CHAPTER 7
Dialogues on Justice
The clouds were thinning, the westerly winds scattering them like torn cotton across the sky. Everything was gray, but for the first time, that gray was mixed with the purple glow of twilight, allowing a precious glimpse into the world’s transient beauty.
Leon considered this briefly before dropping her eyes to the rubble-lined streets and casting a look around.
“This is where the explosion came from, but there’s nobody here…”
She was in district seven and quite close to the city walls. Wherever she looked, ruined buildings were on the verge of collapse. But there weren’t any signs of people, dead or alive. In fact, at first glance, it wasn’t clear whether anything had actually happened here at all. Then Lyu pulled down her mask and sniffed the air.
“Gunpowder,” she said, recognizing the scent. “Was it Lyra? I should look around.”
Lyra was characteristically frugal when it came to using her crafted items. Relatively weak compared to the other girls, she tended to scheme and come up with contingency plans for every possible situation. That she had been forced to rely on her bombs could only mean she had run into something—or someone—that couldn’t be dealt with, and the only sensible option was retreat.
Lyu narrowed her eyes and scanned her surroundings. If there was any chance her friends were in danger, she needed to investigate.
Alongside the smell of gunpowder, she sensed something else—lingering traces of magic. However, the wind had dissipated most of it, and it was difficult to ascertain its source.
“There was definitely a fight here,” she said to herself, “but what exactly happened?”
Lyu began moving with utmost caution, and then she saw it.
“What’s that?”
One building was miraculously intact. Lyu checked its scarred walls and damaged roof before making her way over to it. The double doors were old and made of wood, which gave a loud, low creak as Lyu pushed them open.
“A church…?” she said. “How has it survived?”
Lyu stepped inside to find stone walls and a wooden floor. The interior was curiously laid out with stairs that led down to some sort of central chamber, which reminded Lyu of a small theater. Standing at the top, she was eye level with a damaged stained-glass window. A chill breeze filtered through the cracks, and Lyu could see the twilight outside. Around her, wooden pews lay splintered and broken, while statues of a goddess, carved onto stone pillars, judged her from every angle.
Even in its current state, the solemn atmosphere here gave Lyu the chills. Then she heard a voice.
“To meet again in a place of worship. Why, this must really be fate.”
Lyu’s breath caught in her throat. She wheeled around, though she already knew who it was before he stepped out of the dark-cloaked church aisles like a shadow.
“Erebus! Why are you here?!”
“I’m looking for you, of course, Leon. My little egg of justice.”
The god was irritatingly calm. Leon felt she was about to burst.
“Enough jokes! You lied to me! You said your name was Eren!”
“I’ve already had this conversation with your two friends,” said Erebus with a dismissive gesture. “Can we skip it this time?”
“M-my friends?” stammered Lyu. “You mean, Kaguya and Lyra?! You madman! What have you done to them!”
“I had my fun. But don’t worry—they’re safe. I let them get away. Don’t you think about trying anything like they did, though… Not unless you want to meet the same fate.”
As if on cue, a second figure stepped out of the shadows.
“Y-you…! From Hera Familia!”
Long, flowing, ashen hair. The indomitable Level 7. Alfia the Silence stood next to Erebus without a single word. Sandwiched between these two unstoppable forces, Lyu thought she could feel the grim reaper’s scythe closing in. A single bead of sweat raced along one of her long ears and down the side of her neck.
“I didn’t come here to fight,” Erebus said. “Just indulge me again, like you did before.”
“…What do you want?” asked Lyu. Erebus gave a faint smile.
“I’ve come to see if you have a different answer to my question this time.”
Lyu felt her heart pound out of her chest. Its last beat reverberated throughout her entire body. Her head spun, her ears rang, and her throat felt as dry as desert sand. Before she realized it, she had stepped backward in fear.
“Leon,” said the dark god. “What is your justice?”
A nightmare reborn. A conflict rekindled. This was everything Lyu didn’t want to face. She had lost her friend to evil. Her faith in her guiding principles was shaken. Right now, this was the very last question she wanted to hear, more terrifying than anything the Dungeon could throw at her.
“Why…are you asking…me…?”
“Because I fell in love with you, Leon. The moment I met you.”
“Why…does evil care about justice?!”
“Consider it a divination ceremony. A debate, if you like. This will show me the ultimate fate of this world.”
In stark contrast to Lyu’s stuttering, Erebus sounded as if his replies had been written long in advance. There was divine intent behind his each and every word.
