Betrayal more Bitter than Gall

"I've lived a life that's full. I have given and received love from family and friends. And now that I can do one more thing out of love for them, I am willing to do so with no regrets. Even when everyone tells me that they are not worth it, I will remain true… I will do it my way."

- Selena Kosaki H. Bougainvillea, Matriarch of the Bougainvillea Baronetcy.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Wake…. Wake up…

"Wake up!"

"Wake up!!!"

"WAKE UP! JONATHAN!!!"

"AHHH!!!"

*GYIIIIII-!!!*

"RAAAAHHHH!!!"

A shout brought me back to consciousness and by reflex, I swung my saber and split a Sling Serpent that sprung towards me in half.

"Hahaha! It's good that you're back, kid!" the old man joyously laughed loudly.

"W-What happened?! Why did I suddenly lose consciousness?"

"A Rampage Boar charged at you, and you barely dodged it on the last second! Well, no matter! We're drivin' them back now!" Neil-san explained before dropping his spear to decapitate a dying Grey Wolf.

"A-Alright… any clue where the core is yet?"

"Nope! Still searching around for the pile of rocks that you described it to be, but nothin' is sticking out!" Ralf-san responded before caving in the skull of a Rabid Rabbit that was about to pounce on him using his crowbar.

"Keep searching! It's here somewhere!"

As my cloudy memory cleared up, I remembered how things went earlier.

We started with the four of them throwing down the firebombs that lit up and killed a lot of the low-level monsters that make up the majority of them down there. I then fired on the Rush Rhinos using my musket and hit them through their skulls, instantly killing them. While that was happening, the other four were throwing down stones that he took from the tunnel. They prioritized the stronger monsters, agitating them more to spread the fire.

Once the fire began to die down and the stronger monsters were thinned out, they went down to fight against them in melee while I laid down supporting fire with the remaining bullets that I have with me.

Then… I think I slipped while trying to get a better firing angle and now I'm down here with them.

"COME AND GET SOME OF THIS, YOU MONSTERS!!!"

"ORA-ORA-ORA-ORYAAAA-!!!"

As we kept up the pressure of our charge, we began to gain ground against the monsters with Ralf-san and Anthony-san leading our charge while Neil-san supported them from behind using his spear and Cobert-san landed killing blows into the heads of the dying monsters using his mallet.

Seeing our momentum, I called out to Cobert to help me get into the thick of the fighting.

"Cobert-san! A boost!"

"Gotcha! HYUP!"

"RAAAAHHHH!!!"

I landed just behind the frontlines of the monsters and immediately scored a kill against a Grey Wolf whose head I divorced from its body using a saber slash.

"Go on, you monsters! Charge at me if you dare!"

*GRRRRR-!!! HYARGH-!*

The canine monsters humored my challenge and rushed towards me, but I drew my mana pistol and made quick work of their pack, landing shots that hit then lit them on fire.

"Woah! I gotta get one of those once we get out!"

"Heh! I'll buy you one if you want to, old man. But right now…"

"Heh! Better remember that promise, kid. And yeah… right now…"

As if he sensed that the concentration of mana was getting extremely dense around us as well, Anthony fixed his gaze on the unnatural rock formation at the end of our torch's light range.

"The end of this is within sight, kid…"

"Right… YOU OLD BONES READY FOR ONE LAST PUSH?!"

"""YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT, LAD!"""

And so, we charged into the horde of monsters side-by-side, protecting and covering for each other as we fought not only against their overwhelming numbers but their variety of strengths and advantages as well.

About ten meters away from the dungeon core, I shouted to the four to hold the line for me.

"This thing will blow up everything around it once it lands! As soon as I shout "Run!" we're backing away as far as we can, alright?!"

"Gotcha, kid!"

"Get to it now!"

I opened the jar where I kept the bomb and was assaulted with the stench that I placed on it. I pointed my mana pistol into its fuse and fired a weak fire spell, lighting it on fire before I stood up.

"HERE IT GOES! HYAAAA-!!!"

