The air in the grand hall was thick with perfume, sweat, and heat. More than fifty nobles filled the semicircular viewing gallery, tilting their wine glasses as they watched. The soundproofing sigils carved into the walls flickered faintly, creating a space of debauchery completely cut off from the outside world. At the center of the stage stood two restraint pillars. Arisa and Lilia were made to stand before them. Clad only in thin white tunics, their bodies were pierced by the nobles' vulgar stares. Arisa drew a deep breath. *(Tonight, it all ends.)* She didn't know if it would work. She might die. Even so—something cold and hot had settled deep in her gut. The vow she'd exchanged with Lilia in the dungeon. Noira's innocent admiration. Serge's tears. All of it pushed her forward. Beside her, Lilia trembled faintly. Her long silver hair shimmered softly in the candlelight. Cassandra ascended the platform. Her silver-gray hair was bound high, and the way she trailed her jet-black dress made her seem like the very priestess of this evening's revelry. Her sharp gray eyes looked down, appraising Arisa first, then Lilia. "[cold]Gentlemen. Welcome to this year's Feast of the End." The murmur in the hall fell silent, like a receding tide. "[cold]Tonight is special. I shall present to you the two most troublesome—and therefore most valuable—beauties of my Moonset Pavilion." Cassandra snapped her fingers. The assistants on the platform bound Arisa and Lilia to the restraint pillars. Coarse rope bit into their wrists. There was no escape. "[cold]First, let them become acquainted with each other's bodies." Cassandra's voice took on a sweet, dangerous resonance. "[cold]Toy with each other, here and now. If you refuse—I shall carve a punishment sigil into you." In her hand, a slender branding needle gleamed. Magically charged ink dripped ominously from its tip. Lilia raised a trembling hand. Her pale violet eyes were wet with tears. "[sad]Arisa... I'm sorry." "...It's fine." Arisa's voice was hoarse. But her deep brown eyes were not dead. Lilia's fingers touched the pleasure sigil carved into Arisa's lower abdomen. —In that instant. "—Ah!" Uncontrollable pleasure surged from deep within her belly through her entire body. An electric numbness raced up her spine, and strength drained from her knees. The sigil on her lower abdomen throbbed, and pleasure wholly divorced from her will ravaged her body. Beneath her tunic, she felt arousal slowly seeping along the inside of her thighs. *(This flow of magical energy—seize it.)* Arisa clenched her teeth, refusing to relinquish the core of her consciousness. Every time the sigil activated, magical energy coursed through her body in waves. Its intensity, its speed, its frequency—she observed and calculated it all. Lilia's fingers traced the sigil. A gasp escaped Arisa's lips. Arisa, too, extended a trembling hand and touched Lilia's sigil. "—Aaah!" This time, it was Lilia's body that convulsed violently. The two on the platform continued to toy with each other's sigils, exposed all the while to the nobles' gazes. When Lilia's fingers traced Arisa's sigil, Arisa's body reacted against her will. When Arisa touched Lilia's sigil, Lilia reached climax, crying out. "[laughing]Come on, do it more!" "[sarcastic]Yes, make each other come!" Jeers flew from the gallery. Vulgar laughter filled the grand hall. *(This sensation... the waves of magical energy are gradually intensifying.)* Each time the sigil activated, the density of the magical energy flowing through her body increased. It was like a tide surging against a levee—rising, swelling. Arisa closed her eyes. *(The hour of the new moon—midnight. The moment the sigil tools activate in unison and magical energy reaches its peak. That is the decisive moment.)* Her body was ravaged by pleasure; she couldn't move a single finger of her own volition. Even so, the depths of her consciousness remained cold and clear. — The latter half of the banquet. When Cassandra snapped her fingers, several nobles ascended the platform. All of them wore masks. The sound of tunics being torn. Skin laid bare. The two were pinned to the floor of the platform. At Cassandra's signal, the forced activation of the sigils began. Arisa's vision exploded into white. The pleasure welling up from deep within her body threatened to shred her thoughts to pieces. "—Stop...!!" Her voice was drowned out by the men's lewd shouts. The first man shoved his penis into Arisa's vagina. Without lubrication, by force. Her vaginal walls clenched around the intruder, but because of the sigil, her body felt it whether she wanted to or not. Another man forced his penis into Arisa's mouth. A sour stench. She fought the urge to vomit, yet deep inside, her body continued to throb because of the sigil. A third man thrust his penis into her from behind. A pain as if her tightest place was being torn apart. And yet, the pleasure sigil tried to transform even that pain into ecstasy. *(Calculate.)* She desperately held onto her consciousness as it threatened to slip away. *(The waves of magical energy are rising. Just a little longer until the sigil tools activate—)* Beside her, Lilia was being ravaged by multiple men, weeping. Her trembling hands clawed desperately at the floor. Her fingertips were stained red. Arisa opened her eyes slightly and looked up at the ceiling. *(A few dozen more seconds.)