Once the initial shock wore off, Tatyana was overtaken by a sense of complete disconnect.

  While she was not close to any of the four new arrivals, she at least knew they were all knight cadets.

  She had seen the baby-faced youth with eyes the color of roses around the facility, and that huge machine was but an extension of Sirhan Munir’s limb prosthetics, which she had read of once or twice in news articles about his engineering genius.

  But Hildegard Tirpitz and Fei-hung Long in particular were cadets so outstanding as to be invited into the Jewels, despite only being in their third and fifth year respectively. To think the latter was in possession of a Crown as well…

  Empyreus, a legendary pair of wings held in the same regard as her lance, Areadbhair. But even that was not what mattered the most now.

  Rather, it was the fact that people training to be this world’s protection against the threat of Nox… had just ensured the safety of a rift to that very place.

  “This isn’t the time for nonsense, Hilda! That’s a rift about to open!”

  Edmond’s voice was the worst, however.

  Tatyana may have felt a disconnect, but the truth of the matter was still plenty obvious to her. That clearly was not the case for him, his tone alone appearing to beg for any other answer, which she could not blame him for.

  The four cadets may have been her allies, ‘comrades’ in the strictest sense of the word, but they were still strangers ultimately. For Edmond though, one of them was a friend; a loved one he cared for like family.

  Now, that ‘friend’ answered his desperate outreach with eyes that were only amused, or perhaps a little expectant as well. She even dared to smile.

  “I’m well aware of that. It’s something we’ve been looking forward to greatly, so I can’t have Nesterova or you ruining things.”

  “… What are you even saying!? This makes no sense!”

  Edmond…

  Tatyana’s heart sank seeing him. She wanted to speak out, whether to support him or to pressure Hildegard, but she could not think of any useful words.

  The armored Fei-hung softly descended by Hildegard’s side, hovering just a few centimeters off the ground as he leaned lightly in her direction.

  “Stop being this cryptic about it; it’s just cruel to him. At this point, there’s no reason to hide things anymore.”

  “… Mm, I guess so.” Hildegard’s expression hardened slightly as she glanced at Fei-hung, then back at Edmond. “Mondi, you’re just refusing to see it. We’re the ones behind this rift situation.”

  His gray eyes froze just like his body.

  “… You what…? Hilda… No, that’s not it. Look, the Violet Thorn did all this! We heard it all from them, from Hellbound! We took him down and now it’s over!”

  But Hildegard followed on without the slightest concern.

  “And I should thank you for that. We thought we could take care of our business quickly and arrive in time to defeat him, but we were just full of ourselves. Those instructors were very tough.”

  For the first time, Tatyana truly paid attention to how raggedy the four of them looked.

  Sirhan’s machine and Fei-hung’s armor were something, but seeing the partially dried, partially sticky red tainting much of Hildegard’s and the other boy’s bodies, not to count bruises and clothes tattered here and there, was much more impactful. For her earlier boast, the blonde did not seem to be in a much better state than Edmond or her, if at all.

  “You two really impressed me. As we currently are, it would’ve been rough to pull off our little ‘double-cross’ on him.”

  “Double-cross…? The insiders Finn talked of…”

  Hildegard’s brow raised, then her lips curved into a pleased grin.

  “Oh, seems like you’ve heard quite a bit more than I thought, Mondi. Are you finally seeing the full picture, then? We gave the Thorns a modest advance payment to enlist their help. We’d even threaten to open a rift as an extra distraction, and then we would all break into the armory and divide the spoils… That’s what they probably thought would happen. They didn’t know all we cared about was the rift, in the end.”

  “… I don’t… But that’s… Just… Why!?”

  The more the poison of acceptance spread within Edmond, the harder it became to just look at him, let alone hear him.

  But as if there was no real conflict in Hildegard, she responded easily and quickly.

  “We’re leaving for Nox, Mondi.”

  The answer shook Tatyana herself to her core, enough to take her attention away from Edmond.

  “… Leaving? … Hilda, are you part of some invasion force? Or maybe…”

  His words led only to an amused shrug from Fei-hung, and a disappointed sigh from Hildegard.

  “Mondi, I’m done here. We are done here. Nox will be our new home, and any further fighting we do will be for Nox.”

  “Are you stupid or something?” Tatyana spat out, her words and voice filled with a scorching rage that immediately drew the gazes of Hildegard and the others. “The very atmosphere of Nox is lethal to any non-natives. You’ll all die as soon as the rift closes, just how it happens to demons over here.”

