When Rosa came back to her senses, she found Yutaro lying beside her, fighting death.
She said nothing. Despair and defeat swallowed her whole. She looked at Miko and found her crying, trying to heal Yutaro.
Rosa rose in complete surrender and walked toward Diablo.
Every step she took spoke of weakness, despair, defeat, shame, submission.
She advanced deeper into the shadows. As she neared Diablo, Sebastian stepped in to stop her, his hand raised to rip her head off. But Diablo lifted his own hand, halting him.
"Let her come," he said. "I already know what you want."
Diablo knew exactly why Rosa had come to him in such utter despair. Sebastian did not.
Rosa kept walking until she stood before Diablo. Then she bent, knelt, lowered her head, and kissed his foot.
Sebastian's face was a mask of shock. Diablo was smiling. He pulled his foot away and kicked her back.
"What do you want?"
"We surrender," she said, her voice hollow with grief. "Leave us in peace."
Diablo leaned on his hand, still smiling.
"And what do you have to offer that would make me leave you in peace?"
She spoke words that carried not the slightest weight of conscience.
"I'll give you my daughter... but only once she's grown."
"Why not hand her over to me now?"
"She's still young. She can't control her power yet. But if she stays here, the Jewel itself will train her. She'll be ready for you in twelve years."
Diablo shifted in his seat and began to bargain.
"Twelve years is a long time. Why can't I take her in five?"
Sebastian spoke up. "My lord... she's lying."
Diablo's expression twisted into rage. He turned on Sebastian with a murderous glare, raised a single finger, and severed Sebastian's limbs.
"Don't you dare interfere in my negotiations. This is none of your concern. Interrupt me again... and all you'll ever see is your own body, crucified."
Sebastian fell silent with fear. Diablo turned back to Rosa, smiling.
"Fine. We have an agreement on the years. But I have one condition."
"What is it?" Rosa answered at once. "Say it. Quickly."
"I'll come to you once every year, to observe her progress."
Rosa agreed immediately, without hesitation. Diablo rose from his chair, and the trees and spirits rose with him. He began to applaud, then said:
"Now the Elf forest belongs to me. I want nothing more. My ancestors failed to take it. I succeeded."
When he finished, Sebastian applauded him warmly.
Diablo opened a gate to his palace. As he was about to step through, he remembered something and stopped.
"Take this frog." He tossed it to her.
Rosa caught it. "What use is it to me?"
"If you ever run into trouble... stomp on the frog."
Rosa stared at the creature, baffled by his words. She took it, and Diablo and Sebastian departed for the palace.
Once the gate closed, Rosa exhaled, and began to cry. She sobbed uncontrollably, saying:
"I sacrificed your daughter, brother. I'm sorry."
After the betrayal, Rosa went to Miko and Yutaro. She found Miko unconscious. She rushed to her, took her hand, and checked her pulse. She felt nothing, so she pressed her ear to Miko's heart — and found it faint. She lifted Miko into her arms and carried her toward the forest, toward the Jewel, leaving Yutaro behind.
When she entered the forest with Miko in her arms, the citizens and soldiers poured out to celebrate the victory. But when they saw Rosa, they didn't celebrate. Their faces fell. Rosa's condition was wretched, her daughter limp in her arms. The Elves came forward and carried Rosa to the Jewel. When she arrived, she laid Miko down before it and said:
"Jewel... please, heal my daughter."
The Jewel didn't answer. Rosa's temper broke and she struck the Jewel with her fist.
"I don't take requests from a traitor," the Jewel said.
Rosa's face went cold, and she fell silent. The weight of what she'd done, and the pain of it, pressed down on her. Tears fell.
"Please... just this once. Heal my daughter."
The Jewel refused, but the Elf people pressed her. She finally agreed, on one condition: that Rosa leave the place and never enter it again.
Rosa agreed and went back to her palace.
Once Diablo's aura had faded, the kings emerged from their hiding places. Each kingdom sent letters to the others. The message read: Greetings... now that the Demon King has done what he has done, we must gather and devise a plan to protect ourselves and deter him. We have the Heroes, and he has the King. I hope you will share your thoughts with me.
When the letters had reached every king, they agreed to seize the Elf forest and make it the headquarters where they would convene.
While they schemed behind Rosa's back, Rosa herself hung somewhere between existence and madness, waiting for news of Miko.
(One Day After the Battle)
At a strange sunrise, with the cheerful chirping of birds, the news of Miko reached Rosa. Her condition was: severe mana depletion, and brain damage from overuse of her power.
Rosa was relieved that Miko was still alive. But then came the heavier news: Miko is in a coma, and it may last more than five years.
Rosa clutched her head, unable to believe it. She wept violently and couldn't stand. Then, in the middle of her tears, she heard soldiers shouting and threatening someone. She ran to see what was wrong, and found that Yutaro was the one they were threatening. Rosa planted herself in front of her soldiers.
"Don't harm him. This is the Shield Hero who helped us."
