The legends say that both times the Evil God fell, the Crests of the Six Flowers had shone brightly, and at the same time, all of the fiends had stopped in place and wailed at the sky. The grief-stricken moans of the fiends traveled far, beyond even the borders of the Howling Vilelands. According to the tales, although the Six Braves had only moments earlier been fighting for their lives, when they saw the fiends contorted in grief, they felt pity for their foes. And even when the surviving Braves departed the Howling Vilelands, the keening never ceased.
According to what some say, once the fight was over, the crest of each Brave began gradually fading, and after about six months they had disappeared entirely.
One of the Braves who had returned alive, Marlie, the Saint of Blades, had an analysis of their nemesis to share: The Evil God was the master of the fiends but did not give them any particular orders, and likewise, the fiends did not look to it for direction. The Evil God most likely lacked a conscious mind. If it did possess one, it was equal to that of an animal or even less. Nothing more than a manifestation of pure hate for humanity, with no purpose beyond wishing their death and destruction.
On the other hand, it was not unusual for fiends to be sentient. Some of them were even smarter than humans. The commanders giving orders to the rank and file belonged to that class of cognizance.
The monsters’ allegiance to the Evil God was absolute. To a human it would be unthinkable to so fully serve a thing with no conscious will, but fiends were different. They devoted everything to their service of the Evil God and lived only to grant its desires.
Marlie wrote that loyalty to the Evil God was the meaning of the fiends’ existence, and without it they could not be.
Marlie, the Saint of Blades was generally correct—with one exception.
One fiend did possess its own will, its own ambitions, and lived not for the Evil God but for itself. Its name was Dozzu. Around two centuries ago, it had left the Howling Vilelands for the realms of man. Over the course of two hundred years, it had laid its plans, making the preparations necessary to fulfill its ambitions before eventually returning to the Howling Vilelands. Close by Dozzu’s side was the fiend’s one and only comrade, a girl it had personally nurtured: Nashetania.
Chapter 1Reunion
“I wish to hear all your thoughts,” said Mora.
It had been fourteen days since the Evil God’s awakening. After escaping Tgurneu’s scheme, the group of seven had proceeded to the Bud of Eternity, the safe zone within the Howling Vilelands. There they waited for the severely injured Hans and Mora to heal.
There was hardly a fiend to be seen around the Bud of Eternity. They seemed to be lying in wait farther west, in a place called the Cut-Finger Forest. The vast woodland covered about two-fifths of the Howling Vilelands, and it was so named because a thousand years before, the Saint of the Single Flower lost a finger on her left hand in an attack there.
As they waited for the pair’s wounds to heal, the group discussed various topics—first on the list being who might be the seventh. Each of them presented what clues they had found, and they reviewed their speculations and arguments many times over, but in the end they reached no conclusions. They couldn’t even guess how the fake crest had been created.
They had discussed in further detail their fight within the Phantasmal Barrier. After finding out Nashetania’s true identity, Adlet had passed out, so he asked his allies what had happened while he was unconscious. They told him Hans, Mora, and Chamo had chased Nashetania in circles, but near dawn she had escaped the barrier and disappeared. They considered why Nashetania had turned traitorous and how deeply the fiends had pervaded human affairs, but they found no answers there either.
However, Fremy had provided inside information about the fiends. Apparently among Tgurneu’s subordinates were some known as “specialists.” Rather than ordering them to evolve themselves to be stronger in battle, Tgurneu instructed them to focus exclusively on the unique abilities they each possessed. Certain fiends might specialize in pursuit, while others acquired the ability to invade the body of a Saint and block their powers. One was skilled at interrogating humans. Another fiend had an extremely powerful sense of smell; and there was the creature that had gained the ability to give birth to a child through intercourse with humans. Fremy wasn’t informed as to the powers of every single one of these specialized weapons, but she told the party all she knew about their abilities and appearances.
After that, the group discussion continued to several other points. By the time the night ended, they had exhausted their supply of talking material. But then suddenly Mora asked for their opinions on a certain matter.
“What do you want to know, Mora?” asked Adlet.
“I suggest each of us share right now whom we suspect,” she replied.
“I told you before, we’re not going to throw accusations around.”
“And I understand that. But telling us not to have suspicions won’t change the reality that we do. Knowing everyone else’s misgivings could help us avoid false accusations, don’t you agree?”
The suggestion made Adlet uneasy. But Fremy said softly, “I don’t think it’s a bad
