left, or right—even so, Yae, who constructs a battlefield while using them as footholds, meets the Oni girl—Rem—who dives in. The steel wires unleashed from her right hand run vertically, while the steel wires from her left hand swing the captured swords horizontally—an unavoidable pincer attack of two types of slashing light, trapping Rem from the front and back.

—Due to the opponent's coordination, Yae let Emilia escape from the battlefield. Emilia, with ice wings growing from her back, took the momentum of the rotating ice disc she had been struck by and the wind, flying toward the distant sky to chase Al, gaining more and more speed. Her back, moving away from Yae who could only fall headlong, finally moved out of the range of the steel wires. While it wasn't impossible to project rock fragments or swords by throwing them with the wires—

"No looking away!"

—she was obstructed by Rem, who dodged the previous double attack by using her chain for the swords and crouching for the steel wires, letting that chance slip through her fingers. Gnashing her teeth at that blunder, Yae used the fired steel wires as a lead to swing wide and escape from Rem, who was pressing in before her, moving to the opposite side of the ice disc.

"Isn't it cheating to suddenly become so tough? What's the reason—"

"—It's love!"

"...I shouldn't have asked!"

Chasing Yae as she moved to the other side of the ice disc, Rem broke through the ice by force. At the savage act of the Oni girl whose horn on her forehead glowed with increasing vitality, Yae dodged the swung strong arm and iron ball with her footwork, sticking to the rotating foothold to get behind Rem, aiming to bring the fight back to her preferred mid-range. The speed was fast, and while the rotation of the ice disc around its axis had randomness in its orientation, there was a certain rhythm to the rotation speed itself. Once she grasped that, there was no risk of losing her footing, and Yae leaped across the ice freely, as if dancing. In contrast to Yae, who conquered the ice disc so elegantly, Rem's movements were simple and clear—

"I won't let you...!"

Rem, who appealed so strongly, struck her palms, toes, and the iron ball she held short into the ice, piercing it as wedges to tether herself, clinging to Yae with beast-like movements. It was a rough and ferocious hunting style of a predatory beast, far from refinement or grace—and yet, she was fast. She closed the distance with Yae, who was fleeing while dancing, in an instant.

"Isn't being so reckless also unbecoming of a maid?"

"Unfortunately, there is only one quality our master seeks in a maid—wholeheartedness!"

Rem, who raised her head, twisted her body while keeping three of her limbs on the ice, throwing in a strike with the iron ball that utilized the rotation of the ice disc with minimal movement. Yae clicked her tongue inwardly as she used her steel wires to parry that power, throwing it off to her side.

The battle to decide the best maid between the two camps—Yae didn't have the luxury to joke around like that. She could claim to be superior in skill and at least three ranks higher in strength, but Yae and Rem simply had bad compatibility. The morning star Rem wielded was a mass-based weapon, and a heavyweight strike aimed at a one-hit kill was the type of armament that steel wires struggled most to defend against. The strength of steel wires lies in the fact that if bundled and twisted, there is room to defend against any attack, but for that, one needs an appropriate distance and a corresponding number of wires. For Yae to safely block one of Rem's strikes, she had to use seven fingers from both hands. If she didn't like that, she should dodge—

"The precision of her aim is too high...!"

Despite the poor footing, the iron ball Rem threw bit into Yae like a giant serpent. All of them were too-honest trajectories aimed right at Yae's center, and while failing to defend was impossible even with her eyes closed, the rhythm of her attacks was disrupted every single time. And as a bonus, the terrifying combat performance of the Oni race was added to that.

"Aaaaaahhh!!"

Rem, who thrust her limbs into the ice disc and roared, emitted red steam from her entire body. That was the result of the low temperature at an altitude of several thousand meters, the Oni's racial trait of activating the mana surging through her body, and the rapid healing of the lacerations Yae had inflicted with her steel wires. During this time, while dodging Rem's fatal blows, Yae had carved numerous wounds into her aimed at incapacitating her. But none of them could overcome the Oni's healing power. And above all—

"Shi—"

She kissed her ring, and the steel wires were once again swallowed by flames. In that moment, Yae, who covered Rem's vision with fire, aimed for the enemy's neck beyond the heat wave and flashed her pulled arm—aiming for decapitation with a strike that fired the steel wires at speeds approaching sound. It was Yae's original technique not found in any secret manual, the fastest flash among the steel wire arts she could use—what Al would call a "Finishing Move." She was confident that the invisible wire strike of unknown range would become a lethal flash and slaughter any opponent. —And yet, Rem dodged it. Not once, but twice.

