jiiing- jing-
The magic sword Beelzebub vibrated on the wrist of his right hand.
It bared its teeth at the darkness in front of it, like the tip of a compass.
And.
"Where are you going in such a hurry, Major 'Rotten Dog' Garm?"
Lt. Colonel Black Tongue emerged from the darkness in the direction Beelzebub was pointing.
"No, should I say Major 'Night Hound' Vikir, hathathat-"
Black Tongue was much larger than he had been the last time they had seen him.
The muscles that wriggled throughout its body were clearly leeches, each and every fiber.
They were pulsing, stretching and contracting.
Black Tongue stretched out arms longer than his legs.
He crawled out of the darkness, gripping the floor and walls with palms that grew to be many times the size of his face.
"You're not Garm, are you?"
"...."
"Common sense tells me it's impossible for a junior garbage man to awaken one day and be promoted to senior guard."
"...."
"The other assholes act like they're hiding their power or something, but... I'm not. I'm the only common sense person here in Nouvelle Vague."
Black Tongue laughed through his gaping mouth.
Vikir grinned back.
"You talk a lot for a man who tasted blood and recognized it."
"What, did you just admit it, hathathat-"
"Yes."
There was no point in disguising his identity on the way out.
Vikir summoned the power of the Basilisk, and the burn marks on his face were erased in an instant.
His bushy hair slicked back and the burn marks cleared away, revealing his true features.
Vikir revealed his true form, and Black Tongue lolled out in front of him.
"Prisoners are not my business, but I have no choice!"
At the same time.
Squeeze!
The darkness around Black Tongue began to move rapidly.
Just as his vision was about to get even darker, a large palm flew straight into his eyes.
"...!"
Vikir jerked his head back.
The rubbery fingers of Black Tongue flicked across his cheek.
jjuuug-
Blood was drawn from the wound and sucked into Black Tongue's fingers.
But.
hududug- hududug- hududug-
Vikir's blood was sucked towards Black Tongue's fingers, but it quickly lost its strength and scattered to the ground.
Black Tongue had retrieved his vampiric power midway through.
"Now that I think about it, your blood looks a little strange. I think it will only be bad for my body if I suck it for no reason."
Apparently, Black Tongue had noticed the frightening poison in Vikir's blood.
pis-
Vikir ducked low to avoid the flying palm behind him, and ran.
Severed hair flew behind him as Black Tongue's body closed in on him.
Snapping his arms back, Vikir snatched Beelzebub from his wrist and aimed for Black Tongue's empty body.
Then.
Zeeeeeeeing-
An annoying vibration burned his right arm.
The magic sword Beelzebub had been reacting abnormally since earlier.
'...What is that?'
It's a reaction he hasn't seen since he got it, and while it doesn't interfere with combat, something about it bothers him.
Vikir paused for a moment as he felt a vibration in his right hand.
"Welcome."
The muscles of Black Tongue reacted sensitively to Vikir's approach.
Every single muscle fiber leech stiffened, and all at once, they charged at Vikir.
It was like hundreds of arms sprouting from his body.
Vikir abandoned his approach without a word.
He swung Beelzebub and removed the leeches from the Black Tongue's entire body, one by one.
…peoeog! …peopeog! hududug-
The blood, flesh, and guts of the bloody leeches began to scatter in all directions.
All the while, Beelzebub continued to tremble, but it didn't seem to hinder the battle.
Meanwhile, while Vikir was swatting away the leeches flying through the air, Black Tongue untied the strap of the sack around his waist and began to shake out what was inside onto the ground.
It was a small ball, a leech egg.
The leeches hatched from the eggs and crawled across the floor toward Vikir.
'This is the same stuff that was stuck to Kirko's stomach.'
Vikir's eyes sparkled.
The blood-sucking leeches on Black Tongue's body weren't particularly desirable, but those that stole the power and form of their opponents were personally desirable.
Black Tongue noticed Vikir's gaze and spoke with a chuckle.
"This is an ultra-rare species that I have only recently succeeded in breeding and farming after a lifetime of research. Have you ever heard of a 'doppelganger leech'?"
"No, I haven't."
"Hathathat- of course you haven't, it's a top secret even within the Nouvelle Vague!"
A purple tongue darted out of his mouth, and another mouth opened at the end of it.
"For your information, I was granted permission to use any prisoner or guard in the Nouvelle Vague as a guinea pig for my research and development of this leech."
