With the angel’s death, the temple knights were able to eradicate the fiends plaguing the Holy City, and a disaster fated to go down in history under Leon’s name was averted. Instead, he was praised. The third Hero of Salvation, Leon Crossheart, vanquished the monstrous Rheinhardt who sought to destroy the capital.
The one who penned this tale was none other than Emilia Redheart herself.
“So you really did love Master after all!”
“Shut up, kid.”
Leon turned his back on the quarreling duo and gazed at the memorial before him. Around his neck, he wore a crimson band adorned with a sky-blue stone—his partner’s Testament Stone—forming a symbol of Leon’s determination. It showed that his soul would always walk alongside them. And with those comforting thoughts, Leon addressed the two people whose names were etched into the cenotaph.
“Master. Rheina. Just watch. I’m going to save this world.”
Leon had inherited a dream. A dream once shared by all three of them. A dream in which there was no Shroud, no fiends, in which the people smiled. The realization of that dream was the ghoul’s new purpose.
“…You think there’s room for me on that boat this time?” said Emilia, eyeing Leon with a prickly gaze as he turned around. “I’m done being treated as if this has nothing to do with me.”
In the past, Claire had distanced herself from her little sister. Because of that, Leon and Rheinhardt had always treated her coldly as well. It wasn’t because they didn’t trust her; it was because they didn’t want her to get hurt, but the reasons made little difference.
“I don’t care what you say,” she said. “I’m coming anyway.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Leon replied. “Claire might not have wanted it…but I need you with me, Emilia.”
Leon’s frank words appeared to cheer Emilia up a little. She scoffed, and upon her lips was the faint hint of a smile.
“…Master. Say that to me as well.”
“Say what?”
“You know. The thing you just said to Emilia. Tell me like you told her.”
“…I need you with me, Alice.”
“Ooh-hoo!”
For some reason, Alice clutched her chest and fell to the floor. At first, Leon thought the girl must have had some kind of heart attack, but then she began giggling.
“Heh-heh! Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh!”
She seemed happy enough, so Leon opted to say nothing.
“Anyway,” said Emilia. “I’ve made my report, so what say we get on the road, huh?”
“Quite right,” Leon replied. “We need to figure out the details of our next plan.”
“But before that, shall we take lunch?” suggested Alice. “It’s almost noon.”
The three of them set off. Out on the street, the people’s watchful eyes were not so different from before. They saw not the hero who had saved their town but a terrifying creature to be shunned and feared.
For the first time in a long while, Leon found their attitude disagreeable. Not because of his own self-esteem, but because now Alice was being exposed to it as well.
“…Master? Is something the matter?” she asked.
“No, I just realized something. I can be a real selfish bastard sometimes.”
Alice didn’t understand what Leon was trying to say. She cocked her head in confusion while Emilia snorted.
“Tell us something we don’t know!” she laughed.
Leon’s possessiveness was clear to his longtime friend, Emilia. And luckily for him, the feeling was mutual.
“Don’t worry, you old ghoul. We aren’t going to let you go either, are we, young lady?”
“Huh? Uh, oh! Yes! I mean, no! …What are we talking about?”
“Hueh-hueh-hueh-hueh-hueh.”
Alice’s innocent reaction evoked quite a strange noise from Leon. It was only Emilia who recognized what it was supposed to be.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve heard a laugh out of you, Leon,” she said.
“…Huh? W-was that a laugh?!”
“Yeah. Gives you the chills, don’t it?” Emilia teased.
“Um… I…I thought it was very pretty.”
“…Don’t bother,” said Leon “You don’t need to lie to me.” Then, in an apparent attempt to change the subject, he turned and looked her in the eye.
“You’ve impressed me,” he said. “You’ve said two things that both turned out to be true.”
“Have I?”
“Yes. First, you told me you would protect me, and you did. And secondly…”
Leon removed his iron mask, revealing his rotting, unmoving lips.
“You said you would make me smile. Well, just look at this.”
Leon placed his fingers into his mouth and tugged up the corners. It was a disturbing, revolting grin.
“…And I’m going to make sure you smile like that every day from now on!” Alice beamed, her face a radiant flower.
And thus, the curtain fell on the tale of the monster-eating fiend.
And opened on the tale of the third Hero of Salvation.
I had a dream.
A painful dream, but a happy one.
But like all dreams, it did not last forever.
I woke, and now…
“I dream again… There we go.”
After watching the figures disappear into the distance, the man stilled his pen, his poem complete. As the blood in his notebook began to dry, he grinned.
“Ah, this tale has come out quite perfectly. Consider it my gift to you.”
The man tore out the page and left it by the memorial stone.
And then.
That man.
That killer.
Night Walker…
…peered at the name on the stone.
“Rheinhardt Crossline. You were a great man indeed.”
There was nothing in his voice but genuine admiration. Who but a true hero could possibly have defied his brainwashing at the very last moment?
“This was not meant to happen,” he said. “It was all supposed to end when the two of you reunited in Regtelia Town.”
But somehow Rheinhardt had managed to go against his master’s will and allowed Leon to get away. If Night Walker’s domination had been any weaker…
“…then I suspect you would have been able to become a Red-Eye on your own.”
Leon seemed to be under the impression that the monstrous Rheinhardt had allowed his jealousy to control him, but that was not the truth. There wasn’t a single jealous bone in that man’s body. There was far more love by far than any negative emotion whatsoever.
“Men like that are hard to come by,” the killer mused. “Thank you, Rheinhardt, for showing it to me. Now, how should I express my thanks? Oh, I know…”
A vicious smile emerged on Night Walker’s face.
“I’ll send your brother to you as soon as possible. Won’t that be nice?”
He laughed and laughed and laughed. And then he turned his gaze from the stone toward Leon’s back.
“The scene has already been set. Now we’ve come this far, there is no way out for you save despair.”
Very soon now, the ghoul would meet the fate the script demanded. This time, his end would be far more literal and far more permanent.
He would lose all he held dear.
“Ahh, I just can’t wait.”
Night Walker spun giddily and began walking in the opposite direction. But under his breath, he muttered, as though speaking on behalf of an old friend…
“Death really does become you, Augus, my Lord.”