Thud!
"Ah, this is over."
A black hand came reaching in.
And when it brushed past her face a moment later, Tione somehow just knew.
Don't ask how she knew.
Maybe it was only the survival instinct of a born warrior, or maybe the sixth sense of a girl who gave everything to love, sensing a painfully bittersweet farewell in this life.
"Captain."
So Tione turned her head back without hesitation.
She looked behind her and filled her eyes with the face of the man who had first come to mind, or perhaps the one who would remain in her heart until the very end.
She decided to be honest with herself and true to the primal, aching feelings surging endlessly within her.
Even with a threatening enemy right nearby, she did not particularly care.
Nor did she care about the comrades and friends beside her.
Especially her one and only family.
She still had plenty she wanted to tell that idiot sister of hers, but even that, she decided, no longer mattered.
Because...
"From the moment we first met."
She had thought this would be the last time.
"Even now, while my heart is pounding."
And so she, Tione...
"And forever after."
As always, just as she always had,
"I've been in love with you."
with a bright smile, she conveyed her true feelings to the one she loved.
Thwack!
In a single instant.
Thud!
Without a single lie.
"Tio, ne?"
The powerful body of a first-class adventurer who had made her name in the center of the world, the labyrinth city, collapsed helplessly and crumpled onto the cold floor.
Finn could not say a word at that pitiful, horrific sight.
He could not possibly believe the reality before his eyes was truly real.
But at the same time...
"Ah, ahh..."
The body he had trained and the experience he had accumulated until now were telling his confused mind the undeniable truth, the inescapable reality, in place of him.
A small explosion, as if something had burst out from inside Tione's face.
The fragments of flesh scattered in all directions, and the grotesquely exposed wounds within.
And then the red blood that spilled across the floor and spread like a blooming flower.
Everything before his eyes was clearly confirming the death of a woman named Tione Hiryute.
And it was not just his story.
"Miss Tione!?"
"What the—this is ridiculous...!"
"H-her head exploded...! An elixir! Someone get an elixir!"
"Damn it, impossible! We're busy over here too...!"
Confusion surged through all of Loki Familia, from executives to ordinary members alike.
Finn, their captain, had already been badly injured and half collapsed, and now Tione, one of the Familia's executives, had ended up in that state as well.
Even Ais, the Sword Princess who was usually expressionless and rarely showed emotion, could not hide her shocked expression.
But there was someone even more serious than that.
"S-sister...?"
Perhaps because she had witnessed the death of the only blood relative in her world right before her eyes.
Tiona did not react at all to the assault of the spider-type monsters clinging and crawling over her body.
Whether they bit her or clawed at her, she did not care.
She just stared blankly.
She could only keep looking endlessly at the last sight of her sister, already sprawled on the floor and growing cold.
"Aaaahhh!"
But only for a moment.
"Wait! That idiot!?"
"No, Tiona!"
Then, turning her gaze toward the skull-masked fiend, she roared like a beast and charged at him.
Bete and Ais tried to stop her belatedly, but Tiona was just a little faster, so it was useless.
And that desperate cry of hers was...
[First, one.]
The skull-masked fiend ignored it completely, retreating far back without the slightest hesitation to widen the distance.
And in that empty space, the swarm of man-eating monsters filled in, blocking her path.
It was a reckless charge by anyone's standards.
But none of that mattered to Tiona now.
"Get out of my way! Move!"
Blinded by rage, yet still a first-class adventurer whose skill had been honed and built up through training, she was not someone to be underestimated.
As she surged forward, swinging the heavy greatclub Uga indiscriminately, most of the man-eaters were cut down like roadside weeds.
But as the word most implied...
Grab!
Snatch!
"Ghk! What the...! Let go of me!"
-Grrrrrrrr!
From blind spots in her vision, or from the man-eaters that had somehow survived her blade, they bit into her body and dragged at her, stopping her charge.
