"I'm really, really angry right now, so even if it's Al, I can't hold back."
Saying this, the "
The fury burning in those deep violet eyes made Aldebaran feel his throat go dry.
He had seen her fight with all her long, slender limbs stretched to their limit, her beautiful face bearing an expression of utmost seriousness — on numerous occasions even within the Empire. But that seriousness had always been tinged with her characteristic kindness and compassion; it had never been one-note fury.
Which was why this was a first.
"————"
Catching sight of
"... Well, 'couldn't have imagined' might be giving myself too much credit."
She was the enemy of the world — she who had seized the Dragon Carcass of the Divine Dragon
Emilia was at the top of that list. This confrontation was the price of an inevitable decision.
"Oh my, this is a pickle — looks like you really riled her up, Uncle. That lady's scary when she's mad, y'know that?"
"Shut up."
"Oh, scary, scary."
Roiled over Aldebaran's shoulder, unable to move, Roy let out a mocking sneer.
The circumstances of Roy's capture traced back to the battle at the
More to the point, Roy had devoured many "names" and "memories" in
So what warranted attention right now was not Roy's cloying quips — but rather— "——. Well, well, what a coincidence running into you here, Miss—"
Aldebaran opened his mouth, agonizing over his opening words.
But his hard-won first line turned out to be an effort in vain.
Because— "——!"
Watching for his opponent's move, Aldebaran had barely gotten a sound out when Emilia lunged forward. The thin layer of snow beneath her feet exploded as she kicked off the ground, her silver hair dancing beautifully.
In a vision blanketed in snow, the instant those dancing silver locks flashed— "Hiyah!!"
—an unrelenting punch from an ice gauntlet drove clean into Aldebaran's solar plexus.
△▼△▼△▼△ ——Time rewound just slightly before the blow to the solar plexus.
"Subaru and the others...!?"
"What, you haven't heard? It's from my own people — they say everyone in the tower has been taken down."
The one who delivered that information was
It was their first reunion since the water-gate city of Priestella, but there was no time to reminisce over old times.
Truth be told, the reason Emilia had come to the Royal Capital in the first place was anything but pleasant — it was to report the fact that
The news was sure to have a massive impact on the royal selection, and above all, it was a report that would grieve the many people who had known and loved Priscilla. Emilia's heart had been wracked with pain over having to bring it back.
The facts Felt conveyed were a devastating blow on top of that.
"Al..."
There was no way Emilia could bring herself to say something so insensitive as "How could he?"
If Al had done something drastic now, Priscilla's death could not possibly have been unrelated. His haggard appearance after losing someone precious was almost unbearable to watch — and precisely because of that, Emilia and the others had listened to Subaru's plea and sent them off to the Pleiades Watchtower.
The belief had been that there, Al might recover — no, at the very least, he might find a reason to look forward again.
And yet— "— Lady Felt, would you mind giving us a few more details?"
Standing beside Emilia, who was biting her lip and clenching her fists tight, it was Otto — who had accompanied her to the Royal Capital — who addressed Felt.
In stark contrast to Emilia, whose heart churned with a truth she didn't want to believe, Otto's profile as he watched Felt was calm, his voice steady. But Emilia knew — it was precisely when Otto wore this composed demeanor that he was the most furious.
The way Otto expressed his anger was well known to everyone in Emilia's camp, and apparently sensing the pressure behind that quietness, Felt crossed her arms and said: "The knight bro and the little spirit kid got nabbed by the helmet guy. Not sure how, but it doesn't sound like he's planning to kill them."
"No intent to kill? ...Do you know anything about the others in the tower?"
"Flam, who contacted us, is fine. Meili and Emilia's maid are safe too. But our teacher and that Garfiel guy got pretty roughed up — doesn't look like their lives are in danger, though."
"... I see. Thank you."
"No need to thank me. It's not like I did you a favor — if I knew they were in trouble and didn't say anything, I'd feel way worse about it."
After laying out the details without beating around the bush, Felt looked toward Emilia. Still unable to unclench her fists, Emilia met that gaze and held her breath at its intensity.
Then Felt continued, addressing Emilia's hardened expression: "Our plan's already set. We're using Reinhardt to get back to our territory in one go. Gotta talk to Old
"The Astrea domain, right? That's close to the
"—No, let's not do that, Emilia-sama."
"Eh?"
