Chapter 36

I sat in my chair until all three of them left and I slowly walked over to the door and opened it. Yukino was slumped into the corner, bound by the stockade and stared up at me. Her eyes were shrouded with dark circles and her lips were dry. We hadn’t given her any food or drink in over a day and the suppression of the rhenium chain and stockade was doing a number on her. I didn’t know for sure, but it seemed like the augmentations that Ichiro mentioned made them similar to Tsuki, in that they needed a constant source of mana to function normally. I walked in and stood over the decrepit Bishop, anger and rage boiling my blood. Even in her pathetic state, the sight of her caused me to relive that moment from two years ago. I wanted to end her right there, in an instant, but I hesitated, holding myself back.

“Are you handing me over now? I can tell you already, I won’t break. Your rebellious group won’t do a thing. You’ll get nothing, and you’ll die and wither away, just like every other opposition the Secular has had to deal with over the course of history. You’re not the first, you won’t be the last, but what you will be is another spec of dirt that gets lost in time.” She spat at me, or at least tried to, as she looked up at me in defiance.

“Change of plans.” I flicked my wrist and the stockade popped open. With another flick, the chain around her neck popped off, too. Yukino took no time to hesitate, instantly jumping to her feet and starting to conjure her manifestation, along with the halo-like crest behind her. However, I stopped her at once by slamming my hand around her neck and crushing her into the wall, causing it to dent and cave around her. She let out gagging sounds and sputtered as I tightened my hand around her neck. I stared into her bulging eyes as I lifted her off the wall and slammed her back into it. Her hands were scraping at mine, but her weak, malnourished and mana-deprived state was less than a child’s strength. She struggled to speak as my grip closed in on her throat, my fingers puncturing her skin.

“G-ge-.... o-... m-...” She struggled to sound out even the smallest words. “Pl...ea...se...”

“So much for not breaking.”

She started to panic, her entire body writhing in my grip. Her eyes started to flutter, her consciousness leaving her. That was when I started chanting a spell. The one that I didn’t get to finish before. I wanted nothing left of her, just like she left nothing left of my family. As I started to say the words, I felt my blood hit a boiling point, the rage and anger of two years manifesting into the spell. Most stories and people tell you about revenge being pointless and to enact retribution in way of self betterment, but I was not one of those people and this was not one of those stories. My revenge wasn’t going to end with Yukino Kurosawa. My revenge wasn’t solely placed on just her. What she did to me happened, will happen, and continues to happen to other people. That’s what I realized since nearly being killed by Kyosuke; I am not just vengeance for my family. I am vengeance for the families and people who will never know what was taken from them and those who don’t know what will be taken from them. Fire ignited around my eyes, and it turned to an otherworldly black as I finished casting the spell.

“Abyss.”

Yukino completely stopped struggling in my grip. Her eyes were streaming tears as she stared at me abject horror, knowing exactly what is coming for her. What’s about to happen. And not a moment later, her eyes went completely white. Just like those Apostles in the mall, Yukino’s skin and clothes started to dissolve away as if it was being peeled off her. Then the layer of her muscles and tendons dissolved. All I was holding onto now was her skeleton with her nervous system still entwined with it. The entire body of the skeleton then vanished, with just her skull remaining and falling into my hand. I don’t know if I subconsciously made it so the spell left just his last remnant of her, but I chuckled as I ignited it in a violet flame, disintegrating it into ash.

I let out a deep breath as I let the ashes fall out of my hand. My boiling hot blood cooled off, and I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I had honestly expected to feel nothing after removing her from this world, but I felt calm. Calmer than I ever had in the last two years. I truly felt like something had been lifted off my shoulders, that I no longer had a burden. I would never know for sure if my family wanted this or if they would even be content in knowing that I would become a person of vengeance, but in this moment, in this post-Yukino Kurosawa world, I felt content in having accomplished my goal.

I picked up the metal collar and let out a light chuckle, deciding to keep it as a souvenir for Tsuki. Despite it being an object of negativity for her, she clearly kept it on her for one reason or another. I then exited the room and stared into the empty room with the large bed. My mind immediately drifted from the act of revenge I just committed to a memory of pure happiness; the kiss I shared with Marie this morning. I pressed my hand to my face, realizing that I had the giddy smile of a schoolboy having been told his crush liked him back.

“Horribly murdered someone into smiling like a schoolboy. Hah. I really am beyond redemption.” I said in half self-loathing and half bliss. I let out one last deep breath before leaving the safe house and heading to the station to meet up with everyone.