――Vaits Logun doesn’t think he can live and die like a decent person.

In fact, the world tends to underestimate the concept of being “ordinary.”

The term “ordinary” is used to denote normalcy or mediocrity, but to those who exist below that benchmark, it feels like a standard set in the clouds.

The name of the town where Vaits was born and raised is the Ironblood City, Glalashia.

It’s a crazy town where weapons, armor, and various tools necessary for battle are manufactured, and artisans dedicated to making weapons that hurt others toil day and night.

About half of the residents are involved in some aspect of weapon-making, and Vaits was no exception. However, by the time he was aware of the world around him, he had lost his parents and was left in a position where he was tasked with chores in the artisan’s workshop, lacking interest or pride in such work.

Working was merely a means to survive, and being a helper in the workshop had nothing to do with the fact that he was born in the Ironblood City.

If the main industry were saddlery, he would assist in making that; if it were agriculture, he would have a hoe in hand.

With no particular attachment or interest, Vaits quietly went about his work while glancing at the blacksmiths forging steel. Some called him a diligent worker for being so reclusive and hard to read, but most people likely thought of Vaits as a mysterious and creepy guy.

Vaits was fine with that. He had no desire to become overly familiar with anyone.

Having been alone since birth, he figured he’d die alone too.

That detached way of living, indifferent to others, seemed to have drawn resentment.

When suspicions arose in the workshop he frequented, regarding misappropriated materials, Vaits was the first one to be looked at with suspicion.

Since he often acted alone and had no supportive relationships, Vaits had no means to clear his name.

In the end, he was unable to prove his innocence and was punished for a crime he did not commit, becoming a criminal. The tattoo he received first was a mark of punishment to identify him as a criminal at a glance.

In a city engulfed by heat from steel forging and no one wore long-sleeved clothes, that tattoo was always on full display.

Even if he put on long sleeves, it would be obvious he had something to hide.

At that point, he could no longer live the same life he once had.

Though he had never led a life of luxury, he relinquished his claim to being “ordinary” at that moment.

He could no longer work in a workshop that operated decently and began to turn to theft to earn daily wages, indulging in thievery and misappropriation of materials, ultimately becoming a true criminal.

――In short, his sins caught up to him eventually.

When he was suspected of embezzlement, no one lent an ear to Vaits’ pleadings. However, at that point, he was not yet a criminal. Yet in the end, Vaits became a criminal.

It’s the sort of thing that happens as destined.

“If I’m a hideous creature, so be it…”

Tattooed and branded a criminal, he had stepped outside what could be seen as “ordinary.” Even while engaging in wrongdoing for a living, he still found it hard to get along with others like before.

If that was the case, he thought he might as well sever all annoying ties from the very start.

He began inking smaller tattoos from his elbows down to his shoulders and chest with his own hand. Eventually, they stretched across his upper body, down to his legs, and even covered his face and head.

The tattoos on his arms marked him as a criminal, but the tattoos covering his entire body were a sign of danger, telling others to keep their distance.

Everyone, fear and tremble; the pitiful man once forsaken by all and marked as a criminal no longer existed—what remained was a troublesome “creature beneath humanity” who had nothing left to lose.

So――,

“――Stop! You criminal! Don’t think this will end well for you!”

Surrounded by city guards and weapons drawn, Vaits surrendered immediately.

Lying bloodied at his feet was a man from the workshop—where Vaits first became a criminal—who once worked beside him as a blacksmith apprentice.

With ears torn away, this man lay crying, blood and tears streaming down his face—he was the one who had spilled the unjust crime that day, gossip reaching back to Vaits during a drunken night of talk and eventually brought back to exact revenge.

Spitting out the ear he had in his mouth, Vaits was captured by the guards and thrown into prison.

In Ironblood City, Vaits had become infamous. No path to salvation lay before him, and soon enough, it was decreed that he would be sent off to the notorious Gladiator Island as a criminal slave.

