At Beni-Enma's savage shout, the air in the summoning chamber swelled as if it were about to explode.
As the magistrate of the Enma Realm and a master swordswoman, her dynamic vision and reflexes had long since surpassed the bounds of humanity.
To her eyes, I was a vile stain whose very existence defied the laws of the world, and from my mouth would surely spill nothing but black lies that gnawed away at the soul.
"This Beni-Enma will sever the tongue of the evil fiend that speaks nothing but lies!"
Flash!
She moved before she had even finished speaking. Her sword-drawing strike broke the sound barrier and shot out like a flash of light.
Her blade flew straight for the spot beneath my jaw, aiming for the root of my tongue.
But in that split second—
"...Where do you think you're aiming?"
The golden eyes of Olga Marie, standing at my side, sank into a cold, inorganic stillness.
The instant the horn on her forehead gleamed, the Seventh Authority, one of the Seven Great Authorities, activated.
[Tachyon Jail] (Future Particle Acceleration Prison).
Time stopped.
No—more precisely, it only looked that way. Within the localized area Olga Marie designated, the flow of temporal particles slowed to an extreme, stretching one second of reality into what felt like a thousand.
A world of hyper-time acceleration no different from clocking up.
Within that eternal instant, Olga Marie calmly stepped forward and stood in front of me. Terrifyingly dense magical energy, enough to evoke raw ferocity itself, coiled around her small, soft fist.
Then she drove that fist heavily into Beni-Enma's abdomen, frozen in midair.
"Ghk, huh...?!"
The moment the time acceleration was released, a thunderous blast shook the summoning chamber.
KWA-BOOM!!
Beni-Enma's tiny body, which had been charging in at supersonic speed, was blown backward by Olga Marie's strike, her trajectory reversing a full one hundred and eighty degrees.
Beni-Enma punched straight through the chamber's thick alloy wall and only barely came to a stop after slamming into the opposite wall of the corridor.
"Kgh, cough...!"
Sliding down onto the corridor floor, Beni-Enma clutched her stomach and spat out dark blood. It was a critical blow, enough to shake even a Servant's Spirit Origin.
"...How dare you draw your sword at him?"
Olga Marie muttered coldly as she shook out her fist, steam rising from it.
Only then did Romani, da Vinci, and Mash fully grasp what had happened, and all three cried out in shock.
"Beni-Enma!!"
"D-Director! What in the world are you doing...?!"
But it didn't end there. The moment they realized someone had tried to harm me, Shuten-Douji and Baobhan Sith snapped, murderous intent pouring from them as they shot into the corridor.
"Where'd this sparrow-headed thing come from, barging in and swinging a blade at my husband? I'll rip out every last feather and turn you into skewers."
Shuten-Douji cracked her neck with a pop and smiled coldly.
At the same time, Baobhan Sith snapped her fingers. Threads of red blood shot out and bound Beni-Enma's arms and legs tightly like a spiderweb as she coughed up blood.
"Watch closely, Master. I'll burst that insolent bird's eyes and pull out her guts to make you a pretty little nest."
[Pale Note] manifested in Baobhan Sith's hand, looking ready to pierce Beni-Enma's spiritual core at any moment.
"W-wait!"
Ritsuka tried to rush in, but I was faster by a step.
I moved in front of the two of them and blocked their way.
"That's enough, both of you. Put your weapons away."
At my firm words, Baobhan Sith turned to me with a resentful look.
"Why?! She tried to kill you! Move, I'm going to tear her apart!"
"She wasn't trying to kill me."
I answered calmly and looked down at the bound Beni-Enma.
"Were you? Weren't you trying to cut out my tongue?"
Even while gasping in pain, Beni-Enma glared back at me with clear, unwavering eyes.
"...That is correct. Nothing but black lies come from an evil fiend's mouth. I only meant to cut out your tongue to judge that sin. I had no intention of killing you. I swear it on Enma's pride."
"See? She said she wasn't trying to kill me."
When I shrugged at Shuten-Douji and Baobhan Sith, Shuten-Douji clicked her tongue in disbelief.
"Good grief, really now. Getting your tongue cut out is almost the same thing as dying. Why are you so soft?"
"It didn't cut me anyway. And Olga already paid her back enough, so calm down."
When I glanced at Olga Marie, she was still fuming, but she didn't avoid my gaze. Instead, she proudly lifted her chin.
I was inwardly grateful for that unconditional defense, but the situation had gotten so out of hand that I scratched the back of my head.
Well, I had expected she'd protect me. I just hadn't expected her to leave Beni-Enma half-dead in a single blow. Then again, maybe I should have.
In the end, this was always the future waiting for me with good-aligned Servants.
If I didn't have this constitution, could I have had a better start with her too?
...I almost died, and this is what I'm thinking about. Was I becoming less human, or had I simply grown too numb to the threat of death?
I'd gotten used to this sort of thing a long time ago. Honestly, by now, I just accepted it.
