Rapid release!

Episode 92 Green Is My Favorite Color

The green-haired girl steps out of the rubble rather somberly, without uttering a word. Tide weakly reaches forward and grabs her frighteningly cold hand. With surprising strength, the girl lifts Tide up quite easily.

“W-Who are you…?” Tide wonders out loud, speaking softly as if afraid to use a loud voice.

He fails to discern the face of the woman, who is still surrounded by a cloud of dust. The woman waves her hand, and the dust seemingly settles instantly, falling to the ground and clearing the air between them. A pearly white mask in the eerie shape of a skull obscures the woman’s face. Even the bottomless black eyes of the mask display no emotion.

“My name is Midori,” the woman answers tautly, “a Fatalist.”

“Fatalist…?” Tide repeats breathlessly. “Sorry, but what the hell is a Fatalist?”

“It doesn’t particularly matter,” Midori retorts candidly, “I was sent here on orders from one Lord Duncan. Believe me, I’d truly rather not be here on such a lowly errand.”

“L-Lord Duncan?!” Tide cries, his eyes widening. “Why did he send you…?”

“Who knows?” Midori shrugs. “However, his orders clearly dictated for me to speak to you now.” She suddenly turns left and right in slight surprise, as she notices Silver’s two guards stumbling to their feet.

“W-Who the hell are you?” one of the guards groans weakly.

Midori glares at each of them disgustedly. She snaps her fingers, and in an instant, both of the guards collapse onto the ground, decapitated. Torrents of blood flow out of the bodies, staining the ground with a crimson dye.

Tide stares in complete shock, unable to move for fear of being attacked. ‘Impossible…I barely even saw her attack! Even when I squinted, all I could see were two flashes of golden light going each way.’

“What’s the matter with you?” Midori asks, turning her attention back to Tide. “You never seen blood fountaining out of someone before?”

“Don’t joke around with me!” Tide howls, leaping at Midori and swinging his sword wildly.

Midori sighs resignedly, and grabs Tide’s Zard even as he remains in midair. Tide gasps in alarm, and falls to the floor, losing his sword to Midori’s hands.

“You really are something stupid,” Midori says presently, “I’m not here to kill you or anything. I’m just here to inform you of what’s going on.” She drops Tide’s Zard with a clang at his feet.

“What’s…going on?” Tide whispers. “What do you mean?”

“Your loyalties are for Lord Duncan, right?” Midori replies. “Don’t tell me you’ve gone back to that pathetic rebel group of yours.”

“N-No,” Tide stutters, “I intend to serve Lord Duncan as much as possible.”

In one sweeping motion, Midori strips her mask off, stunning Tide with an alarmingly beautiful face. “Geez, I really do hate these clothes.”

Midori suddenly smirks. “You know, your words say one thing, but your voice and body language tell another story. Fine, whatever. I’ll tell you the news anyway. The Fatalists have—”

“What are the Fatalists?” Tide interrupts.

“Four people who have recently joined up with the Myougun and are now currently working under Lord Duncan. You need not know more, got it?” Midori retorts impatiently.

Tide nods solemnly, and listens as Midori goes on. “Seeing as how the Fatalists are now working for Duncan, we’re also now under the command of that fat oaf. But regardless, I’ve come here to tell you some valuable information, so listen up, kid.

“A group of people calling themselves the ‘Joukai’ are about to arrive in the Rift World. Among them is someone called the Third Phoneme. The Myougun is after her. Since you’re acting as a double agent, Lord Duncan has chosen me to deliver to you his orders: befriend the Joukai and assist in making sure that the Third Phoneme walks directly into Lord Duncan’s hands, got it? If you can do that…I’m sure you’ll be rewarded fruitfully.”

“The Third Phoneme…” Tide mutters under his breath. “Wait. How will I know who the Joukai are?”

“Easy,” Midori replies, “stick close to that Silver friend of yours. She’ll recognize them for sure.”

“S-Silver…?!” Tide gasps, eyes widening. ‘Those strangers she ran off with…it couldn’t be them again, could it?’

