Silence settled heavily over Southwatch. It was not the gentle, resting silence of peace, but the heavy, suffocating hush that always followed catastrophic loss.
Rose remained kneeling on the shattered, ash-covered stones, Cherry's head resting limply in her lap. Her tears fell freely, dripping from her chin into the tangled strands of Cherry's hair.
"…Please wake up…" Rose whispered, her voice fracturing.
Lily quietly covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking violently as she failed to hold back her sobbing. A few paces away, Orchid looked away from the scene wiping at her eyes, while Iris stood entirely frozen; her fists trembling so hard at her sides that her knuckles turned white.
River slowly sank to her knees beside her fallen friend, her expression desperate. "We can't give up on her…"
She held out her hands, forcing a faint blue light to manifest over Cherry's chest. But the healing spell barely formed before flickering like a dying candle. River's vision blurred, and she swayed dangerously to the side.
"…No…" The blue light dissolved into nothingness. "I'm… I'm entirely out…"
Before she could collapse onto the hard stone, Sage caught her securely.
"I've got you," Sage murmured.
River buried her face against Sage's shoulder, her voice breaking into a raw, painful sob. "I'm so sorry… I can't save her… I don't have enough mana left…"
"There is absolutely nothing to apologize for," Sage held her upright, despite the deep, aching exhaustion pulling at her own limbs. "Sister, you have already saved countless lives today."
From the edge of the clearing, the elder of Southwatch slowly limped over, leaning heavily on a intricately carved wooden staff. She looked from the grieving circle of elves down to Cherry's pale, unmoving face.
"…Such a beautiful young lady," the elder murmured softly.
Leaning on her staff, the elder lowered herself carefully to the ground. She placed her weathered, wrinkled hands over the wound, and a soft, green healing magic began to flow from her palms. It was a gentle, ancient energy, washing over Cherry's body in waves. Then, it faded away. Nothing changed.
The elder slowly closed her eyes, letting her hands drop. "…Her spirit no longer answers my call."
Rose shook her head angrily, fresh tears spilling over. "No… that can't be…"
The elder gently rested a hand upon Cherry's cold shoulder, her tired eyes softening with profound reverence. "She died protecting her king. There can be no greater or more honorable act of courage."
The weight of the words only made the girls cry harder, the sound of their grief echoing through the ruined square.
A quiet, rough groan suddenly interrupted the mourning. "…Mmm…"
Every head snapped up. Kaito slowly opened his eyes, blinking several times against the harsh glare of the rising sun. His head pounded with a vicious, rhythmic ache.
"…Huh…?" He pushed himself upright with a grimace, rubbing his temples. "Where… what happened?"
The elves stared at him in a mixture of shock and dawning relief.
"Kaito!" Rose gasped, a fleeting smile touching her face before she remembered the heavy weight still resting in her lap.
Kaito looked around at the devastation in sheer confusion. "The monster… where is it?"
No one answered him immediately. Sage's brows slowly furrowed as she stepped closer, watching his face with intense scrutiny. "…You do not remember?"
Kaito looked up at her blankly, adjusting his glasses. "Remember what?"
"You defeated it, Kaito." Sage replied.
"…I did?" Kaito said, while scratching his head.
Sage's heartbeat quickened. "Do you remember how you did it?"
Kaito frowned, squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to force his mind through the fog. "…No. Just fragments. I remember Cherry shouting… I remember the monster charging at us. Then… nothing. I only remember Cherry throwing herself in front of me."
His expression suddenly shifted as the memory took root. He looked down at his own body. His royal clothes were almost entirely destroyed, torn to tattered rags, and his muscles ached fiercely. Yet, as he checked his skin, there were only dark bruises and shallow scratches where deep, fatal wounds should have been.
"…How am I even alive?" he breathed.
Sage remained silent, her sharp eyes mapping every line of his face. That terrifying, transcendent white magic from before—he couldn't recall any of it.
River noticed the deep, uneasy calculation tightening Sage's features. "Sage? What's wrong?"
"We'll talk later," Sage replied quietly. She couldn't explain it yet. Not until she understood the nature of that power herself.
Then, Kaito's eyes finally drifted to where Rose was kneeling. His breath caught in his throat, and his heart felt as though it had completely stopped beating.
"…Cherry!"
Ignoring the sudden spike of pain in his legs and the frantic voices of the girls calling after him, he scrambled to his feet. He stumbled across the stones, dropping heavily to his knees beside Rose.