With no spirit left to resist, he accepted his fate. Crossing the lake, he found himself surrounded by the same wretched individuals forced to participate in a ritual, battling horrific beasts.

No matter what, he didn’t care. He had no intention of dying.

Even if it meant sacrificing someone, or playing dirty to survive, he planned to do so.

One day, to live “ordinary” again――.

“――Vaits! Pick up your sword! We’re counting on you!!”

――He wanted to be treated as “ordinary,” as a human.

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“Protect me…!”

As Vaits saw the guard’s head fly towards him, splattering blood everywhere, he instinctively pushed Schwarz to Tanzer beside him.

This girl in kimono had an unexpectedly strong power despite her youthful appearance.

Yet, she couldn’t control that power. The mismatch of her physical and mental strength was far too risky to rely on.――Schwarz was a fitting partner for Vaits.

Weak of body but strong of mind, Schwarz could utilize Tanzer well enough.

Thus, at that moment, it was correct for Vaits to shove her towards the physically strong but mentally weak Tanzer.

And Vaits himself――,

“W-whoa…!!”

Rushed forward and smashed the flying head into the ground with his raised arm.

In an instant, he decapitated an ally and kicked their severed head aside, pausing the thoughts of Vaits and his companions with shocking action—but it felt like this was just part of a larger plan.

Indeed, the decisions of the other four were momentarily delayed; Vaits was already in motion.

Schwarz had warned them about the man’s intentions, but his sinister aim was clearly bigger than this.

And so, at the next moment, Vaits saw—

“――What?!”

Right next to him, a man wielding an axe stormed in, breaking through the wall, while a black monstrous bird—the Gladiator Beast—charged through.

It smashed through the wall just half a step behind Vaits, rampaging down the corridor.

The aerial assault from the Gladiator Beast aiming for Vaits and his companions—no, that was wrong. While it was undoubtedly a Gladiator Beast, the bird’s target wasn’t Vaits.

“――――!!”

The monstrous bird, having broken the wall, dove for the head of the fallen guard.

The head of the guard who had been decapitated was the target of the monstrous bird as it charged down the corridor. The meaning was incomprehensible, and there was no time to think.

“You…!”

The tremendous force erupts just half a step behind him, as the debris from the shattered wall and the beast’s sharp wings cut into Vaits’ back, driving him to clench his teeth while keeping his gaze locked on the man.

Even when hearing about Schwarz’s origins, the man bore no sign of submission but rather escalated his murderous intent—a clear danger.

This was the genuine threat, differing from the facade crafted by Vaits’ tattoos.

He would stop it at all costs.

“――――”

Seeing Vaits move forward, the man’s eyes narrowed viciously.

Nothing needed to be said; with just that look, Vaits could read the man’s intent to kill him. As the man lifted his axe with his left arm, Vaits raised his own left arm.

The arm that had first received the tattoo, marking him as a criminal—an arm that had become the trigger for all the misfortune that had befallen him.

At that moment, he braced himself to take the impact from the man’s blow――.

“Guh…!”

Relentlessly swinging, the axe aimed directly for Vaits’ head from the left.

He slid his upheld arm into its path, not vertically, but horizontally against the axe’s blade. The moment it landed, his elbow shattered, and the bones of his upper arm and shoulder were also crushed along with flesh.

Vision turned blood-red from shock and pain, his left arm became stained a color completely different from the tattoos.

But――,

“I can endure this…!”

By stepping forward rather than waiting, Vaits had mitigated the blow’s strength just slightly.

That was the primary reason he did not lose his head and end his life in that instant. He had always possessed the sort of courage that seemed abnormal, but it was paired with a lack of sound judgment.

It was the meeting with a recklessly bold child that eventually merged courage and judgment.

And thus, that encounter brought Vaits’ arm to the man――.

“Not enduring at all!”

As Vaits attempted to restrain the man with his remaining right arm, the man seemed to vanish.

