Arc 7, Chapter 73 "Weitz Logun"
--Weitz Logun does not believe he can live and die upright.
The world, by and large, underestimates the phrase "like everyone else".
The phrase "like everyone else" is used to mean ordinary, mediocre, or unremarkable, but that's a clouded standard from a less-than-human being.
The Iron-Blooded City of Glarasia, that's the name of Weitz's birthplace.
It is a crazy city where weapons and armor used throughout the empire and many of the tools necessary for battle are produced, and where craftsmen who devote themselves to making armor to wound others day and night forge their steel.
About half of the inhabitants were involved in some form of armour making, and Weitz was no exception. But having had no parents when he was growing up and being forced to do odd jobs in a craftsman's workshop, he had no interest or pride in such work.
The only reason he works is to eat, and the only reason he works as a scullery maid in the workshop is because he was born in the Iron-Blooded City.
If their main industry was harness, they helped make it; if it was farming, they had a hoe.
Weitz worked silently, with no concern or interest in his work, and with the craftsmen forging the steel by his side. Some called Weitz a hard worker who didn't get along with people and didn't know what he was thinking, but most people would have thought he was a creepy guy who didn't know what he was doing.
Weitz was fine with that. He doesn't want to fit in with anyone.
He was born alone, so he deserved to be alone when he dies.
Such an ephemeral way of life, indifferent to others, was probably disliked.
When suspicions arose that materials purchased at a workshop he frequented were being diverted, Weitz was the first to come under suspicion.
Weitz, who often acted alone and had no relationship partner to protect him, had no way to clear himself of the suspicion that had been placed on him.
In the end, he was never cleared of the false accusation and Weitz was tried and convicted of a crime he did not remember. --The first tattoo is a sign of punishment to distinguish the guilty at a glance.
From the elbows of his own two arms, the tattoo is always exposed because no one wears long sleeved clothes in a city that is always hot with steel forging.
Even if he were to wear a long-sleeved dress, they would immediately know it was because he had something to be guilty of.
When you are put in the mark of a sinner, you can no longer live the same life as before.
It hadn't been a superior life before, but that's when he let go of being "like everyone else".
No longer able to work in a legitimately run workshop, Weitz turned to thievery to earn his daily bread and began stealing and diverting materials, eventually becoming a real criminal.
--In short, sin caught up with him later.
Weitz was not a sinner when he was suspected of diversion and no one listened to Weitz's side of the story. But then Weitz eventually became a sinner.
Guess it's like it was meant to be.
"If I'm horrifying, so be it......"
He has become a sinner by being tattooed and is not "like everyone else" in everyone's eyes. He does evil deeds to earn money, but he doesn't get along with others as well as he did before.
Then cut out all the bothersome relationships from the beginning.
The tattoo on his arm, which was only from the elbow down, was enlarged by his own hand to cover his shoulder and chest. Eventually it covered his upper body, then his legs, then his face and head.
A tattoo on your arm is a sign of a sinner, but a tattoo all over your body is a sign of danger that you should stay away from.
Make way, all of you, in fear and trepidation. The pathetic man who once fell a sinner, abandoned by all, is no more, and all that is left is a nasty "lesser than a man" with nothing to lose.
So--,
"--Stop, you sinner! You'll get away with this!"
Surrounded by city guards and with weapons pointed at him, Weitz quickly surrendered.
Lying bloody at his feet is the man who once worked as an apprentice craftsman in the workshop - the place where Weitz first became a sinner.
The man with his ear bitten off and crying out in blood and tears was the one who had been falsely accused of the crime Weitz had been accused of that day, and he had retaliated by leaking the rumor at the bar.
Spitting an ear in his mouth, Weitz was captured by the guards and thrown in jail.
In the Iron-Blooded City, Weitz is known as the most notorious of the lot. He was given no way out, and soon after, he was sent to the infamous Gladiator Island as a criminal slave.
He accepted it without the will to resist. He crossed the lake without the will to resist.
In the place where he was sent, he was paired up with a group of poor people in the same situation and forced to participate in a ritual to fight a terrifying demonic beast.
He doesn't care what happens. He has no intention of dying.
No matter who it costs you, no matter who you have to outsmart, you will survive, and one day.
Someday, "like everyone else"--.
"--Weitz! Take the sword! You're my only hope!!"
--He wanted to be treated like a human, "like everyone else".
△▼△▼△▼△
"Cover up......!"
Spinning around, the moment Weitz saw the kicked guard's head fly up, spraying blood, he pushed Schwarz, who was right next to him, into Tanza.
This girl in kimono has a strong power despite her young appearance.
However, she has not mastered her power. The strength of her body and her mind are so mismatched, she's too dangerous to rely on. --Schwarz and him are a good match.
Schwarz is weak in body but strong in mind. He would be able to use Tanza well.
So at this moment, it should have been right to push him to Tanza, who had a strong body but a weak mind.
And Weitz himself, who did it--,
"Oh, ohhhh......!!"
He runs forward and knocks the flying guard's head off the aisle floor with a raised arm.
A plan to stop Weitz and the others from thinking with a shocking act of beheading an ally in an instant and kicking it to the ground - but it doesn't seem that's all it is.
In fact, Weitz was able to move, though the decisions of all four except Weitz were a beat behind.
He doesn't think that's what Schwarz is after with the man he's so wary of.
Yes, Weitz thought, the next moment.
"--?!"
The black monster bird--a gladiator--crashed through the wall of the passageway right beside Weitz, who was glaring at the man who stepped into the front with an axe in his hand.
It shatters the wall half a step behind Weitz and lays waste to the passageway directly across the upper level of the island.
An attack by a flying gladiator aimed at Weitz and the others - no, no. It must be a gladiator, but the bird wasn't aiming at Weitz and the others.
"----σσ!!"
