Ludger, who had resurfaced to the ground, dropped to one knee as his strength gave out.
The aftershock of not only moving himself but also the massive capsule caused his head to pound as if it were about to split open.
[───!]
Voices of the gods pierced through his skull.
Grinding his teeth to endure it, Ludger tossed the last of his mana recovery potion into his mouth.
Crunch!
“Haa. Huuu.”
He took a moment to steady his breath. The headache that had gripped his skull subsided, and the resounding voices in his brain faded.
But the mental fatigue that struck in that moment was overwhelming.
‘This must be the forest nearby.’
Perhaps because he had depleted his mana too rapidly and then refilled it again, his vision was slightly hazy.
After catching his breath for a bit, his blurred sight gradually returned to normal.
Ludger immediately checked the capsule he had brought with him.
Inside, the automaton shaped like a young boy was sleeping peacefully.
He opened the capsule right away.
Chiiiiiik.
The capsule’s front lifted upward as pure white smoke billowed out.
Ludger quietly observed the figure of the boy.
The automaton infused with Arte’s soul looked nothing like Arte.
It was as if the finest sculptor of the age had carved him with their utmost devotion.
He was dressed in clothes to make him look human as he slept, and from every angle, he was indistinguishable from a real person.
And within this automaton’s body dwelled the soul of Arte.
As Ludger gazed at the figure, the automaton boy slowly opened his eyes.
His eyes were clear and untainted.
Pure as white jade, with no trace of emotion or impurity.
Even though Ludger knew they were artificial eyeballs, he couldn’t distinguish them from a real person’s gaze.
“......”
“......”
Ludger and the boy stared at each other in silence.
Ludger couldn’t figure out what to say.
Or perhaps, he was simply waiting for the boy to speak first.
After watching Ludger intently for a long while, the boy opened his mouth.
“Who are you?”
“......”
Ludger parted his tightly closed lips—then shut them again.
His clenched fists trembled slightly with tension.
It was the moment a faint hope he hadn’t even realized he held came crumbling down.
‘Didn’t I expect this would happen?’
Even if Arte’s soul had been transplanted, he knew that the moment this automaton awakened, it would be an entirely different being.
He had known.
And yet, perhaps he had still hoped.
That this child would call him “Teacher” once more.
“Do you remember who you are?”
To Ludger’s question, the automaton boy shook his head.
“I don’t. Anything.”
Having fully emerged from the capsule, the boy looked around at the surrounding forest.
His first steps were unsteady, but as he grew accustomed to walking, he soon began to circle the area around the capsule.
Ludger spoke to the boy.
“I am your master.”
The barefoot automaton boy walking on the dirt turned to Ludger.
He looked at him with those pure eyes and gave a slow nod.
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“I see. I don’t know anything, but I do feel, vaguely, that I’m supposed to do something. That I must follow someone’s orders.”
The automatons of the Steel Choir were machines created to follow given commands.
Naturally, they were programmed to receive orders and execute them.
“Do you have something for me to do?”
“I...”
Just as Ludger was about to say something—
Drrrrr!
Fwoooosh!
A violent tremor erupted beneath the ground, and a massive geyser surged up from deep within the forest.
There was no reason for groundwater to suddenly erupt like that—so it was obvious whose water this was.
Ludger narrowed his eyes as he watched mana-infused droplets slowly spread outward.
‘She’s pinpointing my location.’
He looked down at his clothing.
Part of it was still damp from the fight with Casey Selmore, and upon closer focus, he could sense a faint trace of mana from that spot.
‘...She marked me. She didn’t use this method back then.’
She must’ve devised it during that brief exchange, desperate not to lose track of him.
And as if to confirm it, the water droplets she had dispersed began converging toward Ludger.
“...Wait here.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Don’t let anyone find you. Stay hidden.”
“Yes. Understood.”
The boy nodded and slipped into the nearby brush, curling up to conceal himself.
Ludger watched him with worried eyes for a moment, then quickly slipped away.
At the very least, Casey Selmore must not discover the automaton’s identity.