――No, it wasn’t that the man disappeared; he had become invisible.

When someone moves outside one’s line of sight, they fade into a darkening and blurring space, out of view.

Something akin to that phenomenon had just occurred. Yet, it felt wrong. Suddenly, Vaits’ right side—something there had expanded rapidly as though crushed by something.

“Vaits――!!”

While Vaits sensed something was off and could not see the vanished man, someone called out to him from behind.

Slowly turning around, he spotted a collapsed corridor engulfed in smoke. And there was the silhouette of the vanished man, swinging an axe down at the creature that had just shattered the corridor.

“――――”

Beyond that man decapitating the beast, four figures could be seen unsettled over the debris of the collapsing passage.

Some stumbled backward, falling to their rear, but all seemed to have avoided the beast’s onslaught. Relieved at that thought, Vaits found himself astonished.

Even as he remained astonished, his left arm ached. For some reason, the right side of his face began to ache as well.

Pulling his consciousness away from the fading state, he grasped the situation at hand and softly murmured—

“It was the first time…”

“Vaits…!”

“The one who said they believed in me was…”

Murmuring, Vaits realized that was the burden weighing on his heart.

Understanding this, strength drained from his knees, and he fell to the ground.

“Vaits――!!”

Hearing his name called out emotionally once again, he closed his eyes.

Somehow, it felt incredibly good.

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As the others rushed to Vaits, slender fingers stopped them in their tracks.

Looking back, Subaru saw the girl in kimono shaking her head with tearful eyes, refusing to allow Subaru’s impulsive action.

And before she could shake off that hand――,

“――――!”

A shrill, ungraceful cry pierced the air as the corridor’s ceiling collapsed from above.

That violent sound filled the space above Vaits’ head as the ceiling, having succumbed to the weight, fell upon him, and the ground broke apart.

The shattered corridor fell downwards, and Vaits, along with the massive gray frog that had crushed the ceiling, plunged straight down.

Vaits, who took the blow on his left arm and received a knife stabbed in his right eye.

“Vaits――!!”

As the floor and ceiling crumbled, Subaru screamed while reaching out towards the fallen Vaits.

He had fallen—Vaits, who had rushed ahead to protect Subaru and the others. Hurry, he needed to leap down and rescue Vaits.

“That second one falling was lucky. Killing beasts is quite a struggle.”

Dazed in thought, Subaru watched Todd’s muttering as he glanced toward the ruined corridor.

At his feet, the corpse of the fallen black bird lay. This was the beast that had been slaughtered by Todd after charging in.

Everything that had happened seemed to have transpired too hastily for Subaru to process.

What Todd had done, what unfolded right before his eyes—nothing was digestible. Until he handled those matters, he could think of nothing else.――Subaru couldn’t think of Vaits.

What had happened to Vaits, what would become of him, he couldn’t think.

“What…?”

“Beasts, they eat the bodies of those whose horns they’ve broken.”

“――――”

Unexpectedly, Todd stated this while carrying his axe on his shoulder.

Even though Subaru, struggling to grasp the situation, and the others hadn’t quite accepted it, they gasped in shock at Todd’s words.

Todd pointed at the corpse at his feet.

“If you break a horn, you can dominate the beast, but while they’re being commanded, they must accumulate a lot of pent-up frustration. So when that one dies, the beasts consume the corpse as a kind of revenge. It’s disgusting, don’t you think?”

Shrugging, Todd shared this previously unknown ecology of beasts.

How he knew it was something he didn’t want to know, and in any case, that information was of the type that provided little benefit.

Yet it explained what had transpired.

The reason the great bird had charged into the corridor was because it had once been commanded by the decapitated guard, and now it sought out that very corpse.

He had kicked away the head, attempting to involve Subaru and the others in its fray.

And yet, it didn’t unfold that way. Because, because, because.

Why would it not――.

“It’s because Vaits…”

“He was a caring one despite that appearance… Therefore, he died.”

