Chapter 4
The Suffering of Those Who Love
What would Tgurneu have to do to see people suffering from love? This thought had been a preoccupation for three hundred years. It always kept the question at the top of mind as it conceived its plan to bring down the Braves of the Six Flowers and whenever it approached humans in order to use them.
That was its only joy—its sole purpose in life.
Tgurneu had seen the faces of dozens, hundreds of humans. It was such fun disrupting their affections. When Tgurneu saw humans dirtying their hands with evil deeds for the sake of friends or lovers, its heart leaped. What a glorious thrill to manipulate the love of humans to make them its allies, only to discard them afterward.
But at the same time, Tgurneu had also come to feel less and less satisfied. Something was left unfulfilled. The spice was missing. Tgurneu wanted to see deeper despair on the faces of humans.
Ultimately, it hit upon an idea: Rather than entrapping a human to see his or her suffering face, Tgurneu would personally raise one who would show it the ultimate expression.
Tgurneu waffled as to what sort of human it should raise. Who would put the most satisfying expression on display?
For example, something like this:
A girl was best. An immature and foolish girl—simple and kind. She would want to be loved but never would be. And this life should bring her despair. Sometimes, she would think she’d found love, but she would always be betrayed. She would believe she should give up her search but would always fail to do so.
When that girl met a boy who loved her from the bottom of his heart, how deeply would she come to love him? How strong would her desire be to protect him? What if Tgurneu was to disrupt their relationship and torture them at its whims? Wouldn’t that be amazing? Tgurneu thought.
Or then how about this:
A boy would be good. He would have to have an indomitable will and a righteous heart, the strength to never lose hope, no matter what, and the determination to sacrifice his own life.
Tgurneu would make that boy fall in love with a certain girl. And then, it would place that boy in a predicament: In order to save his beloved, he would have to give up his own life as well as the lives of everyone else he cared about except the girl.
How would he react faced with such a dilemma? Tgurneu so desperately wanted to see. As it put together its plans for fighting the Braves of the Six Flowers and as it considered how to use the Saint of the Single Flower, these ideas remained fixtures in its mind.
This was why Tgurneu had raised that boy and girl: Adlet Mayer and Fremy Speeddraw.
There had to have been some other, more certain way to kill the Braves of the Six Flowers. There had to have been some simpler strategy. But Tgurneu hadn’t chosen such a path—hadn’t even considered it an option.
And why not? Because victory was about crushing love, and any “victory” without that was worthless.
Tgurneu had tried exploiting the love of Mora Chester and Goldof Auora—and had failed. They were still alive, as were their loved ones. But Tgurneu had already forgotten about them. They had ultimately been nothing more than a mid-battle diversion.
Fremy and Adlet were Tgurneu’s true goal and its reason for existing.
The moment Hans saw the fiends, he turned to run. A twitch of Tgurneu’s finger, and the army set on him en masse.
Adlet was speechless, frozen in shock at Tgurneu’s sudden appearance. He didn’t know who to side with: Hans or Tgurneu. “Wait, Hans! Answer me! Were you lying?” he yelled.
Hans ignored him, dashing out of the square, jumping away from the fiends in his path to hide in the shadow of a ruined building. He must have intended to search for another escape route.
“Unfortunately, Hans, I won’t be letting you leave here alive,” said Tgurneu.
Hans slid around the fiends that surrounded him in an attempt to escape, but then, his feet stopped. In the darkness, Adlet could just barely see shining thread. It was tangled around the trees and ruins, surrounding the whole town square in a cocoon-like wall about a hundred yards in radius.
Hans’s sword flashed. But the elastic thread wouldn’t be cut. He swung at it two, three times but couldn’t escape, and fiends were closing on him from behind. He dashed up a ruined wall to try to get away, but the cocoon was above, too. With the fiends still on the offensive, Hans was forced to return to the square.
“So impatient, Hans. You must be wondering how your lie was suddenly exposed. Well, I’ll explain. So why not listen?” Tgurneu taunted, showing Hans a tiny book. “It was the power of this hieroform that revealed your lie. This special book has been imbued with the power of the Saint of Words. It’s called the Book of Truth.”
In a cold sweat, Hans silently heard him out.
“I used this hieroform to cast a spell on you just now. When this spell has been cast on someone, the truth or falsity of their words is laid bare to everyone who hears. If you speak truth, a listener will know it’s true. If you lie, your words will be known as lies. Even if the hearer knows nothing of the Book of Truth, the spell is still effective.”
“…Is that right?” Adlet muttered. So that was how he knew Hans had been lying.
“This hieroform’s power has limits. First of all, it can only be used so many times. And furthermore, as long as the speaker believes what they say is true, the one who hears them will take it as such, even if it actually is not. This is also the case if they believe they are lying. But still, Hans—it seems it’s most undeniably true that Chamo will not kill Fremy on your signal.”
Hans fell silent. He couldn’t afford to be careless with his words right now.
“You have to say something , or this conversation will end. Oh well. I suppose I have to cancel the spell. The effects wear off after ten minutes anyway… It’s been undone. You may speak, Hans.” It didn’t appear Tgurneu had done anything to the Book of Truth. The hieroform could probably be activated and deactivated just by touching it and willing it so.
“Meow …did ya really cancel it, Tgurneu? I don’t feel nothin’,” said Hans. Adlet couldn’t tell if he was lying or not. The spell must have been deactivated. Seeing the look on Adlet’s face, Hans seemed to figure that the spell had been lifted. “…That’s one helluva hieroform. Where’d ya get somethin’ like that?”
