The citizens of the holy kingdom gaped at the Demon Lord's declaration, stunned by the severity of the punishment. Still chained tightly to a metal chair, Ailette's eyes widened as her breath caught in her lungs. Only Tesilid himself reflected absolutely no emotion, his face a mask of complete indifference.
Despite only having a view of the back of Tesilid's head, she could still easily read the apathy in him, the usual detachment from death that was unique to infinite Returners.
Angered by this, Ailette shouted, "Forget substitutionary atonement! You're being yourself too much right now! Stop being so reckless and get over here!"
He didn't turn around, seeming to ignore her.
"Think about it, Tez. Even if you save these people's lives with your own, it's only a temporary solution. Let's look for a different way, please?" She waited in vain for a response. When one didn't come, she yelled louder, "Hello? Can't you hear me?! D-do you really think I'm going to forgive you if you do this? What about the rest of us?! Huh?"
Tesilid still stubbornly refused to look at her, so she decided that she needed to change her strategy.
Taking a deep breath, Ailette pressed her eyes together with a look of pain and shouted, "Tesilid Argente! If you die like this... then... I'm going to marry a different man and live happily ever after!"
Having put the force of her aura behind her voice, her words bounced loudly off the wall of the underground world, echoing ominously around them.
"I'm going to marry a different man and live happily ever after... Live happily ever after... Live happily ever after..."
"..."
"..."
A different kind of silence now filled the air. When the echo subsided, a wave of murmurs erupted.
"Y-Your Eminence...?"
"A-are you in a relationship with the master of the holy sword?"
After stubbornly refusing to face her, Tesilid finally turned around, his mouth sputtering silently until he managed to find his words.
"With who? With Reed?"
"What?"
"Do you mean with Reed?"
Never having expected a sincere response, Ailette couldn't reply. The onlookers watched the exchange eagerly.
"I-I think I'm right."
"They're together!"
"I knew it..."
It was Marchioness Levant who finally stepped in to break the tension. "Ha! Is this a joke? How dare you display acts of affection at the honorable courthouse?! Your Majesty, we must proceed with the execution at once and rid this place of these two cockroaches!"
"Relax, Marchioness Levant," Inferinos said dryly. "I was already thinking of a suitable punishment."
"He deserves to die in the most gruesome way!"
Marchioness Levant, who couldn't appreciate the beauty of love, was clearly disgusted by the humans' unpleasant display. Then, like déjà vu, a scene from before seemed to repeat itself inside the courtroom. Tesilid parted his lips to speak as if he had something very important to say.
"There's an execution method I'd prefer," he said in that same cold, authoritative tone he had used before. "May I suggest it?"
"What did you say, human? You have a preference?"
It seemed absurd that someone would have a special request for his own death sentence. This human was truly unpredictable.
"Please throw me into the Pit of Solitude."
"...!"
Marchioness Levant couldn't hide her shock. "My goodness! You fool! Do you understand how awful that sentence is? I cannot believe you accumulated so many evil deeds with such a useless brainâ"
"How interesting," said Inferinos, cutting off Marchioness Levant's meaningless jabbering. "I was already considering that method, but I didn't expect the prisoner to suggest the idea first." The Demon Lord seemed to mull over the request for a few seconds before conceding, "That's a wish a can grant. I will let you die the way you want."
Rumble!
The ground started to shake as the bronze relief that decorated the wall and held up Inferinos' spire-like altar spread apart. It revealed a path at the center that led to another pit behind the altar.
Looking at the cliff from which creepy red waves of heat could be seen rising to the edge, Inferinos kindly explained, "What you see there is the Pit of Solitude. It's an execution site I recently established in my territory."
"..."
Without another word, Tesilid began to walk toward the path.
"Tez!" screamed Ailette, but he chose to ignore her again.
Once he reached the edge of the cliff, chilling noises from below rang in his ears. He could hear the sound of metal clanging against metal, groans of indistinct destruction, and even the screams of some unknown creature that was shrieking in pain. The ensemble of noises that echoed up informed him of the fierce battle that was taking place deep down in the pit, beyond the red waves of heat.
Inferinos explained, "This is a place where prisoners kill each other until the last one remaining absorbs all the other prisoners' powers, whether that creature be a demon, a human, an animal, or a bug."
In other words, it was a battle royale. Worse yet, there was no future even if one survived until the end.