  The response, in the form of an infuriatingly genuine chuckle, came not from Hildegard, but the armored Fei-hung. The man covered not only in the power of a Crown, but also one that felt quite similar to Hellbound’s.

  “Lots of things can change over centuries. They’ll live on just fine; we have proper ways now.”

  They…?

  His wording drew her attention. Clearly, Fei-hung was excluding himself from the danger the other world inherently presented.

  Having a demon’s power was one thing, something he made no attempt to hide, but it was just that. The hosting of a demon, despite their significant variance in strength and powers, was far from something unique to Hellbound. The phenomenon colloquially known as ‘possession’ had been known of since the start of the war with Nox, and thus, it was also known that it did not yield the same benefits to a human host as it did for the demon.

  Ultimately, the positions of ‘shell’ and ‘innards’ were very different, and the host would always be the one exposed to the elements.

  But if that was the case, what was the deal with Fei-hung?

  Am I overthinking this? Or is he truly able to survive in either world on his own? A Crowned One, with demonic powers despite not being a host…?

  It was all too strange, but she could not afford to think further about it. Not when that thoroughly broken voice arose once more.

  “Hilda, please…” Edmond pleaded, his hands and lips shivering as if terribly cold. “Whatever these assholes did to have you help them, whoever they’re threatening or whatever secrets they have, it doesn’t matter! Just let me help you, and then we can—”

  “Don’t you dare.”

  Hildegard’s statement felt as final as it could. Merciless, furious, and filled with a sense of offense that could not be faked. Even her companions appeared briefly stunned by the intensity in her voice.

  “I trusted you to know even if no one else did, Mondi. This is not something I’d do from something as cheap as a threat, blackmail, or whatever else you’d like to imagine. It’s simply up to capable people to leave a proper mark, and I won’t stay put if you insult me again.”

  “A proper mark…? Just what are you even trying to do!? Tell me, please!”

  Only Edmond replied, seemingly unaffected by Hildegard’s brief outburst, or perhaps he was simply the one who could see through it. Who could speak on the level she wanted.

  “Renewal.”

  Her reply only seemed to confirm this, feeling more honest than anything she had said yet.

  “… What does that even mean?” Edmond replied, seemingly not understanding that much still.

  “I want a reset, a do-over. We’ll give this world a chance to rebuild, by tearing down the rotten foundation that has existed for far too long.”

  In other words, a revolution? Though from the way she spoke, and her actions up to now, this was much more like a ‘scorched earth’ sort of thing.

  “‘Rotten’, you say?”

  Tatyana could not help but cut in, her frustration only growing from such self-righteous spiel.

  “You’re really going to deny it, Miss Nesterova?” The feeling seemed mutual, the way Hildegard replied. “Humanity has built a system of division, one in which some get to live their lives properly, and others don’t. Health has become a product, knowledge is a privilege, and so long as they’re allies of the powerful, even the worst oppressors will be cheered for their atrocities.”

  “You think bringing that day back will solve those problems!?”

  Edmond’s voice was different this time. Desperate denial, crippling unease and horrible confusion gradually disappeared, quickly replaced by…

  “What about Isolde and Max? What about mom!?”

  … the pain of betrayal. An ache like pure venom that dug the worst sorrow and anger out of him.

  Seeing that, Hildegard’s eyes were tinged with a somber range. Dark rather than fiery, but not lacking at all in intensity.

  “You have no right to judge me for any of this. You want to wait for things to sort themselves out? Maybe to fix them from within? You know that’s not possible; why else would you want to become some ‘superhero’!?”

  She did not hesitate in the slightest, even as her words drove needles into Edmond’s throat, leaving him without an answer as his brow shivered in desperation.

  “The difference between us is we’ll go for the source of this rot, rather than deal with the symptoms. Humanity has come to rule Tellus, drunk in its dominance through numbers and ruthlessness. Those with the strength to stop us don’t care about our society, so the privileged have forgotten what it’s like to be held accountable.”

  Even Tatyana fell into silence, forced to recognize a terrible problem she was very aware of. Few were as privileged as her, a Crowned One with family that ranked exceptionally high among the Knight Corps, so she had seen plenty of people like those Hildegard mentioned.

