“That’s some look you’ve got on your face.”
Slowly, he appeared in front of me, dragging his greatsword behind him. Redge – the man who killed Yukihime.
“You...” I glared at him.
He slitted his eyes and glared back at me. “I see that woman meant a great deal to you.”
“...What’s your point?”
“Don’t misunderstand. I didn’t kill her in order to retaliate against you. The death of a great warrior shouldn’t be corrupted with such things... But I suppose it may look that way, by coincidence.”
“By... coincidence? Are you completely insane?! You people are the ones who invaded our world and started ordering us around!”
“Zol and I were merely forced to come here on a mission. You’re the one who chose to seek vengeance for your parents. Not that I could blame you. Just like you, I seek vengeance for my mentor, therefore, I have no right to judge you. We both want to murder the one who took someone precious from us. That’s all there is to it. Our relationship is quite simple, really.”
He just went on and on. He murdered Yukihime, while his mentor murdered my parents. If only the two of them had never shown up...
He’s going to pay.
“In that case, you’re going to die. I’m going to kill you,” I said.
“As you wish. If it’s a meaningless death you want, I will oblige.”
Again... I could feel murderous rage taking over again.
Redge raised his greatsword. I no longer had any way to block it. Towa had provided me with unlimited star power, as had Yukihime. I would never run out, but my body simply couldn’t handle it any longer. I couldn’t do anything.
Am I really going to die here? Without killing him?
Suddenly...
“I’m going to make sure you pay for what you’ve done.” Towa walked in between Redge and I, raised up both of her arms, and glared at him. “You hear me?” I’d never heard her talk like this before.
Redge narrowed his eyes. “Ruinmaker... What could you possibly do in that form?” he scoffed. “Unfortunately, I can’t humor you. I need to take you back alive.” Redge dropped his sword and reached out for Towa.
“Towa, you idiot! Run!”
In the next moment, a wind blade shot out toward Redge, only to be sliced to bits by an extended silver sword.
“Lord Redge!”
“Kurono!”
Nagisaki and Elemia stood side by side.
“We should retreat for now, sir! If we regroup, we’ll be able to come back and steal the Ruinmaker in a flash!” Elemia ran up to Redge.
“Don’t worry. I’m about to end everything right now.” Redge shrugged off Elemia’s plea and tried to continue the battle.
But Elemia kept talking. “Valt was assaulted on her way back. At this rate...”
As he heard this, Redge stopped moving.
“You’re not getting away!” Nagisaki swung down his scythe toward Elemia, who deflected it with her sword.
Redge stared at me with his silver eyes and screamed. “Mark my words – we’ll be back to finish this very soon!”
After hatred rang out in his voice, Redge disappeared along with Elemia.
They left us with nothing but tattered remains. Shattered ice. A huge crater. Hundreds of pale monster corpses. Countless scars of war.
I bent down before the one I had killed – before the remains of my beloved – and cried.