The Crumbling Rampart
Kyle slowly lowered the tip of the sword he had been pointing at Leon.
His gaze as he looked at Leon, who was hiding behind the shield, was relaxed and arrogant, like a master coaxing a runaway pet.
"Leon. Stop being stubborn and come here."
He reached out a hand and coaxed in a low voice.
"That path you're trying to take, the High Temple? Do you really think meeting the Archbishop will break the curse? It's a futile hope. In all of history, there has never been a single case of someone's gender being swapped by the Labyrinth's Curse and then reversed. It's not a problem that can be solved with divine power."
Kyle trampled on Leon's hope with a sneering tone.
"So don't cling to the impossible. Instead, you'll be safe with us. Look, you can even lift your shield again, can't you? We can form a team of five, just like the old days."
His eyes gleamed greedily as they swept over Leon's entire body.
"It's just... our relationship has changed a little. Comrades by day, lovers by night. You can lay down your burden as a man now and just be loved. Wouldn't that make you happier?"
"Fuck off."
Leon spat out coldly.
"Who said anything about being lovers? Cut the disgusting bullshit."
But Kyle merely treated Leon's refusal as a childish tantrum.
Just then, Sera, who was standing behind him, chimed in with sparkling eyes. Her expression was one of genuine delight.
"That's right, Leon! Kyle is right. Let's all go back together, okay?"
Sera clasped her hands together and continued dreamily.
"Now that you've become a woman too, we'll get along so much better! We can pick out clothes together, take baths together... wouldn't that be so much fun? You won't have to be left out all by yourself like before!"
Sera's voice was bright and cheerful.
It was so pure that it sent a shiver down the spine of anyone listening.
"We can be together forever like real sisters—no, like real family. That's much better for you too, isn't it?"
Leon stared blankly at Sera.
Seeing her pure, clear expression, completely devoid of malice, left him utterly dumbfounded.
How could she so cheerfully suggest that they become a family and live happily ever after with the very man who had raped and violated him?
"Ha..."
A hollow laugh escaped Leon's lips.
"To think... I once liked a woman like that."
Leon hung his head, mocking himself.
"She wasn't innocent. Her head was just a field of flowers. She's completely lost her sense of reality, like someone high on drugs..."
Hearing his muttering, Elena let out a scoffing laugh.
Though staggering, she used her sword as a cane to push herself up and approached Leon's side.
"Hey, kid. Did you really run around in a team with those lunatics? It's a miracle you survived."
At Elena's sarcasm, Leon curled his lips in a bitter smile.
"Tell me about it. I must have been blind. Or maybe I was just out of my mind and lost my judgment."
"Bwahahaha!"
Elena burst out laughing, clutching her stomach. Her hearty laughter, completely out of place in this situation, echoed across the battlefield.
"Oh, my stomach. This is even funnier than the story of a man turning into a woman. Love really is blind, and it's terrifying."
After laughing for a while, Elena wiped away the tears in the corners of her eyes. Her expression instantly hardened as she glared at Kyle's party. Then, in a low voice, she asked Leon, who stood beside her:
"But seriously. Seeing how you crawled back here, you must have some kind of backup plan, right? A winning chance, or some ace up your sleeve."
A glimmer of hope lingered in Elena's eyes.
He had fled while she bought him time, only to return on his own two feet. She wanted to believe that he hadn't come back to die, but because he had a way to win.
"......"
But Leon couldn't say a word.
He merely bit his lip hard and tightened his grip on the shield.
Reading the meaning behind that silence, Elena's face contorted.
There was no winning chance. He had returned solely out of guilt—unable to leave Elena to die alone—and sheer stubbornness, refusing to run away any longer.
"Sigh..."
Elena let out a deep, heavy sigh that seemed to shake the earth.
"You idiot... You really came back without a plan."
Though she grumbled, she gripped the hilt of her sword even tighter.
A strange fighting spirit, mixed with resignation, hovered around her lips.
"Well, whatever. Dying together will be less lonely than dying alone. Let's do what we can."
It was then. With a deafening roar that seemed to tear the sky apart, a bolt of blue lightning crashed down.
BOOM!
Leon reflexively raised his shield. Ella's Chain Lightning erupted, but the massive shield absorbed the impact without budging.
Blue sparks crackled across the shield's surface as the mana dispersed.
"Ella!"
Kyle shouted in surprise, worried that Leon might get hurt. But Ella swung her staff and snapped back.
"What are you making such a fuss about? If they won't listen to words, we have to break them with force. Right?"
Ella glared at Leon's shield with cold, dead eyes and sneered.
"You know very well that most magic won't work on that shield. After all, I was the one who helped enchant it."
Ella gathered her mana once more and continued.
"But tell me, Leon. What about your body? The old you could have easily endured behind that shield, but with that fragile little body of yours now, can you really withstand the shockwave?"
A red magic circle drew itself at the tip of Ella's staff once again.
"Even if the shield remains intact, you will be shattered."
"Fireball!"
A massive fireball roared through the air, hurtling toward Leon.
"Ugh...!" Leon gritted his teeth and hid behind the shield.
Along with the sound of the explosion, immense heat and shock slammed into his entire body.
Although the shield blocked the heat, the sheer force of the impact was transferred directly to his arms and shoulders.
Leon's face contorted from the bone-rattling pain.
Kyle frowned as he watched Leon writhe in pain.
'If she handles him too roughly, he'll break.'
But he soon changed his mind.
'Actually, it's better for him to learn a hard lesson so he'll snap out of it. It's better to drain him of his strength to resist.'
He crossed his arms, tacitly permitting Ella's assault.
Behind them, Sera was biting her nails anxiously.