  “But then comes Nox, a wholly different world as powerful as our own, or maybe more. If this war were to tip solidly in their favor, those fucks would no longer be untouchable.”

  Still, her eyes went wide as she realized the implication of Hildegard’s words, as did Edmond’s. They were not just heading to Nox, abandoning the war effort; instead, they would join their forces!?

  “… You want… to win a war against humanity…?”

  Edmond’s reaction perfectly encapsulated just how crazy it all was, no matter how logical her reasoning… No, her excuses sounded. On her end, Hildegard simply sighed.

  “You’re missing the point, Mondi. If the people at the top are made to feel that they’re not anymore, that all the division they depend on simply exposes them to a bigger threat, they’ll be forced to abandon that system! Without support, a different society can then be born. A better society!”

  “And if they refuse to let go of their privilege? What if the powerful just decide to dig in their heels until the very end? Is everyone else as disposable as the people you endangered today!?”

  The simplest response such an insane idea warranted, and no less correct for it. Hildegard clearly knew the lengths to which these people would go just to keep their fortune, and she still expected them to surrender merely because it would be the sensible choice at the time?

  There was a very real chance that if her plans came to fruition, they would lead to even greater suffering around the world. And yet…

  “… We’re all combatants here, Mondi. We… made our choice.”

  … she refused to cede even an inch, giving little else than a conflicted glance to the side. With it, Edmond seemed about to explode.

  “How can you—!?”

  “But you’re the last person who should talk like this. As a knight from Tellus, you’re simply pushing the pain and destruction onto Nox, even though you of all people should know plenty better!”

  Another outburst was obvious. If it did not happen now, Tatyana knew it would happen later, so it was not something worthy of her attention by itself.

  Edmond’s reaction, with his pupils shrinking and his voice cutting off, changed all that. And her confusion did not go unnoticed.

  “Hmm? She doesn’t know?” Hildegard raised her brow, pupils surrounded in maroon turning back to Tatyana curiously. “I’d have expected her to. Isn’t she your handler’s sister?”

  “It has nothing to do with her, nor with this! Lay off!”

  What was this about? Clearly there was another topic at play, and it was important enough to somehow interfere with the major conflict between the two.

  Or maybe it was related?

  “What are you talking about?”

  “—!?”

  Edmond obviously wanted to keep this a secret, but despite that, or perhaps due to that, Tatyana had to know. If it was a something that would make her think differently of him, then…

  … She forwent speculating further and focused all her attention on Hildegard, who sported an amused grin once again.

  “You’re quite ruthless; very cool. Well, sorry to disappoint, but the whole thing isn’t that complex. Just over four years ago, a rift opened right by Mondi’s home city, with all manner of nasty things spilling through—”

  “No one needs to know about any of that, Hilda! Stop!”

  The prana around him swelled and rippled, responding to his desperate aggression. Still, Hildegard continued her explanation without the slightest fear, even glancing back at Edmond as if to further mock him.

  “Some buildings might have collapsed. We may have seen Mondi’s school teacher torn apart from the waist up. An adult neighbor probably pushed us toward the horrors to save himself. But of course, that’s not really the problem.”

  Was it really not?

  Tatyana knew this was more common than some might think. Rifts had been opening sporadically around the world for the last two centuries, and most people involved tended to share similar experiences. But to hear them out loud, from the person herself… It was unsettling in a way she could not fully describe.

  She briefly turned to Edmond, whose eyes looked eerily like Hildegard’s own. Both of them, living with such memories every day and night since then, just after the Second Calamity which still remained fresh in so many minds…

  … Tatyana could not stop her own worst memories from briefly resurfacing, but Hildegard’s words made sure she could not dwell on them further.

  “The important part came at the end, when the rift closed and only one demon remained. A demon that Edmond decided to host in order to save their life.”

  Words like shattered glass.

  Something nonsensical, contradictory, illogical. A ‘reveal’ that should have been extremely obvious for the lie it had to be. But if that were the case, then why did Tatyana feel so rattled by it?

