CH 666

In a forest on the outskirts of the imperial capital.

Christina did not tell Anna and Louis Ancton everything that had transpired.

Saviolin Turner had attacked the underground laboratory.

She could only flee with them, and now the laboratory had been destroyed.

That was as far as she explained.

She deliberately withdrew the Immortals, or that she re-engaged them to kill the Demon King.

She didn't bother mentioning those things that wouldn't make them feel any better.

Anna and Louis were both astonished by the fact that they couldn't stop even one Saviolin Turner.

The empire had interfered with the Immortals so they could no longer be restored, but in the end, it was Diane's situation that mattered most.

Christina had watched the entire battle of the Immortals.

She tried to prioritize killing the Demon King, but he kept eluding them like a rat using the monsters.

Neither could she kill Harriet nor Liana, not with the sudden appearance of the unexpected monster, Cliffman.

It was a blood-curdling feeling.

The Immortals continued to be destroyed, and their losses couldn't be recovered.

As if knowing this would happen, she only used the Immortals to escape.

And then.

Christina saw it.

The arrival of an unknown, colossal monster.

Its overwhelming and unfathomable presence.

But before she could truly feel fear from the destruction and disaster it caused, she saw it being cut down by Ellen Artorius.

Christina had a hunch.

The Gate incident had ended.

However, before that, something more shocking happened to Christina.

Seeing Christina with wide-open eyes and blood on her lips from biting them so hard, Louis Ancton cautiously asked.

"Christina, what's wrong?"

"…Scarlett."

At those words, not only Louis but also Anna's expression hardened.

"Scarlett, and Kono Lint… They're destroying the Immortals."

Scarlett, who should have been safely evacuated somewhere in the city, was breaking the Immortals alongside Kono Lint as they moved through the battlefield.

There wasn't even a fight.

As Scarlett used her power where the Immortals were, they simply turned to dust and disappeared.

Her power was absolute against the Immortals.

Scarlett could do what was impossible for Ellen or Saviolin Turner.

It was certain that Scarlett was on the side of the Demon King.

But since when?

"Scarlett…?"

"Yes."

Louis Ancton asked with a puzzled expression, and Christina slowly nodded her head.

"Scarlett betrayed us."

Christina spoke in a low, twisted voice.

There was no way to know the reason or circumstances that led Scarlett to be there.

Ludwig's words that they could trust Scarlett had turned out to be nonsense from a naive fool.

They should have killed her.

But the Immortals could never kill Scarlett.

No, from the beginning, no one, not even the Immortals, could kill Scarlett now.

Kono Lint was with her.

Catching them, let alone touching them, would be impossible.

When Saviolin Turner attacked the underground laboratory, Christina thought her intention was to buy time so the Immortals couldn't return.

So, she sent all the Immortals back to the battlefield, knowing they couldn't hurt her anyway.

But then, Saviolin Turner destroyed the laboratory without killing her.

The Emperor had read everything.

The Immortals, who had returned to the battlefield, were hunting the Demon King.

However, the Demon King, instead of fleeing from the pursuing Immortals, had manipulated them, making it appear as if the Immortals were leading the vanguard, throwing the entire Diane forces into chaos.

And when the monsters that had been used to fend off the pursuit were finally depleted, and the Demon King was caught, he seemed to have been waiting, summoning Scarlett and starting to crush the Immortals in return.

The Immortals were exploited to the extreme by the Demon King.

They had been read by the Emperor.

They had been used by the Demon King.

Now, the Immortals would be rendered powerless as Scarlett and Kono Lint tore through the entire battlefield.

The research facility that could revive the incapacitated Immortals had been destroyed.

At this rate, all of the Immortals would disappear.

"We have to remove the Immortals from the battlefield."

The absolute number of Immortals had been rapidly decreasing even as Scarlett and Kono Lint appeared.

It was a desperate situation.

If all the Immortals disappeared like this, there would be nothing they could do.

First, they had to preserve the power of the Immortals.

They had to find another way.

More than half of the Immortals still remained.

At this rate, the Immortals would be annihilated.

They had to recover the remaining Immortals and find another way.

First, they had to find a way to deal with Scarlett somehow.

Using the Immortals as a means to devise something could come later.

"Is the Gate Incident over?"

In response to Anna's question, Christina stared at her.

Yes.

It was right to discuss it from the Gate Incident.

