Impossible, impossible, impossible! What the heck is going on? I don’t get it. Why do I have to go through this? Who do they think I am? I’m Regulus Corneas, the Archbishop of Sin, “Greed”! The most fulfilled in this world! The most established as an individual! An existence with no wavering in mind or body! So why am I going through this!? What a joke! This is ridiculous! Why is everyone just accepting this nonsensical absurdity like it’s normal? That man, that woman, even that knight! Just because I showed a bit of mercy, they’re acting all high and mighty! If I had gotten serious from the start, they would have been smashed to bits! Do they really think this is their own power? It’s infuriating how they can be so embarrassingly mistaken without a shred of shame! I can’t stand dealing with other people anymore! Annoying, irritating, infuriating, detestable, despicable, lowly fools! I’ve done just fine all this time! For years, decades, over a hundred years! I’ve been the most faithful Archbishop of Sin! I was picked by the Witch Factor for the first time, gained this power, and exterminated my worthless, drunken father, my perpetually complaining mother, and the greedy siblings eyeing my share! The villagers who looked at me with disdain, and the townsfolk who shoved me into that hopeless village, and those incompetent fools running this country who left that town and village to rot! I obliterated them all, and finally realized what it meant to live as myself! I don’t need anything! Everything is just a bother. I am fulfilled! It’s not that I didn’t have, I simply didn’t want! Those pushy scum, I never wanted anything! But when they give me something, it implies that I’m lacking and pitiable in your eyes! Eliminate those who impose unwanted things on me, and only those who say nothing to the fulfilled me should exist in this world! Everyone’s saying whatever they want—damn it! Nobody has the right to pity me! Nobody has the right to make me despair at being pitied! No way I’m letting that happen! I don’t want anything, don’t need anything! My worthless, drunken father who sometimes brings back souvenirs—he can die, seriously! My mother just keeps complaining and repeating how sorry she is for making it hard on me—she can die too! Those greedy siblings who are always eyeing my plate but would share their food when I flipped the table—die! Stop it, you fools, stop being nice to me! To be nice means you think you’re above me, looking down at me! Anyone who looks down on others is trash, and someone who looks down on even their family deserves no better than to be scorned and die! It’s you who are at fault! I’m not guilty of anything! You all make me feel like I’m pitiful and alone! You need to experience the feeling of being the most helpless thing in the world! I only want those who don’t pity me by my side! Everything that causes me to be pitied should vanish from this world! I can hear laughter. They are looking at me, laughing at me. What’s so funny? What about me did they find amusing? They are all grinning like idiots, with no power to back it up, just able to talk big! Why do I have to have my heart broken by such scum? Don’t stand in front of me! Don’t interfere with me! Don’t pity me! The ones who should be pitiful are you guys, powerless and ignorant, and yet you’re so “greedy!” You are the ones who must crawl for your whole lives to fill the void in your lacking selves! I am different! I don’t seek anything! I’m better than you fools who are missing something! Don’t you dare pity me! It’s because you truly envy, resent, and long for me that you’re saying meaningless things because you can never reach me! Right? That has to be the case! Wait, wait! Don’t look at me! Don’t mention my name! Don’t talk about me, good or bad! Just stop! Don’t draw my attention! If only I could be self-contained, my heart would not be trampled! Why do you insist on touching me? You can’t understand each other! You and I are different people! Paying a risk to gain a return makes no sense, it’s illogical, and completely wrong! You should realize that when you calm down! All humanity other than me is just caught in madness! You should see that seeking others is utterly useless, futile, and meaningless! All those words about love, romance, friendship, trust—just one-dimensional nonsense! Reproductive activities are the most disgusting act of all! It makes no sense! For what purpose? Whether it’s a partner, a child, or a family, they are just separate existences! Their living or dying has no impact on me! Even if they live, if I die, that’s it! Even if they die, as long as I’m alive, I just continue! People cannot unite through love or romance. Originally, they can only be one! Supplying partners to cater to those who cherish illusions, gathering attractive women to avoid becoming the butt of ridicule, and being foolish enough to only select virgins—all of this, what more do you expect from me? Don’t talk nonsense! Having already infringed upon me so much, what more do you want from me? After all this! After being forced to twist my thinking! Still demanding something from me? How much more do I need to endure to avoid being pitied? The world’s most pitiable! To be told I want to unite with the one I love by a lowly “Greed” controlled whore is simply unacceptable!

***

“Lar—Aa!!”

Up, up, swirling with a gust, Regulus’s body shot up into the night sky.

The moment the impact hit between his legs, Regulus activated “Lionheart,” stopping his own heartbeat and entering an invincible state. Consequently, the damage from the slash was nullified—but—

“Kuh, kubu—!”

