Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers Side Story - The Love and Despair of Teguneu, Leader of the Evil Demons
A monster who has never known love. A boy who has lost everything to it.
For three hundred and twelve years, Teguneu has watched humanity from the shadows—cold, calculating, and utterly alone. Branded a heretic even among his own kind, the leader of the Evil Demons has long since abandoned any hope of warmth. Until the day his black lizard swarm carries him to a nameless village at the foot of the Jörmungandr Mountains, where he witnesses something that shatters his icy composure: a brother and
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers Side Story - The Love and Despair of Teguneu, Leader of the Evil Demons - The night a false love turns real—the puppeteer's scales peel away.
The autumn night air seeped deep into the forest.
The campfire had burned down to almost nothing. Red embers popped now and then, swallowed by the dark. Beyond the trees, night insects chirped in broken, halting rhythms.
Adlet Mayer sat by the fire, arms wrapped around his knees. His light brown hair clung to his forehead, matted with sweat and dust. Without thinking, the fingers of his right hand traced the scorched cloth wrapped around his left wrist—his sister's keepsake.
Beside him sat Fremy Speeddraw. Her long, snow-white hair swayed gently in the night breeze. One eye pink, one blue—a mismatched pair. The dying firelight flickered in them, glinting.
Between the two of them lay a small distance.
Close enough to reach. Yet neither made any move to close it.
Something had changed after that battle. From the moment Nashetania was taken and Goldof knelt on the ground, the very air seemed to have grown heavier.
"...Hey, Fremy."
Adlet murmured quietly.
"What."
Fremy's reply was curt, as always. But there was a faint weariness bleeding through her voice.
"I still... I really do want to protect you."
The fire crackled softly again.
"Whether that feeling comes from inside me, or whether someone put it there—honestly, I can't tell."
Adlet gripped the cloth around his wrist tightly.
"But even if it's fake, right now, sitting next to you, the thought of anything happening to you—I hate it. That much, I know for sure."
Fremy didn't answer.
Her white fingertips trembled faintly on her knees. Adlet noticed the trembling. But he said nothing.
—That was when it happened.
A ripple.
The air of the forest shifted in an instant.
The campfire's flame wavered and shrank, as if crushed by something.
The insects fell silent.
The wind stopped.
"...He's coming."
Fremy rose smoothly to her feet. A metal sphere rolled in her palm. It became a cartridge and gunpowder, bullets lining up between her fingers.
Adlet stood too, hand on the hilt of his sword.
From between the trees, something black slithered out.
One, two, three—
A swarm of black lizards. Small evil demons, about a foot long, covered in scales. They crept silently around the campsite, encircling it.
Ten, twenty—no, more.
Countless tiny eyes glowed in the darkness beyond the firelight's reach.
"Tch... we're surrounded."
Adlet drew his sword.
But the black lizards didn't attack.
They simply stared at the two of them, motionless.
As if waiting for something.
"Adlet, get back."
Fremy raised her gun.
Then—
"—A fine night."
A low, quiet voice echoed from the depths of the dark.
Both of them stiffened at once.
The firelight flickered.
From between the trees, a single shadow stepped slowly forward.
Jet-black scales. Golden eyes. An old scar running from his left cheek down his neck. A black lizard perched on his shoulder.
Teguneu, Leader of the Evil Demons.
The moment his figure appeared, the temperature around them dropped sharply.
Cold.
The air against their skin was ice-cold.
"Teguneu...!"
Adlet raised his sword.
"Oh? You know my name."
Teguneu's lips curled slowly.
"Of course I do. Do you have any idea how many people have died because of you?"
"People. Hm. What are people to you? Just numbers? Or tools for revenge?"
Teguneu's voice was polite, calm.
But every word pierced like cold needles.
"What the hell are you talking about..."
Adlet's grip tightened on his sword hilt.
"Adlet Mayer. I came to speak with you."
Teguneu stepped forward.
"The pact of the three commanders—whoever fells the most Braves of the Six Flowers earns the allegiance of the other two. In human terms, that is the arrangement."
