Of course, he could be wrong, but he didn't think so. For starters, it was a very optimistic idea, and he felt it. He felt that he was on the edge of a precipice, he and the entire nation. Just as whenever he found himself on the edge of the abyss, he felt as if something were pulling him, as if he wanted to jump. Almost.

  "I think we should get the hell out of here," said another of the guards, one who hadn't spoken until now, finally breaking the heavy silence.

  "Wait. How long will the net hold?" Elizabeth asked.

  Vincent looked at the golem suspended above the buildings. He had already forgotten the truth, but it was a good question.

  "Enough for now," another guard replied. "Maybe. But it's true. If the real attack wasn't this one..."

  The helmet didn't hide the fear and desperation in his expression, as if he were already giving up, as if they had let the opportunity escape, slip through their fingers.

  Ridiculous.

  "It's not too late!" Vincent shouted, clenching his fists. "It's not too late! Dammit."

  He would save the royal family. His name would be remembered by all. And what was more important, he would prevent a war. That was what was important, of course.

  How had things gone so wrong in the blink of an eye? How was it possible that the world had completely lost its mind? In the morning, Cecilia had woken up like any other morning. The same rigid routine, but at the same time with the world at her feet. Untouchable. But now, the people who had always protected her, her and her family, were dying around her, dropping like flies. She saw swords gleaming with the blood of those people. And for the first time in her life, she seriously confronted the question of her own mortality. It was the most horrible thing that had ever happened to her. It felt as if that darkness was devouring her from the inside and wouldn't even leave the bones.

  Her body lacked the strength to flee. Even if she tried, she knew she wouldn't get far. Cecilia fell to her knees. Her legs could no longer support her own weight. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make them stop.

  "We're okay, darling. You'll see, they'll save us. You'll see, we'll get through this."

  Mother was whispering a lot of things in her ear. Reassuring things, but they didn't have that effect. Even if it was the first time she was facing death, there was something instinctive running through her bones, something that told her there was no escape. An optimistic person would say she was simply so desperate that she had given up before trying. She was not an optimistic person, how could she be? And especially today. Before this moment, Cecilia had had no need to be optimistic. What she wanted, she got. It was as simple as that. An order, a rule, not something to hope for with crossed fingers. She hadn't learned to be optimistic, not to have to deal with the shadows closing in around you and blocking out the sunlight until only the glint of the daggers they were armed with remained.

  I don't want to die, she thought. I don't want to die. Not like this. Not today.

  "Go back to wherever you came from, kids!" another guy from the Royal Guard ordered. They still didn't get it, apparently. "It's too dangerous for..."

  Tara took a step forward.

  "The brats who saved your lives. You couldn't have done it without us." Tara pointed at him with her head. "Without him. There's no time to argue."

  He had felt euphoric being the one to defeat the Golem, the center of attention in the most important mission, perhaps the one an adventurer could hope to undertake in a lifetime. But now that Tara had said that, drawing attention to him, he felt even ashamed. He felt himself blush. He couldn't help it.

  "Yeah, there's no time. That at least is very true. Let's get moving."

  Just in case, he was still trying to cling to a vain, optimistic hope. But the important thing is that they weren't going to waste any more time. They set off, indeed, as fast as they could. Which meant that Ayame got ahead, and by a lot. Vincent didn't have time to pull her back, to say that they were a team and that they should fight together. Anyway, he would have let her go because it was the sensible thing to do. It was what had to be done. But if he had had the opportunity, maybe he would have felt less uneasy. His heart was beating harder than ever, as if he feared he would never see her again. Absurd, of course. Those shadows couldn't do anything to her. They hadn't done a damn thing to him, even. Logic had nothing to do with fear. Something like a bad premonition was eating him from the inside. He told himself it was nothing.