"—!"

In the first reveal, it was a strike where she had been greedy, wanting to target both Rem and Emilia together. This time, having been blocked then, she fired it intending to flash across the chest instead of the neck, so that Rem wouldn't be able to dodge by pulling her head back. A wind-cutting sound that made her certain she wouldn't allow a fluke evasion—therefore, the fact that Rem dodged this was not a miracle or a coincidence. It was inevitable.

Rem had seen through Yae's steel wire arts. There was no longer any ice mist around, and it was a different method from how Emilia had sensed the presence of the steel wires by the way the ice particles were cut. She couldn't be certain of the principle behind it, but.

"I won't let you."

Giving up on the pretense of an expression that had no meaning, Yae muttered with the corners of her mouth set hard. She wouldn't let her. She wouldn't let her go. She wouldn't let her stop them. —Yae would stop both Rem and Emilia.

"————"

Spreading his stone wings, Al escaped into the sky without waiting for the conclusion of this battle. Yae didn't think she had been left behind or abandoned. The possibility that she had been forsaken wasn't zero, but Al was stingy. He couldn't easily throw away his hand or his pawns.

That's why Yae took Al's departure as being entrusted. She interpreted it as an order to stop the two chasing after him, no matter what it took. Therefore, Yae had been entrusted by Al. —With a license to kill.

"—Even if I have to kill you, I will stop you."

Stop them, stop them, stop them at all costs. Let Al achieve his goal. Eliminate everything that gets in the way. So that Al, who is struggling after losing Priscilla, his "specialness," can disappear from the world as quickly as possible.

If she didn't do that, Yae Tenzen could not return to being the self who observes the shinobi’s ironclad rule, an existence that sets its heart on nothing, the self who loathes and distances herself from "specialness."

"—The stars were against you."

That monster, who had terrified Yae Tenzen, uttered the same words over and over again.

The days at the Barielle estate, where she had been ordered to infiltrate, came to an abrupt end. The daily maid duties, teasing the cute butler apprentice, and exchanging light banter with the buffoonish knight who wasn't treated like a knight—serving the terrifying yet dazzling "Sun Princess" wasn't bad. But once the order was given, Yae's feelings didn't matter. She would perform her duty and disappear without a trace.

And so, to execute the suddenly given assassination order, the man stopped Yae in the dark hallway of the mansion as she tried to sneak up on Priscilla in her bedroom. At the obstruction that seemed as if he had known, leaving no room for excuses, Yae engaged in a death match with the man—Al. Even though it was called a death match, the difference in strength was clear. Despite being the knight of a Royal Selection candidate, Al's strength was far inferior to Yae's, and the battle should have been decided in an instant.

"—The stars were against you."

The man, whose heart she had surely struck once, threw the same words at her in the same tone. Even in the face of such an abnormal situation, Yae's body moved without stagnation, dealing the next lethal blow. He wouldn't die even if killed. It wasn't her first encounter with such a person. There are many strange and bizarre "surprise humans" in the world; she had even fought someone with not just two, but three hearts. Even that person died properly once the third heart was crushed. In short, she just had to keep killing him until he died.

She beheaded him. She cut his torso in two. She burned his whole body. She tore off his limbs. She slit his throat. She smashed his head. She gouged out his eyeballs. She peeled off all the skin on his back. She crushed every bone. She crushed his internal organs. She made him drink poison. She submerged him in the earth. She submerged him in water. She strangled him. She strangled everything but his neck. She tried numerous shinobi techniques, taking every life possible, executing every kind of killing she could.

"—The stars were against you."

But no matter how many times she killed him, Al stood up and threw the same words at her. She used every shinobi technique she possessed, tried every means she could think of, and finally even abandoned thought and surrendered herself to instinct, but she couldn't kill him. She couldn't kill him for good.

"—The stars were against you."

She tried torturing him so he would regret being born. It was useless. She tried to abandon the mission and flee. It was useless. She tried to involve others. It was useless. Finally, thinking this was the end, she tried to put a wire around her own neck to end it.

