"What do you think? Quite an interesting event, is it not? Both parties could be considered the top of humanity."
The vehemence of the women and the madness of the beasts. Paying little mind to it and as if enveloping them, Karl Kraft continued talking with a mysterious smile on his lips. His songlike tone made him seem like a musician playing at an opera.
"Truly, this country has some interesting folk. You can meet people such as those just by taking a stroll outside. I would be glad if this worked to alleviate your ennui... Can I have your honest impression?"
"..."
Reinhard was unable to answer at first. However, there was one thing he wanted the man to know.
"Jester... No, it does not matter what you are. I will only say one thing. I am not as impressive as you make me out to be."
He saw the jester-like man as a person who had long transcended the realm of merely "odd" — an amalgam of indescribable absurdity, he could feel it not by reason, but by heart.
Thus, Reinhard Heydrich believed he was not interesting enough to be worthy of the phantom's interaction. After all...
"I do not know restraint. As such, I do everything with sincerity. And before I knew it, that way of life gained me the status I currently have. I am akin to an unstoppable automobile. Regardless of how efficient one's engine is, anything that runs without rest would eventually travel around the planet once or twice. I cannot begin to fathom what you expect from me, but that is the extent of the person known as Reinhard Heydrich. If you wish for amusement, you have a number of interesting folk right there. Go to them."
For better or for worse, he was in no way above the common man. His own evaluation of himself was based in neither humility nor conceit, but in solemn realism. Being a person with nothing special to him, he could do nothing but trifling acts. Even if this man expected something more, that truth would not change.
Reinhard was a normal man and he knew that to be true better than anyone. After all, nothing in this world ever left him astonished. He was already at peace with the resignation overwhelming his heart, yet the man before him continued smiling, subtly shaking his head.
"Oh dear... Self-effacing does not suit you at all. Would you still refuse to reconsider if I told you were yet to even hatch?"
"What?"
The swindler spoke more nonsense. It was almost as though he implied that all the despair, disappointment, and limits Reinhard set upon himself were nothing but illusions.
"Your Excellency, you claim to not know restraint and that you unable to halt in your tracks. However, in that case, pray tell me... Do you remember ever having used your full potential on a task? Were you not merely strolling, thinking it was your dash?"
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I speak. Would a lion use its fangs and claws for something as easy as breaking an egg? Would a falcon use its wings while facing a land-crawling insect? Where is this path you claim to have walked with no restraint? I fail to see it and doubt I ever will. Allow me to take your comparison to an automobile. Let us imagine a rocket that can go to space or cross oceans and destroy enemy nations on other continents. However, despite harboring a supreme engine and fuel, it travels around in a trunk of a standard vehicle, all because the surrounding roads are too limited for it to run at its own power. Would I be mistaken to assume that to be your true nature? You should finally admit that you have never unleashed your full potential, as one with no restraint, you have to hide your true abilities and make peace with a boring human world that would not last a second when exposed to be the true you."
"Ridiculous."
The mutter escaping his lips was slightly cracked in tone.
"Just how great is your megalomania? The fuel and engine of a rocket? If I truly possessed such, this country would have turned to ash a long time ago."
Reinhard Heydrich claimed to be an ever-running automobile that knew no restraint. That was all there could have been to a man as boring as himself, and as such, this trite world surrounding him was, if anything, the proof of his limit. He was running for so long, and yet it was though he had never moved from his initial position. Not once in his life had Reinhard gotten to feel the sense of accomplishment.
"That is why I wish to know why you hold yourself back."
"...!"
Those words filled his heart like poisonous mercury. The sensation urged him to destroy... And love. The tempting echo of a sweet ecstasy.
"Do you like this country? Do you love it? Friends, wife, lover, family, subordinates, superiors, the ones on the street... I do not believe you could ever hold anything so trifling as dear. For—"
Aye, for— What he really wished for was to create the promised land of his destructive embrace.
