Chapter 436: Thunderlight Fades With the Wind

“Hey, you guys—why did the Captain keep that girl around?”

Hunos tossed the question out to the group.

“Hm, it’s ’cause she looks like the Captain, right? C’mon, their hair’s exactly the same color!”

Narzis replied earnestly.

“That’s such a dumb reason. What about you, Kina?”

Kina slowly opened her eyes.

“The Captain has his reasons. Don’t question him.”

With that, she closed her eyes again.

But not before her gaze lingered on the purple-haired girl for a split second, as if she were weighing something.

“Sigh, knew Kina’d say that. What about you, Molbai?”

The group bickered back and forth for ages, but they never reached a conclusion.

In the end, Tanoklian went to ask Arudok himself.

“......” Arudok lifted his head and glanced at him, then said slowly, “Why? Simple—she’s got talent.”

“Talent?”

“Yeah, damn impressive talent. Way more valuable as an ally than as a sacrifice.”

“I see.” Tanoklian sighed helplessly. “You’re as arbitrary as ever, sir.”

“Heh~!”

Arudok chuckled.

“Guess that’s the perk of being the Captain. So——”

He turned his head to look at the purple-haired girl standing nearby.

“What are you hanging around here for?”

Freydia met Arudok’s gaze, her expression blank as she said,

“I want to join you.”

The words hung in the air—and everyone around them froze.

Arudok rubbed the space between his brows.

“Look, you do understand what kind of group we are, right?”

Freydia tilted her head to the side, confused.

“......To put it plainly—you don’t belong here.”

“Why not? You just said I’m valuable. If you’re gonna use me, why won’t you let me join?”

Arudok narrowed his eyes, piercing her with his stare.

But Freydia didn’t flinch, not even for a second.

“You sure you wanna join?”

Freydia nodded.

“Even if it means turning your back on everything you fought for to escape that cell?”

“What does ‘turning my back’ mean?”

“You’ll regret it.”

“What does ‘regret’ mean?”

“Heh. The moment you try to back out is the moment you die.”

“And then what?”

“......”

Arudok fell silent.

After a long pause, he looked straight into Freydia’s eyes—and slowly nodded.

“Then so be it. From this day forward——”

“You’re one of us.”

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Arudok’s voice echoed in her ears.

Freydia couldn’t remember exactly when that had been.

All she knew was that it had been a very long time ago.

Back when she hadn’t even been good enough to be a grunt.

When had this dark, brutal place become her sanctuary?

Was it the day she completed her first mission?

The first time Arudok had called her by her name?

Or the day she became the Thunder General?

No. None of those.

The moment that man had pulled her out of that pitch-black cell—this place had already become her only home.

It was a cold, cruel home.

But it was the only place she had.

And the most important thing in the world to her.

“Thunder Demon Sword......”

Her pale right hand tightened around the sword’s hilt, her voice a faint whisper, barely audible.

“Burn up every last bit of me.”

BOOM——!!!

In that instant, a colossal pillar of lightning erupted from the ground, shooting straight into the sky.

......

Pujeliru came to a halt.

Her eyes widened in disbelief.

“Why......”

She slowly turned around, staring at the figure that had risen again, wreathed in lightning.

“Why would you unleash this kind of power when you’re already beaten——!!!”

BOOM!

Lightning shot from her eyes, her hair turning the brilliant silver of crackling thunder.

In that moment, Freydia’s blood seemed to flow with lightning itself—she had become thunder incarnate.

BOOM——!

In the blink of an eye,

all the lightning vanished.

A full suit of armor covered her body, and the Thunder Demon Sword in her hand had undergone a terrifying transformation.

It had grown larger, more ferocious-looking—its hilt had vanished entirely, as if it had fused with her very flesh and blood.

She slowly lifted her right foot.

CRACKLE, CRACKLE......

Lightning sparked between her foot and the ground.

In the next instant——

BOOM——!

Freydia transformed into a bolt of lightning, charging straight at Pujeliru.

