Constance.
Ashida.
Tales walked expressionlessly along the filthy roads of Underground Street, repeatedly recalling every Air Elementalist he had known.
Whether it was the cold-blooded villain on Red Quarter Street, the elegant and learned magic master in the Chess and Card Room, or the inhuman monster that had obliterated the heavens and earth in Dragoncloud City.
No, there was more than that.
Tales's thoughts returned to Bone Prison, to the secrets buried in darkness.
Netherworld Edge, the Three Calamities Alliance, the Twin Empresses, Freyra.
Echeida Sackern, what had you done?
And your so-called Moderates—what role had you and your companions played during the Year of Blood?
If Morris had been telling the truth, then eighteen years ago, you had worked with the Former King, yet murdered Constance, a member of the Radiant Star Royal Family. Was that right?
I was born into the Radiant Star Royal Family. What did that mean to you?
A thought struck Tales, and he suddenly remembered what Ashida had told him:
[What I look forward to, Tales, is not your ultimate success.]
[It is the day when you are caught between magic users and humanity, between calamities and the world, between your own nature and the eyes of others, between an inescapable future and a past you cannot bear to let go of...]
[When you are finally torn apart by contradiction, destroyed by conflict, devoured by regret... and finally forced to compromise with us.]
At that thought, Tales unconsciously clenched his fists, tightening them over the cuts in his palms.
"Ah, it's happening again."
Kohn stared intently at Tales's back.
Gollor, who had been warily watching Morris beside him, frowned when he heard that.
"What is?"
Kohn pointed at Tales, who was walking ahead with an expressionless face.
"I've seen His Highness looking like that