Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 157

“So this is how it ends up being, for us…”

Rusalka muttered bitterly while deflecting Margarete’s ice claws.

“You’ve always been possessive since long ago. Whenever you couldn’t have something you wanted, you’d always throw tantrums like this.”

“Belle laid hands on what belongs to me! Could you stand for that?!”

“Well… I’d be angry too if I thought Belle did that, but… there must be circumstances.”

“Shut up!”

All of Margarete’s attacks were easily blocked by Rusalka’s trident.

Though the higher-ranked clone was undoubtedly stronger than a high-tier Beast, she was far too weak compared to the real Rusalka.

“Even as a clone, your personality is exactly the same.”

“I am me. All of me is me.”

“Nonsense.”

Rusalka’s trident sliced off Margarete’s left arm.

The severed arm shattered like glass, scattering ice shards.

“You’re not the real Margarete. You may have the same personality and memories, but the Margarete I remember is one and only.”

“How dare you talk like that…! What do you know?”

“More than you. Because you’re just a fake in the end.”

Once again Margarete’s leg was shattered and she collapsed to the ground.

“So this is all you amount to. Barely enough for a warm-up.”

“Rusalka!!”

With that final cry, the trident’s three prongs pierced through Margarete’s face.

With a crunch, her head was crushed and the higher-ranked clone reverted to a puddle of water.

“To think I came all the way up to dry land for something like this…”

Rusalka shook her trident briefly to flick off the water and looked to the other side.

Bari had just taken flight on Ragnarok with Eugene bound tightly.

“How tiresome.”

Rusalka sighed as she took up a throwing stance.

“You too have always been a petty soul, waiting to seize any opportunity.”

Then she threw the trident.

Flying like a bullet, the trident not only pierced through Ragnarok but also through Bari’s chest.

Bari’s body transformed into black smoke and vanished without a trace.

“After all that rage, you didn’t come in person either?”

There was no way Bari would die so easily.

That too must have been a clone.

Like Margarete, though it didn’t have an independent consciousness and was probably just sharing awareness with the original from afar, in the end it was the same in avoiding risk.

Rusalka pulled on the rope and the trident slid free from Ragnarok’s body.

Ragnarok thrashed violently before dropping Eugene and flying away trailing blood.

Rusalka leaped up to catch the falling Eugene and landed.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Rusalka cut the ropes binding Eugene’s body.

“…Thanks.”

Eugene said reluctantly.

With any other witch he would have told them to get lost, but he knew Rusalka was better natured than her sisters.

Though she was still equally a threat to humanity and harbinger of the world’s end, at least she didn’t have sinister intentions.

Their worlds were simply different.

“Heh.”

Rusalka smiled at that grudging thanks.

His cynical words despite being caught between their affairs here tickled her fancy.

This is it.

This tough, bold nerve is the true warrior’s spirit.

Indeed I want him.

I criticized Margarete’s possessiveness, but look at me now.

“It’s good to meet again, though the timing is poor.”

“What is all this? Explain.”

“Is that how you speak to your savior?”

“You just saved me on your own…”

Eugene didn’t seem particularly happy about having his life saved again.

If anything, there was regret and bitterness first.

Yet also a hint of relief…

Reading those emotions made Rusalka even more pleased.

A true warrior should value their life yet be willing to throw it away when needed.

“Speaking of which, that was quite an unusual race earlier?”

“What an unhealthy hobby of peeping.”

“Your embarrassed look is truly adorable. You both rushed up here pushing each other aside, each trying to sacrifice themselves first. It was splendid.”

“…That person is far better than me.”

“You mean that old hunter you defeated? Of course, he too was an exemplar of a good warrior. But in the end, you won.”

“If you have nothing else to do, just leave. I’m busy.”

“To say you have other things to do with me right here, what nerve. What could that be?”

“Obviously I need to help the injured. If you really have nothing more to say, I’m going.”

Eugene turned his back.

“Wait.”

Eugene stopped at Rusalka’s words.

“It’s truly regrettable.”

“What is?”

“I want to make you my warrior.”

“I’m not the type to serve anyone.”

“Yet you’re a hunter loyal to Belle?”

“I’m not… particularly loyal.”

“Of course not. Why do you hunt? Honor? Compassion?”

“Money.”

“Pfft, hahaha! A noble warrior like you works under Belle for money? That can’t be! If that were true, I’d be even more delighted. If it’s wealth you want, I have plenty. Whatever pittance you receive, I promise double, no, triple that.”

“…If that’s all you have to say, I’m really leaving now.”

“Comrades?”

Eugene flinched heavily.

“Oho, for a warrior of your caliber to be so shaken by that one word. Indeed my eye wasn’t wrong. It was comrades. That’s why you fight.”

“What do you know…!”

“Did your comrades die? Do you fight for revenge? Or to protect their honor? Or perhaps a final request?”

“Shut up!”

