The 53rd Floor of the Dungeon.
Blue-white frost formed a barrier, sealing the girls' tears within endless cold.
"Hail Dust!!"
Alicia seemed to freeze her grief itself as she chanted frost Magic without pause.
In this isolated Dungeon, no one could suddenly descend here and save Bell Cranel. Even if Finn and the others regrouped, they would not be able to help.
What the frost barrier kept out were fire-breathing Wyverns and countless monsters.
Alicia chanted her Magic through her tears. This was all she could do.
The others were crying too.
"Bell... Bell...?"
Ais knelt on the ground. The Desperate Sword she never let go of now lay discarded at her side.
Whether it was the Sword Princess or the little Ais within her heart, time seemed to have stopped. Her golden eyes stared blankly at the boy without blinking once.
Was she too weak?
Was it because her sword was too dull, because she had failed to slay the monster, that Bell had ended up like this?
She had felt the boy's warmth, selfishly overlapped his back with her father's, and let herself sink into that comfort. Was that why everything had reached such a tragic end...?
Dark emotions churned in Ais's heart, and the wind around her seemed to mingle with something no human could control.
At a time like this, Riveria would normally have comforted her. But now, she too had sunk into a whirlpool of grief and could not escape.
"Bell!"
The emerald healing light was useless, and even the Elixir showed no effect.
Riveria no longer cared about her appearance. She lifted the boy's body onto her lap and chanted Healing Magic again and again.
Black-red blood mixed with leaking medicine and dripped onto Riveria's green cloak. Her vision blurred with tears.
"Riveria-sama, Bell, Bell is... sob..."
Lefiya kept sobbing.
She wanted to ask about the boy's condition, but she could not get the answer she wanted.
Bell had first endured the crushing pressure of those fangs, then been caught in the blast of the cannon Magic. By the time they rushed to his side, he was already like a candle flickering in the wind, holding on through sheer willpower until the Juggernaut was destroyed.
The moment the side effects of [Argonaut] took effect, Bell's faint breathing gradually came to an end.
In that instant, Lefiya wanted to shake the boy by the shoulders, grab him by the collar, and demand to know if he was lying to her.
Hurry and stand up.
Hurry and open your eyes!
No one would laugh at such a terrible joke!
Please...
Stand up like you always do...
Look into my eyes, take my hand, and let's walk to the very end together...
Please...
Bell...
"Uu..."
Only the freezing frost answered Lefiya.
"No, no, Bell! Bell!"
Ryuu screamed hysterically.
They had promised each other they would never die, so why had things turned out like this?!
She was the one who had killed Bell Cranel.
Just like with Alise back then...
"No, no, no, no, no no no..."
Ryuu gripped the boy's left hand tightly. The warmth that had once been there was gone, replaced by a piercing cold that sank into her heart.
This was not how things were supposed to be.
If miracles existed in this world, then please, let one fall upon this boy!
As long as Bell survived, she would give anything...
Ryuu had found her justice.
Why had she only realized it now?!
Wanting Bell to stay by her side. That was her justice...
Ryuu had already lost far too much.
The warmth the boy brought had let her forget all of it for a while. Only now did Ryuu understand that this sorrow of parting, this grief that swallowed her whole, was the justice she had been desperately searching for. It was the precious love she should have protected for the rest of her life.
"Bell!"
The moment the boy finally left this world behind, Ryuu's tears spread through the bloodstains.
She held Bell's left hand tightly and kept calling his name.
Bell Cranel had stopped breathing completely.
"Uu... Bell..."
Riveria bit her lip hard and gathered the boy's body into her arms.
There were no last words. No farewell.
The final words Bell Cranel had left behind were that resolute command, "Do it," urging the girls to fire their cannon Magic toward him.
The boy had devoted every bit of his mind to defense. His body had been crushed and twisted beneath those enormous, razor-sharp fangs. To keep Lefiya and the others from hesitating, Bell had not even let out a single cry of pain.
Riveria wept bitterly, paying no attention to how wretched her expression looked, nor caring what the other Elven women might think of her.
"Bell..."
Riveria wrapped both arms around the boy and held him tightly against her chest.
It was as if she wanted to pass her own warmth to the boy whose heart had stopped. Even as blood soaked into her clothes and skin, Riveria did not let go.
Bell had endured everything.
In that despair where destruction had been inevitable, he had found the only path forward and saved everyone present.
But that did not include Bell himself.
"Uu... Bell... I... I..."
Riveria could not stop crying, and her words came out in broken fragments.
When the Juggernaut launched its surprise attack, the boy had stepped forward without hesitation and saved her. Even after losing one arm, he had still worried about Riveria's feelings.
That pure warmth, like a flame, had set Riveria's heart alight.
She had already held back her grief, praying for a miracle to restore the boy's body so that she could tell Bell how she truly felt.
But in the blink of an eye, reality had plunged straight into an even darker abyss.
Riveria could not accept such an ending.
"Bell, I like you..."
Holding the boy's body, Riveria cried out this confession that had come far too late.
Lefiya and the others' sobs surrounded her. Riveria felt only emptiness in her heart, as though an invisible frost had frozen everything, even that love was about to melt completely into the ice.
At this point, saying anything was meaningless.
With Lefiya and the others here, words like these would only damage her reputation.
Right now, she had to be strong, command the girls to leave this place, and avoid a total wipeout.
But.
Riveria still had to say it.
Whether she was the willful Elven princess or the vastly experienced Nine Hell, she wanted to let the love in her heart spill out.
"Bell... I like you... so much I can't stop myself... so... sob..."
Riveria's tears fell onto the boy's back.
Ice surrounded them, and that sorrowful confession seeped into their embrace.
A moment later.
Amid the girls' sobs, a familiar voice rang out.
"Yeah. Me too."
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