Rudger, who came up to the ground, fell on one knee because his legs were weak.
In the aftermath of moving not only himself but also large capsules together, his head started to hurt badly.
[───!]
The voice of the gods was heard in his head but Rudger gritted his teeth and put the few mana recovery pills in his mouth.
"Phew. Whoo."
Rudger took a breather for a moment as the headache that covered his head went away and the sound of his brain ringing disappeared but the mental fatigue that was inflicted at that moment was too intense.
"Is this a nearby forest?"
Perhaps the process of drastically consuming and refilling mana made his vision was slightly blurry.
When he took a little breath, his blurred vision slowly returned to its original state and Rudger immediately looked at the capsule he brought.
In the capsule, an automaton in the form of a boy was sleeping soundly and Rudger immediately opened the capsule.
The front of the capsule went up and white smoke poured out.
Rudger peered at the boy. The appearance of the automaton with Arte's soul was clearly different from that of Arte.
He was sleeping in his clothes to look like a real person, but it was not much different from a real person in anyhow.
Rudger watched the scene, and the automaton boy opened his eyes. The boy's eyes were clear like pure white jade that shows no emotion, no dirt.
Even though he knew the eyes were arterial, he could not distinguish them from the actual human eyes.
"……."
"……."
Rudger and the boy stared at each other silently and Rudger was at a loss what to say. No, maybe he was waiting for the boy to speak first.
The boy, who had been staring at Rudger for a while, opened his mouth.
"Who are you?"
"……."
Rudger took off his tightly closed lips and then closed them again. Unconsciously, his fist was clenched.
'Haven't I expected this to happen?'
Even if Arte's soul was transplanted, this automaton would be a completely different being when he opened his eyes.
He knew and yet he hoped that the boy would call him teacher again.
"……Do you remember who you are?"
The automaton boy shook his head at Rudger's question.
"I don't know. Nothing."
The boy came out of the capsule and looked around the surrounding forest. His first step was precarious, but the boy immediately wandered around the capsule as if he had gotten used to walking.
Rudger said to the boy.
"I am your master."
The automaton boy walking barefoot on the dirt looked back at Rudger and nodded, staring at Rudger with pure eyes.
"Really?"
"Yes. I see. I don't know anything, but I still vaguely think I have to do something. I have to obey someone's orders."
The Steel Chapel automaton is a machine built to carry out a given command. Of course, they were basically given orders, and there was a perception that they had to carry them out.
"Is there anything you want me to do?"
"I…"
When Rudger was about to say something a strong vibration seemed to occur under the ground, and a huge fountain could be seen from beyond the forest. It was easy to know whose water was from there.
Rudger squinted his eyes as he watched the water droplets containing mana slowly spread around him.
'You're trying to locate me?'
He soon looked down at the hem of his clothes. Some of his clothes were damp as he fought Casey Selmore, and when he concentrated, he felt a feeble spell from there.
'…… You've marked me. You didn't use this method the last time.'
In order not to let Rudger escape, she probably devised this method during their short battle.
In fact, as if to prove it, the droplets that spread began to come as if they were attracted to Rudger.
"……you wait here."
"Yes."
"Don't be caught by anyone, you have to hide."
"Yes, sir."
The boy said so, then went into the nearby bushes and curled up.
Rudger looked at him with a worried gaze for a moment and quickly left.
At least Casey Selmore shouldn't have realized the identity of that automaton.
'Yes, come and get me.'
Rudger deliberately used his magic to lure Casey Selmore.
He could see Casey Selmore approaching in a huge stream of water.
"James Moriarty!"
"In the end, you're chasing me all the way."
Rudger first decided to move away from this forest.
Since he didn't know the geography of the terrain he just kept running away with the intention of widening the distance between them.
Casey chased him but Rudger didn't look back since even if he didn't he could feel her behind him.
Occasionally, spears and arrows made of water flew at him, but Aether Nocturnus, who was wrapped it around his body, cut them off on his own but they both consumed mana.
After a few spells, there was no attack afterwards.
Casey also seemed to have spent a lot of energy, so instead of pulling up the water, she was chasing hard with her legs.
Even though she never worked out properly she couldn't stop running to the end even though she was out of breath.
To be honest, he was impressed. Even though they are enemies now he didn't want to kill her but he didn't feel sorry for using her in this situation.
Although she didn't make a good impression on their first meeting. Nevertheless, they got to know each other through several meetings.
Of course, it was Rudger himself who eventually broke the relationship.
It was all the result of this choice that betrayed her expectations and tried to do this until he became a criminal who shocked a country.
Rudger regretted it and thought there might be a better way if he had thought about it a little more.
If he thought about it over and over again he would not have had to run away because he was branded as a villain. He would not have had to fight to the limit of his spirit and mana.
Nevertheless.
'I can't stop.'
He just walked that way since no one can live his life for him.