A monstrous bird appears, shattering the wall, its beak piercing the head of a guard lying on the floor.
The head of the decapitated guard, that's what the monstrous bird was aiming for, and it ran into the passageway. He doesn't know what that means, and he doesn't have time to think about it.
"I'm gonna......!"
Weitz gritted his teeth and didn't take his gaze off the man, taking in the tremendous impact that happened half a step behind him, the shards of the wall that exploded on his back and the sharp wing wounds of the gladiatorial beast.
A man who, when told of Schwarz's true identity, did not grovel, but rather increased his desire to kill - is dangerous.
A real threat, unlike Weitz's fake danger made up of tattoos.
And they're going to stop it at all costs.
"----"
The man's eyes narrowed cruelly as he saw Weitz moving forward.
Even if he didn't say anything, he could tell just by the look in his eyes that the other man was going to kill him. As it was, Weitz raised his own left arm as the man raised his axe with his left arm.
The arm that first got tattooed, became the mark of a sinner, and led him to drift to this land.
He put all his strength into it, and tried to catch the man's blow that was released--.
"Guh, gee......"
Relentlessly, the swinging axe took aim at Weitz's head from the left.
Weitz interrupts his raised arm in its path and brings his horizontal, rather than vertical, arm into contact with the blade of the axe. At the moment of impact, the bone of his elbow shatters, and the bones of his second arm and shoulder are crushed into flesh.
His vision turned red from the shock and pain, and his left arm was stained black with a completely different color than the tattoo.
But--,
"I endured it......"
The power of the axe weakened slightly as he stepped in instead of waiting.
That was the main reason why Weitz's head didn't shatter and his life didn't end. He originally had the guts to be called abnormal, but he didn't have the judgment to match it.
The combination of guts and judgment was the result of meeting a child who was more foolhardy than he was.
Hence, the encounter made Weitz's arm reach the man--,
"I'm not holding back."
His left arm was broken, and just as he was about to seize the man with his remaining right arm, the man disappeared.
--No, the man did not disappear, but he became invisible.
If they enter outside of his field of vision, he will not be able to see them in the dark and blurry space.
That's the same thing that happened. But it's not right. Strange. Suddenly, the right side of Weitz's vision, the part of him that couldn't be seen there, widened all at once.
It was as if the right side of Weitz's vision had suddenly been crushed by something.
"Weitz--!!"
Someone called Weitz, who was feeling uncomfortable without being able to find the missing man.
Slowly, he looked back and saw a broken passageway and a plume of smoke. Then he saw the head of the monster bird that had broken the passage, repelled by an axe swung by the man who had disappeared.
"----"
Beyond the man beheading the monstrous bird, he saw four people on the crumbling walkway.
Some of them are falling back and some are falling on their butts, but all of them seem to have escaped the monster bird's spear.
He wants to say something to them as they look at him in amazement and dismay.
His broken left arm hurts. For some reason, the right side of his face hurts too.
The pain pulled at his consciousness, which was somehow becoming distant.
"It was my first time......"
"Weitz......!"
"Anyone who says they believe me is......"
Muttering, Weitz understood that was what was gripping him inside his chest.
Understanding, he fell to the ground, his strength draining from his knees.
"Weitz--!!"
Again, he closed his eyes as he heard his name being emotionally shouted.
He was in a good mood.
△▼△▼△▼△
Subaru was about to run up to the fallen Weitz when a slender finger reaches out and stops me.
When he turned around, the kimono-clad girl shook her head with tears in her eyes, not allowing Subaru's impulsive behavior.
And faster than you can shake your finger off--,
"----σσ"
There was an ugly squeal that tore at his ears and the ceiling of the passageway was crushed from above.
It is above the fallen Weitz's head, the passageway under the weight crumbling with a violent sound, swallowing Weitz under the falling ceiling, and the floor falls out.
The broken passageway gave way downstairs, and Weitz, and the huge gray frog that had crushed the ceiling, were made to witness the fall headlong together.
Weitz with an axe in his left arm and a knife blow to his right eye.
"Weitz--!!"
Subaru exclaims as he reaches for the crumbling floor and ceiling and the falling passageway.
Weitz fell. Weitz jumped forward to protect Subaru and the others. Quickly, quickly, he has to jump down and save Weitz.
"It's fortunate that the second one fell. Hexenbiests are hard to kill."
And in front of the confused Subaru, Todd muttered as he looked across the collapsed aisle.
At his feet lies the corpse of a large black bird with its head chopped off. It's the hexenbiest that was killed by Todd with an axe after he ran into the aisle.
The events that happened were too rushed to digest.
What Todd did, what happened right in front of him, everything. He can't think about anything else until he's done dealing with those guys. --He can't think about Weinz.
He can't think about what happened to Weitz and what he's become.
He can't think--,
"--Hexenbiests will eat the corpse of anyone who breaks their horns."
"----"
Todd, who carried an axe on his shoulder, suddenly said so.
Subaru, who still hasn't fully accepted the situation in front of him, and everyone else besides Subaru, gasped at Todd's words and turned towards him.
Todd pointed to the dead body at his feet as he met the gazes of the four of them.
"Break the horns to make the hexenbiest obey, but I'm sure it's a lot of resentment while it's under your command. When he dies, the hexenbiest eats the corpse to spite you. It's disgusting, isn't it?"
With a shrug of the shoulders, Todd speaks of the unknown ecology of the hexenbiest.
He doesn't even want to know how he found out about it, and the information itself isn't the type of thing he would benefit from knowing in the first place.
However, it did explain what happened.
You see, the big bird ran into the aisle because the guard who had his head chopped off was the one who broke the horns and Todd knew in advance that he was going to go after the body.
He kicked her in the neck and tried to get Subaru and the others involved in the big bird going for it.
But it didn't. Because, because, because.
Because--.
"Weitz is"
"He was such a looker and such a good friend. --That's why he died."
