Anger.
Uncontrollable anger burned in his heart.
"—I'm not your judge. The only person qualified to torment you is Raiden Mei herself, the one you bullied!"
"Cocolia, I never thought highly of you, not from the very beginning. Being weak might not be a reason to die, but being stupid absolutely is—especially when you're stupid, arrogant, and ignorant all at once."
"You're nothing but a lucky fool who suddenly gained power!" The target on the screen roared hoarsely. "What do you know? Do you even understand what kind of great undertaking I'm trying to accomplish?"
"Heh." He let out a cold laugh. "Do you know that a Herrscher could kill you and every mech under your command with a single slap?"
"How is that possible!" Cocolia roared, denying it.
Jiang Cheng looked sadly at her, still believing she had lost only because of a poor move and bad luck.
Then he briefly looked away, precisely picking out that unforgettable purple figure amid the crater-pocked wasteland, like the surface of the moon.
Explosions, shouts, the wind.
All kinds of sounds surged in at once, a jumbled mess, yet they seemed to come from another world, distant and indistinct.
A violent, uncontrollable headache struck. At the same time came a weakness that seemed to start at her fingertips and toes.
Was it because she had lost too much blood?
She felt like she could no longer hold her sword.
If I die just like this, what will Cheng-kun think?
Can I, Raiden Mei, stay in his heart for the rest of his life? Could I stay there for decades?
If... if I could do it all over again.
This journey...
"I really do want to say I'm sorry to you."
The last bit of strength left her fingertips. The katana in her hand shattered as it fell. The ordinary iron blade had held out until now, but it had finally given everything it had.
"I'm here."
A voice she knew far too well reached her, utterly steady, without the slightest excitement or inflection.
"Raiden Mei."
Had Cheng-kun chosen to give up? As a prophet, he would surely stay out of danger as long as he was willing to abandon her.
Ah, that was nice.
It would've been even better if he'd called her Mei one last time.
It was as if the thing she had clung to until now had suddenly been drained away. Her gorgeous, purplish-red eyes gently closed.
"You can relax now. It's over."
Out of nowhere, an inexplicable force appeared, filling her completely in an instant like a warm spring current and driving out all the exhaustion that had built up inside her.
Then—
"Mei."
The intimate name she had dreamed of hearing slipped from his lips.
They were only simple syllables, yet they seemed wrapped in velvet steeped in the richest honey, enough to drown anyone in sweetness.
"I'm sorry. I came too late."
The moment Raiden Mei heard his voice beside her, her body instinctively slumped backward. There was no reason, no explanation. She simply fell back, trusting him.
Until his broad, warm embrace completely enveloped her cold body, its warmth gradually fading.
—She didn't need to look up. There was no need to look up.
She could already feel him.
His heartbeat, hot, quick, and anxious.
"I'm sorry. My plan fell apart in the end," his voice came gently from behind her. "I called myself a prophet, but I wasn't strong enough. I was nothing but a joke. I didn't really help you at all. I only dragged you down."
Her long purple hair was terribly tangled, and her ponytail had come undone at some point. He couldn't see her face clearly.
Only her voice remained the same—
"Cheng-kun, do you know how she broke her promise?"
Raiden Mei softened her voice, nestled in Jiang Cheng's arms, and began telling him the rest of the story—
"Back then, all she had to do was something very simple, and she could have gotten everything she dreamed of."
"I waited for half an hour that day before she finally showed up. She was wearing a clean little skirt, and she'd carefully done her hair. She wasn't like the classmates around her who bullied me."
Actually, she hadn't been any different from them.
Jiang Cheng thought to himself.
But Raiden Mei kept speaking, her long lashes dipping slightly and hiding the flicker in her eyes.
"When she walked toward me, I stood up at once and picked up the crepe I'd loaded with all sorts of stuff. But she stopped three steps away from me, just like the people who hated me. She stood there with a cold expression, looking down at me, and said:"
"'Why are you sitting by my seat? Don't you know there's always a weird smell coming from you?'"
"And then... that was it. Just that one sentence was enough. After that, she laughed along with the others, and her smile was just like their mocking grins."
"—Didn't she come to see you in private?"
Jiang Cheng furrowed his brow. This story clearly wasn't that simple. Something even more shameless must have happened afterward.