Exhaling, amidst the intense pain and flickering vision, Regulus groaned.

The longest he could stop time, even including his heartbeat, was a maximum of five seconds. During that time, he could move without issue, just like when he entrusted the “Lionheart” to his bride. However, if he sought to stop it for longer, his body would not be able to return from that halt.

Additionally, once “Lionheart” was released, the suffering from his heart resuming its beating couldn’t be compensated for. It had been over a hundred years since he had felt pain or suffering like this.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

As he spat out a blood-filled curse, the ascending Regulus could hardly speak. His body hurled through the air, unable to free itself, and the momentum of the launch continued unabated, reaching a height where he could overlook Watergate City Pristella.

Watergate City Pristella—when he had seen the “gospel” indicating the seat of his bride would be filled there, he had simply been grateful for his fortune.

“Such a ridiculous turn of events!!”

He lost all the brides he’d painstakingly assembled, threatened his position as “Greed,” was mocked by a brat with a silver tongue, and pitied by that brazen woman he had chosen.

There was no greater humiliation. He had never felt such shame. He hadn’t wanted to experience such bothersome emotions; that’s why he had become the Archbishop of Sin! Yet, if he were to suffer like this, it was a different story.

“Enough, enough, enough!”

There was no need for restraint. He would show mercy no longer. It didn’t matter that the other had seen through his “Lionheart” power or that there was a certain otherworldly sword saint present.

If he had five seconds with his heartbeat stopped, Regulus could obliterate them all! He didn’t want to see their faces filled with despair, didn’t want to hear their dying screams; that was why he avoided acting.

In a state of invincibility brought on by “Lionheart,” Regulus could, if he so desired, act in total disregard of the laws of physics of the world. He could be as fast as the wind, moving in dimensions unimaginable within common sense, and with overwhelming power, he could wipe them from existence.

It could be that he would soar into the air with his “Greed” power, scattering sand over the town below to achieve total annihilation. Other Archbishops of Sin were also in the city, but whether those fools lived or died was of no concern to him. At this very moment, nothing was more important than freeing himself from this humiliation! He would paint the faces of those victorious fools with fear!

When this ridiculous ascent came to a stop and his body crashed to the ground, that would be the end for them! Until then, they could enjoy their hollow victory—

“—AGH!?”

While Regulus continued to voice his grievances, an impact hit his back, causing him to scream.

Looking around, he saw his ascent abruptly halt, forced to a standstill in mid-air. It felt as if something up in the sky had kicked him!

“In a proper duel, I would normally withdraw my sword once the will to fight diminishes,” came a voice from afar.

The voice casually stated this while standing atop Regulus’s back, and in an instant, he understood who it was. At the same moment, a shiver ran down his spine. Did he realize just how high up they currently were?

How could that being reach this height faster than the one he had shot into the air?

“I’m not boasting, but I have confidence in my jumping ability. I once leapt from the ground onto the back of a flying dragon drifting above the clouds.”

“Y-You beast…!”

“That’s right. I’m a monster hunting monsters. – It’s time for you to accept your fate.”

With that, Reinhardt stepped off Regulus’s back.

Immediately after his comment, Regulus sensed the surge of fighting spirit approaching. Regulus had spent his life engaging with powerful opponents but had grown absolutely nothing from it.

However, that disconnect was now echoing in him, awakening memories of that beast-like fighting aura he had sparred with many times before.

—”Lionheart” was activated, and the attack came simultaneously.

“Oaaahhh—!!”

Reinhardt’s blade met the heart of Regulus, coming down with overwhelming speed.

What could overpower even the sharpness of a famous sword struck Regulus. Yet, he continued to carry the effects of invincibility, inducing only shock as he was flung forcibly downward.

The ground was rushing closer, and Regulus was slammed face-first into the cobblestones. Yet the effects of “Lionheart” endured; it was as if his body was drilling into the ground.

Regulus’s body pierced straight through the cobblestones and into the hard bedrock, digging downward. In the process, he had a sudden realization.

If he continued this momentum, his body would keep sinking into the earth. He had never considered whether the earth even had a bottom. However, this world’s ground must have edges. This world, encircled by massive waterfalls, surely contained an endpoint for its falls.

If he kept falling, would he eventually reach that endpoint?

“I can’t accept something like that… Guh!?”

When a sense of dread filled him, he felt the limit of his heart approaching.

Five seconds had elapsed. A warning blared in his mind, leading Regulus to hesitate with his decision. He had never halted his heartbeat longer than five seconds. Maximally, he could endure ten, but extending it would only serve to increase the distance he was plunged into the ground.

But now, if his ability were to be released while he was digging into the earth—

—There was no time to think. Dying from stopping his heart would be farcically silly.