"--ah"
Not unlike Todd, a careful account of the events that took place.
Todd's style is to kill without asking, without informing, without teaching, without giving any information at all. So why did he let them talk to him now, flippantly?
He wanted to hear it, to understand it, to make Subaru's head turn to the next question.
The connection between the two guards that were killed and the hexenbiest that jumped in.
Once that was resolved, Subaru's thoughts would turn to the next, next thing. Next, to Weitz.
Weitz is so dead that there's nothing we can do about it.
"Ah, ahhhh--!!"
He shouldn't have died. Weitz shouldn't have died.
He shouldn't have stood up to this horrible Todd in an attempt to protect Subaru and the others. He shouldn't have gone up against this monster that would have killed him if he had stood up to it.
Because if he dies here--.
"Finally, you look like a little kid."
The moment he understood Weitz's death, Subaru's head was filled with regret and impatience.
Seeing the reaction, Todd smiles, right on target, and swings his axe.
Todd's careful explanation was aimed at getting Subaru to organize his thoughts.
Weitz's death, which Subaru subconsciously tried not to think about, forcing himself to face it, to break his heart, to make him a human being with blood in his veins instead of an unobtainable enemy.
"Mr. Schwarz--!"
Subaru, who had stopped in astonishment, Hiain and Idola, who had yet to mentally regain their footing. Tanza was the one who was able to move his body ahead of the three of them.
Tanza stands in front of Subaru with her hands outstretched, looking at Todd who is coming towards her.
But then Todd frowned at Tanza's behavior.
"You're doing it all wrong."
"huh"
He says it in front of Tanza, who stands in front of him, and Todd drops to his knees in front of him. The movement is stunning, Tanza's groin, crouching Todd inserts his outstretched arm and swings it up.
Instantly, Tanza's small body floated up and was thrown directly to the side. --The great bird broke it, and into a large hole in the wall that was connected to the outside.
"ah"
Even though she has physical abilities that are unlike a child's, she can't defy gravity or the laws of physics. Naturally, his body is not heavier than a person, and Tanza weighs as much as a small girl.
In a flash, Tanza reached out, but her slender fingertips were nowhere to be found, and her body was thrown to the other side of the island.
"Go play."
Tanza was thrown down into the sky, her screams getting farther and farther down.
And so, once Tanza, who had stood her ground, was gone, there was no one left to protect Subaru and the others from Todd's axe.
"The Emperor's......"
"Huh?"
"The Emperor's son?! Are you out of your mind?!"
It was Idola who glared at Todd as he turned around and exclaimed.
His eyes bloodshot and his good-natured features burned with anger, his complaint blamed Todd for not wavering when he 'lied' that Subaru was the illegitimate son of the Emperor of Vollachia.
But Todd's answer to that appeal was simple.
--Only silently, he swung his axe to smash Idola's head in.
"Uwaah!"
Just before his head was about to be split open, Idola's clothes were yanked off his back and he fell on his butt. The axe struck out, and behind Idola's wide-eyed back, Subaru, who had pulled him back, shook his head hastily to the side.
He can't. He can't talk to him. From the very beginning, this threat was a mistake.
Subaru tried to rely on the easy option.
And they got what they deserved.
"You dodged, you failed. However--"
Todd, who was re-positioning his axe, turned to the side with a dumbfounded look on his face. The one at the end of his gaze is Hiain, who mimicked the surrounding scenery beside Idola and Subaru, who are falling on their butts.
He can't even see Hiain there, assimilated with the broken floors and walls.
But they didn't travel fast.
"You can't just disappear right in front of me."
"Schwa--"
His eyes met Todd's, and the mimicry was disrupted as soon as Hiain leaned back.
The assimilation of the previously perfect landscape becomes something very ugly and unwatchable, as if that part of the painting has been crushed.
Now there was added to it the red paint that had spewed out of Hiain.
"----"
The mimicry of his body, which is flowing with blood, is broken, and the corpse of the gray skalengecked man rolled over.
Weitz died, Tanza was thrown out, and Hiain was killed.
One after another, right in front of Subaru's eyes.
And--,
"I-it's a duel......"
With a shaky voice, Idola stands up, taking his eyes off of the slain Heane's corpse.
Just now, Idola sticks his finger at the man who killed his friends in front of him, and glares at Todd with a wandering white face, teeth clattering, his complexion red with anger, blue with fear.
A lie that he told to inspire Subaru and the others and to motivate himself at the "Sparka".
Subaru's lie is different from a cheap lie, and he carries his own ideal in the name of a lie.
"If you're a warrior--"
Idola, perhaps too idealistic, was betrayed.
"Wah!"
"--tsk"
It must have been a slim hope, but Idola's offer was desperate and hard-working.
Todd interrupted and shouted out loud, attacking Idola for bravado. And then he inserted his blade into the void that was created.
"Gah"
"I'm not a warrior. I'm a soldier."
Idola, on his knees, reaches a trembling hand to his neck. In the middle of his throat was Todd's knife, the sharp point of it sticking out of the back of his neck.
The axe was in the middle of the head, and the axe was in the middle of the body. And faster than he could pull it out, the axe smashed right over Idola's head.
"--ah"
Idola falls forward, and Todd pulls a knife from her body. The body of Idola, which had been carelessly rolled over, and the body of Hiain lined up like a nightmare.
Beyond, Weitz's body is buried in the debris of the crumbling rubble.
Tanza, who was thrown down, didn't come back, something must have happened to her when she was dropped from the height. Come to think of it, the frog that fell with Weitz must be down there too.
If that's the case, then Tanza, and the other gladiators on this island are--.
"What's the real story?"
"huh......"
"Are you really the child of His Imperial Highness?"
Todd, who carried an axe on his shoulder, looked down at Subaru, who slumped down with empty eyes.