"The creature born from this experience will become an excellent concentration of evil that will have the honor of being sacrificed to the Primordial Chaos."
Essentially, the Pit of Solitude was made for Reed. On the other side of the judge, where the prisoner's waiting room was, stood a gigantic exit gate. However, flashing sparks of electricity blocked anyone's entrance, seemingly because it wasn't opened yet.
That's when Inferinos ordered Tesilid, "Jump in there yourself. Then I will release the other humans."
Tesilid slowly turned toward Ailette, his gentle smile meant only for her as he spoke.
"Allie."
Something she believed she'd heard before rang in her ears.
"I'll be right back. There's nothing to worry about."
"...!"
Tesilid disappeared from her view, and Ailette's expression shattered.
â
"..."
My heart sank. This had happened once before, yet I couldn't get used to it. Unable to breathe, let alone speak, the citizens of the holy kingdom called out to Tesilid in my place.
"S-Sir Tesilid!"
"O-oh, no..."
Time passed as I remained blank and still, while various sounds of metal hitting the floor erupted at the same time. All of the handcuffs that were chained around the people's wrists had been released as the sparks in front of the exit gate disappeared.
"Leave, those who were saved by sacrificing the silver stigma bearer."
"..."
Inferinos had kept her promise, so the people who were lost in sorrow slowly pulled themselves together and stood up.
Some turned around and shouted, "Sir Tesilid! Sir Tesilid! We're sorry!"
"We will repay your grace for the rest of our lives!"
The long line of people started moving in the opposite direction, their pace picking up once they crossed the path with cliffs on both ends. The people hurriedly left through the gate as if they were afraid that it might close again, but a deal with a demon was absolute. Even the citizens and my colleagues who were taken away after being sentenced earlier had probably left the Demon Realm by now.
My mind started to assess the situation. Tesilid saved a bunch of people using the rule of substitutionary atonement by jumping into a pit I hadn't known about.
"..."
I was still reeling from the shock of it all when a voice snapped me back to reality.
"Aren't you going to leave, Executioner of Evil?"
I was free now, I realized. The chair that had been binding me had vanished, yet I was still standing in the same spot, even after all of the citizens had already left the Demon Realm.
«What will you do, Ailette?»
â¬The Scale that Judges Souls is looking at you anxiously.â
â¬The Voice that Shapes the World reminds you not to do anything radical.â
I ignored Inferinos and slowly walked toward the Pit of Solitude. I couldn't see anything below because of the red haze, so I decided to rely on my hearing to gather information. As I listened to the sounds coming from below, the endless noise of war that stretched across the entire area struck my ears. I could sense how fierce this battlefield was, where everyone was the enemy.
How long will Tesilid be able to survive in a place like this? I'm sure he needs me.
"It would not be a good idea to jump, Executioner of Evil."
"...!"
I could hardly breathe as if something was pressing down on my lungs, for Inferinos had approached and was standing behind me.
"Why are you standing eye level to a lowly human, Your Majesty?!" cried Marchioness Levant with shock, but Inferinos ignored her and stood next to me, shoulder to shoulder.
As a Demon Lord was in proximity, I paid attention to every single one of her movements by focusing all of my senses instead of drawing my sword. Her vertically slit eyes that were unique to demons slid down to the bottom of the pit as she remarked, "A powerful rule is applied to the Pit of Solitude because of my ability."
"What kind of rule is it?" I asked, voiced slightly strangled from the pressure of her power.
"That, once you enter, you cannot leave unless you're the very last surviving creature," she explained. "Hence, only one of you will be able to return, even if the two of you kill the rest of the creatures together. You don't want to ruin your relationship like that, do you? Although I think Marchioness Levant would enjoy witnessing your heartache."
This was an unexpectedly kind intervention.
Looking to the side but only with my eyes, I analyzed the Demon Lord as I asked, "What kind of creatures are inside the pit?"
"It's difficult to name all of them. There are too many to count."
"Ignoring the insignificant ones?"
Are they creatures an aura master can defeat on his own?
To this, Inferinos smiled slightly and replied, "I sent twenty-six of my most elite soldiers down there."
"You mean double-digit ranking demons?"
"That's right."
I barely managed to stop myself from swearing, for Tesilid had just entered a fierce battle between SSS-class demons. The tips of my fingers trembled slightly, so I had to clench my fists until they turned pale in order to still them.
Even as this happened, my face displayed a sarcastic smile.