I sunk my fangs into the green tail that passed before me, devouring it mindlessly.

Purple bodily fluid splattered everywhere, soaking my face with an abundance of crimson blood, but I didn’t care. My left eye was already long closed from the venomous spray.

Roaring to drown out the burning pain, I slammed my arm down, ending the life of the two-headed snake. I kicked its carcass, stepping back while keeping an eye on the front. The chill racing up my spine made me react instantly, leaning back in time.

A wickedly shaped blade swept close to my jawline.

Every bit of the magic beast’s body that lay in the line of that blade became its prey. Flesh tore, blood burst forth, and as I smashed through the curtain of scattered entrails, I slammed both arms down toward the open torso of the woman.

“――――!”

I felt the right shield pierce her chest, while the left shield punctured her side, each making a sound that crushed bone and flesh.

Voices of beasts, shrieks, my own roars, impact sounds, the grinding of steel against steel—too mixed together for me to accurately perceive the world through sound.

But it didn’t matter. Only the world reflected in my right eye was real.

The woman’s ample chest crumpled and caved in, blood spewing forth in a glorious cascade from the impact. Even as the excruciating pain threatened her life, she wore an expression of delight.

It might have been that her mentality was the most troublesome thing, more than her fighting power or endurance.

“――Shii!”

“GaaAAHH!!”

A sharp breath and a retaliatory roar.

The woman swung her left arm forward, producing a high-pitched sound behind me. A slicing attack reflected off the wall, bounced from the ceiling, hit the floor, and aimed for my back of the head.

“――――”

I diverted my awareness to the rear, but the option to evade slipped from my mind.

Before my eyes, the woman, having swung her left hand, pulled back her right arm, preparing to unleash a black blade armed with fangs. If I dodged the blade behind me, the right would surely cut open my head or throat.

I leaned sideways, yanking my head away from the trajectory of the blade that was about to pierce the back of my head.

A dull sound echoed from around my right shoulder blade as I felt the tip of the blade get caught in the gap between the bones, making me click my tongue—a blade had entered the joint, temporarily stopping the movement of my right arm.

“Rii, iiii――!”

“ShaAAHH!”

With an explosive violence that could drown out sound itself, the drawn blade was unleashed.

The blow came without holding back, more akin to a terrifying sharp impact than a slicing strike.

If it hit directly, my head would be blown away without a trace—it was powerful enough. In a split second, I thrust my left arm into the trajectory, but my stance was off, and the damage to my right shoulder hadn’t completely subsided.

The sound of metal biting into the beast rang for a moment as my raised arm was easily deflected.

The black blade continued its path toward my head, still carrying enough force to halve my skull, landing before I could blink.

To counter it,

“――――!?”

I kicked, jamming a dead magic beast’s body between the blade and my temple.

The feeling of a hard, leathery vegetable striking my cheek and the burning-like inflammation caused by the toxic bodily fluid was uncomfortable, but I chose to take that risk to avoid a fatal blow.

The blade clamped onto the magic beast’s corpse, its force piercing through the carcass to strike me sideways.

The impact sent me reeling to the left, and I took a step, gathering my willpower to push against the floor and leap backward.

The Blessing of the Earth Spirit activated, and the floor I stepped on exploded as if obeying my intention.

My body was propelled backward by the explosive force, crashing atop the woman who had turned her back to me. —My right shoulder still had her white blade embedded in it.

“——”

At the moment of contact, the woman pulled back slightly.

Even knowing it was her peak side touching, my sudden movement had caught her off guard.

With my right shoulder still planted against her body, I spread my stance to lower my center of gravity.

The instant her foot shifted back to create distance, my left arm darted out, grabbing her face.

“――Partial Beastification!”

Just after I shouted, a change occurred in my left arm that gripped the woman’s face.

Muscles swelled, my left arm exploded outward—golden fur sprouted rapidly, transforming into the arm of a beast, the size of a log.

Of course, sharp, beast-like claws adorned the tip of that arm, and—

“KyAAAH!”

The thick claws gouged into the woman’s face, causing blood to splatter.