As he watches Subaru, who has lost his friends and has no energy to escape, Subaru understands that he has been kept alive until he is the last one.
The lie Subaru told, that he was the Emperor's illegitimate son, had properly driven a wedge into Todd.
He had also thought about the possibility that Subaru was seriously the Emperor's illegitimate son.
"Then......"
"Yeah?"
"Why don't you just surrender or something? I'm the Emperor's......"
If he had considered the possibility that it could have been his son, he would have had room to think about Subaru and his family's appeal.
The reason why Subaru was willing to go along with this plan as it was, because he thought it was the best way to rebuild the mentality of his "union", and also because he had a ray of hope.
It's possible that Todd would choose to raise the white flag for survival rather than kill each other.
But as a result, Subaru lost all his friends and Todd took hold of his life.
"Why, what? You're......"
"I'm no good to you if I surrender and you kill me for any reason you can think of."
"----"
"It's always better to hear the truth of a matter when it's in our favor. You can think and make mistakes. --And I can feel rest assured."
Subaru exhaled at the last reason, the way Todd said it, which seemed to be the most important.
It was as if Todd had been choking him the whole time.
"Whether you're the Emperor's illegitimate son or not, it's a curious name."
"N-name......?"
"Natsuki Schwarz, that sounds like the name of a scary guy I know. And to top it off, you smell a lot like him, too."
With a small sniff, Todd looks at Subaru with cold eyes.
He was told about the smell, and the first time of the massacre for that matter - when he learned that Todd had come to the Gladiator Island, he was also told that.
The smell, when he says it like that, Subaru had a bad feeling in his head.
"You know about the miasma?"
"Miasma? Oh, no, no, no. Don't get me wrong. It's a real stink, body odor. I've got a bit of a nose for it. That's why it's so strange."
"----"
"--Do you have a brother or something? If so, I'd be happy to let you live to negotiate with him."
What he continued to do, denying Subaru's doubts, was to make a surprising suggestion.
He can't believe the thought of letting him live came out of Todd's mouth. The reason being, the older brother that Todd is probably referring to is none other than Subaru himself.
He thinks the Subaru with extended limbs is the brother of the shrunken Subaru.
More to the point, he also seems to recall Todd calling himself "Natsumi Schwarz" when he was dressed as a woman, so he might be suspected of being related to that "Natsumi Schwarz" as well.
In any case, if the option of "not killing him" was created in Todd.
"----"
The deaths of Weitz, Hiain, and Idola lie just around the corner.
If he close his eyes, he can also picture the deaths of Gustav and Old Man Null. He could also see the deaths of many other gladiators he had seen along the way, and their corpses.
They're all dead, all of them. They're dead, and.
--And because Subaru couldn't die.
"......D-do you know anything about your brother?"
He took advantage of Todd's misunderstanding and switched his attention to moving on with the story.
Somehow, if Todd is wary of the larger Subaru, he uses that caution to keep the smaller Subaru alive.
If that's how he can get through this--.
"--Wait."
"What?"
Subaru opened his mouth and tried to string together words that would get him through this. Subaru's face was grabbed by Todd's outstretched palm, and through the gap between his fingers, he could see his eyes.
Squatting down, Todd grabbed Subaru's face and gave him a terribly cold look.
And--,
"--You tried to manipulate me, didn't you?"
There's a dull thud, and a sharp sensation slides into his chest.
Subaru's eyes widened as he felt the coldness of the cut with the contents of his body. Then, a beat later, a hefty scream of pain in the back of his head, so much so that his limbs went numb.
The grand scream made Subaru's own mouth scream as well.
"Gya, giii"
"Failures, failures, there is no time to be careless or idling about."
A knife too big for Subaru's chest is deeply embedded in his chest.
It's not about pulling it out or not pulling it out, it's too big. It's stuck. It's breaking something inside, something that's important, that's in his chest, maybe.
Subaru's body trembled as blood bubbles floated from the edges of his mouth, spilling red drool.
He coughed and a reddened packet fell from his mouth.
It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter anymore either. He can't use it. He couldn't use it. He has to die. He can't die. He, cannot, die.
"Don't move."
Todd put his own foot on Subaru's stomach as he rolled over and tried to crawl away from the scene. He stopped him from moving, from escaping.
With a stop, Todd raises his axe in front of Subaru.
It hurts, and it's scary, and it's bad, and it's yucky, and anyway, anyway, this red, this cold pain, this, this, anyway, has to stop, stop.
"I, can't, die......"
"Ready."
Weakly, he protected his head with his lifted hand. It was no good.
The falling axe blade smashed Subaru's hand, his head beneath it, and his life--.
△▼△▼△▼△
"--"
It smashes his head open and spills out all his contents.
A scream exploded in the back of Subaru's throat as he felt like he had seen such a horrible sight. He reached out his shaking hands to touch his head with both of his own.
Not cracked. There was a head that wasn't cracked, a chest that didn't hurt, a life that wasn't dead.
When Subaru confirmed this, he let out a breath of relief and looked up to see--,
"--ah"
Slowly, there was a man covered in tattoos looking back at him.
Weitz's left arm is mangled by an axe, and his right eye is pierced by a knife, and he is bleeding a tremendous amount of blood.
"It was my first time......"
Weitz's bloodied lips quivered and spilled the words.
Seeing this, Subaru let out a pitiful, pitiful breath, "Ah."
"Anyone who says they believe me is......"
"AAAHHH--!!"
Weitz's body falls at an angle as he spills out his powerless words.
No matter what he reaches for, no matter what he does, he can never save Weitz's body again.
He shouldn't have died. Subaru shouldn't have died.
He should never have confirmed it.
The starting point for Subaru to start over from "death" - which keeps getting pushed more and more.
"Aaahhh--!!"
--Because Natsuki Subaru's "heart" will be broken when there's someone who can never be saved.