His consciousness began to weave that perception of himself. It was an unknown, delusional longing leaking out of his subconsciousness. At the same time, it was a feeling everyone felt in their infancy — one craving the preposterous and impossible. Self-consolation through thought. The demolition of reality. The desire within his heart was all but—no, instead, he merely wished to...
"Karl Kraft."
Reinhard took a step forward and cut the swindler's words short. He could not yet quite grasp the whole truth of his soul — the shape of the prayer etched onto his heart. He didn't comprehend what he believed in, wished for, or sought, and yet he felt it. It was a strange sensation burning his breast ever since he met the man.
The unexplainable, incomprehensible emotion — one that he must have had experienced countless times before. Anger, irritation, and despair coming from the fact he knew what would happen next, accompanied by ridicule a boundless sense of emptiness. The craving to destroy it all.
Which was why...
"It is time for you to hold your tongue. When we met, I'm certain I told you your head would roll the moment I sensed you were a threat to the country."
The passion he had poured into his Fatherland, subordinates, and everything else he loved... Could not be proven true if he refused to embrace it.
"If you keep spouting this trifling nonsense... I will make sure you never open your mouth again."
Giving in to impulse, Reinhard resumed walking while Karl Kraft moved to the side with the same smile on his face.
"Oh my... Allow me one last word, Your Excellency. One form of the golden mean is a pyramid. Being at the top of it means having no one by your side. That is the kind of person you are. You would be wise to become aware of that."
"Ridiculous."
Indeed. His words meant little. Reinhard's opinion of himself as a lowly individual had not wavered. And as such...
"I do not know what you mean. I am not aware of any hunger or thirst you speak of. However, I don't know why, but all I can think about now..."
He craved to embrace all Creation until it choked.
"...Is making that rabble yield to me."
"Feel free to."
As if congratulating Reinhard for the path he chose, Karl did a graceful bow.
***
"Move."
"Wha—!? P-Please stand back, Your Excellency. It's dangerous!"
"I told you to move."
"Ghaah!"
"...!"
What seemed like a weak swing of his arm threw Eleonore away like a ragdoll. Exposed to the sight, even the bloodclad, maddened beast stopped dead in its tracks.
"What is wrong, you mad dog? Why do you stop?"
The savage looked up to witness something that filled even him with terror. With his sense of reason gone, Wolfgang Schreiber's mind was like that of an animal. And that was exactly why the sight petrified him. His instincts screamed that Reinhard wasn't a normal opponent. The very thought of winning against him felt absurd.
"Ah... Ah... Ah... Ah..."
"That eye is festering. You have no need for it."
"Aaaaasaggggghhhhhh!"
Reinhard forced a finger into the eye of the beast and raised it by the socket. Schreiber's brain secreted ridiculous amounts of chemicals that made him insensitive to pain, but the atrocity he was experiencing was nonetheless painful enough to make him scream.
"Hngh!"
"Gyaaah!"
Discarded like a doll, Schreiber rolled across the ground, unable to tell which was up to. He might not have weighted all that much, but the feat wasn't one that should have been accomplishable by a single finger. Undeniable and absolute dominance and subjugation. Everyone exposed to it lost their breath.
"How...?"
"What is that...?"
"This can't be. This isn't real. This is just too..."
"Heh heh... Heheheheheh..."
The only exception was the shadowy swindler, to whom the sight seemed thoroughly pleasing.
"Get out of his way! Fall back, Kircheisen!"
"Huh? Wah! Kyahh!"
Eleonore's pained scream failed to reach the girl in time for her to avoid being thrown to the side. And so, only one of them was left...
"Wha—!? What the hell are you?"
Astonished and terrified, Wilhelm stood before the Golden Monarch. He, too, was completely stripped of any will to fight. The eyes looking down on him seemed to come from the high heavens, but the voice that fell upon his terrified ears was strangely emotional for someone speaking to the equivalent of an ant.
"I am a nobody. And you are?"
