Time seemed to stop as silence descended upon the artificial island. It felt like the island was isolated from the rest of the world.
In the wake of the clash between those two unyielding warriors, the island had been left unrecognizable. Their surroundings were blanketed with wreckage from the destroyed warehouses, and the stone pavement was etched with traces of the battle. It would have been impossible to judge from the carnage alone what had occurred here.
“Tsk…you only cut off my arm in the end.”
“Now that I think of it, I had something I wanted to ask you.”
Nadja’s arm had been cleanly severed where the carapace covered her skin. Blood poured freely from the wound. Although she was responsible for that wound, Jin had lost a significant amount of blood herself.
In addition to her stomach, where she had stabbed herself with the katana, blood was spouting from the holes left in her body by Nadja’s water spears. They both sat on the ground, unable to take another step.
“I did say that if you wanted answers, you should beat the truth out of me, so I guess you earned it.”
“Make it quick, then. I think I’m at death’s door.”
“Ha-ha, you’re crazy, you know that? Fine, I’ll get to the point. I came to free my brethren who have been kidnapped. Although, I guess that wish won’t be happening now…”
Regret and resignation crossed Nadja’s face…but only for a moment.
“Of course,” said Jin. “Leave that to us, then… However, healing comes first.”
“Huh? Leave it to you? Healing?” Nadja looked confused.
“Psycho, hurry up already! We’re dying over here.”
“You’re not the only one who’s tired, I’ll have you know,” said Psycho. “I’ve been breaking my back out there.”
Having now eliminated the horde of crawler sharks, Psycho approached to apply her healing magic to the two combatants. Like she said, the sustained fighting and repeated use of healing magic had left her visibly exhausted. But unfortunately for Psycho, no one seemed to care.
“Wait, what is the meaning of this? Aren’t you going to kill me?” Nadja asked.
“Why should we? You don’t plan to keep fighting, do you?”
“Well, no…,” said Nadja, looking away, embarrassed.
“I’ve got an idea where they might be. Let’s hurry up, free them, and finish this job.”
“I never knew humans could be reasonable…”
Jin and Nadja allowed themselves to be healed. The holes in Jin’s body closed, and Nadja’s arm was reattached to her body. Psycho tried to work quickly, because Tsutsumi was staring at Nadja’s severed arm with a hungry gleam in her eyes.
“I owe you my gratitude, humans.”
“Save your thanks. If what you say is true, it sounds like our side started this mess in the first place,” replied Psycho dismissively.
“All the same.”
Both sides had taken lives, but the humans seemed to have been the instigators. An obligation was an obligation, however, according to Nadja.
With her arm reattached, Nadja stood back up.
“Okay then, where is this place…? Wait, first things first.” Nadja turned her attention toward the massive crawler shark. “Hey, you, how long do you plan to keep sleeping for?!” she bellowed. “Go on, you head back first!”
In response, the immobile beast slowly trudged back to its feet. Apparently, it had only been unconscious. Once it grasped the situation, it shook its head back and forth in an attempt to dislodge Proto.
“Ow!” complained Proto as she was roughly tossed away. A moment ago, she had been absentmindedly bathing in the moonlight.
“—!!”
The monstrous beast released a skull-splitting howl. They all covered their ears, but the sound rattled their eardrums regardless.
In response, the army of crawler sharks that was still laying waste to the city immediately turned around and began to retreat toward the sea. The extensive wall of flame bisecting the town disappeared as well.
There were no more sounds of fighting. There were no victors and thus no cries of triumph, either. A humming silence descended upon the rubble-strewn city.
“Huh? What happened? Is it over?” said Proto, joining the others. She dragged her war hammer, which was still tangled in her right arm, behind her. She had finally recovered enough energy to move.
“I couldn’t have done it without you, Proto,” said Jin.
“Sorry, what?” Proto responded, still somewhat dazed.
Outcome aside, she owed a lot to Proto.
“Well? Where is this place you mentioned?” Psycho and the others began walking with Nadja now in tow.
“It’s gotta be there,” Jin replied. “At least, I think so.”
They were heading straight toward the center of town.
“Ahh… In the end, it looks like I’m the only one who gets what I want. I hope he doesn’t mind,” muttered Nadja apologetically.
“‘He’? Do you mean the Dark Lord?”
“Yes.”
“This Dark Lord guy—what’s he like?” asked Psycho as they headed toward their destination. This was important information. The Dark Lord was the whole reason they had been summoned to this world.
“I’ve never met him in person, either. A woman claiming to be the Dark Lord’s servant showed up out of the blue. According to what she told me, the Dark Lord wants to expel every last human from the land and provide salvation for all monsters.”
They passed all sorts of rubble along the way. The sight left them feeling conflicted.
“According to the woman, if I agreed to become one of the Dark Lord’s followers and help him in his goal, he would lend me power. I just so happened to be in the process of planning my own attack on this town, so I figured I could make use of this Dark Lord person.”
“And then she gave you something called curseblood?”
“What? How did you know?”
“We fought some people before who had used the curseblood. You have similar mutations, though not as extreme as theirs were. Well, I say that, but I’ve never seen your kind before except as an illustration in a book.”