“――Ah.”

Todd’s unusually detailed explanations smoothed over the occurrences.

He provided no information, and by withholding anything from them, he aimed to kill without any forewarning. Yet here he was, speaking freely now, as if to jolt Subaru’s mind towards the next question.

How the two killed guards tied in with the beast that had charged in.

Once that link was solved, Subaru’s thoughts would turn next. Next to Vaits.

To the irrevocable loss of Vaits.

“Oh, no, no——!!”

Vaits couldn’t have died. Vaits must not die.

He shouldn’t have confronted this terrifying Todd while trying to protect Subaru and the others. He shouldn’t have stood against this monstrous being—he would only be killed if he resisted.

If he died here――.

“Finally, you’ve got a child’s face now.”

Upon comprehending Vaits’ death, Subaru’s mind filled with regret and panic.

Seeing that reaction, Todd smiled knowingly and raised his axe high above.

His meticulous explanations were meant to allow Subaru to try to organize his thoughts.

Forcing Subaru to face Vaits’ death, something he’d tried to bury, collecting all the pain necessary to transform from an unknowable enemy into flesh and blood.

“Schwarz-sama――!”

Stunned, Subaru’s feet froze while Hiaine and Idra, still struggling mentally, drew back. The first to move into action was Tanzer.

Tanzer confronted Todd head-on, spreading her arms wide before Subaru.

However, Todd grimaced at Tanzer’s actions and said,

“Your actions are really all over the place.”

“Eh?”

As he spoke to her, Todd dropped to one knee. Captivated by that act, Tanzer was wide open as Todd lunged his arm beneath her and hurled her to the side.

In an instant, Tanzer’s small body was airborne, thrown toward a large hole created by the bird, now fractured as a result of the breach.

“Ah!”

Even with her incredible physical prowess for a child, the laws of gravity and physics remained unchanged. Of course, she wouldn’t outweigh an adult, and Tanzer’s weight equated to that of a small girl.

In her moment of panic, she reached her hands out desperately, but her slender fingers did not reach anything, as she was cast off the side of the island.

“Go play!”

Having been tossed into the sky, Tanzer’s scream faded further away.

With Tanzer gone, there would be no one to protect Subaru and the others from Todd’s axe.

“His Majesty the Emperor’s…”

“Hmm?”

“His Majesty the Emperor’s offspring!? Are you insane!?”

Idra shouted at Todd with his eyes wide and his features warped with rage.

His appeal was marked by a frantic earnestness, as he pressed forward against the obviously indifferent Todd criticizing him for his actions.

However, Todd’s answer to that appeal was simple.

――He merely went silent and swung his axe, aiming for Idra’s head.

“Whoa!”

Just before Idra could be split open, he was pulled by the collar, and Todd’s axe swung wide of its mark. Idra’s startled eyes expanded as Subaru hurriedly shook his head behind him.

This was futile; his attempts to reason were meaningless. From the very beginning, this threat had been misguided.

Subaru attempted to fall back on a simple answer.

He had been ensnared in this predicament as a consequence of his own hasty choices.

“Did you evade it? That’s unfortunate. But—”

Todd adjusted his stance, casting a weary glance to the side. He stared at Idra, who was sprawled on the ground, startled, and at Subaru, who was next to him, and Hiaine, who had camouflaged himself in the surroundings.

Mingling with the shattered floors and walls, Hiaine was entirely invisible to the naked eye.

But he hadn’t moved at high speed.

“Why get lost right in front of me?”

“Schub—”

The moment Hiaine met Todd’s gaze, he flinched, causing his disguise to slip away.

What had been a perfect blend with the scenery fell apart, revealing himself in a hideous spectacle, as if parts of a painting were crumpled away.

Now, a spray of red paint poured out of Hiaine.

“――――”

Struck by the axe right on his shoulder, Hiaine fell, his body sliced down to his chest.

