She didn't know how much time had passed as she lay next to him, hugging his cold body, trying to warm it, burying her face in his hair. Unconcerned by the clash of swords around her, or the screaming, or the fires. No one else mattered. He was all that mattered.
She had placed his arm around her waist so he could hold her, his cold hand on her aching body, which was covered in wounds.
His hands…
Is it… moving?
Inini bolted up with joy and screamed, "Arlo??"
Was she imagining it? Or had Arlo just moved?
They were all wrong.
Arlo… was still alive.
Arlo woke up, sat up straight, looking around. Everything seemed strange. Even this body of his felt strange.
That girl in front of him… he recognized her.
Inini's heart trembled when she heard his voice say, "Inini…"
Tears poured from her eyes, and her entire body shook. It was Arlo. Arlo had woken up. God had heard her prayers and pleas.
Arlo opened his eyes. Arlo had awakened.
Even though his once-green eyes had turned a deep red like fire… he had awakened.
Arlo continued, "That's your name, right? The owner of this body still remembers it…"
"What…"
Arlo gave a wide grin as he went on, "Tell me, Inini… why I'm so lucky to inhabit a body after all these years and find a pretty girl in my arms…"
"What??"
Inini's mouth hung open, and she said, "Arlo…"
The closer the crowds came, the more faces they recognized among them… they were the people of Byal. Their own folks.
Fojta, stepping backward, said, "What is this… why are their souls red?"
Rin, his body trembling as he stared at them, said, "They're possessed by the fires… I had my doubts when he kept reciting Exlazira's name…"
Berko spoke brokenly as he backed away in tears, "Why… why won't it end… stop now… leave me alone…"
Mika raised his weapon and looked around in fear as he moved closer to his brother, "Wait… wait… Ayk… what is this, brother… why… why are all of Bial's people like this…"
Ayk said worriedly, "I don't know… I really don't know what's happening…"
Mika cried out in panic, "Don't tell me 'I don't know'!! What should I do? I don't want to fight any of them! Do something!"
Ayk grabbed his shoulder and shouted, "Mika!!"
Mika looked at him in terror, and Ayk said gently, "It's okay… you've been fighting alone all this time… I'm here now… you don't have to figure everything out by yourself…"
Mika wiped his eyes, saying, "I'm tired… I'm really tired today…"
They all stood there, bodies exhausted and bleeding, watching as the people of Byal surrounded them…
Seeta stood, facing her mother, her heart pounding violently. She stammered as she spoke, "M-Mother… what's going on… are you okay?"
Seeta's mother laughed, "My God, I haven't had a body in decades… but why'd they give me this skinny old woman's body… I wanted a body like that girl's!"
Seeta hesitated, "M-mother… w-what's wrong with you…? Are you still angry with me?"
Some man beside her said, "LichAyka… we're not here to enjoy these humans' bodies… we're here to carry out Lazith's command…"
He handed her something.
That man… was her father? Why was he calling her mother that name…
Seeta's eyes filled with tears, and she kept murmuring, "Why aren't you answering me… mother…"
Seeta's mother moved closer, twirling something in her hand.
"I was going to come back again, mother… I didn't mean…"
But Seeta's mother said, "You… are her daughter? Did you do something for her? Is that why I feel this pain in her heart…"
Seeta mumbled, "What are you saying… why are you saying this, mother…"
Her mother kept twirling something in her hand… but Seeta couldn't see it. All she saw was her mother's face… and her red eyes.
She felt her mother's hot body pressing against her… and something cold, metallic, piercing her stomach.
Seeta doubled over, blood flowing from her mouth. Before she could collapse, her mother caught her and said, "Do you know what your mother is thinking? Why god why did you give such bad daughter…"
Then she let her fall to the ground, cackling, "How I love these human bodies!"
Seeta lay on the ground, bleeding from her stomach and mouth, writhing, gripping her stomach with one hand and supporting herself with the other, repeating,
"I'll go home… I'll go back to you and my sister… don't leave me, mother… I'm sorry…"
Ayk smashed the man in front of him with the butt of his weapon, shouting angrily, "Get out of Uncle Lerka's body, you bastard!!"
Blood streamed from the man's head, but he didn't move. He stood with his red eyes and laughed, "What's so special about this body for you to get that angry, huh? He's fat… slows me down… no skills or power for me to use!"
Ayk struck him harder this time and roared in anger, "Then get out of his fat body, you scum!!"
The man stood straight again… with that gash in his head… bleeding… yet still wore that terrifying grin… not affected.
Ayk finally understood…
Meanwhile, Mika had rushed to Seeta, who had fallen after her mother stabbed her. Mika cried out in horror, "Seeta!! Are you alright??"
She didn't respond, spitting blood from her mouth.
He held her face in his hands, worried, "This isn't the first time we've been stabbed in the gut! Come on, stand up! Get up!"
She didn't answer. She only kept repeating with blue lips, "Mother…"
Mika, troubled, glanced anxiously at the crowd growing around them.
"So what if she doesn't want you… that doesn't matter! You still want her! Don't give up, Seeta!"
