The place I headed after leaving the Loki Familia was the city wall, a spot I had always loved to visit.
Ais and I were alike in that regard; whenever either of us had something weighing on our minds, we tended to seek out the city wall.
But... honestly, I hadn't been expecting much.
"I knew it."
The city wall was empty. In the place where a familiar golden figure usually stood, there was nothing but a cold, drifting wind.
If it were the Ais I knew, she would have been here.
And the fact that she wasn't meant that, as I feared...
So this is how badly I wanted to confirm it...
Even after hearing Materia's words, I hadn't been able to shake the lingering doubt within me.
I wanted to know for sure. I wanted to see if she truly was no longer the girl I knew.
She really... isn't.
In this moment, I became certain.
She was not the Ais Wallenstein I knew.
"..."
Emotions too complex for words welled up inside me.
It was a mixture of emptiness and sorrow, a feeling that was simultaneously nostalgic and cruel.
What was I supposed to do now?
The thought surfaced unconsciously.
This was the turning point. I could feel it instinctively.
A turning point toward what?
A choice for whose sake?
I didn't have the answers, but I had a premonition: soon, a time would come for a choice that could never be undone.
"What a miserable-looking fellow."
"!"
Had I been so lost in my thoughts that I didn't even notice someone approaching?
I turned around to find a woman with gray hair standing there.
"Arphia...?"
"You pathetic fool. You claim to be looking for the girl, so why are you loafing around here?"
Why was Arphia here?
No, more importantly, how did she know I was looking for Ais?
Did Materia tell her?
She didn't seem like the type to do that.
Perhaps she had overheard my conversation with Materia. Maybe she had business with her younger sister and happened to catch the details...
But why follow me?
Even if she had overheard, it didn't give her a reason to trail after me.
"Are you just going to stand there staring?"
"Ah...!"
Right, now wasn't the time to nitpick. I could ask her later... and besides, it wasn't even something that truly required an explanation.
For now, finding Ais had to be the priority—
"Guh?!"
"Hm...?"
Suddenly, the earth trembled.
I could hear the rage of the Dungeon.
This is...!
It was a sensation I had felt once before.
An ominous premonition surged through me.
No way, it can't be...!
I kicked off the ground and sprang forward.
My destination was the Dungeon.
Please, let me not be too late.
With that desperate prayer, I sprinted toward the Dungeon.
*
"Haah... haah..."
Kill them. Kill the monsters.
That single thought consumed Ais's mind.
She had dreamed.
She saw her father's back as he swung his sword.
Her golden eyes watched him.
She was sitting in the shade of a tree under the warm sunlight, together with her mother.
Her father was shy and rarely liked to show his training, but when her mother begged him like a child, he would eventually give in.
Though he seemed reluctant at first, once he began to swing his sword, he became utterly absorbed. Watching his dignified profile, her mother would smile, gazing at him in a daze.
He was the girl's hero.
She knew that the dazzling sword aura could wound anything in its path.
There were times when she had found the cold, sharp gleam of that blade frightening.
But that was not a sword meant to hurt people; it was a sword meant to protect them.
A sword that protected himself, her mother, and everyone else.
From the moment she realized that, he became her pride, her aspiration, and her hero.
The hero she had dreamed of. The swordsman her mother loved.
Eventually, her father finished his training and returned to the shade of the tree.
As she greeted him with a bright smile, he brushed back his bangs, which were swaying in the breeze, and smiled back.
—Ais.
The warm moments continued.
It felt as though they would last forever.
She believed they would be together always.
The swordsman and the wind smiled upon her.
And then, the memory of the past snapped.
The girl's sword stopped.
It didn't matter, however. Every monster in the vicinity was already dead.
Standing atop a mountain of corpses created by endless slaughter, the girl resented herself, her memories, and the scenes of the past.
"Why..."
Why show her such a scene now?
She had hit the wall of [Limit], and she could no longer forget everything and simply run forward.
Why was no one... doing anything?
I am right here.
I am right here.
"Ah... I have to... fight..."
She had to fight.
The past would never return.
She had to grow stronger. She had to avenge everyone.
Only she could do it.
She was the only one who could.
Ais gripped her sword once more and pushed deeper into the Dungeon.
That was when it happened.
"So you're finally alone~?"
"?!"
A voice reached her ears.
A chill ran down her spine.
It was an instinctive revulsion.
She didn't need to think about what the hatred was directed toward.
It was something any living creature would recognize.
"Hellooo~?"
The most primal fear shared by all living things.
"My name is Thanatos."
Death, wearing a human form, had come for her.
*
Rewinding time a bit, to several weeks prior.
"Ah— ah—"
"What is the matter, Lord Thanatos?"
The lament of a male god echoed.
"That Daughter of the Spirit. Isn't that just cheating?"
"Cheating, you say...?"
"I'm talking about that rabbit."
Thanatos had planned to strike when the Loki Familia executives were absent, intending to either recruit Ais to his side or simply kill her.
Even if he failed once or twice, if he persisted, the girl would eventually die.
She was walking such a ruinous path that if she were to die an accidental death along the way, no one would even suspect foul play.
Yes, that was how it should have gone... but.
"I mean, why is that rabbit sticking to her like glue when he's not even part of the Loki Familia~?"
Ais was rarely alone.
He had been told that if he didn't act now, there would be no other chance, but...
"Seriously, who is that guy?"
No matter how deep he dug, no information on the rabbit ever surfaced.
The only thing his investigations had revealed was that the boy was monstrously strong.
"No matter how I look at it, that guy alone is stronger than Loki's kids, right? Right? Hey?"
"It would seem so..."
At first, he hadn't thought it was a major issue.
He assumed it was just some misplaced heroism.
They were strangers, after all. He was certain the rabbit would play along for a while and then disappear once he grew bored.
But contrary to his expectations, the rabbit's attitude toward the girl was nothing short of absolute devotion—
"There's no opening!"
The rabbit never left her side for a single moment, guarding every direction so vigilantly that approaching her—let alone observing her—was nearly impossible.
In the beginning, they only spent time together occasionally, but for the past month, it had been like this every single day.
If he had known it would be this bad, he would have just ambushed her while she was with [Nine Hell]!
He lamented his choice, but complaining didn't turn back the clock.
In the end, did he risk the danger and try? Or did he succumb to the risk and give up?
Just as the god's dilemma reached its peak—
"Are you Thanatos?"
"...Huh?"
A red-haired woman appeared, cleaving through the Dungeon.