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--Weitz Logun does not believe he can live and die upright.
The world, by and large, underestimates the phrase "like everyone else".
The phrase "like everyone else" is used to mean ordinary, mediocre, or unremarkable, but that's a clouded standard from a less-than-human being.
The Iron-Blooded City of Glarasia, that's the name of Weitz's birthplace.
It is a crazy city where weapons and armor used throughout the empire and many of the tools necessary for battle are produced, and where craftsmen who devote themselves to making armor to wound others day and night forge their steel.
About half of the inhabitants were involved in some form of armour making, and Weitz was no exception. But having had no parents when he was growing up and being forced to do odd jobs in a craftsman's workshop, he had no interest or pride in such work.
The only reason he works is to eat, and the only reason he works as a scullery maid in the workshop is because he was born in the Iron-Blooded City.
If their main industry was harness, they helped make it; if it was farming, they had a hoe.
Weitz worked silently, with no concern or interest in his work, and with the craftsmen forging the steel by his side. Some called Weitz a hard worker who didn't get along with people and didn't know what he was thinking, but most people would have thought he was a creepy guy who didn't know what he was doing.
Weitz was fine with that. He doesn't want to fit in with anyone.
He was born alone, so he deserved to be alone when he dies.
Such an ephemeral way of life, indifferent to others, was probably disliked.
When suspicions arose that materials purchased at a workshop he frequented were being diverted, Weitz was the first to come under suspicion.
Weitz, who often acted alone and had no relationship partner to protect him, had no way to clear himself of the suspicion that had been placed on him.
In the end, he was never cleared of the false accusation and Weitz was tried and convicted of a crime he did not remember. --The first tattoo is a sign of punishment to distinguish the guilty at a glance.
From the elbows of his own two arms, the tattoo is always exposed because no one wears long sleeved clothes in a city that is always hot with steel forging.
Even if he were to wear a long-sleeved dress, they would immediately know it was because he had something to be guilty of.
When you are put in the mark of a sinner, you can no longer live the same life as before.
It hadn't been a superior life before, but that's when he let go of being "like everyone else".
No longer able to work in a legitimately run workshop, Weitz turned to thievery to earn his daily bread and began stealing and diverting materials, eventually becoming a real criminal.
--In short, sin caught up with him later.
Weitz was not a sinner when he was suspected of diversion and no one listened to Weitz's side of the story. But then Weitz eventually became a sinner.
Guess it's like it was meant to be.
"If I'm horrifying, so be it......"
He has become a sinner by being tattooed and is not "like everyone else" in everyone's eyes. He does evil deeds to earn money, but he doesn't get along with others as well as he did before.
Then cut out all the bothersome relationships from the beginning.
The tattoo on his arm, which was only from the elbow down, was enlarged by his own hand to cover his shoulder and chest. Eventually it covered his upper body, then his legs, then his face and head.
A tattoo on your arm is a sign of a sinner, but a tattoo all over your body is a sign of danger that you should stay away from.
Make way, all of you, in fear and trepidation. The pathetic man who once fell a sinner, abandoned by all, is no more, and all that is left is a nasty "lesser than a man" with nothing to lose.
So--,
"--Stop, you sinner! You'll get away with this!"
Surrounded by city guards and with weapons pointed at him, Weitz quickly surrendered.
Lying bloody at his feet is the man who once worked as an apprentice craftsman in the workshop - the place where Weitz first became a sinner.
The man with his ear bitten off and crying out in blood and tears was the one who had been falsely accused of the crime Weitz had been accused of that day, and he had retaliated by leaking the rumor at the bar.
Spitting an ear in his mouth, Weitz was captured by the guards and thrown in jail.
In the Iron-Blooded City, Weitz is known as the most notorious of the lot. He was given no way out, and soon after, he was sent to the infamous Gladiator Island as a criminal slave.
He accepted it without the will to resist. He crossed the lake without the will to resist.
In the place where he was sent, he was paired up with a group of poor people in the same situation and forced to participate in a ritual to fight a terrifying demonic beast.
He doesn't care what happens. He has no intention of dying.
No matter who it costs you, no matter who you have to outsmart, you will survive, and one day.
Someday, "like everyone else"--.
"--Weitz! Take the sword! You're my only hope!!"
--He wanted to be treated like a human, "like everyone else".
△▼△▼△▼△
"Cover up......!"
Spinning around, the moment Weitz saw the kicked guard's head fly up, spraying blood, he pushed Schwarz, who was right next to him, into Tanza.
This girl in kimono has a strong power despite her young appearance.
However, she has not mastered her power. The strength of her body and her mind are so mismatched, she's too dangerous to rely on. --Schwarz and him are a good match.
Schwarz is weak in body but strong in mind. He would be able to use Tanza well.
So at this moment, it should have been right to push him to Tanza, who had a strong body but a weak mind.
And Weitz himself, who did it--,
"Oh, ohhhh......!!"
He runs forward and knocks the flying guard's head off the aisle floor with a raised arm.
A plan to stop Weitz and the others from thinking with a shocking act of beheading an ally in an instant and kicking it to the ground - but it doesn't seem that's all it is.
In fact, Weitz was able to move, though the decisions of all four except Weitz were a beat behind.
He doesn't think that's what Schwarz is after with the man he's so wary of.
Yes, Weitz thought, the next moment.
"--?!"
The black monster bird--a gladiator--crashed through the wall of the passageway right beside Weitz, who was glaring at the man who stepped into the front with an axe in his hand.
It shatters the wall half a step behind Weitz and lays waste to the passageway directly across the upper level of the island.
An attack by a flying gladiator aimed at Weitz and the others - no, no. It must be a gladiator, but the bird wasn't aiming at Weitz and the others.
"----σσ!!"
A monstrous bird appears, shattering the wall, its beak piercing the head of a guard lying on the floor.
