Before launching his attack on Fremy, Dozzu, and Adlet, Hans had realized that just eliminating the Black Barrenbloom wouldn’t be enough to win this fight. Getting rid of Adlet, the seventh, couldn’t win the battle for him, either. Killing either one would still leave the root cause of their falling-out unresolved, and Tgurneu was sure to take advantage of that to kill the Braves.
In short, the only path to victory was to kill Tgurneu.
But Hans had no way to find the fiend. He didn’t have the muscle to break through its protections, either. So how to take it out?
The answer was simple: Adlet was the seventh, Tgurneu’s pawn. Hans just had to turn that around and use Adlet himself.
✦ ✦ ✦
Hans released Adlet from where he’d pinned him and spoke to him kindly. “Listen, Adlet. It ain’t at all like I wanna let Fremy die. She’s a good woman. She’s sacrificin’ herself to serve her allies. I don’t wanna see no one like that kick the bucket.”
Adlet had been freed, but that didn’t mean he could resist. He had no choice but to listen.
“I get it. Ya ain’t on Tgurneu’s side. Ya just wanna protect Fremy, right? So we can work together to find a way to kill Tgurneu without givin’ up on ’er. If we can do that, then we’re back to bein’ buddies, like before.”
“…Shit.” That made sense to Adlet. But it was impossible. If Adlet let Tgurneu die, Fremy would die, too. There was no way to undo the chain-death ability. Why else would he be so distressed?
“Neow then. I need to ask ya about yer little pickle here. What sorta power is bein’ used to keep Fremy hostage? When’d ya find out about it, and what’ve ya done so far?”
Adlet told him everything—they’d come up with a plan to kill Tgurneu and had been right about to put it into action. He told Hans about the chain-death ability afflicting Fremy and the woman’s voice, probably the Saint of the Single Flower, telling him he was the seventh. And he told Hans he’d been about to send a secret message to Tgurneu, tipping it off, but that Hans and Chamo had prevented him from doing so.
“Meow-hee . So ya’ll were right about to kill Tgurneu, eh? That makes things faster.” Hans pointed his sword at Adlet. “Tell Tgurneu this. Hans and Chamo ain’t a threat no more ’cause of you. Hans said he took Fremy as a hostage, but he was bluffin’. There ain’t no risk he’ll kill Fremy
neow.”
“And then…?”
“Leak a plan to Tgurneu—but neowt the real plan. Tgurneu’ll think yer on its side and let its guard down, and we capture it and beat it.”
What about this is a deal? thought Adlet. Hans was just pushing his demands on Adlet, wasn’t he?
“But then Fremy will die,” Adlet said.
Hans grinned. “Then we just don’t kill Tgurneu. Its real body’s a fig, right? If it ain’t possessin’ another fiend, it can’t do neowthin’. So we just have to kill its host, knock the fig out without killin’ it, and carry it away. You’ve got some tools that can stop a fiend in its tracks, at least, right?”
It was true; he did.
“Tgurneu’ll have the rest of the hieroglyphs, so look at those to find a way to undo it. ’Cause if ya can just undo the Barrenbloom, there’s neow reason to kill Fremy. Or ya could just find a way to cancel the chain-death ability. Long as that’s gone, there’s neow reason to let Tgurneu live, right?”
He had a point. But Adlet had already considered and abandoned that idea. “What do you plan to do if we can’t find it? Or what if the only way to stop the Barrenbloom is to kill Tgurneu…and the chain-death ability can’t be undone?”
“…What about it?”
“Besides, do you think Tgurneu will keep Fremy alive, right up until the end? Tgurneu holds her life in its hands.”
Hans thrust his sword in Adlet’s face. “Right neow, we’re the ones with ’er life in our hands.”
“Do you think we’ll be able to deceive it? If it decides she’s no longer useful—”
“I’ll say this one meowr time. Right now, we’re the ones with ’er life in our hands.”
Adlet fell silent. He couldn’t do a thing against Hans now.
