To have fulfillment means there is lack.
To say there is no lack is to say there is no fulfillment either.
Then perhaps life is nothing more than the repetition of pouring fulfillment into a bottomless lack.
To keep wandering in search of fulfillment, even knowing there is no end—perhaps that is the essence of life.
That was why the girl was always curious.
What was love?
No one had ever loved her. Not even her parents had loved her.
It did not particularly matter. She had not loved them either.
No—when she had never even understood what love was in the first place, how could she love?
How could she be loved?
That was why the girl was always curious.
What was love?
When she walked down the street, everything she heard was songs filled with love.
Songs that yearned for love, resented love, longed for love.
When she sat by the window and looked outside, what she saw were people whispering love.
Families and lovers who spent their lives together under the name of love.
When she turned on the TV, what came on was always a story about love.
Stories of crying because of love, being happy because of love, rejoicing because of love.
Men and women who had come out in search of love.
Stories of what they went through while loving. People enjoying them.
The whole world sang of love, spoke of love, and shared love.
The girl who had not been loved even by her parents, and who had not loved them, could not help but wonder.
What in the world was love? How extraordinary a thing was it, that love had seeped into everything in the world?
It was both a question that would follow her for life and a lack that had to be resolved.
And so the girl wandered in search of fulfillment.
Even if it was a lack that could never be filled.
Even if it was an emotion she could never understand.
“I love you.”
Perhaps it was precisely because of that that she yearned for it endlessly.
* * *
[Hidden Trait: Violence Is Not Allowed! (Endurance: 441 / 1000)]
It was different from before.
A scarlet aura that went beyond a simple skill, carrying something like a powerful will whose nature he could not identify.
「Trait - ‘Can’t Live Without Style!’ is active」
Even amid that, he was barely able to preserve the bare minimum of reason.
A mind far narrower and feebler than before.
A tiny little fence.
And occupying the rest was only love for Airaitz.
A blind devotion that made him feel as though he could do anything for her sake.
The reason opposing that heart, far too immense, was so very small.
[Hidden Trait: Violence Is Not Allowed! (Endurance: 479 / 1000)]
His mind was hazy.
Airaitz was lying with her head resting on his lap as he sat there blankly.
“I love you.”
When he gently brushed her hair back, Airaitz smiled bashfully.
Because he found that sight lovely, the words slipped out before he knew it.
“I love you, Airaitz.”
In the deepest part of that emotion, a fierce battle was taking place.
Compared to the scarlet emotion surging in, the space occupied by reason was far too narrow, but that made it all the more solid.
It was huddling together, struggling to expand its territory even little by little.
Of course, that advance was exceedingly slow and faint.
“Hug me.”
Since she spread her arms with a bright smile, he smiled back and hugged her tightly.
The warmth that reached him and her pleasant smile made him feel utterly happy.
[Hidden Trait: Violence Is Not Allowed! (Endurance: (500 / 1000)]
He ignored the endurance rapidly shooting upward.
Because he no longer even knew what he was enduring.
“Tsk.”
Ataolf entered, clicking his tongue as if he found the sight pathetic.
At that sight, anger suddenly rose in him.
To treat their noble love with such contempt.
It was hard to bear.
“Mm. It’s all right, Hio. As long as we love each other, that’s enough, isn’t it?”
But at Airaitz’s words, he struggled to suppress his anger and hugged her tightly once more.
As expected of Airaitz. So kind.
“I love you.”
“Mm. I love you too.”
* * *
It was not easy to tell how much time had passed.
His mind was hazy. Simply clinging to one strand of reason was already all he could manage.
“Shall we go outside?”
At those words, he came to his senses with a start and was led outside by her hand.
They walked outside along the gray castle wall, and the hand clasped in his was so warm that he suddenly found himself smiling.
So when he smiled, Airaitz smiled along with him.
As they continued walking, holding hands even more tightly, it felt as though the two of them were walking down a road where cherry blossoms were in full bloom.
Of course, around them there was only thick fog instead of cherry blossoms.
