Chapter 49

Ignoring the cut on his cheek, Henya lunged, sensing that his moment had arrived.

Or rather, he tried to lunge.

But he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He stared at Watch, who was wearing a composed smile despite being clearly at a disadvantage.

“What’s with you?” Henya asked, his face contorted with suspicion.

“There is no need to spill any more blood.”

Watch took a moment to steady his breathing.

“I’d rather avoid the trouble. This is the end, Henya.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“I’m ending this as my victory.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

The conversation between the two was hopelessly disconnected.

“By the way… can you still move?”

When Watch—who was now standing without needing his spear for support—posed that question, Henya’s expression shifted instantly.

“You—”

Before he could finish the thought, Henya’s fingertips began to tremble.

“Impossible… You’ve fallen that low? And you call yourself a swordsman, even if only a former one?”

With a clatter, the katana slipped from Henya’s hand.

His face was now as white as paper, drenched in a thick, oily sweat.

“A conclusion like this… I…”

His entire body shaking, Henya slowly collapsed.

“Poison? An end… like this… I won’t accept it…”

“Yield the victory to me this time. Though I doubt there will be a chance for a rematch,” Watch muttered, looking down at the convulsing Henya.

Before long, Henya stopped moving entirely.

“H-hey…”

I had been standing there in a daze, but at this point, I finally snapped back to reality.

“W-what have you done?!”

“It’s already over.”

Watch muttered only that, then turned his back on us and the fallen Henya.

“It’s not ‘over’! What did you do? A paralytic or something?”

“No. It’s a poison far more potent than the Poison Lizards on the floors above. Even a trace is fatal. I coated my hidden blade with it.”

Ignoring Watch’s nonchalant reply, I ran over to Henya and shook him.

“Hey! Hey! Wake up!”

But he didn’t move an inch.

Is this… is this really it? Just like that?

“How could you…”

But Watch wasn’t listening. He kept his back turned, staring off into the distance. It was impossible to tell if he felt any sense of accomplishment for defeating Henya.

“It’s finished. Everything.”

Watch whispered as if convincing himself.

“That’s right. You’re finished right here.”

Like a shadow, Jin glided in behind him.

“What—”

At my startled cry, Watch tried to turn, but he wasn’t fast enough. The knife Jin had hidden in his hand plunged deep into Watch’s back.

“Gah!”

Watch screamed, gritting his teeth as he tried to regain his footing, but a trail of blood soon leaked from the corner of his mouth.

“Kh…!”

With a final cry and a spray of blood, Watch collapsed heavily onto the ground.

Silence.

No one moved; no one spoke.

Not Jin, not Shirona, and not me.

The three of us stood perfectly still, simply existing in the space. Three. Yes, only three of us left.

So suddenly.

It was all too abrupt. Is this really how people die? So easily?

“Why?”

The one who broke the unnatural silence was Shirona, her question small and simple.

“I’ll ask you the same thing.”

As if the question had flipped a switch, Jin began to move, sliding the knife he’d pulled from Watch back into his coat.

“Do you intend to wait in this camp as part of a ‘fate-bound community’ with a man who just killed Henya before your eyes? Do you think you can stomach that?”

Shirona fell silent at the ruthlessness of his words.

“Once things reached this point, no matter who won, I had no choice but to let them both die in the end. I made up my mind the moment their duel began.”

Jin spoke with such cold indifference that neither Shirona nor I could find a counterargument.

Because he was right.

Under normal circumstances, no one would want to stay allied with a man who had just murdered a comrade like Watch had. In a situation like this, it was even more impossible.

“I just dirtied my hands so you wouldn’t have to.”

The moment Jin let out a smirk, Shirona’s long, white hand darted out from the sleeve of her robe.

“Huh?”

Before the suspicious Jin could ask a question, something flew from Shirona’s hand with a light whistle.

“Gah!”

Caught completely off guard, the projectile buried itself in Jin’s shoulder. It looked like a small metal syringe.

“Don’t worry. It’s not poison. It’s a paralytic.”

“You… you little brat…”

“From where I stand, I can’t trust you either—laughing after killing an ally from behind. You can sleep for a while.”

What was she thinking?

Amidst the peak of this chaotic, nonsensical mess, Jin lunged at Shirona with the fury of a demon.

“You brat!”

A knife was in his hand.

“Dammit!”

This time, I had to stop it.

Even if I had to throw my own body in the way, I had to stop the attack on Shirona.

I charged forward with that resolve, but I was momentarily overwhelmed by Jin’s sheer momentum and the intensity of his massive frame. My legs faltered instinctively.

“Ah!”

By the time I realized it, I had managed to grab the hand holding Jin’s knife, but the force of his charge sent us both crashing into Shirona.

“Gah!”

Impact. The world spun.

Even so, I refused to let go of Jin’s wrist.

My vision turned into a blur of chaos. Still, I desperately clung to him.

Our bodies were flung around repeatedly. I heard screaming. I couldn’t tell if it was Jin or Shirona. For all I know, it might have been me.

Anyway, it was a moment of pure frenzy. I thrashed around, my body slamming against the hard floor.

Eventually, the chaos subsided.