* The magical energy inside her body was swirling, centered on the sigil. The hour of the new moon. The sigil tools installed at the four corners of the grand hall simultaneously emitted a pale blue light. —Now. Arisa concentrated all the magical energy in her body, converging it on the sigil in her abdomen into a single point. With a penis still thrust inside her vagina, with a penis still in her mouth—even so, she activated the counter-sigil technique. "—Haaaaaaah!!" A thunderous roar and a pale blue flash tore through the grand hall. The shockwave traveled along the walls, shattering the soundproofing sigils into fragments. Screams. Angry shouts. Nobles tumbled from their chairs, wine glasses shattered on the floor. The man who had been thrusting his hips atop Arisa's body recoiled in surprise at the flash. The sigil on her lower abdomen radiated an agony unlike anything she had ever felt. As if a heated iron had been pressed against her—even so, the sigil was unmistakably being eroded from within. "[angry]What have you done, you wretch—!!" Cassandra screamed from the platform. For the first time, agitation showed on her usually composed face. A crack large enough for a person to pass through had formed in the barrier running along the brothel's outer wall. Though she nearly collapsed onto the floor, Arisa desperately forced herself to stand. Her entire body was convulsing. Her vision blurred. Even so—she reached out her hand. "[serious]Lilia—!!" Lilia, still collapsed on the floor, extended a trembling hand. Arisa grabbed it and pulled her close with all her strength. "We're running!" The two leaped from the platform and ran, weaving through the panicking nobles. "[angry]Don't let them escape!! Call the guards!!" Cassandra's furious shouts chased after them. Behind the grand hall, a passage connected to the kitchen's outer wall. The crack in the barrier flickered and crackled, emitting a pale blue light. Arisa pulled Lilia's hand and leaped into the crack. —Patricia at night. The cobblestones of the pleasure district were steeped in the cold night air. The sound of stringed instruments from a tavern could be heard in the distance, along with the raucous shouts of drunken patrons. But that clamor felt distant, as if belonging to another world. Arisa and Lilia dashed across the cobblestones. Barefoot. Both wearing only a single tunic, their bodies smeared with sweat, semen, and blood. *(To the east gate—to the Elba Forest—to the Stella Shrine—)* She traced the escape route in her head. It was then— From behind, she heard the faint hum of magical energy. Before Arisa could even turn around— "—Ah...!" A small sound escaped Lilia's lips. The arrow of magical energy Cassandra had unleashed had pierced Lilia's back. Lilia pitched forward and fell. "Lilia!!" Arisa caught Lilia and pressed down on the wound. But—the blood wouldn't stop. Warm blood ceaselessly overflowed through the gaps between her fingers. A dark stain spread across the cobblestones of the dark alley. "[whispers]...Run." Lilia's voice was hoarse. "[serious]No!!" Arisa held Lilia and ran deeper into the alley. Pressing down on the wound, supporting Lilia's body with blood-soaked hands. A dead end in the back alley. She leaned Lilia against the wall and desperately pressed down on the wound. But—the flow of blood wouldn't stop. Lilia's complexion grew as pale as wax. "[whispers]...Arisa." Though her face was twisted in pain, Lilia raised the corners of her mouth slightly and smiled. With a trembling hand, she touched Arisa's cheek. Her fingertips were cold as ice. "[gentle]This is... for the best." "[crying]What is—what could possibly be for the best about this?!" Tears spilled from Arisa's eyes. "[whispers]You... live. In the outside world, freely—" Lilia's hand fell limply from Arisa's cheek. Her pale violet eyes slowly closed. "[crying]Lilia—Lilia!!" Arisa embraced Lilia's body. A wordless scream echoed through the night alley. It reverberated off the stone walls and was swallowed by the darkness. This was different from that night in the dungeon when she had first cried, stifling her voice. Now, she wailed without fear of being heard by anyone. How much time passed—Arisa stopped crying. She raised her tear-streaked face and, with the blood-soaked fingers of her right hand, carved a single line into the cobblestones. A vow beyond words, etched by her own hand. *(I will live. For your sake, too.)* *(Against Cassandra, against the Nahtigal House of Nobles—against the injustice of this world.)* *(I will make them pay.)* She gently laid Lilia's body to rest deeper in the alley. Her long silver hair reflected the cold moonlight on the cobblestones. Her face was peaceful. Arisa stood up. The sigil on her abdomen still throbbed with a dull ache. The counter-sigil hadn't been able to completely destroy it. But—it had undeniably cracked it. *(Alone, pursued, heading for the east gate.)* That was the only path left to Arisa tonight. From the distance, she could hear Cassandra's furious shouts and the voices calling for guards. Arisa began to run through the alleys of the pleasure district. The sound of wind rushing past. The scent of blood. The darkness of night enveloped her body. For an instant, Noira's face flickered through her mind. Those small amber eyes. That light, almost like adoration. *(Escaping without Noira noticing—that is how I protect her.)* Arisa did not look back. The lights of Moonset Pavilion grew distant behind her. The clamor of the pleasure district, the tavern's stringed instruments—all of it became the past. Six hours on foot to the east gate. Beyond that, the Elba Forest, and further still, the Stella Shrine. Now that she had completed the counter-sigil, what she needed next was the ancient knowledge to remove the sigil entirely. As Arisa ran across the night cobblestones, she carved Lilia's final smile into her heart. —*You live.* Those words alone were her guidepost in the darkness. Her bloodstained bare feet kicked against the cold cobblestones. The eastern sky was beginning to faintly whiten.