From the outside in, her face bore the deep, bloody marks of five jagged cuts. Even she, pressing against her face, stepped back, looking up at the ceiling, screaming.

“RUH!!”

I drove a straight kick into her torso, sending her flying backward.

The force that caught her midsection was enough to shatter her already broken rib cage and further mix the internal organs within.

As the woman fell, she dropped her weapon and gasped out crimson blood in a stammering laugh.

Her cackling resounded harshly enough that I felt urged to silence it, but—

“Damn it! Here come the next wave!”

A flood of magic beasts surged toward Garfiel, leaping through the gaps in our offense and defense.

Black-winged mice, inflating kangaroos fueled by rage, the pack of striped royal dogs gathered from around the estate, and the resurrected giant boar came barreling in.

Garfiel slashed through the mass of mice with his claws, obliterating the inflating kangaroo with a single stomp, and kicked the neck of a royal dog trying to bite him as he faced the charging boar head-on.

“It’s gonna turn to mush!”

“You think you can take me down, you damn fool!!”

Dozens of tons of mass rushed toward him, powered by explosive forward momentum.

It was less like the force of a beast striking and more like a building falling from the sky.

Even Garfiel himself couldn’t end up unscathed if he took it head-on. There was no way he could even brace himself before being blown away and crushed.

However,

“See? This is what’s fun!”

He braced his feet, unleashing the Blessing of the Earth Spirit to its maximum capacity.

The earth’s blessing coursed through his feet, amplifying the strength in his muscles.

With his golden eyes glistening with a combative light, Garfiel grinned menacingly, igniting the blood that lay dormant within.

“――OOOHH!!”

The guttural roar wasn’t a call to the outside; it was a summons to his inner self.

The bloodline that circulated through his body, hard to accept, never welcomed. With that dormant power in full view, he felt a tingling sensation and grateful vibrations through his soul.

Unlike his left arm that had torn into the woman’s face, his right arm exploded with power.

As both arms became the source, his shoulders, torso, neck, and head changed audibly; Garfiel’s visage transformed from that of a man into that of a ferocious feline—the great tiger.

As his torso, waist, and legs grew larger, his clothes couldn’t withstand the inner pressure any longer and burst apart. The scraps barely clung on, and the shields strapped on both arms glanced off at his expanded wrists—he now stood as a beast rivaling the approaching boar.

“――――!!”

The floor creaked, and the ground beneath his sturdy feet caved in.

The dwelling, which should have been built to withstand a clash between two colossal creatures, couldn’t keep up. A hulking figure burst through the walls, while decorations along the ceiling scraped and fell to the ground.

“――Wagg Pig!!”

The girl riding the magic beast shouted with a high pitch at Garfiel’s transformation.

Was that a call to the name of her magic beast? Responding to her master, the boar roared, as loud as the crushing of stones, opening its toothy maw lined with stone-like teeth, lunging toward Garfiel.

The magic beast pressed in, lifting its hind legs and attempting to crush him with its massive front paws.

The ferocious tiger, with golden eyes glowing brilliantly, exploded upward with its back legs, diving in just before impact, aiming its claws into the boar’s thick, rocky skin.

The sound of claws striking stone reverberated as they were painfully pulled back. As the rock-like skin bore down, the tiger’s previously missed thrust connected solidly.

Like a hammer from above, the boar’s front legs crushed down on the tiger’s shoulders. The upper body slammed against the floor, and the mind-numbing mass shook the tiger’s throat, causing it to shriek.

“Wagg Pig, don’t you dare stop!!”

Hearing the sound of bones shattering and flesh being crushed, the magic beast’s master didn’t let her guard down.

Upon hearing her wailing command, the boar surged upward, launching another devastating stomp aimed squarely at the tiger’s head.

Yet—

“――――!!”

If it couldn’t land a claw, the mighty tiger had only one weapon up its sleeve.

Lifting its neck, with the boar’s throes crushing both its shoulders, the tiger pushed itself upright, baring its teeth at the belly of the boar.

Even a magic beast cloaked in rock-like hide didn’t share uniform hardness all over. Compared to the arms and back, the so-called vital spots must lack sufficient protection.