  I… I believe it…

  It was completely unthinkable for any other knight to be involved in such a thing. Not that possession was unheard of in the corps, as especially sanctioned cases allowed it as simply another type of ‘weapon’ to be used. But for the possession to merely be a side-effect, with the primary goal to save a demon from death in Tellus’ atmosphere…

  … It was a crime she could imagine Edmond being guilty of. If he had vouched for a Violet Thorn like Finn, then it was not far-fetched at all.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Lots of things make sense now, don’t they, Nesterova? Like that big shot brother of yours keeping someone like him under his wing for years. Wasn’t it surprising to know he was his handler? Well, it’s because he decided to keep playing superhero even with one of those super-scary demons—”

  “Who do you think stopped things from getting even worse!?” Edmond suddenly yelled out, interrupting Hildegard without even trying to deny her accusations. “Who was the one that took down all those monsters!? Even if they’re a demon, they saved our lives! How could I just leave them to die after that, without knowing if they’ve done anything bad—”

  “Exactly, Mondi. A demon saved us that day, and you’re still helping in the war against their world!”

  Hildegard uttered ferociously, rid of her brief amusement as if by the flick of a switch.

  Edmond’s shock was palpable, and Tatyana’s may have been as well, but she followed on without further regard.

  “A world as large and complex as our own, and yet we use the same term for all its natives: demon. Like they’re all just a bunch of unthinking monsters; no one’s good, no one’s vulnerable… A perfect narrative, eh?”

  … Both Tatyana and Edmond remained silent.

  Undeniably, Hildegard and her group had put many people at risk to pull off their ‘desertion’, but… were knights any different? The way things were handed off from above, they certainly were. But back to what she said, about the allies of the powerful always being in the right…

  “… Yeah. That’s what I thought.” Hildegard exhaled deeply, closed her eyes for about two seconds, then spoke again. “There’s no ‘superheroes’ in war, Mondi. Horrible people are still there though, and it so happens that by becoming Nox’s ally, I’ll be able to take them down. I… I thought about bringing you in, but all you’ve done since we met again is prove that you’re not ready. As I said, I’m done here.”

  Hildegard just breathed out, seemingly without anything else to say as she turned to Fei-hung.

  “How much longer are we staying?”

  “Not too long.” The uniquely echoing voice replied casually. “Seems like all the fighting delayed the rift’s formation a good amount, but it’ll open soon enough. Now all we need is…” Fei-hung turned toward the other two, by the tunnel Tatyana had nearly forgotten about. “Sirhan, Abel; have you secured Bryyor yet?”

  “As well as we can. Seems like he receded, barely alive just like Hellbound here. What those two did to him is just nasty!”

  The boy on the machine’s shoulder was the one to respond, looking quite interestedly at the roughly car-sized chamber of light blue prana under his fellow’s giant gauntlet, topped and bottomed with two thin discs of metal like the robotic armor’s.

  Did it carry around portable prisons too? That was Tatyana’s first thought, before realizing they had gone ahead and caught Hellbound of their own while Hildegard explained everything.

  Bryyor… The name of Hellbound’s demon? Was Fei-hung acquainted with it? Or was it actually famous? With the powers its host had shown, Tatyana would not be surprised.

  “I see… Well, as Tirpitz said, thank you for taking him out. Not that you knew about us, but you still made things so much easier.”

  Tatyana glared at Fei-hung, gritting her teeth at such a grimy, dishonest display of gratitude.

  “I guess we can get going now. We have Bryyor, and the rift will open in just a bit. Anything else you want to take care of?”

  He addressed Hildegard again, who only shared one more gaze with Edmond before turning around.

  “No. We’ve got all we need, so let’s just—”

  She did not get to take a single step away, before the sound of something fast cut through the air and her words.

  Fast, and made of orange light.

  A stunnedTatyana turned and saw Edmond with his shivering arm outstretched, gray eyes narrow and hateful.

  “… Big talk, and it might all be true. The system, the people on top, and… Nox’s natives; it’s way more than I ever thought about. I’ve been a complete imbecile for so long, but you still involved innocents in this nightmare out of ambition and nothing else!”

  Hildegard stayed still for a second, then two. She turned her head right after, her face showing a frozen smirk of sheer disbelief.

  “Are you really doing this, Mondi? This isn’t a joke?”

  “Now don’t you insult me, Hilda.” His voice was lower, colder than any time before. Another prana bullet formed as he spoke. “You’re a criminal, and I don’t give a shit about your excuses. The people you’ve endangered, the destruction you’ve caused… I’m not letting you go after all that!”

  She stepped around, facing Edmond properly. Hands tightened into trembling fists, the emotion in her eyes was impossible to read.

  “Is that so? Heh… Well, isn’t this a fitting conclusion~? What kind of superhero tale would this be without the big showdown? You must be so happy to get it, Mondi!”

