squeezed him tight with all her might. "Master Kaito, I know how you feel! I...I, too, desperately don't want to let Elisabeth go! But please, you have to endure it. You're so wounded..." "Hina... I'm sorry. I just..." As he rubbed Hina's back, Kaito took another look at their surroundings. At some point, Vlad had moved over to where the two pillars stood. His arms were spread wide, and his eyes were glittering as he gazed at the Torture Princesses' transformations. "It's magnificent... It's the peak of beauty, the apex of ugliness... Truly, 'magnificent' is the only way to describe it." His face was as innocent as a child watching a meteor shower. However, his expression suddenly took a more serious turn. As he began rapidly coming back to his senses, Vlad started thinking. "...Still, though... Hmm..." While he did, the Torture Princesses continued transforming. Their engorged wings and briars slipped down under the icy ground, eroding it away. The milky-white sky quickly grew muddied as well. The rainbow film froze over into a leaden gray. The God and Diablo pillars spread out their arms, ever wider, ever farther. "Is this...the end?" Hearing a trembling voice, Kaito looked down. Lute was cowering on the ground, his tail completely curled up. However, he was holding Izabella firmly. Humans' sensory perception was weak, so the visceral despair Lute felt was probably many times greater than theirs. Words tumbled weakly from Lute's mouth as he stared at the growing horrors before them. "At this rate... At this rate, everything will come to an end. How can we stand up to such a thing?" Lute's right. Kaito agreed with him. God and Diablo were both taboo entities, beings that mankind wasn't meant to come in contact with. Both of them transformed the land into a place wholly uninhabitable by living creatures, as though it were only natural for them to do so. Eventually, the very world would crumble, unable to bear the strain. The two pillars grew at a steady pace. However, they suddenly quavered, and the transformation came to a temporary halt. The briars writhed, and a trembling arm thrust its way out from each pillar. The Torture Princesses had forced their bodies to move. Their eyes still closed, they tore at what bound them, their own skin and all. Then they raised their arms high, and their soundless voices rang out. Begone from this place. Make haste. Please run, Fools. At the same time, they also snapped their fingers. Black darkness and white light flashed, and crimson and gold flower petals started raining down. They then formed a cylindrical wall with Kaito and the others at its center. A teleportation circle was being etched in the ice. *** On impulse, Kaito tried to dive out of it. He needed to remain by Elisabeth's side. However, he found himself unable to move. One of Lute's arms and both of Hina's were holding him back. Normally, when Kaito's violent emotions reached a certain threshold, he would return to a sound state of mind. However, the situation was so abnormal that that function of his was broken. He raged like a wounded beast and screamed. "Let go of me! Elisabeth isâ€”I can't just leave her alone like that!" "I understand your loyalty and affection for your master, I truly do! But even if you hate me for it, I won't let you go! What do you hope to accomplish by staying here? Think of your wife!" "Butâ€”!" "...Master Kaito, please listen to me." Suddenly, Hina whispered, her voice gentle and calm. She wasn't crying anymore. Her beautiful, clear emerald eyes were fixed on Kaito alone. "If that is your answer, Master Kaito, if you say that that is your sole wish, then I will release you." "Ms. Hina?" "But if you do, then I will remain here as well." Hina made her declaration calmly. Then she gently unbound her arms to tell Kaito that the choice was his. Kaito gulped. Hina took a step back, then smiled at him. "It would be my pleasure to remain with my dear Lady Elisabeth and die alongside you, my beloved." There was no reproach in her eyes and no anger. Only pure, unadulterated love. If Kaito wanted to stay behind, then she would no doubt die at his side without a single word of regret. And because of that, Kaito stopped. Because of that, he was able to stop. Then he deliberately took a long, deep breath. The strained energy that had built up in his body dissipated. He went limp, then collapsed backward. When he did, Hina made sure to catch him. As he lay in her arms, he let out a weak murmur. "...I'm sorry. I'm good now. God, I'm supposed to be your husband, but Iâ€”" "It's no matter. Anything you hold precious is just as precious to me." Hina gently stroked Kaito's head. As he clung to her warmth to maintain his sanity, Kaito's thoughts turned. Right now, there's nothing we can do here. We need to get a fresh start. At this rate, the world really would end. The leisurely time for the various races to stay on guard of one another and probe for advantages was over. Right now, they needed every person possible to pool their power together so they could come up with a countermeasure. And that was why Kaito and the others needed to leave. The world needed people who had witnessed the horrible truth. Right now, information was of the essence. As those thoughts swirled around in his head, Kaito looked up through the interweaving light and petals. At the far end of his vision sat Elisabeth's tragic figure, her eyes closed. "Wh...?" Even so, part of him still wanted to run to her. Hina seemed to have sensed something as she released him from her arms. Kaito tottered a few steps forward. Then he extended his bloodstained hand to the edge of the