I threw the bomb and instantly, the monsters that were assailing us caught its odor and immediately followed it.

"GO GET THEM TIGER!"

"COME ON! WORK!!!"

Either due to my history of playing baseball for years now or just sheer f***ing luck, the bomb fell right beside the dungeon core, and I immediately shouted just before it detonated:

"GET TO COVER AND PLUG YOUR EARS!!!"

*BYUIII-!!!*

The deafening noise was only slightly mitigated by my plugging of my fingers into my ears, as the explosion basically vaporized the area as well as the monsters surrounding the dungeon core, I felt my ears ring until it popped, and I can only hear muffled sounds. After a few moments, when the explosion was finished and the dust cloud it kicked cleared up, I stood up alongside the others and celebrated our victory.

"Haha… HAHAHA!"

"YEAH!!! WE GOT 'EM!!!"

"HELL YEAH!"

"DAMN! Thank goodness, I thought we're going to die!"

All of them cheered and were thankful about surviving the entire ordeal. I joined their group hug where we patted each other's back and appreciated each other's bravery throughout the battle.

"Alright then… What now?"

"What's next for us, kid?" although I can hear their voices faintly, I needed to read their lips to get what they were saying.

Now that the dungeon's core is destroyed, the way out should appear nearby, leading to the treasure room and beyond that, freedom.

"There!" I looked around and sure enough, there was a hole on the wall behind the now destroyed pile of rocks that was the dungeon core that wasn't there before.

"Alright! I'm taking the first step out of this place!"

"Jackass! I ain't letting you get ahead of me!" old man Anthony shouted as he ran towards the exit. Right behind him and just now, has passed him was Cobert-san who stopped just short of stepping into the exit. He called out to the old man, teasing him and giving us a giggle…

"Come on, old bones! Get over here before everyone leaves you behind!"

"Hah! You'd trip on your short legs first before you- COBERT! GET DOWN!!!"

"Huh?"

…before everything became a bloodbath right in front of me.

*GROAAAAAAAAAAHHHH-!!!*

"ABACK-! KWAAAAHHHH-!!!"

All of a sudden, the very same Giant Grizzly that attacked me before appeared from the exit and plunged its claws straight through Cobert-san's body. I didn't want to believe it, but as soon as he puked blood and his eyes rolled back into his head, I knew that he was dead.

"COBERT!!!"

"YOU MONSTER---!!! LET GO OF HIM!!!"

"ANTHONY!"

"DON'T---!"

The old man, seeing his close friend for so many years die a gruesome death, lost his composure and charged towards the towering bear monster with his axe, much to the horror of Ralf and Niel-san who shouted at him but to no avail.

*GROOOOOOOOHHHH-!*

"ACK-!"

He was swung aside by the monster to the wall where he fell down like a doll whose strings were cut, possibly dead now too.

"KHH-! Whatever this is that's happening, I won't turn back on my word…"

"I as well…"

I didn't understand what they meant with those words, but Ralf and Niel nodded to each other as they dragged me alongside them towards the monster and they told me something that broke me even further.

"You have to get out, kid! No matter what!"

"You said it yourself, didn't you? You still have a home and family to return to!"

""YOU CAN'T DIE HERE! NEVER!!!""

With their combined strength, they slinged me through the gap of the bear's legs and near the exit before attacking the monster.

"Get out of here now!"

"Don't turn back! Don't ever think of going back for us!!!"

"LIVE KID!"

"LIVE AND MAKE OUR DEATHS HERE WORTH IT!!!"

As I looked at them for one last time, I wasn't frustrated nor saddened.

Cobert, Ralf, Neil… Anthony…!

I was full of appreciation…

Thank you… Thank you…!

I thanked them and their choice to sacrifice themselves for my sake to the bottom of my heart. My tears of appreciation mixed with the tears I shed for losing them as I stood up and limped as fast as I can to the treasure room.

"UWARGH-!"

"RALF!!! GWARGH-!!!"

Even if I was partially deaf, I heard their death throes as if it was happening right beside me while I was limping towards the light at the end of the tunnel ahead of me.

