Because I Am Surtr

And so, they fled.

As rioters, as drifters, as a motley rabble. They tore off their Reunion Movement armbands, seized supplies with weapons in hand, and ran. Even with Patriot's "army" maintaining order, even with Mephisto's pawns enforcing discipline through brutal punishment, they still began to flee.

When one person fled, ten lost their nerve.

When ten fled, hundreds and thousands collapsed in retreat.

—"I don't want to die! We can't possibly beat that monster!"

—"We Infected don't need to make an enemy of a demon!"

—"Sarkaz! That demon must be here for those Sarkaz mercenaries! Hand them over! Hand them over!"

The chaos and friction escalated further. At first, it was only shouting and arguments, but before long, hotheaded fools began clamoring to attack the Sarkaz mercenaries' camp—and they truly did. Then, the Sarkaz, who had never been ones to swallow insult in silence, used blood to ignite an even greater conflict.

A rioter had his arm severed by a swordsman.

And the blood provoked even greater chaos. By then, even when Patriot, who commanded immense prestige within the Reunion Movement, appeared in person and used his halberd to prevent the conflict from escalating further...

...the Reunion Movement's collapse had become inevitable.

Ines wiped down the staff in her hand and looked worriedly at the chaos beyond the tent. She belonged to the Reunion Movement and was one of the squad leaders in the Sarkaz mercenary band. Through her Originium Arts, which could partially see into people's hearts, a countdown to an imminent internal conflict was rapidly ticking away.

"...Everyone, even that old man. Their 'shadows' are trembling uneasily, like frogs that have seen a snake. They're terrified, they're afraid... They're finished."

She raised her head and looked at her other companion, Heredrey. Her lovely face could not conceal its deep concern.

"They've only heard a name. They've only received some unverified intelligence. Yet they're frightened to this extent... Can a single person's reputation truly reach such a level? Can it shake the very foundation of such a massive force before that person has even appeared?"

"You know the answer, Ines." Her companion was a tall, steady-looking Sarkaz man. "They fear her. They fear her strength. They fear her savagery and madness. Even you are the same."

"You're even holding your staff backwards."

Ines's fingers stiffened. Without a word, she turned the staff around in her hand. A bitter smile silently touched her lips, followed by a soundless sigh.

How could she not be afraid? How could she not fear her?

Even now, she clearly remembered what she had seen in Kazdel.

It had been dusk.

Dusk had swallowed the dead of night, swallowed the earth and the stars, even swallowed the lingering aftermath of the Cataclysm cloud. Then, as though the world were ending, endless flames erupted from a tiny point at the edge of her vision, tearing apart valleys, dividing rivers, and turning that plain into a scorched crater that remained uninhabitable even now. After that came fire that burned away forests and waterways alike.

Not even a direct strike from a Cataclysm cloud could have caused such a horrifying result.

And at the time, she had been at least five kilometers from where "dusk" had descended, yet she had nearly been unable to withstand the aftershock of that destruction.

At the time, every Sarkaz had believed that the civil war was about to end, that Her Highness Theresia would reclaim the throne and lead Kazdel toward a more glorious future.

Yet everything changed again in the blink of an eye. Theresia was assassinated. Theresis miraculously survived the Twilight Flame and took over Kazdel's throne. Though he had always been a regent whose claim lacked legitimacy, though he fled to Victoria immediately after ascending the throne and rarely showed himself, using stand-ins most of the time—he still became the Sarkaz king.

But that was not important.

At that time, no one cared who Kazdel's monarch truly belonged to. Everyone—every force qualified to move pieces upon the stage of this world—was watching, at that very moment, to see where the Twilight Flame, having suffered defeat, would vent its fury for revenge.

Everyone thought Victoria would be its second target. Yet no one expected the Ursus Emperor's head to turn the Hunter King into the Ember Demon once more. Everyone thought it would stop within Ursus, but no one expected its sights to turn, for a time, upon so many nations across this world.