As blood gushed from his body, Hiaine’s disguise faded, revealing the gray corpse of the lizardman.

Vaits was dead, and Tanzer had been thrown away, and Hiaine was also killed.

One after another, visible right before Subaru’s eyes.

And――,

“D-declaring a duel…!”

With a trembling voice, Idra turned from the slain body of Hiaine, rising to his feet.

Pointing at the man who had just brutally killed his ally, Idra glared furiously, his face flush with rage, turning pale with fear, and showing signs of white-knuckling frenzy.

This was a “lie” Idra fabricated to inspire Subaru and motivate himself.

Unlike Subaru’s simple lie, it was the one form of fantasy having its roots in reality.

“If you’re a warrior, too—”

Idra’s wish completely exceeded the bounds of possibility.

“Wha!”

“――!!”

Though a feeble hope, Idra’s plea was born from desperation.

Yet Todd roared, cutting him off, targeting the empty veneer Idra tried to project, and slipped a blade beneath that surface.

“Gah!”

“You’re no warrior; you’re merely a soldier.”

Kneeling, Idra reached a trembling hand toward his own neck. The knife was plunged into the center of his throat, its sharp tip protruding through the back of his neck.

Idra’s hand grasped the hilt, trying to pull it free. Yet, before he could remove the blade, Todd’s axe came crashing down on Idra’s head from above.

“――Ah!”

Idra fell forward, and Todd pulled the knife from his neck. Idra’s lifeless body was tossed carelessly aside, lying next to Hiaine’s body, painting an infamous tableau of nightmares.

Beyond them lay the corpse of Vaits, buried beneath the ruins falling down upon him.

Tanzer had yet to return after being tossed aside. Did something happen after she was dropped from a great height? Wouldn’t Vaits too be beneath the frog they fell with?

If that were true, Tanzer would be a part of what this island’s gladiators had become――.

“What’s the actual situation?”

“Eh…?”

“Are you really the son of His Imperial Majesty?”

Critically, Todd looked down upon Subaru, who was crumpled in despair.

Watching Subaru’s spirit collapse after losing his companions, Todd comprehended that he had intentionally preserved Subaru until he was the last one standing.

Subaru’s lie—claiming to be a hidden child of the Emperor—had deeply embedded itself in Todd’s mind.

He had actually entertained the notion that Subaru could be the Emperor’s hidden offspring.

“Then… why not surrender? I am the Emperor’s…”

If he had considered the possibility of being his son, there should have been some room for leniency surrounding Subaru’s plea.

Subaru had believed this plan to persuade Todd and Tanzer’s misunderstanding could re-energize those around him.

That Todd might consider raising a white flag to avoid killing them instead.

Yet instead, Subaru lost all his companions and discovered his life was grasped firmly in Todd’s hands.

“Why, why? Who are you…”

“It’s not like I’ll let you surrender and then just be killed for no good reason.”

“――――”

“The truth of the matter should be regarded as advantageous when the situation favors us. It allows room for thought and reduces the chances of mistakes.――And provides some assurance.”

Todd’s final reasoning sounded the most significant.

Subaru exhaled, feeling as if he were continually being choked by Todd.

“Whether you are the Emperor’s illegitimate child or not, it’s still a name of interest.”

“W-what…?”

“Natsuki Schwarz. That’s a name I know, and it resembles a frightening individual. Furthermore, your scent is quite reminiscent of that terrifying person as well.”

Todd snuffled slightly, regarding Subaru with a chilling gaze.

The mention of scent reminded Subaru of the first massacre—Todd having arrived there, intending to slaughter gladiators on the island.

Thinking about scent gave rise to an unpleasant dread in Subaru’s mind.

“Can you smell the miasma?”

“The miasma? Oh, no, no, it’s not that! You’ve got it wrong. It’s truly a stench, your body odor. My sense of smell is just a bit better than most. So it sparks my curiosity.”