“I bought it—for an incredible sum. It cleaned out my coffers. Of course, the Saint of Words never would have imagined the book would fall into the hands of a fiend. Lucky for me, the Saint of Words of that era was a human easily enticed by money.”
Adlet didn’t give a fig about any of that. The real issue here was the revelation that Hans couldn’t kill Fremy with a signal. What did that mean? “Hans…can you not send a signal to Chamo? Or has Chamo not actually taken Fremy hostage?”
Hans said nothing. Adlet pressed him further. “It was a lie that you could kill me instantly, wasn’t it? Because if you could, you would have killed me long ago. What was that strange thing you made me swallow?”
“Just a bitter bug. Not a slave-fiend or neowthin’,” Hans said with resignation. His expression was no longer calm. This was the first time Adlet had ever seen him cornered.
“It couldn’t be, Hans…”
Hans gave a wry smile as if to say So ya’ve figgered it out?
“Does Chamo not know about your plan? She doesn’t believe you actually attacked her, does she?”
No response. That was the same as an affirmative.
Adlet trembled with rage. Pulling needles and bombs from his belt pouches, sword in hand, he slashed at Hans. This meant there was no longer a single reason to let Hans live. Fiends joined him to leap at Hans, and Hans did nothing to strike back. He just frantically evaded them.
Tgurneu observed the situation, arms crossed. “Good grief. You’re quite a man, Hans Humpty. To think you would see through my whole plan and use it against me to boot. I was rather antsy for a moment there when you declared you’d taken Fremy hostage. I’d have preferred to stay somewhere safe the whole time. Simply luring me out to the battlefield was an outstanding feat on your part.” With a glare at Adlet, Tgurneu said, “But Adlet, that was an unsightly performance. You were nearly deceived, and you put Fremy in danger.”
Adlet didn’t need Tgurneu to tell him that. It was unforgivable. Not what Hans had done but his failure to realize the truth, endangering Fremy.
“I didn’t expect you to be such a formidable foe, Hans. I should have arranged for Fremy to kill you before the Evil God’s awakening. I can’t deny that I underestimated you, considering you a mere assassin. Well, what’s done is done.” Tgurneu smiled. The fiends were gradually closing in on Hans.
Then Hans shrieked. “Meoooow! Chamo! Fremy! Come get me! I’m right here! Meow! ”
Adlet realized he was calling the Braves to him. Having failed with his hostage idea, it seemed he meant to kill Tgurneu right now. He was going to lure their allies to them so they could surround Tgurneu. I have to help it escape , Adlet thought.
Tgurneu noticed Adlet’s gaze. “What? You’re worried about me, Adlet? Oh, it’s no problem,” it said with a shrug.
Fremy stood there, frozen. Now that the mimicry expert was dead, it was silent around them. All they could hear were the cries of distant fiends and the wind. She could tell they had been lured quite far away from Adlet.
The three sprinted back the way they had come, and Chamo sent her slave-fiends out in all four directions.
“Please respond, Adlet! Where are you?!” Nashetania cried. Fremy inclined her ears, straining for the sound of Adlet’s voice or a battle.
The moment she did, though, the group’s collective hearing was bombarded by the cries of every fiend in the ruins. Some yelled gibberish, others called out to Fremy, while others sang. Their voices drowned out everything, including any potential leads to Adlet.
“Adlet! Where are you?!” Fremy screamed so hard she thought her throat might bleed. But she could hear no reply.
“Hrmeeeeow! Fremy! Chamo! At this rate, Adlet’s gonna die!” Hans bellowed for a while. No response. Adlet was relieved. It seemed Fremy and Chamo were quite far away. There was no risk that they would do anything to Tgurneu.
Adlet was going to kill Hans now and subsequently the rest of the Braves. Then, he would make Fremy surrender to the fiends. After that, she would be safe.
“Watch out, Adlet,” Tgurneu said, and just then, about ten fiends rushed at Hans. Another ten stood between him and Adlet.
“Mreah!” Hans repelled all their attacks with his sword, then kicked one into a stagger. He leaped onto and off its shoulder as he ran, his gaze locked on Adlet the whole time.
“Stay calm, Adlet, and get away from Hans!” Tgurneu called. That remark clued Adlet in to Hans’s goal. Among his various paraphrenalia, he had a whole panoply of items ideal for calling their allies: flash grenades, smoke bombs, regular bombs, and his fiend-calling flute. Hans intended to steal them.
“Don’t let him close! Destroy all your tools, Adlet!” Tgurneu yelled. Adlet jumped back, ripping the tools from his pouches.
“Meow!”
“Not just the flash grenades! Break them all, including the bombs and your flute!” Tgurneu called again.
Hans glided past the attacks in an attempt to snatch Adlet’s tools, but the fiends nearby just barely stopped him. Meanwhile, Adlet had thrown everything on the ground and was smashing them with his sword.
“Hand ’em meowver!” Skittering across the dirt like a cat, Hans reached for one of the discarded items. Before he could reach it, though, Adlet crushed his final flash grenade.
Specialist number eleven was among the fifty fiends in that square, lurking inconspicuously in Tgurneu’s shadow. Now this is checkmate , number eleven thought, seeing Adlet’s tools broken. It had been unlikely that Chamo or Fremy would discover them in the first place, and now, the chances were nil.
Hans must have been shocked that he, a seasoned warrior, would have failed to notice the approach of fifty foes. But that was number eleven’s ability—a sort of hypnosis. It emitted a unique sound wave that prevented others from seeing it. It was a more developed version of the stealth ability.