Thus, the tiger plunged its sharp fangs into the gaping belly of the boar.

“Wagg Pig!?”

“――Grrruuuu!!”

The great tiger had a jaw large enough to swallow a human whole, and even the wide abdomen of the boar could fit nearly half its size.

For a moment, the boar’s skin resisted the tiger’s fangs. But as the pointed tip broke through, rather like bursting a fruit, the claws easily penetrated.

The boar’s scream entwined with the spinning momentum of the tiger, launching it off the floor.

Still clamped down on its target, the tiger’s twisting motion tore flesh from the beast—an act reminiscent of the feeding behavior of a dragon-like creature known as the Water Dragon that resides along riverbanks.

If Natsuki Subaru were to witness it, he would probably equate it with the death roll of a crocodile, a creature that did not exist in this world.

With its hind legs pounding the floor, the tiger tore into the boar’s body while simultaneously rotating forward.

Inside the thick skin lay a massive amount of organs and blood, all of which burst forth without hesitation from the tiger’s wounds and spilled across the estate’s corridor.

“――――O”

With its eyes rolled back, the boar’s body unleashed a feeble death cry before collapsing.

The tiger spat out the gore of the ravaged boar and kicked at its massive body, sending it crashing to the side. The girl who had been riding fell off and stared in shock at the appalling death of the magic beast she commanded.

“Wha… I can’t believe this…”

She stepped back, turning to check on the remaining beasts in her company.

A multitude of magic beasts obedient to her call gathered in droves, all small to medium-sized. However, large beasts like the boar were already exhausted.

“What is going on!? Elsa! Elsa! Do something!”

“…You really work people hard.”

Having realized her disadvantage, the girl cursed her misfortune and called out her companion’s name. Responding to her call, from the darkness strolled a pitch-black woman.

Reconstructing her gouged face, she fiddled with her three braided locks, damp with fresh blood, in an irritated manner.

“To slice a woman’s face without hesitation, you truly are a charming person.”

“――AAAH! AAH! AAH!”

Enthralled by the blood-soaked woman’s wicked grin, the heavily wounded tiger let out excited growls.

Shaking her giant frame, she bashed her head against the collapsed body of the boar, then vomited.

The tortured roar from the heavily wounded tiger persisted, but progressively, its gigantic frame began to shrink, the swollen body reverting to its human form. Moments later, a half-naked youth flicked off his shed golden fur and stood there, motionless.

“Ah… damn, I’m back. My head’s killing me…”

“I see… So, you’re a half-beast. I thought your eyes were a bit off for a human.”

“If that logic holds, our commander is no longer human, huh?”

Shaking his head, Garfiel confirmed the sensations of his human form again.

As the structure reverted, the shattered shoulder bones were rejoining, although moving they still sent pain shooting through him, igniting a fierce mental strain.

He couldn’t move at his best for too long.

But at this point, the same would apply to his opponent.

“I took the liberty of spilling your trusted magic beast’s guts in your place. You can swim in that sea of blood if you want!”

“I’ll pass. Beast guts can hardly serve as a substitute unless you’re starving. The intestines are what cut open a human’s belly; that’s the beauty of it.”

“I don’t get your aesthetics!”

Sticking a pinky into his ear, he roughly scratched while sighing in bewilderment.

In front of Garfiel, despite being overwhelmingly disadvantaged, Elsa wasn’t breaking her stance.

—Elsa’s immortality, until it ends, could last a maximum of five times.

That assessment meant Garfiel had already delivered four fatal wounds. Including the prior blow that had gouged her face, that made five strikes. It was past time for her regeneration power to show some limits.

In other words, Elsa’s life stock was already nearly exhausted. Garfiel himself was injured, but he didn’t intend to fall back in battle.

With no hope for magic beast support from Meily, the situation was practically at a standoff; yet, how could she hold her composure like this?

“It’s not like I have some special reason. You don’t have to be so fearful.”

Seeing Garfiel’s suspicious frown, Elsa spoke in a cooing voice, soothing like to a child.

Scrunching up his face at her words, Garfiel let out a beastly growl.

