Songs in the Void

Arifureta Universe, Tortus, Orcus Great Labyrinth, Unknown Floor.

Seeing the bridge crumble under Tatsuo after he hurled the confused Hajime at him as the bridge crumbled under his feet, Tatsuo's classmates, with a few exceptions, were at a complete loss. While the exceptions, such as Daisuke and Eri were elated, and Kaori was too concerned with Hajime being safe to notice. However, they were all snapped out of their stupors when they heard an angry roar coming from amongst their ranks.

"You son of a bitch! I'll kill you!" James' angry shout drew everyone's attention away from the gap in the bridge.

"Huh?" Everyone exclaimed after hearing that shout.

They then turned their heads in the direction of the shout. And they were just in time to see James wrap his hand around Daisuke's neck.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing, Alaverus?" Shinji shouted as he rushed over to stop James from hurting Daisuke.

"Taking an eye for an eye." James replied coldly as he lifted Daisuke off the ground by his neck.

At the same time, James kicked Shinji away.

"Urgh!" Shinji grunted as he spat a mouthful of blood.

"Hey, stop it!" Kouki, who took a moment to regain his senses after seeing what James was doing, shouted angrily. "Just what do you think you're doing to one of your comrades?"

"Go fuck yourself, Amanogawa." James shot back harshly. "I don't' have time for your self-righteous bullshit. Because of this little asshole, my cousin just fell from the bridge to God knows where."

"That's impossible!" Kouki shouted in protest. "No one would do something like that."

"*Cough* That's… right." Daisuke said in a panic. "Why would I do something like that?

Ignoring both Kouki and Daisuke's replies, James, with Daisuke still in his grasp started walking towards the edge of the bridge. And because he had an idea of what James intended to do, Daisuke started struggling to free himself. Unfortunately, he was entirely too weak to do so.

"Stop right there!" Kouki shouted after dashing in front of James.

"Fuck off." James replied in an even colder tone than before While pointing his katana at Kouki.

"Stop it, both of you!" Meld shouted as he inserted himself between James and Kouki. Then, he looked James in the eyes and asked a question. "What do you mean that it's because of Daisuke that Tatsuo fell?"

"I know all of you saw that fire ball that shot towards Tatsuo and Nagumo, right?" James asked without lowering his blade. "Well, this son of a bitch is the one who fired it."

That statement was enough to make everyone open their eyes wide in surprise. Then, they all turned their inquisitive gazes towards Daisuke, whose face was turning blue because of the lack of oxygen.

"How can you be so sure about that?" Shizuku asked calmly as she approached Kouki and gently made him lower his sword.

"Because I was standing right next to him." James replied in an icy tone.

"So what?" Kouki asked aggressively. "There were so many spells, how do you know it was his fire ball that slammed into the bridge in front of them?"

Ignoring Kouki once again, James swept his gaze over the rest of those on the bridge. And when he saw Sumire inching her way to the edge of the bridge, he nodded minutely. Then, he turned his gaze back to Meld and raised his voice to make sure that all the attention was on him.

"Does anyone remember what was next to that fire ball before it changed course?" James asked.

In response, everyone exchanged glances. None of them were really paying attention to the sequence of attacks, as they were more concerned with stopping the chasing Behemoth.

"Wait, you said a fire ball, right?" Saito asked as if he had seen a loop hole in James' accusation. "But Daisuke has aptitude for wind magic. There's no way he would have used a fire ball."

"And that's what you call a perfect red herring, you idiot." James shot back without even looking in Saito's direction. "Now shut up for a minute. So, does anyone remember?"

"Um… If I'm not wrong, it was between an icicle and a red lightning bolt, right?" Tsuji Ayako, a young woman with shoulder-length light brown hair, brown eyes, and a large forehead, that was exposed because he clips her bangs to the side, wearing a gold-trimmed white robe that matched her Priestess Class quite well, said while tapping her left index finger on her chin with a contemplative expression on her face.

"That's right." James said while staring Meld in the eyes. "And how many people do you know that use red lightning?"

"*Sigh* We all know that you're the only one who uses a spell like that, James." Meld said in an exasperated tone.

"Still, that doesn't mean that Hayama-Kun did it on purpose." Kouki said aggressively.

"Oh, get your head out of your ass, Amanogawa." James said disdainfully. "Ever since we got here, Hayama and his friends bullying has gotten even worse. If it wasn't for Tatsuo, they would have probably already seriously injured Nagumo. But none of you could even be bothered to stop them back then. Why? Because you all thought that Nagumo was useless."