“Right now, Orario is a microcosm of the entire realm,” he explained. “The entire mortal realm has been left in chaos after Zeus and Hera lost to the Black Dragon. Whether out of desperation or to fulfill their darkest desires, people are out there right now, killing, stealing, despoiling.”
The mortal realm had become the battleground of a war between order and chaos while the world waited for a hero. The scales of good and evil teetered back and forth. This was what the dark god claimed.
“The world has a choice: to accept the darkness or to step into the light.”
“…!”
“And while I place myself firmly in the darkness camp, I am still curious about the part justice will play in the events to come.”
Erebus steepled his fingers and smiled at Lyu. His dark, fascinating eyes stared straight into her soul.
“I want to know if justice has what it takes to overturn this age of darkness and bring about a new era.”
When he had finished speaking, the whole church fell silent. For a moment, Lyu forgot that Alfia was even there. Lyu hoped the silence would continue forever, because her whole body was screaming at her. She instinctively knew that when this dark dialogue reached its conclusion, it would destroy her.
But the god wearing a wicked grin did not hear her plea.
“Leon,” he said. “I believe that good and evil are both perfectly valid on their own.”
All of a sudden, Erebus sounded gentle, like a priest.
“But they shine so much brighter when they are set against each other.”
Lyu felt a set of invisible fingers tighten around her neck.
“Wh-what are you saying?”
“Conflict breeds growth. You understand this, too, don’t you? After both forces have perfected their nature, they shall birth this era’s true ideals. One of ultimate good and one of ultimate evil.”
He spoke as if reciting from scripture. It was a dark tome that spat on the teachings of any established religion and tore Lyu’s fledgling wings from her back.
“Then, and only then, can the final showdown commence. The winner shall inherit the world…or destroy it.”
The evil god gave a wicked smile.
“Rather straightforward, don’t you think? Exactly the sort of thing you elves like to put in your holy books.”
Lyu shivered as a chill ran down her spine. She clenched her tiny fists with what little determination she could muster.
“…Rgh! In that case, what is your evil?! What is it that gives you cause to mock me and to look down on justice?!”
With a tiny spark of rebellion in her heart, she flipped Erebus’s question back on him.
However, the god effortlessly answered it, as if toying with a small child.
“Satisfaction,” he said.
“Wha—?!”
“The pursuits of evil are quite simple. All we do, we do in the name of satisfaction.”
He grinned as justice faltered.
“Satisfaction is selfish. It doesn’t care about others, and thus, it is hated by them. And extreme selfishness can result in truly unpardonable behavior. That is what we refer to as evil. Or more precisely, that is what you people like to call evil.”
Justice and evil were almost always diametrically opposed. While justice adhered to law and order, evil was free from both. It was the ultimate expression of freedom, which in turn was the ultimate expression of self-satisfaction.
There were no rules. No order. How could there be? These were the trappings of justice, something evil mocked and reviled with all its heart.
One could argue that an ill-defined justice condemned everything as evil. But a self-proclaimed evil would never claim the crown of justice. Evil openly mocked that honor and trampled it underfoot.
“Meanwhile, the truly inexcusable and the abhorrent become absolute evil. Like me.”
A flutter of ashen hair drew Lyu’s attention to Alfia once more. She seemed bored, as though she had no objections to what was said. The god’s candid claim had acquired a sheen of truth, which he demonstrated with glee.
But Lyu refused to accept it. Hoping to stave off death just a little longer, she shouted back at him.
“In that case…why?! For what reason do you seek absolute evil? Why do you want to destroy Orario?!”
“My domain is primordial darkness. In other words, the underworld. To destroy Orario is to make this land my realm.”
When Erebus spoke, he offered nothing but the pure, honest truth.
“What I do is perfectly natural. For you, what I seek may be destruction…but for me, it is paradise.”
“Wha—?!”
“My aims are far too abstract for mere mortals to grasp. Just like any god’s.”
“How could anybody understand that?! You’re insane!” yelled Lyu, shaking her head in denial. But the god didn’t so much as flinch.
“Alas, being misunderstood is part and parcel of evil’s fate,” he said. “But in any case, I have answered your question. Now will you answer mine?”
Lyu’s breath caught in her throat. She was out of time. There was nowhere left to run.
“I asked you this question once before, and rest assured I took your answers to heart. Virtuous deeds done without promise of a reward. Upholding that value at all times. And striking down evil wherever it rears its ugly head.”
