The fiends were still calling out to Fremy, but they seemed to be gradually giving up, as fewer and fewer tried to engage with her. But it was clear they weren’t going to kill her. They were merciless when they attacked the others, but when they came after her, they aimed for the gun in her hand or her limbs.
Then, one of the aerial fiends shrieked loudly enough to be heard a few miles around. Not in code but a language even Fremy could understand. “Where äre you? What are you döing, seventh?! You don’t mean to bétray us for the Braves, do you?! Betrayal will not be fórgiven! If you réveal even part of the truth to the Braves, pünishment from Cómmander Tgurneu will be instantaneous!” The aerial fiend continued, “Prótect Cómmander Tgurneu! Prévent the Braves’ attacks and kill them all! You should underständ that if by any chänce something happens to Cómmander Tgurneu, your loved one will die!”
It must have been talking to Hans. Fremy ruthlessly shot down the distant fiend.
“That could be a lie—Tgurneu’s attempt to confuse us. Ignore it,” warned Adlet.
Still, what was Hans doing? Fremy was curious but doubted worrying about that now would bring her any answers.
“Why are you fighting, Fremy? Can’t you hear your friends’ voices?!” The wolf-fiend was still yelling at Fremy, coaxing her to surrender. “If you must do this, if you absolutely do mean to fight, then I really will have to kill you!” The wolf-fiend said this over and over. Fremy ignored it and continued undeterred.
Around twenty minutes after the fiends had begun begging for her surrender, she was lurking in the shadows of the ruins with Adlet and Dozzu, about to launch a surprise attack on the fake command center.
“…?” Adlet’s head swiveled around, as if he’d noticed something. Fremy was about to ask what had happened.
Then…
Agony pierced her chest. She felt her throat tearing and blood flowing down into her lungs. She covered her mouth, but blood spurted out from between her fingers.
“!”
They were hiding from pursuit. She couldn’t cough now. She forced herself to smother any noise, swallowing the blood about to spill from her mouth. Even in the darkness, she could tell Adlet’s face had gone pale.
She scanned the area. She could have sworn there hadn’t been any fiends nearby. She had no idea where the attack had come from. Adlet and Dozzu were safe. There wasn’t even any sign that they were in pain. The only one under attack was her.
“Fremy!” Adlet was so upset, she felt sorry for him. He grabbed her shoulder to support her, but she warned him to be quiet.
Fremy put some medicine Mora had given her into her mouth to stop the bleeding. Mora had told her it was a special drug made by Torleau, the Saint of Medicine. She could feel the bleeding in her throat stop. It hurt terribly, but it seemed she wasn’t about to die on the spot.
She spread open her cloak to examine her chest. Adlet and Dozzu took a look, too. She found a strange mark there. It was red and thin as thread—in the shape of dozens of twisted, concentric circles. She’d never seen the eerie mark before. There had been nothing on her chest until just a moment ago.
“What…is this?” Fremy stroked the red pattern. As she touched it, the pain gradually receded.
Adlet was still pale, his lips trembling. He couldn’t say a word.
That was when, from afar, they heard the wolf-fiend say, “I advise you one more time, Fremy: If you continue to fight, you’ll die. If you don’t want to die, return to me.”
With those words, finally, Fremy understood what had happened to her. “So Tgurneu implanted a parasite or something inside my chest beforehand in case I ever got in its way. This must mean it’s been activated.” When had Tgurneu implanted a parasite? There was no point in speculating. Tgurneu would have had any number of opportunities. It had raised her from birth; it would simply have had to implant it into her as a baby. “…So what Tgurneu means to say is that if I continue to fight now, I’ll die. And if I surrender, I’ll be saved?”
“If that’s the intention, that’s rather strange,” said Dozzu. “Why didn’t Tgurneu use it before?”
Dozzu was right. Hans had tried to kill her to make use of the Black Barrenbloom’s transfer ability. But now, Tgurneu was calling for her surrender, and the fiends were holding back in their attacks on her. And this implant in her chest hadn’t been utilized up until now. Though Hans and Tgurneu were supposed to be allies, their behavior didn’t line up.
“Tgurneu must believe that if it threatens me, I’ll surrender. It figures that having me as an ally would make the fight easier than just killing me,” Fremy said. “Tgurneu thinks so little of me. I’ll never surrender. I’ll keep fighting until I die.”
Still shaken, Adlet said in a daze, “We’re meeting up with Rolonia…and with Mora. We have to treat your chest.”
“What? Don’t be ridiculous!” Fremy shot back. Both had important jobs to do. They couldn’t interrupt the plan.
“But I made up my mind I’d keep you safe!”
“Stop.” Fremy grabbed Adlet’s wrist and yanked it away from her shoulder. Looking him in the eye, she said, “We should continue with the plan. It doesn’t look like I’m going to die right away. We just have to kill Tgurneu before I do. We can heal me afterward.” Adlet seemed ready to collapse from distress.
“Either way, we must kill Tgurneu, or we’ll all die. We have no choice now but to focus on Tgurneu’s defeat.” As Dozzu spoke, the three dashed off.
Adlet was still deep in thought, his face pale. He looked so bad, Fremy was unsure whether he could continue fighting. Adlet’s job was to stick the light gem onto the leopard-fiend, but he didn’t seem capable of that right now.
“Hand me that light gem, Adlet. I can’t leave it to you at the moment.” Fremy held her hand out to him as they ran. If Adlet couldn’t, then she had no choice but to handle it herself. Adlet shook his head, though, apparently indicating he was all right.
“Fremy! Cöme back to us! We wön’t give up—trying to cónvince you!” a fiend yelled from far away. Fremy scowled. How long did they mean to continue this pointless exercise? Did they not understand that she was not going to be won over?
They continued setting up the plan. Adlet and Dozzu charged the fake command center again, and as Fremy provided backup, she was also eliminating the fliers. Of the fourteen in the air, she killed twelve. For the remaining two, she fired not bullets but gunpowder that stuck to their wings. It wasn’t enough to kill them, but it was enough to hamper their ability to fly. Her job was done for now.
Fremy had made a firecracker earlier. If this firecracker was set off, or if Fremy willed it, the gunpowder she’d stuck onto the fiends’ wings would explode. She’d made the trigger device just in case something happened to her during their preparations.
Adlet ordered a retreat, and Fremy ran, obstructing pursuit with her bombs. The fiends didn’t follow them far, and before long, the chase was over.
“…I’ll give this to you, Adlet,” Fremy said, handing him the firecracker. Now, as long as either she or Adlet was safe, they could carry out their strategy. “And on your end?” she asked, and Adlet gave a little nod to confirm he’d managed to stick the light gem on the leopard during the chaotic battle. Fremy didn’t even know when he’d pulled it off, but it meant this trio’s preparations were complete.
Now it was just Nashetania and Rolonia. Once those two were done lacing the forest with their leaves, they could follow through to the end game.
Would they succeed? Could they kill Tgurneu? They didn’t know. Fremy knew only one thing: She could never let Tgurneu live—for her own sake—and for her allies’.
But most of all, for Adlet.