Reaching that point, James glared at everyone present, even the knights, who were supposed to be responsible for keeping the students safe.

"Well, if you're so sure he's guilty of what you said, why would he do something like that?" Kouki asked.

Hearing Kouki's question, everyone looked at him like he was an idiot. Everyone except for Kaori, that is. Because to everyone else, it was obvious that Daisuke like Kaori, and he was jealous that Hajime received all her attention.

"It's because he has a thing for Shirasaki, you moron." James said in a tired tone.

"Huh?" x 2

Both Kaori and Kouki were completely taken aback when they heard James reason. Neither of them had noticed in all the time they had known Daisuke. Even Daisuke's expression, which was quite blue due to suffocation by now, turned a bit more sullen after realizing that Kaori never even noticed his feelings.

"And what made it even worse, Daisuke saw Shirasaki coming out of Nagumo's room last night." James continued, not sparing anyone any face as he did so. "And boy…. If you had seen the look on his face back then, you would have expected him to do something like this, too."

"Wait! How did you know about that?" Hajime asked in a flustered tone.

"Because Tatsuo and I saw it happen, too." James replied with a shrug. Then, he glanced at Daisuke, and when he realized that Daisuke might die soon if he didn't loosen his grip, he loosened it just enough so that Daisuke could breathe a little and the blood would circulate properly. "To add even more on top of that, Nagumo saved his sorry ass from a skeleton not long ago, too."

By now, everyone believed James' words more or less. Everyone except Kouki, that is.

"That's all just circumstantial." Kouki denied. "You still have no proof that he did it on purpose."

Once again, James ignored Kouki. Instead, he looked at Meld and started walking forward.

"What are you planning to do, James?" Meld asked, although he had a pretty good idea.

"I'm gonna send him to the same fate he condemned my cousin to." James said resolutely.

"Hey, someone, stop her!" A knight shouted, breaking up the atmosphere.

At that moment, everyone turned towards the knights voice. And when they did, they saw Sumire running towards the edge of the bridge, clearly intent on jumping after Tatsuo.

"What is she doing?" Shizuku asked in a disbelieving tone.

"*Sigh* her parents are friends with Tatsuo's parents from their university days." James said while continuing to walk towards the edge of the bridge with Daisuke in tow. "She probably couldn't live with herself now that she couldn't protect him."

As he spoke, James walked past all the stunned knights and students. Then, he dangled Daisuke over the abyss while they were all preoccupied with Sumire.

"Huh? Hey, stop it, Alaverus-Kun!" Kouki, regaining his senses, shouted when he noticed James' position.

"No." James replied coldly. "He tried to kill two people and succeeded in getting one of them. He doesn't deserve to live."

"Wait! Please, don't kill me." Daisuke, who had started crying by now, begged in a pitiful toen. "I'm sorry, I promise I'll make up for what I've done."

"That's right, let him have the chance to atone for his crimes." Kouki said.

"Hahaha!" James laughed darkly, showing off his nature as a devil. "You really think a piece of shit who tried to kill the two people who saved his life only a few minutes ago would actually repent? No, he'll probably just intensify his bullying on Nagumo now that Tatsuo isn't here anymore."

"That's not your decision to make!" Kouki shouted angrily.

"Yes, it is." James replied as he loosened his grip around Daisuke's neck very slowly, making him feel how his life was literally slipping away.

"Please… someone… anyone… save me…" Daisuke whimpered with fear etched deep in his eyes.

Despite Daisuke's desperate plea, the only one intent on saving him was Kouki, as everyone else was thoroughly disgusted by the way he bit the hand that fed him. Kaori's dark expression especially piercing into him.

As for Kouki, with his weapon still drawn, he dashed towards James with all his might. Even so, as he was completely outclassed in not only stats, but skill, as well, James easily parried all of Kouki's attacks without breaking a sweat.

Finally, after three agonizingly long seconds, James' grip loosened enough that Daisuke fell from his grasp towards the darkness below.

"Ahh~~~~~~~~~!" Daisuke screamed in horror as he flailed his arms and legs in an attempt to grab onto anything that might stop his fall.

Unfortunately, there was nothing for Daisuke to grab onto. As a result, he fell towards the end of his short, seventeen year, life.

The students were all left in an astonished state after seeing Daisuke fall. At the same time, the chilling shouts he left behind shook them to their very cores.