THUD——!

Pujeliru’s body was sent flying like a cannonball.

When she finally managed to stop herself,

her hands trembled faintly from the recoil of the impact.

“This power......”

Pujeliru couldn’t believe her eyes.

The gap between them had been erased completely in an instant!

She lifted her head, staring at Freydia’s figure.

“Have you lost your mind?!”

She roared.

“What’s the point of using this kind of forbidden power?! In three minutes, you’ll be dead! Why won’t you choose to live?!”

“......”

Freydia didn’t answer. She seemed to have lost all trace of human emotion—her glowing eyes were empty, her lightning-wreathed hair floating in the air, every strand crackling with electricity.

She raised the Thunder Demon Sword.

BOOM——!

A bolt of lightning descended from the sky,

ripping the earth apart in a line straight toward Pujeliru.

Pujeliru was sent flying hundreds of meters away, her body smoking as she staggered back to her feet.

“......”

Her eyes locked onto Freydia.

And Freydia raised the Thunder Demon Sword at her once more.

“Don’t you dare——”

HUM!

Her rapier blazed with brilliant white light.

“——Mock me!”

BOOM——!

White light and thunder crossed paths in a blinding collision.

The sky dimmed for a split second, and the ground shattered beneath their feet.

BOOM!

The pause lasted only an instant.

Then the purple and white blurs clashed together again, locked in a death match.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM......

They fought from the sky down to the earth.

Silver rapier and thunderous greatsword collided no less than a hundred times every second.

The power they unleashed rippled outward, destroying everything in their path.

Even the crimson pillar of light nearby wasn’t spared—it was caught in the crossfire and shattered instantly.

But the two combatants had long since forgotten the world around them. Their eyes burned with nothing but pure, unbridled battle-lust.

Just as the fight reached its most brutal peak——

Far away, a beam of white light descended from the sky, piercing straight through a man’s chest.

CRACK——!

At that exact moment,

Freydia thought she heard something shatter inside her.

A wave of sorrow—of losing something irreplaceable—washed over her.

The fight stopped dead.

Freydia froze mid-air.

“......”

She slowly turned her head, gazing in a certain direction.

She knew. She knew what lay that way......

The mission. The battle.

None of it mattered anymore.

BOOM——!

Her body moved before her mind could catch up.

She transformed into a bolt of lightning and streaked toward that direction, faster than ever before.

Pujeliru watched the retreating lightning, her mouth opening and closing—but in the end, she lowered her rapier.

There was no way she could catch up to Freydia now......

BOOM!

When Freydia arrived,

all she saw was Arudok lying motionless on the ground.

“ARUDOK——!!!”

“Why?! Why did this happen?!”

She dropped to her knees beside him, clutching his right hand as tears streamed down her face.

“Hah...... So it’s you, Freydia......”

Arudok’s blurry eyes focused on her face, his voice weak and raspy.

“I’m done for. The rest......”

He paused, then let out a bitter, self-deprecating laugh.

“The rest is up to you, Freydia——”

“You’re free now.”

With those final words, Arudok closed his eyes forever.

The man who had caused countless tragedies, the sharpest blade of Gulos—his story came to an end.

“GAAAAAAH——!!!”

Freydia clutched his hand tightly, throwing her head back and screaming in despair.

“......”

Hulim watched silently from the sidelines.

She never moved to intervene.

Between her and this girl she was meeting for the first time, there was an unspoken chasm—a world of difference.

They would never exchange words. Never understand each other.

They were merely two ships passing in the night, destined to walk their separate paths, growing farther and farther apart.

Hulim’s journey was far from over.

But for this girl, the road had reached its end.

“......Arudok,”

A smile broke through the tears on the girl’s face.

“You gave me my freedom a long time ago.”

WHOOSH~!

A wind blew in from the distance.

The purple-haired girl and the purple-haired elf—their hands still clasped together—stood like statues.

Frozen there forever.

......