—"Like I said, when we killed one of those so-called heroes, we discovered a gem inside his heart—one that contains the essence of the goddess Vitae."
—"Could it be that... they are...?"
—"When we sliced one of them in half, he regenerated completely. But when we ripped out his heart… he couldn't do it anymore."
—"That means he died."
—"I see… so we have to strike directly at the heart, or simply remove it."
—"I won't stain my sweet hands with that filthy blood… but I'd love to watch them suffer."
—"The easiest way would be to burn them until their bones turn to ash. That way, they could never regenerate or stand in our way again."
—"No… turning them to stone for all eternity would be better. What do you think?"
—"I'll only do what's best for my people. I won't repeat the mistakes of our ancestors—the ones who started that foolish civil war and nearly dragged us to ruin."
—"Calm yourself, God of the Wind. We, the First Founders, won't make those mistakes."
—"Make whatever decision you like. Any of them sounds perfect to me. Why? Because I'm the God of Luck! And luck is always on my side! Hahahaha!"
—"As the leader, I'll make the final decision: we will exterminate those heroes. We'll hunt them down.
We can't underestimate them. They're powerful, so we, the gods, will kill them ourselves.
Find each of them. Kill them as quickly as possible."
[At that moment, the ten seated gods rose and, without saying another word, vanished like shadows dissolving into the wind.]
---
[Kurayami wakes up]
What happened…? I passed out…
Where am I…?
I feel grass beneath me...
Ah, right… I need to get out of this rift. I need to help my brother…
—"Bro… brother! What happened to you?! Why won't you wake up, brother?! What did they do to you?! Brotheeeer!!"
I heard a voice screaming, desperate, as I slowly opened my eyes.
And when they were fully open… I saw it.
Ken was holding Iko tightly in his arms, weeping uncontrollably. He couldn't believe it.
Iko… was dead.
And Aiko was embracing him too… as if by holding him, he could somehow bring him back.
—"Iko! Why did you stay and fight?! Why didn't you jump with us?!"
Draekon approached Ken, trying to pull him away from the body, but he wouldn't let go.
He didn't want to.
He couldn't.
—"Let him go, Ken…
He can't answer you.
He's not coming back.
Please… that's enough…"
Everyone was crying.
No one could believe it.
Iko… was gone.
---
[Sometime later…]
My brother Daichi left the city alone. When he returned, he told us we had to leave the Human Kingdom behind.
He led us to a hill, from where we could see the kingdom engulfed in flames.
There, beneath a great tree, he dug a hole with his bare hands.
We placed Iko's body inside.
And Daichi covered it, closing the grave.
In front of it, he drove a sword into the ground.
He fell to his knees… and broke down crying, shouting Iko's name to the sky.
—"Brothers… I know we could die at any moment.
This war has to end. No one else must die. No one else should suffer.
Iko's death will not be in vain.
Maybe another of us will fall… but this will be our grave.
The grave of our family.
Even if our bodies never rest here… this sword will be the symbol of each of us."
At that moment, we all shouted with one voice:
—"YES!!!"
We swore we would end this senseless war…
Even if it cost us our lives.