Therefore, even if he regretted it, he just put it in a box that no one could open and threw it deep in the lake called the heart.
Even if it settles down and decays and decays the whole lake, once he choose this road, he can never stop.
'Cause that's how I've lived.'
How long did he run through the forest and into the depths of the mountain?
There was a huge roar in the distance. It's the loudest noise nature can make.
It was a waterfall exuding its magnificent appearance that greeted Rudger.
"……ha."
As soon as he saw the waterfall, Rudger was dumbfounded and burst into laughter.
"The vicious criminal James Moriarty finally faces the waterfall?"
What an interesting fateful prank.
"I didn't expect this would happen when I chose this alias."
Rudger stood at the edge of the cliff. There was no place left to run away from here anymore.
Rudger looked back slowly and there she was panting and sweating profusely.
Nevertheless, under the moonlight of the full moon, her beauty does not fade and she stares at him intensely.
"Sigh. Sigh. There's no place to run anymore James Moriarty."
Rudger repressed his rising emotions. He didn't know whether it was joy or irritation, or anything else but now, he was just doing his best in his role as James Moriarty.
"It certainly seems so."
"So, are you going to surrender?"
Rudger shook his head but Casey didn't react much as if she knew it would happen anyway.
"Casey Selmore, do you know the name of this waterfall?"
"How would I know that? This is a place where no one comes."
"I see. It was an unnamed waterfall. Then I'll call this waterfall Reichenbach Falls."
Rudger grabbed the cane from his waist and aimed it at Casey while Casey also pointed the cane in her hand at Rudger.
"This is my last."
Casey did not answer but the magical dance of the two continued at the edge of the cliff of the moonlit night as the waterfall flowed down.
The short dance was both desperate and dreamy but the noise it made was buried or mixed with the roar of the waterfall.
Finally the dance was over and ironically no one won the fight.
"You've run out of mana."
"You too."
The two men aimed their canes and realized that they could no longer use mana.
Casey, who has rarely experienced this in her life, had difficulty maintaining her sanity due to the huge mental fatigue that was pouring in but Rudger was different.
"From the state of things, is this fight my victory?"
He had to spend his entire life struggling with mana in an oppressed environment.
His mana has been depleted he was forced to fill it up with mana pills repeatedly and crossed the line so Rudger was almost at his limit, but his condition was not as serious as Casey.
Rudger stared calmly at Casey. Her appearance with her head down was so feeble that it was not strange to faint right away. Just by approaching and touching her, she would crumble like a broken doll.
The sense of defeat eating Casey's whole body was proof that in the fight between Casey Selmore, the detective of the century, and James Moriarty, the criminal of the century the victory was obtained by evil.
"Is that it?"
Justice was defeated. Even if it's a novel, it's the worst ending that people had no choice but to curse at.
"What are you doing?"
She shouldn't have done that. At least at the end of this story, evil should not prevail.
"Are you about to fall down already? You're going to drive me to the end of the cliff and give up?"
Casey's eyes, looking down, turned to Rudger again. Her eyes, which were out of focus, regained a little light.
"What are you trying to do, Casey Selmore? What are you here for?"
"Noisy……."
"Didn't you say you would do justice? Didn't you say you would root out evil in the world?"
Casey bit her lips since she couldn't refute his criticism.
"Wake up."
Rudger's voice soon harbored anger and disappointment.
"Wake up!"
Casey clenched her fists and strained her trembling legs. Her body, which seemed to stumble and collapse, stood tall again.
"I'm still here!"
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Casey stormed out with a scream. Her movement was so precarious and somber, but the momentum emanating from the depths of her soul was stronger than ever. For a moment, Rudger was frozen by her momentum.
A blue light seemed to form behind Casey's running back, and a lump of water flew toward Rudger's face. It was the last spell she could cast.
"You could still use magic?"
He had run out of magic to use a defensive spell so it was hard to avoid a surprise attack.
Rudger raised his right arm holding the cane to block the ball of water the size of a baseball.
It was water that contained mana, so he felt his muscles ring and pain to his bones but Rudger endured. This alone couldn't bring him down.
'So what's next?'
As Rudger was trying to figure out what Casey was going to do he felt a shock in his chest.
Rudger ducked his head, wondering if it was a new spell, and what he saw was Casey Selmore's vaunted blue wavy hair. It was a blow Rudger hadn't expected, or anyone else for that matter.
In this dire situation, with all her magic drained and her mental strength depleted, Casey Selmore's last option was to throw herself.
To prevent future disasters she was ready to sacrifice her life.
Rudger's body, pushed back, began to fall down the cliff along with Casey Selmore.
Casey Selmore clasped Rudger's body with both hands even with her blurred mind as if she would never let go.
She didn't have the energy to look at his face since her mind had already reached its limit and was slowly darkening.
"You won."
Maybe it was a hallucination but it seemed that the mad said so at the end.