"Oh no…," he said, his voice dropping to a hollow whisper.
Rose silently shifted, wiping her eyes as Kaito gently slid his arms beneath Cherry, lifting her unmoving form securely into his embrace. She felt entirely too still. Too cold against his skin.
"…No…" His tears came immediately, hot and fast, tracing paths through the soot on his cheeks. "I'm sorry…" He held her tightly against his chest, burying his face in her shoulder. "I'm so so sorry…"
Nobody interrupted him. The maidens simply knelt in the dirt, sharing the crushing weight of his grief.
"This is all my fault. I was supposed to protect everyone," Kaito's shoulders trembled as he squeezed her hand. "What kind of king lets one of his own people die. I'm completely useless."
"Kaito, you're not useless," Sage answered quietly from behind him, but he didn't seem to hear her.
"Yes I am, and I'm weak," he muttered fiercely.
"Kaito—" Rose tried softly.
"I couldn't even protect one of the people I…" His voice caught in his throat, a heavy sob choking out the words. "… I love so deeply."
Silence fell over the hollow square again. Kaito looked down at Cherry's peaceful, pale face, staring at her closed eyes. Then, out of nowhere, a ridiculous, desperate thought entered his mind.
"…This is going to sound very stupid," he whispered, his eyes fixed on her. The girls looked at him through their tears, listening. "Back on Earth… we have these old fairy tales. Stories where true love's kiss can wake someone from an enchanted sleep." He let out a weak, self-deprecating laugh. "It's silly really."
Lily blinked, her voice trembling. "…They do?"
"Yeah. It's just a story." Kaito reached out, his fingers remarkably gentle as he brushed a loose strand of wine-red hair behind Cherry's pointed ear. "But… I love all of you very dearly and I'm not giving up."
With a deep, shaky breath, Kaito leaned down. He closed his eyes and gently pressed his lips against Cherry's.
The entire village fell perfectly silent. Everyone watched, holding their breath, waiting for a miracle that deep down, they knew belonged only to legends.
Nothing happened.
Kaito remained still for a long moment, then slowly lifted his head, his chest aching with a profound, empty weight. "…Yeah." He smiled sadly, his voice cracking. "I figured. I should've known… this isn't one of those fairytale stories."
The elder quietly shook her head, her hand resting on her staff. "Her mana has completely faded, my child."
"So has her life spirit," River whispered, looking down at the stones.
Sage closed her eyes, her voice heavy with a grounding, ancient sorrow. "Even kings cannot stop the inevitable."
Kaito nodded slowly, his posture slumping completely. He looked out over the ruined, smoking battlefield of Southwatch. "So that was the real lesson of this trial? You just can't save everyone…"
Sage looked at him, her expression shifting. "…No."
He blinked, turning to look at her.
"The lesson of the Fourth Trial was never about choosing who would live or die," Sage said firmly, kneeling in the dirt directly beside him. "It was about whether you would attempt to shoulder the entire burden of kingship alone. And you refused to do so. You relied upon us and inspired cooperation when everything was falling apart." A small, deeply proud smile appeared on Sage's exhausted face. "You have passed the Fourth Trial, Kaito."
Kaito stared at her, utterly stunned. "…I passed?"
She nodded. "A selfish king makes a bitter choice. Your decisions were wise and displayed true leadership."
For a brief, fleeting moment, Kaito felt a surge of warmth in his chest, but as he looked back down at Cherry, the victory felt entirely hollow. He gently took her hand, squeezing her limp fingers. "…Goodbye, Cherry." His thumb softly brushed across her knuckles. "I always loved your gorgeous red hair."
Rose gave a watery, breathless laugh through her tears. "Don't forget her fiery attitude."
"And her stubbornness," Kaito smiled weakly, his face flushing despite the grief choking his throat. "You were definitely going to be one of my brides someday… whether you liked it or not."
Several of the girls let out broken, emotional laughs through their crying.
Kaito chuckled weakly, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "…You were a huge weakness for me. Such a sassy little thing. Anyway…Rest well, Cherry…"
As he began to pull his hand away, a sudden, shocking sensation travelled through his palm.
Warmth.
"…?" Kaito froze, his breath hitching.
A gentle, deep emerald glow suddenly began to shine brightly from beneath the tattered fabric of his shirt. The light grew rapidly brighter, casting long shadows across the dirt. The girls gasped in unison, drawing back. The brilliant radiance spread outward from the center of Kaito's chest, flowing like liquid fire down both of his arms and straight into his trembling hands.
