Act Ten: Echisis's Daughters

"She must be judged, Lord Milos. Hundreds of thousands of lives vanished because of her, in Toquenin and Lozka. They have nothing to do with me; without seeing it with my own eyes, I can't even empathize with their grief. But I think that if I had such an opportunity before me and did nothing, I would become an accomplice. As a human being, I can't accept that. This isn't about revenge. It's only about seeking justice, because no one can make a mistake without bearing responsibility." Brando lay in Freya's arms, raised his head to look at the towering phantom before him, and replied calmly. The platform floated in a world of pure black. A square barrier of light unfolded around it, flashing blue lightning separating the inside from the outside. Violent energy currents raged through the outer world, yet could not affect the world within the barrier at all. In terms of the purity of divine power, Milos was tens of millions of times stronger than Dark Kouhua.

Milos shook his head heavily and said in a rumbling voice, "If you kill her, another Kouhua will die as well. She is innocent."

Brando frowned as he considered whether that was really true. Dark Kouhua's crimes were unforgivable, but if another Kouhua had to bear responsibility for what she had done, that wasn't entirely unreasonable from certain perspectives. Still, it seemed excessively barbaric. Their swords lay discarded to one side, the Lionheart Sword crossed over the Sword of Earth, their dark blade and silver gleam reflecting one another. Brando turned his head and saw Kouhua lying weakly in a pool of blood a short distance away, her face as pale as paper. Her ebony hair spread across the platform like the hair of a sacrificial offering. She seemed to