"Ivanka!" Suzune noticed something different about her younger sister. Her eyes lit up, and she cried out.
"Sister, I... don't hate you... It just hurt so much. It's all right now. I'm finally free..." Ivanka was already at death's door. The alchemical modifications had consumed too much of her life force, and unrelenting pain had worn away her will to live. The grievous blow she had just suffered left her unable to hold on any longer. After those words, her pupils lost focus and her body went limp.
"Ivanka!" Suzune's heart-rending cry rang out as she clutched her sister tightly, as though she could draw her into her own body. Tears poured down her face. She kept murmuring her sister's name, and each repetition pierced her heart and deepened her hatred.
Clap, clap, clap!
A burst of ill-timed applause shattered the grief-stricken silence. The Little King descended from the air inside an oval Magic Shield.
The shield's faint glow lit his face clearly. His handsome young features were twisted into a savage grimace, his eyes gleaming with wickedness and madness. He looked hideous, like a devil from hell.
Green watched from hiding in the distance, his brows lifting slightly. He murmured to himself, "His soul's been thoroughly corrupted! But there's no trace of the abyss, so it probably wasn't a demon... Hmm? There seems to be a trace of Holy Light. How strange..."
Green continued to observe without revealing himself.
The Little King, meanwhile, was arrogant beyond measure. He looked at Suzune with malicious intent and willed the golems to move.
Though the four Steam Golems nominally belonged to Ivanka, the Little King and Marquis Belon both held higher authority over them. Even with Ivanka dead, he could still command them to fight.
But to the Little King's astonishment, the