"How could you do such a thing…" Kouki muttered in an enraged tone. "You… murderer!"

As he roared his last word, Kouki once again swung his sword at James with all his might. However, James only looked at him disdainfully. Then, with a casual swing, he parried Kouki's slash, disarming him in the process.

*Clang!*

By the time the sound of the Holy Sword hitting the ground echoed around the area, James had grabbed Kouki by his collar and pulled him right in front of his face.

"Shut the fuck up you fucking hypocrite!" James shouted angrily. "That son of a bitch just killed my fucking cousin and tried to kill Nagumo. On top of that, he just admitted to it. But I didn't hear you spouting any of this shit about a murder back then!"

"That's because we don't know if what you said was true!" Kouki shouted ack. "We should have investigated further. Then, he could have received a suitable punishment!"

Hearing that, James chose not to retort. Instead, he simply tossed Kouki to the side, causing him to fall next to his sword.

"Look, I can appreciate the fact that you don't wanna kill anyone, Amanogawa." James said as he sheathed his sword slowly. "But that's' not the world we're living in anymore. In this world, if you let your enemies live, they'll stab you in the back eventually. And Daisuke was no exception to that rule."

Reaching that point, James turned away from Kouki and started walking towards the stairs leading upwards. At the same time, seeing that James' back was turned, with anger burning in his eyes, Kouki's hand slowly inched towards his sword. However, before he could grab it, Shizuku approached and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Shizuku?" Kouki asked in an irritated tone.

"Don't do it." Shizuku said calmly. "He just lost a member of his family. At least try to understand how he's feeling."

Hearing that, Kouki froze for a moment. Although he did not agree with what James just did, in fact, he could at least understand the pain he was feeling, as he had lost the most precious member of his family a while ago, too. So, he eventually took back the urge to attack James from his gaze. Even so, he would remain wary of James' every move, putting him on the same level as a psychopath.

"You made the right decision, Amanogawa." James said without turning around. "If you had tried to attack me, the body count would have gone up by one more today."

Meanwhile, far below the crumbled rock bridge, Tatsuo, wearing the [Fluttering Feathers] coat, held Sumire in his arms as they slowly descended towards the True Orcus Great Labyrinth. In fact, by now, they had fallen so far that the light from above could no longer be seen.

"*Sigh* It's gonna be a while before we see them again, isn't it?" Sumire asked while she held onto Tatsuo tightly.

"Yeah." Tatsuo replied. "But, at least we'll be much stronger than we were when we get back to them, right?"

"I guess that's true." Sumire replied. "Still, do we really have to eat monsters to do that?"

"If we want to manipulate our mana freely in this world." Tatsuo replied. "Or rather, if you want to. As for me, I'm doing it just to get the skills they provide."

"You really got lucky wit that gift pack of yours." Sumire said in an annoyed tone. "It's not fair."

"Ahh~~~~~~~~~!"

Before Tatsuo's and Sumire's conversation could continue any further, the sound of someone screaming in fear cut through the quiet atmosphere.

A few moments later, Tatsuo and Sumire, after looking for the source of the sound, saw someone falling from above. And when that someone was close enough to see clearly, thanks to their developed senses, they could tell that it was Daisuke.

At the same time, Daisuke also noticed Tatsuo and Sumire. And when he did, his eyes widened in surprise as the three briefly made eye contact.

"Damn you, Soramoto~~~~~~~~!" Daisuke shouted after he sailed past Tatsuo and Sumire.

In response, Tatsuo and Sumire only watched Daisuke fall without an ounce of pity in their gazes.

"So, wanna make a bet on how many pieces he'll be in by the time we land?" Tatsuo asked casually.

"No, I'm not really interested." Sumire replied. "Besides, what do we even have to bet with?"

After saying that, Sumire stopped to think about something. Then, she blushed furiously. However, because Tatsuo was following Daisuke's fall with his eyes, he missed it.

"Yeah, I guess you have a point." Tatsuo replied. "I just hope we don't land somewhere too close to any monsters. Because fighting while we're on our way down could be a problem."

"D-D-Don't worry." Sumire stuttered out while trying to rid herself of the risqué images that just ran through her imagination. "As long as I have my shield, I'll be able to protect us from any attacks that come our way on the way down."

"Then, I'll leave our defense to you." Tatsuo said with a smile as he raised his head to look at Sumire again. "For now, let's just enjoy the last moments of piece before we start exploring the real Orcus Great Labyrinth."