  “I’m being serious here!” A broken yell escaped Edmond’s lips. “Either turn yourself in… or I’ll fight and force you to!”

  “I have a better idea. I’ll kill you here, and we’ll do as we please. How about that?”

  Fei-hung’s calm voice felt like strident thunder.

  Panic seemed to quickly rise in Edmond as a result, but Tatyana could not ascertain that as her own gaze was reflexively drawn to the blue armor. There was no sign of a lie in his words, and he had no reason to.

  Injured as they might have been, these four had taken down the instructors, and outnumbered them two to one. Fighting was no longer an option, not if…

  “…?”

  … Even more than Fei-hung’s statement, Hildegard’s arm before him became the focus of all attention. Not just hers and probably Edmond, but even her three allies looked just as confused.

  “That won’t be happening. Not any of you, not Nesterova; this is between him and me.”

  No trace of her smile remained, and a clear sense of finality permeated each of her words. If there was anything Hildegard would not change her mind about, it would probably be this.

  “Tirpitz, this is stupid. We’ve humored him more than enough, and we can even take Veltis after he dies—”

  “Lay a single finger on him and I’ll kill you.”

  Fei-hung fell silent, as did everyone else.

  Did she really say such a thing? To her own ally? It should have been a bluff or some sort of exaggeration, but why did such a crazy threat sound so real?

  Without hesitation. Without conflict.

  Fei-hung did not seem to take kindly to it. At all.

  “You’ll die if you even try.”

  “You don’t have to tell me that, but do you really think I’ll lay down before you’re dead?”

  She still did not falter in the slightest. Her eyes were not bloodthirsty by any means, but their conviction was as real and intense as it could be.

  Fei-hung remained silent for a few more seconds, then crossed his arms as he hovered back, exhaling in resignation.

  “Do as you please. If you’re not done when the rift opens, we won’t wait for you.”

  “Whatever.”

  Hildegard did not so much as glance back when answering him. Her eyes lay only upon Edmond, a smile returning more tamely as rich, scarlet prana took form around her.

  The same prana that had stopped Tatyana’s spell from before.

  “Edmond, you can’t fight her.” She immediately pleaded, turning to him.

  “Shut up. After what she’s done, she can’t go off scot-free.”

  But he would not listen. Completely closed off, as focused on Hildegard as she was on him, he kept his arm aimed straight at her with the orange light intensifying, as if threatening to shoot if she walked just a few steps closer.

  “I know and I agree with you, but you can’t win! Her power is…”

  Tatyana had seen enough to make a good guess.

  The way her spell fizzled out, slowing down until finally perishing. Its structure had remained solid to the end, so a leak of its composing prana or an absorption technique could not explain such a thing.

  But there was also no impact to be seen. No release of heat and force, no abnormal movement in the air around it. What had stopped it was not even a spell shield, much less another attack.

  The actual results were obvious, however. The spell had simply lost its ‘movement’, whether in capacity or power.

  Kinetic energy. That red prana had somehow taken on the energy of her spell’s movement, or maybe that of the air displaced around it, and prevented it from advancing further until it had lost all its strength.

  It was a ridiculous sorcery to simply imagine, with potential so high as to almost escape thought. But if Hildegard’s regulators were of the quality she had heard about, she could probably make such a thing possible. Not to simply develop the ability, but to control it as well.

  If Edmond had seen her spell being neutralized, he must have come to a similar conclusion by now. He should know even better than her about his chances.

  “I don’t care. If it’s her... I have to do this.”

  That was not his priority, though.

  It was not a criminal or a monster who had to be stopped now, but rather his friend who had done something terrible, right under his nose.

  … Alright, I understand. If you’re willing to face her down to the end, I’ll…!

  Despite preparing herself for one last battle, Tatyana froze as she looked forward again.

  Fei-hung’s eyes could not be seen at this distance, behind the openings in his marble-like helmet, but she did not have to see them to know his gaze was focused on her. So were those of Sirhan in his mechanical juggernaut, and Abel’s at his shoulder.

  The message was obvious. Even if interfering with the fight was out of the question, they would not hesitate to strike her down if she tried to help out.

  No matter what, everything now came down to Edmond and Hildegard.

  “What’s the matter?” She asked, almost playfully. “You have the range advantage here, Mondi. Why not shoot?”

