In front of Azzar's house… Heemi fell, struck by one of the arrows in her wrist as she tried to fend it off. Before the arrow even fell, its flames had already begun spreading, charring her entire arm. Heemi let out a horrifying scream… then she collapsed, losing consciousness.
"Heemi!!!" Sol shouted, moving hysterically through the arrows to reach her. But… an arrow was approaching his back… he didn't care… Heemi… she had never screamed like that before! He had never heard a scream like that in his life.
Fojta blocked the incoming arrow before it could hit Sol, and she shouted at him, "Commander Sol… focus!!"
The man in the red cloak said, "Why do you cling to life when God wants none of you!!"
Sol was trying to wake Heemi… her arm… it had been completely charred… He looked back at Fojta and saw she was struggling to block the arrows… but… he couldn't help her… he simply couldn't… he couldn't even help Heemi… how could one fend off those flaming arrows…
Fojta screamed angrily at the man, "Not even your god accepts us?! Humans don't accept us… our own people—descendants of the lights—don't accept us… and now even your god doesn't accept us?! Where is His mercy and love that's supposed to embrace everyone?!"
Azzar, who stood behind her in weakness, said, "Fojta… I didn't raise you to be so pitiful… We, in Azzar's house, do not ask for mercy or pity from anyone… even if it's a god…"
Fojta glanced at him out of the corner of her eye as she blocked arrows and said, "What! What are you saying, you perverted old man? You didn't raise me— you bought me from my father to serve your customers… Don't sit here fighting uselessly with your knife as if you care about us! Just go inside the house and hide!"
Azzar continued weakly, "I don't care about you, you one-eyed brat…"
Fojta growled in anger, tears streaming down her face, and shouted, "I hate you… I hope you die here so I never see you again… that's why—go back into the house before my wish comes true!!"
Azzar got up, approached her, and put his hand on her shoulder, "You see… I have raised you… all girls hate their fathers in their teenage years…"
Fojta looked at him—he was riddled with arrows and burns, and he was bleeding… Azzar was dying already… Why… why didn't he go inside…? She hated him… she had always hated him… She tried to hold him, but they both fell to the ground, and she cried out in terror, "Azzar!!"
Azzar laughed as blood poured from his mouth, "Weren't you hating me just a moment ago, you little brat…"
Fojta wept, clenching her teeth, as Azzar placed his hand on her face, saying, "I've known all along how strong you are… here you are, joining Farata's army with just one eye… My God… what was I supposed to do to keep you here by my side…"
Fojta screamed, "Why didn't you hide in the house?! Why did you stay out here!! Why can't you ever do anything right!!"
The man with the arrows had paused—if only for a few seconds—from shooting them… How… Zern always repeated… 'The lights… they have always envied us for our bonds and relationships as humans…' So… so they forced their own relationships upon humans… But how… how do these descendants of the lights… cry and grieve over each other's deaths…
Azzar said, "I won't sit and hide in that house while my children fight outside!"
Fojta screamed and wept, and Azzar murmured, "What… are you mourning my death… after everything I've done to you…" More blood trickled from his mouth, and he said, looking to the sky, "Ah… don't cry for me, remember, I'm just the man who bought you from your father to serve my customers!"
Fojta bowed her head onto his chest, crying, and said, "I hate you… I hate you… don't die… wake up… and let me hate you!!"
Azzar closed his eyes and whispered, "I wonder if the boy is okay…"
Inini, still deflecting arrows, muttered, "Azzar… I've always hated him too… I've always hated him…"
But… the red-cloaked man stood in shock, "I don't understand… how…"
Vera shouted at him, "Rion!!"
Rion looked at him as Vera continued, "Beasts die too, it doesn't mean we should mourn them!"
Rion snapped out of it as he looked at Vera's determined eye… "No… they are… tainted… I have to focus…"
Rion said in anger as he raised his bow and prepared to fire his arrows, "You've always envied us for our bonds, so you try to form these disfigured bonds…"
Fojta rose slowly away from Azzar's body… she raised her weapon and stood before Rion, saying, "Disfigured bonds… then tell me… why am I about to kill you now…" Tears streamed down her face as she pointed at Azzar. "Because I'm grieving for the man you killed?"
Rion unleashed all his fiery arrows at maximum speed… but… Fojta didn't stop advancing… when the arrows hit her legs, she did not stop… when they hit her arms, her torso, she did not stop…
Rion's eyes widened in horror, and he said, "How… how does she keep moving…" Before he could understand, Fojta was in front of him, her weapon extended in her hand… he saw its hilt clenched tightly… but he couldn't see the tip… it had already settled… in his heart…
Rion fell to the ground…
The red-cloaked man who had been fighting Sabana cried out, "Rion!!" He looked at Fojta, who stood there weakly. "Why!! Why did you kill him!! Why did you kill him?"
Fojta thought… He… killed… Azzar…
Sabana was panting in pain, watching her enemy move toward Fojta. Unlike Fojta, the arrow lodged in Sabana's body spread flaming fire throughout her body. Sabana said weakly, "You bastard… don't walk away from our fight…"
"Our fight? What fight is that…" this human soldier… had been defeated a while ago… why does she keep trying…
He pushed Sabana to the ground, and Sabana fell in pain… if only she could stand up again… she would have stopped him… before reaching Fojta… why does he charge so fiercely toward Fojta anyway… can't he see… she can barely stand… she trembles as though a slight breeze would knock her down…
Sabana put her weight on her hand and tried to stand… but it was no use… she couldn't…
The man drew a flaming arrow and held it in his hand… approaching Fojta as quickly as possible… maybe her body held on long enough to kill Azzar's killer… but now, after she killed him… she can't continue…
He shouted, "I'll kill you with my own two hands!!"
This fight… isn't fair… it's not two people clashing until one falls… it's a barrage of flaming arrows upon others who shelter behind their weapons… they can't get near them… they can't advance… so… Mika didn't feel he was disrespecting his opponent… when he left the fight… evading the arrows… until he reached the one about to kill Fojta… and knelt on one knee… driving his weapon, which he clutched with both hands, into the man's back, piercing his chest…
Mika shouted in anger, "Why… why are you angry when you're the ones who came to kill us!!"
He continued, pulling his weapon out of the man so that the man dropped to the ground, "This really pisses me off, man!!! No one had to die if you didn't come!!"
Maybe he hadn't attacked anyone and only defended himself so far… because he didn't want this… he didn't want his weapon stained by someone's blood… He looked at the lifeless corpse on the ground… killing a man… so easily? With a single strike from me? It can't be… taking a life cannot be this easy…
His thoughts were cut short by the staggering body before him… Fojta was looking at him… and she saw the shining tears in his eyes and on his face… She wanted to wipe them away… she wanted to thank him… but… her body refused to listen…
She was about to fall to the ground before Mika caught her. Fojta closed her eyes… but she fought to open them again… she wanted to see that face clearly… the face who saved her…
Mika picked her up and ran away from the battle, then propped her against a wall in Azzar's house, saying as he returned to the fight once more, "Try to stay alive. I'll come back for you after all of this—okay?!"
Fojta watched him as he ran away back to the field.