“…Stop it.”
“Is that still your answer now? Or has it changed?”
“Stop it.”
“Have you been thanked yet? Have you been rewarded for upholding those values in the face of great evil?”
The god’s words, and all the nasty truths therein, left Lyu utterly trapped. Her face grew haunted and pale.
“Can you look me in the eye and say it hasn’t affected you? That your justice still stands strong? That you haven’t once stumbled under the weight of all the loneliness and pain?”
“Stop it!!” she screamed. But it was not a determined scream. Her voice cracked, her hands covered her ears, and she squeezed her eyelids tight. There was no trace now of that proud elf warrior—only a scared young girl battered by harsh reality.
“Listen to me, elf. I know you want to see me as the bad guy in all this, but I’m giving you a chance to make the right choice.”
The dark god would not let her escape that easily. He stood before Lyu, the point of his metaphorical knife poised over her ribs.
“So I’ll ask again. What exactly is your justice?”
He plunged the proverbial knife. Lyu raised her head and attempted to respond, but no words came. Her quivering tongue could produce nothing in the way of justice.
“I… I…”
“What’s wrong? Say it.”
“…Gh.”
“You can’t answer?”
“………”
Lyu hung her head limply, wishing she could turn back time. After such a brutal execution, no light remained in her eyes.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Behold, justice! Nothing to say for itself before it plummets into despair!”
Erebus burst out laughing. He swept back his hair, laughing like a madman.
“You’ve disappointed me, followers of Astrea! But I’m glad! If none of you can believe in justice, then the people of this city don’t stand a chance! No longer will your lies cloud their minds! All shall return to chaos!!”
Erebus flung his arms wide, basking in his proclamation. The balance was broken, and the scales of good and evil irreversibly tipped.
“I have only one thing to say to you now,” said Erebus in a compassionate voice, after his laughter had died down at last. “Something I’ve told you before.”
“Weakness, thy name is justice.”
Lyu felt her heart momentarily give out.
“And foolishness, thy name is also justice.”
There was a yawning chasm in her chest. What was the “right choice” Erebus had been talking about? Crushed by evil, Lyu couldn’t even see where justice was. Her righteous heart began falling apart.
“………”
Lyu slumped to her knees like a broken doll. Erebus didn’t need to say anything more. Mired in despair, the girl was perfectly capable of destroying herself from here.
“Oh, my little egg of justice. You couldn’t answer even one lone question. How disappointing.”
However, Erebus didn’t look disappointed at all. He turned and gazed through the broken stained-glass window. Outside, the ashen clouds were breaking, allowing the reddening sky to bleed through.
“Now you’ve got me thinking,” he said as a malicious grin spread across his face. “What about that other girl? Alize? I wonder if she has an answer for me?”
“Alize! We can finally take a break!”
Alize turned at the sound of Neze’s voice.
“They’re changing the guard! Ganesha Familia’s taking over, so they said we can all go home and take a short rest! Lady Astrea’s on her way over here as well!”
“All right!” replied Alize, smiling brightly. “Then it’s time for some well-deserved rest! A warrior’s repose!”
She sheathed her sword, and the entire group heaved a collective sigh of relief. After fighting countless cultists in Northeast Orario, this was their first true respite.
“Anyone who’s not currently doing anything, feel free to head back now!” Alize called out to the other members of her familia.
The girls shared a glance.
“No, you go back first, Alize,” said Neze with an embarrassed smile. “Let us finish things up around here.”
“I agree,” said Marieux, placing a hand to her cheek. “You’ve already done so much.”
“You must be craving a bit of shut-eye after how hard you’ve been working,” added Iska, waving her hand as if to shoo Alize away. “Go on, off you get, now.”
The rest of the girls all reacted similarly, reassuring her that just because she was the captain didn’t mean she had to stand around on formality.
“You mean it?” asked Alize. “Well, if you say so! See you back at home, everyone!”
She was stunned by her guildmates’ kindness but accepted it gratefully. Leaving them to handle things, she turned and walked off down the street, silently but with a big smile on her face.
Finn’s defensive line had held fast, and the Stardust Garden remained undamaged. Sensing no danger, Alize unlocked the front door with her personal key and waltzed straight in. After it had closed behind her, Alize was alone in the empty halls of her home. With no one to see her, she exhaled a deep sigh.