Kaito stared in absolute amazement as his palms began to radiate a pure, blinding green aura. "…What's happening?"
Sage's eyes widened to their absolute limits, her breath completely escaping her. "No… it can't be…" She had seen the illustrations. The forbidden, ancient records. The wild stories dismissed as mere myths. "…Impossible…"
River looked between Kaito's glowing hands and Sage's horrified expression. "What is it, Sage?"
Sage could only whisper a single, trembling sentence. "…The Primordial Restoration…"
Kaito looked down at his palms, a fierce, desperate hope instantly igniting in his chest. "…Can this… can this save her?"
Without waiting for an answer, he gently placed both of his glowing hands flat over the fatal wound in Cherry's side. The emerald light surged violently upon contact, exploding outward in a massive wave that completely enveloped Cherry's entire body. The light became so intense, so blinding, that the surrounding elves were forced to shield their eyes.
Kaito gritted his teeth, pouring every single ounce of his intent into her body. "…Come on… please!"
The heat intensified until it was nearly suffocating. Kaito's breathing became ragged, a deep, draining exhaustion tugging at his mind as it felt like every remaining bit of his life force was being drawn straight into the spell. His arms shook rapidly under the pressure.
"I won't lose her!" he roared into the light.
The emerald radiance flared one final, brilliant time, illuminating the entire ruined square of Southwatch. Kaito cried out, fighting with everything he had just to stay conscious as the world spun.
Then, with a soft hum, the light vanished.
An absolute, breathless silence fell over the square. Nobody dared to move; nobody dared to breathe. Kaito slowly lifted his hands.
Cherry's fatal wound was completely gone. In its place, smooth, unblemished skin remained where the terrible injury had been just moments before.
Then—a small, sharp intake of breath rattled in Cherry's chest.
Rose gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. "…Cherry?"
Cherry's long eyelashes fluttered weakly. Slowly, beautifully, her green eyes opened. She blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision, before focusing entirely on the tear-stained face hovering directly above her.
"…Kaito…?" she whispered softly.
For several agonizing seconds, nobody moved. The reality of the moment hung in the air until, all at once, every single elf in the square erupted into chaotic, joyous cheers.
"She's alive! She's breathing!" Rose burst into fresh tears, throwing her arms completely around Cherry's shoulders.
Cherry looked utterly confused, wincing slightly at the tight hug. "…Why is everyone crying so much?"
Kaito let out a shaky, profoundly relieved laugh, his chest heaving. "You…" his voice cracked as he reached out, cupping her face. "You scared us half to death, you idiot."
Before he could overthink it or let his nerves get the better of him, Kaito leaned forward and pressed his lips firmly against hers. It was a brief, soft, incredibly pure kiss—born entirely out of the sheer relief of having her back.
Cherry froze solid in his arms. Within a fraction of a second, her face turned the exact same shade of color as her hair.
"…Y-You…" she stammered, her tough exterior completely shattering as she buried her face in his tattered shirt. She couldn't even finish the sentence.
The other elf maidens' deep despair was instantly replaced by vibrant laughter. The surrounding villagers looked on in beautiful disbelief, and even the stern elder smiled through her tears, leaning peacefully on her staff.
Kaito rested his forehead gently against Cherry's, a soft smile on his lips. "Don't ever scare us like that again."
Cherry looked up at him, then glanced around at the circle of her friends. Rose was crying uncontrollably with a massive smile, River was wiping her eyes with a bright grin, Lily was openly sobbing tears of joy, and Orchid and Iris were laughing in absolute relief. Even Sage's usually unreadable face had completely softened.
Cherry's lips curved into a soft, uncharacteristically sweet smile. "…Sorry," she murmured weakly, reaching up to cup Kaito's cheek with what little strength she had. "I'm… I'm really glad you're the one holding me right now."
Kaito put his hand over hers, his heart full. "So am I, Cherry."
A few steps away, the sudden release of tension caught up to Sage, and her body swayed. River immediately caught her arm, her brow furrowing with concern. "Sage? Are you alright?"
Sage didn't answer. She simply stared at Kaito, at Cherry, and at the tiny, fading traces of emerald light still dancing lazily across his fingertips. Her breathing was entirely unsteady, her mind racing through the implications of what she had just witnessed.
"…First the transcendent white light…" she whispered to herself, her knees trembling. "…Now a primordial myth…"
She felt completely dizzy as the ancient texts flashed through her mind.
"…What exactly… have the gods sent to our world?"