"It seems so. We may have to kill the remaining monsters, but Diane will fall. However, if we don't take the time to reorganize the Immortals first, we'll be in danger..."

-Thump!

"...What?"

Christina couldn't help but let out a bewildered sound.

"Anna!"

And then, Louis Ancton shouted in the sudden turn of events.

Anna's blackened hand was lodged in Christina's heart.

Christina couldn't even feel the pain.

The events unfolding before her eyes were just something...

A dream.

Should she call it that?

She couldn't think of anything other than how surreal it was.

Anna de Gerna spoke calmly.

"The pathetic villain act is over."

"What...?"

-Thump!

Anna pulled her hand out of Christina's chest.

Bright red blood flowed from the hole in her chest.

Anna stared at Christina with dark eyes.

"Let the Immortals disappear."

"You... What on earth...? Why...?"

Christina was dumbfounded, unable to say anything, while Louis Ancton stood pale, unable to comprehend the situation.

"Wh... Why...?"

As Anna calmly watched Christina's lips twitch in disbelief, she spoke.

Christina knew magic.

But she didn't know people.

"You're no longer useful."

Anna stared coldly at her dying friend.

"Bertus said to tell you that."

She left a cold farewell message.

------

Christina died.

Her eyes didn't even close.

It was only moments before her breath completely stopped that she realized what had happened to her.

Tears streaming down her face, her eyes wide open, and biting her lips, she died.

Louis Ancton couldn't understand what had just happened before his eyes.

"Anna... Anna, what have you done? If Christina dies...!"

"The Immortal would start killing indiscriminately."

Now, the Immortal would completely lose control and run amok.

"But if we recall the Immortals like this and start planning the next move, no one will be able to stop Christina."

No one could respond if that terrifying army began guerilla warfare against the entire continent.

Scarlett or Kono Lint?

Before they appeared, it would be enough to carry out destructive operations or assassinations and then disappear.

It might be impossible to recover, but if they induced local battles, the Immortal could not only endlessly hinder the Demon King's world from being established but also destroy it at any time.

Just as the Demon King had been able to destroy the human world until now but had not done so.

It was clear that if Christina couldn't kill the Demon King now, she would attempt such a thing in the next stage, and she could actually do it.

The Immortals were in one place, and Scarlett was there, who could certainly neutralize such an Immortal.

If not now, the chance to completely erase the Immortals would never come.

"So I killed her."

Asking if the Gate incident was over was to confirm that.

If the Gate incident was completely over, it was now the Immortals' turn to disappear.

Timing was crucial.

If Christina was killed too soon, the Immortal would crush the allied forces.

If she was killed too late, they wouldn't be able to deal with the rampaging Immortal.

So Anna had been holding her breath.

Until the most certain and safe moment to kill Christina came.

Anna had been receiving Bertus's instructions.

It was impossible to know when Bertus had approached Anna.

She had been waiting until the last moment, until the moment when it was okay to kill Christina.

A friend had died.

There was someone who, in trying to save that friend, had ultimately put their friends in danger.

There was a friend who had killed that friend with their own hands.

There were things between friends that only ended with death.

In the end, Christina was killed by a friend's hand, unbelievably.

That's why Christina was a third-rate, no, not even a third-rate villain.

She had been unable to doubt her friend until the end.

Such a third-rate villain.

Anna, carrying Christina's corpse, looked at Louis.

Anna's back was soaked in bright red blood.

Anna had fulfilled Bertus's command.

Anna had not received Bertus's orders in exchange for a promise.

Bertus had no intention of giving anything to Anna, and Anna had no intention of receiving anything.

It seemed like something she had to do.

So she did it.

Like Christina had done this because it was something she had to do.

Anna had also done this because she felt she had to.

There wasn't really anything she wanted.

Bertus hadn't expected any more from Anna.

After all, the empire would disappear, so even if Bertus promised something, it would be meaningless now.

"Let's go."

There was no place they had to go now.

Louis Ancton, a silent observer and collaborator of all situations, muttered blankly at Anna's words.

"…Where to?"

Did they have a place to go?

A place they could go?

Was there one?

After all, since all three of them were criminals who would go down in history, there was no place for them to set foot.

"I don't know…"

Carrying the friend she had killed with her own hands on her back.

"There must be a place… where we need to go."

With dead eyes, Anna smiled faintly.