Bernard moved before fear could stop him.
The shattered streets groaned beneath his boots as he intercepted Toki head-on, cutting off the path toward the wounded behind him. The eclipse above drowned the capital in crimson darkness, covering the battlefield in a sick red glow that reflected off rivers of blood and piles of corpses scattered across the ruins.
Toki rushed forward without hesitation.
The moment their fists collided, the air exploded.
CRACK.
Bernard felt the bones in his hand fracture instantly. Pain shot through his wrist and climbed toward his elbow like splintering glass beneath flesh, but he kept pushing anyway, teeth grinding together hard enough to ache.
Toki did not move an inch,Bernard's boots carved trenches into the stone while Toki stood rooted in place like a monster carved into the battlefield itself.
The scent pouring from Toki's body was horrifying. Some of his wounds had begun healing incorrectly under the strain placed on his regeneration. Torn muscle remained exposed beneath layers of blood while darker patches of skin around deeper injuries had already begun to smell rotten.
But worse than the smell was the hunger.
Every corpse around them seemed to stimulate him further. Every breath Toki took deepened the madness in his eyes.
The battlefield itself was feeding him.
Bernard realized immediately that if he remained locked in this clash much longer, Toki would completely pulverize his arm.
So he suddenly dropped his fist.
Toki's eyes widened slightly.
Before the monster could react, Bernard stepped inward and wrapped both arms around him.
Then he lifted him off the ground.
Toki snarled violently as Bernard surged forward across the ruined street, carrying him away from the others.
His fists immediately hammered into Bernard's back.
CRACK.
The first strike shattered ribs.
The second damaged his spine badly enough to numb his legs.
The third filled his throat with blood.
Bernard nearly collapsed from the pain, but he forced himself to continue moving.
The angle restricted Toki's movements just enough that he couldn't properly generate full power. Bernard understood he would not survive this for long, but he didn't need long.
He only needed distance,enough distance for the others to escape.
Bernard glanced behind himself once and saw Elizabeth and the noblewomen dragging Smith and Ozvold away while Melissa desperately pressed trembling hands against Harold's ruined torso.
Good.
That was enough.
A weak smile appeared on Bernard's face.
He tightened his grip around Toki harder despite the agony ripping through his body.
"Just a little longer... my friend..."
Toki struggled harder now. Bernard could already feel the difference in strength becoming impossible to ignore. Every movement from Toki felt less like resisting another man and more like trying to restrain a wild beast.
Sooner or later, this hold would break.
And once it did, Bernard would die.
But strangely enough, that thought no longer frightened him.
"You know..." Bernard spoke quietly between uneven breaths, "when we first met this spring... I never imagined things would end like this."
Toki continued snarling against him, but Bernard kept talking anyway.
"You walked into the throne room looking like some starving vagabond... and somehow walked out as Commander of the Fourth Division."
Blood ran from Bernard's mouth as another punch struck his back.
"But honestly... I think you deserved that position more than any of us."
His eyes softened.
"Everyone calls me the kingdom's strongest knight. The perfect commander. The ideal noble."
A bitter smile crossed his face.
"But compared to you... I always felt ordinary."
Toki slammed another fist into his side hard enough to rupture something inside Bernard's chest.
He coughed blood but kept walking.
"You always worked harder than everyone else. Even when the capital hated you. Even when nobles mocked Lady Utsuki for her appearance."
His breathing became rougher.
"You still protected people who never showed you kindness."
"I used to think you didn't trust us because you never asked for help."
He laughed weakly.
"But the truth is... we simply weren't strong enough to stand beside you yet."
The smell of blood surrounding Toki grew stronger.
Bernard could hear him breathing harder now.
"It must've been exhausting," Bernard whispered. "Carrying everyone's expectations alone."
Another blow landed.
More ribs cracked.
"We all became spoiled because of you. You performed so many miracles that we started believing you could overcome anything."
Bernard's vision blurred slightly.
"We forgot you were human too."
Toki suddenly thrashed violently in his arms, forcing Bernard backward several steps.
His shoulders screamed from the pressure.
Still, he held on.
"With all my heart, Toki Ikaru..."
His voice trembled slightly now.
"You are my only true friend."
Silence followed.
"And the person I admire more than anyone."
Tears almost formed in Bernard's eyes.
