Crimson Afterglow Part 3

Summary

Following their ambush, Prisca and Vincent began to duel with each other with their Yang Swords. Meanwhile, the men that had come with Vincent and Chisha began to attack Arakiya. However, using her powers as a Spirit Eater, Arakiya was able to fight back against them, killing many. Eventually, Chisha realized that his men stood no chance against her and decided to duel her himself. Nevertheless, Arakiya was able to defeat him by stabbing her wand through his stomach and out of his back, leaving him critical wounds.

A few seconds after Arakiya had defeated Chisha, an explosion came raining down where they were. Berstetz had fired a Magic Stone Cannon at their location at Lamia's order, intending to wipe out both Prisca and Vincent in one fell swoop. The cannon hit the targeted area square on; however, much to Lamia's dismay, Prisca, Vincent, and their subordinates had all survived the impact. Though shaken by the failure of her plan, Lamia still resolved to use Plans B and C to try and wipe out her enemies. She gave the order to mobilize the Ambush Squadron which was made up of the nine dissenters that she'd tricked to her side; however, before her order got through an arrow came hurtling towards her. She barely managed to incinerate it with her Yang Sword, before then realizing that she'd been caught in Vincent's trap. She realized that the nine dissenters were in fact on Vincent's side, and furthermore that Prisca and Vincent must have enacted a temporary truce to defeat her. With Berstetz and her Pruning Corps covering her retreat, Lamia tried to flee to fight another day. However, her path of retreat was cut off by a smiling man drenched in blood - Cecilus Segmunt, who had just annihilated Lamia's entire Pruning Corps and started cutting down the soldiers protecting Lamia. Trying to run away from the blood-covered monster, Lamia came face to face with Prisca, who stood waiting for her Yang Sword in hand.

Face to face with each other, Lamia asked Prisca how Arakiya had managed to shield them from their bombardment. Prisca replied by mentioning that Arakiya was a Spirit Eater who could take in the power of the Spirits she ate, saying that the answer was pretty clear. Lamia quickly realized what had happened and why Vincent had chosen to receive their siege here at this particular castle of his. She realized that the Great Spirit Muspel slumbered in the land around this Abellux castle, and that Arakiya had taken in its powers. Finally understanding what had happened, the two of them spoke out their words of hatred for each other before finally dueling. 

Meanwhile, as Prisca and Lamia fought, an exhausted Arakiya and Vincent began to talk to each other about what had happened. Vincent expressed his gratitude for what Arakiya had done, with the latter replying that she'd done it for her Princess. Eventually, after they exchanged a few more words, Vincent told Arakiya that he had something to tell her using the personal pronoun 私 (watashi). However, he then corrected himself and said he had something to tell her using the personal pronoun 余 (yo). 

Two months after the siege on the Abellux Castle, Prisca's and Vincent's forces laid siege to Palladio's castle. The siege was a complete success, and in the end, Prisca killed Palladio, as she'd previously promised him she would. With their recent victory in hand, Arakiya dejectedly commented that they'd need to fight Vincent soon. Prisca agreed that they would need to, though she wasn't sure if it'd be soon or not. Shortly after they were interrupted by Chisha Gold, who'd barely managed to survive the wounds he'd sustained in his fight against Arakiya, at the cost of his hair losing all pigmentation. He came bearing a gift of fine liquor from Vincent, however suspecting that it could be poisoned Prisca ordered Arakiya to break it. Arakiya complied with her order and broke the bottle, spilling the liquor all across the floor and causing Chisha to become disgruntled. After explaining why she'd ordered that, Prisca told Chisha that the sort of correspondence that she and Vincent had could no longer be kept up, telling him to report that to Vincent, that the time they'd settle this would be near. However, instead of obliging, Chisha asked Prisca if she really thought she could win against Vincent. Prisca replied saying of course, because the world was formed solely for her convenience. However, it was a few moments later that Prisca's eyes caught sight of what Arakiya was doing. Arakiya was lapping up the spilled liquor from the floor. This caused Prisca to be shocked as Arakiya apologized with tears in her eyes. Then, she began convulsing, as the liquor had indeed been poisoned. And, exactly as Vincent had predicted, Prisca refused to let Arakiya die and began to suck the poison out of her lips, diminishing the dose Arakiya had taken but in exchanging becoming poisoned herself. Eventually Arakiya's convulsions stopped, and she slipped out of consciousness. Prisca, concealing how much her voice was trembling, asked Chisha how her older brother had managed to coax Arakiya into doing this. Chisha however reflected the question back on her. Following an exchange between them, Prisca walked back to the throne present in the room and sat on it, slumping down as the poison continued to eat inside her. Chisha called out to her just before she lost consciousness and told her if he hadn't been serving under Vincent, he'd probably be serving under her. Prisca wheezed out some laughter in response and refused him. Then finally after rejecting him as being a charmless clown, Prisca took her last breath as Prisca Benedict.

