Transfer, the Untouchable Faithless Zone!

"Monster..."

The muttered word slipped from between her slightly parted lips. Recalling the name those despairing people had screamed before, Queen Himiko's eyes dimmed at that moment.

The fluctuation in her emotions caused ripples in the spatial technique she had been struggling to maintain, and the black-and-white spacetime vortex gradually expanding across the ground also began to stall.

Just as the Onmyoji from another land had said, the scale of the teleportation she had constructed was insufficient to transfer every resident of Sun Wheel City. However, moving most of them and preserving their bloodline beneath divine punishment would be more than possible.

Still, she was unwilling to accept it.

Thus, as she suppressed that unusual emotional turmoil within her, the Sun Wheel Queen looked toward Arata, wanting to offer some kind of explanation.

Yet the conclusion drawn from the fundamental answer left Himiko looking utterly vacant and desolate.

"I understand."

After her will had been repeatedly crushed and weighed against itself for a moment, she reached her conclusion.

The Sun Wheel Queen no longer insisted on saving everyone.

Or rather, she no longer had the right to insist upon her own will.

After all, in this great transfer, she was not the one in command. She was merely a Jinchuriki supplying divine power to sustain it!

This was no longer a situation in which she could "make decisions as she pleased."

"Though it is cruel, this is the right choice."

"Obsessing over perfection may instead lead to unforeseen complications."

"Besides, Princess Yao—no, even Takiyashahime as she was now could not hold them back for much longer."

Mantō's gentle voice sounded beside Himiko's ear, offering comfort.

At the same time, he once again clasped Himiko's hand where it hung at her side.

It was precisely that close reassurance and the warmth