He stepped downstairs.
"Of course it does. The executions were happening to bring Fate back, and now that Fate has returned," he paused, "there's no need for that."
"But… my family is already gone. I was wishing to go there too." She stopped mid-cleaning.
"That's not true." He stopped a few steps away from her.
"May I ask why?" She turned toward him.
"Everyone here is like a family." His words guided her, he didn't list the names. He doesn't have to.
"But…" Edi's gaze flickered.
Suddenly,
Mio came running in, shouting, excited as always, breaking the tension.
"Brother!" She grabbed Denu's hand.
"Follow me."
She pulled him into the courtyard, where Belly was trying to walk slowly, eyes closed.
"Slowly. Slowly." Belly repeated it like a mantra.
"She said she doesn't feel tense anymore, even if she puts her feet in the dirt," Mio said, staring at Denu's face.
However,
Edi was still inside. She looked at Mio and Denu, her expression gloomy… yet hopeful.
"Seems like My Ruler is right."
"I should try living as a family," she added.
Lights stood in the land of Grave.
The air brushed against them, but they didn't flinch.
"Real and Kiyota are dead," one of them said.
They all looked at the graves. The place was silent. Graves stretched across the area. Some had status. Some didn't.
"How did this happen?" a Lightrozer asked the Lightlinger who had entered the Cage before collapsing.
"They consumed some kind of medicine," he answered, lowering his head.
"We checked them thoroughly." A Lightrozer turned toward him. "Then how did they get medicine?"
"We don't know." The Lightlinger shivered.
"Fine."
The Lightrozer turned toward the eye-patched man who was being held there.
"You saw everything, right?" He lowered himself.
"Yes! I did. They did consume medicine, but they were murmuring something."
The Lightrozer grabbed him tightly.
"What were they murmuring?" he asked, his expression faintly anxious.
"The Ruler and Belly know each other so well and… and…" His voice trembled. "Akarum, Kashime, and Flint would be best for any future island investigation."
"He's yapping," another Lightrozer said, knocking him unconscious.
"When we arrived, everyone was unconscious. Real and Kiyota's ears were bleeding. They were already dead."
The Lightrozer who had questioned the man stood up, his mind racing, searching for connections.
"Inform the uTara Center about this. It's the one handling all security," he said, turning toward the Lights.
"So they will inform My Ruler. This isn't our job," he added.
Aeni was in the Village of Queens, near the pond, entertaining the children.
Some climbed onto her back. Some ran after each other. Their laughter echoed around the pond.
"Oh, stop it," Aeni giggled as a few of them started tickling her.
She rolled on the dirt.
"Stop it," she said, though she was giggling too much to sound serious.
They stepped back.
"You lost," Dery said.
Aeni gasped and sat up.
"You're all becoming naughty day by day," she said, pinching the chin of the girl standing beside Dery.
"Aah," the girl rubbed her chin.
All of a sudden,
The white outline of Aeni's Divine Scar flickered.
She didn't notice it.
The children did, but they didn't mention it, thinking it was fun. Others were still chasing each other, gasping with laughter.
Afterward,
White cubes appeared beside Aeni.
"What's happening?" Aeni panicked. She looked at her glowing outline.
"Run!" she shouted.
All of them shivered.
They didn't run.
They were amused. Excited.
"They're glowing," one of them said.
"They're rotating. It looks cool," Dery said, looking at the girl beside him.
"It's not cool," Aeni snapped. "I said run, damn it."
Before they could feel anything,
The white rotating cubes rushed toward them, too fast for their eyes to register.
The cubes struck their foreheads.
Silence.
Nothing happened.
No explosion.
No one died, yet.
But,
They all fell. Quietly. Their bodies collapsed like birds that simply wanted to sleep.
"What did those cubes do?" Aeni moved toward Dery.
She swallowed hard as she checked Dery's breathing.
He was no longer in this world. No longer.
"Did he… did he just die?" Her eyes scanned the entire pond.
The children had fallen. Dead. They were no longer breathing. No longer laughing. No longer asking for amusement.
"I-I killed them all." She checked one child's heartbeat. It no longer pounded. Then another's. Then another's.
None of them were alive.
"I should… tell the truth to everyone." She stood frozen.
"But… I haven't finished my goal yet." She turned toward the stairs.
"I… I won't reveal this. Not until… I find out about him."
She glanced at the still bodies.
Then she stepped down from the pond, leaving behind the children she had once played with.
Her gaze shifted toward the village's gates.
Kashime and Akarum were wishing Flint good luck on his journey to Heavenly Kaatoumo.
Aeni lowered her gaze, her movements impatient as she walked away.
"Eat properly," Kashime teased Flint.
"Sure," he replied, his smile unusually wide.
"Take care of your son," Flint teased her back.
"Don't start that," she protested.
"She will," Akarum said, his voice precise.
"Bye," he added.
"Yeah, bye." Flint shook hands with Kashime and exited.
Kashime's gaze followed his every movement.
Akarum kept staring at Kashime, unusually. Almost annoyed.
The guards closed the gates behind Flint.
"I don't have anything else to wear. I need clothes," Akarum finally complained, releasing everything he'd been holding back.
"Fine. But don't give me that look." She pointed at his face.
"A guard will go to MaskCity with you today. Tomorrow we have to go to the General Center again," she added.
She began walking toward the center, with Akarum following behind.
"Unless you want cheap stuff I could ask from the Focus Government," she giggled.
Akarum didn't reply. He kept following her inside, his expression annoyed by her constant remarks.
Somewhere else, Aeni circled the hut desparately.
"What should I do?"
"Should I tell them about this… or shouldn't I?"
She stopped and clenched her fists tightly.
"Okay. I won't." Her voice steadied. Confident. Motivated.