"—The stars were against you."

Even that was useless.

"—The stars were against you."

The same dialogue repeated, a spiral wandering between death and death that never ended, being given the same thing over and over and over again—Yae Tenzen, for the first time, felt terror.

"—The stars were against you."

She thought she would do anything if it meant being saved. She swore she would do anything. She thought she would do anything if it meant ending it. She swore she would do anything.

"—The stars were against you."

Just because she had learned terror, Al—the man, the monster—did not forgive her.

"—The stars were against you."

Even though her heart was completely broken, there was no end to the monster's ruthlessness. She hadn't even counted the number. There was no one in this world who had killed each other with Yae as much as this monster. An uncountable number of times, Yae killed him; a number of times she didn't want to count, Yae was killed by him.

"—The stars were against you."

There was no one else like this. She didn't want anyone else. She didn't even want to think about it. Even now, having been released from that endless cycle by the monster's whim, having been forced to swear obedience, and now following his goal with all her soul, it was engraved in the depths of her soul.

"—The stars were against you."

She had to make the monster, the man, Al, disappear as quickly as possible. No matter what the trigger, the reason, or the connection, it must never be that Yae Tenzen's heart is imprisoned by something.

"—The stars were against you."

—Because it must never be that her heart is imprisoned by something.

"—The stars were against you."

As Yae's lips spun those words, invisible flashes of light burst forth, aiming for Rem's slender neck. Sensing it with a feeling that made her skin crawl, Rem reflexively swung the arm holding the morning star, interposing the chain in the path of the flash and striking it away.

A deadline—she was unmistakably standing on a deadline. A battlefield she hadn't encountered in the Vollachian Empire when she had lost her memory and her power to fight; Rem was in a state she hadn't even reached in the battles against the Sin Archbishops or the White Whale before she lost her memory.

"—Subaru-kun."

Amidst the sensation of her internal organs trembling and her blood boiling, the part holding the most heat was the horn on her forehead—while vividly tasting the power, emotions, and the heartbeat of the world flowing in from there, Rem roused her soul by calling the name of the boy she loved.

The advice she had received from the dazzling "Sun Princess" and the rising feelings for her beloved combined, and the Oni blood flowing within Rem was finally beginning to demonstrate its original specifications. Even so, the difference in strength between Rem and Yae was large, and the fact that she could hold her own against Yae, who was one of the strongest among the powerful people Rem had seen so far, was not due to her power alone.

It was the fruit of many powers that had persistently held back Yae—and Al and the others.

Starting from the Pleiades Watchtower, the clash with the Felt camp, the offensive and defensive battles in the Royal Capital, Otto's persistent pursuit, and this split attack—by accumulating irregularities and steady efforts, Al and the others were being bound by the chains of unavoidable exhaustion. The reason the difference in strength between Rem and Yae was temporarily bridged was thanks to the weight of those chains. In addition, a turn of events that could be called ironic was acting as a tailwind for Rem. That was—

"—!"

Yae's fingers, gnashing her teeth, danced, and the unleashed steel wires tore through the air to attack Rem. Countless flashes of light raining down—Rem sensed them sensitively through her horn, connecting evasion, evasion, and perfect evasion, preserving the life that should have been cut short and clinging to the battlefield. The secret to that god-like—no, Oni-like—evasion was one thing.

"—Killing intent."

She could see it. She could feel it. It was being transmitted. —The opponent's will, through the Oni's horn. Dodging, tracing, and striking back at those colored lines of death, Rem pressed in close to Yae.

Just before sending Emilia off, and immediately after Al had left the battlefield, a clear killing intent began to mix into Yae's attacks. A dance of killing intent that did not hesitate to behead her or cut off her limbs—that strongly, strongly stimulated the Oni's instincts, ironically giving birth to Rem's super-reflexes. If Yae had followed her original policy and faced Rem while maintaining non-lethality, Rem would likely have been neutralized by her much sooner. —As a result of starting to demonstrate her true potential as a shinobi in earnest, Yae's attacks stopped reaching Rem. What else could she call this but an ironic tailwind?