Teguneu's golden eyes fixed on Adlet.
"I need you in order to fulfill that pact."
"Hah...?"
"You are a pawn I created. Bravado about being the strongest on earth, burning for revenge, raised to hunt the Braves. It was the evil demons of this world who killed your sister. You hate evil demons. So serve as my piece—dispose of the Brave candidates one by one. That is your true purpose."
Teguneu's words were quiet, matter-of-fact.
As if reading aloud something decided from the very beginning.
"Go to hell... Who the hell would ever do what you say!"
Adlet's voice rang through the night forest.
"I see. Then let me ask you this."
Teguneu's gaze turned slowly to Fremy.
"Fremy Speeddraw. That girl beside you. You are in love with her. Isn't that right."
Fremy's shoulders jerked.
"But that love is false. A false emotion I planted in your heart. You are merely made to believe you love her, through my power."
The blood drained from Adlet's face.
"...What are you saying."
"Exactly what I said. Your feelings for Fremy are something I created. Not your own."
Teguneu's lips curved like a crescent moon.
"You are dancing on my palm, pulled by threads named love. And those threads are in my hands at this very moment."
"Stop it—!"
Adlet's shout shook the air.
"Why should I stop? I am merely telling the truth."
Teguneu's gaze turned to Fremy once more.
Those golden eyes crawled slowly over her entire body, appraising her.
From head to toe.
"Fremy Speeddraw. You are my 'Black Blossom.' A tool I was meant to raise, use, and discard. That white hair of yours, those pink and blue eyes—all of it existed for my plan."
Fremy's face went rigid.
"You killed Adlet's sister. With those hands, you certainly killed a girl named Shetra. Isn't that right."
Fremy's breathing stopped.
Her right eye glowed faintly pink.
"Shut up—!"
Fremy's voice was trembling.
"Why silence me? It's the truth. You killed Adlet Mayer's sister. And now you sit beside her brother, wearing the face of someone loved. Hiding that sin, clinging to a false love."
"That's not... I..."
Fremy's fingers trembled minutely around her gun.
"What isn't? Your very existence is made of falsehood and sin. The belief that Adlet loves you is an illusion I engineered. You are nothing but a pitiful tool, rolled about on my palm."
"STOP IT—!"
Adlet shouted.
Sword raised, he stepped in front of Teguneu.
"Whatever you say, it doesn't matter. Anyone who hurts Fremy—I won't forgive them!"
"Oh? False love can make you burn that hot?"
Teguneu spoke mockingly.
"Then I shall manipulate that false emotion along with everything else. Your will is powerless before my strength."
Teguneu raised his right hand.
The swarm of black lizards stirred all at once.
Then.
Adlet turned around.
He gripped Fremy's hand tightly.
"Fremy."
Fremy's eyes went wide.
"I don't know if what I feel for you is real. Honestly, even now, I'm not sure my heart is my own."
Adlet's hand wrapped firmly around Fremy's cold fingers.
"But right now, I want to protect you. That's my will. Nobody planted it in me. I decided, here and now, that I will protect you."
Fremy's lips quivered.
"Adlet..."
"So, Teguneu. I won't bow to your power. I'm the strongest man on earth, after all!"
Adlet looked straight at Teguneu.
There was no hesitation in his eyes.
—In that instant.
Teguneu's body convulsed.
"...What...?"
Deep in Teguneu's chest, something burst.
A searing pain shot through his entire body from within.
"Guh...!"
Teguneu clutched his chest and staggered.
The jet-black scales peeled away with a crackling sound.
One, two, three—
From his shoulder, his arm, his cheek.
Countless scales fell to the ground, trailing blood.
"Wh-what... what is this...!"
Dark red blood poured from Teguneu's mouth.
His knees hit the ground.
"Teguneu...!?"
Adlet cried out in shock.
Teguneu's body lost its scales before their eyes.
Raw flesh showed beneath the jet-black scales. Blood streamed down.
"Why... why is this happening..."
Teguneu's golden eyes were turning crimson.
"The backlash... of the power to manipulate love...?"