“………”
She was not smiling now. Dropping her mask, she allowed the weariness she felt in her bones to show. She wiped her cheek, only to find her hand now covered with sweat and blood—blood that may or may not have been hers. Like a wandering ghost, she made her way to the parlor and just stood there, as if she’d forgotten how to sit.
“I guess I am a little bit tired…”
That was an understatement—she was exhausted. Her body and soul had taken a dire beating.
How many times had she talked about justice to her friends, even after Lyu ran away? How long was she going to rally everyone under its banner when even she didn’t know what its true nature was?
That was the hardest truth to swallow. The thought racked her with guilt.
“I think there is a justice, and you simply lack the means to see it.”
“Evil has hidden it from you, just like those clouds hide the stars from us.”
She thought back on Syr’s words. At the time, they had sounded so convincing, but now Alize wondered if she even deserved the stars’ guidance.
“Alize.”
She heard the door open behind her, and she turned to see her goddess standing in the doorway.
“Lady Astrea…”
There was no need to hide her own sorry state from the goddess. Alize looked back at the floor. She was stripped bare of the armor that shielded the other girls from her vulnerable, pathetic sight.
“Neze told me you would be here,” the goddess said.
“………”
“Is there…anything I can do?”
“I just need a bosom to cry on, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course. Come here.”
Astrea smiled and held out her hand, guiding Alize into her soft embrace. The flame-haired captain buried her face in Astrea’s plump chest, wrapping her arms around the goddess’s hips like a child. And like that child’s mother, Astrea cradled Alize’s head in her hands.
Alize felt her fingers on her back, warm and soothing. Tickled, she squirmed in Astrea’s arms, but gradually, her tight muscles relaxed, and she allowed the goddess’s warmth to envelop her.
After a while, Astrea sat down on the sofa, lowering Alize onto her side, the girl’s face still firmly planted between the goddess’s breasts.
“Lady Astrea… Am I wrong?”
“About what, Alize?”
“Everything.”
As the two sat, eyes closed, like mother and child, the red-haired girl decided to tell her goddess the tale of Alize Lovell.
“I always thought I had to smile for Leon and the other girls, whether I felt happy or not,” she said. “I thought I needed to banish their doubt at all costs.”
“………”
“But to do that, I needed to never doubt myself. I always said what I thought and acted how I felt without second-guessing it.”
Astrea’s welcoming lap was like a cradle of stars. There was no need to pretend innocence or purity here. Alize set down her burdens, like a weary traveler, and revealed the discord and anguish brewing in her heart.
“But when I’m alone,” she said, “that’s when the serious me comes out.”
Alize’s fingers tightened around the hem of Astrea’s robe. The goddess answered her in a voice as soft as silk.
“I think both Alizes are very strong,” she said. “The one who speaks her mind and the one who cares for her juniors.”
“………”
“Your light, Alize, is not just starlight. It’s sunlight. That much is clear from the smiles you spread to everyone you meet.”
Astrea ran her fingers through Alize’s crimson hair. When they reached her hairclip, she undid it, allowing the girl’s fiery ponytail to fall across her lap and mix the strands with her own walnut locks.
“But…” started Alize, either unwilling or afraid to allow the goddess’s soothing words to lull her into comfort, “The serious me still doesn’t know what justice is. Even though I’m supposed to be your follower…”
For a while, the only sound that filled the hall was the ticking of the grandfather clock. The empty space between each tick seemed to mock Alize for her indecisiveness. Then, at last, after precisely eleven of those harrowing marks, Astrea spoke.
“Alize,” she said, opening her eyes at last. “Do you know what the happiest times of my life were? It was the day Kaguya joined us. It was the day Lyra took my hand. The day Neze, Marieux, and Iska all believed in me. The day Lyana, Noin, Asta, and Celty all came together. And finally, the day that Lyu found us.”
Her clear, gentle voice retraced the threads that were now so tightly intertwined.
“And how could I forget, before any of that, the day you and I decided to start a family?”
“………”
Astrea, her goddess, laid her heart bare. Alize felt the tears welling up in her eyes.
“It’s okay,” Astrea said. “You are not wrong. And even if you were, you’re allowed to be. There’s nothing wrong with being wrong.”
The goddess’s reassurance was as clear and serene as the interminable sea of stars.
“Keep moving forward, Alize. Whether it’s right or not. You just have to believe.”
“And remember, even when skies are gray…
Even when you can’t see them…
The stars are always watching over you.”