teleportation circle and let out a fitful shout. "Don't go... Don't go, Elisabeth!" The hell do I mean, "Don't go"?! We're the ones leaving! As he shouted to Elisabeth, he shouted at himself internally. He was the one fleeing, not her. Even knowing that, though, he couldn't stop the nonsensical words from pouring out of his throat. "You're the one who called me, Elisabeth! You're the one who called me to this world! You ordered me to become your servant, didn't you? And you're gonna go anyway? You're gonna go off all on your own anyway?!" Blood dripped down his fist. Tears dripped down his cheek. Weeping with all his might, he screamed again. "Please, Elisabeth, don't leave me! I don't want you to go!" Kaito reached out his hand as he pleaded with the person he could no longer reach. "Please don't leave me," he implored her like a child. "Not now that I've finally met you," he cried. "I'd rather watch the world get destroyed than lose you!" Then, at the far end of his vision, Elisabeth opened her eyes. "...Huh?" For a second, Kaito doubted his sight, thinking it nothing more than a fanciful delusion. But it was true. Her crimson eyes were assuredly focused on him. Her lips silently moved. What poured out from them was blood. In what no doubt caused her a great deal of pain, she contorted her lips into a smile. And when she did, she whispered. "............You utter fool." It was a heartrending, nostalgic voice. Elisabeth then reached out her trembling arm, as though trying to grasp Kaito's palm in reply. Briars wound around it, trying to stop her. But Elisabeth resisted them. She extended her hand straight forward. But Kaito's palm was too distant. After displaying another abrupt smile, Elisabeth lowered her arm. Instead, she now snapped her fingers once more. Her fingers broke. Their skin tore, and their bones fractured. Yet, even so, her whispers had a strange warmth to them. "You don't want this; you don't want that, eh? Well, if you despise being alone so badly, then I shall grant it to you. 'Tis my loss, O peerless fool. I give unto you my everything. Do with it as you please." Crimson petals flitted through the air, then coalesced into a sphere. It soared away from Diablo's pillar and floated gently through the sky. Then, all at once, the petals rushed between Kaito's lips. His mouth filled with the sharp stink of rust and the taste of flesh. Understanding intuitively what it was, Kaito widened his eyes. He looked up at Elisabeth. Her voice unimaginably kind, she went on. "Drink them down or spit them all up, the choice is yours to make. But do try to live on, Kaito. And when you do, save the world. Your strength is equal to the task, as is your needless determination. You are the greatest fool this world has to offerâ€”and you are my dim-witted servant, my pride and joy." Her voice sounded almost like someone trying to cheer up a dejected child. Kaito stared straight at Elisabeth. Then, with a gulp, he swallowed the petals down. The moment he did, he clutched at his chest, and his knees crumpled. He began violently heaving up blood. "Master Kaito!" "S-Sir Kaito!" "Geh... Urgh, ugh, gah, geh, blegh!" As he heard Hina and Lute cry out, Kaito collapsed in pain. Despite that, though, he looked up. He was weeping and coughing up blood, but he looked straight at Elisabeth. He lifted his trembling arm. Then he stuck his thumb up to say, Don't worry. I received it. Both of their faces were haggard, but they exchanged a smile. Elisabeth, having used all her strength, closed her eyes back up. In truth, she'd probably hit her limit long ago. She quickly lost consciousness. Jeanne's eyes were still closed as well. However, the teleportation circle activated automatically. Kaito and the others had their vision covered by compound walls of crimson and gold, darkness and light. In the final moment before the world faded away, though, Kaito witnessed something. The pillars had begun undergoing even more radical change. A flock of black birds took off from Diablo's. To be more specific, they weren't birds at all. They had a variety of shapes and forms, but every one of them was an underling. Amid the growing tempest of pain raging within his body, a thought crossed Kaito's mind. Oh man... The world's gonna become hell, isn't it? And the way things were going, everything was going to end. "We need to inform Lady Vyade Ula Forstlast of what we've learned." Back in Elisabeth's castle, Lute gave a quiet murmur. Odds were good that his subordinates had made it back safely and given their report on the chaotic situation, but Lute was the only one of them who'd seen the pillars up close. He needed to go give an accurate report. It was now clear that he hadn't just been in a dazeâ€”he, too, had been thinking hard. "If things continue on like this, the world really will cease to exist. I can't simply sit quietly and wait for it to meet its end. We'll need to get in contact with the demi-humans...the humans, even, too, and come up with a plan together." Lute squeezed Izabella tight. She was still asleep, blissfully unaware of what was going on. He gazed at her mechanically supplemented face, then whispered so as not to wake her. "And as for Ms. Izabella Vicker, I was thinking of leaving her in my wife's care. The two of them are on good terms, and as her body is right now, Ms. Izabella might be in need of my wife's skills as a healer. I can promise you that no harm will come to her under my wife's watch. Does that sound reasonable?" "Yeah, that sounds good. It would probably give Jeanne some peace ofâ€”Geh!" While he was replying, Kaito heaved up even more blood. Lute's eyes