It was only a moment, a fleeting gap if one wanted to call it that.
But even that brief interruption was enough for the skull-masked fiend she had been chasing to vanish safely into the darkness of the corridor and disappear once more.
"Tch, damn it...!"
Tiona bit her lip hard in frustration.
But the important thing now was not to stew in that anger.
The battle was not over yet, and the enemy had no intention of giving them even the tiniest opening.
"Cough! Tiona...! Come, back! First, we need to re...!"
"You think you have time to look away?"
"?!"
That was right.
Though it was not a fatal wound, the damage dealt to Finn's heart was unquestionably the kind that came with serious injuries.
Revis was not about to leave a disabled Finn alone and simply watch.
"This time for sure."
I'll take your head.
Revis raised her greatsword once more.
Like a guillotine at an execution, it came down fast, aiming for Finn's neck.
And that...
Clang!
"Aria!"
"I won't let you."
Ais flew in like the wind and knocked the blade aside.
But the threat here was not hers alone.
"Hey, fixer! Didn't I say Finn's head was mine!?"
This time, Barreta came charging at them from the side.
Ais turned to block again, but this time Revis intercepted her instead, making it impossible.
Who else?!
Hastily scanning the surroundings for someone who could help, Ais searched desperately.
Gareth!
He was holding the rear against the man-eaters together with the second-line members.
At that distance, there was no way he could make it in time.
More importantly, if Gareth left that side now, the remaining members there could suffer even greater losses. That was out of the question.
Tiona!
She had noticed the situation and was rushing over here in a panic.
No, she had been trying to come over.
Clunk!
"Huh?"
The sound of some mechanism moving rang out from somewhere.
With that harsh noise, Tiona suddenly felt the weightlessness of floating in midair, with no foothold beneath her.
And then...
"Tiona!"
"Aisuuuuuu~!"
Bang!
With her cry growing farther and farther away, the hole in the floor sealed shut.
That meant Tiona's help was impossible too.
"Bete!"
"Yeah! I know!"
Fortunately, he was almost there.
If it was him, he should be able to save Finn without issue.
That was what everyone in Loki Familia, including Ais, thought as they watched the situation.
But...
"Heh! You're in the way, beast!"
With a mocking grin, Barreta pulled something like a scroll from her bosom.
Then, without hesitation, she tore it apart, and three streaks of light burst out from the scroll like fangs, flying straight for Bete.
Bete thought it was some kind of interception spell and tried to ignore it, planning to force his way through, but unfortunately, it was not power of that sort.
"Ghk! What the hell is this?!"
The three light fangs struck Bete's elbows and waist exactly as fired, pinning him in midair.
There was no pain to speak of.
And the restraint did not seem especially strong either; it felt like it would break if he just put some force into it.
But Bete would have preferred it if this had simply been a normal attack spell.
It was only a second or two at most.
That was the result of his impatient misjudgment.
And that...
"Kihihihi! Prepare yourself, Finn!"
...became golden time for Barreta, a level 5 adventurer even if she was rotten to the core.
"Damn it! That filthy, rotten bitch...!"
"No...!"
"You won't make it, Aria."
Your defeat.
In response to Revis's declaration, Barreta's blade swung toward Finn.
Everyone, faces filled with shock and despair, could do nothing as if frozen in time.
Then...
Shhk!
"Huh?"
"Kh, huff!"
Only one person.
Only one person moved within that frozen moment.
He moved his legs, moved his arms, and threw his body forward, successfully saving Finn from the brink of death.
"Raul!"
"Ha! You little slug!"
"Amazing, Raul Nord!"
Loki Familia let out breaths of relief.
But the situation had not changed much in the midst of the current crisis.
It was only a brief moment of relief and breathing room.
Loki Familia was still in danger.
The most hostile and malicious expedition they had ever faced.
The artificial labyrinth Knossos, planned by humans and prepared by humans.
That malicious trial had only just begun.
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