Chapter 48: Battle 2 — Revenge Against the Traitor (Part 3)

“I can’t believe a bunch of useless bitches like you beat me. How I hate you. I can’t live knowing I’m a failure who couldn’t kill a few damned humans like you. Kill me now — I’d rather die than live humiliated. I don’t regret what I did. You’re garbage; I hate you. I don’t ever want to see you again. You mean nothing to me. Those moments we shared were nothing — they never meant anything. I was faking it the whole time just to gather information from you. You can’t beat me… or at least that’s what I thought. But I was wrong. You are far stronger than I expected. I can’t believe I lost to a pile of petty women and children. You weren’t supposed to beat me. I was meant to wipe out humanity. I hate every human in this world — they always think they’re superior, that they can do anything, that no one can stop them. They imagine themselves the heroes, when in truth they’ve done terrible things. How could this happen? It makes no sense. I couldn’t have suffered all this for nothing. Everything is against me — isn’t that the worst injustice? I was supposed to win with the power I obtained. You are the worst of all, especially you, Taiyaki — or should I say Franco. I saw what you were planning against my great Queen, but don’t think that will work. Tell me — do you really intend to do that to my Queen? Do you seriously think she’s as weak as you imagine? No one has beaten her. She is the most terrifying being ever to set foot in this world. When she finishes with humanity here, she will finish you. I will die knowing that she will. Heh heh heh.”

She spat blood. “Damn — I took a lot of damage. My head was cut from my body; I don’t know where the rest of me is. Maybe this time they won, but that doesn’t mean you win the war. You’ll lose the war. You don’t stand a chance against Demon Queen Eien no Shi. She’s the strongest being in this world. Answer me this: why doesn’t your blessed Goddess Aqua save you from your misfortunes and slaughter the Demon Queen herself? Why does she need you — why send you, Franco and Cleer, to do this? What kind of goddess does that? I don’t understand — she should be able to kill anyone who is truly evil. But I was wrong. You have no chance. Better go back to your kingdom and enjoy what little time you have left, because soon Demon Queen Eien no Shi will kill you. You cannot stand against her.”

Then her voice trailed off — she was dead. An awkward, heavy silence settled over the place. None of us could find words. We were speechless at the things she had said; all we felt was pity and contempt. Pity that she had sold herself to someone who never helped her, pity that she had abandoned her humanity. She had lost faith and hope — she was small of heart and utterly lost. It seemed she had given up on defeating Demon Queen Eien no Shi and chose instead this path. She had planned it all, that damned woman; why didn’t she ask for help? Kori — how we hated you. You caused all this suffering. We thought killing you would bring relief, but instead you left us with pain. Damn you. I hope you burn for all your sins. I hope we never see you again. This feeling is unbearable — how could we be like this, having slain the cause of that betrayal so many years ago?

But we knew we still had to press on. After calming ourselves the best we could, we decided to continue up to the last floor. Ranma’s fusion and her friends said:

“Now it’s time to end this. We have you—and you have us. Don’t give up. This will be over soon, and then we can go home.”

We knew she spoke to soothe us, to ease the pain. We calmed ourselves and kept moving forward, determined to finish it.