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“This is… I know it. The main body of the Cat of Endings!!”

A beast like living shadow had its eyes closed—an abnormally massive cat with jet-black fur.

Long, razor-sharp fangs. A supple tail that swayed lazily. And overflowing from its entire body was a malignant mana so dense it looked like it might spill out.

“Ugh…”

Around it, as if the familiars they had just fought had carried them here, several prisoners lay sprawled about, groaning with unfocused eyes.

“Aah!! AAAAAAH!!”

One prisoner screamed—and pitch-black mana burst out of him, only to be sucked straight into the Cat of Endings.

A priest tried to stop it, releasing a purification spell—

And at that moment, it opened its eyes.

“……”

It only glared with crimson eyes.

Just that alone made Elaine feel as though her heart was being clenched in an invisible fist.

And then—

‘Aren’t you getting full of yourself just because they call you a saintess?’

‘You don’t need to heal lowly commoners. Use your power to heal important people from other nations.’

‘Why didn’t you save my child? Aren’t you a saintess? You liar!!’

Bitter memories surged up, and Elaine felt her emotions staining black.

But… she couldn’t stop it.

Worse—she didn’t even want to stop it.

‘That’s right. I tried so hard, and no one acknowledged me. I was even screamed at when I couldn’t heal someone in time. If that’s how it is, then I—’

‘What are you saying? I came here to heal them! Of course I’m not running!!’

She remembered a boy who had healed without hesitation even as poison spread through the vines.

A boy who treated villagers from another nation without demanding donations— who even defeated the Five Great Plague Beast, the cockatrice, to protect her.

That figure overlapped with the Holy King—

And she had admired him because of it.

“Sure, those people tick me off… but then I’ll just carry my justice through to the end!!
If I don’t, I’ll never be able to stand beside him!!”

Recalling the way that boy lived, Elaine overcame the darkness in her heart and looked around.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

“It’s your fault… if only you weren’t here!!”

Everyone around her muttered with vacant eyes.

Just like Elaine, they were being assaulted by old trauma—forced into generating more negative emotion.

Then a huge shout rang out nearby.

“Marianne said ‘I hate you, big brother’—AAAAAAGH!!”

Elaine’s eyes met Gawain’s—he seemed to have forced himself back to sanity.

Honestly, he was a little scary.

“This is… the Cat of Endings’ power… If something like this reached the streets…”

“It would be disastrous. Even these elites look like this. If nobles and civilians—people not used to mental anguish—got hit by it…”

Sweat ran cold as they stared at the Cat of Endings, but it didn’t seem interested in them at all—only in consuming the black mana it was drawing in.

“It’s awakened… We can’t let it out of here.”

Mordred, panting, answered—apparently he’d regained himself too.

The three of them reached the same conclusion.

“Elaine—purification, please. Gawain and I will hold it back!!”

“Leave it to me! I’ll protect you even if it costs my life!!”

“Understood. I’ll show you the power of a saintess. It’s fine if I defeat it right here, isn’t it?”

No one knew when Arthur and Rod would arrive.

But if this thing was released into Britannia before the evacuation was complete, the massacre was easy to imagine.

“……!!”

The Cat of Endings reacted to the purification and lunged.

Mordred was blown away instantly by that gigantic body.

And Gawain—

“I’ll protect Britannia—where Marianne is!!”

Thinking of his beloved (his actual little sister), he somehow tripled his physical ability and stopped the Cat of Endings’ strike head-on.

“……!!”

It wasn’t fully revived yet, so the Cat of Endings snarled and hammered him again and again— and Gawain still managed to endure, barely.

Meanwhile, Elaine’s purification slowly… slowly shrank its body.

“I can’t lose. I’m going to stand beside that man!!”

With bloodshot eyes, Elaine unleashed even more mana.

A thin stream of blood ran from her nose from overload, but her focus didn’t waver.

“……!!”

The Cat of Endings let out a shocked cry.

She could do this!! she thought—

And she showed an opening for the briefest moment.

“Gweh—!”

A priest who had been writhing beside her kicked Elaine hard in the stomach.

Elaine rolled across the ground in a humiliating tumble— and her purification stopped.

“Elaine-sama?! Ugh—!!”

With Elaine’s purification gone, Gawain was no longer even a wall.

“……!!”

The Cat of Endings curled its lips into a sadistic grin.

And then, as if to shield it, knights and priests—now fully ruled by negative emotion—rose and stood between Elaine’s group and the beast.

“We were so close… and now… I…”

Elaine’s emotions sank into despair—

When a voice came from the way they’d entered.

It was pathetic… but somehow, incredibly reliable.

“WOOOOOAAAH?! My sword’s moving on its owwwwn—!”

Charging in with the holy sword was a boy—

And clinging to him was a big-chested girl in a maid outfit.

“Huh?! What is this? What’s happening?!”

“I’m surprised too, Arthur-sama—are you alright?!”

The boy looked around in panic, while the maid worried over him.

A beat later, a silver-haired girl and a red-haired knight arrived behind them.

“……!!”

And Elaine saw it—

The Cat of Endings recoiled in fear at the boy’s sword.

At Arthur’s sword.