Outside the manhole cover.

Just moments ago, the image of the girl who had been there was nowhere to be found, and all that remained was the pouring black rain that filled the street.

Sivia, staring blankly at the bleak scene where something that should have been there had vanished, recalled what she had seen earlier and shook her head.

“…No. It can’t be.”

People melting away like rainwater as they were pierced by tentacles that fell from the sky.

Unintentionally imagining that horrible sight to her own reality, Sivia shuddered and muttered while shaking her head violently.

No, no.

It can’t be.

Scarlet couldn’t have died.

There must have been an emergency… Yes, that’s right. She must have left in a hurry to find someone to heal her because she was attacked…

Sivia was aware of how absurd those words sounded as she whispered to herself.

Yet, she couldn’t help it.

It felt unbearable to think of the images flashing in her head unless she could deny them somehow.

So, while constantly shaking her head and murmuring ‘no, no’, she tried to convince herself that it was okay to stay here and rest, as Scarlet would return, just like she always had.

Even when she had been kidnapped by the witch she thought was hopeless, hadn’t she returned safe and sound?

So, this time too…

However, as she sat in the corner of the sewer, trying to recover her strength.

“Ugh…”

As time passed, her body began to tremble as if she were a quaking aspen, and she eventually could not hold back her sobs, burying her head between her knees.

Again.

She had promised herself not to let such things happen again, yet once more Scarlet had sacrificed herself to save her.

She had boldly told herself to ask for help when needed, and yet here she was, bringing nothing but harm to her.

Still, Scarlet had reassured her that it was okay, which only intensified her feelings of self-loathing.

There was no need for reassurances.

If only she could curse at her, it would be fine, but could she please just stay alive?

Sivia, who had sunk to the ground and wept for a long while, finally lifted her head to stare at the tightly sealed manhole cover, then slowly stood up.

“I have to confirm…”

She couldn’t endure it any longer.

If she were alive, she wanted to see her face.

And even if she wasn’t, she felt she had to make sure.

Of course, she hadn’t thought about what would happen after the confirmation, but the thought of not moving would drive her insane, so Sivia stood up.

She knew it was reckless.

Although she had rested for a bit, her stamina barely allowed her to move.

She didn’t have enough energy to roam around carelessly in that rain.

But like a person whose sanity had slipped away, Sivia pried open the manhole cover and emerged onto the street.

As she stepped outside, the cold air, chilled by the rain, brushed against her body.

She saw the rain flowing slowly down the street.

For a moment, the thought that perhaps the girl she was searching for could be in that rain came up, but she shook her head, assuring herself that it couldn’t be true, and called out with all her might.

“…Scarlet!”

Though the rain would surely drown out her voice, she thought that maybe, just maybe, calling out her name might make her come.

However, and perhaps understandably so…

“Ugh… Scarlet…”

The girl she was searching for was nowhere to be seen.

“Is there anyone… anyone who has seen Scarlet…?”

[What? Wasn’t she with you, Silvia?]

“Uh, that is…”

Even when she asked over the communicator if anyone had spotted her, the answers she desired did not come.

Please, someone tell me Scarlet is still alive.

Sivia had never wished for anything as desperately as she did at that moment, yet nobody said those words to her.

Each time she received an answer that they hadn’t seen her, it felt as if the hope she couldn’t let go of was slipping away from her grasp.

As the hope faded, she felt the strength she had to move also diminish.

Damp droplets flowed down her cheeks.

Suddenly, she looked up at the sky, but what ran down her face was not rain.

If what was flowing down her face had been raindrops, she wouldn’t be alive like this.

But it seemed it wouldn’t be long before that became true.

The protective barrier she had created to defend against the rain was flickering weakly.

If the little power she had restored was to be exhausted again, that barrier would disappear like before.

Then she too would be targeted by the demonic beasts just like the earlier encounter with Scarlet.

It was certainly a dire situation, but the thought of escaping didn’t come to her.

A bitter smile crept upon her lips.

She felt as though it didn’t matter anymore.

Maybe this was a punishment for being a fool who couldn’t protect her properly, she thought at that moment.

Then…

[Hey…! Is there anyone among you who knows a red-haired girl who can control fire?]

A voice came through the communicator.

A red-haired girl who can control fire.

Upon hearing those words, Sivia felt the fading hope return.

Her heart racing, she shouted more urgently than anyone else in response to the transmission from one of the heroes in battle with the beasts.

“Yes, yes…! I know her! She was just with me, where is she?!”

[Well, I don’t know what happened, but she suddenly appeared here and had a fierce battle with the demonic beasts—]

Scarlet is still alive.

There was no need to hear more; that was enough.

“Ugh… Thank goodness…”

Sivia dropped to her knees, tears of relief cascading down her face.

She’s alive. Scarlet is alive.

How desperately she had hoped for her safety.

As the news she had long awaited washed over her in relief, she suddenly realized that this wasn’t the time to relax.

What had the communicator said?

Scarlet is engaged in a battle with the demonic beasts—

Realizing this, Sivia quickly got back to her feet.

She had a rough idea of how powerful the beasts that had invaded the city were.

The fact that Scarlet was fighting such beings indicated that she was in tremendous danger.

Any moment could lead to a crisis.

It was no time to feel relieved that she was still alive.

