Levi blinked twice.
"I'm sorry, what did you just say?"
[He said he wants you to kill him, Abaddon repeated.]
I know that!" Levi snapped.
[Hey, you asked. No need to be so snippy.]
Sir Kazuki's expression remained entirely serious. "It is as I said, I want you to kill me."
Levi nodded slowly, trying not to look completely confused. "May I ask why you would want me to?"
"I assume you know all about me," Sir Kazuki began, lowering his gaze. "Most people do. But they only really know the Knight of Brilliance and not the man, the person, behind him."
He sat back down on the ground and gestured to Levi. "This may take a little while if you care to listen. Please, have a seat."
He seemed to have no problem with sitting on the ground in his all white attire. So Levi sat as well and listened to the man as he began to speak.
"I was born in the Shinkoku kingdom, a small village called Hiyoku. Well, if 'born' is even the right term. A few weeks before my mother gave birth to me, my Virtue manifested.
It scorched her from the inside out, and when my father returned, all he found was a baby lying on a pile of ashes.
My father bound the two of us together with an ancient technique, in an effort to suppress my power so he could take care of me. And for a while, it worked, but it took a tremendous toll on his mind and soul. Until one day, some years later, he finally broke.
He began to yell at me about how I looked too much like her, how it should have been me who died. And then he tried to kill me.
I can sometimes still feel his hands around my neck. As my life began to leave my body, the bond between us suppressing my Virtue was broken, and once again, I found myself alone. With nothing but ash."
Levi listened in muted silence.
"My heat began to bring ruin to the village. An unending drought, all the plant life shriveled up and died, and soon the people began to as well. So I left. I began to wander the kingdom, but there was nowhere I went that I wasn't shunned.
I became known around the nation as a cursed spirit in the form of a boy that only brought death and destruction. Some even began to call me 'Hiderigami,' the god of drought."
He stopped talking for a short moment to let out a small, bitter laugh. Then he continued.
"And others, others tried to hunt me down and slay me.
They failed, obviously, turned to ash. Just like everything else in my life. I continued to wander, all the way to the border of Yves. Then I collapsed, thinking I'd just die right there. Without anyone knowing, let alone caring.
And then he found me. Rysander Aurelius Reinhardt, the king of Yves. He brought me to his castle and took care of me. He suppressed my power with his own to keep me from harming anyone and, when I was old enough, knighted me.
But even his power cannot fully keep mine at bay. So I still spend most of my days wandering, and using the opportunity to search for an end that seemed like it would never come."
"Even if I could get close," Levi said, trying to think of the right thing to say, "I'm not sure I would be able to do anything. Are you completely sure you want to die?"
Kazuki ran a hand over his face and through his white hair. "Want, need, deserve. It doesn't really matter."
He paused and stared Levi right in the eyes. "I shouldn't be alive right now. Any type of water I get near evaporates, food turns to ash, and yet here I am. Somehow still alive after three decades. This is barely a life anyway."
Levi wasn't sure what to say. But if there was one thing he was certain of, it was that this man definitely needed a hug.
[I say we honor his wish, Abaddon commented nonchalantly.]
"Abaddon!" Levi whispered under his breath.
[What? I'm nothing if not generous.]
Levi took a deep breath before replying to the knight. "I-I'll think about it."
Even though the words hadn't been a direct confirmation, Sir Kazuki instantly looked less somber.
While he was here, Levi figured he might as well ask for help. "There's actually a… situation, happening not far from here. While you're here, could you maybe help us out?"
The man quickly got back on his feet and tried to regain his usual composure. He brushed off a bit of dirt hanging onto the fabric of his armor and cleared his throat. "Of course. My apologies, I got ahead of myself and made you listen to my rambling when you have your own problems to deal with. Most undignified of me."
Levi shook his head. "Oh no, there's no need to apologize, Sir Kazuki. It's fine, I'm sure Aldrich and Psyche are holding their own well enough."
Sir Kazuki smiled, a rare and dazzling occurrence. He always had an uninterested look on his face. "Please, call me Enya."
Levi nodded, returning the smile with his own.
"Now then," he gestured in the direction he had seen Levi fly in from earlier. "Shall we go?"
×
Aldrich dived to the left as the serpent's tail came crashing down, destroying what was left of the dock. He gasped for air as he broke the water's surface, trying to keep afloat and maintain his grip on his sword. A few meters away, Syd was doing the same.
They both swam to the shore as quickly as possible. The sea was the serpent's domain; staying in it for too long would be fatal. Luckily, Psyche was keeping it busy while they did that.
Unperturbed by its size, he had somehow made his way onto its back and was running along it. Heading towards its head, he kept his sword low. The sound of metal scraping against the creature's hard scales filled the air.
Its body couldn't be cut, so he would go for the eyes.
It was hard to run steadily on it as it kept moving. The serpent almost succeeded in throwing him off once, but he got right back up on it using his Virtue, Fickle Tempest. A few seconds later, he had reached the head.
After a quick jump, he descended sword first, plunging right into the serpent's left eye.
It shrieked. A low, guttural noise that filled the air.
Blood splattered everywhere. Psyche grinned madly.
But then it whipped its head, catching him off guard and throwing him off. He plummeted from the air and landed on the ground, hard. He winced as he pulled himself up.
Aldrich and Syd ran up to meet him. The two of them soaked in seawater.
"We should work together," Syd began. "Form a plan of attack…"
Psyche ignored her. He was having too much fun to stop now.
"Your relic," he said, referring to Aldrich's sword. "Give it to me. I lost mine."
It took Aldrich a few seconds to register. He handed the weapon to Psyche, he wasn't doing much with it anyway. "That was a rough landing. Aren't you hurt?"
He had a few broken ribs and tasted blood in his mouth, but this was nothing worth worrying over. He shook his head quickly before turning his attention back to the monster.
Then, with a running start, he launched himself into the air using his Virtue. Subsequent gusts of air kept his momentum up as he headed back towards the sea serpent.
The sword in his hand had split into two smaller daggers. He hadn't been able to cut through the creature's scales with his own weapon, but he could sense that these were different. Sharper.
And he was right; they sliced through the serpent with ease. He began to ascend towards its head once more, cutting and slicing and chopping as he went.
This was so much fun.
The serpent roared. But it sounded more annoyed than scared. He could just keep on cutting it up until his frenzy reached its limit. And then he could unleash the full power of his Virtue.
But that would take too long. The town itself wouldn't last long if the serpent kept rampaging. He didn't have much of a problem with that, but Sir Alastair probably wouldn't approve.
No, he would have to kill it as he was. And he had already come up with an idea.
But then the serpent did something it hadn't done before. It opened its jaw, a large amount of energy coalescing inside it.
Some kind of beam attack, aimed straight at the village.
Psyche sighed. "Can't let that happen, now can we?"
He changed the daggers back into a single weapon to free up one hand. Then he hit the creature with as huge a blast of wind as he could manage at his current disposition.
The blast connected just as the serpent began to fire its attack. Knocking its head off course and causing the shot to go wide. Some mountains a few hundred miles away were blown up, but that was probably of no consequence.
Psyche cracked his neck and licked a spot of blood off his face. The serpent's blood tasted different from humans'. But as different as it might be from his usual quarry, they all bled and died the same in the end.
He continued his ascent.