When Hope Falls Behind

After defeating Masafumi and Kosuke, Peter’s flames died down for a moment as exhaustion took over his body.

Cydonia had watched the whole scene, stunned by the color of Peter’s flames.

"How is this possible... HOW DO YOU HAVE KOGRI DEMONCE'S FLAMES?"

"Peter, watch out!"

The demon charged straight at Peter. Edward and Arya tried to intercept her, but Cydonia was too obsessed, ignoring their presence completely.

Peter managed to dodge Cydonia’s claws as they sliced through the air right in front of his face, but the demon hadn't been aiming to hit him directly.

As he retreated, Peter felt his body being pulled in several directions. It was only then he realized he was caught in spiderwebs coming from all sides.

"I’m certain of it, the glow of those flames... Even after a thousand years, I would still recognize them!" Cydonia’s expression twisted with hatred and disgust. "These are the flames of that traitorous bitch, Kogri Demonce!"

Arya and Edward rushed to rescue Peter, riding Cerberus to try and close in from behind Cydonia.

"I don’t have time to deal with you two."

As Cerberus was about to reach her, Cydonia leapt backward, positioning herself above them.

Edward and Arya jumped up at the same time, hoping to strike Cydonia midair.

However, they were yanked down, caught by webs extending from beneath Cerberus. The spider silk anchored Cerberus's legs to the ground and wrapped around his torso, trapping Arya and Edward along the way.

The two were pinned against Cerberus as Cydonia descended toward them.

"Tch!" Arya was forced to cancel the Cerberus summon, causing the webs to loosen just enough for them to slip free.

Cydonia’s attack missed as Arya and Edward fell back toward Peter.

Covering the mouth of her oni mask with one hand, Cydonia scoffed.

"This is disgusting..."

She then spat out a glob of slime at high speed—the raw material for her webs, produced inside her body.

Arya and Edward were struck from behind. Even if they had been facing the attack, dodging would have been nearly impossible, as the slime spread like a peculiar liquid mist through the air.

"What the hell is this stuff?"

The moment it hit, it stuck to them like industrial glue, making it hard for them to move.

"This is bad, I can’t move." Arya dropped her flute.

With both of them nearly immobilized, it was easy for Cydonia to trap them completely in her webs.

"Finally, I’ve trapped all three little insects in my web." There was a trace of relief in the demon’s voice—it was clear she, too, was getting tired of this battle.

A shadow, shaped like a blade, slashed past Cydonia’s neck. She managed to dodge just in time, her reflexes still sharp.

"Are you sure you're not forgetting something?"

Emerging from the shadows, the masked figure returned to the battlefield.

"Reaper!" the three shouted in unison.

"Missed me, didn’t you?"

"Not even a little," Peter answered.

"What took you so long?" Edward complained.

"Good thing you’re not dead," Arya added.

Even though he had timed his grand return perfectly, his traveling companions still didn’t seem to have much faith in him being their savior.

"Decided to show your faces again? I thought you had learned your lesson."

"Don’t underestimate me. That was just a lucky shot you landed."

"Underestimate you? I think it’s you who doesn't know your place. You're the weakest one here by far. Why don’t you just run away like a coward?"

"Coward..."

"Yes, that's what you really think about yourself, isn’t it?" Cydonia was reading a human’s heart once again.

"(Don’t listen to her.)"

"(Mi Giulietta, no need to tell me...)" Reaper gripped his shadow scythe tighter. "I’m done acting like a coward."

The two sides locked eyes for a moment, each studying the best course of action. Cydonia moved first, but she didn’t strike at Reaper.

She rushed toward Edward, aiming to corrupt him completely this time. It wouldn't just give her another pawn—it would also shatter the necromancer’s heart.

From Edward’s shadow, the Black Parade’s thorns surged upward, forming a wall of rose branches to protect him.

Cydonia pressed forward anyway, but the thorny vines blocked her hand, wrapping around her arm and growing larger thorns to pierce her skin.

"Argh!" The wounds weren’t deep, but the pain was sharp.

Reaper rose from Arya’s shadow, trying to seize the moment to attack, but Cydonia blocked him easily with her spider legs.

"That’s nothing!"

It took her a second to realize the attack had just been a distraction. Reaper’s real goal was to pull Arya and Edward into the Black Parade’s shadow.

"Dammit!"

Cydonia used her spider legs to shove Reaper back and shot webs from her hands to reel Arya and Edward away.

"Nice try."

"Hmph! I’m just getting started!"

With expert precision, Cydonia manipulated her webs, trapping Arya and Edward against opposite walls of the street’s houses. Then, she did the same to Peter, hoisting him up onto a streetlight.

Her plan was to keep the kids suspended and off the ground, preventing Reaper from easily pulling them back into the Black Parade. It also created the perfect trap: if Reaper tried to rescue one of them, she would have a clear shot at the others.

Now, the only path left for the bearer of Mors’s fragment was to fight her directly—and Cydonia was fully confident that her strength would be more than enough to win.

Cydonia’s spider limbs began to shrink. Her legs retracted, returning to human form, while the mask on her face crumbled away.

“What’s the meaning of this?”

“I only revealed my true form because I got carried away during the battle. Now that I have the situation under control, I can calm down and regain my composure.”

“I thought we were still in the middle of a fight.”

