Around the witch, blades appeared, handleless, not swords, but not daggers either. They weren't meant for battle. No, they were created for murder. As if she already knew whom. As if this wasn't a game at all, but an execution. Just with theatrical staging.
I understood what she was about to do. And understood that she'd planned all this in advance, of course.
"Begin," I said. "I'll destroy your arguments and won't even blink. If, of course, my eyes remain."
"You're serious. I like that!" there was childish admiration in her voice. "Only a sheep can never defeat a wolf!"
The world around distorted. Space exploded in a bubble, a sphere, inside which one of the past moments froze. A projection? An illusion? No, a memory. As if someone pressed rewind and play simultaneously, turning reality into film.
"I begin my first move," she announced. "On the first night you divided into three groups supposedly for safety, but it was a trap. The first group already decided in advance to lure out the killer."
"Then, secretly from your group, Kamiki and Tiamut joined them. They devised a plan to check whether Enua was dangerous, through the telephone receiver," she continued, and with each new word her excitement was palpable. "The entire time of their conversation, the phone remained on. Their alibis are confirmed. Indisputable."
"And you? You were sleeping in your room. While Enua, as you say, stood guard. At that same time the murder was committed. In other words, you can't prove his alibi because you were asleep. Not a single piece of evidence in your favor. You're helpless!"
Expected. I knew this would be her first move. All the participants conspired behind our backs. Of course, they decided the killer was Enua. Because it's simpler that way.
"There's no evidence on your side. Therefore the first move remains mine!" her voice elegantly transitioned into a shriek. "Pathetic, pathetic human! Agh-hah-hykh!"
"You're mistaken," I responded. "How can I allow myself to lose to a witch? The bet wasn't at all that Enua is Gerudo's killer."
"Then who, in your opinion, did it?"
"The answer is simple. This is all your doing."
"...Ahah-ghah-hah!" her nervous, almost hoarse laughter rang out. "And how will you prove this?"
"Very simply," I answered. "From the very beginning, nowhere in the game rules did it say the killer must be one of the players. You're not just an observer. You're... something more."
"All this time you've been watching us. But you've been doing something more, you've been interfering. This gives you an advantage. You can kill without leaving traces."
"The others simply didn't suspect. Their minds were blinded, they were afraid. They couldn't even imagine that all this was the witch's doing."
My first move completed. And my bet is the mansion's mistress herself.
"Khy..." she coughed, almost from laughter. "Not bad. I thought this match would end in one goal, mine."
"The axe," I continued. "It was used for dismemberment, but when the others went up to the second floor, the axe wasn't there. And Enua didn't know it was there, he couldn't have known. This means he couldn't have used it."
"Ha!" she interrupted. "You're bluffing! He simply couldn't prove he didn't touch the axe! Just as he couldn't prove his non-involvement. His 'innocent' appearance is just a screen."
...Damn. She'll keep parrying the whole time, but I'm not going to retreat. I know for certain it was her. I won't let her hide behind her role.
"Magic," I made the next step.
Sweat appeared on her face. Not fear, no. Rather caution, she knew I could say this. But still tensed up.
"We've been deprived of magic since arriving on the island. Everyone except you. You can use it even within the game," Aragi continued coldly, without retreating. "This means you could have killed Gerudo without leaving your refuge. Made it so everything looked like... someone else's hands."
"The compartment with the axe was made of ultra-durable glass. Not even a bullet would pierce it, but it was broken. Enua couldn't have broken it with bare hands, and even if he could, there would be traces on his hands. But there weren't any."
Her face changed, she's afraid. My words struck her, but this isn't the end yet.
However...
"Only there is a witness," she said. "Who saw Enua leave his room at that very moment."
...What?
This is impossible.
All the participants had already dispersed to their rooms. After nine in the evening Cheryl, Morgana — they left. The murder occurred after nine. Who?
"Witness: Gerudo."
With these words she waved her hand, and... Gerudo's dead body rose from the darkness. Literally.
"This is..." I couldn't finish.
"Exactly. The witness of death is the dead man himself. Confirm: were you a witness to your own death?"
"Yes, I confirm," Gerudo spoke evenly, without a shadow of doubt.
"Name the killer," the witch pronounced directly, with confidence in domination.
"His name... Enua. He approached me from behind when I was cleaning in the kitchen and struck me in the head with an axe."
...How? How was I to know? She... she uses the dead as evidence, as witnesses. This isn't a game, this is a demonstration of power.
"I declare checkmate to you, Aragi-i!"
One of the blades, still hovering in the air until now, broke free and pierced my chest. Faster than light. Faster than I managed to understand what was happening.
It hurt... This was painful. Real pain, I couldn't even move.
So this is what it's like... pain.
I'd already forgotten it. No, I simply hadn't felt it since that day when one vampire drank my blood. Since I stopped being alive. Or dead, or something definite.
Since then I couldn't die. Even if I wanted to, even if I wished to. And now... I lost this round. I don't know how to defeat her, how to refute her every word. Is it even possible?
What should I have done? What should I have said to stop her?
There was no answer.
My heart stopped.
My brain shut down.
Thoughts vanished.
Consciousness dissolved into ash.
My body flared up.
It burned faster than I managed to feel it burning. Not even ash remained of it. As if it had never been at all.