For some reason, she couldn’t understand why she had gone to fight a beast, but before anything happened to her, Sivia was determined to rescue her.

With all her strength, she invoked a flying spell.

Just moments ago, she had not even had the strength to walk, yet now, somehow, a burst of energy surged through her, manifesting as a cluster of small stars before her.

Carrying her body on this starry light, Sivia pierced through the rain and soared into the sky.

She didn’t need to verify where the beasts were.

In the distance, amongst the falling rain, she could see flames licking up intermittently.

Sivia wished for those flames to remain alive.

The flames signified that Scarlet was still safe and sound.

“Scarlet… Scarlet…!”

Perhaps it was the intense desire to protect Scarlet that fueled her determination.

Flying faster than ever before, the cluster of stars bore Sivia swiftly toward where Scarlet was.

Upon arriving, this was what Sivia saw.

“…Huh?”

Caught by the tentacles, Scarlet was being swallowed by the massive mouth of the beast.

With a resounding gulp, the red-haired girl who had just been there vanished into the monster’s gullet.

Watching her beloved person disappear right before her eyes once again, Sivia screamed.

“Ah… Ahh!! Aaaah!!! Give her back!!! Give her back!!!”

Shrieking, wailing.

She launched an attack spell toward the beast.

“Ugh…?!”

Or rather, she tried to.

But because of the flying spell she had cast just moments earlier, Sivia had long since surpassed her limits.

The weariness that came too late crumpled the body she had barely managed to hold upright.

Even as she collapsed to the ground, she desperately reached out her hand toward the beast, but her exhausted strength permitted her no offensive moves to reclaim Scarlet.

All that was allowed was to helplessly witness the precious person she cherished disappear once again.

“Why… why…! I said I would protect you this time… why can’t I do anything every time…!”

Despite her training and efforts not wanting to let this happen again, Sivia cried out with blood in her heart, acknowledging that she was this powerless.

Yet regardless of how much she cried out, nothing changed.

The reality was that she couldn’t even seek vengeance against the beast that devoured Scarlet, grinning in satisfaction.

But at that moment…

“Ah…”

Flames began to erupt from the belly of the beast that had swallowed Scarlet.

There was no need to ask whose flames they were.

It must have been her, the girl who had been consumed, emitting her last flames from inside the monster.

Panicking, the beast danced about trying to extinguish the flames that clung to its body.

But no matter how it struggled, the flames did not extinguish.

Instead, they wrapped around the beast more fiercely and blazed higher.

Even though it was a superior beast with remarkable regenerative capabilities, it was strangely unable to heal the areas engulfed in flames.

Sivia suddenly remembered what Telos had lectured about in class earlier that day.

The weakness any beast of gluttony possessed.

He had stated that gluttonous beasts had a core somewhere within — a core most commonly located in their most developed physical area.

She had just heard from other heroes earlier.

How Telos had been devoured and killed by that beast.

To have digested someone as blessed with a body that was resistant to most attacks? Was it possible that the monster’s most developed part lay in its digestive organs located in its belly?

Could it be that Scarlet knew this…?

As Sivia completed that thought, she couldn’t help but cry silently.

The girl was just that kind of person.

Someone who took sacrificing for others as a given, that kind of person.

The approaching beast let out its last dying cries as it crumbled to the ground, flames still licking at its form.

As the beast fell, the sky, once darkened by swirling black clouds, slowly cleared, and the rain began to cease.

The barrier that had been absent was restored as if waiting for this moment.

With the sacrifice of a certain girl, the city that had been plunged into an unprecedented danger regained its peace.

Though she had never wanted it, the girl’s final act was nothing short of heroic.

With tears in her eyes, Sivia reflected on her sacrifice, on the way she had lived.

She vowed to remember her until the end.

And then it happened.

The dying embers of the beast, once consumed by flames, ignited once more with a fierce blaze.

“Eh?” Sivia uttered, astonished.

She spoke with both panic and a flicker of hope.

With that hope filling her heart, Sivia called out the girl’s name.

“Scarlet…?”

And as though responding to that call.

Like a phoenix rising from the flames, the girl with crimson hair slowly emerged from the fire.

“Scarlet…!”

In that miraculous sight, Sivia cried out, her face shining with joy.

And as if she had heard that voice, the girl slowly turned her gaze toward Sivia.

“…”

The moment their eyes met, an ominous premonition coursed through her body.

“…Scarlet?”

And then…

“It’s dangerous…!”

A sudden pull… someone was grabbing her.

What was happening?

The searing heat felt close enough to burn her skin.

Sivia turned her face towards the source of the heat and her expression hardened.

It was unavoidable.

Where she had just been standing, flames were swirling furiously.

Had it not been for the nearby hero pulling her away, that fire would have incinerated her whole.

With this realization, Sivia turned her gaze slowly back to the girl standing there.

And there she was.

The girl surrounded by deep, blood-red flames.

Laughing as if she had gone mad, yet simultaneously screaming in horror.

The girl began to shed thick, scarlet tears that matched the color of the flames.

As their eyes locked, Sivia came to a realization.

The Scarlet she knew didn’t have eyes like that.

Eyes filled with resentment, hatred, sadness, and rage — she didn’t own eyes like that.

That was no longer Scarlet Evande.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!