The regular stealth ability’s area of effect was about five hundred yards, more or less, and fiends that possessed it could only conceal themselves. But number eleven’s ability had a range of dozens of miles, and it could hide more than just itself.
However, its ability was far less potent than the regular stealth ability. Anyone affected would have their attention diverted from number eleven’s presence. They would be unable to focus on it or look right at it; they would unconsciously turn elsewhere. That was all. Number eleven couldn’t make itself invisible, but the ability was still incredibly powerful.
Fremy and Chamo had to be desperately searching for Adlet and Hans right about now, but they wouldn’t even begin to get close. Their feet would automatically take them in a different direction.
But number eleven’s ability wasn’t flawless. First off, the fiend couldn’t disappear, so if you were distinctly aware that something was there and determined to head toward it, you could break the illusion easily. It was ultimately just a supplementary ability to use in concealing oneself.
But it had prevented Hans from summoning allies—so the Braves would never discover them.
Hans picked up the fragments of the crushed flash grenade, and Adlet sliced at him. Hans rolled backward to avoid his blade. Hans fumbled with the shards, trying to generate a flash, but it was no use. It was beyond repair.
Adlet checked his pouches again, making sure he had broken every single tool that could be used to call their allies.
“I wön’t let you!” A fiend’s claws stabbed toward Hans’s back at the same instant Adlet threw a needle that grazed Hans’s torso.
Hans gave up on his attempt at repair and tossed away the wreckage of the flash grenade. “Neowthin’ I can do ’bout it. Looks like help ain’t comin.’”
“My, Hans. Giving up already?” asked Tgurneu.
Adlet attentively held his sword at the ready.
Tgurneu, for its part, didn’t even adopt a fighting stance. “Why don’t you put more serious effort into calling for your allies? If you’re lucky, someone might come to save you, you know?”
Hans smiled back. “Are ya sure mew don’t need to call fer help? Ya think ya can stop me here with just fifty-odd fiends?”
“I think fifty is quite enough. Besides, Adlet is on my side. And most of all, so are the miracles of love.”
“Meow-ha-ha-ha-ha! Real funny guy.” Hans went straight for Tgurneu with his sword, but fiends immediately blocked his path. Adlet didn’t even have to do anything.
The young man had been watching the fiends fight. The unit under Tgurneu’s command was frighteningly powerful. On an individual level, they weren’t that strong, but they had an unusually competent chain of command and the ability to work together. About ten were protecting Tgurneu, while another ten stood in a group farther away, on standby. The rest were all going right for Hans.
Hans tried to find a break in the circle around him and cut toward Tgurneu, but the fiends maintained their line perfectly. Adlet could see no holes Hans might break through.
The Brave attempted to kill a fiend in the line in order to disrupt their formation, but they countered that, too. He darted in every direction in an attempt to create a one-on-one situation, but the fiends always responded by guarding one another. Whenever Hans found an opening, another fiend would step in from the side to defend its ally.
Adlet tried to join in the fight, but his imprudent attempt at interference had the opposite effect.
“You stay out of this, Adlet,” commanded Tgurneu.
Watching Hans’s fight from a distance, Adlet considered. Hans was being backed into a wall. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before he succumbed. But had a man as sharp as Hans failed to predict this situation? Had he not predicted that Tgurneu might sense the threat he posed and come to kill him?
Most troubling of all, Adlet had yet to see any despair in Hans’s eyes. Adlet was certain he had another card in his hand.
Hans was playing the part of the cornered hero, out of options after his machinations had failed, but that was a bluff—and Tgurneu was falling for it.
He had two plans. The first had been to blackmail Adlet into killing Tgurneu. That had been a total bust. There was no way he could have anticipated the existence of the Book of Truth. However, he’d taken the possibility of failure into account from square one.
His real plan was to lure Tgurneu out of hiding. Hans had predicted Tgurneu would conceal itself from the Braves, but not even Tgurneu could sit there and do nothing once it became aware that its own seventh could be used against it.
Everything about this was just as Hans had anticipated.
Inside Hans’s pocket was the earthworm slave-fiend Chamo had sent out. It was hidden in his clothing—tied up like a ribbon.
The messenger earthworm had heard everything: Hans threatening Adlet, the conversation with Tgurneu, and where Tgurneu was. The messenger earthworm was smart enough to make its own decisions and report everything to Chamo. So if Hans quietly released the restrained earthworm while Tgurneu and the fiends weren’t looking, it would slip out past the cocoon and return to Chamo.
The reason Hans was fighting the fiends now was to gauge their abilities, and he’d tried to steal that flash grenade from Adlet to convince Tgurneu that he was at the end of his rope.
“Mrow! Damn it, ya cheeky bastards!” Hans ran the circumference of the barrier, concealing himself in the shadows of the ruins. The fiends couldn’t keep track of every move he made. He was certain there would be a chance for him to release the earthworm.
Pretending to evade the attacks, he hid himself in a shadow of a building. But then, right when he was putting his hand into his pocket, about to release the earthworm—
“Dear me, what’s wrong, Adlet?” he heard Tgurneu ask. Adlet was barreling toward him.
Adlet figured Hans had some way to contact the others, but he had no Saint’s power—or any tools like Adlet. That meant the means at his disposal were extremely limited. Chamo had to be his only option. Once he realized this, Adlet recalled that one earthworm slave-fiend had discovered him back in the Phantasmal Barrier. Was it perhaps lurking nearby? Or was Hans carrying it?
“Don’t let any earthworms escape this cocoon!” Adlet yelled as he used his light gem to illuminate the area and spotted an earthworm slave-fiend slithering at full speed along a crack in the flagstones.