"Oh, no... Leon shouldn't get hurt... Kyle, isn't this too much?"
Sera only stamped her feet, unable to even think of stopping Kyle or Ella.
"First, let's subdue..."
Just as Kyle drew his sword and was about to step forward—
Swish!
A sword strike flew out of nowhere, grazing Kyle's face.
"......!"
Kyle hastily jerked his head back, but a thin line of blood was drawn across his cheek.
Looking forward with startled eyes, he saw Elena pointing her sword at him with a ferocious smile.
"Don't look away, pretty boy."
Elena wiped the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand and taunted him.
"This time, let's have a proper one-on-one."
Kyle wiped the blood trickling down his cheek with his finger, checked it, and laughed coldly.
"Oh... You dare scratch my face? Fine, I'll kill you first, bitch."
Exuding murderous intent, Kyle rushed at Elena, and the fierce clash between the two swordsmen began anew.
Ella caught sight of this out of the corner of her eye and curled her lips.
Now, while Kyle's attention was locked onto Elena, was her chance.
'Now's the time. I have to get rid of her while Kyle isn't looking.'
A chilling murderous intent pooled in Ella's eyes.
She gathered all her mana, preparing to unleash it upon Leon.
"Die, you thieving cat of a bitch!"
BOOM! CRASH!
Fireballs, ice arrows, lightning. Ella bombarded him with magic indiscriminately.
RUMBLE! BOOM!
Amidst the relentless barrage of magic, Leon gritted his teeth. The massive Tower Shield vibrated as if screaming. While the shield itself was doing an excellent job of blocking Ella's magic, the problem lay in the body supporting it.
'Ugh... It's so heavy... My arms feel like they're going to rip off.'
In the past, when he possessed a massive, muscular frame, he would have laughed off this kind of bombardment and marched forward. But his current slender arms and legs were woefully inadequate to handle the weight and impact of the shield. His joints screamed, and his muscles stretched so tight they felt ready to tear.
Most terrifying of all was Ella's raw murderous intent.
"Die! Just die! Why did you have to show up again and make things difficult?!"
Ella's screams carried an unmistakable intent to kill.
'Crazy bitch... Is she seriously jealous right now?'
Leon was so dumbfounded he could only let out a hollow laugh.
To think she was jealous of a victim who had been forcibly violated and abused by Kyle, simply because she was receiving that man's attention.
'Seriously... every single one of them has a screw loose.'
Now that he had left the team and taken a step back, he could finally see them for what they truly were. The comrades he had trusted with his back, sharing life and death with, were actually twisted, insane lunatics.
'I must have been blind. To think I trusted these crazy bastards as family and risked my life for them.'
Self-loathing and rage surged within him, but the situation left no room for sentimentality.
Whoosh!
The continuous fire magic and explosions rapidly burned away the surrounding oxygen. Acrid smoke and intense heat pierced his lungs.
"Hah... gasp..."
Even when he inhaled, there wasn't enough oxygen. His vision flickered, and his head spun. Just as his legs were about to give out from the suffocating pain—
Flash!
Suddenly, a dazzling white light blocked the space in front of Leon. The moment Ella's massive fireballs and ice spears touched the white barrier, they dissolved away like melting snow.
"......?!"
Ella's eyes widened as her magic vanished. She turned to her side with bloodshot eyes.
"Sera! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
Sera had cast her Divine Field to neutralize Ella's magic. She stood firmly in front of Ella, blocking her path.
"What are you doing, sister? Are you trying to kill Leon?"
"Get out of the way! That bitch has to die! Kyle doesn't need a pest like her by his side!"
"No! Kyle wants Leon! And we said we were going to be a family!"
Sera spread her arms wide to shield Leon. Her logic was simple: because Kyle wanted him, and because they had to be a family, Leon must not be killed.
"If you keep doing this, Ella, I won't just stand by! Don't do things that will make Kyle sad!"
With infighting breaking out, the magical bombardment ceased.
"Cough! Cough! Wheeze...!"
Leon dropped to his knees and coughed violently. Fresh air rushed into his burning lungs. Tears welled in his eyes and his throat stung, but his mind became clearer than ever.
He had survived thanks to Sera's twisted goodwill. It was an ironic situation, but Leon had no intention of letting this opportunity slip away.
'I have to... stand up.'
He forced strength into his trembling legs. Elena was engaged in a bloody, desperate duel with Kyle over there. If he collapsed here, Elena would die, and he would ultimately end up as that madman's toy.
With trembling hands, Leon gripped the handle of the Tower Shield once more.
"Uuuugh... Haaah!"
Drawing up his resolve from deep within his core, he once again hoisted the shield that was larger than his own body. A tanker does not retreat. As long as a comrade is behind them, they never show their back.
Even if the one he was protecting now was not a former comrade, but a mercenary bound to him by flesh. That was the pride of the Iron Wall, Leon.
"Move, Sera."
Leon's voice was low but firm.
"L-Leon? Are you okay?"
As Sera turned around in surprise, Leon took a heavy step forward, pushing his shield ahead. Just then, a chilling murderous intent crept up from behind his back.
"Leon, I'm sorry!"
Thud!
With a dull impact, Leon's vision wavered. A splitting pain shot through the back of his head, and his body collapsed forward. As his consciousness began to fade, he looked back to see Luna, holding the severed head of Edwin, whose face was contorted in terror.
"I'm sorry, Leon. Get some rest."
Collapsed on the ground, Leon turned his head. He could see where Elena was.
"Ah..."
The last thing that entered his failing vision was the horrific sight of Elena's right arm flying through the air, severed by Kyle's sword.
"Ele... na..."
He wanted to scream her name, but no sound came out. Pitch-black darkness completely swallowed Leon's consciousness.