"Ghh! …Finally, nearly to freedom!"

The treasure room, true to its name, was filled to the brim with nuggets and ingots of precious metals as well as rough, yet priceless jewels. Things that I came here to acquire… yet in my mind, I knew that I cannot be enticed right now and slow down.

"Huff… Huff… Haaah---!"

Too much pain was coursing in my body and my movement became sluggish as my eyesight became dimmer… this is when I realized that I didn't get out of that place unscathed.

"URK-! So that downward scratch… it connected…!"

I received another wound from that monster, a laceration across the lower chest to the abdomen that kept spewing out blood.

"But still… Got to… get out of here…!"

I didn't want to give up… No, I cannot let myself to give up!

"Just a bit more… Just a few more steps…!"

I CANNOT GIVE UP! FOR MY SAKE… FOR THEIR SAKE!

"JUST A BIT MORE…!"

Just a bit more…

"JUST A BIT MORE!!!"

Even after I harnessed all of my remaining strength just to reach the exit, I still failed.

*GRAAAAAAHHHH-!!!*

*BYAG-KAG-!!!*

The monster charged towards me and with the drop of its claw, crushed the ground near me and flung me towards a nearby pile of gold.

"GHH-!!! KAAH!" upon impact, I spat out blood and reeled in pain.

"GROUGH-! GRAAAAHHH-!!!"

The monster rampaged around the room and growled towards me, a behavior I can only describe to be a show of dominance against a defeated opponent like I.

What a f****** joke… This brainless piece of sh*t, showing dominance over me?

I KILLED FAR STRONGER MONSTERS THAN YOU!

"Don't… get cocky in front of me, you bastard…!"

I'VE LIVED A FAR MORE DIFFICULT LIFE THAN YOU, YOU WALKING PIECE OF WORTHLESS FLESH AROUND A F****** GLOWING ROCK!

*GRRRRAAAAAAHHH-!*

I'M NOT GONNA DIE HERE… YOU WILL!

"DIE!!!"

*AWOOOOOO-!!!*

As soon as I shouted that, a familiar howl echoed from both the entrance and exit of the room and immediately after, four Direwolves pounced towards the Giant Grizzly and sank their fangs into its neck, spine, belly and right hind leg, four vital spots that immediately bled and critically wounded the monster.

"GRRRRR-! GYARGH-!!!"

"W-What the…"

From the entrance of the room, another Direwolf showed up and stood between me and the monster. I looked up to it, puzzled about what is happening until I noticed what they're doing.

This formation… they're protecting a wounded member of their pack…! But why? Why would they surround me like I'm one of them? Wait! That's not important right now!

"GROOOOOOARGH! GRAH!!! GRAGH-!!!"

"PYAU-!"

"HAK-GRRRR!!!"

As the Giant Grizzly swung its enormous body and managed to swipe the Direwolves gnawing on its flesh away, I felt like I was reaching my end as well due to blood loss.

If I'm going to kick the bucket here too… THEN---!

I'M TAKING YOU WITH ME!

"KILL IT! DON'T LET IT LIVE!!!"

"AWOOOOOO-!!!"

As if they understood my command, not just the five Direwolves, everyone else that was waiting by both doors charged towards it and began to tear the monster piece by piece.

"HYAURGH-!"

"GROOOOOOUGH!!!"

"GAURGH-!"

From all kinds of directions, the direwolves charged in perfect synchrony, taking chunks of hide and flesh from the bear and making its blood spurt out like unending fountains.

At the end of my remaining strength, I saw the monster that once made me shake in fear to my very core now torn apart like a ragged cloth and bleeding profusely just as I do.

"…"

"NUWOOOOOURGH…!" it bellowed out a low growl as it kept its still bloodshot eyes towards me, still full of its pride as a strong, savage beast. Sensing that it still hasn't lost the will to fight, the Direwolf beside me snarled at the bear, but I held out my hand and reprimanded it, making it whimper as it stepped back.

"HYARH-!"