* * *
Just a little, but the range of his mental barrier seemed to have widened. From the level of instinctively just barely protecting his reason, it had reached the point where, faintly though it was, he could think.
“Hio.”
“Mm?”
“Do you love me?”
“Of course. Obviously.”
Of course, it was a negligible level. The charm that had seized his body and mind was powerful, and what occupied most of his heart was still Airaitz.
“Hug me.”
By now, having her slip into his arms felt quite natural.
“Mm. I think I understand a little now. I used to wonder why people made such a fuss because they couldn’t hug each other.”
Airaitz murmured something he could not understand and burrowed deeper into his embrace.
When he stroked her head with a smile that came to him on its own, she soon fell asleep just like that.
“Good night, Airaitz.”
[Hidden Trait: Violence Is Not Allowed! (Endurance: 582 / 1000)]
* * *
He was certain there had been something important he had to do, but he could not remember it at all.
That was one thing, but the very act of having such thoughts felt unfamiliar.
“What are you thinking about?”
Airaitz suddenly poked her face in with a smile.
“Just… I feel like I forgot something.”
“Don’t worry about it. We only have to think about us. Hio.”
At Airaitz’s touch as she cupped his cheek, he ended up smiling and nodding.
“Right?”
When he placed his hand over hers, Airaitz smiled happily.
And Hio, too, smiled back as if he were happy.
* * *
As that daily life repeated, change came abruptly.
“You and that mage are to actively join the battle now.”
Ataolf said it in a voice that was unpleasant no matter how many times one heard it. It was, in truth, no different from a notice.
“The Imperial Army’s fatigue has reached its limit. Now is the perfect time. Airaitz, you take that mage and deal with the Imperial Army. With him, you should be able to sweep them away easily. I’m holding Vitalianus in check.”
“Why should I do that?”
“…What?”
But Airaitz stared straight into Ataolf’s eyes, as though she had no intention whatsoever of cooperating.
“You never said you’d be using Hio in battle.”
“I also never said I wouldn’t use him.”
“Anyway, no. We’re busy.”
“It may be slow, but they’ll reach this place one day. Are you saying that while understanding that you, too, will die when that happens, Airaitz?”
“That wouldn’t be so bad either.”
When he could not get through to her, black fog began to drift from Ataolf’s body.
“Then will you die by my hand here?”
“After I die, can you handle what comes next?”
Even at those words, Ataolf did not back down. Because by now, he needed Airaitz’s cooperation.
“Do you think I can’t extract my own body from this fog? I simply need to use that Hio Pavlenko, whom you love so dearly, as bait and withdraw.”
Ataolf approached one step at a time.
The fog flowing from his body began to press in on Airaitz.
Of course, from Airaitz’s perspective, the words that followed were a far greater problem than such pressure.
“And before I leave, I will make sure to kill Hio Pavlenko.”
Airaitz stood there without answering, then suddenly turned around and nestled into Hio’s arms.
Her head lowered and her gaze fell to the floor as she spoke in a murmur.
“He really says such mean things. Right, Hio?”
“…Yeah.”
“As expected of the leader of Black Fang. Isn’t that a threat worthy of the worst villain? How could he try to tear us apart?”
“Yeah.”
“…Do you love me?”
“Mm. I do.”
At that answer, Airaitz hugged Hio’s body even tighter. Only, her head lowered even further.
After a brief silence in that state, she finally forced out the words.
“…Since when?”
Hio answered calmly.
“Not long.”
“Mm. I see.”
At that exchange, irritation began to surge in Ataolf.
Letting them have their way had its limits. To be playing at love even in this situation.
It was truly ridiculous.
However, the conversation that followed was somewhat puzzling.
“Then why didn’t you move right away? Why were you staying still?”
Airaitz asked, her gaze still fixed on the floor.
And Hio’s answer was somewhat out of the blue.
“You’ll die.”
At that point, Ataolf also noticed that something was strange.
But he chose to watch a little longer, a choice born of the fact that those two could not do anything to him anyway.
And also because he had regrets.
If Hio Pavlenko remained under the charm and obediently followed orders, he could bring victory even in this disadvantageous war.
