“!”
All three of them turned to look toward the source of the missile. It was the opposite direction from where Chamo lay in the pit.
When the hell did he get here? No—maybe he’s been close for a while. They had been so focused on chasing Nashetania, they hadn’t been keeping an eye on their surroundings. “He’s here.” Adlet scowled. He couldn’t say he was happy to see the man was safe. Goldof Auora was looking down on them from the top of a rock mound.
“Why did you throw your spear at us, Goldof?” Rolonia murmured.
He didn’t say anything, only watching them in silence.
Nashetania took advantage of the pause to put some more distance between them, and Fremy dashed after her. Goldof savagely gave chase himself.
“Rolonia! Stop him!” Adlet yelled. There was no more time for hesitation. He drew his sword and ran at Goldof, hardening his resolve to attack. Goldof would have heard Mora’s mountain echo; he should know that Nashetania had attacked Chamo and that their ally’s life was on the line. But he was still trying to protect Nashetania. Adlet had no choice but to consider him their enemy.
Fremy pitched a bomb at Goldof. He protected his face with his hands and made a running jump to one side to avoid the blast. Despite his heavy armor, he was agile enough to put Adlet to shame. Once he was on his feet again, he resumed his charge at Fremy.
“Oh no, you don’t!” From the side, Adlet threw a poison needle at him. Goldof dodged it without looking up or stopping, but as he did, Fremy fired a bullet into his chest. He was launched backward, head over heels. But his thick armor protected him from the bullet, and the shot wasn’t enough to kill him.
“Fremy! Rolonia!” Adlet yelled to the pair. “You follow Nashetania! Let me handle Goldof!” Their target was racing away from them.
But when the two girls tried to chase her, Goldof spoke for the first time. “…I can’t let you go.” He was on his feet and bolting for Fremy again.
Adlet pulled out a tear-gas canister and lobbed it at him. Goldof covered his eyes and mouth with his hands, dashing out of the smoke. It wasn’t enough to slow him down.
With a roar, Adlet leaped toward the running Goldof, slamming his sword down onto his shoulder. Goldof blocked the strike with a gauntlet and gripped both Adlet’s arms to throw him backwards. Then he completely barred Rolonia from further pursuit by seizing her armor and flinging her down. She tumbled along the ground, heavy armor and all.
“Ngh!”
Adlet and Rolonia both stood up at the same time. He had gotten careless because Goldof didn’t have his spear—but the boy was formidable in unarmed combat, too.
“Fremy! Don’t worry about us! You can’t lose sight of Nashetania!” Adlet yelled.
Fremy nodded and rejoined the chase.
Goldof muttered something unintelligible and tried to sprint off after Fremy, but Adlet and Rolonia stood in his way.
“You…handle Fremy!” Goldof yelled loudly. Who was he talking to? Nashetania, or a third ally? He spread his arms and hunched low, turning back to Adlet and Rolonia. It looked like he was going to see this fight through to the end.
“Wait, please, Goldof!” Rolonia said, sounding frightened as she readied her whip.
“…You’re in the way,” Goldof said, and Rolonia shrank back a step.
“Why, Goldof?” Adlet said as he briefly retreated to pull Goldof’s spear out from where it was stuck in the ground. He sheathed his sword and raised the spear instead. It was heavy and unwieldy, but it wasn’t unusable. “You get what’s going on, don’t you? Chamo is about to die. We have no choice but to kill Nashetania to save her. Didn’t you hear Mora’s mountain echo?”
“Please stop, Goldof! We have to defeat Nashetania. We have no choice if we want save Chamo,” said Rolonia. But it had no effect on Goldof’s battle-ready stance.
“Goldof, talk to us,” said Adlet. “Who tricked you? And how?”
“It’s the same as what happened with Mora, right?” Rolonia chimed in. “You’ve been coerced to fight us somehow, right? Haven’t you?”
But Goldof softly replied, “I can’t let you…go beyond this point.”
“Goldof…” Adlet began.
“If you want to get past me…you have to…kill me first.”
At the sight of Goldof’s eyes, a shiver of fear ran down Adlet’s spine. Until now, he had not given up on the chance that Goldof was still on their side. But the moment Adlet saw that look, those beliefs evaporated. Goldof intended to kill him—and Fremy and Rolonia. All of them.
“Rolonia…you have to do that thing.”
“That thing?”
“Where you wail, die, die! That thing you do when you fight for real.”
“Addy…”
“We’re going to kill Goldof.”
Rolonia’s eyes widened, and then she nodded wordlessly. As she did, Goldof lowered his center of gravity and charged straight for Adlet.
Yelling with everything he had, Adlet thrust out the spear. Just moving it made his arms tired, and he gained a new and personal appreciation for Goldof’s unusual ability to whip the weapon around like a feather. Right before the spear would have connected, Goldof stopped. The spearhead was only a centimeter from his nose. Goldof immediately reached out to the haft. Adlet kicked him in the stomach to try to keep the weapon away from him.
“Urg!” Though Adlet had been the one to kick, he was the one who was repulsed. The shock ripped through his ankle, like he’d just slammed into a boulder.
Goldof grabbed at him, trying to catch him while he was vulnerable, but Adlet swept at his feet with the spear. The knight’s greaves took the strike.
“Diediedietraitoryougottadieorthesunwon’trisetomorrow!” Suddenly, Rolonia’s screeching resounded around them as her whip undulated like a snake. Goldof shifted, hunching over and covering his face with his hands. She lashed him over and over, with sharp, metallic clangs.
“!” Rolonia was shocked. Her whip, imbued with the power of the Saint of Spilled Blood, could wring blood
