"Kashius, get up! Wake up, Kashius~!"
"Who? Who is calling me? Who is calling me?"
In the boundless darkness, Kashius walked aimlessly, on and on.
He did not know which way he should go, nor where he should go. But there was one thing he was certain of: he absolutely could not stop.
He absolutely could not stop. He knew that if he stopped, then he would truly die.
Outside, by the river.
Natashi, who had originally been set aside by the Mirror Heart Demon, had now slowly awakened.
More accurately, she had been startled awake by Kashius's agonized wails.
Natashi struggled to her feet and rubbed the place where the Mirror Heart Demon had struck her. Then she began taking in the situation around her.
The moment she lifted her head, Natashi saw Kashius trapped inside the magic array.
At that moment, Kashius had been carried into midair by the pillar of light rising from the magic array. His entire body was bright red, and he looked as if he had been cooked in a steamer.
His expression was terribly ugly, and his tightly shut eyes trembled from time to time. At the corner of his mouth, thin streams of bright red blood kept flowing out.
His limbs in particular—though they were still bound by the vines of light, Kashius's tightly clenched fists showed that he was still struggling, still had not given up hope of living.
In the other magic array, the Mirror Heart Demon also had his eyes tightly shut at this moment.
However, his condition was clearly far, far better than Kashius's. There was not a single wound anywhere on his body, and even his complexion was incomparably rosy and healthy.
As for the old hag between the two of them, Natashi saw her