Nahida had only just arrived. Whatever chaos had erupted here a few minutes ago, she didn't know.
Ahead of her, Idris kept walking at that same unhurried pace. Yet the killing intent around him hadn't diminished in the slightest. At that, the Akademiya elders truly began to panic. They nearly crawled to Nahida's feet, eyes wild.
"Lesser Lord Kusanali, please—please stop that fiend Idris!"
"If he leaves this place, Sumeru will be plunged into catastrophe!"
"When we begin electing the next Grand Sage, we will—without question—support you!"
"No matter who the next Grand Sage is, we'll persuade him to let you out of the Sanctuary of Surasthana!"
It was empty talk—promises scribbled on air. But cornered men will clutch at anything that looks like hope, even if it's a blade.
After a long silence, Nahida sighed.
"If this were the past, I would have stood with these people…"
The elders brightened at once. Idris might have said he wasn't worried, but if Lesser Lord Kusanali stepped between them, they would have a chance to flee—and then drown Sumeru in rumors to turn the city against him. Consequences be damned. Survival first.
But Nahida's next words shattered that flimsy plan.
"But that was the old me. In this short time—even though you've not been Grand Sage for long—you've taught me many things."
"A ruler's hands must be stained—only then are they truly a ruler."
"Even the most 'perfect' leader must sometimes touch blood they never wished to touch."
"Sometimes, thunderous methods are the true mercy."
"So, I choose… to trust you."
She watched Idris approach in silence for a while more, then nodded. Taking two steps back, shoulders easing, she even let a small smile show.
"Honestly, even if you really are a bad person… it's all right."
"What I trust is the whole of who you are. I won't start hating you because of what you had to do today."
"Mm."
Idris stopped. He came to stand before her and gently ruffled her hair.
"Looks like you've grown up quite a bit, Little Grass God."
"From now on, I won't treat you like a child."
There was honest surprise in his voice. He had already prepared himself for a break with Nahida after this. Her answer, then, pleased him more than he expected.
"Is that so? Because your hands are doing the exact opposite of what you just said."
Nahida shot him a side-eye, cheeks flushed as he kept patting her head.
In the next second, his hand passed cleanly through her hair—she'd shifted into that incorporeal, spirit-like state again.
Hearing Nahida, the elders and the last surviving Eremites went from desperation to true despair.
The remaining Eremites moved first. With a series of harsh shing—shing—shing, their blades punched into the elders' chests.
"Damn you! If you hadn't hired us for this, we wouldn't be dying here!"
"We didn't even want this job—but you threw mountains of mora at us!"
"If we're dying today, you're going ahead of us!"
They tore the elders apart in a frenzy.
They themselves didn't last a heartbeat longer.
A cold arc flashed; Idris's blade—Frostmourne—sang once. The Eremites fell where they stood.
Nahida let out another slow breath. Just from that last outburst, she understood Idris had been right from the beginning. She was glad—glad she'd chosen trust, and hadn't disappointed him further.
When the last bodies had dropped, Idris flicked his fingers. Black-green vines surged up like ghosts to drag the corpses down.
"Senluo Dead Domain—retract."
The dead were swallowed cleanly; the writhing, death-tainted thicket sank back into the earth. In Idris's palm, an oddly colored orb of light pulsed—ugly to look at, perhaps, but dense with power.
The pure energy Frostmourne refined from the devoured. Exactly what he needed to top off that final sliver of charge.
With the Senluo Dead Domain withdrawn, Shouki no Kami's colossal frame finally stood revealed before Nahida.
She stared up at the towering machine, a prickle of foreboding running down her spine.
"Grand Sage Idris," she asked softly, "can you tell me now—what exactly is this… big machine?"
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