Ignotus' head falls to the ground.
　A trail of blood follows and the rolling head stops.



　Bishas screamed.
　Felsen was confused and unable to move.
　With a series of scenes by his side, Uranos held his black greatsword and swung it down as he quickly closed the distance to the Khalifa.

''It's an enormous amount of magical power. I can feel the difference in levels. Who are you, my lord?''
Are you Adolf's man?　Uranos, so you are the emperor, right?　Why would such a man and Adolf....
You don't answer.

　--a series of blows.
　Uranos swung his long, large jet-black sword out with ease.
　Khalifa taunted him with the sphere of his two hands.
　From his appearance, an unconcerned face could be seen.
　To Khalifa, Uranos was not a threat.

''Is that your son?''
Do you still have people like you under Nith's command?
"My name is Khalifa. I'm not your subordinate. I'm just here to stop Adolf.
What the...

　Uranos frowned.
　It was because he knew it was that legendary adventurer, the Bewitched Khalifa.

''No wonder........''
Yeah. You know me. So that means you know me...
It's Reinhardt!　Let's kill them all now, he can't stand by himself.

　Khalifa's regular fist thrust caught him off guard and sent Uranos flying backwards.
　But there was no expression of concern for his sons.

'Jade!　I got this one for you!

　Lage closes the distance to Vicious, who is upset.
　He looks like he's enjoying himself.
　The battle begins immediately, and still unsettled, Bishas brushes aside Raju's footwork.

''One and all!　Don't touch her!

　Jade closes in on Felsen.

'Silly ... in a place like this ... your brother ...'

　Felsen was in a state of abandonment.
　It is more than a snotty, sobbing Viciousness, and it is not here in mind.
　But Jade chants the biggest magic as if to say now.

''-- ''Red Lotus Thrust (Spirneus)!

　It was a technique in which the right hand was extended like a sword, poised and unleashed.
　The sword is clothed with a small amount of flame, and sparks are scattered on the surface like a sparkler.
　The moment you pierce it, the moment you pierce it, the powerful flames will burn out the inside of the enemy...

"Insulated (platonic).

　The flames in Jade's right hand suddenly extinguished as the Khalifa suddenly appeared behind her.
　The fact that it disappeared without warning caused Jade to stop in her tracks and say, "Huh? I was puzzled.

''My........magical power........''

　Separated by the insulating magic, Jade had lost her magical power.

''--Reinhardt!

　He heard Uranos collapsing from his back in the corner of the room.
　Reinhardt reacted.

'Jade! --

　As soon as I turned to Jade, to go in and help her immediately--
　--Khalifa gently touched Jade's shoulder.

'........Jade.

　Her eyes went vacant and her eyelids slowly dropped as her body fell forward.
　Falling to the spot, Jade died.

"I've severed my being from my body. Soon your existence will be gone, too, and you will be doomed.

　Reinhardt's eyes flickered at his brother lying down, and it was as if a switch had been flipped.
　Quickly, he runs out to the Khalifa - chanting, "《The Oblivion (Oblivion)".

''That's Adams'! .....

　The Khalifa is confused by the chanting spell, but she immediately stretches her entire body with the Insulating Platonics.

Reinhardt!　He's not going to be able to use that magic!

　Uranos stopped Reinhardt, who was closing in single-mindedly.
　But it was too late--

...What is this?

　The moment his hand touched Khalifa's shoulder, Reinhardt's magic disappeared.
　His magic power was cut off.
　Immediately afterwards, Reinhardt's bewildered body was brought to the left in a big way.

I won't let you!

　Uranos used wind-attribute magic to evacuate Reinhardt.
　He immediately appeared in front of Khalifa and tried to swing the great sword down--.

''Nah!''

　--The moment Khalifa's hand was attached to it, the great sword disappeared as if it had evaporated from the area it touched.

''Kook, you're trying to abuse Victoria's magic...''
The magic of Adams?

　As he said that, Khalifa's hand reached out to Uranos.
　At that time, a black vortex appeared next to the two of them.

''-- Khalifa, long time no see.''
....

