Amana’s blade flashed once more, slicing through the thick hide of the writhing creature before her. It collapsed in a heap of hissing vapor.
She took a shaky breath, mana humming in her veins, her grip steadying again only thanks to the presence beside her.
lissa fought with sharp precision, efficient and unwavering. The battlefield was no place for hesitation, and yet, amidst the chaos, Amana couldn’t help herself.
"lissa, why?"
She said quietly between attacks.
lissa didn’t look at her. She pivoted, impaling a snarling beast through the neck before flicking the blood off her blade.
"Why what?"
"You saved . Just now. Wouldn’t it have been easier to let die?"
Amana murmured, parrying a clawed arm that reached too close.
That made lissa stop, just for a second. Her gaze turned to Amana, unreadable, her lips pressed into a line.
"Excuse ?"
"You would have one less romantic rival. Less competition for Kyle’s affection. It would’ve been logical.
Amana said, almost bitterly.
lissa’s eyes darkened.
"Is that what you think of ?"
Amana didn’t answer. The words hung in the air like the scent of ash and blood.
lissa scoffed.
"I’m not that cheap."
A blast of mana punctuated her statent as she sent a monster sprawling with a crackling wave of force. Her voice trembled slightly now, laced with sothing deeper than anger—conviction.
"Yes, I love the young master. I always have. But what I want doesn’t matter as much as what he needs. And he needs you, Amana. Your influence, your standing, your power."
Amana stiffened.
"That’s not—"
"I’m not done."
lissa said, stabbing her sword through another creature with feral grace.
"You think I’m doing this because I want to look good? No. I’m here because Kyle’s life, his path, his dream—those co before my heart. If he needs to stay by his side and never be more than a subordinate, I’ll do it. And if he needs you, even if it hurts, I’ll make sure you live so you can help him."
Amana’s throat tightened. A monster lunged, and she instinctively responded, her blade moving faster now, steadier.
"You’re strong."
She murmured.
"No. I’m just in love."
lissa said, fending off another wave of creatures.
The fight raged around them, but for a mont, the sounds faded into a quiet space between the two won—bound by love for the sa man, but divided by the ways they expressed it.
Amana didn’t respond right away. Her chest ached—not from any wound, but from the sharp stab of inadequacy.
Would she have done the sa? If she had been in lissa’s place, would she have had the strength to protect her rival for Kyle’s sake?
Probably not.
That bitterness curled around her thoughts like smoke, but at its core was sothing else—respect.
"I doubt I could make that choice."
She admitted quietly as they stood back-to-back, surrounded on all sides.
lissa chuckled dryly.
"Then it’s a good thing you don’t have to."
Another wave of monsters ca. Hulking things with glowing veins of divine mana, their forms twitching with unstable power.
The curse the god of justice had left behind was beginning to show. These weren’t mindless beasts anymore—they were intelligent, cunning, and filled with righteous fury.
"They’re changing."
Amana noted.
"I know. It’s happening everywhere. The others are dealing with the sa."
lissa growled.
"Then we have no ti left for emotions."
lissa gave her a half-smile.
"We never did."
They fought harder.
This ti, Amana didn’t falter.
Her mind was still haunted by whispers, by faces of people she failed to save. But lissa’s presence beside her was a grounding weight, her words still ringing in her ears.
’He needs you. Even if it hurts .’
The battlefield lit up with streaks of burning mana, the cries of monsters mixing with human shouts and steel on flesh. The tide of the battle hadn’t turned, not yet—but sothing had shifted.
Amana had found her clarity again.
And no illusion, no monster, no lingering guilt would tear it from her now.
The clash of steel, the roar of monsters, and the screams of the dying finally began to quiet. It wasn’t sudden—more like a dying storm, receding in waves.
One by one, the cursed creatures fell. The divine mana that had sustained their forms flickered out like candles snuffed in the wind.
Amana drove her sword into the last monster in front of her. Its form spasd, twisted violently, and then disintegrated into black ash. She stood still, shoulders heaving, eyes sweeping the battlefield to confirm: it was over.
lissa, bloodied and panting, walked up beside her, wiping her blade against a tattered cloth.
"That’s the last of them in this sector."
"Sa here."
Amana replied, voice low. She took a long breath. The air was thick with the scent of ozone and blood.
All across the field, soldiers collapsed to their knees. So wept. Others scread into the ground, letting the adrenaline drain out of their bones.
Victory was theirs, but it had co at a price.
Too many bodies lay strewn in the dirt—both human and monster. And many of the dead still bore the twisted features of those who had once been sothing else, sothing worse, sothing holy and vile.
Amana turned her gaze toward the distant hill where Kyle’s figure now stood. The glow of battle around him was gone, his sword lowered but still slick with black ichor.
Nigel stood beside him, slightly hunched, looking just as exhausted as everyone else.
Amana swallowed.
"We survived."
lissa didn’t say anything. She just looked down at her hand—still trembling slightly—and clenched it into a fist.
Several of the commanders began to regroup. Healers rushed to the wounded. Scouts were sent to confirm whether any more monsters remained in hiding.
Amana signaled her aides and began issuing orders, keeping herself busy—anything to avoid thinking too hard about what had just happened.
But then Kyle began walking down the hill.
His pace was slow, deliberate. His armor was cracked, one sleeve torn and blood seeping from under it.
Yet his eyes held that sa unshakable calm they always did, like even the weight of divine wrath had been sothing he’d expected and prepared for.
Amana and lissa both turned to face him.
Kyle stopped in front of them.
"Is it over here?"
"For now. We cleared this side. No more monsters left standing."
lissa replied with a tired breath.
Kyle nodded.
"Good."
There was a pause. The wind rustled the broken flags planted across the field.
lissa broke the silence first.
"They were talking. The monsters. Using illusions. Trying to get into our heads."
Kyle nodded again.
"I know. They were the god’s last curse. He tried to fracture our spirits before his end. But now... he’s truly gone. No more tricks."
Amana looked up.
"Then... it’s really over?"
Kyle’s expression shifted slightly—more solemn now.
"This battle is over. But what the god of justice left behind... it will linger. His shards are gone, his consciousness shattered—but the poison remains. Twisted ideologies, remnants of his power, monsters with a sense of righteousness. We’ve won today, but not the war."
Neither lissa nor Amana responded imdiately.
Instead, they both looked out across the battlefield—the wounded being tended to, the dead being carried off, the flags being raised again.
They had survived.
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