Episode 186
* * *
Jack the Ripper, Jack the Ripper.
Dale held his breath at the awkwardness of that name.
“I have been waiting for you, Black Prince of Saxony.”
“Swordsmith Jack said, and what Dale felt in that sight was an unexpected familiarity.
He was wearing a mask with the corners of his mouth grotesquely torn like a crescent moon.
“《Laughing Man》… … .”
Dale muttered softly.
“What does that mask mean?”
“Everyone pretends to be someone they know when they go to a ball. I’m no exception.”
Jack the Ripper smiled, his words trailing off.
“Do you believe in the existence of God?”
“… … .”
“Oh, that’s fine. But you still believe in the existence of the devil, right?”
“Swordsmith Jack said. For a moment, the words of another “Laughing Man” lingered in his mind.
‘For example, just as we can look at the ledgers of the Guild City and predict the state of affairs on the continent and what will happen in the future… … If we assume that there is a demon that can accurately predict the movements of this world, it would not be impossible for him to foresee all the events that will happen in this future.’
A being that knows the exact position and momentum of each and every molecule in the universe. Laplace’s Demon.
“I believe in the devil. And the devil is so omniscient that he can foresee everything that happens in this world and in the future.”
“Sword Jack said.
“For example, where and how should I commit a crime so as not to be caught, where and whom should I attack so that the crime is buried in the darkness… … The devil of the omniscience always whispers to me.”
He fixed the blade in his hand and turned his back on the corpse of a male prostitute that had turned into a lump of flesh.
“As you can see, I have no power.”
Jack the Ripper said.
“There’s no magic, no aurors, and even if you fight a normal person, you can’t guarantee victory.”
“… … .”
“But every time that demon whispers to me, I know that I can survive the countless times I’ve torn and rip these children’s bodies apart.”
Wiping the blood off his blade.
“The people of the city curse my name every day, and I can feel the air of fear and terror as I walk down the street! Ah, it is hard to find such a thrilling pleasure as learning something.”
Jack the Swordsman trembled in ecstasy. He couldn’t even laugh at the sight.
“Isn’t that amazing, Shadow Lord?”
“It looks like the devil has whispered something about my true identity.”
“Yes, that’s why I knew I would meet you here.”
Jack the Ripper smiled. Behind the mask of the Laughing Man, with its grotesquely torn corners of its mouth.
“What are you aiming at when you face me?”
“I am an apostle who serves the devil of the universe, and I have been given the role of conveying our will to Confucius.”
“Us?”
“It’s an organization called 《Determination》.”
Dale’s expression froze at the name.
“The head of our organization would like the Shadow Lord to join us.”
“Do you think I would just take your hand so obediently?”
Dale burst out laughing at that.
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. We are not interested in either gold or shadow.”
“Not interested?”
“There is only one thing we desire: pleasure.”
Jack the Ripper said.
“The pleasure of murder in raping and tearing to pieces a frightened prostitute on a night street, the intellectual pleasure in exploring the knowledge hidden in the taboos of the White Tower, the gastronomic pleasure in devouring the world’s most expensive delicacies… … There is no room for gold or shadow to intervene in these.”
Dale remained silent.
“How is it, Shadow Lord? We at 《The Alliance》 wish to leave the fight between gold and shadow and join the ‘Black Prince’, who is the most cruel and notorious on the continent.”
“Let me ask you one thing.”
After a silence, Dale opened his mouth.
“By the way, do you also know that this will be your grave?”
“… … ?”
Jack the Ripper tilted his head for a moment.
“Did your devil whisper to you that you are nothing more than a ‘chess piece’ who will be kicked out after swearing your teeth here?”
There was cold hatred in Dale’s voice. Just the disgust and hatred that a person feels purely in the face of evil.
“I guess your devil never told you that I will never forgive a piece of trash like you?”
“… … !”
Only after Dale’s words did Jack the Ripper’s expression change into agitation.
“Was the omniscient demon actually a fake? Or did he know and just wanted to use you as a mere chess piece and throw you away?”
I won’t deny that that man, Jack the Knife, has the power of an apostle.
Beings who have received special powers from the gods who look down on us like ants in the heavens.
Most apostles, receiving that power, bow their heads to the Almighty in heaven. Just as the Virgin received the revelations of the Sistine Sisters, so did that man.
The foolishness and blindness were so funny that I couldn’t even say anything.
“That, that can’t be… … !”
Only then did Jack the Ripper swallow his breath in confusion.
“I know. The omniscient demon is always whispering to me how you will move and how I can defeat you.”
After much bewilderment, Jack the Knife-wielder finally began to threaten with a murderous intent. I couldn’t even laugh.
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“Oh, is that so?”
At the same time, a chilling aura of doom swept out from Dale’s body, and Jack, the swordsman, skillfully distanced himself.
“Ice Bullet, Gatling Style.”