　Khalifa rolled her eyes and stopped her hand.
　It was because Adolph was beside him.
　But soon after, Adolph and Uranos appeared and were kicked wide open by someone.

''Looks like you dove in nicely.

　It was Masamune.
　Masamune smiled lightly at the Khalifa's safety, but his expression changed when he realized something.
　Masamune saw the head and headless body of Ignotus.
　Beside him, a crying Bishas and Lage were fighting.

'Ignotus........' said Masamune despondently.
''Nito.....'' said Felsen, who was beside him. ''Why didn't you protect your brother........''
Felsen...
My brother is...
"Oh my God. He's dead. Can't help them.

　Tears flowed from Felsen's eyes.
　Kalifa shook her head as she looked at his face.
　It means we can't save him anymore.

　Masamune looked again at Lage, who was engaged in battle with Bishas.
　Then unexpectedly, Raju stopped moving.
　It was Masamune's Skill 《 Telekinesis》.
　Raju did not move as if his expression was stiffened and stiffened.

''Bishas, come back.''

　Bishas quickly joins Felsen next to Masamune with a shameful expression on his face as he is told by Masamune.

''Gusu........Ah, my brother.......Ah, my brother aaaaaaaaah!
''........Masamune didn't blame her for crying out.

　Reinhardt, on the other hand, gently touched Jade's lifeless cheek.

''Jade........''
"Reinhardt, what are you doing..." curses Ulanos.
....
'It's useless,' said Khalifa. 'I've cut myself off from existence and I'm no longer conscious in that body.
Adolphe looks at me with a sad expression on his face.
'I've heard it all.
What? And Adolf.
'That you killed Kagetra you killed Zephyr. That you tore us apart....
It was Zephyr who tore it apart!

　Adolph's angry shout echoed in the dimly lit room.
　Masamune smiled thinly at Adolf, who looked wild for the first time with his eyebrows furrowed.

'Adolf...' the Khalifa's voice becomes a little sympathetic.
'Him!　You're going to have to take us along for the ride, or else no one will! ..........

　Adolph speaks as he yells.

'....my father and mother did not die.

　And from that word, he returned to a calm tone again.

'So you're telling me you killed Kagetora?　But you can't kill it. Because Kagetora--
'Sure, Kagetora was the strongest. But, you see, it wasn't a body that couldn't die. I don't know how far he had mastered this end-of-life magic, but that means that Kagetora wasn't the strongest. Would you like to hear how I killed him?
Stop it.

　Adolph's dark eyes and an insidious smile with only one corner of his mouth raised, the once kind Adolph in Khalifa disappeared.

'You're a kind man you always seem to be feeble, but yet you always help everyone...'
'Kind? .... no. It was simply a convenient Adolf for you, Khalifa.
No!
'You know, you can't be bothered if I'm not a kind and gentle Adolf. It's just like the others around me, everyone - everyone - 'wants to impose their subjective values'.

　Masamune and Adolf's voices overlapped.
　Adolf laughed again with his thin eyes.

'Nito? .....
'Mr. Khalifa, you'd better stop wishing anything on this guy.
Caliphate, remember?
Yeah.
'The Artemias family once lived near here when they didn't even have a country yet. I, you know, recognized the power of the Cagetra, just in case.
What are you talking about?
'I told Zephyr when we were leaving. I, you know, had them make a simple anti-magic knife.
"Wait. Is that why you killed him?
Nice touch, huh?　Because he's a brave man, there's no way he would die from that. Just stabbing him with a mere knife this long couldn't be enough to kill him. But, you see, after I inserted the knife from his back to his heart, which he was fawning over in Guinevere, he, you know, couldn't do anything about it from the effects of the anti-magic.
Anti-magic Artemias?

　Masamune searched his own memory for the familiar words.

'It's the truth.'
'Well then ... Guinevere of Grayberg ...' said Khalifa.
'I know that much already. Yes, we were in on it from the beginning. That's not true. Guinevere did not like Kagetora from the start. She was just using him. She said she recognized us right away because we were famous at the time, especially since the lizard was the sign for the dragon's heart.
What's the point of this, what's the point of this?
I told you it was Zephyr's fault. You can ask him. I'm done with it. Here. I'll give you what you want.

