DanMachi Vol.16

EPILOGUE: "ALEA IACTA EST" II

The sky was crying.

Large tears fell, erasing all other sounds, as if the very world had been overcome with grief.

The rain was heavy enough to make it hard to see, robbing the town of its festive atmosphere.

People disappeared, quickly fleeing for the shelter of roofs. Covered by a dark shroud, the sky was miserably cold. Everyone looked up anxiously.

The white tower piercing the sky grew blurry.

The harvest blessing faded in the city.

And amid all that, Syr was walking alone. She did not have an umbrella as the rain poured down on her, drenching her clothes, skin, hair, everything.

Somewhere along the way, she had lost her pumps. Her feet were covered in scratches as if she had been running, but she could not remember anymore. But all of a sudden, she realized that the scene around her had changed. The boy who had been in front of her had vanished, and all that remained was her lone footsteps mixed with the sound of the drumming rain.

Her bare feet sent countless ripples through puddles as she walked along a deserted road. Her wet hair covered her eyes and countless droplets poured down her cheeks.

Finally, as if guided by the rain, she arrived at the deserted Amour Square.

The place where she had waited for him. The place whose name derived from the divine word for love.

The bronze statue of a goddess standing in the square was naked to the sky's lamentations.

Syr walked on. Not saying anything. Not feeling anything. Like a ghost. Like a lost child. Like an emissary, or perhaps a holy woman.

She stopped in the middle of the plaza. The rain cleansed Syr's body. It washed away all the grief and all the anguish.

She looked down quietly.

As her blue-gray hair clung to her face, the accessory in her hair deflected some of the rain.

Soon, her slender body began to tremble slowly. Pummeled by the deluge, the tremors grew, as if she were enduring the cold.

And then...

"Ottar."

As the heavens' grieving filled the world around her, she called out. Forgetting the young girl's voice, she used the clear, piercing voice of a goddess.

"Milady."

He had appeared at some point, a boulder-like boaz warrior standing by behind her. Pelted by the rain as well, he stood there, ever the faithful attendant, waiting for her next words.

"Make preparations. Steal that child away."

There was no hesitation at all in her voice. No warmth and no mercy. As if she were merely speaking of the natural order of things.

"Is that for the best?"

That was his only question.

"Is what for the best?"

That was her only response.

His mouth closed, as if in apology for his discourtesy.

The rain hesitated.

The tears of a grieving heaven transformed into a cowering beast's howl. The sky stirred, as if terrified of a single being.

"Syr's time is over...I should have just done this from the start."

It was refreshing. Her heart felt lighter. Freed from something as banal as emotions, all that was left was a simple matter. She could not really understand why she had fixated on it so much.

After all, she had become indifferent to the thing over which she had been so obsessed.

She simply laughed as the young girl died.

"That's enough playing around."

Her lips curled into a smile.

Like a witch. Like an absolute monarch.

She brushed aside the hair in her face and undid the tie holding up her long hair, letting it tumble down her back. Suddenly, the divine will that she had been suppressing boiled over—the first cry of a divine existence being born.

Her blue-gray hair transformed to silver. Her blue-gray eyes regained their silver gleam. The divinity she had hidden deep in her eyes revealed itself.

And Freya smiled.

"I won't let anyone else have you. You will be mine, Bell."