‘Yes. Come chase me.’
Ludger deliberately scattered his mana to lure Casey Selmore in.
And it worked—he could see Casey Selmore approaching, riding a massive stream of water.
“James Moriarty!”
“So you’re chasing me to the very end.”
Ludger decided to first put distance between himself and the forest.
He didn’t know the terrain around here.
All he could do was keep running.
Casey gave chase with dogged determination, refusing to let him go.
Ludger didn’t bother to look back.
He didn’t need to—the powerful presence pressing in from behind made it clear enough.
Occasionally, spears and arrows made of water flew toward him from behind, but Ater Nocturnus, cloaking his body, automatically deflected them.
Each time it happened, a corresponding amount of mana was drained from him.
After a few spells were blocked, no further attacks followed.
Casey must have expended a great deal of strength herself; instead of conjuring more water, she pursued him using only her own two feet.
She likely hadn’t exercised much in her life.
Still, even with her breath ragged and her chest heaving, she didn’t stop running.
To be honest, Ludger found it admirable.
Though now she was an enemy, he had never truly hated her. He had no intention of killing her, either.
In fact, using her like this made him feel a bit guilty.
Their first meeting hadn’t been exactly pleasant.
But through multiple encounters, they had come to understand each other.
Though both had their secrets.
Even so, he had considered her an ally in understanding.
Of course, it was ultimately Ludger himself who had destroyed that relationship.
He had betrayed her expectations and become a criminal who shook an entire nation—all because of his own choices.
If asked whether he regretted it—honestly, he did.
Perhaps there had been a better way.
If only he had thought it through a bit more, he might have found a far better solution.
He had pondered it again and again.
He might not have needed to become a branded criminal, fleeing from everything.
He might not have had to fight battles that pushed his mind and mana to the edge.
Even so—
‘I couldn’t stop.’
He simply walked that path.
No one else could live his life for him.
It was entirely his choice.
That’s why, even if regret did arise, he would seal it inside a box no one could ever open and throw it deep into the lake of his heart.
Even if that regret, left to settle at the bottom, rotted and poisoned the whole lake.
Once he chose this path, he would never stop.
‘That’s the way I’ve always lived.’
How far had he run through the forest into the depths of the mountain?
CRAAASH!
A thunderous roar echoed from afar.
The loudest noise nature itself could produce.
What finally greeted Ludger was a waterfall, exuding grandeur unlike anything else.
“...Ha.”
The moment he saw the waterfall, a hollow chuckle escaped Ludger’s lips.
“So this is what greets the wicked criminal James Moriarty at the end—a waterfall.”
What an amusing twist of fate.
“I didn’t pick this alias expecting it to end like this.”
He stood at the edge of the cliff.
There was nowhere left to run.
Ludger slowly turned around.
And there she was.
Breathing heavily, clothes a mess, drenched in sweat.
Yet even so, under the light of the full moon, her beauty remained unblemished as she glared at him with piercing intensity.
Yes.
You won’t stop either.
“Haa... Haa... There’s nowhere left to run now, James Moriarty.”
Ludger suppressed the emotions rising within him.
Whether it was joy, irritation, or something else, he couldn’t tell.
For now, all he could do was fulfill the role of James Moriarty to the very end.
“Certainly looks that way.”
“So, are you ready to surrender?”
Ludger shook his head.
Casey didn’t seem surprised—she must have expected that answer from the start.
Ludger gazed up at the great waterfall and spoke.
“Casey Selmore. Do you know the name of this waterfall before us?”
“How would I know something like that? No one comes out here.”
“Is that so? Then it’s a nameless waterfall. In that case, I shall call it the Reichenbach Falls—Der Reichenbachfall.”
Ludger gripped the cane at his waist and leveled it toward Casey.
Casey likewise raised the staff in her hand and aimed it at Ludger.
“This is the end for me.”
Casey didn’t respond.
Puh-puh-puh-puhng!
Their remaining scraps of mana gathered into spells that collided mid-air.
At the cliff’s edge beneath the moonlit waterfall, a final dance of magic unfolded between them.