As if to hide the slight confusion that crept into his heart, discovered as vulnerable.

“Don’t screw with me! You ain’t reading my mind!”

“I can tell just by looking. To cut open someone’s belly means facing them before they are opened up. Your face is a familiar one to me.”

“——”

“That puzzled look of not understanding a freak.”

Feeling as though his throat was jammed, words eluded Garfiel while Elsa laughed, covering her mouth. With a faint smile, she tilted her head.

“It’s fine like that. I don’t wish to be understood. My happiness is merely what I gain by treading on others’ lives. To live is to trample death beneath my feet.”

“…If I carefully listen to that, I might end up crazy.”

Raising his arms, he clashed his shields together as if to abandon his understanding.

There wasn’t room to think about the other party’s situation. There’s no reason to meander through the distractions brought by her last words.

“I’ll listen just this once… if you swear never to cause trouble again and make a run for it, I might just let you off the hook.”

“Oh, what a lovely boy you are.”

The kindness she’d shown last was the cue for their clash to begin.

With an explosive step, Garfiel launched straight at her. The swirling white blade met him head-on, swinging down, hitting the ceiling, striking the floor, while the swirling blade reflected and closed in on Garfiel.

The thick white blade in Elsa’s grip had multiple edges overlapping each other. Alternating at opposite ends, the wave-like blades rippled like snake bones, ricocheting through the corridor.

Up, down, the blinding light of her blade darted about in lines faster than the speed of recognition while Garfiel braced both shields over his head, abandoning the notion of avoidance. The blade that bounced down pierced his left arm’s bicep, experiencing the pain of breaking bone yet still pressing forward.

“The Gusteco land, where I was born, was a terribly cold place.”

In the midst of this instant exchange of blows, the singing voice of the woman, for some reason, slipped smoothly into Garfiel’s eardrums.

It shouldn’t’ve been possible. There was no room for such a voice to seep in amidst the heated confrontation.

Yet, her voice snuck in undetected.

“In a country with a huge wealth gap, it wasn’t rare for abandoned children to be found in poverty. I was one of those kids, having grown up without a family, surviving on muddy water.”

“――RAH!”

“Stealing things, extorting people—doing whatever it took to get by while constantly seeing different faces around me. I didn’t have time to think about why I lived or what happiness was…”

Swinging a fist, I tried to blow Elsa’s face away.

However, my large swing was dodged by her leaning back, and her black blade thrust up from below into Garfiel’s midsection, leaving a shallow cut.

Caught by the beast’s fangs, splattering blood on Elsa, she licked her lips in delight.

“That day, particularly, was a frigid one.”

“Shut up! I’m not listening!!”

“The wind blew fiercely cold from the high mountains, freezing over the town. On that bitterly cold day, while I was carrying out a theft, I was caught by a shopkeeper.”

She breathed heavy, lost in her own memories.

The momentum of the death blades intensified, and the left defense threatened to leave Garfiel’s body riddled with cuts.

“It was an environment where I had every right to be killed, but I was a woman. I still remember the face of that man who laughed crudely, trying to rip off my clothes.”

“Gaa…”

“On that cold windy day, stripped of my outer clothing and losing my underwear … at that moment, instead of thinking about what was going to happen to me, I wondered if I’d freeze to death first when I happened to pick up a shard of glass.”

As a long leg aimed for my temple, I intentionally knocked it down with my head. The impact resonated to my brain, causing me to falter, but surely Elsa’s foot was crushed too.

She pulled back, retreating. Yet, her expression remained unchanged, still in ecstasy.

“I didn’t think much of it. I simply impaled the shard I’d picked up into his belly and twisted it, carving him open.”

“――――”

“I didn’t feel his scream or the sense of having taken a life. In that cold wind, I thought…”

Before Garfiel, who had held his breath, Elsa smiled dreamily.

“Blood and entrails, they feel so warm…”

The blade soared high, aiming to shatter Garfiel’s skull. I slid sideways, kicking off the wall to flank her from behind, delivering a kick meant to shatter her spine, but as I turned, Elsa’s blade struck my leg, throwing off my trajectory.

The shattered wall burst into smoke as Garfiel clicked his tongue and jumped back.