Adlet threw the pain needles in his right hand at the creature, but Hans batted them all away with his sword. The instant before the earthworm would have slipped out of the thread cocoon, Adlet launched the needle in his left hand.
Hans tried to block it, too, but Tgurneu seized that moment to swing at Hans from behind, allowing Adlet’s pain needle to pierce Chamo’s minion inches before it got away. The worm writhed, spewing fluid from its mouth.
“Stop the slave-fiend!” Adlet shouted as Tgurneu plucked up the earthworm between its fingers. The fiend tied up the pest and kneaded it a bit so it couldn’t move.
Hans’s sword arced toward Tgurneu’s fingers, but Adlet blocked it. When Hans lunged forward in an attempt to reclaim his messenger, the fiends held him at bay.
“…Phew, that was close. So you still had another trick up your sleeve? I really can’t take my eye off you,” Tgurneu said, summoning a fiend on standby a ways away. The bat-fiend approached Tgurneu’s side and took the earthworm slave-fiend in its mouth.
“Go discard it somewhere far away,” said Tgurneu. “Toss it into the sea or something.”
The bat soared through a hole open in the top of the cocoon and flew away. With the fiends holding him back, Hans was unable to stop it.
Hans was acting cool as ever, but Adlet could clearly see fear behind his smile. For the first time, Adlet was seeing Hans after he really had exhausted every avenue.
With a swipe of Tgurneu’s finger, about forty fiends descended on the catlike assassin. Hans snapped out of his momentary reverie and rushed to fight back.
Meanwhile, ten fiends had gathered around Tgurneu. Adlet understood that they meant to defend their commander. There was a spider-fiend that spat silk, a stolid hippo-fiend, a small goat-fiend, a bipedal fiend with a beautiful bird face, a great ape–fiend with four arms, and a few others. Encircling their leader, they kept their eyes fixed on Hans as he fought.
“Tgurneu!” Adlet ran up to it. Tgurneu’s guard didn’t seem wary of him.
Clenching his sword, Adlet stood in front of Tgurneu. This course of events had forced him to cooperate with Tgurneu to take down Hans, but Tgurneu wasn’t truly an ally. “Tgurneu…let me ask you one thing.”
“What is it?”
“What will you do with Fremy once you’ve beaten the Braves?” The only reason Adlet was protecting Tgurneu at all was because Fremy’s death was linked to his. If Tgurneu meant to kill her, they would have to fight, after all.
Tgurneu gently touched its own chest. “[I have no intention of killing Fremy. I won’t allow anyone under my command to touch her, either.]”
Adlet was convinced it was telling the truth. It seemed Tgurneu had enchanted itself with the Book of Truth. “That’s…a relief.” That had been his last worry. Seeing how Tgurneu coldly and mercilessly discarded its own subordinates, Adlet worried it might dispose of Fremy the same way.
“The truth is, Tgurneu, we put together a plan to kill you. Have you figured it out?”
“Oh, I’d predicted you were plotting something, but I hadn’t quite gotten what,” said Tgurneu. It seemed it had already dispelled the effects of the Book.
“That’s not good. They’re ready to pull the trigger at any moment at this stage. I just pushed them to put it on hold. I don’t know when the others will go through with it. I’m gonna tell you what it is, so you have to come up with a countermeasure as soon as possible. If you die…Fremy will…die, too.” Adlet was angry at Tgurneu. Taking Fremy hostage, using her, hurting her—those were unforgivable sins. But her life was more important than revenge.
“Oh, do tell me. But are you sure, Adlet? I’m your enemy, the one who destroyed your home village.”
“Why the hell are you bringing that up? That doesn’t matter. Don’t interrupt.”
“I’ve given orders to a certain fiend to kill all the Braves, aside from Fremy. In about one hour, it will carry out that order. If the Braves are to have any chance at victory, they must carry out their strategy before that fiend kills the lot of them. Simple as that.”
“…So what?”
“You don’t mind? If you leak your strategy to me, the Braves of the Six Flowers are done for. Your chances of victory will be zero. You’ll have a tough time even surviving. The fate of the Braves of the Six Flowers and the world rests on the choice you make now.”
“I’m telling you, I don’t care! The only way I can keep Fremy safe is to kill the Braves!”
“I’ve still got some questions for you. You don’t mind betraying her? She’ll be heartbroken.”
Tgurneu’s seemingly kind tone made Adlet’s heart waver, and the hesitation he thought he’d overcome tortured him again. How angry would she be? She’d believed in him. How much would she mourn the deaths of Rolonia and Mora? Thinking about it made Adlet feel as if his heart would tear to shreds. “…I don’t care. I’m not going to care.”
“Why not?”
“Fremy barely knows the Braves. We only met less than ten days ago. I’m sure she’ll mourn for a while, but she’ll forget us quickly. I’m sure she already hates me now. Humanity being destroyed won’t hurt her one bit. Going back to the fiends will make her happiest.”
“…I see.” Then Tgurneu’s mouse-shaped face twisted into a smile that would make anyone shudder. “But don’t tell me about your plan yet, Adlet. There’s one more thing I have to ask you.” Shivers ran down Adlet’s spine.
“Have you never questioned why you’re the seventh?”
“…Huh?”
“I sent you to the Braves of the Six Flowers to make you protect Fremy. You worked so hard for me. In the Temple of Fate, you deceived your allies for me, and you came to me without alerting any of them to your true intentions. Aside from falling for Hans’s tricks, you have met all my expectations. If you weren’t the seventh, Fremy would have died long ago.