He watched, secretly hoping his premonition was wrong.
“You know.”
And only then did Airaitz finally slip out of Hio’s arms. Only then did she lift her head and look at Hio.
“What I’m doing—is it love?”
Instead of answering, Hio met Airaitz’s eyes.
“No. You don’t have to answer. I think I know now too.”
Airaitz took her eyes off Hio and slowly turned around.
“This is love.”
A deep scarlet aura poured thickly from her body.
“Tsk.”
At that, Ataolf clicked his tongue and looked at Hio.
“So you were not under the charm. Hio Pavlenko. No, did you fall under it and then break free on your own?”
Either way, it did not matter.
It was regrettable, but now that things had come to this, he had no choice but to use the bastard as bait and extract himself.
And so Ataolf tried to make his move.
「Skill - ‘Thunder Emperor’ is activating」
But Hio moved one step faster.
Lightning flashed abruptly inside the castle.
Even so, Ataolf stretched out his hand as if he found it laughable.
“Your lightning does not reach me……”
But the lightning had not been aimed at Ataolf.
Kwaaaang—!
Hio Pavlenko shot straight out through the window.
This was the first variable.
“Ha.”
He had not expected him to flee, but nothing changed. The entire area was already Ataolf’s domain, suffused with his powerful strength.
Since the man could not handle will, Hio Pavlenko would certainly be subdued in an instant within this domain built over long years.
However, in that brief moment, the second variable occurred.
A deep scarlet presence, one that could compare to the black fog itself, flaunted its existence as it came rushing at Ataolf.
“In the end, you make a foolish choice, Airaitz.”
Of course, it was nothing but laughable.
Ataolf’s gaze swept over Airaitz.
And that was enough.
For the black fog to devour the deep scarlet and pierce straight through Airaitz’s body as well.
It was that easy, that simple, and that futile.
It had only been a very brief span of time.
With Airaitz’s ability, even if she risked her life, all she could manage was to draw Ataolf’s gaze once. It was undoubtedly only an instant.
But that instant was also enough.
For a single streak of lightning to reach the old sword on the roof of the high spire.
That much time was enough.
And this was the third variable.
Crack—the sound of something breaking.
Though it was certainly a small sound, it rang clearly in everyone’s ears, and at the same time.
“……!”
The fog cleared.
The fog that had long dominated the vast Baal Forest vanished as if it had been a lie, and the sight revealed was majestic.
Endless ranks of soldiers.
That silver wave encircling the entirety of Baal Forest. Countless banners.
The forces of Black Fang that had to face it were terribly shabby.
Only when the fog cleared was the overwhelming difference in military strength finally revealed.
And within it.
“You took far too long.”
Golden eyes stared precisely at the gray castle, at Ataolf within it.
They were golden eyes that resembled a lion’s.
“…Vitalianus.”
Though the distance between them was immeasurably great, the two recognized each other precisely.
“You are still difficult to find, Ataolf.”
As if there was no longer any need to hold back, golden aura soared high into the sky.
The power of a hero who had symbolized hope for decades.
Ataolf immediately gathered all the remaining power of the fog.
In the end, nothing would change.
As long as he captured the Sword Saint, Vitalianus, everything would be resolved.
There was no need to spread his work over a wide area as before, so he compressed and gathered all his power into a small point.
The black fog writhed as it gathered toward Ataolf.
The power of a villain who had reigned as terror for decades.
Vitalianus raised his sword and flew in, cutting across space.
In response, Ataolf grasped the compressed black fog in his hand. An enormous power compressed and compressed again.
The shape into which that immense power had been compressed was rather familiar.
A black sword resembling the shape of the old sword.
A sword of black fog that seemed to have been made to face only one person.
“Ataolf.”
Vitalianus, who had flown right before him in an instant, brought the golden sword down vertically.
Not to be outdone, Ataolf raised the black sword with all his might to block it.
The clash of the golden sword and the black sword.
“It is time to set right our mistakes.”
The sound of the two swords colliding was unexpectedly clear.