Sword Demon Battle Ballad: Act 7

Sword Demon Battle Ballad: Act 7 (剣鬼戦歌――七幕) is a side story featured in Monthly Comic Alive. It is the seventh of nine total acts in Sword Demon Battle Ballad and a sequel to Re:Zero Ex Light Novel Volume 3.

Summary
Having succumbed to the Evil Eye ability, Theresia sunk to the depths of the seas of her own sin. She found herself on top of a stone tower embedded within a rocky crag. Underneath her, the army of the dead stood. The dead were the people she had killed during the Demi-Human War. Under the effect of the Evil Eye, Theresia watched the dead, which numbered around 10,000, pointing at her and clawing their way up to her.

Meanwhile, Wilhelm was fighting with Kurgan, but he found his mind wandering from the duel due to the illusion of Pivot continuously speaking to him. Kurgan was disappointed with how Wilhelm was approaching the fight, and then realised that Wilhelm was under the influence of the evil eye too. We learn that Wilhelm was put under its influence when he visited Shamrock valley, and it only affected him due to being fragile in the heart.

The fight proceeded with Bordeaux interjecting and attacking Kurgan himself. This left Bordeaux's own back exposed, and he was attacked from behind by the Shinobi he had been fighting up until that point. Wilhelm however saved Bordeaux's life and fatally injured the Shinobi, Raizo. As his last act, Raizo detonated his own body to try and kill everyone in the vicinity, but Bordeaux prevented that by shielding everyone with his own body. This resulted in Bordeaux being heavily injured, but still very much alive. After Wilhelm ensured that Bordeaux was safe, he turned his sword once again to Kurgan, and the two began dueling again.

Returning back to where Roswaal and the others were on the rooftop, Roswaal started to reflect on her actions, wondering what sort of mistake she had made. This was because her death had not been recorded in her gospel, and she knew she was fatally wounded at this point. Despite that, a flurry of emotions went through her heart, contradicting her own thought process, and she thought that even if it was a mistake she had made, she was relieved that she had protected Carol.

After having seen Roswaal stabbed, Grimm kicked his great shield towards Stride, who was standing on the edge of the rooftop, aiming to kill him. Shasuke tried to move to defend his master, but a heavily injured Roswaal grabbed hold of him so he wouldn't reach his master in time. Stride was forced to draw out his Yang Sword to deflect the shield.

However, after drawing out his sword and deflecting the shield, the sword rejected him. His left arm started to burn, and Stride was forced to cut it off so that his whole body wouldn't burn off. In this process, 5 of the gems of his curse rings were turned to ash, thus releasing some of the curses he had cast on people, including the ones on Carol.

Carol, who had now returned to her senses, collapsed by Roswaal's side and held her as she died. Following her death, Carol and Grimm prepared themselves to fight Stride. In their standoff prior to the fight, Stride revealed that he was poisoned by the Emperor of Vollachia. He also revealed that his insides were being used as compensation for the curse rings he used. Each time he casted a curse, part of his insides would be used to pay the price for the curse. He continued with his speech and stated that he did not hate the emperor for poisoning him, but rather he hated the construction of the world, and the cruel viewers who manipulated the world as if it was a miniature garden.

Stride continued with his speech to then pull out his Witch Cult's Gospel. He introduced himself as the Sin Archbishop of Pride, Stride Vollachia to Carol. After hearing him introduce himself as the Sin Archbishop of Pride, Carol and Grimm prepared themselves to attack him and Shasuke. But before they could, Valgren, who had broken free from the yoke of the curse, let loose its fiery breath towards the rooftop.

Meanwhile, a little while earlier, Theresia still was under the influence of the Evil Eye. The army of the dead caught up to her, and a few of the dead grabbed her, however, the illusions of her dead brothers cut them down from her. Her brothers mounted a defence, protecting Theresia, whilst the illusion of her father, Veltol comforted her. The illusion of the former Sword Saint, Fribal van Astrea joined them as well, telling Theresia not to think of what she did as a sin, and to not wallow in it in the future.

With the illusions of her family comforting her, Theresia managed to break free from Melinda's influence, and returned back to the room she was held captive in. Melinda went into a fit of fury after she realised that Theresia had broken the hold of her powers, which had also restored the townspeople of Picoutatte back to normal.

Characters

 * Grimm Fauzen
 * Wilhelm van Astrea
 * Valgren
 * Miklotov McMahon
 * Bordeaux Zellgef
 * Stride Vollachia
 * Kurgan
 * Theresia van Astrea
 * Carol Remendis
 * Conwood Melahau
 * Roswaal J Mathers
 * Clind
 * Orphe
 * Cragrell Dawson
 * Garitch Fabless
 * Veltol Astrea
 * Tishua Astrea
 * Pivot Arnancy
 * Gionis Lugunica
 * Shasuke
 * Raizo
 * Melinda
 * Carlan Astrea
 * Thames Astrea
 * Cassiles Astrea
 * Fribal van Astrea
 * Volcanica
 * Roswaal K Mathers
 * Valga Cromwell
 * Razak Gildark