"————"

Rem, who thrust her toes into the rotating ice disc to support her body, captured Yae in her vision, which was sparkling with flying ice fragments, as Yae stared at her with a face from which the smile had vanished. With her almond-shaped eyes sharpened and her heart disciplined, Yae's figure was beautiful enough to steal one's gaze, and Rem could tell as if she were holding it in her hand what that supplely trained body was supported by.

What filled Yae's slender frame was a sense of mission. The wish that must be fulfilled and the prayer that she absolutely wanted to achieve gave Yae extraordinary power and instilled in her a resolve that didn't care if she turned the world into an enemy. And Rem knew what that sense of mission sprang from.

"Because I... Rem, am the same."

With a horn growing from her forehead, her whole body wounded, and falling headlong from a height of five thousand meters, the reason Rem could stand here like this was also a sense of mission. The wish that must be fulfilled and the prayer that she absolutely wanted to achieve gave Rem extraordinary power and gave her the resolve to throw everything away to save just one person. And Rem had no reason to hesitate about what this sense of mission sprang from. That was—

"—Love!!"

"A one-track mind...!"

There was irritation in Yae's voice as she responded to the shouting Rem. The expression of the shinobi, who had frozen or faked her emotions and never showed her true heart, frayed. Rem did not take that as immaturity, conceit, or carelessness. It was only natural to grit one's teeth. —If you are going to expend your everything for someone's sake.

"————"

At the edge of her vision, in the midst of the fierce battle, a line carved into the rock wall grazed Rem's consciousness. Agzad Valley, five thousand meters, the last stretch, until the bottom—

"—Ten seconds!!" "—!"

While facing the wire strikes that surged like crashing waves, Rem dared to shout that. Giving information. Increasing the materials for judgment. If she could disturb her thoughts and make even one or two of the twenty fingers on her hands and feet hesitate, that would be enough. Irritate her, make her bare her emotions, make her hate her. Let the malice, enmity, and killing intent overflow, and slip through it, slip through it, slip through it—! And—

"Now!"

Just as Rem and Emilia had planned—in the final ten seconds, at the five-second mark, an impact from directly below ruthlessly punched through the ice disc.

"—The stars were against you."

The monster that had taken up residence in Yae's heart often muttered that. Even now, Yae dreamed of that man's voice, which she felt she had heard thousands or tens of thousands of times.

At first, she had found Al's habit of saying that hateful. She felt like protesting that the stars shouldn't have everything blamed on them like that. The reason Yae's heart had been cracked and broken was not because of the stars, but unmistakably because of the monster, and yet he was shifting the responsibility.

But gradually, she realized that it was different, that this was not the man shifting responsibility.

"—The stars were against you."

When he said that, Al never triumphed. What was there was not contempt or mockery, but perhaps something like mercy or sympathy. And as proof of that, the monster—the man, Al—did not say it then.

He did not say the stars were against her regarding Priscilla Barielle's death. He did not say the stars were against him, his pathetic self who couldn't save her life.

"—The stars were against you."

The monster, the man, Al, said that whenever his own irrational power thwarted the opponent's wishes or goals. Spun with mercy, sympathy, and guilt, it was always saying this to the opponent:

—It's not your fault.

Ah, I hate it. I hate it, I hate it. I really hate it.

I didn't want to notice such a thing. I didn't want to notice Al's words, the man's gaze, or the monster's heart.

Yae doesn't want to find any reason other than terror in Al. She doesn't want to hold any. She doesn't want to learn any. That's why she wants to end it as quickly as possible.

—Because she doesn't want to give this "specialness" any name other than terror.

"The one at fault... is always the stars..."

Hearing those sounds leak from her own lips, Yae pulled back her consciousness, which had flown for just a split second. In that instant, she realized her body had been blown into the air, and her vision was spinning round and round.

An impact—yes, there had been an impact. The ice disc had been struck by something from directly below, and the impact of the ice shattering had pierced through Yae as well. Wondering what it was, she looked down at the edge of her consciousness; what had shattered the ice disc was the bottom of the valley they had fallen several thousand meters toward, the peak of a massive iceberg rising from there—the great river flowing through the bottom had been frozen, and a terrifyingly huge block of ice formed there had been waiting for the falling ice disc.

