Javert's Iron and Justice (7)
Purgatory.
The Inverted Tower, built by some eccentric architect in ancient times.
They said the genius, never recognized by others and only ever pointed at in scorn, had quietly carved away underground.
Some claimed he created Purgatory as revenge against the world, but no records remained of his true motive.
The architect left no words about the tower.
If one had to guess, there was only the single word he left behind on Purgatory's first floor.
[Human]
Not a sentence, and hardly letters that seemed to hold any special meaning.
He had carved the word into a huge boulder.
So it would not easily weather away, and so its meaning would not fade.
Was it an extension of that word?
Purgatory changed themes every ten floors.
The ten sins humans were born carrying, recorded in ancient scripture.
The "Ten Sins."
Hatred, resentment, lust, and so on.
Those smaller motifs also influenced each floor's structure.
From the 51st floor to the 60th floor was [Resignation].
There, a hazy fog covered most of the floors.
From the 61st floor to the 70th floor was [Rage].
There, some floors had turned into zones of scorching lava.
'And.'
The theme from the 81st floor to the 90th floor was [Regret].
Cold air had settled around them.
The air was sharp enough to freeze the lungs.
With each exhaled breath, white flowers bloomed in clusters.
"......"
Should she call it cold, or should she call it chill?
Only a cruel silence lingered around her lips.
The cold could not be shaken off with clothing.
The cold in this place meant something far more fundamental.
Whether one wore gloves or wrapped oneself in a coat, the depth of the cold did not change.
"Ahem."
It froze the mind, not the body.
Again, a flower bloomed from her lips.
Petals that bloomed for a single moment, then quickly scattered.
Even through that fluttering, red could not take her eyes off black.
"Congratulations."
"......"
"You finally uncovered the culprit's identity."
"......"
The words rang out calmly.
Javert understood what that sentence implied.
For a moment, her throat closed.
Across from her, black eyes were looking at her.
He was not even wearing his usual mask, so the faint smile on his face was aimed straight at the woman.
"Investigator."
"......"
Javert gave no answer.
No, she could not find an answer to give.
'Why?'
Sentences rose and shattered again and again.
Even when she forced words together, they caught in her throat and broke apart.
Clink, clink.
Sharp fragments piled up.
Glass shards scraped at her throat.
Barely, as if spitting out bloody phlegm, the woman opened her mouth.
"......Viktor."
A name.
Javert trembled as she faced her student.
Forcing her ravaged throat to move, she squeezed out the words welling up inside her.
"Say it is not true."
Her green eyes shook.
Between blooming puffs of breath, the boy's figure blurred again and again.
"Say it is not true."
The sentence repeated.
"Investigator."
"Say this is all a misunderstanding."
"......"
"Say you have no connection to this place. Say you are innocent."
"......"
"Say what you just told me was a joke. Say you are only standing here because you lost your way and wandered in."
Her lips had slipped beyond her control.
Words she had not thought through spilled out one after another.
She could not breathe.
Maybe that was why the words bursting out of her were so desperate.
'Why?'
Why was she so desperate?
Why was she trying to deny the truth before her eyes?
Had she perhaps hoped the identity beneath that robe would not be the boy?
"Answer me at once."
"......"
"I will bury the matter of this unauthorized entry into Purgatory. I will not charge you with a crime, and I will replace it with a suitable number of demerit points."
"......"
"If you confess, even now, that it was a joke, I will show mercy with the demerit points as well. In accordance with the written academy rules, I will handle it by giving you the lowest possible number of demerit points. So..."
"Investigator."
Her words had gone on and on.
But the boy before her quietly shook his head.
"It was me."
"......"
"The Purgatory Floor 70 Unauthorized Clear Incident. The unauthorized clearing of Purgatory Floor 80."
"......"
"All of it was my doing."
"......"
Javert's mouth closed.
The boy smiled softly.
The woman could not understand what that smile meant.
Whether she understood or not, Viktor confessed every last one of his crimes.
"I received no help from anyone. I was not instigated by anyone. I did it only by my own will, and by my own power. Also, I have no intention of stopping. I will continue conquering Purgatory, and I will keep disturbing Grandia Academy's order without end."
"But why..."
"Does the reason matter?"
"......"
"What matters is that I am the condemned criminal you searched so hard for, Professor."
A question asking for his reason.
It was something the usual Javert would never have said.
The boy pointed that out, and once more shook something inside her.