Nearby, Ayk backed away from the smiling man, saying, "They don't feel pain…"
Mika said to him, "What?"
Ayk said, "They don't feel any pain… they won't fall, no matter how much you hit them…"
Mika shouted in worry, striking the person in front of him, "Then strike at their legs! Stop them from moving… but don't kill them, Ayk! Do you hear me?!"
He roared, "Do all of you hear me!! Knock them down, no matter what… but if you kill even one of them… I'll kill you myself!!"
Fojta looked around, almost regretting her decision to return to the battlefield. But she couldn't leave him there alone after he saved her…
She heard a familiar voice… one she never thought she'd be happy to hear.
Fojta turned eagerly.
"Azzar…"
He's back!
Azzar was standing before her, his body full of gaping wounds, his clothes covered in blood, his eyes blazing red.
Fojta said, "Azzar…"
The man tilted his head side to side and said, "You… the one-eyed girl…"
She mumbled, "What…"
Azzar laughed, "This body has some memories of you…"
He approached her, saying, "It seems his favorite memories… were when you were eleven years old…"
Fojta backed away, "Stop…"
He put his hand on her face, saying, "How obedient you were back then…"
Tears streamed down her face, "Stop…"
She didn't want to think about that now…
Fojta collapsed to the ground, crying.
Azzar took out his weapon from his pocket, a wide grin on his face.
And just before he could stab her… Rin came running at him.
Fojta screamed, "No!!!"
She looked at Rin, whose bloodied hands trembled… and at the weapon that pierced Azzar's heart.
Then she collapsed in tears, "Why… why wouldn't they ruin his last words to me… why wouldn't they at least give me that…"
Rin looked at his own hands… and at Fojta… then at Azzar.
He didn't notice Mika who was rushing toward him, screaming…
Mika grabbed Rin by the collar, yelling hysterically, "Rin, you bastard, if you don't care about them, we do!! Why did you kill them?! I told you to just knock them down!!"
Rin was silent, not responding.
Mika shook him, screaming in rage, "What!! Answer me, you white-souled fool!!"
Tears glistened in Mika's eyes as he shouted angrily, "Don't you see us as human?! Don't they deserve saving?!"
Eita looked at Rin, who refused to answer, and said, "He gets it… don't you?"
Mika turned, "Gets what?"
Without looking at him, Rin said, "It's pointless…"
Mika slammed Rin against the wall violently, his rage growing, "What are you talking about?! Don't just say these short sentences—tell me what the hell is going on!!!"
Rin answered, "The fires only inhabit bodies if their owners' souls have already died…"
Mika's eyes widened in horror, "What?"
Rin said, "They've all already died… all of them…"
Ayk looked in utter shock.
Rin's hands trembled as he muttered, "But… why do I still feel like I killed someone… why can I taste blood in my throat… I thought… I thought it would feel different…"
Mika let go of him, "Impossible…"
Mika looked at Eita, body wavering as if caught in the wind, "Is that true…?"
Eita said, "It's what they wanted… they wanted to atone for their sins…"
Mika, "What do you mean…"
Mika was dizzy… looking around… he recognized the faces crowding around him. Moments ago, he had been fighting to save them.
He took a few slow steps toward Eita, still glancing around, as though lost, "What do you mean…"
Some of the possessed townspeople of Bial stood in front of Eita to protect her.
Mika stopped, head lowered, "Move…"
One of them said, "You will not approach Lazith's vessel! We won't allow it!"
Mika repeated, voice trembling, "Move…"
Another said, "You of filthy blood… don't come near your masters!!"
Mika set a hand over his face, "How… how…"
His face contorted, and in a voice barely above a whisper, he said, "Don't stand there with those faces… and tell me this!! It's me!!"
He dropped his hand from his face and screamed, "Mika!! Mika, the annoying boy who works at Skiki's! That's me…"
Eita couldn't hide her smile as she said, "It's useless…"
Eita couldn't hide her smile as she said, "It's useless… Yes, you can kill the fire-possessed ones who don't recognize you anymore… but none of them are alive. You're only easing their pain. They're already gone, Mika."
Mika shook his head slowly. "No… I don't believe that. They looked at me. I know they did…"
Rin muttered, "Because their last memories linger… but not their souls."
Eita continued, "You still think of them as the people they were. But those bodies—they're nothing more than puppets, housing wrath and regret. They don't know you."
Mika clenched his fists. "Then why do they speak… like them?"
"They're fragments," she replied. "Ghosts of what once was. You saw Seeta's mother, didn't you? You saw how twisted she became… That's what happens when fire clings to memory but has no soul to bind to. And now, Lazith feeds on those remnants… using them."
Mika stumbled back. "No… Seeta… She thought her mother was still—"
"She wasn't," Rin interrupted. "She died the moment the veil tore."
Mika fell to his knees. His voice cracked. "Then what are we fighting for?"
Ayk stepped forward, placing a hand on Mika's shoulder. "We're fighting so no one else becomes like them. So their suffering ends here."
Mika looked up at him, tears streaking his face. "And if we fail?"
"Then we make sure we don't," Ayk replied. "We finish this. Together."