"No! Stop!"

"Hyuuu…"

I stood straight and looked down on its defeated state. As if finally recognizing the difference between our power, it finally broke its death stare and lowered its head towards me.

I instantly recognized what it wanted from me…

"Very well then… for those men that you murdered and soon, for hindering my return home."

…and I obliged its request for an honorable death.

I put my mana pistol at the fractured part of its skull where my musket shot ricocheted before and after cursing it one last time, pulled the trigger.

"Die, monster…"

*BYIIICK-!*

After the concentrated bolt of fire magic pierced its skull and eviscerated its brain, what remained of my strength and consciousness finally gave in and I fell on the floor.

"Hyuuuu…" the Direwolf that stood in front of me earlier whimpered as it lowered its snout towards me and nudged me.

"…I don't know why you guys did this, but seriously… Thank you…"

"Gyuuu…" it continued to whimper as I softly patted its snout. Perhaps it can feel how my life is starting to slip from my body.

So, this is it… I'm really gonna die here…. Damn, what a way to go.

I haven't even finished my four years in the academy. Haven't tried to join the baseball team and play professionally.

Chiori-senpai… I wish the literature club would finally get some new member so she won't be too alone once I'm gone… Those idiots at the adventurer classes too, I wish they'd learn from my mistake here.

Father… Mother… I'm sorry for being too reckless and going on before you. If I get to Heaven, I'll beg God to cure father's illness and give you more and more years to give Joshua and Syrene more of your love and leading.

"Kid…!"

Damn, my vision is getting blurry… it feels so cold… and I'm even hearing the old man's voice…

"Even if… this is how it ends…"

"KID!!!"

"I still… Won."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Moments earlier at the cavern, the one man that Jonathan presumed dead finally regained consciousness and saw the brutal end that his friends experienced.

"F***! Gh-! F************!!!" his curses echoed in the cave as he wept near the mutilated bodies of the other three. This is when he realized that there was one missing person among the departed.

"W-W-Wait… Kid… KID!!! JONATHAN!!!"

He took his axe and the still lit torch held by Cobert's body and looked around while shouting his name.

"F***! Did he get done in too or did he escape!?"

Not minding his painful broken rib, Anthony kept his eyes peeled for any sign of Jonathan until from the edge of the torch's light, he saw the glowing eyes of a monster.

"BUHIIII-!!!"

"Sh*t! Another one!? I thought we'd be rid of your kind once we destroyed the core!"

The monster was a wounded Rampage Boar, probably one that wasn't dealt a killing blow during the thick of the fighting earlier.

*HWOF-HWOOF-!!!*

"What's that?! You're gonna charge at me, punk?! GO ON, MAKE MY DAY!" After seeing the boar lowering its tusked head and heaving out puffs of breath, Anthony humored the monster and dropped his torch nearby to clutch his axe tightly and give his swing more strength.

"BUYIIIIII-!!!"

"EAT THIS!!!"

As the boar charged, Anthony held his axe over his head and with both hands, intended to bring it down with full power to crush the monster's head.

"GWARF-!"

"BUHIII-! GYIIII-!!!"

However, another monster snatched the boar with its jaws just outside the range of Anthony's swing and subsequently crushed the wailing boar's head inside its mouth before spitting the monster away.

"W-W-Whaaa---?!"

"HA-HARG!"

"A-A Direwolf…!"

Anthony was shocked with the sudden appearance of the unnaturally large monster that he knew he can't even fight. He stepped back, waiting for it to pounce and kill him, but instead, it just snarled and walked past him slowly.

"W-What…?"

"HARGH-! HARGH-!"

It swung its head towards the door, as if telling Anthony to follow him. Although he doesn't understand what it wanted, he took his torch and axe and approached the direwolf calmly as it pranced through the exit of the cave.

However, before he left, he approached his three dead friends' bodies and placed a rock on their right hands before giving them a short prayer.

"I'm sorry, you three… I'll carry your hopes to the outside world... and I'll tell them of your bravery."

The tunnel leading to the treasure room was full of young Direwolves and this made him anxious about his own safety. But as he passed, none of the monsters acted out or growled at him.

After he entered the treasure room, he saw piles upon piles of precious metals and priceless jewels that amazed him, but as his eyes wandered to the center of the room, all his attention went straight to a young man laying down while being surrounded my whimpering Direwolves.

"Kid…! KID!!!"

He dropped his torch and axe and ran towards Jonathan, clutching his limp and bleeding body that is slowly approaching its death.

"Kh-! You'll be alright, boy! We're getting out of here! We're goin' outside and I'll get you some help!" overwhelmed by the situation, Anthony shouted to him even if he didn't know if Jonathan was still conscious.

"Hyau-!"

"You're going to help? Awright! Support him from there and let's haul ass outta here!" One of the young direwolves that was about as tall as him took Jonathan's other arm and helped Anthony lift him towards the bright exit leading out of the dungeon.

"You'll be alright, kid! Just hold on! We're going to do it! We're getting the hell out of here!"

"Aaaaaghhhh…" Jonathan faintly groaned, giving Anthony hope that all will be alright.

"That's right! Keep yourself strong, kid! You said it yourself! You're not gonna die here! We're not gonna waste the sacrifice of those three!"

However, as they passed through the brightly lit exit, what lay in front of them was not the outside world of Mt. Akira's forest but… instead, a very familiar sight.

"T-This is…!"

It was none other than the town. The very same town where they came from and where all of this started. This time however, the entire town was in flames and yet there were no shouts or cries for help that filled the air… only the crackling of flames and the fall of the consumed buildings.

"W-W-What… what on earth… h-how… HOW!?!"

"Allow me to answer that, woodcutter…" Anthony's extremely perplexed outburst was shortly answered by the one he least expected to show up.

"Y-YOU-?!"

"…I don't really have any need to explain anything, but given that I've endured over five hundred years of this bullsh*t, I believe I can at least rant out to someone before all of this finally f****** ends…"

"Yeah… You better give me a good answer, MARC!!!"

In front of Anthony, with the very town that he leads burning in the background, stood the young village chief, Marc Meronym Spica.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Where should I even start… Oh! Why not at the truth behind this town, village or whatever the hell we're supposed to refer to it?"

"The truth…?"

"You see… this settlement, no, even this entire place that we call a Dungeon is not a dungeon in the first place. Everything is a f****** lie… the false sky above, the history of this place and how our supposed "ancestors" were led here because we're being persecuted by some crazy mob of cultists… Hah! You see, woodcutter, it's all a damn lie."

"Lie this, lie that! Make some damn sense, you freak!"

"Ah right… I did say that I'll tell you the truth. You know what, it might be better for me to just show it. Huph-! Here, have your fill of the sight."

"W-What the…!?"

After saying that, Marc kicked over a sack beside him and what rolled out made Anthony's stomach turn upside down.

"Adelynne… Obadey… even Little Pik!" from the sack rolled out the decapitated heads of the villagers, all of them stained with blood.

"Don't tear up too much, woodcutter. I didn't make them suffer for long."

"How… HOW CAN YOU DO THIS, MARC?! TO YOUR OWN PEOPLE… TO THE VERY PEOPLE THAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT!"

"Oh please… by the time you three left the town and reached that place, I've been rid of my job of looking after you mindless puppets and were told by Spica-sama to clear all of this up before that kid gets back here. My only responsibility was to make sure that all of you are working well until one of the Bougainvilleas stumbles here and finds us."

"W-What… what do you mean by that…?"

Finally, Marc revealed to him properly what all of this was for.

"For the past 500 years, all of us, including me, have been repeating one exact year in this place. From all the words we will exchange, all the events that will happen… even the yield of wheat in the town's farm that Neil will bake into bread, and the trees that you will cut, all of it has been repeating like clockwork. Nothing changes as in the first place, that is the point of this farce… an unchanging garden… a place where Spica-sama can agonize over the one thing that she can never forgive herself about... that "thing" that happened hundreds of years ago."