Those words touched Alize’s heart. And even though her eyes were closed, she could’ve sworn she saw the light of a shooting star.
“I cannot clear away your doubts, Alize,” said Astrea, stroking her head once more. “I am only one star out of many set in the infinite night sky. You must be brave. Your justice is something only you can find.”
Again, a silence fell over the room. Only, this time, the clock’s ticking no longer seemed malevolent.
Slowly, Alize pulled her face from her goddess’s breast. The specter that had been haunting her had vanished, and her lips showed the faintest trace of a smile.
“Thank you, Lady Astrea,” she said. “I have a lot to think about. I want to come up with my own answer, so that when I see Leon again, I can tell her what it is that drives me.”
Astrea smiled, her job complete. The traveler, once lost beneath a starless sky, resumed her tireless journey. It was not for this goddess to say what story those girls would go on to write or what their answer would be. That was up to them.
“I hope you do,” she said. “I’ll always be watching over you, Alize.”
In Northwest Orario, in a ruined yet still-standing church, the dark god Erebus stood across from where Lyu had fallen to the ground.
“Astrea is too soft on you,” he declared. “Or maybe she’s even crueler than I am. Why doesn’t she just tell you the answer? If she’s really the goddess of justice, then she must know what it is. Instead, she hides it from you, concealing the truth behind fanciful words and cute metaphors.”
A chuckle betrayed the pleasure Erebus took in his condemnation. Lyu could take his insults no longer and weakly raised her head.
“You’re wrong! Lady Astrea’s not like that! She’s…”
But before she could manage a pathetic rebuttal, one that even she knew wouldn’t hold any weight, the dark god strode right up to her and gazed deep into her wide, azure eyes. Taking advantage of the girl’s fragile heart, he whispered into her long, pointed ear.
“Are you sure about that? Is it not because of her negligence that you’re suffering so much inner turmoil? Could it not be that this is all just some sick, twisted game to her?”
“Grrh!”
“Is it justice to feel pain? Is it justice that brought you here to me, just to be laughed at?”
He was nothing less than the devil himself, whispering his diabolical theories. His divine voice all but shattered Lyu’s faith in an instant. Suddenly, she couldn’t remember the face of the goddess she had devoted her life to, and everything Astrea had ever taught her faded away into distant mists. This dialogue on justice had left Lyu truly lost, and she didn’t know where she could turn.
“N-no… That’s not…”
She wanted to scream back at him, but no words came. Erebus couldn’t help but laugh, seeing the elf’s fair face warped by despair.
“Heh-heh-heh. Ha-ha-ha-ha! …You are so fun to tease, Leon.”
His eyes made it seem like he was smiling warmly, but what he truly wore was a sadistic grin. The dark god righted himself, swept back his hair, and laughed to the heavens.
Lyu felt truly violated. Her lips, her shoulders, and her heart all began to tremble.
And then, the whole building shook as well.
““!””
The noise came from outside the church. Lyu reeled in shock, while Erebus peered outside to see what had happened. Only Alfia remained unperturbed, not even bothering to glance over.
“That sounded like…an explosion!” cried Lyu. She peered through the stained-glass window and spotted a plume of smoke rising into the sky outside.
“Leon! Oh, where did you go?”
Asfi had lost track of Lyu after she went charging head-first into a pack of Evils. The last glimpse she caught of the elf’s distraught face burned fresh in her mind, and it scared her.
While she hadn’t been as close to Lyu as Ardee was, she still considered the girl a friend. And never had she seen the noble elf make a face like that.
So while she searched for traces of her passage or anyone who had seen her, Asfi also felt hounded by the sneaking suspicion that she had to find Lyu, and fast.
I can’t let her slip into despair, she thought. I have to let her know!
Inside her heart, like a torch, burned the light of duty.
“I know what I have to do!” she said. “I have to—”
But Asfi was not allowed to finish that thought. All of a sudden, the entire city shook. It was the same explosion that had caught the attention of Lyu and Erebus not too far away.
“What…?!”
The sound was deafening. Then she heard the screams and saw the sparks rising off the street. Her face paled with fright.
A man with flowing white hair stepped out of the chaos.
“Why are we pussyfooting around a wounded foe?” he asked aloud.
It was Olivas with a warband of cultists in tow, defying his master’s orders and bringing carnage to the streets.
“I, for one, will not miss my chance. I will break you, Orario, in body and spirit! Prepare to be crushed!”
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