"It hurts..." he whispered. "It really hurts that things have to end this way."
His strength finally began fading.
"But in the next life..."
His grip weakened.
"I'll work harder."
The moment his hold loosened, Toki attacked instantly.
His jaws sank deep into Bernard's left shoulder.
CRUNCH.
The sound of bone shattering echoed across the ruined street.
Toki's teeth crushed Bernard's clavicle completely while flesh tore apart beneath the bite. Blood exploded down Bernard's chest as agony surged through his nervous system like fire.
A broken groan escaped his throat.
But Bernard moved immediately.
Using the last strength left in his body, he forced his hand deep into the open wound in Toki's abdomen.
Hot blood coated his entire arm instantly.
His fingers dug through torn flesh until they touched metal.
The broken sword fragment.
"There..."
Toki's eyes widened.
Bernard grabbed the blade and ripped it free with everything he had left.
The effect was immediate.
Blood erupted from Toki's abdomen in violent streams.
The wound tore wider as tissue split apart around it, spraying blood across the shattered street beneath them. Flesh hung loose from the opening while pieces of internal tissue spilled out together with the torrent.
For the first time since the battle began—
Toki screamed.
The sound barely resembled a human voice anymore.
Bernard collapsed to one knee while clutching his ruined shoulder.
It worked.
For one brief moment, it actually worked.
Toki staggered backward, clutching the wound while blood continued pouring between his fingers.
Then instinct took over again.
He lunged forward and tore a massive chunk of flesh from Bernard's shoulder before swallowing it whole.
Bernard felt the meat separate from bone, nerves rip apart, warm blood pour endlessly down his body.
And immediately after swallowing it, Toki's regeneration accelerated.
The bleeding slowed,not completely but enough.
Toki's face twisted violently as he grabbed Bernard's throat with both hands.
The pressure nearly crushed his neck instantly.
Bernard could hear the bones creaking beneath the grip.
But he didn't resist.
He simply looked at him.
Not at the monster but at his friend.
Toki's eyes trembled faintly beneath the eclipse.
For a brief moment, Bernard thought he saw pain inside them.
Bernard smiled weakly despite the blood running from his lips.
"Have... a good life... Toki Ikaru..."
His vision darkened.
The strength left his body completely.
His arms fell limp.
And Bernard lost consciousness in the hands of the friend he could never bring himself to hate.
For several seconds, Toki remained completely still.
The ruined capital fell silent around him.
The screams,the fire,the collapsing buildings.
Everything suddenly felt distant.
Bernard's unconscious body hung loosely in his grip while blood continued dripping from the shredded remains of his shoulder.
Toki stared at him without moving.
Something inside his chest twisted violently.
Training grounds.....Laughter.....A chessboard.....A voice calling his name.....A friend.
The word echoed somewhere deep inside his fractured mind.
Toki's grip weakened slightly.
His stomach twisted painfully as the smell of blood invaded his senses again. The corpses surrounding him seemed louder now. Every heartbeat from every surviving person nearby sounded painfully clear.
Toki's breathing became uneven.
His nails dug into Bernard's throat hard enough to draw blood again.
Then suddenly—
A distant scream cut through the battlefield.
"BERNARD!"
Elizabeth.
Toki's head slowly turned toward the sound.
The noblewomen froze instantly the moment his eyes landed on them.
Melissa instinctively moved in front of Harold's unconscious body despite trembling violently.
Elizabeth herself could barely breathe.
But she still stepped forward.
"We have to do something!"
Her eyes were locked entirely on Bernard.
"We can't leave him behind!"
"Keep your voice down," Lorelay whispered sharply while struggling to support Smith's unconscious body. "He's still watching us."
She was right.
Toki's eyes were fixed on them.
Even after everything, even after tearing through half the capital, there was still something terrifyingly calm about the way he stood there. Blood covered nearly every inch of his body while the massive wound in his abdomen continued twitching unnaturally, trying to regenerate around the damage Bernard had caused. The smell coming from him had grown worse now. Rotting flesh mixed with fresh blood until his entire body smelled like a corpse refusing to die.
And yet he still wasn't advancing.
Elizabeth clenched her teeth, then she ran forward.
"Elizabeth!" Melissa shouted, but she ignored her completely.