The momentum of the fall and the wind, and the approximate distance of five thousand meters from the seconds they had fallen—the Agzad Valley, the world's largest canyon, came to mind as the corresponding geography, and Yae realized the extraordinary scale of Emilia's magic in freezing the great river flowing at its bottom. But what she was made to feel most was—

"...A shrewd woman, aren't you?"

In her spinning vision, amidst the magnificent view of the shattered ice disc fragments creating a glittering diamond dust, Yae captured the figure of Rem, bearing her glowing horn. At the moment of impact, Rem, who had escaped into the air to avoid the shock, was using the scattered ice blocks as footholds to accelerate, diving toward Yae, who was still in mid-air.

With five seconds until the collision, she had been deceived into thinking there were ten seconds left. Losing her cool—a blunder unbecoming of a shinobi. Falling behind—a folly unbecoming of a maid. Betraying the role she was entrusted with—unbecoming of "Crimson Cherry Blossom"—

"—The stars were against you."

Not to the Oni girl pressing before her eyes, nor to her own pathetic self showing such an unsightly state, but to the monster who was not here, who had flown far, far away, Yae spoke. With the same meaning the monster himself used when he spoke those words to others—to the monster.

"—Ah."

Her whole body creaked from the impact she had taken, and Yae didn't even know if her limbs were still attached. But what of the numbness? She had overcome numbness in poison resistance training. What of the sensation in her limbs? She had had every bone in her body broken in torture training. What of the clarity of her consciousness? She had overcome training where a large amount of blood was drained from her body, fighting in a near-death state. She felt irritated, as if she could hear the Village Head's crafty laughter at how all of it was useful to her now. She was irritated, but—

"—Aah."

Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, tens of millions of times—she had repeated the same movements. Steel wires that had had no user for centuries, requiring delicate skill to move fingertips by the millimeter—Yae manipulated them while numb, bleeding, and with her consciousness hazy. Even if seventy percent of her life had spilled out of this body, the fingers pulling the steel wires would not err.

"—Aaaaaahhh!!"

She pulled her extended arms and legs tight, and in an instant, the ice blocks tied to the steel wires raced fiercely through the air. The fragments of the ice disc shattered by the impact—they were captured by the wires and, in accordance with the rhythm of Yae's entire body, swirled fiercely through the air, being slammed into the diving Rem with a horizontal blow.

"————"

A thunderous roar echoed, and Rem, struck by the ice block, was blown away with intense force. As if to follow up on the flying Rem, the ice blocks caught by the steel wires were thrown in one after another, after another, after another, a barrage of heavy blows raining down on Rem, who had fallen onto the peak of the iceberg first. A white cloud of snow soared, and the rising ice mist was mixed with blood, making the iceberg the Oni's gravestone. —In an instant, the gravestone was pierced, and an iron ball rising up stabbed straight into Yae.

"—Ugh."

The vicious iron mass and the spikes attached to it gouged Yae's torso, piercing deeply through her side. However, she had shifted her vital organs to the side. Through the inhuman physical modification of the shinobi, Yae could shift the positions of the organs within her body. The spikes pierced an empty cavity, scattering blood from her back. But she had taken this hit on purpose.

She tightened her muscles, sealing the spiked iron ball within her own body. Next, what burst through the rising white snow smoke, following the chain of the iron ball stuck in Yae, was the blood-stained Oni who had leaped fiercely straight upward. Her trajectory was straight, without a twist, without artifice, straight as her feelings—and on that trajectory of the flying Rem, the steel wires stretched out in a mesh pattern waited.

"————"

Diving into the birdcage of steel wires that would tear her body to shreds of her own accord, countless lacerations were born on Rem's white skin, threatening to divide her into hundreds of pieces of flesh. But just before that could be realized, Rem's lips spun a faint incantation.

"Huma."

The magic to create ice that she had seen so many times in this battle. Yae was on full alert as to where Rem, who had chosen that at the last moment, would create the ice, focusing her nerves in all three hundred and sixty degrees, bracing herself to prevent any surprise attack. However, it was unnecessary. There was no surprise attack. The ice was created right before Yae's eyes.

The sensation of the steel wires that should have been carving Rem's body into pieces stopped. Looking, she saw that the steel wires that had bitten into her flesh were stopped by red ice—frozen blood. The moment she understood that, her kiss lit the flames on the steel wires, the explosive heat melting the frozen blood, attempting to restart the lethal wire strike. But it was too late.