The head of the decapitated guard, that's what the monstrous bird was aiming for, and it ran into the passageway. He doesn't know what that means, and he doesn't have time to think about it.
"I'm gonna......!"
Weitz gritted his teeth and didn't take his gaze off the man, taking in the tremendous impact that happened half a step behind him, the shards of the wall that exploded on his back and the sharp wing wounds of the gladiatorial beast.
A man who, when told of Schwarz's true identity, did not grovel, but rather increased his desire to kill - is dangerous.
A real threat, unlike Weitz's fake danger made up of tattoos.
And they're going to stop it at all costs.
"----"
The man's eyes narrowed cruelly as he saw Weitz moving forward.
Even if he didn't say anything, he could tell just by the look in his eyes that the other man was going to kill him. As it was, Weitz raised his own left arm as the man raised his axe with his left arm.
The arm that first got tattooed, became the mark of a sinner, and led him to drift to this land.
He put all his strength into it, and tried to catch the man's blow that was released--.
"Guh, gee......"
Relentlessly, the swinging axe took aim at Weitz's head from the left.
Weitz interrupts his raised arm in its path and brings his horizontal, rather than vertical, arm into contact with the blade of the axe. At the moment of impact, the bone of his elbow shatters, and the bones of his second arm and shoulder are crushed into flesh.
His vision turned red from the shock and pain, and his left arm was stained black with a completely different color than the tattoo.
But--,
"I endured it......"
The power of the axe weakened slightly as he stepped in instead of waiting.
That was the main reason why Weitz's head didn't shatter and his life didn't end. He originally had the guts to be called abnormal, but he didn't have the judgment to match it.
The combination of guts and judgment was the result of meeting a child who was more foolhardy than he was.
Hence, the encounter made Weitz's arm reach the man--,
"I'm not holding back."
His left arm was broken, and just as he was about to seize the man with his remaining right arm, the man disappeared.
--No, the man did not disappear, but he became invisible.
If they enter outside of his field of vision, he will not be able to see them in the dark and blurry space.
That's the same thing that happened. But it's not right. Strange. Suddenly, the right side of Weitz's vision, the part of him that couldn't be seen there, widened all at once.
It was as if the right side of Weitz's vision had suddenly been crushed by something.
"Weitz--!!"
Someone called Weitz, who was feeling uncomfortable without being able to find the missing man.
Slowly, he looked back and saw a broken passageway and a plume of smoke. Then he saw the head of the monster bird that had broken the passage, repelled by an axe swung by the man who had disappeared.
"----"
Beyond the man beheading the monstrous bird, he saw four people on the crumbling walkway.
Some of them are falling back and some are falling on their butts, but all of them seem to have escaped the monster bird's spear.
He wants to say something to them as they look at him in amazement and dismay.
His broken left arm hurts. For some reason, the right side of his face hurts too.
The pain pulled at his consciousness, which was somehow becoming distant.
"It was my first time......"
"Weitz......!"
"Anyone who says they believe me is......"
Muttering, Weitz understood that was what was gripping him inside his chest.
Understanding, he fell to the ground, his strength draining from his knees.
"Weitz--!!"
Again, he closed his eyes as he heard his name being emotionally shouted.
He was in a good mood.
△▼△▼△▼△
Subaru was about to run up to the fallen Weitz when a slender finger reaches out and stops me.
When he turned around, the kimono-clad girl shook her head with tears in her eyes, not allowing Subaru's impulsive behavior.
And faster than you can shake your finger off--,
"----σσ"
There was an ugly squeal that tore at his ears and the ceiling of the passageway was crushed from above.
It is above the fallen Weitz's head, the passageway under the weight crumbling with a violent sound, swallowing Weitz under the falling ceiling, and the floor falls out.
The broken passageway gave way downstairs, and Weitz, and the huge gray frog that had crushed the ceiling, were made to witness the fall headlong together.
Weitz with an axe in his left arm and a knife blow to his right eye.
"Weitz--!!"
Subaru exclaims as he reaches for the crumbling floor and ceiling and the falling passageway.
Weitz fell. Weitz jumped forward to protect Subaru and the others. Quickly, quickly, he has to jump down and save Weitz.
"It's fortunate that the second one fell. Hexenbiests are hard to kill."
And in front of the confused Subaru, Todd muttered as he looked across the collapsed aisle.
At his feet lies the corpse of a large black bird with its head chopped off. It's the hexenbiest that was killed by Todd with an axe after he ran into the aisle.
The events that happened were too rushed to digest.
What Todd did, what happened right in front of him, everything. He can't think about anything else until he's done dealing with those guys. --He can't think about Weinz.
He can't think about what happened to Weitz and what he's become.
He can't think--,
"--Hexenbiests will eat the corpse of anyone who breaks their horns."
"----"
Todd, who carried an axe on his shoulder, suddenly said so.
Subaru, who still hasn't fully accepted the situation in front of him, and everyone else besides Subaru, gasped at Todd's words and turned towards him.
Todd pointed to the dead body at his feet as he met the gazes of the four of them.
"Break the horns to make the hexenbiest obey, but I'm sure it's a lot of resentment while it's under your command. When he dies, the hexenbiest eats the corpse to spite you. It's disgusting, isn't it?"
With a shrug of the shoulders, Todd speaks of the unknown ecology of the hexenbiest.
He doesn't even want to know how he found out about it, and the information itself isn't the type of thing he would benefit from knowing in the first place.
However, it did explain what happened.
You see, the big bird ran into the aisle because the guard who had his head chopped off was the one who broke the horns and Todd knew in advance that he was going to go after the body.
He kicked her in the neck and tried to get Subaru and the others involved in the big bird going for it.
But it didn't. Because, because, because.
Because--.
"Weitz is"
"He was such a looker and such a good friend. --That's why he died."