“But isn’t it strange? Why did I think you would protect her?”
When Adlet had discovered he was the seventh, he’d wondered why but had quickly decided it wasn’t important. Finding a way to protect Fremy was his first priority. “That’s…”
“Did you receive any orders from me? No, you did not. Are you on my side? No, you’re my enemy. So then, why did I believe you would protect her? It’s strange, isn’t it? So very peculiar.” Tgurneu studied Adlet’s face.
Suddenly, Adlet’s back began trembling, and he realized he’d been subconsciously avoiding the topic.
“Hey,” prodded Tgurneu, “when you found out that Fremy was the Brave-killer, did you feel wary of her?”
“…What is this about?”
“When seven people gathered within the Phantasmal Barrier, did you suspect her even slightly? When Rolonia appeared, did it ever cross your mind Fremy might perhaps be the seventh?”
“…What are you talking about?!”
“Where did you first meet her? What was the trigger that led to your encounter? What did you feel when you first laid eyes on her?”
Adlet’s blood was boiling with rage—an attempt to smother the fear crawling up from the depths of his heart. “What does that have to do with this?! I’m gonna tell you our plan! Listen! If you die, Fremy will, too! What are you gonna do if they deploy it right now?!”
“This is very important, Adlet. I don’t know where you two met, but I do know what you were feeling then. You wanted to protect her from the moment you crossed paths, and you never suspected her, not even once.”
“So…so what?!”
“I’ll tell you. Because you are under my control, and you have been ever since I chose you as my seventh four years ago.”
“…What do you mean?”
“Let me tell you my ability: It’s the power to control human love.”
A gasp wheezed from Adlet’s lungs. He couldn’t suppress his terror.
“You don’t actually feel true love for Fremy at all. You’re simply under my control. I made you love her.”
At Tgurneu’s side, number eleven was listening to its commander’s conversation with Adlet. It was shocked by what it heard. What point was there in telling all this to Adlet now? Shouldn’t learning about the Braves’ gambit be the priority?
Number eleven recalled a conversation with the three-winged fiend about a month ago.
The three-winged fiend hadn’t been given a specialist number, but it was Tgurneu’s confidant, privy to all the commander’s schemes. It was also one of the few fiends allowed to advise Tgurneu directly.
“I bëlieve I’ll die soon. So I’ve décided to leave my final wörds to you, since you’ll be closest to the Cómmander on the day of the ínevitable final bättle ,” the three-winged fiend had confided. “Cómmander Tgurneu’s specialty is pläns that use enemies’ émotions, and the Cómmander enjoys crüshing their hearts, too. But though it may be rüde to say this, sometimes tormenting enëmies dístracts Cómmander Tgurneu, and he makes irrational décisions. When that häppens, screw up your courage and tell the Cómmander plainly to get a grip.”
Number eleven looked at Tgurneu’s face. This was one of those times, wasn’t it?
Tgurneu suddenly turned away from Adlet to address number eleven. “What are you thinking about, number eleven? Am doing something strange in your view?” Tgurneu inquired before number eleven could even speak. Number eleven figured there was no cause for concern. Commander Tgurneu was calm. This conversation wasn’t as pointless as it seemed.
“…What’re they talkin’ about?” Hans muttered as he dodged the fiends’ attacks. He could just barely hear the conversation.
Hans had assumed Adlet would leak the plan immediately and that stopping him would be impossible. Tgurneu was dragging this pointless conversation on and on, though, telling Adlet about its ability.
“Hrmeow …Tgurneu’s getting’ careless.” Hans smiled. All his ploys had fallen apart, and he’d failed to use Adlet to get rid of Tgurneu. It had become practically impossible to summon Chamo to their location. All his escape routes were blocked. The situation seemed hopeless.
But if Tgurneu was getting careless, Hans had a chance at winning. He just had to kill Adlet before he spilled his guts.
Adlet had said the others had already set up a scheme to orchestrate Tgurneu’s demise, and Tgurneu wasn’t aware what it was. Hans would silence Adlet to plug the leak; then, once the other Braves carried out their plan, they’d be free to kill Tgurneu.
“Meowr!” Hans cut down one of the fiends surrounding him and attempted use the disturbance in their coordination to break through Tgurneu’s defensive line. The line was too solid for the loss of a single fiend to disrupt it, but Hans still managed to break through, taking hits as he charged for Adlet.
“Stop him,” Tgurneu calmly ordered. The spider-fiend beside the commander spewed thread from its mouth, walling off the corner of the square where Adlet and Tgurneu stood.
“Meow!” Hans stopped, tangled in the webbing. Fiends rushed him from the rear, and he only barely escaped, wounding his back along the way.
“Damn it…what do I do?” Hans muttered.
Tgurneu was conferring with the goat-fiend. Hans had tried to kill Adlet, but the web wall had prevented that. Adlet watched the events out of the corner of his eyes, but now was not the time for any of it. Tgurneu’s words were still making his head spin.
It had the power to control love. Adlet didn’t understand what those words meant. His mind refused to…
…because when he’d first met Fremy, something had stirred heart-pounding affection within him—her tragic expression, the sadness in her eyes. That’s why Fremy felt so dear to him. And as they’d fought together and protected each other, those feelings had grown even stronger.
When they found out what the Black Barrenbloom really was and Fremy had been on the verge of killing herself, Adlet had hurt as if his own body were being ripped apart. He’d decided to keep her safe at the cost of everything else.
His desire to protect her hadn’t come from an order. It came from within.
