precisely why Jeanne loved her so. Tears welled up in Jeanne's eyes, and she clamped them shut. Then she gave up. And as she did, she nervously extended her hand. Earlier, even though she knew how impossible it was given the circumstances, she had dreamed of something beautiful. "Marriage!" "Of course! We'll have a big ceremony in the Capital!" Now it was as though that dream were coming true, like they were having their wedding right then and there. Jeanne took her lover by the hand, and Izabella readily squeezed hers back. Golden flower petals decorated their surroundings like they would in a ceremonial hall. As she intertwined their fingers tight, Jeanne posed the question. "My beloved lady, will you stay by my side, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, to love and to cherishâ€”even if it means throwing your life away?" "It would be my pleasure," Izabella replied, beaming. She puffed herself up with pride, like there was no other answer worth giving. Jeanne gave a teary-eyed smile. And with that, the two of them began their Waltz. 10 The Torture Princess and the Kaiser There was a conversation that took place just before Armageddon. "I need to tell you about your brother." Those were the words Elisabeth Le Fanu had used to broach the subject with Izabella Vicker. Then she told Izabella everything. About the contractor to the Knight, who was one of the fourteen demonsâ€”and about his features and the way he died. She told Izabella that she wasn't positive the man had actually been her younger brother, but to Izabella, the matter was settled. There was no doubt in her mind that had been her brother indeed. Izabella's brother had had eyes of the purest blue. He was possessed with both a strong will to live and a powerful sense of justice. The regrets he felt at the Plain of Skewers would easily have been enough for the demons to win him over. After telling Izabella what happened, Elisabeth asked her to choose if she was going to fight or not. If she wanted to flee, Elisabeth wouldn't have blamed her, and if she wanted to turn on Elisabeth, that was her right. However, Izabella's sole response had been, "Thank you." She wanted to thank Elisabeth for saving her brother after he fell in with the demons. That was how she truly felt. However, that wasn't to say she didn't feel torn up about it. When she thought back, Izabella realized that, for the longest time, that was how her whole life had gone. She had constantly been forced to weigh her own wants and needs against what was right, and she had chosen righteousness every time. She had no regrets about that. But it did make her sad. Izabella Vicker's life had been a painfully prosaic one. But then salvation had come to her from the last place she'd expected. The person who'd once fallen into her arms had been unbelievably beautiful. Jeanne had saved her. Jeanne had pined for her. Jeanne had loved her. Jeanne was her everything. Jeanne had gone and loved someone who had naught to her name but righteousness. And to the very end, Izabella had had the person she loved by her side. That in and of itself was a blessing of the truest sort. And because of that, Izabella Vicker thought of herself as one of the happiest people in the world. Do you pledge to take me, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, to love and to cherish, to comfort and to support, with all of your heart until death do us part? "I do." The corpses of two women lay before Alice. Everything from their waists down had been shredded to ribbons, and their guts had come spilling out of their chests. However, the fact that anything remained of them at all was an oddity. Such was the sheer power of the White Knight's attack. However, Alice had deliberately misaimed her final slash. She couldn't blast them away into nothing. She simply couldn't. The two women had been holding hands to the bitter end. And they'd been smiling oh-so-peacefully. "Why...are you smiling?" Alice mumbled. She racked her brain. Wasn't death supposed to be sad? Wasn't it supposed to be despair-inducing? If she were the one dying, she certainly wouldn't have been able to wear an expression like that. So whyâ€”? "Why, why, why ARE YOU SMILINGGGGGGGGGG?!" She got no reply to her scream of a question. For Alice was alone. She clenched her fists tight in front of her chest. She had butchered countless scores of people there, yet she stood there and shed big, soppy tears. Then, out of the blue, she raised her head and spoke as though she'd stumbled upon a single last ray of hope. "Elisabeth! That's right, that's right. Elisabeth." She started walking with an unsteady gait. She had dispelled the White Knight for a time as she stared at Jeanne's and Izabella's corpses, so it was her own two legs she now tottered on. Her faltering footsteps carried her across the gash she herself had gouged in the ground. She was the spitting image of a child who'd gotten lost. It was like she was chasing after an older sister who had gone and left her behind. "C'mon, Elisabeth, tell me, tell me... Because I don't get it, see." I don't understand any of it anymore. