As he fell, he spoke a prayer of salvation.
“Let mercy be my guide. Needle of Aspharas. The daemons’ plot. The wicked serpent’s tongue.”
As he plummeted out of the sky, Leon’s arm wriggled like a colony of insects and transformed, the forearm taking the shape of an enormous spear, while several pipes emerged from the upper arm and inserted themselves into Leon’s neck before draining blood from his arteries—so much that any ordinary person would pass out and die from blood loss immediately.
The blood flowed into the spear, and…
“Arts of Steel, Deploy. Abominable Armament Number Four: The Despicable Assassin’s Stabbing Strike, Sadistic Trancer.”
And then, Leon thrust. His spear, imparted momentum by gravity, pierced the Ifrit’s skull. That should have been the end of the fight, but it seemed the giant still had a small amount of Source remaining. It began to regenerate its shattered bone, and the black fire crept along Leon’s arm.
Yet Leon had predicted this. Number Four was no ordinary spear. The internal machinery of his prosthetic arm served to intensify the natural virulence of Leon’s blood. The strike injected it into his foe, and now it tore the colossus apart from the inside.
“Ne…e…a…”
The poison slowly broke down everything that gave the fiend life. And then…
“…Ah, you’ve come at last.”
His soul, the very same as Leon’s own, ascended to heaven, to be greeted by his old comrades once more.
“…May your rest be eternal salvation.”
Leon drew his four-pointed shape in the air and prayed. That the Lord’s grace might now see their shattered dream realized.
“Ah! Maaasteeer!”
Leon turned to see his disciple running over to him.
“This battle,” said Rayne, appearing suddenly alongside them, “was about courage. We won thanks to your bravery. If you had seized up at the crucial moment, we would have all died. You truly are a brave man.”
At last, Leon realized. The truth was, he had been fearful all along. But what led him to victory was his compassion, his desire to help…and his trust in those around him.
“Now that’s what I call a job well done, Master!”
Alice. As long as she was around, Leon had nothing to fear. But where did that feeling come from?
“Is this…what courage really is?”
This was the answer Leon had been searching for all these years.
Alice turned to him. “Now all we have to do is pick the fruit!” she beamed.
“…Yes, that’s right. Let’s head back to the big tree.”
The three of them walked over to the courtyard in the eastern quarter of Regtelia Town.
“I wonder if this can really cure Blue-Eye, like they say,” said Rayne as she picked one off the boughs. She brought it to her lips…and took a bite. Immediately, the blue glow in her right eye vanished without a trace. It was proof the disease really had been eradicated from her body and also inspired hope that the fruit might have another effect.
“Master. Maybe if you eat one…”
Perhaps the same fruit could cure Red-Eye as well and make Leon human again.
“Using this…can I save myself? And him, too?”
Even as he thought it, Leon felt a sense of self-loathing. The only one he could possibly save was himself. He knew that. Becoming human again wouldn’t erase the past. It wouldn’t bring the dead back to life. Because of that…that man could never be saved.
Leon had turned his back on them. He’d abandoned his fate, his promise. And now, because of that, he was the only one offered happiness? How was that possible? How was that…right?
“Master.”
It was Alice’s voice that brought Leon back to reality.
“When I was wandering around, searching for you, I never thought about others. I lost everything…but I didn’t want to die. I wanted to be happy, the happiest girl in the world, so I went after you, thinking you would be able to save me.”
The regret was clear in her voice. She wasn’t as selfish as she claimed.
“It was…really difficult meeting you again,” she went on. “You had changed so much. The more I got to know you, the more I felt it was true. Eventually, I realized it wasn’t just me I wanted to save, but you. And so…well…”
A sudden shyness seemed to come over her.
“I…I want…to fix you, Leon.”
Was she completely oblivious? Had the girl not realized how much of a saving grace her presence had already been?
Perhaps that was what made her next words so powerful.
“I want us both to be happy, Leon. So there’s only one way to save me, and that’s to save yourself as well.”
Leon Crossheart had a duty. A duty to make Alice happy. Was it really so bad to make that a priority? The more Leon considered it, the more he started to come around.
Perhaps I’ve been looking at this the wrong way all along. If I was strong like him, I wouldn’t have to let this guilt weigh me down… No, that’s not it. I don’t have to bear the weight alone at all.
Together, they could make it happen. Together, they could bring back the dream of salvation. Leon could save Alice at the same time he saved himself.
“…I…can do it. I can live that dream.”
The murky dregs on Leon’s heart were washed away like melting snow, and Leon faced a new future—one filled with happiness at Alice’s—
“Ah, you really haven’t changed. You’re still the same spoiled kid you always were, partner.”
…A voice. Not in Leon’s mind, but in reality. He had finally come, directed by fate, to correct Leon’s wavering path.
“…Rghh!”
Just then, the black fruit of revival changed form, into a swarm of red-hot beetles. Leon, spotting them, grabbed Alice and leaped backward, seconds before the beetles swelled and burst.
“Haha! So you can save people! Too bad you couldn’t do that for me!”
Without breaking Leon’s gaze, Rayne spat something onto the floor. It was the piece of the mysterious fruit she had just bitten.
“Phew. I nearly fell for my own trap there.”
Faced with the figure’s masochistic smile, Leon spoke, as though his heart would burst with grief at any moment.
“…The power to save the world, and you do this.”
“Yeah? Why would I want to save the world?”
Saying this, he revealed his true form. His female body slowly changed, acquiring a devilish charm. His violet eyes stared fixedly at Leon, and his smile was one of unrivaled beauty.
“…It’s been four years, partner.”
A dream of the past, reborn as a nightmare.