“Not so, Adlet,” Tgurneu insisted. “I was manipulating you. I compelled you to fall in love with Fremy the moment you met.”
That’s a lie , thought Adlet. Fremy was so important to him. She was more valuable to him than anything in the world; he knew it.
“You value her more than the whole world—but that’s because I made you feel that way. She’s not worth the world. You’re the only one out there who believes that.” Tgurneu’s lips curled in a bloodcurdling smile. “If I hadn’t been controlling you, you would have thought nothing of her. You would have suspected her immediately. You would have taken her for an uncanny cross between human and fiend—judged her selfish and self-centered to have survived despite all the blood on her hands. That’s how you would have seen her. A creature beyond redemption.
“But you loved her. You betrayed the entire world for her sake—because I induced you to do so.”
I refuse to believe this , thought Adlet. That was the one thing that was absolutely impossible. He loved her of his own free will. His betrayal had been his decision.
“If you won’t believe it, then I’ll help,” Tgurneu said, trailing its fingers gently across Adlet’s forehead. A split second later, a shock ran through him. He felt as if he’d been punched in the head.
Instantly, Adlet remembered—how once, he’d made up his mind to abandon everything for the sake of revenge. How he’d sworn to fight for Rainer, for Schetra, and for the villagers who’d been taken from him. How much it had hurt when he’d heard that all the villagers had died, just an afternoon earlier. Rainer died in front of him that evening; his feelings for his friend had been so unbearable, he’d wept aloud.
All the old emotions that had vanished from his mind were revived inside him.
“I…”
He’d failed to trust Rolonia—and Mora, Goldof, Chamo, and Hans. Just moments ago, he’d been trying to kill them, without any hesitation or doubt. They were all weirdos, constantly making things harder for him. But that was exactly why he’d valued them as allies.
Adlet remembered the people of the world. Seeing them on the roads, living their quiet lives, and peacefully spending their days in their villages… He’d vowed that he would never let those places end up like his home.
Adlet’s knees collapsed. His sword fell to the ground. He understood now just what a frightening thing he had been about to do. He couldn’t stop trembling. He couldn’t breathe. He just barely managed to keep himself from bawling and crying out his sister’s name.
“I’ll give you a chance,” said Tgurneu. “a reward for keeping Fremy safe until now and fighting through this. I’ll give you the opportunity to kill the creature you hate so much.”
Adlet quickly picked up his fallen sword again. He tried pointing it at Tgurneu, but his hand wouldn’t stop trembling, and the blade’s tip wavered in the air.
He was being controlled. He could no longer deny it. Thinking back on his earlier behavior, it was beyond doubt. But he still didn’t want to believe it. His desire to protect the person he loved was more important than anything. He didn’t want to believe those emotions were fake.
“What’s wrong, Adlet? You’re not going to?” Tgurneu kindly spread its hands.
Seeing that, Adlet tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword and stilled his trembling, remembering what he had to do. “You’re an idiot. You’re basically committing suicide. Why would you put me back in my right mind when you went to all that trouble to control me?”
Tgurneu was just three feet away from the tip of Adlet’s sword. One push forward, and Adlet’s blade would pierce its body. The fiends trembled, but Tgurneu restrained them with a hand. Adlet thrust his sword at Tgurneu.
But right before Adlet’s blade reached the creature’s flesh, it stopped. “…This…can’t be.” The words slipped from Adlet’s mouth. He knew his feelings for Fremy were just lies that had been implanted there by Tgurneu. But he still couldn’t take Tgurneu’s life.
If he did, Fremy would die, too. That fact held him in check.
“Suicide? I would never do such a thing. I know you can’t kill me,” Tgurneu said, bursting into laughter full of pleasure and joy. Gently, Tgurneu touched its hand to Adlet’s face. “I love to see human faces. I love to see them suffering from love.” Tgurneu continued stroking Adlet’s cheek as the boy stood, still as a statue. “Watching you go mad with love is not at all interesting to me. What I want to see on your face is the agony it brings you.
“I haven’t undone the ability I used on you. I’ve just weakened my control over your love—a little bit. Fremy is dear to you, isn’t she? You want to protect her, don’t you? Even though you know I’m the one who planted those feelings.”
“Tgurneu…you…”
“That’s a wonderful expression, Adlet. Worth all the effort I put into it,” Tgurneu continued, and Adlet just stood there, unable to swipe away the hand caressing his face.
“Adlet! Have ya opened yer damn eyes?!” Hans yelled. Tgurneu and Adlet were fenced off from him by the thread wall, but Hans could still hear them. He didn’t know why, but Tgurneu had deliberately revealed the truth to Adlet. Hans couldn’t waste this opportunity. “What’re ya doin’?! Kill it!”
Adlet didn’t reply.
“Remember, you’ve been fightin’ to kill Tgurneu! That’s why ya devoted yer whole life to gettin’ strong, right?! Are ya just gonna sit there and waste yer chance?!”
Adlet didn’t move. He just held his sword, gazing at Tgurneu. Hans realized the boy’s feelings for Fremy still had a hold on him.
“Have ya forgotten yer friend in the Dead Host?! Didn’t ya make up yer mind to get revenge?! Send that thing to hell, Adlet!” Hans wanted to slap him in the face to make him open his eyes. But Adlet was separated from him by the wall of thread, and the fiends attacking Hans wouldn’t give him a moment to reach the other man.
Adlet was rattled. Calm down , he told himself. Learning of his identity as the seventh and Tgurneu’s manipulation had flipped his world upside down, but he couldn’t just freeze in confusion. He had to find a way out of this.