"Five hundred years… you've gotta be f****** kidding me! Five hundred years of repeating the same thing?! What kind of crap is that?! A-are you telling me that my- No, all of our lives are a lie?!"

"Damn right it is… it was all a lie in the first place, and unlike you mooks, who were given the right to have your memories wiped and reloaded every end of the year, I didn't have that same privilege." As Marc said those words, he took out his bloodstained sword that was piercing the ground and stepped nearer towards Anthony.

"Kh!"

"I was here all this time… watching over all of you, making sure that nothing deviates from the exact things that must happen… making sure that Spica-sama can see what that mistake was that she was looking for the past few centuries. Can you imagine that agony? That kind of prison where there is no escape until someone says so?"

"D-Don't get any closer, you madman!"

"Hey, woodcutter… as the last of these mooks that I have to dispose of, care to humor this one question that I can still not find an answer to?"

As Anthony looked at the face of the village chief that all of the townsfolk considered to be a strict yet adorable and dependable young man, he found no trace of humanity or sanity anymore within Marc…

"How does it feel to be the only one left to scream in absolute agony?"

…all that he saw was an abyss of despair wrought by centuries of unending suffering.

"GO TO HELL, MARC!!!"

"…!"

After Anthony charged at him with his axe, Marc skillfully swung his sword to do two slashes…

*SHI-HIYAK!*

"Gurghk-!"

…which landed and mortally wounded Anthony.

"GRAH-! KAHAK-!!!" as Anthony spat the liquid that bubbled up his mouth, the blood that he was expecting didn't come out. Instead, it was a dark, amber-colored fluid.

"W-What… the…?!"

"…I told you already. None of this is real… not even what we're made of."

Anthony touched the fluid that remained on his lip and recognized it to be oil.

"Our bones are nothing but metal covered with white plaster… our veins are just hoses that carries our blood… which in truth, is nothing but hydraulic oil."

"Then… we are not----?"

"Right. We're not humans, we are automatons. Robotic machinations made to take the form of humans in order to further sell to us the artificial memories in our minds. This is the reason why I said that all of us has been ceaselessly repeating the same kind of lives that Spica-sama wants. Your memories may have been wiped clean, but your bodies are the same as it was all those centuries ago."

Marc placed his sword over Anthony's neck, ready to raise the blade and bring it down to finish off the woodcutter's life.

"J-Just… what are you, Marc? What is all of this… WHAT IS THE POINT OF ALL OF THIS?!" Anthony's plea for an answer was just met with a remark from Marc.

"I don't know either… why don't you ask her once she repurposes you?"

*FYIK-! SHI-YAK!!!*

With the drop of the sword, Anthony's life ended as his head rolled and his body fell down to the pool of hydraulic liquid forming beneath him. After placing the now dead woodcutter's head inside the sack, Marc's attention turned to the young man being surrounded by direwolves.

"Now that that's done… you're the next variable that needs to be put where he belongs." Marc took out a paper packet from his chest pocket and emptied its contents into the mouth of Jonathan and the bleeding wound on his torso. He then laid his hand over his chest and produced an electric shock that made Jonathan's body flinch, indicating that he was revived.

"Hyauuu…!" the direwolf holding him up mumbled before pointing to a trail to the woods behind them.

"That's right, get him there ASAP. Lady Spica will handle the rest."

"HYAP! AWOOO!!!" After receiving the order, the largest one among the direwolves placed the unconscious Jonathan on its back and sped towards the trail leading into the woods.

"Hopefully, she is right about this after all…" Marc mumbled beneath his breath as he looked at the young man being carried away by the direwolves. "…that they can still be trusted… that we can depend on them to do what they were supposed to do when they were assigned to this world."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

At the bedroom of the Bougainvillea Baronetcy's master, Joshua sat beside his father, watching over him to let his mother Selena to get some well-deserved rest in Syrene's room.

After being away for almost three weeks, the heir told his father about everything that happened, as well as the successful raid that he led against the bandits that ended up with the outlaws being killed in one fell swoop.