Otto's calm voice stopped Emilia in her tracks as she leaned forward with eagerness.
But Emilia didn't understand why she was being stopped. After all, they needed to rush to the tower immediately — the people Subaru had brought there were in terrible danger.
"Is it... because Reinhardt would have more to carry if we tagged along? I know it's really hard to feel lighter about things right now, but I'll try my best—!"
"It's not like adding Emilia and the other guy would make much difference to what he's gotta carry. But that's not the reason, right?"
"Lady Felt may or may not share my assessment, but... yes."
The two nodded at each other, and question marks swirled above Emilia's head.
But Emilia didn't doubt that the reasoning she couldn't yet grasp was, in fact, the correct one — carefully thought through by the two of them.
"Felt, please be careful. Make sure you tell Reinhardt too. And Al is..."
"Can't make any promises about the helmet guy, sorry. My bad."
"No — hearing you say honestly that you can't promise makes me happy."
Their reunion had been brief, and the content of their conversation was anything but pleasant. Still, Emilia hugged Felt at the end, and after she made a face at that, sent her off from the Royal Capital.
Afterward, Felt and her group would use Reinhardt's power to teleport to the Astrea domain, where they had a great many things to handle.
"Subaru..."
After Felt departed like a passing storm, Emilia sat in a room of the Royal Palace, her head bowed.
Her fists still hadn't lost their tension. According to Felt, everyone she had sent to the Pleiades Watchtower had been badly hurt.
But above all else — the one Emilia worried about most — was her knight, Subaru.
In the Empire, he had endured so much for
He had beaten himself up by having his many friends in the Empire hit him, and it had been impossible to watch. And now that Subaru — who had shown such consideration for Al — had that goodwill betrayed— "... I..."
Sensing a strange feeling welling up from deep within her chest, Emilia became aware of the heat in her own heart.
It was something close to sadness, something close to heartache, but not quite either — an emotion Emilia rarely experienced, and one that thoroughly bewildered her.
The last time she had tasted this churning, bubbling sensation deep in her chest, behind her eyes, at the very center of her heart, was back in Priestella — when she had confronted Regulus.
Against Regulus, who had bound Sylphy and the other brides' hearts for his own selfish reasons, Emilia had been genuinely, furiously angry. And now — that same anger, or perhaps even greater.
"Emilia-sama, I'm grateful that you heard me out."
"Otto..."
Having recognized inside herself a passion too vast to contain, Emilia intuited that Otto — wearing that quiet expression — felt the same.
Of course he did. Otto had been one of those who, along with Emilia, had gone all the way to the Empire out of concern for Subaru. Someone in his position would never— "Ha!"
With a sharp smack, Emilia slapped both her cheeks with her hands. The suddenness of it startled Otto into a "E-Emilia-sama?"
Feeling bad about that, Emilia lowered her hands from her tingling cheeks and said: "Everything was just going 'whoooosh' inside my head, and I didn't think I'd be able to talk properly. But now I'm okay! ...Well, saying I'm okay is a lie, but I can at least talk now."
"... Is that so. Then I'll also—"
"Kyah!"
Imitating Emilia, Otto slapped his own cheeks. The sheer force behind it — the sound was so loud it could have drawn blood — made Emilia jump.
But Otto didn't get a nosebleed. Instead, his cheeks were flushed as red as Emilia's, and he said: "— I'll explain the reason we didn't accompany Lady Felt. Going there would have been pointless for us, and... it was a precaution, just in case."
"... Tell me more."
Emilia didn't interrupt Otto's explanation, even as he held both hands to his cheeks.
She had questions. There were things she wanted to say. But first, she would hear everything the other person had to say. If Otto had thought things through, he would have answers ready — at least as thorough as Emilia's own concerns.
"If Reinhardt is taking the front line, it doesn't matter how many people we send based on brute force alone. Lady Felt must understand that. Even so, she chose to return to the domain—"
"— That was a precaution?"
"Yes. Think about it. Setting aside Natsuki and the others, if anyone attacks Lady Felt's associates in the tower, it goes without saying that Reinhardt will show up. And yet, Al-san... that man made his move anyway."
At last, Emilia was beginning to understand what Otto was getting at.
Reinhardt was extraordinarily strong. Probably the strongest person Emilia had ever known — no, including people she hadn't met, he was the strongest in the world. Pack had said as much, and there was no mistaking it.
If Al had gone up against Reinhardt, he had surely made preparations. Otherwise, it didn't make sense. And if Al had prepared, Reinhardt might be in danger too.
"So Felt went back to the domain because she was worried about Reinhardt and wanted to prepare a countermeasure. ...But then what about us? If it's a precaution, we could go with Felt's group..."
"We are the precaution — a precaution for Lady Felt, one step behind Reinhardt."
"... I see. So if Reinhardt is likely to come, and they're preparing for that, then preparing for the people preparing for that... umm..."
"That's right. Of course, if you keep saying 'a precaution for a precaution for a precaution,' it becomes an endless loop. The reason that man resorted to such extreme measures stems from what happened in the Empire... but I don't think his scheme was that elaborate, nor did he have much time to prepare. He had the same amount of time we did."
"... Mm, that's... right."
Thanks to Otto's meticulous explanation, Emilia's understanding caught up with his. While she admired his depth of thought, she couldn't help but feel a sharp pang at how Otto had referred to Al as "that man."
Otto was someone with an extraordinarily strong sense of camaraderie — probably the strongest among everyone in Emilia's group. That made him incredibly dependable, but it also forced him into heartbreakingly hard compromises.
Even so— "... I don't know what I should think about Al either."
There were reasons. Of course there were. But even with reasons, there were things you couldn't forgive.
She was worried about Subaru. Was
"— It was my failure."
Just as those flames of emotion kindled in Emilia's heart, Otto spoke up abruptly.
Caught off guard by the unexpected remark, Emilia's eyes went wide and she was struck speechless. Otto covered his face with the hand that had been pressed to his cheek and stared up at the ceiling. Since he was taller than Emilia, she couldn't see his face from this angle.
But she could hear the tremor in his voice, and she knew it wasn't mere anger.
"I thought Natsuki was taking on too much. I tried to convince myself that acting on behalf of the late Priscilla's legacy would distract him and, in its own way, help him cope. I told myself that having Beatrice-chan close by would be enough. And for the care and support — I told myself Petra-chan would handle it faithfully. That's what I—"
"Otto..."
"Most of all, I left it all to Garfiel. Something we should have handled as a group — I let that straightforward, honest, sensitive Garfiel shoulder it alone."
"Otto!"
The tremor in his voice was reaching the point of total collapse. Emilia grabbed both of Otto's arms, pulled his hands and face down, and faced him head-on. And she saw it.
— Otto's bluish eyes, glistening with tears she had never seen before.
"Damn it... why am I always so thoughtless..."
"————"
"If my hands can't reach, if my feet can't get there in time, then the only thing I can make up the difference with is my head. I prided myself on knowing that, yet when it truly mattered, I always—"
"—!"
She didn't want to hear another word of Otto blaming himself on the verge of tears.
So Emilia pulled him closer by the arms she was gripping and pressed his head against her chest. She held it there and forced him into silence. The sheer surprise of it seemed to knock Otto speechless — not a sound escaped him. And in that opening— "Don't say such terrible things about yourself! You've been doing your best! We all know it. We know, and that's exactly why I want to hear what you have to say! So please—"
"————"
"Nothing is over yet! We can still try so, so hard!"
Still holding Otto's head tight, Emilia declared this with all her strength. It was as much a reminder to herself as it was to him — but at the same time, words she truly believed.
They were words that Natsuki Subaru — Emilia's own knight — had made her believe, time and again.
The greatest source of pride and trust that Emilia had built together with Subaru.
"We're just really, really bad at giving up."
That was their weakness. When something was impossible, they couldn't just bury their heads and curl up and run away. Because they couldn't do that, all they could do was refuse to give up and keep trying.
Perhaps Emilia's words reached him. Otto's rigid body suddenly went slack, and then— "... Please let go. Natsuki will kill me."
"No one is going to die! That's exactly why we—"
"I understand! I understand, so please, I'm begging you, let go!"
As Otto thrashed about, Emilia reluctantly released him. Watching him closely to see if his spirits had truly lifted, she saw him wipe the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and let out a sigh.
A deep and heavy sigh.
"Not that this is really the time, but I just remembered."
"Remembered what?"
"— The reason I lend my strength to Natsuki and Emilia-sama."
Wiping away the traces of tears with his handkerchief, Otto spoke with a composed expression. It was different from the furious look he'd worn moments ago — it was the face of someone who had made a decision.
"They've taken Natsuki and Beatrice hostage. There must be a reason behind it. Taking hostages is usually either a threat directed at those connected to them, or the objective lies with the hostages themselves—"
"So either they have business with us, or with Subaru."
"Yes. If the Divine Dragon is truly involved, this becomes a matter for the entire Kingdom. Here, in this Royal Capital, we should fulfill the role that is ours to play."
"— Yes, let's do that. We have to keep moving, and fast."
Listening to Otto lay out their path forward, Emilia struggled to suppress her impulses.
"————"
It was the urge — arriving late but overwhelmingly powerful — to drop everything and rush to Subaru's side right now. The urge to brush aside all of Otto's careful logic about Reinhardt being there, about Felt making preparations, and just go.
She wanted to touch him. She wanted to look at him. She wanted to hear his voice.
When he was hurt and on the verge of bowing his head — she wanted to be right there beside him.
"— Subaru."
She did not yet know the name of this feeling — this sensation scorching her chest, so different from anger.
△▼△▼△▼△ "Hiyah!!"
Charging straight in, not bothering to listen to a word of explanation, Emilia drove her full-force punch into Al's solar plexus. — All of this was at Otto's instruction, urging Emilia here.
*'Hold back your desire to hear him out. There will be plenty of time for that after we've forced his hand.'* The Otto who had pushed Emilia out the door had used his Divine Blessing of Words to the absolute limit, locating Al and the others, and his normally pale face had gone white as a sheet.
She didn't want him to overdo it. But sometimes, reckless action was the only course. And Emilia was not the kind of person who could hold back when the moment demanded recklessness.
So if her own recklessness could help wrap this up even a little faster, Emilia would do her best.
"Now—"
She started to say "how's that," but the sensation of her ice-hardened fist gave her pause.
She had driven her fist straight into Al's exposed body, yet the recoil was like slamming into a solid stone wall— "Straight to it, huh...!"
Al's voice came out strained as he spoke. A stone armor now encased his torso.
Otto had told her to strike first, and she'd failed. But there was no time to brood over it. If one blow hadn't reached, she'd simply have to try twice, three times.
"Didn't even let me talk — cold, aren't you?"
"Well, you— mmph!"
"Mmph?"
"You promised not to talk—!"
Al deflected the ice punch with his stone armor and was sent skidding back, but as he spoke, Emilia shut him up by force — clamping her hands over his mouth while simultaneously swinging an ice hammer sideways with both arms.
Al had only one arm, and his right shoulder bore the weight of the small figure he was carrying. That limited mobility gave her an opening — though she felt it was a little unfair to exploit — and Emilia swung her attack into his left side.
The full-power strike would have hurt terribly if it connected. But there was more to it.
"Tch!"
Al caught the blow with his left arm — a stone limb conjured through magic. But even as he blocked it, he clicked his tongue and immediately destroyed the arm, tossing it aside.
The reason was that frost had begun to spread from where the ice hammer had struck, threatening to reach Al's body.
*'Setting aside the question of his emotions, we need to capture that man alive if we're to rescue Natsuki and the others. In that respect, Emilia-sama's fighting style is well-suited. That said—'* "I promised I wouldn't do anything reckless like Subaru!"
Carrying the exchange and promise she'd made with Otto before departure in her heart, Emilia summoned a new pair of ice blades. — A further evolution had been added to her usage of Ice Brand Arts.
The weapons she created would freeze the target on contact, robbing both body and weapon of mobility. They consumed slightly more mana than ordinary ice weapons, but if she wasn't fighting an extended battle, the difference was within acceptable range.
Stopping an opponent without taking their life — this was the new martial possibility that Emilia had envisioned.
"Ahahah! Uncle, you're really on the back foot here, aren't you?"
"Shut up!"
Al tossed aside the partially frozen prosthetic arm and barked at his mounted companion, who was taunting him.
That the person Al insisted on carrying — despite everything — was
Roy was the Archbishop of Sin whom Emilia and the others had worked together with Anastasia's group to capture at the Pleiades Watchtower. Julius had been the one who fought hardest, but Emilia held in high regard both Julius's judgment in not taking Roy's life, and the courage Anastasia had shown in accepting that decision.
"And yet, both of them must be so disappointed...!"
No matter what motives were at play, Emilia would stop Al here. And together, she would stop Roy — the one Al had brought along — right here too.
"I ain't got no reason to play along with what you're scheming."
Just as he said this, the ground beneath Al's feet suddenly erupted, launching both of them skyward in a single bound.
The maneuver was clearly an attempt to put distance between himself and Emilia, to escape from the scene. She reacted a beat too late, and even if she extended her ice now, she couldn't close the gap.
But— "— Icicle Line."
The barrier of ice and snow that Emilia had spread throughout the surroundings of the Prison Tower refused to let him flee.
"Aargh?!" A scream echoed through the air as the ice canopy that had unfolded overhead blocked his path. Al's escape attempt ended in failure.
As Al's head struck the icy ceiling and he came tumbling down, Emilia circled to his landing point and swung her twin ice blades at him in midair— "—?!"
The blades were knocked back by something hard, and Emilia's eyes went wide as she gasped.
If Al had merely caught them with another prosthetic arm, like before, she wouldn't have been this surprised. Al had indeed created a new arm — but that wasn't all. What he had conjured was a pair of stone swords.
"Something like... Earth Brand Arts."
"A copycat...!"
"That was Natsuki Subaru's idea, wasn't it? Then I've got every right to use it too."
In front of Emilia's stunned eyes, Al used the recoil of clashing ice and stone blades to spin away, putting distance between them before touching down once more on the snowy ground.
Around Al, stone weapons began to materializing one after another with audible cracks. Emilia steeled herself against the possibility that Al could replicate her Ice Brand Arts through earthen magic — and then noticed.
Stone arm in hand, wielding stone weapons, Al stood on the snowy field — and on his shoulder, Roy was gone.
"You're kidding..."
"Yeah, in all that commotion earlier, he slipped away. ...Sounds cool if I could say that, but nope. Just dumped him off because he was in the way. Over there."
Al shrugged and jerked his chin. He was pointing at the earth pillar that had risen earlier — and there, stuck upside-down near its center, was Roy.
Covered in a blanket of earth and pinned to the pillar, Roy met Emilia's gaze and grinned.
"Do your best, sis. If you don't win, we're at that uncle's mercy. Hmm? But even if you do win, we still end up back in the Prison Tower — haha, no matter who wins, it's the same story, isn't it?"
"... If you're capable of waking up and reflecting on what you've done, then wake up and reflect."
Roy stared at her, and Emilia answered coolly, then let out a quiet breath of relief that she hadn't let him escape before turning back to face Al.
Having been frozen in time by magic, the fact that his seal had been broken was extremely dangerous, but while he was frozen, there was no way to make him reflect on anything. At the very least, Emilia's compromise was to secure an environment from which he could absolutely not escape and let him come to his senses there.
"All of this — everything — is happening after this is properly settled here."
"That's all well and good, but... what, you've decided you're actually willing to talk to me?"
"Ah! ...From here on. From here on, I'm not saying another word."
"Harsh. See, I figure if I talk to you, sis, we'll understand each other— Whoa!"
As Al tried to continue the conversation, Emilia launched an ice stake as a declaration of intent. Al dodged it with a sideways leap, and Emilia circled to his flank, driving an ice lance into his side.
The tip of the ice lance was caught against the blade of a stone sword, and both shattered simultaneously.
Emilia immediately conjured the next thrusting sword, and Al forged the next stone blade, and the two began to exchange slashes — a cycle of weapons shattering and being created, created and shattered.
"Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes, oh yes, yes indeed, yes I like it, certainly why not, I think so too — that's exactly why! Binge drinking! Binge eating!"
Watching the ice-and-stone swordplay between Emilia and Al, Roy's voice came through, tongue-clicking in delight.
Emilia deliberately ignored it as she unleashed a barrage of piercing strikes. She felt a subtle unease at how Al barely dodged every single one — dodging blows that she was certain would land, again and again, by the narrowest of margins.
So close, yet never connecting. It was like trying to kick a shapeless body of water.
And more than that— "— I haven't praised you much, but that's a solid technique. Mutual love, how enviable — right, sis?"
That tone — that awful, patronizing tone — sent Emilia into a fury.
*She had resolved that the tyrannical king must be overthrown.* — No, that was the formulaic phrase Subaru had told her was the约定 when one became enraged, and remembering it made Emilia even angrier.
She didn't want Al to speak about her and Subaru like that.
What angered her even more was that Al didn't truly mean it — he had said it specifically to make her angry.
And— "I've been thinking about something for a while, Al. Why do you always sound so lonely when you talk to me?"
"—. I'm not the one who said he wouldn't talk to me—"
"Don't just bring that up when it's convenient! And one more thing!"
Raising her voice, Emilia brought down a massive ice sword in a sweeping overhead strike. Al caught it by holding a stone sword above his head — and someone clung to both his legs and waist.
Al gasped. Wrapped around his body was a figure with ice arms — an ice soldier.
One of Emilia's trusted allies, an ice soldier modeled after Subaru, and the sight of it made Al grit his teeth with a "Worst... possible..."
Taking advantage of that moment, Emilia raised her ice-shod foot and— "— Look at me when you talk to me!!"
This time, her full-power kick punched straight through the stone defense and slammed into Al.
△▼△▼△▼△ "————"
Felt didn't miss the slight twitch of Yae's eyebrow.
She didn't have any real certainty. It was just that, in a pathetic state where she couldn't do a single thing, she decided to grasp at every slender hope available — figuring that additional embarrassment hardly mattered.
One of those hopes was the notion that something trivial might be eavesdropping on her conversation with Yae. She recalled the time she had been "made to face death" and clung to that possibility.
"Be silent."
Yae, whose eyes were usually half-narrowed, opened one of them fully and moved toward the door.
The sheer authority in that command was enough to convince Felt that if she made one careless move, the thread wound around her neck would exact punishment without hesitation.
And so, leaving the immobilized Felt where she was, Yae reached for the door — and in that instant, a blade tip pierced soundlessly through the door and lunged mercilessly toward Yae's throat.
"—!"
Felt sucked in a breath. Before her eyes, Yae's white throat was about to be skewered — no. The blade tip stopped a hair's breadth from splitting her skin.
It wasn't the attacker who stopped. Yae had managed to catch the blade tip with a thread at the last possible moment.
A narrow escape, by the skin of her teeth — but Yae's crisis was far from over. — A second sword, distinct from the first that had been deflected, flashed with a blade of light as the door was slashed apart and the storm of steel raged in.
"————"
Against the oncoming tempest of blades, Yae leaped back wide, her threads singing through the air.
One side wielded swords, the other threads — yet the collision of the two weapons rang through the room with the clear, bright note of steel striking steel, and the flashes of blade-light burned Felt's watching eyes.
Yae's two hands wove an intricate web of threads that filled the room, tearing through the lavish interior. But her opponent matched her with a devastating display of dual-swordsmanship, cutting down the onslaught head-on before wrenching a thread that had snared one of his swords aside with brute force— "Uwaaah!!"
"—Guuh."
A front kick drove straight into Yae's slender waist. She twisted in midair, spinning half a revolution as she was sent flying, caught herself against the wall, and landed on the floor with one hand pressed to her stomach.
And then she stared straight at the intruder who had done this: "Kicking a lady in the stomach without warning — what an unsparing guest you are~"
"— Is that truly necessary? To a shinobi like you, I hardly think restraint is in order."
"Aren't you being discriminatory against shinobi? That's hardly the behavior of a gentleman."
"Regrettably, I do not recall ever having been worthy of such a评价 as 'gentleman.' No matter where this may lead, I am a swordsman and nothing more — one whose only skill is swinging a blade."
Saying this, the man shook off the threads from his twin swords and fixed Yae with those quiet blue eyes — and at his self-assessment, Felt muttered under her breath, "Don't give me that crap."
She didn't know if he was a gentleman or not. But "swordsman" was far too modest a评价. She knew that many would not tolerate him being reduced to that alone.
For the man who called himself a swordsman was the former "Sword Devil" who had once claimed victory at the pinnacle of the blade— "— Wilhelm Trias. Upon hearing that the Kingdom stood on the brink, I have come, however little my strength may avail."
As he announced himself, Felt retreated to the corner of the room and let out a sigh.
Confronted with this unexpected reinforcement, her feelings were anything but simple— "... That guy with the helmet, he really doesn't pick and choose his methods, huh. ...What the hell's gonna happen to the people on Emilia's side?"
She muttered this, split evenly between exasperation and admiration.