I knew I shouldn't, but maybe if I hadn't gotten used to it, I wouldn't have been able to deal with it at all. I'd become far too desensitized to attempted murder.
I patted Baobhan Sith on the shoulder, prompting her to release the mana threads, then stepped toward Beni-Enma.
"First, I'll apologize for hitting back too hard. I'm sorry."
When I offered the apology flatly, Beni-Enma blinked in surprise. An evil fiend destined for Avici Hell was apologizing to her—something her common sense as a judge could not understand.
"But you were too hasty too, little tongue-cut sparrow."
My voice turned colder. Still, yes. There had to be a line.
"If I'd actually committed some crime or lied to you, I would have accepted your judgment. But you tried to punish me first without any proper trial, based on nothing but the aura coming off me. That's not how a judge of the underworld is supposed to act."
Struck right at the core, Beni-Enma's eyes wavered.
Clutching her stomach, she staggered to her feet, bit down hard on her lower lip, and bowed her head deeply.
Right. I hated seeing other people break because of my constitution too. Beni-Enma wasn't that kind of person. Knowing what I knew, I couldn't help but pity her as well.
I didn't know whether to call it ignorance of my place or something else, feeling this way toward someone who had just tried to mutilate me. I really wasn't in my right mind. If Shuten-Douji knew what I was thinking, she'd probably smack me on the back and call me hopeless.
"...Your words are correct. To pass judgment based on existence alone... is disqualifying for a judge. My discipline was lacking."
Wiping the blood from her mouth, Beni-Enma bowed to me with utmost formality.
"I apologize for my rash actions. Chirp."
Though she apologized, her eyes still held deep wariness and instinctive rejection as she looked at me.
A Lawful Good Heroic Spirit. To someone like her, whose boundary between good and evil was absolute, I was an impurity that had to be rejected.
Was that simply what my relationship with good Heroic Spirits would always be—oil and water?
I swallowed a deep sigh. Next would come the First Singularity, France.
If I met a Heroic Spirit like Jeanne d'Arc there, then...
Forcing down the bitterness, I turned toward Romani, da Vinci, and Ritsuka, who were all standing frozen in shock behind me.
"...Sorry for causing a scene first thing in the morning. I'll take my leave now, unwelcome guest that I am. Finish the rest of the summoning ritual well."
Everyone seemed too flustered by my apology to say anything. Only Ritsuka hurried forward, trying to stop me.
"N-no, Yaiba! You didn't do anything wrong! I'm sorry, really sorry..."
Ritsuka apologized with tears in her eyes, but I just gave her head a light pat and let out a small laugh.
"It's fine. We'll call it even for the meal. I'm going."
I turned away without lingering. Olga Marie and the Servants followed behind me like an iron wall as we disappeared down the corridor.
"...Yaiba."
Ritsuka couldn't take her eyes off Yaiba's bitter retreating figure until he had completely vanished.
"M-Master. I am sorry. I was rude to someone important to you..."
"Beni-Enma! You're bleeding! Let's treat you first!"
Ritsuka hurriedly supported Beni-Enma and looked toward Romani.
"Doctor! Quick, to the infirmary! O-or at least some healing Magecraft...!"
"Ah, right! Wait a second, there should be a healing scroll. I'll go get it!"
As Romani ran down the corridor in a panic, da Vinci grabbed Ritsuka's shoulder with a stiff expression.
"Ritsuka. No matter how positive you are, no matter how much you trust people... you need to think very carefully before getting involved with him again."
A clear warning shone in da Vinci's eyes.
"You saw what just happened. He's a bomb that provokes Heroic Spirits into murderous intent just by breathing. And those Servants guarding him, along with the Director, are not in a normal state. That overwhelming power the Director showed... it was far beyond the realm of any ordinary human. If you get involved with him, you'll be dragged into the center of endless conflict and ruin."
It was rational advice from da Vinci.
But as Ritsuka wiped away the bloodstains on Beni-Enma, she firmly shook her head.
"...Da Vinci. What just happened was definitely extreme, and it was scary. My heart nearly stopped too."
Ritsuka kept speaking as she stared at the empty stretch of corridor where Yaiba had disappeared.
"But Beni-Enma attacked first and tried to cut out his tongue. From the perspective of the people trying to protect him... I think their reaction made sense."
"But, Ritsuka..."
"And most importantly, Yaiba didn't order any of it. If anything, he was the one who personally stopped the Servants when they got angry."
A deep sadness flickered through Ritsuka's eyes.
"He was in a situation where he should have been the one receiving an apology, but instead he apologized to us and left. Right now, he's probably shocked and feeling sorry too."
Ritsuka remembered the cool warmth of Yaiba's hand still lingering at her fingertips.
The hand that had clasped hers while suppressing instinctive disgust had felt lonelier and more desperate than anyone else's.
Yaiba... can he really keep enduring this in Chaldea? Maybe I'll only end up hurting him even more...
Upon the shoulders of the savior who had to rescue Human Order, deep sympathy and heavy worry for the most hated human in the world quietly settled down.
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