The gaze is, by nature, a powerful thing. Just as you can sometimes feel the sting of another's gaze on your skin, just as you can feel the pain, the itch, the immense heat there.

　To hold something in your sight, to hold it in your world. It has been believed that it itself has power. In mythical times, you could take a life with it. The evil eye. The true eye is a similar thing.

　Even mere mortals are said to have it. Then what is the gaze of a demon?

　King Garliest's castle. The throne room.

　The wizard Drigman opens his piercing eyes and gazes at Queen Erdis. Her spell itself flailed in her hands. Kuroness sobbed and cracked.

　What Drigman has in his fierce gaze is a quiet rage. It was nothing more than irritation at Erdis, who was also close to a spirit, but was still trying to bare his fangs.

　What are you doing, the eyes say.

　Why is she on your side, even though she is your kin, even though she is a demon? Drigman's eyes narrowed as these emotions welled up in him. His gaze grew vicious and powerful, burning Elddis's cheek. It had a strange pressure to it that seemed to stop the flow of blood.

　But... But the blue eyes on the other side shone even brighter. More swarthy, more vicious, the eyes twisted. Tightening her neck muscles and baring her teeth, Elddis fought off the demon's pressure.

　No, maybe he didn't care about that. The only thing stirring in Elddis's chest right now is a single emotion. A burning one.

　--How dare you dishonor me?

　Elddis feels the heat of the curse leave her fingertips. The enemy's blessing had eaten away her curse. And in the blink of an eye.

　That was impossible. It was not possible for Erdis, the favorite of the Great Spirit, to drown out any part of her spell. Only those who serve an equal or superior being could do so.

　I have a hunch. It's bad. That's the honest truth. At least that's what Erdis' reason tells him. A single moment of attack and defence had exposed the difference in skill between you and your enemy in broad daylight. He knew that he could not stand a chance against it head-on.

　But fortunately, for the moment, the enemy's attention was off Lugis. You've done your minimum job of distracting them while he closes the gap.

　Yes, the bare minimum. Erdis was supposed to bind the enemy's limbs with his spell.

　Oh, if that wasn't injustice, I don't know what is. Biting her lip, Elddis opened her blue eyes and quickened the flow of blood.

　I am the master of Lugis. Then I must do my part. How can a master be useless when he, the knight, is swinging his arms and running his legs to crush the enemy?

　How can you let him serve you with pride? If he is a knight, he should be worthy of it. That's what the contract between us is.

　And so, for an elf, the contract is absolute.

　Erdis leaned back on his arms and stretched his eyes. Her long ears twitched with a numb shiver. In the distance, the blackness of the curse shattered, and the earth shook.


　The earth shook.


　Right in front of me, the black of the spell bursts apart. My feet haven't touched the earth yet. My vision is scattered with dust and blackness, and I can't even see what's happening anymore.

　But my skin tells me what's coming. There is a demon ahead.

　He tilted the tip of the sword into the air and flexed his arm.

　The moment his toes touched the ground, he snapped his elbow and swung the blade in front of him. The pleasant sound of iron cracking the sky caressed my ears.

　From the tip of the blade, I felt the bite of flesh, the crunch of bone - and then, beyond that, a strange touch.

　Hard. It was as if it didn't move. For some reason the blade wouldn't move. It stopped just before I ate his heart. Why?

　No, no. It wasn't the sword that stopped. It was my arms themselves. They're pinned to something.

　What's something? Out of the corner of my eye, I heard a voice.

"I got you.

　It was a voice that scared me. My spine writhed and howled in danger. Organ by organ, blood drained from my body and I stopped breathing. Dust scattered in the sky, and I saw Drigman clenching his palm.



　My arms were entangled in the original, which also controlled the distance.

　The second I realized that, I heard a sickening sound. A very, very bad sound. A throaty, rasping sound.

　The shock came after that.

　A shock that made me think my arms were going to burst. Everything in my arms felt like they were shattered.

　The intense pain of nerves breaking through flesh and forcing their way out into the wild world. Is it bone breaking and tearing flesh? Or is the flesh raging and making the bones creak? I don't even know anymore.

　I feel dizzy. For a moment I couldn't even tell if I was conscious or not. I could see for myself that my brain was going haywire from the raging torrent of stimuli.

　What's happening? They grabbed me, my arm. Then what happened to your arm? You force your eyes open.

　It was such a shock that I thought everything had been torn apart, but luckily both arms were still intact. But that's all.

　There was no grip left, of course. The tips of his hands gripped the holy sword stiffly, but he could not move from that form. The sword does not budge from before Drigman's heart.

　Drigman's palm opened, and now I could see that it was opening up to my neck.

"This is the end for you. Curse your bad luck, Lugis--

　Bad luck. I didn't know what that meant. Was it getting my arm grabbed by this guy's source material. Or that it was a bad match. Maybe it meant that I was born in this time.

　Whatever the case, I'm sure I'm the unlucky one. I don't think I was born on the right planet. If I were lucky, I wouldn't be crawling on the ground, living in misery.

　But if you ask me if I was unlucky, I don't know. Was I unlucky?

　My arms are hot as if they had a fever. The bones and flesh had crumbled and even the sensation was gone, and all I could feel was heat. For a moment, I let out a breath. My ears were listening to the tickling voice.

"Luck is just a word, Drigman.

　A moment later, the stone floor shook slightly. The supposedly solid earth spasmed as if it were budding, and then burst in the blink of an eye. Several trees rose up as life-eating stakes.

　It thrusts up in a straight line at its prey, and pierces it without any hesitation.

　--Drigman's limbs and torso grunted as the tree stakes bit into them.

　A moment later. Clearly, Drigman was distracted. His evil eyes widened and his thoughts flew far away from his understanding of the situation. It's as if he's asking himself, "What happened?

　The body that had been pushed up against the stake was now swaying in the air with both legs slightly raised. Oh, how I longed for this moment.

　The hips were driven and rotated. His arms were now crushed and immobile. But they were still connected to this body. And your fists are gripping the sword tightly. Then all that's left is to force it into motion.

　The scream of bones collapsing from the inside. I knew I was making a move I shouldn't have. But if all I had to gain was a witch's heart and all I had to lose was my body... It's a great deal. What more could you ask for?

　With his legs still on the ground, he swung the treasured sword that was buried in the demon's body. Rather than slashing, it was more like swinging his no-longer-useful arm. I could feel his gaze piercing my cheek. But it was too late.

　It's just a barbaric swing. But the jeweled sword drew a line as if it had a will of its own and went straight for the demon's heart.