"Luvia, you don't have to praise me like that. You know I don't care about such things."
Shade held her in his arms. "But I still have one question without an answer. Did the you from the past burn the Snow Mountain to ashes?"
Luvia did not deny it. "More precisely, I had Sister Devlin do it. That Snow Mountain could not be burned away by ordinary means. I could have done it myself, but the cost would have been too great, so I had the Sister use the Primordial Fire."
"But why do that? Now that the War of Fate is over, I still can't see the necessity of it. It couldn't have been just to help the sister find that flame, could it?"
Luvia leaned against his chest and shook her head. "Don't think so badly of me either. At least in Fated Story, I wouldn't go that far just for a flame.
"It was actually because of Claire's death. When I returned from outside the island, I discovered that Claire had already died. I was angry then—I was furious. Or perhaps it was wrath born from guilt. That was also the only time Claire died.
"Burning the Snow Mountain wasn't for the Flame, nor was it even for the Snake. It was to seek the end of Pilgrim's Path within the Snow Mountain. I could have found it myself, but it would have taken time, so I didn't wait that time."
"You wanted to find a way to resurrect Claire?"
Shade didn't think Luvia needed to borrow any other power to fight the Snake. Aside from this occasion, Luvia had been in her long-haired state in every Sixth Epoch, which meant she had completely mastered the power of Doomsday. So long as she did not care about