Kazimierz, Lateran, Columbia, Victoria, Yan... Like a maddened beast, it relentlessly attacked the rulers and monarchs of this continent. Some wars became known to the world; others were hidden in secrecy. Yet no matter what, the final result was that the monster bearing countless titles emerged victorious time and again.

It had gone mad. It had been driven insane by defeat—this was how the world saw it.

Or perhaps it had never stood on Theresia's side to begin with. Perhaps it was simply a battle-crazed maniac by nature, challenging countless powerful foes in pursuit of the final victory.

It had vanished from sight in recent years. Perhaps it had grown weary, perhaps it had been wounded, perhaps it could no longer find a suitable opponent. Yet...

A few years were not enough to erase such memories. When it appeared in the world once more, fear would fill the heart of every living being forced to face it.

Even the very few informed people who had guessed at its true identity were no exception.

"Tell me..." Ines drew in a soft breath. She and Heredrey had once served in Sarkaz Babel Tower. Though they had ultimately chosen to leave, their many collaborations had allowed them to learn certain inside details that no one had intended to conceal at the time.

"...Did she truly go mad? After Theresia was assassinated?"

"I don't know." Heredrey shook his head. "I truly don't know."

He glanced around and easily confirmed that there was no third pair of ears nearby—only natural, since he had already checked more than once. He also knew that the mercenaries' nominal leader was currently hiding in a tent, trembling in fear.

"She... Surtr, seems like a very strange woman to me. If Her Highness Theresia was the warm sun of morning, gently shining upon all things and bringing hope to people, then she... to me, was the setting sun at dusk. Equally warm, equally gentle. Yet what she brought to herself never included hope."

"She was so contradictory... I had never seen passion and loneliness coexist so harmoniously within one person. She placed extraordinary trust in everyone close to her—Her Highness Theresia, Lord Kal'tsit, Doctor, W, many Sarkaz Babel Tower operators, even you and me, who had merely happened to stay at Sarkaz Babel Tower for a time...

...She could brave fire and water over a single joking remark. I vaguely remembered a joke Her Highness Theresia had casually made. She said she wanted an Iberian Whisper Flower tainted by the curse of the sea. And then Surtr truly vanished without a word for nine days and nine nights. On the morning of the tenth day, she dragged her exhausted body back and presented Her Highness with the one and only Shallow Sea Whisper in the world..."

He shook his head, his expression complicated.

"That was the first time I learned that even Her Highness Theresia could wear such an expression. Anger, sorrow, pity, lingering fear... and other things I couldn't understand. And the same thing happened not only to Her Highness Theresia, but also to Lord Kal'tsit, W, even Doctor, who refused to reveal their face..."

"But that was only one part of her. The sun at dusk does not merely shine upon all things—it also rejects all things."

"I could see that she gave her sincerity to everyone close to her. But I had a feeling that she never wished to acknowledge it as her sincerity. Something seemed to bind her—perhaps an event, perhaps a part of her past. And that made her willing only to give, never to accept—"

—The possibility of being betrayed.

He shook his head and did not continue. Some things should not be discussed even behind someone's back, and among the Sarkaz, Heredrey was considered an upright man.

"So... you don't rule out the possibility that she went mad." Ines asked softly, but her tone was declarative.

"I don't deny it. And you should see this more clearly than I do."

Ines shook her head slightly.

"I don't dare look at her shadow."

"...True enough. Perhaps even Her Highness Theresia would be unwilling—or unable—to peer into her heart." Heredrey gave a wry laugh and sighed. "And whether it's you or me, we've both known the answer for a long time, haven't we?"

Ines did not answer.

She merely shifted her gaze to the last empty spot in the room—the place that belonged to W. The young Sarkaz girl had already vanished from the camp the moment news of the 'Ember Demon' arrived.

They knew, and they had not stopped her.

So they had long since reached their conclusion.

—Even the mad could retain their reason under certain circumstances. Or rather, their world was simply incompatible with that of ordinary people.

At that same moment, on a deserted hill within the grounds of the Reunion Movement's Sarkaz mercenary regiment, Miss Surtr watched the Sarkaz who was about to meet her—white-haired, red-eyed, and almost always wearing a mischievous smile.