To get straight to the point, my power was evenly matched against those transformed freaks.
It might have been hours, or perhaps only dozens of minutes in reality. After crossing blades time and time again, my Flame finally drove clean through Vinegar's heart, bursting into an inferno.
"To think even Vinegar got taken down!"
Spitting out the curse, the goggled man tried to take to the air with Char in his grip. I unleashed the high-tier light magic Judgment Light (Menou), aiming straight for his wings to shoot him down.
"Tch!"
As he plummeted, struggling to regain his stance, I hurled Flame at him.
"Don't screw with me!"
He dodged Flame's path with ease, but the weapon curved along an unnatural trajectory.
"Wha—?!"
Letting out a cry of shock, he took Flame deep into the crown of his skull, and the blade ignited.
Panting raggedly, I pushed myself up and caught Char as she fell.
My body was already battered to pieces, barely able to move.
They had been strong. In terms of pure combat ability, they were probably slightly superior even in a one-on-one. Defeating both of them at once this time had been nothing more than fluke upon fluke.
"Still, a win is a win!"
I shouted, pulling Char tight against my chest.
Then, squeezing out the very last dregs of my strength, I manifested wings with Mimicry and leaped off the cliff.
Fading in and out of consciousness, I left that nightmarish Northground behind.
"I did it..."
This time, it seemed I really had managed to protect Char.
"We did it, Char!"
I called out to the girl in my arms, but—
"Huh?"
A bewildered sound slipped past my lips. Char's face was completely drained of color, her lips an ashen, earthy hue.
"Ch-Char, what's wrong?"
I shook her desperately, but she only gave a faint, apologetic smile.
"Gil, I... I don't think I can leave Northground..."
She spoke of an impossible reality.
"Wh-What are you talking about?!"
Can't leave Northground? How could something so absurd ever be true?!
"Now that we've left, somehow I just know. I can only survive back there."
"That's a lie! Char, even from you, I'll get mad if you make jokes like that!"
Even as I said it, the life force rapidly slipping away from her testified all too clearly to the truth.
"Dammit!"
Lifting her up, I tried to activate Mimicry to fly back toward Northground, but nothing responded. Of course it wouldn't. The battle had completely drained every ounce of my power.
"Gil, it's okay."
Char wrapped her arms around me just like she always did.
"I love you, Gil."
Murmuring softly and contentedly, the strength left her body.
"Char?! Char!? Wake up, damn it!"
No matter how many times I shook her, the warmth was already gone. That was right—just how many deaths had I witnessed by now? I knew full well she was no longer breathing.
"Char..."
Clinging to Char's lifeless body, I wept without end.
After crying through the night, I carried Char's remains back to the New City of Ket Nya.
It was likely being overrun by Aldebaran at that very moment. Plumes of fire rose across the settlement. Inside was a complete deathtrap.
"Char, we're back."
I laid her down at the base of the great tree near the New City of Ket Nya—the spot she had loved so much.
"I'm going now. Sorry for leaving you alone."
Gripping Flame, I charged straight into the jaws of death.
The monsters throughout the city had been slaughtered to the last.
Having tried to shield Tama, Crocodus lay dead in the street, his headless corpse draped over her.
In the past, Crocodus had constantly made remarks looking down on the weaker races. Yet that very man had given his life to protect the sheep cat tribe. Unlike me, who had abandoned everyone and fled, he had stood his ground to protect them.
"Thank you. I'll avenge you both."
The words spilling from my lips felt hollow and sickeningly hypocritical.
Slaughtering every member of the demon race in my path, I finally stood before Aldebaran.
"You're quite something, aren't you...?"
"Save the talk. Let's just kill each other."
Saying that, Flame in hand, I threw myself into a fight I had no hope of winning.
"Why are you smiling, I wonder...?"
Gripping my throat with an iron hand, Aldebaran frowned and asked the question.
"Who knows? I'm not telling."
I channeled every drop of my remaining magic into the magic item in my right hand—the Gluttonous Flame Serpent. Even Aldebaran wouldn't be able to block it at point-blank range.
My vision was dyed crimson, and my consciousness popped like a bursting bubble.