"Ah, I-I'm..."
Wilhelm failed to string a proper sentence, as if having forgotten who he was, and only released sounds that seemed both sorrowful and joyous. Soon enough, he came to a certain realization.
The man before him was an infant — a freshly born transcendent who would experience unimaginable growth. Any who came in contact with his first cry were pulverized, turned into dust, and rendered unable to return to their former selves. However — for some reason — Wilhelm felt that to be a blessing rather than a curse.
"Do you relish blood? Or do you detest it? Regardless, you must first consider what flows in your veins."
"Gwaaahh!"
The fist that crashed into Wilhelm's stomach reduced his internal organs to mush, shattering his bone and ending his life. The strike marked the beginning of his second life of blissful strife, as a member of the hellish Legion of Gold.
"Ghh, ghaah...! Ghaaah!"
While painfully drowning in a sea of her own bloody vomit, Wilhelm felt love, pleasure, and elation so true it almost made him climax.
The mercury shadow observing the sight grinned, expressing his great joy from the distant, unknown emptiness of the empyrean.
"How horrid..."
Riza Brenner could do nothing else but embrace herself and tremble before the sudden eruption of Gold's Valor.
"I-It appears that it was taken care of... Although I am not sure if I can honestly proclaim ourselves to have been saved quite yet."
Trifa felt as though he might have been luckier had he actually been killed today as someone of no consequence. That sentiment of him wasn't unreasonable in the least.
"So that is Reinhard Heydrich..."
Rusalka Anna Schwägelin instinctually understood that she never should have met him. Her fate was sealed just by virtue of being here, and there was no escaping it now. As if to confirm it, Reinhard Heydrich gave the two soldiers an order.
"You two."
"S... Sir!?"
"W-What is it, Your Excellency?"
Compared to Schreiber and Wilhelm, the female soldiers seemed to be slightly better off, the two somehow stood up and looked back at the tall man.
"Take that priest and woman to the Gestapo."
"Huh?"
"B-But Your Excellency..."
"Do not make me repeat myself. I want it done with haste."
"Certainly, hurry up, Kircheisen."
"Ah, B-but... Wh-What will happen to them? The rebels are—"
"That is not for you to know. Arrest them before I come back. Also, Lieutenant."
"My name is Eleonore von Wittenberg, Sir."
"Make a request to transfer both of you. Come to the Gestapo."
"...!"
At that moment, the two felt as though Reinhard's blue eyes were glittering in Gold.
"B-But..."
"Have I made myself clear? Go and do as you are told."
"Understood."
They didn't know his intentions, but couldn't talk back against an order. They dragged their injured bodies and, as they were told, arrested Trifa and the woman before hurriedly leaving the place. As the night became silent once again, Karl Kraft began clapping at Reinhard, who was still shaking from the newfound emotions that surged within him.
'So, Lieutenant General, what do you make of your first ever taste of unrestrained violence? Although you might deny it, I can clearly see and feel your soul shaking with pure joy.'
- - -
"Oh, come on! Why are you taking me away!? Is this a joke? Let me go, already!"
"Stop talking. Why were you there, in the first place?"
"Umm... Are you simple? Is there something wrong about citizens taking a walk through the city? Also, I'm part of—"
"Please calm yourself. Let us do as we are told for now."
After the event, the people taken to the Gestapo's offices exchanged complaints as anxiety ate them from within. The shock from seeing something so far out of the ordinary was still with them, but their mental states were already stable enough for them to speak.
"Umm... I'm really sorry, Father. You, too, Miss Riza. I never expected this to happen..."
"Huh? Oh, don't mind me, I'm fine. And it's not like we're here to be executed."
Th-That's true... At least, I hope it is."
After all, the Gestapo was infamous all over the country for giving the death penalty for mere suspicion. The amount of people who left this building alive was below a tenth of those who entered. Previously, they could have easily processed that information as simple gossip, but such optimism wouldn't work now, for they just witnessed what kind of person the top of this division truly was. As if speaking everyone's worries, Rusalka Anna Schwägelin raised a shrill voice.