Meanwhile, back in the present, Priscilla finished reading the book to Schult, and when the latter asked what happened next, Priscilla replied that the main character of the story, the Princess, had died there, and there was no sequel. Schult refused to accept this and told Priscilla he'd write a sequel to the story himself; this caught Priscilla's attention, who queried what kind of future he'd give to the dead princess. Schult immediately replied that she'd just fallen into a deep sleep because the poison's dose had been split between her and Arakiya. Ultimately, after a brief exchange, Priscilla was impressed by Schult's continuation and then asked him to tell her the sequel of the story of the poor Princess. Schult obliged and began to recount what he thought happened next, mentioning to her that she didn't die from the poison and was helped soon after by a very kind person.

Meanwhile, back over seven years ago the scene shifted to Arakiya's perspective after she'd lapped up the poison. A flashback played out to the scene where Vincent had mentioned he had something to tell her, which included the continuation where Vincent told Arakiya that Prisca would die if she fought against him. He told Arakiya that despite that, he couldn't bring himself to let his beloved little sister die, and that he'd grant Arakiya a chance as a reward for her work during the battle to save Prisca.

Cutting away from the flashback, Arakiya came back to consciousness staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling. She was greeted by Chisha Gold, Cecilus Segmunt and the fact that she'd lost her left eye as a result of the poison. Undismayed by the loss, she realized that Vincent's plan must have come to fruition, and she quickly asked Chisha what had happened to the Princess. Chisha replied that she'd passed away causing Arakiya to become enraged. However, Cecilus stopped her by flicking her on the forehead before she could snap Chisha's neck. Eventually Chisha cut into their exchange and told her that though Prisca had passed away, Arakiya's princess yet lived. Nevertheless, this meant that she couldn't meet her again. Arakiya started to cry faced with that fact, that her Princess had survived, but her Imperial Selection had come to an end thanks to her own betrayal. As the two of Chisha and Cecilus talked about what they could do with Arakiya, who had no place left to go, Arakiya began praying for her Princess.

Meanwhile, sometime after she'd survived being poisoned and having her death faked, Priscilla, now no longer known as Prisca, stood in front of Prisca's supposed tomb. An old woman, who was her supposed grandmother chided her for staying out in the wind, and she called her "Princess". This annoyed Priscilla, who was playing the role of her granddaughter, and reminded her that Prisca Benedict was buried under the grave. Then as she looked at the grave, she muttered to herself that the girl there was someone who really resembled her, who'd come in handy twice, referencing the body double who'd been killed standing in for her months earlier. Priscilla thanked her for her service, and then after shrugging off her servant, looked up at the sky. She reached out to it and found that the heat of her Yang Sword was still there in her palm. Having confirmed that, Priscilla knew that she would keep on going ahead, because the world was formed solely for her convenience.

Characters

• Priscilla Barielle
• Schult
• Vincent Vollachia
• Drizen Vollachia
• Arakiya
• Cecilus Segmunt
• Berstetz Fondalfon
• Chisha Gold
• Lamia Godwin
• Rommel
• Barthroy Fitts
• Palladio Manesque

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