"Permission? Who gave you that right?"
"Who could it be? Orca, that cranky old man. He'll do anything to increase the security of the Nouvelle Vague. He's probably willing to work with the demons."
Black Tongue chuckled.
"Actually, the research and development ended a long time ago~ I'd rather not call it done and have a little fun with it."
Hearing that, Vikir nodded silently.
Suddenly, he remembered Kirko's face.
She and her parents had lost everything, then, simply because of one psycho's entertainment.
All the happiness of a family, all the joy and fulfillment of a parent, all the love and happiness a child deserves, all sucked out of them by a leech.
'...Thank God, my dad's not a bad person, my mom's not a miserable person. I'm the only bad kid.'
He remembered Kirko's words.
The Ghost Castle of the Great Deep. A child born and raised here. A woman with nowhere to turn.
"...."
Vikir took a deep breath and let it out.
Huh.
When the hot exhalation had been drawn out, the vibration of Beelzebub on his right arm had stopped cold.
Night Hound had decided to be a dirty dog for now.
"I will take your leech and spread the word about it, but not now."
Vikir said briefly.
At the same time, Beelzebub's sword protruded from his wrist, scratching sharply at the surrounding area.
…pakang! kkadeudeudeudeug! deuleuleuleug! kkigigigigigigigigig-
The tip of the awl sliced through the stone floor and stone walls.
Puff-puff-puff-puff-puff!
The huge number of crawling leeches burst into flames, all of them dead.
"...."
Black Tongue's mouth snapped open for a moment.
He was astonished at Vikir's ability to kill all those tiny leeches in the pitch darkness.
"Apparently you're a much trickier prisoner than I thought, well, the fact that you removed the BDISSM handcuffs was unusual. Hathathat-"
But Black Tongue was still slacking off.
The source of its slack was soon revealed.
"...!"
Vikir narrowed his eyes.
Black Tongue had slowly drawn back, and around him, the black balls were beginning to appear.
'You laid this out for me, knowing I'd come for BDISSEM.'
Vikir eyed the corridor that stretched out beyond the darkness.
The leeches were so swollen that they could easily fit one or two people.
They can be seen clinging to the floor, walls, and ceiling, blocking Vikir's path.
"Don't worry. I didn't tell anyone, and it wouldn't help if the idiots came."
Black Tongue smirked.
"My children are far more competent. Here, look. These are new species I've invented. Oil-sucking leeches and body heat-sucking leeches! They're a bit difficult to breed, and they're a minor species, so we won't be able to mass produce them."
Both types of leeches were plumped up and pointing their snouts in this direction.
And then.
peopeong!
The leeches began to squirt out what was inside.
The oil-sucking leeches spewed out the oil they had stored in their guts, and the heat-sucking leeches spewed out the heat they had stored in their guts in the form of flames.
The hot oil bubbled, boiled, and flew, eventually creating a massive inferno.
It was enough firepower to make even Vikir want to avoid a head-to-head fight.
peopeopeopeong!
Oil and flame swept down the straight corridor in a loud explosion.
The dampness that had been lingering dried up, leaving nothing but charred stone and ash all around.
"Hathathat, what a shame, a few more leeches and the fire would have lasted a little longer, but was it enough?"
Black Tongue muttered as he stared out over the thick soot.
But.
"...!"
Black Tongue's eyes narrowed.
As the flames and smoke cleared, he could see something up ahead.
It was a blazing black light, an inferno.
It was Vikir, using Decarabia as a shield.
"Hmm? Is this all? Just when things were getting a little hot, it's over."
"Hathathat- you really do piss people off."
A black line of veins sprouted on Black Tongue's forehead.
Then, he lowered his stance to face Vikir in front of him.
"Good. You win. I have no choice but to reveal my bottom line."
Black Tongue pulled out a longsword, roughly sheathed in bandages.
The handle was wrinkled and hard, like a whole piece of meat dried into jerky.
Black Tongue gripped it carefully, the dirty bandages tattered underneath.
Vikir asked.
"Were you a sword wielder? I've never heard of it."
"Maybe, it has rarely been used against humans."
Black Tongue grinned and took off all the bandages that had been wrapped in place of the sheath.
A moment later, the hideously distorted hilt of the sword came into Vikir's view.
"!"
At the same time, Vikir realized why Beelzebub had been sending subtle vibrations to his right arm all along.
"...I never knew that sword was here."
It was the resonance of his own kind.