We don't know why one of the Four Deadly Plagues is targeting Cecily.
　I don't know, but...
　We don't know, but we must stop this man from getting to Cecily Arkwright at all costs.
　Intuitively, Zeke was sure of that.
　He must not let her encounter him.
　It was not a good idea for her to encounter this man.
　But it's not a good idea.

　--What do we do?

Hey, you know what?　You don't know?　Do you want to play?　If you don't know, do you want to play with me?

　Zeke gave his attention to Hyrgis, who was slightly behind him.

　--Run, get ready.

　But Hirgis responds with an expression of neither approval nor refusal.

''Ne~e!

　Slightly.
　A man stands in front of Zeke.

'Are you listening to me?'

　Once again, the man's size overwhelmed him, but Zeke tried his best to answer calmly.

'Cecily Arkwright's place, right?'
Yes.
I know.
'What!　Really?　It's Cecily Arkwright!　Ah!　If you lie to me, I'll kill you in a heartbeat!
Of course I know about it. I'm a very close friend of Cecily Arkwright's. No I'm the only one who would know where she is. No wonder the other guy didn't know where she was.
'Oh, really?　Great, great!　All right, great job!　Now I'm going to get my brother Masso to praise me!

　Masso.
　Probably the name of one of the Four Deadly Plagues.
　But what bothered Zeke more than that was the statement as if there were other Four Deadly Plagues looking for Cecily.
　Does this mean that the man in front of him is not the only one who is looking for Cecily?

'However--'

　Zeke puts his hand on the hilt of his sword.

'I'm not going to tell you that easily, but...'
'Why?　I'm going to die!
You said you wanted to play.　Well ... play with it, shall we?

　The man responded with a twitch.

'What?　You want to play with me?　You're going to play with me!　Great!　It's very rare that someone asks you to play with them on their own!

　The man's gaze catches Zeke's sword.

'A contest of strength!　A contest of strength!

　The man looks good at it and puts his arms around it as if he's doing some kind of prep work.

'Okay!　I love power contests, too!　Let's do it!
Wait.
You're waiting?　What?　Let's go play!

　Giving Hyrgis another signal with his gaze as he hesitates, Zeke walks to the body of the guard that the man had thrown away earlier.
　Then he bent down and pulled out the sword from the guard's waist.

''Hey~ What are you doing~?　Let's get on with it... Let's have a power contest.

　Zeke returned to the man and held out the hilt of his sword, pointing it at him.

'Sword?'

　The man tilts his head.

"I don't need a weapon, okay?

　Huh, Zeke smiled.　

'Boring, right?'
What?
You know exactly what I mean. The difference in power is too great between you and me. Do you enjoy fighting and playing in that situation?

　That's when it happened.
　The man's twin eyes narrowed, swooning.

'Hmmm ... hmmm ... I see ... I guess ... well ... it's always so easy. I knew it was going to be boring because we were winning too much.

　The man took the sword that was offered to him.

''So this means you're going to play with just the sword, right?　I'm too strong to compete. But, I still don't think I'm going to lose.

　The man wields his sword as if to test it, with a peek of confidence.
　It's a wind that doesn't feel the slightest bit of weight.
　Zeke also drew his sword from its sheath and held it at the ready.

'Hyrgis,'
...What?

　Hyrgis hesitated after Zeke told him to run with his gaze.

'Get out of my way. It's distracting.'
..........
You're not going to be able to play with this guy as hard as you want.

　The man looks at Hyrgis.

"Well, I'll kill it myself--
If you kill her, I'll never play with you!

　A shout from Zeke stopped the man who was about to move.

''That's it!　Why--
'If there's a dead body lying around, I'll be stuck in the way!　Yes!　The mere sight of that woman's corpse in my line of sight is not enough to make me happy and play!
Mmmm... okay, okay, okay...

　Hyrgis's expression twisted, and then he finally ran out to the alley behind him.

　--That's it.

　Even if he didn't put it into words, his intentions would have been understood.
　He wanted her to leave this place and head to Cecily while he was buying himself some time.　
　He wanted her to tell him, in person, that the aim of the Four Deadly Disasters - at least two of the four of them - was Cecily Arkwright.

　One, take a deep breath.

　In a manner of speaking, Zeke has also been exposed to far higher and more powerful people like Hibigami and Currier.
　Perhaps that's partly because of that, he's able to discern the quality of their strength better than before.
　And.

　As soon as we saw each other, we realized that we were in a unique situation.

　I knew that the Four Deadly Disasters were in a class of their own.
　They were not someone I could fight and win against in a proper manner.
　And now that they came here, including the man who destroyed the Great Clock Tower there is a high probability that the Holy Tree Knights have been defeated.

　Dying, I thought.
　I instantly understood that the man in front of me was going to kill them anyway.
　No matter what they say in their mouths, this man is not going to let them off the hook.
　It was clear that he was going to lead them into the "playful killing" that he has repeatedly mentioned.

　What should you do in such a situation?

　What Zeke thought of on the spur of the moment was to avoid the worst possible outcome.
　The worst possible ending would be for both Zeke and Hyrgis to die here.
　Then at least let Hyrgis alone live.
　The intentions he conveyed to Hirgis were, in a sense, just an excuse.
　Anyway, I thought I should make up a reason and get her out of here.

　In truth, if possible, he wanted to tell Kurohiko and Currier that Cecily was being targeted.
　I want you to protect Cecily.
　That's what I wanted to tell them.
　But in this situation of the four evil attacks, there is no way to know their exact location.
　Nor will they be able to stay in the academy or the castle.

　--The only thing I can do now is to pray for Cecily's safety.

　Zeke regrets it.
　He regrets that he is as helpless as he is.

　He doesn't have the same talent that Cecily Arkwright has, which has the potential to lead him to Shura.
　Nor do I have the sword skills trained in the path of Shura, like Currier Versteen.
　Nor does he have the sword talent to cross the power of forbidden curses or hibigami, like Sagara Kurohiko.

　--even so, at least.

　Pointing the tip of the sword at the man.

　--the eyes or just the tendons of the feet.

　That can be in exchange for your own life.

It's soni.

　The man who would be over Niratar looked down at Zeke and told him something.

'Soni?'
My name. My name's Sonny Angren. And you are?　I'll ask you for your name, because it's rare that someone invites you to play with them on their own. Hey, tell me?
"Zeke.

　He concentrates his nerves and grips the hilt.

'Siegbert Gil'es.'　
Zeke....yeah, okay. Let's go play--

　The man - Soni - swung his sword at him.

'Zeke!'

　Zeke took Soni's first shot backwards while moving forward.