“The necklace? She infused her power into the necklace?” Sappho exclaimed as she narrowed her eyeholes at the Knight.

  The phantom leaped into the air like a bolt of lightning and swung its greatsword. The monster was so caught off by the attack that she defended herself by lifting her arm, which was sliced apart like paper. Suppressing her pain, she swiftly sprouted another arm and punched the specter. The Knight blocked the attack and landed a couple of meters away.

  “Why?! WHY?! WHY?! Why does she still protect a buffoon like you even in death?!” She grew as many arms as she could from her spherical body as she continued to shout, “You stood there and watched her die! She chose you, yet you didn’t protect her!”

  Her arms promptly shot out in the Knight's direction like rockets, though it handily dodged all of them and cut off as many arms as it could. Sappho shrieked and retracted her arms, creating an opening the specter needed to advance. Sludgy tendrils burst from the ground and swung in its direction in an attempt to buy time for herself to recover.

  “I did everything, EVERYTHING, to keep her in the city so she would be safe! I stopped her from doing all the reckless shit that would’ve given those countries a juicy chance to kill her, and everyone treated me like I’m a villain! All you did was walk around the city with her, and they see you as a ‘noble protector’!!”

  More arms jutted out, though the tips had been sharpened into spikes. Mud flooded from her body to the surrounding area, making it more difficult for the Knight to dodge. Then, the spiky tendrils took turns to launch itselves at the specter, cracking the ground when it missed. The tendrils also retracted faster, though the phantom still managed to cut off a few.

  “I protected her far more than you ever did, yet, for some reason, she always favored your protection! I kept everyone who ever talked bad about her or her family away with threats or bribes, and she despised me for it! But when you intimidate them with your disgusting muscles, it’s okay?!”

  One of the spikes finally impaled the Knight, and she raised it up to her eye level after tying the specter up tightly. “Even though I sacrificed so much, she never looked at me the way she did at you! Is it because I’m a woman?! Because I only have an arm?! I could’ve proven to her that, with my power and influence, I can afford strength that is a hundred times greater than yours! But you just! Won’t! Die!” The vines around it squeezed tighter and tighter.

  The specter roared, tore through the vines holding its arm back, and threw the greatsword at the monster. Her head dodged instinctively, though that meant the greatsword lodged itself in the ball, causing her to yell in pain. The monster opened a hole in the ground before stuffing the Knight into the pit and closing the entrance. When the specter tried to dig out, literal trunks wrapped around it, restricting its movements, and pulled it down further.

  When Sappho removed the sword from her body, it caused sludge to spill out of her wound. Then she flung the weapon into the jungle. She continued to mutter while patching her injury. “If it weren’t for your freakish strength, if you had just died to my assassins, none of this would’ve happened. I wouldn’t have needed to summon a Pestilence. She would’ve been so much happier with me. It’s all your fault. It’s your fault. It’s your fault…”

  Suddenly, she felt there was an opposing force fighting against her influence over the elements. The trunks that were dragging the Knight down were now sending it back up, and the ground made way for that to happen. A few seconds later, the phantom returned to the surface.

  “How-”

  “Attis!”

  The Zeker siblings turned to the entrance of the jungle and saw the dragon rider holding the greatsword in a throwing stance.

  “Catch!”

  The weapon cut through the air in an arc, reflecting the silver moonlight as it did. The Knight leaped in the direction of the greatsword to catch it.

  “How dare you?!” Sappho used most of her arms to swipe the dragon rider gang away again while extending the rest to attack her brother.

  Purple hugged Ryder, leaped right before the monster’s attack landed, and shot a gust of wind at the sword. As a result, the Knight grabbed its weapon sooner than the arms could reach it and swung, cutting off the arms and creating a large gash at the top of the ball. Sappho shrieked and tried to get the specter off of her, but it was too agile as it continued to slash rapidly. The Knight didn’t stop until she finally caught it again and threw it as far away as she could. At that point, the sludge was pouring out of her like waterfalls, and her spherical body finally crashed into the ground.

  The feminine figure attempted to hover in the air, but she failed and had to rest on the ground. She stared at the Knight as it got closer and closer. Opening her mouth, the melancholic voice that came out no longer had a monstrous layer to it, leaving only her original voice.

  “You were the one that betrayed me first, Attis. I told you I had a surprise for her on that day. Something that would cheer not only her, but her family too. Something that would mend the cracks in our relationship. You knew, and you decided to confess to her before I arrived! You knew I loved her!” Sludge started dripping down her eye holes like tears. “How could you? How could you be so cruel? She was the only light in my life, and you took her from me!”

  She raised her head and glared right into the slit in the Knight’s helmet. Her voice was so charged with revulsion and contempt that it could poison a person just by hearing it.

“I. Hate. You.”

  The Knight lifted its sword and, with a mighty swing, severed the figure from its spherical body. Wordlessly, it turned back and returned to the piano.

  Sappho’s life force slipped away with each passing second, and the volume of her words grew smaller with it. “I only… wanted to be with you… I wanted to make you… the happiest woman in the world… I want to… see your smile again… Cybele…”

  The dragon rider gang approached her body with the two Felmiers. Aoede fidgetingly stepped out of Findir’s back and entered the monster’s periphery vision. Sappho's remaining arm weakly stretched out in the direction of the girl.

  “Hold me… Cybele… Like you… used to… Please…I’m sorry… I couldn’t… make you happy… I’m sorry… Please….”

  The green-ear, after seconds of lip-biting consideration, stepped forward. Ryder wanted to stop her, but Findir pulled him back and shook his head. Green secretly and quickly glanced at his beloved rider before staring back at the girl, who had kneeled down in front of the tragic woman.

  Aoede slowly reached her hand out and held Sappho's. The slashed sphere and Sappho’s body began breaking down into pure, black sludge.

  “You can rest now… Sappho. I’m… happy to have met you.” The girl tightened her grip.

  The melting face formed a barely recognizable smile as she uttered her final words.

  “I… love you… Cybele… I’m sorry… I couldn’t… be better…”

  Sappho’s hand slipped out of the green-ear’s and landed on the ground as sludge.

  The girl kneeled for a couple more moments before wiping her hands on her pants and standing up. She strolled back to the cat-man and hugged him.

  “Do you think… I did the right thing, Mr. Toygir? Sappho hurt so many people, and so many people died because of her, but… her life is so sad. It made me do what you did for me in the afternoon, but I don’t know if she deserved it…”

  Findir squatted down and stared at her. “No one is below receiving compassion on their deathbeds, Aoede. Everyone has their own struggles in life, and sometimes, those struggles lead them down a dark path they find impossible or pointless to escape. But, in the end, no matter how evil any of us are, we all die one day. We’ll all end up in the afterlife, free of the burdens that dictated our paths in life. So, I don’t think it’s a bad thing that you helped her pass on as peacefully as she could.”

  The girl nodded and hugged him again.

  “Is she dead for real?” Ryder glanced at Purple.

  “Very. Although, I imagine the person who will be responsible for cleaning this sludge up is not going to be thrilled.” The dragon snorted.

  The cat-man rose and glanced at the human. “Will we be breaking the curse tomorrow or…?”

  “Well, I’m still full of energy. If you two want to, we can deal with it now.”

The two Felmiers exchanged eye contact before nodding at the dragon rider.

“Alright, then.” Ryder cracked his neck. “Time for the grand finale.”