Eugene spun back around and grabbed Rusalka’s collar.

“Hehehe… Good. Those eyes. Those eyes both firm yet pitiful. I like you more and more.”

“You…”

Eugene’s hands trembled.

Rusalka grasped his shaking hands.

“How pitiful indeed. Surely all those comrades you cling to have already left this world. I understand well. Among my subordinates too there is one with circumstances like yours. He was even a hunter like you.”

Among Rusalka’s royal guards, there was also a warrior who used to be a hunter.

Some had doubted Belle’s intentions, or harbored revenge after losing comrades to her ruthless decisions.

“I understand your pain. And there will be new comrades to share your burden. So come with me. It would benefit you as well.”

“You…”

Eugene shoved Rusalka away.

“Sooner or later, the world you live in will change anyway. I, too, will have much to do. I need as many excellent warriors as possible. I need someone like you.”

“Find someone else.”

Eugene turned his back once more and walked away, clearly done listening.

Rusalka quietly watched Eugene’s retreating figure.

To gain good talent requires investing time.

If anything, someone who yields after just a few words is the one to be suspicious of.

But expressing this level of sincere desire should plant at least a small spark of memory even in the most guarded target.

Let’s be satisfied with that for now.

More importantly, there are things to be done.

“Eric…”

Eric Gringham Wales, Rusalka’s one and only knight.

Eric’s loyalty was beyond question.

How long they had known each other and how much he had sacrificed.

And Rusalka too had given much in return.

Among those, most important to Eric was his position as Rusalka’s sole knight.

Rusalka knew well how much Eric was fixated on that.

Eric’s sensitive reaction when she spoke of taking in Eugene, and the suspiciously detailed information about Eugene that Charmol had passed on.

Putting all that together, she could well guess what Eric had instigated Vile to do.

That’s why she had called her sisters here today expecting Vile to appear…

Yet what appeared was Vile’s clone.

Really, every last one of them is a coward.

Those who lack confidence in themselves or have much to fear hide themselves.

In that sense…

“…”

Eugene’s back as he descended the mountain without a backward glance looked incredibly large.

An ordinary human without any special talent.

Yet he accepts death without the slightest fear and faces it proudly.

That sturdy, broad back looked similar to His from long ago who used to carry Rusalka.

“No, that would be going too far…”

To overlap an ordinary human with the world’s Creator, that might be taking it too far.

But e was excellent and noble enough to spark even that momentary thought.

Though there were many irritating things, this kind of ending wasn’t so bad.

Time to return now.

There’s much to do and much to think about.

But… in the end she didn’t appear.

My youngest sister.

* * *

Vile stared blankly at the sky.

Why did it turn out like this?

Though it was through a bio-terminal, the witches’ hostility and contempt came through clearly.

And above all, the humiliation that tore at his very core.

Humiliation.

Great humiliation. 

There is no one in this world superior to me.

With my superior intellect I grasped not only the world’s hidden secrets but even truths and laws no one else had reached.

Then why.

Why did it turn out like this?

“Alice…”

All I wanted was Alice.

Vile, who understood reality better than anyone, had long since turned his eyes to imagination.

Even renowned geniuses’ complex and verbose theses compiled over lifetimes were trivial to Vile.

Having conquered reason, it was natural to advance to the realm of emotion.

It was the obvious result.

But those fools don’t understand.

Those idiots who mocked my stories and dismissed my imagination.

…But how did that hunter know?

No, more than that… did he truly like my story?

If that were true then… perhaps…

Just then a strange sound interrupted his thoughts.

An unpleasantly bizarre noise like dragging a large, heavy piece of metal.

When he lifted his head wondering what it was, he saw a small girl approaching.

“…?”

Vile doubted his eyes.

Dirty blonde hair, vivid red eyes.

And dragging an axe larger than herself along the ground as she approached.

The curse harbored in his heart recognized its original owner and pulsed faintly.

“…Red Hood.”

Red Hood Karen stood before Vile and looked down at him.

“Hello, thief.”

“…To call me a thief when you scattered your curse everywhere so carelessly.”

Vile had merely picked up what had fallen to the ground.

He had drawn in and studied a bit of the curse Red Hood had spread throughout the world, reaching behemoth status on his own.

“That wasn’t laid out for humans like you.”

“…Have you come to threaten me too? All that about the moon… In the end it’s just power without an owner. Then whoever claims it first should be the owner. Your fighting is no different from mine…”

“Heh… How fascinating. To think a human could figure out this much.”

“Because I’ve transcended humanity.”

“Wrong. You’re still human.”

“Enough of this pointless talk. If you want to end it, then end it. I’m sick of today.”

“Ahahah, to think someone supposedly so smart could be so completely wrong.”

“What?”

“I haven’t come to torment you like my sisters. And I have no intention of ending anything.”

“Then what…”

“Rejoice. Today is your true beginning.”

Deep, unfathomable malice grinned.