"Joshua… Did you really…?"

"Yes, Father. I… I know that you'd scold me for being reckless, but given that they've encamped near Siteo village, I didn't want to run the risk of the villagers being attacked and their farms set ablaze at this point in time when we're about to handover our imperial taxes." Joshua answered, fully believing that he did the right thing.

"You could've… just arrested them. Killing them there and then… there was no need, son."

"Again, as I said father… I don't want to make a mistake that I'd end up regretting." Joshua replied firmly regarding his choice to hand down the ultimate penalty to the outlaws. "Besides, at this point, I have no need to pretend that I can keep my hands clean anymore."

"…"

"I know of what it means to be a leader… and what choices I would be forced to make so long as I am one. I need a strong and resilient conscience, or I will not last."

"Right… Although I don't carry that same kind of resolve… you two really are my sons."

"F-Father…"

Hearing that subtle praise from his father, Joshua mumbled beneath his breath as his expression changed to worry.

"Let's not be naïve here, son… All of us, even I, know that I'm not long for this world… Right now, I can barely recognize anything beyond the tip of my nose… and I have to take control of my breathing or else, I may end up suffocating to death."

"T-That's-"

"I'm trying to avoid thinking about it as much as I can… but I've been thinking that it might be better for me to just go on now… not just for my sake but for everyone else-"

"STOP SAYING THAT!" Joshua shouted as he stood, toppling over the chair he was sitting on. "Don't say that, father… It might be hard right now and it may seem like there is no hope left, but don't think of that! DON'T THINK THAT IT WOULD BE BETTER IF YOU'RE NO LONGER HERE!"

"Joshua… Please just-"

"NO, I WON'T! Don't try to convince me that it would be alright! I won't be alright to me… TO ANY OF US!"

Joshua clutched his father's hand tightly with both hands as he began to cry, sobbing while kneeling beside his father's bed.

"I don't want you to go… Please father… I don't want you to go...!"

"Kh…! Even until the end… you… Jonathan… Syrene…!" The eyes of the old patriarch began to tear up and though it was painful for his breathing, he began to sob. "I don't want to leave all of you too… I don't want to die and leave you to fend for yourselves!"

From the mumbling under his breath, Joshua understood that even if he said otherwise, his father wasn't fearlessly accepting death but instead, just courageously facing it.

He didn't want to die… not because he still has ambitions to live for but for the sake of his family that is still not ready to let him go.

"Joshua…"

"M-Mother… and Syrene…"

Peeking from the divider screen was his mother and little sister who saw what happened and began to cry too.

"Come here… all of you…" Joseph invited his wife and daughter near his bed. "I will say this… and treat it as my order until the moment that I assign." he told them one last thing before he closed his eyes to preserve what remains of his strength.

"What is it, father?"

"I will stay strong… until all of you are here… I want the last thing that I would see from this world… to be all the people that I loved… gathered around me to bid me a peaceful end. And because of that…" due to weakness, Joseph trailed off at the end of his statement and his wife placed his ear near his lips to hear what it was.

"Tell Jonathan… to come home soon from his adventure."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"I've arrived, Spica-sama."

["I see… You've done this job well."]

Down in the false dungeon, in the depths of the woods opposite from the one leading to the valley that Jonathan and the others went towards, is a dark cavern where Marc brought the stained sack that he showed earlier. Within that cavern, an artificial sounding voice replied to him briefly.

"I've burned down the village… nothing remains there other than the charred ruins and traces of fake bloodstains."

["Understood... I will start a rainstorm to hide the tracks left by the chaos that ensued."]

"Also… as you have directed, all of them are here now." As Marc said that, he slit open the sack to reveal the hundred or so decapitated heads of the townsfolk. They rolled on the ground, spreading the remaining oil in their interior.

"I've collected the three who followed him into the "facility" as well, although the blacksmith's head was slightly dented, none of its contents sustained damage… "he" is still intact."

["Well done, you can leave them there and I'll handle the rest of the repurposing…]

"Understood, Spica-sama… Yet, I insist that you hear this demand of mine."