Teguneu pressed a hand to the ground.
His fingertips touched his own fallen scales.
"Why! Why is it only you two who can so easily—!"
Teguneu's scream echoed through the night forest.
In that voice were anger, pain, and—faintly—sorrow.
"You turn false love into something real. Something I could never obtain in three hundred and twelve years, you grasp while still wavering. Why. Why is it not given to me. Why is it only you—"
Teguneu's words were no longer directed at Adlet and the others.
They poured into the dark. Into his own empty chest.
A cry of longing, spilling out like vomit.
"Teguneu... you, don't tell me..."
Adlet was at a loss for words.
Fremy, in Adlet's arms, stared at Teguneu, trembling.
"...Adlet, I..."
Fremy tried to say something.
"I... your... sister..."
The words cut off.
Fremy's throat moved convulsively.
"Fremy...?"
Adlet peered into Fremy's face.
Her right eye glowed strongly pink.
"...It's nothing."
Fremy said that and bit her lip.
Teguneu watched the scene from his knees on the ground.
(False love is being overwritten by the real thing.)
(My power doesn't work. No—my power is changing into something else inside them.)
(A transformation that will never happen to me. Something I will never be given.)
Deep in Teguneu's chest, jealousy and longing blazed like fire.
—Then.
"Nyaa, Boss."
A leisurely voice came from beyond the bushes.
All three turned toward it at once.
Short dark brown hair. Two cowlicks springing up from the crown of his head. Yellow-green cat eyes blinking slowly in the darkness.
Hans Humpty emerged, pushing through the undergrowth.
In both hands, two cleaver-like swords.
"Isn't it about time to call it quits?"
Hans grinned.
"I've got the location of every one of your black lizards. You thought you had us surrounded, but didn't you notice you're the one surrounded, Boss?"
Teguneu's golden eyes narrowed.
"...Hans Humpty."
"Oops, you know my name too. I'm flattered."
Hans rested his cleaver swords on his shoulder.
"Nyaa, if you want to keep thrashing around, I'll oblige. But you're looking pretty beat up right now. Better not push yourself, yeah?"
Hans's cat eyes calmly observed Teguneu's fallen scales and flowing blood.
Teguneu rose slowly.
"...Interesting. Your powers of observation live up to the rumors."
Teguneu's voice was still trembling.
But cold light was beginning to return to his eyes.
"But tonight is enough. I have seen what I came to see."
Teguneu's gaze turned to Adlet.
"Adlet Mayer. Do not forget your true nature. You are a savage beast interested in nothing but revenge. I made you that way. That nature will awaken, without fail, in time."
"What are you talking about..."
"Farewell, Braves of the Six Flowers."
Teguneu raised one hand.
The swarm of black lizards moved as one.
Countless black shadows wrapped around Teguneu's body, swirling.
And in the next instant.
Teguneu vanished into the darkness with the swarm of black lizards.
Only fallen scales and traces of blood remained.
"...He's gone."
Hans lowered his cleaver swords.
"Adlet, Fremy, you two okay?"
Hans's voice returned to its usual cat-like tone.
"Yeah... somehow."
Adlet was still holding Fremy's hand.
"Fremy, are you all right?"
"...Yes."
Fremy nodded slightly.
Her fingertips were still trembling faintly.
"Nyaa, even so, that lizard bastard's still got something cooking."
Hans prodded a black scale on the ground with his toe.
"From the look of it, he's retreated tonight, but next time he'll come at you more underhandedly. He means to break your relationship from the inside. Watch yourselves."
Hans's cat eyes looked back and forth between Adlet and Fremy.
"...I know."
Adlet nodded firmly.
"I'll protect Fremy. No matter what."
Fremy looked up at Adlet's profile.
For a moment, something like the verge of tears flickered in her eyes.
But she said nothing.
She only squeezed back, just slightly, the hand Adlet held.
—
Inside the cave, the air was cold and stagnant.
At the southern foot of the Jörmungand Mountains, an unnamed cave erased entirely from human maps. Deep within, in da
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