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. As a matter of fact, there was nothing there at all. The only things filling it were milky-white and rainbow hues. Diablo had left no lasting changes there, yet all the same, it was impossible to deny that death had a stronger hold over the world than ever. There was something terribly odd about that fact when Elisabeth thought about it. She was at the World's End. The place that the Saint had designated as such. That was where she watched Jeanne and Izabella die. She silently dispelled the imageâ€”the windowâ€”that the blue ring had displayed for her. A single teardrop rolled down her cheek, and she turned. This time, her gaze came to a quiet rest on the people slumbering in the crystal. The Kaiser said nothing. Elisabeth gingerly placed her hand atop the crystal's glowing surface. It was as cold as could be, but she rested her cheek against it all the same. "Kaito, Hina...will you fight with me?" No response came. However, she nodded anyway. She conjured a flower petal and used it to slit her wrist. The Torture Princess's mana-infused blood spilled forth, trickling into crimson lines and delicately encircling the crystal where Kaito and Hina slept. When it did, the two slumbering pillars began moving in kind. They coiled around each other and their thorny vines pointed outward. Brilliant roses of azure and crimson bloomed along their lengths once more. Then the newly grown pillars wound themselves around the crystal like some sort of profane shrine. Now the preparations were complete. Elisabeth let out a brief exhale. Then, without a word, she sat down. Never again would she be able to rest her back against that crystal. She cast her solitary gaze up at the sky. The Kaiser made no snide remarks. He was a clever enough beast to realize that this was hardly the time for such things. And with that, Elisabeth did like she had so long ago, and began singing a song. It's time for a story. It's the story of a young woman left alone and a story of a child who was abandoned. Or perhaps it's the story of a woman who was a monster, and a girl who became a monster herself. It was, in the end, a story that needed to be ended. And so she took up her sword. And so they drew their blades. It's time for a story. A story of repentance, dreams, and hatred. A story in which she and they dreamed of saving the world. A story they dreamed with all their might, even if it meant throwing themselves to the wolves. The change came about all at once. Crimson boiled up atop the clear ground, and the snowflakes piled high, and the ice cracked and shattered in succession. A wave of terrible teleportation circles spread out like a toxin. The first ones to show up were the fixed batteries, who appeared in a circle surrounding Elisabeth. Their eyes and tongues had been plucked out, their limbs had been severed, and they writhed as they suffered in an eternity of pain. Elisabeth realized something in her gut. This is the sum total of Lewis's legacy. There was no way there were any more of them than that. Finally, the very last of their reserves had been deployed. It was time to put an end to those pitiful creatures. Elisabeth wasted no time in leaping astride the Kaiser. She soared through the air, nimbly avoiding the searing rays of the batteries' screams. The Kaiser flapped his wings, higher and higher and higher still. He let out a low growl. "Enough with the nobodies. Go to your rests and be quick about it." Upon reaching the highest of heights, the Kaiser descended. Darkness blotted out everything around the site where the fourteen demons' mightiest member landed. For a time, everything was deathly silent. Then, after a few seconds, the darkness transformed into black feathers. The feathers exploded in a shower of azure flower petals. The blast was at the fixed batteries' center, and it reduced them all into piles of entrails and puddles of blood. In death, they were finally free from their suffering. Despite the display of overwhelming power he'd just put on, though, the Kaiser didn't laugh this time. After he landed, he adopted a low stance and growled out an ominous prophecy. "She's coming, foolish child. A calamity cometh." A calamity cometh. A calamity cometh. Thus spoke the mightiest of the fourteen demons. Suddenly, a black spot not unlike a rabbit hole opened in the air. A young girl in a blue dress hopped out. It was Alice, but there was something off about her. She was crying, and both of her arms were outstretched. She looked anxious, almost like a lost child. "Elisabeth... Ewivubeeeth!" "And why exactly are you crying?" Elisabeth asked her, acknowledging Alice's sorrow in a voice so gentle she surprised even herself. Alice trembled as she shook her head. Her hat's white ribbons were drooping as well, and they shook side to side in concert with her. Tears streamed down her face as she desperately tried to get the words out. "I don't get it. I don't get anything anymore. There's only one thing I'm even still sure of. So please, Elisabethâ€”please, die together with me!" "And what, may I ask, led you to that particular conclusion?" Elisabeth's voice rang with exasperation, but she already knew. There was no getting through to her. Alice looked like she might listen to reason, but that would never happen. The fact of the matter was, that one thing really was all that Alice had. She had left too many corpses in her wake. Not even her youth could excuse what she'd done. And Alice herself knew she was past redemption. Destroying everything was the only option she had. That was simply the nature of the deeds Alice had wrought. Before Elisabeth even noticed, Alice was astride her White Knight's horse. There had been no perceptible change in the interim. It was like an optical illusionâ€”the scene Elisabeth had been looking at had been swapped out for another. A realization crossed Elisabeth's mind. Alice and the White Knight were basically one and the same. She hadn't even needed to speak an incantation to summon him. The only way to beat the Knight would be to kill Alice. The White Knight raised his lance aloft. If his strike landed, there would be no