You’re wrong, Adlet. My life has not been lived for your sake , Tgurneu thought. The power of love hasn’t defeated me. Even if I die, I’ll keep destroying love and making those who feel it suffer.
And as long as I’m still fighting, I’ll never be the loser.
Adlet. Fremy. I will be crushing your love until the end.
✦ ✦ ✦
“[I’ll tell you one last thing, Fremy!]” Tgurneu cried. Adlet looked at the tip of its vine, stuck into the chest of the mouse-fiend. He recalled that the mouse had been carrying the Book of Truth, which meant Tgurneu was using its spell on itself. The limited number of uses had been a lie.
“[Your mother really did love you!]” it yelled.
The moment Fremy heard that, she froze stiff.
Something told Adlet that he couldn’t let Tgurneu keep talking. His fingers dug into Tgurneu’s soft body.
“[And Adlet…]” As Tgurneu started to continue, Adlet crushed it.
He felt two lumps in his fingers. One was the tiniest fiend core he had ever seen. And the other was a red gem.
It was in that instant that Adlet’s vision began to spin, though not because of his wounds. It was an uncanny sensation, one he’d never felt before—the feeling that he wasn’t going to be himself anymore. Something was falling out from inside his head. There was no time for him to bask in the joy of fulfilling his revenge. It was all he could do to withstand the surreal experience. He felt ready to collapse, but he still didn’t let go of Tgurneu’s body. He had to destroy the core in his grasp, or he wouldn’t have truly killed it.
The moment Adlet was about to shatter the core, Tgurneu’s half-crushed mouth moved. In a quiet voice only Adlet could hear, it said something.
As the words reached Adlet’s ears, he broke Tgurneu’s core. Then he collapsed, unconscious.
✦ ✦ ✦
The very instant Tgurneu died, the crest on Fremy’s left hand shone, and the brightness split into six bullets of light that flew away.
One went to Chamo’s thigh, and one jumped into the body of the slave-fiend that had swallowed Hans. Three of the rest flew off to the northwest to hit Goldof, Mora, and Rolonia’s crests before disappearing. A light bullet also went to strike Nashetania’s crest. The power of the Black Barrenbloom, the hieroform stealing power from the Crests of the Six Flowers, had been nullified by Tgurneu’s death.
A scream echoed throughout the whole ruins. The fiends lost their minds, wailing over the unthinkable that had happened. All command structure evaporated, and the fiends immediately fell into confusion. Their reactions varied. Some tried to save their dead commander. Some tried to escape from the blazing forest. Some tried to kill the Braves. Some stopped where they were and wailed. And many simply stood there, not knowing what to do.
✦ ✦ ✦
“…Rolonia.”
She was awoken by a voice.
After Rolonia had helped the others escape, she’d kept on fighting. Her memory was blank after a certain point. She didn’t even know how long she’d kept going.
She’d thought she was dead. That move where she sprayed blood from her entire body was practically a suicide attack. She shouldn’t have been able to fight anymore after using it. Though she was the Saint of Blood, losing so much of it would disable anyone, including her. There had been over a hundred fiends against one exhausted Rolonia. Even a child could understand what should have happened then. And Rolonia had felt at peace with that.
“…We…won,” someone said, and Rolonia opened her eyes.
She was lying on the same battlefield she’d been on when she’d lost consciousness. But there was one big difference: The fiends had all forgotten to attack her and were just standing there.
Beside her was Goldof. He was carrying both Mora and Nashetania and holding his spear in one hand. He knelt over the fallen Rolonia, protecting her from any attacks. “That was…close. You…managed to…survive,” he said, smiling.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Adlet!”
Tgurneu was dead, but Fremy couldn’t waste time processing emotions about it just then.
Too many things had happened. Tgurneu had told her Adlet was the seventh—and that Hans was a real Brave. According to Tgurneu, it had been making Adlet love her and had also used the power of the Saint of Words to talk about her mother.
In her confusion, the first place she rushed was to the fallen Adlet’s side.
“…Ah!” She touched his body to treat him, but when her fingers brushed against Adlet’s blood, they stung with pain. She couldn’t heal him like this.
Dozzu came limping up to them, dragging one leg. “Fremy, Chamo, let’s leave this place as soon as possible. Please hurry.”
Fremy was confused, not understanding the reason for Dozzu’s haste.
“Cargikk will be moving into action. Tgurneu has been keeping him in check so far, but now that he is free to act, we will be targeted. We have to find somewhere safe, or we’ll all die.” Dozzu spoke with urgency. It was more afraid now than it had been during the fight with Tgurneu, when all had seemed lost.
Fremy took off her cloak and wrapped it around Adlet, lifted him over her shoulders, and shot a glance at Chamo. “First, we’ll meet up with Rolonia and Nashetania, then with Mora and Goldof. Follow me, Chamo.”
✦ ✦ ✦
When Fremy started off, Dozzu called after her. “Um…could you please carry me, too? I can’t run.”
One of Chamo’s slave-fiends bit Dozzu on the scruff of its neck and lifted it up. Following Fremy, they all headed northwest.
✦ ✦ ✦
On Fremy’s back, Adlet regained consciousness for just a moment.
The world was spinning. Something was churning around in his head. Everything he’d ever experienced was whirling around inside it, his memories were confused, and it felt like his brain was being shredded. He was suffering from a fear he’d never experienced before.
Unable to bear it, he passed out again.