“As Sakura…I cannot do it…”
That was her final decision.
Of course, she knew what happened to those who defied orders. She knew, but she chose her path anyway. She did not regret her choice.
“Sister, I came to see you one last time.”
“Oh, Fujimaru, it’s you. I’m sad to say good-bye.”
Fujimaru was Jin’s brother, and he was three years younger. Jin did not regret her decision. If there was one thing she did regret, however, it was that this mission would now fall on his shoulders.
“Why are you doing this?”
“I don’t know. It’s just what I wanted to do.”
“Just what you wanted to do…?” repeated Fujimaru through clenched teeth.
“Fujimaru… No, I should call you ‘Jin’ now. I’m sorry I wasn’t a better sister. I’m sorry I forced a mission like this onto your shoulders.”
“Don’t say that…”
“We have to say good-bye now.”
“O…okay.”
Jin stroked her brother’s head in farewell, and then she ended her life. She felt strangely at peace as she sank down toward death. She wasn’t entirely sure what she had been reaching for, but she had grasped it in the end. That was enough for her.
But then in a strange twist of fate, she had been summoned to another world with one of the very targets she had been tasked to kill.
“N-n-now, now, now! How about we introduce ourselves, first?! This is probably all just a big misunderstanding. Come on, what do you say?”
Jin understood her true mission at last. She hadn’t foisted it off onto her younger brother; she had carried part of it with her here, into a different world.
Her target was crass and lacked self-control. Jin was not impressed. Until one day, that is, when she saw a powerful light flare to life inside the girl’s eye. A glow of determination. At times, it literally burned.
Many of her other new friends held powerful lights of their own, but the fire in this girl’s eye was something special.
She just lived her life as a normal person, pandering to her own selfish desires, unafraid of being burned.
On the one hand, Jin found her shallow. On the other, this girl was vaguely frightening, as well as alluring.
But why should Jin be captivated by something that she found appalling? As the thought formed, she could swear she saw Homura’s eyes where the eyes of Nadja and the wavering shadows met.
A shrill clang echoed throughout the harbor.
Jin had just swung the malefic sword upward, this time of her own free will, blocking Nadja’s trident as it fell down toward her.
“Now I understand…”
That powerful light of determination. She finally understood why it had frightened her so. Deep down, she was jealous. Jealous of those with the commitment, and the strength of will, to dedicate themselves to something they believed in, even if it meant adopting the mantle of evil or even doing the unthinkable.
Such people didn’t just drift through life. They stood upon their own two legs; they chose their own paths, lived by the strength of their own convictions. That was the true meaning behind that sense of peace she had felt while on the verge of death in her previous life.
“So that’s what I was feeling…” So many things suddenly came together. “Ah-ha-ha…ha-ha-ha-ha!”
“What are you laughing about?”
How long had it been since she had last laughed?
“It’s nothing; I just came face-to-face with my own baseness. Ha-ha, I guess there’s no hiding it. Who’s the churl now? In the end, I want to live just as selfishly as everyone else. It actually feels like a weight being lifted.”
Nadja leaped backward, putting distance between them.
“It was never the killing I enjoyed. It was the experience of fighting of my own free will against other people who were also fighting of their own free will. Conviction, even in the face of death. What better way to prove that we’re really here?”
Jin’s eyes now shone with a light of her own.
“I like this new look in your eyes. I’m still going to kill you, though, of course!”
“I can’t believe this strange sword has actually taken a liking to me. Incredible. Who would have thought that what I feared was the very thing I envied…?”
The blood-starved malefic sword now felt comfortable in her hand. Jin’s mind and vision grew clear once more, and she sensed new strength welling up inside her. She wasn’t sure if the malefic sword had a will of its own, but either way, it was thanks to Crimson Rain that she finally understood how to stand on her own two feet again.
“I guess the real fight begins now?”
“I warn you, this new self-aware me is much stronger.” Jin smiled. She gripped the crimson blade in her hand and, with a single fluid motion, thrust it deep into her own stomach. “I’ll never get used to this feeling…”
She grimaced in pain.
“Whoa, whoa, don’t be in such a hurry to end it. I didn’t realize that was where you were going with this!”
“Don’t worry, I don’t plan to die until I kill you first.”
The blade pulsed as Jin withdrew it, absorbing her blood. Nadja stared at the ghastly blade, finally understanding what was happening.
“Of course…it’s one of those. I thought you were simply trying to get out of fighting me.”
“Relax. I was just about to chop your head off. I hope you’re ready.”
The bloodbath could now begin in earnest.
“Here I come,” said Nadja, readying her trident. A serpent of water undulated in the air.
“Prepare yourself.” Jin made her blood, which now coated the malefic sword, transform into a sinister blade.
Although the stakes were deadly, both women smiled as they faced off against each other.
No army, however great, could have interceded in the ferocious match that soon unfolded. Jin’s blade of blood rent the sky; Nadja’s water spears gouged the earth. One second, one moment of carelessness could have spelled instant death for either combatant. Their injuries only seemed to fuel their enjoyment.
They both found themselves inching closer and closer to death. But the end came suddenly, like a moment stitched into the battle.
“The fight is mine!”
Jin’s strike finally landed home.