“Uuuugh, uuuughh—!!”

Gritting his teeth, Regulus steeled himself.

Heeding his heart’s urgent cries to resume beating, Regulus canceled the effect of “Lionheart.” The invincibility wore off, the strength of his body and the laws of physics reverted to normal—

“Bwaaaaah—!?”

Every bone in his body shattered.

That immense shock ruthlessly assaulted Regulus’s flesh and bone.

Of course, it was natural. He had invaded the ground faster than free-falling via pure speed and the momentum had kept his body intact. The only reason he hadn’t been smashed to pieces was that there hadn’t been enough space for it to happen below the earth.

However, while not spreading horizontally, he certainly continued to break vertically.

“Ah, ahh…”

A vacant voice escaped as Regulus cried blood tears from his completely obliterated eyes. The impact penetrated his body, destroying all internal structures.

Exaggeration aside, every bone in his body was cracked, and his insides were turned to mush. His once pure white hair was now stained with blood and mud, and excrements flooded from his dysfunctional abdomen.

What remained was a mass of flesh that no longer resembled a human form.

However, astonishingly, the mass of flesh still clung to life.

“Uh, ahhhhh…”

An abominable desire to live—no, this should be termed as a grudge.

This wasn’t a desire rooted in hope for survival. Instead, it was simply rage against the living that loomed above him. Even at this point, what drove him was a hollow vanity.

If I were to get serious, you all would be nothing— that’s all!

“Eh, uhh!”

But do not underestimate that determination.

The being who had dedicated their life to not being pitied made a decision perfectly suited to their survival, without compromising a bit of the nature honed and twisted over a hundred years.

Continuously activating “Lionheart” in increasingly shorter intervals, Regulus began to excavate the ground. In a state of invincibility, his bodily harm became irrelevant. If he didn’t feel pain, moving a damaged body meant there wasn’t any damage.

Regulus began to dig through the earth with his bare hands.

His body, buried head down, twisted around within the space he had carved. If he pointed his head upward, he simply needed to dig his way back to the surface.

When he did get back to the surface, those ignorant maggots who had misjudged him would be reveling in their victory.

He couldn’t allow that! There was no way!

To be scorned, to be looked down on, to be pitied—was beyond unbearable agony. There was no way he would tolerate ridicule during his life or even after death! Ah, that’s right! It would’ve been quicker if I had just wiped them all out! To eliminate all who could say anything about me, in the blink of an eye! I should have done that from the start! This time, I won’t make the wrong move! Once I get back up and kill those three, then… that’s all.

“——”

Without voicing a single word, Regulus continued to dig through the ground, fueled solely by resentment.

When he finally emerged above ground, he looked forward to the sight of those begging for their lives to the serious side of him. Especially the woman who had continuously looked down on him; he had to thoroughly humiliate her. The seventy-ninth bride—the woman who was meant to fill that vacancy. Originally a lowly elf from the forgotten forest, with that detestable Petelgeuse—

——

———

——————

Ahhh, I remembered. I just remembered!

That woman! It’s that woman! No, it’s that kid from back then!

When I went to pick up the seventy-ninth, that kid was crying and running around her! That brat then has become that woman now!

In an instant, I understood why I wanted to hand that vacancy to her. It’s simple logic; as a replacement for my mother, it was only natural for that girl to take her seat.

That’s the brat who scorned me as the seventy-ninth and cared for that incompetent Petelgeuse! Why didn’t I realize sooner? No, I’m glad I noticed now.

If I had killed them without noticing, my heart wouldn’t have calmed. Now, with clear consciousness of their sins, it’s worthwhile to kill them. The sense of achievement from paying back this humiliation holds meaning again. It’s been a long time since I felt the importance of satisfying my desires.

I’ll desecrate the seventy-ninth. I’ll take away Petelgeuse.

That girl they cherished, the one who looked down upon me, who thought I was pitiable.

“Ah, hehe!”

An impulse burst forth from deep within Regulus’s throat, engendering joy.

Losing teeth and laughing with shredded lips—that spark for living ignited! The pleasure of harvesting what those who had insulted him had desperately held onto!

Climbing, climbing, climbing, and then—

“—?”

As Regulus dug upward, he suddenly noticed something brushing against his fingertips. He dropped his right hand, not knowing where it was, and gazed at the blood and mud encrusted objects with his blighted sight. The surface was slightly wet, not with blood.

He tasted it. It was bitter mud, but it seemed to be water.

Water. Water! The moment he recognized it, Regulus felt a parching thirst. One drop wasn’t enough. He wanted enough water to quench his throat and fill his belly. Now that “Lionheart” had ceased, his body desired the refreshment of a meal after nearly a whole century of drought.