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  Ayame accelerated more than she ever had before. For the sake of preventing a war, for the sake of her friends, and also for her own kind. She wasn't selfish, but she wasn't blind either. A vampiress saving the princess, the royal family. She knew what that would mean. It would be slow, of course, a process, but maybe one day this act would give rise to a world where most people would be like Tara and Vincent, her dear friends. A world where humans and vampires could truly understand each other and coexist, instead of so much rage and so much hatred that came from a time that no living person remembered, anyway. Yes, maybe she herself wouldn't live to see it, but it was something worth fighting for. Yudai would never experience it. Maybe Yui would have a better life in a better world. Reason enough to give it her all. It was more than the path she had chosen, but it mattered a lot to her.

  That would be nothing more than a dream if she didn't arrive in time to prevent the tragedy. So she forced herself to go even faster, despite how much her whole body ached, despite the amount of blood she had lost and how her throat was, oh, but very dry. She could deal with the important things on the fly. If something happens, nothing had to happen. She was in control. She was.

  And indeed, she arrived just in time. Vincent had hit the nail on the head. The princess and her parents were not surrounded by their protectors, but by inert corpses. There were still more shadows, and apparently they had torn the escort to pieces effortlessly. It had all happened too quickly. That's what she thought, as one of those things raised its sword, like an executioner's axe, right above the princess and the queen, who was hugging her against her, as if she could protect her from death. But well, that's what she was there for.

  She got in the way and grabbed the blade with a bare hand, naturally. The creature's surprise was evident. Those shadows were quite expressive, for not having a face. Doubly so when she punched it in the chest as a counterattack, opening a hole that reached its heart. Then she really felt it. The pathetic surprise of certain death before a superior opponent. She tore out its heart and crushed it in her hand. Like the corpses on that street, it dissolved into black fog, nothing more.

  "Dammit!" King Edward muttered. Simple mortality had a way of making people forget about nonsense like the dignity of nobility.

  "You're not human, are you?"

  Ayame tensed. It wasn't a big surprise. It wasn't, but she had just saved his daughter, all of them. And that was the first thing he thought of. That she wasn't human. As if she were worth less for it. As if her actions meant less. Maybe the world she wanted to see, the world she wanted Yue to live in... her sister and almost a daughter to her, almost... was a fantasy. Whatever she did, or achieved... No. No. The worst thing she could do was give up.

  "Who the hell cares what she is?" Queen Janet shouted, proving to be a woman, a more sane and sensible person than her husband.

  But of course, that's how it usually was. Maybe that just proved she was a mother, after all. She could be as disgusted by vampires as the king, but what mattered to her was that her daughter was safe. Well, for now. Because there were still shadows standing, of course. And whatever other tricks they had up their sleeves, besides the golem. The fight for the lives of these three people and the millions of inhabitants of the golden kingdom, humans and vampires alike, was not over.

  He would surely make it in time. And that, anyway, she wouldn't need his help at all. That's what Vincent had been thinking as he ran. A resounding mistake.

  "No. No. No."

  But he couldn't deny what his eyes saw.

  Ayame was lying on the roof of a carriage. Only it was actually a door, because the vehicle was overturned and so crushed that it was barely recognizable as a carriage. There was blood everywhere. He saw her try to get up only to fall back again, as if she had no strength left. He felt like throwing up. He felt his soul drop to his feet. But she was alive. She was alive and he had already arrived in time. It was okay. He had never seen her so cornered, but he would save her and everything would be fine. It had to be fine.

  How had this happened? Well, a normal, ordinary shadow hadn't been able to handle her, of course. Apparently a giant one had appeared, or the remaining ones had combined to form it. In any case, it now loomed over her with an equally large sword, ready to finish her off. He barely noticed that Princess Cecilia and her parents were alive. For now, that no longer mattered to him.

  "No!" he shouted, lunging forward.

  Vincent arrived in time, to be exact. Just in time to take the attack with his own body and be sent flying. He ended up embedded in a wall, or rather, inside the damn wall. Everything hurt, even his skull. He got up from the crack, took a step forward, and a weakness, a dizziness, overcame him. He barely avoided falling headfirst.

  "There are always mosquitoes interrupting."

  The voice came from the shadow. However, it was surprisingly normal. That perhaps made it more unsettling than the opposite would have been.

  Tara and the survivors of the Royal Guard appeared at that moment, rounding the corner.