“In order to find the best pawns, I learned how to recognize strong humans easily. And you, without a doubt, are not one of them.”

“You really enjoy looking down on me, don’t you?”

“I’m a demon. What else did you expect?”

“In that case... House of Wolves!”

The shadows erupted into a pack of wolves, charging at Cydonia in a wide arc, leaving her no room to dodge.

But the attack proved completely useless.

Cydonia reacted in seconds, spitting a thick goo all around her, coating the shadow wolves.

The wolves managed to push forward a little more, but the goo quickly hardened, trapping them and pulling them back into the Black Parade.

Meanwhile, Reaper slipped through one of them to avoid the sticky trap and lunged at Cydonia with his scythe.

Cydonia dodged and counterattacked, trying to slash at Reaper with her claws, but he blocked her strike with his weapon.

The two clashed fiercely, trading blows and dodges, while webs and shadows collided midair, canceling each other's attacks.

Reaper proved he wasn’t just dead weight, given how precisely he controlled the shadows — but compared to Cydonia’s level, he was still too weak.

It didn’t take long for Cydonia to gain the upper hand. She suddenly yanked her arms back, revealing strands of web hidden on the ground.

The threads coiled around Reaper’s legs, yanking him off balance and sending him crashing backward. Before he could recover—

“Let’s go for a spin!”

Cydonia pulled hard, spinning her body and using all her strength to hurl Reaper flying in the opposite direction.

“Uwaaaahhh!!!” The boy looked like a human yo-yo being flung away.

On his wild ride, he flew right past Peter, who was still stuck to the pole.

“Hey there!”

“Sup?”

Reaper was about to slam into a wall, but a mass of shadows appeared in his path, cushioning the impact.

“Arghhh!”

Even with the soft landing, Reaper still crashed hard onto his back, taking a moment to catch his breath.

“Ow, ow... I think I broke a rib...”

"(Quit whining, it was just a fall. You’re still in one piece.)"

Cydonia approached, her mere presence pressing down on Reaper like a crushing weight.

“You don’t stand a chance against me, you pathetic weakling.”

“...” Reaper ended up sitting on the ground, exhausted. “You know, I’ve long accepted that I’m weak. It’s not news to me.”

“So you admit defeat?”

“Not yet. Do you know what the greatest weapon of the weak is?”

“A weapon?”

“Yeah. When you're weak for long enough... you learn to see the cracks in those who think they're strong.”

“Nice words. But is that all you have before you die?”

“Heh. I’ll leave it to you.”

Cydonia was already preparing to drive her claws through Reaper’s chest—
when she was suddenly interrupted—

“Yes, you can leave it to me!”

PUNCHOOOWWW!!!

Peter barreled in with a surprise attack, slamming his fist right into Cydonia’s face.

The truth was, Reaper had never planned to defeat Cydonia himself. He knew he wasn’t strong enough. That’s why, while he was flying past Peter earlier, he secretly slashed the webs binding him.

Peter pressed the advantage, unleashing a storm of punches, each one ablaze with fire, forcing Cydonia on the defensive. She couldn’t dodge them all.

The demon quickly shot a strand of web to the side and yanked herself away from Peter before he could cave in her skull.

“Cough… Cough…” Even with her regeneration, Cydonia coughed up blood.

Peter surged forward again, determined to not let her recover.

“Peter, wait!”

Edward tried to warn him, but it was too late. Peter had charged straight into a trap.

Looking down, Peter saw multiple lines forming around his feet, weaving a net that trapped him once again.

“That was easier than I thought.”

Peter refused to give up and tried to tear himself free with brute strength.

“It’s useless. When my threads are woven perfectly like this, they’re stronger than steel!”

“...If that’s the case, then I just have to be even more stronger than steel!”

Peter poured every ounce of strength he had into breaking free. The threads began to cut into his skin as he struggled.

“I won’t give up! After everything we’ve been through, I can’t stop now!” Blood ran down his body, but Peter didn’t relent. “Ahhhhh!!!”

Yet all his effort was in vain. For every thread he broke, more wrapped around him.

Reaper watched with a pang of jealousy — that was the kind of hero he wished he could be.

"(Looks like it’s the end for them. That was the perfect opening, and he blew it rushing in like that.)"

"(Can we leave already?)"

"(...Just wait a little longer.)"

"(I know you don’t want to abandon them, but there’s nothing we can do. You’re at your limit.)"

"(Still... I want to stay till the end. I want to believe there’s still hope...)"

Cydonia had finished healing. Edward and Arya shouted desperately for Peter, but they were helpless to stop what was coming.

Slowly, Cydonia walked forward to finish him off.

"(Maybe... maybe there really is a hope.)"

…

“Himmlische Hellebarde!!!”

Cydonia staggered back from Peter.

A halberd came spinning down from the sky, slamming into the ground where Cydonia had been.

A winged figure soared just above the ground.

“An angel?” Reaper gasped.

Gracefully, balancing on one foot, the girl landed atop the halberd’s shaft.

Peter stood frozen, stunned by her sudden arrival.

“Who are you?”

“I’m just another mercenary, doing my part to rid this world of demonic darkness...” She smiled warmly at Peter, “... In other words, my name’s Tsugumi Ohnuki. Nice to meet you!”

The light of hope… had finally arrived.