“――――”

“――Do you have a brother or something? If you do, I might be inclined to spare you as leverage for negotiations with him.”

Denying Subaru’s uncertainty, Todd presented a shocking proposal.

The mere idea of letting him live was unprecedented for Todd. This also appeared to suggest that Todd believed Subaru was just a shrunken brother of the taller Subaru beside him.

Moreover, considering the memories that once named him while crossdressing, there was a suspicion that they could refer back to “Natsumi Schwarz” as well.

In either case, if Todd had even an inkling of the option to “not kill”—

“――――”

With the lifeless bodies of Vaits, Hiaine, and Idra scattered nearby.

If he closed his eyes, the deaths of Gustav and Old Man Nur would come to mind. Plus, many more gladiators’ corpses they had seen along the way emerged to his thoughts.

All had perished. All had died, and therefore—

――Subaru couldn’t afford to die.

“…Do you know anything about my brother?”

With that mistaken indication of a further discussion, Subaru shifted his focus.

If Todd was cautious about the larger Subaru, that anxiety could be utilized to keep the smaller Subaru alive.

If he could manage to survive this situation――.

“——Wait.”

“Eh?”

As he opened his mouth to assemble words that could navigate this predicament, Todd caught Subaru’s face in his palm, his eyes cold and piercing, meeting Subaru’s gaze.

And――,

“――You tried to manipulate me, didn’t you?”

A dull thud echoed, and a sharp sensation penetrated fully into his chest.

Feeling the coldness of that blade within him, Subaru widened his eyes. A heartbeat later, agony radiated through his limbs, and a solemn scream thundered at the back of his head.

A resounding scream erupted from Subaru’s own mouth.

“Gya, giiiii!”

A knife excessively large stabbed deep into Subaru’s chest.

This was not a discussion of whether to pull it out or leave it be—this was far too big. It pierced him, impaling something precious within his heart.

Crimson bubbles foamed from his mouth as Subaru trembled.

Coughing, the red-covered wrappings fell away from his mouth.

It was irrelevant. That too was no longer pertinent. He was beyond worthless, utterly useless. He couldn’t die. He must not die. It was disastrous if he died—he absolutely couldn’t die.

“Don’t move.”

As he writhed and attempted to crawl away, escaping that spot, Todd set his foot upon Subaru’s stomach to pin him down, preventing him from moving.

With him immobilized, Todd lifted his axe before Subaru.

Pain, fear, horror, terrible realization—it was all simply this red; this cold pain—this feeling had to stop.

“D-dying… is not allowed…”

“Here we go!”

With a feeble hand, Subaru barely raised it to shield his head. It was lost.

The descending blade of the axe crushed through Subaru’s hand, down to his head, to his life, and ended it――.

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“――!”

As his head was split open, his insides spilled out everywhere.

That terrifying vision flashed before him, and Subaru erupted into a scream at the back of his throat. With trembling hands, he reached for his head, clasping it with both hands.

Not broken. His head wasn’t broken, and his chest didn’t hurt. His life remained intact.

Confirming that, Subaru let out a breath of relief and lifted his face, only to be met with――,

“――Ah.”

A tattoo-covered man slowly turned in his direction.

His left arm was mangled from the axe, his right eye pierced by a knife, an unprecedented amount of blood gushing out—Vaits.

“It was the first time…”

Vaits’ blood-soaked lips trembled, as he uttered those words.

Seeing that, Subaru stiffly exhaled with a weak, pitiful breath.

“The one who said they believed in me was…”

“Aaaaahhh——!!”

Weak words spilled from Vaits as his body tilted dangerously sideways.

Regardless of how he reached out, no matter what he attempted, Vaits’ body was doomed.

Vaits couldn’t die. Subaru must not allow it.

Until that moment was confirmed.

As Subaru struggled to steady himself, falling backward—this was his reset point from “death.”

“Aaaaahhh——!!”

――For when an irreplaceable person dies, the heart of Natsuki Subaru shatters.