  Edmond held his stretched arm tight, trying to stop its uncontrollable trembling. He shut his eyes briefly, blinking away traces of furious and miserable tears before answering.

  “It’s not too late, Hilda. You can still… make amends. Help people recover from this, do your time—”

  “It is too late. Mondi, you really don’t get it. If there’s something only a few people can do, something important, do you think escaping from it is the answer? Someone like you is free to choose what they want, but for me… that would be selfishness.”

  Hildegard’s smile died once more. She stepped forward, the scarlet prana swirling more densely around her gloved hands. Edmond’s knees buckled, but he stood his ground and readied a baseball-sized bullet of nearly solid orange prana.

  One that still could not hold a candle to Tatyana’s easily stopped spell.

  “One step more… and I will shoot.”

  “Come on, Mondi.” Hildegard chuckled, shaking her head with a condescending sigh. “You wasted a perfect chance to strike me from behind, and instead aimed at my side as a warning. You’re out of your league here.”

  Edmond gave no ground, digging his boot’s soles into the gravel. His hand gripped his stretched arm so hard, but his expression showed sorrow above any pain.

  “I mean it, Hilda!”

  “… I guess you need a proper demonstration, then.”

  Hildegard took one more step, then rushed forward.

  Even Tatyana could barely remain aware of her position as she moved, but the subsequent sound made it beyond obvious.

  An echoing, dry noise. Hard, merciless, and as intense as it was brief.

  Edmond’s spell dispersed as he flew back over three meters, sliding across the ground two more before painfully clutching the side of his face. He did not let his voice escape, but the blood trailing past his hand was enough.

  As he slowly stood back up, looking at Hildegard with her outstretched fist, it was not the injury on his face that looked the worst. Neither was the instability in his legs and arms alike, or even his failed attempts to shape a new spell.

  Rather, it was the heartbroken look in his eyes, having realized through that strike that his friend may just be willing to end his life.

  With no real sense of contest to be seen, the nightmare before Tatyana’s eyes could hardly be called a battle.

  Hildegard was not just fast and strong, but also relentless. The impact of her strikes seemed to ripple through the air, connecting with Edmond’s stomach, his chest, a desperate block with his forearm, and everywhere from his jaw to his temple.

  Any gap for him to fight back was minuscule, and the few times he managed to act on them felt miraculous. Still, those few glimpses of resistance made for nothing but a greater display of misery, as every attempt was easily neutralized by Hildegard. Dodging was bad, but a block that strengthened her own blows was even worse.

  A desperate Edmond swung his arm down, coated in a crude claw of orange prana, but Hildegard caught his wrist before it could come close to landing. With even his greatest efforts yielding insufficient strength, he tried and failed to break free as her scarlet prana grew denser.

  “Had enough yet?” She spoke coldly, dispassionately.

  “I…” Meanwhile, every word of his was faint, like even his very voice had reached its limit. “… I’ll drag you… back…”

  Her maroon irises shone red for an instant, just as the crimson mist spiked in its intensity.

  “You can’t.”

  His arm was finally let go of, but only when Hildegard’s fist smashed into his shoulder with a disturbing crunch. Edmond flew back, scattering drops of blood that soiled the blonde as she pursued him without delay.

  Her leg swung into his waist before he even stopped moving, and another punch to the face jailed him from the other side. Torn away from even an involuntary retreat, Edmond could only fall to the ground…

  … But he did not, not yet. His legs trembled like a crippled fawn’s, one shoulder seemed incapable of raising its arm anymore, and his eyes could no longer maintain focus for more than a second at a time. Still, he remained standing.

  Stop it already!

  Tatyana screamed in her mind, cursing her hesitation as much as his stubbornness.

  “This isn’t worth it, Mondi.” Hildegard’s low voice could barely be heard. “Just lay down, for your own good. Some things… really are too much for you. There’s no shame in understanding that, so please...”

  Could Edmond even hear her anymore? Let alone recognize her words? Only he held the answer, but ultimately it did not matter, as he raised a hand once again; slowly, excruciatingly, to keep fighting.

  Not even a second passed before his fist was met by Hildegard’s own, once more reinforcing that scarlet glow before an alarming crack echoed so very clearly.

  “You’re so stupid!”

  She roared while stepping in, striking Edmond’s chin from below with her other fist.