“Listen, Chamo could kill Fremy while we’re here havin’ this chat.”
Adlet was helpless. Hans had wrangled him into complete surrender. He had to do what Hans said.
“This is where ya pull out all the stops, Mr. Strongest-Man-in-the-World. C’mon, you can manage it. And if ya don’t…it’ll only be mew and Fremy dyin’,” Hans said with a smile.
✦ ✦ ✦
Meanwhile, Fremy was muttering, “…This is strange. Adlet should have come this way.” In the ruins, she’d been keeping an ear out for Adlet’s voice as they chased after Hans. But now, not only could she not find Hans, she couldn’t even see Adlet.
“Which direction did Hans go? He should have come this way,” Nashetania asked her. A moment earlier, the two had met up. Something was strange.
Fremy raised her light gem up high to illuminate the area. It would draw the fiends to their location, but it was a necessary risk. Finding Adlet was the top priority.
They had fallen for a trap. The enemy’s goal had been to isolate Adlet. Fremy had to assume that the hostage situation and Hans’s intentional revelation of it had all been for the sake of luring Adlet out.
That was when she heard the sound of swords clashing from the south—and Adlet’s voice. “Fremy, are you there? Come help me!”
Fremy’s and Nashetania’s heads jerked in that direction, but Adlet said nothing after that. What they heard instead were the cries of fiends and Chamo’s shouts.
“What happened, Chamo?” asked Nashetania.
A giant slug with Chamo astride was shoving through the underbrush toward them, and one of her slave-fiends carried the body of a fiend slung over its shoulder. “This one yelled in Adlet’s voice, and the sound of the swords were this thing, too,” Chamo spat. “It was a setup—by Hans and Tgurneu.”
In other words, Adlet was facing Hans and the fiends all alone.
✦ ✦ ✦
The ruined square was silent. No sign of anyone nearby: no people, no fiends, not even any animals. Hans was twirling his swords in his hands as he waited for Adlet’s reply.
Adlet was thinking. Was there a way to eliminate Chamo and Hans and keep Fremy safe? Hans’s plan was too dangerous.
But Hans wasn’t going to give him time to scheme. “Make a decision, Adlet. If we don’t do nothin’, no tellin’ what Chamo might do.”
Adlet faltered. Was there no other choice but to do as Hans said?
Hearing Hans’s next words, though, Adlet felt a strange wave of something he’d never experienced before.
“[One signal, and Chamo’ll kill Fremy right away.]”
For some reason, Adlet could tell Hans was lying. He was certain that even if Hans gave the signal, Chamo would do no such thing. He was as certain of that as he was that the sun would rise in just over an hour.
The change in Adlet’s expression stunned Hans a little. It seemed Hans himself wasn’t aware of the phenomenon. “[What’s up? Did somethin’ happen?]”
“Say what you just said one more time, Hans.”
“[Yeah, I’ll say it as many times as ya like. Once I give the signal, Chamo’ll kill Fremy. Ya ain’t got time to be draggin’ yer ass.]”
So it really had happened. Adlet saw clearly that Hans was full of it. Chamo wouldn’t kill Fremy. The urgency was a ruse. Adlet had no idea what was going on, but he knew if Hans was lying or telling the truth. “Did you just lie, Hans?” Adlet asked. His sudden change in attitude confused the other man.
After a second, a fiend emerged from the shadow of a structure. All at once, they could hear footsteps everywhere, and fiends were blocking all the roads that led into the square.
When had they been surrounded? Adlet hadn’t even had an inkling that the enemy was there.
“…Oh, that was close.” One fiend calmly approached the two of them. It looked half rat, half human, but there was no way Adlet could ever mistake that tone. That was Tgurneu.
It held a book in two limbs—Adlet couldn’t pin down whether they were arms or forelegs. Adlet’s eyes could see a faint haze issuing from the book. “Dear, dear…you’re a fearsome man, Hans. If I hadn’t had this hieroform, I don’t know what might have happened,” Tgurneu said with a smile.