Sweat beaded on Veronica’s forehead. Bahamuts were multiplying in front of and behind them. By the time they reached the desolate outskirts, red eyes surrounded them in every direction. Honestly, she was relieved that they had brought Oscar’s horse rather than Night Star and felt a faint disgust at her own selfishness.
Just then, one of the Bahamuts following close behind seized the horse’s tail. The poor beast convulsed wildly, throwing both riders violently to the ground. Had Oscar, seated behind her, not instinctively wrapped his arms around her and rolled, she might have been gravely injured.
In her spinning vision, Veronica smelled blood and soil.
“Oscar!”
The vibrations in the air rippled outward like waves, causing the skulls and innards of the encroaching Bahamuts to explode. Having overexerted her power, Veronica crawled toward Oscar with blood trickling from her nose.
Oscar’s chest heaved with labored breaths. The moment he saw her, he murmured, “Leave me behind.”
“What? What are you saying?”
“Without me, they won’t pursue you.”
That was certainly true. They treated Veronica as one of their own. But…
“Don’t talk nonsense. What kind of person abandons a friend to save themselves?”
Veronica shook her head fiercely.
A vein pulsed at Oscar’s temple as he gazed up at her. His green eyes, like a rain-soaked forest, glistened with sadness. Veronica felt angry at Oscar for acting like a knight with a sacred mission.
It’s enough that I’m sacrificing myself for the greater good, she thought.
“Then what kind of person murders her friend’s father?” Oscar spat the words like venom. As the light visibly dimmed in Veronica’s eyes, he turned his face away from her. “We were never friends. You are nothing but Sir Berg’s mistake—no more, no less.”
Veronica didn’t know what to say.
Oscar continued, “You corrupted the knight I revered, uttered that accursed prophecy, and now you’ve slain my father.”
Each accusation burned like an arrow piercing her heart. Veronica clawed at the ground beneath her fingers. Wet soil gathered under her nails as she gouged deep furrows.
“…Then why would you sacrifice yourself for someone like me?”
“Because you were chosen by God. Even if others don’t know it, my soul—which heard that prophecy—knows the truth.”
Having said this, Oscar squeezed his eyes shut.
It wasn’t from pain—that much was clear. He just didn’t want to reveal what lay within. They said eyes were the windows to one’s soul, and people could read each other like books just by looking into each other’s eyes. In other words, Oscar didn’t want her to discover his true feelings.
Staring down at his resolute face, Veronica’s shoulders trembled as a surge of hot emotion welled up inside her. She couldn’t name this feeling—this mixture of half-indignation and half sorrow.
“Please don’t do this…” she desperately pleaded. “Don’t say we weren’t friends. You apologized to me with such sincerity. Those evenings I spent with you and Hannah—they were precious moments I would trade for nothing in this world. It was you two who gave me the will to live then, not Leon.”
Tears streamed down her face. The surrounding area had already become a wasteland of Bahamut remains. They were adrift in the middle of a sea of blood. A trickle of blood escaped from Veronica’s mouth, evidence of her overexertion.
“Don’t die. Please. About His Holiness… I didn’t mean to do that. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
She hung her head and apologized frantically—not just to Oscar, but to the slain Pope, to Benjamin, to the bandit in the wilderness. Though they had wronged her, she had never wished death upon them.
A single transparent tear traced its way down Oscar’s cheek. Just as his trembling lips parted to speak, his helpless body was suddenly dragged downward and disappeared. It happened so quickly that Veronica could only gape, unable to move a finger. She watched, dumbstruck, as the man was dragged away on his back. A nearby Bahamut had seized his ankle, pulling him and throwing him into the center of the horde.
No. No. This can’t be happening.
She tried desperately to control the air around them, but it wouldn’t obey her will. As the landscape wavered, Veronica felt extreme nausea and retched while bracing herself against the ground. She had pushed herself too far. But Oscar. Oscar is—
The Bahamuts swarmed like ants, tearing at their helplessly captured prey. The horrific sight drained what little strength Veronica had left, and she collapsed.
Each time she struggled to rise, another Bahamut knocked her aside. Sprawled painfully on the ground, her body wracked with tremors, Veronica screamed with all her might. “Please… stop! Let him go! I command you to release him!”
But her voice, having lost its divine power, had no effect on the creatures. Though these monsters had even devoured the horse, they didn’t spare a glance at Veronica—their corrupted kin. Her pleas were merely human screams—ephemeral sounds that vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye.