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「……」

Inglis stomped on Tiffany’s sprawled body without as much of a word.

I won’t let her escape. I won’t forgive her either!

This Hyrule Menace tried to make Inglis kill Rafinha. Inglis succeeded to regain control at the nick of time, but… it’s still unforgivable. She had to make sure she nipped the possibility of that ever happening again at the bud.

「I-, I don’t understand……what even……are……you!」
「There is no reason nor meaning in answering that question, as you are but to be terminated right now. I warned you, your life will be forfeited.」

On the right hand that Inglis thrust towards Tiffany, Ether Strike began to converge once again. Tiffany was already quite exhausted at the moment with little stamina left in her. But she, and she alone, had to be erased to the smallest bit of her body!

「Now, disappear!」
「……You’re…right.」

Tiffany exhaled, closed her eyes, and relaxed her body. She seemed to have resigned to her death. Or maybe she just fainted. It didn’t matter which.

「GLIS!」

It was then, Inglis heard someone calling her from above. It was Rafinha, riding the Star Princess unit. She went down to a lower altitude near Inglis.

「Rani. Can you wait for a moment? I need to clean up this mess.」
「Ho-, hold on! You mean, you’re going to…?」
「Yeah. I’m killing her. She is dangerous. She has done a lot of atrocities, so she is getting her just dessert.」
「W-, well……But, Glis, your eyes aren’t smiling, it’s scaring me……Look, you always look so happy and excited and smiling ear to ear every time you fight, right? She is obviously dangerous, I know, but playing with someone dangerous is just what Glis does, so seeing you snap like this feels kind of wrong!」

Being angry for one’s granddaughter, but that anger scared the granddaughter instead she started crying, if Inglis had to make an analogy, perhaps it’s something like that. Not that Rafinha was crying or anything, but it did make Inglis feel a little uncomfortable. At the same time, all the blood that raised to her head considerably receded.

That being said, even if Inglis regained her cool, she couldn’t leave Tiffany be. She tried to kill Rafinha. The fact that she should be put to an end once and for all remained.

「……Look, Rani. I can be angry when I am angry, okay? That attack was really dangerous!」
「I know. But…but still……」
「Fine. I just need to smile, right? Ufufufu, you deserve to die, so vanish for me~ There, you happy?」
「I’m not! That’s wrong! Look, if we’re going to kill her anyway, why don’t we bring her to the king of Alucard and have him bring her to justice?」
「With enough time, she could recover enough stamina to run rampant, you know? That means we’re the ones who should stop her, but we can’t just stick around forever, can we? It’s better to put her down now before she causes more casualties. You think so too, right Lahti?」

Inglis called to Lahti who was piloting the Star Princess unit.

「Yeah…If she’s gone berserk without Inglis around, you can’t tell how many people would die in her hands. Apprehending and leaving someone like her be would be more dangerous instead!」
「See, Rani? Lahti said the same thing too…」
「Y-, yeah……I understand… Do it, Glis……!」

Rafinha said as she clenched her fist tightly. She seemed conflicted, but after listening to Inglis and Lahti’s opinions, it appeared she brought herself to make a decision. Just being kind and naive wouldn’t make a first rate Knight. She needed the experience of making such decisions.

「Got it.」

Right when Inglis responded…

「WAAAIIITT! GET AWAY FROM LADY TIFFANNYYY!!」

From another direction, came Hallim’s shout. Inglis looked up and there she saw Hallim on his Flygear, aiming the flame he created in his palm at Pullum who was riding the same Flygear.

「Pullum!」
「What do you think you’re doing! That’s your own sister!」
「I misjudged you, Hallim! F̲u̲c̲k̲’s going on in your head?!」

It’s likely that Hallim had Pullum trapped in the subspace that Highlanders could make with their sorcery. In the face of Tiffany’s crisis, he brought Pullum out to take her hostage.

「Lahti! Everyone! I’m sorry!」

Pullum’s face contorted, she screamed in grief.

「Say whatever you want! I won’t let you take Lady Tiffany away! Now, if you really cherish her life!」
「How boorish.」

Before Hallim could even finish his sentence, Inglis concluded the situation.

「Wha……!?」
「Did you think someone who just took down Miss Tiffany can’t take Pullum away from you? If anything, it saves the trouble of looking for Pullum. I appreciate it.」

It would have been more effective to threaten to harm Pullum without showing Pullum instead. After all, if he presented Pullum in front of Inglis, she just needed to take her by force.

「D-, don’t make fun of me! Get away from her!」
「Let me prove it, then!」

Inglis declared as she was about to activate «Ether Armor», but then the ground under her shook with a huge tremor. An earthquake. And quite a large one at that! Naturally that made Inglis lose her posture, so she fell onto her knee. Once the shaking stops, she would make her move to get Pullam and return here at once.
Or so she planned, but the quake still wouldn’t stop.

She could also hear something from the distant, something like a roar.

「Eh!? Wh-, what is that sound!? Did you hear that, Glis!?」
「Yeah……It sounds like it comes from under our feet!?」

Even as they spoke, the tremor under her feet only grew stronger and stronger.

A short distance away from where Inglis and co were, at the very center of the crater that was the former site of a town that had been gouged even deeper, a huge tree, or something that looked like it, broke through the earth and came out of the ground.