“If there’s happiness in this world, it’s the warmth and beauty that makes you forget the cold. The surest form of happiness I gained when born without anything. —You wouldn’t understand, would you?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“That’s just fine. I’m not looking for empathy.”

“Then why the hell are you telling me this disgusting story?”

“Who knows?”

Tilting her head with a curious expression, Elsa snickered at Garfiel whose menace was palpable.

Then, narrowing her eyes seductively, she licked her lips with a crimson tongue and said:

“Perhaps it’s because I truly adore you.”

“…Sorry, but I’ve got someone I love. I don’t have time to indulge in the company of a crazy woman.”

“You’re so distant. But that’s fine. What I need is just your insides.”

The conversation seemed to connect yet utterly failed to meet.

Through the exchange up until now, Garfiel finally understood.

Elsa’s tale had evoked neither curiosity nor pity from him.

It was just that someone with predisposed traits had gone through such experiences and become a monster.

Garfiel’s shields had long chosen what to protect.

“—I’m gonna kill you, Elsa Granhirute.”

“Only after you’re dead will I love you. Garfiel Tinsel.”

Calling each other’s names in full recognition, half-beast and killer raised their violence.

The white blade sliced through the corridor’s darkness as the drawn black blade sought to tear Garfiel’s body apart.

Blades leaped through the corner of his vision, swirling in all directions without a way to prevent the attack. Garfiel once again discarded the option to evade. But failing to withstand this would only repeat his foolishness.

“――――”

The blades sliced through the sounds, leaping through the corridor.

If I couldn’t see the blade’s tip, then the only option left was to target where it started.

Extending his left arm, Garfiel threw his shield, which he’d loosened while preparing for the clash.

The moment it flew, it struck Elsa’s left hand directly, wide-eyed—he heard the sound of her fingers crunching as she dropped the blade.

The freed blades twisted in the air as they dropped to the ceiling, becoming still.

With a deepening dark smile and a rising roar, the deadly blade swung down, thrusting straight for Garfiel’s body.

He placed his right arm above his head, bracing for the black blade as it dropped like a hammer.

The blade pierced through, sending shockwaves to shake his head. Dizziness overcame him, and he barely managed to support himself with his footing.

He’d held it off—only to have the raised knee of the woman slam down against his nose.

“If you think you’ve blocked it, don’t let your guard down.”

Hearing her sound of suppressed laughter, Garfiel leaned back as Elsa raised her leg.

The knee that smashed against his nose lifted high, and from the soles of her descending shoes glimmered the dull shine of concealed blades—those tips pierced into Garfiel’s throat.

“You think you’re gonna overlook my weapon!?”

His mouth opened wide, swallowing the descending heel along with the blade, chomping down on that slender foot.

He sank his jaws deep into her ankle, chewing through the blade and the bone.

Elsa widened her eyes in shock.

“Ah…”

Utterly stunned, she staggered back, losing her balance and collapsing to the ground.

Her right foot now useless, shattered completely from the ankle down, and both arms were bent out of shape, rendered ineffective from the recoil of her own attack. With her left foot supporting her, Elsa gazed at Garfiel from the only intact part of her body above the neck.

“—Ahh”

Inhaling deeply, Elsa blushed as if smitten.

Her breath heated, her wet eyes filled with undeniable passion.

—Before Elsa’s eyes, Garfiel hoisted the giant boar’s massive frame and tossed it aside.

Even knowing the future of being crushed, she didn’t take her gaze off Garfiel until the very moment she was engulfed in shadows.

Breath quickening, she laid her eyes upon the ferocious young man, flashing his fangs at her—

“It’s so thrilling!”

An overwhelming weight crushed the murderer, the vampire, and the entrail-hunter into an utter pulp.

The sounds of flesh squishing and the fresh blood mingling with that of the magic beast ran free.

Sensing the scent of death, Garfiel howled.

The cry echoed high, high above, filling the burning estate with its roar.

—The battle between Garfiel Tinsel, the Shield of the Sanctuary, and Elsa Granhirute, the Entrail-Hunter, reached its conclusion here.