The movement finally stopped. Struggling against a vision that refused to stop spinning, I forced myself up and surveyed my surroundings.

“Ugh…”

The sound escaped my throat involuntarily.

The wrist I had been gripping so desperately—Jin’s wrist. And the knife he had been holding.

The blade was buried deep into the chest area of Shirona’s white hood.

A steel blade, piercing straight through the pristine white fabric.

“Ah… ugh…”

Shirona’s eyes were wide open, staring into the void as she lay flat on her back.

Her face was the color of a corpse. Her eyes remained fixed, without so much as a single blink.

Is she dead? Why… how did this…?

For a while, I could only stare in a daze.

I remained frozen until Jin’s ragged breathing had somewhat settled.

“You did something pointless,” Jin finally rasped. He was calm enough to speak, though his breath was still heavy. “Check Shirona. Fast. Find the antidote.”

“W-what are you talking about?”

“You’re going to need it too. Talk about an unexpected turn of events.”

“Eh?”

That was when I noticed it.

Perhaps she had readied it to counter Jin’s charge? A metal syringe—identical to the one she had thrown at him—was clutched in Shirona’s hand. And it was stuck firmly into my upper arm.

You’ve got to be kidding me. Not me. Shirona would never have tried to stab me.

It was a total accident. I can’t believe this happened.

“Mine is just a paralytic, apparently, but who knows about yours. It might be a fast-acting poison. Start looking.”

Jin was perfectly composed despite the fact that Shirona was dead—or rather, that we had killed her. A chill of terror ran through me, but then he snapped:

“What’s with that look? Let me tell you, I didn’t intend to kill her. I was going to threaten her a bit to make her hand over the antidote. You’re the one who interfered; that’s why the knife ended up there. You’re an accomplice too.”

“That’s… no…”

It’s a lie, I thought. That’s not true.

I tried to move my mouth to say something, but then I realized.

My mouth wasn’t working properly.

“Ah… e…”

This… no way. This can’t be happening.

“Already kicking in, is it? Looks like yours is a lot stronger than mine.”

Jin laughed with forced bravado, but his own fingertips were trembling slightly.

It’s starting to affect you too, isn’t it?

I wanted to snap back at him, but my tongue was numb.

“Uaa… mo…”

Nothing but meaningless, groan-like sounds came out of my mouth.

“Hmph. Anyway… the antidote…”

Jin’s voice began to quiver. From his position leaning over to search Shirona, he slowly collapsed, falling directly on top of her.

“D-dammit…”

Jin struggled for a split second, then went still.

His body began to twitch with violent convulsions.

I have to… get to Shirona too…

Forcing my trembling, leaden legs to move, I crawled toward Shirona.

What is actually happening? How did it come to this?

Where did we go wrong?

The biggest problem is that right now, I am suffering from this poison.

Even as my mind panicked, a cold, analytical part of me processed the situation.

My vision was already starting to haze over. My throat felt parched.

The fact that I didn’t notice I’d been stuck for a while was the deciding factor. If I had realized the medicine was being injected the moment it happened and rushed to Shirona immediately, I might have made it in time.

No, don’t lose heart. It’s not over yet.

Just a few more steps.

They felt impossibly long.

No matter how much I moved my legs, the spot where Shirona and Jin lay tangled together felt no closer.

“Gwah…”

Even so, I had to reach them.

If I didn’t, I would really die.

Death.

I’ve tasted it once before. That’s exactly why I never want to die again. I want to stay in this world.

I kept my legs moving.

The chaos of the situation… I was confused and agitated at that moment…

Amidst my fractured thoughts, I was unconsciously analyzing my failure.

That’s right. Because of that situation—because of that state I was in—I didn’t notice this thing was stuck in me. It must have been designed to cause minimal pain upon entry, but even so, if things hadn’t been so chaotic, I would have noticed it immediately.

I stole a glance at the metal syringe still hanging from my upper arm.

If I had noticed it right away, I could have taken measures.

“Whoa…”

Then, finally, I realized.

So that’s what it was.

Ah… then, as I thought. I mean, it turned out like this, so… yeah. That’s it.

The puzzle pieces were clicking into place.

There’s no mistake.

I don’t know the fine details yet, and I have no solid proof, but the logic holds up.

No—proof. If I just investigate that, everything will become clear. At the very least, it’s certain that they are involved in this case.

But what does it matter now?

My mind, which had cleared for a single moment, was swallowed by the fog once again.

Even if I knew, there was nothing I could do.

It’s all over. I am powerless.

One more step. I was only one step away, yet I couldn’t reach Shirona.

And even if I did reach her, I wouldn’t be able to find the antidote from where I was.

In the first place, if I thought about it, I wouldn’t even know which one was the antidote.

How ridiculous.

Suddenly, the sheer absurdity of it struck me. I tried to force a smile onto my numb, unresponsive face.

Without knowing if I had succeeded, I collapsed right beside Shirona. My consciousness began to blur.

Is this the end?

And so, my awareness faded.

If there’s any hope, let this be a paralytic and not a poison.

If it is, there’s a chance. Ah… but more than that, more than anything.

I hope Eni is safe.

That prayer was my final thought before the darkness took me completely.