A fallen sword lay near the ruins beside her and she grabbed it without slowing down, rushing directly toward Toki despite the fear visible in her trembling hands. She knew perfectly well she could not beat him. At this point, nobody there could. But Bernard was still standing in that monster's grasp, and she refused to abandon him.
With a scream, she swung the sword toward Toki's neck.
The blade never reached him.
Even while holding Bernard with one arm, Toki reacted instantly. His hand shot forward and caught the sword mid-swing with his bare fingers. The impact sent vibrations through Elizabeth's entire body before Toki twisted his wrist violently, wrenching the weapon from her grip and throwing it aside like scrap metal.
Elizabeth didn't care.
Instead, she grabbed Bernard's arm with both hands and pulled desperately.
"Bernard!"
But Toki pulled in the opposite direction.
The difference in strength was absolute. Elizabeth's feet dragged across the blood-soaked ground while Bernard's body barely moved at all. Toki slowly reached his free hand toward her, fingers twitching as blood dripped from his claws.
Still, Elizabeth refused to let go,even staring directly at death, she could not abandon him.
Then suddenly a smoke bomb exploded above them.
The battlefield vanished beneath thick gray smoke as Lilith burst through the cloud without hesitation. She grabbed both Elizabeth and Bernard at the same time and forced them backward with all her strength.
Toki reacted instantly.
His claws tore through the smoke and ripped across Lilith's back before she could fully escape. Blood sprayed into the air as deep gashes opened through flesh and cloth together, but Lilith ignored the wound completely and continued retreating until she reached the others.
Melissa's face paled. "Lilith!"
"I'm fine," Lilith muttered through clenched teeth before glancing back toward the smoke-covered battlefield. "That was the last smoke bomb… we need to run!"
Lorelay suddenly looked around frantically.
"…Where's Utsuki?"
A cold wind swept through the ruined streets, slowly dispersing the smoke.
Melissa's eyes widened immediately.
"Utsuki! What are you doing?!"
Elizabeth struggled weakly against Lilith's grip.
"We got everyone back! We have to leave now!"
But Utsuki never moved her eyes away from Toki.
"You all recovered your knights from the battlefield," she said softly. "Mine is still standing there."
Lilith stared at her in disbelief.
"Are you insane?!" she shouted. "You don't stand a chance against him!"
For a moment, Utsuki remained silent while the wind moved gently through her silver hair.
"Maybe I'm not strong enough to call myself a warrior," she admitted quietly. "But there is one thing I know better than anyone else."
Her eyes softened as they remained fixed on Toki.
"I am the person who understands him the most."
Memories surfaced inside her mind one after another.
She had watched all of it from behind him.
And she hated herself for how long it took her to understand how lonely he truly was.
"I spent all this time standing in his shadow while he carried everything alone," she continued. "If there is someone capable of stopping him…"
She stepped forward slowly.
"…then that person has to be me."
The others froze in place as a sword suddenly spun through the air toward Utsuki.
Kandaki had thrown it.
She caught it naturally, her fingers tightening around the familiar hilt as if it had always belonged there.
Tora immediately turned toward him in disbelief.
"What exactly do you think she can do against that thing with a sword?!"
Kandaki kept staring at Toki while the cold wind moved through the ruined battlefield, carrying ash and the smell of blood between them.
"If there's one thing Master Toki taught us," he said quietly, his trembling hands slowly clenching into fists, "it's that we should never stop believing a miracle can happen."
Utsuki slowly unsheathed the blade.
The soft metallic sound spread through the silence while the silver steel reflected beautifully beneath the crimson eclipse. Near the guard, the butterfly engraved into the weapon matched perfectly with the ornament resting in her hair, almost as if the sword had been made for her from the very beginning.
Because in many ways, it had.
This was the sword Toki carried through countless battles to protect her. The sword that remained beside him every time he threw himself between her and death.
Toki stared at the blade without moving.
Fragments of memory flickered through his broken mind like fading dreams.
Snow falling quietly outside their window.
Warm tea shared late at night.
Silver hair illuminated beneath moonlight.
The feeling of finally having a place to return to.
His fingers twitched faintly.
Utsuki raised the sword slowly and pointed it toward him. Tears gathered in her eyes, but her expression remained calm, almost painfully gentle as she looked at the man standing before her.
"It's time," she whispered softly, tightening her grip around the hilt, "…to save you from yourself, Toki."