“Adlet! Have ya opened yer damn eyes?!” Hans yelled. Tgurneu and Adlet were fenced off from him by the thread wall, but Hans could still hear them. He didn’t know why, but Tgurneu had deliberately revealed the truth to Adlet. Hans couldn’t waste this opportunity. “What’re ya doin’?! Kill it!”
Adlet didn’t reply.
“Remember, you’ve been fightin’ to kill Tgurneu! That’s why ya devoted yer whole life to gettin’ strong, right?! Are ya just gonna sit there and waste yer chance?!”
Adlet didn’t move. He just held his sword, gazing at Tgurneu. Hans realized the boy’s feelings for Fremy still had a hold on him.
“Have ya forgotten yer friend in the Dead Host?! Didn’t ya make up yer mind to get revenge?! Send that thing to hell, Adlet!” Hans wanted to slap him in the face to make him open his eyes. But Adlet was separated from him by the wall of thread, and the fiends attacking Hans wouldn’t give him a moment to reach the other man.
✦ ✦ ✦
Adlet was rattled. Calm down , he told himself. Learning of his identity as the seventh and Tgurneu’s manipulation had flipped his world upside down, but he couldn’t just freeze in confusion. He had to find a way out of this.
Since Tgurneu was controlling him, maybe he couldn’t decide to kill Fremy, but he still had options. He could find a way to kill Tgurneu without letting Fremy die.
“I have a guess as to what you’re thinking,” said Tgurneu. “You must be trying to think up a way to avoid this decision entirely. So I shall inform you as to your current predicament.” Adlet saw a haze of light well in Tgurneu’s chest. It seemed Tgurneu had used the Book of Truth to cast the spell on itself again. “[The power of the Black Barrenbloom will soon terminate all crests aside from yours and Fremy’s. There are only four ways to stop that: my choosing to stop it, Fremy’s death, my death, or breaking the gem inside my body on which the hieroglyphs are carved.
“[However, the hieroglyph-carved gem cannot be removed from me without my death. And of course, I will never deactivate the Black Barrenbloom, no matter what happens.]”
The truth of its words was communicated to Adlet.
“[If I die, Fremy will also die. I’m certain it’s impossible for you, Dozzu, or Fremy to find any way to undo the chain-death power—because I don’t even know how to cancel it, myself. The only one who could would be the fiend that cast that ability, but I’ve already killed that one personally.]” Tgurneu continued speaking, though it had apparently canceled the spell. “You have only two options: Abandon Fremy and save the world, or keep her safe and destroy it. I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt. There is no way for you to protect both her and the world.”
Adlet fell silent. It was just as Tgurneu said. No matter how he racked his brain, he couldn’t think of anything. It was impossible to protect both Fremy and the Braves.
“Choose one. Will you protect Fremy or the other Braves of the Six Flowers?”
If he was forced to choose, then the answer was clear. If all the Braves aside from Fremy were to die, then the world would end. He had no choice but to give up on her.
But even so, his body wouldn’t move.
Adlet loved Fremy. Even though he knew that love was a lie, it still hurt too much to let her die. His heart was being crushed between the pain of failing to kill this creature and the agonizing prospect of losing Fremy.
He couldn’t choose either—not Fremy’s death, not Tgurneu’s survival.
✦ ✦ ✦
Tgurneu trembled in joy as it gazed upon Adlet’s expression. Wonderful. This was the visage of a human faced with the choice between love and the whole world. If Tgurneu let this chance slip through its fingers, it would never again be able to bask in such a sight.
“<Cómmander Tgurneu.>”
But then number eleven boorishly opened its mouth. This was so displeasing that Tgurneu thought about striking it down on the spot but abstained, figuring that would really be a rather bad idea.
“<We müst quickly ask Adlet about their plan. If they gö through with it, your lïfe will be in dänger.>”
That was indeed true. Tgurneu wouldn’t be able to bear having this wonderful moment interrupted. It had to make the other Braves behave.
Tgurneu cast the Book of Truth’s spell on the white bird-fiend beside it. “<There’s something I want you to tell Fremy,>” Tgurneu whispered in code to the fiend.