Chapter 80: Black Knight Aarg (2)

Until this point.

He had been seriously trying to save Altina.

Of course. The root of him who had become a Monster Villain was longing for the Sacred and romantic feelings for the princess.

Therefore he sincerely wished to protect the princess like the Sacred he had longed for, and raced to the throne.

The battle at the place he returned to had become a stalemate.

Diabolic Alter and the third princess Moldiana—his beloved princess was at full capacity just enduring the two’s fierce attacks.

Ah, if I lend a hand here the scales will tip this way.

He believed that, rushed into that place—and met eyes with Alter.

’An unfamiliar Monster Villain. When I experimented with the Lemora lot an existence like you was not born.’

’Nonsense! Leave the princess—’

’But just right. Monster Villain, "lend a hand."’

He was by no means maintaining his reason.

He was only moving faithfully to the desire "I want to become a Sacred" and trying to protect the princess like a Sacred—that action was no different at all from a Tentacle Monster Villain violating a woman.

——Therefore the order of a higher existence, a Diabolic, eroded everything of him.

In an instant his vision went dark.

He regained his sanity after the "act" had ended.

The first thing that entered his eyes was the figure of Princess Altina unconscious while shedding tears.

The once-glittering dress had been messily torn and discarded, and the shining holy sword was rolling in a state soiled with something milky white.

There was confusion.

I certainly went to that place to save her—and then, and then, he dug up the past from that turbid thinking and saw it.

——That the princess had trusted him and entrusted her back.

——That he himself had slashed that back.

That was the end.

The princess who received a fatal blow from the blade of betrayal naturally lost to Alter—and was imprisoned in an abandoned building on Earth.

That, he himself, joyfully, helped—

’Wrong, it’s wrong, it’s not... I, I, to do this kind of thing... a, aa, uaaaaah!?’

It’s wrong, there’s no way I would do this kind of thing, I don’t wish for this kind of thing.

It must be some kind of mistake, it must be a bad dream.

But—he remembered.

The figure of her being forcibly violated, himself staring fixedly at that, being permitted "just right—you may use her," joyfully pinning her down.

All of it, all of it—I remember, I remember I remember I remem wrong wrong wrong!

It wasn’t supposed to be like this, I didn’t want to do this kind of thing, I couldn’t have wished for this kind of thing. Please believe me, I beg you.

But in his memory there was the figure of himself thoroughly enjoying to his heart’s content.

’A...’

In an instant his gaze crossed with Altina’s.

She directed vacant eyes that did not reflect light this way and said only one word.

’Aarg-san, why...’

At those words his heart shattered.

The joy that the princess had remembered his name, and the fact that the one who had defiled such her was himself—his heart could not endure the vice he himself had committed.

’I have things I must do—but I cannot allow Altina to be left and regain her power. As a provisional master I will order you—"use" "this" as you like.’

If he could have rejected it saying don’t fuck with me.

If he could have pointed his sword at Alter saying this time I will not err, how happy would he have been.

But did the self who had injured his younger sister, defiled the princess, and rejoiced at that have such qualification.

Even if he had, his heart had already broken—therefore he flowed toward ease.

I don’t want to think anything. It’s easier to listen to orders. And more than anything—when he thought he could do the same act once more, his body naturally reacted.

’Corner, demean, shatter the heart. Then she can become a blade that reaches the queen—the blade of light that slashes darkness will become mine.’

Without thinking what meaning those words held, he indulged in the act.

With a broken heart he continued trampling the unattainable flower he had never tried to touch.

The turning point was when he was called to the other world of the Diabolics—Lemora.

’Ara, ara—you’re the Black Knight? The Monster Villain one?’

It was a girl in gothic lolita sitting on a black throne.

She with peach-colored hair in twintails did not change her expression like a doll and looked down this way with vacant eyes.

The Black Knight heard those words with an empty heart.

I hate it. Already, everything is hateful.

I crushed everything I had loved with my own hands, I defiled everything I had thought precious with my own hands, how much further am I supposed to fall.

’It would be a waste to leave you as a mere Monster Villain, yes, yes—hey, won’t you serve me? Black Knight-sama.’

The queen who said that was perhaps a little younger than Princess Altina.

The inorganic yet beautiful girl like a doll—without changing her expression, yet making only her voice gentle, stretched her hand this way.

’Won’t you fight as my sword?’

’Ah...’

——Those words were words he had longed for since long ago.

Like a girl knight in a story, he too had wanted to serve a princess and protect her—therefore his heart was stolen by the queen.

Because already nothing remained.

Because everything he had treasured until now, he himself had broken.

’Yes—I, Black Knight Aarg Wayne, shall wield my power for you.’

And—Monster Villains were things that obeyed Diabolics, and his own desire was to serve a noble woman and offer his sword.

As a result of the Seed of Desire melting inconvenient reason while using Queen Fine as a substitute for Princess Altina—Aarg Wayne became the Black Knight serving Queen Fine of Lemora.

This is what I myself sought,

from the beginning I was like this,

He made excuses to himself that way.

Even so, he was happy.

Because he had originally been a serious type, unlike other close aides who moved as they pleased the Black Knight followed the queen’s orders and was able to raise many achievements.

——Precisely because of that he did not like the man named Alter Native.

Not because he had made him a Monster Villain.

Because the queen recognized the skill with which he had thoroughly beaten the Sacred.

And yet that Alter looked uninterested in the queen’s words and had Princess Moldiana attending at his side.

Why, why, why—even though I have no one left but the queen!

Without her words I would look reality in the face and feel like going mad.

...Therefore he was truly relieved at the fact that he had fought Saber and Knuckle and been defeated.

If he had raised any more achievements, if he had been recognized by the queen—overlapping it with the figure of his younger sister being recognized as a Sacred in the past, he might have gone mad. Why do you all keep stealing everything I want.

"—Niisama."

And now—the Black Knight harbored an inferiority complex he had never felt before.

Looking at the figure of his younger brother who had grown to around his mid-twenties using the power of "Growth"—looking at the figure of Gahel who had become a Monster Villain yet regained his reason, he felt like bursting into tears.