The screen lit up again.
"Don't just stand there in a daze!"
Otto Suwen's voice cut through the chaos.
He stood on a half-collapsed roof, his clothes soaked through and his face streaked with cuts from flying rubble. The tiles beneath his feet kept shifting under the battering current, and he was in such a sorry state that he nearly fell off.
Yet he kept shouting.
"Anyone who can walk, head for higher ground! Don't leave the injured alone! If you've still got strength, help them up!"
"The road over there has collapsed! Don't run that way!"
"Bring over planks, doors, tables, everything! Don't leave anything that can float!"
Someone tearfully asked him what else they could do.
Otto glanced back at the distant wall of water, his expression so grim he looked ready to curse.
"How should I know what to do?!"
The person froze at his shout.
But Otto gritted his teeth.
"Does not knowing what to do mean we can just sit here and wait to die?"
"The water hasn't reached our necks, and the enemy isn't standing in front of us yet! We haven't lost!"
Once those words spread, several people who had slumped to the ground finally began to move.
Some started carrying planks, some began dragging the injured, and others tearfully called out the names of nearby survivors. Otto repeatedly shouted down those scattered cries, then repeatedly reshaped them into orders people could act on.
While organizing everyone and helping them regain hope, Otto searched for Garfiel. As Garfiel was one of the stronger fighters they still had, Otto had to get him to start fighting back. At the very least, they had to bite a chunk of flesh off the enemy.
Garfiel stood at the edge of the ruins.
His shoulders rose and fell slightly, his golden hair was wet, and his face was still smeared with dust and blood. Those eyes, usually so frighteningly fierce, now stared vacantly into the distance.
His fists were clenched tight, but he took no step forward.
Otto stumbled over to him and shouted anxiously.
"Garfiel!"
Garfiel did not look at him.
"There's nothing we can do."
His voice was so low that the sound of the water nearly swallowed it.
Otto froze for a moment.
The corners of Garfiel's mouth twisted into an ugly curve.
"The whole city's been destroyed. I can't save anything. Not even Mom or Mimi..."
"I can't save them! I can't do a damn thing!"
Otto's fingers seized Garfiel's collar hard.
People who needed help were still crying out, and the water in the city was still rising.
Nothing Garfiel had said was wrong. This time, the enemy was absurdly strong, and the situation was absurdly dire. Giving up hope was understandable...
Otto raised his head and looked resolutely at the boy who was so much stronger than him.
Then he punched Garfiel in the chest.
There was little force behind the punch. It could not even drive Garfiel half a step back.
Garfiel finally lowered his head to look at him.
Otto panted, but his eyes remained fixed on him.
"You're still alive, aren't you?"
Garfiel frowned.
"You can still move, can't you?"
"You can still throw a punch, can't you?"
Otto's voice grew hoarser.
"If you can still move, don't be so quick to declare yourself beaten! That enemy hasn't won yet! Not even close!"
Garfiel gritted his teeth audibly.
Otto did not let go.
"If you can't stop the enemy, hold them off for one more second!"
"If you can't save everyone, save the people right in front of you first!"
"If you stand here with your head down, then you really won't be able to save anyone!"
Water crashed against the ruins, and broken wood swept past their feet.
Garfiel looked at Otto.
The merchant's face was frighteningly pale, and his hands were trembling too. He was clearly the one more likely to be swept away by the water or killed by a single blow from the enemy, yet he still clutched Garfiel's collar, forcing him to raise his head.
"Tch."
Garfiel suddenly let out a laugh.
It was an ugly laugh.
"You bastard merchant. You sure know how to boss people around."
Then the flame of hope rekindled in Garfiel's eyes.
Seeing this, Otto released him and stepped back half a pace, nearly getting knocked over by the current at his feet.
"Enough talk."
"We have to start rescuing the survivors now and unite against this disaster."
The next instant, white light pierced the distant mist and shot straight toward them.
Garfiel growled and lunged, knocking Otto down.
Otto's pupils abruptly contracted.
Garfiel turned and threw himself down, pinning Otto flat against the ground. The white light grazed Garfiel's arm, instantly charring its surface, and sheared through the remaining section of eaves behind him. Rubble crashed into the water, throwing up a muddy spray.
"Garfiel!"
Before Otto could scramble up, Garfiel was already back on his feet.
He shook out his arm, numbed by the impact, and bared his teeth as he blocked the successive beams of white light.
Seeing this, Otto immediately searched for the source of the white-light attacks.
Otto did not let Garfiel's efforts to buy time go to waste. He had already found it, and pointed toward the tallest tower in the Water Gate City.
"Right there, Garfiel. Don't worry about me anymore."
Garfiel glanced back, saw Otto's resolute gaze, and spat to one side.
"When did I get so damn sentimental?"
"Even with things like this, all we can do is face it head-on, right?"
Carrying the fire Otto had just rekindled in him, Garfiel fought to suppress his anger and keep his reason. He crushed rubble underfoot, leaped over the current, and charged toward the tower.
Outside the screen, Otto watched, his breath catching.
He knew what Garfiel's charge meant.
Defeat the enemy? No, that was nearly impossible. Garfiel could not even fully defend against the enemy's casual attacks.
It meant buying time for those still alive-for the people in the water, for Otto, and for those he wanted to protect.
A clear voice suddenly rang out from the screen.
"Oh, it's Garfiel."
At a time like this, Garfiel should not have looked back.
White light was still behind him, and the current was still beneath his feet. If he was even a beat too slow, he could lose all the time Otto had just fought to gain.
But that voice was different. It was the captain's voice.
As though he had heard his savior arrive, Garfiel believed the captain would save everyone again, and searched for the voice's owner.
He was still blaming himself for so readily believing Dona Fox's words earlier. Now, he believed she alone was the deserter.
The captain never failed. He always strode forward, regardless of consequences or gains and losses. His tenacity when trading blows with Garfiel in the Sanctuary, his hunting of the Witch Bishops, his speech encouraging everyone in the Water Gate City.
So when he heard the voice of the hero, "Natsuki Subaru," he naturally believed that the disaster now engulfing the Water Gate City was about to be rewritten by him.
Beside the tower's shadow, the white-haired boy looked as though he had been waiting there all along.
Seeing the person before him, Garfiel froze in place.
No, no. Whether it was his five senses or his beastlike instincts, everything denied the person before him-he wasn't Natsuki Subaru.
Natsuki Subaru stood before Garfiel and raised his eyes.
At the same time, a white figure descended behind Garfiel.
Shaula.
The instant Garfiel sensed her presence, his body had already turned halfway around.
Too late.
A long white leg tore through the air and slammed into him.
The sound of shattering bones was swallowed by the water.
Garfiel's body flew away like a puppet with severed strings, crashed into a ruined wall, and fell into the water along with the collapsing rubble.
Outside the screen, Felt shot to her feet.
[Felt: Garfiel!]
There was no response.
The current in the image swept over the ruins, quickly concealing the wreckage.
Otto stood frozen, his lips moving as though he wanted to call Garfiel's name.
He could not believe Garfiel had been defeated just like that.
The person whose spirits he had just revived had fallen before him in the blink of an eye.
With the seawater rising, everyone crying out, and Garfiel's fate unknown, even Otto felt a trace of despair.
Just then, the white-haired boy turned his head.
His eyes passed through the mist and settled on Otto.
Otto's body instantly tensed.
Natsuki Subaru looked at him, his face showing neither the joy of victory nor the familiarity of friends reunited.
He seemed to be confirming something he had known all along.
"Just as I thought."
"You're still the most troublesome one, Otto."
Otto stood amid the roar of the water, his face utterly bloodless.