Shade's attack just now had not been entirely ineffective. Although the human body she had manifested again appeared unscathed, close inspection revealed fine red and silver cracks covering its surface. If she had merely been human, she should have died long ago.
At that moment, the black Bent Arc emerged from the surface of the woman's tattered dress. She gripped it in her right hand and said to Shade:
"The more I look at you, the stranger you seem. You are too perfect, as though someone like you should not exist in this world. The world has granted you such tremendous strength, wisdom, and courage, and made so many young ladies fall for you. I merely wanted one person, yet paid such a great price. So what price will you have to pay?"
"If that's all you have to say, I'll be very disappointed. Mr. Snake and I discussed this topic before. Your eloquence is clearly far inferior to his."
The weakened woman laughed.
"This is not my main body, but as long as I delay you for a moment, I win. Go find where my true main body is. No matter who defeats whom tonight, I will always remember you—those words are absolutely not a lie."
As she spoke, she was about to drive the Bent Arc into her chest, but Shade spoke again:
"The body you're controlling is innocent. Since you've lost, how about making a graceful exit? This body is innocent. Even if you use that Bent Arc to do something else, you should know it can't stop me.
"The Bent Arc in your hand has already made it impossible for this body to remain alive. Since she has died because of you, at least let her corpse retain some dignity, all right?"
Behind Shade, Grace and