For now, just water would suffice. A top-tier flavor must surely be there. Just as he thought that, water began to trickle from above, flowing exactly as Regulus had wished.

He gulped down the earthy-tasting fluid. With no teeth left, and his tongue shredded, his mouth was overflowing with blood, yet the water was undeniably delicious. He felt fulfilled.

—But then, the flow of water surged dramatically, and Regulus’s body was dropped back down to the lowest depths in an instant.

“Ah, uh, what?”

It poured in. Water flowed without restraint into the underground, a no-escape situation.

There wasn’t enough room under the ground. In no time, Regulus was submerged in muddy water, losing any ability to move around.

—Regulus could not comprehend what was happening to him now.

This was water that flowed from the waterways above in Watergate City.

Regulus had plunged into the earth, forced below the street by Reinhardt’s strike. The water from the very aqueduct he had ruined now flowed into his self-made underground channel. That water rushed in unrelentingly, burying the beast.

Just like the anger of the city and its people, furious over the destruction of their beautiful town.

“Gooo, what!?”

Naturally, Regulus, who was now drowning, couldn’t notice it.

As the mud enveloped him in watery torment, he was terrified by the pressure of the water trying to fill his lungs, desperately struggling. However, there just wasn’t enough space to fight back underground. All he could do was curl up in that foul mucky water and retreat within “Lionheart.”

While activating “Lionheart,” he escaped the agony of fighting for breath. The pain from his broken body was similar.

Yet, “Lionheart” wouldn’t last beyond five seconds. Once that limit was reached, the fear of dying pulled Regulus back into the hell of drowning.

The invitations to death came in alternating waves.

There was no choosing between the two. He had to fend off both. But Regulus had no strategy for either. All he had left were his resentful words toward this absurdity.

Time was slipping away.

“Lionheart” could be reused countless times, but breathing could not be. Moreover, reapplying “Lionheart” needed a gap of several seconds.

Heart stopped.

Drowning.

Heart stopped.

Drowning.

Heart stopped—.

Drowning—.

An endless agony that seemed like it would last forever, a relentless unbroken assault of pain and suffering.

Regulus opened his mouth. Water and mud flooded into that open mouth. As it invaded his lungs and guts, Regulus screamed. He continued shouting, blotting out any cohesion of his voice.

There was no reply. Nobody remained around him.

Yet he kept shouting, pouring all his malice into the hopes that humanity would die around the world.

Once I’m dead, I’ll not accept being mocked!

I don’t want that girl celebrating my death, reveling in taking vengeance for her mother or Petelgeuse!

Just imagining that girl would rejoice upon his death makes him sick to the stomach.

She would surely act as if her life had begun anew, sparkling with excitement as if she had achieved her life goals.

Her existence would fill with a joy so mismatched, detached, and plainly unreasonable—it was intolerable.

His death would have a huge, monumental influence on that girl’s heart—oh no!

***

Regulus Corneas, the demon who shattered the cobblestones and sank into the earth below.

Water surged inexorably into the pit the demon created with his own body. Who knew how deep the demon had sank? However, considering the limits of his power, he certainly hadn’t pierced through to the other side of the world.

Chances were high that somewhere underground, the effects would cease and he would crush downwards. Even if he hadn’t been crushed, the inflowing water wouldn’t allow the demon to escape.

The powerful demon, drowned by the power he abused, would end by drowning in the waters of the city he had once ravaged.

“…Emilia-tan, you don’t look too pleased.”

Watching the pit where Regulus had sunk, Subaru noted a hint of distress on Emilia’s face and spoke up.

There was nothing to feel pity for concerning that devil. Emilia surely felt the same, and had no reason to grieve over his underground fate—however—

“While it’s nice that you’re so kind, I think it’s wrong to extend that kindness to him. Some people are just hopeless.”

“…I appreciate your concern. But it’s not that…”

“Huh?”

Shaking her head gently in response to Subaru’s concern, Emilia fell into silence for a brief moment, lowering her long-lashed eyes as she said,

“About Regulus… since the first time I saw him, I’ve felt like I’d met him somewhere before…”

“Are you saying it’s not your first time? If not, when was it?”

“Well, I can’t remember.”

As Subaru inquired, Emilia tilted her head.

At that precise moment, Regulus’s cries were erupting from deep underground.

The scream that had no reach, filled with the desire for Emilia to never celebrate his death.

His existence was intertwined with the death of his mother and that crazed benefactor—an indelible mark upon the girl’s life. He would never want to fill her with joy from his death.

That final wish from the demon, unseen above ground, remained unfulfilled.

“—Where did I meet Regulus?”

Regulus Corneas left no traces behind in Emilia.

Such irony was firmly and fully realized.