Sin Archbishop, Representing Greed

The scene in the light screen changed again.

Flames spread through the mansion.

Curtains, carpets, wooden banisters, and painstakingly decorated rooms were swallowed inch by inch by tongues of flame. Wind poured through the shattered windows, fanning the flames higher until the entire mansion looked stained red with sunset and blood.

At the end of the corridor, a man's furious curses drowned out the crackling flames.

"What the hell do you women think you are?!"

Regulus Corneas stood amid the firelight, his white hair tousled by the heat. The smug, arrogant smile he usually wore was gone, leaving only a rage that bordered on a complete loss of composure.

"How dare you leave me behind and die without my permission!"

His voice grew shrill with anger.

Even now, he seemed unable to understand.

How did those women dare-how did they dare defy him?

How did they dare take their own lives back from his hands?

How did they dare use death to destroy his inviolable perfection?

Fire filled the mansion.

Of the women he called his wives, some lay beside the stairs, some at the entrance, and some deep inside burning rooms. They had none of a victor's composure, only the resolve that remained before the flames swallowed them.

Regulus was still cursing.

"Do you know what you're doing?! You're my wives! What right does something that belongs to me have to decide whether it lives or dies?! Who gave you permission-"

Before he could finish, a foot in a high-heeled shoe came flying in from the side.

Thud!

The kick knocked Regulus's face sideways, sending him crashing through the wooden door behind him and tumbling into the firelit hall.

He hit the floor, bewilderment crossing his face before his fury erupted completely.

"Bitch!"

He raised his head, his mouth full of blood and his eyes bloodshot.

"Who the hell do you think you are, laying a hand on me? Do you know what you've done? You'll pay the-"

Squelch.

A blade flashed down.

Before he could finish saying "price," his raised right arm had already been sliced open.

It was not severed in a single stroke.

Instead, the sharp blade shaved it away, piece by piece, along flesh and bone.

Regulus froze for a moment.

He seemed to finally realize that his body no longer had the protection of that absolute stillness.

The next instant, a scream tore from his throat.

"Aaaaaaaah!"

Elsa Granhiert walked slowly through the flames.

Her black dress swayed gently in the heat, the blade in her hand reflecting the firelight. A spine-chilling smile rested on her face. There was no impatience in that smile, but it now held a hint of anger.

"What were you about to say?"

Elsa tilted her head, her voice so sultry it was almost gentle.

"The price?"

Regulus clutched his mangled right arm, his face contorted to the extreme.

"You lowly woman-!"

The blade fell again.

This time, it was his left arm.

Elsa's blade moved so quickly that its path was almost impossible to see.

Regulus's curses, his screams, and the sound of flesh and bone being sliced apart mingled and echoed through the burning mansion. The Sin Archbishop of Greed, who had once emerged unscathed from any attack, could now only roll across the floor, trying to preserve one last shred of dignity with that mouth of his that never stopped moving.

"Bitch, what are you doing?!"

Elsa did not answer.

She raised her leg and drove her heel hard into Regulus's midsection.

The kick doubled him over, his voice abruptly changing pitch. Then Elsa planted another foot on his shoulder, pinning him back to the floor.

The blade kept sliding.

Arms.

Shoulders.

Ankles.

Calves.

Thighs.

Elsa did not kill him in one go.

Her blade was steady, as though she were performing a delicate dissection. The firelight illuminated her profile and Regulus's increasingly mutilated body. Blood spread beneath him, the heat baking it into an acrid smell.

Regulus still did not stop cursing.

"I'm content with what I have, I live an honest life, and I'm an upright man! I've never taken anything that didn't belong to me! I only wanted a peaceful life, only wanted my wives to stay by my side!"

His voice rose higher and higher.

"Why should I be treated like this by you bastards?! Why do you filthy women, you lowly insects, all dare to defy me?!"

Elsa kicked the " " between his legs.

The impact sent Regulus flying. His mutilated body smashed through a window frame and fell onto the grass outside the mansion amid a spray of sparks.

The night wind swept past.

Flames curled outward through the opening, as though the entire mansion were exhaling heat.

Regulus lay sprawled on the ground, his chest heaving violently.

He was still alive.

The Sin Archbishop of Greed's vitality was annoyingly tenacious.

"Aaah!! Why..."

His face smeared with blood, he stared fixedly at the burning mansion.

"Why am I being treated like this?"

"All I wanted was a quiet life."

Regulus's voice trembled with pain, but his conviction that he was in the right did not waver in the slightest.

"I never seek anything unnecessary, nor do I covet wealth that isn't mine. I only want a quiet mansion, meals on time, and somewhere I can rest without anyone disturbing me."

"I don't smoke, nor do I indulge in alcohol. I go to bed at eleven every day and get eight hours of sleep. I hate noise, hate arguments, hate people ruining my mood."

"I only want my wives to stay where they belong, fulfill their duties as wives, refrain from defying their husband, and keep me company in the safest, happiest place."

As he reached this point, the anger on his face twisted further.

"What's wrong with that?"

"I'm content with what I have, I live an honest life, and I'm an upright man. I've never taken the initiative to steal anything that didn't belong to me."

"But you women, every last one of you insists on betraying me, defying me, abandoning me, and dying without my permission!"