  Edmond’s whole body flew back as if lifeless, scattering more blood across Hildegard’s hair, face, and especially her hand. He rose over two meters, was repelled perhaps three more, and finally landed with his back on a low lump of debris.

  As much of it began to turn sticky red, it became just as apparent that aside from his barely noticeable breathing, Edmond was no longer moving.

  He’s… Please, just let it be over…

  Hildegard still advanced toward him, though. Walking closer, step after step, before raising a leg high in the air.

  “Too delusional to fucking quit on your own!? Fine then! I can help you out with that!”

  Tatyana doubted her eyes and ears as Hildegard’s foot fell down, like a metal press on Edmond’s own leg.

  A merciless stomp landed on his knee, then dug into the ground from the impact. Somehow much worse than the shattering noise that reached all the way to her, was Edmond’s brutal scream.

  You cold-hearted…! He can’t even defend himself anymore!

  Tatyana rushed forward, her mind completely overrun by the incomprehensible cruelty.

  For a moment, she forgot about her injuries, about the pain, and anything Edmond might have told her. All that mattered was getting to the unforgivable enemy and doing away with her. For good.

  But she could not approach beyond the five-meter mark. At some point, a strange disparity had appeared between her actual advance and her expectations, to such an extreme extent as to be noticeable with hardly any focus toward it.

  It was not that her injuries had worsened, nor did they affect her more than she initially thought. Her prana usage was uncompromised, as was the amount available, and she had definitely not misjudged the distance between them. Instead, it was more like her surroundings were… accelerated.

  No, she was slower. In some abnormal way that had briefly spared her perception, at least for enough time to let her notice the anomaly, Tatyana’s movements had been forcibly delayed.

  She could not even turn her eyes in time, barely catching a glimpse of Fei-hung and his shining wings as he flew to her in the blink of an eye. There was no way she could have blocked, let alone countered the strike aimed at her stomach.

  The slowing effect disappeared at nearly the same time, but the impact that rippled through her body was crippling enough of a follow-up. The air was instantly knocked out of her as she slid back, and Fei-hung had disappeared from her sight by the time she could even consider a response.

  Empyreus… The Aeon Wings!

  Whether faster or slower, the Empyreus Crown held the power to modify the flow of time within a given location. Compromising the enemy’s movements and speeding oneself up were but the mere basics of what the wings could do.

  The next blow struck Tatyana’s lower back, painfully shoving her down on the floor where her face met the hard ground. The pain from all her wounds intensified and flooded her awareness, but her rage exceeded it just enough for her to continue struggling immediately.

  Still useless, as following the armored knee that continued pressing on her back came a gauntlet to her wrist, then a boot to her opposite arm, and finally the remaining gauntlet to hold her head down.

  “Are you deaf? Both of them asked for no interruptions.”

  Fei-hung’s mocking tone was beyond insufferable.

  You cruel piece of shit!

  Tatyana did her utter most to break free, pushing muscles and bones to what felt like their breaking point and forcing whatever prana she could take hold of to rampage brutally. But as Fei-hung held firm, she likely only made her already serious wounds worse.

  All she could do was barely look forward as Hildegard straddled Edmond’s torso, taking hold of his face covered in tears of raw pain with one hand. The other reared back, tight fist at the ready.

  “Do you get it now!?”

  The first blow landed stridently, with no protection to so much as delay it.

  “I can make it even clearer if you need me to!”

  Second blow. A third. The sounds were simply unbearable.

  “How is it so hard for you to understand!?”

  Fourth. Fifth, all the way to an eighth. His face and her hand were painted over like a child’s clumsy artwork.

  “If you keep pushing it, then you’ll just…!”

  She almost went for the thirteenth. Her hand was poised and ready, and her elbow flexed to let it loose once more.

  “…”

  But that was where it ended. Her arm trembled, briefly strained under her massive effort to hold back, but it did not descend onto Edmond again.

  Whether she finally grew satisfied or if Edmond had just stopped breathing, Tatyana could not know for sure.

  Hildegard breathed roughly, her shoulders rising and descending as she held her shivering grip on Edmond. At least, until the trailing blood veered a bit too close to her eye.

  She loosened her fist, inattentively trying to wipe the red with her open hand, but it only made things worse by hideously smearing more of it. Her lips went tight.

  Hesitantly, she removed her remaining hand from Edmond’s battered face. It came into her view slowly alongside its parallel, both stained in warm crimson that was not her own.

