In the rain, Eve exhaled a pale breath and once more charged at Shed.

Clang!

The sharp ring of steel resounded. Shed’s mind went white as he blocked her strike.

The child who had never even known how to hold a blade was now swinging one at him. Like the corpses rising from the earth, this small body too was nothing more than Dietrich’s puppet.

Shed found himself driven back, unable to fight her, unable to counter, deflect recklessly, or even push her away. For her strikes were clumsy—clearly untrained.

No matter how much Dietrich controlled her, Eve’s frail body could never land a mortal blow on Shed, the Empire’s greatest hero. And yet, he faltered before the little hands striking at him.

Because the force behind them was far beyond that of a three-year-old.

At the very least, her movements rivaled those of a squire in his teens—perhaps more. Eve might have been stronger and faster than other children her age, but this could not be explained away so simply.

‘She’s overstraining her body…!’

Even as he blocked, Shed’s eyes traced her condition. Her thin wrists snapped beneath the weight of the blade, twisting and breaking. Each wide swing warped her muscles and joints. Veins and fibers burst under the strain, leaving bruises that mottled across her skin—only to vanish as quickly as they appeared.

Sometimes, her body faltered mid-strike, overwhelmed by its own overload, before the curse of regeneration forced her to continue the attack.

Shed’s face twisted.

A body driven beyond its limits could not be free of pain. Eve had inherited eternal life, not dulled senses. And yet, under Dietrich’s spell, the child was forced to shatter her tiny body time and again.

The thought of her agony squeezed his chest until he could hardly breathe.

Looking at Eve’s face, which was so similar to her mother’s, Shed thought of Luise.

‘So this is the torment you’ve lived with each day. This is the nightmare that has haunted you all along.’

He tightened his grip on his sword. He had to put an end to Eve’s nightmare.

Having read her rhythm, he let her strike slide harmlessly aside. At the same time, he reached out and seized her small wrist.

But, in that instant, black smoke coiled around his forearms, binding and paralysing him.

“Kh…!”

His fingertips brushed Eve’s wrist, but went no further.

“Do you still not realize, Shed?”

Dietrich’s voice slithered through the storm.

“The only reason you’ve lasted this long is because I found your desperate struggle amusing.”

Dietrich slowly descended the spiral staircase at the top of the tower.

He clenched his teeth against the black energy spreading through his arms. His strength was draining from his limbs, and he fought desperately to keep hold of his sword.

“You know what a curse feels like already, don’t you?”

Dietrich pointed lazily at his arm. From the black aura coiled around it, a pain like knives tearing into flesh spread through him. It was the same curse he had once suffered from Pamen.

“But since you’ve entertained me so well, I’ll give you one last reward.”

Dietrich smiled as he reached the bottom of the tower.

“The honor of tasting the blade of the child you tried so hard to protect. Of course, the one to take your final breath will still be me.”

Upon hearing his words, Eve lifted her head, her breath turning white in the rain. Her body was so small that it could easily be held in two arms, but it swayed once before steadying itself. The raindrops that soaked her seemed cold enough to freeze her instantly.

“Eve…”

Shed trembling hand gripped his sword as he fixed his faded green eyes on hers. He realized then that the child’s nightmare could only end if she struck him with her blade. Otherwise, Dietrich would keep her bound forever.

With this realization, he lowered his sword and faced the girl head-on. Her clouded gaze was fixed on him. He lifted the corner of his mouth and met her gaze.

“It’s all right, Eve.”

He thought of Luise, haunted by her nightmares, and gave a slow nod. This horror would carve itself deep into the child’s unconscious, returning to her again and again in dreams. And all he could offer her—just as he had once offered Luise—was that single phrase: It’s all right.

But the girl who had once chattered without end gave no reply. Instead, she lifted the heavy sword with all her strength and pressed forward, splashing through the mire strewn with bones.

Each small step sank into the mud with a weary weight, the burden far too great for her frail body. Raindrops leapt up as her tiny feet stumbled awkwardly under the strain.

And then—just as her little hands raised the blade, ready to strike down into his body—

“Eve!”

A breathless voice cut between them.

Shed’s eyes widened as damp strands of chocolate-brown hair whipped across his vision.

‘Luise…!’

Blood streamed down Eve’s forearm where the blade had cut her, but Dietrich embraced her nonetheless.

The sword slipped from Eve’s grasp. However, under Dietrich’s spell, her body twisted and thrashed around in an attempt to break free. Luise staggered under her desperate thrashing. Her body had not yet healed, and pain flared through her as her strength failed her.