　What did you do, and then Zephyr's body emerges on the altar.

'I saved it for a memento. He took my beloved and my best friend and my family from me. So I killed him. I killed him and he fell into the abyss. Ends well for a hero, don't you think?
Have you fallen into the abyss?

　Then Masamune inserted his mouth.

'What do you mean by "fallen"?　Why is Zephyr in a place like the Pleiades?
"...Zephyr told you that?
Yeah.
Well........... They won't allow a bodiless existence to spread.
What?
'Uranos told me about it. I only knew him once, during the Zephyr.
That's enough. I'll take the body and that's it.

　When. The Khalifa was surprised.
　The physical body disappeared from the altar and Masamune tucked the zephyr away in the other space storage.

'Huh, if you had told me, I would have given it to him. Then he wouldn't have died.'
There's a consequence. You didn't give it away for free.
Leave the Khalifa for me. She's one of mine.
You're not wanted, you know. It's time for you to wake up.

　Adolph looked at Khalifa's expression as if to confirm it.
　He smiled gently and silently confirmed his true intentions.
　But Khalifa turned over and looked away.

''Well then it can't be helped. Hey Khalifa?''
"........." the Khalifa didn't look up.
''Having lost everything, I wonder what I'm going to use this too long life span for now.
"....Adolf.
You're the only person I know anymore. Guinevere, too, and from what I hear, she was in the same situation as I am in now.
Felsen, retrieve Ignotus' body.

　Masamune sends out a dungeon vortex and announces the withdrawal.

'I wonder if you could put Reinhardt's magic back in before you leave?

　While peeking at Masamune, Adolf asked the Khalifa.

'This is your support now?'
No.
Well.....
I have no support. I knew you didn't understand. You never understood.
....

　Bringing back the severed edge, Khalifa restored Reinhardt's magic.
　But the existence did not return, and Jade did not come back to life.

　Having finished their business by retrieving the body, Masamune and the others then leave Sigma Deus through the vortex.
　With the loss of one of their own, the current conflict comes to an end for now.







Zephyr's coming back...

　At the altar after Masamune and the others had left.
　Adolf said as if he was biting into his joy.

　Reinhardt held Jade and stared at her closed-eyed expression.
　Uranos and Lage also gently touched Jade and said a sudden goodbye to each other.

'Uranos, it will be a few years before Zephyr comes back. Until then, we'll have to leave the war behind.
"My Dark Lord my son my son is dead. Why is this happening...?
'I had forgotten that the Khalifa is undeterred.
Is that all? With his back turned, Uranos lowers the tone of his voice.
''... what?''
'I'm telling you my son is dead!

　He hesitated, but raised his voice.

'My son ... of ... Gaia ... our son.

　Ulanos dropped to his knees on the spot.
　Adolph looked down at the scene with a sideways glance.

'You're pathetic, Uranos.
'.....' Uranos stared at Adolph from an unseen angle.
'Are you mad at me?　Then you'll kill me?
No...................
You know that. You are not going to die, are you? Isn't that right, Reinhardt?
'But this is a mistake. This is the result of Master Adolf's arrogance.
You've come to say it. Perhaps your growth is the best thing that has happened to you. After Gaia's death, you became a dark boy who barely spoke. You had a bad look in your eyes.
... "Reinhardt did not reply.
'Uranos. But that's what we're both here for, isn't it?

　Uranos stared at the ground in an upright sitting position.
　Then he didn't speak back, but remained still.

'You need some time now. But we'll see each other again. It's not just Jade, it's Gaia, too. And for that, we can't be sad anymore. Can't we?
'Yes,' said Uranos.
"The body will be kept at the altar for safekeeping. Until such time as it comes.

　Reinhardt's expression as he looked down at Jade's face was sad and a glimpse of frustration.

''Someday, I'm sure...''

　Reinhardt muttered to Jade, who was sleeping in his arms, as if he were making an oath.