Dale stretched out his arm again at the sight, carving a bullet not at the shadow but at the cold apocalyptic air swirling from his heart.
The ice barrage descended, and Jack the Knife rushed through the hail of bullets. But the man who had voluntarily run into the hail of bullets knew exactly where the bullets were going. It was as if he knew where he had to be so that the bullets would miss him.
“… … !”
Choaack!
The blade in his hand swung, cutting deep into Dale’s flesh.
Dale belatedly tried to confront him by deploying the Shadow Lord’s avatar, but Jack the Sword had already disappeared behind Dale’s back.
“Of course, I know everything. How you will act, and how I can take you down.”
Jack the Ripper sneered coldly.
“Laplace, the demon of the omniscience who can read the future.”
Dale muttered.
“Oh, so you know about the being I serve?”
“Then you must know the names of the remaining ‘three demons’ as well.”
Dale answered.
“Three demons… …?”
At Dale’s question, Jack the Ripper held his breath.
“Don’t you know the four great demons of the history of science? Oh, I see, you don’t even know that much.”
Only then did his movements become swayed.
“Were those fictitious beings that could be destroyed by a single high school textbook really the devils you guys were talking about?”
“How dare you say you’re a fictional being!”
Those demons are merely a by-product of the thought experiments of ‘scholars from another world’.
It was impossible to guess how the beings of this world understood that concept, but it was not something to worry about right away.
“Those who think they know everything about the world are usually fools who know nothing.”
Dale sneered coldly.
“I see the future. I see your actions, your movements, everything.”
As he said that, Jack the Swordsman kicked the ground. He was right. His movements were precisely calculated to see how Dale would move and how he would counter in a few seconds. The armor of the dark blood and all the fire scattered in all directions were no exception.
Black blood was splattered.
In front of a mere criminal who couldn’t even use his Auror, the Shadow Lord’s body was being torn apart by his blade.
“See, this is the difference between those who know and those who don’t.”
Nevertheless, the Shadow Lord answered.
“If you had a higher education, you wouldn’t be talking nonsense like that.”
─ Kyahahaha!
With those words, Shuve, who was next to Dale, burst into laughter as if he was having fun.
Dale accelerated the five circles again. Among the black and blue ones, only one was blue.
The cold air in his blood exploded like a whirlwind, covering him like a dark-blooded armor.
It was a frost armor made of the cold air of the apocalypse.
It was just then.
“… … !”
Jack the Ripper’s movements stopped.
“You said you were hearing whispers from the devil in the sky.”
Dale, clad in the armor of absolute zero, asked coldly.
“How is it, is the devil still whispering this scenery next to you?”
A world of absolute zero. What the Shadow Lord was projecting onto the armor of the Dark Blood was the winter of the universe itself.
“Ah, ahhh… … !”
The frost of the end began to spread around the Shadow Lord’s feet. At the same time, the Shadow Lord, wrapped in the armor of absolute zero, took a step forward.
“Oh, oh, don’t come… … !”
Jack the Ripper began to tremble as if in a fit of convulsions. The cosmic winter, where the demon of the universe was whispering in his ears, and the cosmic horror that his narrow field of vision could not handle echoed.
“It’s not without reason that ignorance is bliss.”
Dale muttered as if it were someone else’s business.
“You said you knew what I was going to do in a few seconds.”
“Ah, ah, no, ahhh… … !”
Jack the Ripper began to rampage, and through the whispers of the devil who was still by his side, enlightenment was brought about beyond the realm of knowledge that a mere mortal could dare to endure.
“Hee, heehee, heehee.”
Jack the Knife-wielder fell to his knees.
“Winter, winter, winter is coming.”
“… … .”
“Winter is coming! A winter is coming that no one can escape!”
Dale looked at him silently.
“Yes, that is the truth. That is the truth that no one can escape.”
After looking at it, he continued speaking calmly.
“The scale is too big for a single extra to handle.”
I left him behind, foaming at the mouth like a madman.
* * *
Some time later, at a time when the Supreme Court was regularly contacting the High Court in Harlem.
Leading the assassins in their coats and beaked masks, the one there was one of the judges of the Supreme Court.
But it was not up to the head of the High Court, ‘McGee’, to welcome him.
“Oh my, how did such a wretched person come to such a noble place?”
Master Baro put both feet on the table and asked again.
Furthermore, the Shadow Lord next to him was looking at him with an expression devoid of emotion.
“Ah, ahhh… … !”
The judge’s expression froze coldly at that sight.
“Why did you betray the Shadow Goddess, Master Mars?”
“I, I, I just… … !”
The judge of the Supreme Court and the Mars Society shut their mouths. The assassins who were supposed to protect him also changed their stances upon seeing Master Baro and the Shadow Lord.
“Oh, don’t worry too much.”
The Shadow Lord said.
“I just want to talk.”
Indifferently.
“Very long and honest, without hiding anything.”