"--ah"
Not unlike Todd, a careful account of the events that took place.
Todd's style is to kill without asking, without informing, without teaching, without giving any information at all. So why did he let them talk to him now, flippantly?
He wanted to hear it, to understand it, to make Subaru's head turn to the next question.
The connection between the two guards that were killed and the hexenbiest that jumped in.
Once that was resolved, Subaru's thoughts would turn to the next, next thing. Next, to Weitz.
Weitz is so dead that there's nothing we can do about it.
"Ah, ahhhh--!!"
He shouldn't have died. Weitz shouldn't have died.
He shouldn't have stood up to this horrible Todd in an attempt to protect Subaru and the others. He shouldn't have gone up against this monster that would have killed him if he had stood up to it.
Because if he dies here--.
"Finally, you look like a little kid."
The moment he understood Weitz's death, Subaru's head was filled with regret and impatience.
Seeing the reaction, Todd smiles, right on target, and swings his axe.
Todd's careful explanation was aimed at getting Subaru to organize his thoughts.
Weitz's death, which Subaru subconsciously tried not to think about, forcing himself to face it, to break his heart, to make him a human being with blood in his veins instead of an unobtainable enemy.
"Mr. Schwarz--!"
Subaru, who had stopped in astonishment, Hiain and Idola, who had yet to mentally regain their footing. Tanza was the one who was able to move his body ahead of the three of them.
Tanza stands in front of Subaru with her hands outstretched, looking at Todd who is coming towards her.
But then Todd frowned at Tanza's behavior.
"You're doing it all wrong."
"huh"
He says it in front of Tanza, who stands in front of him, and Todd drops to his knees in front of him. The movement is stunning, Tanza's groin, crouching Todd inserts his outstretched arm and swings it up.
Instantly, Tanza's small body floated up and was thrown directly to the side. --The great bird broke it, and into a large hole in the wall that was connected to the outside.
"ah"
Even though she has physical abilities that are unlike a child's, she can't defy gravity or the laws of physics. Naturally, his body is not heavier than a person, and Tanza weighs as much as a small girl.
In a flash, Tanza reached out, but her slender fingertips were nowhere to be found, and her body was thrown to the other side of the island.
"Go play."
Tanza was thrown down into the sky, her screams getting farther and farther down.
And so, once Tanza, who had stood her ground, was gone, there was no one left to protect Subaru and the others from Todd's axe.
"The Emperor's......"
"Huh?"
"The Emperor's son?! Are you out of your mind?!"
It was Idola who glared at Todd as he turned around and exclaimed.
His eyes bloodshot and his good-natured features burned with anger, his complaint blamed Todd for not wavering when he 'lied' that Subaru was the illegitimate son of the Emperor of Vollachia.
But Todd's answer to that appeal was simple.
--Only silently, he swung his axe to smash Idola's head in.
"Uwaah!"
Just before his head was about to be split open, Idola's clothes were yanked off his back and he fell on his butt. The axe struck out, and behind Idola's wide-eyed back, Subaru, who had pulled him back, shook his head hastily to the side.
He can't. He can't talk to him. From the very beginning, this threat was a mistake.
Subaru tried to rely on the easy option.
And they got what they deserved.
"You dodged, you failed. However--"
Todd, who was re-positioning his axe, turned to the side with a dumbfounded look on his face. The one at the end of his gaze is Hiain, who mimicked the surrounding scenery beside Idola and Subaru, who are falling on their butts.
He can't even see Hiain there, assimilated with the broken floors and walls.
But they didn't travel fast.
"You can't just disappear right in front of me."
"Schwa--"
His eyes met Todd's, and the mimicry was disrupted as soon as Hiain leaned back.
The assimilation of the previously perfect landscape becomes something very ugly and unwatchable, as if that part of the painting has been crushed.
Now there was added to it the red paint that had spewed out of Hiain.
"----"
The mimicry of his body, which is flowing with blood, is broken, and the corpse of the gray skalengecked man rolled over.
Weitz died, Tanza was thrown out, and Hiain was killed.
One after another, right in front of Subaru's eyes.
And--,
"I-it's a duel......"
With a shaky voice, Idola stands up, taking his eyes off of the slain Heane's corpse.
Just now, Idola sticks his finger at the man who killed his friends in front of him, and glares at Todd with a wandering white face, teeth clattering, his complexion red with anger, blue with fear.
A lie that he told to inspire Subaru and the others and to motivate himself at the "Sparka".
Subaru's lie is different from a cheap lie, and he carries his own ideal in the name of a lie.
"If you're a warrior--"
Idola, perhaps too idealistic, was betrayed.
"Wah!"
"--tsk"
It must have been a slim hope, but Idola's offer was desperate and hard-working.
Todd interrupted and shouted out loud, attacking Idola for bravado. And then he inserted his blade into the void that was created.
"Gah"
"I'm not a warrior. I'm a soldier."
Idola, on his knees, reaches a trembling hand to his neck. In the middle of his throat was Todd's knife, the sharp point of it sticking out of the back of his neck.
The axe was in the middle of the head, and the axe was in the middle of the body. And faster than he could pull it out, the axe smashed right over Idola's head.
"--ah"
Idola falls forward, and Todd pulls a knife from her body. The body of Idola, which had been carelessly rolled over, and the body of Hiain lined up like a nightmare.
Beyond, Weitz's body is buried in the debris of the crumbling rubble.
Tanza, who was thrown down, didn't come back, something must have happened to her when she was dropped from the height. Come to think of it, the frog that fell with Weitz must be down there too.
If that's the case, then Tanza, and the other gladiators on this island are--.
"What's the real story?"
"huh......"
"Are you really the child of His Imperial Highness?"
Todd, who carried an axe on his shoulder, looked down at Subaru, who slumped down with empty eyes.
