"Originally, I thought of severing his tendons."
*Snap, snap, snap, snap.*
"Aaaargh!!"
Edric's arm bent at an unnatural angle, and a scream escaped his lips.
But Chris didn't stop moving.
"But that felt too kind."
And the arm, bending with a painful sound, reached its limit.
*Crack!*
"Kuaaaaahhh!!!"
It was completely broken.
*Slide…*
*Thud.*
When Chris let go, his arm hung limply.
Only the tips of his fingers twitched in pain.
However, Chris didn't stop.
She grabbed Edric's other arm.
"St-stop…! Stop it! Chris—!!"
"Honestly, I feel like just snapping your neck."
*Snap, snap, snap, snap, snap.*
"Kuaaaaahhh—!!"
The arm bent backward again, making a chilling sound.
And in one swift motion.
*Crack!*
"Kuaaaaahhh—!!"
She broke his arm.
*Slide.*
*Thud.*
Edric's arms hung limp, unable to move, and Chris looked down at him, continuing to speak.
"But that alone won't satisfy me."
Edric, lying prone on the ground with only his head turned, cried out to Chris with an expression of disbelief.
"Wh-why are you doing this!! Chris—!! Wh-what in the world, guh…! What are you…!!"
"Why am I doing this…?"
Chris looked up at the sky for a moment at Edric's plea.
What was she doing right now?
The answer came immediately.
This was an expression of her anger towards Edric.
If so, what was she angry about?
…Because Emil committed suicide?
"Heh."
No, that was entirely her own fault.
Emil's suffering and death were sins she had to bear.
But her anger towards Edric was separate.
"If you…"
*Grind…*
Chris gritted her teeth.
"If you… hadn't been so reckless and impulsive…"
*Squeeze!*
Her hand, gripping Edric's shoulder, tightened.
"Kuaaaak…! Ch-Chris…!"
"If you hadn't dragged me into your desires—!!"
Chris screamed at Edric, recalling what had happened on the rooftop.
Her anger had only one cause.
If only Edric hadn't been there.
Then she could have lived happily with Emil.
She could have remained his lover.
She wouldn't have basely betrayed Emil.
The expression of her anger towards Edric now was for that reason alone.
"…"
"Heeh, ugh, heeh…"
Chris indifferently looked down at Edric, who was sobbing at her outcry.
And then.
*Drag…*
Chris grabbed Edric's clothes and dragged him along.
Edric's weight left faint marks on the dirt ground as he was dragged.
"Ch-Chris…! Chris—! Guh—! Chris…!!"
Edric, unable to resist due to the pain in both his arms, was dragged by Chris.
He struggled with his perfectly fine legs, but he couldn't break free.
And he was dragged into the dark dungeon.
A moment later. As the torchlight and moonlight grew dimmer, making it hard to tell how far he had been dragged into the darkness.
*Step, step.* *Step…*
"…"
Chris's footsteps stopped.
"Chris…"
Edric, trembling, looked up at her.
The excitement he had felt just moments ago had long vanished.
What now gripped Edric's heart was pure terror.
Only the desire to live.
"Chris, please…! Please, let's talk…! Huh? Please…!"
"…"
Edric looked up at Chris and pleaded like that.
But Chris didn't answer.
*Grip!*
"U-uh, uh, uh?! Chris!!"
She simply lifted him with all her might using both hands.
As he was dragged upwards, Edric vigorously moved his legs.
Just as he was about to push off the ground and run away.
*Whoosh—!!*
"U-Uwaaaaaahhhh—!!"
Edric felt a sense of buoyancy in the darkness and flew through the air.
Chris had thrown him.
And after flying through the air for a moment, he slammed into the ground.
*Crash!*
"Kh, ugh…, huff…"
Because of his broken arms, he couldn't execute a proper fall break.
As a result, Edric took the full impact on his back, gasping for breath that was stuck in his throat.
Just then.
*Hiss…, hiss….* *Whoosh!*
Edric, who had fallen to the ground, spotted a light above where he had landed.
A torch.
Chris held it and looked down at Edric for a moment.
*Whizz.*
She threw the torch to Edric.
"Bite it, or leave it. Do as you please."
"Ch-Chris—!! What in the world are you doing right now!! Please! Please, let's talk—!!"
"Talk…"
Chris looked down at Edric with an indifferent expression, then grinned and replied.
"Sure, if you manage to get out of there, we can talk."
"What…?"
And Chris turned and left the spot.
"Ch-Chris? Chris!! Chris—!!"
Edric frantically scrambled in the direction Chris had left, but was soon blocked by a pile of dirt.
A pit formed by something collapsing.
But he couldn't climb out.
Because both his arms were broken.
"No way…, this is…"
Only then did Edric realize.
The place he had fallen.
This place was.
Where he and Sierra had been chased by a giant monster during a previous dungeon practical, and it had collapsed.
The lower floor of the dungeon.
"Don't mess with me…, Chris…"
Chris had thrown him into that place.