"She did."
Just as he'd expected.
She nodded gently. Her calm gaze rippled with a flicker of emotion.
"When she was alone that night, she came to me again and said she'd only done it because she had no choice, that the others had forced her, and that she hoped I'd forgive her. But back then, I still fought back. After I broke one of her bones, she never came to see me again."
"—?"
That was completely different from what he'd expected.
"After all, I'd just learned swordsmanship. I couldn't just not use it, could I?" Raiden Mei closed her eyes peacefully.
"That's the whole story. Nothing special, which is why I didn't tell you back then."
"You'd seen me win, so you trusted me. That actually put me at ease. In fact, when you said you completely trusted me for no reason at all, I was terrified. I got so scared that I hid like a coward and pretended to be an ordinary person."
"Taking responsibility for someone else's life so carelessly is fatal for anyone."
"Especially when the life I'm responsible for is yours—the life of the only person who's ever cared about me."
"You wouldn't have failed in the first place," Jiang Cheng said quietly.
Raiden Mei instead pouted, her eyes coquettishly alluring and full of reproach.
"Failing... I've never seen myself win, you know? Just a sentence or two, and you made me completely believe I could win..."
"Cheng-kun, you're so mean. You keep asking me to do things I can't do~"
"...You really don't think I'm holding you back? I know exactly how you act when you're unhappy."
Jiang Cheng recalled the stories about Raiden Mei.
"This really is cheating."
Raiden Mei remained as relaxed as ever. The pallor from her injuries only added a few languid touches to her extraordinary beauty.
She took a deep breath, gathering the last sliver of her strength, and rose from his arms. Her slender fingertips naturally swept up her silvery strands, gathering her loosened hair back into a ponytail.
Her flushed, delicate earlobes, warm from the heat, were exposed to the air, giving off wisps of warmth.
Her slender, swanlike neck was exposed before him, too.
Though she was a powerful Herrscher Subject, now it seemed that a mere light grip could take her life.
Chapter 36: Herrscher of Thunder—Birth!
After finishing, she turned around.
Facing him completely.
It was an ordinary gesture of brushing her hair back, yet her eyes were coquettishly alluring.
"Cheng-kun, we've only just met, yet you look so sad. You're very guarded, and you don't trust people easily, but you still trusted me..."
Raiden Mei seemed to be reflecting on something, or perhaps savoring something sweet.
By the time she realized it, she had already...
—unconsciously smiled.
"After all, in your eyes, you, me, us... we've already met countless times. The person named Raiden Mei has already lived for countless years in your eyes."
How could he describe that smile?
A radiant smile? A smile like the clear sky?
All Jiang Cheng could see was his own reflection in those clear eyes, like the sky after rain.
He felt like he was running out of words.
"Also—"
He shook the feelings from his mind for now, then casually pulled over the floating virtual screen—
More than half of Cocolia's face had been violently covered by black gel and molten iron. Only her dark golden hair was left to prove her identity.
"I left Cocolia alive. She's pinned to a wall like a specimen now. How you want to torment her is entirely up to you. My power will keep her alive, so no matter what you do to her, she'll keep dragging herself along."
"Don't talk about such an unpleasant thing." Raiden Mei used electromagnetic force to toss the screen away without hesitation.
At that moment, her purplish-red eyes seemed to hold the thunder of the heavens and the gleam of pure lightning, their gaze shifting.
Her lovely eyes shone.
In the past, as a young lady, she must have received countless gifts and goodwill from countless people every day.
She must have grown tired of everything, as a matter of course, and given up reaching for the countless hands extended toward her.
Yet now, and only now, she looked at just one person, intently.
"..."
Perhaps Jiang Cheng, only a few minutes ago, would have hesitated.
It had taken such a short time for mutual affection to form between them.
For him, it was a little too fast.
Cold, decisive—
He had now embarked on his path, becoming one of countless madmen and lunatics roaming the stars.
Perhaps he would stop. Perhaps he would assess the situation.
But he would never hesitate.
Since the girl wore that expression, it was only natural to give her something of equal weight in return—
Jiang Cheng opened his arms without hesitation—
—an embrace.
She was like warm jade in his arms.
Before you continue