Rosine flew away...

Just like Peacuff ran back to the village...

on their way to homes they can never reach......

Dammit... I can't believe this...

Foolin' around with me... if you weren't gonna let me go with ya...

'shoulda told me right off... waste my time, will ya...

............

C'mon, we're goin' home, Jill.

Hey! Get your butt moving, we're going!

......

I can't go home...

Huh? What was that?

I can't go home yet.

Quit your babbling, stupid... put your head on straight!

Eh?

Go home without me, dad.

Hey, hold it, Jill! Where do you think you're going... with an Elf at that! Stupid girl!!

Puck... find out where the swordsman is!

Okay...

But I don't think it'll be safe... you saw him back there, right?

And why are you doing this, anyway? After you were almost killed and all...

I don't know. I don't know... but...

But?

I just can't...

I just CAN'T...

I can't stay like this!

Find him! Dig through every blade of grass if you have to, but we must capture the Black Swordsman!

Captain, I don't think that's possible, in this fog...

Not only that, it's only a matter of time before that fire reaches us.

Silence!!

After years and years of searching, we've finally cornered him here!

We can't be fools and allow him to escape!!

......!!

Swordsman...

.........

Are you leaving already...

.........

What kind of idiot are you? Why are you following me after what you went through?

......

It's just like I told you. You got lucky and survived... but you could've died any number of times... your old friend was killed... and you're covered in blood.

And if you stick around with me, it's gonna be the same thing over and over again, that's for sure.

Get out of my sight and get lost.

But...!!

Just earlier... when I was about to burn to death...

You saved me......! Didn't you!?

.........

...take me with you...

! Jill...

I promise I won't get in your way... just...

take me away from here... somewhere far away!

Anywhere... anywhere but here...

It doesn't matter where...

anywhere... just not here...

Look.

Hm?

Look around you.

Focus your eyes...

and look in the shadows around you...

Look at the darkness...

around ME.

Ah... ah...

You said anywhere but here...

This is "anywhere".

The edge of the world.

This is a hangout for drifters...

Dead parasites that attach themselves to the living...

Spreading jealousy and regret...

A garbage dump for the defeated.

You said it doesn't matter where. This is where you've ended up.

Welcome to your paradise.

a child...

a young body...

I want it...

give it to me...

let me inside it...

WAH!

Ah... ah...

it's mine...

I want it...

gimme...

she's mine...

mommy...

...no!

Jill!

(pant pant pant)

(cries)

When you run away...

...you're not going to find a paradise.

Wherever you end up...

...what you'll find there...

...is just...

...another battleground.

!

Swordsman...?

(Go home.)

No... there's no place left...

There's no place left for me to go home to!!

(Go home.)

(This is MY battlefield.)

It's just one bad thing after another......!!

Nobody is ever nice to me...!!

(Go.)

(You)

(have your own battlefield.)

Swordsman...!!

That man, he disappeared into the darkness and left.

And after all that, I still never found out who he was.

He left just as he appeared, in a swarm of demons.

And I was left behind, alone.

These days I lived through in fear, shock, and sadness...

I still have no idea what they're supposed to mean for me.

......the fog is clearing.

Wow...

The fog that would never go away...

...was pushed off by the flames.

Now I look up into the vivid sky...

but it's not the sky I flew in with Rosine.

not a beautiful spectacle that makes the heart dance.

It's savage...

desolate...

cold...

but it's so vivid!

Like when a storm has just passed through...

...such a vivid sky.

I don't have wings...

so I think I'll just look up into the sky...

...and stick to the ground as I go.

I think the fluid from the coccoon...... mixed with Rosine's blood...... may have washed away my childhood completely.

See you later... Jill.

You're leaving?

Yup.

......

Jill...

Will you be okay? On your own?

......yeah.

...I... I know I can't be as violent as that swordsman...

...and I don't think I have the courage to run away, like Rosine did.

But you know...... at least...

I think I'm going to cry, scream, and bite, all I can...

...and maybe something will change...

Here's a parting gift for you. Throw it at your dad whenever you feel like it.

(The Elf Blade Zakkurimaru, and your own personal Elf powder.)

Thank you...

...but

Tell me, Puck... why do you stay with him?

...hmm. Hmmmm...

...but...

no matter how I look at it

Well I can't just leave him by himself, now can I?

An idiot like that?

Elves really do belong in the sky.

If you look down from the sky, hidden between the mountains, there's a rickety old village that nobody ever notices.

I think it's time for me to start my own little battle there.