With both his arms broken, and only a torch thrown to him.
*Tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble….*
Edric's legs began to tremble in fear.
There was only one way.
Not through this collapsed area, but the opposite side.
To pass beyond the dense darkness and find a path that leads up.
Avoiding the monsters that hadn't been dealt with yet.
***
"Huff, huff…, woop, huff…"
Edric walked forward, tears streaming down his face.
Feeling the pain in his limply hanging arms.
With the torch in his mouth, he moved carefully, wary of any monsters that might suddenly appear.
"Ugh…, heeuugh…"
His trembling body caused the torch's flame to flicker along with him.
*Step, step.*
Contrary to his desire to escape quickly, his footsteps were slow.
Death.
As it drew closer, stepping forward felt incredibly terrifying.
*Thump…*
"Heeuugh…!"
Startled by a sound nearby, Edric whipped his head around.
"…"
But nothing else was heard afterwards.
All that lay before him was darkness beyond the torchlight.
"Huff, huff…"
In his terror, his breathing became more ragged.
Just then.
*Sizzle…*
"Heeh?! …Kuaaah! Hot!!"
*Thud!*
The flame of the torch he held in his mouth singed his hair, and the sudden pain caused Edric to drop it.
The torch, falling uselessly from his mouth.
*Sizzzzzle…*
The torch, of all places, fell into a puddle of water on the ground.
"Damn it—!! Damn it, damn it, damn it—! Stop messing with me—!!"
The light suddenly went out, and his vision plunged into darkness in an instant.
Darkness enveloped everything before him.
Edric belatedly bent down to search for the torch with his chin.
But it was already too late.
With both his hands broken, he couldn't light the torch.
Even if his arms were fine, he didn't have a flint.
"Heeh, damn it…, daaamn it…."
Edric, trembling, rose to his feet.
His mind felt paralyzed by fear, but he had to move.
He couldn't stop here.
The pain in both his arms kept him from falling into a full panic.
But.
"Heh heh, heh…"
"Heeek—!!"
"Heh heh heh, heh…"
As if they had been waiting for Edric's light to disappear.
Sounds of something laughing began to echo from the surroundings.
The dungeon's lower level.
A place where monsters of a different caliber from the upper floor appeared.
"Ah, ahh, Uwaaaaaaahhhh—!!!"
Edric screamed and ran.
He didn't know where the laughter was coming from, but he just kept running forward.
He wanted to escape this place.
Love or anything else, he just wanted to live.
And so, Edric ran endlessly, tears and saliva streaming down his face.
*Thud!*
"Cough—!"
In the darkness, he ran head-first into the wall of a dead end.
*Thump.*
"Gu-ugh, my nose…!!"
It was painful, but with both his arms broken, he couldn't even grab his nose.
And then.
"Heh heh heh heh…!"
"Heeuugh…?!"
The laughter came from right behind Edric.
The owner of the laughter was staring at him with glowing eyes in the darkness.
"N-no, stop, please, please…!"
*Trickle…*
His pants became wet from fear.
But Edric didn't care and desperately pleaded with the monster staring at him.
*Whoosh!*
The monster swung something without a word.
*Thwack!*
"Kuaaaaaahhhh—!!"
What the monster swung was something like a pickaxe.
It struck Edric's thigh precisely.
Edric screamed in pain.
"Heh heh, heh heh heh…!"
"Heh heh heh."
Attracted by his painful screams, similar monsters began to gather around him.
"No, please, heeh, pleaaase—!!"
Monsters steadily gathered around Edric.
They laughed as if amused.
And played with Edric's body.
The louder his screams grew, the greater their amusement became.
***
I left the dormitory with an uneasy feeling.
Now, I no longer even bothered to look around.
Two days ago, Chris hadn't come to the academy.
That much, I had somewhat expected.
But.
The next day.
Edric also hadn't come to the academy.
'What on earth…?'
As I walked the familiar path to the academy, I rested my chin in my hand and fell deep into thought.
And then it hit me.
'Now that I think about it… Malcolm isn't coming to the academy either.'
I recalled the moment when the professors had asked about Malcolm's whereabouts recently.
At the time, I'd felt uneasy, but I hadn't particularly worried about it.
Because I had to focus on my next target, rather than Malcolm, with whom my business was finished.
'Malcolm's disappearance… was right after Mari's capture was complete.'
I realized that Edric's absence from the academy now was similar to the situation back then.
'No way…'
Two individuals flashed through my mind.
Mari and Chris.
Two individuals whose captures were now complete.
With their captures finished, both of them now harbored affection for me.
And by rejecting their confessions, both of them recalled memories from previous timelines.
…And the male leads connected to them disappeared.
"…"
I recalled Mari's crazed eyes.
And even her sneaking into my room to ambush me.
"Ha…"
An ominous thought struck me.
It even made quite a bit of sense.
"…"
What should I do about this?
As I paused on my path, lost in thought.
"Emil…"
"…"
A voice came from behind me.
One I hadn't heard for days.
Chris's voice.