Three hundred fifty-seven.
Shiomi quietly counted as he looked down at the fallen enemies before him. From noon until dusk, three hundred fifty-seven foes had fallen beneath his spear.
The fearless Queen's Guard, though fully aware that surrounding Shiomi would not bring victory, still charged without hesitation. Their blood painted the battlefield, blooming into fleeting flowers of life.
Flexing his stiff fingers, Shiomi glanced at the fallen soldiers with faint respect. Fairies were one thing—but for human soldiers to fight so desperately, so willingly to the death, went beyond mere loyalty. Queen Mab had given these short-lived mortals a reason, a new meaning to their existence.
There was no other explanation.
To die for righteousness, to give one's life for justice. Perhaps the humans of Fairy Island could not articulate such ideals, yet they had understood one truth—better to die fighting for something worth dying for than to live a meaningless, empty life.
Shiomi felt both admiration and sorrow.
He raised his head, watching as the Queen's Guard hesitated again at the sight of their fallen comrades, their encirclement slowing. As he stepped forward, careful not to tread on the bodies of the dead, the soldiers instinctively drew back.
At the front stood a man—Queen Mab's lover—leaning on his spear, his body covered in wounds. Kenrack, the strongest among the human soldiers.
"Still intend to fight?" Shiomi asked, leveling his spear at them with calm composure. "If you still value your lives, surrender now."
He felt no exhaustion. He was merely buying time, holding back so the soldiers would not interfere with Aesc and Mab's battle. Without Magecraft or Mana reinforcement, he had slain three hundred fifty-seven enemies with nothing but his own skill and a single spear.
To reenact Cú Chulainn's final stand would not be impossible—but unlike the Hound of Ulster, Shiomi had no need to bind himself to a rock. He would keep killing until the Northern Fairy army was annihilated or forced to surrender.
"It's not over." Kenrack pulled his spear from the ground. "For Mab, and for the Northern Fairies, I… we will defeat you."
"Then come."
As Shiomi spoke coolly, Kenrack roared and charged, spearpoint aimed straight for Shiomi's throat. Fierce and relentless, he thrust with all his strength.
Shiomi didn't move. He simply watched as the spear drew closer—only to stop a mere inch away, unable to advance any further.
"...Ah... ah... was it... just a little bit more..." Kenrack let out a weak laugh.
"You really think it was just that little bit more?" Shiomi stood motionless.
Kenrack's head slowly lowered. In the shadow cast behind him, the light in his eyes gradually dimmed. There was no fatal wound, and Shiomi had not struck him down.
Yet the man's life had simply run its course. Humans on the island lived barely thirty years, and even as Queen Mab's husband, he could not escape that fate.
"I thought... I could last until the war was over..." Kenrack's voice and breath grew fainter. "...to offer the Queen... victory..."
His final words faded, and he died, still frozen mid-thrust with his spear.
The once-clamorous battlefield grew silent. The clashing of blades receded into the distance. The surrounding Queen's Guard stopped moving, watching in solemn silence as they bid farewell to their fallen general.
The battle no longer had any reason to continue.
Mab, who had moments ago been locked in a deadly struggle with Aesc, suddenly descended into the encirclement—beside the body of the man who had fallen.
"Kenrack?"
The glowing Magecraft markings across Mab's body slowly dimmed. She stared in disbelief at the man who still stood frozen in his thrusting stance.
When her hand touched his body, the fragile balance shattered. Kenrack fell among the sea of corpses, eyes closed, his face still bearing a smile tinged with regret.
"You... left me?"
Kneeling slowly, Mab tenderly caressed the body that had not yet gone cold. Her voice trembled with confusion.
It might have lasted forever—or only a moment.
Shiomi stood watching in silence, his gaze never wavering.
Only when Mab finally seemed to accept that this was no illusion, but reality, did she clutch herself and release a wailing cry.
"Ahhh... why? Why?! Why didn't you wait for me? Why didn't you keep our promise? Why... did you betray me?!"
Shiomi had been about to say that the man had never betrayed her, but suddenly realized that for fairies, "betrayal" carried another meaning.
Failing to keep a promise and dying first—was its own kind of betrayal.
"Tenkei."
Aesc landed beside Shiomi. She reached out and grasped the bloodstained hem of his robe. Only after confirming that none of the blood was his did she let out a quiet breath of relief.
She then turned to Mab, her gaze full of compassion, and asked softly, "Did you kill him?"
"If leading him and the Queen's Guard to fight to the death counts... then yes, I did kill him." Shiomi shook his head. "But saying that would insult his resolve."
"His lifespan ran out..." Aesc murmured as understanding dawned.
She recalled what she had heard before the war began and understood the cause.
It was the first time Aesc had witnessed a human die simply because their life had ended, and the sight struck her deeply.
"There's no time to waste here," Shiomi said, turning away. "You've sensed it too, haven't you? The aura of the Great Calamity. Perhaps stirred by the war between the northern and southern fairies... the thousand-year Great Calamity is coming again."
"Can you still fight?" Aesc asked, concern evident in her tone.
"That's what I should be asking you," Shiomi replied with a weary smile, shaking his head.
He glanced around. The soldiers surrounding them had already stepped aside, opening a path on their own. They understood—if even their Queen had lost the will to fight, continuing held no meaning.
Mab, filled with both fury and despair, cradled her lover's lifeless body, staring blankly up at the sky.
Aesc had meant to ask if Mab would help suppress the Great Calamity, but seeing her state, she knew such a request would be meaningless.
She wanted to remark that Shiomi pulling her away like this felt a bit heartless, yet she couldn't bring herself to resist.
Suddenly, Aesc realized she was, in a way, fortunate.
The first person she had ever loved was human—yet not an ordinary one.
Two thousand years had passed like flowing water, and she had never once needed to think about losing him... or being separated by life and death.
"Even though we won and ended the war, it still feels hollow," Shiomi said quietly.
"Yes," Aesc replied softly.
...
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