Midori stares haughtily at Tide for several moments. “Well, those are your orders. That pervert Duncan expects you to obey them and carry them out smoothly, you hear me? And don’t even think about trying anything funny, either.

“From here on out, you are to pretend you know nothing about Duncan, and especially me and the other Fatalists, understood? If someone mentions us, pretend like you never heard of us. Under no circumstances are you to reveal what you have learned today. I and perhaps some of the other Fatalists will be meeting with you occasionally to brief you on updates regarding this mission and to check up on your progress.”

“All right,” Tide replies. “I think I’ve got it all, unless you’ve got more to tell me.”

“That should be it,” Midori replies, turning around and walking away. “I shall be leaving now. Remember, you did not meet me today. Oh, and…” Midori suddenly turns around to face Tide once more, a strange gleam in her eyes.

“Before you start to wonder, don’t even think about screwing with us Fatalists. We’re far superior to Lord Duncan than even he realizes. In fact, you might say that we’d make the stronger foe…”

Tide returns Midori’s stare incredulously. “Why…if I may ask?”

Midori smirks, a thin smile curling up her lip. “Because…”

‘From then on, I almost became haunted by what I had done. It was very clear to me that the Fatalists were the greatest of all enemies, and Midori telling me all their plans had the exact effect she had hoped to achieve on me—I was afraid to move on my own too early, or else they’d kill everyone. For the time being, I knew I had to stay with Lord Duncan’s plan.

‘Very soon, just as Midori had predicted, a group calling themselves the Joukai arrived in the Rift World and joined up with Silver and the rest of our forces. And sure enough, they brought with them a girl dubbed the Third Phoneme.

‘It didn’t take too long to learn exactly everything that was going on, and I often had to meet up with Midori to update her on what I’d learned. I pretended I was off having drinks with crooks, so no one would follow me and question how I’d received important information regarding the enemy’s movements.

‘Once we arrived in the Maple World, Midori met with me again, and told me everything that was going on. From then on, the Fatalist attacks began. I still saw no chance for me to make a move, and so I waited. But when I heard of the plan to seal the Four Worlds from each other, I knew what I had to do: I had to use my position to steal those plans for the Joukai.

‘I knew that if the worlds could be closed off from each other, there was a chance the Myougun could be pulled from the Rift World. The Fatalists would also encounter opposition trying to move from world to world and achieve their goals. Not only that, but it would coincide with the Joukai’s plan to lock Lilith inside the Underworld.

‘So I did what I could—I pretended to betray my friends by giving up Lily and got a free pass into Haven, where I knew the plans were hidden. I also knew everyone would soon come to rescue Lily, so she would be in no immediate danger.

‘Unfortunately, there was one wrinkle in my plans that I hadn’t anticipated…’

Silver stares coldly down at Tide, watching his motionless body lay on the library floor in a pool of blood. “It’s…over,” Silver whispers softly, a single tear sliding down her cheek. She stares somberly at his corpse for quite some time, never uttering a single word.

“You have to understand, Tide,” Silver suddenly says out loud, her voice fighting to remain calm, “that I don’t forgive very easily those who fight for the Myougun.”

The lone tear on Silver’s cheek suddenly runs all the way down to her jaw, and falls gently onto Tide’s head. She clenches her bow dolefully, and makes to turn away from the body of her former friend.

“Silver…” Tide croaks from the floor.

Silver jerks back to face Tide instantly, and watches in amazement as he forces himself to turn over onto his back. Tide stares up at Silver from the floor, the strength in his eyes weak and fading. “Silver…before I die, I’ve got some stuff to tell ya.”

Next Time: Episode 93 Another Betrayal: The Beast’s Hidden Fangs

Arai: Although Otis is our usual preview-person, he has mysteriously disappeared! So unfortunately, I will have to take command of the previews from now on! Our forecast for next chapter? Cookies!

Ryuu: He lies.

Arai: Oh, well, there’s another betrayal! And this one you don’t see coming!

Episode 93 Another Betrayal: The Beast’s Hidden Fangs coming soon!