Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume14 Chapter6 (section)

===Part 18===

Fear watched the scene in shock.

"Ah... Huff..."

With her right arm chopped off, Lilyhowell advanced unsteadily.

Nirushaaki did not move from her position. Hence, it looked as though Lilyhowell hugged Nirushaaki. With the opponent clearly struggling to approach her, yet the reason why Nirushaaki remained at her position was very obvious. Because there was no need to move.

Pierced through Lilyhowell's abdomen, Kotetsu's blade was protruding far out from her back.

"It is over, knight of the Knights Dominion."

"H-Ha&mdash;"

For some reason, Lilyhowell laughed instead in a hoarse voice. While coughing blood from the depths of her throat.

"This is what Laurica experienced... back then..."

"...?"

Using her trembling left hand, Lilyhowell reached behind her and drew out a sword. The white sword&mdash;Fear had forgotten its name&mdash;that Haruaki had used for training. However, Lilyhowell's hand could not possibly still have strength remaining. Simply pulling the sword out of its scabbard was already a miracle. Then holding the sword, the hand dangled powerlessly.

Nirushaaki originally intended to pull Kotetsu out from Lilyhowell's abdomen to handle the situation, but then gave off vibes like she had decided there was no need to do that&mdash;

In contrast&mdash;Lilyhowell was giving off vibes that said "everything needed to be done is now done."

Then she grinned.

"Laurica and I... have both experienced it now. If you were left out, it would be too unfair, right...?"



Instantly, Nirushaaki felt a chill instinctively.

After chopping off Lilyhowell's arm, she had immediately switched masks to «Tutasgai of the Future» in order to guard her back. Using semi-transparent images, this ability displayed the future positions of nearby people on her retina. Within this mask's time limit, at least within the next minute, no one could secretly get behind her. Fear-in-Cube, Muramasa, as well as the girls that were treating the boy, none of them were positioned somewhere that could ambush her back. A sniping attack from outside her sensing range? But bullets did not work to begin with.

Nevertheless, what was with this sense of chill?

Why did this woman laugh&mdash;?

Just as she was thinking these thoughts...

Stab.

Nirushaaki felt a sword pierce deeply into her back.

"What...?"

Lilyhowell was still locked in a trembling embrace with her. Nirushaaki looked behind herself but there was not a single person there.


A certain object was holding the hilt of the black sword that had stabbed into her back&mdash;

It was only Lilyhowell's arm, which Nirushaaki had chopped off just earlier, shaking there while holding the sword.


Nirushaaki turned her face, intending to use «Rew of the Present» to escape, but failed to switch masks. For some reason, there was something wrong with her body. Her five senses had never experienced this before. Discomfort was rioting in the depths of her body.

"You..."

"Hu, hu, haa!"

Both a laugh and a painful breath. The flying black sword had not only pierced Nirushaaki but also Lilyhowell who was hugging her tightly to seal off her movements. For Lilyhowell, this was a second penetration.

Although she did not understand the details in how it worked...

But this was basically what happened. Nirushaaki comprehended.

"From the very start, you intended to sacrifice your own life in exchange for mine&mdash;?"

She felt a pulsation inside her own body. How long ago was the last time she was aware of a pulsating existence within herself? Usually, this core of her existence did not even register in her awareness. Only after shaking irregularly did she discover for the first time.

Were the people she looked down upon in the past like this as well?

Warriors, knights, people close to the dragon, people far from the dragon, people seeking the unknown, people filled with familial love, people who knew about curses, as well as people who did not know about curses.

All of them were now slumbering eternally six feet under as ashen remains.

Each one of them must have felt this&mdash;the pulsation of termination.

Becoming someone who would never know this feeling to the very end was precisely the pinnacle of the journey she sought. Well then, now that she was experiencing this pulsation, she was no longer on that path.

Indeed&mdash;She was currently falling. Her entire body was instantly enveloped by a floating feeling, simply a few seconds' buffer before she headed off somewhere else.

If one fell down on a gentle hill, it would be possible to stand up again to continue climbing up. But if one fell from a sheer cliff, everything would end all at once. Namely, the higher one climbed, the deeper one would fall.

Ever since understanding this point, to this date she had always prepared herself while advancing with her eyes focused straight ahead.

Hence, right now, since this valorous opponent had successfully attacked her back for the first time by treating her own life as a disposable weapon...

The final fate guided by her resolve was obvious, requiring no explanation.

"...Lilyhowell Kilmister... Superb..."

Then fall, proudly.

Fall to the same place as them.

Taking on the same appearance as ashen remains.

In the end, does this imply that I am still quite far away from the pinnacle leading to the dragon? &mdash;Those were her final thoughts.

With a greatly refreshing feeling, she closed her eyes under the mask.