But Luise could not give up.

“It’s all right, Eve. Mommy’s right here.”

Holding Eve tightly in her arms, she whispered softly. The child hit her repeatedly in the face and body with all her strength. Bruises bloomed over her torn flesh, and wounds that had only just begun to heal thanks to her regenerative abilities festered anew.

“I know it hurts. But it’s all right. This is only a terrible dream.”

Luise murmured gently into her brainwashed child’s ear. At that moment, no one knew what was going on in Eve’s mind better than she did.

She might have believed that if he allowed himself to be hit, it would solve everything, but it wouldn’t. A body forced to commit a sin against its will leaves behind an agony that endures forever. The memory of driving a blade into Shed would remain vivid in Eve’s mind, playing back endlessly.

So Luise had to give the child what she herself had once longed for in her darkest nightmares.

“It’s not your fault. Eve, you’ve done nothing wrong.”

Though her forearm was scratched until it bled by small nails and teeth tore strips of flesh from her body, Luise continued to whisper.

“I love you, Eve.”

She pressed her lips to the head of the child biting her shoulder. And little by little, Eve’s resistance began to fade. Luise held her all the tighter, for as long as it took.

Then—

“Mo…mmy.”

A faint, broken voice emerged from the child cradled in Luise’s arms. Luise looked into the child’s eyes, which finally showed a glimmer of light again, and smiled.

“Yes, Eve. Now sleep. Sleep without nightmares.”

When you wake, Mommy will still be here, holding you close.

Luise pressed a gentle kiss to her daughter’s brow. Soon, Eve’s body slackened, the strength leaving her as she collapsed limply in her embrace.

Dietrich, watching, shoved back his rain-soaked silver hair in irritation.

‘By tomorrow at the earliest, she shouldn’t have been able to move. Did I miscalculate?’

He had never expected Luise to interfere. With her body ravaged by poison and spell work, she should not have been capable of dragging herself this far. Perhaps he had overreached, trying to juggle too many threads at once.

“Luise, you’re nothing but a useless obstruction.”

As Dietrich clenched his fist, black energy rippled outward from his form.

“If not for Felix, I never would have granted you that power in the first place.”

Pathetic, really—still bound by the base thoughts of a mortal, forever regressing.

“The only thing you’re truly useful for is sharing eternal life.”

A violent surge of power erupted from his fingertips. Like a ravenous beast, the darkness lunged straight towards Luise.

Then—

KWAANG—!

A brilliant blue flash tore through the storm, shattering Dietrich’s attack before it could reach its target.

“Do not touch them.”

Shed stood before him, blade in hand, his fingers blackened by the curse. From his sword, a brilliant blue aura surged forth.

Dietrich’s eyes narrowed at the sight.

“…You’ve regained your aura?”

Impossible! The curse should have stripped him of that power! His arms had already turned black and his hands were almost immobile.

“I must have faltered for a moment… grown weak, and made a mistake.”

Dietrich muttered, his gaze fixed on the curse etched into Shed’s flesh. But Shed only tightened his grip, standing firm to shield Luise and Eve. His arms throbbed, numb with paralysis, yet it wasn’t enough to stop him.

‘The regrets I carry are already more than enough to crush me.’

He could not—would not—lose Luise and Eve here. It was this determination that drove him beyond the limits that had held him back.

The awakened blue blade no longer struck merely in defence. It lunged straight for Dietrich’s heart.

Caught off guard by this sudden, razor-sharp attack, Dietrich flinched and cloaked himself in shadow to parry the blow. Although the strike did not pierce his flesh, its force shook his body.

“Guh—!”

Air burst from his lungs as though his chest had been crushed by a hammer. An unthinkable strength flowed through his arms, which should have been crippled by curses.

He tightened his grip and pushed forward, relentlessly forcing Dietrich back.

‘Eve endured all of that, tore herself apart to hold on—and I would yield so easily?’

He remembered the child’s small body breaking under the weight of the curse, her will unbroken even as she bled. He would not dishonor that fight. He would not fall.

As Shed closed in on Dietrich’s staggering guard, the High Priest screamed, voice raw with desperation:

“This is a battle you cannot win!”

From his body, tendrils of black light ripped outward, tearing through the air in a dozen directions to lash at Shed from all sides.

“In the end, you will die—and I will live!”

Aura or no aura, it changed nothing. Fate was already sealed.

Dietrich spread both arms wide, and from above, a storm of darkness came crashing down.