"What right do you have to ruin my peaceful, happy life?!"

Footsteps came from ahead.

Regulus's voice stopped for a moment.

He looked up and saw a pair of black eyes.

A black-haired, black-eyed boy in a black cloak stood at the edge of the shadows where the firelight could not reach.

Natsuki Subaru.

Regulus's pupils abruptly contracted.

"You..."

He gritted his teeth, twisted fury returning to his face.

"You bastard! You did all of this, didn't you? You bewitched them! You made those women betray me! You violated my rights, destroyed my family, and stole my peaceful, happy life!"

Natsuki Subaru looked down at him.

There was little joy of victory on his face.

He merely watched Regulus for a while before turning his gaze toward the burning mansion.

There were still women's bodies inside.

Those people had not even left their names behind.

They had done it to turn this monster who claimed to be content with what he had into something that could be killed.

Natsuki Subaru remained silent for a long time.

He had originally thought those women would, at most, cooperate with him, provide information, and create a momentary opening.

But they had gone further than he had imagined.

They were prepared to sacrifice their own lives as well.

Without any hesitation.

Without even asking Natsuki Subaru for anything.

As long as Regulus could die.

As long as this man could finally disappear from their lives.

They could burn themselves away along with him.

The strength of their resolve to die reflected the weight of what Regulus had inflicted upon them.

Natsuki Subaru lowered his eyes.

Regulus was still ranting.

"Say something! You sewer rat! Do you think you've won? Do you think you can judge me with these underhanded tricks? I'm the Sin Archbishop of Greed! I'm the most honest, most upright, most unassuming man there is!"

Natsuki Subaru ignored him.

Elsa walked out of the burning mansion, blood running down her blade and dripping from its tip. Her skirt had been singed in places, but a satisfied smile still rested on her face.

Natsuki Subaru looked at her.

"I remember he still had his arms and legs when I saw him just now."

Elsa gently licked the blood from her fingertips, her smile deepening.

"Because the mere thought of leaving him his arms and legs disgusts me."

She walked over to Regulus and lightly nudged his mutilated body with the toe of her shoe.

"And he also needs to understand those women's resolve."

Regulus abruptly raised his head.

"What resolve? Those women were nothing but-"

Elsa stamped on his face, grinding the rest of his words back into the dirt.

"Letting someone like him die without knowing anything would be far too easy on him."

She looked down at Regulus, her voice carrying an almost gleeful cruelty.

"He should know exactly how the people he despised most, the ones he cared nothing about, dragged him down."

Regulus's face was pinned to the ground, his voice muffled, but he kept cursing.

Elsa raised her saber, aiming its tip at his chest.

"What next?"

She looked at Natsuki Subaru.

"Should I finish him off in one go, or take it slowly?"

Regulus struggled even more violently.

"Don't you dare! You pack of-"

The saber pierced his chest.

Blood poured from the wound.

Gripping the hilt in one hand, Elsa actually hoisted Regulus's mutilated body into the air like that. Firelight shone on the blade, the sight as absurd as lifting a skewer of grilled meat.

Regulus's screams nearly tore through the night.

Natsuki Subaru watched him.

Of course he had the compassion any normal person should possess.

He also had the instinct to frown unconsciously at the sight of suffering.

But that compassion did not extend to Regulus.

He thought of those women, of their backs as they fell in the flames.

He thought of the terrifyingly quiet look in their eyes when they learned they could kill him.

Whenever he thought of this, Regulus's perpetually self-righteous, innocent face would surface in his mind.

If he let him die in an instant, he probably would not understand even at the very end.

He would not understand what he had taken away.

He would not understand why those wives would rather die than remain by his side.

He would not understand how desperate someone had to be when they were driven to the point where even death became freedom.

Natsuki Subaru raised his head.

"Take it slowly."

Elsa smiled.

"I knew you'd say that."

She turned and carried Regulus, impaled on her saber, toward the fire.

The flames quickly engulfed Regulus's body.

His screams rose higher once more.

Regulus writhed in the fire, still cursing, cursing his wives, cursing Elsa, cursing Natsuki Subaru, cursing the whole world for not working the way he wanted.

Natsuki Subaru and Elsa stood before the firelight. Neither looked away.

Sparks rose on the night wind and landed on the edge of Natsuki Subaru's cloak, then quickly died out.

Regulus's voice was shrill at first, then gradually grew ragged, until all that remained was incoherent wailing.

Elsa listened for a while, then suddenly gave a soft laugh.

"So a bug's voice isn't unpleasant after all. It's actually quite lovely."

She narrowed her eyes, as though appreciating a piece of music.

Natsuki Subaru watched the scene before him, firelight reflected in his eyes, watching that once-insufferably arrogant Sin Archbishop slowly lose his voice in the flames.

Only after a long time did he say quietly:

"Yeah."

"I think so too."

The flames in the screen of light were still burning.

The Sin Archbishop of Greed's curses finally ceased.

All that remained was the crash of collapsing wooden beams and the howl of the night wind sweeping through the sea of fire.

Natsuki Subaru turned away and did not look at the fire again.

Elsa followed behind him, the tip of her blade lowered, its bloodstains looking black in the firelight.

Behind them, the mansion that had imprisoned countless women finally collapsed in the flames.