"Yaaaaaa—!!"

Not missing the instant of slack in the wires, the roaring Rem swung her fist at Yae. It was a strike filled with the will to conclude this battle and the wholeheartedness to make it so; Yae saw from her measurements that the blood-stained white fist held that power. Therefore, she couldn't take it. She must not take it. Emilia was still left.

To reach that point, she drew her trump card.

"————"

Using both hands and both feet, a total of twenty fingers, the enemy had slipped through the fully mobilized steel wires. But there was more. There was still more. Yae Tenzen's trump card of steel wire arts—it was the red tongue stuck out at the opponent like a provocation—

"Beh."

From the ring caught on the tip of that tongue, the final flash of light was unleashed. Without missing its mark, it caught the slender neck of the fiercely pressing Rem and flashed through her life.

—"Crimson Cherry Blossom" Yae Tenzen was a once-in-a-century genius shinobi.

Olbart Dunkelkenn, the "Vile Old Man," evaluated that talent and strength very, very highly. The person herself greatly disliked being evaluated so highly, but since that reaction of dislike tickled his sadistic side, Olbart did not stop doing it.

In terms of strength, he, with his years of experience, was likely superior. But her talent was far above his, and if she gained experience, the strongest shinobi that no one could touch would be born. So, he could understand the feeling of wanting to dream of Yae.

That said, he was himself, and others were others. There was no point in letting others fulfill your dreams. Therefore, what Olbart, who never stopped dreaming for himself, could do was give the genius girl his heartfelt advice—no, a warning.

"No, see? I've got experience too. Extraordinary folks like us tend to live longer than regular shinobi and end up seein' all sorts of things. And every now and then, it happens. There comes a time when ya just can't keep that shinobi ironclad rule anymore."

"Hm? A story about how folks who don't have anythin' important are weak? No, no, I ain't talkin' about that. It's more like this: ya can't deal with a poison ya don't know, right?"

"The reason we make 'em drink poison from when they're brats is so they don't die from it. Then, the talk about how it's fine to have just one thing in your heart is also advice to keep ya from dyin'."

"After all, if ya've never loved or been loved, ya become real weak. —A shinobi who's cared about someone for the first time, that is. Kakahaka!"

The flash of the trump card—the steel wire extending from the ring caught on the tip of her tongue raced forth, and without error, it reaped the slender neck of the diving Oni girl, severing the connection between her head and torso.

She had released the restraint of non-lethality and achieved the elimination of the obstacle standing in the way of Al's goal. Thinking of that fact and Al's reaction when he learned of it, Yae felt a creaking sensation in the depths of her chest—

"—Huh?"

Just before she could poignantly savor it, Yae's eyes widened, and she doubted her own sight at the scene before her. Without a doubt, Yae's steel wire had severed Rem's slender neck. She had surely felt the sensation of cutting through the prey's life, and heard the wind-cutting sound of blood, flesh, bone, and life being severed. And yet—

"—I cheated, too."

Yae's crimson eyes and Rem's pale blue eyes crossed. Those eyes had not lost their light. And the red line of death that had surely entered her neck slowly disappeared. —She hadn't blocked it or dodged it; she had surely cancelled the strike that should have taken her life. It was a miracle that could not be explained simply by the Oni's healing power, something that should not be. Someone who could use such healing magic, even in this wide world—

"—Al-sama."

Even if she turned the world into an enemy, she had wanted to assist the power of the monster who would surely never lose. By doing so, she wanted to erase the "specialness" that had taken breath in her heart. And yet—

—The stars were against you.

If she closed her eyes, she could hear those terrifying words again, the ones that made her whole body stand on end. And for some reason, at this moment alone, what they brought to Yae was not terror.

"The reason for my defeat is..."

"—Love."

Along with the answer, a strong arm was unleashed, slamming into the iron ball embedded in Yae's torso. An Oni's strike, even more fatal than a fall from five thousand meters, exploded—and cherry blossoms scattered upon the peak of the iceberg in the Agzad Valley.

—The "Crimson Cherry Blossom" known as Yae Tenzen was scattered, fleetingly and violently, before the Blue Oni.