Finé Primus, true to her title of the Radiant Informationist, descended slowly from the sky as if going down a ladder of light. As she looked at Tsushima’s bloody body, her hair swayed slightly.
“To think you’d come all the way to this godforsaken place. Do all the Six Imperial Swords have this much free time?” Tsushima quipped in his usual tone.
But unlike Canus, Finé did not take the bait. She received his remark with an expressionless face and calmly took control of the conversation.
“Where’s Canus?”
Maintaining a perfect distance, Tsushima and Finé glared at each other. In the rising tension, Tsushima pointed at Canus lying at his feet.
“As you can see, I’ve turned him to cinders. That puts a bow on the job I accepted from your boss. Is Lupus safe?”
Finé nodded slowly and quietly.
“Yes, I delivered her to Elbar yesterday.”
“In that case, the mission is complete. Neither of us should have any regrets. I’ll make arrangements to go home now.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Finé said, her face unchanging.
“Of course not,” Tsushima muttered.
It was unthinkable that Finé, one of the Six Imperial Swords, had followed Tsushima just to deliver a message. Especially in light of the fact that she had just confirmed the deaths of a member of the imperial family and one of the Six Imperial Swords. As an accessory to these crimes, Tsushima was now an enemy of the empire. From Finé’s position, there was no reason to let him escape.
“You’ve come to kill me after all?”
“Yes,” Finé declared assertively, as if she didn’t have anything to hide.
Tsushima looked down at his injuries and let out a heavy sigh.
“Causa sure did go to great lengths for this one. I guess the general plan was to have Canus kill me? And if by some chance I managed to defeat him, you’d step in. That’s how you planned things, right?”
“Correct. But that’s what has me confused. Why didn’t you run if you knew all that?”
Anyone targeted by one of the Six Imperial Swords would certainly go into hiding. Yet not only had Tsushima refused to flee, but he had even been prepared to face them. This stirred a sense of doubt in Finé.
Tsushima provided an answer to her question.
“Well, yeah. If I could’ve run away, I would have. But there’s a reason I can’t,” he complained, pulling a card from his pocket. It was the Black Card from Tachibana that Causa had given him.
Finé tilted her head slightly as she looked at the special, ominously glowing card in his hand.
“A reason?”
“Yeah. Since you came all this way, let me share a little secret with you,” Tsushima said, slowly rotating the card between his fingertips. The sleek black surface glimmered as it reflected the light. In stark contrast to its elegant appearance, however, the information hidden within the small card represented the filth of the world itself.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Oh no, this has turned into quite the mess, hasn’t it?”
Despite the gravity of the situation, the man spoke with a remarkably leisurely tone, smiling sheepishly. He was dressed simply, in a button-down shirt and suspenders, like a reporter. He held a newspaper in his hand. He was looking at the front page, which featured a bold headline:
✦ ✦ ✦
TREASONOUS PRINCESS FINALLY EXECUTED