  They trembled. Even when she tightened them into fists once again, Hildegard’s hands were still shaking, as did her gaze when it lay back upon the broken Edmond.

  It took her a few seconds to stand back up. Clumsy and hasty at once, as if the ability to move her limbs was a fragmented memory. After finally managing to, she spared one last glance to Edmond, then turned away.

  No words as she walked off. Not for him, not for those around her, not even for herself.

  “Mm, finally.”

  Tatyana suddenly felt a massive pressure letting go of her as Fei-hung rose. Focused on the conflict in front of them, she had almost forgotten how he had her utterly trapped.

  While the battle may have ended, to let go of an enemy so easily and just hovering away was a remarkably careless move. But even leaving aside concerns of whether she could, there was no part of her that even thought of attacking again, something he must have known.

  She did stand up immediately, she did move with all she still had in her. Not toward the enemy though, but toward Edmond.

  All she could think about, all she could wish, was for it to not be too late.

  It was all dark.

  Earlier it had been raw red, and only before that had Edmond’s vision been normal.

  Eyesight and hearing were no longer reliable, both damaged and obstructed by so much. But he could still feel the pain across his whole body, the discomfort of the gravel under him, the hell radiating from his knee.

  Most importantly, he could feel Hilda rising away. Moving away; toward the rift.

  A thought somehow more unbearable than the overwhelming pain.

  This is not only about her crime, is it?

  A surprising voice questioned him in a language he did not know. He had not heard anything like it, but he still understood the meaning behind its words without difficulty.

  The voice itself was abnormal in almost every regard; cadence, tone, timbre, and more. Still, it was none of that or even the detail in its strange language that surprised him. Rather, it was the fact that this was his second time hearing it.

  Your concern is obvious. Your fear. But not over your loss, at least not so simply.

  It insisted, annoyingly.

  Of course he was afraid. For the people she had endangered, for the possibility of her doing something just as horrid, if not more so in the future. It was terrifying.

  It is what logic tells you, and what you wish to convince yourself of. But the mind and the heart are one and the same; you cannot only think of that when it comes to her.

  It was simply the truth. Nothing more, and nothing less.

  Hilda may have been his friend, but that did not mean she was not a traitor and a criminal. A horrible person, and a danger who would be put down without a question by any other knight who encountered her.

  Any other? As in, you did not truly mean to defeat her?

  What a stupid question. Of course he meant to beat her down. It might have been impossible, but he tried his very best.

  Yes, indeed. In your personal thoughts, that may have been the case. If only because you cannot even ponder killing her.

  Edmond’s mind went blank, like the whitest winter had frozen everything over.

  But that is not something other knights would be concerned about. Which is why you are the one who must bring her down.

  It did not matter.

  None of that mattered. Not now, as he had completely lost.

  Once again, he was too weak when it counted most. Faltering when lives were at stake, always unable to so much as catch a glimpse of that dream.

  Incompetent, pathetic and—

  It does not have to be that way.

  The voice surprised him again, this time through a message that ripped through the white of his mind as if it was a fragile canvas.

  This is the first time we have spoken since then, but I have continued to catch moments of your path since then. You have stumbled, you have lost your way, but not once have you stopped pursuing it.

  It was not something impressive. To simply chase a given road was easy, even if the place it led to was far beyond what someone like him could reach.

  It was just—

  —worth the effort regardless. Yes, I know. An effort that made you offer protection to me, a being outside of your understanding. Well, it is about time I began paying you back. Bridging this gap should be a good start.

  The unforgiving winter fell victim to something else, something… alien. A jet-black ichor that spread from its far recesses, covering increasingly more on its way to the center.

  But beware; wielding this much of my essence is not something you could have ever prepared for. This is not in your nature, nor in mine. No matter what happens at the end, the cost will be steep.

  The white had all but disappeared, with only a few cracks still yet to be covered by the incomparably dense darkness.

  Before he knew it, the pain pulsating through Edmond’s body had become inconsequential. It had not disappeared or been soothed, but it now felt like another person’s sensation which he was merely privy to.

  Suffering, disease, irrevocable change in mind or body. Bryyor should have shown you a brief hint of what might happen. Perhaps, you will even disappear entirely. Knowing this much, will you still accept my assistance?

  Another nonsensical question. The answer was obvious.

  So long as a superhero was born, it was no issue for Edmond Bach to perish.