"Nothing changes. Even if what I did was to save countless people's lives. Even if someone threatened me and I had no choice but to do it. Even if I truly did it with wicked intentions to ruin the academy. In the end, nothing changes. Even if I were a person with some long, tragic story, like being abandoned by my parents as a child and growing up in an orphanage, or even that orphanage burning down because of a blind arsonist, or losing everyone precious to me..."
Reasons.
Stories.
They were all meaningless things.
"You have to carry it out, do you not? The execution."
"......"
Because principles did not need those small details.
No matter what answer the other person gave, the action Javert had to take was the same.
"Isn't that right?"
That was the woman's world.
Javert felt her mind being thrown into complete disorder.
Nausea rose.
She was dizzy.
She could not tell heaven from earth.
If she lost even a little reason, it felt as if her brain would spill out.
Even while she was driven that far, there was one memory that squeezed her heart tight.
-Javert.
-This is why I told you not to break principles.
Her adoptive father, burying his face in his hands.
The dark study, and beyond it, the portrait of an old woman hanging on the wall.
-Otherwise, everything becomes a mess...
That moment cornered Javert.
It made the woman clench her fist.
Pure white bloomed at her fingertips.
Pajik, pajijik-!
Light burst up with white sparks.
As if he had been waiting for it, Viktor also aimed his dagger into the air.
"Will you come at me?"
"Viktor."
"Yes."
"The true culprit behind the Purgatory Floor 70 Unauthorized Clear Incident and the unauthorized clearing of Purgatory Floor 80. In accordance with the death-on-sight order issued for that matter, I will carry out your execution."
Javert no longer called him a student.
The one before her was not a student, but only a condemned criminal soon to be executed.
The woman's eyes flew wide open.
Her distinctive green eyes shook as if they had lost their way.
Even in that confusion, her body followed familiar movements.
"Submit quietly."
Kwaaang-!
The woman leaped across the corridor.
The ground where she had stood caved in, and red hair shot forward.
"Huuup...!"
The boy did the same.
A flashing fist collided with the tip of the dagger.
Chaaeng! Kuuuuung-!
A heavy tearing sound filled the whole floor.
The rupturing noise did not end with one strike.
Iron screamed again and again.
Teong! Kiiing! Kageugeuk...!
The two were utterly hostile to each other.
Whatever they felt inside, at least the result was clear.
-Droit-Style Martial Arts, Fourth Form-
'Annihilation'
Kwaaaaang-!
The boy wore the Broken Crown over his head.
On top of that, a strange movement blurred Javert's attention.
"Useless."
"Krgh...!"
Of course, the woman was not pushed back.
The two collided explosively.
By then, the corridor was a wreck, as if it had been laid waste.
Chaeng! Kgeugeuk, udeuk-!
Sparks flew whenever their bodies crashed together.
The flashes bursting out at each instant briefly drove away the surrounding darkness.
Kaaaaang-!!
Sword and fist struck each other away viciously.
Shoving,
scraping down,
cutting through the air as if to break the other apart.
'Why?'
Javert felt as if she could no longer know.
She only followed principle out of habit.
The wavering in her vision did not lessen.
The woman swung the fist that gripped light with even sharper force.
-Droit-Style Martial Arts, Seventh Form-
'White Annihilation'
Kwaaaaaaa-!!
A blinding flash stretched down the corridor.
A blazing temperature, a blow with enough force to melt everything before her eyes.
"Her Highness!"
The boy shouted.
Right after, dark red blood wrapped around him.
-Blandir-Style Bloodcraft, Seventh Form-
'Red Blood Half-Heaven'
Kadeudeudeuk-!
The boy and the woman fought on equal footing.
A balance that held by a thread.
But that state was only temporary.
The boy's crown was not an item that could last forever.
"Krhup! Ugh...!"
In the end.
Viktor was the first to be sent flying.
"Keheok, haa..."
The boy was slammed into the floor, breathing hard.
Javert had him by the collar.
Black eyes looked up at the woman.
Javert clenched her fist and aimed it at Viktor.
"Haha..."
She was right on the verge of swinging.
At this rate, the boy's head would be blown to pieces.
"What are you doing?"
"......"
But Javert could not swing.
Her fist had stopped in the air, frozen still.
Because their eyes had met.
Viktor still had a smile on his face.
He was somewhat exhausted and disheveled, but the corners of his mouth were clearly lifted.
"Investigator."
His voice mixed with labored breaths.
That voice was calm, and strangely gentle.
"What are you hesitating for?"
"......"
The freezing air stabbed into her lungs.
White breath repeatedly covered the space between them, then cleared away.
Javert's eyes kept shaking.
Even knowing that, the boy quietly parted his lips.
"Kill me."
A hellish sentence rang out.
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