Since Tgurneu was controlling him, maybe he couldn’t decide to kill Fremy, but he still had options. He could find a way to kill Tgurneu without letting Fremy die.
“I have a guess as to what you’re thinking,” said Tgurneu. “You must be trying to think up a way to avoid this decision entirely. So I shall inform you as to your current predicament.” Adlet saw a haze of light well in Tgurneu’s chest. It seemed Tgurneu had used the Book of Truth to cast the spell on itself again. “[The power of the Black Barrenbloom will soon terminate all crests aside from yours and Fremy’s. There are only four ways to stop that: my choosing to stop it, Fremy’s death, my death, or breaking the gem inside my body on which the hieroglyphs are carved.
“[However, the hieroglyph-carved gem cannot be removed from me without my death. And of course, I will never deactivate the Black Barrenbloom, no matter what happens.]”
The truth of its words was communicated to Adlet.
“[If I die, Fremy will also die. I’m certain it’s impossible for you, Dozzu, or Fremy to find any way to undo the chain-death power—because I don’t even know how to cancel it, myself. The only one who could would be the fiend that cast that ability, but I’ve already killed that one personally.]” Tgurneu continued speaking, though it had apparently canceled the spell. “You have only two options: Abandon Fremy and save the world, or keep her safe and destroy it. I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt. There is no way for you to protect both her and the world.”
Adlet fell silent. It was just as Tgurneu said. No matter how he racked his brain, he couldn’t think of anything. It was impossible to protect both Fremy and the Braves.
“Choose one. Will you protect Fremy or the other Braves of the Six Flowers?”
If he was forced to choose, then the answer was clear. If all the Braves aside from Fremy were to die, then the world would end. He had no choice but to give up on her.
But even so, his body wouldn’t move.
Adlet loved Fremy. Even though he knew that love was a lie, it still hurt too much to let her die. His heart was being crushed between the pain of failing to kill this creature and the agonizing prospect of losing Fremy.
He couldn’t choose either—not Fremy’s death, not Tgurneu’s survival.
Tgurneu trembled in joy as it gazed upon Adlet’s expression. Wonderful. This was the visage of a human faced with the choice between love and the whole world. If Tgurneu let this chance slip through its fingers, it would never again be able to bask in such a sight.
“<Cómmander Tgurneu.>”
But then number eleven boorishly opened its mouth. This was so displeasing that Tgurneu thought about striking it down on the spot but abstained, figuring that would really be a rather bad idea.
“<We müst quickly ask Adlet about their plan. If they gö through with it, your lïfe will be in dänger.>”
That was indeed true. Tgurneu wouldn’t be able to bear having this wonderful moment interrupted. It had to make the other Braves behave.
Tgurneu cast the Book of Truth’s spell on the white bird-fiend beside it. “<There’s something I want you to tell Fremy,>” Tgurneu whispered in code to the fiend.
Fremy scoured the ruins, panting. She called out to Adlet again and again, but no reply came, and she couldn’t even pick up any sounds of battle. All the fiends scattered throughout the ruins wailed so loudly, it was impossible to isolate Adlet’s voice from among them.
It was a mistake to chase Hans , Fremy thought regretfully. They’d been so close to victory and had let it slip through their fingers so easily.
She was angry at Adlet for making the decision to go after Hans. No matter what he said, Fremy understood what was really in his heart. He’d done it to save her and had wound up caught in his trap.
“Fremy!” Nashetania ran up to her, Chamo following close behind. The three hid in the shadows while the slave-fiends kept watch over the area. They spoke quietly so as not to alert the enemy.
“It’s impossible to find Adlet now,” said Nashetania. “We were probably led in the wrong direction.”
What should we do? Fremy thought impatiently. By now, Hans could have already captured Adlet. Now that it had come to this, they had to just make a decision. “We’re going back to Dozzu and Rolonia. We’ll carry out the plan.”
Nashetania gave her a somber look. “But…that would be dangerous. Adlet might have leaked information about it.”
“If Adlet believed he knew anything, he would have given the signal to call off the attack. That’s why I gave him a firecracker. It hasn’t gone off, so that means nothing’s been leaked yet. Adlet isn’t too stupid to pop one firecracker.”
“…It’s still too dangerous.”
Fremy was aware. But if they just kept running like this, Adlet would be killed.
It was all her fault they’d ended up in this predicament. Fremy couldn’t handle the idea of anyone dying because of her, least of all Adlet. “If we have to retreat, we can still do that later. Right now, we have to do this, Nashetania.”
“Do this? Do what?” Chamo asked, her expression puzzled.
“We arranged a ploy to kill Tgurneu,” said Fremy. “We encountered a few obstacles that put it on hold, though.”
“If you’ve got a plan, then do it. Chamo’ll leave Tgurneu to you guys and kill Hans.”
“We intend to. Leave it to us—Tgurneu is going down.”
But Nashetania was still reluctant. “…I believe it’s no bluff that Tgurneu has a hold on your life.”
“I don’t care. I’ll throw away my life any time if it’s to kill that fiend,” insisted Fremy.
“…We would like to avoid the deaths of as many Braves as possible. We need you.”
“Even if I die, you’ll still have the others. That should be enough.” Fremy was about to head back to Dozzu with a reluctant Nashetania when she heard a voice coming from above. Looking up, she saw a white bird-fiend soaring through the air.
Fremy was surprised. She thought she’d killed all but two of the aerial fiends. The fiend crying out now was neither of those survivors.
“[Mëssage for the Braves! Adlet has fällen into Cómmander Tgurneu’s clutches!]”