"Fools, all of you! None of you understand what's going on! Don't come to me when you regret this!"
"What a noisy woman. Your shrieking is making my wounds ache."
"Ah, I almost forgot. Are you well, Lieutenant? You seemed to have been hit pretty hard."
"It's nothing to worry about. My arm broke, but I feel like I should be grateful I came through with only that."
"I-I see..."
Beatrice was clearly the one who suffered the least damage, and though she was aware of that truth, the dark premonition within her heart prevented her from feeling she was lucky. As if having reading her mind, Trifa lowered his voice, sounding a silent mutter as though talking to himself.
"I must say, Lieutenant General Heydrich was far greater than what I heard of him in the rumors... He is almost like..."
"Like... What, Father?"
"Well, I... I am not sure how to word it..."
Telepathy and Psychonometry — the power within Trifa's brain — allowed him to read the minds and memories of people. However, he was unable to perceive even a bit of the thoughts within Reinhard and Karl Kraft. As much as the truth scared him, Trifa was overcome with a certain idea.
He could not help wishing to know what they were, for they might prove to be the ones to finally free him from his torture. It was far too ominous to be called a hope, but the overwhelming charisma of his might made the priest want to cling to it.
As a self-admitted common man, he could not look away from the two beings of such superiority. Trifa felt as though he were dazzled by the shine of pure Gold... But at the same time, that glitter felt like being bewitched by The Devil.
"Ohh, clouds are gathering over my dear youth. What would Mother and Father think about me working at the Gestapo?"
For better or for worse, Beatrice had no choice but to let herself go with the flow, regardless of what kind of future it would lead her to...
Everyone felt the same way. It was their way of dealing with the destructive reality that would surely come for them sooner or later.
- - -
"Day of wrath and doom Impending, David's words with Sibyl's blending, Heaven and Earth in ashes ending. Oh what fear man's bosom rendeth, when from heaven the Judge descendeth, on whose sentence all dependeth. Aye, that day shall mark the end. The Day of Wrath is on the horizon!"
"What a ridiculous song. Why are you so festive?"
"Why. Indeed. All I can say is that I believe it to be common practice to celebrate the birth of a new life."
"With those lyrics? If there is a life whose birth is blessed with an apocalyptic requiem..."
"Yes?"
"It would be an accursed monster — a being that should have never been born in the first place."
"But if he is already in this world, no one has the right to deny him his instinct. The things you will do and have done to you, your thoughts, accomplishments and feelings... Oh, I am dying to know it all. Allow me to always be the first to hear about them."
"I have no objection to that. For now... I will grant you these people. Handle them as you desire. Let them live, kill them, or make them your slaves... A magician as queer as yourself will surely find a use for them."
"If you insist. Now, you two."
"Ah... Ah..."
"Hhahh... Gh..."
"You will now serve me, Karl Kraft, and my dear friend Reinhard Heydrich. You are unfulfilled, no? You wish to kill, do you not? I shall grant you the power. I promise to fill your cursed and corrupted lives with agonizing satisfaction, bliss, and a blaze truer than any other. Blood, flesh, bone, and brain; spirit, mind, and soul — let ferocity overtake you, allow your beings be scorched. Become the Claws and Fangs of the Golden Beast."
"Sieg Heil."
"Sieg Heil."
"Sieg Heil. Viktoria."
Thus was the inauguration of the demonic army that would grow to be known as the Longinus Dreizehn Orden. This was a story of their dawn. Gold and Mercury — the Golden Beast and the Mercurial Serpent — were the two leaders of the order. Both Devilish and Godlike at the same time, they formed a friendship and created a bond that could not be comprehended by common men. It was not to be forgotten that none could match them as long as they were together. They would remain undefeated even if all of Creation itself were torn apart.
_____________________________________________________
Volume 1 - The End.