As he watches Subaru, who has lost his friends and has no energy to escape, Subaru understands that he has been kept alive until he is the last one.
The lie Subaru told, that he was the Emperor's illegitimate son, had properly driven a wedge into Todd.
He had also thought about the possibility that Subaru was seriously the Emperor's illegitimate son.
"Then......"
"Yeah?"
"Why don't you just surrender or something? I'm the Emperor's......"
If he had considered the possibility that it could have been his son, he would have had room to think about Subaru and his family's appeal.
The reason why Subaru was willing to go along with this plan as it was, because he thought it was the best way to rebuild the mentality of his "union", and also because he had a ray of hope.
It's possible that Todd would choose to raise the white flag for survival rather than kill each other.
But as a result, Subaru lost all his friends and Todd took hold of his life.
"Why, what? You're......"
"I'm no good to you if I surrender and you kill me for any reason you can think of."
"----"
"It's always better to hear the truth of a matter when it's in our favor. You can think and make mistakes. --And I can feel rest assured."
Subaru exhaled at the last reason, the way Todd said it, which seemed to be the most important.
It was as if Todd had been choking him the whole time.
"Whether you're the Emperor's illegitimate son or not, it's a curious name."
"N-name......?"
"Natsuki Schwarz, that sounds like the name of a scary guy I know. And to top it off, you smell a lot like him, too."
With a small sniff, Todd looks at Subaru with cold eyes.
He was told about the smell, and the first time of the massacre for that matter - when he learned that Todd had come to the Gladiator Island, he was also told that.
The smell, when he says it like that, Subaru had a bad feeling in his head.
"You know about the miasma?"
"Miasma? Oh, no, no, no. Don't get me wrong. It's a real stink, body odor. I've got a bit of a nose for it. That's why it's so strange."
"----"
"--Do you have a brother or something? If so, I'd be happy to let you live to negotiate with him."
What he continued to do, denying Subaru's doubts, was to make a surprising suggestion.
He can't believe the thought of letting him live came out of Todd's mouth. The reason being, the older brother that Todd is probably referring to is none other than Subaru himself.
He thinks the Subaru with extended limbs is the brother of the shrunken Subaru.
More to the point, he also seems to recall Todd calling himself "Natsumi Schwarz" when he was dressed as a woman, so he might be suspected of being related to that "Natsumi Schwarz" as well.
In any case, if the option of "not killing him" was created in Todd.
"----"
The deaths of Weitz, Hiain, and Idola lie just around the corner.
If he close his eyes, he can also picture the deaths of Gustav and Old Man Null. He could also see the deaths of many other gladiators he had seen along the way, and their corpses.
They're all dead, all of them. They're dead, and.
--And because Subaru couldn't die.
"......D-do you know anything about your brother?"
He took advantage of Todd's misunderstanding and switched his attention to moving on with the story.
Somehow, if Todd is wary of the larger Subaru, he uses that caution to keep the smaller Subaru alive.
If that's how he can get through this--.
"--Wait."
"What?"
Subaru opened his mouth and tried to string together words that would get him through this. Subaru's face was grabbed by Todd's outstretched palm, and through the gap between his fingers, he could see his eyes.
Squatting down, Todd grabbed Subaru's face and gave him a terribly cold look.
And--,
"--You tried to manipulate me, didn't you?"
There's a dull thud, and a sharp sensation slides into his chest.
Subaru's eyes widened as he felt the coldness of the cut with the contents of his body. Then, a beat later, a hefty scream of pain in the back of his head, so much so that his limbs went numb.
The grand scream made Subaru's own mouth scream as well.
"Gya, giii"
"Failures, failures, there is no time to be careless or idling about."
A knife too big for Subaru's chest is deeply embedded in his chest.
It's not about pulling it out or not pulling it out, it's too big. It's stuck. It's breaking something inside, something that's important, that's in his chest, maybe.
Subaru's body trembled as blood bubbles floated from the edges of his mouth, spilling red drool.
He coughed and a reddened packet fell from his mouth.
It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter anymore either. He can't use it. He couldn't use it. He has to die. He can't die. He, cannot, die.
"Don't move."
Todd put his own foot on Subaru's stomach as he rolled over and tried to crawl away from the scene. He stopped him from moving, from escaping.
With a stop, Todd raises his axe in front of Subaru.
It hurts, and it's scary, and it's bad, and it's yucky, and anyway, anyway, this red, this cold pain, this, this, anyway, has to stop, stop.
"I, can't, die......"
"Ready."
Weakly, he protected his head with his lifted hand. It was no good.
The falling axe blade smashed Subaru's hand, his head beneath it, and his life--.
△▼△▼△▼△
"--"
It smashes his head open and spills out all his contents.
A scream exploded in the back of Subaru's throat as he felt like he had seen such a horrible sight. He reached out his shaking hands to touch his head with both of his own.
Not cracked. There was a head that wasn't cracked, a chest that didn't hurt, a life that wasn't dead.
When Subaru confirmed this, he let out a breath of relief and looked up to see--,
"--ah"
Slowly, there was a man covered in tattoos looking back at him.
Weitz's left arm is mangled by an axe, and his right eye is pierced by a knife, and he is bleeding a tremendous amount of blood.
"It was my first time......"
Weitz's bloodied lips quivered and spilled the words.
Seeing this, Subaru let out a pitiful, pitiful breath, "Ah."
"Anyone who says they believe me is......"
"AAAHHH--!!"
Weitz's body falls at an angle as he spills out his powerless words.
No matter what he reaches for, no matter what he does, he can never save Weitz's body again.
He shouldn't have died. Subaru shouldn't have died.
He should never have confirmed it.
The starting point for Subaru to start over from "death" - which keeps getting pushed more and more.
"Aaahhh--!!"
--Because Natsuki Subaru's "heart" will be broken when there's someone who can never be saved.