A strange phenomenon occurred then. Fremy was certain the bird-fiend’s message was true, sure beyond a shadow of a doubt. Chamo and Nashetania looked at each other. It seemed the same thing had happened to them, too.
“[Now böth Fremy and Adlet are our höstages! A curse has been cäst upon him!]”
Fremy gulped. So Adlet had been captured after all. But Fremy had been thinking there still had to be a way to save him. The fiend’s message was her worst nightmare.
“[Listen wëll! If Cómmander Tgurneu dies, then Fremy dies, and if Fremy dies, sö does Adlet! Even if Ädlet is freed, the curse on him will nöt be úndone!]”
The fiend’s words were unbelievable. Fremy had no idea what ability Tgurneu had used on Adlet. The voice of the white bird-fiend carried a mysterious power, though, and Fremy couldn’t doubt it was true.
“What was that?”
“I believe that was the power of the Saint of Words.” Nashetania answered Chamo’s question. “I’d say an application of her power to prevent lies, most likely.”
Fremy raised her gun. She would shoot down that fiend, capture it, and then demand information about Adlet and Tgurneu. The moment she fixed her aim, though, the white bird-fiend gave a particularly loud screech, stopped flapping, and plunged to the ground.
Not long after, a slave-fiend of Chamo’s retrieved the body. It had shattered its own core with a claw. Having accomplished its goal, it had killed itself.
“That wasn’t a lie?” asked Fremy. “Not a technique to make someone believe a lie is truth?”
“I don’t believe the Saint of Words would have such an ability,” asserted Nashetania. “You should understand, too, Fremy, that it was telling the truth.”
She was right. They didn’t know what Tgurneu had done to Adlet, but it was a fact that Adlet would die if she did.
“…He was weak,” said Chamo. “So Adlet’s gonna die, too, huh? Well, too bad. Doesn’t matter how Tgurneu fights, we’ve gotta kill it. You’re okay with that, right, Fremy?”
“…Chamo.” Nashetania was wavering.
Fremy realized she was trembling. She squeezed her own shoulders tight.
Tgurneu could just barely hear the dying cry of the white bird-fiend. It seemed it had fulfilled its duty properly.
The message Tgurneu had sent them was all true. If Fremy died, Adlet would die, too. Even now, Tgurneu was using its power to force Adlet to love her. His heart wouldn’t be able to withstand her death. He would either kill himself, or his broken heart would kill him.
But Tgurneu hadn’t told them everything. Fremy surely misunderstood. She must believe that, since Adlet had been captured, Tgurneu had put something into his body that would kill him instantly upon Fremy’s death. But that wasn’t the case. Tgurneu’s message had been true for some time.
But either way, Fremy had been informed that Adlet was in danger. She knew he would die if she did, so Tgurneu understood quite clearly what she would do now.
“What, you’re getting cold feet, Fremy?” Chamo asked icily. “It’s so obvious. So obvious, it’s like, is Tgurneu stupid? It’s trying to buy time. It wants to kill all the Braves with the power of the Black Barrenbloom while we’re busy trying to save you and Adlet. We don’t have time for all this waffling. If you guys have a plan, do it now. Tgurneu’s gotta go.”
“…I know. I know that, Chamo.” But Fremy couldn’t move.
Fremy had told Adlet time and time again that they couldn’t afford to fear making sacrifices now. She’d told him to make sure they killed Tgurneu. But she’d always assumed that the sacrifice would be her. She’d been trying to tell Adlet not to put the others in danger in an attempt to protect her.
She’d never considered he would be a sacrifice.
“Are you gonna keep waiting until we all die, Fremy?” demanded Chamo.
“…The plan…” will go forward , Fremy started to say, but her mouth stopped, and then, other words slipped out. “…can’t happen yet.”
“…Chamo’s had it with you.” The diminutive Saint’s voice was filled with anger.
“The fiend said that if Tgurneu dies, I die, and it’s clearly about this…this red mark. It just said that I die if Tgurneu does, and Adlet dies if I do. So if I can cure this, we can kill Tgurneu without my death. And then, Adlet will be safe, too.”
“I agree that much is true,” said Nashetania. “But…”
“We’ve ignored it so far. But maybe there’s a way to undo it. Let’s go see Rolonia and have her really examine it one more time. She might find something, some way…”
“Whatever,” Chamo spat. “Chamo’s not expecting anything now. Chamo’s gonna kill Tgurneu. And Hans, too. You’re all nothing but idiots!” Chamo started leaving.
Nashetania called after her. “Take this, Chamo. If you find Tgurneu, please throw this in the air. We’ve agreed to all gather on that signal.” Nashetania handed the flash grenade tucked under her armor to Chamo. Scowling and grumpy, Chamo took it and slipped it into a belt pouch. Then, without a backward glance, she left the ruined building.
“Fremy, for now, let’s meet up with Rolonia to find a way to cure that red mark. Dozzu might know something,” said Nashetania.
Without a word, Fremy drew her gun and pointed it at Nashetania. “Spit it out. Everything.”
Nashetania’s eyes widened. She raised her one arm, indicating she wasn’t going to attack. “…Spit what out?”
“It looks to me like you two knew this would happen. You wanted me to be a hostage and Adlet to get captured. You were pretending to obey him to achieve that goal. I can’t see it any other way.”
“Fremy…”
“What are you plotting? Were you going to take advantage of our fight with Tgurneu to kill us all? Or is your plan for us to finish one another off?” Fremy aimed for Nashetania’s forehead. At this range, Nashetania would never be able to dodge it.
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