Brief, yet fierce. Desperate, yet dreamlike.
The sound of their battle was drowned out by the roaring cascade, blending into the thunderous falls and disappearing into the night.
And then the dance ended.
Ironically, no victor emerged.
“My mana’s depleted.”
“Same for you, I see.”
Both had their staffs still raised but realized neither could draw forth another spell.
Severe mana exhaustion.
Casey, who had rarely experienced such a thing, found it almost impossible to stay conscious under the crushing weight of mental fatigue.
But Ludger was different.
“Judging from your state... I suppose this is my victory after all.”
He had lived his whole life under constraint, always scraping by on meager mana.
Even when depleted, he had forcibly pushed his reserves, overcoming death time and again with sheer control and precision.
Ludger was nearing his own limit, but unlike Casey, he wasn’t on the verge of collapse.
Still, he was breathing hard—he quietly tried to steady it as he looked at Casey.
Her head was bowed, and she looked as if she could collapse unconscious at any moment.
Just a light tap would send her crumpling like a puppet with cut strings.
The defeat that was eating away at her body and soul was proof enough.
The battle between the century’s greatest detective, Casey Selmore, and the century’s greatest criminal, James Moriarty—
—had ended, in the end, with evil’s triumph.
“Is that all?”
That justice should lose...
Even in a novel, such an ending would be cursed as the worst possible conclusion.
“What are you doing?”
It couldn’t end like this.
At the very least, this story couldn’t conclude with evil’s victory.
“Don’t tell me... you’re giving up? After chasing me to the edge of a cliff, right in front of me?”
Twitched.
Casey’s gaze, which had been cast downward, lifted again to meet Ludger’s.
Her unfocused eyes regained a glimmer of light.
“What are you trying to do, Casey Selmore? What brought you to this °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° place?”
“Shut... up...”
“Didn’t you say you’d bring justice? That you’d root out evil from this world?”
Casey bit her lip hard.
She had no retort to his accusations.
“Stand up.”
Ludger’s voice was now tinged with something like disappointment—or was it fury?
“Stand up!”
Casey clenched her fist and forced strength into her trembling legs.
Her staggering frame, on the verge of collapse, stood firm again.
“I’m still here!”
“Uaaaahhh!!!”
With a scream like a roar, Casey surged forward.
Her movements were unsteady and sluggish, but the force emanating from the depths of her soul was more powerful than ever before.
Just for a moment, Ludger froze in place under the pressure of her momentum.
Fwhoosh!
Behind the charging Casey, a burst of blue light flared—and a mass of water hurtled toward Ludger’s face.
Her final spell, drawn from the dregs of her mana.
‘She still had magic left?’
Ludger had no mana left to conjure a shield.
The attack was too sudden to dodge effectively.
He raised his right arm—still holding his staff—and blocked the water sphere, roughly the size of a baseball.
Splash!
The mass of water burst against his forearm.
It was mana-infused water—it rattled his muscles and sent pain deep into the bone.
But Ludger withstood it.
That alone was not enough to bring him down.
‘Then what next—?’
Just as he braced to anticipate Casey’s next move—
Thud.
A sudden impact hit him square in the chest.
Wondering if it was another spell, Ludger glanced downward—
And saw the telltale blue waves of Casey Selmore’s hair.
It was something even Ludger hadn’t anticipated.
No—no one could have imagined this strike.
With every ounce of mana depleted and her mental strength nearly gone, Casey Selmore’s final move—
—was to throw herself at him.
Because letting this man escape here would lead to an impending catastrophe.
She was prepared to stake her life.
Ludger’s body was pushed backward—off the edge of the cliff.
Along with Casey Selmore.
Even as her consciousness faded, Casey gripped Ludger’s body tightly with both hands.
As if vowing never to let go.
She no longer had the strength to even check what expression the man wore now.
Her mind had already reached its limit and was slowly slipping into darkness.
“...You won.”
Perhaps it was a hallucination.
But she thought—that in his final moment, the man had spoken those words to her.
