In Adlet’s right hand was the sword he’d borrowed from Hans, and in his left was the Saint’s Spike. With these in his grip, he watched the fiends carefully.
Why couldn’t he find it? Not a single fiend betrayed any unusual behavior. None seemed likely to be the brain.
Fremy and Dozzu continued carrying out Adlet’s instructions as the fiends focused their attacks on them. Chamo fought to prevent the stream of approaching enemies from getting into the square, believing that Adlet would find Tgurneu.
Right then—Dozzu was momentarily caught off guard among the fiends’ legs, and a spike extended from one of the enemies to pierce its front leg.
“Dozzu!” Adlet regretted his instructions. He’d asked too much of Dozzu. No matter how fast the dog-fiend scampered around, it couldn’t endure in the middle of the enemy’s formation.
“Ugh…ngh…” Dozzu staggered along, unable to run anymore or charge the enemy. The most it could do was survive, keeping their foes in check with its lightning. “I-I’m…sorry…”
A cluster of fiends attacked Dozzu in its retreat while the rest went for Adlet and Fremy. Fremy was wounded all over, and Adlet—his condition went without saying.
“Hey, Fremy. What are you fighting for?” One of the fiends attacking her asked. “For the world? For your allies? No. I know why. You’re fighting for Adlet.”
Next, another spoke in Tgurneu’s tone. “What a fool you are. There’s no meaning in believing in him and continuing to fight—because he doesn’t actually love you one bit.”
Yet another opened its mouth. “No, that’s not quite right. In his heart of hearts, he despises you.” They were all talking to Fremy. Biting her lip, she soldiered on.
“I’ll tell you the truth: Adlet is the seventh.”
“…Nonsense,” Fremy muttered with irritation, no longer ignoring them entirely. Adlet felt a chill run down his spine.
“Hans is a real Brave. He was trying to entrap Adlet, the seventh. Hans’s plan forced him to pretend to be a traitor. That’s all.
“I made the seventh to protect you, the Black Barrenbloom. And Adlet fulfilled that task for me wonderfully.”
Fremy looked at Adlet’s face—and her expression froze. From his reaction, she could tell Tgurneu wasn’t lying.
“I have the ability to control human love. And I used that ability to make Adlet love you. That’s why he’s been protecting you all this time.”
A swipe grazed Fremy’s shoulder—a blow she normally would have managed to block. She was rattled. Adlet tried telling her That’s a lie to quell her distress. But he was short of breath, and it hurt to stand. He couldn’t even yell anymore.
“Didn’t you think it was strange? Why would Adlet, who hates fiends, fall in love with you and you alone? Why would he forgive you so easily when you were an ally to me, the enemy of his village?”
“…You’re lying,” Fremy muttered.
“Surrender to me, Fremy. If you give in now, you’ll be welcomed back to the fold. This is the last time I will make this offer. If you refuse now, fiendkind will never accept you again. What you’re trying to protect here is an illusion. You’re staking your life on a lie. What could possibly be a more foolish way to die?”
“Shut up! It’s a lie! You must be lying!” Fremy screamed.
“In just a few minutes, you’ll be yelling that you should have listened to what I said.”
It was then that Adlet wondered Why would Tgurneu say something like this? But he already knew the reason. Tgurneu loved to see suffering. It had shown up two days ago to watch Goldof suffer, and earlier, it had deliberately weakened its power over Adlet’s love so it could witness his torment. And now, it was telling Fremy the truth to see her suffering, too.
Then Adlet was struck with a flash of insight—he realized where Tgurneu was.
“Fine, believe for now that Adlet loves you. The stronger your faith, the more fun it will be for me. Your face when you realize the truth will be all the more wonderful.”
“No. Adlet…Adlet really does—”
“Stop it, Tgurneu!” Adlet shouted. He gave his all to pretending he was still clueless. He couldn’t have Tgurneu realizing that he knew where it was.
Tgurneu wasn’t attacking Fremy and Adlet anymore. The area quieted a little, though he could still hear the assault of the fiends surrounding Dozzu and Chamo’s dogged fight to keep the rest of the army at bay.
Am I positive I’m right? Adlet wondered. But they had no more time left for hesitation.
“Stop what? You mean telling her the truth? Or controlling your love?”
“…Don’t…hurt her…anymore.” As Adlet spoke, he examined the fiends. Their tight formation showed no weaknesses, no opening for Adlet to cut through. Even knowing where Tgurneu was, he had no weapons that would reach it.
Even if he told his allies which one was Tgurneu, they still couldn’t win. Exhausted as they were, they couldn’t make it beyond the defensive line that protected the fiend commander.
In order to win, they had to catch it off guard. They had to make Tgurneu careless, then get close enough during that brief opportunity to kill it.
“Fremy…Tgurneu is…controlling me. It’s making me love you,” Adlet confessed.
Fremy’s face froze. The fiends facing them all smiled in unison.
“…All this time, everything I’ve said has been a lie. I said I’m a hero who would save the world. I said I loved you from the bottom of my heart. I said I was the strongest man in the world. All of it…all of it was lies.”
“Adlet…”
The fiends were grinning gleefully. I’ve got this , Adlet thought. But he knew his best chance would come when Tgurneu was certain of its victory. “But…Fremy, I…” Staggering, he approached her. “I’ve always turned lies into truth!”
That remark stunned the group of fiends a bit. Adlet had been waiting for that opportunity. Mustering all his remaining strength, he charged at them. They leaped for him all at once, but their moment of surprise had given Adlet the time he needed to avoid them.
He ran into the crowd as they attacked him from every side. It was a reckless charge, but Adlet believed in Fremy. Even if he didn’t say a word, even if he gave no signal, she was sure to back him up.
Her bullets and bombs blew the fiends backward, and the wind of the blast pushed him forward.
“I’m gonna make you happy!” Adlet dashed in—toward one fiend at the center of the group, one with a beautiful bird face and a two-legged body.
Adlet remembered that fiend. Less than an hour ago, when he had given up on everything and crumbled before Tgurneu, it had been among the ten forming the circle around him. And the moment he had yielded, it had been with the mouse-fiend speaking to him. The bird-fiend had moved from behind it, squarely in front of Adlet.
The few dozen fiends Tgurneu controlled couldn’t share visual information; Tgurneu couldn’t know what the other fiends saw. In order to see the moment when Adlet gave in, Tgurneu had been forced to personally circle around in front of him.
It had been just one step—but that one step would invite Tgurneu’s downfall.
“Forget it!” Some of the fiends had withstood Fremy’s blast and set on Adlet. He couldn’t dodge, but if he backed away now, he would let Tgurneu escape. Adlet bore the hits on his armor and took another step forward.
“Adlet!” Though still under fire, Dozzu fired off a lightning strike to assist him. Chamo’s slave-fiends rushed into the square as well, spitting acid at the enemy formation. The final fiend in front of the bird, Fremy shot through with a bullet.
“…Ridiculous.” The bird-fiend’s eyes widened.
With a roar, Adlet thrust the spike forward with all his might.