Chapter 131: 'Blue Lightning' Cecilus Segmunt!

[Roswaal moved with difficulty through the frozen corridors of the manor.

Thanks to Frederica's meticulous care, this man who had once been the kingdom's strongest mage—now little more than a walking corpse—still had just enough strength to shuffle along the corridor by leaning against its walls.

Outside the window lay a world buried in heavy snow, and the sight of that golden-haired girl standing with her back to him stirred something in his heart.

And yet—

Just as he slowly raised his arm, intending to unleash magic to protect Frederica, a sudden warning flared in his heart, and instinct alone let him dodge the slash aimed at his neck.

"Not bad! That move just now—not just anyone could pull it off! Honestly, I'm impressed. Don't tell me you're one of those close-combat mages?"

A flippant voice drifted over from across the way. Roswaal, still shaken, gasped for breath a few times before he managed to lift his head and make out the face of his attacker.

A blue-haired man with a wild, untamed hairstyle, straw sandals on his feet, flickered across the frozen corridor in the blink of an eye.

Though the man's manner seemed careless and offhand, the combat instincts Roswaal had honed over a hundred years of experience kept screaming at him.

At this distance, if the man so chose, it would be enough to cut him down tens of thousands of times in the span of a single second.

"You're not going to stop the bleeding in that arm? Keep it up and you'll die, won't you?"

The corners of the blue-haired man's mouth curled up as he offered the reminder—half kindness, half mockery.

"...My thanks for the advice."

A bead of cold sweat slid down Roswaal's forehead.

It was both the tension of facing this dire situation and, at the same time, the sharp agony of the arm the man had cloven off just as he'd dodged that slash aimed at his neck.

The blood—he couldn't stop it.

But even now, dressed and painted in that clownish getup, Roswaal spoke with a calm face, naming the blue-haired man before him:

"The strongest warrior of the Vollachia Empire, foremost of the 'Nine Divine Generals,' the 'Blue Lightning'—Cecilus Segmunt."

"Now what's all this~ Don't tell me you mean to pull some treacherous, faithless little stunt~ during the delicate period when the Kingdom of Lugnica is changing kings?"

At that, Cecilus immediately disavowed any connection between himself and the Empire, admitting frankly that he had already resigned his post there.

Still, that was a hard thing for Roswaal to believe. Why would a man give up the very seat of foremost Divine General and travel ten thousand li to the borderlands just to assassinate one lord of the marches?

Frankly, he simply could not fathom the Empire's purpose in acting this way.

And Cecilus, without the slightest hesitation, told Roswaal the reason.

Perhaps because Roswaal, as a mage, did not truly understand the bottleneck a swordsman meets once he grows powerful enough to reach a certain realm—that is, the path leading toward the 'Heavenly Sword.'

A certain distinguished figure had seen through his difficulty and promised to help him achieve his goal.

And so Cecilus, without a moment's hesitation, resigned from the Empire, threw in his lot with that man, and chose to work for him.

"To willingly cast aside everything you once had for the sake of your own obsession—your very allegiance included? I think I can understand that feeling of yours, and I'm willing to offer you my respect."

Roswaal spoke after a long silence.

"But even so, I still intend to take the head from your shoulders, 'Blue Lightning'!"

"Nothing would please me more!"

Cecilus gave a wickedly charming smile. As if out of respect for his opponent, he returned the blade in his hand to its sheath and drew a second one.

It was a demon sword that devoured the very soul of its wielder—the 'Dream Sword,' Masayume!

"So it seems this is my ending."

The instant he saw that demon sword, Roswaal knew at once, from the situation before him, that he had absolutely no chance of victory or escape.

It was only that, at the very end of his life, he still felt curious about who exactly the 'Blue Lightning's' employer was. So he opened his mouth and asked the man for his employer's name—

At that, Cecilus halted mid-charge, gathering power no longer, and slowly stepped forward so that the clown before him could hear clearly the name of his distinguished patron.

"The petty and worldly call him a villain, a heretic. For his exceedingly wicked, wanton, and brutal methods, he has earned an evil name—the 'Purge King'!"

"But the man himself asked me to tell you his true name. Na—"

The very instant he uttered the first syllable of the name, Cecilus suddenly moved. The floor burst apart, and his entire figure vanished from the sight of the wide-eyed Roswaal.

His speed was unbelievable, exactly as his own title suggested—he turned into a streak of blue lightning and flickered straight toward Roswaal.

And because of that, the time left to Roswaal for his final thoughts in this world was but an instant—yet that was already enough.

"So it really is you."

"Refusing to even let him speak the name in full—is that your command as well? Is this how you mean to take your revenge on me?"

"Then you've succeeded, Natsuki Subaru..."

That thought became Roswaal's final echo. In the next moment, the Dream Sword, elusive as an antelope leaving no trace, severed every last strand of his consciousness.

And then devoured it, utterly and completely.]

"Mmm, so this is the ending that belongs to me~ How truly—undignified."

Outside the scene, Roswaal appraised his own demise in that strange, singsong tone of his, with a mocking, teasing air.

"Hmph, truly undignified indeed, Roswaal."

Off to the side, Betty sneered coldly.

Ever since the Sanctuary had ended, she had known that Roswaal was still the very same man he'd been hundreds of years ago. But even so, his ceaseless scheming against Subaru was something she could neither forgive nor accept.

"That little girl over there has it right. Small fry ought to have a small-fry's way of making their exit. No matter how much you scheme, in the end you're nothing more than a stepping stone for the 'King.'"

Priscilla spread that fan of hers—like flowing flames—before her face, revealing only those chill, fire-red eyes as she looked down upon Roswaal from on high.

"Eh, is that little girl talking about me? You brat, I'll have you know I'm a Great Spirit, a Great Spirit who's lived hundreds of years, I suppose—you're the one who should show some respect, little girl!"

Betty flailed her arms in a huff, like some fragrant, freshly-baked white bun that could throw a punch.

"Betty, hundreds of years have passed and you really haven't changed a bit~ But you'd best save your strength for now."

Far from being angered by Betty's words just now, Roswaal instead let a faint smile touch the corners of his mouth as he spoke in his lilting, sing-song cadence.

"Just what do you mean by that?"

At his words, Betty regained her composure and questioned Roswaal in an icy tone.

"Exactly what it sounds like. Why don't you think about it—in the story on the screen, after I die, who will be the next to appear?"

Roswaal clasped his hands behind his back and answered with an expressionless face.

And his words made the unease in Betty's heart grow wildly.

Of everyone in the manor right now, aside from Roswaal, who would soon be left... her?

...

P.S.:

1. Just a heads-up—recently it's probably Cishege Cat's once-a-year great silence period. Everyone's usernames and avatars have been reset. Also, replies can still be posted, but they're effectively invisible posts that only the author and the commenter themselves can see—they haven't been deleted.

2. Let me add a setting some of you may have missed: in that earlier Imitation Human arc, Emilia was in her Greed line state, and so she carried the memories related to the Greed line out with her as well.

I also wrote it after the arc ended, in Chapter 126, the 'Mu TV' chapter—the Emilia who already had the Wrath line memories then gained the Greed line ones as well, which is why her descent into psycho-yandere became even more thorough.

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