The meaning of condemnation.
Elen had interfered with Val’s power of condemnation before.
The memory of that experience, the new power of purification she’d gained, and the curse she’d read—now twisted to her advantage.
“Gh… ghaaaaaaah!”
Durand screamed, clutching his right arm and collapsing to his knees.
The guards rushed to surround him, shouting, “Your Majesty!”—panicked, confused.
None of the onlookers had any idea what was happening.
Durand himself couldn’t hide his bewilderment at the sudden, searing pain in his right arm.
Staring at it, he saw the wound—burned and blackened by shadowy tendrils—darken further, spreading in jagged waves.
‘S-so that arm… the one that protected me…!’
Lore cried out. Eire seemed to realize it too.
‘That’s impossible… we should’ve blown you apart…!’
The wound left by the shadowy tendril Lore and Elen had blown apart was spreading across Duran’s right arm like a curse reborn—creeping, crawling, sickening.
From the marks where the tendril had coiled, black thorns like brambles erupted, wrapping around his right arm.
The shape of those thorns… I’ve seen this before. The Judgment of Val.
“Divine Judgment!?”
“Impossible… could it be mine!?”
Val was stunned. Did Vaul execute the Judgment? Val asked, but shook her head violently. “Not me.”
Duran, hearing the word “Judgment,” stared at Elen in shock.
The Judgment of Val was meant to bar future contact with the opposite sex for those guilty of infidelity—but Elen had twisted the mechanism to keep a specific person at bay.
‘That kind of…’
Lore trembled violently, realization dawning on her.
Lore’s face went pale as she stared at Duran, and Duran trembled, whispering, “No… not possible…”
“L-Lore-sama…!”
‘Duran! Don’t you dare come near me!’
Duran’s face crumpled in despair at Lore’s sudden refusal.
“W-Why… why?! The curse was supposed to be cleansed by the princess…!”
Elen’s words came like a quiet answer, and then Elen spoke, calm as ever.
“Mother was searching for Ryl’s soul—connected to Lore’s power.”
Elen’s eyes stayed cold, fixed on Duran.
“That means… magic essence holds individual information. We embedded Lore’s details into the mechanism, tailored to Lady Vaar’s power.”
‘This… this isn’t a curse, is it, Duran?’
“No,” Elen said flatly.
But Lore didn’t believe her, eyes locked on Duran’s right arm.
"Lord Lore..."
The guards still couldn’t hide their confusion at Duran’s sudden change in behavior.
The Dual Goddesses spoke in a bright tone to the bewildered surroundings.
"Elen-chan just copied me and sentenced someone to damnation!"
How’d you do it, Elen-chan! Amazing!
The goddess’s rules forbid interfering with another goddess’s power.
It should be impossible, yet Elen slips through and uses her power.
The goddess’s restriction seems to be set up so she doesn’t interfere with or hinder the powers of the other goddesses.
Elen hadn’t done anything more than channel the power, redirecting its edge exactly where she wanted it to go.
There was a vague understanding that power could be manipulated by turning it into information—now, after this purification, it had become certainty.
Van’s curiosity about why Elen had singled out Lore alone made him peer into that future.
Having learned the reason, Van muttered, “Ah, I see….”
“Just like Elen. Never biased toward humans or spirits.”
“Truly. So straightforward. Feels good.”
Only the goddess and the spirits understood this situation. Until now, Lyrue had stayed silent—but now she spoke, voice trembling.
“P-please… what exactly did you do to my brother…?”
Tentatively, Lyrue asked. Elen, still staring coldly at Duran, replied, “Just kept him from getting too close.”
Everyone had quickly realized, from Lore’s fierce stance, that Lore was the one being kept at bay. But confusion lingered—was that really all?
Yet even Duran, and the guards, were shaken.
“W-what? The king isn’t allowed near Lore…?”
The king, rejected by Lore—the symbol of the nation.
If the church and the people found out he’d angered the goddesses and faced direct judgment, Duran would be sentenced to death, or at best exiled.
Such was how deeply the nation of Helgner revered the spirits, and above all, Lore.
“N…no way…?”
Guardian Orgas sighed, despairing over what lay ahead.
The Helgnerians, all in shock, were like flies buzzing uselessly outside a mosquito net. The Dual Goddesses, meanwhile, spoke cheerfully.
“Seems like the punishment’s over. We’ll head back first. Waiting for you at the Spirit Castle.”
“Yeah, Elen-chan. You did great.”
With that, the Dual Goddesses vanished in a flash of light.
“Come on, let’s go back too. I’m worried about Lovell and the others.”
“…Yes.”
As Rihit spoke, Elen nodded. In an instant, she and Ark vanished, teleporting to the Spirit Castle.
Van had sent Kai off to the Vanclift domain.
***
Left standing alone in the midst of it all were Lore, Eare, Rüel, and Duran and the others.
Duran crouched, clutching his right arm—condemned by Elen—motionless, dazed.
"...Lord Brother..."
Rüel spoke softly to Duran, and slowly, he lifted his head to look at her.
"We should be thanking Lady Elen that it ended here."
"What...?!"
Duran’s face instantly twisted with rage. The guards behind him glared at Rüel with murderous intent.
"See? It was ill-omened. You are a threat to the Emperor...!"
Orgas raised his sword toward Rüel, and then Tiots leapt in front of her—suddenly, the air thickened with tension.
『Stop it!』
Lore’s shout made Duran and Orgas flinch, shoulders jerking.
『The princess… let it end here…!』
Why had Elen targeted Duran alone, and judged Lore specifically?
『I never thought… my existence was so vital to you all… I had no idea… I’m sorry…』
Lore spoke, tears spilling down her face.
“Lore-sama….”
Lore had only ever seen herself through the lens of this country—through the rigid framework of being Rüel’s descendant.
She hadn’t realized the meaning behind being so desperately desired, so longed for in the king’s presence.
『Duran’s crimes were grave. And mine too. To seal this land in darkness—easy enough if the Master’s hand were to reach it. And yet… you spared us…』
“Great Spirits waited in the sky, ready to destroy this nation.”
Duran’s brow furrowed at Rüel’s words—unbelievable.
“What…?”
“You, my lord… you truly angered Lady Elen… the goddesses… to this extent?”
To provoke someone you’re forbidden to touch… to the point of fury.
To raise a hand against the daughter of the supreme spirit goddess… and still be alive? That’s a miracle.
“I’m nothing—just someone rejected by Lady Lore…!”
Duran’s cry erupted, and Rüel’s suppressed rage finally exploded.
“You took my father and mother from me! You stole everything precious to me—piece by piece—and now, just one thing taken, and you’re already like this?!”
“W-what…?”
“Feel the pain of being taken, as Lady Elen described! Learn what it’s like to lose something—truly lose it! You should know what others feel!”
Rüel clutched Lore close and turned toward Tioz.
Once Tioz asked Eire for a transfer, only Duran and his guards remained behind.
Duran remembered how the king of Tymbal had changed.
They said that after being punished for touching the spirit princess, Lavisel had become terribly mild-mannered.
(This isn’t something so simple… this….)
Duran went pale. He realized, with a jolt, that he was already surrounded by a cliff.
One wrong step from here—there was only “death.”
It felt like the goddess who ruled the world, and the great spirits, were all circling him, glaring.
His neck was being silently warned: it could be severed at any moment.
And it wasn’t just one neck—there might be more than one.
Lavisel must’ve felt the same way after being punished.
He’d underestimated her—thought she was just a child.
He’d touched the goddess’s wrath and finally learned his own foolishness.
Lavisel had had no choice but to become like that, just to survive.