As the artificial voice trailed off to perhaps tend to the "repurposing" of the automaton townsfolk, Marc remained at where he was standing and showed an adamant expression towards his invisible acquaintance.

["What is it that you wish---"]

"Demand! I do not simply wish it, I demand it! For the centuries of my service to you and your unwillingness to afford me the same blissful ignorance that you bestowed upon them!" Marc cut them off and stated that his desire is non-negotiable and thus, cannot be ignored nor left unfulfilled.

["…Very well then, what is it that you demand?"]

"…Give me the same sweet release from this accursed existence as them. That is to say-"

["Kill you? No. I still need you for the next pha-"]

"NO!!!"

After being declined and consequently told that his labors are not yet finished, Marc's immediate reply echoed around the tunnel.

["Silence! I do not require your approval about what I could and couldn't do! You are part of my system! All of you exists because I willed it so!"]

"And what? You're just going to force me to follow your wiles again for another few centuries? No thanks…" As Marc said that, he took out an object from his chest pocket that the voice, wherever they may be looking at him right now, saw and were utterly shocked.

["That---!"]

"I have no regrets, Spica-sama…" Marc spoke as he pointed Jonathan's missing mana pistol on his head, just above his left ear and with a smile on his face, declared his last words "This is a goodbye."

*BYIIIIK---!*

And just like that, he who begged for death the most, the one deprived of both blissful ignorance and sweet release, went out on his own terms…

…or so he thought.

"Urgh… w-what the…?"

["I've been expecting that reaction all along, Marc…"]

"W-What is the meaning of this…? Why am I still alive!?" reeling on the ground as his head leaked hydraulic oil from the hole that he himself shot through, Marc was confused about why he hasn't died yet.

["You were right to suspect that you're the same case as the townsfolk that I made you to look after and promptly execute once "he" arrives here… however, you're not the same as them. Which is the reason why I can neither erase your memories nor give you the ending that you wish for. After all…]

Suddenly, from the darkness of the cavern's shadows, came out a woman who finished his invisible acquaintance's words. Dressed with a maid uniform similar to House Bougainvillea's staff, Marc recognized who she is immediately.

"Spica…sama…!"

"I created you with an artificial soul and conscience… unlike these people who are nothing but puppets made for my simulations…" After he finally saw her true form, Marc understood why unlike the townspeople, he survived his attempt to be freed from all of this.

"I knew that no matter how much morale I give by calling the directive that I gave to be for an ultimate good, your immortal psyche is unageing but not unyielding… one day, you will give up and desire death… and that even if I deny it to you, you will still desire it."

"A-And because of that… you didn't give me my core…? Are you telling me that you have my core all this time?!?!?!"

"Exactly… and now that you've showed that you are just as flawed as these puppets, for the first time since I have created you, who I consider to be my masterpiece, I will say this once and only once to you…"

Spica took Marc by the throat and raised his limp body while staring straight into his eyes. As Marc's neck began to creak and snap from the shear crushing power of her grip, she spoke these words.

"I rid myself of everyone who failed or betrayed me… may it be pawns, entire nations… or the master that I am ordered to serve."

"GGGHHHHKKKK!!! URGH-!!!" Marc struggled to escape but to no avail.

"Remember, I gave "that family" all the power and prestige that they ever had… and once "he" betrayed me, I took it all away and left them to stagnate and revert to the sorry state that they are in now."

"I will not let you use me again…! You monster---"

"Monster… No, no. I'm not a monster, my pathetic, little pawn…"

"-!!!"

As Marc took his last look into Spica's eyes, he knew that she wasn't lying…

"I am far, far worse than that."

…she is someone far worst than the most savage monster.

And now, she will return once again to the world of Promethea and all of its chaos while puppeteering that young man that he let her have.

As Spica crushed his head and forced his core into sleep mode, intending to repurpose him just like the other automatons, Marc had one last thought in mind that he will have in this identity of his.

Jonathan… no matter what happens, never let her to control you!