She turned to Yutaro. "Please, come."
She brought him into the forest and showed him around, telling him everything. When the tour was done, she took his hand. Yutaro was taken aback.
"I want to reward you," she said. "You helped us face Diablo."
Yutaro refused any reward.
"My reward is the smiles I plant on children's faces, and being the reason a generation gets to grow up."
Rosa smiled, despite the crime she had committed.
"If that's your answer... then I'll honor it."
Yutaro left the forest and returned to his home.
(Sometime in the Night)
The sun had set, and the Elves had slept for a while. The moon rose to bear witness to what had happened to them, and the clouds parted so it could see clearly. A strange sound came from the direction of the Kingdom of Neostagia. It would be the strangest night in Elf history.
While Rosa and her people slept, Rosa heard the sound of iron and armor, the heavy tread of marching feet, and a smell that seemed strangely familiar.
When she stepped out onto her balcony, she found flames devouring the land. She sounded the alarm, and the entire people woke.
The Elves' faces were stricken with worry. They hadn't even recovered from the wounds of the last battle. Rosa came out in her battle dress and said:
"My people... someone has set our forest on fire."
Panic and fear began to eat at them the way a lion devours its prey. Rosa threw pebbles and detonated them to seize their attention.
"We need to find out who's behind these flames."
Twenty armed volunteers stepped forward. "We'll scout it."
Rosa agreed. "I want the soldiers who stood with me against Diablo. We faced Diablo, the strongest of them all, and survived. It's impossible that these people are strong. Even if they outnumber us, we have everything — will, techniques, skill, experience. We surpass them in every way."
They weren't convinced. Then one man stepped out from among them, shouted, and raised his hand high. Another followed, then another... until the entire army had stepped forward, hands raised, roaring.
The scouts had been gone only two minutes when they returned — but their numbers were short. Fifteen came back. Rosa asked:
"Where are the rest of you? There were twenty."
They answered, trembling, their eyes telling the story before their voices could.
"They're a destructive force. We can't beat them. Five of us sacrificed themselves so the rest could escape."
"How many are there?" Rosa asked.
Silence fell, so complete that Rosa heard nothing but the flames devouring the forest. She repeated the question in anger. One of them, teetering on the edge of madness, answered:
"More than one and a half million soldiers."
The flame of enthusiasm they'd been clinging to went out. Rosa was afraid, hesitant, with no idea what to do. Then suddenly, she remembered the frog.
She went into her room and searched for it. She searched for around ten minutes before she found it beneath her pillow. She pulled it out, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it.
The moment she crushed the frog, Diablo's aura erupted outward, violent and savage and lethal. Rosa couldn't stand under its weight. It spread across an immense area, and the forest's flames were snuffed out by it alone. Diablo emerged from behind Rosa and gripped her shoulder.
"I'll annihilate them. I won't let anyone touch my Jewel."
In one step, he was above the human army. He raised his hands slightly and released a sliver of his aura, and the army began to collapse. Everyone went mad, unable to stand. Most of them died from that small sliver alone. He descended and stood atop one of the corpses. The army had never expected the Demon King to come. They tried to retreat, but Diablo had already encircled them with a barrier that sealed every exit and entrance.
Terror gripped the army. They couldn't bear the thought of dying at his hand. One man broke from the ranks and charged him, leaping to strike him down — but Diablo cut him into tiny pieces.
The army watched how the soldier died, and some turned on their own king. Others took their own lives.
Diablo looked at them with boredom and kept walking. Anyone beside him or in front of him melted beneath the weight of his aura.
The army had become nothing more than a toy. The ground was soaked in their blood, and the stench of corpses grew thick. Diablo raised a single finger and flicked a tiny black flame toward them, and every corpse burned.
Behind him, nothing remained but ruin.
Diablo now stood before their camp. He entered and found no one. He put his hand to his face and laughed.
"Whoever made this plan is no reckless fool."
Suddenly, his eye caught a figure in a white mask.
Diablo smiled and lunged.
The masked figure retreated and fled. Diablo snapped his fingers, and the ground beneath the masked one exploded.
Dust filled the area, and Diablo could no longer sense the masked figure. He waved the dust aside — and found only a cloak, with a note pinned to it:
Nice move. But is this how you treat the person who told you the Elves were still alive?
Diablo smiled, murmuring as he studied the note:
"It seems I owe you my thanks."
Diablo returned to Rosa carrying the five missing scouts, told her he'd finished them off, and handed her another frog.
Rosa stepped out onto her balcony and told her people everything.
The Elves rejoiced and held a raucous celebration, celebrating a victory without knowing they were now shackled in a new bondage.
(The Present)
On a tense night, the sky clear, the moon bright, the wind brushing against the trees, the grass heavy with its scent.
After Rosa finished telling her story to Tai, silence fell between them...
Rosa spoke.
"And now, Tai... are you ready?"
Tai lifted his eyes to the moon.
"My cigarette won't go out... not until I've saved Miko."
(End of Chapter 61)